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That condo doesn't really have much storage space to begin with, getting rid of one closet and reducing another by 50% just to gain 2ft of living room space (which you're going to do what with? sit even farther back from your TV?) seems counterproductive to me.
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Jan 24, 2020 16:27
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I'm sure I'm looking at it from the view of a person that has too much goddamn stuff, but I mean that kitchen doesn't even have a pantry. I make no assumptions to the existence of any additional non-pictured storage options, but even if there were, seems like in a condo you'd generally wish to increase your storage options and not reduce them. Either way I still don't think taking out two closets just to make the living room 2ft wider is a good idea.
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Jan 24, 2020 22:51
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brugroffil posted:are radon self-testing kits worth a drat? The research I've done leads me to believe they are, if we're talking the charcoal-based tests that you leave out for 2+ days then send to a lab. I was recently debating whether I should spend $200 on one of those meters to leave in my basement and instead decided I'd just get the $20 tests every couple of years instead. Bought this one: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VCLZM3Z/ which thanks you reminded me that I need to do one of these now that my foundation work has all been completed.
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Feb 3, 2020 22:53
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My 30 second google found me a ton of RTA cabinets with shaker doors available to ship in 5-15 business days if you're willing to go down to 1/2" plywood construction.
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Feb 4, 2020 22:19
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DaveSauce posted:jfc there needs to be a Nextdoor thread somewhere. https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3912275
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Feb 20, 2020 16:09
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USPS helpfully informed me that I'll be receiving a letter in the mail today regarding the first property tax reassessment since I bought my home. In Michigan a property sale triggers the SEV (state equalized value) to become uncapped, and the taxable value is raised to meet that. Taxes going up 27%. I expected a jump but gently caress, not that much. 
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Feb 24, 2020 15:11
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Jose Valasquez posted:You could hire a lawyer and appeal and probably get it down some, at least that's the song and dance around here Honestly, compared to what the taxable value of my neighbor's homes are, my new assessment seems pretty fair. I would guess I'd lose an appeal, though it seems here it's all handled through small claims courts so it's possible I could try for no or very little money out of pocket.
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Feb 24, 2020 15:51
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totalnewbie posted:But after all that work you put in, your house is going to be worth way more than what it's going to be taxed on, so that's the flip side of the coin. Yeah I guess it's just more of a surprise than anything. I'm sure not having heat all weekend (still waiting on the service tech with my special order part) made me less amenable to this information as well. Edit: heat is back on and I got the actual letter in my hand now and ouch 
Sirotan fucked around with this message at 22:03 on Feb 24, 2020 |
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Feb 24, 2020 16:30
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Current mileage for my city is 69.24 so I'm looking at over $5k/yr in property taxes this year (new taxable value is $72,400). Everybody thinks Ann Arbor is expensive (it is) but lol their mileage is only 49.41. My monthly mortgage payment will likely go up more than $100.. I just wish this process has been more transparent to me going in. I've got a long text conversation with my real estate agent where I tried to understand how much the tax assessment would likely go up after year 1, I was worried it would jump up to ~$85k (true 50% market value) making the home largely unaffordable to me and he assured me that would not happen and that instead it would go up to meet the previous SEV of $59,400. Another $1k/yr isn't going to bankrupt me or anything, but obviously I should have done more research to understand what the SEV of comps and my neighbor's homes are to better predict this new assessment. Except I don't think anything I read or anyone I talked to clued me into that before hand, besides my agent who only gave me wrong advice?? Even the first time homebuyer class I went to really said gently caress all about this except for a generic *your taxes will probably go up after you buy" statement. tl;dr I have made peace with this and I am still within my budget but wow houses are expensive and I should be sleeping Sirotan fucked around with this message at 08:34 on Feb 25, 2020 |
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Feb 25, 2020 08:30
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I had a near verbatim discussion with my lender that went into more detail and they gave me the same information my agent did. They expected the home taxable value to raise to the then current SEV of $59,400. It did not and now it's $72,400. I have done plenty of reading since my last post and tbqh the only way I could have guessed what my tax rate was going to be was to look at neighbor's homes and comps and see what they were assessed at, but even that is a best guess kind of situation. I don't think you can even be certain that a new assessment will take place, only that the taxable value is uncapped to meet the SEV. I knew all of the above before buying this place, I'm not sure there's anything I could have done differently to have predicted this. 
