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slap me silly posted:It is your duty. Post pics Didn't think I would ever find it again, but here I found myself cutting out a new box to install a switch for the ceiling fan I'm running wiring for, and luckily my inspection camera (which has intermittently been on the fritz for awhile now) cooperated just long enough to get a picture! Down into the walls we go!  Hold up a sec, what's that outline?  Computer, zoom. Enhance.  It may be a baseball card or something, unfortunately, I believe it's behind cupboard walls in the kitchen, so it's likely going to stay in there until we completely redo the kitchen. I'm still searching for the Trolley token, but here's an ebay picture for someone selling the same thing: 
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Jul 9, 2016 21:36
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Judging by the black and gold fleur de lis some sort of Saints paraphernalia
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Jul 9, 2016 22:16
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slap me silly posted:Depends whether you maintain the door springs yourself or hire it out. This is a good joke
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Jul 10, 2016 00:21
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Holy poo poo, the internet comes through again!canyoneer posted:This is a good joke
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Jul 10, 2016 05:28
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OSU_Matthew posted:
Man, I don't know why but this has been bugging me all day. It looks like a french soldier almost. Here it is a little cleaned up:  Definitely a dude wearing red and gold armor, left hand on hip, right hand holding a bouquet of flowers? There's mysteries in your wall, yo.
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Jul 10, 2016 06:01
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Google saintsations trading cards. It's a cheerleader. Don't know why one of her pompoms looks like a skull, though.
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Jul 10, 2016 13:34
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kbdragon posted:Google saintsations trading cards. It's a cheerleader. Dang you're good!  Betcha one of the kids from one of previous owners needed to hide or ditch the spank bait, and probably slipped it in a crack in the wall for the old gas light fixture upstairs. And he thought nobody would ever find the evidence 
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Jul 10, 2016 18:13
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Jealous Cow posted:What is the typical life expectancy of a garage owner? I have a craftsman from '91 that's still chugging along. slap me silly posted:Depends whether you maintain the door springs yourself or hire it out.
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Jul 11, 2016 06:26
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Hughlander posted:Sprinkler chat, what's the best resource to learn this poo poo? My home inspector didn't run the sprinkler and I didn't realize it. One has some kind of break below ground and just bubbles water to side head. One was stepped on and the plastic bit that lets you set the field of stream is broken. I finally found what this thing is called, it's a poly stretch coupler. For the black polyethylene line, I think mine was 1" line. You may have PVC (rigid, which would take a different type of coupler) or a different size, so check first. If you use what I used grab a hand propane torch to soften up the line before trying to pull the bad section off or put the new section on. Also a tubing cutter made for this stuff was helpful to get a nice square cut.
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Jul 11, 2016 15:10
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SiGmA_X posted:Run a bead of oil across and give em a rub? People pay for that? 🇺🇸 Naah, the huge torsion spring. If that needs adjustment or replacement, it can easily kill you.
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Jul 11, 2016 17:14
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I didn't know you were supposed to oil up the springs, how do people do it if they have the springs which are housed in the tube? We cleaned out our dryer vent yesterday and it took all of 2s to actually clean it out because there was jack poo poo in there despite being in this house for 3 years and never having done it before. Instead, we managed to completely lose a screw and spent a good 30 minutes searching for a single screw within a 7x7 room which is just completely gone. How often are you supposed to clean out dryer vents anyways? I thought it was yearly?
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Jul 11, 2016 18:17
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Rurutia posted:I didn't know you were supposed to oil up the springs, how do people do it if they have the springs which are housed in the tube? My parents did theirs once in twenty years. Only bothered once the dryer stopped drying. Top of the dryer got really hot and the clothes took forever.
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Jul 11, 2016 18:30
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Probably fear mongering then cause I kept hearing about how it was a fire hazard and we were going to burn the house down around our baby.
