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Welcome to Property Insurance claims! Where we learn about plumbing  Pergo water warrantees  Drive-bys (Hit the wrong house! Whoopsie-doodles!) (no one was physically harmed)  Basement bars of the 1960s   Interesting electrical fixtures  The Way poo poo Used To Be Built to Last  Hey, it worked for the Romans (2015 edition)  yes, that is a Philadelphia Water Department meter attached there, why do you ask? Real Longhorns of New Jersey  You'd leak too, if you were over 100-years old  uhh sure, why not 
PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 04:47 on Nov 11, 2023 |
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Nov 11, 2023 04:45
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| # ? May 29, 2024 19:42 |
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I love that light fixture. Wouldn't want to live with it, but would be happy to visit somebody else's house for an evening.
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Nov 11, 2023 05:47
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Arsenic Lupin posted:I love that light fixture. Wouldn't want to live with it, but would be happy to visit somebody else's house for an evening. It's the kind of thing you'd see in a San Francisco brewery that used to be a warehouse.
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Nov 11, 2023 05:54
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Arsenic Lupin posted:I love that light fixture. Wouldn't want to live with it, but would be happy to visit somebody else's house for an evening. A good friend of my dad's was a 'junk artist' and his house/workshop was chock full of stuff like that. I adored it as a kid.
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Nov 11, 2023 07:30
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Powerful Two-Hander posted:I was talking to a plumber about tiling, as you do, and he said that "the worst ideas are always single men, like the guy that wanted all white tiles and black grout and we ended up having to rip the whole lot out and redo it because it looked so bad" and well well well do I have a story about single men designing bathrooms for you my friend! Single men designing bathrooms is only bad if they don't design it with  in mind.
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Nov 11, 2023 14:54
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PainterofCrap posted:Property Insurance claims I need to know more about this Why is this man's basement a wastewater/soilpipe vermicelli
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Nov 11, 2023 16:03
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At least he primed his pvc connections... There's a couple points where I can kind of see what he was probably thinking, but why are there seemingly two septic systems and why are they joined by a crossover pipe that looks higher than either of them? Is one an emergency overflow for the other?
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Nov 11, 2023 16:15
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`Nemesis posted:pretty sure that outlet install is just rage bait Something like this happened not far from me. A truck was leaking and left a trail of concrete a few inches wide and tall, with little piles at intersections. It was fairly avoidable, because cars straddled it. Then when they "fixed" it, they ground off too much road and now it is worse than the trail was.
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Nov 11, 2023 17:23
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Sash! posted:Something like this happened not far from me. A truck was leaking and left a trail of concrete a few inches wide and tall, with little piles at intersections. It was fairly avoidable, because cars straddled it. Then when they "fixed" it, they ground off too much road and now it is worse than the trail was. They just need to have that leaking cement truck drive that route again to fill the ditch.
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Nov 11, 2023 18:25
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https://twitter.com/hannahrosewoods/status/1723258805062873538?s=20
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Nov 11, 2023 19:35
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Lead out in cuffs posted:Do you remember who else became a building inspector, specifically so he could pass off his own shoddy work? The previous owner of my father's house was the county electrical inspector. I worked for 4 years as an electrician's assistant and I never saw anything as hosed up and "Why did he do things this way?" as in any box I opened anywhere in that house.
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Nov 11, 2023 19:40
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Powerful Two-Hander posted:He said they were square (and I think 60x60) and the entire floor and up the walls so it was like living in graph paper. Was his name Ralph? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLW91ZF96ms&t=210s
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Nov 11, 2023 20:22
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Don't ask Keith Richards to help clean it up
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Nov 11, 2023 23:15
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Most people don't live in their bathrooms.
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Nov 12, 2023 05:30
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PainterofCrap posted:Welcome to Property Insurance I do miss appliances that despite their intended placement in a basement or utility closet never to be looked at again, still had some thought put into aesthetic design rather than it being purely functional.
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Nov 13, 2023 14:10
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Cat Hatter posted:At least he primed his pvc connections... The one on the left miiiight be graywater? I can see something is spliced into the middle of the pipe that joins them, which might be a non-reversing valve as would be expected in that situation.
