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Best thing you can do early in marriage is figure out an agreed split between joint accounts and personal counts. I can buy a $10,000 faberge egg with my personal account and my wife will just think I’m dumb, but if I spend an extra $200 at the store with our joint card she’s going to grill me. 10 years in and we’ve never had a single serious financial argument.
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Sep 5, 2020 14:29
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^^ this we split our mortgage. One of us just paypal's the other rent. Bills are split for utilities. I cover most of the food since I brought 3 kids into our relationship. We have our mixed savings goals and then the rest of my money and get money can best used for whatever bullshit we wanna spend it on. None of this. Oh you spent $50 on fans for your computer. Or how much was that brewing poo poo?
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Sep 5, 2020 14:49
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Residency Evil posted:Yeah, figured that was it. I’ve been looking into fridges (built-in ones in particular) and my dad, who is in construction/real estate, has recommended Subzero (which I was already considering) or GE Monogram (their high-end line that competes with Subzero/Wolf/Viking/etc). My parents’ fridge is a Subzero installed in 1996 that still works perfectly (only repair it’s ever needed was a gasket replacement or something similarly minor), so that’s why I’ve looking at them (not because of brand/prestige - I just want something that won’t die after a pathetically short amount of time). I agree that Samsung and LG are probably best to avoid. I’m solidly anti-gimmick in regards to large appliances and I’ve heard too many stories about premature failures and then excessive difficulty obtaining repairs. Not sure about KitchenAid - my dad got a pair of built-in KitchenAid fridges for their weekend house and one failed recently after chugging along fine for 15+ years. He wanted to fix it so the two fridges would continue to match but was unable to find anyone willing/able to repair it because it was too old/there weren’t any parts. So he ended up replacing both of them with Subzeros. In other news our house came with a simple Frigidaire from the 90s or early 00s and I’ve had zero complaints so far. When we remodel the kitchen we’ll probably keep it and move it to the basement to have as a beer fridge.
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Sep 5, 2020 17:20
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I’m in the market for a garage beer/meat/frozen meal fridge. Are the most basic fridge models any more reliable than the ones with all the bells and whistles?
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Sep 5, 2020 17:37
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1.5(?) quotes so far for full demo and rebuild a second floor deck, 8x12, and pouring a cement patio underneath. We may want to go to 8x15 so it spans the entire wall of the house instead of being off-center. 1st at around 16K plus tax, but after verbally giving me the quote it’s been a week and they never emailed me anything with the actual quote. The second? They want ~2.5k just to give me a ‘ballpark’ number, and the example they have for a similar sized project they did was 40k. How the hell do you need to make a full project proposal/statement of work that will take you 17 hours at 95/hour just to give me an idea of the cost!? The contractor a co-worker likes is 9 miles away, busy until the new year, and ‘doesn’t like doing jobs that far away’ This is my first time dealing with just getting bids for a job and Jesus Christ.
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Sep 5, 2020 17:58
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Democratic Pirate posted:I’m in the market for a garage beer/meat/frozen meal fridge. Are the most basic fridge models any more reliable than the ones with all the bells and whistles? In my opinion and experience, yes, because the simple dumb ones have far fewer moving parts and therefore fewer points of failure. Probably easier to fix, too. Hawkeye posted:This is my first time dealing with just getting bids for a job and Jesus Christ. Wow that sounds like a lovely time. We got some bids for our kitchen remodel back before the pandemic and it was a lot smoother. Even got a couple written bids, one of which was itemized. No one asked for fees (seriously, that much just to make a ballpark estimate on a deck and a patio? Wtf). I guess nowadays the market is all screwed up with everyone wanting to do home improvements and contractors able to afford ghost people and ask for crazy fees (which I guess is to prevent non-serious folks from wasting their time, though it makes more sense if they’re doing design work and poo poo for a full blown proposal, not just throwing out a ballpark estimate).
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Sep 5, 2020 22:17
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Queen Victorian posted:Wow that sounds like a lovely time. We got some bids for our kitchen remodel back before the pandemic and it was a lot smoother. Even got a couple written bids, one of which was itemized. No one asked for fees (seriously, that much just to make a ballpark estimate on a deck and a patio? Wtf). I guess nowadays the market is all screwed up with everyone wanting to do home improvements and contractors able to afford ghost people and ask for crazy fees (which I guess is to prevent non-serious folks from wasting their time, though it makes more sense if they’re doing design work and poo poo for a full blown proposal, not just throwing out a ballpark estimate). Yeah, this is pretty much it. I have an electrician friend and he straight up admitted that this has been the best time of his professional life because he can pick and choose which projects he wants to work on. He said after the lockdowns happened he had to hire someone to essentially be his secretary because he couldn't keep up with his phone constantly ringing.
