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JEEVES420 posted:I worked in construction building houses and also a cabinetry shop prepping doors and frames for commercial buildings. Just saying... That's fine and I'm appreciative of you going through your process for fitting, but when you say "that is X situation" and in fact it isn't, that throws people who don't know better (which would usually be me) off on a bad tangent. If you'd said "It looks like X situation" that provides something for me to investigate while leaving some room for the possibility that you might be wrong.
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Jun 4, 2018 16:04
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Jaded Burnout posted:That's fine and I'm appreciative of you going through your process for fitting, but when you say "that is X situation" and in fact it isn't, that throws people who don't know better (which would usually be me) off on a bad tangent. If you'd said "It looks like X situation" that provides something for me to investigate while leaving some room for the possibility that you might be wrong. I get that, take everything with a grain of salt and get multiple sources.
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Jun 4, 2018 17:30
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I e-mailed the Chestnut Hill Conservancy to get an idea what was going on. Their reply does ... not generate enthusiasm.quote:Thanks for your note! The easement on the property, as with most preservation easements, is strictly on the exterior of the historic structure. The owner is free to do what he wishes on the interior. I will take a look at the language on our website as it may be less clear than it should be in this regard.
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Jun 4, 2018 21:58
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The outlet tester gave it a 'correct' reading, but is there a reason to have the white wire to load and the black wire to line? All the wiring in the other two bedrooms had hot and neutral reversed so I'm guessing whoever did the installation was drunk or unqualified or both.
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Jun 6, 2018 04:29
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So I came across this photo while sleepy and bleary-eyed, on my phone and without my glasses, and for a moment wondered why we were posting NASA photos of the space shuttle servicing a satellite in the home spergin' thread.
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Jun 6, 2018 05:35
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just another posted:The outlet tester gave it a 'correct' reading, but is there a reason to have the white wire to load and the black wire to line? A lot to take in with that picture. Line is the hot from your breaker panel and is the black wire. Load is the device being powered and is the white. Never seen that much dust on a receptacle that had an outlet cover and was in decent gang box. Not a fan of electricians that use the backstab connectors. Diagnosed too many problems that traced back to stabbed connections often with lots of arcing signs. Clean up the outlet/get a new one and use the screw terminals, maybe?
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Jun 6, 2018 06:10
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I was hoping to make sense of the wiring before replacing. I thought that in a receptacle like that, both the hot and neutral wires should be connected to the line screws, not hot to line and neutral to load. When I fixed the hot/neutral reversals in the other rooms, I wired both to line instead of as in the picture. I did use the screws, however. just another fucked around with this message at 06:38 on Jun 6, 2018 |
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Jun 6, 2018 06:28
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Typically the power to an outlet goes to the line side, and the next outlet chained to that outlet is in the load. This is mostly to help you stay organized and trace wires. The hot connection points are electrically the same, as they are a common bus bar/plate. The same is true for the neutral. The detector device would be unable to tell the difference.
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Jun 6, 2018 07:04
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IncredibleIgloo posted:Typically the power to an outlet goes to the line side, and the next outlet chained to that outlet is in the load. This is mostly to help you stay organized and trace wires. The hot connection points are electrically the same, as they are a common bus bar/plate. The same is true for the neutral. The detector device would be unable to tell the difference.
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Jun 6, 2018 13:38
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I need some advice about a home I’m about to buy. I just went through inspection yesterday and found mostly minor issues except one that I’m worried will cost me big later. The support post in the center of the garage has settled about 1/16th of an inch, it’s cracked the concrete all around the post. All of our bedrooms and a bathroom essentially sit on top of the garage and it’s the only post in the whole garage. So far it isn’t causing any bowing or visible structural issues inside the house. The house was built 5 years ago. The inspector recommends we wait and see if it moves more, and fix it later if it is a problem. If we do that then we take on the risk and burden of fixing it. If you were in my shoes what would you do? Does anyone know what something like this would actually cost to fix?
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Jun 9, 2018 18:30
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ElCondemn posted:I need some advice about a home I’m about to buy. I just went through inspection yesterday and found mostly minor issues except one that I’m worried will cost me big later. Hire an engineer. Houses settle after being built but neither you nor the inspector are qualified to know if this is normal or a family guy scenario. My own joys of homeownership: my washing machine which is installed on some dumb poo poo not level tile has been getting louder and louder, today it turned into death screams. Guess I need a washer and a refrigerator now.