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Nov 13, 2023 17:40
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my guess would be that nice-looking appliances had some actual thought put into them, so it's kind of a statistical artifact for why it seems more common in older ones
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Nov 13, 2023 18:38
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Phanatic posted:The previous owner of my father's house was the county electrical inspector. I worked for 4 years as an electrician's assistant and I never saw anything as hosed up and "Why did he do things this way?" as in any box I opened anywhere in that house. One thing I learned from the last place I rented at was 'never buy a house from an electrician'.
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Nov 14, 2023 01:56
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Ghost Leviathan posted:One thing I learned from the last place I rented at was 'never buy a house from an electrician'. My dad bought a house from an electrician. Air conditioner stopped working. While checking out the obvious culprits I found that the big fuses in the service disconnect had been replaced with copper pipe.
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Nov 14, 2023 02:20
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Ghost Leviathan posted:One thing I learned from the last place I rented at was 'never buy a house from an electrician'. Ditto most trades, I think? Buying cars from car mechanics come up now and then.
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Nov 14, 2023 02:23
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The shoe-maker's children...
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Nov 14, 2023 03:01
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Computer viking posted:Ditto most trades, I think? Buying cars from car mechanics come up now and then. My house was at some point owned by a guy who called himself a contractor and as far as I can tell that mostly means he hosed up basic handyman work as well as any specific skilled trade you care to think of.
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Nov 14, 2023 03:38
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My previous house was owned by a cabinet maker before me. The cabinets were actually custom made by him, and great, but everything else in the house was trash, including all the trim work. How can you build cabinets, but not cut a piece of baseboard to size?
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Nov 14, 2023 12:07
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Mine also was a finish carpenter; his work in wood is all competent, even excellent; he clearly was an expert, building the kitchen cabinets and a pair of swing-out mullioned windows between the living room and the enclosed front porch. However, that skill did not extend to electrical or plumbing work, which did not slow him down one bit. I wound up replacing just about all of the plumbing and re-wired about half, over a 15-year period. Stuff I found - house should have burned down at least four times.
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Nov 14, 2023 15:24
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PainterofCrap posted:However, that skill did not extend to electrical or plumbing work, which did not slow him down one bit. I wound up replacing just about all of the plumbing and re-wired about half, over a 15-year period. Stuff I found - house should have burned down at least four times. How did you get in my house? My PO was a HVAC guy and did beautiful duct work and was pretty good at finish carpentry. The plumbing and electrical though... All of the sinks and tub drains leaked because he didn't use any putty and put the gasket in the wrong place. Drains go up hill, sure why not. 7HP 220V air compressor run from 14ga circuit and a residential light switch, what could go wrong. I too re-plumed and re-wired 90% of the house. The only bits that were good were the parts he didn't touch. Oh, and at some point he bought a pail of drywall screws so _everything_ is held together with them.
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Nov 14, 2023 15:53
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I live in a subdivision where there are a number of different house designs, but the same builder did them all at the same time, and cut all the same corners in every house. It's darkly amusing to watch the repairs come and go in phases as the same things fall apart at about the same time. First everyone got a replacement garage door, and then almost everyone had to get a new roof. The neighborhood's current upgrade cycle is windows; by now about half the houses have replaced their original cheap lovely ones.
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Nov 14, 2023 16:42
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ZincBoy posted:
This is me but with deck screws gently caress lovely old rear end Phillips heads
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Nov 14, 2023 16:48
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Mine had a brickie and you bet those brick walls are dead straight and level it's just a shame the interior paneling wiring and plumbing is a mess, I've got triple layered walls with wallpaper inside them pipes sagging through the ceiling and had 9 power outlets in one room wired to an 8 amp lighting circuit. Plumbers Electricians Carpenters Masons These are the four POs of the housepocalypse.
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Nov 14, 2023 16:57
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Qwijib0 posted:I do miss appliances that despite their intended placement in a basement or utility closet never to be looked at again, still had some thought put into aesthetic design rather than it being purely functional. In fairness these utility appliances would more often be visible in homes where they were an aftermarket addition rather than something reliably hidden away in a utility closet. people were also likelier to go to Sears or a corner appliance dealer and browse for a large water heater or a new furnace, and the appeal would thus count for something.
