When applying grout to tile, you’re supposed to wait 15-30 minutes before wiping the grout of the tile while leaving the grout between each tile. This is easier said that done. No matter how good you are, you’ll probably be left with a thin layer of grout on your tile. If you use a light-colored grout on light-colored tile, you won’t notice the haze except at certain angles in certain lighting. The haze can resemble hard water stains. If you use a dark-colored grout on light tile or a light-colored grout on dark tile, the haze is more prominent, and your tile can look dirty. See example below.
Before
You can try to scrub with soap or even a steam cleaner, but that will have zero effect. Luckily, there is an amazing chemical product that can relatively easily remove the grout haze from tile. With Aqua Mix 1 Qt. Cement Grout Haze Remover by Custom Building Products, you just mix the liquid with water, pour some one the tile, wait a while, then rub the haze off. For tougher haze, don’t mix with water. In my case, I poured the liquid at full strength without adding water into a spray bottle, sprayed the liquid on the tile, then wiped the haze off with a rag. As most comments say on the Home Depot product page, this stuff is “amazing”!
To easily remove weeds from control joints in your concrete driveway, use an angle grinder with a wire wheel. I use a 4.5″ Ryobi brushed, cordless angle grinder. Don’t use a brushless angle grinder because it can’t be used for this purpose. I prefer using a knotted wire wheel. A non-knotted wire wheel works as well, but I find it better for cleaning control joints after removing large weeds using the knotted one.
To prevent kickback, stand and drag the tool to the right as shown in the photo below.
If the angle grinder flange lock nut is stuck, use either a pipe wrench or a thin wrench to unlock it. For convenience, clamp the angle grinder to a stationary vise.
Whether you hire a contractor directly or you are assigned one from your home warranty company, it’s important to check a number of things to prevent regret and liabilities. This is especially important when you are assigned a contractor from a warranty company because, speaking from personal experience, contractors who partner with home warranty companies tend to cut corners and behave unprofessionally, as I have experienced this multiple times.
1. Check License Status
Licensed contractors are registered with the state. Check the status of their license on the Contractor State Licensing Board (CSLB)’s website. It should state whether their license is active, suspended, or revoked. If it’s suspended or revoked, they probably didn’t do a good job and it’s illegal for them to do work they were licensed for, so stay away from them. For example, here’s the contractor page for Loves Air and their license status.
2. Check Classification, Bond, and Worker’s Comp Info
On the contractor’s page on the CSLB website, you should also check the contractor’s work classification, bond, and worker’s compensation info. Here’s an example for Loves Air.
2. Check Online Reviews
If you are looking for a reputable contractor or are assigned one, read their online reviews, e.g. on websites like Yelp. For example, compare the reviews of Loves Air to T N T Heating & Air, both of which are HVAC contractors. Don’t just look at the number of reviews and the average rating. Read past customer comments as well and how the company responds to customers.
This company got only 2.7 stars from 59 reviews. After reading customer comments, it’s obvious that you should stay very far away from this company. Here’s a response from the owner to a customer’s comment. This tone and choice of words says it all.
Unsurprisingly, this company was chosen by many home warranty companies.
4. Check building permit history
Go to your local government (city / county) website and search for building permits associated with the contractor. For example, T N T Heating & Air serves Modesto, Stockton, and other neighboring cities. If I go to the City of Stockton’s Building Permit website, click on Search Permits, and enter the contractor’s license number, I can see the status of all permits for that contractor. If the permit status is “issued”, that just means the contractor successfully submitted a permit application and can begin work. Once the work is complete, the contractor is supposed to schedule an appointment for the city inspector to inspect the work and either approve the work or disapprove of it with a list of things that need to be fixed. If the inspector approves the work, then status changes to “Finaled”. If the contractor never got the work inspector or approved and a certain period of time passes, then the status changes to “Expired permit”.
In the example below, we see that the contractor has 2 “issued” permits, which are recent, followed by 6 expired permits since 2019. This indicates that the contractor likely repeatedly just got a permit issued but never got an approved inspection, which is illegal. This is a huge red flag. Stay away from such contractors.
