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unknown posted:Heloc is just easier (use only what you need) and generally the rates are the same. Also, it's still there in the future in case something else breaks and you need to draw against it. Ie: with a Heloc, you only pay when you use it. with us bank at least the heloc also stipulates a minimum of 15k, is that typical? the other things that could "break" are all things where if I replaced them I would be able to to do at a zero interest rate. i'm in a condo so it's really just appliances and hvac. I'm thinking maybe something like a small home improvement loan would be better for me, as I honestly probably only need more like 10-12k actionjackson fucked around with this message at 20:59 on Dec 18, 2021 |
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Dec 18, 2021 20:50
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actionjackson posted:with us bank at least the heloc also stipulates a minimum of 15k, is that typical? HELOC's are great for that. You take a $15k line of credit and just write checks to people out of it. You only pay interest on what you draw. So if you draw $4k+4k+4k for your $12k job you only pay interest as the checks clear. It's like a credit card that can foreclose on your house.
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Dec 18, 2021 21:48
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What’s a fair price for a roof inspection? Roof is flat TPO.
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Dec 18, 2021 21:54
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Anyone know a good way to get shelves of a specific size I'm looking for a shallow set of shelves (between 6 and 8 inches), that's less than 48'' tall, but can be very long. I found something that almost worked from Ikea, but turns out Ikea doesn't do shipping. I might end up having to just make them myself.
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Dec 19, 2021 00:22
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My house is top-to-bottom 1980s original inside. About 3,000 SF, it's 4 BD/2.5 BA, two-story. Roofs, windows, HVAC, are all brand new and the interior was recently painted. Foundation was inspected and looks good, and we installed a crawlspace sump/vapor barrier and replaced some support posts that were looking old and rotten. It's time to do the FUN stuff!! The floors, kitchen, bathrooms, baseboards, trims, doors, garage floor/doors, and the two wood-burning fireplaces are ready to get replaced. As I understand it this isn't a "gut" remodel because the walls don't need to get knocked down and I don't want to move the locations of any electrical or water sources. I don't really want to have a lot of direct involvement in the "design" portion because I have no eye for this stuff. I'd like to just... look at some sample bathrooms, kitchens, living rooms etc and tell them "make it look like this". Do I still want to work with a Design & Build firm? Or start with a designer and then find a GC? A project like this seems like I'll attract bids anywhere from $50 to $250 per SF so I want to avoid as many mistakes as possible.
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Dec 19, 2021 00:39
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H110Hawk posted:HELOC's are great for that. You take a $15k line of credit and just write checks to people out of it. You only pay interest on what you draw. So if you draw $4k+4k+4k for your $12k job you only pay interest as the checks clear. It's like a credit card that can foreclose on your house. so when it says 15k minimum, what happens if I spend less than that?
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Dec 19, 2021 02:41
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On a HELOC? You have additional "money" you could draw down. Think of a HELOC like a credit card, with a much lower interest rate, and generally a fixed time that it's available to use. I think ours was only valid for 10 years, but unless you end up somehow with less equity in 10 years than you have now, it was trivial to reapply for it. For instance, we had 30k available to spend from ours, but only ever used 10-12k at any given time. Our monthly payment was also interest-only, but obviously that'll never pay down the money you spent, so you should have a plan for repayment.
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Dec 19, 2021 03:40
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actionjackson posted:so when it says 15k minimum, what happens if I spend less than that? As the other poster said it just remains in the "available" balance. Ask your banker to be sure. At 5% per year you will pay interest on the $12k you spent, about $600/year. ($12k *.05 =$600) If you spend another $28 on a light bulb out of your heloc that's another $1.40/year in interest. If spend a total of $15,001 that last dollar is denied. Let's say you pay it off. Then in a few years you want to buy 100 matching $28 light bulbs. I don't know, live your best lit life. Then you can without any further paperwork pull $2,800 and start accruing interest and making payments again. It just sits there idle in the interim. It's most similar to a credit card. The minimum is just the smallest line of credit they will bother with the paperwork for, not the amount you must pull out.
