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I missed Washer chat, but I've been deep into this rabbit hole and coming out the other end of it, I came to conclusion that the Maytag mvwp575gw is the washer to get. It's no nonsense. It's repairable. It uses higher quality components then you'd find it basically every modern washer.
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Nov 6, 2022 20:37
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Today I have graduated from the 'home buying' thread into this one. I am equal parts terrified and excited! Please look forward to my stupid questions!
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Dec 2, 2022 21:27
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I missed Washer/Dryer chat a page or three back, but I've went deep down the rabbit hole of Washing Machines and come out the other end with what I feel actually the most correct option for Washing Machines: Maytag MVWP575GW For a lot of reasons, this thing kicks rear end: It's simple, the components are basically a tier above anything else. It's not a dogshit Samsung or LG ordeal. It's quite repairable. It has a 10 year warranty on basically everything. I've had it in my house for 4 years now without issues and I'm pretty happy that I spent the time understanding Washing Machines. Note, that there is a model 576. I know nothing about the 576's components are it's build process, but it seems like that it's a 'quality cut down' of the 575. Some people still offer the 576 with a 10 year warranty, but Lowe's services the warranty on the 576 at just 1 year which is a Mt. Everest-sized red flag. Canine Blues Arooo fucked around with this message at 09:22 on Dec 27, 2022 |
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Dec 27, 2022 09:20
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PainterofCrap posted:Drano is fine for very occasional use with robust plumbing; it’s chronic use on metal drain lines that can corrode them to failure This is correct. Seconding getting a drain snake.
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Jan 9, 2023 00:41
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2 months into Home Ownership land and the woes of it already rear it's ugly head. We got a mortgage and insurance approved and all on paper for a closing date of Dec 1. I get a letter in the mail. It's from our insurance provider - it's a check for $2500~ with the only text reading, 'You are receiving this as part of a refund'. That seems suspicious, so I call them up and ask what the hell they are sending me money for. "We are canceling your policy due to not liking your roof. Your policy expires on Feb 10th." No one has said a drat word about this to us until I called. So, now I to get a quote for a new roof before Feb 10th, or else we are in breach of our mortgage contract (I think), and no matter what, I'm probably out 20 - 25k for a new roof... To be honest, we expected some amount of this with the property we bought, and we have money put aside for this crap, but I didn't expect it to hit on week 6...
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Jan 20, 2023 23:02
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skipdogg posted:So when your mortgage servicer finds out that you don't have insurance, or you don't get another policy, they're going to buy insurance for you and charge you for it. It will be stupid expensive. This sounds like very sound advice and I'll be doing all that posthaste.
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Jan 20, 2023 23:58
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Update on Insurance/Roof situation: Called some local brokers and they are sending some folks out later this week. In the meantime, I've been working on getting bids from everyone who is willing to come out. Turns out it's pretty easy to get people to show up for a roof-size pay day. I've talked to our agent about getting things right, and I basically said, 'If I have a bid in place, a deposit paid, and a work order for this spring, do I get insurance?'. I get: "We'll have our underwriters look at the work order and proceed from there". I'm sorry, you expect me to put thousands of dollars down on a 5-figure job so I can speculatively have or maybe not have insurance based on the whims of someone who took 2 months to tell me I didn't qualify the first time. Kindly gently caress off with that poo poo. I was kinda pissy about it and told them I need requirements in writing. I can't 'speculatively repair' stuff at the cost of a new loving car just so someone can find something new to nitpick. If I don't get a call back within 48 hours with some real good info, I'm probably just telling them to pound sand.
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Jan 24, 2023 01:08
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PainterofCrap posted:Everybody and their brother has joined the hail-chaser/roof replacement scheme. They want to be sure that you have contracted with a vendor that knows wtf they are doing rather than one dude who did a shingle that one time + ten bros from the Home Depot lot. I get this - And I'd be OK if they just say that. Their official reason for denial is, 'It's a Fire Hazard', which...It's an asphalt roof... But the key here is that I need to know what the actual problem is, otherwise I'm trying to a fix a mystery problem that's really expensive. Like, if I put steel on top of my existing shingles, is that good enough? Do I have to rip up my existing shingles? What counts as, 'The Underwriter Is Now Happy?? That's the real big question
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Jan 24, 2023 04:13
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The roof saga continues. We signed a contract for a roof for $26k (It's a big roof), and all that. I talked through the next steps with or loan maintainer and the insurer after things were signed and in place. Our loan maintainer has never heard of this happening before, and didn't even know we were losing insurance... She was convinced that once the documents are signed, we were good for the year. Prodding for more information from insurance folk did not inspire me with this idea that this was some kind of normal process. This entire thing has been extremely suspect. I don't know if I just call State Farm Cooperate to make sure poo poo is on the up and up, but the roof is signed for anyway I guess...
