|
We reccomend you spend $20 to fix the toilet numbskull.
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2023 23:06
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 8, 2024 11:20 |
|
|
Oh yeah it's on the list, behind the other 600 things involved in recovering and casualties from a coast to coast move ~90 days ago. I still have unopened moving boxes in the upstairs guest shower 
|
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2023 23:15
|
|
|
Hadlock posted:Oh yeah it's on the list, behind the other 600 things involved in recovering and casualties from a coast to coast move ~90 days ago. I still have unopened moving boxes in the upstairs guest shower I moved two years ago and I still have unopened boxes in the master bedroom. And all the other bedrooms.
|
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2023 23:36
|
|
|
We listed "free moving supplies" on buy nothing to force ourselves to unpack poo poo.
|
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2023 23:54
|
|
|
Trade the kids for a new toilet?
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 00:01
|
|
|
Ham Equity posted:How dumb would doing a gas-to-electric conversion for a hot water heater/furnace be? You got some good advice in the thread, and not sure what area of the country you are in, but I think natural gas is going to stay pretty darn cheap for the next appliance-lifecycle years. Totally understand if you want to be rid of it entirely and those are holding you up.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 00:49
|
|
|
Arsenic Lupin posted:I moved two years ago and I still have unopened boxes in the master bedroom. And all the other bedrooms. I'm on year four, box buddy!
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 00:56
|
|
|
Hed posted:You got some good advice in the thread, and not sure what area of the country you are in, but I think natural gas is going to stay pretty darn cheap for the next appliance-lifecycle years. Totally understand if you want to be rid of it entirely and those are holding you up. Seattle area, electricity is relatively cheap. We haven't even closed on the place yet, but part of our closing process is getting people out to look at the HVAC and tell us what we should do; hasn't been serviced in a very long time. I forgot to mention the AC is barely end-of-life, too, if that changes the math on anything.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 01:11
|
|
|
A leaky toilet valve is mainly replacing the innards, right? I need to investigate 2 of mine but have convinced myself the valves on the wall are going to snap off.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 03:11
|
|
|
Leaky toilet valve is alarmingly easy to fix. The first time I did it, it was like 30 min to make sure I wasn't going to accidentally flood the house. Doing it a second time takes literally 5 min 1. turn off the knob valve at the wall 2. flush toilet until all the water in the tank runs out 3. mop up the remaining (clean!) water until it's gone 4. unscrew toilet guts from the toilet tank and detatch hose. put a large bowl under where the hole in the tank is to catch any water you didn't mop up (another 6-12 oz will pour out) 5. screw new toilet guts in, attach hose 6. turn knob valve at wall back on, watch for leaks 7. tune your flush feel (tm) by adjusting the float chain (optional)
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 03:40
|
|
|
Hadlock posted:Leaky toilet valve is alarmingly easy to fix. The first time I did it, it was like 30 min to make sure I wasn't going to accidentally flood the house. Doing it a second time takes literally 5 min this part is where your 30 minute fix can go very wrong lol
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 03:54
|
|
|
Never trust an existing stop valve.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 04:20
|
|
|
Hadlock posted:Which burlap sacks to you reccomend Whatever's on sale, of course, but I find that the big ones for 50# bags of rice are great because the drawstrings let them grow with your kids. Tiny Timbs posted:this part is where your 30 minute fix can go very wrong lol *eye-twitch* Where's my post about the rotted stop-valve and finding out that my street valve was like 1/8 of a mile down the block from my unit? E: Here it is! https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3774735&userid=88303&perpage=40&pagenumber=4#post522208533 Sundae fucked around with this message at 05:34 on Jul 19, 2023 |
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 04:27
|
|
|
How often are you supposed to get a gas fireplace looked at by some kind of professional?
