The "Looking to become a homeowner" Thread

[21Kid]

You could do that online... :p




Let me know if you have any questions. Either here or in PM.

[Yeti]

Doing it old-school!

[21Kid]

Probably using paper too. :lol:

[George]

And driving there in a $700 car.

That is how you buy a house. :up:

[Yeti]

I am officially pre-approved, pending some documentation that I have to submit. Yey!

[21Kid]

W00t!!!

Don't forget that they pre-approve you for the maximum you can afford to. Stay within your own comfort zone. They earn more commission the higher the price. Goes for mortgages and realtors. They'll both try and upsell you.

[Yeti]

I have no idea what the maximum they would've approved me for is, tbh.

I gave them the maximum number *I* was comfortable with and told them I would not be buying a house over that under any circumstance. On a 15 year note, I'm looking at a worst-case mortgage/tax/insurance monthly at very close to 25% of current net pay.

I'm being a bit conservative about all of this, but eh.

[Yeti]

Went looking at houses today.

House 1 was what I expected. Rough around the edges and dated interior, but great foundation and good shape overall. Probably needs a roof since I found some minor water damage in one place. Giant but shabby 4-car garage. Recent HVAC work too. Probably 10k+ overpriced, considering the neighborhood and condition. I may go back to this one.

House 2 was just down the street from house 1. Overall in good shape, unbelieveably straight foundation walls for an 1800s brick basement, but reeked of an extremely hasty and cheap remodel to sell. Also didn't have a shower, just a tub. Odd when the sellers have owned the house for 20+ years and it wasn't a rental. Also had a boiler for heat which I'm trying to avoid.

House 3 would've been my favorite, great 1950s interior but neutral enough to leave as is, good location, and a decent lot. But, it also had smoker damage inside and when I got into the basement I found one new block foundation wall, two old brick foundation walls that looked okay but not great, and one that is seriously ready to come down. Shame. The owners have an estimate to get that fixed, but unless they're going to do all 3 I'm not going to look at this one any further. Also, it needs a new garage.

House 4 was the best of the bunch. Small, remodeled 1950s slab ranch on a good sized corner lot. Garage is kind of crap but serviceable for now. I'd need a snowblower though because damn is there a lot of sidewalk to deal with. Great neighborhood too. Since it's a slab house, there's a cramped combination mechanical/laundry room with a downflow furnace, something I've never been a huge fan of, but the house is so small there's hardly any plumbing or return duct anyway. I'd have to wire a 230 circuit and borrow a torch and vacuum pump to add central AC though. I'm keeping this one in mind.

All of them were clad in vinyl or aluminum and 2-4 all had newer roofs. All had newer furnaces except 2 (90s Peerless cast-iron boiler) and 1 and 3 had older R22 AC systems.

The hunt continues!

[Leon]

I stopped reading at 4 car garage .... but I see there were words that happened after that ;)

[21Kid]

House Hunters Racine.
We looked at close to 20 houses probably. You'll know when you find it.

[Godson]

When I looked at my house, I looked at easily 40 houses. Not making that number up.

[KillerB]

This Wednesday, the cycle is complete. My parents move into the upstairs of my house here in Cypress, CA. We did a lot of construction so that they have their own space, including a kitchenette my father and I are putting in.

Now we just need to get their house in PA sold, so we can get the rest of the things we need done here finished up. Probably about $20k-25k to get all the things remaining done, but once we do, the house will be perfect for our needs and in excellent condition.

[Cam]

Wow, nice.

[FaultyMario]

Family, eff yeah!

[21Kid]

:cool::up: Nice!

[Mirage]

Me and my wife just bought our first house, in the opposite situation of KB we moved out of her parents house that we had finished renovating the upstairs ourselves with the understanding that we would inherit the house down the road (paying off her brother and sister's share). Long story short lots of family drama and us deciding we didn't need a 6 bedroom house for just the 2 of us when they were gone, and it was way past time for both of us to do this on our own.

I got a large detached 2 car garage + 12'x18' workshop/shed/cat house (we have 4 outside cats) she got the old house (1930) and large porch that she wanted. Ripped up all the carpet on closing and had the original oak 1" slat hardwood floors refinished before we moved in and I think the sellers had the roof redone because I looked like their nephew.

[Crazed_Insanity]

:up:

[Yeti]

> Perfect house crops up for sale

> Would necessitate a 50-minute commute to work.

REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[Yeti]

Shit is slightly real. Found a place I couldn't live without and made an offer today D:

[dodint]

Woo!

[GreatScawt]

> Perfect house crops up for sale

> Would necessitate a 50-minute commute to work.

REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE


Shit is slightly real. Found a place I couldn't live without and made an offer today D:

Same place?

[Yeti]

Nope! This one is right in town, five minutes from where I work :lol:

[GreatScawt]

Nice find, then! :hard:

[novicius]

Excellent Andr00z!! :D #goodluck

[Yeti]

Last word a few hours ago is that a bidding war may be going.

I guess I can live without this house :lol:

[Yeti]

Spoke too soon.

Counter offer accepted!

[dodint]

Woot!

When is the housewarming party?

[Random]

:up:

[Cam]

:rawk:

[Yeti]

2669

[George]

Congratulations Yeti! :up:

[GreatScawt]

Awesome, dude. Congrats :up:

[Kchrpm]

Nice!

[Random]

Appropriate street name is appropriate.

[Yeti]

Appropriate street name is appropriate.


My house is all of the Web 1.0 video memes.

[Random]

;)

I was also thinking UW. :)

[21Kid]

Nice!

[Yeti]

Did the inspection today. Apart from one damaged window and some roof damage that I felt like a dope for missing the first time I went through (ice dam lifted a corner). The house is quite solid. Great foundation, etc.

The roof has new shingles, but over the old sheeting and an old layer of shingles. We had torrential rain a day ago and nothing was wet through so w000!

Plan so far is to:

- Try to get some credit for those things, but the house was cheap so eh.
- Have the roof repaired and the window changed.
- Replace the water heater and all the plumbing myself. I'll probably do PEX since my aunt has a ton of the stuff left over as well as the tools from when she restored the house she's in.
- Move in.

Since it's just me I'm going to get a small capacity electric water heater and re-locate it in the basement. Then I'll probably get a high-efficiency furnace and install that. THEN I can abandon the B-vent completely and yank it out when I have a complete roof tear-off and replacement done.

[21Kid]

You could ask the seller for a credit to offset some of those costs found in the inspection.

[Yeti]

That's what we ended up doing. Didn't get much for the credit, but given that I got the house for quite a bit less than ask, I guess I can't complain too much.

[Random]

:toast:

[Yeti]

I close on the 24th! w000!

I've since found out that the home's listing agent lived there as a small child.

I also found out from my insurance agent's secretary, who knows the people I'm buying the house from, that the house wasn't a rental but their primary residence which is good.

I've also found out that in between those two residents, the house belonged to a sex offender. lol.

And my former neighbor, who is also a part-owner of the local Ford and Mitsubishi dealerships, did the appraisal on the house for my bank.

This is a small town!

[Crazed_Insanity]

Congrats!

Hope you'll break the ownership pattern by not becoming a sex offender! :lol:

[dodint]

I close on the 24th! w000!

I've since found out that the home's listing agent lived there as a small child.

I also found out from my insurance agent's secretary, who knows the people I'm buying the house from, that the house wasn't a rental but their primary residence which is good.

I've also found out that in between those two residents, the house belonged to a sex offender. lol.

And my former neighbor, who is also a part-owner of the local Ford and Mitsubishi dealerships, did the appraisal on the house for my bank.

This is a small town!

Hah, awesome. Congrats, glad it seems to have gone smoothly for you.

[Mirage]

So homeowners insurance hit us with the "you have to put a handrail up on the front steps or we are cancelling your policy" bit. Used the structural pipe fittings from Lowes to make something as cheap as possible while still being solid and not hideous to look at. Nice of them to wait until 1 month after issuing the policy but oh well.

On the positive side, bought my first piece of lawn care equipment. The wife agreed with my thinking of buying an old legit garden tractor instead of a newer flimsy riding mower, found this gem on craigslist last month but was to high of a price, he emailed me last thursday offering me a much lower price and I couldn't resist. Anyways its a well taken care of and refreshed Wheel Horse C-165 (made in either 81/82/84) Got a big 'ol 16 hp 1 cylinder cast iron kohler, cast iron axles f/r, 8 speed trans with a high/low gearbox, PTO and a newer Toro 48" mower deck (Toro bought wheel horse in '87). Hopefully during the winter I can find a front or belly dozer blade and a tiller attachment to get some of the planned lawn/garden work done.


https://images2.imgbox.com/bb/9f/Wa18LGMQ_o.jpg (http://imgbox.com/Wa18LGMQ)

[Crazed_Insanity]

Nice! Now, just wondering how big of a yard do you have?

[Mirage]

Nice! Now, just wondering how big of a yard do you have?

About 3/4 of an acre, i'm also mowing a bit of the unoccupied neighbors yard on one side to keep it knocked down where it butts up against my garage, shed and driveway. Planning on a veggie garden in the way back and most of the existing flower/bush beds need a lot of attention.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Whoa! My lot is only 0.16 acre... so an electric mower is enough for me... :D

I've always wanted a riding mower though... maybe someday after I retire I can move to somewhere cheaper to fulfill this dream of mine! ;)

[KillerB]

Personally, as someone who was put in charge of mowing the lawn from the time he was 11 or 12, I’m loving having a gardener.