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Sep 5, 2020 22:24
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PCjr sidecar posted:Samsung designs refrigerators with the two year disposable product cycle like cell phones and don’t make adequate spares So... get an LG because at least you get a gimmick out of the bad deal?
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Sep 5, 2020 23:40
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Basically everyone who is riding out the pandemic OK has a pile of money from vacations they can't take and they're looking at the same dumb issue in their house they meant to get fixed years ago. There's also another group of people taking advantage of generational low interest rates to refinance, take some cash out and do that big project they always wanted to do. It's a great time to be a contractor.
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Sep 6, 2020 00:29
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Honestly we've had 4 out of 7 companies we contacted out to bid on our porch/deck project and they were all fairly responsive. A 5th is scheduled for the start of next month, and 2 others didn't even bother getting back to us. One we're still waiting for an estimate, though. Just as I was about to ping them we got a "3d model of our house to look at while waiting for the estimate." Only gripe they've all given us is that lumber costs are through the roof, and permits take more time than normal. Otherwise they're mostly scheduling 6-8 weeks out to start work. I mean it's like a $30k+ project, so that doesn't hurt, but I'm sure there's plenty of bigger fish out there. They've all said that they're definitely busy, but not too busy to keep taking on new work or to hire more crews.
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Sep 6, 2020 01:15
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Speaking of patios, mine has a concrete foundation but no roof. I'd like to have one installed, along with a few fancy features like a ceiling fan. Where do I start? Should I just start calling general contractors, or are there people/companies who specialize in such projects?
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Sep 6, 2020 01:23
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FCKGW posted:There's also another group of people taking advantage of generational low interest rates to refinance, take some cash out and do that big project they always wanted to do. This is us. And yeah, the contractor we're probably going to select for our kitchen won't be able to start until March-April of next year. They're all swamped.
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Sep 6, 2020 01:24
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Democratic Pirate posted:I’m in the market for a garage beer/meat/frozen meal fridge. Are the most basic fridge models any more reliable than the ones with all the bells and whistles? Keep in mind if you are in a cold climate you might end up having a freezer freezer when it's super cold. tater_salad fucked around with this message at 02:24 on Sep 6, 2020 |
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Sep 6, 2020 02:20
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enraged_camel posted:Speaking of patios, mine has a concrete foundation but no roof. I'd like to have one installed, along with a few fancy features like a ceiling fan. Ask friends. Patio installers are a subspecialty. You likely get a dozen mailers a month for them in the junk mail you throw out. We got alumawood with steel beam insert and foam insulated ceiling, lights, and fan. The steel beam meant we needed 2 supports instead of 3. Our contractor was shady as hell and tried to scam us into paying extra for the steel after we signed so be very careful.
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Sep 6, 2020 02:52
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tater_salad posted:Keep in mind if you are in a cold climate you might end up having a freezer freezer when it's super cold. True, but I’m in an area where winter averages highs in the mid-60s and lows in the mid 40s. The impact of an extended freeze would be grocery stores running out of beer as everyone restocks at once.
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Sep 6, 2020 18:56
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Are there any apps or sites that can pull historical zestimate or Redfin estimate date over time? The prognostications are always so inflated and bizarre that I'm curious if anyone has thought to catalog it as it changes.
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Sep 7, 2020 05:28
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poo poo POST MALONE posted:Are there any apps or sites that can pull historical zestimate or Redfin estimate date over time? The historical estimates are on the house listings already although they only go back 5 years in Redfin's case. Zillow is pretty complete though.  
FCKGW fucked around with this message at 05:39 on Sep 7, 2020 |
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Sep 7, 2020 05:36
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I got up on a ladder to tape up the bathroom ceiling before I do some painting. First thing I see when I'm at ceiling level? The lovely network of cracks in the textured ceiling. "Please don't feel a bubble behind it. Please don't feel a bubble behind... gently caress!" Now I get to rip that poo poo out, see how big the leak damage is, find out if it's residual from a previous roof leak that was already repaired or if it was just never taken care of, and wonder for god only knows how long if it's fixed given this is California and our next rain probably isn't due until December or so. Do Never Buy(tm). At least the roof repair isn't my expense if there's a problem.
