Home Repairs

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Tue Mar 29, 2016 7:50 pm

Let's say everything inspects perfectly and there are absolutely no catches ... why the fuck would you want an 8 and 8?

duff · Post by **duff** » Tue Mar 29, 2016 9:01 pm

Pretty sure Howard it it right on the head when he said brothel. How else do you expect Stan to get laid?

howard · Post by **howard** » Tue Mar 29, 2016 10:00 pm

Credit where due, it was PDX. I wish I had said it.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 7:32 am

mister d wrote:Let's say everything inspects perfectly and there are absolutely no catches ... why the fuck would you want an 8 and 8?

THIS. Holy hell that's too much.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 10:00 am

A_B wrote:
mister d wrote:Let's say everything inspects perfectly and there are absolutely no catches ... why the fuck would you want an 8 and 8?
THIS. Holy hell that's too much.

He said it is a multi-family home, so rental purposes? Bronto, how much could you charge for rent in your area?

BSF21 · Post by **BSF21** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 10:08 am

The Sybian wrote:
A_B wrote:
mister d wrote:Let's say everything inspects perfectly and there are absolutely no catches ... why the fuck would you want an 8 and 8?
THIS. Holy hell that's too much.
He said it is a multi-family home, so rental purposes? Bronto, how much could you charge for rent in your area?

If it's college area, it could be gold.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 11:08 am

I guess I read the rental property to be the two apartments. Maybe those apartments are how it actually gets to 8/8. I probably misread.

duff · Post by **duff** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 11:24 am

Brontoburglar wrote: The 8/8 does not include the apartments. The apartments are separate from the 8/8, so it's actually a 10/10 with 2/2 in separate units.

Just so AB is certain that it is a huge fucking house not including the apartments.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 11:27 am

Thanks! I really haven't been paying attention.

Post by **Sabo** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 11:40 am

This thread turned rather weird rather quickly.

duff · Post by **duff** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 11:46 am

Do some G_d damn research AB!

rass · Post by **rass** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 11:48 am

duff wrote:
Brontoburglar wrote: The 8/8 does not include the apartments. The apartments are separate from the 8/8, so it's actually a 10/10 with 2/2 in separate units.
Just so AB is certain that it is a huge fucking house not including the apartments.

Someone else already made the brothel joke.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 11:56 am

Post by **Sabo** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 12:08 pm

Ryan wrote:

This post might be peak Swamp.

Post by **brian** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 12:27 pm

The seal logo is a nice touch. I don't know if it has anything to do with anything, but I still like it.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 12:29 pm

It's the pedobear. It makes literally no sense but there were like 10,000 options and I just decided to cut bait.

Post by **brian** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 12:29 pm

Ryan wrote:It's the pedobear. It makes literally no sense but there were like 10,000 options and I just decided to cut bait.

Even better.

HaulCitgo · Post by **HaulCitgo** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 2:22 pm

Sign is still up for the now closed "Piedy Bear Child Care Center" right around the corner from my house. Will snap a pic next time I remember. http://www.yelp.com/biz/piedy-bear-chil ... er-atlanta

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 2:54 pm

The Sybian wrote:
A_B wrote:
mister d wrote:Let's say everything inspects perfectly and there are absolutely no catches ... why the fuck would you want an 8 and 8?
THIS. Holy hell that's too much.
He said it is a multi-family home, so rental purposes? Bronto, how much could you charge for rent in your area?

$600 each unit?

The street has no curbs/sidewalks/streetlights and there's no real driveway. So yeah... there's a reason this is so cheap. Great location, minus the ehhhhh neighborhood.

sign > house *sad face*

rass · Post by **rass** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 2:59 pm

HaulCitgo wrote:Sign is still up for the now closed "Piedy Bear Child Care Center" right around the corner from my house. Will snap a pic next time I remember. http://www.yelp.com/biz/piedy-bear-chil ... er-atlanta

In case you forget:

howard · Post by **howard** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 4:56 pm

Sabo wrote:This thread turned rather weird rather quickly.

