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Anyone have experience with sealing up the construction gap between the roof and fascia? My understanding is most homes have flashing between the two, but it didn't used to be code in my area. So yeah. The pest control guy is telling me that they need to be sealed up. But it's not where my pests got in (chewed through a gable screen). Part of me is thinking, let it stay there until it's an actual problem. He's wanting a ton of money to take down my lovely gutters, put the flashing in, and then reattach my lovely gutters. I'm sure for a comparable price, I could just get a gutter guy to do the flashing and put in new gutters. But I'm not really wanting to spend money on that right now.
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Oct 8, 2016 14:52
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| # ? May 8, 2024 07:20 |
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Economic Sinkhole posted:For your hot water issue, you can get a hot water recirculation system like this one: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Hot-Water-Recirculating-System-with-Built-In-Timer-500800/100426993 Just be aware that this kind of system will mean you're keeping a lot more water heated at all times, and most of it will now be in uninsulated pipes. A friend of mine has one and turned it off due to the extra heating costs. His house is larger than average, though.
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Oct 9, 2016 08:24
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Tricky Ed posted:Just be aware that this kind of system will mean you're keeping a lot more water heated at all times, and most of it will now be in uninsulated pipes. A friend of mine has one and turned it off due to the extra heating costs. His house is larger than average, though. As best I could tell from calculations and bill observations, mine would cost about $40 per month in extra natural gas cost for a 3500 square foot house if I left it running all the time.
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Oct 9, 2016 17:23
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OSU_Matthew posted:Buying a model with adequate cfm output, and making sure it's vented outside and not into the attic or something dumb.
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Oct 10, 2016 20:53
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I hired a company to replace my siding this summer and got a text out of the blue today saying "hey I was going to send you your receipt but realized we forgot to charge for the OSB it's $600 should I run that on the credit card on file" If my contract says this:  I can tell him no, right? I have no idea if they actually installed OSB but we didn't ask for it. Besides, we made our last payment 4 months ago, as far as I'm concerned we are finished.
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Oct 11, 2016 22:45
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If it's not in the contract (and is fact specifically excluded from the contract), then they screwed up and you're not liable for that service. Did you give the company your credit card details to keep on file indefinitely? That seems weird to me that they would have those details, but maybe that is the norm in your area.
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Oct 11, 2016 22:52
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I didn't intend for it to be indefinite but the terms were something like 50% down, 25% upon starting the job, and then an "oh sorry your porch electrical outlet suddenly isn't working, you can pay the remainder minus $400 until we can get our electrician out to work on that"... so there were a handful of payments made that they charged with my permission.
Damn Bananas fucked around with this message at 23:21 on Oct 11, 2016 |
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Oct 11, 2016 23:09
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Report your card lost or dispute
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Oct 12, 2016 00:45
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Leperflesh posted:Well, it depends on where your water pipes go. You said you have a basement, if the water pipe from your hot water heater to your various faucets runs along the basement ceiling, then hey, you can easily insulate it!
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Oct 12, 2016 17:41
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Anyone have any experience with overly-sensitive fire detectors? The one in our kitchen goes off at the slightest bit of smoking from a skillet or pan, WITH the vent fan going at full blast. It's super loud and noisy which is a good thing if my house was actually on fire, but I want to be able to cook without the alarm going off 2-3 times every single time I cook. I have to open doors to get the alarm to go off, broomstick is a no-go. Is there a way to set the sensitivity to a little bit lower or am I up poo poo creek? Not sure taking batteries out would be a good idea.
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Oct 12, 2016 18:06
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life is killing me posted:Anyone have any experience with overly-sensitive fire detectors? The one in our kitchen goes off at the slightest bit of smoking from a skillet or pan, WITH the vent fan going at full blast. It's super loud and noisy which is a good thing if my house was actually on fire, but I want to be able to cook without the alarm going off 2-3 times every single time I cook. I have to open doors to get the alarm to go off, broomstick is a no-go. Is there a way to set the sensitivity to a little bit lower or am I up poo poo creek? Not sure taking batteries out would be a good idea. There are two kinds of detectors, ionization and photoelectric. You want the second kind, it is less sensitive and is typically used in kitchens.
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Oct 12, 2016 18:15
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You can replace it with a photoelectric smoke detector for about $20. They are less prone to false alarms like you are describing, and you can get a hardwired one or a strictly battery operated one depending on what you are replacing.
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Oct 12, 2016 18:16
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life is killing me posted:Not sure taking batteries out would be a good idea. Take the batteries out, but put them on your pillow, so you don't forget.