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Jun 9, 2018 20:12
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H110Hawk posted:Hire an engineer. Houses settle after being built but neither you nor the inspector are qualified to know if this is normal or a family guy scenario. Well, I'm definitely going to have someone look at it if I buy it, what I'm wondering is if we should buy the house or not. I don't know if what the inspector is telling me is accurate, he says the fix would be to replace the footing and he thinks it will cost about $3000. I'm worried replacing the footing (or whatever the solution is) would cost a lot more than that. We're basically clearing out our savings to buy this house so something that could be expensive to fix would be a deal breaker.
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Jun 9, 2018 20:35
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ElCondemn posted:Well, I'm definitely going to have someone look at it if I buy it, what I'm wondering is if we should buy the house or not. I don't know if what the inspector is telling me is accurate, he says the fix would be to replace the footing and he thinks it will cost about $3000. I'm worried replacing the footing (or whatever the solution is) would cost a lot more than that. We're basically clearing out our savings to buy this house so something that could be expensive to fix would be a deal breaker. My advice as someone who bought a house that needed work, treat that prospect as you would buying a ferrari; only buy one if you can afford to buy two. (actually for a house in need of work I'd say only buy one if you can afford one and a half) Edit: I'm not a structural engineer, but I'm gonna say you're going to want to budget thousands to fix that, because you're potentially looking at adding steels, redoing concrete, maybe redoing the footing? You'd have to get an SE in to figure out the work and then a builder to quote you but you're talking about a critical support for the top half of your house, it's not something you can knock out with a few hundred bucks. Edit 2: The SE might just say "yeah it's fine don't worry about it" but I'm thinking about worst case scenario. Jaded Burnout fucked around with this message at 20:52 on Jun 9, 2018 |
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Jun 9, 2018 20:49
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ElCondemn posted:Well, I'm definitely going to have someone look at it if I buy it, what I'm wondering is if we should buy the house or not. I don't know if what the inspector is telling me is accurate, he says the fix would be to replace the footing and he thinks it will cost about $3000. I'm worried replacing the footing (or whatever the solution is) would cost a lot more than that. We're basically clearing out our savings to buy this house so something that could be expensive to fix would be a deal breaker. My point is that you have to have a qualified person inspect it prior to purchase. If you cannot afford to pay for an engineer to look at it then walk away if you get a negative finding you need to exercise your inspection contingency and walk.
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Jun 9, 2018 20:52
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ElCondemn posted:what I'm wondering is if we should buy the house or not. We can't tell you that. It might be the perfect house and this is worth saving to fix, it might be just one in a thousand options you can pick and choose from. quote:We're basically clearing out our savings to buy this house so something that could be expensive to fix would be a deal breaker. Oh boy. Houses are expensive, to state the obvious. If it wasn't this it'd be needing new appliances, or landscaping, or replacing something that got damp. There is a big bill coming, you just don't know what until it hits.
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Jun 9, 2018 20:52
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ElCondemn posted:Well, I'm definitely going to have someone look at it if I buy it, what I'm wondering is if we should buy the house or not. I don't know if what the inspector is telling me is accurate, he says the fix would be to replace the footing and he thinks it will cost about $3000. I'm worried replacing the footing (or whatever the solution is) would cost a lot more than that. We're basically clearing out our savings to buy this house so something that could be expensive to fix would be a deal breaker. Do not buy this house. I would add: Do not buy any house without the capacity to do about $10k in unexpected repairs.
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Jun 9, 2018 21:12
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tetrapyloctomy posted:Do not buy this house. I would add: Do not buy any house without the capacity to do about $10k in unexpected repairs. I can afford $10k, I can’t comfortably afford $50k without some planning. I’m not asking for financial advise, I’m asking if people know what this kind of thing might cost. If it’s a $3k thing or a $30k thing. The answer I’m hearing is “I don’t know”, so I’ll have to figure out how to have an engineer and then a contractor out before the 10 days (on the 3rd day now) I have for inspection run out. ElCondemn fucked around with this message at 21:26 on Jun 9, 2018 |
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Jun 9, 2018 21:22
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ElCondemn posted:We're basically clearing out our savings to buy this house so something that could be expensive to fix would be a deal breaker. Everyone is going to keep on quoting this over and over because this is such a bad idea. You don’t know what’s going to happen, and inspections can easily miss big things. That’s besides the point of appliances going haywire, damage from nature, or expenses in life other than the house like cars or health. Also the first answer you got is the answer, if there’s any concern a structural engineer should inspect it prior to purchase.
