|
The name and address of the owner should be available via a title search from any title company, or also possibly just by visiting your city or county recorder, property tax office, or similar. Send a certified letter with signature required. That way you don't have to gently caress around with possibly illegally recording a phone call with someone, and will have proof that you can give to an insurer or if necessary a court.
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2018 00:09
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 16, 2024 15:10 |
|
|
Jose Valasquez posted:You should do What would the bottom-right underline be? edit: what if I just did a loss.jpg shape
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2018 01:27
|
|
|
OSU_Matthew posted:What do I do? Call and record the conversation? Who's ultimately responsible for tearing this thing down? Look up the address the tax statements go to in your country public records system. That's the official notification address. Leperflesh posted:The name and address of the owner should be available via a title search from any title company, or also possibly just by visiting your city or county recorder, property tax office, or similar. Send a certified letter with signature required. That way you don't have to gently caress around with possibly illegally recording a phone call with someone, and will have proof that you can give to an insurer or if necessary a court. I should have read the next page first. Yes, this.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2018 15:51
|
|
|
Leperflesh posted:The name and address of the owner should be available via a title search from any title company, or also possibly just by visiting your city or county recorder, property tax office, or similar. Send a certified letter with signature required. That way you don't have to gently caress around with possibly illegally recording a phone call with someone, and will have proof that you can give to an insurer or if necessary a court. Motronic posted:Look up the address the tax statements go to inki your country public records system. That's the official notification address. This is great advice, thanks! I'll do exactly that. I just typed out a letter basically saying that I've been hoping to talk to someone in person to get the dead tree removed before it falls on both of our houses, but the condition of the tree is starting to rapidly deteriorate so this is the next best thing I can think of to get a hold of you, and that I noticed the other living tree was recently removed so if you could take care of this one too before it falls that'd be awesome, here's my contact info. Pretty much straight to the point, hopefully without being too confrontational, though I guess that doesn't matter so much since the house is basically vacant
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2018 01:32
|
|
|
OSU_Matthew posted:This is great advice, thanks! I'll do exactly that. Have you talked to your insurance company about sending it on your behalf? They'd be interested in not being liable if at all possible, and that way the responsibility for a "legal record" of notification is not up to you. Obviously try and talk to them as a person first, but if that fails.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2018 01:39
|
|
|
Is Trex decking worth it? We bought a house 2 years ago that was built in 1999, only 1 previous owner. The deck is on the south facing part of the house, and it gets full North Carolina sun and humidity all summer long. Also, I'm pretty sure it has the original coat of paint on it...needless to say it's in horrible shape. Our plan is to rip it out, replace the deck with a slightly larger screened in porch, then have a 12x16ish side deck built (grill has to go somewhere). Wasn't thinking about Trex for the screened in porch, but the side deck seems like a prime candidate. So I'm guessing that this will probably add $3k-$5k to the project that we were already guessing would be about $15k. Is that money well spent? I grew up with a concrete patio, so painting/sealing a deck every few years is not something I'm used to. Seems like a massive pain in the rear end...but is it a big enough PITA to justify paying a lot more money up front? Side note, we haven't even started to get estimates yet...we've been meaning to get this done for the last 2 years but we just haven't been able to yet. So I have no idea how much this will actually cost...just semi-educated guesses for now.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2018 13:52
|
|
|
DaveSauce posted:Is Trex decking worth it? I love my Trex deck and I also hated dealing with power washing, staining, etc. That's not THAT much work, but enough that the premium was worth it in my opinion. If you outsource the periodic maintenance of the deck I think you can be looking at several hundred ($500?) every few years and that premium of the Trex quickly goes away if you stay in your house for a while. That's how I justified it.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2018 14:02
|
|
|
Speaking of decks, I am demoing an old ground-level deck in my back yard. I have the decking off and still have to break down the underlying joists, etc. Are there any tricks to disassembling the standard nail/hanger construction? It seems like trying to crowbar out all the nails would be obnoxious. I've got a sawzall so I can cut some of the joists down into more manageable pieces, but there are still joints that would need to be pulled apart. Could I just try sawing through the hangers/nails directly?
