My garage lights have been stopping working for a long time. Need to fix them soon.

12/11/2019 11:01:52 AM

i need to install a light in my garage period.

#22000

[Edited on December 11, 2019 at 11:37 AM. Reason : ]

12/11/2019 11:37:16 AM

goddamn ChipDrop showed up unexpectedly and dumped a mountain of mulch on my driveway. on the bright side, it was free 99.

also, the fucking electrician for my screened porch has delayed the inspections / finishing, so I'm a week behind.
progress so far: https://photos.app.goo.gl/GUutxcCj65r9zKt28

hopefully he shows up today.

12/11/2019 12:06:35 PM

Mine needs a porch too.

12/11/2019 12:53:47 PM

What would be a rough budget i could expect to have the landscaping around my house cleaned up and re-mulched? It's a small footprint (1400sqft) and all four sides have about a 2' mulch bed around it. I remulched last year but it was a pain in the butt. I'd like to hire a company to come clean it up, reestablish the slope away from the house where it's settled, and completely remulch. What should i expect to drop?

2/6/2020 2:31:48 PM

mulch is usually 50-70$/cub yd installed

https://www.landscapecalculator.com/calculators/mulch

2/8/2020 4:39:33 PM

While taking a stroll around the house checking things out, I noticed this area of my screened in porch that apparently has some rot to it. I've attached a few pics that show it around the bottom corner of what i assume to be a supporting post. It's quite spongy when pushing on the area in question along the exterior, and the board underneath is a little mushy too. I havent noticed it in any other spots, but this area tends to be exposed to the elements (corner faces north & east).

http://imgur.com/gallery/5ieWqBi

How much of a concern is this? I'm assuming this may be something I need to take care of quickly, but I want to be sure. We have some near future plans to completely window (and heat/cooling) the porch to add square footage to our house.

2/8/2020 6:17:37 PM

I would watch that corner during some decent rain to see if the gutter is leaking. I expect that is the cause more than just being exposed to the elements. You want to fix that along with replacing those boards. And definitely do that before windowing anything in.

2/9/2020 7:26:14 AM

had a fucking nickel-sized hole open up in the ceiling of one of my bedrooms during the last big rainstorm...dumped a bunch of water into the middle of the room.

I had a leak there prob 6-8 years ago that was repaired under warranty by the manufacturer (D.R. Horton). The hole is right in the middle of the slightly discolored spot where the leak was...looks like they didn't really fix the leak properly, and over time, a drip eroded a spot in the ceiling, and during a heavy rain collected enough water to burst through and dump it all into the room.

2/9/2020 8:11:25 PM

Wife reported to me that the dryer was getting really really hot. Like uncomfortably hot to the point that she couldn't touch the clothes for a few mins after the cycle finished. Did some investigating on the exhaust duct. Found a fucking beehive with about 2 feet of compressed lint that had built up behind it. The bees were pissed off when I pushed their hive out and threw it in the woods.

6/4/2020 2:46:27 PM

During this pandemic, many transform from renders to buyers

6/4/2020 6:11:46 PM

^^ wtf!!!

6/4/2020 8:34:20 PM

holy fuck

6/5/2020 2:55:21 PM

Fortunately they were the big chonky kind of bee and it was a relatively small hive (looked more like a nest? I don't know what the correct terminology is. There were definitely larva in it though) so wasn't too troublesome. I was in the crawlspace and had used a duct cleaning tool to push the hive outside. I immediately plugged it on my end so they couldn't get to me but I could hear them going nuts. I just waited until after sunset when it was a little cooler outside and they had calmed down a bit then threw their hive in the woods.

Previous owners hadn't correctly installed the flapper thing at the end of the vent and there is about 30 feet of ducting under the house that the bees had full range of.

[Edited on June 9, 2020 at 2:22 PM. Reason : ]

6/9/2020 2:21:00 PM

Let me just state that I hate fixing toilets and that all big box toilet repair parts are garbage.

6/9/2020 3:09:06 PM

^^ I'm in a similar situation with birds in my attic. Anyone else have this problem?

6/9/2020 9:40:42 PM

^Best thing to do would be to try and find out how they are getting in and seal up the hole.

