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TooMuchAbstraction posted:As I understand it the main thing is to avoid using inspectors recommended by the realtor, to avoid a conflict of interest. So go on Yelp and find ones with decent reviews. Mine was recommended by my lender (I went through a bank instead of an independent broker), and they were awesome. The guy went out one day and spent most of the day poking around, and then made an appointment with me for the next week after he had finished the report. He told me to block out about four hours and he took me around the house showing me everything he found major to minor. He also handed me a 1.5 inch binder with about 50 pages of findings and another 20 pages with three color photos per page (referred to in the report). The "major" things, the seller took care of before close. And I've been steadily fixing the minor things over the years. When I finish, I may just call them back out to give the house a once over.
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Apr 5, 2015 17:13
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flosofl posted:Mine was recommended by my lender (I went through a bank instead of an independent broker), and they were awesome. That's great, but I wouldn't rely on it. Not every inspector is going to be uncorruptible; not every lender is going to be honest.
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Apr 5, 2015 17:17
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:That's great, but I wouldn't rely on it. Not every inspector is going to be uncorruptible; not every lender is going to be honest. The optimist in me would say the lender should WANT a picky home inspector. The house is your collateral and if it turns out to be worthless, the bank could be in deep poo poo if the loan ever defaults. Then again, the pessimist in me knows the person underwriting the loan only cares about the commission at the end of the quarter and probably won't be around for the fallout anyways.
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Apr 5, 2015 17:37
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WeaselWeaz posted:I'm looking for suggestions on dealing with loud neighbors. Our bedroom faces their patio and their son tends to have people over late to drink and hang out. The only separation is a lovely 4' wire fence and some bushes. Last year I wound up going out at 1am every other week to ask them to keep it down. http://www.movingsoundtech.com/ Turn this on every time they're outside late at night.
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Apr 5, 2015 20:01
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:As I understand it the main thing is to avoid using inspectors recommended by the realtor, to avoid a conflict of interest. So go on Yelp and find ones with decent reviews. My mother already has the "my house" mentality, and I'm just so loving scared for her because she's been hosed over by slick salesmen and being swindled by people close to her before. Her landlord is currently her vice principal at the school in which she teaches, it's already had multiple plumbing problems, several electrical problems (with evidence of a previous electrical fire/short), and a tree in the back yard whose roots are becoming good friends with the slab foundation; it's always being maintained by members of the same church the landlord goes to, and personally, the work seems half-assed. I'm concerned already because the guy has basically offered up someone to "appraise" the house, before sale, and my mother was NOT interested in hearing what my thoughts are in what this houses serious problems are. When it came up and she asked my advice, she shut me down when I warned her to pay well for an independent inspector, saying "Well, why don't you even wanna hear what I want? Besides the VA is gonna help with that anyway!" 
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Apr 5, 2015 20:07
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kastein posted:It's a curse. Cars, especially tire tread. Curse aka mild neurosis. WeaselWeaz, is just calling the cops for a noise complaint out of the question?
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Apr 5, 2015 20:21
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Wasabi the J posted:My mother already has the "my house" mentality, and I'm just so loving scared for her because she's been hosed over by slick salesmen and being swindled by people close to her before. It sounds like she wanted your approval not your opinion. Unfortunately she probably isn't going to listen, so you need a psychologist or a bankruptcy councilor (in the future) not an inspector. You can't teach people or inform them if they don't want to hear it. "Don't confuse me with facts, I've made up my mind!" Etc. Sorry dude. 
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Apr 5, 2015 20:34
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Splizwarf posted:Cars, especially tire tread. Curse aka mild neurosis. I think the noise is borderline, and a cause is our old, brick houses in this area. That's a nuclear option. Plus, whenever I talk to them they quiet down. We're going to see if it keeps up, and have a baby on the way so maybe opening the window so they hear crying will scare them off. I'm the one who gets up, so my wife agreed that if it is a problem this summer she'll talk to the guy's mom. We actually turned on a white noise machine we got as a baby gift and it did a decent job.
