Retro Renovation» faq

The 3 most common questions: On tile, on plumbing fixtures, on steel kitchen cabinets

pam kueber — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 09:58:51 +0000

The three most common questions I get via email, and sometimes in random places on the blog are:

Where can I find replacement bathroom tile?
Where can I sell, or buy, vintage sinks, toilets, tubs — and how about pricing?
Where can I sell, or buy, vintage steel kitchen cabinets — and how about pricing?

These are all already answered within the blog, but here’s a round-up on where to find these answers… and answers to common questions, in general.

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1. Where can I find replacement bathroom tile?

Answer: My best resource at this point is World of Tile in Springfield, New Jersey. I have multiple stories on World of Tile — read them all by clicking here.
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It’s also possible you may find vintage tile at the Re-Store… and if you’re looking for new tile in retro colors, there are lots of options today. See my navigation — Bathrooms / Tile category for all my stories.

2. Where can I sell, or buy, vintage sinks, toilets, tubs — and how about pricing?

Answer: Check out this 2009 story: Where to find vintage bathroom sinks, tubs and toilets. This story was written with buyers in mind — but use the advice in reverse if you are a seller.
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On pricing: I give no advice and don’t plan to. It’s what the market will bear. You have to do your own research based on your own market dynamics.

3. Where can I sell, or buy, vintage steel kitchen cabinets — and how about pricing?

This one also is answered in a comprehensive story I did in 2009: How and where to sell your vintage metal kitchen cabinets. This one was written with sellers in mind, use it in reverse if you are a buyer.

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On pricing: Reader 52PostnBeam did extensive analysis on sales through 2011 and arrived at some per-cabinet averages for the selling prices of vintage steel kitchen cabinets.

Are you looking for an answer?

I try to keep most common questions in the FAQ.
Please check it out.

Also use the navigation at the top — there’s tons of research and experience captured there.

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Remodel and watch your “investment” plunge in value: 2011-2012 data is worst in 9 years

pam kueber — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 09:30:58 +0000

How much money will you make on that lovely new kitchen or bathroom when you go to sell your house? Oopsy — likely not one penny. In fact, according to the 2011–12 Remodeling Cost vs. Value Report (www.costvsvalue.com), released last week, you will lose 30-35% — or more — on most home remodeling projects, even “mid-range” ones. This gap is the worst in nine years, since the survey began in 2003. For example, a ”minor” $19,588 kitchen remodel? Expect not to recoup — that is, expect to lose — more than $5,000 on that “investment” when you go to re-sell. Debbie Downer reports…

This much-cited Remodeling Cost vs. Value research report is completed annually by Remodeling Magazine, and includes data gathered in collaboration with HomeTechPublishing, the National Association of Realtors and Realtor Magazine. It looks at 35 popular home remodeling projects, year after year, to assess the returns (read: losses) of each project upon resale. The magazine does a really nice job reporting the data and explaining the survey on their website – see it here for info on costs vs value for each project.. and there are regional reports, too. Ugh, I think that I am also reading that the gap between remodeling costs and value recovered on resale (loss) is the worst since the research was started in 2003.

One of the biggest pet peeves in my life, I’m serious,
is the way these findings are soft-pedaled every year

For example, Reuters covered this 2011 Cost. vs Value report, and here is one of their sentences:

Remodeling projects earn back 57 percent, on average.

True enough. So I cannot argue. But, this is definitely a “glass half full” way to state the findings.

Hey, let’s pretend they were talking about the U.S. stock market — say, the Dow Jones Industrial index — instead. Would we see this headline:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average earned back 57% last year.

Or this one:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 43% last year (sending the world into another global Great Depression.)

I repeat, hitting thee over the head: ‘Earning back 57%’…means you just lost 43%. Every project, every situation is going to be different, but taking these numbers at face value, chances are, you are not improving your home’s value with remodeling projects if you count the money you put into the update. You are going to come out with le$$, not more $$.

In other parts of the Reuters article, the message was ‘more in your face’ about the gap. But to me, the story did not seem ‘alarmist.’ It was kind of… peppy. Ack! These numbers are dismal, shocking. Even in “bubble days,” the return was only 76%, that is: The loss was 24%. Am I missing something?

One of reasons this blog’s tagline is “Love the house you’re in” is that I *think* I have long understood that unnecessarily “updating” your home to reflect what is trendy today is not a particularly sound financial investment. In fact, what’s trendy today… will likely be ‘hideous’ in about 10 years. In the same vein, I also read somewhere that even getting the 50%-80% return/20%-50% loss indicated by these figures assumes near-immediate resale… that is, today’s updates begin to depreciate, immediately. So, contrary to a lot of what’s in the mainstream: We talk here about keeping your “outdated” vintage bathrooms and kitchens, if they are in good shape. And if renovations are required, I am an advocate in choosing styles that are harmonious with the original architecture of your home — in this way, your interiors will be “dated” to match the date of your house.

