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Inner Light
Jan 2, 2020



Newbie question: Is there any significant disadvantage to replacing wooden original windows with vinyl replacements, besides the fact that you're losing an original piece?

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BadSamaritan
May 2, 2008

crumb by crumb in this big black forest


Inner Light posted:

Newbie question: Is there any significant disadvantage to replacing wooden original windows with vinyl replacements, besides the fact that you're losing an original piece?

Fwiw as someone who is stuck with some previous owner “improvements”, our cheapshit vinyl replacement windows in the past few years have all needed their balances swapped out because they failed and the windows would fall open. Of course it’s a fly by night vinyl installer that has long since closed, so we’ve just gotten used to doing the fix. They also are pretty drafty.

If the wood windows work, may not be worth taking the gamble on replacing them. At least if you’ll be there in 10 years :argh:

corgski
Feb 6, 2007

Silly goose, you're here forever.

When vinyl insert windows fail the day after their ten year warranty is up you’re replacing the entire unit instead of just reglazing a pane. They also tend to interfere with window units if you rely on those for cooling. But if you want cheap and zero maintenance for those ten years and don’t mind the aesthetics, go for it.

Personally I hate them.

PainterofCrap
Oct 17, 2002

hey bebe



Inner Light posted:

Newbie question: Is there any significant disadvantage to replacing wooden original windows with vinyl replacements, besides the fact that you're losing an original piece?

The only noticeable (negative) (aside from using the absolute cheapest windows and having them installed by a hack, as the post above attest) is that windows/your glazed area will be somewhat smaller since another frame is being inset into the old opening. That really isn't a biggie. In exchange, it'll be warmer/cooler than the old original wood sashes.

If you get tilt-ins you'll really notice it come window-washing time. Not counting my front porch, I have ten double-hung windows with exterior storm units. That's eighty surfaces to clean, and the exterior face has to be done from outside after removing the storm window inserts. It's an all-day job.

Then there's the four, 9-light swing windows between the living room & front porch. I'm about done cleaning them; the glazing putty is falling out in chunks, so the next major window project is chasing out the old glazing putty, replacing cracked glass, and re-applying glazing putty to 36 l'il 9"X 6" panes. And re-painting them.

If you do re-glaze old wood windows, for the love of christ, don't substitute caulk for glazing putty, which can be purchased in tubes like caulk. It's an absolute nightmare to remove.

mutata posted:

Ok but what about aluminum frame windows that are filthy with track designs that fold over onto themselves 6 times and are impossible to get clean?

That's what faced my enclosed front porch when I moved in in 1992. They looked like they came out of a fuckin' school bus. Lord how I hated them. Took eight years to save the money to replace them with decent vinyl double-insulated casement units. Twenty-one years on, they're holding up well, but you gotta do the maintenance: keep them clean, wipe down the seals with silicone, lubricate the hinges & crank units...

or are you taking about those wild Florida Room things with six thin panes that telescope together as you raise them? My in-laws had those in Ocala, with some weird 10-mil plastic instead of glass. Wonder what they look like now, after fifteen years.

PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 00:39 on Jul 27, 2021

mutata
Mar 1, 2003

Ok but what about aluminum frame windows that are filthy with track designs that fold over onto themselves 6 times and are impossible to get clean?

Deviant
Sep 26, 2003

i've forgotten all of your names.


mutata posted:

Ok but what about aluminum frame windows that are filthy with track designs that fold over onto themselves 6 times and are impossible to get clean?

not an emptyquote.

glynnenstein
Feb 18, 2014


SpartanIvy posted:

In my experience that's an indicator of not enough airflow. Since you already swapped in a new filter it's either too restrictive of a filter, or your supply air plenum is too small, or your blower sucks.

If you already think you fixed the issue by swapping a dirty filter, leave your AC off until it melts and then see if it builds back up.

Adding to this, make sure you don't have too many registers closed and since you have access, clean the coil. If none of this fixes it, you may have a refrigerant leak.

NomNomNom
Jul 20, 2008
Please Work Out
Our 1956 might have some original aluminum windows (the Future!). They're drafty as poo poo. It's a mid-century styled house so they're rather large. I don't particularly care what the replacement ends up looking like since we keep the blinds drawn 24/7 anyway, but I'd rather not see the blinds moving when there's a gentle breeze outside. How do I even begin getting quotes? I had a Renewal by Anderson rep come by but they felt a little scammy and wanted $1400 per window.