[George]

So homeowners insurance hit us with the "you have to put a handrail up on the front steps or we are cancelling your policy" bit.

How did they know you didn't have one? Complaint by passer-by/visitor? On-site visit and inspection by insurance rep? Google street view?

Not important, but I always wonder about how Big Brother learns about things like that.

[Mirage]

How did they know you didn't have one? Complaint by passer-by/visitor? On-site visit and inspection by insurance rep? Google street view?

Not important, but I always wonder about how Big Brother learns about things like that.

They told us shortly after we added the policy somebody would be by to take pictures of the exterior and that was it, there was about a month before we moved in so we never even saw them. I figured insurance would be more concerned about the "old house" electrical condition (we/seller had some electrical/smoke detector work done pre-closing) but they were more concerned with steps nobody uses (mail/packages come to the back door) we literally have not unocked the front door from the outside yet since we took the keys *shrugs*

[George]

Thanks. I was just curious. When I hear stories like that, I can't help but wonder but how did they know?

[speedpimp]

Wheel Horse was made in South Bend, IN until they were bought out by Toro, who then decided to shut the plant down.

[Drachen596]

So.. my sister and her husband have proposed tearing down my mothers old house and having a new one built on the property.

I also know i dont know anything about how much different the cost will be to buying an existing house. The preapproval i had before was about 120k or so. New house would likely be similar to whats here now about 1000 sq feet.

[Godson]

May be selling my house and moving to the burbs...

[Phil_SS]

So.. my sister and her husband have proposed tearing down my mothers old house and having a new one built on the property.

I also know i dont know anything about how much different the cost will be to buying an existing house. The preapproval i had before was about 120k or so. New house would likely be similar to whats here now about 1000 sq feet.

Building a house is $$$$$$.

[Drachen596]

Yeah i suspect even something auper simple will be higher than my price range. Even though I don't need anything fancy.

Hell companies are trying to get 60k for those trailer tiny houses.

[21Kid]

You'd have to pay to tear down the existing house too...

[Drachen596]

Yep. Initial excitement has kinda worn off on the idea and all I'm seeing anymore is numbers. They are not quite as golden as they seem.

[Mirage]

You'd have to pay to tear down the existing house too...

Not just tear it down but have it all hauled off too.

[mk]

A fire drill?

[Drachen596]

Fire departments do use houses to be torn down as practice burns sometimes. However given that my neighbors house is quite literally less than 10 feet away it would be unlikely in this case.

I honestly think that for what I really want in a house I can afford the build. Its getting the old place emptied and torn down that's really the issue. Its a grand idea as most of my sisters tend to be but the financial backing is somewhat unavailable.

[Tom Servo]

Not so much about buying a home, just wanted to moan about buying three major appliances in the past month and having two of them show up DOA. The hell is up with quality control these days?

[Godson]

Heater in the house went out today.

If this was 2 weeks later in the year I'd be golden.
Instead, I'm left with buying a new furnace, coil, and AC unit...


Fml

[dodint]

Ouch.

Ours was installed in 1991. Financial timebomb, that.

[Tom Servo]

Heh, our HVAC is from 1974. One of the two units has a slow leak, but everyone we talk to says "You can't find ones built like these anymore, keep them running as long as you can."

[Godson]

With that said, I bet the efficiency of your units is way down by now...

[Tom Servo]

Most likely. And they're loud as fuck.

[George]

Ouch.

Ours was installed in 1991. Financial timebomb, that.

Same here, and ours is so large I think the house was probably built around it. No idea how they'd ever get the old one out of the basement and a new one down there, unless they come in pieces and are assembled on site. An interesting phenomenon: we bought this house in 2005 and for the first few years, I could easily find the 20" x 20" x 2" filters it requires at Home Depot, Lowe's, and Ace Hardware. In the last few years, I haven't been able to find them at those stores, nor Wal-Mart or Sears or K-mart or grocery stores (who knew grocery stores sell HVAC filters?) or anywhere else I looked. I even tried an old hardware store that has been there for decades. Nope.

I finally had to order a case of filters from Amazon. I'm getting the message that nobody is stocking filters for a 27-year-old furnace because the demand for them has fallen off. That can't be a good sign.


The hell is up with quality control these days?

That would be a great title to a thread I've thought of starting many times after being disappointed in the quality of so many common items these days. I guess it's because they don't want to sell you one or two of Item A in your lifetime. They want us all to have to buy Item A every few months.

And then there are the cost-saving measures that manufacturers take that are just infuriating. Case in point: a few years ago, my wife replaced some original plastic light switch covers and outlet covers with some cool metal art-deco ones. The have little steps around the edges so they end up farther away from the wall (but only by maybe 1/16" or a few millimetres) than the builder-grade plastic ones. Ours look something like this.

https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.switchhits.com%2Fmedia%2Fcata log%2Fproduct%2Fcache%2F1%2Fimage%2F373x355%2F9df7 8eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95%2Fa%2Fr%2Fart-deco-step-satin-nickel-switch-plate-covers-b.jpg&f=1

Recently we painted our laundry room and added more of those same switch plates in there. Amazingly, and I am grateful for this in today's retail situation, our local home improvement store still carries the same switch plates that she bought a few years ago.

But, the screws that came in the blister-packs with the new switch and outlet covers were too short! :eek: :angry:

Some manufacturer must have changed the screw spec to save $0.0000001 per unit, and we get to go back to the store to purchase longer screws separately.

Screw you, Mr. Switch Plate Tycoon. :finger:

[Godson]

I get home tonight, flick the furnace on to use the fan and heat from outside to warm the house up before the freeze.

As the unit goes to fire the ignitor and go through it's checklist, I smack the gas control valve a few times somewhat hard.

Boom, pilot lights, burner ignites, and I have heat.

Going to replace everything in June and just be done with it all.

[tigeraid]

:lol:


We'll be in a similar boat this Fall. The new house has a 25+ year old oil furnace, and the tank is expired.... When we arrived to view the house, the furnace was off and she was just running the wood stove in the living room, so half the house was quite cold. Noticed the tank was well below the "E". The home inspector reminded us that expired tanks are sketchy as fuck for insurance companies, plus most oil companies won't refill an expired tank unless it's had an inspection. Which led me to believe she was running it dry to avoid re-certifying the tank, before the house sold.

The catch? The hot water heater is also on oil. The seller is annoyingly incapable of answering even our most basic questions, and still hasn't told us what her plan here is exactly--will we even have hot water when we move in? Is she going to fill the tank somehow?

In the end, because we were in a rush to get the house (the market in the area is INSANE) we just settled and said fuck it. I hate old furnaces and I hate oil anyway, so we'll be putting in a whole new propane setup before the Fall. The only problem now is, we'll have to install a new electric hot water heater as soon as we take possession of the house. :mad:

[dodint]

Hah. We installed a nice new electric heater in the old house, then promptly was offered a job elsewhere and we sold the house.

[speedpimp]

My furnace was installed shortly after buying the house in '03. A few things have gone out and needed to be replaced over the years. Each time something is replaced the tech always says "You know your serial number has been removed?" and each time the reply is always "Now I do." Turns out the guy the house was bought from replaced the furnace with some stolen shit. Oops.

[balki]

Looking to buy a family friend's apartment and she wants as simple a deal as possible (so do I, just looking to buy her shares in the co-op)
What risks are involved in buying an co-op apartment w/o a lawyer on either side?

Co-op's status (the building is structurally and financially sound)
Apartment condition (non-issue as I plan to gut it, the pipes in the walls are the building's responsibility)
Loans/Liens (UCC search came up empty)
...
???

[dodint]

I assume there is some kind of HOA in play. Read it and be sure it's something you want to be a part of.

[balki]

No HOA, but there's a co-op board with rules in place; owner-occupied only, flip tax, pet restrictions, ... all stuff I can deal with
Only concern is if I'm missing something (would not dare think about going without a lawyer if it was a house, condo or seller that I didn't know for years)

[dodint]

Might be worth it, for piece of mind, to seek out an attorney that does flat fee work for stuff like that. No chance of the cost getting out of hand and you have adequate representation.

[balki]

Thanks, makes sense / not worth the risk

[dodint]

*shrug*

I'm trained to do it.

[21Kid]

Co-ops are very difficult due to the shares, etc... Only certain lenders work with them as well.

We have a special department that deals with them.

[Yeti]

I'm having oak flooring installed in a few of my rooms and also having some windows replaced. I've been holding off on moving in until the flooring is done which means I've been going insane waiting to move in. I CLOSED LAST NOVEMBER FFS. Flooring goes in next Monday and Tuesday at least. Once the flooring goes in it'll be a quick job to nail in some new baseboards and quarter round in those rooms, throw in a new vanity in the bathroom, and hang some window treatments.

In the meantime I've painted all of the carpeted rooms of the house and installed new baseboards and window casings: Menards' finest. (https://imgur.com/VkgyMyd) Master bedroom. (https://imgur.com/CavbVnY) The purchase of my van was totally justified in the process, btw. (https://imgur.com/eBecJF6)

I also changed my kitchen from the fetching shade of mint green (https://imgur.com/WY8jdYt) it was to a basic brown and beige. (https://imgur.com/0vSwUzc) I'm having new solid-surface countertops put in after I move. Maybe get some appliances that aren't blizzard white too. Z-brick will stay because disco fever. Behind that gross blind is a garden window I'm having replaced with a crank-out casement.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Nice transformation with the kitchen there!

