Quote :

"I had to have our main line replaced 2 weeks after move in.(shitty inspector)"

Curious as to how the inspector was supposed to know there was a septic line issue. Other than the obvious every toilet and sink not draining; which I would blame the both of you for not catching.

7/19/2016 1:12:32 PM

Closing tomorrow! I am very much looking forward to complaining in this thread.

7/19/2016 8:27:50 PM

Yeah nice!

7/19/2016 11:28:51 PM

I'm closing Friday!

On a refi

7/20/2016 12:09:15 PM

what loan/rate?

7/20/2016 2:33:19 PM

Our first mortgage was an FHA - big mistake but we just didn't have 40k to throw down on a down payment. The result? Nearly $200 in PMI every month. Well, in our neck of the woods, home prices have rebounded really well. We've only been in our house 4 years, but we recently got it appraised to where we own 20% of the value, so we're able to get into a conventional.

Our current rate is 3.75, but we were locked into PMI for a number of years, even if we pay enough to get to 20%, we would still be paying PMI for many years. Apparently with newer FHA's, you can't just call them up once you own 20% and ask to get out of PMI.

We're going with Miller Lending - they offer no closing costs and decent rates. If you live in the Triangle I'm sure you've heard the ads. Our total cost at closing will be around 850, plus the 375 we paid for the appraisal. The 850 is to front the escrow for the new loan. We'll get refunded our current escrow in about 6-8 weeks, which will make it nearly a wash as far as out-of-pocket costs go.

PM me if you're interested and want their contact information for the person I'm talking with As far as I know, they don't have a referral program, so I've got nothing to gain from a referral.

Forgot to mention, the new rate we're getting is 3.875 - hopefull we can lock down to 3.75 by Friday, we can float down once. But that depends on the market. But even with a slightly higher rate, we essentially come out even as far as total costs, with a good bit more cash flow per month.

[Edited on July 20, 2016 at 3:12 PM. Reason : asdfs]

7/20/2016 3:10:53 PM

Can anyone recommend any good books explaining building techniques for the average home owner?

I know all about HVAC work because I spent my summers in college installing duct work. and I know a few other random things from being on job sites with other tradesmen. (plus a lot of this stuff is pretty obvious) However, I can't frame a door or window. I don't know the right way to make footers for decks. I could put up shingles only on a roof without ridges or valleys. I know what a chalk line does but knot when to use it. etc...

I hate hiring people to do work I could be doing myself. So, I'd like to expand my skill set.

7/25/2016 3:43:11 PM

1) Your applicable building code. While it won't explain it all, you need to know it first and be able to reference it.
2) Youtube videos. Sorry I got no books. But videos and blogs go a long ways. However, some people are idiots. Thus you need #1.

7/26/2016 9:19:48 AM

Youtube is great for home improvement! I've learned a lot about plumbing from it.

7/27/2016 9:18:33 AM

These we recommended via PM:

https://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-Complete-Photo-Improvement/dp/158923538X
and for electrical specifically:
https://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-Complete-Wiring-Updated/dp/159186612X

7/27/2016 10:11:39 AM

Went to install the fourth light fixture in our new (but old) house (three more to go) and this one was a ceiling fan in the bedroom. No problem, I've done this multiple times but the only difference was this one used a dual switch (one controlled the light, the other the fan). I didn't have a need for this setup given the new fan used a remote but whatever. Shouldn't have been an issue until I took the old one down and only saw three wires in the ceiling. After some testing I realized they were using both the black and white wires as hot and the ground wire as neutral because they didn't feel like running another wire and the system isn't grounded. Never having messed with something like this before it took enough trial and error until I figured out what all was happening but I just rewired the switches so one is not even connected and the other is connected properly. Makes me weary of what the rest of the house is like but luckily most of the other fans are on a single switch.

In good news, I didn't realize this when we bought the house but the garage is not only insulated but heated/cooled making for a nice workplace for me. Repurposed one of the old fans out there and even in this brutal south Texas summer it is quite pleasant in there.

8/1/2016 10:11:14 AM

meh, plenty of old houses were built without non-current carrying grounds

8/2/2016 7:02:29 PM

Siding on the house is getting a little funky, as is the patio and some of the driveway. Any pressure washer recommendations?