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Oct 12, 2016 18:17
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Bozart posted:There are two kinds of detectors, ionization and photoelectric. You want the second kind, it is less sensitive and is typically used in kitchens. Droo posted:You can replace it with a photoelectric smoke detector for about $20. They are less prone to false alarms like you are describing, and you can get a hardwired one or a strictly battery operated one depending on what you are replacing. How can I tell which mine is? It's probably ionization given the problem, but how would I know for sure? I don't think it's hardwired in, am I correct in that if it's hardwired, it'd possibly be sending a fire alarm to our alarm monitors? MrYenko posted:Take the batteries out, but put them on your pillow, so you don't forget. This is a good idea for the short-term, anyway.
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Oct 12, 2016 18:18
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Take it off the ceiling, find the model number and look it up online.
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Oct 12, 2016 18:20
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Thanks!
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Oct 12, 2016 18:20
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It's also not necessary to check what model the old one was, it's fine to replace ionization alarms with photoelectric alarms. It's recommended, even. Pull it off of the ceiling and see if it's hard-wired or not. The International Association of Fire Alarms only endorses photoelectric alarms, for what it's worth. They say that ionization alarms suck, and combination alarms are a lot more expensive and don't provide much additional benefit over photoelectric alarms. They're also well-known for being good kitchen alarms, they're less susceptible to going off from a tiny bit of cooking vapor
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Oct 12, 2016 19:58
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You can also get alarms that have a hush button that will shut them up for a few minutes while you cook. I have one with a hush button on a remote so that I don't have to get a chair or a broom handle every time it goes off.
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Oct 12, 2016 21:10
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Trillian posted:You can also get alarms that have a hush button that will shut them up for a few minutes while you cook. I have one with a hush button on a remote so that I don't have to get a chair or a broom handle every time it goes off. I may. My current one doesn't have that and it's maddening.
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Oct 12, 2016 21:13
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life is killing me posted:How can I tell which mine is? It's probably ionization given the problem, but how would I know for sure? Flip it over and look for a warning that it contains Americium - if it does, its ionization (or dual-sensor).
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Oct 12, 2016 22:47
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I'll check it tonight when I get home. I'm just lucky it's not in the living room, where I have an 18ft ceiling and would basically need scaffolding to get up there. Hopefully those are hardwired, if I'm understanding correctly hardwired means it doesn't need batteries? Or does it mean it's connected through the house to the other smoke detectors? Hopefully I don't ever have to change any batteries on that thing because it's extremely hard to get to. At least with the one in the kitchen I can use a step ladder. Thanks for the help.
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Oct 12, 2016 23:04
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Don't know how big your place is, but when I bought my house, I got some battery powered ones that link together, and have one in the basement, first floor and second floor, and if one goes off they all go off. They're fire+CO+linked, and cost about $150 all together, but it's nice being able to hear on any floor if poo poo goes down.
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Oct 12, 2016 23:51
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Hardwired generally just means it doesn't need a primary battery, although I think some hardwired smoke detectors have one anyway so they'll still work if the power goes out. Networked smoke detectors can be just connected to one another, or possibly to a whole-house fire alarm system, which in turn may or may not be tied into a security system, and from there possibly to a monitoring company, e.g., you pay for a subscription monitor co to alert the fire dept when your alarms go off. Regardless, all smoke detectors have limited lifetimes so eventually you'll need to replace the one in the living room. If you don't know how old it is, you should probably find out - there should be a sticker on or inside it somewhere. If you still can't tell, or if it's more than ten years old, replace it. If you can't borrow or rent a 15' ladder, hire someone to do it.
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Oct 13, 2016 00:14
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Our smoke detector was acting up right before Thanksgiving last year, so we were going to replace it after our family trip. We tossed it in one of our bags so as to not forget to replace it when we got home. Well, we were driving on the highway when it went off. The hush button didn't work. The battery plate was screwed on. There is nothing louder than a smoke detector in a car that you can't shut off. We ended up pulling off on the side of the highway and smashing it against the asphalt until it shattered and died a whimpering death.
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Oct 13, 2016 01:12
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moana posted:Our smoke detector was acting up right before Thanksgiving last year, so we were going to replace it after our family trip. We tossed it in one of our bags so as to not forget to replace it when we got home. I thought hoped this story was going to involve the TSA.
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Oct 13, 2016 03:20
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Panthrax posted:Don't know how big your place is, but when I bought my house, I got some battery powered ones that link together, and have one in the basement, first floor and second floor, and if one goes off they all go off. They're fire+CO+linked, and cost about $150 all together, but it's nice being able to hear on any floor if poo poo goes down. 2500-ish sqft, all one level. 18ft ceiling is only the living room but it's a bastard to get up there and clean anything like cobwebs or change the can lights. I have a pole with a suction cup for the can lights, cobwebs get a duster on the end of a pole.