Green must've been in fashion back then... our house from the 50s had a similar lite green tile bathroom. We reglazed the counter and shower stall white so it looks better now..., but I don't think our transformation was nearly as impressive as what you've done with you kitchen.

Anyway, hope you're able to move in soon!

[SkylineObsession]

Getting quotes for double glazing at our place. :o Just the two less sunny sides of the house at first. Hopefully less than 5k, but we'll see.

And bought a new fireplace the other day to replace the 80 million year old one we currently have. In which you can see the flames inside it from various spots other than the glass front. :/ Compliance is gonna be a PITA though, they need exact house measurements etc.

[Phil_SS]

Call me crazy but I liked the mint green. :)

[Crazed_Insanity]

No, I believe I registered under that name first. Sorry.

[Mirage]

Spent my spring break vacation working on the laundry room. You have to realize this is the original back porch that was closed in probably 20+ years ago. It was 80s-tastic paneling installed over the original plank siding. I gutted it before we moved in because it had a large closet and washer hookups and the dryer hookups were through the original exterior door in the pantry. I rectified that before moving in but that was just running a dryer vent and 220 outlet (why they didn't do this originally?? Who wants their washer/dryer in 2 separate rooms) but the room had exposed siding and was driving the wife nuts since it is the main entry way with all the parking being out back. Anyways I put insulation in the exterior wall (again why not originally? The exterior wall was just felt sheathing, vinyl siding and paneling wtf) Made the light a 3 way switch that works from the switch inside the first door and not just the second door and put up beadboard and all new trim. Still need to paint the trim and put a shelf in over top.

https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/bd/89/fDs44RAY_t.jpg (http://imgbox.com/fDs44RAY)

https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/1f/7b/Q9nquY49_t.jpg (http://imgbox.com/Q9nquY49)

Also been doing a tons of yard work, same week off took 4 loads of limbs and brush to the dump plus one we left on the curb for the city.

[dodint]

We weren't looking, but Ash is going to buy her brother's interest in their childhood home from her Mom's estate. It's a nice piece of property next to a sprawling wooded county park. Not precisely sure what we're going to do with it; not interested in renting it out anytime soon.

It's about an hour away from where we live, and in the same town as our families. Might make for a nice little outpost for when we don't want to crash at someone's house and we don't feel like driving home after a long day of hanging out.

[Yeti]

https://i.imgur.com/f9WjmFy.jpg

Getting some lipstick put on this pig. The flooring guy is going to finish up the kitchen and bathroom today and will be back in a couple of weeks for the basement bedroom due to a product backorder.

That window is going to be replaced in a few weeks with a triple-pane and will be in the same oak color and pattern as the floor. It'll also be trimmed out to match.

It's a shame my ebay oak switch and outlet plates aren't quite a match but eh, that's what I get for buying them off the internet instead of at a store.

[Godson]

I spent all weekend working on the house. I'll post up some new things here on a bit.

[Mirage]

Getting some lipstick put on this pig. The flooring guy is going to finish up the kitchen and bathroom today and will be back in a couple of weeks for the basement bedroom due to a product backorder.

That window is going to be replaced in a few weeks with a triple-pane and will be in the same oak color and pattern as the floor. It'll also be trimmed out to match.
It's a shame my ebay oak switch and outlet plates aren't quite a match but eh, that's what I get for buying them off the internet instead of at a store.

You an oak man Jimmie? oak's nice...

Looking good, always feel nice to start getting stuff accomplished, i'm a long ways away from even thinking about windows, not looking forward to doing 23 of them. Since I never posted my floors after getting them refinished, original 1930 narrow oak strips, how people could ever cover this up with carpet I will never know.

https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/47/21/RqvC3FoD_t.jpg (http://imgbox.com/RqvC3FoD)

[Yeti]

The only brand-new Honda I'll ever own.

https://i.imgur.com/KwpkPxY.jpg

[Crazed_Insanity]

Nice!

I got mine back in 1996 and it was working perfectly until like 3 years ago. It became harder and harder to start..., which resulted in me breaking the pull thread! Sold it to a local gardener for $50 because I've decided to go electric now.

Honda mower's exhaust is much better smelling than the typical 2 stroke motors, but with electric, you only smell fresh cut grass... or sometimes fresh cut dog poop straight up! :D

Anyway, Honda mowers are pricier than others, but it's gonna be a worthy investment. :up:

(BTW, I'm already on my 2nd electric mower because of battery degradation...)

[Cam]

Sweet, it will last you a lifetime.

[SkylineObsession]

I use a reel mower. On a lawn with a larger footprint than our house, up a slight rise too.

I often get called mad. But it keeps you fit and makes a nice pattern on the grass. :P

[dodint]

I switched to an electric battery powered push mower, love it. Always surprised how well it does. No regrets at all.

[Godson]

I have an electric weed whacker. I'm always amazed at how smooth and quiet it is vs the piston engines.

[speedpimp]

I've had the same Worx rechargeable weed trimmer since '11. No problems and still on the original spool of "thread".

[Yeti]

So I already knew that my 1952 house once had sweet Grandma's basement rec-room faux wood paneling (https://i.imgur.com/js0celi.jpg) in it. Now I can also confirm that it once had 9x9 asbestos tiles throughout! (https://i.imgur.com/kJmOZ21.jpg) :lol: This place must've been quite a sight when it was first built.

And, the reason for ripping up carpet - using the leftovers from the kitchen to make a little uncarpeted spot in the entryway!

https://i.imgur.com/pXGk0kA.jpg

I also finally finished my to-do list on the place yesterday so I can start moving in! w00t!

[dodint]

Looks good, congrats!

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yeah-ti!!!

[speedpimp]

Looking very nice.

[tigeraid]

Welp. After a combined 58 hours of driving on the 401 and 400, using 7 vehicles, including a 26ft Hino straight truck and a 16ft GMC, we've moved from London to Huntsville.

My legs still hurt. :|

House is in decent shape. We were worried the crazy previous owner would leave something ridiculous for us to deal with, like a gaping hole in the kitchen floor or something. Other than having to mow 4 acres, the only other issue was cleaning--which was horrific. We thought maybe the bath fictures were beige, but turns out they just hadn't been cleaned in years. :smh: So several hours of back-breaking scrubbing with Comet and now we have bright white fixtures. Acres and acres of cobwebs.

Changed out a few light fixtures, exchanged out the gross old stove for a new ceramic-top. The mosquitos are really bad here right now and plenty are getting into the house at night, hopefully I can find all the little nooks and crannies in the windows and seal them up, it's driving me nuts.

On the plus side, going to look at my first "real" tool chest for the shop tonight. :hard:

Nine days remaining of the twenty-two required to schedule the fibre-optic installation. So I will rejoin the 21st century.... :shocker:

[speedpimp]

Hinos are great, trust me.

[Godson]

Spent all weekend, Monday, and last night repairing the lathe and plaster in spots, painting, and cleaning for my refi appraisal today. No clue how it went, hoping for a good return so I can schedule to have the old garage torn down, and concrete poured for the new one.

[SkylineObsession]

Just switched fireplaces with something a little more modern. The city council inspector came in today and ticked it all off, so we can now use it instead of look at it/rely on the heat pump (which keeps turning off when the temp gets too low).

From this, cave-man era fireplace with 1970's tiles and 'feature wall' made out of rimu wood.
3058

To this, with a GIB board wall, more modern tiles, and the best selling fireplace in New Zealand (Masport R5000).
3059

During renos we found a secret door! It led nowhere though, so we covered it back up after pricing up a hidden switch that would open the secret door - only after realizing it would lead into the hallway. Dreams dashed. :( :thppt:
3060

Currently deciding on wall colour, looking at a reddish colour for the room, 'apple blossom' (RGB: 169 82 73) but need to get test pots first, then i need to properly photoshop the colour onto the walls. But that's a job for the summer, when we can open the damn windows to let the paint fumes out...

And still gotta get a carpet layer in to tidy up in front of the hearth (had to extend it for the new fire, due to council/fireplace rules).

[Crazed_Insanity]

It would've been so cool to discover a sealed secret forbidden chamber inside your house by the previous owner... then again, maybe not! :p

[SkylineObsession]

There's still time for that still, eventually gonna rip out more walls and replace them with newer tech ones, and replace the ceiling around the house too - there could be hidden treasures in that as we have false ceilings around the house due to the original one being so high up. ;)

Won't post the whole thing as we complete this around the house cos you get the idea, but finally got rid of the oldest shitty aluminum window in our house today (it was older than the rest, around 1970's era?), and replaced it with a double glazed thermal break one with argon gas in between the panes.

From this (where the small window on the left was sealed shut with silicon by the previous owners, and yet still wasn't without gaps)
3061

To this new one, which has Karaka Green frames to match the rest of the house. Silver ones match nothing.
3062

[tigeraid]

Step 1 of new shop complete:

3065

[dodint]

Niiiice.

[Yeti]

Basement bedroom is finished and very yellow:
http://i.imgur.com/016snRm.jpg

Computer room is finished and very late 90s midwestern basement rec room:
http://i.imgur.com/iLBlEqW.jpg
And damn do I need some new furniture.

And I’ve got tv and music now so I guess that means I officially can live there:
http://i.imgur.com/4hUBjqN.jpg

[dodint]

Love it. Yellow af.

[balki]

what have you been ding on that office chair!?!

