Wednesday, February 14th, 2007 | Author: jason
What the heck made everything so expensive?
Replacing a dinky retaining wall? I got quotes for $2k and $3k.
Windows? Quotes for $10k and $20k ( 
)
Now updating the insulation in my house… it’s probably going to be $1000.
Now, I just need to get into the subattic with a flashlight and see how much schmutz my ex-roommates have left in there…
Category: Home Improvement
I still think you can do the retaining wall yourself. Won’t be easy work, but doable.
I think you’ve got enough room to just build in front of the wall you’ve got currently, add some fill dirt betwen the old wall and the new and be good to go. But, I haven’t looked real closely at it. So I could have no idea what I’m talking about. (And probably don’t).
Windows, that sounds about right. Windows seem to be crazy expensive, especially since you’ve got a bunch and there are probably at least some which aren’t standard size. Plus, you’d want to go with the nice, double paned, extra efficient, vinyl (or whatever material) framed ones.
Insulation for $1000 actually sounds like a pretty good deal to me. Depending on exactly what you’re talking about (I’m assuming just in the attic) and what your attic situation is, that might be pretty easy to do yourself. There’s just the itch factor to deal with 0- which itself might make it worth it to hire that one out.
Isn’t home ownership fun?
Yeah… I’m mostly just talking quotes. The windows thing is crazy… There’s NEVER going to be an ROI on them… and there are some articles out there indicating that they only have a marginal advantage.
The Retaining wall is going to be a me project… Well, me and whoever I can tempt over to help with drinks, beer, and pizza.
The insulation may be a ‘me’ thing too, but I dunno yet. It depends on where the quotes come back at… If it’s around a $1000 like I expect, the ROI could come through in 2-3 years of utility bills… Windows would take 20-30 years to pay off… If I’m lucky.
–Jason (I do like home ownership… it just takes some upkeep cash… well a LOT of upkeep cash)
Yeah, the insulation came back around $1300.
I’ve got one more estimate to hear, but we’ll see what happens.