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So, the other project we had someone look at was de-mossing the roof. We're in Seattle, so it's moist and there's a lot of moss. It hasn't been cleaned off in awhile, as far as I can tell. We got two quotes, one from Hustle Harry, and one from Low-Key Larry. In this case, it's the opposite of the mold removal, where we're inclined to go with the more expensive option, as we liked the guy more, and he offers an annual service to keep the mold at bay (maybe this is a total ripoff, though). We'll start with Hustle Harry (the one we liked more):  quote:Great meeting you yesterday, thanks for being so flexible and having me over! Your quote is attached along with some nice referrals from current customers of ours, in case that is helpful. Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ft8nrcQpnCpcrsMXA Low-Key Larry sent us the following: quote:Thank you for filling out our online form. We have been cleaning and treating roofs for more than 30 years and we take pride in our good work. We are licensed, bonded, and fully insured to work for you. Like I said, inclined to go with Hustle Harry, and subscribe to his annual service; $375 a year to not have to go on the roof seems pretty reasonable to me, but maybe it's easier than it seems, and they're both trying to rip my ignorant rear end off.
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Mar 6, 2024 09:40
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What is best practice for tree house construction. I have two, soon to be three nephews under six and a pair of mature redwoods 10' apart begging for a rope bridge between them. Seems like it would get at least moderate use Like everything else on Google, searching an SEO optimized term like "tree house brackets" yields an unflinching morass of poo poo SEO results I looked into this about 10 years ago and some guys were selling custom parts for this but looks like you can even buy stuff on Amazon these days
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Mar 6, 2024 10:55
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You're looking for "tree house artificial limbs"-- long odd custom bolts that screw into the tree to a specific depth based on the weight requirements, then have a mounting system with movement for the base structural elements of the treehouse itself.
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Mar 6, 2024 14:13
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Hadlock posted:What is best practice for tree house construction. I have two, soon to be three nephews under six and a pair of mature redwoods 10' apart begging for a rope bridge between them. Seems like it would get at least moderate use If you aren't getting a prebuilt structure, step one is to confirm your homeowners liability limits and pick up an umbrella policy. Even if the kids' parents are not at all interested in blame if something bad happens their health insurance won't hesitate to try and recover.
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Mar 6, 2024 14:32
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Ham Equity posted:The $7950 from High Pressure includes a ~$1500 discount if we get back to them in the next couple of days (meaning it's $9500 if we don't get back to them in the next couple of days), which (maybe wrongfully) was a red flag to me, This is absolutely a red flag and is a big sign that they know their prices aren't competitive. They want you not getting other quotes and finding out what the real cost of the project is. Any idea if they're sub-contracting the work out?
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Mar 6, 2024 14:40
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Yeah, as long as Chill Dudes is a licensed and bonded company, I would go with them. I have had some version of Chill Dudes do my roof, gutters, pest control etc. Turns out all of them are also now the most recommended in our area because of their pricing and work which is better than high pressure jerks.
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Mar 6, 2024 14:48
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Paper Tiger posted:Homeowners insurance doesn't know about the knob and tube yet. The second house on which my fiancée bid and accepted turned up k&t all over, and that scuttled the whole deal. Why? Her parents are career realtors and have seen many a bad thing, but people lying about wiring, their insurance finding out and giving them 30 days to remediate it or have their mortgage cancelled is one that stood out to them, and dissuaded us from an otherwise lovely old house.
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Mar 6, 2024 14:57
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Always remember these magic words when dealing with high pressure sales dickheads: "Thank you for your quote, we will be in touch after we get some others." And, if they try to argue "please leave my house, now." Put another way: 
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Mar 6, 2024 15:23
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I can't really see the condition of your gutters from the pictures, but that seems like a lot of money just to wash them? FWIW we had our whole house (including gutters, not including roof) pressure washed last year for $325. Not in as expensive an area as Seattle, but not in a super LCOL one either.
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Mar 6, 2024 15:44
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Ham Equity, you need to get more quotes. Three is the absolute minimum required, imho.
