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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:I like your house. Fresh paint on the trim made a huge difference! Agreed, the place is coming together nicely. Where are you at on the basement issue? If you were going to install a sump / jackhammer some concrete now would be the time.
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May 31, 2021 15:14
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Ball Tazeman posted:The more I live there, the more things I see need to be fixed/were neglected. It’s especially difficult when my family and a lot of friends have some really beautiful updated houses. I’m a little embarrassed by mine. I'm in this same boat right now. The previous owner was ultra frugal and make some really questionable repair decisions. Knowing the right way makes it even more difficult to look at. Once you have a year under your belt the place will feel more like your home and less like a home you bought and are living in. Roof is item #1. I'll put up with a lot of shetchy poo poo, but water entering the building is a hard no. The problem with water damage is once you see it, it's already been rotting the studs, sills, window frames, etc. So you get an extra dose of surprise when you pull back the drywall. Beyond that is the basement, keeping the water from permeating upwards. But I think with some aggressive downspouting you might find a big improvement. Spring and frost out will be trickier, but just installing a sump might be enough. Siding would be the bottom of the list, as long as it isn't falling off it's technically fine.
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Jun 3, 2021 19:04
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Ball Tazeman posted:Looking at the mess of candles and marbles the Previous Owner threw in the fireplace “decorate” it. My last house had a fireplace with a damper. We used it with an andiron a few times but found it sucks more heat out of the house than you get from the fire. The next upgrade was a ventless gas log. This was bad. In hindsight I'll never put another ventless NG appliance in a living space. Eventually we settled on a natural gas vented fireplace insert. We debated a wood insert, but I didn't want the headache of dealing with wood and the insurance issues that go with it. The price difference between a ventless fireplace ($300) compared to a vented fireplace ($3500) is pretty huge. I like bright easy to clean hallways. But I have a kid so my opinion is biased in my hallway not looking like a grungy alley.
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Jun 15, 2021 13:49
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Ball Tazeman posted:Can I ask what the issue was with the ventless? I really don't have the $3000. Otherwise, I'm just going to shove one of those space heaters with an LED log in there. A couple issues, one was the constant background smell of combustion. What would normally go up the flue is now staying in your house. I could barely smell it but it really bothered my wife. Next was the moisture, combustion gives off a lot of moisture. We'd notice moisture build up on our windows. Once the concern was there for air quality we ceased using it.
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Jun 16, 2021 01:59
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Ball Tazeman posted:Today was not a good house day. I’m feeling really trapped. Found out there are still mice and they have been hanging out, making GBS threads and leaving seed husks in my vanity. We were woke up by the sound of them in the bedroom the other night and optimistically wrote it off as house sounds. Nah they’re in the office and bedroom now. I’m just tired of it. I was just starting to get comfortable, but at this point I’m just exhausted. I switched to working nights and it sucks. My coworkers have constant outward disdain for me. I turned 30 a few days ago and it was just really really sad. Every home I've ever owned had mice at one time or another, including the current one that we moved into in March. While we spend a few hours on keeping them out, they spend a life time getting in. Mouse traps + peanut butter are a winning combo. My most recent mouse adventure found them eating my crackers in the pantry. All it took was two nights of fresh mouse traps and we've been mouse free. Night shift can be a bummer, I'll bounce onto 2nd shift occasionally and it's always a different groove. Keep your chin up, you got this.
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Jun 21, 2021 01:24
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I'm a big fan of the "Big Stretch" brand of caulk. We see really huge swings in humidity with the bone dry winters and humid summers. I've found it can actually handle a few cycles back and forth where the cheaper stuff struggles with the elasticity. I'm pretty sure my current house has this somewhere. Edit : All that's missing is a ring on one hand. It's the construction thread goatse. Yooper fucked around with this message at 12:11 on Jul 7, 2021 |
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Jul 7, 2021 12:03
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Ball Tazeman posted:Today’s breakdown brought to you by: accidentally bumping the molding and realizing my paint job on all of the trim just…. Peels off. We went to paint my kids room a few years ago and was able to peel the previous owner applied paint off in a giant sheet like it was a tarp. Trim can be extra tough to paint as it can be gloss or an oil based gloss. In that case the durability that protected it also keeps anything from sticking to it. Zinnser makes some good primers, but prior to that use a cleaner like the non TSP cleaners.
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Jul 11, 2021 14:04
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Ball Tazeman posted:Went downstairs for the first time in a while to find 2 mice in traps. I’m frustrated because I really don’t know where they would be coming in from at this point because we’ve sealed everything off like crazy. In my previous house I'd catch one mouse per year, never could find how they got in. In the new house I've caught two mice so far, it's a poured concrete foundation and newer siding, no idea how they get in. The way I look at it is I spend an hour trying to keep them out while they spend 24/7 trying to get in. Weird basement smells suck, but I've done some diluted bleach down a floor drain and it cleared up any ickiness.
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Aug 5, 2021 01:20
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Window plastic is fairly awesome, we used it on the lovely windows in our last house. Cat #1 would tear it up so we had to use the outside window plastic. Cat #2 didn't even notice it so we did it indoors last winter. It's cool how you can actually feel the difference immediately. I'm a carpet hater, I've got zero square feet in this house. My mom just had LVP installed and it really looks nice.
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Aug 19, 2021 02:35
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Ball Tazeman posted:Can you paint brick outside? I guess that was kind of what was holding me back. I’m stuck with the beige orange of the brick unless I take it off. None of those tools take in to account multiple exterior types and I can’t find anything on Pinterest that really has what I’m looking for. If exterior brick can’t be painted, maybe when we re-side, I just remove the brick. It’s not really adding much tbh.  Purple. Do it. My previous house had a drat similar entry area with a slightly yellower vinyl siding. For accent we used a green similar to the one above and it worked really well. I think painted brick and I think peeling painted brick.
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Aug 29, 2021 20:33
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Ball Tazeman posted:
Huge improvements BT, great job. Good to see some Halloween ornaments out too. Our forced air furnace has to run for a few days to get all the dust out that had accumulated in the vents over the summer. So if you have allergies, that's probably it. I'll 2nd Meaty One on the drainlines, do you know where your drain line runs from the house to the sewer? If there is a tree nearby (within 50 ft or more) it is almost guaranteed to have roots growing into the joints. Our previous house had a maple and an ash tree between us and the main sewer, so every other year we'd just bring in the drain guy and he'd knock it out quick like. Otherwise, without fail, it would clog on a Saturday night or holiday.
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Sep 26, 2021 13:38
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Ball Tazeman posted:Wow everybody is super supportive and my stupid little thread is gold. I would like to thank being poor and having anxiety for finally creating a 5 star thread. If your subfloor is rotted it can cause the seal to fail. They do make repair flanges that you can install if it's not ridiculously rotted. There is also a "better than wax" seal that the Plumbing thread really likes too.
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Sep 27, 2021 14:29
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Ball Tazeman posted:We actually got one of those "better than wax" ones. Maybe we do have to escalate this project then... Does your toilet have any side to side motion? It should be locked in fairly tight if the flange is in good shape. If it wobbles then that will lead to seal failure in short order.
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Sep 27, 2021 16:20
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