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There are some really dodgy... dodgilly? built homes in Frisco, Texas which for like 2 years was the fastest growing city in America, most of the homes there were built 2000-2007 I was inside some of them new, they already felt like they were going to fall down, I think in 50 years rich nice suburbs like Frisco and Plano are going to end up as the slums of Dallas. I guess it's hot enough in Texas that the walls and attic won't rot out, but historically none of that housing will be worth saving for 2100 My mom still has the house my dad built new in the 70s in that area, it's not an amazing house, but at least the walls don't shake when you slam the front door Hadlock fucked around with this message at 17:34 on Jan 14, 2022 |
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Jan 14, 2022 17:31
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/edit: Oh Christ I've got the wrong thread again, sorry
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Jan 14, 2022 17:35
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BigPaddy posted:Both houses I grew up in were brick built 1910s which still have their original tile roof. Of course they are old British homes so are the size of a shed compared to modern homes but they haven’t even needed repointing yet. They public housing so we’re upgraded over the years with modern electrical systems, heating and windows. If I were still in Britain I would want an older house over a newer one because they are built like bunkers and modern ones are similar to houses constructed in the US with a wooden frame. The main difference is they still have slate roofs and brick exteriors so they look like the older stock. Yeah, I want a hundred year old house cause I know it's survived some poo poo. I see the new construction they throw up in some parts of my city and it's just real shoddily done... they were putting up a 5 over 1 by the subway a bit ago, we had a real windy day and the whole thing just fell over. 5-8 years back there was a big newspaper article about how most of the new construction in the area had been done wrong and rainwater was just flowing through the walls (my friend had this and had to gut and redo half her house). I don't even want a recent renovation of an old house, it's all just cheap, fast poo poo with a fancy facade on top, so ten years into your mortgage your house is falling down around you
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Jan 14, 2022 22:33
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100 year old houses that are still around weren't really "built better" so much as.... 2-3 owners have poured hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars into preserving, maintaining, and replacing building components.
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Jan 14, 2022 22:52
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I wrote this a long time ago but it's still true:Tricky Ed posted:Old construction is better than new construction because older homes were usually overbuilt in structural terms. They'll also usually be in better parts of town, in more established neighborhoods, and closer to city centers and services because they were built before everyone drove everywhere. Old houses were built by tradespeople who treated construction as a career and took pride in their work. They were built to last forever. You'll have a yard and a sidewalk that leads somewhere you want to go. You'll have a cozy fireplace and a formal living room. Like buying a used car, the most important thing is how well that particular house was built and maintained, and making generalizations only helps in the broadest sense. For any age of house, the important things are if the roof and foundation are sound, if the location and neighborhood work for you, if the layout fits your family, and if the mechanicals are in good condition. Age of construction or renovation can let you make some guesses, but ultimately an old house and a new house can both have horrors behind the walls.
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Jan 15, 2022 05:23
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What’s the best way to get salt stains out of brick pavers?
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Jan 15, 2022 16:12
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Just bought a house in Philly and have been here for about a month. Noticed the street outside is pretty wash boarded. When trucks and busses drive over this, it noticeably shakes the whole house, its a bit jarring. There are stress cracks around the house but it is 60 years old and the house was inspected prior to purchase, the cracks were noticed and we were told it was nothing out of the ordinary. Considering hiring a structural engineer to take a look at it just to reassure myself but is there anything I can do other than bitch at the city about repaving the street?
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Jan 15, 2022 22:57
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BusinessWallet posted:is there anything I can do other than bitch at the city about repaving the street? Paint it with a big political slogan so they have to repave it as a 'deniable' way of erasing your message
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Jan 15, 2022 23:03
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Funny, I also have a street issue right now. One of the manhole covers came loose so every time a car drives over this cover, right in the traffic lane on a very busy street, aligned with where wheels go, it makes a loud clunk clunk noise. Kinda like if there was a steel plate over the road for construction. It's an AT&T manhole so I contacted them, but I am preparing myself to deal with this extra street noise (on top of already annoying street noises) for the foreseeable future in case they do nothing.
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Jan 15, 2022 23:34
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Inner Light posted:Funny, I also have a street issue right now. One of the manhole covers came loose so every time a car drives over this cover, right in the traffic lane on a very busy street, aligned with where wheels go, it makes a loud clunk clunk noise. Kinda like if there was a steel plate over the road for construction. Can you reseat it with a crowbar?
