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The house I bought has a "cold cellar": uninsulated cinder/cement room, vented to the outside. I'll be living in Canada, so it'll get down to freezing during the winter, and it seems like that space would be more useful to me for things like wine or pantry or general storage if it didn't get as cold. Would I be losing anything important by just plugging the vent? It's cool still in June, even vented, so I expect it would hold a nice cool temp year-round if I did that.]
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Jun 9, 2016 13:21
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I just want to add, anybody looking for a house, if possible get a house where the e. coil is located not in the attic. Seems to me this poo poo design is to make more living space, but in the end it creates a big hassle when the drat AC fails. In my case, if the expert is to be trusted, is just the outside compressor, but I'd feel a lot better just checking the e.coil myself without having to crawl into a 4ft. crawl space that is +110F inside with no airflow. Also there is no way these guys will replace the whole unit (their recommendation) in the attic without seriously tearing apart the house and garage. It makes me wonder if the $8000 includes patching up the garage ceiling without it looking like poo poo. If I had do overs on buying a house, this would be a big one.
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Jun 9, 2016 16:00
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Agreed. I will never do that again if I can possibly help it.
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Jun 9, 2016 16:10
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Dazerbeams posted:How serious an issue are raccoons? Apparently I have at least one living under my front porch. I haven't seen any damage, nor heard any scratchings inside my walls. I'm inclined to live and let live. A friend of mine had a raccoon living in their attic that broke some plumbing fixtures causing ~10,000$ in water damage
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Jun 9, 2016 16:24
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Might I suggest having e.coli located no where in the house?
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Jun 9, 2016 16:25
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FCKGW posted:Might I suggest having e.coli located no where in the house? Agreed. Keep it out!
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Jun 9, 2016 18:24
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ijii posted:I just want to add, anybody looking for a house, if possible get a house where the e. coil is located not in the attic. Seems to me this poo poo design is to make more living space, but in the end it creates a big hassle when the drat AC fails. In my case, if the expert is to be trusted, is just the outside compressor, but I'd feel a lot better just checking the e.coil myself without having to crawl into a 4ft. crawl space that is +110F inside with no airflow. Don't even get me started on attic air handlers. You pay a huge penalty in efficiency and equipment sizing, have to worry about condensate drains freezing... FCKGW posted:Might I suggest having e.coli located no where in the house? Since this rule would be incompatible with actually inhabiting your house, I would not recommend following it.
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Jun 9, 2016 22:16
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Elephanthead posted:There are at least 100 things that can make this impossible to answer. Let's start with one, is your house wired to current code standards? Anyway rate is location specific but my guys flat rate is $100 an hour. You would pay that times the hours it takes plus materials. Yeah, house was built in 2010 and all to code. One local place quoted me $150 per hour plus materials, and estimated 2 hours.
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Jun 10, 2016 17:07
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What's the thread's take on accessory dwelling units/tiny homes as rentals/AirBnBs? My wife and I are looking for ways to monetize our property, in the hopes of reducing the amount of active/wage income we need to make. The house is already pretty small, so we don't really want to rent out a room. However, we have an amazing mountain/canyon view that's a few miles away from Red Rocks, which could be a good draw in the summer. The traffic from the ampitheatre would be good, too, since 99% of people leaving head back down to Denver as opposed to up towards the hills. After looking it up, it appears that RVs are allowed to camp out on private property indefinitely as long as the trailer is licensed and operable, since we're in an unincorporated area and not subject to an HOA/covenant. Would it make sense to buy something like this for $25k, and rent it out for around $100/night (maybe less in the winter)? Even at 40% annualized occupancy, we could pay that off in around 2.5 years, and then hopefully the place would be paying for the mortgage on the main house. Obviously I'd need to do some serious research into either buying it outright or financing it as an RV, and maybe this is just a stupid loving idea. But I gotta admit, passive-ish income is very tempting. call to action fucked around with this message at 17:39 on Jun 10, 2016 |
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Jun 10, 2016 17:37
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Doing a very quick search my initial thought is 100 a night might be high siding it a little bit. In terms of the legal issues if you are in an unincorporated area you should be fine. Anything that is permanently affixed could theoretically trigger a property reassessment, but it sounds initially like you are looking at RV's which shouldn't really cause many alarms. I'd just be worried upfront you are not going to be getting 100 a night for it, just given what offerings are available at that price range. https://www.airbnb.com/s/Morrison--CO?price_max=100&ss_id=l4vje8o5&s_tag=PFQa5fcP Right now there are 300 plus 100 dollar a night or so offerings in that area, not sure why a tiny house or RV would stand out going off a quick perusal.