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Jul 11, 2016 18:48
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I'm looking for recommendations on a composite or PVC (or other? aluminum maybe?) deck rail system. I'm re-decking my current deck, and the railing posts are notched 3x3s (down to like 1.5" effective) attached to the outside of the rim joist, so I'm looking to tear them out and do full 4x4 posts with some StrongTie hardware or something similar. I take it vinyl is weak and wobbly in the sun, so I figure pvc-capped composite is the way to go. Does anyone have any brand experience or tips for me? Is there any advantage to buying something besides whatever Home Depot/Lowe's has in stock for me? I don't need high end things like a large color selection, extra detailing, crazy baluster choices, etc. I just want some choice of rail cap profile besides RECTANGLE. Aside from meeting code and actually like, having a railing, I can technically do this last, correct? Like I can tear out the railing, posts, and decking, then (assuming the deck structure is still good) put my railing 4x4s in and re-deck around them, leaving the actual post slip covers and railings/balusters as the last decision I need to make?
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Jul 11, 2016 18:59
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Does anyone have recommendations for painting a concrete basement floor? Paint types in particular. I'm not married to any brand but I've used Sherwin Williams for the rest of the house.
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Jul 12, 2016 03:01
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Rurutia posted:Probably fear mongering then cause I kept hearing about how it was a fire hazard and we were going to burn the house down around our baby. Annually, clothes dryers cause an average of 15,500 fires, killing about 30 people and causing $200 million of property damage. That's not a whole lot (only about 4% of house fires), and your dryer has a safety that's intended to shut it off before it catches fire if it's clogged, so it's not like going more than 6 months without cleaning your duct is certain doom. But it's also not a whole lot of work and keeps your dryer running properly so it's not something you should ignore. Yearly is a reasonable default interval, but how quickly you accumulate lint depends on your ducts, your dryer, and what you are washing. If you didn't get much lint when you cleaned it, then that's good and you don't need to worry about cleaning it frequently. It would still be a good idea to clean somewhat regularly in case something goes wrong (like an animal crawling in and dying).
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Jul 12, 2016 03:50
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Spring Heeled Jack posted:Does anyone have recommendations for painting a concrete basement floor? Paint types in particular. I'm not married to any brand but I've used Sherwin Williams for the rest of the house. I put Killz primer over a section where the PO's kept the litterboxes, to block the smell, and it worked for awhile but now it's coming up and looks awful. Granted it was more practical than an aesthetic choice, but still... uwaeve posted:Aside from meeting code and actually like, having a railing, I can technically do this last, correct? Like I can tear out the railing, posts, and decking, then (assuming the deck structure is still good) put my railing 4x4s in and re-deck around them, leaving the actual post slip covers and railings/balusters as the last decision I need to make? Granted, I don't know much, but I do know that vinyl composite deck boards are awesome and that the minimum post size for decks are now 6×6 and you can't just bolt on joists now, you have to properly notch boards and stuff. Aand that's about the sum of my knowledge till I build a deck next year. I've no idea on railings unfortunately
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Jul 12, 2016 05:18
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Rurutia posted:Probably fear mongering then cause I kept hearing about how it was a fire hazard and we were going to burn the house down around our baby. I think it depends a lot on your setup, our dryer vent tube has some grody grating on the outside-end that catches tons of lint and poo poo and we have to clean it out yearly. And possibly if you buy a bunch of new cottony clothes you'll get a lot more lint
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Jul 12, 2016 07:05
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canyoneer posted:Naah, the huge torsion spring. If that needs adjustment or replacement, it can easily kill you. Rurutia posted:I didn't know you were supposed to oil up the springs, how do people do it if they have the springs which are housed in the tube? I think it has a lot to do with the dryer and the duct/outside vent setup. My folks newer dryers (mid 00's and early teens) produce very little output waste, but their old (1986) Speedqueens had a pretty reasonable amount.
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Jul 13, 2016 15:11
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SiGmA_X posted:I was referring to standard torsion springs. No idea on anything else. There's no difference in the spring, just that it's housed in a tube. How often are you supposed to lube them?