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Feb 1, 2023 19:05
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Upgrade posted:Can’t you just call a new insurer? I called another one, explained the situation, and they basically said, 'Well, I'm guessing our underwriters will come back with the same conclusion'. In retrospec, I probably should have just called the entire city  .
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Feb 1, 2023 19:26
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Speaking of roofs, we finally got our roof poo poo squared away. Really long story here is that we talked to a few other agents in the area and explained the situation. They basically told us that they wouldn't be able to give us a definitive answer until it was evaluated by the underwriting team, but would 'probably come back with a similar answer', so... Anyway, we went through the process of getting bids, ranging from $25k to $45k for identical product, so the lesson here is, 'definitely get bids'. The next step here is to eventually replace the boiler system. It's 20 years old, but if I can get another 2 - 4 years out of it, I'd be so, so happy.
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Feb 19, 2023 00:14
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Inner Light posted:I dunno much about boilers, but 20 years old seems pretty spritely and young from what I've read. I would be surprised if it didn't make it to 25 with manufacturer recommended maintenance. I'm also pretty new to this and just picking up bits of info, but my understanding is that it depends on your heat transfer metal. If it's Cast Iron, they apparently can just keep on going for decades. For Stainless Steel, a couple decades is 'about normal'. Ours are Stainless Steel, specifically a Munchkin 140 and 199. Their maintenance history is on the casing, and they seem to be somewhat adequately maintained over the years, but the 199 is on the fritz these days and has a crack that we had filled with silicon by a technician. It starts now, but it needs to be power cycled once every 24 hours or so because of some kind of 'limit exceeded' error. I think the 140 is in good shape. The current plan is to get the 140 serviced and the 199 looked at and hope for the best.
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Feb 19, 2023 00:27
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Is it possible to change home owner's insurance if you've paid a year in advance through the Mortgage? The agency we are working through seems to be highly incompetent. A very brief timeline: • 10/1/22: Identify house we want to buy. Start Paperwork. • 11/1/22: Get a policy provider involved, they come out and we agree on a replacement cost and all that. • 12/1/22: Closing date. Paperwork is signed. We have a insurance policy on the house. Everyone is happy. • 1/15/23:  "jk, we don't like ur roof. get a new one and btw we are cancelling the policy effect 2/7/23. Here is a check for the amount you paid us already, less the last 45 days"• 1/25/23:  k, we got a new roof setup that cost a shitload. It would have been real nice if you let us know about this before we bought the house and signed paperwork... Can we have insurance now? I guess, we'll re-instate your policy• 1/28/23: Oh, Remember that check we issued you? We are going to need it back. Write us a check for that amount Can't you just cancel it? I haven't cashed it yet. Maybe...• 2/7/23: Nope, we decided we can't cancel it, also we need to issue you a new identical check for reasons So what do I do? Idunno, let me ask around• 2/15/23: Ok, we can just cancel the check, but we'll need some info off the check, we'll call you for that info here in the next week or two.• 3/2/23: Actually, we can't cancel the check. Please give us money in that exact amount again and cash the check we gave you... We won't cancel it because it's a new account (what the gently caress does that have to do with anything)".The bank won't accept my check because it has both my name and my co-owner's name on it, and the co-owner isn't my husband and doesn't have an account at my bank. State Farm won't issue me a new check with just my name, or just drop the money in my account, or wire it or anything - they refuse to fix this problem they basically created out of thin air... I'm really loving annoyed and I'm pretty much over their pathetic excuse for logistics here. Am I being a dick here? Am I expecting too much? If not, can I go re-shop for home owner's insurance? Canine Blues Arooo fucked around with this message at 00:57 on Mar 3, 2023 |
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Mar 3, 2023 00:52
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spf3million posted:I did not. Is that claim-worthy? I'm in the process of getting a new roof, and everyone is constantly telling me to report any damage to said new roof to the roofer, and then to the insurer. I would say it's at least worth a call.
