Any advice on hanging heavy (150lb) light fixture about bed?
jsg26
9 years ago
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Ron Natalie
9 years agoRelated Discussions
New here - building our first home - any advice welcome!
Comments (9)Congrats on finding land you love! Below is a link to an old Gardenweb thread you might want to read before closing on the land purchase. If there are things mentioned that you haven't done before you close, they should definitely be at the top of your list to take care of ASAP. As for doing part of work on the house yourselves, it is certainly possible but how successful you'll be depends in large part on just how 'handy' you really are and on how much time and energy you have to devote. You don't mention having any children yet but, since you mentioned wanting 3 or 4 bedrooms and that you're in your late 20's, I'm guessing that you may plan on having a child or two eventually. A pregnancy WHILE you are in the midst of building can severely cut into your time/energy for devoting to the build while simultaneously putting a sense of pressure on you to 'just get the darned house finished!' LOL! So, my advice is be careful not to bite off more than you can chew. But, if you have some actual building experience already... like maybe having volunteered extensively with Habitat for Humanity or having done some major renovations on a previous home... and can accurately judge both your skill level and the time you'll have available to devote - then go for it. Nobody else will ever put as much CARE into building your home as you will! Getting a contractor who is in charge of finishing the entire house to agree to let you do certain portions of the work yourself MAY prove difficult. Contractors are much more likely to prefer to hire 'professionals' under the claim that they can rely on professionals to get in and get the job done and that having the homeowner do part of the work could delay the overall progress. It also puts you and the general contractor in a rather odd relationship in that, the general contractor works for you but, to the extent you are acting as subcontractor for some portion of the work, you work for him. It kind of blurs the lines of authority. It is also possible to enter into a contract with a builder to him do the foundation, framing, rough plumbing, roofing, and finish the shell (up to dried-in stage or to the sheetrocked stage or to whatever point you decide) and, once he has completed all the work he was hired to do, he gets paid and steps out of the picture leaving you to finish the rest of it yourselves...either by directly hiring subcontractors or by doing the hands on work yourselves. Getting a bank on board with this kind of plan can be a bit difficult though. Banks typically want the house to be finished and ready to be lived in when the last of the construction loan money is drawn down. Plus, if there are any warranty issues once the house is fully complete, it can be difficult to nail down responsibility. Another option would be to go the owner-builder route so that your are your own general contractor for the entire build. That way you hire can subcontractors or do specific jobs yourself, as you desire. You're in total charge. There are consulting companies that, for a fee (which is much less than a general contractor's typical percentage) will guide and assist you as you owner-build. They lead you thru the applicable laws so that you get all the necessary permits and inspections, advise you on the order in which to do various jobs...including how far in advance one usually needs to order certain materials, provide you with lists of pre-vetted subcontractors which you can choose to hire, etc. They'll even help you find banks that will give construction loans to owner-builders. Working with such a consulting company can give you the same clout with subcontractors that a volume builder would have because the subcontractors know that, if they don't do a good job for you, they lose all future business that might come their way via the owner-builder consultant. (And owner-builders tend to pay subcontractors ON TIME so, once they've worked for an OB, many subcontractors actually wind up preferring it.) Be aware that, as an owner-builder, YOU are responsible for any state mandated warranties if you sell the house to someone else before the warranty periods have expired. My sense, from being on this board for more than 5 years now, is that owner-building is MUCH more common (and much more accepted) in the south than in the north...maybe because we tend to have fewer laws that protect homeowners from being victimized by unscrupulous builders here in the south so, to protect themselves, more southerners decide to owner-build. Or, maybe it is simply because having warmer weather most of the year just makes owner-building seem more attractive. Let's face it, most of us know that we don't want to be freezing our buns off hanging sheetrock or installing tile in an unfinished unheated shell in the middle of the winter! We don't even want to have to be closely inspecting a sub-contractor's work when it's 20 degrees outside. LOL! I know at least a dozen different people who have owner-built custom homes (with guidance from one of several different owner-builder consulting companies) and every single one of them says that they saved money, got a nicer home, and would owner-build again in a heartbeat. As for plans... you have several options for finding a plan and there are pros and cons to each: 1) If you want a custom design, hire an architect and have them create one just for you. Expect to pay anywhere from about $5/sq foot to 15% or more of your build price for architectural services. Price depends how detailed you want the plans and specs to be and what services, if any, you want the architect to provide beyond just rendering basic plans. If you want the architect to oversee the build process (i.e., ride head on the general contractor) expect to pay quite a bit more than if you just want them to render plans for you. At a minimum, if I hired an architect, I would want them to provide plans and complete specifications and then agree to be available (perhaps for an hourly fee) to settle any disputes regarding interpretation of the plans. And I would also expect them to provide, for free, any additional architectural services that proved necessary due to any flaws/omissions in the original plans. 