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What actual value does an attic provide? What would I lose from just getting rid of most of it? Previous owners already got rid of the bit over the kitchen, and so long as you don't look down at the bad decisions they made ground level it's the nicest room in the house by a good margin now as a result. I've been thinking it might be nice to get rid of the rest too, but I imagine there must be a reason people have attics, aside from hoarders filling it with junk they should really get rid of and letting it get moldy up there, but I'm not sure what it might be. Not something I'll be working on anytime soon, but been thinking about what be a nice year five project on the five year plan.
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Jul 17, 2023 14:53
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When you say getting rid of it, do you mean to do higher ceilings or to finish it? Cathedral ceilings have their own pros and cons, similar to open concept plans as a whole. Sound will echo louder, depending on your lighting the fixtures can be a pain in the rear end to maintain, and now you are dealing with a lot more space to keep cool/warm. If you live somewhere with a winter and you have the heat on, all your hot air is going to first settle alllll the way up there.
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Jul 17, 2023 14:57
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SpartanIvy posted:Post your breaker labeling itt My actual panel is a Gary-special:  Gotta love the "computer receptacle" markings. Also the third down on the left doesn't control anything in the kitchen because of course it doesn't. So I sketched out rough floor plans and marked everything that each circuit powers, scanned it in, and put a copy on my phone, tablet, and printed next to to the panel. It looks like this: 
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Jul 17, 2023 15:24
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The Dave posted:When you say getting rid of it, do you mean to do higher ceilings or to finish it? The cathedral ceiling option, the attic is too small to finish. Although if I opened it up I could probably turn a chunk of it on a nice loft lounge, a feature I absolutely love. But good point about the heat. I don't have any idea how heat efficient this house is right now or how much it will cost to heat over the winter, and especially since I'm on an unfamiliar heat source with the oil tank I should probably figure that out before considering any options that would reduce it even further. So I'll put a pin in the attic removal plan for now. I still need to go up there at some point and figure out what's wrong with it, though. Speaking of sound, there's a positive surprise! I have discovered that the walls and floors here are really goddamn good at sound dampening. One room over and you can barely hear the child yelling for help because he's crawled under the mattress again and is pretending it fell on him and he's stuck. The clanking of the drier is but a soft whisper in the floor above it. It's really wonderful, but weird how my old apartment let me hear what the neighbours we're doing better than this family home lets me hear the bedroom immediately adjacent. I wonder how they did it. Makes me a lot more happier setting up that drum kit for the kid downstairs at least, hah.
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Jul 17, 2023 15:35
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Speaking of attics, we had siding done in the winter, then some issues lately and we were examining the top of the chimney area and my dad said wait, where is the vent opening? From inside the attic you can see light (through the siding) and we hadnt realized it was covered up outside. Time to call them yet again. I'm hoping this is actually what caused our moisture drip during the heavy rains.
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Jul 17, 2023 15:53
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GlyphGryph posted:The cathedral ceiling option, the attic is too small to finish. Although if I opened it up I could probably turn a chunk of it on a nice loft lounge, a feature I absolutely love. Apartment buildings are often built from ground up to have as many floors and units in the sq footage as possible. Effective spacing and sound deadening probably takes away from some of that space, so especially older apartment buildings may have a paper thin wall and floor/ceiling quality. Add in a profit incentive, and the fact most buyers / renters do not notice or ask about sound deadening, and the choice of what to do as a developer most of the time is clear. Probably in your SFH they used the thicker good sound drywall in between your bedrooms as a good developer would, but maybe cheaped out even between units in the apt. Inner Light fucked around with this message at 15:57 on Jul 17, 2023 |
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Jul 17, 2023 15:54
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Hooo boy. Today was a blood sacrifice to the homeowner gods. To preface: $18,000 worth of tree work to remove 2 large Lombardy poplars over the next 4 days, one of which is a dual trunk. Each is about 100' tall, 5' thick trunks. Proximity to the house is 1 foot from our gutters and lens over the roof. The other is about 15' from the house. My raccoon friend decided to visit this morning and take his siesta in one of the trees. I had to spray him with a hose to make him leave before the crew got here. I felt bad but it's the better of the options. First 5 minutes in, the rookie gets stung by a wasp in the same part of my yard I got stung twice in the neck last week. We find a nest the size of a volleyball and they spray it dead. It's going fine for a while, one of the guys climbs up in the tree to clean it up. He goes to reposition and his saw falls out of the