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Apr 5, 2015 22:00
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WeaselWeaz posted:What are some solutions here? Even if they weren't up so late the small distance between our houses, brick walls w/o insulation, and single pane windows keeps things loud when we're going to sleep. We're in 1 story with a basement, with probably 5' of height before the first floor starts in the backyard. All I've been able to think of is a tall, likely expensive, fence that would probably block out sunlight. A barrier fence will definitely help, although it may not help much. If you can build it at least high enough to block line of sight with the source of the noise, it can make a big difference; if not, it's pretty much pointless. Your brick walls, even without any insulation, are actually very effective at soundproofing. Blowing insulation in wall cavities might help a bit, but the noise you're hearing is probably mostly through the windows. Dual pane windows and thick, heavy curtains will make a big difference there.
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Apr 5, 2015 22:50
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Doesn't your city have a noise ordinance? If they're making noise too late, and you've already talked to them about it and they don't care then let the cops shut them down.
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Apr 6, 2015 00:02
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`Nemesis posted:http://www.movingsoundtech.com/ Back in highschool kids were setting their ringtones to that poo poo because the teacher couldn't hear it. Nobody I've known was ever bothered by it unless it was so loud as to hurt, and if that's the case then even if you don't hear it it's probably causing you ear damage. The music one sounds great: quote:The Music Mosquito is a complete music system that will relay Royalty free Classical or Chill-out music that would keep the teenagers away to some extent. Royalty-free classical/chill-out music is pretty good teenager repellent 
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Apr 6, 2015 00:49
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`Nemesis posted:http://www.movingsoundtech.com/ The lady at the end of my block has one of these on a motion detector in her front yard. It gives me a headache every time I walk my dog.
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Apr 6, 2015 01:09
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So I live with other people and if I'm chatting online with friends via my headset at night, they complain that I'm too loud. Is there something cheap and easy I can do to try to help dampen the sound between rooms? It's mainly just one wall that borders theirs, and the door into the hallway. I'm in a corner bedroom, so the two walls to the outside aren't an issue, and the wall with the door is mostly taken up with my closet and isn't the one that borders the other bedroom in question.
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Apr 6, 2015 04:50
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Egg cartons?
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Apr 6, 2015 06:17
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This thread went through a sound-proofing recommendations argument a while ago and some fire inspector guys pointed out what a terrible and dangerous idea it is to hang a bunch of flammable poo poo all over your walls and door, if I'm remembering it correctly. Also the thread's
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Apr 6, 2015 06:35
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taiyoko posted:So I live with other people and if I'm chatting online with friends via my headset at night, they complain that I'm too loud. Is there something cheap and easy I can do to try to help dampen the sound between rooms? It's mainly just one wall that borders theirs, and the door into the hallway. I'm in a corner bedroom, so the two walls to the outside aren't an issue, and the wall with the door is mostly taken up with my closet and isn't the one that borders the other bedroom in question. Make sure the volume in your headset is turned down and include an echo so you can hear yourself speaking. You are likely speaking louder than conservation volume because your ears are occluded and your brain ups the volume to compensate.
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Apr 6, 2015 13:19
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XmasGiftFromWife posted:Make sure the volume in your headset is turned down and include an echo so you can hear yourself speaking. You are likely speaking louder than conservation volume because your ears are occluded and your brain ups the volume to compensate. Outbound microphone gain and noise cancellation are your friends.
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Apr 6, 2015 13:58
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Parallel Paraplegic posted:This thread went through a sound-proofing recommendations argument a while ago and some fire inspector guys pointed out what a terrible and dangerous idea it is to hang a bunch of flammable poo poo all over your walls and door, if I'm remembering it correctly. I think the discussion was don't gently caress with doors designed to be fireproof. There are commercially available sound proofing methods, but the problem you run into is unless you do the entire room and the ceilings, you won't get much sound proofing.
