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Hey, so the back of the freezer is making dripping and gurgling noises, how concerned should I be? Everything is still frozen, but I can see dripping in the back area where there's a metal vent and drainage pan.
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Oct 24, 2019 22:56
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In 2015 I had a really bad rainwater leak at the top of my first story window. The house was 25 years old with builders grade windows, so we decided to make a big project and replace all the windows with modern/quality ones. The framing above the leaky window is pretty drat wet on this sunny day and the window installer asks me if I want him to continue installing or have someone unrelated come out and assess the water damage before he continues. My options are to send him away, leaving two big windowless holes in the front of my house in the middle of Texas July, while I gently caress around on Angie's List trying to find some sort of reliable contractor who can come quote me and fix everything RIGHT NOW, or.... let him just seal everything back up and hope for the best? Accurate to my moronic procrastinator personality type, I agree for him to shove this problem under the rug. Ugh. poo poo's fine for 4 years before I notice wet spots forming in the upper and lower corners of the second story window, directly above the one with the original leak. I call out the window company to take a look, and they blame it "possibly" on everything from the roof flashing to the mortar cracking (brick veneer), to the foundation shifting, but not the window itself. So they caulk up what they can and I spent $400 on a structural engineer to tell me that my foundation is absolutely fine. Which is nice to know and I don't regret too much. On my perpetual to-do list I know I need to call out some sort of brick repair and/or roof company to figure out where this water is getting in. Then we get a really bad storm on Sunday and now the first story window has the same bad leak it did last time. I call out a brick repair company, who has quoted me $4300 (plus tax!) to remove large portions of my brick and replace the barrier, flashing, lintel, and other things I'm forgetting. Probably need to find someone different to replace any studs or insulation or drywall if that needs it as well. Conveniently, in big bold font, they do not guarantee to stop water leaks!  I have another company, who does guarantee to stop leaks, coming to quote me on Saturday. I'm scared.I don't really have a question (although insights are welcome), I just want to vent.
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Oct 25, 2019 00:01
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Chu020 posted:Hey, so the back of the freezer is making dripping and gurgling noises, how concerned should I be? Everything is still frozen, but I can see dripping in the back area where there's a metal vent and drainage pan. My freezer has an automatic defrosting cycle that does this. It has heating elements at the very back, mostly behind a thin false wall, and every once in a while they run and melt the ice even while the air and food stays pretty cold, and then the freezer cools everything back down again. The important bit is the drain at the bottom needs to not get clogged, or you'll open your freezer and find a small lake in the bottom.
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Oct 25, 2019 00:26
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So, final (hopefully) update in the attic/crawlspace saga. Had five (5!) companies come in to give me quotes on what was wrong and what the fix was. Apparently Israeli's have a corner on the crawlspace and attic market near LA (so ntan1 can add this to his ethnicity of contractors list) since the first four guys were all Israeli dudes. First four companies inspected the home to varying degrees and each gave a completely different prognosis and remedy, which is always a great sign that one or all of them are spouting bullshit. Basically one said all my insulation was contaminated and needed to ripped out, another said attic insulation was fine but wanted to encapsulate my crawlspace and add insulation under there, another claimed he could clean my insulation and re-install it, blah blah. Fifth company was a husband-wife combo pest control company. They checked the whole place out and basically said that my attic likely had one rat who probably wasn't even around anymore. It was coming in through poorly laid out flashing where the room met the edge of the attic and that my roofing company should be responsible for fixing it. Also told me that the rat "urine" the other guys took pictures of and showed me was actually a perfectly straight line underneath my roof lining up with nail holes, and likely was a really tiny leak that, again, my roofers should fix. They showed my pictures of what a real rat infestation looks like and how that differed from the small amount of feces I had. Then they checked the crawlspace, determined that the hole in my ductwork was old and likely the duct tape covering fell off when termite guys were down there. All rat feces was dust covered and they guessed was likely from before we even owned the house. They doubted there was an active infestation because my screened off vents were solid and it was doubtful anything could get in. So I paid these two $75 for the inspection, got an amazon link to some rat traps to put around the outside of the house, and basically need to call my roofers and HVAC company to fix the issues. Those two likely saved my $5k and I honestly wish they had been the first people I called. Homeownership is horse-poo poo sometimes.
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Oct 26, 2019 08:41
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That's pretty cool but otoh you didn't notice that the husband-wife team was actually two swarms of rats in trench coats
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Oct 26, 2019 09:14
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QuarkJets posted:That's pretty cool but otoh you didn't notice that the husband-wife team was actually two swarms of rats in trench coats Still the most honest contractors of the bunch.
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Oct 27, 2019 00:41
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Bought a house in a historic district, now I get to pay $45 to apply for approval to replace a 75yo rotted out garage door. 
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Oct 29, 2019 02:05
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Sirotan posted:Bought a house in a historic district Never do this or buy a house considered historic. It's like an HOA, but 10x worse. Busybody officials and residents with no skin in the game get to dictate how you must make changes to your home. Needless to say, what they require is always the most expensive possible work. Someone attempting to actually improve a 'historic home' instead of letting it rot back to the earth is penalized because they wanted to use a nice architectural shingle instead of cedar to save $30k.