8/3/2016 2:01:12 PM

skywalkr my house had all sorts of electric oddities like that. Most were previous owner caused who did all sorts of shortcuts on stuff. They are lucky on a few they didnt burn the house down. Its taken me quite some time to find all and fix them.

8/3/2016 5:20:35 PM

Where does everyone fall on sealing a crawlspace? My ductwork has been sweating a good bit during the last few weeks with the hot humid weather and I'm trying to figure out the best way to remedy that for the future. Seems like opinions are pretty evenly split...Of course the ideal method would be to fully encapsulate, insulate, and condition the crawlspace, but that would be $texas.

8/4/2016 9:03:20 AM

full encapsulation is the best way to go. I'd argue that conditioning the crawl is overkill for most situations.

We did a full encap a couple of years ago, and it solved all of our moisture problems in the crawlspace, lowered the humidity in the house, which solved the mold problems we were having.

It was definitely costly, but with our house being mostly one level, that meant almost 3000sqft of crawlspace to contend with.

You mention sealing the crawlspace, which would mean what vs encapsulating? Just sealing off the vents? what about ground moisture-- vapor barrier?

8/4/2016 11:21:23 AM

^correct, I'm wondering solely about sealing the vents as my issue is the heat/humidity in the ambient air getting into the crawlspace from the outside in the summer months and causing moisture to condense on the ductwork and drip. I already have a vapor barrier, so ground moisture isn't a problem (it's actually the opposite, since the condensation drips just pool on top of the vb)...It's dry as a bone under there in the fall/winter/early spring months, which is why I don't really want to spend the $$ on full encapsulation.

[Edited on August 4, 2016 at 12:45 PM. Reason : ^Ballpark, what did your job set you back?]

8/4/2016 12:44:32 PM

Any of you guys do something about popcorn ceilings? It is probably the biggest negative about our house and the idea of scraping them sounds fucking miserable even if we pay someone to do it. I'm thinking putting drywall above it would be the much smarter and cheaper plan. I guess the only negative is the ceiling is a tad lower but the living room/dining room/office and master bedroom have high ceilings, the hallway, babies room, guest bath, and guest room have normal ceilings (8 foot?).

8/4/2016 1:32:31 PM

Guy at work had the vapor barrier put down, vents blocked and caulked, and the dehumidifier installed (including pulling a permit to add an outlet under the house) for $1250. It's not some cheapo dehumidifier either. Made somewhere down here around Wilmington.

You're in good shape if you already have the plastic on the ground. If you've already got a circuit for a light bulb under there, installing an outlet is super easy and I would definitely not fuck with a permit over it. Then it's just a matter of knocking a hole in the foundation wall and gluing up a little PVC. Sealing the vents is easy. Just cut pieces of foam board insulation to size and caulk them up.

[Edited on August 4, 2016 at 8:46 PM. Reason : afds]

8/4/2016 8:42:07 PM

Dealing with standing water that's settling right between my house and my neighbor's house. Killed the grass in the area pretty good and it's just a mushy mess.

I have no idea what I'm doing or how to even begin trying to repair it. It didn't seem to exist or be an issue when I first got the house, but it has escalated since. Who would I want to call to take a look at it and figure out some sort of plan to get this fixed?

8/4/2016 11:56:37 PM

I have a nice house but after 2 years almost exactly we're selling it to get a smaller apartment in another part of Chicago and after that we might just leave this city altogether. We will break even after closing costs and everything else due to the fact we did FSBO and added $15k to the price we paid. Lesson learned, be sure you are in it for the long haul.

8/5/2016 9:19:27 AM

Just out of curiosity, why are you leaving?

8/5/2016 10:22:43 AM

he was holding out till he got his fzero back. now it's time to move on.

8/5/2016 10:25:30 AM

Quote :

"^correct, I'm wondering solely about sealing the vents as my issue is the heat/humidity in the ambient air getting into the crawlspace from the outside in the summer months and causing moisture to condense on the ductwork and drip. I already have a vapor barrier, so ground moisture isn't a problem (it's actually the opposite, since the condensation drips just pool on top of the vb)...It's dry as a bone under there in the fall/winter/early spring months, which is why I don't really want to spend the $$ on full encapsulation. [Edited on August 4, 2016 at 12:45 PM. Reason : ^Ballpark, what did your job set you back?]"

