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Inner Light posted:They don't seem to give a crap, the residents talk about it on our forum, all units have some issues with the original windows fogging. It's not so dramatic that it's visible from outside the building, it's just annoying. It's more of the point that you might not own the windows. Many condos you own up to the exterior walls, but not the walls (windows) themselves. So therefore you can't change them without permission. And it sounds like the condo doesn't want to do anything ($$ probably) so you probably have to learn to live with it.
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Jun 29, 2021 00:04
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unknown posted:It's more of the point that you might not own the windows. Many condos you own up to the exterior walls, but not the walls (windows) themselves. Oh thanks, that's a good point that I hadn't considered since other residents took the plunge with a replacement company. But it's a small possibility worth checking out, to see if other residents were in error and the association should cover. I will dive into the long legal docs that came from the HOA and send the management company an email, it's probably the responsibility of the unit owner here but can't hurt to check. Also, if it is the unit owner's bill I will call the home warranty company and see if it's covered. Bet it's not but we'll see.
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Jun 29, 2021 00:18
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I have some pella french patio doors that the lock mechanism seems to be having problems on. It is very difficult to get it locked again after unlocking. Anyone dealt with something like this? I think it is probably alignment related since it seems to work fine if I do it with the door open. First instinct was to call a locksmith, but of course, the former owners have bought into some kind of closed ecosystem that locksmiths can't deal with. Yay. Any suggestions for fixing or any suggestions for non closed ecosystem replacements, would be welcome.
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Jun 29, 2021 04:01
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King Burgundy posted:I have some pella french patio doors that the lock mechanism seems to be having problems on. It is very difficult to get it locked again after unlocking. Anyone dealt with something like this? I think it is probably alignment related since it seems to work fine if I do it with the door open. It surely is. How and where are they installed (at a corner, mid span, etc)? Are there any other issues with your home that may be a part of this (sloping/soft floors), how long have they been installed, how old is the home, how about some pictures? This may come down to some super minor and expected settling where we teach you how to shim a door hinge or move a striker. But it could be something else.
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Jun 29, 2021 04:10
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Any chance the frame is warping around the doors? Saw that on one home earlier this year where the doors basically got full sun all day, every day and somebody didn't caulk/seal things properly for whenever rain came through (but the owner installed it themselves, in the spirit of this thread I guess?). Edit: the frame had a slight swelling above one door in the example I'm talking about, that pushed the door down and out of alignment. The owner was all "yeah I have to pick up on the door to close it".
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Jun 29, 2021 04:13
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Closing on our first house next month  so I'll definitely be back here frequently. Originally from 1923 but renovated this year after the last residential owner, and seemingly in pretty decent shape after all the inspections we've thrown at it so far.The house has a small 10x10 basement that was sort of finished as part of those renovations, but there's still a gap right to the crawlspace under the stairs, and the ceiling is also open. Photos are not the best, especially the attempted sphere, but should give a general idea:      What type of contractor should we talk to about closing up the gap and the ceiling (probably with drywall)? In LA so hopefully not much water will get in, any thoughts on that?
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Jun 29, 2021 04:31
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The Vikings posted:What type of contractor should we talk to about closing up the gap and the ceiling (probably with drywall)? In LA so hopefully not much water will get in, any thoughts on that? Let's start with why you want to do this. I mean, there can be valid reasons, but into a 10x10 basement????? Who cares? What do you think this gets you?
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Jun 29, 2021 04:37
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Maybe they have local intrusive wildlife? Still, drywall wouldn't stop that if the entry to the crawlspace didn't.
