WNY Handyman

For those of you looking to jump into the investment property game, consider this duplex in Lancaster (Depew, actually). This is on a street that is almost all multi-family homes. It is a couple of blocks in from Transit road and would be a great purchase for someone looking to get out of a rental.

At $94,900 this property is priced to move. In fact, if you live in one unit and rent out the other, you could cut your monthly living expenses down to just a few hundred per month. Take a look for yourself before it is gone:

161 Argus Dr, Lancaster, NY
Duplex with 3 bedrooms in each unit

Duplex for sale in Lancaster NY

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Administrator Buffalo Real Estate Bargains bargain, duplex, for, house, investment, lancaster, property, sale

It was time for an update in our laundry.  Our washer and dryer were both 10+ years old and I wanted to take the opportunity to make the space more functional.  The laundry room is small and a side by side washer/dryer (with upper controls didn’t provide us the opportunity to have surface area for folding, etc.  I decided to go for a pair of stackable laundry appliances.  This way, they could be placed in the corner of the room with about 6′ left over for cabinetry.

Laundry room update - New appliances, Cabinets and Paint

• Appliances: $1,200 (with mounting bracket, shipping, and new dryer vent line)
  I found an absolute steal on the washer and dryer. They came from a site called us-appliance.com. They were a pretty well reviewed supplier and have been around since 1963.  The day I made my selection of the GE units.
  • Washer: WCVH6800JWW GE Energy Star King-size Capacity Frontload Washer – White
    The washer was on sale for $498!
    http://www.us-appliance.com/wcvh6800jww.html
  • Dryer: DCVH680GJWW GE 7.0 Cu. Ft. Super Capacity Front Load Gas Dryer – White
    This was also on special and was only $548
    http://www.us-appliance.com/dcvh680gjww.html
  • If you are buying from us-appliance, consider the Bing.com cash back program. You can earn 6%-7% back on your us-appliance.com purchase!
• Cabinetry: $300
  Ikea has some great RTA cabinets (ready t0 assemble) for a kitchen, utility room, laundry room, etc.  The cabinets were simple to assemble and perfect for the laundry space. We wanted a flush door so that there wouldn’t be dust collecting, so the lowest cost cabinet was out best option.
  • 30″ sink base cabinet
  • 24″ single door base cabinet with drawer
  • 18″ single door base cabinet
  • 24″ double door wall cabinet
  • 18″ single door wall cabinet
• Paint: $30 @ Sherwin-Williams.  A single gallon covered the laundry and the adjacent pantry space.
• Sink: $70
• Countertop: $40
• Miscellaneous: $50
  Caulk, knobs, paint supplies, fabric backer to hide the plumbing/electrical, potted plant.
• Labor: $0
  This is where you come in.  You will save yourself between $200 – $500 for the cabinet and counter top installation, about $99 – $199 for the appliance installation, and about $150 for the painting

Take a look at the finished product. Simple and cheerful.   A huge improvement over the drab room that was there before.  Think of how often you head into the laundry. A bright, efficient and cheerful makeover can be money well spent.

Laundry room update with drop in sink

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Administrator Interior Projects inexpensive, laundry, renovation, room

A $3 tube of adhesive caulk along with a few screws and a little elbow grease was all that was needed to repair my garage door support bracket.

Wayne Dalton garage door bracket

I have a Wayne Dalton garage door and the bracket ripped from the door yesterday morning.  Kind of surprising since the door bracket was hanging from a single screw.  I thought that I was going to be in for a hard to find part and a difficult repair.

Here is a view of the bracket. You can’t necessarily tell, but the bracket (also known as an Operator Reinforcement Bracket) has a crack just below the black bracket piece.  It was bending and that point and probably would have cracked completely with one more operation of the garage door.

