Ever wondered how a top-notch construction site operates? Join Chris Kirby and dive into the world of residential construction excellence, where a meticulously crafted job site checklist transforms chaos into a symphony of efficiency. We're talking spick-and-span sites, laser-focused safety protocols, and crews that epitomize professionalism, right down to the volume of their tunes. Hear first-hand how we're raising the bar in accountability, ensuring our teams aren't just hitting the mark—they're soaring beyond it. Plus, don't miss the 'shop talk' that zooms in on the finesse of subfloor leveling, a challenge that can make or break the foundation of your dream home.
But hold onto your hard hats, because the journey doesn't end there. We're bringing in the heavy artillery with an on-site interior design evaluation, where form meets function under the watchful eye of a designer-turned-project-manager. These design maestros navigate the maze of tiles, wall colors, and impeccably placed sconces, championing the client's vision at every turn. Discover how our in-house interior design guru meticulously orchestrates each element, sidestepping costly setbacks and ensuring the final masterpiece meets your highest expectations. Strap in for an episode that not only talks the talk but walks the walk in construction and design.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Homebuilding and Remodeling Show.
Let's go.
Welcome everybody to theHomebuilding and Remodeling Show
.
My name is Chris Kirby and I'llbe your host.
(00:21):
I am the owner of threeconstruction companies on the
Alabama Gulf Coast.
The show is about residentialconstruction.
We're going to cover topics ofhomebuilding and remodeling.
Are you thinking of doing aremodel or building a home?
Are you a contractor looking toimprove your knowledge base or
grow your business?
Have you ever done a remodelproject or built a home?
(00:42):
There were so many things youwish you knew or that you could
have done differently during theprocess.
Then this show is for you.
We break down the process ofbuilding and remodeling and how
to have the best results duringyour project.
Whether you are a DIYer lookingfor tips, someone looking to
hire a contractor to do aproject, or a contractor looking
(01:04):
to expand your knowledge baseor your business, welcome aboard
.
Glad to have you.
Stay tuned.
We kick off the show with mythoughts on homebuilding and
remodeling.
I'll share best practices andtalk about some of our
experiences in business and outin the field.
These shared thoughts andlessons learned are meant to
help you on your very ownjourney.
(01:25):
Let's go.
And what it is is things likekeeping the job site clean,
keeping the job site safe.
So there's actually 14 thingson this sheet and if they get
below a 10 out of the 14, whichwould be less than a 70, okay,
just, in any standard, a C is,you know, the standard.
(01:47):
So if they get less than that,once we implement this and
moving forward, we're gonna holdthem accountable for that,
because we do want to be betterin every aspect of construction
and we want this to be on thejob site.
So the client sees that there'san accountability for our crews
(02:08):
and that they're not just outthere doing less than what we
demonstrated should be expectedas the standard for hiring our
companies.
And so what we do is we go outthere and we check it off right
here.
You can see these lines day one, day two, and it doesn't have
to be days back to back.
It could be periodic check-insthroughout the project, but one
(02:32):
of our quality control peopleour quality control person will
go out and do this, or a projectmanager will go out and check
this off and make sure thatthey're just doing it.
It's got things like if they'replaying music, it should be at
a tolerable level.
Different stuff, and I went backand forth about implementing
(02:55):
something like this, becauseit's hard enough for people to
do construction at every day outin the field working.
They're working hard,especially demo days during
remodeling, and so you think,well, some people are gonna see
this and say, really, I don'tneed this.
This could be a little bit ofmicromanagement, but I want
(03:20):
people to look at this as youwork for a company who cares,
who cares about their client,who cares about the standard,
who cares about you know, thesedetails are going to make us
better, and so I want people wholook at this and say let's go.
This is the challenge and Iaccept it and I want to be
(03:41):
better.
I want to run my crew better.
I want my job site better,because sometimes they're out in
the field and they're justtheir head is in the work and
they're not always able to justbe mindful of this stuff.
So this just gives them alittle check sheet to make sure
that they're keeping up witheverything they need to Are your
tools in the right spot?
(04:02):
You know personal appearance,are you smoking or vaping within
a certain distance of the home?
So those are things that wecare about.
You know, and all of this comesfrom experience.
We've always, you know, raninto some issues or calls about
different details that are onthis checklist.
Again, you can get thistemplate if you become a
(04:24):
subscriber to our channel or toour page via Facebook or
Instagram, and then we'll put iton our series and TikTok.