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Jun 10, 2016 17:50
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Looks like I had the same thought as gtkor and was going to post basically the same thing. There are several nice condos available for $100/night or less, and an RV for $60/night. Your estimate of 40% annualized occupancy also seems way too high. It's a competitive market and as a regular AirBnb traveler I honestly wouldn't even consider an RV at any price when there's a $100 condo available. e: also take a minute to think about the type of guests you're going to have by competing at the bottom of the market.
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Jun 10, 2016 17:57
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gtkor posted:Doing a very quick search my initial thought is 100 a night might be high siding it a little bit. In terms of the legal issues if you are in an unincorporated area you should be fine. Anything that is permanently affixed could theoretically trigger a property reassessment, but it sounds initially like you are looking at RV's which shouldn't really cause many alarms. Hmm, the vast majority of those are private rooms, some with shared bathrooms - I personally never consider those as an AirBnB traveler. I'd rather have a private area like this little thing would provide. Once you turn on the "whole place" filter under $100, there's nothing within 30 minutes of Red Rocks - I'm within 9 minutes of it. What's a good way to estimate occupancy, do you think?
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Jun 10, 2016 18:18
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When I looked I filtered down to "Whole Unit" rentals only, and there were about 12 options. You may be right that your unit is a better value than the others, but how are you going to convince those of us who aren't from the area? I don't think this is the thread for advice for you. The best we can offer is some common sense stuff along with maybe estimating the cost of maintenance and repairs on that tiny house. You're looking to start a business with a capital outlay of $30k, maybe there's an entrepreneurial thread devoted to doing the math on whether or not the business will work, but please don't take somethingawful.com's advice on it, you need to do more due diligence before you spend that kind of cash.
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Jun 10, 2016 18:27
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Months ago I overbought a gas grill (weber summit 4 burner) and used the boondoggle rotisserie to spit roast two chickens that marinated overnight in citrus and onion. I roasted potatoes in the drip pans that I put under the chickens, and I smoked everything with pecan chips. Jesus loving christ that was  .e: time to turn into one of those barbeque obsessed idiots Bozart fucked around with this message at 22:34 on Jun 12, 2016 |
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Jun 12, 2016 22:28
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I want to mount a hose hanger over some Insul-Brick. How the hell do I find a stud behind that stuff? For extra fun, the insul-brick is probably covering century-old clapboard.
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Jun 13, 2016 00:28
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The only answer is to rip that poo poo off and put up real siding.
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Jun 13, 2016 00:49
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It's in a protected area, everything else was covered with aluminum siding probably 50+ years ago.
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Jun 13, 2016 03:00
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Bozart posted:Months ago I overbought a gas grill (weber summit 4 burner) and used the boondoggle rotisserie to spit roast two chickens that marinated overnight in citrus and onion. I roasted potatoes in the drip pans that I put under the chickens, and I smoked everything with pecan chips. I highly recommend roasting beats in chicken drippings. Best beets I've ever tasted.
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Jun 13, 2016 13:30
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Ah yeah, grilled some burgers and corn outside tonight while chilaxing with a few brews on the new (to me) cast iron patio furniture. This is what homeownership is all about 
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Jun 14, 2016 04:25
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We just dropped $5100 on central air conditioning for our house. We thought, when we bought it in October, that the combo of ceiling fans and the big tree out front would be enough to keep the place from becoming too toasty. Then we thought that a portable swamp cooler would be sufficient. Sure, we'd have to move it from room to room and refill it sometimes, but it'll be fine. Then we thought that adding a SECOND portable swamp cooler, plus the old stand fan we used to use for white noise in our old centrally air-conditioned apartment, PLUS another $40 mega fan would be plenty. Then, after about a week of constantly refilling ice trays and swamp coolers, buying bags of ice from the grocery store, and shuttling these cooling devices all around...we'd already had enough. My partner normally BALKS at ANY expense at all. I was considering trading in my hail-damaged 2005 Civic for something newer and better in the snow, and all I got was "WE CAN'T AFFORD IT." But when given the total cost of this, he didn't bat an eye, just said "lets do it." SOOO...I'll be driving my Civic for another winter. But we'll be cool in the summer!
