Homeowner Thread |OT| A Thread for Homeowners

[Adder7806]

So I should still have a restoration company do this and just go with the one that has a more conservative approach? I'm assuming there isn't another type of company that can handle this work...

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My assumption is you just need to remove the ceiling drywall, kill the mold, replace drywall. Not a particularly difficult job as long as the damage isn't severe.

Wide variety of Restoration companies. You don't need a fancy one so stay towards the conservative side of the estimates. Definitely use one that has experience with mold. Really, most handymen or handywomen can do it - if they know how to properly treat the mold. Sounds like you'll need a plumber too - which might be part of the restoration services.

It is still going to cost you, that's unavoidable unless you're a capable DIY'er.

 

[Auros01]

This will sound terrible but…

If the wood is not mold ridden or it can be replaced, I think a lot of these companies are unnecessary. Many of them are hawks for insurance claims. I think a lot of mold situations are incredibly overblown. Some slight mold on sheet rock? No need to get a whole remediation company. They'll just cut it out anyway

I would look for independent contractors or small business. Avoid large national companies like Servpro. Some of the small companies around me have told home owners how to remediate small issues on their own if it's some isolated mold to a piece of wood.

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I tend to go with small businesses in general (did have a close call with an insurance-focused larger restoration company last year but got out just in time). The previously mentioned quote are both from small businesses.

The added wrinkle is the garage ceiling is a popcorn ceiling, although I'm not sure it has asbestos or not. The contractors are obviously treating it like it does, which inflates the cost

My assumption is you just need to remove the ceiling drywall, kill the mold, replace drywall. Not a particularly difficult job as long as the damage isn't severe.

Wide variety of Restoration companies. You don't need a fancy one so stay towards the conservative side of the estimates. Definitely use one that has experience with mold. Really, most handymen or handywomen can do it - if they know how to properly treat the mold. Sounds like you'll need a plumber too - which might be part of the restoration services.

It is still going to cost you, that's unavoidable unless you're a capable DIY'er.

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Thanks. That gives me some different ideas.

As mentioned above, the only added wrinkle is the possibility of asbestos. My house was built in '89 and the research I did online (not sure how accurate) suggests that's the exact year they stopped installing ceiling with asbestos (again, this may be wrong). So, it's hard to tell if mine has it without doing a formal test.

 

[Adder7806]

The added wrinkle is the garage ceiling is a popcorn ceiling, although I'm not sure it has asbestos or not. The contractors are obviously treating it like it does, which inflates the cost




As mentioned above, the only added wrinkle is the possibility of asbestos. My house was built in '89 and the research I did online (not sure how accurate) suggests that's the exact year they stopped installing ceiling with asbestos (again, this may be wrong). So, it's hard to tell if mine has it without doing a formal test.

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Perfect time to remove the abomination that is Popcorn Ceiling!

Pretty sure they have to check for asbestos no matter what. If the drywall was installed last week - still have to check.

 

[TarpitCarnivore]

I tend to go with small businesses in general (did have a close call with an insurance-focused larger restoration company last year but got out just in time). The previously mentioned quote are both from small businesses.

The added wrinkle is the garage ceiling is a popcorn ceiling, although I'm not sure it has asbestos or not. The contractors are obviously treating it like it does, which inflates the cost


Thanks. That gives me some different ideas.

As mentioned above, the only added wrinkle is the possibility of asbestos. My house was built in '89 and the research I did online (not sure how accurate) suggests that's the exact year they stopped installing ceiling with asbestos (again, this may be wrong). So, it's hard to tell if mine has it without doing a formal test.

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Are you certain there's legitimate mold issue that needs remediation? Like I said sometimes people see small bit of mold on sheet rock and freak out. Some of these companies thrive on the panic and fear around mold. I'm not trying to downplay it just making sure it's a legitimate problem before you go spending tons of money.

 

[Auros01]

Are you certain there's legitimate mold issue that needs remediation? Like I said sometimes people see small bit of mold on sheet rock and freak out. Some of these companies thrive on the panic and fear around mold. I'm not trying to downplay it just making sure it's a legitimate problem before you go spending tons of money.

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There is mold but it's hard to determine the severity. There is a bit on the subflooring (plywood?) that we can see when looking up through the garage ceiling portion that we've ripped out. I suppose we could rip out more of the ceiling and see if there's more visible mold.