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Apr 6, 2015 15:33
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taiyoko posted:So I live with other people and if I'm chatting online with friends via my headset at night, they complain that I'm too loud. Is there something cheap and easy I can do to try to help dampen the sound between rooms? It's mainly just one wall that borders theirs, and the door into the hallway. I'm in a corner bedroom, so the two walls to the outside aren't an issue, and the wall with the door is mostly taken up with my closet and isn't the one that borders the other bedroom in question. As a general rule, soundproofing requires air tight, heavy weight construction and is generally not compatible with renting, which I assume is what you're doing. But interior doors are generally the weakest points for soundproofing and do offer quite a bit of room for improvement. Simply weatherstripping all edges can make for a pretty substantial improvement.
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Apr 6, 2015 16:50
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ColHannibal posted:I think the discussion was don't gently caress with doors designed to be fireproof. There are commercially available sound proofing methods, but the problem you run into is unless you do the entire room and the ceilings, you won't get much sound proofing. I kinda thought the commercial ones were made out of metal or special non-flammable foam, it just seems like hanging a bunch of homemade cardboard or styrofoam poo poo on your walls is just asking for a single spark from a bad socket or something low to ignite and spread super-fast. But yeah you're right, I think the old convo was more about doors specifically.
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Apr 6, 2015 17:17
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Parallel Paraplegic posted:I kinda thought the commercial ones were made out of metal or special non-flammable foam, it just seems like hanging a bunch of homemade cardboard or styrofoam poo poo on your walls is just asking for a single spark from a bad socket or something low to ignite and spread super-fast. But yeah you're right, I think the old convo was more about doors specifically. IIRC, it was about some guy who wanted to sound-proof a fire rated hollow metal door, and suggestions ranged from "hang egg cartons/heavily towels/etc on it" to "drill a hole in it and fill it with foam". Much stupidity was had, and we were all worse off for it.
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Apr 6, 2015 17:21
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Parallel Paraplegic posted:it just seems like hanging a bunch of homemade cardboard or styrofoam poo poo on your walls is just asking for a single spark from a bad socket or something low to ignite and spread super-fast. Correct. And it is against most local fire codes to cover walls with more than a certain percentage of flammable material for just that reason (35-40% if I recall). The commercial type sound/echo proofing that hangs on a wall (think 3M Acoustifoam) is fiercely expensive but treated to be non-flamable.
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Apr 6, 2015 17:26
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neogeo0823 posted:IIRC, it was about some guy who wanted to sound-proof a fire rated hollow metal door, and suggestions ranged from "hang egg cartons/heavily towels/etc on it" to "drill a hole in it and fill it with foam". Much stupidity was had, and we were all worse off for it.
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Apr 6, 2015 17:50
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i like nice words
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I still can't believe you let us down like that.
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Apr 6, 2015 17:51
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I kind of want to get a hollow door and fill it with foam just to see what will happen.
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Apr 6, 2015 17:57
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I would actually like to see it too. The product is Window & Door Foam. It's supposed to provide excellent insulation with minimal expansion, and it specifically says "This low-pressure window and door foam will not warp or deform windows and doors." I think the chance of a fuckup is too high to risk pissing off my super/landlord, but I still want to see it done with a spare door in a backyard.
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Apr 6, 2015 18:05
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I really wanted to see that door explode. But back on sound proofing, paint us a picture as to what the gap between rooms looks like. Is there a closet? How close is the door? Is there a hallway? How long? It's easier to figure out how to help if we can figure out how the sound is being transmitted. ColHannibal fucked around with this message at 18:26 on Apr 6, 2015 |
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Apr 6, 2015 18:24
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Anne Whateley posted:I would actually like to see it too. The product is Window & Door Foam. It's supposed to provide excellent insulation with minimal expansion, and it specifically says "This low-pressure window and door foam will not warp or deform windows and doors." I think the part you're missing is the fact that the usage is for sealing door and window FRAMES. As in, filling the gap between the rough opening and frame as an air barrier before the trim is put on. This is a hugely different application from drilling holes in an object and filling it with foam, although there are foams made specifically for that type of thing. Fun fact: shimming plus low ex foam is considered adequately installed/fastened for windows in several European jurisdictions.