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Oct 13, 2016 16:40
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quote:Danny Shedd's nightmare began with some cows. From: http://www.vice.com/read/when-you-buy-a-house-but-dont-actually-own-it Ouch. Just found out the importance of getting a survey done if you're buying a house.
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Oct 13, 2016 23:45
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Seems like they have some legal recourse there? Edit: Nevermind, I didn't realize the was more to the article. BeastOfExmoor fucked around with this message at 02:46 on Oct 14, 2016 |
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Oct 14, 2016 02:37
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Before I started reading, I was thinking "Title insurance will deal with this.... nope, guess not."
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Oct 14, 2016 12:03
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If the neighbors have been unknowingly owning that property for however long, wouldn't they owe a ridiculous amount of back taxes on it now?
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Oct 14, 2016 13:37
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couldcareless posted:If the neighbors have been unknowingly owning that property for however long, wouldn't they owe a ridiculous amount of back taxes on it now? I think the Carey's children were paying taxes on an empty lot, if there are even property taxes there. The more I think about it the less sense it makes. Even in the wastelands of Oklahoma I can't figure out how a parcel gets subdivided, a house built, mortgaged, and no one notices. In the article they blame the lack of a mortgager for part of why it wasn't caught, but the story starts with the home being REO. I don't get it.
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Oct 14, 2016 13:55
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It's vice so take every paragraph with a huge grain of salt, clicks are the goal not journalism. That being said it's pretty disappointing the neighbor would just go for the easy "yay free new property" cash grab and try to evict them, you'd think anyone reading a loving newspaper in 2016 would have realized by now that the only battle that matters is rich people vs poor people and going after your (at best) middle class neighbor's livelihood is just so loving lovely, find a way to work something out my god.
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Oct 14, 2016 13:58
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Pryor on Fire posted:It's vice so take every paragraph with a huge grain of salt, clicks are the goal not journalism. That being said it's pretty disappointing the neighbor would just go for the easy "yay free new property" cash grab and try to evict them, you'd think anyone reading a loving newspaper in 2016 would have realized by now that the only battle that matters is rich people vs poor people and going after your (at best) middle class neighbor's livelihood is just so loving lovely, find a way to work something out my god. Oklahoma.
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Oct 14, 2016 14:02
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You should replace smoke detectors every 10 years. A sweet thing about the hard wired ones is they are all connected so it makes an ear bleeding sound when all 10 of them are blasting at the same time. Edit: You can also get a combo carbon monoxide one for a few bucks more if you burn any fuels in your house.
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Oct 14, 2016 14:03
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Elephanthead posted:Edit: You can also get a combo carbon monoxide one for a few bucks more if you burn any fuels in your house.
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Oct 14, 2016 14:35
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My house was built in 2014, and yeah I think the whole house goes off at once just from the one in the kitchen, which is why neither me nor my wife can do much else but sob uncontrollably every time we try to cook breakfast. Got a new smoke/fire detector this week, just need to install it now
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Oct 14, 2016 15:31
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If anyone is in the market for smoke detectors or CO detectors Costco has the ones with ten year batteries in them for sale at the moment. life is killing me posted:I'll check it tonight when I get home. I'm just lucky it's not in the living room, where I have an 18ft ceiling and would basically need scaffolding to get up there. Hopefully those are hardwired, if I'm understanding correctly hardwired means it doesn't need batteries? Or does it mean it's connected through the house to the other smoke detectors? Hopefully I don't ever have to change any batteries on that thing because it's extremely hard to get to. At least with the one in the kitchen I can use a step ladder. The lovely thing about hard-wired smoke detectors is they still have batteries for when you lose power and they tell you to change the batteries once a year. I suspect the batteries last a while and they're just covering their asses, but what's the advantage of being hard wired if you still need to change a battery annually?
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Oct 14, 2016 20:49
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Networked, more easily tied into a whole house fire alarm/security system, and most of the time even if the battery is dead they'll still work because usually the power is on.
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Oct 14, 2016 21:27
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life is killing me posted:My house was built in 2014, and yeah I think the whole house goes off at once just from the one in the kitchen, which is why neither me nor my wife can do much else but sob uncontrollably every time we try to cook breakfast. Replacing your ionization alarm in the kitchen with a photoelectric alarm could solve that problem
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Oct 15, 2016 01:26
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Anyone have experience with Manhattan real estate? We made an offer for a 975 sq ft apartment in Sutton Place, and the common charge is $800/mo, but there's been an assessment since 2012 of $250/mo for various reasons. Is this a cause for concern? Edit: oops, there's a homebuying thread.
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Oct 15, 2016 05:02
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