Fosscore's 2013 Suburban LTZ Build Thread

Nice to catch up on here a bit. Definitely some threads to read and see that some of you old boys are still doing around here...busting balls and telling lies. lol

Let's start. April 2024 we closed on a house and I've have been busy bringing it up to speed in all areas. So much to do buuut so much accomplished too.

On closing date, I was in there with the rotary hammer drill and chipped up all the tile to get it back to the terrazzo floor so I could lay the new floors. You know how it goes with what you’re sure won't take very long and hours or days later, you are still doing the same thing lol.

I beat the crap out of that HF tool and it kept pounding hard. Had to grab sale stuff at HF often during this renovation time and everything kept giving back thankfully.

I chipped, swept and shoveled that tile into a massive pile by the front door and ordered the Bagster for driveway pick up to get rid of it all. So much weight. I managed to make it damn near the end of that job and sliced my finger open. Not needing stitches but pulled out the tape and kept going. No time delayed!

Carried all that tile to the bag with a 5 gallon bucket, ordered the pick up date and the truck had that bag gone in under 5 minutes. Best removal money spent.

We moved into the same neighborhood that we were renting in, just about a mile to the north. Lots of retired folks sprinkled with families like us moving in as the oldies fade out or scale down.

The old boy next to us is solo. No longer married, his sister passed away so he took over her house. We don't see him very much but he is very nice and chatty when we do.

The other side is a single mum and her 5 year old boy who we chat up every now and again (the ex-wife rolls up in her Rivian to visit the boy, but doesn't say hello or look interested in chatting to us lol) .

I asked our neighbor if I could trim the palm tree in front as it straddles our property line and blocks out a visual when leaving the driveway.

We also discussed sharing the cost of replacing the fence that keeps trying to blow down as the 4x4s and pickets are just rotting away. That job maybe in the spring.

Everybody walks with their dogs and has a chat. Very friendly, nice neighborhood. I've had a few people ask me to wash and detail their cars. You know why!

I’m just a bit busy…

I put my boy to work helping out with some projects. He's 18 now and he wanted to do this project in his sister’s room.

The double doors by the front door led into my daughter's new room, but it was so impersonal and she felt like there was no privacy. So we took the doors out, framed the opening the drywalled both sides. My boy taped,
Mudded, sanded, primed and painted that drywall so nicely. He was proud as can be. As was I.

What a difference to the front room and the new private entrance on the other side in the hallway just across the bathroom. Because girl and hair means many trips to said bathroom in the morning.

I opened up the wall and on the other side to install a door and dammit if one morning in Lowes I found the exact door to match the rest of the doors in the house in the right size, pre-hung and swing on clearance for about $42!! WTF!!!!! I grabbed that sucker and brought it home for install. What a darn score!!



Score price on the door!!

Bet it feels nice to be back in the familiar hood not far away haha. Looking great in the house work. I wish I could say I was that skilled haha.

Best part of all of this hassle, fun, stress, - my wife loves the house.

Good bones, just needed some touches, some love, some updates...as they all do.

The husband was the DIY guy...some of it is pretty random and wtf? did you do here, but a few things like the LED down lights in front room and kitchen (I have more for the other rooms), some improvements in the bathrooms and kitchen, upgraded interior doors, impact windows throughout and a paver patio in great shape around the pool were really nice to have already in place. Things we either didn't have or had to install at our old house.

Unfortunately the husband passed away, which is why there were selling to downsize and the lack of maintenance and dad care was absent for quite a few months. Inspection went pretty well. The old cast iron pipes were a noted issue, so that was a first week repair job. Big hole in the front yard to fix a collapsed spot from the bathroom pipes, then they had to cut through the foundation and under the island in the kitchen to fix a spot there and we had the laundry and kitchen pipes relined after seeing the issues on the inspection camera.

There had been a water leak at some point, so most of the house was terrazzo, the kitchen island was tile with a border and the front room was ugly, low grade laminate. The baseboards had been removed, so that gap and old caulking didn't enhance the look lol, but made it easy to see if there was any water damage or mold present up the drywall or along the studs. Moisture test was within spec.

The roof was good, but I sealed up a few cracked tiles before the rainy season. Sprinkler system needs work. The indexing valve is leaking, numerous heads in different zones are broken and there are areas that don't seem to get any water and another zone that works perfect but there is only dirt because it is shaded by a tree. lol

Fresh ceiling and wall paint throughout. What a difference! It was so grimy and dingy looking. New smoke detectors throughout.