[Yeti]

what have you been ding on that office chair!?!

Sitting on it for a decade?

[mk]

Don't buy leather.
It'll last even longer.

[SkylineObsession]

Our whole lounge suite looks like that. Well, the sofa anyway, chairs still have black leather on them as they don't get sit on as much.

Leather sucks.

[Godson]

Got the appraisal back on the house, and it was 25k more than I initially thought it would be.

I'm stoked

[tigeraid]

House needs LOTS more work before I take fancy pics. So far all I've done is paint my office and set it up (with a new sleek glass desk, the first I've owned), change out a handful of the horrible 1980s gold light fixtures for modern stuff (some nickel, some bronze), installed a stand-up freezer, and changed out a tacky old ceiling fan for a nice one.

Shop is coming along nicely, though. And this mid-rise 6000 lb scissor hoist seems to work quite nicely so far.


http://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/36961560_10155334347747352_3766961591635935232_o.j pg?_nc_cat=0&oh=d1d195ae46ffeee15a577f5cd9f2ff9c&oe=5BE5600F

http://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/37056747_10155334347812352_4274632537113886720_o.j pg?_nc_cat=0&oh=5f8700a3be697e3b38edcd3958846998&oe=5BDAD2EE

http://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/36985589_10155334355867352_530237906241978368_o.jp g?_nc_cat=0&oh=dea0f5e838b7af5f0908c39dbc8bf608&oe=5BD0AB44

http://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/36996344_10155334347652352_7720341544355495936_o.j pg?_nc_cat=0&oh=f23bb32f32cb9baa6dd06e97861aeab0&oe=5BD8C295

http://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/36998530_10155334347627352_6817037912585011200_o.j pg?_nc_cat=0&oh=6351f50968c01509c094d92ed16355d4&oe=5BA3ACE1


Riding mower is getting a BIG workout on 4 acres....

http://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/36869675_10155334347682352_3506652986854080512_o.j pg?_nc_cat=0&oh=d0c157eb70df158b719b46d6153b9698&oe=5BD227F5

[Crazed_Insanity]

4 acres!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Wow.

[tigeraid]

Yeah but I only mow one. Cuz fuuuuuck the rest. (Although I cut hiking trails through it.)

[Ashie]

:) 4 acres...small race course.

[tigeraid]

Maybe! 1/8 mile dirt oval...

[Crazed_Insanity]

Build the 1st ever grass race track! :D
If they can play tennis on various surfaces, why not car races?

[Yeti]

> cut out one of the old cast iron sanitary stacks so I could replace it completely with PVC instead of having partial cast and partial pvc

> did that, and the entire kitchen drain pipe fell out and landed at my feet

> shit!

I swear to every deity on earth that this house once belonged to the worst DIY plumber who ever lived. not only did the guy not use the correct primer and cement, but he used barely any at all. I can't believe this thing didn't leak. Fixing that mess added an hour to an otherwise easy job since I had to work between the joists and foundation wall. This is in addition to all of the badly done and leaking CPVC patch jobs he did that I've had to remove.

On the plus side, stack is now PVC all the way to the floor, and I installed a new laundry tub. The old drain for the old tub was literally plugged solid with rust :lol: The fun part is going to be breaking up my old concrete double tub with a sledge and hauling it out of here :|

I also got a 230v circuit set up for an electric water heater. Installing that and replacing ALL of my galvanized plumbing with pex is next weekend's party. woo.

[Tom Servo]

I always wonder about that. We've had that same feeling here - some truly janky setups that have lead to some serious headaches for us. I always wonder if the previous owner either hired shady people or just hired people and told them to fix things as cheaply as possible, because I know for a fact she didn't actually do anything herself.

Then I wonder if the people doing work on our place are doing the work we think they are. Any time we're presented with the option of doing it cheap or doing it right, we always opt for the "do it right" angle because we've experienced enough to know that it ends up costing more doing it the cheap way, but I have no way to really verify that it's actually being done the right way.

[tigeraid]

Cheaply might be it, but so is "just don't call a professional" because of a misplaced theory that it's never worth the labour cost. Which is bullshit, if you're completely clueless.

I'm REASONABLY good at plumbing, self-taught but with a whole lot of research and reading. Plus if I do it WRONG, and it's obvious I have, I cut it out and do it again. Plumbing is almost never expensive, it's the labour that is, so the only reason DIY'ers get it wrong is because they didn't do their research, or don't have the common sense.

Both of my first two houses were plumbing disasters. The first was because it was ancient early 1900s plumbing. The ranch was terrible because the guy had no clue what he was doing. Tons of small leaks everywhere, presumably because he didn't use the right adhesive... Nothing vented properly, so no thing drained properly... The outlet for the clothes washer was literally just sitting in an open pipe at a 30ish degree angle that emptied into the main drain. So it was venting gasses AND it would regularly overflow.

[SkylineObsession]

Oh, shoddy jobs you say? We had a heap of that in our old 1930's rental. Probably too much to list.

Current house, which is over 100 years old, is in much better condition than the 1930's house but the wood they used for the small deck by the garage, and the porch area on the side of the house wasn't treated and so has rotted away to the point where you can break it by simply leaning on it.

As you can see, the wood has a smidgen of rot in it. The roof over this area is the same, which means you can't even stand on it. The dog is one wifey bought at an arcade a block away from Times Square last year, we squashed it down completely in a suitcase to get it back.
3093

And the crappy deck by the garage (pic taken years ago when i was waterblasting it). The further towards the edges you go the more trampoline-like it gets.
3094

And we've had to replace a few plumbing pipe connections because they've deteriorated since the 1980's or so when our neighbour said they were installed/updated. Not to mention the oversized holes in walls/floors to accommodate plumbing pipes. Almost a bucket sized one under the bath...

That's why i haven't been too keen on getting family members/mates around to do cheap repairs, as we're just continuing the problem otherwise.

[tigeraid]

Unless I'm COMPLETELY clueless on a project, I prefer to just chip away at it myself for that exact reason. Too much bad advice, too much of your father-in-law telling you HOW THEY DO IT IN THE OLD COUNTRY or whatever.

[SportWagon]

I used simple electric mowers all my life. A beefy electric motor attached to a metal chassis/unibody holding the wheels. With the push arm centrally mounted and pivotable. One lasted about fifteen years or more. Some overly-complicated Black-and-Decker similar versions are making do now, but they're no longer being made. You start close to the electrical outlet, and mow in straight rows moving away from it. A simple strategy my father taught me. But they don't seem to be being made/marketed any more. On the one that lasted fifteen years, I used duct-tape to hold open the supposed safety device intended to lock the handle in each position (and without any remote means of operating it). The Black-and-Deckers lock, but have a cable-operated lever to release the lock. I generally keep that held unlocked, which makes the mower push more naturally, especially over slight bumps.

Some safety committee must have decided that somehow the pivoting handles were dangerous, but I can't really see how. But without that design, plug-in electrics make no sense.

======================

Woke up this morning to the pleasant sight of a whole lot of garbage cans at the end of our next-door neighbour's driveway. For about a month my wife has been talking to the city getting them to encourage the landlord to clean up the mess of garbage left by student tenants outside their back door, which is adjacent to the side of our house with no door. It got put into cans at one point, then knocked over again by animals. My wife actually tidied some of it up at one point, and reported there were lots of maggots. In a later examination she saw the expected resulting flies, and also wasps.

So it was a real relief to see the cans at the kerb this morning.

And a quick check before my walk to work confirmed it really was a lot cleaner.

The fact that garbage, versus recyclables, is only collected every second week extended the entire process.

The last time I actually saw anyone there was around a month ago, on the non-garbage week. I saw a tenant taking out the recycling. The mess was relatively new then, and so I merely remarked it was unfortunate it was not a garbage week. I had at one point pointed out the mess to another tenant, who I now think was moving out. He reacted with a bit of horror, but it was a stinking (so as to speak) hot day, so I acted fairly casually about it, saying it might be good to wait for a cooler time. But as I say, I now think that particular tenant was moving out.

After one actual fortnightly garbage day was missed, and I began thinking there were no occupants in the house, my wife began talking to the city. The city inspector claims the house is occupied by car-less tenants. And she (the city inspector) arranged notices, including advice of eventual billed cleanup by city employees.

Not sure if the tenants or the landlord got around to doing the cleanup. I think it was done fairly early this morning. I think I had looked out in the very early morning and not seen the kerbed garbage. I was beginning to think we'd have at least another weekend of wondering/worrying since that was the time-frame given to the landlord by the inspector, IIUC. But it seems mostly resolved now, apart from minor cleanup which we can do if necessary (as long as the major garbage keeps finding its way to the kerb every second week).

[speedpimp]

Been in this house fifteen years. Having a new furnace and central air installed next week. Two things I will not mess with are electricity and plumbing.

[Yeti]

Been in this house fifteen years. Having a new furnace and central air installed next week. Two things I will not mess with are electricity and plumbing.


I always died a little inside when i had a mobile call when I was working in the field. Those mechanical closet/AC coil/duct arrangements are always hard to work on, esp. for a largeman like me.

In other news, I replaced everything from my meter riser to the fixtures with 3/4 and 1/2 pex, and installed my electric water heater. Freed up a bunch of space under my stairs since I moved the water heater to the corner and now my water pressure is

http://simplybuckhead.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Ludacris-Smile.jpg

I've had to rig up a temporary shower over the floor drain in my basement though. I need to rip out my old tub and shower surround so I can redo the (leaking) plumbing in the wall and replace the tub with a shower stall in the bathroom. I chopped out the old cast iron shower drain pipe and drum trap and when I did I lost my handle on it and the whole works hit the deck and blew apart, showering one side of my basement with 50 years worth of black soap scum and sewer gunk :| That was fun to clean up.