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Jun 29, 2021 04:47
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Motronic posted:It surely is. How and where are they installed (at a corner, mid span, etc)? Are there any other issues with your home that may be a part of this (sloping/soft floors), how long have they been installed, how old is the home, how about some pictures? They are in the center of the wall in the room they are in. The tile guy did complain about how not level the floors were when we redid the floors a couple years ago, but outside that I didn't think so. Now that you mention it though, my 2nd story deck that is directly outside/over those doors is buckling a bit and I was treating that like a different problem to solve(the one guy I've had out to look at it so far said they made some mistakes building it which led to the problem on that). I can't say for sure, but based on some records the previous owner left behind he probably installed these doors in 2008. House was built in 1980. I'll take some pictures tomorrow during the day. biracial bear for uncut posted:Any chance the frame is warping around the doors? Saw that on one home earlier this year where the doors basically got full sun all day, every day and somebody didn't caulk/seal things properly for whenever rain came through (but the owner installed it themselves, in the spirit of this thread I guess?). Hmmm, I'm not going to rule it out since I'm not exactly a handy guy, but my previous experience with warped frames is them making the doors stick/hard to open/close. Everything about opening/closing seems totally fine still. But I'll look more explicitly for that while I'm taking pictures tomorrow and see if anything sticks out.
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Jun 29, 2021 06:14
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Inner Light posted:They don't seem to give a crap, the residents talk about it on our forum, all units have some issues with the original windows fogging. It's not so dramatic that it's visible from outside the building, it's just annoying. Ah, okay. In my parents' building they literally can't buy new windows, they can only get the association to replace them.
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Jun 29, 2021 06:30
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AC in the new house is only somewhat effective at covering the top floor. I'm wondering what the chances are this can be fixed versus the financially painful options of adding a second unit or doing minisplits upstairs. I think the major problem is that it's one unit covering a 4600 square foot house. However, we do get a ton of shade, and the ground floor and the basement get absolutely icy without even having to run the AC that much. There's just gently caress-all airflow up to the top. And since the ground floor gets super cold, the thermostat will shut off while the upstairs is still unpleasant. Keeping the fan running to move the air around only helps a little and also the noise of the air going through the return vents is pretty loud so that has it's own issues. Upstairs is hitting high 70s which my wife doesn't mind but I can't handle. Also makes it tough for the baby since she goes to sleep in just PJs when it's warm and then wakes up in the early morning when the temps finally drop and she needs a sleepsack. If I put my hand to the vents I can barely feel anything, and several of the rooms upstairs only have one vent anyway (Master bedroom has 3, still hot). I've fiddle with baffles without any improvement, though these vents are confusing as hell so I might not be doing it right. I am wary of just closing off everything on the lower floors since I know messing with house-wide airflow creates issues as well. At this point I think I call an AC guy but I am a little concerned they will head straight to the expensive options. Are there cheaper options I should make sure he's investigating?
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Jun 29, 2021 15:17
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Kase Im Licht posted:AC in the new house is only somewhat effective at covering the top floor. I'm wondering what the chances are this can be fixed versus the financially painful options of adding a second unit or doing minisplits upstairs. Go to the extreme just to see if it makes a difference. Close every vent on the lower levels and see if the airflow upstairs is improved. Upstairs always will experience more warming due to thermodynamics. More of it is exposed to the sun and radiation of heat from other things. You need more airflow up there.
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Jun 29, 2021 15:44
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Closed on my house last friday, adventures in homeownership so far have been: Don't use your cheap "included with car toolkit" hammer to try to remove... anything!  The POs really liked putting nails and screws into.. everything. This is only 1/2 of what I removed just from the basement. A pretty 50/50 distribution of square and philips head screws, with literally no rhyme or reason to their usage. Second floor has all of the room.. floor separator/trim bits with alternating philips/square bits  
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Jun 29, 2021 15:55
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you want someone coming in and stealing your baseboards? i don't think so!
