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Also many US municipalities use monochloramine (NH2Cl) now, instead of chlorine. It lasts longer, and is much less reactive in terms of converting organics in the water/pipes/whatever into chloroform, etc. (See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloramination).
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Nov 27, 2017 19:52
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evobatman posted:Really? None of you Americans mention that drinking tap water is like gulping in a public swimming pool because of all the chlorine? Uh, no? I lived in Switzerland and France for half a decade and the tap water didn't really taste any different
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Nov 28, 2017 06:48
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Did you know corporations have giant marketing departments getting you to decide identical products are worth more then one another? My favorite is when drugs drop off patent protection.
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Nov 28, 2017 13:07
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Us well water drinking folks get to test our own water once or twice a year, though I'm sure tons don't bother. If anyone wants a bunch of uranium for any special projects I could mail you our old RO and sediment filters! Best tasting water we've ever had even before filtering though, yay living in the mountains.
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Nov 28, 2017 20:15
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TIL that it wasn't a blower or heating element issue causing my dryer to dry 1/3 as fast as it should for months, but because the vent in our new house was sufficiently encroached on by stucco to mean the flap could only open 1/16th of an inch. I scraped away the stucco with a rock I picked up off the ground and now the dryer is operating at 100%. I am and idiot.
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Nov 30, 2017 18:33
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scrubs season six posted:TIL that it wasn't a blower or heating element issue causing my dryer to dry 1/3 as fast as it should for months, but because the vent in our new house was sufficiently encroached on by stucco to mean the flap could only open 1/16th of an inch. I scraped away the stucco with a rock I picked up off the ground and now the dryer is operating at 100%. Congratulations on preventing an eventual fire.
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Nov 30, 2017 18:37
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Hypothetical qeuestion: Without knowing anything about the prowess of the prospective contractors, if you were going to entirely replace an elevated deck that will include electrical lighting below and a drainage system so that the underside of the deck remains dry when it rains, would you hire one company to do it all or would you be more likely to have a dedicated electrician do the wiring? I imagine the deck and rain mitigation system could all be done by a single contractor but I'm inclined to think a dedicated electrician would be better for the lighting. It also sounds like a schedule coordination headache so I'm open to ideas on how to avoid that.
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Dec 3, 2017 16:54
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A competent GC/deck company would sub the (high volt) electrical out and coordinate all the details for it. Some may choose to use low volt lighting. It's a question to ask your prospective contractor in very general terms. Their answer should inform your decision on whether to hire them.
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Dec 3, 2017 16:58
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Exactly. Every contractor worth hiring would hire an electrician. If they are big they may have one in house.
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Dec 3, 2017 22:55
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Pseudo-crosspost from fix it fast: I have some trim on the outside of my house that, in addition to wood rot, has signs of termite infestation (little balls of mud inside the wood). It's up pretty high on the gable end of the wall. Obviously any damaged wood needs to come out, but I may well not be able to get to that soon. Any of y'all have any mitigations you'd recommend in the meantime, to slow down or kill off the termites?
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Dec 5, 2017 20:25
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Hey, I'm a first time home owner, just moved in. It's normal for the former tenant to make sure that the pantry floor has an inch thick varnish of flour, melted sugar, Cheerios and grease, right? Happy to see they knew what they were doing.
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Dec 6, 2017 02:05
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Sudden Loud Noise posted:former tenant You bought a former rental house? Yes, of course this is what you're likely to find.
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Dec 6, 2017 02:37
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Motronic posted:You bought a former rental house? Yes, of course this is what you're likely to find. Former owner rented it for the last year. The only thing I know for sure is that a child lived in this house and the owner only did a surface level clean before handing it over to us. Holy poo poo children are hell on a house.
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Dec 6, 2017 03:19
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Yep, we bought an ex-rental too. We went through so much cleaning spray with bleach and gloves during our first week of ownership. We moved into the upper apartment, the lower is a huge mess of deferred maintenance that we’re catching up on in between uncovering more of it as we gut the drywall and plaster. At least we didn’t clean that one as much as just take everything and toss it in the trash.
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Dec 6, 2017 03:22
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Pseudo-crosspost from fix it fast: I have some trim on the outside of my house that, in addition to wood rot, has signs of termite infestation (little balls of mud inside the wood). It's up pretty high on the gable end of the wall. Obviously any damaged wood needs to come out, but I may well not be able to get to that soon. Any of y'all have any mitigations you'd recommend in the meantime, to slow down or kill off the termites? The cleansing power of fire should do the trick! Real answer is to remove all the rotted wood, paint anything that's bare wood, and fix anywhere that the ground is touching something on your house that isn't masonry. Don't leave woodpiles next to the house either, clean those up and burn them. Leaves, debris, dirt touching trim or anything wooden is how they usually work their way in. I would consult with an expert on this to determine proper treatment and remediation. Last year I tore out half a wall because I wanted to replace some rotten trim, and the carpenter ant infestation kept going deeper past the trim. So I ripped it all out, replaced the windows, poisoned the whole area, and rebuilt it all. No problems since then.