But you can get access to thisand a lot more.
We also have some courses thatwe're going to do and share and,
again, just moving forward withthe mission that we want to
(04:45):
help other contractors, we wantto help other businesses get
better, and we're just sharingsome of the things that we are
actively doing in our companiesto do that.
So, job site checklist you cankeep it simple, start simple,
just have something that holdsyour cruise.
If it's you, it helps you aswell just to be mindful of
(05:08):
certain things, to hold astandard while you're out there
doing your work, and so this isa.
This is an easy way to do itJust make a little checklist and
since we have multiple crews Ibelieve we have five crews so we
put this on each job, put alittle lanyard on it.
We'll go down the checklist.
We'll have quality control runthrough this checklist when
they're out and about on the jobsites to make sure that
(05:31):
everything is as expected, andyou know, then we're going to
hold them accountable if it'snot, and also we're going to
reward them if it is, becausethat's what we care about the
most.
We don't want it to always justbe daunting and a negative thing
.
This helps us, it helps themand that's why we did it.
And now we move into shop talk.
(05:53):
It's the portion of the showwhere I bring in a co-host and
we cover trending topics in homebuilding and remodeling.
Hope you enjoy, let's go and wedo that quite frequently, even
on so on concrete especially,but like on a subfloor, is there
, is there, is the subflooralways level, and how do you get
(06:14):
that to where you're up?
Speaker 2 (06:17):
On subfloors.
This wood is framed up and it'susually level, but some of
these old homes that we go inwith subfloors part of the house
is settled.
We'll have to.
The best way is to raise it upbecause you don't want to put
concrete on wood.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Let me ask this, though in those spots where,
let's just say, we've replaced alot of the floor, we've put
down, we've put down wood I'veseen it where where that the
butt joint is right, you canhave some issues there.
Do you sand those seams, do youdo anything to those, or are
you just putting down some typeof barrier and and going over
(06:57):
that Tell?
Speaker 2 (06:58):
them to apply wood.
Apply wood.
One size is going to be tongueand groove Should be pretty
level.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I bet I've seen where it's not so or where they put
it so tight together that you'vegot a little raised edge right
at the seam of the plywood and alot of people they will just
assume that it's level andsometimes it's not.
You've got a little hung there.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
You put like an LVP or something like that.
Over time that stuff's going tofill it.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
All right, and then for me, I need the most thing.
I'd pop those seams.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Sand it down or shim one up.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Make sure to level you established at the floor's
level.
What I'm saying there on thatpart is, before you even start
your prep, if you're on concrete, use self-leveler.
If you're on a subfloor, youdefinitely still need to make
sure that the floor is level andmake sure that where your seams
(07:56):
are, that those spots sometimescan have humps in them so you
might want to sand them down.
Just make sure that it'scompletely level before you
start actually putting yourfloor covering or your tile or
your mortar, whatever it is,because eventually it's going to
just like with LVP, you'regoing to have spots that are
(08:18):
humped and that'll crack andstuff like that.
If you go in, you've leveledout the floor, you're using
self-leveler.
What is self-leveler?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
So self-leveler is like a concrete, but it's real
thin and when you pour it andyou kind of trowel it around and
it'll level itself out.
You know what I mean.
It's a very nice, smoothusually.
Most time what we use it for iswhen we jackhammer tile that's
been stuck for years and andwe'll put big gouges and and in
(08:49):
the concrete.
We use it to coat the flooringto make sure it's all one smooth
surface.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Gotcha, and are you able to just kind of lay it?
Do you have to spread it ordoes it kind of gravitate on its
own?
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Gravitates on its own .
But you gotta you work itaround for it out and then it
would either like a trowel orwould it Alright.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
So you're working that and you get the floor level
and you got to check it, thoughonce it's done You're coming in
there right with the Two footfour foot, whatever level.
You're checking it.
I got your floor level now.
Then what's your next step?
This is all a part of the, theroughen phase I think we kind of
skipped over.
Before floor prep.
(09:28):
If you have to do plumbing,move, so part of your roughen
when with us we use sleuterright.
So before you start framing up,putting back the shower,
putting in knee walls, you haveto establish where the niche
goes right niche where yourniche is.
If there's multiple are gonnacome.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
When we're putting a shower together, first thing is
we get the drain where it'sgonna go.
Yeah, so if you're in a tubcenter or offset or if it's
linear, wherever it's gonna go.
Plumber's got to do that.