tree, bouncing off a branch and falling 20', hitting the rookie in the wrist of the same arm as he got stung. It's the rookies second day on the job. Thankfully the body of the saw hit him and not the blade but still, don't hang in the line of fire. He was shaken up and hurt his wrist, bleeding a little from a small cut. He walked it off, wrapped it and kept going. The climber must have just not clipped it in fully. They're moving right along and making decent work of things. It's amazing how much light comes through with half the tree thinned out. I go to the front of the house to make a phone call. I hear the saw buzzing and the crack, crack, crack, of the top of one of the branches starting to lean. Its big. I was surprised how big it was but they have it tethered with a guy on the ground holding the line. I honestly wasn't sure it was intentional. It felt wrong as it happened. The wind helped carry it but it also should've been a smaller piece. Well, it lands across the power lines, sizzles and smokes for a good while and then BANG! Blows the transformer. My neighbors lose power. One of the lines is hanging lower now. Power company said they'd be by this evening. All work stopped immediately and I walked back to see if everybody was okay. They're all trying to figure out what happened, the guy holding the line walks away and calls his boss to report what happened. I assumed his behavior was shock/adrenaline. He seemed a little nervous/giddy. They called the power company. Good time to stop and take a lunch break. When they get back to work I don't see the site boss. He's sitting in his truck so I go chat with him and he says he's going to head to the hospital. He's feeling jittery and has a stutter. He was electrocuted when he was hanging onto the rope. The rest of the crew finished the day and everybody headed home. gently caress man. Day 1 of 4 and these weren't the cheap guys. Well, at least they're licensed, insured, and bonded.
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Jul 18, 2023 01:17
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Jesus, that sounds like a hell of a day. It also reminds me I discovered today that one of the trees in my yard is not actually attached to the ground and is actually a foot over from it's sawn off stump and is apparently only being held up by its neighbours, so I need to look into getting some tree people of my own.
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Jul 18, 2023 01:28
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 What was their review on Yelp like
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Jul 18, 2023 01:28
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Hadlock posted:
Glowing, same with Google. They came recommended by multiple friends from previous experience as well. They're all super nice guys, I just think they need to focus more on safety than speed, especially for an industry notorious for accidents.
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Jul 18, 2023 01:33
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It's always jarring hearing about stuff like that when I work in an industry where safety is THE NUMBER ONE loving THING every minute of every day. Dropping the saw would probably be a top severity near miss (potential fatality) depending on the weight and distance of the fall. That would have resulted in a safety stand down by itself. Then a missed drop afterwards plus a new guy apparently not trained in basic safety practices? Yowza.
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Jul 18, 2023 03:24
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The power company came by, I told them the story and they gasped when I told them a guy was holding the rope when it dropped into the lines. They told me several stories about people who have been indirectly electrocuted and died later that evening thinking they were fine. We looked at the lines, the damage to the pole etc. They suggested to give the crew a warning/safety talk that any other visits and they're going to pay for the damage and to reiterate a 10' safety barrier from the lines. They asked what company I hired and said they never had issues with them but quickly named two companies with a bad reputation/history.
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Jul 18, 2023 04:25
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Yeah I can imagine a scenario where the guy was holding the rope more tightly with his sweaty right hand, his left foot or left hand was grounded and the  goes across/through his heart, which apparently is a bad thing unless it's stopped, and even then it's not greatKeep us updated if your foreman Mr. Powder ever makes it back to the job site
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Jul 18, 2023 04:35
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I am having a hell of a time getting a hold of a contractor I had do some work recently, they also left several hundred dollars worth of tools in my garage, so it's weird that they're just not responding to me.
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Jul 18, 2023 12:29
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100 HOGS AGREE posted:I am having a hell of a time getting a hold of a contractor I had do some work recently, they also left several hundred dollars worth of tools in my garage, so it's weird that they're just not responding to me. I seriously don't understand contractors. All of the ones I've recently hired have: 1. Not taken money immediately after job, or within a day 2. Not sent bill within a week 3. Are hard to contact after the work is done so I can pay them Before they do the work its easy to contact them, once they need to be paid I'm hanging in the wind. Why don't you want your money?? Take the money!! Please! Are they so flush with cash/business that a couple thousand doesn't matter? Maybe I should get into one of these businesses...