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

SpartanIvy posted:

In my experience that's an indicator of not enough airflow. Since you already swapped in a new filter it's either too restrictive of a filter, or your supply air plenum is too small, or your blower sucks.

If you already think you fixed the issue by swapping a dirty filter, leave your AC off until it melts and then see if it builds back up.

And if the airflow is correct and it's still icing you are low on refrigerant. Yes, this is counter-intuitive but that's how it works.

nm
Jan 28, 2008

"I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

PainterofCrap posted:


I do believe that there will come a time when buyers may cherish original and fully-functional wood windows, not least because I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't immediately tear them all out and upgrade.

The vast majority of double hungs in my parents neighborhood ($1 million+ now, thanks California) are original wood windows. Casements seem to be more commonly replaced, though with high quality replacements (and modern "heritage" casements aren't nearly as off as modern double hungs -- my parents immediate neighbor has entirely french casements and you wouldn't know he had modern windows unless you look really close). There's at least one dude who as made an entire profession out of rehabbing old windows.

In my cheaper neighborhood, It's much more 50/50 with a lot of lovely vinyl and aluminum windows with about half the wood double hungs being in good shape and the other half a disaster.

Inner Light posted:

Newbie question: Is there any significant disadvantage to replacing wooden original windows with vinyl replacements, besides the fact that you're losing an original piece?
Ugly
Won't last as long (offer applies only on pre-wwii windows, post war wood windows seem kinda poo poo -- pre-WWII lumber tended to be old growth that resisted rot a lot better). My vinyl windows (thanks po!) already slide like poo poo, they are 8 years old, and the cannot be repaired.
You can't paint them properly
Seriously loving ugly
Wood windows are user serviceable and short of repairing rot, someone who is moderately handy can do all the repairs. This is a real pro, particularly compared to other windows where the option is often only to replace them if they fail.

If you MUST replace wood windows, get like Kolbe Heritage windows or I think pella has a similar both of which are way better looking than Anderson A and E series. There's also a company called heirloom windows that appears to make amazing re-pro windows, but I have no direct experience and bet they cost $texas. I contacted them and it did not appear they could meet CA Title 24 regs, which is a PITA if you're in CA, but not a big deal elsewhere. (This just means the u-value and SHGC numbers don't meet CA's extremely tight requirements).
Note also that you can replace only sashes in double hungs. If you must get that peak efficiency, kolbe makes double paned sashes that will go in original windows, but I think they still look a bit wack.

nm fucked around with this message at 03:20 on Jul 27, 2021

FISHMANPET
Mar 3, 2007

Sweet 'N Sour
Can't
Melt
Steel Beams
My house has some old (presumably original 1909) windows, and some newer vinyl windows, and I absolutely cannot notice any significant difference between them. Granted I've got godawful ugly aluminum storm windows on all the old windows. And the house itself is covered in vinyl siding anyway.

nm
Jan 28, 2008

"I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

FISHMANPET posted:

My house has some old (presumably original 1909) windows, and some newer vinyl windows, and I absolutely cannot notice any significant difference between them. Granted I've got godawful ugly aluminum storm windows on all the old windows. And the house itself is covered in vinyl siding anyway.

Sir, I believe you may be blind, you should consult a doctor.

FISHMANPET
Mar 3, 2007

Sweet 'N Sour
Can't
Melt
Steel Beams
I had an eye exam a few weeks ago, I have the kind of vision that people pay thousands in Lasik to get!

Inner Light
Jan 2, 2020



Speaking of window chat, I have builder grade wooden windows and double glazing on my 15 year old place, and the pane seals are starting to go. Some are cloudier than others, and the fogginess is sometimes only noticable by me because I'm cursed to see those details.

I'm dreading the $250 each pane and figuring out when I should pull the trigger on reglazing.

Check out some bad photos, what would you do? Also, is it normal to have them look super cloudy when looking out both panes at the top?

Windows open at bottom: https://i.imgur.com/aOnWcoZ.png

Issue with window at right: https://i.imgur.com/IBYWmw7.jpg

e: most are pretty clean but I need to do a full cleaning before ruling out dirt.