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Jun 29, 2021 16:37
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Kase Im Licht posted:I think the major problem is that it's one unit covering a 4600 square foot house. However, we do get a ton of shade, and the ground floor and the basement get absolutely icy without even having to run the AC that much. There's just gently caress-all airflow up to the top. And since the ground floor gets super cold, the thermostat will shut off while the upstairs is still unpleasant. Keeping the fan running to move the air around only helps a little and also the noise of the air going through the return vents is pretty loud so that has it's own issues. Upstairs is hitting high 70s which my wife doesn't mind but I can't handle. Also makes it tough for the baby since she goes to sleep in just PJs when it's warm and then wakes up in the early morning when the temps finally drop and she needs a sleepsack. Size of the condenser is probably okay if you're getting cool air out your vents. It's the fan and venting that's the problem. You probably don't have a good (any) air return on the top floor (preferably near the ceiling). HVAC has two parts: Blow in the good hot/cold air, and take out the unwanted cold/hot air (which gets heated/cooled). Many older houses have central air retrofitted in and don't do the return part well/at all - like it's at the main floor only, when it would be best at the top floor so it gets rid of the super warm air. If you do have good return vents upstairs, for a test block off the main floor return with some cardboard or whatever so it's forced to take from upstairs. Don't do it long term, as it can stress the fan and shorten it's life. Also the roof/wall insulation is probably insufficient, but that's a different headache, especially if you don't have an attic and have nice cathedral ceilings (attics are good insulators). But yeah, if you call in an hvac guy, makes sure he talks about the venting and not just the outdoor condenser getting up sized.
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Jun 29, 2021 17:01
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gently caress yeah as I expected, builders cut our fiber line today while digging holes for footings. Like the line is running right through the middle of the 24x24 hole they dug... couldn't have planned it better. We noticed a few weeks ago that when we called 811, only 2 telecom lines were marked but we had 3 telecom services coming in: cable, phone, fiber. Guess which one we actually use, and guess which is most likely to be unmarked? When we notified 811 that it was unmarked, we get a call back 10 minutes later from the provider/locator saying it's "unlocateable" per their notes and that they'd fix it if it got cut. So naturally, the only telecom line that we actually use was unmarked, and therefore it got cut.  so yeehaw, get to work via mobile tether until tomorrow. And that's if they actually fix it... I don't trust that they're sending the right tech, just any tech available. The junction box is like 30' away, so all we need is a temporary patch, but who knows what they're going to do. Now I have to figure out when they're going to bury it and how to coordinate that with the builders...
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Jun 29, 2021 17:11
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For those of you who outsource your work even though you're capable of doing it yourself, what's the thought process that is involved before saying "I'm gonna hire this one out"? I have a two story home, and having seen as many brain injury patients as I have, I tend to outsource anything that involves going up on the roof.
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Jun 29, 2021 17:56
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DaveSauce posted:We noticed a few weeks ago that when we called 811, only 2 telecom lines were marked but we had 3 telecom services coming in: cable, phone, fiber. Guess which one we actually use, and guess which is most likely to be unmarked? When we notified 811 that it was unmarked, we get a call back 10 minutes later from the provider/locator saying it's "unlocateable" per their notes and that they'd fix it if it got cut. Pretty common for the telco/cable folks to just let you cut it and then they'll replace it. Rolling a truck every time someone calls 811 is expensive; they'd rather just take the chance you'll miss. When they 'bury' the line, it pretty much just consists of tossing a half-inch of dirt over it, and it's not like cutting it is going to kill you/blow something up. They don't care about your inconvenience, though.
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Jun 29, 2021 17:56
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B-Nasty posted:Pretty common for the telco/cable folks to just let you cut it and then they'll replace it. Rolling a truck every time someone calls 811 is expensive; they'd rather just take the chance you'll miss. Yup. I've got one coming out of the drainage swale by the road heading towards the house that was so barely covered it's eroded away. It's now bad enough that I'm worried about snagging it with the mower so I guess I need to dig this back in. 
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Jun 29, 2021 18:12
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Bioshuffle posted:For those of you who outsource your work even though you're capable of doing it yourself, what's the thought process that is involved before saying "I'm gonna hire this one out"? I usually ask myself if my time is worth the amount of money they are asking. I'm not going to pay $500+ for something I can knock out in a weekend. I just redid my roof myself because quotes were coming in around $11,000, and I could do it for around $4,500. I used to do metal roofing, and it felt worth $6,500 for a week and a half's worth of work that was easily in my comfort zone. The other consideration is specialty equipment/products, We're probably going to pay someone to do siding because we're not sure we want vinyl and I'd rather have someone else deal with that. I did pay $50,000 for windows though, but that's for 24 windows, most over 4' dimensions. Absolutely did not feel like loving around with that. They did a good job, they just clearly should have sent 2-3 crews out to knock out the job quicker. It was just 2 guys trying to get this massive job done for over 2 weeks.