 

[HylianSeven]

Fuck GE and fuck glass cooktops. I have an electric stove and I am not particularly rough on it, I clean it every so often, but back in 2022 the glass cracked. It was under warranty, I got it fixed. Well now two years later it's cracked AGAIN, again I clean it every so often and don't abuse it or anything. Fortunately at least there's a 5 year warranty on replacement parts, but I still have to pay the visit fee and labor fee.

Maybe this is a hot take, but I think it's fucked up if you really have to deep clean a fucking stovetop every single time you use it. It's absolutely insane.

 

[Adder7806]

Fuck GE and fuck glass cooktops. I have an electric stove and I am not particularly rough on it, I clean it every so often, but back in 2022 the glass cracked. It was under warranty, I got it fixed. Well now two years later it's cracked AGAIN, again I clean it every so often and don't abuse it or anything. Fortunately at least there's a 5 year warranty on replacement parts, but I still have to pay the visit fee and labor fee.

Maybe this is a hot take, but I think it's fucked up if you really have to deep clean a fucking stovetop every single time you use it. It's absolutely insane.

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GE ain't what they used to be. I bought a GE stove last year but sent it back. Just oozed poor quality. After hearing your story I'm really glad I did.

 

[HylianSeven]

GE ain't what they used to be. I bought a GE stove last year but sent it back. Just oozed poor quality. After hearing your story I'm really glad I did.

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I was Googling this issue and saw someone on Reddit say "GE stands for Generally Expensive"

My Oven/Stove came with my house and I'd rather not dish out more money to replace it if I don't have to, but man it really sucks.

 

[Adder7806]

I was Googling this issue and saw someone on Reddit say "GE stands for Generally Expensive"

My Oven/Stove came with my house and I'd rather not dish out more money to replace it if I don't have to, but man it really sucks.

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I get that. The stove that came with our Condo broke 6 months after we moved in. Just left it broken for another 6 months because we just didn't want to spend the money. Broken stove is very frustrating.

 

[demosthenes]

Anyone up north have thoughts:
I looked into getting a generator this year when upgrading from 100a to 200a panel. Ended up being a lot more expensive than I was lead to believe. All I really want is for my furnace to work in the winter if power goes out.

What have you used, what has worked?

 

[TarpitCarnivore]

Anyone up north have thoughts:
I looked into getting a generator this year when upgrading from 100a to 200a panel. Ended up being a lot more expensive than I was lead to believe. All I really want is for my furnace to work in the winter if power goes out.

What have you used, what has worked?

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A whole house generator or just a portable one? You could alwys get a portable one and have the panel wired for it.

 

[demosthenes]

A whole house generator or just a portable one? You could alwys get a portable one and have the panel wired for it.

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Going to opt for a portable one sometime this summer.

Anyone have experience running Ethernet between floors and have anything I can read on it?

 

[Bladelaw]

Trying to decide if this is a DIY job or an electrician job

I have a few light switches that are misbehaving, when turned on the associated light will not turn on, however if I fiddle with the switch just right then it'll turn on. This reads like a simple loose connection to me. On paper this seems like an easy job, worst case scenario I need to buy two new light switches, flip the breaker for the affected switches, wire them up, turn the breaker back on and hope things worked. Best case I can just flip the breakers, fix the loose connections, close it up and possibly be all set.

It definitely not the light bulbs, I've replaced them all with known good bulbs just to be sure.

Am I oversimplifying it or is there something I'm missing? Any safety precautions I'm forgetting?

 

[whatsinaname]

Trying to decide if this is a DIY job or an electrician job

I have a few light switches that are misbehaving, when turned on the associated light will not turn on, however if I fiddle with the switch just right then it'll turn on. This reads like a simple loose connection to me. On paper this seems like an easy job, worst case scenario I need to buy two new light switches, flip the breaker for the affected switches, wire them up, turn the breaker back on and hope things worked. Best case I can just flip the breakers, fix the loose connections, close it up and possibly be all set.

It definitely not the light bulbs, I've replaced them all with known good bulbs just to be sure.

Am I oversimplifying it or is there something I'm missing? Any safety precautions I'm forgetting?

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Should be straight-foward to attempt. Make sure to turn off the breaker at the panel. Also make sure you test with a non-contact voltage tester! Sometimes the panels are not labelled correctly.

 

[EMBee99]

Trying to decide if this is a DIY job or an electrician job

I have a few light switches that are misbehaving, when turned on the associated light will not turn on, however if I fiddle with the switch just right then it'll turn on. This reads like a simple loose connection to me. On paper this seems like an easy job, worst case scenario I need to buy two new light switches, flip the breaker for the affected switches, wire them up, turn the breaker back on and hope things worked. Best case I can just flip the breakers, fix the loose connections, close it up and possibly be all set.