Inner Light fucked around with this message at 13:57 on Jul 27, 2021

DaveSauce
Feb 15, 2004

Oh, how awkward.
Update on my porch/deck saga:

:lmao: we've been failed 3 times now for basically the same reasons, and the inspector keeps copy/pasting the same thing over adding increasingly exasperated language that they need to give him what he's asking for. Initial fail was on the 22nd, then for some reason the contractor called the inspector back out on the 23rd even though they didn't do anything. Obviously, we failed.

Then yesterday a crew came by yesterday and did a handful of things, but we failed again today for nearly all the same reasons (including some new ones where their fix was incorrect!).

Called the main guy because I'm getting annoyed, and he said, "of course we're going to fail, we haven't had the engineer come out yet!"

:ughh:

For extra :lol:, he has no idea who keeps calling the inspector out. I'm guessing the project manager, since he seems particularly clueless, but I dunno.

Worries me a bit that he says they "forgot" to get engineering to come out sooner. I was under the impression up front that they weren't going to attach any loads to the house, specifically to avoid the need for engineering, and I'm pretty sure they explicitly told me that. When I asked him, he said, "well how are you going to build a porch without doing that?" :pseudo:

Tezer posted:

Small construction companies (I'm guessing this is one) usually have a boss that has a hard time with delegation of responsibility. They started out of the back of a truck making all the decisions, and they never develop a good system for letting other people make decisions as the business grows. It's a very common problem.

Yeah I've seen it a million times. I'm in engineering, and about every company I've worked for has been some "garage shop turned small/mid size company" sort of deal. Without fail, the top brass is either the original founder(s), or the 2nd generation employees who started way back when it was still a 5 person operation.

They know how to do the technical work, but they don't have the first clue how to run a business. And then of course everyone down the line is inevitably someone who got promoted simply because they've been around for a long time and were good at what the were originally hired for, not because they're qualified to manage people/projects.

FuzzySlippers
Feb 6, 2009

I'm looking for some advice for how to go about this. As posted in the Seattle thread a big drat tree fell on my house:

More Photos Here

The insurance says to get estimates from general contractors since it is going to take a variety of specialists to fix everything (carpenters, drywall, roofing, etc). Their adjustor said he would approve a certain percentage over the expected repair cost because of the additional cost from having someone coordinate everything. I have fixed some of my own plumbing problems and a variety of small house projects, but my actual knowledge of construction is zero and I've never had a big insurance claim or had to hire anywhere near a contractor for this much money so everything is pretty intimidating.

So far I've contracted a couple dozen general contractors and have gotten zero estimates. Either they don't respond, say they are too busy, or just fail to show up for their appointment. Around here is a construction boom and supposedly a ton of people have been remodeling since covid started so that is probably complicating things. I also presume remodeling work is far more profitable. Should I keep contacting general contractors until I can actually get estimates? Is there a different search term I should be using for who I need? Maybe I should start trying to get the work done by individual contractors? Any advice appreciated.

edit: also, I wanted to bring someone out to confirm the house structure isn't hosed in some obscure way. I contacted some "structural engineers" on Yelp and the 1 response so far said it would be $1800 (!!) for an inspection and report. I'm hoping the price is lower for some of the other companies but am I contacting the right kind of companies? I dunno if my insurance would just shrug and pay that

FuzzySlippers fucked around with this message at 23:44 on Jul 27, 2021

Kaiser Schnitzel
Mar 29, 2006

Schnitzel mit uns


Dang that sucks-at least it looks like it didn't gently caress up any living areas much. Your next 2 calls should be to a tree service to get the tree off and a roofer to tarp the roof.

If you haven't already, ask your adjuster or insurance agent if they have any recommendations for a contractor. A buddy of mine is exactly this kind of contractor that mostly (or in his case, exclusively) deals with insurance claims for fire, water, trees, etc, and someone like that may be a little better at dealing with this than a basic GC who may or may not have ever dealt with a tree cutting a roof in half. They'll probably also be more used to dealing with insurance if things get more complicated (structural damage like you mentioned) during the repair. Look for places with 'restoration,' 'reconstruction,' etc in the name of the business. Fire, water, storm damage mitigation/repair are maybe helpful google terms. Belfor is a national company that does that kind of stuff, but IDK if they are any good. Otherwise a GC that mostly does repairs and remodels is probably going to be a better bet than someone who mostly builds new houses.