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Jan 15, 2022 23:45
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Upgrade posted:What’s the best way to get salt stains out of brick pavers? The search term you're looking for is "efflorescence remover" make sure it's formulated for salt and not just calcium
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Jan 15, 2022 23:53
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BusinessWallet posted:Can you reseat it with a crowbar? Far as I can tell it looks like it's in a normal position, but I know for sure it didn't do this before so I think something knocked it loose. I'm not a manhole guy so just guessing here. I also don't own a crowbar yet 
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Jan 16, 2022 00:01
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Just fold up some napkins under one edge of it like a wobbly table at a restaurant.
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Jan 16, 2022 00:12
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For can lighting, I'm real happy with my replacement fixtures from Sunco. They were incredibly cheap (like $10 each for temperature selectable and dimmable) and super easy to install. https://www.sunco.com/collections/recessed-lighting/products/led-recessed-lighting-kit-6-inch-slim
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Jan 16, 2022 16:26
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Inner Light posted:Funny, I also have a street issue right now. One of the manhole covers came loose so every time a car drives over this cover, right in the traffic lane on a very busy street, aligned with where wheels go, it makes a loud clunk clunk noise. Kinda like if there was a steel plate over the road for construction. Try calling your town's public works / DOT about it
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Jan 16, 2022 16:31
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Lighting chat: We're replacing the ceiling in our basement as part of a remodel and I'm looking to switch from 6" can lights to a larger number of 4". 7 foot ceiling, so don't really have the space for anything else. We'll be putting in 4" new construction housings while the ceiling is down. Right now we have Cree CR6s, chosen because they had an optional accessory trim ring that did a really good job of diffusing what was otherwise a very distracting bright spot around the LED. However, from what I can tell there's not a similar option trim for the CR4. I'd like to avoid the white baffle that seems standard on LED trims. So far the only 4" option I've found is the Halo RL4, which has an accessory trim ring that clips over the baffle. Anyone aware of any other LED system options? I know I could also use "regular" LED bulbs and separate trims, which obviously have a ton more options. ChineseBuffet fucked around with this message at 18:29 on Jan 16, 2022 |
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Jan 16, 2022 18:17
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ChineseBuffet posted:Lighting chat: We're replacing the ceiling in our basement as part of a remodel and I'm looking to switch from 6" can lights to a larger number of 4". 7 foot ceiling, so don't really have the space for anything else. We'll be putting in 4" new construction housings while the ceiling is down. If you can't find anything, you could always paint that inside part with a flat black paint.
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Jan 16, 2022 19:13
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I mean I see a red door and I want it painted black.
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Jan 16, 2022 19:20
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More fun (read: scary) PO stuff! I want to safely close off these wires so they are not a hazard. They are both currently live  . Both are for LED light strips in closets (both closets have no doors and I don’t plan to change that for now). The first one is currently attached to functional LED lighting that I don’t necessarily want to remove. The first wire under the blue tape is separately wrapped with electrical tape, and looks similar when unwrapped to the first.  The second is not connected to anything yet, was just run in anticipation of running LED in that closet. 
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Jan 17, 2022 00:24
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It's low voltage/low current so it's hardly something to b concerned with from a safety standpoint. That being said, I'd suggest crimp connectors for the lovely splice. Bonus points for the kind you can heat shrink. For the abandoned run, if you can't pull it back just cut each one off back to the insulation, fold it over and tape or heat shrink it up.
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Jan 17, 2022 00:36
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So I'm in my basement utility room looking up in the main floor joists to see how much of a pain in the rear end it'll be to run new romex and replace the fluorescents with LEDs, when I see a mysterious brown paper bag. I pull it out and, my hopes for it being a wad of cash dashed, I discover a 35 year old bottle of Royal Reserve.  Anyone else have interesting gifts from POs?
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Jan 17, 2022 02:36
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Found a DVD disc-only copy of Monsters Inc months after moving in while preparing for painting. Also found behind a wall a painting of a gentleman dressed in fine Edwardian garb, who weeps blood during every lunar eclipse.
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Jan 17, 2022 03:25
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Man, I only find rusty used razor blades between the walls from POs.
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Jan 17, 2022 03:45
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I think there are some skis and a tube TV in the attic of my garage which I've never been in. We saw it during inspection and I've not returned.
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Jan 17, 2022 04:00
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StormDrain posted:I think there are some skis and a tube TV in the attic of my garage which I've never been in. We saw it during inspection and I've not returned. I got a table top pinball game, a model airplane engine, a fishing reel, and dozens of empty Avon perfume bottles.