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Jul 18, 2023 12:35
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Complaining on the internet works, he literally just called me just now.
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Jul 18, 2023 13:09
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Sweeper posted:I seriously don't understand contractors. All of the ones I've recently hired have: Literally the exact same experience
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Jul 18, 2023 13:30
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100 HOGS AGREE posted:Complaining on the internet works, he literally just called me just now. Many self-employed are extremely disorganized. Contractors are no exception. I worked in commercial property claims for years. I'm amazed that most of my insureds could even feed themselves.
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Jul 18, 2023 14:14
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My mom had a lawn care guy who sent her a bill for a season's worth of lawn care and then disappeared from the face of the earth. She called and emailed a dozen times and never got a response. I even searched obituaries and Department of Corrections arrest records and could never find a trace of him. Entered witness protection? Won the lottery? 
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Jul 18, 2023 14:22
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Verman posted:gently caress man. Day 1 of 4 and these weren't the cheap guys. Well, at least they're licensed, insured, and bonded. You need to not let them back on your property. They are not good at this, they are taking shortcuts. Any one of the thing that happened might happen. Having all of them happen in one day is an indication that something is very wrong with the level of experience and/or management. Might be that crew, might be that site manager - who knows, but you don't need any of that happening on your property. Time to call the owner of the company.
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Jul 18, 2023 14:25
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What do you do for water runoff on a clipped roof? Similar thing going on here where the clipped section doesnt extend to any gutters so it just falls off and splashes on the side of the house. There's enough splashing that it has since stained the brick siding.
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Jul 18, 2023 15:16
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Motronic posted:You need to not let them back on your property. They are not good at this, they are taking shortcuts. Extremely this, if I owned this company at the very least I’d have fired the foreman, the guy who dropped the saw, the guy who checked that guy’s harness, and anyone involved in the electrocution on the spot. I’d consider myself lucky to still be in business a week later, because this doesn’t even approach the bare minimum for a safe job in any industry, let alone one that’s already deadly enough.
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Jul 18, 2023 15:30
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Sweeper posted:I seriously don't understand contractors. All of the ones I've recently hired have: I'm pretty sure I still have $175 in limbo from a roof repair I sent the guy a check for a year ago Business must be good if you can ignore stuff like that but this is gonna weigh heavy on my mind until the guy dies and his estate is settled
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Jul 18, 2023 16:10
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Say I have some major thing happen to my house that costs more than I can afford out of pocket (say 20k+) and isn't covered by insurance. What is the best way to cover that cost? Are there special loans for that sort of thing, or should I just go to my bank and ask? (This is thankfully a hypothetical right now; just looking for general advice for if/when something big happens)
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Jul 18, 2023 16:37
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HELOC and home equity loans are more or less designed for this purpose
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Jul 18, 2023 16:41
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Tiny Timbs posted:I'm pretty sure I still have $175 in limbo from a roof repair I sent the guy a check for a year ago iirc checks are generally considered void after 90 days. Could always call the bank and tell them to void it (if you know the check number).
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Jul 18, 2023 16:54
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PainterofCrap posted:Many self-employed are extremely disorganized. Contractors are no exception. I'm doing the books for a buddy's small business now and . . . yeah . . . 
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Jul 18, 2023 16:55
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Zarin posted:iirc checks are generally considered void after 90 days. Financial institutions frequently ignore that limit. Like, all the loving time.
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Jul 18, 2023 16:59
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How dumb would doing a gas-to-electric conversion for a hot water heater/furnace be? The appliances in question are near-end-of-life and substantially past end-of-life, respectively, so it wouldn't be replacing them just to replace them.
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Jul 18, 2023 16:59
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You should be able to do the math on your usage versus rates but anecdotally people seem to prefer cooking on gas and tankless gas water heaters are said to be the bees knees.
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Jul 18, 2023 17:02
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The Dave posted:You should be able to do the math on your usage versus rates but anecdotally people seem to prefer cooking on gas and tankless gas water heaters are said to be the bees knees. Water heater thing I'll have to consider. Are tankless electric heaters not a thing, or just less efficient/not as nice somehow?