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Mar 25, 2023 19:33
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Today we are getting our roof replaced and a good thing has happened: The Decking is in good shape. It's the first nice surprise I've had!
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Apr 6, 2023 15:36
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I don't think you could pay me enough to move to Texas. Things like 'low taxes' is not a feature of your infrastructure sucks.
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Apr 10, 2023 18:33
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Delorence Fickle posted:If you do decide to spend $1200 on a washer and want quality, go with a Speed Queen. *Taps the Sign labeled MVWP575GW*
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Apr 12, 2023 17:34
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All the external wiring on the AC units compressors we have was either really old, not up to code, or otherwise in need or replacement. We fixed all that yesterday and today and I actually got a good look at the AC system of this house. There are 4 compressors and all of them are from '89. I'm really, really not looking forward to replacing those, but that time is a-comin'
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Jun 17, 2023 20:15
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SpartanIvy posted:What in gods name is your electric bill like? Well, so part of this is to actually get them all running. The joke here is that there are 4 compressors, but a single 2.5t unit was basically cooling the whole house (and doing a decent-ish job at it). The problem was that it was running the entire day and the air exchange could freeze. There are two units that blast into the main living area and so if we could just get those running, that would cover every except the bedrooms (which have window units for now until such a time when compressor the 3rd gets working). The 4th compressor goes to an unfinished basement which we don't care about. We got the second compressor running into the main living area, but the net amount of time the AC is running shouldn't change. So, all that said, our electrical bill is actually <$200 / month. Partially because we pay crazy low rates (about $0.06 / kwh), and partially because while we have a pile of compressors because of how this building is laid out, we don't really run them. Now that said our heating bill in the winter time is absolutely gross and I want to do something about that in the not so distant future. Canine Blues Arooo fucked around with this message at 22:31 on Jun 17, 2023 |
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Jun 17, 2023 22:27
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Someone make a gang tag, obv.
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Jun 19, 2023 21:43
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drat, that's really good!
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Jun 20, 2023 00:16
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Amazon is for window shopping. Pretty much everyone has figured out shipping logistics to some degree and will offer decent and free shipping on non-trivial orders. Find your product on Amazon - buy it from the official website.
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Jul 10, 2023 18:58
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I need advice from the folks here: Our house is a remodeled church from the 60s. It's very cool, but understanding how proceed to get work down is...tough. The current issue: There are two floors - the main and the basement. The main floor has a couple lofts built on it. One of the lofts has a large support beam coming down to the main floor. The main floor is entirely spancrete, and we want to put some kind of support right below this in the basement as there is none. The basement is currently is unfinished, and part of finishing it is thinking about adding this support structure. My question is this: Who do I call to answer the questions around this? "Should we add a support? How do we add a support? Do I need to prepare the basement somehow? Can I just throw cinder blocks between the spancrete and the basement floor?" A general contractor is right out, but looking around, I can't really find a 'concrete floor and building expert' as a trade. Is there a specific kind of skillset or contractor I should call about this?
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Jul 26, 2023 07:07
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Shifty Pony posted:You probably need a full blown structural engineer to take a look at it. Some specialize in the renovation of historic buildings. This is good advice! I'll seek out a structural engineer! The house is really cool. The main floor is basically one giant open area with 25ft~ cathedral ceilings at their peek with a bunch of beautiful woodwork for the curve supports / ceiling. The lofts are just defacto offices that look over the main floor. That part is very churchy, and I love it. Also very churchy from the 60s is an unfinished basement who's floor is almost certainly asbestos tiling, so... That's another project for future me.
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Jul 26, 2023 16:49
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Quaint Quail Quilt posted:If the tile isn't cracking or chipped or obviously worn to end of life I'd keep it. It's damaged in places and makes me very nervous. Getting all the tiling in the basement removed professionally would cost about 20k so uh.... gently caress. The plan right now I think is to put wood veneer over it and pretend it doesn't exist...
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Jul 26, 2023 17:55
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Arsenic Lupin posted:Genuine ignorance: what's wrong with that? AFAIK undisturbed asbestos can't get into your lungs and you're perfectly safe. I actually don't know if anything is necessarily wrong with that - it's a question I need to get answered definitively, but I'm not there in that process yet. Someone probably knows more about the nuances of asbestos then I do because my knowledge begins and ends at, 'Asbestos, bad'.
