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Queen Victorian posted:If we'd started doing poo poo to it as soon as we took possession and before we truly got to know it we would have made soooo many mistakes and poor choices. This. I sometimes look at the list we made of potential projects when we first moved in 4 years ago and have a good laugh. Priorities change, as have the ways we use the space. I get a little mind boggled at people who do major renos (on nice, habitable houses) before they even move in.
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Aug 9, 2021 19:05
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Tezer posted:Your baseboards are probably hot water (not steam) so they shouldn't be above 140F (and that's a very high temp for hot water heating). At that temperature you aren't going to normally see any degradation of polyurethane foam. Most studies looking at heat related degradation of polyurethane foams start around 300F so there isn't much data for stuff in the 'hot water temperature' range. This is incredibly helpful and has tremendously reduced my stress with the issue, thank you!!
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Aug 9, 2021 19:14
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Queen Victorian posted:You can see the frame droop ever so slightly away from that center wall. Interesting part is that it's much less pronounced on the second floor and also even though the joinery is not square, it doesn't look out of whack, so my guess is that the settling over 110+ years has been very minimal and/or it was built a little bit crooked in the first place. This and the rest of your post are 100% normal for even the highest quality homes of that age. It indicates the place was well built and well maintained. You're needs are more "tweaking" than "repair", unlike some of the other posts in this thread or the other (I forget which) where people claim having bubbled up walls, trim pieces literally ripping off of walls, and floors so sloped that they need to use 2x4s are furniture leg shims are "normal old building stuff." BadSamaritan posted:This. I sometimes look at the list we made of potential projects when we first moved in 4 years ago and have a good laugh. Priorities change, as have the ways we use the space. I get a little mind boggled at people who do major renos (on nice, habitable houses) before they even move in. Yeah, we had quite a list. Some of it has been done, the rest of it MIGHT get done, but it's a lot to process and you're making a lot of assumptions about how you will use spaces, what will actually bother you or even be noticeable once these spaces have furniture and decorations, etc in them, plus you certainly missed a bunch of things that are going to become apparent and/or annoying. Three years in and the list isn't any shorter. The contents have just changed.
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Aug 9, 2021 19:15
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We have awesome 200 year old pine wood floors that were covered by hard board and the cheapest quality carpet. Are they soft as hell wood? Yes. Is there no sub-flooring under them and tons of gaps? Absolutely. But it sure seems like a sin to not try and keep them going for as long as possible.
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Aug 9, 2021 21:18
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The Dave posted:We have awesome 200 year old pine wood floors that were covered by hard board and the cheapest quality carpet. Honestly it's hard to match the natural beauty of a stained balsa floor.
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Aug 9, 2021 21:39
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Crazy market. Put our house on market yesterday at noon. Three offers by end of day yesterday. Accepted one today. poo poo moves fast! Ended up with almost 20 showings in 24 hours and we expect even more offers to roll in. BonoMan fucked around with this message at 03:10 on Aug 10, 2021 |
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Aug 10, 2021 03:08
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If you accepted one, does it matter if more offers roll in?
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Aug 10, 2021 03:27
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Arsenic Lupin posted:If you accepted one, does it matter if more offers roll in? Yeah we won't accept them unless something falls through with others (and we like the terms of course). The one downside to the market is that buyers are having to make so many offers that their expiration is crazy fast. Usually about 12-24 hours. So you don't really have the pleasure of thinking too long on it and just have to bite the bullet instead of waiting for all of em to come in. But we generally know the worth and what it will appraise for so we think we've got the best we're gonna get.
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Aug 10, 2021 03:48
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BonoMan posted:Yeah we won't accept them unless something falls through with others (and we like the terms of course). As a buyer I asked my REA about expirations. They said their experience on the selling side was they ignored 100% of them (the time, not the offer itself), because they never had a deal during their career where a buyer's expiration date/time was followed through with by the buyer.