~$17k

that included (off the top of my head)

replacing all of the insulation under the floor, which had basically disintegrated over 20 years and/or was blackened from mold
2 new crawlspace doors
sealing all vents (i think we ~40)
R6 foam panel insulation along the exterior crawl space walls.
20mil vapor barrier which goes up to 6 inches below the floor and is sealed to the walls
two commercial dehumidifiers
two sump pumps

at the time there was only one game in town that did encaps, so the cost was high. 4 years later, others have adopted current building science standards and competition has definitely improved the costs, as a neighbor recently encapped their crawl (about 2/3rds the size of mine) at about half the cost.


For your situation, if you don't have a high water table (I'm on a waterfront property, so i've got moisture coming up from the ground too), if your vapor barrier isn't sealed off, it may not be a big issue. Sealing off the vents may do the trick. But you may want to either rent/borrow a dehumidifier to get the existing moisture out once you seal, or wait until the winter when the air naturally dries up down there before doing it. Either way, if you aren't fighting anything super-urgent, you can experiment a little and incrementally do things until you solve your specific problem if you go the DIY route.

8/5/2016 11:06:05 AM

Quote :

"Any of you guys do something about popcorn ceilings?"

I did this in my first house. It is actually really easy to take the popcorn down, as long as it is easily accessible and not a super high ceiling. you just need to get it a little wet and scrape it with a putty knife. When you scrape it down, you'll see all of the dirt and dust collecting on your ceiling. Its pretty nasty. Just be careful not to ding the ceiling when you are scraping, otherwise you will need to cover with caulk or putty.

Also, you'll probably notice a lot of imperfections and unevenness in your ceiling after the popcorn is taken down. You may need to mud some of the unevenness that wasn't done when the drywall was first put up. Good luck.

^I just noticed that we have fungus growing on our crawl space joists due to the humidity. We are no looking at either sealing the crawl($3,500), or just adding a dehumidifier ($1200) down there. Fortunately, we dont have any mold or other moisture issues at this time. We just bought the house last May and will probably be moving out in the next 6-12 months, so I am not really looking to spend a lot.


[Edited on August 5, 2016 at 2:03 PM. Reason : 1]

8/5/2016 1:53:36 PM

Quote :

"For your situation, if you don't have a high water table (I'm on a waterfront property, so i've got moisture coming up from the ground too), if your vapor barrier isn't sealed off, it may not be a big issue. Sealing off the vents may do the trick. But you may want to either rent/borrow a dehumidifier to get the existing moisture out once you seal, or wait until the winter when the air naturally dries up down there before doing it. Either way, if you aren't fighting anything super-urgent, you can experiment a little and incrementally do things until you solve your specific problem if you go the DIY route."

That's pretty much what i'm leaning toward doing...I went under this morning and re-routed the ac condensate drain (some genius had it routed out under the ground line at the corner of the house, which was causing a pool of water and subsequently backed up and prevented the a/c from coming on, which is how i found out about all this in the first place, but I digress) and mopped out all the standing moisture (all directly under ductwork). I set up a fan at the entrance of the crawlspace and i'll see if that helps at all. If so, i'm thinking about installing some of these:

http://www.globalindustrial.com/p/hvac/exhaust-fans/fans-whole-house/tjernlund-deluxe-crawl-space-fan-220-cfm?infoParam.campaignId=T9F&gclid=CMajje_zqs4CFVFahgodNkgBYA

at one end of the house to create some air flow to try and keep the humidity down in the summer. They're controlled by a humidistat, so it should just click on when the humidity gets too high.

8/5/2016 2:34:05 PM

That's not likely to help. Our humidity levels are just too high in the summer for a fan to bring it down.

8/5/2016 3:31:57 PM

Had Otto's Exteriors come to give an estimate for replacing my masonite siding with Hardie. In the process we found out that my roof is actually 22 years old as opposed to 7 years old that my inspector said when we purchased (I should have known better) and also needs to be replaced. Also need to replace gutters as part of total projet. FML. Haven't gotten the price back yet but I'm guessing ~20k.

