Remember when people could afford to have experts do that kind of stuff?
Ugh, now all I can afford is “not me” to install them. Not experts that’s for sure.
(this is not a joke, not really).
Lately it seems like there’s two tiers with the first being guy who watched a video on youtube and the second being true expert but with a huge chasm of price differential and next to nothing in between.
And then there’s you did everything you possibly could yourself and you did your best and saved tons of money, but now you actually do need to pay someone to do the thing you don’t trust yourself to do so you saved money just for the thing, but no contractor will agree to come do the thing because demand is high and they would rather do commercial projects. So yeah… You can’t even pay a pro and you’re just fucked 🤷
That’s what happens when no one goes into trades and everyone wants to be a manager or “work in IT or with computers.”
Two of my friends are excellent tradesmen and they make a fabulous living. And they always have work and no student loans. They’re living really great lives and are very content.
KEEP CRANKING THAT HOG BROTHER AROOOOOO
one of the best things about slab living is no need for heavy underlayment. a simple sheet of waterproof paper or plastic suffices thereby minimizing any flex in your flooring of choice.
Yeah, but the downside is everything else about it.
yeah environmental factor play a more accurate part to slab care than a pier/beam setup. if you live in a waterbed zone with lots of clay and lots of rain, a slab can be a headache to maintain
It also has serious downsides in terms of:
- Lack of basement or crawlspace living/storage space
- Difficult to modify plumbing & electrical
- Have to run HVAC through the attic
- Low finished floor height off the ground (bad for drainage)
- had a basement in a previous house. a catchall that was a pain to clear out when i moved.
- plumbing encased in concrete lasts longer than pvc above ground under your house. had that too.
- ac was already here when i got here and it is an aftermarket setup consisting of a simple split system. costs about 8k new. approx 5 yrs old when i got it. 4’s why we bulid on elevated ground where possible. and once there, dont have to worry about falling through the floor due to wet rot or insect damage.
His in swish with this 1970s asbestos linoleum