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Mar 6, 2024 15:49
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GlyphGryph posted:Y'all make constantly feel like a huge loving weirdo, and you're all goons to begin with, which... well, that's a bit worrying. Have no fear, there are all kinds of huge loving weirdos here! GlyphGryph posted:Finding good infornation is not exactly quick and easy anymore. Good news, we have a whole subforum of DIY huge loving weirdos many of whom are the same cast and crew as here, but some others who don't wandering into BFC much. There are some dedicated trade threads as well as people (yes plural) "rebuilding their home while living in it." I try not to actively poach people over, but there are threads that can help on a lot of nuanced stuff there. If the K&T people above want to get info there is a thread for that as well. https://forums.somethingawful.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=210
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Mar 6, 2024 15:52
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GlyphGryph posted:Changing the hinges to the other side or getting a split door would definitely be an inprovement, I think No way to make it swing out without replacing the doorframe though. BFC > Homeowners: every part of this house is an addition
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Mar 6, 2024 15:55
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bloody ghost titty posted:The second house on which my fiancée bid and accepted turned up k&t all over, and that scuttled the whole deal. Why? Her parents are career realtors and have seen many a bad thing, but people lying about wiring, their insurance finding out and giving them 30 days to remediate it or have their mortgage cancelled is one that stood out to them, and dissuaded us from an otherwise lovely old house. For the record (and I'm not saying that you're accusing me specifically of this), we have not lied to our insurance company about the wiring. I understand the severity of giving false information to insurance. The insurance company does not know about the knob and tube because they haven't asked anything about wiring, much less knob and tube specifically. We will answer truthfully and completely if and when they ask. I got quotes from three insurance companies, only one of them asked about wiring or knob and tube, and I truthfully answered them. The other two didn't ask about knob and tube, or about wiring in general, and given the variety and depth of questions they *did* ask about things like the age of the house, the foundation, and the roof, my impression is that it was because it wasn't so material to their underwriting that it would affect their decision to offer coverage. I understand that this could change when they send an adjuster out to look at the house. But it does seem like some insurance companies are still covering houses with active knob and tube.
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Mar 6, 2024 16:08
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Cyrano4747 posted:This is absolutely a red flag and is a big sign that they know their prices aren't competitive. They want you not getting other quotes and finding out what the real cost of the project is. This makes me feel better; I thought maybe this is one of those times that everyone is fine with something that seems hosed up to me. Their quote doesn't explicitly call out them using subcontractors, but it doesn't say they won't, either; there is some boilerplate in it regarding leans that mentions them: quote:This contractor is registered with the state of Washington, registration no ########, and has posted with the state a bond or deposit of $12,000.00 for the purpose of satisfying claims against the contractor for breach of contract including negligent or improper work in the conduct of the contractor's business. The expiration date of this contractor's registration is mm/dd/yyyy. swickles posted:Yeah, as long as Chill Dudes is a licensed and bonded company, I would go with them. I have had some version of Chill Dudes do my roof, gutters, pest control etc. Turns out all of them are also now the most recommended in our area because of their pricing and work which is better than high pressure jerks.  Dr. Eldarion posted:I can't really see the condition of your gutters from the pictures, but that seems like a lot of money just to wash them? Sirotan posted:Ham Equity, you need to get more quotes. Three is the absolute minimum required, imho. 
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Mar 6, 2024 16:17
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Ham Equity posted:This makes me feel better; I thought maybe this is one of those times that everyone is fine with something that seems hosed up to me. Generally, house washing is done with a pressure cleaner, but on a much lower setting than you would do with wood or a paved surface. Unless of course you have a stone or brick facade. Point is, unless its just a neighbor kid doing it, they tend to know what setting to use on what material. One thing I am having trouble finding is someone to redo/expand my driveway. Right now its just a modified stone surface with some lovely, not meant for driveway stone that the previous owner put down. There is basically a spot for one car only which is framed out in wood to keep the grass at bay. I want to take out the wood, level the area (which is at a decent grade) and make it so I can park a couple cars. Would also probably want to get the retaining wall redone. I have had some people that do landscape/hardscape out and quotes are all over the place. Cheapest is 13k and highest is in the mid 20's. I tried calling an excavating company but they only do commercial. I am like this close to renting some power equipment and taking a week to do it myself. swickles fucked around with this message at 16:35 on Mar 6, 2024 |
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Mar 6, 2024 16:31
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Ham Equity posted:Blecchhh, I really don't want to, though. Considering the amount of agonizing you are putting into these decisions, getting a third quote would be the prudent thing to do here and in the future imho. If this was a <$1000 job two is probably fine, but for this amount of cash you really want to have as much information as possible to make an informed decision.