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Oct 29, 2019 15:02
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B-Nasty posted:Never do this or buy a house considered historic. It's like an HOA, but 10x worse. Does architectural shingle mean plastic? I agree that it's a good idea to avoid historic / listed properties but covering a historic building in plastic siding is pretty lame.
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Oct 29, 2019 21:56
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knox_harrington posted:Does architectural shingle mean plastic? I agree that it's a good idea to avoid historic / listed properties but covering a historic building in plastic siding is pretty lame. Architectural shingles are just high quality asphalt roofing shingles. They can look a lot like the slate or cedar roofs they are replacing, and look way nicer and last much longer than standard, flat 3-tab shingles. My overall point is about how everybody wants to preserve old buildings (many that don't have interesting history and are already in disrepair), but nobody wants to help pay for it. If townships/areas are serious about enforcing their rules on whoever purchases such properties, they should put their money where their mouth is and not charge property taxes for anyone that buys such a place and fixes it up to be period-accurate.
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Oct 29, 2019 22:06
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B-Nasty posted:My overall point is about how everybody wants to preserve old buildings (many that don't have interesting history and are already in disrepair), but nobody wants to help pay for it. If townships/areas are serious about enforcing their rules on whoever purchases such properties, they should put their money where their mouth is and not charge property taxes for anyone that buys such a place and fixes it up to be period-accurate. It does happen sometimes. I used to live in a restored historic building that had been converted to condos (restored the external facade, any additions set back and not visible from street level, etc), and the city gave us a pretty nice property-tax discount for the trouble.
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Oct 29, 2019 22:23
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I live in a house in a 'Historic District'. They put no limits on what I can do with the property and give me 25% tax rebate on rehabilitation improvements completed that bring the house in line with modern standards. Actually going to be putting this rebate to the test soon as I'm just finishing up a 30k bathroom conversion from existing space.
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Oct 30, 2019 16:46
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haunted house checking in Not 8 months after redoing the floors through the entire house we had a pipe bust under a bathroom vanity and spray water for like 8 hours. Came home from work to a very wet house and confused dog. We already got the remediation folks out the same night and they sucked up all the water from carpets and wood i guess, and they said their blowers/dehumidifiers would probably be going for 3 days. Insurance adjuster said they will come out when everything is dried. These guys seemed to have a positive view on our insurance company and how they pay out based on their past dealings which is good. According to them insurance will never pay to replace carpet that is new, because it doesn't have enough dead skin and poo poo in it yet to cause mold to grow, so they are just pulling it all back up to replace the pads. Disappointing to hear but I guess it makes sense? We have wood to that is gonna get ripped out should be a lot of fun. At least we already know a good contractor, this time they will only be doing 3/4 of the floors of the house again. yehooo Captain Beans fucked around with this message at 15:39 on Nov 6, 2019 |
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Nov 6, 2019 15:24
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Check your policy and talk to your broker. It seems dumb to me that an insured peril wouldn't be covered because it's too new.
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Nov 7, 2019 01:23
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Here's what happens when your HOA drags its feet on removing a dead tree: And of course that's my garage.
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Nov 7, 2019 17:42
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Rotten Red Rod posted:Here's what happens when your HOA drags its feet on removing a dead tree: At least you get to spread the cost over all of your neighbors if you asked them repeatedly in writing to remove it.
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Nov 7, 2019 17:43
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The management company is already sending a crew to remove it and repair the damage, looks like. I'm annoyed with them for taking so long to remove the tree, but they seem to be responsive in fixing it now!
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Nov 7, 2019 17:51
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H110Hawk posted:At least you get to spread the cost over all of your neighbors if you asked them repeatedly in writing to remove it. That tree looks like it's been dead for a good long time. There's no way they can claim ignorance here...
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Nov 7, 2019 18:00
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DaveSauce posted:That tree looks like it's been dead for a good long time. There's no way they can claim ignorance here... Yeah they knew. It even had the orange "X" for removal on it, along with several other trees, and people have been trying to tell them to remove it for a while. You can bet those other ones are gonna be fast-tracked for removal now...!
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Nov 7, 2019 18:03
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Rotten Red Rod posted:Yeah they knew. It even had the orange "X" for removal on it, along with several other trees, and people have been trying to tell them to remove it for a while. You can bet those other ones are gonna be fast-tracked for removal now...! congrats on the incoming special assessment!
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Nov 8, 2019 13:46
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B-Nasty posted:Never do this or buy a house considered historic. It's like an HOA, but 10x worse. The Historic District Commission, in their great benevolence, have provisionally granted me permission to replace my own garage door. I still have to go to their meeting next week because if I'm not there and they have questions for me, my request will be delayed or denied! However, it appears they are only going to allow me to have *two* windows at the top instead of the full four. For reference, here is the existing door. It is 75 years old, rotting, heavy as hell, and uses a lever/spring system that looks unsafe as gently caress:  Based on my 30 second mock-up in Paint, I feel like configuration B looks slightly less stupid.  Praise be the HDC, whose wisdom transcends good taste and aesthetics.
