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SiGmA_X posted:What. You buy a pin kit online, and a new random key (x10) at the locksmith. I did the last rental I rented for about $25, which was 8 cylinders. lovely landlord wouldn't do it. Don't judge me. Or let me rekey your house.
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May 28, 2018 19:39
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Why would you gut a working security loop? Just disable it. If you sell it’s an added price bonus.
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May 28, 2018 19:54
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H110Hawk posted:Don't judge me. Or let me rekey your house. I replaced my locks with rabid raccoons. Judging right now.
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May 28, 2018 19:54
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MrYenko posted:I’m gutting the entire battery-backed-up active-monitored multi-zone all-opening security system in my house, because gently caress that noise. Everything went smoothly at our closing except previous owners: "Oh by the way we are on contract for a security system for another 7 months. Can we jus switch that over to you guys?" Us: "Um no" Kept the sign, installed a ring doorbell.
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May 28, 2018 19:58
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Our previous owners had 3 years left (out of 5) and the security company actually would not let them switch the contract over to us; they had to either pay the remainder or get a new 5-year contract on their new house. Those kinds of things really rub me the wrong way Since a new contract comes with new equipment anyway, they left behind all of the old equipment, even easy to remove stuff like freestanding cameras.
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May 28, 2018 20:40
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QuarkJets posted:I kind of looked into this awhile ago and it seemed like the only advice was "everyone MUST have a security system" and can you guess who was providing that advice? This seems a bit over the top in the other direction. A) This really depends on the type of burglar and is going to be area specific. If its a druggie or kids just doing a smash and grab? Maybe they'd of been just as quick regardless or maybe it scares them off as soon as they set foot in the door before they take anything at all. At the very least it may mean one room gets tossed vs your entire house and you don't necessarily need active monitoring for this. As far as response times go that going to depend on a lot of factors but anecdotally the one time my system malfunctioned and went off resulting in a call out the response was under 5 minutes. B) Honestly this the second biggest pro in my mind, you joke about ninjas but if someone does bust in at night it's totally possible I'd sleep through it, but not with an alarm blaring. This again doesn't really require paying someone to actively monitor your system. C) I'd have to agree here, anecdotally again but my insurance rates barely budged due to our security system, don't do it for that reason. The biggest reason my wife and I prefer to have a system, and a monitored one at that, is the connected fire alarms. If our house burns down while we're gone and all our stuff is lost, that's terrible and all, but it's just stuff, we don't feel the same way about our pets and if the FD can show up in enough time just to get the doors open so they can escape its worth it. Though I'll admit, none of this is very likely and depending on how you look at it a security system is just an overly expensive insurance policy. Elem7 fucked around with this message at 21:09 on May 28, 2018 |
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May 28, 2018 20:53
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Yeah I guess if you sleep like the dead and are worried about a home invasion then an alarm system is something you could do. But I think a dog might be a better choice for that
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May 28, 2018 21:22
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Active monitoring borders on scam behavior, and their sales pitch is entirely fear-based. So go ahead and give them a lot of money, and get the service agreement along with it. While you're at it, sign up for bottled water delivery, a 3-year carpet cleaning contract, and a car wash subscription. That contractor who stopped by because he was in the area and noticed your roof needs some work? Totally legit. Good news, Account Services is calling and you're eligible to refinance your credit card debt! Sorry, this sort of thing bothers me. If you're in a position where an alarm monitoring fee is a noticable amount of money, you probably won't benefit from it. Put those dollars in your emergency fund instead.
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May 28, 2018 21:58
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I did the junior level DIY security work. Steel plate on the inside of the doorframes and the 3M film on windows to make breaking in annoying. Also timed lights at night. I just keep most valuables in a bank deposit box.  Although it would be fun to get discrete cameras in case someone breaks in to steal my 7 year old computer.