I haven’t ever experienced this issue, so I did a bit of research. Immediately, I was able to come up with a replacement bracket for Wayne Dalton door for about $20.  However, that was mail order and I needed my garage door today. I figured I would give Lowe’s a shot to see if they carried a universal bracket.  They did not, however, the gentleman in the building materials department had an idea.

Flip it upside down and reattach!

Funny, but the simplest solution often passes us by when we are in the midst of a project or repair.  He was right. The only part of the bracket that saw any strain, was where the bracket attached to the garage door motor arm.  I simply created a paper template and copied the screw hole pattern on the opposite end. It was a mirror image.

To attach the bracket, I used the existing screws (4) plus the screws where the black arm bracket attaches.  The original installation utilized 2 beads of adhesive to attach. I went a bit overboard in this department and used adhesive wherever  I had surface contact. In addition to that I added screws wherever possible (why not over do it here?). After all, this door only has a 1/16″ aluminum skin along with a lightweight foam core.  There isn’t much holding power for a fastener.

Flip and Re-attach Garage Door Bracket

$3 later (I had the 1/2″ screws laying around the shop) and I have a secure door bracket once again.  Simple solution.

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Administrator How To's bracket, dalton, door, garage, opener, repair, support, wayne

If you are living in, or used to live in, Lancaster, you will appreciate this fantastic map from 1892.

Lancaster NY Map 1892

It is interesting to see the factories that dotted that town of Lancaster way back when.  The railroad, and the waterway allowed for transport of goods.  Take a look at the high resolution version.   You can view the high resolution image by clicking on the thumbnail below.

Lancaster NY Map from 1892

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Administrator Buffalo Sites 1892, lancaster, map, ny

We will be starting a new project in about two weeks.  It is a home located in a great neighborhood within the Village of Lancaster. The location is fantastic, the house…. not so much.   When buying a home to fix, that is what you want… The worst house on the best street.

This home is located in the Village of Lancaster (off Broadway) and is on a street that includes a mix of home styles.  There are even a number of older 2 family homes.  Our property was built in 1889 and that will have some challenges.  There will be some interesting issues to address with a home that was built in 1889. The oldest property that I have worked on was about 1920.

This was a 2 family home until the prior owner got tired of tenants above him and closed off the upper unit. He pulled the kitchen and had it reassessed as a single family home.  We are going to do a full conversion to a single family.  This will provide some challenges, but I think we will be able to pull off a modern floor plan with some big changes.  We are going to combine the current kitchen with a lower bedroom to provide a modern “open” design.  After the redesign, we will end up with a 4BR (3up, 1 down), 2 Bathroom home with a modern eat in kitchen.  There are 8 1/2′ ceilings on the first floor and this will compliment the open design.

Home renovation plan

There are a NUMBER of large issues with this renovation, not the least of which is the foundation work that is needed.  This will be a big project, but I feel that we will be working with a great contractor who can get things done quickly and properly.  They worked on our office renovation and we couldn’t have been more pleased with the work that was done there.  They have a motto “We Show up, Finish Up, Clean Up and Don’t Screw Up”

There are a couple of major repairs needed before we can even get started making this property look nice.  There is foundation work required and roof work required. There is water leaking now and that needs to be addressed right away.  The foundation is a rubble style foundation and needs to be shored up prior to any major work.

Check back for more as we get into this project.  We’ll include some pictures and video as we go along.

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Administrator Exterior Projects, Interior Projects buffalo, fixer, handyman, lancaster, property, renovation, special, upper

If your number one desire is to be on a beautiful street in a nice quiet village. Take a look at this house on Park Boulevard in Lancaster.

I can’t call it a bargain, but I would have to say that I would have expected a price about $5,000 – $10,000 above this number ($119,900). I lived on Park Boulevard for about 6 years and can attest to how nice the street is. The street dead ends at the creek and is a great mix of families of all ages.

http://realtyusa.com/357828

58 Park Boulevard, Lancaster, NY

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Administrator Buffalo Real Estate Bargains buffalo, estate, lancaster, real