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Jun 14, 2016 04:48
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blackmet posted:SOOO...I'll be driving my Civic for another winter. But we'll be cool in the summer! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdMnZYPmYgI
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Jun 14, 2016 07:58
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blackmet posted:We just dropped $5100 on central air conditioning for our house. You should also install a whole house fan to stuck in all the cool evening air and push out the hot stagnant air upstairs and in the attic. Basically turns the house into a wind tunnel and cools it down within minutes
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Jun 14, 2016 12:06
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People say it's a bummer to spend a bunch of cash on something like a side sewer because it's money spent with nothing to show for it, but I'm super glad that poo poo water doesn't pile up in my basement shower when I do laundry now. $9k well spent.
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Jun 14, 2016 17:55
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OSU_Matthew posted:You should also install a whole house fan to stuck in all the cool evening air and push out the hot stagnant air upstairs and in the attic. Basically turns the house into a wind tunnel and cools it down within minutes Any gotchas to look out for? Do they have any value for cold months?
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Jun 14, 2016 18:53
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Cheesus posted:Oddly enough, I just saw a segment of This Old House showing installation of one. Given how hard it is to cool down my second floor, it sounds like a perfect solution. There are two types, the better one, imho, ous the kind where the fans are suspended in the attic. A lot less noise and can move just as much air. http://m.homedepot.com/p/QuietCool-Energy-Saver-ES-1500-Advanced-Direct-Drive-Whole-House-Fan-with-Dampers-QC-ES-1500/206047335 The gotchas are you need enough ventilation in the attic to the outside. If you don't, then you'll have to install more.
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Jun 14, 2016 19:11
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blackmet posted:We just dropped $5100 on central air conditioning for our house. Did you try a window AC unit? Our house gets very toasty for a few weeks in the summer, and we retreat to our "icebox" - the only room with an AC unit in it - during the heat of the day.
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Jun 14, 2016 19:28
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call to action posted:Did you try a window AC unit? Our house gets very toasty for a few weeks in the summer, and we retreat to our "icebox" - the only room with an AC unit in it - during the heat of the day. We have fairly new windows, but they all open side to side. Hard, if not impossible, to fit a window unit A/C in them. Also, we're on polar opposite sleep schedules most of the time. I go to bed between 9-10PM, then get up between 4:30-5AM so I can be to work at 7AM. He works 3AM-11AM, so he usually crashes about 3PM, gets up at about 11AM, relaxes or goes to the gym, then heads to work. Having just one room be cool isn't a good option because one has to live while the other sleeps. I think the last apartment we had before we bought this place spoiled us. It had central air, which neither of us ever had before. It was NICE to be able to go anywhere in the place (except for the den and the bathroom, we kept the vents shut there), and have a consistent temperature without it sounding like a wind tunnel. Most of the homes in this 1970's era subdivision don't have A/C. Adding it put 4K onto our Z-estimate (yes, I know those are unreliable). For the combination of current comfort and eventual resale value increase, I won't complain. It's Denver, so while central air isn't a requirement like it is in some other places, it's still a plus.
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Jun 14, 2016 20:06
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Cheesus posted:Oddly enough, I just saw a segment of This Old House showing installation of one. Given how hard it is to cool down my second floor, it sounds like a perfect solution. I installed one of these guys http://www.homeproductsinc.com/store/p/2625-AirVent-36-Wholehouse-Attic-Fan-Model-WH362BDX.aspx Took me about 2 days to cut the hole and wire it up. Works wonders in the early and later summer when it's 90+ during the day but <75 in the afternoon. Doesn't get much use during July/August but that's what the AC and solar are for.
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Jun 14, 2016 22:13
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Retaining wall work has been completed, now I'm trying to sow enough grass seed so the weeds don't take over the additional usable land. Of course it's winter now so nothing wants to grow and there's barely enough daylight. The birds still love eating the grass seed with the anti bird coating, the little pricks. One of the neighbourhood cats messed up the soil a bit as there's a muddy patch that's slow to drain and it looks like the cat sank into it quite deeply. No cats have disappeared though. The most painful part is I've tapped into the floating rate lending for the house as the invoices are huge. Still another $10k invoice to come and the structural engineer just send another invoice. It's cashflow painful.