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Dec 19, 2021 04:00
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H110Hawk posted:As the other poster said it just remains in the "available" balance. Ask your banker to be sure. At 5% per year you will pay interest on the $12k you spent, about $600/year. ($12k *.05 =$600) If you spend another $28 on a light bulb out of your heloc that's another $1.40/year in interest. If spend a total of $15,001 that last dollar is denied. I think my fundamental issue is that I want to avoid interest whenever possible. For most stuff you can get zero interest, like with the aforementioned hvac and appliances, and there's not much left that I want to do where doing interest-free financing wouldn't be an option. For my kitchen cabinets, I'm going to see if I can work out some sort of deal with them for zero interest if I pay it off in a short enough amount of time, so it's mainly redoing my shower. I've found with the latter, you can get places to do it at a reasonable price if you pay upfront, whereas a big box place will let you do zero-interest financing, but will charge you a lot more overall. This is the kind of case where I'm thinking a loan might make sense. can you pay back a HELOC as quickly as you'd like to reduce interest payments?
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Dec 19, 2021 04:51
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Just two more months and I’m getting my new kitchen From lovely gas stove and 70s design to granite, induction, gripless I can’t loving wait
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Dec 19, 2021 05:45
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actionjackson posted:
Yes
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Dec 19, 2021 06:17
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Kitchen countertops came off today, and we got the sink and the garbage disposal out. Guess what we found UNDER the counter? Yup, rat poo poo. I don't know how the gently caress it was under there, I suspect they were running around behind the kitchen drawers and on top of the sliding cutting board or something. Pretty incredible. I've decided to just refinish the floors in the house. Red oak floors are so expensive right now and covering them with primer will just ruin them, I might as well just think of it as an investment that is "free" since hardwood floors will increase the value of the place dramatically.
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Dec 19, 2021 08:59
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AHH F/UGH posted:I might as well just think of it as an investment that is "free" since hardwood floors will increase the value of the place dramatically. 
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Dec 19, 2021 11:43
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AHH F/UGH posted:I've decided to just refinish the floors in the house. Red oak floors are so expensive right now and covering them with primer will just ruin them, I might as well just think of it as an investment that is "free" since hardwood floors will increase the value of the place dramatically. I find your reasoning and math to be suspect but am very much enjoying the play by play.
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Dec 19, 2021 14:31
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AHH F/UGH posted:Kitchen countertops came off today, and we got the sink and the garbage disposal out. It was there because the house was infested with rodents and, like several of us were telling you as soon as you described this place, it is a gut job. Because absolutely everything you don't open up will also be full of rat poo poo which will remain there. Hopefully in places where there is no air exchange or danger to the occupants. But that's certainly not any sort of guarantee, and spraying/ionizing is merely treating the cosmetics unless and until you get all of it out.
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Dec 19, 2021 15:06
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CloFan posted:Yes ah ok thank you
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Dec 19, 2021 15:07
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Motronic posted:gut job Edit: Point being: AHH F/UGH, you appear to be putting a bandaid on a sucking chest wound. stealie72 fucked around with this message at 16:06 on Dec 19, 2021 |
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Dec 19, 2021 16:02
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Have you hired that exterminator yet
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Dec 19, 2021 16:56
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Upgrade posted:Have you hired that exterminator yet
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Dec 19, 2021 16:58
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It's just poop. It's not going to crawl out of the walls at night and despoil your sofa
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Dec 19, 2021 17:12
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Epitope posted:It's just poop. It's not going to crawl out of the walls at night and despoil your sofa Of course not. It's just going to come out as a fine dust through every penetration (outlet and switch plates, lighting) during temperature changes. Basically forever. This is how you make one of those houses where everyone who lives there for any amount of time seems to come down with weird undiagnosable respiratory problems and skin issues.
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Dec 19, 2021 17:21
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Motronic posted:Of course not. It's just going to come out as a fine dust through every penetration (outlet and switch plates, lighting) during temperature changes. Basically forever. Probably quote:This is how you make one of those houses where everyone who lives there for any amount of time seems to come down with weird undiagnosable respiratory problems and skin issues. Lol. Poop is not some magical toxic substance. It carries infectious disease, but infectious disease can't survive indefinitely in your walls
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Dec 19, 2021 17:29
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Epitope posted:Probably Allergies aren't infectious diseases.
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Dec 19, 2021 17:47
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Arsenic Lupin posted:Allergies aren't infectious diseases. Sure, it's not like rodent poop is a total non issue, and your point about the wiring is fair (Though is it more of a concern than PO fuckery?). Just, people have lead paint and asbestos and are ok with mitigating it. But "rat poo poo = sucking chest wound, tear down" is just goons picking on this guy
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Dec 19, 2021 17:54
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And also cat piss. Don't forget the gallons of cat piss.