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Jun 9, 2018 21:24
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ElCondemn posted:I can afford $10k, I can’t comfortably afford $50k without some planning. I’m not asking for financial advise, I’m asking if people know what this kind of thing might cost. If it’s a $3k thing or a $30k thing. Sorry, I misread your prior statement as meaning a three-thousand dollar job could break the budget. You're doing the right thing by getting an engineer and a contractor out there, and if you can't make the deadline pass on the house. There's no way for any of us to have any idea what the scope of this might be, and given the lengths some homeowners will go to cover up the sequelae of a home's issues in order to sell it, even professionals may not be able fully to assess the degree to which the subsidence has affected the rest of the structure.
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Jun 9, 2018 21:36
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I paid a structural engineer about $650 for some work. He was also able to give me a rough price estimate for the needed repairs and tossed me some recommended builders. But I had to book him weeks out as they are busy around these parts. So good luck and call every SE you can find in your area Monday morning.
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Jun 9, 2018 21:52
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I would expect to reinforce the whole garage with STEEL BEAMS if you want to park a car in it, or fill it will a wood beam forest if it's just storage space. Budget $10,000?!
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Jun 9, 2018 23:42
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Stack dollar bills until you’re propping up the ceiling
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Jun 9, 2018 23:49
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ElCondemn posted:The answer I’m hearing is “I don’t know”, so I’ll have to figure out how to have an engineer and then a contractor out before the 10 days (on the 3rd day now) I have for inspection run out. Your lawyer can extend that almost indefinitely if you have more inspections you want to do.
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Jun 10, 2018 00:46
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ElCondemn posted:I need some advice about a home I’m about to buy. I just went through inspection yesterday and found mostly minor issues except one that I’m worried will cost me big later. My guess would be the post was installed on the garage floor and there is no footer--meaning instead of a 2x2x3 hole being dug where the post was to be installed, there is just the 4" of concrete that makes up the garage floor. In and of itself--fixing a post footer isn't a huge job. Two temporary posts would be put on either side. The cracked concrete would be jack hammered/dug out to the correct depth. A new footer poured and the post reinstalled. $3K for the job would be on the high side in my area. But the recommendation to get an engineer is a good one. The first thing to find out is if the rooms above the garage were built with a permit and inspected. (Based on age and the fact it is multiple bedrooms and a bath--I'd think it was under a permit.) What you don't want is to find out is something like the joists are 2x8's spaced 24" on center--a space originally meant to store Christmas ornaments and the like but was converted into living space. That kind of repair is going to run a lot more than $3K!
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Jun 11, 2018 17:41
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baquerd posted:Your lawyer can extend that almost indefinitely if you have more inspections you want to do. If you are not comfortable with the risk you can always reduce your price (or ask for cash at settlement, which may be preferable) to cover what you think the cost would be. If you think it *might* need to be replaced, ask for $3-5k or whatever extra padding you'd need to take on the risk. One of the points of a contingent inspection is that you can ask for adjustments based on what is found. They might say no, but you're certainly better off asking for more money and THEN deciding if you want to walk away should they refuse rather than deciding that without asking for them to cover your costs.