Spend money on your house? Of course! Americans love their homes, and are likely to continue to want to improve and update them. Moreover, a home can be one of the greatest life-investments you will ever make — in creating memories for yourself, family and friends… for providing a creative outlet… for building and being part of a community. So, you will want to make it “yours.” But, get back all the money you put into the modern new kitchen and then some? No no no! Read the report, and be thoughtful and realistic about the goals of your remodeling projects … unless money is just not an issue.

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Real porcelain enamel coating to restore your drainboard sink, tub or stove

pam kueber — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 08:25:17 +0000

After Joe was unsuccessful in his attempt to epoxy-coat his vintage porcelain drainboard sink, he replaced it with a new Elkay Lustertone stainless steel drainboard sink. Even though the metal drainboard sink looks great, Joe says he would have preferred to keep his old porcelain sink top and have had the original enamel restored, refinished or replaced. But he didn’t know of a source — and neither did I. Until now. Thanks to reader TappanTrailerTami, who let us know:

I hate to mention this after-the-fact, but it could be something that Pam can investigate for us, and report on. There is a company in Illinois — Custom Ceramic Coatings — that does actual REAL porcelain enameling (the baked-on kind). I’ve seen them mentioned on a couple of different websites. I don’t know how much the cost is, but I think it would be worth checking out and having the information handy just in case someone here wants to save their current sink. It is my understanding that they are the only company in the country to do real old fashioned authentic fired on porcelain enamel work.

Tami

Well, I followed up on Tami’s tip, made a phone call, and yes — Custom Ceramic’s owner John Ballantyne says that, indeed, he does true, old-fashioned re-porcelaining of sinks, tubs, stove parts and even vintage motorcycle parts. And, as far as he knows, he is the only small businessperson in the U.S. offering this service. He does lots of (all the?) reporcelaining work for companies that take apart and re-manufacture vintage stoves piece by piece, for example.

John says can strip and then re-porcelain onto steel substrates, and usually, onto cast iron, although he tells me there is an issue with cast iron right now:

As I told you on the phone, I have been having some trouble with the thick heavy cast iron pieces since I had to change my porcelain supplier. My old supplier went out of business and we had things matched up pretty good. The stamped steel sinks are no problem. We are working with the porcelain for the cast and it has recently worked out on some pieces that had failed badly for outgassing. Once I try a couple of sinks that have failed and if they work out now, then I will return to doing the heavy cast iron again.

The porcelain re-enameling process is not cheap, because it is time-consuming and requires craftsmanship, materials and the tools and equipment. John explains that porcelain = glass. To re-porcelain a piece, he says, he first must blast away all the old porcelain down to the bare metal. He then applies a “ground coat” — a special primer, more or less — usually two coats, each fired separately. Then, he creates a special chemical mixture of ground glass and other materials — this is called “slip” — and applies thin coats in a wet spray, drying and firing in between. The firing all occurs at up to 1500 degrees F. The “outgassing” he refers to, is when there are problems getting the porcelain coats to adhere to the ground coats during the firing process. Expansion, contraction, chemical formulations — all must be just right or you get bubbles and pocks and flaking or worse.

John can create white porcelain, or color-match to about any color you want. Vibrant reds and yellows are more expensive, he warns, because the formula for these colors use cadmium, an EPA-controlled substance requiring special procedures.

Costs vary according to the piece. John read to me from his rate card: A 42″ sink runs $750-$800, plus shipping. As you can imagine, shipping can be a substantial part of the expense, too. For example, John is in Illinois, just across the border from St. Louis, and one-way shipping to California for a piece sitting in his shop while we talked was looking like $230. He says he works with a special shipper to help get the best cost possible.
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That said, remember that it’s probably at least $1,500 for an Elkay Lustertone stainless steel drainboard sink. And I bet if anyone ever started making porcelain drainboard sinks new, they would be in that price range or higher. As I’ve said before, if you want or need to aim for cheap and cheerful: Take your measurements for a drainboard sink with you everywhere you go. Stalk your Re-Store, even renovation sites, and look for a sink top that is as perfect as possible. Or not-so-perfect, and use one of the porcelain repair products from deabath.com and don’t sweat perfection.

A 40″ stovetop, in white, with four burner holes, would be about $335, John said.

He can also do stove grates, with simple single grates starting at $50.50.

Currently, lead times are three-to-four weeks.

John says that he started his business in 1997, after running a large porcelain plant in St. Louis. He got his start when he reporcelained the exhaust pipes on his Harleys.

Link: Custom Ceramic Coatings — tell John you heard about him on Retro Renovation!

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