5. Get Multiple Quotes
Some contractors will give free quotes. Others will charge a nominal fee. Either way, try to get multiple quotes with a clear breakdown of parts, materials, and labor. Sadly, many contractors don’t like to provide a breakdown because it exposes their outrageous markups. Nevertheless, even if you don’t get a detailed breakdown, at least you’ll know at a high level the main things you’d be getting (or not getting). If a contractor’s quote is outrageous or doesn’t make sense compared to other quotes, then you’ll probably want to skip that contractor.
One of my rental properties is a triplex in Stockton, California. The roof uses standard residential shingles and has an area of about 4000 square feet. I got a roof replacement quote from a licensed contractor that specializes in roofing on May 10, 2023, for $28,270. Here are the details:
Tear off existing 1 layer of composition roofing
Any dry rot will be an extra charge to replace. Dry rot repair labor rate is $85.00 per hour per man plus material.
Roofing will be limited lifetime Certainteed Landmark Solaris cool shingle over one layer of Certainteed Roof Runner synthetic underlayment.
Venting per title 24 codes. 11 intake vents and 11 exhaust vents.
New pipe flashing painted to match roof color.
Certainteed Sure-Start 4 Star Warranty (10-yr. labor warranty % 50-year material warranty)
New TPO membrane roofing in dead valley
Includes building permit and dump fees.
New 5″ gutters with new down leaders an extra $3700
I got a quote from an all-purpose contractor who could do the job for $26,000. Here are the details:
Replace roof with California Cool shingles
Replace any dry rot
Underlayment would be felt paper, not synthetic underlayment
Since I think these quotes are outrageous, I decided to replace the roof myself with some friends, one of whom happens to be a roofer. Here’s how I did it.
Set up a ladder
A ladder must be on the job site for the Building Inspector’s use. The ladder must be set up to meet the following minimum standards.
The ladder shall meet OSHA Standards and be rated a minimum of 250 lbs.
Find a level, hard, slip-resistant spot on the ground free of debris to set the ladder feet on.
The ladder shall extend no less than 36 inches above the edge of the roof at the point providing access and secured (tied off).
Place the feet of the ladder at a distance of 1⁄4 the height of the ladder away from the building. In other words, if the ladder is 8 feet tall, place the bottom of the ladder 2 feet away from the building. If the ladder is 12 feet tall, place the bottom 3 feet from the building.
If you have a gutter, slip a 2 x 4 into it to keep it from being crushed by the ladder.
Note: Inspectors will not walk on tile roof coverings or pitches exceeding 5/12. Ladders are still required for access to the roof edge for these inspections. If a ladder is not provided or if the ladder does not meet the minimum requirements listed above, the inspection will be canceled. If a second inspection request is canceled for lack of access, a reinspection fee will be issued.
To measure the roof area, I took a screenshot of the roof from a satellite view in Google Maps. I then annotated the roof with letters, printed out the image, and took it with me on the roof.
Tear Off: Yes You can have up to 2 layers of shingles. If you have one layer, you can add another layer on top of the first layer. If you have 2 layers, then you’ll need to tear off both layers. I had one layer, but I decided to just tear it off anyway.
Resheet: No Resheeting is to replace all plywood under the shingles.
Structure: Main Structure
Original Roofing Material: 30yr Laminated Dimensional Composition
New Roof Material Product Information: Cool Roof CRRC ID 0676-0133,
Area: 45 squares (1 square = 100 sqft)
Conditioned Space: No A conditioned space is a space between the roof and the ceiling that is air conditioned to be hot or cold.
Roof slope < 2:12 pitch? No Most residential roofs in California have between a 4/12 and 9/12 slope. Roofs with a pitch exceeding 9/12 are called steep slope roofs.
Reroof less than 50% of the entire roof area: No
Once you get your permit, you must post it on the building. The city inspector will look for it when they come to inspect the work.
Inspections
According to the permit, one inspection is required and some are depending on need.
On the permit, there will be a form for the inspection to fill out for each inspection type.
In my case, I don’t think the special inspection (019) is needed, but the other two are needed.
The permit also indicates that the following inspections are needed:
After removal of existing roofing for the plywood deck inspection.
After new plywood or OSB sheathing is installed for the nailing inspection.
After the project is complete for the final inspection
Inspections can be scheduled online at Stocktonca.gov/scheduleInspection. When you enter your permit ID, you’ll see some inspection options.
