Homeowners: I own 8 different power saws, primarily to attract a mate.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Homeowners: I own 8 different power saws, primarily to attract a mate.

«‹›3 »

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Yay a thread for homeownership bitching!

# ¿ May 4, 2016 20:00

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 21:44

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

emocrat posted:

We bought a new house last fall. This spring, 19 cubic yards of mulch. If bags are 2 cubic feet, that's equivalent of 256.5 bags.

We live on a hill, and the highest drop off point is halfway up it.

You either have kids or cash labor lined up, right? My folks had many yards per year (how many per truck? At least a truck a year ugh), I and the hired help hauled so many loads every spring... But the grounds around the houses were very beautiful! (Acre plus of landscaping)

Bozart posted:

Gross, you should cover it with popcorn!

Awesome idea!

slap me silly posted:

This week I had a landscaper ask me to send his money as a paypal gift. I believe the word "un-businesslike" was in my response.

I thought all landscapers were cash only! :911:

# ¿ May 4, 2016 23:08

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

emocrat posted:

I mean, cause it looks good

We have, I think, .38 of an acre, its completely landscaped. Sometime in the 90s the prior owners and both our neighbors had all 3 houses professionally landscape architected or whatever. It is a lot of work, and it takes some money, but honestly it looks great and it makes me super happy whenever I look at it.Its done well too, pretty low maintenance given the size, well thought out in term of colors throughout the season, large swaths of groundcover that doesn't get mowed.

Yeah so we def paid for some cash labor on this one. Its our first year here, so, we did a few things we did wrong. We didn't do a good enough job cleaning up leaves in the fall, making that job harder. Then we waited about a month too late to do it, so stuff was already coming up and we couldn't just throw it down without paying attention. Next year should be a bit better. 10 cubic yards of double shredded hardwood is 250 delivered, and if we get the timing right laying it out shoud be a lot less work.

I am a huge fan of good landscaping. Sounds like you have a great yard and you're learning how to manage it!

Leperflesh posted:

Raised beds, man. Just plop some raised beds down anywhere, put good gardening soil in them, and grow your veggies in them. They're way nicer anyway, you don't have to get on your knees on the ground to weed or pull out carrots or whatever, you can move them around if you want, you can run irrigation to them without too much issue using just a long hose or something, you can put wire over your seedlings if you need to keep them safe from critters, and you can leave your multi-layered landscaping foundation stuff alone.

I'd definitely do raised beds. Depending on what you're growing, you may want the root depth from digging the ground out, too...

# ¿ May 5, 2016 02:41

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

QuarkJets posted:

I've also sunk about $100 into building this really nice-looking suspended garden bed (as in it's a raised garden bed that I put a bottom + legs on) that I'm putting on a concrete portion of my back yard. It looks super great, I mean it's totally not an effective way to spend gardening money but I can at least point to it and say "hey I built this cool looking thing and look at all of those nice plants inside of it". But I'm worried about water leaking through and staining the concrete, so I'm thinking of throwing away even more money on building something that diverts water that drips out of the bottom of this suspended garden bed.

You aren't going to line it with plastic? Line it with plastic. Otherwise the dirt will rot your lovely wood anyway.

# ¿ May 5, 2016 16:05

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

QuarkJets posted:

Call it a kill room and if anyone voices a complaint pull out a tiny red book and scribble something in it

Yes. This is the best answer.

QuarkJets posted:

I lined it with garden cloth, which is basically just porous plastic; that should keep dirt in but let water out. But it's not going to perfectly separate those things

Completely sealing with plastic seems like it'd cause other issues

Maybe it's a climate thing. Google makes me think it is. I see many reports of plastic lined beds rotting! My folks used stained cedar and no lining without an issue, a friend used plastic sheeting in the mid west. Neither were on a porch, that's just silly

Now you need a big rear end drip tray. I'd get a TIG, large metal brake, and some alum and have at it!

# ¿ May 5, 2016 19:51

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

LogisticEarth posted:

No it's not, your kids just need to go outside or you need to not allow them to amass so much junk. Also, $600,000 w/ no mortgage? I hate you.

Sounds pretty small to me, and I only have one sibling and we had a dog growing up and were very active outside of the house. America loves big homes!