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Jun 11, 2018 18:22
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So I'm looking into getting fixed wireless broadband (all I can get, and THAT is iffy even). So far no companies have been able to get me service because of trees blocking LOS to a radio tower. HOWEVER, if we put a dish further out on our dock (lakefront) it might be able to see the radio tower just fine, but this is about ~100ft from our house and down a hill to boot. The cable running between would need to be buried or protected, I'd assume. So, the only thing that could keep us from having to trench in our yard or pay someone to do it (and hit more sprinkler lines) would POSSIBLY be the Sch40 electrical conduit running from the side of our stairway down to the dock itself. Is it even viable to think that Sch40 could be used again and just feed cabling through it? Of course it's closed and I'm guessing all the fittings are cemented, but if someone was to drill a hole VERY carefully? And seal it up after feeding the cable? Is this the most ridiculous idea anyone's ever heard because it's starting to sound like it? Having the trenching done for the electricity to be run down to the dock was the most expensive part of that whole deal, not including the sprinkler lines they hit, and I'd love to avoid having to do that again. As it is now, most of that conduit DOES run underground as required until it hits a box mounted to the side of the top of the stairs and then runs externally all the way down to the pier.
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Jun 12, 2018 14:43
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life is killing me posted:So I'm looking into getting fixed wireless broadband (all I can get, and THAT is iffy even). So far no companies have been able to get me service because of trees blocking LOS to a radio tower. HOWEVER, if we put a dish further out on our dock (lakefront) it might be able to see the radio tower just fine, but this is about ~100ft from our house and down a hill to boot. The cable running between would need to be buried or protected, I'd assume. So, the only thing that could keep us from having to trench in our yard or pay someone to do it (and hit more sprinkler lines) would POSSIBLY be the Sch40 electrical conduit running from the side of our stairway down to the dock itself. If you've already got power on the dock, why not just do another wireless shot from the dock to the house? A pair of Ubiquiti Nanostations should handle that nicely, and at ~$100 for the pair, would be a lot cheaper than trenching a new cable in.
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Jun 12, 2018 15:35
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life is killing me posted:So I'm looking into getting fixed wireless broadband (all I can get, and THAT is iffy even). So far no companies have been able to get me service because of trees blocking LOS to a radio tower. HOWEVER, if we put a dish further out on our dock (lakefront) it might be able to see the radio tower just fine, but this is about ~100ft from our house and down a hill to boot. The cable running between would need to be buried or protected, I'd assume. So, the only thing that could keep us from having to trench in our yard or pay someone to do it (and hit more sprinkler lines) would POSSIBLY be the Sch40 electrical conduit running from the side of our stairway down to the dock itself. Is there anything inside the sch40? If not, make a "rat" out of a plastic walmart bag and tie a string to the back side. (you want the bag puffed up enough to fill the pipe, but not crammed in so hard it won't move. Take a wet/dry vac to other side and turn it on while someone else makes sure the string feeds. When the rat pops out, tie your cable and another string to your pull string (square knot), cover with a bit of tape, spray some lithium (or use legit wire pull lube) on the tape, and pull your wire. Leave the 2nd string in the conduit in case you need to pull anything in the future. And if you have electricity on your dock/the power stays on while you need internet and you can keep the equipment dry, maybe just run ethernet between the house and the dock. Keep all the broadband wireless stuff on the dock and just have access points in the house.
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Jun 12, 2018 18:11
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HycoCam posted:And if you have electricity on your dock/the power stays on while you need internet and you can keep the equipment dry, maybe just run ethernet between the house and the dock. Keep all the broadband wireless stuff on the dock and just have access points in the house. Make sure you buy a proper outdoor box w/ lightning arrest and run STP. It's pretty much the only time a consumer will ever need it, but now is that time.
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Jun 12, 2018 18:29
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life is killing me posted:So I'm looking into getting fixed wireless broadband (all I can get, and THAT is iffy even). So far no companies have been able to get me service because of trees blocking LOS to a radio tower. HOWEVER, if we put a dish further out on our dock (lakefront) it might be able to see the radio tower just fine, but this is about ~100ft from our house and down a hill to boot. The cable running between would need to be buried or protected, I'd assume. So, the only thing that could keep us from having to trench in our yard or pay someone to do it (and hit more sprinkler lines) would POSSIBLY be the Sch40 electrical conduit running from the side of our stairway down to the dock itself. If there's something in that Sch40, then probably not -- you don't want to mix line voltage and low voltage. As others have suggested I would absolutely use this as an excuse to play with point-to-point networking and put a wireless bridge between the dock and the house.