2) Find a design online or in a house plan book that you generally like, purchase it along with a CAD version, and have it modified as needed to meet local codes. Some of the online plan sources now ask where you plan to build. I assume they do so so that they can advise you on whether the plan you have chosen already meets the building codes in your jurisdiction or can be modified easily to meet codes. Unless you find a plan that needs very very little modification to suit you perfectly though, you may wind up wasting significant time and money going this route. And apparently a lot of architects really don't like being asked to modify a pre-existing plan. You may have more luck if you hire a younger architect who is hungry for work. Alternatively, take the CAD to a draftsman to revise then have it the revised plan reviewed by a structural engineer with knowledge of local code requirements. Note that, in this case, if there are any flaws/omissions in the final plans, you're on your own hook to work out an acceptable solution with the builder. 3) Find a house built locally that you like, track down the architect and find out if he/she will license the plan to you. Be aware that if the house was fully custom, the architect may have contracted with the homeowner NOT to re-license the same work within a certain distance from the original build. (Folks who have paid for a truly custom design may not want another home exactly like theirs being built a block away!) Building a house from a plan that has already been successfully built minimizes that chances that there are undiscovered flaws/omissions in the plan. 4) Hire a design/build company that has an architect/draftsman on board. The really major potential problem with going this route is that, once you have a satisfactory plan, you can't put the design out for competitive bids. You are locked into either accepting the price the design/build company gives you for building the house or starting back over at square one. And, if midway thru the build, you find you have to fire your builder (it happens) or he goes bankrupt (it also happens), I'm not at all sure what legal right you would have to use the plans to finish the build. 5) Hire a volume builder and just choose one of their designs. Typically the only customizing that a volume builder will allow is in the finish work. I.e., you can choose paint colors, carpet colors, and choose from among the a limited palette of tiles, hardwoods, plumbing fixtures, and lighting fixtures. Don't go in thinking you can ask them to move walls or add in a window or two. Probably won't happen! 6) Design your own home. This takes an immense amount of time and study. It is definitely NOT for the faint of heart or those who are unwilling to learn one heck of a lot about architectural design and building codes AND be willing to learn to use a reasonably good CAD program. It also probably helps to have a good knowledge of basic physics and, even then, you'll probably eventually want to have your design carefully reviewed by a structural engineer. And of course, if there are any flaws/omissions in the design, coming up with a way to fix them is all on you. Here is a link that might be useful: What do you need to do/know if buying raw land...See MoreHanging a heavy antique blanket/quilt
Comments (34)Thanks. And yes, from a monetary standpoint, mine probably isn't worth a ton. I have seen that as well with the sleeve. What is the benefit (from a preservation standpoint) of using this method over a compression quilt hanger as talked about above? It seems that sewing a sleeve puts strain on very specific stitches whereas a compression mount at least evenly distributes the pull of the weight across the top. Both can be turned around. Just curious why curators suggest the sleeve instead of the less invasive (and seemingly better at distributing weight) method of a compression hanger. I would also line the edge of the blanket with muslin to help preserve from acid, etc. I am referring to hangers like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/263739854523?ul_noapp=true...See MoreI need general floor plan advice. And what about that foyer? Thanks!
Comments (39)In the entry foyer: Would choose a single wide door with the hinge on the opposite side from the table placement and have a sidelight on the table side that is the same solid wood as the door up to table height height with windows above table height. If possible, also have windows over the door and side light. Would center the overhead light in the foyer and NOT try to make it the focal point of the small foyer -- choose an overhead light that doesn't scream for attention. Dining room/pantry: You are seriously crowding your dining table. Would modify/eliminate the pantry and extend the bumped out window wall all the way across the area of both the dining and pantry/kitchen space to the bedroom wall and have the kitchen cabinets wrap around the corner to what is now the side and back wall of the pantry and continue all the way to the outside wall -- build a wall of cabinets in the enlarged dining room that could be used as pantry but have a finished kitchen/dining room look. Then use sliding glass doors for that window wall so that your kitchen/dining combination has a doorway directly to the outside at the back of the house. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/458030224584893599/?d=t&mt=login NOT a huge fan of the outdoor closets sticking into the house -- would enlarge that adjoining closet area and make two larger closets or one closet and a second closet/dressing room combination. Would want the front two-car garage ("garage 1") accessible from the right side, using the same driveway as the side car shelter ... pave less of the front yard. You could enclose "garage 2" on the side of the house and make "garage 1' in front of the house a drive through shelter open car shelter. Check out #3 -- the three car carport to see what I mean: https://morningchores.com/carport-plans/ You might consider making that second (side) garage an open car shelter that could be used as an outdoor entertainment shelter and build a pair of side by side storage closets/rooms on the back of that -- one for a potting shed and yard tools and the other for garbage cans....See MoreAbout to lose my mind over lighting upgrades
Comments (11)Ok lets recap 1. you said you really didn't need that much light at night, but your last comment says you do. In a small room like this one light bulb is plenty, everyone is so misled by lumens, wattage etc just remember most single-socket fixtures will house 60-100wtt equivalent 2. you said you wanted to stay true to the style of the home but the fan you selected is much more modern than the home, and ceiling fans would really not have been an option then. I also find a floor or table fan to be just as useful in a room this size. 3. You have a lot going on so it is ok to be overwhelmed, bear in mind it is just two ceiling fixtures you are focused on. I think you should look at getting a floor or table fan and a simple flush mount for the ceilings. Shop on lamps Plus, this will give you a website that is really focused on lighting....See Morerandy427
9 years agojsg26
9 years agoRon Natalie
9 years agoUser
9 years agoweedmeister
9 years agojoefixit2
9 years ago
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