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Dec 19, 2021 18:00
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Speaking of rodent infestations. My house had a rodent infestation in the attic that was eliminated years before I moved in, but the attic blown in insulation still has lots of droppings and staining from it. I've got some Rockwool batts coming that I plan to put in place of the soiled insulation and eventually the whole attic. Since I'm Texas, my attic reaches a billion degrees in the summer and that seem to have neutralized everything the rodents left behind, and my attic doesn't even smell. However, I figure since I'll have the insulation out and the wood and backside of the ceiling exposed, I should spray something to disinfect while I'm at it. The CDC recommends a 1:9 bleach/water solution. Does anyone have any opinions on if that's the best option or is there some commercially available spray that's better? Also another related question: Because my house has a 3:12 roof pitch and is small, my attic is like 4' at the tallest part, and the ductwork and support members make it difficult to access a lot of the areas between the ceiling joists for insulation purposes. Every YouTube batt installation video pretty much just shows people cutting it to size and sticking it into their easily accessible wall cavities. Is there some tricks that would help getting it under things and into tight corners easier? I'm thinking maybe some thin sheets of plywood or acrylic that I can stick between the rockwool and the joists on each side would let me push and slide the insulation into areas I need it, then I can pull the shims up, leaving the rockwool in place between the joists.
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Dec 19, 2021 18:01
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Epitope posted:Sure, it's not like rodent poop is a total non issue, and your point about the wiring is fair (Though is it more of a concern than PO fuckery?). Just, people have lead paint and asbestos and are ok with mitigating it. But "rat poo poo = sucking chest wound, tear down" is just goons picking on this guy Lead paint and asbestos mitigation without removal involve encapsulation. It's a pretty straightforward and well understood process which when done properly leaves ZERO exposed contaminant that will continue to generate dust through temperature changes and air movement in the structure. Cleaning up only the poo poo you're willing to expose during your cosmetic renovation is not the same thing as this. At all. Especially when the OP is SURPRISED at where they are finding it......that indicates they have no idea how extensive the issue actually is. And all this after multiple posters have already brought this up.
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Dec 19, 2021 18:11
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stealie72 posted:And also cat piss. Don't forget the gallons of cat piss.  Dried cat piss
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Dec 19, 2021 18:44
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movax posted:Not sure if there's another thread in GWS or something like that, but I'll try here -- my fridge is the original-to-the-house 1984 Sub-Zero that is still running. In fact, it runs entirely too well right now in the sense that it is eating shitloads of power because it won't stop running as I think the gasket is hosed (I don't get a little bit of suction when I shut and then try to re-open the door) and 30+ year old parts are non-existent. I think it may literally be costing me $150+/month alone in energy if I believe my Emporia power monitor, because there's nothing else in the kitchen that runs that often. FWIW the appliance repair place I work at still does refurbs on Sub Zeros from as far back as the 70s, and generally finding parts is not an issue because most of the mechanical parts were used in models for years later. Unless you're really just looking for an excuse to buy a new unit it'd probably be worth the $150 or whatever to get a repair guy out to look at it, could just be a cold control or a thermistor that's lunched it and the whole thing'll be fixed for (relatively) cheap. Eventually the compressor will burn itself out if keeps running all the time, and that won't be a very cheap repair.
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Dec 19, 2021 18:46
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SpartanIvy posted:Speaking of rodent infestations. My house had a rodent infestation in the attic that was eliminated years before I moved in, but the attic blown in insulation still has lots of droppings and staining from it. Yeah blow in cellulose. Seriously. You can have a company out to such out the existing and blow in new stuff. Or do it yourself. Or do a combo - bat's where you can reach and blow in the rest to top it off. Just make sure you leave room for your soffit vents to exchange air. The spray will work fine to disinfect. Put it in a pump sprayer with a hose to get the nooks and crannys. Bleach is a great all purpose disinfectant.
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Dec 19, 2021 19:29
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H110Hawk posted:Just make sure you leave room for your soffit vents to exchange air. It's on the todo list to pop the soffit vents off and run a camera up there to see what the situation is, and possibly try to vacuum the soffits out. SpartanIvy fucked around with this message at 19:41 on Dec 19, 2021 |
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Dec 19, 2021 19:36
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Question about my new house's automatic sprinkler system, since I've never had a house with one. Is there anything I need to do before the temperatures start getting super cold/staying there? It sounds like I need to have someone come by to blow out my sprinklers? Apparently the previous owners didn't have that done since they were in the process of selling the house.