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Mar 6, 2024 17:25
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Ham Equity posted:So, the other project we had someone look at was de-mossing the roof. We're in Seattle, so it's moist and there's a lot of moss. It hasn't been cleaned off in awhile, as far as I can tell. We got two quotes, one from Hustle Harry, and one from Low-Key Larry. In this case, it's the opposite of the mold removal, where we're inclined to go with the more expensive option, as we liked the guy more, and he offers an annual service to keep the mold at bay (maybe this is a total ripoff, though). FWIW, I feel like any kind of moss removal project that does not include the installation of zinc strips is most likely there to sell their repeat business (i.e., ripping your ignorant rear end off). There are some caveats here of course, "loving with an old roof" is really high on the list of Things I Wouldn't Do As A Contractor because of the insane liability if you accidentally cause a leak, and also these moss contractors need to eat too, so if you or other people want to pay them the $375 a year moss bill then I can't fault the business model. But if your roof is reasonably new (say less than 10 years, which from the photos I'd say maybe?), you might even be able to get someone to "just" install the zinc strips and that would take care of your problem gradually. This guy did just that and it looks like it cleared up his moss problem pretty neatly without any further treatment. Of course you will find plenty of sites telling you that zinc strips are a bad idea but they seem to be mostly by moss treatment companies so lol
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Mar 6, 2024 18:20
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Paper Tiger posted:For the record (and I'm not saying that you're accusing me specifically of this), we have not lied to our insurance company about the wiring. I understand the severity of giving false information to insurance. The insurance company does not know about the knob and tube because they haven't asked anything about wiring, much less knob and tube specifically. We will answer truthfully and completely if and when they ask. You and your lawyer need to read any policy documents carefully. Plenty of insurance agents would be happy to have you pay premiums for years and years on a policy where "K&T homeowners: get hosed" is in the exclusions. Not asking is not the same as covering
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Mar 6, 2024 18:33
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The problem with moss on roofs is that if you get too much of it in the wrong places, it retains water that can seep under the tiles, right?
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Mar 6, 2024 18:55
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QuarkJets posted:You and your lawyer need to read any policy documents carefully. Plenty of insurance agents would be happy to have you pay premiums for years and years on a policy where "K&T homeowners: get hosed" is in the exclusions. Heard. We have a few electricians coming in over the next few days to take a look, so whatever happens we won't be caught flatfooted.
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Mar 6, 2024 19:03
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Hadlock posted:What is best practice for tree house construction. I have two, soon to be three nephews under six and a pair of mature redwoods 10' apart begging for a rope bridge between them. Seems like it would get at least moderate use The best practice is to throw your homeowner's insurance a going-away party. >>but looks like you can even buy stuff on Amazon these days And definitely don't buy those.
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Mar 6, 2024 22:47
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trevorreznik posted:Seeing you get a sale like this makes me worry I did actually screw up a few years ago getting siding/windows. We got two quotes in 2021, then two more quotes from the same two companies in 2022 that were extremely hard sales. I was worried about inflation at that point and when the quotes came in the same (all 4 were within a few grand of each other on ~50k total) I was ready to pull the trigger. I probably should have shopped around more but it's such an awful, predatory system where it was very hard to get anyone to show up, then the minute they do it's buy now for big discounts!! My wife and I are in agreement that high pressure sales people get nothing from us. The sales guy for the siding we hired was pretty chill, more then willing to talk to us about stuff but not pressuring us. In comparison, the other quote we got the guy was super high pressure, didn't want to leave... one of our neighbors told us later he took a piss in our bushes. We just had the same thing with roofers - we called the local place that does work all over town, they gave us a quote after like 10m, the guy clearly knew wtf he was talking about. We called some other place to get a quote, he was here for over an hour, decided to for some reason ask us if we were having children??? He spent a bunch of time going over poo poo I don't care about. If anyone goes out to their car and says "I need to call my boss" that's an immediate red flag. Come back to me with a quote later? Sure, I get it. The whole "let me call someone else" is 100% someone I don't want to deal with. Also, we've got a pretty simple house, 1 story, 10 windows, front door and sliding door. PainterofCrap posted:Goddamn I want one of those Retro doors; their current catalog no longer shows them. They are loving sick. My only suggestion is if you do get one look into something to protect from UV - I'm probably going to clay bar + treat ours with some sort of car ceramic coating (it gets full sun in the afternoon and isn't as shiny as it was initially)
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Mar 7, 2024 03:55
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bloody ghost titty posted:The second house on which my fiancée bid and accepted turned up k&t all over, and that scuttled the whole deal. Why? Her parents are career realtors and have seen many a bad thing, but people lying about wiring, their insurance finding out and giving them 30 days to remediate it or have their mortgage cancelled is one that stood out to them, and dissuaded us from an otherwise lovely old house. When I bought my place, I had a very thorough (and expensive) home inspection. He removed switch plate covers and peeked around at wiring. His report says ‘updated wiring, romex’ blah blah something. The first time I went to change a switch or something, I saw the romex ‘upgrade’ was 6” of romex from the back of the switch and out the back of the box. Outside the box is where it was wire-nutted to original K&T. This was down throughout the house. That’s not counting the speaker wire as electric runs the PO had done in the kitchen and basement bath.
