GumTurkeyles
AV Clubber 
$10 down, $10 a month, don't you be a turkey
Posts: 3,065 
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Post by GumTurkeyles on Jan 19, 2024 12:19:03 GMT -5
Let's see. Over the holidays we tried to redo the floor in the office, which is a 7x7 room that was an addition to the house around 40 years ago. It has carpet; a 40 year old carpet, that looked disgusting when my wife first bought the house. We were going to do the snap-in flooring, but we found hardwood that matched the rest of the house, for the same price as we would have paid for the other flooring. I looked into doing it myself and rented the floor nailer. Well, that did not work out. The nails were driving in except for around 1mm that would stick out; just enough that the pieces weren't fitting into eachother tightly. So we ended up having to call someone. It doubled the cost of the project, but altogether it's done, cost $800, and looks fantastic.
My wife now has the idea that we can redo the bathroom (the other half of that addition to the house) on our own, aside from the plumbing. So... here we go again.
Also, we have forced steam heat, and this year the automatic water feeder to the boiler died, so we've needed to manually add water to the boiler (via opening a valve, so it's easy). However yesterday I saw the water was low and added water. And added water. And kept adding water. The level indication wasn't moving, and I wasn't sure what was happening. Eventually I heard some kind of noise that didn't sound great and I stopped. I left it alone and we went out to dinner. When we got home, it was 65 degrees in the house, and the water level was now completely full. We drained water out of it (I probably dumped out 3 gallons at first) and I heard the heat finally kick on. So there was an automatic shut off. However, I didn't realize the pressure was too high, so a half hour later, there were banging pipes sounding worse than I've ever heard. I rushed down and drained about another 4-5 gallons, and finally the level showed a line; so we were now below the max fill line. Not sure what kind of damage I did to the system, but that's a future me problem!
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Post by nowimnothing on Feb 1, 2024 12:31:27 GMT -5
Over the weekend, both the refrigerator and the dryer decided to shit the bed. I was able to splice the heating element in the dryer to give it a bit more life, but the fridge is a lost cause. They are both crappy Samsung units that came with the house. We already had to replace the washer which dumped water everywhere when it died. The fridge has been a particular pain in my ass due to the need to defrost the ice maker every month or so. I used to have to defrost the unit in the main section as well but I added some more insulation and that helped it last a bit longer. This last defrost cycle seems to have broken something and it refused to cool the main section below 50 degrees.
I ordered a new GE fridge with the ice maker inside the freezer rather than inside the main compartment. I don't have a lot of trust in the reliability of any modern appliance, but generally the less features it has, the less there is to go wrong.
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Feb 1, 2024 12:51:07 GMT -5
I posted it elsewhere I believe but in December our garage door opener died - the door got halfway up and then stopped. The whole thing was nearly 30 years old, so it's actually amazing it lasted as long as it did - but we got a new motor, belt, rollers and springs for an eyewatering $1900.
And then in January the oven stopped heating so I replaced that too. I really love the new one though.
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Post by Powerthirteen on Feb 2, 2024 7:32:01 GMT -5
Out of curiosity I looked up the serial number of our fridge. It was made in 2009, which is a pretty damn good run, and it's going strong. It is nice to have that age for, presumably, all of the matching appliances in the kitchen in mind, though, so I that I can be mentally prepared for them to start dying in the not too distant future.
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Feb 2, 2024 10:02:50 GMT -5
Out of curiosity I looked up the serial number of our fridge. It was made in 2009, which is a pretty damn good run, and it's going strong. It is nice to have that age for, presumably, all of the matching appliances in the kitchen in mind, though, so I that I can be mentally prepared for them to start dying in the not too distant future. That's pretty good. When we moved into our house, the appliances were all ~20 years old and worked .... poorly for the most part. We replaced the fridge around 2013 (I think?) and two years ago the compressor gave out; it was not a cheap fix but I'm hoping it'll last another 2-3 years at least. Refrigerators giving out sucks, because you tend to lose all the food. |
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Feb 2, 2024 10:57:24 GMT -5
Yeah, having an unreliable fridge is the absolute worst. After a months-long battle with a lemon of a Kenmore way back in the day*, I'm still afraid every time I open a fridge door that I'm going to be treated to that "Ha ha! I died overnight, and now all your food has spoiled!" smell.