We go ahead and get the valve,all the rough end plumbing done,
and then we'll be with thecustomer, usually because they
(10:09):
want their niches where it'sgonna be the best for them to
operate in their shower.
We'll get that location, get itset in because it's a pre-made
box, and then we'll put oursetter pan and then start
putting our KERDI board on thewalls.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
And that's a foam board.
The KERDI board that we use isa foam board.
If you don't know where, weused to use what's called Dura
rock, which is a cement backerboard and with red guard, but
now the sleuter has Differentcomponents that are supposed to
work with it.
The KERDI board, the KERDIbands and all of that stuff go
(10:46):
together Into one system, rightfor your waterproofing, and
there's now.
Is there certain Settingmaterials that you have to use
for this stuff?
Speaker 2 (10:56):
You got to use the sleuter, we use the all set all
set and it's awesome.
It's great.
Yeah, pretty good.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
It's real fluffy, easy to work and so you go in
and you waterproof, you use thestrips on your corners, right,
you're putting down, you've gotthe, the curb right up, all
right, and you've set your pan,plumbers come in.
He's moved to drain.
Now sometimes you have to moveyour, your valves right, your
manifold, depending on whatyou're doing.
(11:25):
If you went from a tub to now astanding shower, so you'll move
that stuff and then you'll putin the Nitches where they go,
right, right, waterproof,everything's there.
Now what do you do after thatpart?
Oh, and then, and also theelectricians, depending on how
(11:47):
the shower would or how thebathroom was laid out before.
If you've moved the shower tothe complete opposite side, or
you took out a linen closet andmade it a shower, you've opened
up that space, but now you wantto close that shower in the
lighting might be off, right, Ihave to do some light moves that
(12:08):
fan different things like that,correct?
Speaker 2 (12:11):
right, if we're working on a shower, the
electrician and typically he'llbe in there while our guys are
doing the shower, moving hisselect for the bathroom space
and Then after the shower orjump to that, but you, after you
put all your waterproofing andeverything, you wanna fill your
(12:31):
pan Water test it.
And water.
Test it overnight, make sureit's not leaking.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
What does that look like?
What talk to us about watertesting your pan.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Okay, so they sell plugs.
Put it in your drain, fill itup.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
And usually leave it shy of the top of the cart.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
The way you mean you don't wanna flood the bathroom.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Now it's there, is it even?
And all of the water being theexact same spot?
Speaker 2 (12:57):
How do you mark it Over and what's the I always
mark it overnight, as long asyou're didn't lose over roughly
about a quarter inch causeyou're gonna get evaporation, so
as long as you didn't losequarter to half inch.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
And then so you water tested that and you wanna do
this before you start.
The guitar, and the reason forthat is if you, once you start
putting down there order andstart laying your tile, that's
it.
Now, if there's something wrong, you're pulling all that up.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Yes, so you usually, if it does leak, you can spot
where it's coming from and youcan address it before you get
too far into it.
Gotcha, especially with likethe KERDI system that band, the
it's a waterproofing membrane.
It's real thin.
If you're trialing it on, youcan accidentally slide.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Ah, you can stuff it, tuck it or pull it without
trialing.
All right, fit two for the dayAlways Water test, flood test,
whatever you wanna call it.
Now we're gonna move into theportion of the show where we
talk interior design.
We're gonna bring in aninterior designer and we're
gonna talk trending design andproducts.
(14:13):
Hope you enjoy, let's go.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
But now we're getting a lot, now that our showroom
actually carries a lot of theRichie Lou hardware and they had
different tones of gold onthere.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Shout out Richie Lou, yeah, you, if you so you've had
tones of gold.
Yes, you're working with.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
that's why and if you're in our showroom, that
almost makes it easier, becausewe know immediately what it's
gonna look like.
Yeah, they visualize it.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
They can come in and see yeah, let's talk about
another scenario, so that's justone.
And where you said another bestpractice or tip is don't be in
such a rush as a designer toorder that material without
reading the reviews.
Right, and what are some of thethings that color like the
color is off.
(15:04):
It's not as it.
So do people put that in theirproduct reviews?
It's not as display or-.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
And you gotta be careful.
Everybody is different too, soreviews are gonna be-.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Sure Fluid yes.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
If that's a very, very exciting.
Yeah, I mean everybody'sdifferent.
You just have to wait for real,like you're looking for a
little bit like, and if there'senough of it, if people are
repeating the same thing, thislooks nothing like the hardware
color.
I mean it's pretty obvious.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
So read those.