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Jul 26, 2023 18:54
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100 HOGS AGREE posted:Update on the pride flag theft: Good ending. What a nice guy!
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Jul 31, 2023 17:13
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Hadlock posted:The daily mail isn't my go to source for news but I think generally they are reliable enough for baseline economic facts We have 5.65% and I was stressing over whether or not that was gonna be high. Also kinda  about our rate :P
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Aug 27, 2023 22:03
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Deviant posted:aren't a lot of those dealer water filters pyramid schemes? I don't know about watercare, but linking to a 'Become a Dealer' page in the header bar isn't exactly a good look. It definitely smells like bullshit.
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Nov 6, 2023 18:47
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Does anyone have opinions on outdoor propane fire pits? The family has decided that we want to get this for our parents, but a lot of the options look cheap as hell and this is in a place where winter is very real. Is there some parameters I should be looking for, or is there some builder that is particularly good?
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Nov 20, 2023 20:00
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Anyone have an idea how long Copper L pipes last in a closed loop system? Our boiler heating system is about 60 years old and while a visual inspection of the copper looks good, the Internet Wisdom suggests that these pipes only last 60 - 80 years before pinhole leaks develop. Now, this is for copper as general water pipes though, and I'm wondering if it makes an appreciable difference if the water inside the system rarely changes - My rationale here is that eventually all the reactants would decay out until you flush the system, so the copper should last a lot longer in such a system. Does anyone know if this is generally the case, or if I should also be pricing out new copper in the house...?
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Jan 12, 2024 02:26
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Tricky Ed posted:I mean... This all tracks - the entire system in the closed loop is copper, so I'm hoping this all just works for a few more decades. I've set aside bux for a replacement system too, although a *whole* system replacement is probably like... 50 grand :S. Please just work pipes...
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Jan 12, 2024 19:10
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Vacuum Chat - Something I care way too much about. --- Generally speaking with vacuums, you are going to have to decide how much you value 'convenience' vs 'actually good at being a vacuum'. Bagless vacuums kinda suck right out of the gate, with the one notable exception being a Dyson 2008~ model that was OK but I've since forgotten the model number - they are basically impossible to find anyway. Bagged vacuums aren't really any more or less convenient, but I vacuum *a lot* of square feet and probably use 2 bags a year in my Sebo E3. The 'convenience' of bagless is pretty overblown, and the tradeoffs in performance and filtering are dramatic. Cordless is nice, but you are trading off *massive* amounts of performance for that. Part of this is that no one is making cordless vacuums to actually be good vacuums - this is a market that wants convenience at the cost of everything else...so if you are willing to sacrifice everything at that alter, go nuts I guess. E: Looking around, some vacuum nerds are saying the Numatic Henry Cordless HVB160 is actually quite good, so that's maybe an option in this space. Vacuums generally are products that can be repairable, but the manufacturers that are trying to sell you convenience over performance go out of their way to make it NOT repairable (Shark is the worst about this). --- Brands to Consider: Sebo, Miele, Lindhaus, Numatic, Oreck If you are willing to buy the best, the correct answer here is Miele C3 and Sebo E3. They can do carpets and hard floors, are built to last, are repairable, and do an excellent job. Lindhaus's Electric Nozzle products are up here as well. These will also run you north of $1,000 USD, but these are truly some buy-it-for-life products. These are the kinds of devices that come with an exploded engineering diagram and parts list with the ability to buy parts directly. I think Lindhaus will sell them to you too. For about half the cost of their premium line of products, Miele and Sebo both have mid-range options where the major trade-off is flexibility. Electric Nozzles are generally what let you get flexibility in utility, but they are also expensive. Something like a Sebo E2 is about $650, but only comes with a Turbine Nozzle - something that can do OK on carpet, but really prefers hard floors. Lindhaus Activa is a Brushroll product that's about $500 and has a Brushroll Nozzle instead - Which is a carpet-first solution. More budget-friendly options that still kickass include Oreck's Lineup, which are legitimately pretty good devices and can go for under $500 new. A special mention to the Oreck XL21, which is very common and can be had for almost nothing used and is a very competent carpet cleaning device. --- Brands to avoid: Shark. Shark is awful. Their performance is awful, they can't be repaired, they offer no support of any kind. They purposely sabotage repair-ability. They make cute looking poo poo sometimes, but it's all poo poo. The number of people who are 'on their third shark' and still buy that trash...I can't even. Dyson. Dyson is just Shark++. They can kinda be repaired depending on model, and some of their products are OK-ish, but they are 95% marketing and 5% actual product. In a vacuum, Dyson wins every time vs Shark, but you can do a lot better. Dirt Devil. This company was spun off of Riccar to basically be their 'bad, cheap products' label. They aren't nearly as bad as Shark, but they aren't any kind of good either. Canine Blues Arooo fucked around with this message at 06:06 on Feb 26, 2024 |
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Feb 26, 2024 05:51
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GlyphGryph posted:Counterpoint: Shop vacs are bagless and are awesome and also you can get a good cordless one for like $125. Shop vacs don't filter air by design, and kicking up some dust isn't really a deal killer in that space, especially when the trade off is water proofing. Shop Vacs are purpose built for a specific workload and it's not really the same as a carpet/hard floor home vac - there are trade offs here.