8/5/2016 4:47:15 PM

Quote :

"any pressure washer recommendations?"

I have this one:
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200464516_200464516

It's cheap, low maintenance, and it works well for what I need it for. Will it strip paint? Probably not...it's only 1800 psi, but it'll get your siding clean.

8/8/2016 10:49:26 AM

i find that a pressure washer is generally overkill for siding and usually does more harm than good. a brush on a long telescopic pole and a bucket of diluted bleach does fine. just scrub it on, let it set a few minutes, then rinse with a hose.

and unless I was going to use the thing several times a year, i would just rent one for one weekend a year and knock it all out. you'll have a decent piece of equipment to work with and you won't have to take on another combustion engine to maintain.

[Edited on August 8, 2016 at 8:17 PM. Reason : cause really any pressure washer under $1k is junk. use a quality one and you'll never go back.]

8/8/2016 8:16:34 PM

Some progress is being made in my ditch cleanout progress. After clearing the leaf/stick dams and moving some of the rocks, the sludge/dirt is starting to be cleaned out (although not much rain in the past 3 months). Matthew rain may help.

The wall may seem a little higher since I dug the buried rocks out of my front yard (these rocks were 5-8 feet away from the ditch and were doing nothing for ditch stability and erosion control. The yard is getting graded next week and I didn't want the rocks to be buried even more. Eventually I will redeploy the rocks from the wall to where they can serve the most purpose.

10/1/2016 vs 7/4/2016









[Edited on October 7, 2016 at 2:23 PM. Reason : images shown for comparison]

10/7/2016 2:22:45 PM

Welp....Matthew exposed a leak in my roof that seems to be occurring where the roof meets my chimney. How do I get this fixed under homeowner's insurance without it being "my fault"?

10/10/2016 2:32:43 PM

I had the strong north wind blow water in around the frame of a window in my RoG. Water dripped down the inside of the sheathing. No big deal except where it got between some laminate flooring and the subfloor. Thanks to the assholes who sold me shitty flooring, the edges of the planks have curled up near said window.

I have no clue how to troubleshoot this. The window has never leaked in any other situation.

10/10/2016 4:36:28 PM

Quote :

"How do I get this fixed under homeowner's insurance without it being "my fault"?"

When my place got hit with lightning I just submitted a claim and it was no big deal after I paid my deductible.

10/10/2016 5:46:33 PM

Lightening is covered by mine. Wind blown water in. You may be fucked.

10/10/2016 11:59:08 PM

^^^^I have the same thing happening. I'm fixing it out of pocket.

10/11/2016 9:01:50 AM

Wind blown water in is tough. We tried to get that last year after the October "100 year flood" down in Charleston. They gave us $2,100 for a $9,000 job. Better than nothing I guess.

10/11/2016 9:44:13 AM

I think this is a fix I'll be doing myself. I had an issue with wind blown water at my old house and they only covered where the water damaged my wood flooring, not the source of the leak itself. Such b.s.

10/11/2016 10:19:15 AM

i did read my policy recently and had a good time seeing what was and wasn't covered.

i'm totally covered for a volcano, but a nuclear disaster...not so much. sadly cassette tapes have limited coverage!

10/11/2016 3:26:08 PM

Fridge failed after power issues during the hurricane. Then, randomly, a garage door torsion spring broke. Trying to fix both myself today.

Hoping the fridge is just a staring relay+capacitor (~$35). Also hoping I don't kill myself preloading the new garage door torsion spring.

All the while, waiting for the third "bad thing" to happen.

10/12/2016 1:11:29 PM

Fixed both successfully! Super pumped about not paying service folks for what ended up being easy repairs.

In case it's helpful to anyone else, here are a couple of resources I found to help with these two issues:

http://www.appliancepartspros.com/
For appliance repair, this site is great. Great instructional videos, a good forum for troubleshooting, and awesome parts catalog searchable by appliance part number. My problem ended up being a $30 part and a <5 min install.

https://www.diy-garage-door-parts.com/
For garage door repair, install, and maintenance. Small business based out of NC. Good instructional videos that made the process a lot less intimidating. Springs were shipped same-day and I had them the next day. Friends and coworkers were trying to talk me out of doing it myself, citing how dangerous it can be. Yes, lots of potential energy in those springs once you start winding, but with the right tools and understanding of the system it's really quite simple.