So it's like, if everythingseems okay, you press order, it
comes in and let's just say it'sright Now.
As the interior designer,you've been through that entire
process.
Are you there for installation,cause stuff happens during that
time.
I got a same job going in Mondayand I'm gonna be there Going in
(15:55):
see, I love how the Courtney isout right now on an install to
watch it be installed and justbe accountable right, because a
lot of the times as we're goingthrough the construction, the
designer we've talked about thisis really the advocate and they
are the client advocate in whatyou've shown.
The client needs to come true.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Right.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
And so you're there, because and we've had it we had
a niche recently that we werequestioning location, our
construction guys, where theyput it.
Where it actually ended upbeing was maybe a little bit
different.
So it is important for you toevaluate and be on site.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
You can never communicate too much.
Tile layout, wall color.
I've literally gone to Homesand put wall color on every
single wall.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
I mean because Priti has been through a project I've
seen and she literally writes onthe wall.
She'll write notes and stuffpre-demo.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
You're wrong so fast.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Yeah, and that's what we appreciate and one of the
things that sometimes if you'rejust an individual interior
designer, you're a reallyproject managing at a certain
point and it can become dauntingto understand why you can't do
something or code or contractyour language.
So we've tried to merge theconcepts and we're still working
(17:20):
together on that, because thereare things that you may have in
the vision that in reality, ifyou give our guys a box of tile
and set it in a shower and say Ineed this installed, they're
gonna go to town right and theway that they I need it to be
installed the way that theythink.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
In Asia and I are gonna work on a little reel for
that.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
The tile layout Perfect because it is important
and you don't want tocontractors.
Here's a tip for you If you areworking with a designer and
constant communication is thekey but check their intentions.
Tile layout to a big one.
That can get you in realtrouble is the hardware
(18:03):
placement and mixing the knobsand handles and putting them in
the wrong spot, because ifyou've got super high-end custom
cabinets and you drill thoseholes for the wrong hardware,
you are going to cost yourselftime.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Right, right, and sconces are really big right now
too, especially in thebathrooms, and those have to be.
It's kind of ironic becausethat's something that you
wouldn't normally need to bepicked out before the rough-in
or whatever.
But the sconces come atdifferent heights and they come
in different lengths and widths,and you know, so for the Dickey
(18:41):
house I had to.
I was like Joey and we got tolock in these sconces because we
need to know where the rough-in.
Our electrician has to havethat for the four-way.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Correct, because some of the technical aspects of
that and this is, I mean,another tip we're just throwing
out some of the tips, but whenyou're looking at so the
electricians come in and they'regoing to place those boxes and
what she's saying is, whenyou're looking at ordering the
sconces or whatever hardware itis, those base plates for some
of those sconces are huge.
(19:12):
They may literally not fit inthe space, or they may be and
this is something that designersget very picky about If it
looks off right.
So if it's supposed to becentered and the base plate is
huge and it touches the ceiling,oh you guys get so aggravated.
Well we're trying to that.
We may as contractors, we maybe like, oh it looks good, and
(19:33):
you come in and be like Holymoly.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
We're trying to eliminate the Recovery process
too, right, and we don't wantour electricians time to go back
in and do that and they'regonna look at us and really be
upset.
Well, they're having becausenow you got drywall, now you got
to fix the drywall, now you gota textured drywall if it was
textured, repain all the sowe're.
We're trying not to open a canof worms so the more.
(19:59):
But, like I said, that's,that's not.
I feel like just now, becauseit's trending so much with the
sconces, that wasn't the caseten years ago.
I don't see, really a lot ofpeople were having to consider
that yeah, and that wasn't onthe front end.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Okay, no, you had vanity lighting and stuff like
that, but not sconces like we'redoing.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
That we're doing time to think that through and to
pick out that lining.
But now there's instances likethat where you just really need
to know Some of those like weran into it on the, the small
cottage we did over inRobert'sdale.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Essentially, our electricians came in per plans,
put the boxes where they neededto go, the client purchased
their own lights for theexterior and the goose neck
Actually it was it could beinstalled because, the goose
neck.
Yep was too tall for the areaoutside.
I heard that and then see theydid it.
(20:52):
They did it right.
Did he do the same thing?
No, no, he did not.
They did not go with the designpackage Eliminated.
That would have been eliminated.
Maybe I want to call it butChristie with dangster catch
stuff like that.
It's the details, that is.