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Feb 26, 2024 06:02
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I truly don't know poo poo about Shop Vacs either and have always been more interested in the house stuff. I didn't even have a shop to have to think about one until a year-ish ago, so I was (and still am) ignorant. I actually went down to the shop, and sure enough - it *does* have an air filter that I've clearly neglected, so TIL. My assumption was always that shop vacs didn't have them with a 'why bother' kind of use case for them, but there it is - I was wrong about that!
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Feb 26, 2024 06:20
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Cyrano4747 posted:Basically it annoys me when people insist they can't learn. Won't learn, don't want to learn, don't have the time to learn? Fine. Pretty much this, and a lot of the 'I don't have time' crap is just that: crap. Be willing to suck at something. Be willing to get better. Be willing to just try. My cousin once told me he 'didn't have time to learn how to apply silicon'. My dude, the time it would take you to watch a 4 minute youtube video and just do it is going to be a tiny fraction of the net time spent trying to hire someone to do it for you. And yeah, your first go with silicon is probably going to suck, but so what - that's the journey. I still have my very first silicon job in my bathroom and it's kinda a loving mess, but it seals poo poo and I learned, and I got better. It took me all of 3 or 4 more attempts before I got way better and the costs is $12 and literally under 15 minutes per job. And yeah - don't 'be willing to try' everything. I'm absolutely hiring a professional to touch anything on our gas lines and major plumping infrastructure, but screwdrivers, silicon and sinks - that poo poo is easy if you just try and go in with the expectation that you aren't going to do a perfect job the first time.
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Mar 3, 2024 09:26
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BaseballPCHiker posted:I bought a whole house heavy metal filter to take care of lead, no water softener though. Can you expand on this a bit? I was considering something very similar, but wasn't really sure where to start / how to test / how to ask for it to be setup?
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Apr 17, 2024 05:20
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MarcusSA posted:I need a new washer and dryer. I’m not in a huge rush but what brands should I be looking at? The current one is Samsung and kinda sucks. More sign-tapping quote:I missed Washer/Dryer chat a page or three back, but I've went deep down the rabbit hole of Washing Machines and come out the other end with what I feel actually the most correct option for Washing Machines: They are getting hard to find and have been formally replaced by the MVWP585GW, which also has a sister model of the 586. Historically, the warranty terms were different between the *5 and the *6, and that seems to be the case again, but this time favoring the *6 - this is worth looking into more seriously. I have no idea what the build difference is between the 585 and the 575, but light research suggests they are similar (which is a good thing). So the modern answer might actually be: Maytag MVWP586GW Canine Blues Arooo fucked around with this message at 22:03 on Apr 22, 2024 |
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Apr 22, 2024 21:53
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MarcusSA posted:I’m probably gonna get this one because it’s exactly what I want but did you get the matching dryer with it? My dryer is ok I guess but I wouldn’t mind something more basic at this point. This is a matching dryer with it that generally follows the same ideas. Simple, repairable, built well, etc.
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Apr 23, 2024 03:43
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Do not buy a Samsung or LG anything. For dishwashers, as already been mentioned, look to Bosch.
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May 6, 2024 17:58
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