Oh boy. I was you, about 8 years ago. We just needed new windows, they were moldy. So we saved up to replace them, casings and all. Turns out, our development was built right in the middle of a huge scandal in this area involving paying off building inspectors, etc, etc. Lucky us! So then the siding came off. No Tyvec wrap. No insulation. No flashing. Lots of mold. So now we add new plywood, wrapping, insulated siding on Day 1. THEN we get to the back of the house. Deck is built with boards parallel to the house instead of perpendicular. Rotted 3 boards deep where it was attached because...no flashing. So now we also need to dig out the rotted wood, displace all the carpenter ants, and repair. Oh! And as a bonus, the sliding door was not attached to the house frame except for one large wad of caulk in one corner. But did we learn? NOPE! We spent 6 years recovering from the unexpected expenses and also grading the lawn/replacing the deck. The lawn sloped -toward the house, so the sump pump ran all the time. I was concerned about damage to the foundation eventually, so we fixed it. What a difference! Then 2 years ago we started in again. The tub chipped, so I decided it had to go because I was afraid of what I'd find under it. Fortunately, the only surprise that project was the sink pipes not actually being fastened together in the wall. It was a miracle we didn't have a waterfall in our kitchen! Speaking of kitchen, we just finished a remodel. Among the choice building techniques we found were rows of test holes for almost every screw in the cabinets trying to find the studs. A spacer above the microwave/vent made of scrap 2x4 and masking tape. Then there was the live wire left dangling in the wall with just some tape on the end, that was special. The other wiring was so convoluted it took a whole morning to figure out what was attached to what and where things went. Luckily, that concludes the major kitchen problems. Let's move on to my current projects. We had to gut the basement and replace all the drywall due to mold. And they used the wrong type of insulation in the basement (the fluffy cotton candy stuff), so that all went and we now have the proper insulation. We had another live wire with tape hidden in the ceiling. None of the outlets or switches were attached to the wall, they were just in boxes dangling on the end of the wires held in place by the faceplates. We had one vent discovered that had been walled over. They also ran out of space in the panel box for power circuits. So what to do with all the electric in the basement? Why, just feed an outlet nearby, then run FOUR leads from there. Code here is 2 max. We at least had a GFI on that outlet, but not on the one used for the sump pump. Plus that GFI also controlled the second floor bath outlet and the box in the kitchen with the outdoor light and under cabinet lights on it. Trust me, that was not easy to figure out! Speaking of wiring, there was also a light box under the drop ceiling. No fixture, I had no idea it was there. But there were 3 wires that connected through there, and one coming out that went over the rim. So you couldn't even attach a fixture if you wanted to! Our GC has never seen anything like it. We had to upgrade the panel box before the kitchen project, so at least now everything we've touched is up to code and on appropriate circuits, GFI, etc. Oh! And the fireplace, which I've been working on while the GC does the basement. The mantel was wider than the hearth, so it had about an inch overhang on each side. Classy! So decided to replace them both. Turns out, the reason the tiles on the side of the hearth looked loose was because they were. They tiled right on the plywood, so most of those side tiles came of with my own hands, no tools. So what's my point? You have an important decision to make. If you think this is original builder incompetence, you need to either jump ship now before the rest of their stuff crumbles (or burns the house down), or decide it's worth staying and save like crazy to make the needed repairs on the way. It may even pay off to find a GC you trust and have him go over everything, and I mean -everything- in detail to see what you can catch early and what to prepare for. For your sake, I hope it was just the tile guy that was horrible. But if the builder didn't catch that, which would have been obvious for days (or lack thereof), I wouldn't hold high hopes. (BTW, all this was on top of normal stuff, like a roof at about 25 years, new furnace after about 27, etc...).