[speedpimp]

Let's not forget the extra fun part of having to undo the skirting without tearing it and then crawling underneath. I've crawled underneath a few times and it isn't any fun at all.

[dodint]

I'm fortunate that my brother already owns all of the Plex tools you need to rework the plumbing in our bathroom remodel.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I'm fortunate to know a great handyman who can do awesome jobs for reasonable prices. ;)

He's also very willing to show me a thing or two on the job... so I'm becoming more and more dangerous...

[Godson]

For those of you who don't know, I'm in the process of building a garage.

24x24x13 with a 4x12 pitch roof. Overall height should be just a touch over 17 feet.

So in the process of waiting for the required tree work to be completed for the grounds to be cleared, I have been reading a carpentry text book. This is what the local Carpenter Union used for training new Carpenters. I borrowed the book from a friend who is one of the lead instructors. Anyways, I've been reading about concrete laying, form work, among everything else prior to doing the build. This design will be entirely my own, from stud location, to windows, electrical lay, garage door, to the foundation. Of course a new garage wouldn't be without a lift either ;).

A buddy of mine drew up this 3D model of my yard, and the proposed garage plat. I'm currently reading up on wall forming before I draw up what the framing will look like to be submitted for a building permit.

I'm stoked and terrified at the same time.

3111

[mk]

The fact that garbage, versus recyclables, is only collected every second week extended the entire process.

How much waste you are producing?

We can't fill our bin(120l Sulo) that is emptied every eight weeks.
(bio waste, few litres, mostly coffee, goes elsewhere)

[Crazed_Insanity]

I'm stoked and terrified at the same time.

3111

That’s one awesome feeling. I hope I can experience designing and building my future house someday...

[SkylineObsession]

Not quite the same, but i've built a rough version of what my dream house would look like if i won Lotto (only if i won over $20-25 million).

In Minecraft... (these pictures are old, as have since added vegetation etc in)
Car parking at the front, with a security gate getting into my garage area
https://s26.postimg.cc/bzmm8rg6t/Minecraft_Play_Station_4_Edition_20150609183029.jp g (https://postimg.cc/image/bzmm8rg6t/)


My garage for trucks (Macks mainly, possibly a Ford Louisville cabover and couple of Kenworths) and/or trailers. Should fit six without trailers on. Or four if its the storage area for my car transporter trailer
https://s26.postimg.cc/mz7tkcyw5/Minecraft_Play_Station_4_Edition_20150609183315.jp g (https://postimg.cc/image/mz7tkcyw5/)


Looking from the primary use (daily drivers) garage to the house and double storied main garage. Which has only one way to get in (for security reasons).
https://s26.postimg.cc/4jncmy5c5/Minecraft_Play_Station_4_Edition_20150609183347.jp g (https://postimg.cc/image/4jncmy5c5/)


Top view, garage could end up being bigger than the house. :eek: Ideally the driveway would a be a little longer to the house, and i'd had a confidence course/ninja warrior type course in the front of the yard. This is my 'real things' map, so those two houses in the background are ones i used to live in (still works in progress).
https://s26.postimg.cc/kungjacp1/Minecraft_Play_Station_4_Edition_20150609183402.jp g (https://postimg.cc/image/kungjacp1/)

And inside view of the double storied garage, with car elevator and steps to the top floor.
https://s26.postimg.cc/j2uhod66t/Minecraft_Play_Station_4_Edition_20150609183439.jp g (https://postimg.cc/image/j2uhod66t/)

It might just seem like a random house made in a video game, but i've had this shape and design in my head for a good decade or more and it's almost certainly what i'd do if i had a significant Lotto win. Told myself i'd only do this if i won over $25 mil though, as there would be a few million dollar cars to purchase too...

But Minecraft is actually a bloody good tool for building houses in, as you can walk through them and get a feel for things. You usually only have to compromise a little, making hallways etc an extra block wider usually to make it more like real life. I did try use a proper program to design houses (like SketchUp) but the learning curve was too long for my liking, so resorted to Minecraft instead.

[G'day Mate]

This design will be entirely my own, from stud location, to windows, electrical lay, garage door, to the foundation

1. Your house looks like a truck.
2. Strategic placement of Rick and Morty?

[Godson]

We didn't get into specifics on the house so much as we did the deck, yard, driveway, and the house overall dimensions.

https://goo.gl/images/wRS3Y7

That's what the front of the house looks from several years before I bought it. Not a truck.

[Ashie]

Looking good T. Excited to see pictures as it progresses.

[Godson]

Oh yeah, per Rick and Morty, I actually don't watch the show. I had a buddy try to convince me to watch it, and we watched the first 6 or so episodes while we CAD the plat.

I won't likely continue past that episode

[balki]

It's a good show, but if you're not in after 6 episodes then you're not going to get into it. Anyway:
What's with the sink in the corner between two windows? Does it even work (plumbing is coming from ... ?)

[Godson]

So like, I'm in process of building a garage.

In process meaning I'm trying to organize the concrete, electrical, tree work, etc.

I just found out the size of my current defunct garage requires me to have a permit to demo the nearly collapsing POS. Ugh.

My concrete contractor also informed me he wouldn't start without engineered drawings and a permit. Which I'm not upset about.

I will also need an electrical permit.




Seriously. Wtf.

[tigeraid]

Is the existing structure that bad? Can't be fixed?

[mk]

Seriously. Wtf.

Since you're already there consider having a permit for multipurpose building.

Here only car is allowed to store into the garage.

[Godson]

The garage is only going to be used for cars and lawn equipment, so it isn't really that needed. I'm not putting water back to it, and I'm not going to bother making it inhabitable

[Yeti]

Just signed the contract to have a roof tear-off and re-sheet, upgraded venting, new soffits and fascia, and upsized gutters and downspouts done.

The entire back side of my roof and fascia has major ice and moisture damage to the shingles and sheeting that I traced back to a variety of causes.

1. The previous owners never cleaning their gutters.
2. The gutters being clogged year-round due to debris from a mulberry tree that I've since cut down.
3. Improper pitch on the gutters.
4. Too long of a gutter run with only one downspout (code violation)
5. Inadequate roof venting (two vents at the peak, 2 undersized gable vents, unvented soffits)

The roof (along with the CO death furnace/water heater venting) was the main reason I got the house cheaper than asking despite home sales around here being brisk so I went in knowing this had to be sorted out.

Got estimates from a few companies, and an excellent local one that's done work for a lot of people I know and comes recommended by the building inspector who lives around the corner from my parents ended up getting it.

Sucks to spend the money. Great that I don't have to lift a finger for this project though!

[SkylineObsession]

How much is that all gonna cost? Over here i think you're looking between $20k and $40k. We're planning to replace our roof and spouting at some stage, too scared to get quotes though.

[Yeti]

lol $20k would do this work on my house 4 times over. It's a small single-story house with a simple gable roof.

[tigeraid]

Yeah, that's... Jesus. Of the three houses I've owned I think the most expensive roofing job might be $8000. Though I'd rather just do it myself anyway.

[SkylineObsession]

Hmmm. Might hire an American company to re-roof our place then, including flights, accommodation etc it'll probably still be cheaper. :D

$20,000NZD = $13,149.96USD

$40,000NZD = $26,299.92USD

[Crazed_Insanity]

Roofer just might enjoy a vacation in NZ!

[Yeti]

Foxconn started putting up walls for their new manufacturing facility about 15-20 minutes from my house this week.

Fingers crossed that my property values go up, I guess. Maybe I'll be able to sell the place to a Foxconn employee in 12 years when the house is paid off.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Foxconn can move in and out on a whim..., it's all profit driven...

If your home price goes up significantly because of it, cash in and move far away. No need to wait til it's paid off...

You don't want to be stuck in a depressed neighborhood when it decides to leave.

[balki]

They typically stay at least 10 years, so by year 8 you can cash in if they've driven property values up (or you can just work for them if your current commute isn't great)

[SportWagon]

Hard water and/or softened hard water had made our toilet handle difficult to move.

I had this old spray can of Bardahl motorcycle chain lube. It seemed to do the trick nicely. Much less odour and more effective lubrication than WD-40.
How did I end up with a can of Bardahl motorcycle chain lube when I've never owned a motorcycle? Well. actually it must have at some point replaced a can of a similar produce by Lubriplate. That I got in the middle 1970's just before I left for university. I attended some self-styled free bicycle maintenance clinic and the guy running it recommended Lubriplate over WD-40 for bicycle chains, and had some probably for sale which I probably bought. Unless he really was giving it away for publicity. I can't recall.

I don't know if I used the Lubriplate up, or lost it somewhere and just sought to replace it. I don't think I've used the Bardahl a lot on bicycle chains. I tend to do final lubrication of bicycle chains with drip type products by Tri-Flow or Finish Line. I really can't recall whether I used the Lubriplate a lot on bicycle chains during the late 70's and early 80's, or not.

But the product seems suitable to me for the toilet tank handle. Funniest thing is I'm not sure where I got it from,. Did I really go to a motorcycle supply shop? I can't find it now at either Wal-Mart or Canadian Tire. (I want to get a can in hand to give away if the story of how I fixed the handle gets out to someone who might try to bum the can I have on the theory that I can just got buy a replacement; oh well, in fact, we had a big fight with the most likely such candidates years ago, and it's really not likely to happen). I suppose it's possible some bicycle store stocked the Bardahl?