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Feb 27, 2020 05:34
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FYI Amazon does not sell a ton of the top rated battery-powered lawnmowers. I need to buy one myself and an currently leaning towards the Ryobi 40V mower since their battery-powered tool ecosystem seems well rated and pretty affordable. EGO seems to be the gold standard for battery-powered mowers but they're a bit more spendy than I'm looking for.
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Mar 29, 2020 22:32
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joepinetree posted:Any good places to order self install blinds and curtains? All places around me are closed for corona and I am taking ownership of my new condo next week There are a million websites online that are all basically reselling the same couple of brands. Pick one to get a bunch of free samples from, and then price out what you want from a handful of them to find the best price. They might not tell you they are just reselling Bali blinds, but the color code/name will be the same across the board. Quoting a post from the home spergin thread: Sirotan posted:
I just bought two more blinds for another room, one of which was the same size as above, and this time around Lowe's was the cheapest at $84.70. Lead time seems to be 3-4 weeks everywhere right now.
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Apr 17, 2020 14:04
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I got the cheap poo poo for ceilings and inside closets, because it looks fine and you don't need to spend $60/gal on a surface you can't touch/see. Behr Ceiling Ultra White, $17/gal, would recommend.
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May 25, 2020 15:30
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H110Hawk posted:Live your best life, get the purple to white ceiling paint. But otherwise agreed.  I had no idea that was a thing.
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May 25, 2020 16:12
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These posts making me pretty scared to find out what my utilities bills are going to be my first summer in this house. 
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Jun 1, 2020 01:47
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movax posted:I have a garage door question. Rusted over lock on the outside was probably something like this this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Chamberlain-Quick-Release-Key-for-Garage-Doors-7702CB-P/303335537 I had one of these installed on my garage door when I moved into my new place because the garage had no other external door. This hooks up to the manual disconnect on the track so you can use the key to pull the cord from outside in case you lose power. Manual disconnect on the track should look like this, and if you don't see it maybe you just need a new cord: 
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Jun 3, 2020 12:08
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Spikes32 posted:You need to take it to animal control to test for rabies ASAP. It may have bitten you without you Knowing in your sleep. Just going to pile on here because this is no joke. https://vitals.lifehacker.com/if-a-bat-was-in-your-bedroom-you-probably-need-a-rabie-1828720417
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Jun 21, 2020 16:32
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Bioshuffle posted:After hours and hours of research, I am leaning towards the SpeedQueen, but I keep reading about the high water use. Just how much water are we talking here? I'm assuming it's a negligible difference? I don't need my washer to connect to Wifi, I just want it to wash clothes and do it well. https://speedqueen.com/products/home-products/top-load-washers/tc5/ Negligible as compared to what? From what I've read of Speed Queen they included an 'ECO' cycle option on all their washing machines to get around HE requirements, but that that cycle is completely ineffective and pointless. You'll end up using one of the definitely not eco cycles all the time and use a ton of water. Anecdotally I have read that traditional washing machines with agitators use 40-45 gallons per load, with high efficiency around 15-25. I know a couple years back when I was living with family my mom replaced her old Whirlpool washing machine with a new LG (top load) HE washer. It had impellers and used so little water compared to our old washer that I wasn't initially convinced it would really get things clean. It does a great job and I don't think I could bring myself to buy a non-high efficiency model whenever I need to replace the set that just came with my house. I guess it was the Wirecutter writeup on them that convinced me to never buy one: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/speed-queen-review/
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Jul 2, 2020 14:58
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Bioshuffle posted:Am I going to kick myself if I decide to paint and redo the flooring of my new house before moving in? I spent several weeks refinishing all the wood floors in my house before moving in, there is absolutely no way I could have done it after move-in. The fumes from the polyurethane alone would have made the place uninhabitable, not to mention the dust. If all I had to do was replace carpet, yeah I could probably manage that but it would still be a pain in the rear end. Painting is a bit easier to do while you're living in the place compared to flooring work but if you have the time/funds to do both of those things before you are living there I would 1000% recommend it.
