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Speaking of snowchat...we're planning to move my fiancee from Wisconsin to NorCal in October in a hilariously Frankenstein'd PT Cruiser. I will be doing most of the driving, and I've never driven in snow. How hosed are we?
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Jul 29, 2016 03:35
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| # ? May 17, 2024 13:13 |
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There shouldn't be significant snow anywhere in October. You'll be fine.
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Jul 29, 2016 03:47
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I grew up in Colorado, so take this with a grain of salt, but driving in snow isn't that big of a deal. It's not like you can cancel your move because it might snow sometime between October and May. A week before your move, check the weather on the route (weather.com has a handy dealie-bob for this, checking weather along a route), and if it looks mostly clear, you're golden. If it's light snow, know it'll take some extra time. If a blizzard is coming, make alternate plans. Take a different highway, or leave a day or two early, or leave a day or two later, or leave at the same time and just know you might get caught in a blizzard. Highway departments have whole fleets of snowplows and sand trucks and de-icer sprayers. There are (somewhat rare) times where they can't keep up with the snow, but that doesn't last long (between a few hours and a day, I'd say). If it snows, go slow and don't make sudden moves with the wheel. But you'll get there.
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Jul 29, 2016 07:20
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I drove on snow for the first time last Christmas, we got caught in a blizzard near Buffalo and I was the one at the wheel. Like photomikey says, just take it really slow and don't try and do anything fast. We only drove as far as the next rest area, and then pulled off and took a break - by the time we got back on the highway, the plows and trucks had had a chance to get things under control. I did almost slide into a toll booth, but I was going all of 25mph so it wouldn't have been a disaster. I don't recommend trying to drive through a blizzard, obviously, but if you plan accordingly and take it easy you should be fine. Worst case, just give yourself some padding so you can stop driving at a motel or something for a day or two until it clears enough for you to feel comfortable. Don't put yourself in a situation where you feel pressured to push through conditions you don't feel safe in.
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Jul 29, 2016 15:39
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I always see people asking how "Car X" works in the snow. They end up being mostly the same. A 4wd vehicle will help you get out of a ditch, but doesn't help you keep out of the ditch. A RWD drive car can be more apt to lose traction due to a lack of weight under the drive wheels. Everyone has given the top tip: Slow down. Also, know if your car has ABS, and if so how to use it. If not, know how to brake without it. With ABS, DON'T pump the brakes. Without ABS, DO pump the brakes when the wheels lock. ABS doesn't help you brake in a shorter distance, but helps you maintain control while braking. If you get stuck in a snowstorm, and feel like you need to stop, don't just pull over to the side of the road. You'll get rear ended. Do use your hazard lights if warranted, but try to press on to the next exit, rest-stop, or whatever. Don't use cruise control in treacherous conditions. You need to be in control. Use caution when starting, like when making a right-on-red. You may not have traction. If your car has traction control, cool. It will help you not spin your wheels, but it's not a silver bullet. All it does is back off your throttle when your wheels spin. Also, watch for cross-traffic who may not be able to stop for their red light/ stop sign.
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Jul 29, 2016 18:02
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And really, if you are expecting a large amount of snow travel, get winter tires. Even the cheapest snow/winter tires will be better than the all seasons you likely have on now.
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Jul 29, 2016 18:21
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Guy Axlerod posted:Use caution when starting, like when making a right-on-red. You may not have traction. If your car has traction control, cool. It will help you not spin your wheels, but it's not a silver bullet. All it does is back off your throttle when your wheels spin. Avoiding sudden speed or direction changes describes most winter driving tips, honestly. Making abrupt corrections when your car starts sliding can make things worse. Braking takes longer, and you want to avoid coming to a complete stop if you can help it. Aquatic Giraffe posted:There shouldn't be significant snow anywhere in October. You'll be fine.
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Jul 29, 2016 19:16
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Excellent. I feel more at ease, thank you. The only reason I mentioned the car is because it's a PT Cruiser that was literally put together with parts of two totaled ones. My faith in that car making it to California is low, but by gosh we're gonna try.
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Jul 30, 2016 05:31
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Take it to a mechanic and tell them you're doing a cross-country trip. Do not tell them it's a rebuild title, because they will look at you in disappointment. They will look at it and a good one will give you two lists: need to fix immediately and should fix at some point or should fix for your own comfort. Fix the first list and take a good, critical look at the second. You might think that the AC or heat pump might not be important, but freezing for multiple days in the car will suck.
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Jul 30, 2016 13:25
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Also probably get AAA coverage now. It might even save you some money if you go to a AAA mechanic before you leave. It will give you peace of mind that you won't end up stranded if something bad happens.
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Jul 30, 2016 23:21
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Light bulbs, what the gently caress has happened with them? I am moving tomorrow and like, should I stay with CFLs? Are LEDs not idiotically expensive now? My eyes kind of suck so I like a very bright room. Right now I have 3 150 watt equivalent CFLs in the ceiling (OK but I would love more light), but I am moving to a place where I will have to have lamps for the main room. What bulbs can I get the most light from without setting old lamps on fire?