10/13/2016 9:25:09 AM

Went to a meeting last night, and came back to find out the fiance almost burned down the house. Part of the house was full of smoke when I got there and she had a pile of burnt towels/clothes. She apparently put them up on a shelf in the pantry/closet right up against the light bulb that got left on and they eventually caught on fire. We opened up all the windows and the smoke gradually cleared out. Doesn't appear to be any damage to the house, but it still sorta reeks of smoke in some rooms as of this morning. They didn't burn for too long, but that smell will eventually dissipate right?

10/13/2016 9:48:10 AM

Yes, the smoke smell will dissipate. You want to make sure you wipe everything down (walls too) and mop the floors to remove any residual soot/ash. Depending on how bad the smoke was, you may need to steam clean the carpets, wash drapes, or any other fabrics.

Depending on your energy level to remove the smoke smell, you could keep the windows open for a while to air out the house to determine how much cleaning you feel like or need to do.

10/13/2016 10:29:19 AM

I know it's hindsight and all....but change all your bulbs to LED's.

10/13/2016 1:59:54 PM

It's super cheap to snag decent quality LED bulbs on amazon these days. I snagged a bunch of typical-looking ones (incandescent replacements) when duke energy progress was like "here's ten of them for $18" or something. Nice for upgrading the light in a fixture which is already maxed out with the largest incandescent/halogen it can take as well (I have three small halogen light fixture sets covering like 600 ft²).

Oh, and the hurricane is balls. I've got a condo in virginia in a historic building. The wind driven rain got into the old elevator mechanical space at the top of my building. This old elevator hoistway/space was filled in to make roughly 30% of my square footage. The water leaked from the top all the way down into the lowest unit in the building, including into mine. I get to play the insurance game now and see if anybody, anywhere is going to cover this.

I'm thinking of installing corrugate metal decking on the ceiling with silicon-sealed side laps to gather any water that leaks anywhere in this hoistway and to feed it back towards a gutter system which i can direct into a bucket. At least that way I can be sure it won't just drip all over all my magazines, some framed photos I haven't hung up, nearly destroy my car's title, nearly destroy my closing documents, nearly destroy my computer/its electrical strip, etc. The previous owner was nice enough not to mention that the ceiling leaked too, so I didn't even think to keep everything I had out of this big portion of my living space when Matthew hit. BALLS.

10/15/2016 9:41:52 PM

The damn cat brought a live mouse into my house on Friday. It managed to get away and squeeze between the oven and the cabinets. After pulling the oven out to try and catch the little bastard, I found that there is a small open space behind my cabinets that it must have crawled into. Set some traps out for it but all weekend there was nothing. As far as I can tell there is only one entrance and one exit (but I guess it could gnaw a hole in the wall or something) and I figure it has to come out for food sometime but man it is annoying. I just don't want the thing to die back there and stink up my kitchen for a month .

10/17/2016 10:18:33 AM

I've found the stench from a dead rodent only lasts a day or two. I've set some poison traps in the attic and we've had a few die up there or in our walls. The smell isn't that bad and doesn't last that long. Just do it.

10/17/2016 11:06:35 AM

I've been in my condo for less than 1.5 years and have already had to pay $1800 for a special assessment for the roof and now they're saying it ended up not being enough and want another $1000. There's also a war between a disgruntled owner and the HOA where one side is alleging that the HOA basically blew all of their reserves and are insolvent, and then the HOA says that he's delinquent and aggressive. He's filed an injunction against the HOA and the HOA is worried to the point that they got an insurance policy that protects the board. There's only 12 units. It's a nightmare and it may only be the beginning.

10/17/2016 2:52:36 PM

Damn, that blows. Loving my single family unit with $12 yearly dues.

10/17/2016 10:16:11 PM

^^ USMC...You signed the motherfucking contract.

[Edited on October 18, 2016 at 12:42 AM. Reason : I bet that dude is cray tho]

10/18/2016 12:38:12 AM