No way would joining Direct Buy be a sensible decision for you. You are only planning to spend $6- $10,000.00 in total, so you'd be spending close to $6K just to get in the door. Besides the contract fee there are yearly fees. I did join Direct Buy- we are doing a total house reno from top to bottom (literally), replacing all windows and doors, gutting, rewiring, jackhammering concrete to put in drains, new roof- well you get the idea... I was enthralled by all the possibilities when I went for my visit. Luckily for me, I did go without my husband- signed the contract by myself- and after researching that night at home, I was heartsick that I had made such a stupid decision. WE played good cop/bad cop when we went back in- I composed a letter asking for a refund, and they very graciously DID give us our money back. So kudos to that particular DirectBuy outlet. However, I did a fair amount of research (albeit a day too late), and did discover that there are many many issues with DB. The least of which is, shipping and handling fees which can be 25%, and that they are not refunded if you decide you do not want the product you ordered. And, if I'm not mistaken, the item is delivered to the warehouse, not your home address, so there's that whole issue... I'm not going to go into a litany of all the problems, but suggest you google direct buy consumer concerns for yourself. Again, I reiterate- I do NOT think you should consider joining. You will NOT save any money, particularly just on ONE bathroom reno.

Wow. I thought the poster wrote a pretty darn good post. (S)he likes the contractor. The contractor has done good work in the past. The contractor in the past seemed to be priced fairly for the market the poster is in. Had the poster been remodeling another basement; ie doing comparable work, that's one thing. But kitchen and bathroom work? They are completely different animals when it comes to bidding and building. The poster isn't screaming in internet outrage at the bid. He's simply looking for a warm fuzzy that the bid is good. I think he already knows the bid is good. But again...what's wrong with coming to the GWeb community to look for that warm and fuzzy. If he was a Yankee fan, hey, I'd be piling on too. But for totally different reasons. But a Red Sox fan in Westchester County? C'mon folks. We need to help the decent people in this world. So my reply? Yes, the bid (42K) taken at face value is high. It's high because $42K is a lot of money. Factor in your location. That brings it more into scale. Your materials. High end materials generally require more care when installing, that can elevate the price a bit. The scope of work: Demo. Framing. Messing with the building's thermal envelope. Electrica, plumbing, insulation, waterproofing, painting, yadda yadda. It's a full-scope job. I never mind being asked about money. If you're happy with the contractor, then just have a conversation with him. If the following fits how you feel, then feel free to frame it into your conversation. Tell him the bid is higher than you thought it would be, but you understand it due to the scope of work. Tell him that you can bump your budget to meet his bid. However, ask him to identify any areas where savings might be achieved. Also ask him to identify areas where there may be cost overruns. It's not that you're looking to knock the price down. You're not. But not exceeding the bid is important. Let him know you're simply looking for possibly contingency built in to the bid. ie if you go over in demo and repairs, can we absorb that overrun elsewhere without compromising the overall project. Good luck!

Removing Paint from Siding. There are two tools that, in our experience, are very good at taking paint off siding, and a lot better than the traditional heat and scrape, or scrape and sand methods.. 1. Silent Paint Remover is one. This tool is a GIANT STEP above heat guns and the dangers they cause. The other is 2. Paint Shaver. This is a mechanical, high speed stripper that uses replaceable carbide blades. Which one we use depends on the paint to be removed. Silent Paint Remover is slower, but does a very neat job requiring very little sanding. Paint Shaver is faster, but takes a bit of practice to remove the paint without putting a lot of crescent-shaped divots in your siding that require a lot of sanding out. One mistake to guard against using this tool is setting the depth adjustment for too-aggressive a cut. You don't need to remove all the paint, just the loose paint, so don't try to get down to bare wood in one pass. When you are removing paint, you hope the original painter did a lousy job so it will come off easily. If he was good at his job, it's going to come off hard no matter what tool you use. Keep in mind that the EPA lead abatement rules govern the safe removal of any exterior lead paint. As a homeowner, they may not apply to you, but follow them anyway for everyone's safety. Both of these tools are commonly available at a deep discount over retail from e-Bay and Graig's list. We have used and cannot recommend the Metabo or Wagner machines. They don't work nearly as well as the suggested machines. Repairing Plaster To repair cracked or falling-off true plaster you need to reattach it to the wood or metal lath underneath. The traditional way is with screws and plaster washers. These usually extend proud of the wall, making them difficult to conceal except with thick coats of patching plaster. The better way is to glue the plaster to the lath. There is a commercial kit to do this called Plaster Magic which we like, but which we also think is pretty expensive. We just use our own, locally available materials, that work just as well and are a lot less expensive. Here's what to do: 1. Using a concrete bit, drill about 3/8" holes in the plaster until you hit the lath -- do not drill through the lath. You will feel it when you reach the lath. You will want to drill about 1" on both sides of any crack, putting a hole about every 4-6" along the crack. Its a judgment call. Drill as many holes as you think you will need. If in doubt, more is usually better. For large loose areas, drill about every 4"-6" in the field and every 4" around the perimeter of the loose plaster area. Sometimes you will hit the gaps between lath strips. Don't worry about it. Just move about 1" away and drill again. 2. With your trusty shop vac, suck the plaster dust out of each hole. This is important, plaster dust interferes with the adhesive. 3. Using your caulk gun and a good construction adhesive (we like Power Grab, but any quality adhesive should work. In a pinch, we have used most of them at one time or another and none have failed.) squirt a good glob of adhesive into each hole. This will probably be messy, so have some mineral spirits and rags around to cleanup any drip-out. 4. Make a bunch of 4" square wood washers. You can make them out of job scrap. We use 1/2" or 3/4" OSB most of the time just because it happens to be around. Drill a hole in the center of each washer - 3/16" or 1/4" ought to do it. 5. Line the washers up with the holes you drilled earlier and, using a drywall screw, attach the washer to the wood lath beneath the plaster. You don't need to screw into every hole, about every 4-6 holes is a good rule of thumb. What you want to do is put even pressure over the loose plaster area and draw it back to the lath. This will allow the adhesive you just applied to bond the lath tightly to the plaster once again. As you tighten the screw, you will feel the plaster draw in. DO NOT try to sink the screws all the way in one go. Draw them in gradually moving from screw to screw. This lessens the risk of cracking the plaster further. When all the screws are sunk, you are done until tomorrow. Go have a beer. 6. After 24 hours, remove the screws, put them back in the box (they can be reused) and throw the washers away. The plaster is now stuck solidly to the lath once again. There are no screws or washers in the wall - so finishing the plaster is much simplified, and this fix is strong. The adhesive sticks like, well, like glue. 7. Using patching plaster, a setting joint compound, or even regular joint compound, patch the screw holes, cracks and fill in any missing plaster. The purists will tell you that joint compound has a different texture than real plaster and is softer, so you should not use it. It does have a different texture and is softer, but so what? The paint will hide any differences. 8. We recommend against paper tape on cracks. What we use is nylon screening -- the stuff in screen doors. buy a role from your hardware store and cut it into 6" strips while it is still rolled up -- its easy to cut with normal shop shears or even your utility knife. Use this in place of nylon mesh tape -- it works better. We embed it in a thin coat of joint compound, then, when the first coat of mud has set, mud over it. Its wider footprint is better at stabilizing cracks than narrow nylon mesh tape. In fact, we have never had a repair fail using this method. Removing Layers of Paint from Interior Trim Definitely use a commercial stripping service if you have one in your area. At $1.00 - $2.00 per linear foot, the price is well worth not having to deal with the mess of stripping in place or on saw horses in your garage. After stripping be sure to sand with a fine sandpaper to remove the fuzzing that stripping causes. Good luck.