[mk]

I generally use three types of sprays.
Gun oil, chain oil and chain grease.

Gun oil goes to locks and cold places, chain stuff for others, depending their access.

Dry stuff is finally a mess and quite sticky.
(observed since matrix printer carriage axle era)

[Godson]

Wd-40 is not the proper use of the product. It is designed to displace water, not lubricate.

There are many other options out there which work better than WD.

[SportWagon]

WD-40 gets panned a lot. Your hint, corroborated by Wikipedia, that "WD" stands for "Water Displacement" is perhaps the best argument against using it as a lubricant. Experience would tell people that WD-40 leaves things generally dry and somewhat vulnerable to a re-occurrence of corrosion, having only minimal, if any lubricating features. And while it functions somewhat as a cleaner, something in it seems to attract more dirt.

[Tom Servo]

Michele signed on to be VP of the HOA a couple of years ago. Our neighbor was the President. Nice enough guy, but pretty busy, so Michele basically handled most of the communication with other residents and deferred to him for major financial decisions. Over the past couple of years, they became pretty friendly -- bitching about some of the residents mostly.

Then he died the other morning. Somewhat of a surprise to his family, bigger surprise to us. We didn't know he'd been in remission from Leukemia for nearly a decade, but it had come back with a vengeance. It wasn't the Leukemia that killed him but the aggressive chemo, which was started only a couple of weeks back.

So, along with grieving, now Michele is the acting president of the HOA, right as the building next door is being torn down to make a new condo complex, and they think there may be damage to a retaining wall between our properties.

This wasn't quite what we signed up for when we bought...

[Cam]

Having three large pine trees removed from our property today, because of beetle infestation.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Damn beetles! Our climate will become just a little bit warmer without those trees... :(

[Cam]

Not to mention the chainsaws burning fossil fuels!

[speedpimp]

Fucking Ringo.

[FaultyMario]

Having three large pine trees removed from our property today, because of beetle infestation.

was it this guy?

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/Pissodes_pini.jpg/800px-Pissodes_pini.jpg

[Cam]

I did not investigate that closely.

[dodint]

:lol:

[Yeti]

So I was looking at replacing 4 of my 7 interior doors with pre-finished, pre-hung six-panels.

1. Take rough measurements to price out the doors, knowing full well I can't *really* measure properly until the old ones are out.
2. Note that the pre-hung doors all come in 4.5" deep frames, which makes sense for interior walls framed out in 2x4s.
3. Take a second look at my door jambs.
4. They're all 3.5" wide.
5. Realize all of my interior walls are framed in 2x3s. Quality! :lol:

This house is weird. Typical concrete block foundation construction and 2x8 floor joists, but then the exterior framing is basically like a pole barn. I don't think any of my interior walls are even load-bearing, lol. Not that I intend to find out...

I'm still going to do it though. For the closet door I can just shove the extra frame width into the closet and nobody will know. For the other doors I guess I'm going to have to pack out the trim with a piece of 1/2" thick flat stock and just have ΞＸＴＲΛ░ＴＨＩＣＣ（パっ翁）mouldings around those doors :lol:

[dodint]

:lol:

[Tom Servo]

One of these days, I will learn to at least double the contractor's timing estimate.

Our townhouse has two separate HVAC systems, one for upstairs and one for downstairs. They've both occasionally leaked water from the fan coils onto the floor, but lately the downstairs one started just pouring buckets of water any time we ran it. After numerous attempts by our usual HVAC guy to clear out the condensation line, we had another company out who pointed out that the unit itself was so corroded that the condensation was never even making it to the line. The units were 45 years old, so I guess replacement time was upon us. They said they could replace them in a day, but "let's just say two days to be safe."

Four days and $10k later, we're done. I'm hoping this helps a lot with our energy costs, these have got to be more efficient than something from '74, right? Oh, and almost done, they have to fix the wall they broke into to mess with some wiring - that'll be sorted next week.

[Cam]

We have new across the street neighbours who have been putting a lot of sweat equity into their house. I chatted with them about it one day a few weeks back. "The biggest problem we have is getting people to show up when they say they will." Good help it hard to find.

[Tom Servo]

It is. I have to admit that I am happy with the job these guys did, the work appears to be very good, and man, I'm used to the AC taking about an hour per degree I want to cool down the house, it just took it down 5 degrees in less than half an hour, so that's a massive improvement. My only real complaint is how very bad the estimate in time was, but that's how it seems to always be.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yeah, especially when you’re talking about yanking out old rotten corroded stuffs, until you open it up, you never know what more needs to be fixed!

I had my system replaced a few years back, luckily it was a fairly simple swap. Performance differences are really night and day... you probably can expect some tax credits back, right?

Anyway, I had relatives living in Santa Monica, I remembered that they didn’t need AC back then. Climate sure has changed...

[Tom Servo]

Upstairs unit started failing to keep the place cool yesterday. It was doing okay in the afternoon, but then by the evening the temp was creeping up. Called the HVAC company this morning and they said they were sending a guy out today sometime between noon and 4. In that time, the temp increased almost 10 degrees into the 80s upstairs while the AC ran the entire time. Guy got here at 3:59, turns out they put too much refrigerant in the condenser and that can cause the entire system to overheat and ruin its effectiveness. He bled some off and now the temperature is already dropping back down again.

Hoping now the saga is done, but happy they came out on what turned out to be one of the hottest days of the year and try to sort the installation out.

Also, fwiw, I don't live in Santa Monica, but it was in the mid-90s there today. The highest I saw here in Century City was 95.

[CudaMan]

Whoah. I was wondering why you were running the AC! My thermostat has been off for weeks (highs around low 80s, low around low 50s).

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yeah, oddly we're experiencing some heat wave this week in LA. High 90's during late October! We should cool down around Sunday though...

Wife is spoiling our cats by setting up a very narrow temp window in our house at around 70s... so we've been using AC during the day and Heat during the night. Thank goodness for solar panels and hope our HVAC system will continue to work flawlessly...

[Tom Servo]

I feel like we get these Santa Anas every year around this time, lots of heat and super low humidity. Sparked a fire just up the road from my work the other day, but thankfully they were able to get it under control before it burned any homes. The nice thing is, it blows a lot of crap in the air out over the ocean, so I can actually see almost to the end of the San Gabriel mountains today.

I'm also immediately canceling any environmental affect I have from biking home instead of driving by cranking the AC when I get home for about 15 minutes, otherwise I'm a sweaty mess.

[IMOA]

Sold my apartment on the weekend so in 6 weeks I'll no longer be a homeowner. Hunting for houses now and hoping to be able to get something something smallish in the same area we're in now (lower north shore, sydney). But now I'm on the move again hopefully for the last time until I retire :)

[IMOA]

And new house purchased. No longer homeless and have something which is pretty much a forever (or until retirement) house. Life is wonderful.

https://www.domain.com.au/49-burlington-street-crows-nest-nsw-2065-2015814989

[dodint]

Congrats dude. :up:

[Cam]

Sweet, man. Looks chic. :cool::up:

[Crazed_Insanity]

Wow! That is one nice looking, super skinny and super expensive house!!!

Congrats! :up:

[Dicknose]

IMOA should point out the cool pubs and Japanese restaurants in the area!
And close to the coming metro train (which goes to my place/IMOAs work)

Looks very neat, bathroom is pretty new. Nice little yard.
And that long narrow is very common for some older suburbs in Sydney.

Congrats!
I expect a house warming invite!!! (as does everyone else here)

[IMOA]

We measured on google that its 180m to our favourite japanese standing bar in the area, 108m to the best cocktail bar (or half that if you measure from the back of the yard to the back of the bar, and 220m to the best yakiniku (hmm, best value yakiniku, the actual best yakiniku is a bit closer) and about 25 minutes walk to kirribilli/harbour bridge. So yep, skinny, not exactly cheap and incredibly well located.

Bathroom is new (renovated 2 years ago) and we'll be putting an ensuite in the upstairs master straight away. We move in in mid jan, have to leave straight away for chinese new year so house warmings in late Feb :)

[mk]

I expect a house warming invite!!! (as does everyone else here)
I probably pass.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yes, Billi wouldn’t mind strolling around Kirribilli! :D

Unfortunately Billi isn’t affluent enough! I’ve been to Sydney once, can’t afford to waste my vacation days and limited budget to go there again! :p

[21Kid]

Very nice!

Will you be walking to said bar?

[George]

Congratulations IMOA. You seem to live an interesting life. :up:

[IMOA]

Very nice!

Will you be walking to said bar?

That and many others :) Basically the house in in the quietest street a 2 minute walk from what is probably the largest/best restaurant/cafe/bar area on the north side of Sydney so the location is pretty amazing.


Congratulations IMOA. You seem to live an interesting life. :up:

We try :)

[CudaMan]

Wow, so clean and modern inside! I dig the dual patios. Congrats on the new place!

[Yw-slayer]

Yakiniku is great! Enjoy your new pad!!

[IMOA]

Settled on Friday, starting to move in over the weekend with the main move booked for Monday. Happy days.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Happy for the new place sure, but personally I hate moving! :p

[IMOA]

I’m pretty confident that the entire universe hates moving :) anyways, we’re packed, rubbish dumped and removalists coming tomorrow. All we have to do now is have a last bottle of champagne on the balcony. I’m going to miss my view.