*When we moved in at stately Dick N Hisses Manor the fridge was super-crappy. And filthy from the previous owner, to the point that we really didn't want to have to keep using it. But we knew we were remodeling the kitchen, and would likely get a built-in fridge then. So we bought a cheap Kenmore, figuring it'd become a garage fridge when the kitchen was finished. It was, instead, a fridge boondoggle. It took two years for the kitchen to be finished, and we barely managed to get that shitty fridge to limp across the finish line. It remained under warranty the whole time, so the incessant repairs never cost us anything more than the lost food. And I lost count of how many times we had someone out to repair it. We just lived with it, though, because we knew that someday, eventually, we'd get the actual official kitchen fridge installed; there was no point buying a second intermediate fridge. But man, that sucked so bad, just never knowing if it could be trusted. Every time I'd load in perishables from a grocery run there'd be a voice in the back of my head saying, "You're just going to have to replace these in a couple of days."
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Feb 2, 2024 11:00:18 GMT -5
Yeah, having an unreliable fridge is the absolute worst. After a months-long battle with a lemon of a Kenmore way back in the day*, I'm still afraid every time I open a fridge door that I'm going to be treated to that "Ha ha! I died overnight, and now all your food has spoiled!" smell. *When we moved in at stately Dick N Hisses Manor the fridge was super-crappy. And filthy from the previous owner, to the point that we really didn't want to have to keep using it. But we knew we were remodeling the kitchen, and would likely get a built-in fridge then. So we bought a cheap Kenmore, figuring it'd become a garage fridge when the kitchen was finished. It was, instead, a fridge boondoggle. It took two years for the kitchen to be finished, and we barely managed to get that shitty fridge to limp across the finish line. It remained under warranty the whole time, so the incessant repairs never cost us anything more than the lost food. And I lost count of how many times we had someone out to repair it. We just lived with it, though, because we knew that someday, eventually, we'd get the actual official kitchen fridge installed; there was no point buying a second intermediate fridge. But man, that sucked so bad, just never knowing if it could be trusted. Every time I'd load in perishables from a grocery run there'd be a voice in the back of my head saying, "You're just going to have to replace these in a couple of days."The morning I opened the fridge and realized everything was warm and the ice in the freezer had partially melted was the WORST because it was too late to save anything. |
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Post by Powerthirteen on Feb 8, 2024 17:54:38 GMT -5
Next up on our campaign to make this house not suck: dealing with the drainage in the front yard. Some previous owner installed gutters (good!) and rain chains instead of downspouts (bad!) which have combined with the very gentle grade of our front yard to result in a current situation where a fair bit of the yard is a swamp any time it rains. So we're getting estimates for the installation of a proper French drain system to deal with that runoff and take it where it should be. Looks like it's coming in at around $2k, which, I suppose it could have been worse. It'll be nice to get it out of the way, and since I have no interest in digging sixty feet of trench myself...
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Post by pantsgoblin on Feb 8, 2024 18:00:11 GMT -5
Next up on our campaign to make this house not suck: dealing with the drainage in the front yard. Some previous owner installed gutters (good!) and rain chains instead of downspouts (bad!) which have combined with the very gentle grade of our front yard to result in a current situation where a fair bit of the yard is a swamp any time it rains. So we're getting estimates for the installation of a proper French drain system to deal with that runoff and take it where it should be. Looks like it's coming in at around $2k, which, I suppose it could have been worse. It'll be nice to get it out of the way, and since I have no interest in digging sixty feet of trench myself... We had similar situation in the back yard. A friend suggested to dig a shallow trench beside the concrete pad and fill it with mulch to soak up excess moisture. It works quite well and might be a much less expensive proposition for you. |
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billy
TI Forumite
"Coming for you...and your family!"
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Post by billy on Feb 28, 2024 11:45:14 GMT -5
I'm testing my house for radon gas, which is pretty common where I live and is linked to lung cancer. So far the average is juuuust under the 200 bq/m3 guideline. I'm testing in the basement though and that's probably unnecessary, since you're supposed to test in areas where you spend 4 hours of the day or more. I'm only in the laundry room to feed the cat and scoop her litter and, once in a while, doing laundry if my clothes have reached sufficient pong levels. The detector was $175 at Canadian Tire, but at least I don't have to mail it away like the cheaper tests.