The details Are so great abouthaving and in-house interior
designer, so we'll wrap it upwith that.
(21:12):
Thank you for talking aboutmood boards, clue in us in on
how much they help and thengoing into detail and giving us
some tips.
And until next time, weappreciate you all watching.
Thanks, bye.
Thanks for joining us today.
As always, we are grateful forour listeners and your continued
support.
Please subscribe to our YouTubechannel, follow us on social
(21:36):
media via Facebook, instagramand tick tock, get more info at
our website,wwwthethombuildingshowcom and,
as always, remember who we arethe home building and remodeling
show.
The Homebuilding and Remodeling Show.
Let's go.
Welcome everybody to theHomebuilding and Remodeling Show
.
My name is Chris Kirby and I'llbe your host.
(00:21):
I am the owner of threeconstruction companies on the
Alabama Gulf Coast.
The show is about residentialconstruction.
We're going to cover topics ofhomebuilding and remodeling.
Are you thinking of doing aremodel or building a home?
Are you a contractor looking toimprove your knowledge base or
grow your business?
Have you ever done a remodelproject or built a home?
(00:42):
There were so many things youwish you knew or that you could
have done differently during theprocess.
Then this show is for you.
We break down the process ofbuilding and remodeling and how
to have the best results duringyour project.
Whether you are a DIYer lookingfor tips, someone looking to
hire a contractor to do aproject, or a contractor looking
(01:04):
to expand your knowledge baseor your business, welcome aboard
.
Glad to have you.
Stay tuned.
We kick off the show with mythoughts on homebuilding and
remodeling.
I'll share best practices andtalk about some of our
experiences in business and outin the field.
These shared thoughts andlessons learned are meant to
help you on your very ownjourney.
(01:25):
Let's go.
And what it is is things likekeeping the job site clean,
keeping the job site safe.
So there's actually 14 thingson this sheet and if they get
below a 10 out of the 14, whichwould be less than a 70, okay,
just, in any standard, a C is,you know, the standard.
(01:47):
So if they get less than that,once we implement this and
moving forward, we're gonna holdthem accountable for that,
because we do want to be betterin every aspect of construction
and we want this to be on thejob site.
So the client sees that there'san accountability for our crews
(02:08):
and that they're not just outthere doing less than what we
demonstrated should be expectedas the standard for hiring our
companies.
And so what we do is we go outthere and we check it off right
here.
You can see these lines day one, day two, and it doesn't have
to be days back to back.
It could be periodic check-insthroughout the project, but one
(02:32):
of our quality control peopleour quality control person will
go out and do this, or a projectmanager will go out and check
this off and make sure thatthey're just doing it.
It's got things like if they'replaying music, it should be at
a tolerable level.
Different stuff, and I went backand forth about implementing
(02:55):
something like this, becauseit's hard enough for people to
do construction at every day outin the field working.
They're working hard,especially demo days during
remodeling, and so you think,well, some people are gonna see
this and say, really, I don'tneed this.
This could be a little bit ofmicromanagement, but I want
(03:20):
people to look at this as youwork for a company who cares,
who cares about their client,who cares about the standard,
who cares about you know, thesedetails are going to make us
better, and so I want people wholook at this and say let's go.
This is the challenge and Iaccept it and I want to be
(03:41):
better.
I want to run my crew better.
I want my job site better,because sometimes they're out in
the field and they're justtheir head is in the work and
they're not always able to justbe mindful of this stuff.
So this just gives them alittle check sheet to make sure
that they're keeping up witheverything they need to Are your
tools in the right spot?
(04:02):
You know personal appearance,are you smoking or vaping within
a certain distance of the home?
So those are things that wecare about.
You know, and all of this comesfrom experience.
We've always, you know, raninto some issues or calls about
different details that are onthis checklist.
Again, you can get thistemplate if you become a
(04:24):
subscriber to our channel or toour page via Facebook or
Instagram, and then we'll put iton our series and TikTok.
But you can get access to thisand a lot more.
We also have some courses thatwe're going to do and share and,
again, just moving forward withthe mission that we want to
(04:45):
help other contractors, we wantto help other businesses get
better, and we're just sharingsome of the things that we are
actively doing in our companiesto do that.
So, job site checklist you cankeep it simple, start simple,
just have something that holdsyour cruise.
If it's you, it helps you aswell just to be mindful of
(05:08):
certain things, to hold astandard while you're out there
doing your work, and so this isa.