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May 28, 2018 22:00
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Zauper posted:Not really, it comes down to how you feel about it. I live in a metro with a fair amount of break-ins, so I get home security. Frankly, the largest deterrent is the sign that says you have a security system, which makes break ins less likely. To the other points, it's not likely to make a big difference otherwise. I think the previous owners had the same idea with the signs. The security system didn't look like it had been touched since the 80s and was unplugged but there were new ADT stickers and signs everywhere. What smart home central hub are you using? I've been interested in doing that but not sure what to go with. I have a smart lock, thermostat, and water heater so just need to tie it all together and work on converting lights.
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May 28, 2018 22:19
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I'm going to give the the decades-long volunteer firefighter, many years pro paramedic and pro-ff/fire marshal take on this alarm thing: If you want it for security whatever. The But while we get an INCREDIBLE volume of false alarms for fires that aren't fires (smells and bells)........the amount of full on structure fires we deal with since (did someone call it "active"?) central station monitoring became drat near the norm in our district has dropped off by drat near 80%. Most times the worst we deal with is a room & contents because SOMETHING alerts us when people aren't home or asleep, or trying to deal with it themselves "leading off with the half inch" (garden hose) before we get automatically called. We get there before it's a "save the basement" situation. Because something automated let us know. Do we know most of these are gonna be bullshit? Yes. Do we roll an actual fire truck on them? No. But an officer shows up to qualify the call while we have people at the station on a truck ready to roll or roll the truck at non-emegerncy speed. Take that for what you will and whatever value you feel it's worth. Motronic fucked around with this message at 02:56 on May 29, 2018 |
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May 29, 2018 02:54
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So my current dishwasher is currently hardwired (I think) in, if I were to replace it with a new dishwasher, do I need to buy anything for it power wise?
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May 29, 2018 19:55
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Probably not, all I’ve ever needed was maybe some replacement wire connector caps and electrical tape.
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May 29, 2018 20:36
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WithoutTheFezOn posted:Probably not, all I’ve ever needed was maybe some replacement wire connector caps and electrical tape.
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May 29, 2018 20:40
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Unnecessary, but I sometimes put a bit below the connection to hold the wires together as I twist on the cap.
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May 29, 2018 20:42
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WithoutTheFezOn posted:Unnecessary, but I sometimes put a bit below the connection to hold the wires together as I twist on the cap. 
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May 29, 2018 20:50
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My House® has a speaker/sound system installed (speakers in the ceiling in pretty much every room, plus a few outside) - how do I access it? Tried contacting the sellers via their agent, but they're not terribly forthcoming. I'm sure I need a receiver, but I don't see a control panel or an obvious connection point anywhere.
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May 30, 2018 02:25
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IT BURNS posted:My House® has a speaker/sound system installed (speakers in the ceiling in pretty much every room, plus a few outside) - how do I access it? Tried contacting the sellers via their agent, but they're not terribly forthcoming. I'm sure I need a receiver, but I don't see a control panel or an obvious connection point anywhere. You need to find the hidden room in your house.
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May 30, 2018 13:15
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Does anyone know of a good website that will help calculate the true financial cost of a house, what I can afford with my salary and down-payment? I've been docking) socking money into my 401k and Roth ira, but am starting to get pressure to stop "wasting money on rent" and would appreciate having some actual numbers vs gut feelings.
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May 30, 2018 14:16
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https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/buy-rent-calculator.html This is pretty consistently recommended as far as the comparison goes. Plug in some numbers (ALL of which should be easy to find).
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May 30, 2018 14:27
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Spikes32 posted:Does anyone know of a good website that will help calculate the true financial cost of a house, what I can afford with my salary and down-payment? I've been docking) socking money into my 401k and Roth ira, but am starting to get pressure to stop "wasting money on rent" and would appreciate having some actual numbers vs gut feelings. Maybe you already know this but it's worth repeating that renting is not "wasting money" and in fact, might be a better financial decision depending on your geographic location, family situation, and how long you plan to stay where you are. Also, ignore the pressure from outside sources because it usually comes from people who grew up in a much different economic environment than we live in today. You should be the one to decide whether renting or buying is right for you and everyone else can gently caress off unless they are willing to pay your mortgage/rent on your behalf.