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Mar 7, 2024 14:28
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Jesus Christ.
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Mar 7, 2024 14:40
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mr.belowaverage posted:That’s not counting the speaker wire as electric runs the PO had done in the kitchen and basement bath.
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Mar 7, 2024 14:56
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GlyphGryph posted:The problem with moss on roofs is that if you get too much of it in the wrong places, it retains water that can seep under the tiles, right? Yeah, it can basically act like a sponge. Worse, it grows in the cracks between the shingles, so it can actually lift the edges of the shingles and encourage more moisture to get in there. It can also prevent other debris (leaves etc) from coming off the roof by providing a surface for them to collect on, which in turn leads to them decomposing and providing more dirt for more moss etc. It can also clog up your gutters and attract animals to your roof that you'd rather not spend all their time there. If it's left there long enough it can also encourage decomposition of the roof itself, in part because poo poo stays damp all the time. It's not good. That said, there is a huge loving difference between a little moss on a few tiles that you can just clear off with a push broom yourself and a thick loving mat that's basically soil over your roof shingles. If you've got it to the point where people need to climb up there with scraping tools and remove a multi-inch thick mat from your roof yeah, get pros out and probably have your roof inspected for damage after. If it's just a bit growing in the cracks you can take care of it yourself. Spray the roof down with a hose to get it damp, and then crawl up there with a spray can full of 50/50 water and bleach. Hose everything down with that really well and let it sit for an hour or so. Then go back up and wash the roof off. Most of the now-dead moss will just come off with the spray attachment on the hose (not powerwasher) and anything that doesn't can be manually pulled out by hand or with a brush. While you're up there check for damaged tiles and spots where the moss was growing up under them, because you're probably going to need to do a repair there. I don't get why everyone in here is so blase about moss on their roofs. It's not the end of the world if you've got a bit, but it's 100% a maintenance item that you need to stay on top of if you live someplace like the PacNW where moss growing in cracks is just a thing that's going to happen. That said, it's also the sort of thing that is well within the ability of a typical homeowner to take care of themselves, especially at the level of preventing serious growth. Think of it like washing and staining a deck: if you stay on top of that poo poo and take care of it annually, it's going to stay good for a long time. If you let it go for years on end you're going to wake up one morning to find that poo poo's rotted.
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Mar 7, 2024 14:59
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On the other hand, I can also completely understand even someone who is otherwise handy not wanting to do roof work, since it's actually really damned dangerous even if its not complicated or difficult. Also, I went outside to take a picture of what is definitely Too Much Moss.  Luckily this is not my house, it's just the shed outside and the roof is definitely not the first part that's gonna fail lol. I'm already planning on replacing it. That mossy roof in the back left is also not my house, but that one I do actually care about (it's the carport) but get up there is actually super loving terrifying lol, I gotta try to clean it off this summer though. I also need to finish preparing the area I'm relocating it to, I don't want to waste all that pretty moss. Cyrano4747 posted:That said, it's also the sort of thing that is well within the ability of a typical homeowner to take care of themselves, especially at the level of preventing serious growth. Think of it like washing and staining a deck: if you stay on top of that poo poo and take care of it annually, it's going to stay good for a long time. If you let it go for years on end you're going to wake up one morning to find that poo poo's rotted. poo poo, I never even thought about the fact that I'll have to maintain this debt. Is there somewhere that has just, a comprehensive list of all the house poo poo you might have to maintain? I have a feeling there's a ton of stuff I'm missing. H110Hawk posted:Have no fear, there are all kinds of huge loving weirdos here! Just for you I posted my latest dumb poo poo in that thread and made myself look like an idiot their instead. Edit: They definitely think I'm a stupid weirdo now, mission accomplished? GlyphGryph fucked around with this message at 16:46 on Mar 7, 2024 |
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Mar 7, 2024 15:44
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GlyphGryph posted:
This is the most perfect autocorrect error ever holy lol
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Mar 7, 2024 16:53
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If you don't want that moss give it to me.