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Dec 6, 2017 03:32
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OSU_Matthew posted:The cleansing power of fire should do the trick! If all else fails, use fire. But I'd rather try fir first.  quote:Real answer is to remove all the rotted wood, paint anything that's bare wood, and fix anywhere that the ground is touching something on your house that isn't masonry. Don't leave woodpiles next to the house either, clean those up and burn them. Leaves, debris, dirt touching trim or anything wooden is how they usually work their way in. I would consult with an expert on this to determine proper treatment and remediation. Yeah, I don't really get how the termites got a nest established up there; it's way up in the air and there's basically nothing on that side of the house. Worst-case scenario I guess would be that they've eaten their way all the way up the siding to the top of the house, which is mildly terrifying to contemplate.
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Dec 6, 2017 04:12
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Sudden Loud Noise posted:Holy poo poo children are hell on a house. You ain't lyin', man... 
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Dec 6, 2017 18:08
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I now realize how lucky we are with our place. Previous owners left all their curtains, washed and touched up all the walls with fresh labeled paint, and have a binder of all appliance manuals.
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Dec 6, 2017 23:54
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howdoesishotweb posted:I now realize how lucky we are with our place. Previous owners left all their curtains, washed and touched up all the walls with fresh labeled paint, and have a binder of all appliance manuals. Would it be a faux pas to track them down to give them a big ol' kiss? Previous owners of ours left nice things like curtains, fancy baby gates, tool cabinets, and fresh bags of mulch. They also left not-so-nice things like air filters that hadn't been changed in 2 years and a lovely leaking shower patched up on the other side of the wall with fresh plywood and paint. Thanks guys!! Out of sight out of mind is a great attitude when it comes to home maintenance!!
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Dec 7, 2017 19:02
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Ours left a nice note welcoming us and hoping we like the house as they did for seventeen years. :3 Also did an amazing job cleaning and leaving things in good order.
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Dec 7, 2017 19:06
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I left my buyers a rabid possum in the oven.
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Dec 7, 2017 19:22
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Elephanthead posted:I left my buyers a rabid possum in the oven. Possums don't get rabies.  generally.
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Dec 7, 2017 19:59
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howdoesishotweb posted:I now realize how lucky we are with our place. Previous owners left all their curtains, washed and touched up all the walls with fresh labeled paint, and have a binder of all appliance manuals. We bought a new house with probably more than average size/number of windows for its size and you don't really think about how expensive that crap is until you're starting completely from scratch. Both my previous houses needed some curtains and blinds here and there but I don't think I spent more than $500 on either of them. The new house ended up being: 5 blinds 17 curtain rods 60 108" curtain panels And I refuse to add up how much it cost.
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Dec 7, 2017 20:48
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I found most of a bong in the yard when I moved in.
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Dec 7, 2017 20:49
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One of the bedrooms in my house has an access in the closet to the crawlspace. The dirt underneath was strewn with random little toys, like spare lego bits, little plastic things, etc. It was clear a kid had routine access to playing under the house. Also under the house: miles and miles of exposed wiring, thousands of super long nails protruding through the floor, lots of concrete rubble, and signs of previously-dealt-with rodent issues.
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Dec 7, 2017 21:02
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Leperflesh posted:One of the bedrooms in my house has an access in the closet to the crawlspace. The dirt underneath was strewn with random little toys, like spare lego bits, little plastic things, etc. It was clear a kid had routine access to playing under the house. That's how to guarantee either a dead kid, or the coolest kid in class.
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Dec 8, 2017 00:27
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The previous owner of my place left behind his used, filthy toilet brush. How it was so dirty, I have no idea because the toilets looked like they hadn't been cleaned in at least 5 years. I had to use steel wool to scratch off some of the old encrusted filth on the rims. Left behind his old shower curtain too, but I actually put that to good use as a cover for my floor when I painted the bathroom.
Vinny the Shark fucked around with this message at 00:51 on Dec 9, 2017 |
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Dec 9, 2017 00:46
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Vinny the Shark posted:The previous owner of my place left behind his used, filthy toilet brush. How it was so dirty, I have no idea because the toilets looked like they hadn't been cleaned in at least 5 years. I had to use steel wool to scratch off some of the old encrusted filth on the rims. Left behind his old shower curtain too, but I actually put that to good use as a cover for my floor when I painted the bathroom. I feel triggered.
