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I'm having a hard time finding a Sharkbite valve that will go directly onto the 1/4 inch copper tubing supply line coming out of the floor behind my fridge. I'm beginning to think there's no such thing, and I would first need an adapter for the copper tubing to connect to whatever type of straight stop valve I choose to have there. At that point, I should just get this push-on adapter to put on the 1/4 inch copper tubing, then get a threaded valve with a 1/4 inch threaded output I can have the fridge line hooked up to at installation, right? Next, for the exterior faucet, I think I would want to have a valve inside the crawl to shutoff water to a frost-free sillcock. I drew it up in paint; my drawing could be flipped to go up from the supply line instead, which I think would result in the faucet coming out right at the bottom of the lowest layer of siding on the outside, and I might not need to go through masonry for that.  Should I just use very short runs of PEX in between the functional components, instead of trying to assemble all of them directly to each other? My instinct is to reduce the number of interfaces but maybe that's too conservative, and it would be much easier and just as good to just get some PEX to connect a few Sharkbite components. I live in Indiana, so I wasn't sure if there was any downside to using PEX in a location it might freeze. E: pretty sure I'm a huge dumbass and I just need a tee stop valve put into the supply line, then a line of PEX from there to the sillcock. For some reason I was thinking this type of valve switched between outputs instead of turning the T output on or off. Lawnie fucked around with this message at 02:48 on May 6, 2021 |
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May 6, 2021 02:18
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MJP posted:I've got a 3" square hole in my aluminum siding from a previous light fixture. Can I just put some foil tape over it, then apply a few layers of caulk to smooth it over, then sand and paint? Or is there some better method to it? All the videos/guides I've seen deal with vinyl siding, or how to take off an entire board of aluminum siding for replacement. Kinda overkill. You can use Bondo with a Bondo reinforcement patch like this: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B000HA9O5A/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_X95G6QYEAC8QEEYXGMDJ I've patched, sanded, and repainted a bunch of sections of my house which has smooth aluminum siding and it worked great and was really easy. I'm sure this works fine on siding with a pattern too but you might have to get a little artistic.
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May 6, 2021 02:21
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Ok, I picked up a no-contact voltage tester! Thanks everybody. Unfortunately I found one half of a duplex electrical outlet that does not work. I confirmed by plugging something in and with the tester, I also toggled all the switches in the room and it was not controlled by any properly functioning switch. My inspector missed it since it was blocked by a bed. The sellers threw in a home warranty (through HWA, a million one star reviews) so I will call them and see if there is a 30 day waiting period or if I could use the policy. There is a $100 service fee but I feel that's cheaper than an electrician visit. I'm guessing I should not DIY an outlet fix? Also I am still confused by the large number (I think 4+) toggle switches throughout the condo that have no known function. I might expect that in an old property but for a place built in 2004 (yes early 2000s crap boom building) it is surprising right? I used the voltage tester and confirmed they did not switch any outlets. What is the likely purpose then, some extra box or wiring in the ceiling where there is currently a flush mount light? Any possible simple way to figure it out? VVVV I thought of the combinatorics thing and tried what I think was every possible combo, no joy though lol. Will I not die if I replace the outlet myself and do it safely? It'll be babby's first time. Inner Light fucked around with this message at 05:02 on May 6, 2021 |
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May 6, 2021 04:12
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My money would still be on someone set up a three way switch for a lamp and it’s actually wired so that both switches have to be in a certain position. Perhaps your problem is in combinatorics. Good news is you can just put in a new outlet with an intact bridge for a dollar.
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May 6, 2021 04:49
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Inner Light posted:Ok, I picked up a no-contact voltage tester! Thanks everybody. I mean, if you can post in this subforum without getting banned, you can probably safely* muddle your way through an outlet replacement* That being said, something I read or heard somewhere assumed about $100 per outlet to have an electrician gently caress with. I need to check my privilege here in that my dad is a TurboDoItYourselfer and has made enough mistakes in his lifetime that he's been able to get right down to "here are the basics, don't gently caress these specific things up because it hurts, don't ask me how I know" and so we've worked our way through some truly  circuits together; ymmv and all that.*Note: "safely" in this context refers to not burning your house down; how many times you get shocked is another matter entirely
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May 6, 2021 05:39
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Oh nice, our mortgage serviced failed to pay our homeowners insurance policy late and so our policy was cancelled
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May 6, 2021 14:53
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Nice, we got a bunch of warnings and fixed our issue before it was canceled. It was something stupid like the insurance company had the wrong bank name so they didn't recognize the payment.
tater_salad fucked around with this message at 15:08 on May 6, 2021 |
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May 6, 2021 15:04
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Yeah I spoke to the serviced, they said the insurance company originally sent the info to the wrong company, and they had to request it, which meant they got it late and paid it right away. They gave me the check number in case I needed it. It was due 4/30, the serviced got the info on 5/1, paid it 5/3
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May 6, 2021 16:01
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TIL those coupons you get when you do your change of address with USPS? They are very good and if you don't use them, you can sell them on eBay. I discovered this because I thought about buying one on eBay to get 15% off at Crate and Barrel as I am searching for a media console and they have a couple that look nice.