For the inspections, I would choose 015 Roof.
Inspections will occur between 7:30 AM and 4:00 PM. When you schedule an inspection, you can request an AM time window (7:30 AM to 12 PM) or a PM time window (12 – 4 PM) in the “Notes to inspector” field.
UPDATE: After scheduling the first inspection, the city inspector called and said that
he’d be at the site between 11 AM and 1 PM
the City of Stockton doesn’t require in-progress inspections, just final inspections.
So, I canceled the in-progress inspection and will just schedule one final inspection when the roof is complete.
Remove old roof
You’ll need to remove the old shingles and the underlayment (tar paper or synthetic underlayment).
You may also need to remove old roofing materials in places like the dead valley. In my case, there was a metal sheet and old TPO material.
If the fascia boards are rotten, you should remove and replace them as well. Use a pry bar and a metal-cutting blade to cut nails holding the fascia board in place.
For long pieces of fascia board on the 2nd story, you’ll need multiple workers laying down on the roof and leaning over to pull the boards off.
When disposing of the old roof, it’s easiest to park a dump truck in the driveway so you can throw the old roof materials from the roof into the truck. You can rent dump trailers from Home Depot, but then you need a truck to haul the trailer and you need a driver. Also, the trailers at Home Depot may not be available when you need them. In my case, I hired a guy who has a dump truck.
When you’re at the dump, you can just dump the garbage mechanically rather than by hand.
Buy new roof materials
I bought 15 pieces of 2x6x16′ wood for the fascia. You can find boards as long as 20′. However, some edges are longer than 20′, so you’d still have to splice two pieces together, which can be done using a galvanized tie plate.
I also bought 9 sheets of 4×8 OSB plywood to replace any rotten parts of the roof deck.
Paint fascia boards
Make sure to paint the fascia boards before installing them, including the ends after making any cuts. Paint protects the wood and delays rotting.
Install fascia boards
Installing the fascia boards is also a multi-person job.
Nails are shot into the wood using a pneumatic nail gun.
Static roof vents allow air to escape from the attic. Often multiple static roof vents are needed to adequately ventilate the attic. Roof vents should be evenly spaced across the roof and installed just below the peak of the roof where heated air will rise. Learn more.
Adjustable-color LED Light Bulbs (This is for the sconces. I set the color to pink.)
Uplights (This one on Amazon lets you change the color of the light) In the picture above, I just have one behind the sofa with a soft white (yellow) light.
LED Light Strip (I got mine from Costco. You can adjust the color.) In the picture above, this is the blue light behind the TV.
1.5 RPM Speed Disco Ball Motor(I chose a speed of 1.5 RPM. Faster speeds make the lights move too quickly, which is distracting and headache-inducing)
Spot Light (This is for the mirror ball. I bought this one because it allows me to adjust the aperture size / spot diameter.) In the picture above, I put it on the ottoman facing up to light up the mirror ball.
Northern Galaxy Light Aurora Projector (In the video above, I set the color to red (R) and blue (B) and disabled the green “star” lights. It’s on the ottoman and illuminates the ceiling).
If you need to fasten a cable to a wall, you might be tempted to use a plastic cable clamp like one of these.
These are fine if you need to fasten just one cable to an interior wall. If you need to fasten a cable outside where it can be exposed to the sun or if you need to fasten multiple cables, then these plastic clamps won’t work. The sun will make them crack. What you can do instead is use zip ties with a zip tie base. There are even releasable zip ties.
Releasable zip ties
You can find zip tie base mounts with 4.5mm openings and 9mm openings to accommodate zip ties of different widths.
Zip tie base mount
Just screw the base mount to a wall.
Slide a zip tie through the opening.
and fasten some cables. Trim the zip tie if desired.
The cables will be tight, and the zip ties should last longer than those flimsy plastic cable clamps.
I recently added a slab of concrete in the backyard of one of my rentals. Unfortunately, I made some mistakes along the way. Specifically,
I removed too much dirt from the area where the slab would go
I could have paid less for a contractor to do the concrete work
I should have verified the quality of the contractor’s work
Preparing the Foundation
We first removed a lot of dirt and gravel by scooping it into some buckets. We did this so the 3.5″-thick concrete slab would be level with the existing concrete slab.