One of my childhood friends parents had a 9,000SF house for a family of four. It had two wings. It was fantastical but massively huge, especially for their small family. Her dad made bank selling a startup to Enron and cashing out right before Enron went tits up - he thought diversifying his assets was wise and did so as soon as he could! Talk about yardwork, too...

# ¿ May 9, 2016 18:27

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

LogisticEarth posted:

Maybe it's an east coast or older home/poorer family thing, but a 2,000 sqft house could easily be 4-bed, 2-bath, etc. Which is fine and definitely not "small" for a family of five. Both my parents grew up in homes that were between 1200-1700 sqft, with their parents, two siblings, and intermittently uncle's and/or grandparents.

With my wife and I, we're really trying to avoid going over 2,000 sqft. OK obviously this is all a personal taste thing, but having lived in larger homes before, we just don't need all that space and heating cost.

I think it's hugely a personal choice, and my folks didn't need nearly as big of a house. Let alone that friend I mentioned. I doubt I'll be over 2000SF, even if I have kids. I just don't see the real need (besides 'wanting it') if you have a decent layout. I've also been in 5000SF houses that felt cramped, crazy as it sounds.

VendaGoat posted:

This....

This is what a BFC argument looks like?

I've met CPAs that get more fired up.

I'm an accountant studying for the CPA, maybe there is something there

# ¿ May 9, 2016 19:33

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

couldcareless posted:

We just switched insurances. The new agency called me up yesterday about sending out someone to do an inside and outside inspection tomorrow. Our last company did not do this, relying on on drive by inspections.

Are there things in my house I should be concerned with for this? I am getting a slight level of anxiety from this.

It's not uncommon, Allstate does it too. I remember hearing about denials of coverage for porch railings and horrid roofs and such - third party stories only. Make sure your meth lab is out of sight.

# ¿ May 11, 2016 04:32

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Is the general consensus that we should start replacing all CFL's with LED's preemptively, or just upon burnout? I have a few LED's but most of my bulbs are ~3yo CFL's. I picked color temp and wattage as appropriate for my various uses at the time.

# ¿ May 12, 2016 19:31

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

That sounds logical to me.

Speaking of ladders, any good deals on little giant 22's lately? Or recommended knockoffs?

E: answer my own question. Knockoffs are Chinese vs American and do not have as many locking pins, and only cost ~15% less. Groupon has a 22 Little Giant for 195 shipped currently.

SiGmA_X fucked around with this message at 20:27 on May 12, 2016

# ¿ May 12, 2016 20:05

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

So my buddy was talking home automation last night. He's going with Wink stuff, it seems excessively consumer to me - but kind of cool.

What do Goons like? Any suggested resources to read?

# ¿ May 13, 2016 18:01

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Proximity locks are really all I *want*, but I would rather like having some climate data and control over the HVAC based on climate feedback. Wireless locks sketch me out due to hackability.

# ¿ May 13, 2016 22:40

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Subjunctive posted:

Don't proximity locks have to be wireless?

Yes. I would love to have wireless/bluetooth/proximity locks, but the ease of remote entry bugs me. On the other hand I am well versed in how simple it is to bump a standard household lock. And I have cameras with offsite alert saving anyway. I am really more worried about a random person breaking in with picks or a bump key than a computer, and I have little concern of either happening...

# ¿ May 15, 2016 09:39

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Just have the servants bring it inside during crappy weather.

# ¿ May 23, 2016 21:54

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

No Butt Stuff posted:

I don't have cable because it's all garbage. Streaming or Football. Or I'll turn on baseball for company because I guess it's marginally better than watching paint dry.

e: Just realized I sound like one of those "I don't own a TV" people.

I'm just too cheap to pay for more HGTV poo poo to be piped into my house.

It didn't sound like you're a no TV person, you just don't like NBA. At least that's what I got from it. And being you're a goon I give you a >50% chance of not having cable anyway.

Baseball is materially worse than watching paint dry.

# ¿ May 24, 2016 14:45

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Vent fans. Like an outdoor kitchen.

# ¿ May 24, 2016 16:30

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

OSU_Matthew posted:

Good to know! I thought it was some flavor of dove, but wasn't sure. That makes sense on the location thing, because it kept picking at the screened mesh guard I put over where its nest was, after I got back on the ground and pulled down the ladder.