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Jul 8, 2020 22:06
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Pro-tip: deep frying your turkey is a game changer. Faster, less cleanup, delicious crispy skin. If you're not an idiot it's not anymore dangerous than doing it in your oven. Highly recommended.
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Jul 11, 2020 02:21
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Academician Nomad posted:Hmm, okay, thanks - I certainly tried to get something to plug in at the same time with no luck, but maybe I didn't push hard enough. Unless you have kids I'd probably swap them out anyway, I find them really hard to use myself.
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Jul 16, 2020 16:20
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Bird in a Blender posted:I would add a support near the sprinkler head. If that thing went off, it's going to bounce around a lot since you don't have anything holding it in place for at least 7'. While I don't disagree, if that sprinkler goes off it will douse everything with tens/hundreds of gallons of putrid water and op is gonna have much bigger concerns than a couple dents in the ceiling plaster.
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Jul 23, 2020 20:07
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It would be easier/better to have your mother transfer the deed to a trust with you and your sister as beneficiaries of the trust. This should be pretty straightforward with the help of an attorney.
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Jul 29, 2020 02:07
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I got this one, and also bought the HEPA filter plus the vacuum bags and have been very satisfied with it: https://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-12-Gal-5-0-Peak-HP-NXT-Wet-Dry-Shop-Vacuum-with-Filter-Hose-and-Accessories-HD1200/304006023 Probably my most used tool since thus far.
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Jul 31, 2020 04:05
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Bioshuffle posted:Coincidentally, the 14 gallon one seems to be on sale for the same price. Will it be too big to lug around comfortably? Which one should I get? Honestly I probably wouldn't want the extra 2 gallons, the 12gal is already pretty decent sized and when it's got a lot of debris in it can be a little challenging to lug up and down from my basement.
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Jul 31, 2020 12:52
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MayakovskyMarmite posted:Bought a house and now need to worry about lawn care. Anyone have a recommendation for an electric lawnmower for a pretty small yard? I got the Ego push mower 21" and have been extremely happy with it.
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Aug 10, 2020 13:11
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Honestly I can't fault anyone who uses duct tape on ducts. It's a wonder product that works on just about everything...except ducts. I would bet the vast majority of people do not know this.
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Aug 11, 2020 00:43
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Finally got a quote yesterday from a siding guy on fixing my patio flashing: $750. That's apparently their minimum charge for all "specialty" jobs. lmao Took the week off to "relax", so naturally I spent my day ripping off all my door trim and the course of siding directly above the slab and grinding down the high spots of concrete with an angle grinder. The door trim was embedded in the concrete down about 2", so now there's this huge 6" wide gap. Also the flashing they installed (only behind the siding and not behind any of the door trim) was a section of siding they just turned upside down and filled with a bunch of caulk on the top only. Water wouldn't go up but nothing stopping it from going down. Just the shittiest of jobs by whatever crew did this, I hate them very much. But I'm covering it with butyl flashing tape and galvanized flashing tomorrow. Kinda going at this by the seat of my pants, and lots of Youtube watching.
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Aug 12, 2020 00:00
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I realized I'm replacing my door trim tomorrow and don't have a working doorbell at my place. Should I go buy some bell wire and run in through my new trim? Is wired the way to go? Or wireless? I'm not interested in a Ring or other IoT doorbell.
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Aug 12, 2020 02:19
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Bioshuffle posted:I have taken your advice about using a toggle bolt for shelving units, but I don't have a powered drill. I'll have to wait until I can borrow one since I want to try and buy most of my things during black friday. Owning a cordless drill is absolutely essential to home ownership and waiting 3 months to save several dollars is going to make your life needlessly more difficult. Just buy one now, better yet, get a combo kit with an impact driver.