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Dec 19, 2021 21:26
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Residency Evil posted:Question about my new house's automatic sprinkler system, since I've never had a house with one. Is there anything I need to do before the temperatures start getting super cold/staying there? It sounds like I need to have someone come by to blow out my sprinklers? Apparently the previous owners didn't have that done since they were in the process of selling the house. Blow out? Drain for sure, but blow out seems like overkill unless your yard is so perfectly flat that there is no drain and forced air is the only way.
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Dec 19, 2021 21:28
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I just moved to Denver and 'blow out' seems to be the correct term, or at least it's the one literally everyone talks about. I got mine literally blown out a couple of months ago. The guy came with some machine (compressor?) on his truck and blew out my sprinklers.
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Dec 19, 2021 21:58
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Residency Evil posted:Question about my new house's automatic sprinkler system, since I've never had a house with one. Is there anything I need to do before the temperatures start getting super cold/staying there? It sounds like I need to have someone come by to blow out my sprinklers? Apparently the previous owners didn't have that done since they were in the process of selling the house. What sprinkler system? If lawn/landscape then yes, it should be blown out. If set up properly you should be able to do this yourself with an air compressor. If residential fire suppression/NFPA 13D system it should be filled with antifreeze and needs very little maintenance, but should be inspected to make sure the PO has not done something stupid. Beef Of Ages posted:Blow out? Drain for sure, but blow out seems like overkill unless your yard is so perfectly flat that there is no drain and forced air is the only way. It's not about how flat your yard is, it's about how sprinkler pipes are literally flexible pipe buried underground and by no means properly sloped in the overwhelming amount of situations. Also, where the hell do you think the drain would be at the lowest point even if your entire yard was on a hill? It would have to be literally underground or down slope more than a foot below the lowest sprinklers, now wouldn't it? This is why you use compressed air. Motronic fucked around with this message at 22:35 on Dec 19, 2021 |
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Dec 19, 2021 22:31
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H110Hawk posted:Yeah blow in cellulose. Seriously. This is the right answer. None of the advantages of RW make much sense in an attic, and install will be way more difficult/expensive. You'll probably get better effective R-value anyway, since a dense pile of cellulose does a better job of air sealing than batts do.
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Dec 20, 2021 03:32
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Rats aren't necessarily the end of the world. It's just the fact that while looking through all of the cat pee, rat poo, and finding it everywhere you didn't expect to see it in the kitchen... And yeah, this may not necessarily be a full teardown but I would use the opportunity to re-do wiring and get everything behind the walls while you can. PS: don't gently caress with asbestos/lead paint.
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Dec 20, 2021 05:14
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Ripping the house down to studs is the best. poo poo rip out the subfloor too and install it the right way. Scope creep it slider to max every time. Perfect time to zone the hvac too.
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Dec 20, 2021 17:37
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Residency Evil posted:Question about my new house's automatic sprinkler system, since I've never had a house with one. Is there anything I need to do before the temperatures start getting super cold/staying there? It sounds like I need to have someone come by to blow out my sprinklers? Apparently the previous owners didn't have that done since they were in the process of selling the house. Yes blow it out and next year do it in October. I think its been cold enough that I wouldn't be surprised to find out your backflow preventor or anything else exposed is damaged now. You should do the internal shutoff now and drain it down if you haven't already.
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Dec 20, 2021 18:12
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Angry Pie posted:FWIW the appliance repair place I work at still does refurbs on Sub Zeros from as far back as the 70s, and generally finding parts is not an issue because most of the mechanical parts were used in models for years later. Unless you're really just looking for an excuse to buy a new unit it'd probably be worth the $150 or whatever to get a repair guy out to look at it, could just be a cold control or a thermistor that's lunched it and the whole thing'll be fixed for (relatively) cheap. Eventually the compressor will burn itself out if keeps running all the time, and that won't be a very cheap repair. If this is an option it may be your best bet, have you called around and asked how long it'll take to get a new Subzero? Our Viking built-in fridge died recently and unlike Subzero the parts for it haven't been made for years, repairman tried to source a new mainboard but what they got was a revision that didn't seem to work with the rest of the original electronics and it wasn't worth replacing the rest. We were told even if we got our current issue fixed the sealed systems were on borrowed time at its age and not fixable so we decided to just replace it. Like you we thought prices for built-in fridges were ridiculous but not wanting to deal with modifying the space we decided to bite the bullet and... oh welps 6 months optimistically to get any built-in fridge where I live, 10+ months for a Subzero, nevermind. We ended up ordering a regular counter-depth fridge which had the same capacity as our old built-in despite being a foot shorter and I'm just going to panel the area surrounding it in 1/4 veneered plywood that matches our cabinets.
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Dec 20, 2021 18:40
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