[dodint]

Ash and I recently moved into her childhood home that she bought from her parents estate. Really proud of what we've done over the last few weeks. House/landscaping stuff is out of my interest and comfort zones, but I've really taken advantage of the good weather this week and got stuff done.

July:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/ACtC-3dFJ1mP050A7avxXP5Ih26G2QB6AVpaXHUBSCABJZcYiqAK0ZE P33kXPkP2vzkUqH4ILwNQRGxY8a-7mpCVQmI9fxs5XcFgSeWjqBT5-pAIpGLD8ILGGKrZw-4zWsO1cobDsm03tvzjXKX_bLZ_K54L4w=w1250-h937-no?authuser=0

Early August:
Obviously we contracted out the pavement work. It wraps around the garage and gives us a large parking pad on the side as well.
I cleared those remaining bushes using my van and a big chain, you can see them in a pile later on.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/ACtC-3elIc-x2l_pdo_BTqvOhvqaztW5wETBl45cRcyJUbKEEjsordL7xi-KBNMJq1Y5WXXnnYt9RC8endI1Z6OcluME2v5RYzcC0j72--8yg-yx7-xE2a3LHxqH5DQDVrMyyyzh86nX1BhZg8vJ_X385lbzGQ=w1250-h937-no?authuser=0

A few days ago:
Marking out my 15 small trees and a shrub. I ordered them online; they shipped from SC super fast. Ordered them on Thursday night and FedEx left them in my yard on Sunday morning before I woke up. (FastGrowingTrees.com)
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/ACtC-3dZw6EhlqGjdhDblO7sBD4sMKjw9r6yN6_2qXQpVOCBQ4Z69br 0JbcXUdIZfGb-OT7iyvhL1MrcK9J7cpVyC72URi59mKq3kNbwuVDGYAx7tl1igY Ae8cjns72UO16fkjLjz7Jm7vc-7vr9ulPVjeGfqA=w703-h937-no?authuser=0

Yesterday:
The sub-contractor that did the excavating left a big trench along the length of the driveway. I've been smoothing it out and plan to put some grass seed down to make it uniform.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/ACtC-3cPRByB-PTZ0EVmRQMfjk7xBYQCpxb20IbzFdfELRj-4yFXvfw4snLJQ9W2pbh9vnHbetxsJmkZVGlZUCZfdUvI6kf5Lb rmSf0OKnlmbOCf-Nz9eRpukhgPlp4wDWGBTHv_LhPS8JJAmYEKXJ3ZLxrqUg=w125 0-h937-no?authuser=0


This morning:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/ACtC-3e60E_omy13qbB7_xGjecO0hVOg8Shjrkbq1J2FMOo0BsGSHQK V0DX5SMZhk5H3r8E71Ir6Ro0GFgqJ_Pkiaq_hCk0UdO_yOjv0_ BL935389gfkXrnv0ymMsy-RcUGIQd93SA25_rmiKbksMQdfvlzioA=w1250-h937-no?authuser=0

Again, house and yard stuff bores the piss out of me but knowing this is my wife's childhood home and we're likely going to own it (if only as a vacation home) for the rest of our lives has gotten me motivated.
These 3ft trees will grow to about 12 feet and provide a really solid privacy hedge in a few years. We like those neighbors but the removal of those invasive bushes and trees certainly opened things up. I don't mind 'seeing' the neighbors, but they sit on their deck and talk on the phone and it carries crystal clear to my porch.
Also, by removing those last bushes it opens up our view of the horse ranch and farm across the road. We measured out the trees we planted so they would *just* obscure the view of their carport/garage and leave us just the landscape in the background.
I'm very happy with it.

[Tom Servo]

Wow, that looks great!

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yeah, how cool is it to actually be able to live or vacationing in your childhood home!

Looking good! Great job!

[dodint]

Yeah. Our old house is under contract to be sold next week. This will be our primary residence for the next 5+ years. But we know we want to have a house down in NC again someday, so we'll probably keep this one as a 'home base' and split time between PA/NC eventually.

[Cam]

Excellent work. Congrats on selling your old house. Now you just need some art to call your new house a home. ;)

[Yeti]

Chose and signed off on a bid for a new concrete driveway earlier this week. Very excite!

Except, the contractor won't be able to do it until spring. Schedule is full for the remainder of pourable weather this year. womp womp.

[George]

I'm just now seeing dodint's pictures. That looks great! What a difference from July. Looks like you've got quite a bit of open area around you and some "big sky", rather than being hemmed in by trees all around. I didn't know you could mail-order trees and shrubs. Makes sense, I guess, but it had never occurred to me.

[Cam]

Welcome to the 21st century, G! :D

[George]

*checks calendar*

Hmm. If that's true, where's my flying car?

https://i.pinimg.com/474x/ae/14/6b/ae146b61b6749f696319bd36ee3ce4b7.jpg

[Crazed_Insanity]

Soon George! Biff is the president now... it's only a matter of time for hover boards and flying cars and Mr. fusion...

[George]

^ Good news! I am ready with those special shoes they wear in the future.

https://i.gifer.com/6TtK.gif

[Cam]

Paraphrase of recent events:

Two months ago.
Us: "We're replacing the fence around our property."
Neighbour: "We'll pay for half of the fence between us."

One month ago.
Us: "We got several estimates and we're going with this one and it's this much."
Neighbour: "Whoa, a fence costs money?"

Today.
Neighbour: "We're not going to pay."
Us: :|

[Crazed_Insanity]

That’s life!

Expect the worst, so you’d be prepared and not be too disappointed.

However, we shouldn’t be too cynical, sometimes we should also hope for the best. We knows, the neighbor just might keep his word and you might be pleasantly surprised?

[Cam]

We were not going to ask that they contribute, nor did we expect them to. If they had just kept their mouth shut, it would have been fine. However, they offered, then reneged. That makes them jerks.

[Crazed_Insanity]

You are absolutely right!

However, in order to make yourself feel better, it’s probably better to just pretend your neighbor made that promise in your dream or something… :p

No need to get too upset over jerks for sure!

[21Kid]

We bought a house... Gah, why did it rotate the picture?

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[George]

Congrats on the new house! At first, I thought, "that picture isn't rotated." Then I saw the light switch. ;)

[Tom Servo]

Hahah, same

[George]

I also noticed the "clocked" screws on the switch plate, but I'm weird like that.

I guess that's all we get to see of the new digs.

And it occurs to me that Cam could probably build a really nice wooden fence if he wanted to.

[FaultyMario]

We bought a house...

https://memegenerator.net/img/images/14006284.jpg

[neanderthal]

Congrats.
I moved away from So Cal to do that and still haven't. :|

[Cam]

Way to go, Kid! Although, I don't understand what is happening in the photo. Water leak?

The fencing people were scheduled to do the work this week. Haven't seen them or the materials yet. :|

[JoshInKC]

That sounds completely normal to me.
Last October we had a very large branch (roughly 1/2 of a tree top) drop on our house and fence. It took us ~6 calls to get somebody to come cut the thing up and haul it away, and then another 4 before we got a fencing company to even respond to the messages we left. Then it turned out to be the end of Feb before they had space on their schedule for us.
The fence is very nice though :up:

[Cam]

We had a few large trees in our yard that needed to be cut down. I called 5 companies and only one answered the phone. :erm:

[Crazed_Insanity]

Historic low rates are fueling the market so housing price is thru the roof at the moment. Similarly, construction materials are also thru the roof.

It is probably not a great time to buy a house or to do remodeling or to do a new fence unless you have extra money to incentivize them... not to mention we also have a shortage of construction workers too. That's a problem extra money might not be able to solve right away.

It is possible your fence contractor decided to back out of the deal because they suddenly realized material cost is going to eat up all of their profits or they just can't find enough workers... hope not.

[21Kid]

Way to go, Kid! Although, I don't understand what is happening in the photo. Water leak?

The fencing people were scheduled to do the work this week. Haven't seen them or the materials yet. :|
Yeah, the old pipe is cracked the entire way up. :( Luckily we got a home warranty with the purchase.

Here are some more pictures from the original listing. I probably should take some of my own.
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[Crazed_Insanity]

Wow! Your new home looks awesome! Congrats!

[Cam]

Looks great! Congrats. Where is it? It appears to be Irvine Brown. :lol:

[George]

From that first picture, I was imagining a "fixer-upper". That is a very impressive home. Congratulations.

I am envious of that three-car garage.

[FaultyMario]

That is a very impressive home. Congratulations.

X2

[21Kid]

Thanks! It's in Orange. Just next to Villa Park.

[Cam]

Dang, you can walk to Disneyland! :lol:

[Tom Servo]

Thanks! It's in Orange. Just next to Villa Park.

Hey, you're not far from one of my favorite Mexican places, Gabbi's on Glassell. It was my introduction to cochinita pibil. Pricey, but damned good.

Also, I hope your home warranty serves you a lot better than ours did!

[Kchrpm]

Damn Kid, can I stay with you for a while or something? Sheesh.

[JSGeneral]

Damn Kid, can I stay with you for a while or something? Sheesh.

A corvette sitting in the driveway would compliment that awesome home quite nicely.

Tom Servo, do you mind sharing your home warranty story?

[Tom Servo]

Mostly that they tried to weasel out of covering much of anything, and the one time we did get them to send someone out to work on things, we had to work with the company they contracted who turned out to be awful.