I rented a pick-up truck from U-haul and put tarp on the truck bed to protect it. This also made cleanup easier because I could pull the tarp off the truck along with any remaining dirt on it.
Driving with a full load of dirt made the truck swerve slightly at higher speeds so we took local roads to go to the city dump.
At the dump, we just shoveled the dirt onto the ground. The problem was the cost to dump dirt and gravel. If I had paid by weight, the cost would have been about $500. The clerk instead calculated the cost by volume, which lowered the cost to $372.
After making one trip, I regrettably thought I needed to remove more dirt and gravel. So, we made another trip and I spent another $372. After creating the wood form for the concrete slab, we realized that we had removed too much dirt, which meant I needed 2.5 times the amount of concrete I should have needed.
Getting Quotes
I called around to get quotes from concrete contractors. The slab dimensions would be 9′ x 15.5′ (140 sq ft). The first contractor quoted me $2000, but then lowered it to $1700. He quoted me without seeing the work area.
The second contractor came to see the work area and then quoted me $1500. That meant his rate was $1500/140 = $10.71 / sqft. According to one source, the cost in the California Bay Area to install a concrete slab including materials and delivery is between $8 to $14 / sqft. Therefore, I went and chose the 2nd contractor and paid $10.71 / sq ft.
Creating the Concrete Slab Form
The contractor came and created the wood form. I first compacted the soil using a hand tamper and put down some pond liner where the edge of the concrete would be. Half of the pond liner would be under the concrete. The other half would be under rocks or mulch. The reason for doing this is so that weeds don’t grow along the edge. I left a 30″ gap between the old concrete slab and the new one for rainwater to drain into the ground.
This is when I realized that I had removed too much dirt and gravel. I wanted the top of the new concrete slab to be level with the existing concrete slab in the backyard. Using a level, the contractor drove a wood stake into the ground and marked on it where the top of the 2×4 wood form would go. Screws were screwed through the vertical stakes into the 2x4s. Wood stakes were also used at an angle. This was necessary because without them, the weight of the concrete could push the vertical stakes and cause a deformity in the form. As you can see in the photo below, too much dirt and gravel had been removed, so the contractor had to put another 2×4 below the first set of 2x4s. This resulted in a slab thickness that was approximately 3.5″ x 2 = 7″ (one 2×4 is actually 1.5″ x 3.5″). That’s twice as much as is needed for a standard slab and therefore twice the amount of concrete would be needed.
Furthermore, I wanted the slab to slightly slope towards the long edge so that rainwater could flow into the ground rather than puddle on the slab and weaken it (concrete is porous). To determine the slope, the contractor used a level on the 2×4 and tilted it slightly before screwing it into the wood stakes. Then, he used a red chalk string to snap a line on the wall, marking the desired height of the slab along the wall. Since the red chalk wasn’t clear, he went over parts of it with a black marker as shown below.
Lay Rebar
To reinforce the concrete, the contractor added rebar. He cut the rebar with a reciprocating saw and metal blade.
They then tied the rebar together in what appeared to be plastic-coated wires or electrical (romex) cable.
Pour Concrete
Instead of buying a bunch of bags of concrete and mixing them with water, the contractor ordered a truck to come and deliver premixed concrete.
The premixed concrete flowed down a channel into a wheelbarrow.
One person transferred the concrete to the work area while the other used a trowel to trowel the concrete.
Occasionally, they’d pull the rebar up so that it would settle in the middle of the slab rather than at the bottom.
After pouring all the concrete and moving it into place using a hand trowel, this is how it looked.
The contractor then used a float attached to a pole to create a smooth surface. If necessary, he would spray a mist of water to soften the concrete.
On the truck, the concrete supplier could see how much concrete was supplied. As you can see below, I needed a total volume of 2.66 cubic yards. People in the business would just say “yards”, which makes no sense since that’s a measure of length rather than volume. What they really mean is cubic yards.
The unit cost of concrete is $169 / cu yd (cubic yard). Fortunately, the concrete supplier put down 2.5 cu yds rather than 2.66 cu yds to save me a little money. Had I not removed so much dirt and gravel, I could have only needed 1 cu yd for a 3.5″ thick slab. Instead, the resulting slab is now 6 to 6.5″ thick.