PainterofCrap
Oct 17, 2002

hey bebe



FuzzySlippers posted:

I'm looking for some advice for how to go about this. As posted in the Seattle thread a big drat tree fell on my house:

More Photos Here

The insurance says to get estimates from general contractors since it is going to take a variety of specialists to fix everything (carpenters, drywall, roofing, etc). Their adjustor said he would approve a certain percentage over the expected repair cost because of the additional cost from having someone coordinate everything.

A job this size obviously warrants GC rates/ profit & overhead (10%+10%). If possible you want a licensed general contractor.

A couple things that absolutely should be happening:

- the tree has to be removed (may need a crane) and the roof tarped as soon as possible;
- an engineer should be evaluating the structural integrity of at least that part of your house.

Are you sure it's safe to live in? It is absolutely your call, they cannot refuse, especially with those pictures. Your insurance coverage includes additional living expense reimbursement for food & lodging for you & your pets if you have to stay elsewhere.

The insurance company, or at least the adjuster, should have knowledge of contractors. Most of them have a vendor / direct repair program. We sometimes don't like to refer in case poo poo goes south, but I'd ask.

No competent contractor should be charging for an estimate. Especially in this market. Also, you'll want to see their liability insurance certificate and the actual permits for the work (no, the permit application doesn't count...) before they start. Any contractor worth their salt will gladly & readily produce these.

The first national outfits that come to mind are Paul Davis Restoration and Belfor (although Belfor is hideously expensive)

Where are you located (ZIP code)(SEATTLE!)? I'll see if I can rustle up some contractors out of our system...Who is your insurer? - PM me or I'll send you my email.

DO NOT HIRE A PUBLIC ADJUSTER

e: should have read the following post from KaiserSchnitzel)

PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 00:38 on Jul 28, 2021

FuzzySlippers
Feb 6, 2009

Sorry if it wasn't clear we already got the tree off and taped by a roofer. The pictures with white backing behind the broken bits in the album is the tarp. That picture is just the more dramatic that shows this isn't just a roofing job. It's now to the rebuild phase. It seems to be completely safe to live in and luckily (?) we are in a very dry season here.

Our adjuster had no recommendations and the insurance agent is somewhere back East. Insurance (homesite) has been free with money so far but they have no local presence and our assigned case guy barely ever answers emails or the phone. The tree fell on the 14th and the only visit was 1 time by a contracted adjuster 5 days later who was around for like half an hour. So far we get any money we request but we're on our own otherwise.

I'll try some searches for reconstruction/restoration (searching "repair" definitely just gets handymen). Local Belfor on Yelp has pretty terrible reviews and Paul Davis isn't much better. I might still reach out just to get *some* estimates.

I should say I have gotten one estimate. The guy who removed the tree from the house had a buddy who came and gave me a hand written proposal. It was on a generic "proposal" sheet with some pretty hard to read scribbles that said he would do it all for $17,000. He looked about a hundred years old and seemed to have been drinking for most of it and he said he'd give me back $1000 in cash from the insurance payout.

Thanks Painter and I'll PM you.

Just curious, why the no public adjuster? I hadn't been planning on it (I could only find 1 in the whole Seattle area with positive reviews on Yelp) but I actually got in a big argument with my father in-law who said we were absolutely gullible fools unless we got a public adjuster. Since we haven't had a disagreement with insurance on payout so far it seemed a bit early to go get someone to fight for a bigger payout anyway.

PainterofCrap
Oct 17, 2002

hey bebe



Public adjusters work on a contingency fee: a percentage of the payout. That's your money, and you will need it. Like contractors, YMMV but my general experience is that they do absolutely the bare minimum, and once they get your check & their cut, they disappear faster than the genie after wish #3

El Mero Mero
Oct 13, 2001

Danhenge posted:

So, this was the whitepaper that Bob had included in his enormous PDF:

https://www.ncptt.nps.gov/blog/test...opment-1996-08/

I haven't read it in detail, but the executive summary has some bullets:

    Window upgrades using existing sash can achieve performance indistinguishable from replacement sash but economics of the upgrade depend on the leakiness of the original window.