No, it's not acceptable, not by ANY standards. But I don't think it needs a complete rip out to fix it, unless there's more you're not showing us. At the phone jack, the pieces should be removed, and proper cuts installed. If he doesn't have a glass blade, that's not your problem Those cuts are not that tough. At that corner, that's pretty gross. that would have to be removed to about a foot back, so that the tiles can be adjusted upward to line up with the tile on the other side. They would also have to be spread some toward the top of the backsplash so that they account for the out of plumb corner. Also not a real big deal (woulda been alot easier if he'd done it to start with, though!). As for the grout holes, those can always be patched with a little more grout. The joints might have to be dug out slightly with a utility knife, but again, not a big deal-- more time consuming than anything else. One way or the other, this isn't a complete loss, but no way should it be allowed to pass as it stands.

Hi Ana, I'm still around! Though yes, I don't hang around this forum anymore. So in the time that I made my original post, I finished that old house renovation and then proceeded onto the next project (built a custom home from scratch!). Based on all my experiences, I can safely say that yes, you should absolutely strip off the old shingles/siding before putting up vinyl. For all the reasons stated by others above. In the case of my 100yr old house reno, I ended up NOT doing vinyl at all, instead I found a great Brazilian crew that stripped the old shingles, removed the old tar-paper on the house sheathing and re-wrapped it with Tyvek, and then installed new red cedar shingles. The economy was down then, and they got a deal on a supply of Grade-A real shingles. They were very skilled and did an amazing job matching the original detailed shingle patterns, particularly around the front porch arches - never would get that level of detail out of vinyl. We also replaced all the exterior window & door trim with PVC trim (and re-flashed everything). We definitely went more the restoration route on that project, both outside the house and inside where I re-did all the original natural woodwork. Was a lot of work but so worth it in the end. Also as the original outside shingles had been removed, I had the opportunity to blow-in insulation all around the house (from the outside). On my new build house, I also did shingles. And there again, I realized the importance of installing a good house wrap (in this case I installed one that allows better drainage behind the shingles/siding). You may have already started your project by now, but if not definitely strip the shingles if you can. I'm also happy to give you the contact info for the crew that re-shingled my old house. They don't do vinyl but if you were interested in sticking with wood siding they're great. We ended up painting the new shingles there with a top-shelf Benjamin Moore Aura paint. I've been by the house several times since selling it and the paint is not peeling yet. Here's some pics our house / siding job: 100yr old house renovation

Okay, I've actually done both myself. I'd say "it all depends" is the answer. - Tile on Slab: I removed two bathrooms worth of tile in our fairly new house. The builder used substandard materials and the tile de-laminated within the 2nd year of the house. No it was not covered by the warranty. I used a demolition hammmer to break up the tile off the floor. I duct-taped my shop vac hose to the shaft of the 'bit' and used a concrete dust bag in the shop vac to keep the dust down. I think this worked pretty well but still had some clean up. But this leaves a rough surface of thinset. So the next step is a 4.5" angle grinder with a diamond cup wheel and a dust collecting housing. Again connected to the shop-vac. It works REALLY well. The thinset is litterally just vacummed up off the floor. Still it was a lot of hard work but left the slab as clean as the day it was poured. I could even see the builders marking on the slab of where to put junction boxes, vents etc. - Tile on concrete backer board. It depends on how well the backerboard is attached, but a pry bar under the backerboard (which was nailed not screwed) removed the tile in minutes with no dust. If it were screwed I might have been screwed too. ;-) - Tile backsplash in Kitchen. I just got through removing the builders idea of a custom backsplash... the same tile as the floor tile. This was placed over dry wall and there is no way you are going to remove tile off dry wall. The dry wall will be ruined. So I took a multi-tool and cut along the top and bottom of the backsplash (between the countertop and upper cabinet) and then used my demo hammer to break up the backsplash which came out pretty easily. So the only thing left was the studs. After some wiring work I just replaced the drywall. Again I ran the shop vac right next to the tool which really cut down on the dust. But not dust free. A pro would use other, larger tools. Maybe air powered tools. Maybe walk-behind tools. These might generate a lot more dust. I was used a floor machine with a sand paper disk to prep a slab and it was a dust nightmare. Luckily that house was empty at the time. If you are going to do this yourself you can control the dust reasonably well. Use a bag in your shop-vac rated for concrete dust and run the shop vac as close to the tool as you can at all times. First time using Picasa Web Album... hope it works.. GW Album From GW Album From GW Album From GW Album