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Jun 29, 2021 18:21
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That's wild, our line was like 6-8" deep: I mean, obviously that's not very deep in the scheme of things, but more than "gently caress it I'm not paid enough for this" deep. I've seen a ditch witch hauled by AT&T trucks on more than one occasion, so at least around here they put some effort in to it... maybe the city requires it, I dunno.
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Jun 29, 2021 18:30
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Bioshuffle posted:For those of you who outsource your work even though you're capable of doing it yourself, what's the thought process that is involved before saying "I'm gonna hire this one out"? For me it's basically "how much time will it take for me to do this vs. hiring someone to do it while I'm not burning vacation time/whatever to get it done"? Though to be fair that's been in discussions where my dad had it in his head that projects around his/mom's home could be done "just as well" by us vs. hiring professionals (which has become, how fast can BBFU do it now that dad has a heart condition and literally can't do that kind of work any more). And yeah, gently caress doing anything that requires a ladder to access it. I built a covered front porch in 2019 for my parents and the absolute lunacy involved in getting the roof to extend over a porch and be supported properly when it's only one adult and a whole bunch of clamps and ropes/pulleys and pieces of lumber that support things until they are properly anchored and then removed is just nuts (to say nothing of the wasted lumber in said supports when you realize a more efficient way of doing it after you've finished). It's possible, but not worth the stress unless you're the kind of weirdo that enjoys doing that kind of thing.
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Jun 29, 2021 18:30
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DaveSauce posted:That's wild, our line was like 6-8" deep: The fios install at my last house consisted of them putting in 1" soft conduit with an edging shovel. So I suppose that was better since it was at least in conduit......
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Jun 29, 2021 18:37
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DaveSauce posted:That's wild, our line was like 6-8" deep: Haha that's a good photo. Gotta love that 'thwack' clean cut.
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Jun 29, 2021 18:37
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Bioshuffle posted:For those of you who outsource your work even though you're capable of doing it yourself, what's the thought process that is involved before saying "I'm gonna hire this one out"? For me, it's usually 1 of 3 things that leads me to hiring something out 1) Time vs money. How much time is it going to take me to do the job, versus how much it's going to cost to have someone else do it. I place a high value on my freetime. I pay someone to mow my yard. It's 50 bucks every 2 weeks, and that was an easy decision to make. I will gladly pay 50 bucks to the landscaper so I don't have to spend 90 minutes of my weekend sweating my rear end off doing my own lawn. I can spend that time with my wife and/or kids, or doing something else. I don't change my own oil in my cars anymore, but I will do my own brakes. I save maybe 12 bucks changing my own oil, but it's a big hassle. I can save over 400 bucks by doing my own brake pads and rotors, so thats worth it. I've got spare caps and contactors for my HVAC units on the shelf, because F paying 400 bucks for a tech to come out and replace a 15 dollar part that has 3 wires connected to it. 2) Specialized tools are needed. If a job needs some sort of specialized tool or equipment that it doesn't make sense for me to buy, or is expensive to rent, I'll just pay a professional to do it. 3) The task is really labor intensive. I'll be honest, I'm a 40 year old out of shape computer toucher. I'm not spreading compost in my yard, digging anything outside, or moving myself as long as I can afford to pay someone else to do it. I also avoid roofs though. I want to see my kids grow up. YouTube honestly is the most amazing thing for a homeowner. I'm the kind of guy that can do almost anything given proper instructions, and YT has saved me thousands of dollars over the last 10 years of being a homeowner. I had some rotted window trim at my last house, and I just went to YT, and hot drat there was several videos with full instructions on how to replace rotted window trim.