For small loads, the concrete supplier charges an extra $80 for 1 to 2.75 cu yds or $60 for 3 to 4.75 cu yds. Again, the supplier gave me a small discount by only charging me an extra $60 instead of $80. Then, there’s the delivery fee, which costs $80. The total cost for just the concrete was $607.91.
For comparison, if you buy bags of concrete at Home Depot, transport it yourself, and mix it with water, you’d pay $612.80 + 10% tax = $674 for the same 2.66 cu yds (72 cu feet) of concrete.
The concrete supplier cleaned his truck and washed the surrounding area.
The contractor then used an edging trowel to create a rounded edge.
He also used a special tool to create a control joint line.
Once the concrete dries a bit, he’ll give the concrete surface a brushed texture so it’s not slippery smooth. Then, tomorrow, he’ll remove the wood form.
Smoothen Uneven Spots
Unfortunately, the contractor didn’t do a good job. There were some uneven areas that drove me crazy. To fix this, I used a 7″ concrete grinder.
7″ Dust Shroud I bought the Dustless Technologies 7 in. Universal Dust Shroud Pro for Angle Grinders from Home Depot. It’s a bit expensive, but it works better than others I’ve tried.
N95 Face Mask and/or Neck Gaiter and/or Balaclava Despite using a powerful shop vac, some dust will still escape. Wear an N95 face mask like this one coupled with a neck gaiter or a balaclava.
Rubber Strip and Hose Clamps To prevent the shop vac hose from detaching from the angle grinder, I wrapped a 2″-wide rubber strip around the connection and clamped it using two hose clamps.
Knee pads You will be on your knees when grinding concrete. Wear knee pads. I like this one on Amazon.
IMPORTANT: concrete dust is very dangerous if inhaled! Always wear protection.
N95 maskN95 mask with neck gaiter for added protectionN95 face mask and balaclava for even better protection
When grinding concrete, move relatively quickly and in a circular motion to avoid creating uneven spots.
Etch the Surface
Raw concrete doesn’t look that great. To beautify it, I’ll apply some epoxy to it. In order for the epoxy to stick, the smooth surface needs to be etched. The easiest way to do this is by renting a flooring tool with the Diamabrush concrete prep attachment. In my case, the surface wasn’t smooth, so I was able to skip this step.
Apply Epoxy
Since cars will not go on my slab, I’ll apply some 1-part epoxy. I like this one in silver gray:
Before applying epoxyAfter applying epoxy (it was still wet)
Lessons Learned
For some reason, it costs more to dispose of dirt and gravel at the dump than it is to be supplied the same amount of premixed concrete, including delivery.
Before removing dirt, create the wood form first so you’ll know how much dirt to remove. The concrete slab need only be 3.5″ thick.
Since I paid $608 for the concrete, assuming the other materials (2×4 lumber and wood stakes) cost $42 (conservative estimate), then that means I paid the contractors (2 people) $1500 – $608 – $42 = $850 for pretty much one day of actual work. So, each contractor got $425 a day or $425 / 5 hours = $85 an hour. That’s a high hourly rate. However, all concrete contractors charge a high rate even though the number of hours worked is low. Next time I’ll ask for a quote for the labor only since now I know the costs for the materials.
The quality of the contractor’s work was poor. There were uneven spots and the concrete was mostly level rather than slightly sloping in one direction for water runoff. There was also one lower area where water would puddle. Next time, verify the quality of the contractor’s work.
The way it works is you clamp the clamp onto your eaves, secure the hooks to the hole on the clamp, then wrap the straps around your ladder, securing it using the hook and loop velcro.
It’s a simple idea, but the price is $90. It just went on sale for $56, but that still seems overpriced. Not sure why Harbor Freight hasn’t created a cheaper alternative.
Anyway, you can probably make your own for much less by just using
For an easy-to-transport ladder, this telescoping ladder ($160) is great.
If you need this for your own home and there is one spot you would always use to get on the roof, and if you want a more secure solution, replace the C-clamp with a large screw eye or eye bolt with nut and use the ratchet straps instead of the cam buckle strap.
screw eyeeye bolt with nutI just used one cam buckle strap.