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2018 18:29
|
|
|
TraderStav posted:I love my Trex deck and I also hated dealing with power washing, staining, etc. That's not THAT much work, but enough that the premium was worth it in my opinion. If you outsource the periodic maintenance of the deck I think you can be looking at several hundred ($500?) every few years and that premium of the Trex quickly goes away if you stay in your house for a while. That's how I justified it. Hubis posted:Speaking of decks, I am demoing an old ground-level deck in my back yard. I have the decking off and still have to break down the underlying joists, etc.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2018 18:46
|
|
|
You definitely still have to pressure wash Trex. Mine grows a nice carpet of moss every year or two.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2018 18:48
|
|
|
SiGmA_X posted:You don't have to pressure wash your Trex? Or brush? Maybe my cleaning needs are because it is an older formula... Thanks, just read about using a Cat's Paw elsewhere so I've got one on order now. As for the cordless sawzall, I've got one! But I can always use an excuse for new batteries. Besides, I need new blades anytways since cutting out the broken fiberglass hot tub in the middle of the deck pretty much trashed them.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2018 19:04
|
|
|
If it is ground level I suggest a big loving hammer. If it is bolted to the house remove those bolts first. (Not with the hammer. ) Dress up like Thor while you do it.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2018 20:16
|
|
|
Nothing accumulates on my Trex and I'd be scared as poo poo to pressure wash it as there's a hairs width of coating until you see the material underneath. It's so soft I can easily see the pressure washer acting like a knife to it. I do occasionally hose it down and scrub it with a broom though, but that's nothing big.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2018 22:30
|
|
|
Home Depot sells this house attachment that uses three ball bearings and a rubber gasket to make a fine jet stream similar to a pressure washer but not nearly as powerful. I find it creates enough pressure to clean off my composite deck (not Trextm) without harming it. The attachment is like six bucks. Well worth it as an upgrade over the previous generic brass nozzle I was using.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2018 23:11
|
|
|
HEY NONG MAN posted:Home Depot sells this house attachment that uses three ball bearings and a rubber gasket to make a fine jet stream similar to a pressure washer but not nearly as powerful. I find it creates enough pressure to clean off my composite deck (not Trextm) without harming it. This guy? Looks pretty cool https://www.homedepot.com/p/Little-Big-Shot-Super-Nozzle-LBSR-1/202514529
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2018 23:25
|
|
|
TraderStav posted:Nothing accumulates on my Trex and I'd be scared as poo poo to pressure wash it as there's a hairs width of coating until you see the material underneath. It's so soft I can easily see the pressure washer acting like a knife to it. https://www.trex.com/trex-owners/care-and-cleaning/ According to this you get 3100PSI @ 8" "with fan attachment/adjustment". The cheapest one harbor freight sells is only like 1800psi or similar for like $75 with the right coupon. So far mine has lasted around 10 uses and 2 years, so I'm happy with the purchase.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2018 23:41
|
|
|
FCKGW posted:This guy? Looks pretty cool Yeah that’s the one. I use it for cleaning the detritus from between my deck boards because it can make a super fine stream.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2018 00:58
|
|
|
I've been seeing a couple of ants each evening in my bedroom and thought they were coming in from cracks under the windows from the overgrown crepe myrtles I had outside. So I chopped down the trees and weatherstripped the windows, but I was still seeing them. So tonight I just laid on my bed watching my window to see where they were getting in and it turns out they're coming out from the little gap between the window sill and the wall and I'm pretty sure they're carpenter ants living in the wall  Do never buy The silver lining is that I'm in Texas and they're southern carpenter ants which aren't nearly as bad as the northern variety. I've caulked up the holes but they'll probably find another way out. This weekend I'll tear off the sill moulding and see what happens/call Terminix back out.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2018 04:03
|
|
|
Terro baits. Now. (and spray since they are carpenter ants)
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2018 04:07
|
|
|