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May 6, 2021 17:16
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Omne posted:Yeah I spoke to the serviced, they said the insurance company originally sent the info to the wrong company, and they had to request it, which meant they got it late and paid it right away. They gave me the check number in case I needed it. It was due 4/30, the serviced got the info on 5/1, paid it 5/3 Wasn't this a King of the Hill episode? My one bummer about buying a townhouse is I can't make "my lawn" jokes. But we do have a propane grill and fire pit, so I get the very important "propane and propane accessories" jokes. Sirotan posted:TIL those coupons you get when you do your change of address with USPS? They are very good and if you don't use them, you can sell them on eBay. I discovered this because I thought about buying one on eBay to get 15% off at Crate and Barrel as I am searching for a media console and they have a couple that look nice. Yeah, we bought a bunch of kitchen stuff at C&B when we moved in, upgraded all our small appliances. That 15% off came to something like $200 by the time we were done. BB&B is pretty generous with their 20% off stuff too, last I checked.
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May 6, 2021 17:23
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Anyone have good recommendations to shop for bed frames? I want something that’s solid and nice, and not garbage sawdust wood. Sadly I have restrictions that make this hard. California king Must require assembly due to low stairwell ceiling height. Needs a nice headboard Preferably has storage but not really a huge requirement Fabric bed frames make me want to puke. Ideally somewhere I can pick something for under $2k.
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May 6, 2021 20:00
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Pilfered Pallbearers posted:Anyone have good recommendations to shop for bed frames? I want something that’s solid and nice, and not garbage sawdust wood. Sadly I have restrictions that make this hard. I have the perfect thing for you, but it may be impossible to find. https://www.pacificmfg.com/platform-beds.html This brand has a bunch of nice hardwood bed frames in several styles for very reasonable prices. I got the Solstice Cal-King Size in the Cherry finish for about $1000 from a local furniture store. You can add storage for not too much more. The furniture store doesn't even list this brand on their website, so you'd probably have to call the manufacturer to find a local dealer (unless you're in SLO, then https://www.shoprandr.com/).
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May 6, 2021 20:29
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Aquila posted:I have the perfect thing for you, but it may be impossible to find. https://www.pacificmfg.com/platform-beds.html This brand has a bunch of nice hardwood bed frames in several styles for very reasonable prices. I got the Solstice Cal-King Size in the Cherry finish for about $1000 from a local furniture store. You can add storage for not too much more. The furniture store doesn't even list this brand on their website, so you'd probably have to call the manufacturer to find a local dealer (unless you're in SLO, then https://www.shoprandr.com/). Those are quite nice, but I think my wife wants something with a fancier headboard. Btw, the brand pacific manufacturer seems to be exclusive to California. It appears as though for all other markets this bed is branded “Night & Day”. I found lots of places all over selling under that brand. My local is NYC.
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May 6, 2021 20:53
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How's this? https://www.tuftandneedle.com/frame/?size=BF-003-OAK-Q I'm planning on getting it (and the mattress) in queen.
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May 6, 2021 20:56
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I bought my bedframe and headboard from a local company that sold "Daniel's Amish" furniture. It seems pretty good quality to me, and super solid. A grown adult can stand inside the drawers with no problem. My king/non storage frame and headboard was around 1500 I think. https://www.danielsamish.com/ I'm not a furniture expert or anything, but I was happy with the purchase.
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May 6, 2021 21:11
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Since we're on furnishing recommendations, my wife and I have almost everything we need in our new house, except linens. We want to splurge on really nice ones and were thinking of Parachute (not for the duvet cover, though, we didn't realize we have an EU King comforter, not US, so we have to get a different duvet cover). They're pricey so I figured I'd ask if anyone here has them: Are they comfortable enough to justify the price tag? Can they be bleached? (we want white ones) Are they durable? Linen vs. percale? Do they actually fit a 16" mattress? Every sheet place says they do, but I can still see a bit of mattress on even the deepest pocket ones, and our mattress is only 14".
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May 6, 2021 22:00
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Anyone have oven brand recommendations? We’re looking to switch from a gas oven to an electric oven.
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May 6, 2021 22:29
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skipdogg posted:I bought my bedframe and headboard from a local company that sold "Daniel's Amish" furniture. These are very nice, and probably what I’m looking for but I’m loving terrified of the price (we need two nightstands too). Did it come in one solid piece or was it assembled in your bedroom? I can’t get something that massive into that room.