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 05:13
|
|
|
Hadlock posted:Keep us updated if your foreman Mr. Powder ever makes it back to the job site Update: Thankfully he listened to myself and his crew and went to the hospital after leaving. Was later transferred to a trauma hospital as his condition worsened. His crew said his speech and motor skills worsened and he wasn't in good shape. It sounds like he's staying there a few days at least. I'm happy he listened and didn't try to tough it out. It was not good. I could see the team was rattled today. They're nice guys and I know they mean well but I think they were put into a complex job with zero room for error, and it was beyond their skill. Poor leadership, communication, and training. Not enough focus on safety and they found out the hard way. Motronic posted:You need to not let them back on your property. They are not good at this, they are taking shortcuts. All work stopped yesterday afterwards, nothing happened today. They said they're cancelling tomorrow to make a new plan. We're going to talk to the owner again in the morning to reconvene about what happens next, whatever that looks like. Personally I feel like we got bait and switched. The owner seemed knowledgeable and well structured. His crew didn't seem like an extension of that. He tried suggesting they can pick up again later this week and seemed very apologetic but Im not sure he understands our level of concern. I'm ready to cut the cord and fire them tomorrow, or demand the owner be present with a better, more careful and capable crew to finish the one tree they started to supervise how they work and provide detailed specifics as to what is going to change and how they plan to move forward if we do continue with them. If he won't consider doing any of that, we're looking elsewhere. I honestly expect him to say it's unreasonable for him to be present. I was visited this morning by a state safety inspector and had a chat while waiting for the crew to arrive. He assured that we were clear of any liability as they are properly licensed, insured and bonded with a single violation in the last 10 years. He took photos, inspected gear and did interviews. He conveyed the importance of safety and how lucky they are that they didn't have multiple dead crew members yesterday. He stayed about 5 hours but due to being shorthanded he didn't allow them to continue. I'll be curious to see his report. He admitted accidents happen, but this was significant. He agreed with my suggestions if we continue, or to move onto another company altogether. He gave me some referrals to companies he knows that play it safe. This conversation tomorrow with the owner will not be fun. I'm always curious to see how business owners handle themselves when things go south. I half expected/hoped the tree company to pull out of the job today but that would've only made my job easier. Verman fucked around with this message at 08:48 on Jul 19, 2023 |
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 08:34
|
|
|
Tiny Timbs posted:this part is where your 30 minute fix can go very wrong lol Also this step: "5. screw new toilet guts in, attach hose" is when you find out that the manufacturer changed up their design at some point but didn't bother to mention on their website that their part selection guide don't apply to older toilets, and you need to run to the store, again. Yeah I'm looking at you Kohler and your "match the color of the flush valve body" bullshit.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 11:03
|
|
|
Verman posted:This conversation tomorrow with the owner will not be fun. I'm always curious to see how business owners handle themselves when things go south.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 12:38
|
|
|
Hadlock posted:Leaky toilet valve is alarmingly easy to fix. The first time I did it, it was like 30 min to make sure I wasn't going to accidentally flood the house. Doing it a second time takes literally 5 min Nope. Nope nope nope nope. This is a fast fix, just shut off the water to the whole house.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 13:11
|
|
|
Cyrano4747 posted:Nope. Nope nope nope nope. Turn off water, flush, put cleaner in, let sit, then scrub maybe flush and repeat. That's how my family did it but I haven't encountered many others who even know you can shut the water off a toilet. I was at a big house party once (a long time ago) and it started leaking from upstairs almost onto their tv and DVDs and Xbox games and no one but me knew how to make it stop.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 13:20
|
|
|
StormDrain posted:Never trust an existing stop valve. I felt pretty knowledgeable when, after snagging the new plumbing for my faucet, I paused while walking away, turned around, and immediately bought two backup 1/4 turn stop valves  Didn't need em, surprisingly!
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 13:32
|
|
|
The valve to turn off the water for the house is currently rusted open and I'm not sure Id trust it even if it wasn't. I'll probably wait until next month to fix/replace my toilets, gonna get some people to do a bunch of plumbing work and I expected they'll be replacing that as part of it by necessity, then I can safely do plumbing work elsewhere. I'm actually interested in figuring out the whole system though - like how much water will even be left if I turn off the pumps? Which systems are before and after the shutoff valves? That sort of stuff. Also I still haven't figured out where the hell me leech field is, and even the septic inspector wasn't sure. It wasn't in any of the house documentation according to the investigators during the purchase. Does anyone know how the hell to figure it out? I'm not even sure where they COULD have put it, the previous owners "don't remember".