Motronic posted:Terro baits. Now. Which baits do you recommend? Terro makes several. I've already sprayed outside. I'll spray along the baseboards tomorrow morning. I also put Amdro all around the house a couple days ago, so hopefully they eat that stuff too.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2018 04:16
|
|
|
SpartanIvy posted:Which baits do you recommend? Terro makes several. I've already sprayed outside. I'll spray along the baseboards tomorrow morning. I also put Amdro all around the house a couple days ago, so hopefully they eat that stuff too. The Terro borax+sugar water ones. The problem with those and carpenter ants is that if they are sated by eating your house they don't have a sweet tooth so won't go after them (p sure same thing for the andro ones)......this is why you need to always also spray for carpenter ants. Neurotoxins are your friend here.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2018 04:21
|
|
|
Well the good news is carpenter ants don't eat wood, just nest in it, so they should be plenty hungry. I'll go ahead and bait and spray some more. When I get the time this weekend and can pry the window moulding off I'll go hog wild with poisons.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2018 04:25
|
|
|
Homeownership: Neurotoxins are your friend here
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2018 05:09
|
|
|
Motronic posted:The Terro borax+sugar water ones. The problem with those and carpenter ants is that if they are sated by eating your house they don't have a sweet tooth so won't go after them (p sure same thing for the andro ones)......this is why you need to always also spray for carpenter ants. Neurotoxins are your friend here. Terro doesn't do jack poo poo against the carpenter ants in my area, because apparently they don't care much for sugar It is super effective against the smaller ants though, which do eat sugar Carpenter ants also don't actually eat wood, they just burrow into it
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2018 05:23
|
|
|
QuarkJets posted:Carpenter ants also don't actually eat wood, they just burrow into it It's been a while since I dealt with them and didn't remember that, but I do remember needing both - neither seems to be entirely effective, and the sugar water stuff didn't get touched for a while, then all of a sudden it did and it was antpocalypse. I think the vague explanation I got at the time was something about feeding cycles, but it was a while ago.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2018 15:02
|
|
|
Hey homeowners, what's your favorite resource to compare home insurance prices? I have used Allstate since I started driving as a teenager so I just bundled when I bought, but it's been going up $200 a year and it sounds like new customer rates elsewhere would be worth the switch. What's a good place to get quotes and minimize the amount of junk mail and phone calls from it? I'm still shell shocked by the spam-tsunami I got when looking for health insurance... Are insurance brokers worth it? Just plug my info into Progressive or whoever's compare tool? Or get individual company quotes by going one by one?
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2018 16:29
|
|
|
I used a local broker. Not every insurance company works with brokers, but enough of them do that you'll likely get close to the best rate you can get. The insurance co pay a bounty to the broker so you don't actually pay your broker anything. You should definitely try to bundle if you can.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2018 16:33
|
|
|
drat Bananas posted:Hey homeowners, what's your favorite resource to compare home insurance prices? I have used Allstate since I started driving as a teenager so I just bundled when I bought, but it's been going up $200 a year and it sounds like new customer rates elsewhere would be worth the switch. What's a good place to get quotes and minimize the amount of junk mail and phone calls from it? I'm still shell shocked by the spam-tsunami I got when looking for health insurance... Are insurance brokers worth it? Just plug my info into Progressive or whoever's compare tool? Or get individual company quotes by going one by one? Find an local independent insurance agent. I'm making an effort to spend my money in the new community I'm moving to, and found a great local insurance agent. They can quote against dozens of companies to find you the best rate.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2018 16:37
|
|
|
I have a local Google Voice number set to DND that’s perfect for giving out when getting quotes.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2018 16:39
|
|
|
Thanks everyone. I think I'll post on my Nextdoor neighborhood to see who others recommend. Are brokers and agents the same thing?