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Nov 14, 2023 18:25
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coldpudding posted:Mine had a brickie and you bet those brick walls are dead straight and level it's just a shame the interior paneling wiring and plumbing is a mess, I've got triple layered walls with wallpaper inside them pipes sagging through the ceiling and had 9 power outlets in one room wired to an 8 amp lighting circuit. In hell, they say the plumbers are electricians, the electricians are carpenters, and the masons are plumbers.
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Nov 14, 2023 18:49
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moist turtleneck posted:This is me but with deck screws I have been converted to the Torx-head deck screws for all woodwork. *Especially* the self-drilling and self-locking (two different thread pitches) deck screws. The terrible PO thing in my house is the garage 8-circuit sub-panel run off of 8-gauge cable run alllll the way across the house in the attic... tapped into the top of the breaker box with no breaker. At least the dryer isn't run off of that. It has it's own circuit and breaker in the main panel. The sub panel just runs the garage door opener, and any outlets not located on the wall shared with the house. And the 240V I use for the air compressor. I've been meaning to add a breaker to that feed, and maybe upgrade it to 6 ga. for, uh, 23 years. Oh, also maybe add a main breaker/disconnect for the house. Oh, and the garage panel has a disconnect that uses two cartridge fuses.
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Nov 14, 2023 19:04
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The inspector was impressed by the "overbuilt" circuit breaker system in the house, annoyed by the garage just being an old plug fuse setup. He told me to upgrade that. I will. I will... (planning on getting into wood working in the spring, so I actually should think about my power system being capable enough for it)
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Nov 14, 2023 20:03
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Darchangel posted:I have been converted to the Torx-head deck screws for all woodwork. *Especially* the self-drilling and self-locking (two different thread pitches) deck screws. I got a *shitload* of T25 GRK Uber grade from my dad’s workshop when I cleaned it out, they rule. Sadly I am starting to get low and any major project I’ll need to buy more. For my own “builder did a poo poo job” contribution, this is ostensibly where the downstairs bathroom vent was supposed to come outside.  It was covered by the bottom trim board and it’s just been venting into the joist bay for 25+ years, not to mention free entrance for any bugs. At least the tube was still reachable to get it venting properly.
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Nov 14, 2023 20:52
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Darchangel posted:I have been converted to the Torx-head deck screws for all woodwork. *Especially* the self-drilling and self-locking (two different thread pitches) deck screws. This was already solved in canada 100 years ago, it's called the robertson screw (the revolutionary design of "a square")
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Nov 14, 2023 21:16
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It'll be a cold day in hell when I choose a robertson over a t25
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Nov 14, 2023 21:40
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Majere posted:It'll be a cold day in hell when I choose a robertson over a t25 Heh, I almost posted exactly this. The PO of my house used all Robertson screws. They still strip and cam out all the time. I hate them. t25/30 all the way! The only thing I use Robertson for are the really small trim screws.
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Nov 14, 2023 21:58
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Uthor posted:The inspector was impressed by the "overbuilt" circuit breaker system in the house, annoyed by the garage just being an old plug fuse setup. He told me to upgrade that. I will. I will...
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Nov 14, 2023 22:00
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Arsenic Lupin posted:Where do you buy the replacement fuses nowadays? As I recall from a helpful chart, depending on the required power flow: a cheesery, fastener aisle of your hardware store, ammo case of the sporting goods store, or wrench aisle of the hardware store.
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Nov 14, 2023 22:15
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Arsenic Lupin posted:Where do you buy the replacement fuses nowadays? Home Depot and Lowe’s still have a limited selection. Thankfully, they have what I need for the aforementioned pull-out disconnect. That or good old Amazon.
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Nov 14, 2023 22:20
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coldpudding posted:Mine had a brickie and you bet those brick walls are dead straight and level it's just a shame the interior paneling wiring and plumbing is a mess, I've got triple layered walls with wallpaper inside them pipes sagging through the ceiling and had 9 power outlets in one room wired to an 8 amp lighting circuit. Been a while since we had a new thread title. Crappy Construction: the Four POs of the Housepocalypse ?
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Nov 14, 2023 22:44
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