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 14:08
|
|
|
GlyphGryph posted:The valve to turn off the water for the house is currently rusted open and I'm not sure Id trust it even if it wasn't. That's a pretty big issue that I'd promote to the very top of my to-do list if I were you. Not having that working is how you turn a really annoying, kinda bad problem like a broken pipe dumping water in your laundry room into a really serious problem.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 14:15
|
|
|
For all the weirdness my new house has, it has all new pex plumbing so all of the valves are less than a year old and work fine, thank goodness.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 14:24
|
|
|
Verman posted:He tried suggesting they can pick up again later this week and seemed very apologetic but Im not sure he understands our level of concern. He doesn't, and this company needs to be fired and never allowed entry to your property again. Time to choose someone else.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 14:32
|
|
|
GlyphGryph posted:The valve to turn off the water for the house is currently rusted open and I'm not sure Id trust it even if it wasn't. To reiterate what Cyrano4747 said, this should be a "holy poo poo fix in the next 48 hours" sort of thing in my book. If you have a problem it goes from "poo poo, I gotta replace the bathroom" to "poo poo, I gotta replace the left side of the house" in a hurry.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 14:47
|
|
|
GlyphGryph posted:The valve to turn off the water for the house is currently rusted open and I'm not sure Id trust it even if it wasn't. I'll probably wait until next month to fix/replace my toilets, gonna get some people to do a bunch of plumbing work and I expected they'll be replacing that as part of it by necessity, then I can safely do plumbing work elsewhere. You still have a cut off at the meter right? You should definitely have a way to cut water to your house in an emergency. That is a high priority, as others have said.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 15:27
|
|
|
I dont think I have a meter? Or maybe this is the one at the meter? I have a well pump and I have no idea how to turn it off and figuring out how do that now that I know the valve doesn't seem to work is my priority for tonight, if it's even a thing that I can do. First house and all that, I have no idea. I have the guys here to fix the rest of the problems on the 25th, it is definitely a high priority item.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 15:42
|
|
|
If you have a well pump maybe you could just cut your power to the house for a bit?
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 15:53
|
|
|
100 HOGS AGREE posted:If you have a well pump maybe you could just cut your power to the house for a bit? Better than nothing, but chances are high if they have a well pump there is also a pressure tank that has 20-50 gallons of water in it that will be under pressure with the pump off.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 16:03
|
|
|
Yeah you'd probably have to open the taps to purge that cistern too.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 16:50
|
|
|
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 16:56
|
|
|
What would you (in this thread, I ask because I genuinely don't know how to handle this is if it happens to me) expect to happen if you fire the tree people who were expecting to make (I think it was) 18k from this? Do you pay them some pro-rated amount? I assume they'd push for the entire amount or something? How do you handle this?
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 17:42
|
|
|
Payment on delivery. They didn't deliver, they don't get payment. Not your problem (I mean it is that's why you're firing them) that they were so poo poo at safety and blew up the deal.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 17:53
|
|
|
I think it would also hinge on the nature of the agreement you signed with the company (if any), which may necessitate getting a lawyer involved depending on exactly what was in the contract.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 17:59
|
|
|
George H.W. oval office posted:Payment on delivery. There probably has to be some reasonable payment or they will put a mechanics lien on your house. But they aren't going to do too well with an OSHA/whatever report detailing their triple violation day on the property, so the owner should be pretty willing to be reasonable and realistic about the value of the work that was performed. If not, an attorney will go a long ways towards making that happen.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 18:02
|
|
|
Motronic posted:There probably has to be some reasonable payment or they will put a mechanics lien on your house. But they aren't going to do too well with an OSHA/whatever report detailing their triple violation day on the property, so the owner should be pretty willing to be reasonable and realistic about the value of the work that was performed. If not, an attorney will go a long ways towards making that happen. This is what we're thinking. I have to assume the owner knows they are in the wrong and don't have solid ground to stand on. I can't imagine he would decide not to negotiate something vs taking it to court given he's already in the hot seat for workplace safety/training/etc violations but anything is possible. If I were him, I would just want this gone and move onto the next job vs being taken to court and losing because there is significant evidence against him. Im outlining what I want to say and how to phrase it just in case emotions get tense and the owner goes on the attack. I have a few points I want to make clear. I may even record the call to ensure I have evidence if they try to claim something else was said or agreed upon. I don't expect to receive free work at all, but I also am trying to determine what cost would be appropriate. They were scheduled for 4 full days. They were on my property for 4 hours. I could try to break it down into an hourly rate based on the quote. I have photos of them climbing the tree and on the ground working without full PPE (no hard hats, no steel toe boots, no chaps, etc). Only two of the guys had boots. Nobody in helmets. Nobody in chaps. I have a photo, albeit blurry, of the branch sizzling on the lines. I have photos of the broken utility pole support. I reached out to the inspector for a copy of the report. I'm mentally preparing to lawyer up whether it happens or not. I felt very comfortable that we did our due diligence vetting this company given the information available. Their reviews were all very positive, the owner seemed great during the quote. We had a recommendation from our friends who used them in the past. They have their license/bond/insurance squared away. Their approach sounded the same as all the other companies that bid. They were not the cheapest quote, they were in the middle of the half dozen we got. Fun stuff.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 21:15