    If the existing window is loose, it can often be cost-effective to address this leakage, including air leakage between the window and rough opening as well as between an exterior storm window and trim. If the window is already in typical or tight condition, an upgrade is unlikely to be cost-effective regardless of the cost-benefit test used.

    If the windows have single glass, it is worthwhile considering installing a second layer, including the options of storm windows, replacement insulated glass units, energy panels and use of Iow-emissivity glass.

My take is that well-maintained sash windows with storms are probably not quite as insulating as new, double paned vinyl replacements. However, with storm windows in place they are probably pretty close, and they are going to be maintainable. It's probably safe to assume with replacement windows that your seals will start failing not long after the ten-year warranty period, because if they lasted longer than that the window-makers would warranty them for longer than that. I understand that you can technically reseal these windows but that it is not simple or cheap. Once the seal is broken I doubt they are any better than your average well-maintained double hung window with storm windows. Probably worse.

Kaiser Schnitzel, I bet you could make your own wood storms ez pz based on your contributions to the woodworking thread. Bob has a 2-day class where he teaches people how to make his wooden storms, but he described a big chunk of it as just "Woodworking 101." I also took a bit of a look at the storms on their big old Italianate and while I couldn't divine the whole plan just from looking at them, they didn't look that complicated. Scott Saxman sells a storm window plan: https://thecraftsmanstore.com/diy-storm-windows-plans/ and Bob was generally quite positive about Scott so it's probably relatively decent. It might even be the same system as the one Bob uses. I also went ahead and bought Scott's book (https://thecraftsmanstore.com/old-windows-in-depth/) because I figured it would be a good resource if I forgot something or ran into something we didn't cover in the class.

Refurbishing old windows isn't that hard, unless you're running into a framing issue or something. I knew it going into the class but I wanted to gently caress up somebody else's windows before I started screwing up my own. I figured $500 + travel was cheap to be able to spend three days picking the brain of a guy who is a nationally-recognized expert and was on PBS for a while. While I was there I learned that he did stuff like help restore George Washington's house on Mt. Vernon. Plus I got to use infrared heaters and wasted a bunch of perishable supplies like glazing and epoxy that hopefully I can be a little more careful with now that I bought them.

We had our leaky old sash windows re-built and re-hung with an extra layer of glass and they've been fantastic. I was on the fence about pulling them out and replacing them with casements and I'm super happy that I didn't.

PageMaster
Nov 4, 2009

FuzzySlippers posted:


edit: also, I wanted to bring someone out to confirm the house structure isn't hosed in some obscure way. I contacted some "structural engineers" on Yelp and the 1 response so far said it would be $1800 (!!) for an inspection and report. I'm hoping the price is lower for some of the other companies but am I contacting the right kind of companies? I dunno if my insurance would just shrug and pay that

Here in Southern CA I've gotten quotes between 1300 and 1800 so far for structural engineers so yours is in the ballpark. I'd note that the 1300 quote is a site visit consult and a written field report with stamp, while some of the others go back and actually formally type up a report to submit which may new why they're priced differently.

DaveSauce
Feb 15, 2004

Oh, how awkward.
Ok I need an opinion on something that is totally trivial but is bugging the poo poo out of me.

So for our deck/porch, we asked that all visible edges are "edge style or covered with fascia," which is what is on the proposal. To us this basically means no visible cut edges, which is kind of important because we're using trex, so cut edges look like poo poo.

We didn't specify anything further, and for the stairs this became an issue. Contractor installed this:



We said no, and he bickered about it because this is the "standard cut" and we didn't specify how to do it. While it's true that we didn't say what precisely we wanted, we thought it was pretty clear that cut edges are not cool and we probably would have never noticed if he put a big piece of fascia over it or something.

I looked around and found this:



And we told him we'd split the difference, because this is a fancy looking cut and looks like it's not easy to do. Again, be bitched and moaned about needing to do rework and buy more boards blah blah, but he agreed.

Anyhow, his crew did this:



So they fixed the treads, but the risers are still wrong.... and now we're back to "this is not what we asked for."

How ugly is this? I'm not going to die on this hill, I'm more annoyed that he keeps loving it up and then cries about having to do rework. But he's confident that he can paint or stain it so the cut edge is less obvious. And I agree that this is possible, just frustrated that we have to keep talking about this... and just for reference he never once bought more boards, he re-cut the existing boards and put them back on.