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May 6, 2021 22:41
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The headboard and footboard are solid pieces, they connect to the rails and slats. It was all assembled in the bedroom. The matching nightstands were out of our budget at the moment. I think they were about 700 a piece. We picked up a couple at Costco instead, we can always buy them later if we want.
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May 6, 2021 23:03
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Democratic Pirate posted:Anyone have oven brand recommendations? We’re looking to switch from a gas oven to an electric oven. Just the oven or cooktop too? Couldn't wait to get a house so I could do a gas stovetop.
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May 7, 2021 00:12
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tater_salad posted:Just the oven or cooktop too? Couldn't wait to get a house so I could do a gas stovetop. Ideally a combo, I love the gas stovetop despite my wife’s apprehensions. I can manage the stovetop emissions with the range hood though.
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May 7, 2021 01:13
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"Good news, you can refinance to 2.875% with no points! Just the basic origination fee plus third party fees!" "What's the origination fee?" "Oh, we can talk about that later when--" "What's the origination fee?" "$6790." *hangs up*
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May 7, 2021 03:02
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Got some quotes for 1300ft of artificial grass and it was far less than I expected so soon the dogs will have somewhere to run as the current gravel yard is not good for them. Just have to put up sun shades on the windows where the grass is to keep the warranty. Never ends 
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May 7, 2021 03:36
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I really can't believe how cheap mortgages are right now. I just locked in a 2.75% 30-year fixed refinance with enough lender credits to more than cover all of the closing costs. poo poo, if I wanted to pay points, have a bigger payment every month, and have a small closing cost (which I seriously thought about), I could have gotten 1.75% on a 15-year fixed.
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May 7, 2021 04:37
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Same, just locked in 2.625 with slightly less credits towards closing costs, absolutely unreal.
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May 7, 2021 05:11
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Just as a note, if you are planning on keeping your house long-term, this is the one time where it may make sense to pay points to get that rate down as low as possible. We didn't normally recommend it in here since you would likely be refinancing anyway within the life of the loan, but chances are you're not going to see rates this low for a while. Paying down points so you can have a 2.25% 30 year mortgage is bomb. Similarly, getting a 15 year mortgage is not nearly as beneficial now as it was a while back. The spread in rates is just not worth the decrease in flexibility/ opportunity cost. I would almost never recommend a 15 year mortgage with the rate spread we currently have. I mention these both because there are a lot of older articles out there touting the benefits of a 15 year to save interest and decrying paying down points as a waste, but we are at a pretty weird spot where neither of those is really good advice right now. Make sure you understand the consequences of these choices as they relate to your specific situation.
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May 7, 2021 06:43
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moana posted:Just as a note, if you are planning on keeping your house long-term, this is the one time where it may make sense to pay points to get that rate down as low as possible. We didn't normally recommend it in here since you would likely be refinancing anyway within the life of the loan, but chances are you're not going to see rates this low for a while. Paying down points so you can have a 2.25% 30 year mortgage is bomb. By rate spread, you mean the reduction in rate you'd get for a 15-year instead of a 30 is smaller because rates are so small in general? We were thinking of a 15-year on our next purchase (we're probably moving soon) so that's helpful advice
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May 7, 2021 08:01
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QuarkJets posted:By rate spread, you mean the reduction in rate you'd get for a 15-year instead of a 30 is smaller because rates are so small in general? We were thinking of a 15-year on our next purchase (we're probably moving soon) so that's helpful advice A 15 year might be a good decision if you tend to spend all of your money anyway, and your house is a way to force savings. But if you're disciplined enough to save the remainder, having the flexibility of a 30 year is great. I mean, look at this past year. Someone with a 30 year has a low payment and a huge savings cushion compared to someone who is making a much larger 15 year payment. If they get laid off, get sick, whatever, they aren't going to lose their house (or be forced to refi into a 30 year at potentially worse rates, or take out a HELOC at worse rates, etc). Even if you can afford the 15 year payments, it just doesn't make much sense from a risk perspective.
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May 7, 2021 08:25
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Yeah that extra flexibility is great, that's what made us choose a 30-year on our current home when we could have afforded a 15. We've been paying principle like we have a 20-year
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May 7, 2021 08:28
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Kreeblah and GEMorris: can you share what bank or broker you went with? I'm thinking about shopping around for refi rates and 2.99 was the best I've found so far.
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May 7, 2021 11:28
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There’s no way to lock in a mortgage rate without actually buying a house, right? Ie, if we’re thinking of buying in the next 6-9 months or so, but aren’t sure what yet?