Well, there are no creme eggs involved. Yet.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Sun May 15, 2016 7:30 pm

Scrubbing Bubbles? More like Slippery Bubbles (That Don't Fucking Work). So now my knee kinda hurts and my tub grout is still pretty unclean looking. Suggestions?

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Sun May 15, 2016 11:34 pm

Cover the grout with a paste of water and baking soda then spray with a mix of 1/3 vinegar 2/3 water. Scrub with brush.

Anyone refinish a deck before?

I've stained a new one, just not sanded down, refreshed, and stained. Looks pretty straightforward, so of course it's going to be a pain in the ass, or no?

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Mon May 16, 2016 6:50 am

It's definitely a pain in the ass but it's not a difficult pain in the ass. Just takes patience.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Wed May 18, 2016 10:38 am

We decided we were finally going to pull the trigger and redo the master bath. Until the first warm day hit, and the A/C wasn't working. There was a leak in the refrigerant. The condenser is 24 years old, so not worth repairing. The furnace works fine, but it's also 24 years old, so there goes my new bathroom. And like everything else in my house, the electrical hookup to my condenser was done in a nonsensical manner, using shitty materials, and not done to code. The placement of the condenser was also a code violation. Whoever installed the old unit decided to run the electric entirely outside, underground, spanning 3/4ths of the house, They had to send out an electrician, who said the wires were in shitty condition, made of aluminum, and I'm lucky they didn't start a fire. Once again, I wish I rented instead of buying. Speaking of renting, two houses in my neighborhood put up "For Rent" signs. In my nine years in the 'hood, I've never seen a For Rent, and there are very few houses for rent in my town.

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Wed May 18, 2016 11:02 am

The Sybian wrote:We decided we were finally going to pull the trigger and redo the master bath. Until the first warm day hit, and the A/C wasn't working. There was a leak in the refrigerant. The condenser is 24 years old, so not worth repairing. The furnace works fine, but it's also 24 years old, so there goes my new bathroom. And like everything else in my house, the electrical hookup to my condenser was done in a nonsensical manner, using shitty materials, and not done to code. The placement of the condenser was also a code violation. Whoever installed the old unit decided to run the electric entirely outside, underground, spanning 3/4ths of the house, They had to send out an electrician, who said the wires were in shitty condition, made of aluminum, and I'm lucky they didn't start a fire. Once again, I wish I rented instead of buying. Speaking of renting, two houses in my neighborhood put up "For Rent" signs. In my nine years in the 'hood, I've never seen a For Rent, and there are very few houses for rent in my town.

How much -- sans electrician costs -- are you looking at for a new AC/Furnace unit?

I have a refrigerant leak too so I'm either getting a new AC unit at the end of the summer or now. I just have to tell myself to spend the money.

It's $4250 for the AC unit and if they do the furnace too (both are 20 years old for me) it's an extra $1K. At least there's a 10% (up to $500) tax credit.

And it's not a home repair, but I just built a golf net in my backyard for $31 after tax + a little concrete that I had sitting in my garage. Better than buying one $200.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Wed May 18, 2016 11:28 am

[quote="The Sybian"]
All-in was $10K. I went with a large local company that has plumbers, HVAC, and electricians, so they sent over one of their own to run a wire through my ceiling, along my garage and out the back. I have a sercive contract with them, that knocked of about $3k, and got lucky in timing, as they ran a free furnace with install of an A/C.