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2018 16:45
|
|
|
Everything I'm seeing online says carpenter ants basically only live in moist wood which with their proximity to the bathroom probably means I have a pinhole pipe leak in the wall somewhere. I say a pinhole leak because I haven't seen any signs of water damage anywhere yet, and I've been in the crawlspace around that area a lot. The ants have been present for at least the month I've owned the house (probably far longer) so oh boy. I wonder what's in that wall.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2018 16:58
|
|
|
drat Bananas posted:Thanks everyone. I think I'll post on my Nextdoor neighborhood to see who others recommend. Are brokers and agents the same thing? Captive agents are different, think State Farm where you have an agent but they only deal with State Farm. Once you start talking to people it will become pretty darn clear I think. I've never had a problem with excessive phone calls from this stuff, once you tell them you've gone elsewhere I've seen it die off immediately.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2018 17:00
|
|
|
SpartanIvy posted:Everything I'm seeing online says carpenter ants basically only live in moist wood which with their proximity to the bathroom probably means I have a pinhole pipe leak in the wall somewhere. I say a pinhole leak because I haven't seen any signs of water damage anywhere yet, and I've been in the crawlspace around that area a lot. Is it an outside wall? If so, you're more likely to have a siding/flashing/whatever issue. And Permethrin. That's the nasty stuff I was trying to remember the name of.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2018 17:15
|
|
|
H110Hawk posted:Captive agents are different, think State Farm where you have an agent but they only deal with State Farm. Once you start talking to people it will become pretty darn clear I think. I've never had a problem with excessive phone calls from this stuff, once you tell them you've gone elsewhere I've seen it die off immediately. I've had mixed results so I'm glad I do the GV method. I get emails from a local All State office every 6ish months. They always say sorry we'll remove you from the list. Its gone on since 2014. State Farm removed me immediately when I asked, not a peep in 3yrs...
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2018 17:16
|
|
|
Motronic posted:Is it an outside wall? If so, you're more likely to have a siding/flashing/whatever issue. It is an exterior wall but it's brick facade with wood siding behind it which is almost certainly where the nest started, but I don't know how moisture would get from outside to behind the brick. I'm going to poke around with my USB endoscope and see what I can find. Drilling a few 1/4" holes in interior walls should help me see what's going on and it's easy to patch and paint those.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2018 17:32
|
|
|
drat Bananas posted:Thanks everyone. I think I'll post on my Nextdoor neighborhood to see who others recommend. Are brokers and agents the same thing? Just google "<your town> independent insurance agent" and call one with good reviews. Motronic posted:And Permethrin. That's the nasty stuff I was trying to remember the name of. Permethrin is good stuff. Anything with Fipronil is awesome (Termidor SC or Taurus SC). It's targeted for termites but kills the poo poo out of ants as well. I probably wouldn't recommend it for most homeowners though. Cyfluthrin, and other stuff is probably safer. I'd probably just buy this kit https://www.domyown.com/indoor-carpenter-ant-kit-p-14507.html to tackle them I backed up to a greenbelt at my last house and had a hell of a time with ants. I put some Talstar granules down in the yard and didn't see an anthill for probably 6 months. For anyone reading, make sure to be safe if you explore some of the more powerful chemicals though. Read instructions carefully and use PPE
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2018 17:35
|
|
|
SpartanIvy posted:It is an exterior wall but it's brick facade with wood siding behind it which is almost certainly where the nest started, but I don't know how moisture would get from outside to behind the brick. So, so many ways unfortunately. But yeah, poke around and see what's up. You are likely to be pulling drywall soon in any case.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2018 17:49
|
|
|
skipdogg posted:Just google "<your town> independent insurance agent" and call one with good reviews. I went ahead and bought this kit and some ant dust/bulb sprayer as well. Gonna dust all over my crawlspace at all the vents and plumbing areas. Thanks for your help everyone. I'm going nuclear with the poisons, because I want to be the only living thing in my house. I've got no kids or pets so I'm also thinking of bug bombing the place, although I doubt that would do anything to ants in walls. SpartanIvy fucked around with this message at 20:00 on Jul 12, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2018 19:54
|
|
|
SiGmA_X posted:I've had mixed results so I'm glad I do the GV method. I get emails from a local All State office every 6ish months. They always say sorry we'll remove you from the list. Its gone on since 2014. State Farm removed me immediately when I asked, not a peep in 3yrs... Use Gmail? Just hit report spam. Google will learn.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2018 20:26
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 16, 2024 15:10 |
|
|
H110Hawk posted:Use Gmail? Just hit report spam. Google will learn.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2018 20:41
|
|