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Sep 8, 2020 08:03
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Residency Evil posted:Son of a bitch, fridge broke a few months after fixing it. gently caress.
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Sep 9, 2020 00:15
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Dik Hz posted:Do consider getting a decent surge protector for the fridge. Install, or have an electrician install, a whole-house surge protector at your electrical panel. Now you have some protection for all your expensive appliances that apparently now need to have full computers built into them to toast some bread.
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Sep 9, 2020 00:35
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B-Nasty posted:Install, or have an electrician install, a whole-house surge protector at your electrical panel. Now you have some protection for all your expensive appliances that apparently now need to have full computers built into them to toast some bread. I hadn't heard of these before. Googling says you'd need to replace it every 2 years. Is that right? Feels excessive. I'm sure the math works though vs. Replacing 2k appliances every 5 years or whatever.
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Sep 9, 2020 13:36
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Jenkl posted:I hadn't heard of these before. Googling says you'd need to replace it every 2 years. Is that right? Feels excessive. I'm sure the math works though vs. Replacing 2k appliances every 5 years or whatever. That's the recommendation for replacing your basic plug-in surge strips. I don't think there is an expectation of ever needing to replace the whole house surge on your panel unless it is tripped due to the surge.
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Sep 9, 2020 14:00
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Jenkl posted:I hadn't heard of these before. Googling says you'd need to replace it every 2 years. Is that right? Feels excessive. I'm sure the math works though vs. Replacing 2k appliances every 5 years or whatever. Basically the internal components wear out as they absorb surges. This is the same for all the power strip surge protectors you have scattered around your house. Low level power surges happen all the time, and will slowly eat away at any surge protector's ability to absorb more surges. Good ones should have an indicator on them to say when they need replacement. 2 years seems pretty frequent, but it's certainly possible if you have sketchy power and you're getting a lot of surges. A decent one will cost $200 or so. That means $2k over 20 years, if you're replacing it every 2 years. If you have an electrician do it, it'll be like $500 for the initial install + maybe $350 every 2 years. So that'd be maybe $2k over 10 years. But I'm pretty sure you won't be replacing it every 2 years. Whole home units are designed to take quite a hit. edit: I'm eyeballing a Siemens FS140 eventually. I've read that the FS series are the go-to for residential whole-home. Haven't got around to it yet, though... so many things on our to-do list. DaveSauce fucked around with this message at 14:14 on Sep 9, 2020 |
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Sep 9, 2020 14:05
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DaveSauce posted:I'm eyeballing a Siemens FS140 eventually. I've read that the FS series are the go-to for residential whole-home. Haven't got around to it yet, though... so many things on our to-do list. I like the SquareD HEPD80. Quality brand, and less than $100. Eaton also makes one for around $100 also. That Siemens model seems to be one of the priciest options.
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Sep 9, 2020 15:12
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B-Nasty posted:I like the SquareD HEPD80. Quality brand, and less than $100. Eaton also makes one for around $100 also. That Siemens model seems to be one of the priciest options. Honestly I can't remember why I settled on the Siemens. The research I did was like 2-3 years ago and I just added it to my to-do list and forgot about it. I feel like there was a reason, but it very well could have been 5 minutes of googling and grabbing a part number without even looking at prices, or just assuming that they were all priced competitively. edit: also considering looking at the Phoenix Contact models since we use them at work. It'd be more expensive to hook up, but each phase is a plug-in module, so replacing them when they go is dead simple. Would need an enclosure and probably an auxiliary pilot light for status indication, though... DaveSauce fucked around with this message at 15:42 on Sep 9, 2020 |
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Sep 9, 2020 15:36
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Thanks everyone. I'll be slappin' that on my to-do list as well. Another question: Is it possible to replace foam sheathing without removing siding? I have full interior access. I've come to realize there's a portion of my home that uses it instead of plywood. But it's damaged in many places, and is EPS not XPS and in a basement walkout so I think the additional protection against moisture that XPS provides would be better. Bonus question: if you were installing EPS as sheathing, would taping only on the outside be ok? It's definitely not taped on the inside like I've seen done against concrete, and the engineer's drawings clearly indicate to do so. Just don't have outside visibility.