6/10/2020 12:50:54 PM

It's a vent pretty high up. Guess I need to find someone with a long ladder.

6/14/2020 11:29:26 AM

Should this be of a concern?
I filed a claim to get the siding and all the electronics replaced when lightning hit my house, but this was just discovered years later.



[Edited on June 17, 2020 at 3:57 PM. Reason : ]

6/17/2020 3:55:45 PM

I'm having a little trouble figuring out what I'm looking at. Is that an roof truss?

If that's the only place like that, you're not in immanent danger, but you will want that fixed. The bottom of a truss like that is under tension so it's keeping the roof ridge from sagging and the walls from bowing out.

Yikes, BTW.

6/18/2020 10:04:34 AM

Apologies, yeah, roof truss

6/18/2020 11:34:07 PM

It might be worth reaching back out to the insurance company. Since they have it on file that the strike occurred, they may be willing to cover the newly found damage. There is no way you could have reasonably known about the damage at the time. Of course, this is just a common sense hunch, so they will do the opposite.

6/26/2020 4:12:17 PM

holy shit. you're lucky the place didn't burn down.

7/12/2020 5:14:12 PM

Sump pump clogged up and with yesterday's storms the garage flooded again. Thought I had the problem fixed by swapping to an effluent pump but some leaves must have got in. Fun way to start the morning.

12/25/2020 8:35:06 AM

Merry Christmas? (But foreal, that sucks. Sorry)

12/25/2020 11:40:58 AM

foundation getting repaired next week. yay money

12/29/2020 7:36:02 PM

bought a house back in november.

had to replace/rewire 4 3-way switches
kitchen sink drain had a leak
4 ball and rod stoppers were rusted out; replaced 3 with no problem. 4th one won't stay watertight.
master bathroom double vanity had a clog; draino and cleaning the trap didn't work. called out a plumber. clog was resolved by the time they got here. yay wasted money. asked about replacing the entire pop-up drain assembly. wanted $530. ha! $20 and parts and 30 minutes labor? I think not.

12/31/2020 2:37:49 PM

You live in an area with particularly shitty contractors?

1/8/2021 9:57:43 AM

not a custom home, so I don't have the highest confidence.

though could have been the homeowner. the previous people weren't the brightest when it came to work / maintenance on the home.


oh, I failed to mentioned that every. single. smoke detector had been disconnected.

door weather stripping was apparently chewed up by a dog. owner used adhesive foam to fix

1/8/2021 10:08:33 AM

Not a woe, but figured this was a good place to ask.

Anybody got a standby generator? We’re doing a pretty major remodel at the moment and figure now is a probably as good a time as any to look into this. Curious what anybody might recommend.

1/18/2021 7:18:53 PM

I've got a cheapo temporary generator, not sure if "standby" means a nicer generator that is permanently installed? The cheap ones (<$500) are great for occasional use but are annoying loud as hell.

If you're getting major electrical work done to your main panel(s) then its certainly a good time to get the disconnect switching & generator plug installed to give you the option of using a generator in the future.

1/21/2021 9:48:02 AM

I should’ve been more clear. I was referring to the automatic generators (or whole house generators) that are permanently installed and cut on automatically during an outage. Generac seems like a really popular brand, but there’s others. They’re LP or Natural Gas powered.

At a minimum, I’ll at least get my panel set up for a generator plug if we decide against the more expensive automatic generator.

1/21/2021 10:56:28 AM

a portable generator interlock or subpanel is well worth the money; unless you can afford a stand-by generator. I had on put on my last house and am about to have one put on my new house.

1/21/2021 4:37:04 PM

I’m hoping we can afford the standby unit but haven’t gotten any quotes yet. The units themselves aren’t terribly unreasonable ($3-$6k for the some units depending on size). But that obviously doesn’t include install which won’t be cheap. But I’ll probably at least get some quotes and see what it might be.

Was mostly wondering if anybody had one, who they had used...go through Lowe’s or Home Depot for install? Or buy the unit and line up the electrician and everything on your own?

1/21/2021 4:56:44 PM

Generally $8,000 - $16,000 for most size homes. While I know the variables depend on the equipment installed in the home, size of home is somewhat relevant. I think for 2,000 sf I was quoted around $10k, for 3,000sf around $14k.