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Nov 8, 2019 18:04
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Move the windows down a row maybe?
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Nov 8, 2019 18:19
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Could both windows span two columns each to fill out the top completely or is that not a style with garage doors?
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Nov 8, 2019 18:41
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The Dave posted:Could both windows span two columns each to fill out the top completely or is that not a style with garage doors? The garage door style that I submitted in my application is a "short panel" (as seen in the mock-up). There IS a "long panel" version which would only have 2 panels per row, but I'd have to redo the entire application and get it re-approved which would take another 2+ weeks soooo yeah that's not gonna happen.
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Nov 8, 2019 18:46
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I would try to match the original spacing, both those other options look off
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Nov 8, 2019 18:47
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brugroffil posted:I would try to match the original spacing, both those other options look off Yeah there is no way to do that with the door model I'm getting. It will look like what I posted in the mock-up. 4 rows with 4 panels each. It's both inside or both outside, there are no other options.
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Nov 8, 2019 18:48
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Are there any restrictions on the location or symmetry of the windows? Maybe you could turn a loss into a win with some creative thinking. 
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Nov 8, 2019 18:49
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Ashcans posted:Are there any restrictions on the location or symmetry of the windows? Maybe you could turn a loss into a win with some creative thinking.  At the meeting next week I will try to convince them to let me do all 4 panels as windows since that would been waaaaaaaaaay less dumb.
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Nov 8, 2019 18:52
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they do make 2 panel x 4 panel doors as well, or even flat ones where you could have them cut the window in with better spacing? might be a little more expensive than your standard 4x4 though idk
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Nov 8, 2019 18:54
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Ashcans posted:Are there any restrictions on the location or symmetry of the windows? Maybe you could turn a loss into a win with some creative thinking. 
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Nov 8, 2019 19:06
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Or could you do windows in the middle two and paint out the book ends as almost faux windows to look better visually?
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Nov 8, 2019 19:15
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The Dave posted:Or could you do windows in the middle two and paint out the book ends as almost faux windows to look better visually? Paint changes also have to be approved by the HDC 
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Nov 8, 2019 19:19
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Ashcans posted:Are there any restrictions on the location or symmetry of the windows? Maybe you could turn a loss into a win with some creative thinking. GOD drat AMAZING.
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Nov 8, 2019 19:36
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Ashcans posted:Are there any restrictions on the location or symmetry of the windows? Maybe you could turn a loss into a win with some creative thinking. This thread is getting out of hand
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Nov 8, 2019 20:21
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Ashcans posted:Are there any restrictions on the location or symmetry of the windows? Maybe you could turn a loss into a win with some creative thinking. That is just dynamite. Great work.
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Nov 8, 2019 20:31
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I just noticed all of the trim in my house was installed backwards. We have a lot of wainscoting so none of it is flush to the door and window trim and now I cant unsee it. I just want to burn this whole thing down and start over
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Nov 12, 2019 15:38
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The Historic District Commission has graciously allowed me to replace my garage door, with 4 windows on top. Hooray.
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Nov 13, 2019 02:16
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Sirotan posted:The Historic District Commission has graciously allowed me to replace my garage door, with 4 windows on top. Hooray. You think you've won but now you're in their pocket.
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Nov 13, 2019 02:24
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So I want to add heat to my garage. Running gas seems cost prohibitive so I'm looking at electric (even though it's expensive to run). I'm looking at stuff like this: https://www.amazon.com/Fahrenheat-FUH54-240-volt-Garage-2500-5000-watt/dp/B0000AXEZV The question is if I can install this myself or if I need an electrician. It needs to be hardwired to 240v. The upside is, the garage has an electrical panel, though it is currently full, it looks like this:  The two top 20a breakers each go to a separate 240v plug (I'm pretty sure? I didn't have any way to test them, but I know what everything else goes to). The heaters need a 30a breaker. Ideally, I could just replace one of those breakers with a 30a breaker, and then wire in the heater to the plug (turning it into a junction box). To do that though, I would need to make sure the wiring is 10ga, which I'm not sure how to tell. Alternatively I could just wire new 10ga through conduit to where I want the heater. In that case, I could just disconnect the current wiring, cap it off, and leave it, correct? Should I just get an electrician? How much would that run? Also, does anyone know why that top left breaker is a crazy double breaker with two seperate (inside/outside) disconnects? Maybe both 240v plugs run off that one breaker and the top right one is just a complete mystery? Elysium fucked around with this message at 16:29 on Nov 13, 2019 |
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Nov 13, 2019 16:26
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Elysium posted:The upside is, the garage has an electrical panel, though it is currently full, it looks like this: I can tell you this much, my city inspector would fail this as >6 throws to de-energize the panel unless the feeder panel is in line of sight. Ask me how I learned that.
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Nov 13, 2019 16:41
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