DIY-Friendly Upgrades, No Demo Required

[afkama]

Don't you wish you could just cover up some of your home's ugliest eyesores? Now you can, with these new products that install directly over existing surfaces.

I recently attended The Remodeling Show, an annual trade show for building industry professionals. It's a great place to check out some of the newest and up-and-coming building products, and this year's show in Maryland didn't disappoint.

One of my favorite trends at the show were building materials designed to install directly over your home's most offensive eye sores -- no demolition required. Yep, you can skip the effort and mess involved in ripping out your old deck, moldings, stairs and more with these ingenious, instant cover-ups. They're about as DIY-friendly as it gets.


http://www.diylife.com/2010/09/28/diy-friendly-upgrades-no-demo-required/

[Bodger]

Love that roll-on plastic deck board covering. Better be DIY because no contractor would touch that crap.

[SLS-Construction]

Love that roll-on plastic deck board covering. Better be DIY because no contractor would touch that crap.

Oh & it gets better "And the material is rugged; it's protected with a 15-year warranty against rot, splinters, splits, checks, and termite damage"

It's flippin PVC, it had better not rot, splinter, check or become termite food EVER, the problem is whats under it... :smash:

[afkama]

I agree. As a pro I wouldn't recomend that anyone use that product. It might be a quick cosmetic cover, but it would hasten the deteriation of the deck by retaining moisture.

It's also important to look at what the warranty covers - of course the new product won't rot or splinter - it's made of plastic. The original deck isn't warranted, they just make it sound that way.

The trim covering sounds like a good idea, but I can think of several reasons why the finished product would look terrible. It isn't that difficult to remove trim and replace it with new. The difference in cost would probably warrant the effort.

I think this product is a response to the new Lead rule.

The stair treads could create a dangerous condition. The consistency in riser height is a very important requirement, any variation of more than 1/4" is hazardous. From a safety standpoint stairs must be constructed in a very specific way.

The pole cover looked like an interesting and economical product. But the rest of these products, like so many others targeted at the DIY market, claim to be an effective way to cover up a problem, but in the process could create a larger problem.

[naptownCr]

I agree. As a pro I wouldn't recomend that anyone use that product. It might be a quick cosmetic cover, but it would hasten the deteriation of the deck by retaining moisture.

It's also important to look at what the warranty covers - of course the new product won't rot or splinter - it's made of plastic. The original deck isn't warranted, they just make it sound that way.

The trim covering sounds like a good idea, but I can think of several reasons why the finished product would look terrible. It isn't that difficult to remove trim and replace it with new. The difference in cost would probably warrant the effort.

I think this product is a response to the new Lead rule.

The stair treads could create a dangerous condition. The consistency in riser height is a very important requirement, any variation of more than 1/4" is hazardous. From a safety standpoint stairs must be constructed in a very specific way.

The pole cover looked like an interesting and economical product. But the rest of these products, like so many others targeted at the DIY market, claim to be an effective way to cover up a problem, but in the process could create a larger problem.

Some of these products are pretty cheesy IMHO. However the stair treads may not present as much of a problem as far as height variations as expressed above. These are designed to replace the carpet on a staircase and convert to a hardwood tread. That carpet has thickness also. Including pad and a normal saxony carpet almost an inch when new and less as things wear. therefore I don't think tread height is as much of an issue as it seems on the surface.