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Jun 12, 2018 19:24
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n0tqu1tesane posted:If you've already got power on the dock, why not just do another wireless shot from the dock to the house? A pair of Ubiquiti Nanostations should handle that nicely, and at ~$100 for the pair, would be a lot cheaper than trenching a new cable in. This is an idea! I'm just wondering if the installers would know what to do in that event or if they are required to just run cable. HycoCam posted:Is there anything inside the sch40? If not, make a "rat" out of a plastic walmart bag and tie a string to the back side. (you want the bag puffed up enough to fill the pipe, but not crammed in so hard it won't move. Take a wet/dry vac to other side and turn it on while someone else makes sure the string feeds. When the rat pops out, tie your cable and another string to your pull string (square knot), cover with a bit of tape, spray some lithium (or use legit wire pull lube) on the tape, and pull your wire. Leave the 2nd string in the conduit in case you need to pull anything in the future. The electrical lines running from the lights and lift motor on the dock to my house's breaker box are inside it. It's only exposed from the top of the stone stairwell to the bottom of the decking on the dock, the rest between the stairwell and the house is buried. As far as ethernet, I'm assuming I'd still need an access point at the dock connected to the dish itself? Not sure it could be run directly from the dish, unless I'm misunderstanding what you're saying. H110Hawk posted:Make sure you buy a proper outdoor box w/ lightning arrest and run STP. It's pretty much the only time a consumer will ever need it, but now is that time. Good to know, thanks. Hubis posted:If there's something in that Sch40, then probably not -- you don't want to mix line voltage and low voltage. See above--the electrical lines are running through it, so I guess that idea is out and the wireless bridge or ethernet idea is in--else I'll have to wait for 5G and hope they bother to put up access points in my area when it comes out. I'd not be surprised if they overlooked our area even for that.
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Jun 12, 2018 19:35
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life is killing me posted:This is an idea! I'm just wondering if the installers would know what to do in that event or if they are required to just run cable. Ideally you'd have the wireless bridge already set up and waiting for them. Their handoff should just be ethernet, so you can configure the wireless bridge to act the same as a wire between the dock and house, essentially. One end of the bridge will plug into their handoff from the ISP CPE, and the other into the router in your house.
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Jun 12, 2018 20:31
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If I have a variable-speed HVAC setup, how invasive is it to get multi-zone set up? There's a pretty big difference between basement and top floor, and I'm thinking about dealing with it.
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Jun 12, 2018 21:00
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Is a big stupid antenna tower on the roof an option?
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Jun 12, 2018 23:57
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peanut posted:Is a big stupid antenna tower on the roof an option? That's basically what we are suggesting.
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Jun 13, 2018 03:11
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life is killing me posted:This is an idea! I'm just wondering if the installers would know what to do in that event or if they are required to just run cable. Can you run fiber through the conduit with the electrical? I'm not sure on code requirements there, but 1 gigabit fiber gear is pretty cheap these days.
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Jun 13, 2018 03:57
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Couldn't you do a powerline adapter feeding a wifi switch in the house? Or would that require an outlet on the same circuit as the stuff on the dock?
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Jun 13, 2018 04:51
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Do you have a clear line of sight? What about a directional WAP?
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Jun 13, 2018 05:07
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life is killing me posted:This is an idea! I'm just wondering if the installers would know what to do in that event or if they are required to just run cable. A properly configured wireless bridge should be effectively 'invisible' to the devices on either end, so if you get it setup in advance the installers should be able to cope with it. As mentioned, the ubuiquiti stuff is good. They will just plug their device into the port on the end of the wireless bridge on the dock with a short ethernet cable and it will behave just like if they plugged it into the LAN inside your house. You can set it up in advance by getting it setup so that you can just plug your laptop into it to demonstrate that it works. Also, if you are only dealing with 100ft from the house to the dock, you can also buy armoured outdoor cat5 cable, which you could either just bury next to the existing conduit or could run via a slightly longer route to follow borders/fences (just keep it below 300ft or so) Inspector 34 posted:Couldn't you do a powerline adapter feeding a wifi switch in the house? Or would that require an outlet on the same circuit as the stuff on the dock? powerline needs it to be on the same circuit/breaker. It also never seems to be as reliable as a decent wireless bridge.
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Jun 13, 2018 11:00
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Sound like you just need to host a goonmeet and it'll get done for the cost of parts and a three six-packs.
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Jun 13, 2018 12:36
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