u/ajcaca

We're planning some renovations (mostly, for now, knob & tube replacement) on a 100 year old house in the East Bay.

It has quite rough walls - Claude tells me it's called "sand finish" - which we don't love.

We'd prefer a more modern wall with no texture, but it seems like the cost and timeline for doing a skim coat is going to be insane.

We're going to be repainting the house either way.

Folks who've bought an older house with these kind of walls - do you see it as part of the charm and just leave it as is? And if you did the skim coat, how did it work out and how painful/expensive was it?

We're closing on a house in Piedmont this week and would like to get solar + backup battery installed before we move in while we're doing other renovations.

My interactions with Tesla on this so have been maddeningly stupid - they won't do anything until you have a utility bill for the house, which obviously you won't have until you've lived in the house.

And I just read a horror story about Tesla solar installs in another r/BayAreaRealEstate thread.

So, that leaves me looking for recommendations for a contractor who does East Bay solar installs at a reasonable price. Any suggestions would be most appreciated!

We've just bought a ~100 year fixer in Piedmont and we're looking for a contractor to

1. Modernize/island-ize a kitchen
2. Extend a small bathroom by about 2ft and modernize
3. Some other smaller bits and pieces like putting up drywall in front of utility area and extending a wardrobe

Would love to hear from folks who have done similar work in East Bay recently for any contractor recommendations you have.

Separately, also looking to put up privacy hedges/fences - I don't even know exactly what kind of contractor would do that, or how to find one who knows how to navigate Piedmont permitting. Would love to hear any thoughts on that also.