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Aug 10, 2021 04:27
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My selling realtor is just saying *bids must be in by Wednesday." Which leaves us in control of the decision.
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Aug 10, 2021 04:43
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Anyone know how this type of tiling is done? I'm seeing reference to embedding it on mesh first then placing the mesh and filling around it?
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Aug 10, 2021 15:40
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Yooper posted:Anyone know how this type of tiling is done? Mosaic tile is the word you're looking for. It can be done by hand or on a mesh though I've only done the former.
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Aug 10, 2021 17:46
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Yeah that looks like hand-laid mosaic. I would think that the mesh backing is how pre-made patterns are delivered.
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Aug 10, 2021 17:49
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it is a good and fun art
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Aug 11, 2021 01:14
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I need to patch in some replacement red oak strip flooring. Totally standard material, but all I can find are 20+sqft bundles, which is way more than I need. Is there a way to buy smaller quantities? I noticed they sell tongue and groove fir boards by the foot at Home Depot but I haven't seen oak floorboards that way.
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Aug 11, 2021 06:11
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mcgreenvegtables posted:I need to patch in some replacement red oak strip flooring. Totally standard material, but all I can find are 20+sqft bundles, which is way more than I need. Is there a way to buy smaller quantities? I noticed they sell tongue and groove fir boards by the foot at Home Depot but I haven't seen oak floorboards that way. Maybe you have already done this, but branch out from Home Depot if you can. If there’s a builders supply store or lumber yard in your area, check with them. Even a sawmill. I know some of the small sawmills in my area got really busy last spring cutting planks when plywood was so expensive. They probably wouldn’t kiln dry and T&G flooring on site, but might be able to tell you where to go.
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Aug 11, 2021 11:07
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mcgreenvegtables posted:I need to patch in some replacement red oak strip flooring. Totally standard material, but all I can find are 20+sqft bundles, which is way more than I need. Is there a way to buy smaller quantities? I noticed they sell tongue and groove fir boards by the foot at Home Depot but I haven't seen oak floorboards that way.
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Aug 11, 2021 13:51
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Our new apartment's front door is missing the latch piece, so nothing holds the door shut except to use the bolts. I took a pic to a locksmith and they said they would have to replace the entire locking system (it is something like this) and said it would be €350. Besides costing a lot, it is a shame because it otherwise all works totally fine. Is it not normal to be able to get spare parts like a new latch? It seems like it would be straightforward to install it if I could get one.
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Aug 12, 2021 10:13
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Associate Christ
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other people posted:Our new apartment's front door is missing the latch piece, so nothing holds the door shut except to use the bolts. Have you tried contacting the manufacturer?
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Aug 12, 2021 12:30
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BigFactory posted:Have you tried contacting the manufacturer? In August in Spain? lol good one
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Aug 12, 2021 13:35
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But really I was just surprised the locksmith said it all had to replaced. I have no idea if he is right and this is normal due to lack of parts or complexity. Or maybe he just wanted to sell me something more expensive??
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Aug 12, 2021 13:37
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other people posted:But really I was just surprised the locksmith said it all had to replaced. I have no idea if he is right and this is normal due to lack of parts or complexity. Or maybe he just wanted to sell me something more expensive?? The locksmith might be able to answer that question, or you could try another locksmith if you think he’s shady.
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Aug 12, 2021 14:33
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Spare parts for a lot of things just aren’t likely to be available anymore directly to the consumer. If you know the exact model you could try to do some internet searching, but you could probably just buy a whole new lock and handle and replace it yourself for less than 350 euros. I couldn’t get the link to work so unless it’s wildly different than American doors/locks all it really requires is a hand drill. Just try to match the style and size so you don’t have to make any new holes in the door or wall.