This is an easy way to do itJust make a little checklist and
since we have multiple crews Ibelieve we have five crews so we
put this on each job, put alittle lanyard on it.
We'll go down the checklist.
We'll have quality control runthrough this checklist when
they're out and about on the jobsites to make sure that
(05:31):
everything is as expected, andyou know, then we're going to
hold them accountable if it'snot, and also we're going to
reward them if it is, becausethat's what we care about the
most.
We don't want it to always justbe daunting and a negative thing
.
This helps us, it helps themand that's why we did it.
And now we move into shop talk.
(05:53):
It's the portion of the showwhere I bring in a co-host and
we cover trending topics in homebuilding and remodeling.
Hope you enjoy, let's go and wedo that quite frequently, even
on so on concrete especially,but like on a subfloor, is there
, is there, is the subflooralways level, and how do you get
(06:14):
that to where you're up?
Speaker 2 (06:17):
On subfloors.
This wood is framed up and it'susually level, but some of
these old homes that we go inwith subfloors part of the house
is settled.
We'll have to.
The best way is to raise it upbecause you don't want to put
concrete on wood.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Let me ask this, though in those spots where,
let's just say, we've replaced alot of the floor, we've put
down, we've put down wood I'veseen it where where that the
butt joint is right, you canhave some issues there.
Do you sand those seams, do youdo anything to those, or are
you just putting down some typeof barrier and and going over
(06:57):
that Tell?
Speaker 2 (06:58):
them to apply wood.
Apply wood.
One size is going to be tongueand groove Should be pretty
level.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I bet I've seen where it's not so or where they put
it so tight together that you'vegot a little raised edge right
at the seam of the plywood and alot of people they will just
assume that it's level andsometimes it's not.
You've got a little hung there.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
You put like an LVP or something like that.
Over time that stuff's going tofill it.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
All right, and then for me, I need the most thing.
I'd pop those seams.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Sand it down or shim one up.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Make sure to level you established at the floor's
level.
What I'm saying there on thatpart is, before you even start
your prep, if you're on concrete, use self-leveler.
If you're on a subfloor, youdefinitely still need to make
sure that the floor is level andmake sure that where your seams
(07:56):
are, that those spots sometimescan have humps in them so you
might want to sand them down.
Just make sure that it'scompletely level before you
start actually putting yourfloor covering or your tile or
your mortar, whatever it is,because eventually it's going to
just like with LVP, you'regoing to have spots that are
(08:18):
humped and that'll crack andstuff like that.
If you go in, you've leveledout the floor, you're using
self-leveler.
What is self-leveler?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
So self-leveler is like a concrete, but it's real
thin and when you pour it andyou kind of trowel it around and
it'll level itself out.
You know what I mean.
It's a very nice, smoothusually.
Most time what we use it for iswhen we jackhammer tile that's
been stuck for years and andwe'll put big gouges and and in
(08:49):
the concrete.
We use it to coat the flooringto make sure it's all one smooth
surface.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Gotcha, and are you able to just kind of lay it?
Do you have to spread it ordoes it kind of gravitate on its
own?
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Gravitates on its own .
But you gotta you work itaround for it out and then it
would either like a trowel orwould it Alright.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
So you're working that and you get the floor level
and you got to check it, thoughonce it's done You're coming in
there right with the Two footfour foot, whatever level.
You're checking it.
I got your floor level now.
Then what's your next step?
This is all a part of the, theroughen phase I think we kind of
skipped over.
Before floor prep.
(09:28):
If you have to do plumbing,move, so part of your roughen
when with us we use sleuterright.
So before you start framing up,putting back the shower,
putting in knee walls, you haveto establish where the niche
goes right niche where yourniche is.
If there's multiple are gonnacome.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
When we're putting a shower together, first thing is
we get the drain where it'sgonna go.
Yeah, so if you're in a tubcenter or offset or if it's
linear, wherever it's gonna go.
Plumber's got to do that.
We go ahead and get the valve,all the rough end plumbing done,
and then we'll be with thecustomer, usually because they
(10:09):
want their niches where it'sgonna be the best for them to
operate in their shower.
We'll get that location, get itset in because it's a pre-made
box, and then we'll put oursetter pan and then start
putting our KERDI board on thewalls.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
And that's a foam board.
The KERDI board that we use isa foam board.
If you don't know where, weused to use what's called Dura
rock, which is a cement backerboard and with red guard, but
now the sleuter has Differentcomponents that are supposed to
work with it.
