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When I had to buy a new fridge recently and I went with a combination of Wirecutter, Consumer Reports (just browse one at the library, don't get a subscription) and browsing though appliance repair forums. There's 2 or three forums where appliance repair guys hang out and they always seem have certain opinions on brands.Take them with a grain of salt because a lot of them are hyperbolic as gently caress, but you can kinds see trends. I ended getting a Whirlpool simple, side door fridge to replace our LG French Door that crapped out. French Door is nice but it adds so much complexity that it wasn't worth it for me.
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Jun 28, 2020 18:51
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To reduce trips to the Home Depot I will just buy every conceivable part I might need for a small project and leave it all in the bags with the receipt. When the job is done the leftovers go back to the store.
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Jun 28, 2020 18:51
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I seem to recall Speed Queen washers and dryers being well respected? Maybe it was here, maybe it was the post your recent purchase thread? I dunno, my parents always bought the old refurbished work horse stuff that was probably older than I am. I’m a renter so I just use the cheap combo piece of poo poo my landlord put in.
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Jun 28, 2020 19:17
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Bioshuffle posted:Where can I read about house appliances? Is consumer reports still the go to? I need to get a washer and dryer and refrigerator, but best I can find are youtube videos which have a seemingly random ranking system in place. I'm looking at American Freight company as a possible alternative because I don't care about cosmetic scratches or dings. I have a CR subscription if there is something specific you want to look up. Their performance ratings are good, but their reliability ratings are based on surveys that ask about brands and not specific models. For front load full size washers top rated are all the different flavors of LG followed by speed queen. Top loaders recommendations are LG for HE and maytag for agitators. Compact it's samsung and miele. Dryers full size they recommend mostly LG and compact its samsung.
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Jun 28, 2020 19:41
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joepinetree posted:I have a CR subscription if there is something specific you want to look up. Their performance ratings are good, but their reliability ratings are based on surveys that ask about brands and not specific models. For front load full size washers top rated are all the different flavors of LG followed by speed queen. Top loaders recommendations are LG for HE and maytag for agitators. Compact it's samsung and miele. Dryers full size they recommend mostly LG and compact its samsung. Willing to dish on Over-range microwaves? 
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Jun 28, 2020 19:47
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tumblr hype man posted:I seem to recall Speed Queen washers and dryers being well respected? Maybe it was here, maybe it was the post your recent purchase thread? I dunno, my parents always bought the old refurbished work horse stuff that was probably older than I am. I’m a renter so I just use the cheap combo piece of poo poo my landlord put in. Speed Queens are some the best washers you can (they are built for laundromats after all) buy but they absolutely guzzle water and power, they are not HE at all. They made a change a couple years ago to bring them in line with the HE appliance mandates and their washing ability went to poo poo. They the re-engineered it again and basically exploited a loophole where they can still use a ton of water but still be classified as "HE". quote:And then there’s the Speed Queen Classic TC5, which we did test. This is the machine that Speed Queen is famous for: It has been in production largely unchanged since the early 1980s, and in the 2010s it took on cult status as the only old-school washer left standing, made to last for decades, often using more water per cycle than you could drink in a month, while pounding the dirt out of your clothes with a violent corkscrew agitator. https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/speed-queen-review/ You can get washers that perform very close to Speed Queens with a fraction of the water and power usage but if you want the absolute best performance then yeah, Speed Queen is it. FCKGW fucked around with this message at 20:02 on Jun 28, 2020 |
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Jun 28, 2020 19:59
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H110Hawk posted:Willing to dish on Over-range microwaves? Whirlpool WMH53521H and the models that are similar to it (WMH54521JZ and WMH75021HZ ) are the highest rated. Then there is a large gap between them and the next batch, which include GE, Cafe, kitchenaid and LG.
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Jun 28, 2020 20:21
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I replaced a matched pair of Samsung front loads with an almost-matched pair of Whirlpool front loads. (The washer died a year after the drier, and whirlpool updated the line in the meantime.) When I spoke to the appliance guy that came out for the Samsung dryer, he mentioned that they’re mostly nice machines hamstrung by a couple of questionable cost-engineering choices. I asked him what he works on the least, and without hesitation replied that he really likes Whirlpool machinery. The Samsungs came with the house and were real pretty, but didn’t last five years. Complete junk.
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Jun 28, 2020 20:22
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My roof, siding, and windows will all be "ready" to replace in about 3 years (as in, nothing has outright failed but they'll be living on borrowed time). Does it reduce the total cost to do all 3 as one single project? I'm guessing It'd be better to work with a GC rather than a company that advertises doing exterior renovations?