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Jun 29, 2021 18:38
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i hire things out i _could_ do if doing it would take twice as long, look half as good, and not come with a warranty or at least a face i can punch if poo poo falls apart
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Jun 29, 2021 18:51
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Bioshuffle posted:For those of you who outsource your work even though you're capable of doing it yourself, what's the thought process that is involved before saying "I'm gonna hire this one out"? In addition to what everyone else has said, these days or maybe moreso last year, whether or not I can even get someone out to do my task is part of the calculus. I actually did get up on my roof last fall to recaulk some of the flashing around my chimney and repoint a few sections of it. I called several masons and either got no return calls, or crazy high estimates since it was such a small job. In the end I had a spotter, bought a harness and ropes, and did it myself. In general though I am handy and cheap and do a lot of DIY to save cash. Jobs involving a lot of manual labor or things I am not comfortable enough with (plumbing, electrical) are what I look to hire out.
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Jun 29, 2021 19:17
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Two months later and I finally got a paper'goodbye letter' from my original servicing mortgage company. I got an email from them after demanding of over 2 weeks , but it took 4 to get an actual letter (that doesn't have an effective transfer date or new loan number). Still also only have an email from the new company, but with a different effective transfer date. Between both emails I presume I'm safe to start paying the new company 1 jul since they both at least list June effective dates. Also got our first unsolicited personal(?) Letter from a family with a picture, story, why they want to buy, and request to buy our house or let them know if anyone is selling along with their Yahoo email. Not sure how they got my name, though.
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Jun 29, 2021 19:26
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Size, materials and risk is basically my only criteria. Size being the sheer volume of work, I won't do my own roof. Materials, I can't easily get windows for myself to install, so I'll hire that out. Risk, I'll add a light or outlet, or move them, I'm safe and do good electrical work, but I won't gently caress with the panel since there's no separate disconnect.
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Jun 29, 2021 19:27
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If you make a Homeowner's claim and they say they'll pay $X to repair/replace some damage to your home.. are there any rules about having to replace with like for like? Can you take the opportunity to upgrade at the same time? Does this vary by policy?
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Jun 29, 2021 19:43
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StormDrain posted:
You don't have a separate service breaker wherever the meter is (between the meter and the main breaker box(es) in the house)?
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Jun 29, 2021 19:43
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I can’t contribute much more to the “DIY vs Sub” convo aside from what everyone else stated. Biggest thing now that I’m an adult is “how much is my time worth?” The problem is I’m still trying to figure that out myself. Anyway, taping. Is it an industry trend with contractors that they usually don’t tape other peoples’ work, especially DIY homeowners? We have three bedrooms down to the studs, ceiling included, plus a small hallway and a wall running up a staircase. All in all probably about 3500 total sqft to be covered. We originally planned to hang drywall ourselves and then have a someone come in to tape but the first two guys we brought in would only quote us for hanging+taping. The first guy came back with $6k for everything which feels high, so I want to get an idea if anyone else has ever had an estimate for stuff like this. I do get that they don’t want to run the risk of taping someones lovely drywall job so maybe we should wait to drywall ourselves and then have a taper come in for an estimate?
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Jun 29, 2021 19:59
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biracial bear for uncut posted:You don't have a separate service breaker wherever the meter is (between the meter and the main breaker box(es) in the house)? Nope! Wasn't a requirement in Colorado when my house was built in 1978. Also the main panel is outside which is lovely when a circuit trips on February. I'll be replacing it eventually, I just need a catalyst to push me into it. Like a plug in car or solar panels.
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Jun 29, 2021 20:05
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It's probably not worth their time to just tape. They need a bigger job for it to make sense for them to take it.
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Jun 29, 2021 20:07
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Finally got around to re-piping my pool pad so that I could re-orient the chlorine generator to where the flow switch wouldn't be activated by gravity. It was all going swimmingly  until I forgot to leave the ring on the union going into the filter when I glued it, and it couldn't slip over the 45. The union set was $30 at amazon, how much could it be at the local pool store? $110    I hate plumbing.