The KERDI board, the KERDIbands and all of that stuff go
(10:46):
together Into one system, rightfor your waterproofing, and
there's now.
Is there certain Settingmaterials that you have to use
for this stuff?
Speaker 2 (10:56):
You got to use the sleuter, we use the all set all
set and it's awesome.
It's great.
Yeah, pretty good.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
It's real fluffy, easy to work and so you go in
and you waterproof, you use thestrips on your corners, right,
you're putting down, you've gotthe, the curb right up, all
right, and you've set your pan,plumbers come in.
He's moved to drain.
Now sometimes you have to moveyour, your valves right, your
manifold, depending on whatyou're doing.
(11:25):
If you went from a tub to now astanding shower, so you'll move
that stuff and then you'll putin the Nitches where they go,
right, right, waterproof,everything's there.
Now what do you do after thatpart?
Oh, and then, and also theelectricians, depending on how
(11:47):
the shower would or how thebathroom was laid out before.
If you've moved the shower tothe complete opposite side, or
you took out a linen closet andmade it a shower, you've opened
up that space, but now you wantto close that shower in the
lighting might be off, right, Ihave to do some light moves that
(12:08):
fan different things like that,correct?
Speaker 2 (12:11):
right, if we're working on a shower, the
electrician and typically he'llbe in there while our guys are
doing the shower, moving hisselect for the bathroom space
and Then after the shower orjump to that, but you, after you
put all your waterproofing andeverything, you wanna fill your
(12:31):
pan Water test it.
And water.
Test it overnight, make sureit's not leaking.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
What does that look like?
What talk to us about watertesting your pan.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Okay, so they sell plugs.
Put it in your drain, fill itup.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
And usually leave it shy of the top of the cart.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
The way you mean you don't wanna flood the bathroom.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Now it's there, is it even?
And all of the water being theexact same spot?
Speaker 2 (12:57):
How do you mark it Over and what's the I always
mark it overnight, as long asyou're didn't lose over roughly
about a quarter inch causeyou're gonna get evaporation, so
as long as you didn't losequarter to half inch.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
And then so you water tested that and you wanna do
this before you start.
The guitar, and the reason forthat is if you, once you start
putting down there order andstart laying your tile, that's
it.
Now, if there's something wrong, you're pulling all that up.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Yes, so you usually, if it does leak, you can spot
where it's coming from and youcan address it before you get
too far into it.
Gotcha, especially with likethe KERDI system that band, the
it's a waterproofing membrane.
It's real thin.
If you're trialing it on, youcan accidentally slide.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Ah, you can stuff it, tuck it or pull it without
trialing.
All right, fit two for the dayAlways Water test, flood test,
whatever you wanna call it.
Now we're gonna move into theportion of the show where we
talk interior design.
We're gonna bring in aninterior designer and we're
gonna talk trending design andproducts.
(14:13):
Hope you enjoy, let's go.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
But now we're getting a lot, now that our showroom
actually carries a lot of theRichie Lou hardware and they had
different tones of gold onthere.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Shout out Richie Lou, yeah, you, if you so you've had
tones of gold.
Yes, you're working with.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
that's why and if you're in our showroom, that
almost makes it easier, becausewe know immediately what it's
gonna look like.
Yeah, they visualize it.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
They can come in and see yeah, let's talk about
another scenario, so that's justone.
And where you said another bestpractice or tip is don't be in
such a rush as a designer toorder that material without
reading the reviews.
Right, and what are some of thethings that color like the
color is off.
(15:04):
It's not as it.
So do people put that in theirproduct reviews?
It's not as display or-.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
And you gotta be careful.
Everybody is different too, soreviews are gonna be-.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Sure Fluid yes.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
If that's a very, very exciting.
Yeah, I mean everybody'sdifferent.
You just have to wait for real,like you're looking for a
little bit like, and if there'senough of it, if people are
repeating the same thing, thislooks nothing like the hardware
color.
I mean it's pretty obvious.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
So read those.
So it's like, if everythingseems okay, you press order, it
comes in and let's just say it'sright Now.
As the interior designer,you've been through that entire
process.
Are you there for installation,cause stuff happens during that
time.
I got a same job going in Mondayand I'm gonna be there Going in
(15:55):
see, I love how the Courtney isout right now on an install to
watch it be installed and justbe accountable right, because a
lot of the times as we're goingthrough the construction, the
designer we've talked about thisis really the advocate and they
are the client advocate in whatyou've shown.