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Jun 15, 2016 00:49
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lol, I'm an idiot. Started to do the demo work on our old rotting deck last week... and then realized that as part of the refinancing, I'm going to have to have an appraiser come out and look at the house. Spent the rest of this morning hastily reconstructing a deck railing out of rotted boards for what remains of the deck to hopefully be up to code enough to pass the appraisal. 
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Jun 15, 2016 00:56
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moana posted:lol, I'm an idiot. Started to do the demo work on our old rotting deck last week... and then realized that as part of the refinancing, I'm going to have to have an appraiser come out and look at the house. Spent the rest of this morning hastily reconstructing a deck railing out of rotted boards for what remains of the deck to hopefully be up to code enough to pass the appraisal. 
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Jun 15, 2016 01:54
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So is there a good way to decide when to do a roof replacement other than "oh poo poo there is water leaking into my house"? House was built in 1996 and I'm assuming it has the original roof on it so it is probably getting towards the end of its life. Inspection last fall called it out as looking like it would need to be replaced soon due to some loose granules and some missing flashing but it was with the standard "you should get it evaluated by a professional roofer" disclaimer. As part of a contingency the bank put on the sale the sellers had some sketchy roofing company come out and fix the missing flashing and "certify" that the roof was good for 3-5 years but the impression I got was that the company they got to do it was fully aware that they were doing it so that the sellers could close. Plus my understanding is that these roof certifications aren't worth the paper they are printed on. I had three folks out to give quotes (ranging from $7-11k) and they are understandably going to tell me I should go ahead and do it now since they want to get paid. The company that seemed the best (and had the correspondingly highest quote) said it was in "fair minus" condition and that I should just keep an eye out in the attic for any moisture. Looks dry as a whistle up there and I don't see any light leaking in during the day either for now but the repair is inevitable so not sure if I should just get it done now or try to save a grand or so by stretching it out.
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Jun 17, 2016 18:38
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Did you ask the roofer you liked the best what time of year the prices are the lowest? Surely they have a slow time. I would get it done then but small leaks at most usually only ruin decking which is not that much to replace.
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Jun 17, 2016 19:02
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When you replace your roof, get a white roof. It will probably save you a lot on energy bills during the summer.
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Jun 18, 2016 00:38
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minivanmegafun posted:I want to mount a hose hanger over some Insul-Brick. That wasn't so bad. Found the stud indoors and then just measured from the door. 
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Jun 18, 2016 01:53
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Patio is done, on to the deck. Time to see if it makes a waterfall in our basement...
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Jun 18, 2016 02:04
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Bozart posted:Patio is done, on to the deck. Time to see if it makes a waterfall in our basement... May I ask what pavers you used, where you got them, and how much they were? Planning out putting in one myself hopefully soon
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Jun 18, 2016 03:35
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couldcareless posted:May I ask what pavers you used, where you got them, and how much they were? Those are pennsylvania bluestone flagstones, total cost approximately 9k on 200 Sq feet, including permits, a concrete base, labor, etc. It is probably higher on the cost scale because fairfield county CT is expensive, and the gc gets a cut too. E: the mason sourced it from someplace, my gc said he went there himself to choose the stones so they would look nice and match. Bozart fucked around with this message at 19:11 on Jun 18, 2016 |
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Jun 18, 2016 18:29
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Bozart posted:Those are pennsylvania bluestone flagstones, total cost approximately 9k on 200 Sq feet, including permits, a concrete base, labor, etc. It is probably higher on the cost scale because fairfield county CT is expensive, and the gc gets a cut too. This is a joke, right? There is no way someone could be talked into paying $9k for a small section of flat rocks.
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Jun 19, 2016 20:34
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Zanthia posted:This is a joke, right? There is no way someone could be talked into paying $9k for a small section of flat rocks. No and yes? It it a more expensive area and they are the more expensive flagstones, plus we needed a permit, concrete base, etc. It is part of a larger project where we are also expanding the deck.
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Jun 19, 2016 21:20
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