Sorry, this should probably have been posted in the Radon Thought Threat [ducks thrown fruit]
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Baron von Costume
TI Forumite
Like an iron maiden made of pillows... the punishment is decadence!
Posts: 4,684
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Post by Baron von Costume on Mar 13, 2024 9:52:09 GMT -5
I'm testing my house for radon gas, which is pretty common where I live and is linked to lung cancer. So far the average is juuuust under the 200 bq/m3 guideline. I'm testing in the basement though and that's probably unnecessary, since you're supposed to test in areas where you spend 4 hours of the day or more. I'm only in the laundry room to feed the cat and scoop her litter and, once in a while, doing laundry if my clothes have reached sufficient pong levels. The detector was $175 at Canadian Tire, but at least I don't have to mail it away like the cheaper tests. Sorry, this should probably have been posted in the Radon Thought Threat [ducks thrown fruit] Damnit Billy I've been putting this off but you reminded me. |
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billy
TI Forumite
"Coming for you...and your family!"
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Post by billy on Mar 13, 2024 10:11:05 GMT -5
I'm testing my house for radon gas, which is pretty common where I live and is linked to lung cancer. So far the average is juuuust under the 200 bq/m3 guideline. I'm testing in the basement though and that's probably unnecessary, since you're supposed to test in areas where you spend 4 hours of the day or more. I'm only in the laundry room to feed the cat and scoop her litter and, once in a while, doing laundry if my clothes have reached sufficient pong levels. The detector was $175 at Canadian Tire, but at least I don't have to mail it away like the cheaper tests. Sorry, this should probably have been posted in the Radon Thought Threat [ducks thrown fruit] Damnit Billy I've been putting this off but you reminded me. Yeah and my readings have been kind of concerning, though this is the time of year when they tend to be the highest. For reasons I do not understand, my main floor bedroom has an average of 300 bq/m3--so it's significantly higher than the basement. Remediating the issue could end up costing a couple grand. |
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Baron von Costume
TI Forumite
Like an iron maiden made of pillows... the punishment is decadence!
Posts: 4,684
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Post by Baron von Costume on Mar 13, 2024 11:53:28 GMT -5
Damnit Billy I've been putting this off but you reminded me. Yeah and my readings have been kind of concerning, though this is the time of year when they tend to be the highest. For reasons I do not understand, my main floor bedroom has an average of 300 bq/m3--so it's significantly higher than the basement. Remediating the issue could end up costing a couple grand. What part of town are you in again? I'm in Lord Roberts and my house is 110 y/o I think now |
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billy
TI Forumite
"Coming for you...and your family!"
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Post by billy on Mar 13, 2024 11:59:51 GMT -5
Yeah and my readings have been kind of concerning, though this is the time of year when they tend to be the highest. For reasons I do not understand, my main floor bedroom has an average of 300 bq/m3--so it's significantly higher than the basement. Remediating the issue could end up costing a couple grand. What part of town are you in again? I'm in Lord Roberts and my house is 110 y/o I think now North Kildonan. House was built in 1964 and is right by Bunn's Creek. Your older house probably has decent air circulation--it's the air tight new homes than can be total death traps |
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Baron von Costume
TI Forumite
Like an iron maiden made of pillows... the punishment is decadence!
Posts: 4,684
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Post by Baron von Costume on Mar 13, 2024 14:43:03 GMT -5
What part of town are you in again? I'm in Lord Roberts and my house is 110 y/o I think now North Kildonan. House was built in 1964 and is right by Bunn's Creek. Your older house probably has decent air circulation--it's the air tight new homes than can be total death traps Yeah mine was renoed quite thoroughly at one point and not done well so I worry though  |
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Post by pantsgoblin on Mar 28, 2024 14:36:42 GMT -5
Had to have someone out to swap the pump on my washing machine, a blessedly easy fix. Upon wrapping up, he did that thing so many do of telling me in highly technical detail about some other job he just had. Granted, I'd much rather hire someone who's passionate than dispassionate about his work but, it's like, my guy if I knew anything about this stuff I probably wouldn't be hiring you.