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Dec 9, 2017 04:33
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We got the goal post from the last national championship our local university won the previous owners before them left it in the backyard and they installed it in the house. And an instructional manual on all the weird quirks of the house. Helps to buy from good friends sometimes.
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Dec 9, 2017 16:08
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Today I impulse bought a toilet. I was getting a furnace filter and thought "It would be fun to buy and install a new toilet." I wasn't wrong. It was fun.
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Dec 10, 2017 08:01
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Request to the mods: change this guys name to "Impulse Toilet"
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Dec 10, 2017 17:36
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drat Bananas posted:Would it be a faux pas to track them down to give them a big ol' kiss? Mine left Betty crocker butter containers full of used motor oil in the garage, as well as a huge mess generally. We didn't even move the first several days just cleaning poo poo from top to bottom before even moving stuff. His wife was also into painting old windows, half the garage was full of old lovely windows and doors that left behind. Absolutely unbelievable. Vinny the Shark posted:The previous owner of my place left behind his used, filthy toilet brush. How it was so dirty, I have no idea because the toilets looked like they hadn't been cleaned in at least 5 years. I had to use steel wool to scratch off some of the old encrusted filth on the rims. Left behind his old shower curtain too, but I actually put that to good use as a cover for my floor when I painted the bathroom. Why wouldn't you just geta new toilet??? It boggles my mind how many nasty old pieces of crap people have in their homes, especially old five gallon flushers, when a new chair height elongated bowl toilet will not only save significant water and money, be far more comfortable, and use less water, it'll even flush substantially better, to the point where a plunger becomes obsolete. The only time I've ever used a plunger in my house was to help drain the water to put in the new toilet. It's gotten absolutely zero use since then. Oh, and new toilets have a special antimicrobial finish so they stay cleaner longer.
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Dec 11, 2017 13:20
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OSU_Matthew posted:His wife was also into painting old windows, half the garage was full of old lovely windows and doors that left behind. Absolutely unbelievable. You can be an Etsy millionaire.
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Dec 11, 2017 13:38
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OSU_Matthew posted:Mine left Betty crocker butter containers full of used motor oil in the garage, as well as a huge mess generally. We didn't even move the first several days just cleaning poo poo from top to bottom before even moving stuff. Dreamin about those Toto washlets 500s.
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Dec 11, 2017 14:07
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Boomer dad: dreamin about a zero-turn-radius ride-on lawnmower Millennial dad: Elephanthead posted:Dreamin about those Toto washlets 500s.
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Dec 11, 2017 15:50
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I want a zero turn mower with a washlet.
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Dec 11, 2017 16:07
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OSU_Matthew posted:
For me, i.have an old.cast iron sewer line with too shallow a slope, and the lone in the shared road running out to the street isn't deep enough to get a proper slope, nor is the connection at the street. I would have to run out to a different section of pipe at the street at a cost of close to 20k, or I could just keep using a high flow toilet that will wash everything down.
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Dec 11, 2017 16:16
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My brother just spent many tens of thousands of dollars to renovate his house he bought six months ago. I went with my dad to see it and unbeknownst to all of us, my dad had an entire bowel movements worth of dog poo poo on his left shoe and tracked it all over their house. Bro's pregnant wife flipped out and that is my story.
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Dec 11, 2017 22:36
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OSU_Matthew posted:Why wouldn't you just geta new toilet??? It boggles my mind how many nasty old pieces of crap people have in their homes, especially old five gallon flushers, when a new chair height elongated bowl toilet will not only save significant water and money, be far more comfortable, and use less water, it'll even flush substantially better, to the point where a plunger becomes obsolete. The only time I've ever used a plunger in my house was to help drain the water to put in the new toilet. It's gotten absolutely zero use since then. Oh, and new toilets have a special antimicrobial finish so they stay cleaner longer. It was dirty, not unusable. It worked and still works just fine. Besides, after the down payment I was in no mood to spend any money on a $800 or so toilet replacement. I also have to wonder how long it would take for the money I save on water to make up for the replacement fee. Those elongated toilets are larger and my bathroom is rather small, anyway.
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Dec 12, 2017 00:25
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Toilets don't cost $800 I mean I'm sure you can find toilets that cost $800, but you can also find standard builders-grade toilets at Home Depot for under $100, and $200 will get you a perfectly fine toilet. It's fine and frugal to just clean dirty things instead of throwing them away, though, I'm totally with you on that one. But yeah, toilets are cheap.
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Dec 12, 2017 00:42
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