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Mar 7, 2024 17:17
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100 HOGS AGREE posted:If you don't want that moss give it to me. Moss is awesome. It's great on logs, between rocks edging your garden, tons of places. It sucks on walkways (because it can be slippery as gently caress) and on roofs (because roof repairs are expensive and water inside the house more so)
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Mar 7, 2024 18:30
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I listened to a guy talk about how difficult a "moss lawn" is at a home show a few weeks ago, and what I'm learning from that, and then this conversation is that moss does whatever the hell it wants.
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Mar 7, 2024 19:28
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Moss is super hard to grow in conditions where it does badly, and very difficult to get not to grow if you live in conditions where they do. Unfortunately for most people they want it to grow exclusively in the first situation and never in the second. My ex's father's house would basically start reverting to its natural state of "4 inch deep moss lawn" the moment you started neglecting it, and eventually he gave up and just declared that was it how it was supposed to be. I loved walking at that springy as gently caress carpet after a couple years, just super satisfying, like a natural mattress except it was the whole yard.
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Mar 7, 2024 19:37
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GlyphGryph posted:My ex's father's house would basically start reverting to its natural state of "4 inch deep moss lawn" the moment you started neglecting it
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Mar 7, 2024 19:54
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Moss on walkways is easy to remove, but if it's on dirt just leave it alone imo moss looks cool
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Mar 7, 2024 19:58
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I love moss, but my lawn gets a lot of traffic and moss tears up and gets thrown around super easily so I try to limit it to the areas I dont go a lot so I dont have to spend as much time putting it back, hah. Absolutely beautiful but not very practical for anywhere that you actually interact with
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Mar 7, 2024 20:03
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I've gotten 5 estimates for tree trimming, all have the required insurance. I'm not getting Chuck and a truck to come and trim branches that are over my roof. The prices vary wildly, though, and reviews are scarce for tree trimming in this area. The job is to trim 3 pecan trees with branches overhanging the roof, 1 pecan tree that needs to be cleaned up, 1 stump removed & grinded, 1 stump grinded. $3800: This company is the largest in the area, uses the local university branding, does a walk around estimate. Charges $75 for an arborist to come and talk to you for an hour if you don't like the walkaround. 4.6 with 51 reviews $2500: Guy walked around my property with me, described what limbs to cut and what not to. Sounded like he knew what he was talking about. $2000 for the trees, $500 for the stumps. 4.9 average for 17 reviews. $1965: The estimate was done by a certified arborist, determined what needed to be done by my descriptions. Three 5 star reviews, one 1 star review. $800: I walked around describing what I wanted trimmed and the guy was very receptive. He also pointed out that my catalpa tree was likely 80% dead and that it needed to be removed (the previous residents crowned it, other estimators mentioned this). He also told me to cut the chicken wire that was wound around another pecan tree. He quoted $800 for the entire job including removing the dead tree. He told me he's been doing this as a side job for years and just started doing it full-time this year. Talked about his equipment, 150 lbs tension robes, renting a lift if he needs to, he has a crew, etc. Said some companies don't get insured or let theirs lapse, his premium was $1800/year. Lamented figuring out the online advertising game. Four 5 star reviews (most recent was Jan 2024), one 1 star review in 2012. $725: She listened to my description of what needed to be done and assessed that it was less than a half day's work. Told me that some companies want you to pay for their kids' college. Told me her insurance was $2 mill comprehensive. When I mentioned taking out the tree, she said $1925 for the trimming and taking out the tree. One hundred and fifty reviews to average 4.9 stars. Thoughts? The dead tree is far enough away that if it lands on anything it's going to be grass or concrete. Obviously, you don't want to skimp on tree trimming services or removal services. I guess I'm questioning the really good deal of $800 to trim everything and take the tree out, unless he needs word of mouth to help expand his business.
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Mar 7, 2024 20:34
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Struensee posted:Jesus Christ.
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Mar 7, 2024 20:46
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I'd try out the $800 guy if you can verify that he's insured. Are these ratings from BBB or somewhere else? Check their listings with the BBB too, if you haven't.
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Mar 7, 2024 20:47
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Also check out Google Reviews and Yelp. That was the best places for "no really this guy honestly screwed me the gently caress over" info when I was compiling my case against the HVAC company.
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Mar 7, 2024 20:49
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I am in a similar situation right now and need to get off my rear end for a 3rd quote. First guy I called made a couple bigoted/racist comments and also offered to remove a city tree for me in an illegal and dangerous way! He was cheaper than the well known company the local university always uses though, lol. 88 reviews on Google averaging 4.9 stars. I'd go with the $725 quote honestly, the $800 quote dude complaining about how bad he is at business kinda weirds me out.
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Mar 7, 2024 21:00
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