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Post by ganews on Apr 4, 2024 14:54:11 GMT -5
After nine years, I got my first ever cold call (from a human speaking English, at least) asking if I would like to sell my house.
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Apr 5, 2024 13:34:02 GMT -5
After nine years, I got my first ever cold call (from a human speaking English, at least) asking if I would like to sell my house. I get nearly daily texts from people asking to buy my house! Only, it's not my house. Somehow my phone number has gotten attached to a property in Trenton (about 15 minutes away, much more urban and far more distressed than my neighborhood, probably a completely different kind of "home-buying scheme" speculation than my actual home would be involved in), so I'm constantly getting texts, "Hey Betty! Would you be interested in selling your house?" (I especially like the "Betty" touch; it seems the homeowner they're trying to reach is also an Elizabeth.) Sometimes I let the people know that they've got the wrong number, and I have had a few say, "Thanks. Are you interested in selling any other property?" Gosh, that's tempting... Before I was born my parents lived in an LA-area neighborhood that is now extremely ritzy, and was at that time apparently on the rise. Boomer was once out in the front yard with baby Non-Hugs, and a guy pulled up at the curb, opened the trunk of his car, showed her it was full of cash, and told her to name her price for the house. |
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Post by ganews on Apr 5, 2024 16:51:50 GMT -5
After nine years, I got my first ever cold call (from a human speaking English, at least) asking if I would like to sell my house. I get nearly daily texts from people asking to buy my house! Only, it's not my house. Somehow my phone number has gotten attached to a property in Trenton (about 15 minutes away, much more urban and far more distressed than my neighborhood, probably a completely different kind of "home-buying scheme" speculation than my actual home would be involved in), so I'm constantly getting texts, "Hey Betty! Would you be interested in selling your house?" (I especially like the "Betty" touch; it seems the homeowner they're trying to reach is also an Elizabeth.) Sometimes I let the people know that they've got the wrong number, and I have had a few say, "Thanks. Are you interested in selling any other property?" Gosh, that's tempting... Next time it happens, tell them you'll bring a copy of the deed and sell cheap, but only for a briefcase of cash and no phones. |
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LazBro
Prolific Poster 
Posts: 10,281
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Post by LazBro on Apr 8, 2024 7:41:53 GMT -5
With our pandemic stimulus, pandemic "can't go anywhere" savings, salary increases, insurance decreases, a modest recent inheritance, and a new found if conservative "screw it" attitude toward the long term, we've decided we want to upgrade our backyard. We have a large backyard, which is nice for kids and dogs, but the patio is pathetic even after the extension we did when we first moved in 8 years ago. Not only is it small, especially once you put a table and two grills on it, but it doesn't look very good, and it's positioned so that at peak evening dining hours, the sun glares into the space at a perfect horizontal. So, we're planning to greatly extend it by more than doubling the patio space, adding a built in counter along one of the walls with enclosed storage below, roofing the entire thing, and adding retractable screens the full length of the western edge so we can block the sun/wind and still enjoy the space on sunnier days. I've pretty much planned the layout I want around 1) the grills I have and 2) the grills I still plan to get. It's gonna cost a lot. It's gonna be good. Done. A year-and-a-half later, we have finally installed shades on the western side of our patio. It blocks the sun beautifully, but it doesn't do great in anything above very mild wind conditions, which it has been the last few days. I'll try to grab an updated pic when it's calmer. But now it's actually done. It wasn't really before. |
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Post by ganews on Apr 24, 2024 20:41:15 GMT -5
I got a $200 and change check from the electric company for the overage generated by my rooftop solar panels in the past 12 months. With an $8.71 charge per month for being on the grid, I am paying -$100 for electricity for the year.