We originally contacted them about problems with our air conditioners. Our townhouse has two discrete AC units, one for the upstairs, one for the downstairs, and both were dripping water onto the floor. They sent a guy out who told us that at least for the downstairs one he couldn't tell what the problem was without cutting through the ceiling of the bathroom right next to the unit, and that that work was not covered by the home warranty. We got the contractor who redid our kitchen to come out and cut a hole in the ceiling in the meantime, which is when we found out that the upstairs shower was leaking. They offered to cover the shower, but only the actual pipe repair, not all the other work that needed to happen (which of course was the vast majority of the work - I think they offered to cover a couple hundred dollars of the ~$6K repair). Once that was taken care of, it was back to the AC. They sent the same AC guy out who then said he never said anything about cutting open the ceiling and still couldn't figure out what was wrong with the downstairs one, but that he could work on the upstairs. Which he proceeded to do. Managed to cover basically the entire upstairs bathroom in some sort of black goop and gouge a couple of chunks out of the floor tile while he did it, then made no effort to actually clean any of it up when he was done. Just total war zone. And...you guessed it, once he was done, it was still leaking. When contacted about that, the only thing they offered to do was send the same guy out who caused the damage in the first place.

The seller of our place paid for the one year of the home warranty, and then they asked for us to renew. The amount they were asking for a year was more than what they were willing to shell out through that entire year. We told them to go fuck themselves.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Fuck themselves they should!

[JoshInKC]

Yeah, Home warranties are generally not great. They're convenient if the AC, furnace, sewer main, or water heater suddenly go out and need to be replaced or repaired, but they'll usually try to nickel & dime you even on those - depending on the contractor they send out. Anything 'more complex' than simply replacing something mechanical isn't something I'd probably want them to deal with, especially if it involves aesthetic repairs.

[George]

A corvette or two sitting in the driveway would compliment that awesome home quite nicely.

Fixed that for you. :)


...depending on the contractor they send out

No personal experience with home warranty companies, but I would assume they hire the cheapest contractors they can find and do it from some far-away business office.

[JoshInKC]

Exactly. I've seen them happily send out an "hvac dude" who didn't even manage to have a magnetic sign on his 15 year old work minivan.

[21Kid]

The 1st company they assigned to come out in under a minute. It must be an automated system. I looked them up, and they had under 2 star rating on Yelp(with hundreds of reviews) , with tons of complaints about fraud, unable/unwilling to do the work, scams, etc... I asked for someone else, and it took a few days. But he seems to have fixed it correctly.

[TheBenior]

The house looks nice, Billiam.



I just applied to refinance my house again. Started out in 2014 with a 30 yr at 4.25%, refinanced last year at 3.625%, will be at 2.75% over 20 years if all goes to plan. I had been paying extra to the tune of more than what my monthly payment will be anyway.

[neanderthal]

I'm on a list. Probably 28X or something. Noth Texas is nuts.

I've been living at my sisters (she's my cousin by western family standards but in my culture she is my sister.) since I moved here. She said "you don't need to get an apartment, just stay here until you buy a house." And then declined to take rent money from me!!!

It's coming up on 3 years and even though i've been paying rent (i give it to her husband!) i decided to move into an apartment. It's been three bloody years, that's why. Yes, not smart. You can never accuse me of being smart.

I ran into this chic while we're waiting for someone to get back from showing an apartment. We got to talking. You can't get two or three bedroom apartments in North Texas either!!! Errbody trying to move out of the city and get a house can't get a house, so they've taken all the two/ three bedroom apartments. It's nucking futs i tell you.

[JoshInKC]

Ehh, North Texas is pretty much all just suburbs of DFW at this point. I bet houses are pretty cheap in the Transpecos and the scenery is a lot nicer - I can scout around for you if you want. I'm gonna have time on my hands down there for the next 5 weeks.
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[neanderthal]

Ehh, North Texas is pretty much all just suburbs of DFW at this point. I bet houses are pretty cheap in the Transpecos and the scenery is a lot nicer - I can scout around for you if you want. I'm gonna have time on my hands down there for the next 5 weeks.
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Unfortunately, my job is tied to my locale. I'm ... stuck in north Texas.

If i had the capability to do remote work i'd be far far far from people. Solar panels, batteries. Rainwater harvesting. Satellite dish. DONE! I even have the home design fixed in my mind, based on a Spanish cabana pasiega.
Open floor plan with large French doors on either side of the combination kitchen/ dining/ living area. On one side of the k/d/l area is the other two bedrooms each with an en suite bathroom. On the other side is a larger master bedroom with an en suite bathroom. The room for the washer/ dryer would be that side as well. Making the small L is the garage with the utility room behind it containing the solar MPPT charge controller, tankless water heater, batteries (no overpriced Tesla stuff for me. Give me a rack for mounting servers and in the space of 6 racks you've got three powerwalls) inverter charger, water pressure tank, etc.

Probably gonna build it in Zimbabwe. As soon as I no longer have the heebie jeebies about travelling with 300 of my closest strangers in an airplane for nearly ~25 hours.

[Cam]

The fence was completed last week. It took a crew of guys three days to build 400 feet (120 metres) of fence, including tearing out the old one. They worked hard, did a nice job and made sure we were happy with it. Lori realized later that the gate we got was a different style, and cheaper, than what was on the quote. We do not care enough to have them tear it out and put the correct one in. The one they installed is fine. Lori contacted the company anyway and mentioned it to them. They took a bit off the final price to compensate.

[Tom Servo]

Nowhere near getting a new fence, but after five years of fighting with our sliding glass door, we had someone come take a look at it. It's the original door from when the place was built in 74 and was incredibly hard to move, often wanted to jump off the tracks, etc etc. Guy replaced the rollers in about 30 minutes and now it's like a brand new door.

Now I'm really wishing we'd done this five years ago.

[George]

Sliding screen doors on sliding glass doors have been the bane of my existence since becoming a homeowner 20-ish years ago. At our last house, I bet I went through three or four screen doors in five years. They would always fall of the tracks or get loose and crooked and then not close properly. At our current house, we didn't even have a screen door for a few years after I discovered the original sliding glass door frame wasn't square. No matter how I tried to adjust the wheels at the bottom of the sliding screen door, it wouldn't open and close smoothly. I just took it off, rather than wrestle with it every time I wanted to go in or out.

We finally got that door replaced and for a short while we had a screen door that slid back and forth easily and quietly and even had a latch that locked from inside the house. This was great until a few days ago when I was closing the house for the night and realized the screen door no longer latches. Apparently someone slammed it shut too hard and the thin metal in the bottom corner is slightly bent and won't slip into the frame as it should. It stops about 1/8" short of where the latch needs to be to connect to the door frame. Sigh...

I plan to take the screen door off the frame this weekend and carefully straighten in, but it seems like sliding screen doors are always a pain. I wish someone would make a heavy-duty version that wouldn't need constant attention. And they probably did forty or fifty or a hundred years ago when things were built to last and not designed to wear out so you'd have to buy them again and again.

[CudaMan]

Mine has been fine (sliding glass door with sliding screen door with a little lock on it). Installed it in, hm, 2006 or so. Removed the screen door for teh first time a few months ago to clean the tracks/wheels. It took 10 minutes.

I couldn't tell you the brand though, it was too long ago. New enough for the window to be an energy efficient double pane jobber and the frame to be that white vinyl like material on the surface.

My wood fences surrounding my back yard, however, are an expensive replacement item every 8-10 years it seems. I have a section needing done now, but with prices the way they are it's just being propped up by a big 4x8 wedged between it and a tree. :lol:

[Tom Servo]

We were really thinking about replacing the sliding glass door with one of the newer multi-pane energy efficient ones, but of course ours is a non-standard oversized one and the cost was pretty astronomical. That said, despite this being single pane it seems pretty heavy duty and does a great job with blocking noise, which is really handy when the new house built right behind our place has external speakers so they can have loud pool parties.

[George]

Loud pool parties?

That calls for two or three small dogs in your back yard who bark constantly. :devil:

[George]

My wood fences surrounding my back yard, however, are an expensive replacement item every 8-10 years it seems. I have a section needing done now, but with prices the way they are it's just being propped up by a big 4x8 wedged between it and a tree. :lol:

Every 8-10 years is too often. You need something more durable.

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/umfh1j/picture215789155/alternates/LANDSCAPE_1140/tire_fitted%20(1).jpeg

[Cam]

I can always count on you for a good laugh, G. Thank you. :D

[Crazed_Insanity]

Maybe we should have rubber fences… should be more durable than wood and if you live near a busy street, they should also absorb the impact from drunk drivers better! :D

[Crazed_Insanity]

Amazing heat wave hit Seattle area... looks like it killed my new home's old 20 year old central AC.

Time to call the home warranty company that the seller bought for me... Good luck to me! :p

[Crazed_Insanity]

I was up in the attic yesterday with an inspector checking on some other issue. My HVAC system is installed in the attic and I saw a sticker saying that it was recently serviced. So I climbed back up this morning trying to get the service company's info... and then I discovered the electric plug hanging half loose...

So I pushed it back in fully. BANG! Everything works now.

I must've tripped on it when I was there yesterday. Disaster averted for now! Survived to use AHS warranty another day! Whew! I was on their website... and they'll charge $100 upfront just to send a service guy to check things out! Gee... I might as well find the guy myself 1st. Hope I won't ever have to use it.