Replaced the mirrors and installed new taps in both bathrooms. Fixed a leak in the kitchen sink drain. After the house leak with the old owners, they ran the water lines through the attic to the bathrooms and laundry. Buuutt they did not feed the taps on the exterior of the house. There were only 2 fresh water taps for the entire exterior of the house and they were only 15 feet apart. The plumber came in to braze a leak in the copper pipe from the tankless hot water heater, so I asked him to extend one tap so it was closer to the driveway so that I could wash the trucks more easily.

As I started laying the floors and got ready to expand into the front room, the shower pan in the master leaked thru the wall and flowed into the main room. Oh s##t!

Called the plumber as the time, effort and knowledge was more than I could deal with after starting a new job as well. The wife luckily found the same wall tile, and a nice tile for the shower pan. They had us back to waterproofed and usability with a new membrane in about 1 week.

Changed out a few outlets and all outlet and switch plates were renewed. The wife decided she wanted 1 accent wall in the dining room and a small wall with new shelves and brackets in the kitchen to have the same wall paper to add some pop. She ended up installing that all herself and did a great job! I was initially resistant, but it looks good now and wtf am I thinking I could actually change her mind about it. hah Hung the front room curtains.

We ordered a new impact front door that took a couple weeks to get sorted with delivery, installed and inspected by the city so that we could get a reduction on our homeowners insurance now that all openings are impact/wind rated. Keypad entry lock installed. Painted as well. Pressure washed the pool paver deck, which was shocking how bad it really was. Then sealed it. Always yard work and multiple bulk trash days to get rid of some of the leftover junk left behind.

Did end up installing the baseboards around the house, buuuut when they had the leak and removed the old ones, because it was on top of the previous flooring that was taller than what I installed, the floor to molding gap is still there. So I am going to have to custom fill that gap or remove and replace all the door trim moldings on both sides of the door to make them longer. Time vs effort vs expense to get that sorted. Haven't decided yet.

Ripped out the master closet and went with a an idea my wife found on TikTok haha. Basically renewed 2 closets for more hanging and shelve space and had to repair a large 3x3 patch in the master wall that was behind their bed at first looks and did not reveal itself until closing. Looks good as new now!

I guess we need some pics after that long essay.

The guy jackhammering the old shower pan out...what a mess!

Rather large hole drywall repair in master.


New impact door,
but no baseboards yet.



Ripped the closet out, installed the flooring, baseboards, trimmed and sealed as there were holes to the attic sucking out all the a/c and then built in the shelving units with some hanging roads.

Needs a final trim and maybe some barn doors.



Front door painted. Baseboards installed.

Always a plus when the wife likes the house!

adventurenali92 said:

Always a plus when the wife likes the house!

Click to expand...

Yessir it sure does.

A few other things. Leaking pipes by the pool pump that our pool guy sorted. This past week the filter housing ended its life, so we had that replaced with a better filter option.

Our cooktop is on gas and the tank from the previous owners was with a company and the contract was up for renewal. The city mandates an annual inspection. They came out, inspected it and said we needed a new tank as there was a leak in our existing tank. The gave us a loaner, hooked it up and left. Then we ran out of gas.

Wife kind of forgot about it until we couldn't cook. And it was the weekend. My wife called to find out WTF was going on as it was supposed to be sorted in 1-2 days. Well the lady on the other end of the phone was not customer service orientated and started to argue back. Not a wise option. My wife is the nicest person around, but that does not cut the mustard and momma bear let it rip and slammed the phone down. The manager called back, apologized, worked out a proper deal and sent his guy out at 2000 the same night after to get us operational again.

The rest is normal old household challenges. I guess back to the regularly scheduled program of NNBS info.


ugly light and sink tap


new light, mirror, sink tap, outlet plates and fresh paint



There is not a lot of kitchen counter space. To maximize and make space for the coffee machine for the family (lol I don't drink coffee), the wife ripped out a cabinet where the yellow tape is, to make space on the granite. I put a 1/4" piece of drywall over that space to cover the tile and make the surface all one texture, then caulked the edges. She then put the wallpaper up to match a larger wall to the left (not shown).



Wife was set on 2" thick x 12" wide x 41" length wood for the shelves. I had a spare piece of teak laying around, but it was only 1" thick. Grrr...was free too. lol. Sanded the wood down and rubbed some stain on, letting it sit for about 5-8 minutes to seal it and give it some color. She loved it! The open shelves have plates, bowls and coffee mugs sitting up there. Looks really nice and not what I had in mind, but she executed a nice design for a tight space and it looks REAL NICE CLARK!



Pavers were nasty!! Pressure washed them and rolled on a coat of sealant. We went with matte finish for a more natural look than glossy.

Last 2 oil changes looking good. Shortened this last interval due to traveling so the wife did not have to worry about it.