Speaking of the birds and the trees, there's a dead ash tree that's leaning towards my house. I noticed the crown was dead last year, so I figured it probably has ash borer, and sure enough, this year it didn't sprout leaves at all.

Problem is, it's right on the edge of my neighbors property, and as far as I know, that house has been abandoned since before I moved in.

What do I do?

Cut it down at night :agesilaus:

# ¿ May 24, 2016 20:50

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

If you do it after a pint its entirely safe. And I mean of whiskey because you're using a chainsaw.

# ¿ May 24, 2016 22:21

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Jealous Cow posted:

Just a few of the sinks... The most used sinks actually. I think I need to clean the trap out.

Maybe do this first?? With long hair ladies in the house you'll get used to cleaning drains

Sperg Victorious posted:

Is it all of your sinks or just some? If the mainline is getting blocked up, it should be the whole house.

You can open that clean out and look down it while you're running a bunch of water and see how well it's flowing. It'll at least give you an idea. If it's backing up in the cleanout, then you know the problem is downstream.

This is good advice.

# ¿ May 28, 2016 17:28

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Elephanthead posted:

Even then who cares. It is like the craigslist people that quote you kelly blue book prices on 25 year old cars. Yes my spotless 1967 copo camaro is worth $500. I accept your offer. I am not going to consider what identical cars actually sell for.

$500 for your 25yo replica 1967 Copo Camaro may be a fair deal. I'm not up on the market at all. :clint:

But yes, who gives a gently caress about zillow estimates. They're alright as an estimate but they don't actually reflect the market.

# ¿ Jun 1, 2016 18:56

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

FCKGW posted:

Might I suggest having e.coli located no where in the house?

Agreed. Keep it out!

# ¿ Jun 9, 2016 18:24

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Zanthia posted:

This is a joke, right? There is no way someone could be talked into paying $9k for a small section of flat rocks.

That's what I thought when I read it too. That's crazy expensive.

# ¿ Jun 19, 2016 21:25

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

No Butt Stuff posted:

Hard to say. I'd be careful doing your own fence, because if your lot isn't perfectly flat, it can look like absolute dogshit if you don't plan it out and execute pretty well.

You're entirely right that a non flat fence isn't as easy as flat and can look like poo poo very easily, but it's not that hard to plan and do it right.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2016 19:38

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Anyone want to school me in drip systems?

Andy Dufresne posted:

I should at least put in my 2 cents that my middle of the line green works corded mower died after 15 months of bermudagrass in Texas. It smelled like electrical fire, worked at a lower capacity for an hour, then kaput. I haven't bothered with the warranty given the costs involved and shipping a mower sounds ridiculous.

That's too bad to hear. If I buy a new mower I was leaning toward a GreenWorks cordless. Though I would buy from Costco so lifetime warranty would help offset early death.

# ¿ Jun 27, 2016 17:04

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

FCKGW posted:

What do you want to know? I have a drip line for my planters in my years.

Brand suggestions, drip main line sizing for how many 1/4 lines, etc.

Maybe I'll find this all in the Rainbird system guide. I will take a peek tonight but goons always have an opinion!

# ¿ Jun 27, 2016 20:10

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Andy Dufresne posted:

I had this problem last year, flooding my closet and out onto the entryway. Luckily I was able to blow out the PVC drain with my lungs.

Was your drain glued on to the AC evaporator housing?

# ¿ Jul 7, 2016 22:16

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Higgy posted:

Garage door opener finally gave up the ghost. Thankfully it's not a huge outlay like "roof needs replacin'" but still, not fun money to spend.

Are you going to convert to a LiftMaster 8500? GJ highly recommends them.

slap me silly posted:

It is your duty. Post pics

Yes please I'd like to see the card, too.

# ¿ Jul 8, 2016 04:34

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Jealous Cow posted:

What is the typical life expectancy of a garage owner? I have a craftsman from '91 that's still chugging along.

It sounds like the whole house is being thrown in a blender but it works.

Usually 70-100yrs, depends on a lot of factors though. Technically its 76.4m and 81.2f for the USA.

slap me silly posted:

Depends whether you maintain the door springs yourself or hire it out.