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Apr 26, 2024 14:16:01 GMT -5
I got a $200 and change check from the electric company for the overage generated by my rooftop solar panels in the past 12 months. With an $8.71 charge per month for being on the grid, I am paying -$100 for electricity for the year. I would love to be able to get solar panels! My stupid house points the wrong way and has trees on the wrong side of the property to be able to have them, though. ::kicks at dirt:: Enjoy your money-making electricity. Hmph. |
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Post by nowimnothing on Apr 26, 2024 15:50:36 GMT -5
I got a $200 and change check from the electric company for the overage generated by my rooftop solar panels in the past 12 months. With an $8.71 charge per month for being on the grid, I am paying -$100 for electricity for the year. I would love to be able to get solar panels! My stupid house points the wrong way and has trees on the wrong side of the property to be able to have them, though. ::kicks at dirt:: Enjoy your money-making electricity. Hmph. Me too. I have a big house with a good portion of the roof facing south. Unfortunately my neighbor to the South has a big Victorian house about 10 foot taller than mine and a giant Ginkgo tree. |
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on May 9, 2024 9:26:52 GMT -5
After all the drama and agita and rebuilding in my backyard last year, this was the scene last week when we fired up the grill for the first time:   It was a bit summery already for the season, and we enjoyed the cool quiet in our clover-filled yard while watching the golden-hour light glowing in the canopy of the big trees next door. Ahhhh... things seem to have worked out all right at stately Dick N Hisses Manor! (I love our new maple trees so much. They're obviously still awkwardly small for attempting a "shady" backyard, but they're big enough that there's a nice, plump leafiness breaking up the empty space.) |
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Post by ganews on May 21, 2024 20:16:58 GMT -5
I checked with my bank, and the lump check to the credit union cleared. The latter will still have to mail me the balance of my escrow. But, I have officially paid off my mortgage and am 100% debt-free.
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Jun 4, 2024 8:00:14 GMT -5
We have a two-car garage at the front of our house, and then a short sidewalk runs alongside it to the left to the front door. Right at the corner of the sidewalk and the driveway, there's a bush (boxwood maybe) that looked fine when we moved in but is slowly dying and now has big chunks with no leaves. It looks bad. I finally got around to asking our HOA about it a few weeks ago, and sounds like the landscapers are finally removing it. I hope we get a nice, slightly smaller replacement bush (the other problem with it is that it extends a couple inches into the driveway, so I risk scraping my car every time I back out of the garage).
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Post by ganews on Jun 16, 2024 19:49:53 GMT -5
I checked with my bank, and the lump check to the credit union cleared. The latter will still have to mail me the balance of my escrow. But, I have officially paid off my mortgage and am 100% debt-free. After which my credit rating immediately dropped. |
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Post by ganews on Jun 21, 2024 21:06:52 GMT -5
On the holiday I pressure-washed the deck in preparation to water-sesl it, the first time I have ever done this - I usually just sweep it and scrub any ugly spots by hand. It felt extremely American: a device that saves physical labor but not actually as much time as you'd think, wastes a bunch of water, and is used by aiming and squeezing a trigger.
We average 50 gallons a day of water usage, according to the sewer bill. I wonder how much pressure washing actually uses.
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Jun 24, 2024 10:25:51 GMT -5
On the holiday I pressure-washed the deck in preparation to water-sesl it, the first time I have ever done this - I usually just sweep it and scrub any ugly spots by hand. It felt extremely American: a device that saves physical labor but not actually as much time as you'd think, wastes a bunch of water, and is used by aiming and squeezing a trigger. We average 50 gallons a day of water usage, according to the sewer bill. I wonder how much pressure washing actually uses. We have a painting service seal our deck every few years, and they always pressure-wash it first. One time they did this after we'd had a really damp spring and there was tons of tree mold all over everything. It took the guy two days to pressure-wash the deck to his satisfaction, but the reason he had to come back a second day to finish was because he ran our well completely dry by mid-afternoon on the first day. I don't think our well or well pump are especially low-capacity. I think pressure-washing just uses absolutely insane amounts of water, and doing it continuously for six hours is nuts. |
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Jul 2, 2024 9:02:08 GMT -5
Our deck is at least 25 years old, and this summer it's starting to feel a little spongy. There's a builder's tag on it in one spot, and all this time I've assumed that when we were ready to replace it, I'd just call them. Of course, they are no longer located in New Jersey. So... now I don't even know whom to talk to about fixing this. I've reached out to some local landscape/hardscape designers and they don't do decks. Sigh. Sometimes home ownership is the worst.
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