Should we just give up at this point and let it slide? I'm sure in 5 year we're not even going to notice (except as a constant reminder of them not being able to follow simple directions), and we don't want to keep pressing him on something so trivial. But jesus man we literally gave you a picture and you still hosed it up...

edit:

welp, half-assed some "stain" in photoshop and it's not godawful:

DaveSauce fucked around with this message at 18:56 on Jul 28, 2021

Tezer
Jul 9, 2001

FuzzySlippers posted:

edit: also, I wanted to bring someone out to confirm the house structure isn't hosed in some obscure way. I contacted some "structural engineers" on Yelp and the 1 response so far said it would be $1800 (!!) for an inspection and report. I'm hoping the price is lower for some of the other companies but am I contacting the right kind of companies? I dunno if my insurance would just shrug and pay that

That number seems fine. Structural engineers can make good money doing commercial work, and they don't need to deal with cost-hesitant residential customers at the same time. So the ones that will call a homeowner back are rarer than you might think, and that drives the costs you're seeing.

You absolutely need an engineer. You have a truss roof which is an engineered structure. This means that your local code book almost certainly doesn't have any prescriptive designs for them. Any modification or repair (like you need) requires an engineer's opinion. It might be as short as 'reconstruct to mimic undamaged trusses using similar lumber' in a letter, but you still need it and if your insurance company was on top of things they would require it.

Also - nearly all the trees in your photos should be evaluated by an arborist. You have some very old trees located very close to your home, and one of them has already given up the ghost. I'm more risk adverse than a lot of people, and I would remove every tree I can see in the first picture located behind your home just based on height and proximity, even before we start talking about health.


DaveSauce posted:

Yeah I've seen it a million times. I'm in engineering, and about every company I've worked for has been some "garage shop turned small/mid size company" sort of deal. Without fail, the top brass is either the original founder(s), or the 2nd generation employees who started way back when it was still a 5 person operation.

They know how to do the technical work, but they don't have the first clue how to run a business. And then of course everyone down the line is inevitably someone who got promoted simply because they've been around for a long time and were good at what the were originally hired for, not because they're qualified to manage people/projects.

I work for one of these companies. Luckily the original owner sold it to the office administrator at the end of the last century who 'knew what she didn't know' and put a lot of training/delegation in place. Twenty years later, I'm benefiting - professional work environment with total headcount under 20. Very rare.

Tremors
Aug 16, 2006

What happened to the legendary Chris Redfield, huh? What happened to you?!

Motronic posted:

And if the airflow is correct and it's still icing you are low on refrigerant. Yes, this is counter-intuitive but that's how it works.

Well the issue persisted. Had the guy who installed my furnace last fall out to take a look and he narrowed it down to the TXV. Unfortunately he isn't a Lennox dealer so he won't touch it, so we have to get someone else out for a quote. The system is new enough we're not sure if it has any warranty left on it or not.

FuzzySlippers
Feb 6, 2009

Tezer posted:

Also - nearly all the trees in your photos should be evaluated by an arborist. You have some very old trees located very close to your home, and one of them has already given up the ghost. I'm more risk adverse than a lot of people, and I would remove every tree I can see in the first picture located behind your home just based on height and proximity, even before we start talking about health.

We have an accredited sciencey arborist coming to check all the trees on the property next week. The one that fell was actually alive and green (and all the trees were given a visual okay years ago) and it fell on a cloudless calm day. The guy who did the removal said it had root rot so the fear is something subtle that could be in other trees. The removal guy wandered around and said the trees looked alright but admitted he probably wouldn't have seen the fallen tree as a danger and despite being an old crusty tree guy he's no arborist. The science tree guy is bringing instruments that can check the roots and be very thorough.

Though the removal guy also found the tree had a pipe embedded in it 60-80 ft up. I don't know anything about trees but looking through the rings of sections below you could see it had left a mark on the tree's growth after it for a while. I have no clue why you'd stick a pipe like it in the tree (you aren't getting syrup from it or whatever) but since it was so high up the removal guy thought it must've been decades ago possibly before our house was built in 81. He doubted he could've seen the pipe from the ground. So if the arborist think it did eventually help the tree fall we'll see if he thinks we need people climbing the other trees or whatever to look for more.

