Long dead thread but i'll post my two cents. Yes, once. My wife and i gutted an early 1980's two story colonial (yeah i know it's not old comparatively speaking to other homes mentioned in this thread) but it had terrible wiring, incorrect and undersized plumbing, bad framing, cheappp insulation full of mold, asbestos floors, over 20 windows that were totally shot, an utter disaster of a kitchen, and two hideous disgusting 1980's era bathrooms. It just made sense to gut the place and put it back together right. Plus two previous owners had been heavy smokers and one of them was a creepy cat lady / hoarder who had filled the second floor with tons of junk and way too much weight (I'll come back to that in a minute). But the worst was yet to come. After gutting the place I really started to fully realize that in practicality 2x4 exterior stud walls and 2x8 floor joists for a 2 story home is inadequate especially if the home DOES NOT not have plywood sheathing (just that cheap cardboard wrap) and has 15/32" plywood decking for the floor (should be minimum of 3/4"). We immediately noticed significant sag in all the floors at the center of most of the spans and some of the exterior walls had started to deform inwards. The only solution was to tear up all the floor decking for the second story, remove the interior partition walls upstairs, all the wiring, plumbing, hvac and then sister 2x12's joists to all the old 2x8's after jacking them back up into place. In some places the sag was so bad (well over 5" in the middle of the spans) they had to be cut out, removed completely, and replaced. Would have been impossible to do with wiring, plumbing, hvac in place. We learned later from a neighbor who has lived here since the 80's that one of the previous owners had been a disgusting hoarder and that she had packed the upstairs floor to ceiling with books, trash, and other belongings for years which created the sag. Worse yet she also had a fondness for cats (most of which were not fixed apparently) and they had soaked the floors and sprayed the walls absolutely soaking the lowest two feet of drywall and insulation throughout the home. A subsequent owner who moved in afterwards (before us) tried to encapsulate it with special paint but it didn't work and her dog also urinated on the floors as well. When the sun shined intensely through the windows into the upstairs you could still smell the pungent ammonia stink up there and it was absolutely disgusting. This Hoarder also once owned (she's dead now) two other houses on the street and they were also packed full of junk. lol Fast forward 2-1/2 years and we had done 90+% of the work including plumbing and electrical (with the exception of replacing the panel), keep in mind i worked for a contractor for years in high school and college so i knew what i was doing, but it was basically a second full time job for each of us (5pm-midnight) most days of the week and full on LETS GO! on the weekends. The end product was great and i'm glad we did it because we saved a TON of money, but i have to admit despite having an extensive construction background we were totally EXHAUSTED at the end. I'd probably never do it again unless it was a very valuable house in a prime location to be perfectly honest. My advice to those thinking about doing this, DON'T unless you have the background and experience in hand before getting started. Learning how to do "gut job" renovations on the fly without qualified supervision is a total nightmare scenario and a recipe for a complete, utter, and demoralizing disaster. You've probably all seen the renovation nightmare shows on cable tv. They only hit the tip of the iceberg to be honest. It can not only destroy your wallet, but also ruin friendships, relationships with family members, and even your marriage, just an fyi. It's hard enough if you know what your doing but if you've never attempted small renos within your home you are best to steer clear. You will get quickly overwhelmed frantically looking for help before realizing IT'S ALL UP TO YOU and maybe a spouse to dig yourself out of it. Don't put yourself in that position without proper preparation. If you do decide to proceed (YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!) PLEASE, PLEASE hire a professional if you have no experience with plumbing or electrical. You can easily kill yourself on electrical by touching or cutting a live / hot wire. You can also royally mess up plumbing by not pitching drain pipes correctly, including the appropriate venting, and or create a ticking time bomb if you can't properly solder water supply lines, or properly crimp pex fittings together, etc. I also warn inexperienced DIYers to stay away from massive drywall mudding, taping, sanding jobs. Don't attempt to do it all by yourself without extensive experience. It really is a skilled trade and takes TONS of practice to get good at. I'm good but it took me a while to get there. If you are bad at mudding you will hate your life by the time you are done sanding and sanding and sanding because you used too much mud and or couldn't get it smooth nor cut your drywall sheets correctly to minimize joints and utilize the tapers to your advantage. Your lungs will feel like they have tons of bricks in them if you don't wear a mask and you will be coughing up white phlegm for weeks after you are done. Plus the shear monotony of taping and mudding 100's of feet of drywall joints is enough to drive some people insane. Hire a team and they will knock it out in days and do it right the first time. Lastly, some people are just not good carpenters and attempting to do millwork (trim, stair rails, balusters, etc.) takes painstaking precision and skills to get right. It can be especially difficult and expensive if you mess up because you think your floors and walls are 90 degrees but they are in fact way off. It's not for the faint of heart. Best of luck!

The process is relatively simple. You go online to their site and fill out a warranty form. There are definite proofs that you need, including proof that you built the house (we provided a copy of our building contract). I also went back to the original place that we got the shingles (through the builder) and they wrote out a letter that verified that we bought them from there and that we upgraded to 40 year Oakridge Shadow. It will be an expensive experience because OC will not offer you much compared to the expense you will incur. You have two options. You can join the class action suit (sorry I no longer have that information but a google search should get you that) or you can settle with OC directly. When talking to the attorney who is handling the current lawsuit on these shingles, it was clear that the track record for recovery per complainant was relatively low dollars. So after a bit of back and forth, OC settled with us for more than we figure a class action suit would have brought us. Good luck with the process. OC is actually pretty easy to deal with. We are close to replacing our roof as well and I can tell you that we'll get a far better warranty next time around.

I found a great way to renew old clothing, bedding even furniture. I found Simply Spray spray on dye at Michaels Crafts. I used it to renew an old stained white shirt, people asked me where I got my new shirt. I used Black to do the cushions of an old Pink chair(looks like new). I used Blue to re-dye my daughters bedspread instead of buying a new color, then I did her lampshade to match it perfectly. If I can do it anyone can. Save money and do something good for the enviroment this is non-toxic and recyclable. This website shows you a how to video (it is too easy). http://simplyspray.com

LOL! Sorry I'm late, but this thread is hilarious :) If you plan to live in your house...design it for living. If you entertain, design it for entertaining. If you live alone and never have anyone over, no kids, no pets, etc...then you can have a show home. But take lots of pictures, because it's the only way anyone will ever see it. Just my two cents.