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Aug 12, 2021 14:48
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other people posted:But really I was just surprised the locksmith said it all had to replaced. I have no idea if he is right and this is normal due to lack of parts or complexity. Or maybe he just wanted to sell me something more expensive?? you've got multiple choices 1. may be right 2. may want to upsell 3. may be lazy 4. may know that by the time he orders the parts, gets them in 3 weeks, then charges for time to repair the lock at $whatever / hour, you'll be at the cost of just replacing the whole thing. Call a different locksmith, get another quote. Make sure they have a storefront that you can actually see with their name on it.. lots of "locksmiths" can be XYZ company working under contract for EuroLocksmithPros and all they have is a truck.
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Aug 12, 2021 15:17
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tater_salad posted:you've got multiple choices  Probably it's the supply chain thing.
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Aug 12, 2021 15:33
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Our cool Zephyr hood we ordered 2 months ago for Aug delivery was delayed to Sept at the earliest, so I ordered a Zline one from home Depot since my wife wants to use her range and we're tired off waiting. Estimated delivery was 13 Aug with shipping last week, and order is still 'processing' HD can't tell me where it is or when it'll move so I have a bad feeling it's also backordered like every other hood in the world right now. Any other brands to look at or avoid? I've seen proline and Xtreme air on other sites.
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Aug 12, 2021 19:13
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PageMaster posted:Our cool Zephyr hood we ordered 2 months ago for Aug delivery was delayed to Sept at the earliest, so I ordered a Zline one from home Depot since my wife wants to use her range and we're tired off waiting. Estimated delivery was 13 Aug with shipping last week, and order is still 'processing' HD can't tell me where it is or when it'll move so I have a bad feeling it's also backordered like every other hood in the world right now. Any other brands to look at or avoid? I've seen proline and Xtreme air on other sites. We've been waiting for our new microwave and range since February. I kind of don't think it's a brand thing, I think it's a shipping thing.
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Aug 12, 2021 19:23
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cruft posted:We've been waiting for our new microwave and range since February. I kind of don't think it's a brand thing, I think it's a shipping thing. You're right, the vendor reached out and said it was a shipping problem on their end. I honestly like the Zephyr more so I think I was kind of hoping Zline wouldn't be in stock and the Zephyr would ship first out of nowhere.
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Aug 12, 2021 20:10
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So I've finally gotten some estimates but one of the companies that turned up didn't give an explicit estimate. Their pitch is that rather than be contracted to build/repair/etc specific things they would want me to sign a contract that made them the "contractor of choice" and empower them to speak directly to insurance. Then they'd perform their own assessment, structural report, etc and negotiate with the insurance to get sufficient payout for the work and potentially additional work. I guess kinda like a public adjustor? This sound dodgy to me, but the guys were nice enough and eager to answer questions. Is this an actual thing? I'm getting flack from my father in law that this is the kind of thing I should be doing rather than all my effort cluelessly talking to contractors
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Aug 13, 2021 05:43
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You seem to have found the contractor equivalent of an ambulance chasing lawyer.
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Aug 13, 2021 05:51
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Man, kicking myself a little. I had a bathroom project that was dragging on longer than I wanted. I repainted/added a tile border and wanted to install a bathroom fan, but it turned out the PO never did the venting for the fan. I needed to get someone out for the venting, couldn't find anyone to give it time of day, and ended up settling with the one odd handyman guy that would show up. He said he'd do it but that it'd make sense for the time/price if I included a few other small projects for him too - so I had him build me some replacement trim pieces and wood vent cover too. The venting/fan job was fine but the trim and vent cover are so godawful and the dude spent like 60% of his time on them. It's just embarrassing. I'm kicking myself because it was the type of thing that I'd normally just do myself and enjoy doing too and here I over paid this guy to bum me out.