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Sep 9, 2020 16:34
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Jenkl posted:Is it possible to replace foam sheathing without removing siding? I have full interior access. No, because it goes between your studs and siding. You could maybe pick it all out from the inside, but I can't see how you'd manage to get plywood in there instead.
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Sep 10, 2020 19:25
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So I plumped up the $ and bought a new fridge rather than waiting for the current one to expire and then panic buy in a market where availability seems iffy right now. I made sure the dimensions were pretty much the same as the existing one - about 36" in one direction and 34" in the other. So it should fit nicely. And I made sure the path to the door is about right... and here's where things get complicated. I'm not entirely sure how they got the original unit in the house in the first place now. It might juuuuuuust about fit, but certainly not in packaging. The door isn't new or anything and I don't think my windows open to that degree, but maybe that's something I need to consider and prep the lounge to go that way? Or will the delivery people just laugh in my face and say absolutely no way we're going through windows. Maybe overthinking things and it'll actually all be fine, but I don't want to end up in a situation where I have an expensive appliance sitting in my front yard come Wednesday.
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Sep 11, 2020 17:08
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devicenull posted:No, because it goes between your studs and siding. You could maybe pick it all out from the inside, but I can't see how you'd manage to get plywood in there instead. Thanks this is what I've come to accept.
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Sep 11, 2020 17:19
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EL BROMANCE posted:So I plumped up the $ and bought a new fridge rather than waiting for the current one to expire and then panic buy in a market where availability seems iffy right now. They can take the fridge door off. How big is the fridge without the door? That's the actual size that needs to fit into your house.
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Sep 11, 2020 17:39
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EL BROMANCE posted:So I plumped up the $ and bought a new fridge rather than waiting for the current one to expire and then panic buy in a market where availability seems iffy right now. You shouldn't ever tilt s fridge on its side. The refrigerant and oil will get mixed up. So I would not try to get one through a window.
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Sep 11, 2020 17:39
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Anonymous Zebra posted:They can take the fridge door off. How big is the fridge without the door? That's the actual size that needs to fit into your house. Yeah just spoke to my MIL and that's pretty much what she said, so feeling a bit more relieved. Stressful day where everything seem to be working against me and anxiety kicked in when I pulled out the measuring tape. I'm pretty sure it'll be fine. SpartanIvy posted:You shouldn't ever tilt s fridge on its side. The refrigerant and oil will get mixed up. So I would not try to get one through a window. Ha, well I've learnt something at least! I'm sure the guys installing would've told me hell no, but it's good to know for the future in case the situation ever comes back up!
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Sep 11, 2020 17:47
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You can tilt a fridge, you just have to make sure it stays off for at least 24 hours to allow everything to settle and separate before turning it back on
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Sep 11, 2020 17:51
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Anonymous Zebra posted:They can take the fridge door off. How big is the fridge without the door? That's the actual size that needs to fit into your house.
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Sep 11, 2020 20:01
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Hell, to get my water heater into the closet for it, I had to cut away part of the door frame.
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Sep 11, 2020 20:12
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How common is it for contractors to have you buy materials? Both bathroom and floor guy expected me to go to Floor & Decor/Home Depot and bring them materials to install? Got a list of required stuff (things like vanity, fixtures, tile, vinyl flooring). We are on a short turn around as we just bought a place that needs some help before moving in. Everything is a bit rushed and choices have to be in stock. Not sure if that is it or this is normal.
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Sep 12, 2020 03:40
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Either they don't want to be responsible for buying the wrong tile.... Or more likely, cash flow problems and no credit at those stores. It's a bad sign for me.
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Sep 12, 2020 03:45
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The bathroom is completely done and they did a good job. I guess I was just expecting a little more hand holding doing the design. "Tile" is a pretty broad category to be asked to figure out.
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Sep 12, 2020 03:55
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OK so the flipside is if you're hiring a good installer, but not really like a full business. You can be a great installer and have zero business acumen. Generally a contractor would want to supply their own materials because they can get a good deal, charge you more, and charge fee on top.
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Sep 12, 2020 04:14
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yeah, you usually have to negotiate buying and supplying your own materials.
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Sep 12, 2020 04:55
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