I went with the middle option on both A/C and furnace. 16 SEER A/C and two-stage furnace, no variable speed. The options can swing the price a couple grand either way. Did your pricing include installation? IF so, I'm going to step out and punch some walls.[quote]

First hot day rolls around, A/C only gets the house down to 75. My house is extremely inconsistent temperature wise, so the kitchen was 79 with the AC on full. Tech comes out, adds a pound of refrigerant, and the temps out of the registers drops. He stuck around until the thermostat temps dropped a degree. Couple hours later, 73 is the lowest I can get the thermostat. Next day is hotter, so 74 is the best it can do. I call back, and the HVAC dispatcher says they are booked through the week, because so many people turned on the AC for the first time, and have no AC. Then he tells me home ACs are only able to lower the temperature 25-30 degrees below the outdoor temp. He pauses and says, "according to my iPhone, the outdoor temps is 90, so..." Yeah, fucker. That's 15 degrees. I get it, other people's homes are hotter, but I paid you $10k 2 weeks ago, and your system isn't working. Fucking fix it.

They got me in 2 days later due to a cancellation, and the tech says everything is working, registers are showing temps where they should be. He is completely stumped. My guess is they sold me a unit to small to get the job done. I had three estimates, and all three recommended the same size condenser, so I don't fucking know.

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Wed May 18, 2016 11:37 am

The Sybian wrote:
Brontoburglar wrote:
The Sybian wrote:We decided we were finally going to pull the trigger and redo the master bath. Until the first warm day hit, and the A/C wasn't working. There was a leak in the refrigerant. The condenser is 24 years old, so not worth repairing. The furnace works fine, but it's also 24 years old, so there goes my new bathroom. And like everything else in my house, the electrical hookup to my condenser was done in a nonsensical manner, using shitty materials, and not done to code. The placement of the condenser was also a code violation. Whoever installed the old unit decided to run the electric entirely outside, underground, spanning 3/4ths of the house, They had to send out an electrician, who said the wires were in shitty condition, made of aluminum, and I'm lucky they didn't start a fire. Once again, I wish I rented instead of buying. Speaking of renting, two houses in my neighborhood put up "For Rent" signs. In my nine years in the 'hood, I've never seen a For Rent, and there are very few houses for rent in my town.
How much -- sans electrician costs -- are you looking at for a new AC/Furnace unit?

I have a refrigerant leak too so I'm either getting a new AC unit at the end of the summer or now. I just have to tell myself to spend the money.

It's $4250 for the AC unit and if they do the furnace too (both are 20 years old for me) it's an extra $1K. At least there's a 10% (up to $500) tax credit.

And it's not a home repair, but I just built a golf net in my backyard for $31 after tax + a little concrete that I had sitting in my garage. Better than buying one $200.
All-in was $10K. I went with a large local company that has plumbers, HVAC, and electricians, so they sent over one of their own to run a wire through my ceiling, along my garage and out the back. I have a sercive contract with them, that knocked of about $3k, and got lucky in timing, as they ran a free furnace with install of an A/C.

I went with the middle option on both A/C and furnace. 16 SEER A/C and two-stage furnace, no variable speed. The options can swing the price a couple grand either way. Did your pricing include installation? IF so, I'm going to step out and punch some walls.

Yeah, pricing included everything. Midwest wins!

(It's the same company my family has been using for 15+ years and I've had do all the maintenance and calls at my house since I've purchased so it's allegedly $1K off)

My house isn't huge -- 3BR, 2BA... about 2100 sq ft when you count the entire basement.

Post by **Sabo** » Wed May 18, 2016 11:48 am

We replaced our furnace and AC unit a couple of years ago and paid less than $5k for everything. Our electric and gas bills went down quite a bit, too. The installers say the old furnace was too large for the house, so it burned more gas than necessary.

howard · Post by **howard** » Wed May 18, 2016 5:37 pm

I don't know much about electrical, but damn is that shoddy and dangerous.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Thu May 19, 2016 12:51 am

When we first moved to CO we stayed with my wife's sister 'til we could find a place. The sister wouldn't take rent so we decided to help out with some repairs. The swamp cooler didn't work so we decided we'd pay to have it fixed. The electrician found that the installer had wired the cooler into the bathroom socket that had an emergency breaker on it so anytime you flipped on the cooler it would flip the breaker anytime the cooler really had to work to cool the house. When he was rewiring it correctly he found all the outlets in the basement were just run down from outlets on the first floor of the house. Dangerous what just a tad bit of knowledge is.