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Aug 13, 2021 08:46
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FuzzySlippers posted:So I've finally gotten some estimates but one of the companies that turned up didn't give an explicit estimate. Their pitch is that rather than be contracted to build/repair/etc specific things they would want me to sign a contract that made them the "contractor of choice" and empower them to speak directly to insurance. Then they'd perform their own assessment, structural report, etc and negotiate with the insurance to get sufficient payout for the work and potentially additional work. I guess kinda like a public adjustor? This sound dodgy to me, but the guys were nice enough and eager to answer questions. Is this an actual thing? I'm getting flack from my father in law that this is the kind of thing I should be doing rather than all my effort cluelessly talking to contractors It is dodgy. I have encountered these types of guys, they're all over, but particularly egregious in the 'roof warranty/replacement only' category...and I tell them all to gently caress off unless they can show me their public adjuster's license. Even a licensed PA cannot dictate to me when and how to communicate with my insureds - only a lawyer can do that. If the PA behaves, I may work through them as a courtesy. If they don't behave, they're a fifth wheel and I tell them only what is absolutely necessary - which amounts to negotiating the value of a claim, and only that. There's some risk, too: having a public adjuster does not shield you from the dodgy and illegal poo poo a dumb PA may try to do. Nice doesn't fix poo poo; competence does. Motronic posted:You seem to have found the contractor equivalent of an ambulance chasing lawyer. Yup. 'Eager' in this market reeks. Run away. PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 13:48 on Aug 13, 2021 |
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Aug 13, 2021 13:43
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PainterofCrap posted:I have encountered these types of guys, they're all over, but particularly egregious in the 'roof warranty/replacement only' category.. This is exactly what came to mind when I saw that... the out of town door-to-door storm chasers who canvas neighborhoods with their BS, and then are gone the instant the work is done. "Insurance will probably cover it and you're only out your deductible, just sign this contract* and we'll get an adjuster out right away!" *granting us exclusivity, and if your insurance rejects the claim you've already agreed to buy a roof from us at full price
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Aug 13, 2021 14:08
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I have had the following conversation more times than I can count in the past year: Insured: My roofer, who just notified me of this *gestures at sixteen-month-old hail damage never noticed before, and that is invisible from the ground* says that I must have a new roof. *I inspect. 20-shingles damaged, roof is not that old, passes a brittle test, not composed of weird unicorn shingles; clearly repairable* (hail chaser in brotruck with Georgia tags and a burner phone) *yells from ground* IT'S FUBAR Me (to insured): OK here's $1600 to make a $450 repair. Insured: My roofer says it can't be fixed, here's an estimate for $16,000 Me: It's an 11-square roof on a 1-story house with a reasonably low pitch. Maybe $8000 to replace at worst, in current market. Me: OK let's have another roofer inspect it with your roofer since, after 35-years in the business, I don't know poo poo (Roofers inspect together. Hail chaser usually doesn't even get on the roof) (Hail chaser admits roof is repairable) Me (to insured): see, it's repairable, even your roofer agrees. ~a week passes~ Insured: My roofer says that the roof isn't repairable. I want a new roof. Me: (calls hail chaser): WTF. HC: We don't repair roofs. We're a "roof warranty company." We only replace roofs. Me: not my problem. You know the roof is repairable. HC: (pick one) I never said that / Yes, but we don't do that / it won't match / you can't warranty a repair. Me: there's no warranty on the roof now. Me: (calls insured): You need a new roofer to inspect this. Try someone local! Insured: You're not the boss of me. Me: True; you want a new roof, that's up to you. What the insurance will cover is another issue altogether. Insured: You're an rear end in a top hat, take me to your leader. PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 14:39 on Aug 13, 2021 |
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Aug 13, 2021 14:34
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Let me give you the flip side of this, from personal experience. There's a hailstorm. We get hail here, it's a thing. Cars turn into golf balls, etc. Some dude shows up from our insurance company. He's been going through every neighborhood. He looks up at our 3-month-old propanel roof, which is warrantied against hail damage for 20 years, and totals it. Me: Are you sure it's totalled? It's brand new and it's got a 20-year warrant... Adjuster: Okay, next house, bye So I have a decision to make. Either I call the roofer out to completely replace the entire roof, or I lose insurance coverage on the roof. The roofer did the work but everybody was heartbroken about throwing away those materials and wasting that money.