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May 30, 2018 17:53
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WarMECH posted:Maybe you already know this but it's worth repeating that renting is not "wasting money" and in fact, might be a better financial decision depending on your geographic location, family situation, and how long you plan to stay where you are. Also, ignore the pressure from outside sources because it usually comes from people who grew up in a much different economic environment than we live in today. You should be the one to decide whether renting or buying is right for you and everyone else can gently caress off unless they are willing to pay your mortgage/rent on your behalf. The better way to think of it is that you are "wasting" money whether regardless of whether you rent or buy (rent vs. tax/maintenance/transactional fees/etc.), so whether buying or renting makes sense in your case depends on your local market, length of expected stay, etc.
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May 30, 2018 19:55
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Yeah I know buying is often a trap and renting has a lot of advantages. Such as when I just found termites in my closet and get to text the pictures to my land lady today. But I wanted to at least get a handle with real numbers on what I can realistically afford. Especially living in San Diego
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May 30, 2018 21:07
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I like this one. https://usmortgagecalculator.org/ You'll need to know what to plug in though. I've found trulia to be fairly close on the basic monthly costs including taxes, insurance, and PMI. Find out how the agents work in your area for closing costs to figure out a proper percent. Good luck in San Diego. I'd probably wait another 5 years to see what happens with the market if it was me. poo poo is starting to buckle it seems. I found renting in San Diego to make waaay more sense right now, and the complete opposite in the Idaho market where I'm currently moving to (from San Diego). Loan Dusty Road fucked around with this message at 00:20 on May 31, 2018 |
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May 31, 2018 00:18
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I bought a house and it has a cool and old and weird garage door system which I cannot find a single example of on Google. Has anyone seen one of these before and know what they're called? I will put a garage door opener on it somehow      It's actually really easy to lift. Way easier than my parents modern sectioned garage door. It's just weird that it's all one piece that just swings up and down.
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May 31, 2018 03:17
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No idea but that looks dope
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May 31, 2018 03:23
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That looks homebrew as gently caress, like someone had some wood and pieces of metal laying around but the metal was too long so they bent it up to get the door fitting just right Those huge springs are what make it easy to lift, your parents' garage door probably doesn't have those
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May 31, 2018 03:25
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We had a somewhat similar - but definitely also somewhat different - setup on a mid-1900s garage my friend and I rented a few years ago. I am not a fan of the big rear end springs, but as long as the attachment stuff is in sound condition, its fine. They (3 of them) were manual opening, I never looked into converting them to power. I'm sure someone has posted pictures of doing it. Btw, basically all doors have springs, you should try lifting a door without them. It's a LOT more work, a motor would never be able to handle it. Sure, some aren't balanced or sized right, but they have springs.
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May 31, 2018 03:40
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I wonder if you could rig up some sort of gate opener to work. Edit: This would seem to suggest it's possible, but I don't know enough about these things to compare that door's workings to yours: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEUO04djJYY guaranteed fucked around with this message at 04:24 on May 31, 2018 |
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May 31, 2018 04:17
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guaranteed posted:I wonder if you could rig up some sort of gate opener to work. I don't think this will work because of the additional amount of travel my door has compared to that railed system. The best solution I've thought of so far is to have a winch mounted to the wall and have the cable go up to a rafter, around a pulley, and then back to the top of the garage door so that it pulls it up and back. The tricky part is I'd probably have to rig up some Arduino stuff to make sure the winch stops when it needs to and doesn't pull the door back and tear the garage apart.