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Jul 13, 2016 15:16
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Hello homeowners! I am one of you now! My mom and I picked up a dining hutch I had on layaway and took it to the house. It has little rollers on the feet, so we started rolling it in, not realizing that it was really scratching up the hardwood floors. As soon as we saw what it was doing, we put a blanket under it, and gently moved it to one of the spare rooms. The sellers left some of the stain for the hardwood floors in the basement. I've never had shiny hardwood floors before and am unsure what the fix for these scratches are.
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Jul 13, 2016 23:47
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Depends on how deep the scratches are. The basic idea is to sandpaper the area, apply mineral spirits, and then apply stain. Seal with Polyurethane when the stain has dried If the scratches are deep then you can buy some scratch-filling putty, and for that you'd do the sand + spirits thing, then fill the area, then sand + spirits again, then stain and seal.
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Jul 14, 2016 10:59
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They don't seem to be very deep, they're just very visible.
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Jul 14, 2016 15:57
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My house rented after 11 days on the market  I think we may have underpriced it...
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Jul 14, 2016 16:13
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I'm about a week and a half away from closing on my first house ever. Any recommendations on introductions to home maintenance? I don't want to just wait until something catches fire and go googling. Something like Home Maintenance for Dummies, I guess, but maybe you people have better suggestions.
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Jul 14, 2016 17:13
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Did you scope your sewer? Do that first.
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Jul 14, 2016 17:40
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HEY NONG MAN posted:Did you scope your sewer? Do that first. Fortunately, the municipality I'm buying in requires it for an occupancy permit. They're replacing the pipe at this very moment, on the seller's dime.
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Jul 14, 2016 18:22
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That's great I'm still kind of new to this maintenance thing myself, but our home inspector was really cool and was ready to provide all sorts of handy maintenance information. Mostly it's poo poo like "look at the pipes under your sink, check for moisture beyond just condensation, tighten slightly if there's moisture" and "look at the irrigation gaskets, check for moisture, if there's moisture then something is wrong" Other than that it seems like a lot of common sense stuff that people just deliberately ignore for some reason. If an outlet stops working, hire an electrician, that sort of thing. We replaced the lovely old rubber hoses connecting the washer and the fridge to the water line with nice steel-braid hoses. That seemed like a good idea and it hardly cost anything. Keep things clean, generally. Don't let leaves pile up against the house. Keep trees trimmed back so that they're not touching the house. Check the dryer vent yearly, and if it's full of lint then clean it out. HVAC maintenance is something that I know nothing about but I think there are some pretty simple things to do there. You can at least keep the filters clean every few months (by either replacing them or cleaning them if it's the reusable kind) You're supposed to clean dirt off of your fridge's coils every 6-12 months but I don't know anyone who actually does this. It could save you a bunch of money, potentially
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Jul 14, 2016 20:16
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Nessa posted:They don't seem to be very deep, they're just very visible. Lay down a towel and iron it over the scratches with high heat and high steam.
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Jul 14, 2016 21:02
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Rurutia posted:There's no difference in the spring, just that it's housed in a tube. How often are you supposed to lube them? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H5Un2Dh7BZA
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Jul 14, 2016 21:46
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I'm surprised how few people scope out the sewer during the inspection. It's usually really simple and more often than not there is some kind of minor problem they you can leverage during negotiations.
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Jul 15, 2016 00:02
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SiGmA_X posted:Well, standard exposed ones should get a squirt per year. You take a hand pumped oil can with 40Wt or 10/40 (or whatever both super thin) and give it a moderate 'bead' of oil minus about the last inch, and then rub it with a gloved hand. I like to give it a little shake as I rub, it makes the springs move around on eachother and I assume it gets better coverage. Put a drop on everything that moves basically and make sure everything moves. Don't fill the tracks with oil though. We just built a new house and the garage door was noisy and vibrating when we closed it so they sent out a garage repair guy for us. He tightened the spring and sprayed it with silicon, then sprayed the track and all hinges/pins with the same stuff. He told me to just give it a quick squirt every year or so to keep it moving nicely. He said oil gets gunky and attracts dirt, silicon spray is the way to go.