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Apr 6, 2015 18:25
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Motronic posted:Fun fact: shimming plus low ex foam is considered adequately installed/fastened for windows in several European jurisdictions.  That's.......interesting. So you can just pop out people's windows to steal all their stuff??
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Apr 6, 2015 19:03
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apatite posted:
You do know you can just... smash people's windows to steal all their stuff, right?
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Apr 6, 2015 19:10
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thespaceinvader posted:You do know you can just... smash people's windows to steal all their stuff, right? Well I don't go around robbing people so that wasn't my first thought, but surely that would make more noise than just pushing the whole window into the house or pulling it out? Let's do density calculations to figure out how big the window would have to be before it would weigh 400lbs
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Apr 6, 2015 19:12
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apatite posted:Well I don't go around robbing people so that wasn't my first thought, but surely that would make more noise than just pushing the whole window into the house or pulling it out? Let's do density calculations to figure out how big the window would have to be before it would weigh 400lbs 122 sq ft, assuming 1/4 inch single pane glass without the frame. If we're talking double pane insulated glass, cut it in half. http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=400lbs%2F%28density+glass*0.25in%29
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Apr 6, 2015 19:39
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 Motronic posted:Correct. And it is against most local fire codes to cover walls with more than a certain percentage of flammable material for just that reason (35-40% if I recall). I guess flame-retardant treatment of the panels would be the reason floor to ceiling wood paneling could still be had within those codes?
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Apr 6, 2015 19:50
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Splizwarf posted:
Wood paneling isn't nearly the same class of flammable as the paper, cardboard and untreated foam and fabrics that these codes are addressing. apatite posted:
Not really. That stuff really does hold. You would likely break the window and even the window frame itself if you tried to push out a window without cutting most of the foam. Also, windows go OUT, not in. New construction windows have tabs that are attached to the outside of the house and even in a replacement window scenario you most likely have trim inside that is nailed to the window frame and overlaps the wall by an inch or more - so you'd have to rip that off too to take the window out.
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Apr 6, 2015 20:19
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Anne Whateley posted:I would actually like to see it too. The product is Window & Door Foam. It's supposed to provide excellent insulation with minimal expansion, and it specifically says "This low-pressure window and door foam will not warp or deform windows and doors." Did you also think the Window and Door foam could be used to soundproof a window by filling it up with foam?
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Apr 6, 2015 20:54
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No, it just wasn't intuitive to me that a hollow metal door would be way, way more prone to warping than a hollow metal doorframe would be. v I got it now, thanks, I am not foam-exploding anything 
Anne Whateley fucked around with this message at 22:14 on Apr 6, 2015 |
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Apr 6, 2015 21:52
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Anne Whateley posted:No, it just wasn't intuitive to me that a hollow metal door would be way, way more prone to warping than a hollow metal doorframe would be.
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Apr 6, 2015 22:12
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XmasGiftFromWife posted:Make sure the volume in your headset is turned down and include an echo so you can hear yourself speaking. You are likely speaking louder than conservation volume because your ears are occluded and your brain ups the volume to compensate. Entirely possible, and I'll give the 'boost my mic gain' idea a try, because I did try streaming one night and my stream was complaining my voice was too quiet but I didn't get any complaints from inside the house.
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Apr 6, 2015 22:22
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If you include an echo make sure you get it low-latency enough that there's no audible delay, otherwise your brain short-circuits and it becomes incredibly hard to talk 
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Apr 7, 2015 04:21
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Parallel Paraplegic posted:If you include an echo make sure you get it low-latency enough that there's no audible delay, otherwise your brain short-circuits and it becomes incredibly hard to talk What about if you fill your ears with expanding foam?
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Apr 7, 2015 04:30
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