|
|
|
Verman posted:Im outlining what I want to say and how to phrase it just in case emotions get tense and the owner goes on the attack. I have a few points I want to make clear. That is an excellent plan. Verman posted:I don't expect to receive free work at all, but I also am trying to determine what cost would be appropriate. They were scheduled for 4 full days. They were on my property for 4 hours. I could try to break it down into an hourly rate based on the quote. It's possible there were different crew requirements for each day, but that seems like a good start. I don't know pricing in your area, but $18k sounds like a crane was schedules for at least one or 2 days. If so, you didn't have a crane day so it's going to be a lot less for a 1/2 day with no crane. Just consider things like that when putting together a figure. Verman posted:I'm mentally preparing to lawyer up whether it happens or not. I felt very comfortable that we did our due diligence vetting this company given the information available. Their reviews were all very positive, the owner seemed great during the quote. We had a recommendation from our friends who used them in the past. They have their license/bond/insurance squared away. Their approach sounded the same as all the other companies that bid. They were not the cheapest quote, they were in the middle of the half dozen we got. There is a very real labor shortage, and business trying to expand - or even just keep constant staffing levels - are having problems and some of them who are bad at this are hiring crews like this and not training or supervising them properly. This has been going on in home building for decades now, where most people operating tools were "hired" out of the parking lot of the nearest Home Depot at 6:30 that morning. None of this is an excuse of course, just a possible explanation.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 21:28
|
|
|
Is their insurance still valid? I don't know how much a homeowners policy covers the workers or damage from their accidents to start with, but how much of that continues if you allow a group of known fuckups to keep working on your property.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 21:32
|
|
|
Guy Axlerod posted:Is their insurance still valid? Yes, they sent over their proof of insurance and it is valid for 2023, same with their license and bond. I also double checked with the public records and its all up to date there as well. Their legal was pretty short and sweet. I omitted their name to keep things anonymous. Quotation when signed by both parties becomes a legal and binding contract and will serve as the invoice. By signing this quotation sheet, you have read and understand the above charges, and agree with the contract as written. Non-payment could result in legal action that could include a lien against the above stated property. Also the client will be held liable for any and all legal fees and court costs in an attempt to collect this debt. The client understands that tree work and stump grinding are separate jobs and payments are due upon completion of each job. Occasionally there are unforeseen circumstances that can alter a bid. (COMPANY NAME) reserves the right to re-estimate and/or walk away from any job if the client and (COMPANY NAME) are unable to agree to terms of new charges. Although (COMPANY NAME) makes every effort to clear the job site, some sawdust may remain. Firewood will be consolidated to the closest reason¬able area to the tree it came from unless otherwise specified in this quotation. Prices are subject to change if any modifications are made from the original estimate. Credit card payments will result in a 3% convenience charge added to the total invoice. (COMPANY NAME) takes responsibility for any damage to surrounding buildings or structures caused by tree work performed by (COMPANY NAME). It is the client’s, responsibility to provide (COMPANY NAME) the location of any underground sep¬tic, drainage and utilities. (COMPANY NAME) will not be held responsibility for damage caused to any underground structures that the client neglected to inform (COMPANY NAME) of their existence prior to the start of the job.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 21:52
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 8, 2024 11:20 |
|
|
Eason the Fifth posted: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? Going back a bit but an option I didn't see mentioned is to check with your state, county, city, etc to see if they have any loan programs that could help, depending on the nature of the work. When we bought our house we took advantage of a 0% energy efficiency loan program backed by our city to install ductless minisplits for air conditioning plus blow-in insulation into the walls and attics. It turned out we had live knob & tube that we had to get remediated before we could do the insulation, and that was more than the city program would cover, so we got another loan via the state to cover the rest of the work. Since remediating the knob & tube was necessary for the insulation work, it qualified as "energy efficiency" improvements so we could use the states energy program as opposed to their general improvement loan program (which got us a lower rate).
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2023 22:02
|
|