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Jul 31, 2016 01:39
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LED's have "instant-on", where CFL's take a minute (literally... a minute or more) to reach full brightness. I am buying 100% LEDs at this point, but from both a cost and energy-use POV, there is not a lot of difference between them. LEDs are always lower wattage, cooler, and better for the environment than CFLs, but sometimes the up-front cost is a deal-breaker..
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Jul 31, 2016 07:30
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Unless you replace EVERY light with LEDs in your place the energy savings won't be noticeable, and it's not worth putting that investment into a rental. For lamps you'll take with you and use for a long time LEDs would be the way to go.
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Jul 31, 2016 15:57
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:Unless you replace EVERY light with LEDs in your place the energy savings won't be noticeable, and it's not worth putting that investment into a rental. Because if it's a rental you can't just take the led bulbs out and put the original lovely bulbs back? That's what I'm doing.
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Jul 31, 2016 22:40
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:Unless you replace EVERY light with LEDs in your place the energy savings won't be noticeable, and it's not worth putting that investment into a rental. ...Do you leave your lightbulbs in a place when you move? Ever since I've started buying LEDs (actually, even with the early CFLs) I packed 'em up with me. I've been replacing all my old lights gradually with LEDs, I just hate replacing bulbs.
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Jul 31, 2016 23:52
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Blackchamber posted:Because if it's a rental you can't just take the led bulbs out and put the original lovely bulbs back? That's what I'm doing. Well, uh, I guess you could. What are you going to do with 20 lightbulbs for the 1 - 10 years that you live there? How do you safely store something like a box of lightbulbs? Does the $0.50/year you save on energy really make this a necessity? Do you stop to consider the price of LED or CFL light bulbs at move out time, which will surely be half or less what they were at move-in time?
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Aug 1, 2016 01:03
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A lot of the rental apartments I've been in have been pretty lamp deficient - only a few bulbs in the whole place as actual light fixtures, so swapping and storing isn't such a ridiculous prospect in those sorts of places. If you're redoing a dozen recessed lamps in every room and storing them all in your pantry until moveout date then yeah that's sort of crazy, but if most of the light comes from floor lamps or whatever it's not a big deal.
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Aug 1, 2016 01:14
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That's literally what I do with showerheads, ugly light fixtures, etc. It's a super quick change, and the ones you don't want can easily chill in a box in the back of a closet.
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Aug 1, 2016 01:39
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i like nice words
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IMO there's enough bullshit to deal with while moving that doesn't involve replacing every lightbulb in the unit but to each their own.
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Aug 1, 2016 02:06
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photomikey posted:I would put this in the same category as "couldn't you just replace the bathroom faucet, then when you move, swap it back out and take the faucet you bought with you?" I think changing a lightbulb is a bit different than changing a sink, from the stand point of LED bulbs can be used several times but its unlikely that you will need to change sinks at the next place you rent and maybe the place after. And changing a sink is a bit more involved. For me its not even about cost, the place I'm renting only charges for gas. I like it bright so much that I buy above average cost LED bulbs (I think the one above me now is something like 2000 lumens?). You can pick up the move out replacements for $15 bucks for a 12 pack (way more than I'd need). Same deal with showerheads and so on for me.
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Aug 1, 2016 03:29
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Can the landlord include a clause in the lease that says both parties agree that there is no covenant of quiet enjoyment of possession? I'm reading a lot about how the covenant is implied in every lease agreement, and one thing suggesting that it's an unenforceable clause, but no concrete law or case law I could point to to say "you can't do this, take it out".
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Aug 1, 2016 07:53
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Depends on the municipality and the state. Generally, probably not. A lot of landlord/tenant law (and in fact, a lot of law in general) is more about posturing and less about legalities. If they rent the apartment next door to a 24-hour jackhammer repairman, that's a pretty clear-cut case of infringement of quiet enjoyment. That never happens, of course - it is always an upstairs neighbor who vacuums too loud, or a next-door neighbor whose cat incessantly meows. Eventually, the landlord is in a lose-lose situation, and just writes some absurd clause into the lease, which you thoughtlessly sign, and then 18 months later when the vacuuming becomes too much to handle and you complain, the landlord reminds you of the "rules". Bottom line is, it'd be impossible to win a judgement for something like that, so what you've signed may or may not be legal, but it doesn't really matter.
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Aug 1, 2016 09:25
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Edit: In general, my experience is that any situation where you are litigating against your landlord should already involve your exit strategy, because there is nothing worse than trying to continue to live in a unit while suing/having sued the owner. They will hate you and if they are bad/dumb (and you had to sue them, so odds are good) they will do more poo poo to get back at you even if this is worse for them overall. If your place is too loud, just try to negotiate an early end to the lease and get out of there. photomikey posted:What are you going to do with 20 lightbulbs for the 1 - 10 years that you live there? How do you safely store something like a box of lightbulbs?  You put them in a box and then you put the box somewhere people won't sit on it/hit it with a stick. If you are really feeling intense, you just save the box your lightbulbs came in so that you can pack them in there with the fancy cardboard thingies. I mean I have a box of lightbulbs in my pantry anyway, so that I can easily replace any that get broken/burn out/etc., so it isn't like this is a difficult challenge to grapple with. I don't actually disagree with your overall point, I'm with AG in that replacing lightbulbs is the last thing I want to gently caress with when I'm organizing a move and I doubt it's worth it now that the new bulbs are getting cheaper all the time. Ashcans fucked around with this message at 14:21 on Aug 1, 2016 |
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Aug 1, 2016 14:19
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the place is fine, we're looking to renew for another year, but it was taken over by a different management company in the middle of our first lease, and they're trying to add this in for the new lease. it just seems weird and a red flag
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Aug 1, 2016 16:47
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Julie And Candy posted:the place is fine, we're looking to renew for another year, but it was taken over by a different management company in the middle of our first lease, and they're trying to add this in for the new lease. it just seems weird and a red flag Seems like a huge red flag to me, and I'm not sure it's legally enforceable. That is one of the standard covenants in a rental contract.