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May 31, 2018 04:47
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A tilt up garage door? Those are pretty old school but definitely still a thing that you can easily buy hardware for (if you want it to be automatic open then you'll need the new hardware, or just easier manual open). My parents have them on their garage. The garage is not old (90s) but my dad insisted on them when rebuilding said garage, and his friend said that he'd cave and get the sectioned sliding ones like everyone else, so they bet on it. My dad won, obviously. The doors look fantastic (way better than sectioned ones) and work fine 20 years later, but you have to be careful about placing garbage cans and stuff in front of it (can't tell you how many times I've knocked the garbage cans over trying to open the garage).
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May 31, 2018 05:52
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Spikes32 posted:Does anyone know of a good website that will help calculate the true financial cost of a house, what I can afford with my salary and down-payment? I've been docking) socking money into my 401k and Roth ira, but am starting to get pressure to stop "wasting money on rent" and would appreciate having some actual numbers vs gut feelings. The fun part of owning a house is that your expenses for the year only have a minimum amount. Your roof goes in a non-covered manner at the same time your sewer backs up? Your house now costs another $30k this year.
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May 31, 2018 11:54
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IT BURNS posted:My House® has a speaker/sound system installed (speakers in the ceiling in pretty much every room, plus a few outside) - how do I access it? Tried contacting the sellers via their agent, but they're not terribly forthcoming. I'm sure I need a receiver, but I don't see a control panel or an obvious connection point anywhere. Trace the wires back to the mothership. The mothership has probably been removed. Replace mothership and enjoy low quality audio.
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May 31, 2018 12:02
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I have what I think is a river birch tree in my front yard. Basically every day, especially after winds or storms, it drops small to medium twigs in the yard. Some of them I just leave and mow over, but I obviously don’t mow multiple times a week. I think I’ll have to pick up sticks constantly, which I guess is fine, but is there anything I can do with them? Unfortunately the city doesn’t provide yard waste removal. Should I get a small chipper/shredder and mulch them back into the flower beds or something?
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May 31, 2018 15:43
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Does anyone know what asbestos looks like? Is this asbestos? https://imgur.com/O37mKHJ E: I didn't touch the pipes or insulation. They were like that when I removed the sheetrock. SpartanIvy fucked around with this message at 04:42 on Jun 1, 2018 |
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Jun 1, 2018 04:31
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SpartanIvy posted:Does anyone know what asbestos looks like? Is this asbestos? You have cancer now. Sorry.
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Jun 1, 2018 05:00
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I have asbestos pipes in the basement with the intact diamond-shaped Keasbey & Mattison stickers advertising the asbestos pipe insulation patented in 1891. The town where that poo poo was made is a Superfund site now. I'm on my phone, otherwise I'd post a pic, but the insulation is cased in what looks like white-painted canvas or some sort of material. It's contained and in good condition, so no risk of it being disturbed. I have no idea what it'd look like inside of that casing. What year was the house built? Are the pipes for the radiant heat? (In our building, only the radiator pipes have the asbestos insulation.)
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Jun 1, 2018 05:35
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Queen Victorian posted:I have asbestos pipes in the basement with the intact diamond-shaped Keasbey & Mattison stickers advertising the asbestos pipe insulation patented in 1891. The town where that poo poo was made is a Superfund site now. House was built in 1950. Pipes are on an outside wall, but I don't think either of those is the hot water pipe. One is the cold for the faucet, and the other is for an outside faucet if it's where I think it is. The hot water pipe for the kitchen faucet is behind another piece of sheetrock I need to cut out. I'm doing all this because there is no inline water cutoff under the sink, and I want to add one and a secondary water line for the refrigerators ice maker. This project is quickly growing in scope 
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Jun 1, 2018 05:49
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SpartanIvy posted:This project is quickly growing in scope Welcome to a house! I'm not even going to speculate on whether that is or isn't asbestos. You should get someone out who would know or be able to test. In an ideal world the person checking would not be connected to a company that removes asbestos, but that's tougher to find. It's a scary word, but realistically you're safe as long as you don't disturb it and potentially get fibers in the air.
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Jun 1, 2018 05:57
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Tricky Ed posted:
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Jun 1, 2018 06:02
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