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Jul 18, 2023 17:07
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Ham Equity posted:The range is newish and electric, the ovens are both newish and electric and none of us are gas cooking purists. If we replace the water heater and furnace, we'd be off gas entirely. Check with your utility - ours has crazy rebates for heat pump water heaters that make it a no-brainer. Just be mindful that they make a little noise so stick them in a laundry or garage. I'll be doing mine this year. I already swapped (well, stopped using) the gas furnace and put it mini-splits and loving love it. As an aside, I need to get someone to uninstall the furnace at some point. Single-level ranch with the ducts in the crawlspace, anyone had something similar done and know what ballpark cost I'm looking at before I start getting quotes?
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Jul 18, 2023 17:11
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Sloppy posted:Check with your utility - ours has crazy rebates for heat pump water heaters that make it a no-brainer. Just be mindful that they make a little noise so stick them in a laundry or garage. I'll be doing mine this year. I already swapped (well, stopped using) the gas furnace and put it mini-splits and loving love it.
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Jul 18, 2023 17:13
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Tankless electric aren’t efficient and really aren’t an upgrade.
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Jul 18, 2023 17:22
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Ham Equity posted:How dumb would doing a gas-to-electric conversion for a hot water heater/furnace be? Gas furnace to electric heat pump is quite reasonable, especially if your AC is closer to end of life and you don't live in a super cold area. Gas water heater to electric is going to bring some serious but not insurmountable trade offs. A traditional resistive tank water heater will be considerably more expensive to run. A heat pump water heater will either be significantly slower to bring water up to temperature in purely heat pump mode or it will be significantly more expensive to run because it will use a resistive heater to speed things up. Electric tankless should be completely out of the question if you have gas available, in theory they are simpler to install than a tank but the power demand is so crazy you'll need serious electrical work done to install it. I guess the summary is that if you don't use a ton of hot water and spread out your usage across a day a heat pump water heater is reasonable to go with over gas, especially with the rebates being made available now.
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Jul 18, 2023 17:45
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Sundae posted:I need to figure out wtf is with my water service, based on some people's numbers numbers. I average 133 gallons used per day in a 2.5-person condo. DaveSauce posted:a family of 4, with 2 small kids. We're running the dishwasher daily, handwashing more dishes, running lots of laundry, baths/showers, toilet flushing... we use a lot of water. The only thing we don't do is water the lawn. And we use like 120-ish gallons per day. Qwijib0 posted:Now we average 6 ccf/mo, ~150/day for a family of four. Tucson average household use is 8ccf/mo, so still doing pretty OK. Got our first bi-monthly water bill, looks like we are doing 235 gallons per day, but we have a pool and no pool cover* that needs to get topped off every couple of days, probably equivalent to taking an hour long shower once a week. Our lawn is one of those water saving ones with all native plants and no grass which seems like it's offset by pool evaporation =/ Bill has the historical usage on there too, looks like last summer a family of four (with two mostly grown teenage boys) were using 475-525 gpd *the "hot" water from the pool evaporates rapidly at night, to the tune of 2-3" per week Hadlock fucked around with this message at 23:12 on Jul 18, 2023 |
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Jul 18, 2023 22:35
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George H.W. oval office posted:HELOC and home equity loans are more or less designed for this purpose 
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Jul 18, 2023 22:44
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Hadlock posted:Got our first bi-monthly water bill, looks like we are doing 235 gallons per day, but we have a pool and no pool cover that needs to get topped off every couple of days, probably equivalent to taking an hour long shower once a week. Our lawn is one of those water saving ones with all native plants and no grass which seems like it's offset by pool evaporation =/ We actually sorted ours out and I forgot to update the thread. We had.. 1) The world's least-efficient dishwasher 2) A leaky toilet valve 3) A leaky valve on the clothes washer that was constantly running a light trickle to the drain 4) A kid who regularly needs laundry done because infants and toddlers are messy  After fixing the toilet, replacing the dishwasher, and giving the child only filthy burlap sacks to wear, it dropped to 100-130.
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Jul 18, 2023 22:49
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2 or 3 can use an astonishing amount of water with little indication.
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Jul 18, 2023 22:52
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Oh yeah we have # 2 and # 4 as well. Our leaky toilet is probably 15-25 gallons a day now that I'm actually thinking about it. Which burlap sacks to you reccomend
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Jul 18, 2023 23:01
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