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Aug 1, 2016 17:04
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Line through it, sign it, send it back. Make sure you save a copy.
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Aug 1, 2016 23:20
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Julie And Candy posted:Can the landlord include a clause in the lease that says both parties agree that there is no covenant of quiet enjoyment of possession? I'm reading a lot about how the covenant is implied in every lease agreement, and one thing suggesting that it's an unenforceable clause, but no concrete law or case law I could point to to say "you can't do this, take it out". In Australia at least, the right to "quiet enjoyment" is a part of tenancy law and cannot be agreed away. This might be the case for your jurisdiction too. I certainly wouldn't accept not having the right to quiet enjoyment, would sooner move. Its nightmarish not having control of the noise in your living/sleeping environment.
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Aug 2, 2016 03:00
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Anyone got good sites for laying out a place? Out new place has quite different dimensions to previous places, so looking for some inspiration. It's an open plan living/kitchen/diner in a rectangular layout that's probably about 5:1 and trying to work out the living area mainly.
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Aug 2, 2016 06:28
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Google Sketchup, but it's a lot of work.
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Aug 2, 2016 08:16
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Could go serious old school. Cut pieces of paper to scale to match your room size and furnitures and move that stuff around until you find something you like. Its how I do it.
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Aug 2, 2016 08:22
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When I moved to my place I went old school like that with a pencil, ruler, and graph paper  Worked surprisingly well. What worked better was throwing all my plans out when I got my furniture in the door and winged it.
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Aug 2, 2016 12:13
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photomikey posted:Google Sketchup, but it's a lot of work. Actually it's really easy if you have current plans or get some measurements yourself.
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Aug 2, 2016 12:18
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http://www.mybobs.com/roomplanner Ignore the site it's on, it's just free and easy with all the features you'd want.
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Aug 2, 2016 12:19
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Don't knock Bob's, it's awesome goon furniture  Even though they treat their employees like poo poo.
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Aug 2, 2016 12:27
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Anne Whateley posted:http://www.mybobs.com/roomplanner Seconding this, when we were reorganizing our apartment due to a second kid we used it to mock up a bunch of alternative options for placing beds/cribs/etc and while it doesn't beat actually pushing furniture around, it can really help you narrow down the options so you do as little pushing as possible.
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Aug 2, 2016 14:49
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Don't suppose any of these apartment hunting websites take things like availability of public transport into account? Moving to be closer to my job and they're pretty close to a nearby train station. e: Meaning I'd either want to live somewhere near the job or one of the train stations on that line. President Ark fucked around with this message at 19:09 on Aug 2, 2016 |
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Aug 2, 2016 19:03
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President Ark posted:Don't suppose any of these apartment hunting websites take things like availability of public transport into account? Moving to be closer to my job and they're pretty close to a nearby train station. padmapper? It's not perfect but it uses google maps, so there's a public transit overlay you can enable.
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Aug 2, 2016 19:09
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My cheapskate landlord replaced my central air unit, and the nitwits he hired did a horrible job. One concern is when I open the furnace room door, I get a ton of cool air blowing out at me, mostly in the places where the red lines are here: Is this a big deal I should bring up with him (or the nitwits when they come back to finish repairing the calzone-sized hole they accidentally drilled in my bedroom wall) or should I just duct tape everything up real good and be done with it? I really hate my new landlord. He's obviously very wealthy judging by his cars and address, but everything that goes wrong he fixes with the absolute cheapest, dinged-up floor model crap and the maintenance jobs are always half-assed, inside and out. He bought a very nice and well taken care of building in the suburbs and seems to be determined to junk it up as fast as possible with no thought towards long term planning.
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Aug 2, 2016 21:54
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If you decide to DIY, use the silver foil tape meant for ducts, and not "duct tape".
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Aug 2, 2016 22:05
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| # ? May 17, 2024 13:13 |
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Always assume ignorance before assuming nefarious intent. If I had a dollar for every tenant who called me, yelling and crying, saying "my air conditioning has been hosed up for a year!", I could buy another house. Call the guy, tell him you feel like the install wasn't done right, there's cool air blowing out everywhere, and could he have somebody come out and take a look. Remember, your landlord doesn't live in your basement with the A/C, he lives 10 miles away. He has no idea your A/C is leaking... unless you tell him.
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Aug 2, 2016 22:57
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