Run a bead of oil across and give em a rub? People pay for that? 🇺🇸

# ¿ Jul 11, 2016 06:26

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

canyoneer posted:

Naah, the huge torsion spring. If that needs adjustment or replacement, it can easily kill you.

If you don't take precaution, sure, like most things. With a set of winding bars and standing clear of the end of the spring while winding they're pretty harmless. But most springs are good for a few decades and then need replacement. In the interim you should be lubing it.

Rurutia posted:

I didn't know you were supposed to oil up the springs, how do people do it if they have the springs which are housed in the tube?

We cleaned out our dryer vent yesterday and it took all of 2s to actually clean it out because there was jack poo poo in there despite being in this house for 3 years and never having done it before. Instead, we managed to completely lose a screw and spent a good 30 minutes searching for a single screw within a 7x7 room which is just completely gone. How often are you supposed to clean out dryer vents anyways? I thought it was yearly?

I was referring to standard torsion springs. No idea on anything else.

I think it has a lot to do with the dryer and the duct/outside vent setup. My folks newer dryers (mid 00's and early teens) produce very little output waste, but their old (1986) Speedqueens had a pretty reasonable amount.

# ¿ Jul 13, 2016 15:11

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Rurutia posted:

There's no difference in the spring, just that it's housed in a tube. How often are you supposed to lube them?

Well, standard exposed ones should get a squirt per year. You take a hand pumped oil can with 40Wt or 10/40 (or whatever both super thin) and give it a moderate 'bead' of oil minus about the last inch, and then rub it with a gloved hand. I like to give it a little shake as I rub, it makes the springs move around on eachother and I assume it gets better coverage. Put a drop on everything that moves basically and make sure everything moves. Don't fill the tracks with oil though.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H5Un2Dh7BZA

# ¿ Jul 14, 2016 21:46

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

FakePoet posted:

Nothing that's crazy, at least in my mind. 12x16, give or take? I'm sure the labor involved will test that statement.

Do you think manually tamping the ground, labor aside, will be "good enough", or is renting one of those automatic tampers going to be practically necessary?

I would not hand tamp. I would rent a jumping jack and do the subgrade correctly. Then use a plate compactor after setting the pavers.

# ¿ Jul 22, 2016 21:17

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

-S- posted:

Vacuum chat: Shark is the way to go. My $150 shark is better than the $600 Dyson we got as a gift.

Love my Shark. I replaced a G4 Kirby with it and wouldn't consider another brand these days - maybe something else will be better in the future though. Compared to my friends Dyson's it's more reliable (they could also be abusive to their vacuums), equally effective, and less expensive. Costco offers a 'lifetime warranty' too.

# ¿ Aug 4, 2016 03:53

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

What do you all think about mulching vs bagging? My folks always had me bag as a kid and I've done that in my adult life in rentals too.

# ¿ Aug 4, 2016 20:49

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Economic Sinkhole posted:

I have an older model Roomba that I have scheduled to run 3 days a week. I like it since we don't otherwise vacuum very often. It makes a noticeable difference in how clean the room looks. It has some major drawbacks that I feel don't make it right for everyone. Maybe the newer models are improved, I don't know. You need to have a fairly open and uncluttered space for it to work well. It is very stupid and does not navigate a room as much as it just bounces off of poo poo until the battery runs out. If you have a lot of furniture it won't be able to get around. You need to not have stuff on the floor. Even lamp cords are a problem. I don't run it upstairs for this reason- we don't keep the bedrooms tidy enough.

The layouts of the last few placed definitly would not have worked for a roomba. Our current house does though, due to the reasons above. I don't think it would be worth the full price that they sell for now- it really isn't a very good vacuum. It keeps our house cleaner than we normally would but if you already vacuum 2x a week you're going to have cleaner floors than the Roomba would be able to do. If I followed the Roomba around with a real vacuum I'd pick up a bunch of dirt that it missed.

Agreed. I have a newer Roomba and its a life saver with a black lab as both he and the vacuum hang out in my living room. I have to manually vacuum weekly around the baseboard and under the dining table (and the other rooms), but if I didn't have the Roomba I would have a mass of fur everywhere all the time and that would be horrid.

# ¿ Aug 5, 2016 20:22

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

GameCube posted:

Are GFIs/GFCIs really prohibitively expensive for some people? I just bought one as a temporary fix for an ungrounded box (I know this isn't up to modern code, please don't derail, here is some info on this) and it was like ten bucks.