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Thu May 19, 2016 7:35 am

So I am not all that handy but feel like I should be capable of basic repairs. The rocker switch for the fan in my kids bathroom is now broken (I have to tape it down to keep it from staying on). Have watched a few youtube and homedespot videos and am feeling like I am capable of replacing the part. But have to admit, because it is electric, I am still a tab bit on the nervous side that I will short the entire house and electrocute myself.

Post by **Sabo** » Thu May 19, 2016 7:44 am

wlu_lax6 wrote:So I am not all that handy but feel like I should be capable of basic repairs. The rocker switch for the fan in my kids bathroom is now broken (I have to tape it down to keep it from staying on). Have watched a few youtube and homedespot videos and am feeling like I am capable of replacing the part. But have to admit, because it is electric, I am still a tab bit on the nervous side that I will short the entire house and electrocute myself.

Just turn off the circuit breaker for that room before starting the repair and you'll be fine. Electric work isn't that hard*, and it's safe as long as you're not working on a live circuit.

* This statement does not apply to wiring three-way switches. Fuck that noise.

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Thu May 19, 2016 8:46 am

Sabo wrote:
wlu_lax6 wrote:So I am not all that handy but feel like I should be capable of basic repairs. The rocker switch for the fan in my kids bathroom is now broken (I have to tape it down to keep it from staying on). Have watched a few youtube and homedespot videos and am feeling like I am capable of replacing the part. But have to admit, because it is electric, I am still a tab bit on the nervous side that I will short the entire house and electrocute myself.
Just turn off the circuit breaker for that room before starting the repair and you'll be fine. Electric work isn't that hard*, and it's safe as long as you're not working on a live circuit.

* This statement does not apply to wiring three-way switches. Fuck that noise.

Yeah, I've found that I can replace outlets and do basic stuff very easily -- I'm just paranoid and sometimes will shut off power to the entire house if I'm not entirely sure what breaker it is.

Post by **Sabo** » Thu May 19, 2016 8:59 am

Brontoburglar wrote:
Sabo wrote:
wlu_lax6 wrote:So I am not all that handy but feel like I should be capable of basic repairs. The rocker switch for the fan in my kids bathroom is now broken (I have to tape it down to keep it from staying on). Have watched a few youtube and homedespot videos and am feeling like I am capable of replacing the part. But have to admit, because it is electric, I am still a tab bit on the nervous side that I will short the entire house and electrocute myself.
Just turn off the circuit breaker for that room before starting the repair and you'll be fine. Electric work isn't that hard*, and it's safe as long as you're not working on a live circuit.

* This statement does not apply to wiring three-way switches. Fuck that noise.
Yeah, I've found that I can replace outlets and do basic stuff very easily -- I'm just paranoid and sometimes will shut off power to the entire house if I'm not entirely sure what breaker it is.

You should take the time to figure out which breaker controls what. Turn on all of your electric components in each room and start throwing breakers to see what's turned off. Mrs. Sabo and I did this a few years ago and were astonished to see what components were on the same circuit. Newer homes usually have rooms on the same circuit but that doesn't apply to older homes like ours (built in 1958).

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Thu May 19, 2016 9:01 am

Best part of a brand new house was that all the breakers were labeled!

BSF21 · Post by **BSF21** » Thu May 19, 2016 9:08 am

Sabo wrote:
Brontoburglar wrote:
Sabo wrote:
wlu_lax6 wrote:So I am not all that handy but feel like I should be capable of basic repairs. The rocker switch for the fan in my kids bathroom is now broken (I have to tape it down to keep it from staying on). Have watched a few youtube and homedespot videos and am feeling like I am capable of replacing the part. But have to admit, because it is electric, I am still a tab bit on the nervous side that I will short the entire house and electrocute myself.
Just turn off the circuit breaker for that room before starting the repair and you'll be fine. Electric work isn't that hard*, and it's safe as long as you're not working on a live circuit.