The client needs to come true.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Right.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
And so you're there, because and we've had it we had
a niche recently that we werequestioning location, our
construction guys, where theyput it.
Where it actually ended upbeing was maybe a little bit
different.
So it is important for you toevaluate and be on site.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
You can never communicate too much.
Tile layout, wall color.
I've literally gone to Homesand put wall color on every
single wall.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
I mean because Priti has been through a project I've
seen and she literally writes onthe wall.
She'll write notes and stuffpre-demo.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
You're wrong so fast.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Yeah, and that's what we appreciate and one of the
things that sometimes if you'rejust an individual interior
designer, you're a reallyproject managing at a certain
point and it can become dauntingto understand why you can't do
something or code or contractyour language.
So we've tried to merge theconcepts and we're still working
(17:20):
together on that, because thereare things that you may have in
the vision that in reality, ifyou give our guys a box of tile
and set it in a shower and say Ineed this installed, they're
gonna go to town right and theway that they I need it to be
installed the way that theythink.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
In Asia and I are gonna work on a little reel for
that.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
The tile layout Perfect because it is important
and you don't want tocontractors.
Here's a tip for you If you areworking with a designer and
constant communication is thekey but check their intentions.
Tile layout to a big one.
That can get you in realtrouble is the hardware
(18:03):
placement and mixing the knobsand handles and putting them in
the wrong spot, because ifyou've got super high-end custom
cabinets and you drill thoseholes for the wrong hardware,
you are going to cost yourselftime.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Right, right, and sconces are really big right now
too, especially in thebathrooms, and those have to be.
It's kind of ironic becausethat's something that you
wouldn't normally need to bepicked out before the rough-in
or whatever.
But the sconces come atdifferent heights and they come
in different lengths and widths,and you know, so for the Dickey
(18:41):
house I had to.
I was like Joey and we got tolock in these sconces because we
need to know where the rough-in.
Our electrician has to havethat for the four-way.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Correct, because some of the technical aspects of
that and this is, I mean,another tip we're just throwing
out some of the tips, but whenyou're looking at so the
electricians come in and they'regoing to place those boxes and
what she's saying is, whenyou're looking at ordering the
sconces or whatever hardware itis, those base plates for some
of those sconces are huge.
(19:12):
They may literally not fit inthe space, or they may be and
this is something that designersget very picky about If it
looks off right.
So if it's supposed to becentered and the base plate is
huge and it touches the ceiling,oh you guys get so aggravated.
Well we're trying to that.
We may as contractors, we maybe like, oh it looks good, and
(19:33):
you come in and be like Holymoly.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
We're trying to eliminate the Recovery process
too, right, and we don't wantour electricians time to go back
in and do that and they'regonna look at us and really be
upset.
Well, they're having becausenow you got drywall, now you got
to fix the drywall, now you gota textured drywall if it was
textured, repain all the sowe're.
We're trying not to open a canof worms so the more.
(19:59):
But, like I said, that's,that's not.
I feel like just now, becauseit's trending so much with the
sconces, that wasn't the caseten years ago.
I don't see, really a lot ofpeople were having to consider
that yeah, and that wasn't onthe front end.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Okay, no, you had vanity lighting and stuff like
that, but not sconces like we'redoing.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
That we're doing time to think that through and to
pick out that lining.
But now there's instances likethat where you just really need
to know Some of those like weran into it on the, the small
cottage we did over inRobert'sdale.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Essentially, our electricians came in per plans,
put the boxes where they neededto go, the client purchased
their own lights for theexterior and the goose neck
Actually it was it could beinstalled because, the goose
neck.
Yep was too tall for the areaoutside.
I heard that and then see theydid it.
(20:52):
They did it right.
Did he do the same thing?
No, no, he did not.
They did not go with the designpackage Eliminated.
That would have been eliminated.
Maybe I want to call it butChristie with dangster catch
stuff like that.
It's the details, that is.
The details Are so great abouthaving and in-house interior
designer, so we'll wrap it upwith that.
(21:12):
Thank you for talking aboutmood boards, clue in us in on
how much they help and thengoing into detail and giving us
some tips.
And until next time, weappreciate you all watching.
Thanks, bye.
Thanks for joining us today.
As always, we are grateful forour listeners and your continued
support.
Please subscribe to our YouTubechannel, follow us on social
(21:36):
media via Facebook, instagramand tick tock, get more info at
our website,wwwthethombuildingshowcom and,
as always, remember who we arethe home building and remodeling
show.
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