What are you trying to accomplish? A warmer shower? Or a warmer bathroom? Or both? Radiant towel warmers are popular in Europe and in coastal regions here in the US. They also act as a space heater for bathrooms. You can keep the heat turned down in the house yet wake up to a warm bathroom. Here's a clip from a DIY website (the hydronic types can be installed INSIDE your shower): Also called "drying rails," towel warmers have the added benefit of keeping damp towels from becoming mildewed, and can also be used to warm up baby blankets or quilts on chilly nights. They also offer a great place to safely dry delicates such as lingerie. Towel warmers generate radiating, gentle warmth that can even serve double-duty as a primary or secondary source of heat in the bathroom. There are two main types of towel warmers: electric and hydronic. Electric towel warmers heat up using an internal electric heating element, much like a curling iron, while hydronic units connect directly to a home's hot water heater. Electric warmers can be freestanding units plugged into a standard wall outlet or they can be integrated into a home's wiring like any other built-in home appliance. In some high-end bathrooms, towels, robes and slippers are warmed in specially heated, pull-out drawers, hardwired into the bathroom vanity. Both freestanding and drawer electric warmers heat up in about 15 to 20 minutes. Plug-in, floor units are the most affordable way to bring warm towels into a bathroom. Models start at about $100 and come in a variety of styles, colors and finishes. One advantage is that they can be moved into other rooms as needed, but they can take up valuable floor space in smaller bathrooms. Wall-mounted electric units come in both plug-in and hardwired versions, and each is available in a variety of styles and finishes. They range in price from $200 to $800. One popular option is the swiveling, wall-mounted towel warmer, like those offered by WarmaTowel, which allow you to pull the rails out when you want to use them, but also to swivel them flat against the wall to conserve bathroom space. Wall-mounted warmers are also available in a variety of fun, novelty designs, ranging from guitars to hearts. Wesaunard's Creative Line of towel warmers offers a range of specialty looks. Although most warming drawers are actually designed for kitchen use, they are easily adaptable to bathroom installation as a towel warmer. Warming drawers start at about $600, installed, but may also require the purchase of a new vanity cabinet to safely house the electric warmer. Some brands, including Jenn-Air's designer collection, come with a choice of front panels, allowing you to easily integrate your new appliance with your overall bath design. Hydronic units require a more involved, professional installation by a plumber, with a return line to connect to valves and a pump to circulate the warmed water through the unit. The cost of hydronic units can range into the thousands of dollars, depending on design and finish. However, hydronic units have several distinct advantages. They warm up in under five minutes and because they don't have electric heating elements, they can be located in areas where they might get really wet, like next to a bubbly hot tub or a walk-in steam shower. Hydronic units are often used as attractive, efficient heat sources in the bathroom, with some higher-end models designed to look like the type of radiator found in classic European hotels, such as those by Myson. Both electric and hydronic towel warmers are relatively energy efficient bathroom luxuries, costing between 25 and 60 cents per day if left on continually. But many models come with a programmable timer, allowing homeowners to wake to freshly warmed, fluffy towels each morning, while saving on their utility bills.