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Aug 13, 2021 15:09
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And now you get a roof claim on your CLUE report
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Aug 13, 2021 15:43
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My house is too tall for much of the roof to be visible from the ground and also the roof is so steep that it's not very susceptible to hail damage in the first place. As long as it's not leaking I don't give a crap because I can't see it anyway. I'm wondering if these Victorian-type roofs being so high and steep (and therefore difficult and dangerous to work on) is why we've never seen hailstorm chaser roofers in the neighborhood even with the recent crazy hailstorms. Watched one of the houses nearby get a new roof and the roofers were all in harnesses with ropes and said it was a tough job. Motronic posted:This and the rest of your post are 100% normal for even the highest quality homes of that age. It indicates the place was well built and well maintained. You're needs are more "tweaking" than "repair", unlike some of the other posts in this thread or the other (I forget which) where people claim having bubbled up walls, trim pieces literally ripping off of walls, and floors so sloped that they need to use 2x4s are furniture leg shims are "normal old building stuff." Yeah it's so far proven to be a very good quality house in good condition. I'd read previously that in the Victorian era, the bullseye rosette motif became wildly popular in part because installing them did not require any mitered cuts. I'd imagine that not having the mitered cuts also made it easier to mask out-of-square imperfections. One little detail I've noticed is that the higher the house's trim level (heh), the more likely it is you'll see prominent mitered cuts in the trim and door casing as such. Probably because they required a higher level of care and precision to successfully pull off and fancy construction techniques that your guests notice = status. In terms of jamb replacement, I mostly just brought that up because the millwork shop likes to deliver and install doors pre-hung, which makes the installation process much easier for them. As I recall, they will make standalone doors but in that case you're on your own for installing them. Might just do the new jambs for the doors we need replaced for the sake of convenience, and new jambs (but with original doors) for the (inner) front door and back kitchen door, as the existing jambs are all hacked up from generations of different deadbolts and door hardware and just look like poo poo and none of the stuff aligns well anymore (aka due for yet another round of gouging out holes in the jamb). Oh, and bathroom door needs to be completely redone - long ago (30's, I think), a new (very Art Deco) tub was installed, but was slightly too wide for the space, so the doorway was made 1.5" narrower with a spacer, and the door was filed down to fit, and the handedness was flipped, so you can see the old routing on the hinge side of the door, so that's a case where it'd be way less of a pain in the rear end to just rip everything out and start over. But everything else just needs some tweaks and adjustments.
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Aug 13, 2021 15:55
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Queen Victorian posted:I'm wondering if these Victorian-type roofs being so high and steep (and therefore difficult and dangerous to work on) is why we've never seen hailstorm chaser roofers in the neighborhood even with the recent crazy hailstorms. Watched one of the houses nearby get a new roof and the roofers were all in harnesses with ropes and said it was a tough job. *laughs in Mansard roof* A contractor buddy of mine warned me to be extra careful of picking a roofer, since he’s known people who’ve had their shingles just straight-up fall off from roofers unfamiliar with this style. Fantastic. At least we’re not that high up.
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Aug 13, 2021 16:08
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Anybody got one of these ladder stabilizers for their extension ladder: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Werner-Quick-Click-Ladder-Stabilizer-AC78/100658388 ? How much of an improvement does it actually make? It isn't that expensive so I'll probably just buy one, but I need to get up about 20ft to paint the side of my house and have so far not managed to will myself up the ladder when I am by myself because it likes to start shaking back and forth a bit above one story. It doesn't actually move at the top or bottom so I'm wondering how much of a difference one of these could actually make? Whether I have one of these or not I am planning to get a spotter/someone to hold the ladder while I am working on all the high bits that I have been unable to reach on my 10' step ladder.
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Aug 13, 2021 18:14
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insurance arguments? public adjusters? mansard roof? are yall me? ugh.
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Aug 13, 2021 18:23
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