It definitely not the light bulbs, I've replaced them all with known good bulbs just to be sure.

Am I oversimplifying it or is there something I'm missing? Any safety precautions I'm forgetting?

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I just did this with multiple outlets in my house and a light switch - it's really easy to do but you should be extra-special cautious about making sure that no electricity is running to the switch. Turn off the breakers, but also get a non-contact voltage sensor that you can double-check with.

From there, it's just making sure the right color wire is going to the right contact on the switch. Should take you like 5 minutes to do.

 

[Fuzzy]

About those testers, follow the proper testing method. Note: I'm an electrician.

1. Test a known live circuit to see if the tester is working. Just check a receptacle.
2. Test the circuit you want to work on to make sure it's dead.
3. Test the known live circuit AGAIN to make sure your tester didn't die between steps 1 and 2.

Most people don't do the third step. I've seen the tester die between steps 1 and 2 at work and the person caught a blast. Hell, a bunch of people don't even do the first step and just rub it against their arm to see if it beeps. lol

 

[Bladelaw]

Appreciate the info, I'll be picking up a non-contact voltage sensor on the way home.

 

[Coolent]

I need advice. I might need to move back home do to me cant taking high rents.


Well my mom is a about to be in her late 60s and she isnt sure what to do with the house. We own the House itself but a land lease company owns the land. "Urban Suburban Affordables, Inc. affordable housing program was launched in Hartford to help reduce the cost of homeownership for low- and moderate-income first-time homebuyers." I copied this from some website in quotes.
Back in 1997 my mom was looking for a house and she could't afford the house so she when with Urban Suburban to make a deal on the house. We pay them $35 indefinite every month as long as we own the house.

We've been paying them than $35 a month since 1997. In 1997 she bought the house at $68,000 its 1800 sqft. She had to something to the mortgage multiple times in the last 20 years to make it affordable. Right now the house is worth $285,000 but our old crappy garage burned down a couple weeks a so the insurance company will give a us a brand new garage, and house siding (since the back siding melted off) so the work to do the will be completed by this summer.
So the house is worth $285,000 we owe $144,000 on the mortgage on a house bought for $68000 in 1997. I think the interest rate is %3.2. and we pay a land lease organization $35 a month.
What I'm saying is that It is currently unaffordable in my area with rents $1800 or more that is not in a bad area. I need a place to stay since im in my early thirtys and childless.
Would it make sense to take over the house? My mother talked to the organization 8 years ago about buying the land from them and they said no. Would it make sense to rent the house out? Im open to ideas since I'm worried about the house's future since my mother is still working living alone still trying to pay the mortgage.

 

[HTupolev]

She had to something to the mortgage multiple times in the last 20 years to make it affordable. Right now the house is worth $285,000 but our old crappy garage burned down a couple weeks a so the insurance company will give a us a brand new garage, and house siding (since the back siding melted off) so the work to do the will be completed by this summer.
So the house is worth $285,000 we owe $144,000 on the mortgage

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It doesn't make sense that the amount owed on the mortgage would have doubled from a couple refis unless she was extracting equity from the house to fund other things, i.e. cash-out refinancing.
(That said, the remaining original principle probably was made more affordable relative to costs in the original loan, due to 3.2% being vastly lower than 1997 mortgage rates.)

Would it make sense to take over the house?

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That seems like a separate issue from whether it makes sense to move back with parents to cut down your rent.

Is your mom trying to get out of the house? Do you want to own it?

 

[Coolent]

I dont know what she did but she still owed a ton of money on the house.

She doesnt know what to do she is going to be 68 really soon this summer and still working as a CNA and she is a diabetic. She is just tired all the time. I am currently 33 with no kids and make $24 an hour by i am looking for housing. Im not sure what should I do? Does it make sense to own the house in the houses circumstances?

 

[Coolent]

It doesn't make sense that the amount owed on the mortgage would have doubled from a couple refis unless she was extracting equity from the house to fund other things, i.e. cash-out refinancing.
(That said, the remaining original principle probably was made more affordable relative to costs in the original loan, due to 3.2% being vastly lower than 1997 mortgage rates.)


That seems like a separate issue from whether it makes sense to move back with parents to cut down your rent.

Is your mom trying to get out of the house? Do you want to own it?