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Jun 28, 2020 20:30
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joepinetree posted:Whirlpool WMH53521H and the models that are similar to it (WMH54521JZ and WMH75021HZ ) are the highest rated. Then there is a large gap between them and the next batch, which include GE, Cafe, kitchenaid and LG. Awesome, thanks. Time to figure out if I should swap the WMH31017HZ I impulse bought the other day.
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Jun 28, 2020 20:41
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H110Hawk posted:Awesome, thanks. Time to figure out if I should swap the WMH31017HZ I impulse bought the other day. Again, I don't know how much stock you should put on CR results, but here's the bottom line on that particular model: quote:
The ones I listed above all got ratings of 86 and 85, with that next batch hovering around 79 and 80. This one that you listed got a 49, but on the user reviews side it got a "94% of respondents would recommend this to a friend" with over 2700 reviews, so 
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Jun 28, 2020 20:46
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joepinetree posted:Again, I don't know how much stock you should put on CR results, but here's the bottom line on that particular model: Hah. Gotcha. Sounds like I should replace it. Thank you. (sorry I wasn't in front of my computer before to list the model.) Edit: I think this is the model I intended to buy and got confused on their website between the first time I went and came back. Thank you for catching that. If I wanted poor and uneven heating I could just buy another of my current lovely microwave. H110Hawk fucked around with this message at 21:10 on Jun 28, 2020 |
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Jun 28, 2020 20:51
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That's a lot of good information, thank you! Can I safely ignore these 4th of July sales? I probably won't upgrade until early August at the earliest, but the deals are giving me FOMO syndrome.
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Jun 28, 2020 20:56
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Bioshuffle posted:That's a lot of good information, thank you! Can I safely ignore these 4th of July sales? I probably won't upgrade until early August at the earliest, but the deals are giving me FOMO syndrome. There is always a sale, fear not.
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Jun 28, 2020 20:57
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Bioshuffle posted:That's a lot of good information, thank you! Can I safely ignore these 4th of July sales? I probably won't upgrade until early August at the earliest, but the deals are giving me FOMO syndrome. There are websites like price tracker that can show you the price history at the major retailers. For example, this is my washer: https://www.price-tracker.com/WW22K6800AW This way you can check and see if a particular sale is really good or just the standard discount that happens again and again
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Jun 28, 2020 20:59
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:My roof, siding, and windows will all be "ready" to replace in about 3 years (as in, nothing has outright failed but they'll be living on borrowed time). You can definitely find companies that will do windows and siding together. You should get a discount doing both at the same time. There may be companies that do that plus the roof, but roofing companies tend to do just that and not other stuff. There’s really no reason to get a GC. It’s two companies and you don’t have to do the roof at the same time anyway. You’re just going to pay for extra management for not much gain.
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Jun 28, 2020 21:43
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It took me way way WAY too long in life to understand that I need to own both a drill and an impact driver.
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Jun 28, 2020 23:36
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MrYenko posted:I replaced a matched pair of Samsung front loads with an almost-matched pair of Whirlpool front loads. (The washer died a year after the drier, and whirlpool updated the line in the meantime.) I’m feeling the same way. I’m on my 3rd fridge in 10 years and the Samsung/LG stuff is super nice but they make way too many parts non-replaceable for me to keep buying them. I also heard good things about Whirlpool (and Frigidaire surprisingly if you need super basic) and have been happy with our new fridge thus far.
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Jun 28, 2020 23:44
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Bioshuffle posted:Where can I read about house appliances? Is consumer reports still the go to? I need to get a washer and dryer and refrigerator, but best I can find are youtube videos which have a seemingly random ranking system in place. I'm looking at American Freight company as a possible alternative because I don't care about cosmetic scratches or dings. We actually had a good experience going to our local appliance dealer. We bought our house the year of the one bad SpeedQueen (2018) and asked for a 2017 or earlier model, of which they had no more (saleslady said people were calling them about buying demo units and refurbs and everything). We ended up with a Maytag Commercial Technology machine (basically a laundromat beast in a residential package), which is tied with SpeedQueen for being dumbest/ugliest/least efficient and therefore the best. Maytag developed it to compete with SpeedQueen and in 2018 beat them to the “deep water” cycles loophole (we have literally never used the HE-compliant normal cycle). This one: https://www.maytag.com/washers-and-dryers/washers/top-load-washers/p.3.5-cu.-ft.-commercial-grade-residential-agitator-washer.mvwp575gw.html (only this one though - every other non-commercial model is crap apparently) We have been very satisfied with it and the matching dryer. Also, after we revealed ourselves to be the type of people to buy a SpeedQueen, the saleslady got quite honest about Samsung appliances (they suck and have low lifetime satisfaction due to many points of failure and difficulty getting repairs and the sales team wished the dealership didn’t carry Samsung at all and they will actively steer people away from Samsung models).