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May 7, 2021 15:11
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Residency Evil posted:There’s no way to lock in a mortgage rate without actually buying a house, right? Ie, if we’re thinking of buying in the next 6-9 months or so, but aren’t sure what yet? A specific house. And even if you were it's unlikely anyone would lock a rate for that long without charging you FAR more than it would be worth to do.
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May 7, 2021 15:18
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Residency Evil posted:There’s no way to lock in a mortgage rate without actually buying a house, right? Ie, if we’re thinking of buying in the next 6-9 months or so, but aren’t sure what yet? A 90 day rate lock is the longest I'm familiar with, and it'll cost you 0.5% to possibly 1% of the loan amount to do it depending on a bunch of factors. To be honest I'm not sure what the options even are at the $ level of home you'll be shopping, this is for normal loans. I wouldn't stress about it too much, I don't see much changing rate wise for the next year or so. Besides, we wouldn't want to rob you of all the fun you'll have refinancing the new place a couple times.
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May 7, 2021 15:28
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skipdogg posted:I wouldn't stress about it too much, I don't see much changing rate wise for the next year or so. Nice edit, but that’s encouraging. And Edit: It’s crazy to me how expensive real estate in west Kansas is.
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May 7, 2021 15:31
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I'm a homeowner now yeahhhhhhhhh
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May 7, 2021 16:13
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please knock Mom! posted:I'm a homeowner now yeahhhhhhhhh Congrats and Condolenses
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May 7, 2021 16:39
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BigPaddy posted:Congrats and Condolenses Goondolonces.
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May 7, 2021 16:41
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Sirotan posted:Kreeblah and GEMorris: can you share what bank or broker you went with? I'm thinking about shopping around for refi rates and 2.99 was the best I've found so far. Actually, it's kinda funny, but I just got an offer this morning from a different lender that I'd been talking to with pretty much the same offer, but at 2.625%. I'll have to take another hard pull to lock it in, but that's fine. I've actually never stopped a refinance right after a rate lock before, but I'm like 99% sure I can do it penalty-free this early on (hours after locking with the first lender), especially since everybody's been willing to waive appraisals. If you want to do what I did, the big thing is to get quotes (don't let them run your credit, but have them send you formal quotes based on your info that they'll confirm later with a credit check) from a shitload of lenders (let them all know that you're talking to multiple lenders), find the best one, and use that to negotiate with all the rest. Then go back to the first one if you want to see if they'll budge. Rates can change multiple times during the day, though, and who's cheapest now might not be the cheapest five minutes from now, which is why this is kinda risky. In the time you take to get quotes and negotiate with a lender, rates can go up. They stop changing when the markets close at 17:00 Eastern, though, so one way to reduce your risk of things changing out from under you is to start looking then (put in a bunch of requests for contacts through an aggregator like bankrate.com or through a site that gets kickbacks for recommending financial products like creditkarma.com). You'll still have to act fast to get a rate locked before people go home for the day, but at least you don't have to worry about losing your negotiating position.
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May 7, 2021 16:50
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skipdogg posted:Wow, that's pretty hard, we have similar hardness levels around San Antonio, and we pull our water straight out of a limestone aquifer Was quoted $1000 for a 32000 grain high efficiency softener, clack valve, installed. We use around 3000 gal/mo according to the water utility and have between 25-33 grain water, depending on which well is servicing us. That capacity seems ok to me, based on a web calculator I found it would mean regenerating every 7-10 days, which feels about right. Price wise, looking at a couple of other places, that cost seems lower than the other independents, higher than the big box, and it's below what your expected range was (although with fewer people), so I think I'm going to go with it. Thanks for the help!
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May 7, 2021 16:51
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skipdogg posted:A 90 day rate lock is the longest I'm familiar with, and it'll cost you 0.5% to possibly 1% of the loan amount to do it depending on a bunch of factors. To be honest I'm not sure what the options even are at the $ level of home you'll be shopping, this is for normal loans. I had to do an extended lock rate because we had an offer accepted back in March, but the sellers couldn't close until July (I realize this seems insane but their particular situation makes sense). I forget the exact days until closing, but it was somewhere between 110 and 120. The week I started setting up my mortgage was a week that rates went up, so I did an extended rate lock. It ended up being ~1600 bucks for a 261k loan, which actually seemed like a drop in the ocean compared to our down payment and closing costs. I knew it was a gamble at the time, but the gamble seemed worth it since rates seemed to be creeping up. Now that I'm actually 60 days out and it hasn't crept up, it seemed like I tossed that money out and lost the gamble. Though my mortgage dude called me other day to say they were knocking .25% off my interest rate randomly, so hey, I'll take it. In the end the peace of mind was worth the 1600, regardless. m0therfux0r fucked around with this message at 17:00 on May 7, 2021 |
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May 7, 2021 16:58
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