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Jul 15, 2016 00:25
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Update on my broken rear end garage opener. Ended up switching over to a belt drive garage door opener, the Liftmaster 8550. The things I find exciting now apparently include "I can't even hear it operate!" 13 year old me weeps while Homeowner Adult Me rejoices.
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Jul 16, 2016 04:47
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I went through the same thing when I replaced my dishwasher. It's loving magical.
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Jul 16, 2016 18:29
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Here's a fun one... The condensate line from my AC runs up into the attic, along the rafters, and out the side of the house (this was apparently the shortest way to outside when they built it). Apparently, they used some type of PVC(?) that doesn't like UV light, so the pipe degraded right where it left the house and turned 90 degrees downwards to the ground. (This was the only part exposed to the sunlight, they ran both the condensate and refrigerant lines through a piece of downspout they attached to the wall. Apparently, it sprang back a little bit after breaking, which resulted in the condensate draining into my breaker panel. It was fun walking into the room and seeing water dripping from the breaker panel. This has apparently being going on for quite some time (we've been in the house about 7 months now), which explains the mysterious water damage to the panel. We were assuming it was somehow coming in through the meter base. The PO apparently thought it was coming in through the window that's nearby, so they covered it in caulk, and covered up the water damage to the drywall with joint compound. So, now we're planning on ripping out all the drywall on that wall and replacing the panel. (The panel was already in the long term plans due to the water damage and age). The part of the house with *no* plumbing anywhere near it is the last place I was expecting water damage.
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Jul 18, 2016 02:50
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It finally happened. Just about 11 months after buying this place, we finally got hit with the Plague of Homeownership. Our A/C has been struggling to keep up with the Memphis heat this summer, only coming within 4-10 degrees of what the thermostat is set. It's been awful. Both units (we have two) are original to the house, from 2000. The company no longer exists. $4500 to replace the upstairs unit, since it's in worse shape. Ugh
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Jul 18, 2016 22:23
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Omne posted:It finally happened. Just about 11 months after buying this place, we finally got hit with the Plague of Homeownership. Our A/C has been struggling to keep up with the Memphis heat this summer, only coming within 4-10 degrees of what the thermostat is set. It's been awful. Both units (we have two) are original to the house, from 2000. The company no longer exists. $4500 to replace the upstairs unit, since it's in worse shape. Ugh One of our friends in the neighborhood got a visit from an A/C contractor in the area. I guess the company that used to service their unit got bought by another so they called down the list offering free A/C system diagnostics. Their system has been a little weak (not as bad as yours), and they're worrying that their 15 year old unit is about to go. The guys helpfully diagnosed the problem that yep, it's going to go ANY DAY NOW and they should just get it replaced right away and we're running a special so it will be only $8,000 to get it done. Don't worry, we offer financing at 6.9%! They told them thanks but no thanks. Is that a real thing? Why would anyone replace their adequately functioning unit because they expect at some point in the future it won't be adequately functioning?
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Jul 18, 2016 23:18
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canyoneer posted:One of our friends in the neighborhood got a visit from an A/C contractor in the area. I guess the company that used to service their unit got bought by another so they called down the list offering free A/C system diagnostics. Their system has been a little weak (not as bad as yours), and they're worrying that their 15 year old unit is about to go. Because the A/C guy really needs to make a payment on his boat.
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Jul 18, 2016 23:25
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Roof in living room is leaking. Hooray. Looks like the decking is all hosed up judging by the plywood I can see via the hole in the dry wall I ripped. Got a guy coming out tomorrow assess and quote
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Jul 18, 2016 23:27
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My guy went the other direction, the AC was toast, but he said he could get the furnace to limp along a little longer. It was 22 years old and told him to just replace it. It was nice to at least have the option. Edit: replaced both for $5.8k Sperg Victorious fucked around with this message at 00:43 on Jul 19, 2016 |
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Jul 18, 2016 23:39
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