Removal of all the trees would definitely not be in the cards. We have over a dozen 100+ ft trees near the house. We are actually in a neighborhood of hundreds of giant trees so this isn't an otherwise flat suburban expanse. Even if I removed all my giant trees (which I'm told is several thousand a pop at this size and insurance won't cover it) I'd still be in range of dozens more off my property as its not that big.

As crazy as it sounds I wouldn't want to remove them anyway. The tree basically fell on me (I was sitting directly in the path and the drywall even cracked above me) but so it goes. I grew up in the flat wastelands of Oklahoma and I love living in a neighborhood still in the city but that feels more like a forest. These big trees around here aren't falling all the time so if it actually happened to us again even after getting the all clear from the arborist then I guess we're just that lucky.

tangy yet delightful
Sep 13, 2005



I paid $650 for a structural engineer to inspect and do a proper report on suspected foundation settling on a house about 5 years ago in Tennessee. Now I'm in Oregon and other home stuff we've had done out here...well doubling that especially in this covid market seems reasonable to pay. I'd get an appointment booked with them ASAP even before/in parallel with a GC being hired. You might feel safe staying in your home but the engineer might say "holy poo poo move out now" amongst the other reporting stuff they'll do for you.

QuarkJets
Sep 8, 2008

DaveSauce posted:

Ok I need an opinion on something that is totally trivial but is bugging the poo poo out of me.

So for our deck/porch, we asked that all visible edges are "edge style or covered with fascia," which is what is on the proposal. To us this basically means no visible cut edges, which is kind of important because we're using trex, so cut edges look like poo poo.

We didn't specify anything further, and for the stairs this became an issue. Contractor installed this:



We said no, and he bickered about it because this is the "standard cut" and we didn't specify how to do it. While it's true that we didn't say what precisely we wanted, we thought it was pretty clear that cut edges are not cool and we probably would have never noticed if he put a big piece of fascia over it or something.

I looked around and found this:



And we told him we'd split the difference, because this is a fancy looking cut and looks like it's not easy to do. Again, be bitched and moaned about needing to do rework and buy more boards blah blah, but he agreed.

Anyhow, his crew did this:



So they fixed the treads, but the risers are still wrong.... and now we're back to "this is not what we asked for."

How ugly is this? I'm not going to die on this hill, I'm more annoyed that he keeps loving it up and then cries about having to do rework. But he's confident that he can paint or stain it so the cut edge is less obvious. And I agree that this is possible, just frustrated that we have to keep talking about this... and just for reference he never once bought more boards, he re-cut the existing boards and put them back on.

Should we just give up at this point and let it slide? I'm sure in 5 year we're not even going to notice (except as a constant reminder of them not being able to follow simple directions), and we don't want to keep pressing him on something so trivial. But jesus man we literally gave you a picture and you still hosed it up...

edit:

welp, half-assed some "stain" in photoshop and it's not godawful:



That last image looks great imo

That Works
Jul 22, 2006

Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy


Anyone got a newer battery powered mower? Thoughts?

Tired of fixing the ancient push mower I have and the yard seems just small enough to mow in 30-45 mins so I figured it might work.

Kaiser Schnitzel
Mar 29, 2006

Schnitzel mit uns


That Works posted:

Anyone got a newer battery powered mower? Thoughts?

Tired of fixing the ancient push mower I have and the yard seems just small enough to mow in 30-45 mins so I figured it might work.

Lots of people do! The tools thread has many opinions about them if you don't get enough here.

If you want a gas mower that always starts and needs no maintenance, get a honda.

Sirotan
Oct 17, 2006

Sirotan is a seal.


Got the Ego 21" push mower last year and it's great.

That Works
Jul 22, 2006

Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy


Kaiser Schnitzel posted:

Lots of people do! The tools thread has many opinions about them if you don't get enough here.

If you want a gas mower that always starts and needs no maintenance, get a honda.

I have a Honda GCV160. I have to do work on it constantly sadly.

PageMaster
Nov 4, 2009
Anyone have any experience with MagVent dryer vent hoses? We're still using the old crappy foil which catches a lot of lint (and apparently we are supposed to cut to length and extend fully when connecting the dryer to the vent, which we've never done) but this looks like a cool worthwhile upgrade (while also easy to install). I'm just not sure how well it works in actuality.