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Jan 17, 2022 07:29
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therobit posted:I got a table top pinball game, a model airplane engine, a fishing reel, and dozens of empty Avon perfume bottles. that sounds like a longmont potion castle call
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Jan 17, 2022 08:59
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My POs tried to clean their ductwork themselves, and left me two vacuum extensions, conveniently stored in my ducts!
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Jan 17, 2022 11:24
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In my last apartment I thoroughly cleaned the heat register and found a few old coins and a 1924 navy class ring. I wasn't able to locate the owner though. When we bought our house this year, I got a Vizio led tv because it was technically mounted to the wall but they took one of the feet and the remote control. Also got some random tools left behind like a 5lb sledge, large channel locks, a few cci .22 bullets, bathroom cleaning supplies, an old school wall mounted pencil sharpener in the garage, an 8' deathtrap wooden ladder which is going to be trashed. Lots of scrap wood, closet rods, trim, 2x4s, etc. Old paint. Some tee shirts the PO used to insulate the dryer vent hose. There was an old cabinet in the garage with a few newspaper ads from the 50s on it but most importantly a 1954 George Petty pinup ad for a local Seattle appliance company. I tried really hard to save it but it disintegrated in my efforts and it wasn't in great shape to begin with. I took a photo of it beforehand which I might print and hang in the garage. It was advertising a "new for '54!" Automatic washing machine. My favorite, a men's leather shoe in the crawl space covered in cement. Immediately looking at the shoe it looked old. Leather low top oxford style, leather laces, leather sole with tacks holding the heel. Well worn. My house was built in 1955 and I'm convinced it's original. Poor guy probably stepped in wet cement as the foundation was being poured and said "gently caress it". Lots of dumb poo poo buried in the yard. Ceramic squirrels and frogs.
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Jan 17, 2022 12:01
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Before we moved in to our current place, I had the ducts cleaned and the crew found a Dora The Explorer figurine and an XBox controller in a vent.
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Jan 17, 2022 12:20
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Our PO used coins as shims in a few spots, so we've made about two bucks on that alone
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Jan 17, 2022 14:55
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Baby Shoe, In Attic, Maybe Worn?
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Jan 17, 2022 15:28
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My house had a picture of a naked body builder signed and hidden on the top of the kitchen cabinets
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Jan 17, 2022 15:36
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So far we've found beer bottles in the air vents which we found when we hired a guy to clean the vents and they were likely there from the builders. I know they're likely from the builders because they're clearly from the 80s, and we previously rented a condo in the same development that had beer cans from the 70s in the wall (condos were slightly older but made by the same builders.) The PO left us a propane grill filled with wasps and about 10 bags of garbage in the garage.
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Jan 17, 2022 16:04
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My dead PO's family left 3 Uhaul vans worth of shite in the house when I bought it, including random chemicals, acids, paint cans, 40yo fire extinguishers, and approximately 150 metal shelf hangers. But they also left a bunch of really nice storage shelves and benches I now use in my basement for projects, so I guess I'm not too mad. I also now own a bunch of free glassware and other weird laboratory items, such as these:   If anybody knows what that second thing is, please let me know. And these very nice stainless steel beakers, to be used for ELECTRONS ONLY!   Plus I found this unopened bottle of wine(?). 
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Jan 17, 2022 16:34
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I found a leather folio wrapped in duct tape and stuffed in an AC vent  No idea what these letters say, but I suspect they're mighty juicy given this was also tucked in there...  Looks like a spouse was hiding it from the other or maybe just from the kids?
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Jan 17, 2022 19:02
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Sirotan posted:
could be a weird shaped drying tube maybe? What does the label say? I tried Capture2Text to try to OCR the letter and I'm fairly certain it messed up badly 
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Jan 17, 2022 19:04
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Tunicate posted:I tried Capture2Text to try to OCR the letter and I'm fairly certain it messed up badly Did you have it set to translate from Chinese for text that appears to be Korean? Not that it'd probably help much
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Jan 17, 2022 19:19
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gwrtheyrn posted:Did you have it set to translate from Chinese for text that appears to be Korean? Not that it'd probably help much it appears the OCR was reading it as chinese, then google translate autodetected it as japanese? The real text is an elaborate recounting of a bunch of different people loaning money to and from each other, which honestly seems like a word problem posed by a particularly mean substitute teacher. Tunicate fucked around with this message at 19:43 on Jan 17, 2022 |
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Jan 17, 2022 19:22
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One way or another it will all end in screaming.
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Jan 17, 2022 19:25
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Tunicate posted:it appears the OCR was reading it as chinese, then google translate autodetected it as japanese? Yea, I pointed my phone at it: 
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Jan 17, 2022 19:25
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