That said, do make sure you only put one GFCI on a particular circuit. More than one is unnecessary and will be annoying when one trips and you've got to go check them all.

e: One thing I just remembered that article left out is that if your body completes the circuit back to the outlet, the GFCI won't (might not?) trip. It's a temporary measure that's better than just sticking a three-prong adapter into an ungrounded outlet and leaving the ground disconnected, which is what most idiots do.

$20 is the cheapest I have found for a 20amp TR. 15amp is a few bucks less, $18?

There is no point to put multiple gfci's on the same circuit IMO, but there is a point to run individual circuits to many GFCI required locations. But it is more expensive without question.

# ¿ Aug 12, 2016 17:45

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

couldcareless posted:

Please keep us updated because I love hearing about crazy neighbor comeuppance.
On a related note, one of our neighbors has an old BMW that doesn't seem to work well that is parked on the street near our house and my father in law desperately wants to play proxy annoying neighbor for us and call and report the car despite us saying we don't care about it at all because we have our own driveway and the neighbors car isn't even in sight from any egress of our house.
The lesson here is all inlaws are awful.

Report away!!! They should be keeping the broken cars on the front lawn because America. That is the real violation.

# ¿ Sep 14, 2016 16:18

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Irritated Goat posted:

That's paid\appraisal. My contractor took a look today and said 60k was really lowballing it since they assumed everything could be removed and replaced. There's a lot of stuff in there that can't be removed\replaced so yeah..

Color me confused...What type of stuff can't be removed and replaced?

# ¿ Sep 15, 2016 19:14

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Irritated Goat posted:

Built-ins that were water damaged and will probably break upon removal. Those counter tops from the 80s where it's all 1 unit with the backsplash. The fireplace took on water.

If I'm reading it right, they're OK with leaving the outlets since we have working electricity right now even though they were under water for days. The walls removed around the 2 tubs show there was water behind it. The only things the flood adjuster suggested replacing were the appliances, doors, and walls.

I didn't have contents like a moron. Once we're back in there, I definitely will add it.

You absolutely can remove and replace built-ins, fireplaces, etc. It just costs more! Which means perhaps your insurance bid was low.

Good luck dealing with insurance. Don't take it lying down.

# ¿ Sep 15, 2016 20:13

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

life is killing me posted:

Yes, it was finished in late 2013 and was vacant a couple months at most before we bought it.

As a former military helicopter crew chief/mechanic, there's an old understanding: No aircraft comes off the assembly line perfect. I have applied this to new homes so that it helps me accept the fact that my home has these issues so I can rationally come up with solutions to the problems. I've tried vitriol with any and all contractors involved in building (and subsequently fixing) the house, and that got me nowhere, so pseudo-lawyer-speak in a certified letter worked for at least one issue.

As to your second point--yes. Our handyman was the one who found it, and he was scratching his head. He said we should call HVAC techs out, so we did, and they scratched their heads at it, saying they have no idea why that duct is like that, they said I should call a roofer because they wouldn't touch it. I called a roofer. He scratched his head. There should be something on that vent to keep water from sloshing up he said, but there isn't. He found numerous other problems while up there, exposed plywood under flashing that was installed way too high, another plastic(!) vent where the screws were torqued so high that the plastic was cracking. While we're at it, he said, let's discuss why the hell there's a plastic roof vent on your standing seam metal roof? He told me the guys who installed the roof did it all sorts of wrong and half-assed.

Shouldn't you (let alone inspector..) have noticed the roof vents and such?

You've reminded me why vetting a builder is so important! Most builder stories remind me of that fact though.

# ¿ Sep 22, 2016 20:24

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 21:44

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Buy decent paint. It goes on easier. You may want to prime, some yellows are pretty bright and peek through and will need a third coat - ask your paint shop. Sherman Williams or Miller are my go-to brands. We used Behr's top of the line no primer needed to go over a light blue and it took 4 coats. I'll never use Behr again. A contractor friend warned me, but reviews (including consumer reports) said Behr was good stuff...pass. You couldn't pay me to use it again.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2016 19:13

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Homeowners: I own 8 different power saws, primarily to attract a mate.

«‹›3 »