Sirotan posted:

Got the Ego 21" push mower last year and it's great.

Second this. I don't know that you can do better. Problem is you'll want to buy all the other tools that use the battery afterwards; I ended with the edger and string trimmer before I stopped.

PageMaster fucked around with this message at 04:32 on Jul 29, 2021

Kaiser Schnitzel
Mar 29, 2006

Schnitzel mit uns


That Works posted:

I have a Honda GCV160. I have to do work on it constantly sadly.

Oh that sucks, sorry. I hope that doesn’t happen to mine :ohdear: I’m not sure what model it is but I’ve had it 5 years and it’s always started on the first or second pull and I mow my yard like, 8 months of the year. I think I changed the oil and air filter and blade once maybe?

His Divine Shadow
Aug 7, 2000

I'm not a fascist. I'm a priest. Fascists dress up in black and tell people what to do.
Getting a robot mower is the goddamn best thing I ever goddamn helling did. It even cured the mossy area behind the house, lawn has never looked better (well OK we've had no rain for a month now so it's got a lot of brown). But holy moly it's nice! Niiiiice!!!!!!

Like it was a weekly existential dread having to cut the lawn, when it was cut I felt relieved, but I kept worrying about the next week I was gonna cut it and the worry just gets more intense over the week until I finally arrived at mowing day. I hated mowing so much I would actually be in a bad mood because of it and it'd steal mental resources so I wouldn't do other things, even when I was not mowing. My life is so much better, and we can set the lawn to be cut high enough that small flowers and poo poo can survive so it's not as much a monoculture (not that it ever was, it's a wild mix of weeds and some grass seeds).

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

His Divine Shadow posted:

Like it was a weekly existential dread having to cut the lawn, when it was cut I felt relieved, but I kept worrying about the next week I was gonna cut it and the worry just gets more intense over the week until I finally arrived at mowing day. I hated mowing so much I would actually be in a bad mood because of it.

Wow, you have now given me a read understanding of part of the market for these things. I completely do not understand this, but you do you and I now get there is a market.

I enjoy throwing on a set of noise canceling headphones and listening to podcasts or music while I put around. I get this is not a universal thing, even before, but not that people had existential dread about a job that could be hired out cheaply.

I mean.....I'm still glad it worked out for you. But this is just weird.

El Mero Mero
Oct 13, 2001

QuarkJets posted:

That last image looks great imo

Yeah I think the guy did a nice looking job for both versions of the job. It's on the OP for not specifying what they wanted. There are innumerable ways to do steps and stairs.

"edge style" isn't a style, but if you wanted those edges covered with white trim/brown fascia I'm sure he'd let you pay a bit extra to do it, and you'd probably get it at half the cost of someone coming out to do just that later since the contractor is already there.

His Divine Shadow
Aug 7, 2000

I'm not a fascist. I'm a priest. Fascists dress up in black and tell people what to do.

Motronic posted:

Wow, you have now given me a read understanding of part of the market for these things. I completely do not understand this, but you do you and I now get there is a market.

I enjoy throwing on a set of noise canceling headphones and listening to podcasts or music while I put around. I get this is not a universal thing, even before, but not that people had existential dread about a job that could be hired out cheaply.

I mean.....I'm still glad it worked out for you. But this is just weird.

I have a walk behind mower and I am spending most of my days at work, which sucks and steals most of my day. Then I get home and have to cook or do other stuff, plus my many other projects, this takes away precious free time I could be doing elsewhere, just walking behind this dumb stupid contraption from hell. And it's a bloody drat bore and I have so many other things and projects I constanty need to do and it just puts me off my stride, this pointless sisyphean task.

And it being cheap to hire out is only in the US because you can do things there with labour you can't here. Also no gasoline, no having to work on dirty oily engines and carburetors and all that poo poo. It's quiet and you don't hear it.

I think market penetration of robot mowers in scandinavia must be over 50% now.

devmd01
Mar 7, 2006

Elektronik
Supersonik
Have kids and you’ll be very happy to mow the lawn for some peace and quiet!

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His Divine Shadow
Aug 7, 2000

I'm not a fascist. I'm a priest. Fascists dress up in black and tell people what to do.

devmd01 posted:

Have kids and you’ll be very happy to mow the lawn for some peace and quiet!

I have kids, twins, and nope.

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