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Jun 29, 2020 01:05
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I think that this whole thing about samsung depends on the segment that you are talking about. For compact washer and dryers samsung tends to have a much better reputation and reliability than whirlpool, LG, GE and electrolux. Only Miele and Bosch tend to be rated higher, but neither offer vented compact dryers.
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Jun 29, 2020 01:27
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The Dave posted:It took me way way WAY too long in life to understand that I need to own both a drill and an impact driver. Wait till you try 2 drills and impact driver. After hanging something like 15 blinds I enjoyed the extra took and not having to switch bits. An impact driver would have been Overkill
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Jun 29, 2020 01:47
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joepinetree posted:I think that this whole thing about samsung depends on the segment that you are talking about. It really does, some of the appliance manufacturers have found their niche. LG and Samsung do really well on Front Loaders but not on top loaders, Bosch is the king of dishwashers, etc...
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Jun 29, 2020 01:58
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Our three year old Bosch dishwasher is really good. Our 40 year old Whirlpool washing machine started spewing water when filling, I had to buy $20 in parts to fix it. Our 30 year old Maytag fridge stopped making ice, I had to replace the solenoid assembly, which also fixed the water dispenser that hadn’t worked in 20 years.
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Jun 29, 2020 06:26
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pmchem posted:what are the absolutely essential things a homeowner needs that can be purchased from Home Depot? I'll be making a trip there soon and want to make as few trips as possible. Apparently either the home depot and/or lowes mobile app will tell you where a particular item is located, asile, bin number even I've not tried it myself but supposedly it works really well You can't buy this at home depot/lowes but I suggest the Bosch brand, seems to be what everyone who isn't forced to buy at brick and mortar: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005GT0IWK/ as well as a set of bosch bits https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073HTDXC9/ Also also Bosch laser level https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GJ40TOM/ Bosch laser tape measure https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CG97GR2/ Backup wired drill & dedicated extension cord Also also also, Decided that rigid tool boxes suck, I have two of these in the house, plus one on the boat: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0047O3JQM/ And then I have some (10?) of these, to help group tools into logical groups; crecent wrenches, screw driver stuff, bicycle-specific stuff etc https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000DD5H8/ But uh yeah Full set of imperial and metric sockets/crecent wrenches, hacksaw, big and little sized vise grips, if you have a spot for it a bence vise is not a terrible idea
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Jun 29, 2020 07:05
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StormDrain posted:To reduce trips to the Home Depot I will just buy every conceivable part I might need for a small project and leave it all in the bags with the receipt. When the job is done the leftovers go back to the store. Same, but with losing the receipt.
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Jun 29, 2020 08:13
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Newbie homeowner question: We bought a nice 1930's brick house in the UK that needs some work- we were aware of the various things that need done to it having gotten a full survey+structural engineer+damp report. These came with approximate quotes that helped us knock quite a bit off the asking price. We're now at the stage where we're compiling all the suggested work from the reports, triaging them into urgent, medium term and long-term, and preparing to get quotes. One thing we're finding hard to work out though is who to quote for what. We've everything from roof, gutter, brickwork, crack repair, lintel installation, window replacement and bathroom/kitchen refurbishment on that list and struggling to work out the order in which things should be done. To give an example there's a stepped crack on one leaf due to a missing or underrated lintel over an old wooden window. Presumably the order in which this would be done is: Install lintel to stabilise the brickwork, then insert helibars + repoint brickwork above it, then install new window. As the roof also needs work, I would imagine getting that done would happen after lintel installation and brickwork too so that things are stable below the roof first, but if both jobs need scaffolding we'd get this done at the same time. The thing is, there are plenty of builders who have specialisations in one or two of these areas, but the overlap is small enough that what we think we need is someone to go through the list of work, plan it out, contract out the specialist stuff and arrange it in the right order. Is there a name for this kind of person? If we find a few companies that do this, are we likely to be able to get itemised quotes in order to add-in or remove tasks to fit our current budget?
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Jun 29, 2020 10:34
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StarkingBarfish posted:The thing is, there are plenty of builders who have specialisations in one or two of these areas, but the overlap is small enough that what we think we need is someone to go through the list of work, plan it out, contract out the specialist stuff and arrange it in the right order. Is there a name for this kind of person? If we find a few companies that do this, are we likely to be able to get itemised quotes in order to add-in or remove tasks to fit our current budget? They'd generally oversee the work and take bids or use their guys or sub it out depending, they'd make a cut off it, but that means they'll want to sub it cheaper to protect their profit and they'd inspect the work and make sure it's up to par, It's fairly standard on a bigger project to pay them half upfront with the rest held until satisfactory completion. ....Is what I've heard, I do my stuff myself unless it's plumbing or electrical generally. Although I have worked under general contractors. Quaint Quail Quilt fucked around with this message at 16:47 on Jun 29, 2020 |
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Jun 29, 2020 16:43
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Now's a good time to refinance, I'm hopefully 95% of the way through that process, should just lack signing in person again, I think. ~2.5% less in interest rate than I had.
