How much might these house projects cost?

[quickstepstar]

We are buying a house and one of the ones we are looking at will need (not urgently) a couple of things to be done to it. I have no clue how much those things might cost and I do realize that it varies a lot, but if you have done anything similar please share if you don't mind, how much it cost you (materials as well as labor)

1. Putting in hardwoods instead of carpets in 4 bedrooms and 2 rooms downstairs

2. Taking down the wall between kitchen and dining room
2a. Putting in a kitchen island

3. Replacing closet doors

4. Painting 4 bedrooms (mainly how much would paint cost)

Thanks!

[chessie]

1- depends on the flooring we did 3 bedrooms and downstairs with bamboo for 2500 including nails and the nailer we had
2. ? no idea, depends on how structural
3. <200 each
4. Depending on how big, 65 for a gallon of paint. Assuming 2 coats each, probably need more then one.

[Susie]

Bedrooms vary hugely in size. Figure out how many square feet you need to cover (including the insides of the closets if you're repainting those too) and then check the manufacturer's indication on the paint can of how many square feet a gallon will cover. That will give you a better answer than me ballparking based on my rooms' sizes. Paint prices vary by brand. You can get cheap paint at HD or Lowe's for < $20/gal. I use Sherwin Williams, which I wait to buy on sale. Even then it's maybe in the $35 range/gal. You may also need ceiling paint, so add that in too.

MM tip: If you come across a paint sale before you pick colors, buy untinted paint and just bring it back to have it tinted (for free) when you decide on colors. I do it frequently at SW.

[quickstepstar]

Aug 22, 2012 14:40:04 GMT -5 Susie said:

MM tip: If you come across a paint sale before you pick colors, buy untinted paint and just bring it back to have it tinted (for free) when you decide on colors. I do it frequently at SW.

Great tip! Thanks!

[thatgirl2478]

1. Go to lumberliquidators.com, find a style of wood flooring you like (depends on the type of subfloor you have - if you are just over plywood & wood studs, you can do any of the types of install methods, if you are over concrete, you will either need to float or glue it), enter your estimated sqft and then basically double that for the approximate cost to install.

2. No idea.

3. Depends on so many details - are you putting any sort of utilities into it (sinks, ranges, electric, etc)? That will make it more than if you're just putting a basic island in. If you just want a basic island, decide how big you want it and if you want it made from cabinets on both sides or just one. Then go to home depot/lowes/menards and see if they can draw up an estimate (they have kitchen planners). Don't forget to estimate how much counter top you want.

4. Depends on the size of the room & color that they are right now. Good paint & primer in one paints cost about $35/gallon and will cover approximately 400sqft. If you are painting a lighter color over a dark color, you'll need more. If you're painting a dark color over a light color you'll probably need more.

[thatgirl2478]

my numbers got all messed up, but I assume you can figure out what I was talking about from the context.

doors - <200 each if you do it yourself. double it if you have someone do it for you.

[dawnyp]

1) Will depend if you are doing hardwood or just a hard surface. Using real wood is more expensive than a hard laminate type flooring. I did real hard wood floors in one room about 10X14 in size and the cost was about $2000.

2) I would estimate a minimum of $10K. Taking down walls and kitchen cabinets are expensive.

3) <$250

4) You need to factor in more than the cost of the paint. There are all the materials as well that you need - tape, brushes, tarps, rollers, etc. The supplies will run at least $100-$200. Each gallon of paint will be $25-40 depending on where and when you buy it. Don't forget to include primer for all the walls. The number of gallons will depend on the size of the rooms. Not knowing the size of the rooms I would estimate at least 10 gallons (that includes primer).

[DarcyLongfellow]

(1) Hardwood in 6 rooms
This won't be cheap. Not sure how large these rooms are, but I'm guessing you're talking about a minimum of 1000 square feet, likely closer to 1500. This can be pretty pricey. My guess is that that much hardwood (including installation) would cost you close to $10,000. This is really rough -- could be a lot more or a lot less. I can't access my computer now where I have my notes from when DH and I did this a couple years ago, but I'm pretty sure we spent around that.

(2) Taking down a wall/putting in a kitchen island

Assuming this is dry wall and not plaster, this might not be as bad as you're thinking. It depends on if the wall is structural and what is running through the wall (electrical, plumbing, etc.). I hesitate to even guess, but I'd say $5,000 or so (based on an estimate I got earlier this year to do something similar) if the wall isn't structural and doesn't have plumbing in it.

Adding a kitchen island can be fairly inexpensive if you're just buying cabinetry and placing that over existing flooring. You could go to Home Depot or Lowes and price out the cabinets and countertops you want.

(3) Replacing closet doors

I just had a contractor tell me that he could replace all the doors in our house for $100 a door -- that included new hinges and door hardware as well as new doors. The limiting factor for you will be the size of the door frame -- if you get doors of the same size then it will be cheaper.

(4) Painting 4 rooms

I don't have a great idea of how much this would cost. You can easily look up the cost of a gallon of paint, and I'm sure websites like Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams will tell you how many gallons to cover a certain size room.

If you are serious about the house and time isn't too much of the essence, ask a contractor to look at the house with you to tell you roughly how much things would cost.