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Jun 29, 2021 22:10
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Ok, so in taking pictures I discovered the problem was super dumb and it is now solved. The spot where the bottom shoot bolt is supposed to go had a bunch of debris in it. Removed that. Problem solved. Here are bonus pictures of the buckling deck I mentioned though.   
King Burgundy fucked around with this message at 22:34 on Jun 29, 2021 |
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Jun 29, 2021 22:14
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Comrade Gritty posted:If you make a Homeowner's claim and they say they'll pay $X to repair/replace some damage to your home.. are there any rules about having to replace with like for like? Can you take the opportunity to upgrade at the same time? Does this vary by policy? Your insurer should be able to clarify these questions quickly. Upgrades are probably common, so I'd be surprised if your insurer didn't have a valuation strategy to accommodate this. My only HO claim occurred this February after an ice storm took out my porch roof. The insurer valued replacement and lost property (my bike and other items were trashed as well as the structure) less depreciation and deductible, and offered that amount as a no-strings cash settlement. If I rebuilt the porch/roof, or if I upgraded to something else (add a bedroom or sunroom, etc), I could recover the depreciation. The porch roof was rotted out and I was about a month away from removing it altogether anyway, so I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. Had I intended to rebuild, it would have been far more of a pain in the rear end but I don't believe I'd be out much more than my deductible.
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Jun 29, 2021 22:37
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Bioshuffle posted:For those of you who outsource your work even though you're capable of doing it yourself, what's the thought process that is involved before saying "I'm gonna hire this one out"? My story that relates to this is that in my first home I did literally everything myself, including a pretty moderate level remodel (like, I haven't done a full kitchen but have done a full bathroom and everything up to it) and I felt fairly comfortable doing most of this stuff because my dad was very handy and I watched him do everything (or nearly) in all the houses we lived in growing up. The first thing I outsourced in that house (a lovely 70s split foyer in Alaska) happened to be something that a plumber fixed in like an hour and probably would have taken me 2 days. But I'm not even sure I recognized that when I outsourced it, I was just loving sick and tired of fixing plumbing leaks. It was the vertical main drain from the upstairs, had split from over 30 years of rubbing against a copper hot water heating pipe that was touching it. But it split all the way to the Y joint above it, I couldn't just replace the vertical part it was split all the way to the joint. Which to me meant I had to cut out the joint and replace it, and since the geometry wouldn't be right anymore it'd mean I'd have to cut out upstream pipe and then re-extend it, then put in a new y joint, then replace the vertical pipe and I was just like gently caress this I'm tired of it and called a plumber and that's when I learned that they have a magical device that reams out joints. He didn't replace the Y, or anything upstream, he just reamed out the bottom of it and then replaced the cracked vertical pipe and that was it. I still do anything stupid simple, ceiling fans, drop in sinks, garbage disposals, lawn irrigation stuff, etc. But I'm not sure i'll ever do a whole bathroom remodel myself again. My needle has shifted as I've gotten older and lazier and wealthier.
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Jun 29, 2021 23:06
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Comrade Gritty posted:If you make a Homeowner's claim and they say they'll pay $X to repair/replace some damage to your home.. are there any rules about having to replace with like for like? Can you take the opportunity to upgrade at the same time? Does this vary by policy? I guess it'd be up to your specific policy verbiage but should be able to upgrade no problem from my experience. My second house the washing machine flooding the living room less than 24 hours after I got the keys and destroyed 1200 square feet of laminate and the homeowners claim paid out 8000 or something and I spent the extra 4000 to reinstall real wood.
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Jun 29, 2021 23:11
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King Burgundy posted:Ok, so in taking pictures I discovered the problem was super dumb and it is now solved. The spot where the bottom shoot bolt is supposed to go had a bunch of debris in it. Removed that. Problem solved. That deck is not safe. Full stop. Do not use it. Do not go under it again.
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Jun 29, 2021 23:48
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