Do not go with Lowe's / Home Depot. You're either paying a premium since you're going 3rd party or the installer is eating the cost and you're getting subpar work/equipment. I would hire an electrician to do it all. Ask if they markup prices and if so, you'll provide the generator. For large equipment, I don't think most electricians mark up the price beyond a few % for their time / coordination which is fair. On small stuff (fixtures) I've seen markups from 50% to 200%. But their hourly rate / book price is often a little lower.

[Edited on January 21, 2021 at 5:10 PM. Reason : .]

1/21/2021 5:08:50 PM

Thanks for the info!

We’re completely remodeling this house, including an addition. In the end it’ll be around 1800 sq ft. Gonna already have an electrician out here, obviously. So it’d be great to knock it all out at once. I’ll need to get with him and start asking him some of these questions.

I figured HD or Lowe’s wasn’t the route to go for install but didn’t really know what to expect.

1/21/2021 6:52:38 PM

Don't forget to consider maintenance.

I wonder if you can get a home generator that could also provide three phase power for a mill or lathe in a home shop?

1/22/2021 11:56:47 AM

Just fixed the water sink clogging problem in my bathroom. I can be a plumber.

2/1/2021 7:34:27 AM

^^^Yep, check with your current electrician to make sure that's something they do / have done. I would certainly get a quote directly from the manufacturer/distributor that also do installs as a baseline. I've had a few people tell me that installers have tried to undersell them due to the expense and just wanting to get the job (e.g. they think the homeowner will walk since this is an expensive project so the installer will recommend a smaller generator). If you start hearing talk of having to choose circuits or adding additional transfer switches, then you're likely being undersold. Definitely want multiple quotes not only to get market pricing, but to see what size system each recommends. There are a few online calculators as well that will get you a general ballbark of size.

2/1/2021 9:37:10 AM

All very helpful, thanks!

2/1/2021 7:07:49 PM

The surveillance system of the whole house has to be taken care of now. Refill batteries, check up sensors not working, etc. It's only half-functional now.

2/3/2021 9:10:05 AM

water heaters

2/4/2021 10:39:15 AM

Those things need a better early warning system.

2/4/2021 1:30:03 PM

Un-woe: bought a new house last fall before the bulk of the run-up in home prices. Didn't sell my old house until a few weeks ago; cashed out a ton of money.

Minor woe: houses down here in FL are almost all on a slab foundation--had a plumbing leak in the slab. Gonna cost a couple thousand to fix it.

Larger woe: turns out the plumbing in this house is NIBCO PEX, which is prone to failure. Learned that this is the 3rd leak since the house was built 11 years ago. Probably gonna have to have the entire house re-piped for 7-9 kilobucks. There's a class action settlement that pays 25-70% of the expense...hopefully...someday.

7/24/2021 3:29:11 PM

^lol good luck with that lawsuit

7/26/2021 9:54:05 PM

Sounds like it’s already finalized…just a matter of getting it approved (I think we’d be a shoe-in) and how much you get…and how long it takes.

7/27/2021 8:54:28 PM

A roofing company recently flew a drone over my house and took pictures of possible hail damage to my roof. They then contacted me and suggested that I reach out to my insurance company in order to obtain coverage for a roof repair.

I'm open to this suggestion and have considered doing so in the past; however, this roofing company's methods have raised some concerns, regarding my privacy, in more ways than one.

They've sent me certified mail, called my phone and left a voicemail, texted me and emailed my personal email address.

I can understand how they would have obtained my home address, but I'm not sure how they would have obtained my personal phone number and email address.

Has this happened to anyone else?

I'm considering contacting a different roofing company and filing an insurance claim just to spite this one for invading my privacy.

8/4/2021 5:42:28 PM

If your insurance company agrees there is roof damage, you should absolutely shop around and not go with those drone fuckers just because they found it/suggested it

8/4/2021 6:47:31 PM

^

8/4/2021 10:51:48 PM

I've got an hour before lunch. Plenty of time to replace the bathroom fan switch with a timer switch.



My God, it's full of wires!

8/9/2021 2:18:46 PM