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Also

It doesn't make sense that the amount owed on the mortgage would have doubled from a couple refis unless she was extracting equity from the house to fund other things, i.e. cash-out refinancing.
(That said, the remaining original principle probably was made more affordable relative to costs in the original loan, due to 3.2% being vastly lower than 1997 mortgage rates.)


That seems like a separate issue from whether it makes sense to move back with parents to cut down your rent.

Is your mom trying to get out of the house? Do you want to own it?

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I dont know what she did but she still owed a ton of money on the house.

She doesnt know what to do she is going to be 68 really soon this summer and still working as a CNA and she is a diabetic. She is just tired all the time. I am currently 33 with no kids and make $24 an hour by i am looking for housing. Im not sure what should I do? Does it make sense to own the house in the houses circumstances?

Im 50/50 on buying the house. if she had owned the land then i would be interested in buying it.

 

[Sayre]

Also

I dont know what she did but she still owed a ton of money on the house.

She doesnt know what to do she is going to be 68 really soon this summer and still working as a CNA and she is a diabetic. She is just tired all the time. I am currently 33 with no kids and make $24 an hour by i am looking for housing. Im not sure what should I do? Does it make sense to own the house in the houses circumstances?

Im 50/50 on buying the house. if she had owned the land then i would be interested in buying it.

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I'm assuming you're in the US. Financially, I'm not sure if it makes sense to buy the house and have a new mortgage at 7% or more when her current mortgage is 3% just to change ownership to your name. I don't know what your relationship is with your mom, but could you just pay the mortgage for your mom for now as rent and work out some sort of agreement later on when she sells?

She most definitely took out additional money when she refinanced in the past. Only explanation for owing double than what she owed in the beginning.

 

[Coolent]

I'm assuming you're in the US. Financially, I'm not sure if it makes sense to buy the house and have a new mortgage at 7% or more when her current mortgage is 3% just to change ownership to your name. I don't know what your relationship is with your mom, but could you just pay the mortgage for your mom for now as rent and work out some sort of agreement later on when she sells?

She most definitely took out additional money when she refinanced in the past. Only explanation for owing double than what she owed in the beginning.

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Yes she must of took out the money. If she owned the land i'd take over the house. What would you do in this scenario

 

[TarpitCarnivore]

Going to opt for a portable one sometime this summer.

Anyone have experience running Ethernet between floors and have anything I can read on it?

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It's fairly straight forward, but could be tricky if you need to drill in the plates between floors. A good wire snake will be worth the investment for it.

Trying to decide if this is a DIY job or an electrician job

I have a few light switches that are misbehaving, when turned on the associated light will not turn on, however if I fiddle with the switch just right then it'll turn on. This reads like a simple loose connection to me. On paper this seems like an easy job, worst case scenario I need to buy two new light switches, flip the breaker for the affected switches, wire them up, turn the breaker back on and hope things worked. Best case I can just flip the breakers, fix the loose connections, close it up and possibly be all set.

It definitely not the light bulbs, I've replaced them all with known good bulbs just to be sure.

Am I oversimplifying it or is there something I'm missing? Any safety precautions I'm forgetting?

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This is a very straight forward thing: flip the breaker, test the wires, swap the switch.

If the switch is fiddled with and that causes it to come on it's very likely just the switch going bad. I had one doing the same where I could hear it making a crackling nose as I flipped the switch. So I just opted for a full swap out.

 

[Bladelaw]

Yeah sure enough the switches were bad, grabbed the voltage detector, had my wife flip breakers while I did the swap. Absolutely trivial fix. Total cost was $30 ($20 for the voltage detector, the rest was switches and nicer switch plate covers lol).

 

[Fuzzy]

Yeah sure enough the switches were bad, grabbed the voltage detector, had my wife flip breakers while I did the swap. Absolutely trivial fix. Total cost was $30 ($20 for the voltage detector, the rest was switches and nicer switch plate covers lol).

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👍
At least now you have a tester for any future simple electrical projects.

 

[TarpitCarnivore]

Yeah sure enough the switches were bad, grabbed the voltage detector, had my wife flip breakers while I did the swap. Absolutely trivial fix. Total cost was $30 ($20 for the voltage detector, the rest was switches and nicer switch plate covers lol).

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The tester is good to have on hand anyway. I also have an outlet tester. It's just good sanity checks for if you think something is up.