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Aug 12, 2020 18:55
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Bioshuffle posted:Growing up, my dad's always sworn by Dewalt, but I'm tempted by Ryobi line of tools. Not sure what the brushless hubbub is about, but I'm guessing it won't apply to me if I don't even know? I got this recently to replace a 15+ year old DeWalt cordless drill and it is insanely great, the difference in torque over my old https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DQ19B1S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_2ienFbTVCP18T Sirotan fucked around with this message at 22:13 on Aug 12, 2020 |
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Aug 12, 2020 22:10
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Bioshuffle posted:I don't know anything about drills or impact drivers. Is this basically the same thing? I don't understand why there are so many different versions with different price points. The set I got has the hammer drill, hard case, and larger capacity batteries. I do a lot of DIY projects and so I got I think the top of the line/most experience drill combo DeWalt makes. You are probably fine with the set you linked at the lower price- you can always buy additional and/or larger batteries, and the soft case is also totally fine, personally I just prefer a hard case. And I wanted the hammer drill because I know I have a couple upcoming projects that will involve me needing to drill into concrete block. Sirotan fucked around with this message at 05:47 on Aug 15, 2020 |
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Aug 15, 2020 05:45
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Bioshuffle posted:One of my upstairs windows has no window screen. Is it possible to buy a kit to install one from inside so I don't have to get up really high on a ladder trying something I've never done before? If you only need one, I'd probably just buy one of these things and call it a day https://flexscreen.com/
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Aug 25, 2020 14:34
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How often do you expect to host people overnight? If it is only a couple nights a year, you could think about buying a nicer air mattress instead of some permanent hidden bed. I would bet the foam mattress in the thing you posted probably sucks to sleep on anyway. Get an air mattress, and maybe a memory foam topper for it and you'll probably have a more comfortable bed that also won't take up a whole bunch of room. That's what I am planning to do for guest accommodations, anyway. Edit: I am going on the assumption that this is a guest bedroom
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Aug 28, 2020 17:53
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Moneyball posted:No, it's mine, sadly. I'm still living the poor life of renting a single room. Oh then yeah give yourself an actual real bed or at least the the real Murphy Bed that uses a real mattress and folds up against the wall. Anything else is going to be completely miserable for sleeping on regularly. I'd probably put the bed in the upper left, then stick your desk up against the windows. It's nice being able to sit there and look out while you work. Edit: 
Sirotan fucked around with this message at 18:17 on Aug 28, 2020 |
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Aug 28, 2020 18:06
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joepinetree posted:The small one? Doesn't seem to make much of a dent at all, but it's one of those really small single room ones. It pulls maybe a pint a day of water, and if there is a difference my hygrometer varies in the low single digits with it on (so from 80 to 78, for example). A dehumidifier that can only pull a pint of water a day out of your 65-80% humid air is just a waste of electricity. I have a 50pint Frigidaire in my basement set to 45% RH and I empty it about once a day. It doesn't run continuously, but likely 80% of the time. This particular model is discontinued but you can get the current version for about $200. I would recommend just buying one even if you're only using it a couple times a year, since obviously it is bothering you a bit. What I have: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Frigidaire-50-Pint-Dehumidifier-FAD504DWD/203796607
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Aug 28, 2020 23:43
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Some lenders require it? I kind of hate it, though I recognize that I am very good about budgeting and I would guess the majority of people are not, so forcing people to prepay their taxes via escrow is going to save a bunch of people from becoming delinquent. Right now my escrow balance is "advanced" since my taxes went way up after the initial reassessment, so it will be interesting to see how much they increase my escrow payment next year. I may just call my lender and see if I can opt out of escrow altogether.
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Aug 31, 2020 16:22
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H110Hawk posted:statutory 2% interest My state doesn't require this 
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Aug 31, 2020 20:41
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Jenkl posted:I hadn't heard of these before. Googling says you'd need to replace it every 2 years. Is that right? Feels excessive. I'm sure the math works though vs. Replacing 2k appliances every 5 years or whatever. That's the recommendation for replacing your basic plug-in surge strips. I don't think there is an expectation of ever needing to replace the whole house surge on your panel unless it is tripped due to the surge.
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Sep 9, 2020 14:00
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 Are you sure it was carpet beetles? They just eat fabric and wouldn't be biting you. I would take a closer look at your mattress. Fold back the seams and see if you can see anything black there, bed bugs like to hide in those areas. Look under your box springs (if you have one). Unfortunately, bed bugs can live up to a year between feedings, so if this is a rental, they could have already been there even before you moved in. Or if you're in a multi-unit building, they could be coming from someone else's unit. I think you've already done the best thing in this situation, which is calling an exterminator.
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Oct 6, 2020 14:07
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