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Jun 29, 2020 16:50
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My neighbor has a very long yard that backs up to mine, inaccessible except through four other back yards. He hates it because he only sees it when he's mowing. I want it because it would basically double my yard size with usable space, plus I don't want anyone to buy his house/yard someday and build a new house back there. Anybody here have experience with property line adjustments? Portland, OR. From what I can tell, a property line adjustment may be a feasible option as long as zoning requirements are upheld; begin and end the process with two adjacent lots, no buildings affected, no utilities, etc. Are there other considerations or potential pitfalls? I was planning to pay cash, but I suppose my mortgage lender would like to know if I annexed an adjacent lot into my existing lot. On the other hand, if it's partitioned, I'm not sure why my lender would care, other than probably requiring a right-of-way through my current lot.
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Jun 29, 2020 23:02
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Those are all great questions for your real estate attorney.
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Jun 29, 2020 23:16
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Now that the deal is closed and I'm 1) Leaky garbage disposal with rust on the exterior indicating it's been leaking for years (not a big deal) 2) Yellow water when you fill sinks or tubs enough to tell (went away when I flushed the hot water heater twice) 3) Damaged/aged sealant only visible when you're lying down in the tub (add it to the chore list) 4) The dryer was hooked up to nothing and was venting into the laundry closet. Judging by the amount of lint on the back wall behind it, I think they'd actually been running it like that. (That's the one I'm actually a bit worried about.) 5) Last but perhaps silliest: The remotely-controlled ceiling fan/light in the bedroom shares the same frequency as someone else's garage door opener or fan controller. The light kept turning on in the middle of the night. I'm going to have to change the dip settings on that before it drives me to murder someone.
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Jun 30, 2020 00:34
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Magicaljesus posted:My neighbor has a very long yard that backs up to mine, inaccessible except through four other back yards. He hates it because he only sees it when he's mowing. I want it because it would basically double my yard size with usable space, plus I don't want anyone to buy his house/yard someday and build a new house back there. It's very straight forward if the other party is amenable to the transaction and the city doesn't have some kind of zoning/setback issue you are creating. You will require a real estate lawyer, a survey, and money. Everything else is paperwork. I would start by finding the lots on the plat map and calling/visiting your local authority and ask if they see anything on the surface wrong with your plan as you can probably do that for free. If they say it seems fine head to the attorney.
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Jun 30, 2020 01:04
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Quaint Quail Quilt posted:They are talking about it 10 posts up, they are calling it GC "general contractor" is what it's called in the states. Thanks for this! I'm not sure I've seen 'general contractor' used in the UK, and building contractors tend to be massive companies that build commercial or large-scale developments. I'll see if I can find an equivalent here.
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Jun 30, 2020 10:54
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Sundae posted:
This is amazing, I hope you sat up all night turning on their light or opening their garage door lol
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Jun 30, 2020 12:55
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Are there any downsides to stackable washer and dryer versus the side by side?
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Jun 30, 2020 15:44
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Bioshuffle posted:Are there any downsides to stackable washer and dryer versus the side by side? With stacked machines you’re limited to the front loader style washer (not a problem if you like front loaders), and you lose the handy flat surface that is the top of the dryer for folding things or placing the bottle of detergent (which you can make up for by adding a laundry table and/or some shelving or something). If you need to service or repair one of the machines, I suppose you’d need to go to the extra hassle of unstacking them and then restacking them, which seems annoying but (hopefully) not a common occurrence I think it really just comes down to your personal preferences and the space you have to work with.
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Jun 30, 2020 16:48
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Queen Victorian posted:and you lose the handy flat surface that is the top of the dryer for folding things or placing the bottle of detergent (which you can make up for by adding a laundry table and/or some shelving or something). Ya, but on the other hand, you lose the handy flat surface that is the top of the dryer for accumulating useless miscellaneous poo poo that should be stored elsewhere.
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Jun 30, 2020 17:54
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MrYenko posted:Ya, but on the other hand, you lose the handy flat surface that is the top of the dryer for accumulating useless miscellaneous poo poo that should be stored elsewhere. You shut your mouth.
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Jun 30, 2020 17:58
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Queen Victorian posted:You shut your mouth. I speak solely from personal experience, my friend.
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Jun 30, 2020 18:00
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MrYenko posted:I speak solely from personal experience, my friend. Well in my case, there is literally nowhere else to put poo poo that’s not the gross and perpetually damp concrete floor. My parents still put poo poo on top of their drier despite building a huge laundry room that has substantially more counter and cabinet space than my kitchen.
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Jun 30, 2020 18:05
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