Home/building renovation show recommendation?

[BernDog]

I think I posted about this a while back, but my wife and I are moving forward with plans to renovate a downtown warehouse-ish building into apartments. We'd live in one and create three more to rent out.

We just told the kids about our plans tonight. We've been having hushed conversations around them long enough, we decided to respect their intelligence and tell them our plans. 8yo and one 10yo are super excited. The other 10yo, not so much (to say the least).

My son really likes home improvement and renovation shows like This Old House, Property Brothers, etc... Most of those shows deal with houses. Can anyone recommend a series, season, or episode that might focus on something more like what we're doing?

We're planning on a 1800-2000sf, four bedroom apartment for ourselves, and three more 2 bedroom units of around 1200sf each. Ours would fit in about the same footprint as the other three, but would include a lofted area with two bedrooms, bathroom, and an open loft area that would function as a second living room. Exposed brick, high ceilings, open concept, original industrial wood floors, exposed ductwork, etc... All the "modern" things the kids are doing these days.

Like I said, I'm looking for any shows or episodes of shows anyone knows of that would chronicle that kind of a renovation. Any ideas? The kids would love it.

[Filliam H. Muffman]

There was one series about renovating a brick urban rowhouse in Charlestown. I seem to remember it was turned into a duplex but I can't remember for sure without watching... maybe mother/daughter tenants on different floors.
https://www.thisoldhouse.com/how-to/snea...sachusetts

[Gareth]

Income Property on HGTV is the closest I can think of, but not sure I've seen any show that deals with the scale you seem to be describing. Also, not sure if they're still making episodes, but there should be plenty of reruns to watch/stream.

[BernDog]

Filliam H. Muffman wrote:
There was one series about renovating a brick urban rowhouse in Charlestown. I seem to remember it was turned into a duplex but I can't remember for sure without watching... maybe mother/daughter tenants on different floors.
https://www.thisoldhouse.com/how-to/snea...sachusetts

Not quite it, but we'll check out that season anyway. Thanks!

[BernDog]

Gareth wrote:
Income Property on HGTV is the closest I can think of, but not sure I've seen any show that deals with the scale you seem to be describing. Also, not sure if they're still making episodes, but there should be plenty of reruns to watch/stream.

Wow, 10 seasons! I'll start digging.

[John B.]

Bob Vila did a couple of urban renewal projects over the life of his program "Home Again." Not sure if any streaming services are currently showing the series now. I had a favorite set where he remodeled a Chicago brownstone with a carriage house in the back into two apartments and an owner's residence.

I used to watch "This Old House" and others religiously. It turned more to a casual interest after they did their early "meet" with some homeowners and one of the hosts made the comment "well, $xxx,xxx doesn't cover much of a kitchen renovation where we come from" and $xxx,xxx was more than I paid for the house I was living in at the time. Just realize they're all entertainment, not tutorials. And at one time, early in the genre, homeowner "sweat equity" was part of the deal...now all of the shows seem to be about how big of a check the homeowner can write while meeting with designers.

[BernDog]

John B. wrote:
Bob Vila did a couple of urban renewal projects over the life of his program "Home Again." Not sure if any streaming services are currently showing the series now. I had a favorite set where he remodeled a Chicago brownstone with a carriage house in the back into two apartments and an owner's residence.

I used to watch "This Old House" and others religiously. It turned more to a casual interest after they did their early "meet" with some homeowners and one of the hosts made the comment "well, $xxx,xxx doesn't cover much of a kitchen renovation where we come from" and $xxx,xxx was more than I paid for the house I was living in at the time. Just realize they're all entertainment, not tutorials. And at one time, early in the genre, homeowner "sweat equity" was part of the deal...now all of the shows seem to be about how big of a check the homeowner can write while meeting with designers.

I've seen a couple clips of Bob Vila doing something related, but no link to info on the full episode. Regarding the helpfulness of any of these shows, it's mostly just for the kids to see what we'd be hoping to get into. Plus they already love watching them. Not taking notes or anything.

[sekker]

After our 3rd major renovation, my wife was banned from watching HGTV for more than a year.

Just sayin...

[BernDog]

sekker wrote:
After our 3rd major renovation, my wife was banned from watching HGTV for more than a year.

Just sayin...

-D

[bobinmurphy]

No matter how many shows you watch they all make it look easy and not very time consuming. Doing anything like you are thinking about takes a lot of time, patience and skill. If you have the time and patience you can learn the skills. The shows will help but nothing teaches better in things like this than actually doing it. However, be prepared to redo some things as you improve your skills. I'd suggest doing things a little at a time so you have less to redo as you build your skill set. Don't do one thing all the way thru like putting up all the sheetrock in all the rooms before moving onto the next step. Do one wall or one room at a time and move it to the next step before moving to the next room.

Also, if there's any way to avoid it, don't try living in the space you're renovating. It's messy, it complicates the heck out of everything and it's a real pain to try and keep things clean enough to live in yet vacant enough to work on.