* This statement does not apply to wiring three-way switches. Fuck that noise.
Yeah, I've found that I can replace outlets and do basic stuff very easily -- I'm just paranoid and sometimes will shut off power to the entire house if I'm not entirely sure what breaker it is.
You should take the time to figure out which breaker controls what. Turn on all of your electric components in each room and start throwing breakers to see what's turned off. Mrs. Sabo and I did this a few years ago and were astonished to see what components were on the same circuit. Newer homes usually have rooms on the same circuit but that doesn't apply to older homes like ours (built in 1958).

This is so true. When we moved in the first upgrade I made was to change us from 100 to 200 amp service. We put in an entirely new board to accomodate the upgrade and had to take an hour to play "why the fuck is this on the same circuit"? Our washer/dryer is wired to a GFCI circuit on our screened-in porch. We were about 2 minutes from redoing the entire 220 outlet before I said "I'm going to test every goddamn outlet in this house before I do that". Sure enough, GFCI was tripped on the porch.

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Thu May 19, 2016 9:24 am

A_B wrote:Best part of a brand new house was that all the breakers were labeled!

Ours are labeled...in faded pencil in handwriting worse than my own. Plus we have an external generator with a second panel. I will be buying a voltage tester along with the new switch.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Thu May 19, 2016 10:47 am

Sabo wrote:
wlu_lax6 wrote: Electric work isn't that hard*, and it's safe as long as you're not working on a live circuit.

Yep, but that's a big as long as. A former coworker's father was an electrician and died on a job. Got electrocuted and fell off the ladder. Her husband worked with her father, and was standing next to him when it happened.

I had a close call switching out chandeliers. The fixture's wire connected to a metal rod, rather than wires. Not sure what that is called. I turned off the wrong circuit and saw what looked like a white ball shoot out when I connected the wires.

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Thu May 19, 2016 12:21 pm

BSF21 wrote:
Sabo wrote:
Brontoburglar wrote:
Sabo wrote:
wlu_lax6 wrote:So I am not all that handy but feel like I should be capable of basic repairs. The rocker switch for the fan in my kids bathroom is now broken (I have to tape it down to keep it from staying on). Have watched a few youtube and homedespot videos and am feeling like I am capable of replacing the part. But have to admit, because it is electric, I am still a tab bit on the nervous side that I will short the entire house and electrocute myself.
Just turn off the circuit breaker for that room before starting the repair and you'll be fine. Electric work isn't that hard*, and it's safe as long as you're not working on a live circuit.

* This statement does not apply to wiring three-way switches. Fuck that noise.
Yeah, I've found that I can replace outlets and do basic stuff very easily -- I'm just paranoid and sometimes will shut off power to the entire house if I'm not entirely sure what breaker it is.
You should take the time to figure out which breaker controls what. Turn on all of your electric components in each room and start throwing breakers to see what's turned off. Mrs. Sabo and I did this a few years ago and were astonished to see what components were on the same circuit. Newer homes usually have rooms on the same circuit but that doesn't apply to older homes like ours (built in 1958).
This is so true. When we moved in the first upgrade I made was to change us from 100 to 200 amp service. We put in an entirely new board to accomodate the upgrade and had to take an hour to play "why the fuck is this on the same circuit"? Our washer/dryer is wired to a GFCI circuit on our screened-in porch. We were about 2 minutes from redoing the entire 220 outlet before I said "I'm going to test every goddamn outlet in this house before I do that". Sure enough, GFCI was tripped on the porch.

My house was completely rewired before I moved in, so that's really not the issue. The paranoia comes from the fact that my grandfather (and namesake) was killed via electrocution in an accident five years before I was born.