I'm ok swapping outlets and switches, sometimes lights. But I general with electric I like to have professionals handle stuff that requires no wires or any kind of work on questionable spots. Our house is old with the older Romex that is in the black sleeve with no ground wire, so I'll pay someone to install lights or fans on that because I'd rather have them on hand incase. Good example being we had new fans installed and I was unsure about the braces in place. Sure enough one of them was broken and they had to swap the whole brace out.

 

[Bladelaw]

The tester is good to have on hand anyway. I also have an outlet tester. It's just good sanity checks for if you think something is up.

I'm ok swapping outlets and switches, sometimes lights. But I general with electric I like to have professionals handle stuff that requires no wires or any kind of work on questionable spots. Our house is old with the older Romex that is in the black sleeve with no ground wire, so I'll pay someone to install lights or fans on that because I'd rather have them on hand incase. Good example being we had new fans installed and I was unsure about the braces in place. Sure enough one of them was broken and they had to swap the whole brace out.

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Yeah I'm good with most things at home but the three I hate fucking with is electric, plumbing, and gas. Plumbing I'll stick to anything outside the walls (toilets, sinks, etc), electric I'll avoid unless it's a trivial fix, and gas is 100% someone else's job.

 

[EMBee99]

Yeah sure enough the switches were bad, grabbed the voltage detector, had my wife flip breakers while I did the swap. Absolutely trivial fix. Total cost was $30 ($20 for the voltage detector, the rest was switches and nicer switch plate covers lol).

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Now you're ready to install dimmer switches, ceiling fans, eventually rebuilding your breaker panel and transforming into a handyman.

 

[Bladelaw]

Now you're ready to install dimmer switches, ceiling fans, eventually rebuilding your breaker panel and transforming into a handyman.

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Ah what I would do with time and money...

 

[Sayre]

Yes she must of took out the money. If she owned the land i'd take over the house. What would you do in this scenario

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Sorry, not enough information for me to confidently advise but if I like the house and don't mind taking it over then I would work out a deal with my mom and pay her mortgage as if I'm paying rent. The fact that you don't own the land is concerning but I don't know enough about that and it's baked into the price of the home anyway… so not sure what effects there are besides being limited on the improvements you can do. I would want a better understanding on that agreement before officially taking it over though.

 

[Coolent]

Sorry, not enough information for me to confidently advise but if I like the house and don't mind taking it over then I would work out a deal with my mom and pay her mortgage as if I'm paying rent. The fact that you don't own the land is concerning but I don't know enough about that and it's baked into the price of the home anyway… so not sure what effects there are besides being limited on the improvements you can do. I would want a better understanding on that agreement before officially taking it over though.

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believe me I want to take over the house. Since rents are around $2000 where I live kind of puts me in a bind. She can still build equity and I would have a place to stay

 

[Sayre]

believe me I want to take over the house. Since rents are around $2000 where I live kind of puts me in a bind. She can still build equity and I would have a place to stay

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Is she fine with you paying the mortgage for now and eventually switching ownership when rates are better? Or does she want the equity now to find another place to live? If you want the house, and you and your mom are fine with the living arrangement, then that's what I would do. I also trust my mom enough that I don't need to be on the deed of the home and can wait to inherit it, but I know that's different for everyone.

 

[Coolent]

Is she fine with you paying the mortgage for now and eventually switching ownership when rates are better? Or does she want the equity now to find another place to live? If you want the house, and you and your mom are fine with the living arrangement, then that's what I would do. I also trust my mom enough that I don't need to be on the deed of the home and can wait to inherit it, but I know that's different for everyone.

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well yea paying the mortgage is way cheaper than trying to pay rent in my town. She is willing to hand over the morgage she's been wishing for someone to take over the house for decades

 

[Teiresias]

So my yearly crawl space inspection turned up some moisturization of the band board in the crawl near/under the kitchen sink. Never any signs of that before.

The guy said he didn't see any active leaks in the pipes under there, but it looks like original (60s era house) copper drain pipe might be in the wall and newer PVC drain was attached at the sink and where it came into the crawl so it might be the drain pipe in the wall leaking. If it was a pressurized line or leaking down from the window above the sink I'd think we'd see signs on the wall in the kitchen under the sink, whereas the drain could just drip directly down onto the band board, unless it's intrusion from outside somehow.

Would a plumber be the first call here? Obviously I'll need someone to do some repair to the affected band board (he said he didn't see it moving up beyond the band board that was visible to him) later too, but guess we need to figure out where it's coming from first and it seems logical that a plumber would be the first stop?