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I have a mostly unfinished basement with asbestos tile flooring. For the most part it is intact, but there are a few places with cracks and gaps between the tile, and in one particular area some more severe cracking. Is this something that I can address by covering it? (e.g. floor leveling compound and epoxy paint and/or floating vinyl plank flooring?) or am I basically gonna need to have some professional abatement done?  
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Sep 19, 2017 22:55
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mutata posted:I got smartbulbs for 3 front outdoor lights because their switches are in stupid places in this 90s era house and I can set a schedule for them and forget about them forever now. I have trouble understanding why folks go for the smartbulb here, except maybe in cases where you want finer grained control of individual lights on a switch circuit. I just dealt with a similar problem and smart switches seemed like a much better solution.
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Jan 10, 2019 16:46
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WithoutTheFezOn posted:Sounds like their three lights are on more than one switch, in which case it’s kind of a wash, cost-wise. Fair enough, though Lutron smart switches don't need three wire circuits.
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Jan 11, 2019 05:21
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Not sure if this is the best thread, but seems reasonably appropriate. I wanted to get a read on a permitting situation on a garage/carport roof repair permitting debacle I've found myself in. I own a house on an upslope lot, built originally in I think the 30s or 40s then expanded in the 60s. There's a detached 1 car garage/carport that's just off the sidewalk, walls on sides and rear are concrete, mostly below grade with maybe 3-4 feet sticking up above a retaining wall at the front. Flat roof. The roof surface was deteriorated, not water tight, and there was some rot in the boards under the surface and in the framing (all totally visible / exposed from inside the garage). No door on it, nor any electricity. I wanted to repair the roof, with an eye towards eventually getting some electricity and a door on it, but was on a budget so just wanted to start with the repair since I knew it was only going to get worse over time. I got a few quotes from local contractors to replace the surface and repair the rot, one eventually came out. I was around when they started the tear off and met with the inspector for the initial permitting, and everything seemed to be in order for what they planned. The following week, when the city inspector (different guy, I think, but I wasn't around) came back after the tear down and when they'd started repairing the boards and framing, told them they needed a framing permit and stopped the work. The contractor tried to get that permit, but was told they needed drawings, and he didn't have anyone to do that, and made some vague references that the city wanted them to drill into the concrete and add some epoxied bolts to the framing and that's not something they'd do either. At this point they pretty much abandoned the job and stopped communicating (longer story but gently caress those guys). I've got someone else working on it now, who thinks they may want engineering done for it (I wouldn't be surprised now, they also wanted engineering done for a decking replacement project I did earlier). He met with the inspector from the city today who said that we'll need to add wiring to it, with lighting, outlets, and a finished door. This is following a pattern of escalating requirements, and pretty frustrating. Does this seem unreasonable or pretty standard to others? I'm really frustrated that this all came up (in multiple stages) after they let work start on the initial project. (If it's really required to have a door and lighting and outlets, how on earth would they have not known that from the get go?) Not only does it seem like an excessive requirement for a repair job, but more annoyingly I don't know why the requirement wasn't laid out from the beginning. If I'd known up front, I would have put it off until I had the budget and time to dedicate to a larger project. Am I crazy/unreasonable here? Is anyone familiar with any relevant code (I'm in CA) that dictates that this work would have to be done for a roof repair/replacement, or that the garage/carport would be required to have power and a door? Is this sort of fluctuating requirements poo poo typical?
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Nov 15, 2019 04:59
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PremiumSupport posted:It's highly unlikely for there to be air vents under a slab. My house is on a slab and all the lower level vents are in the ceiling. My last house had airvents through the slab used by some prior HVAC system. They'd been replaced by duct work attached to the ceiling, though
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Dec 5, 2019 16:48
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I wanted to share a "fun" experience I had over the last few days. We just moved into a new (80s) house earlier this month, and had family stay for the holidays. For Christmas dinner, I think my mother in law put a few greasy things down the garbage disposal that she shouldn't have, and the sink backed up. It's a funky 3 basin sink, with the middle one being a very small basin with the disposal. All three were backing up, so it was clear that the blockage was somewhere in the p-trap or downstream. I removed the p-trap to check it, totally clear. I didn't have much in the way of plumbing supplies or tools after the recent move, so my first attempt was to throw a bunch of baking soda and vinegar at it, no dice. Ran some errands, got some clog destroyer and a snake, and gave the clog destroyer a shot first. Didn't help. I started with the snake, which I had to do with the p-trap removed as the pipes coming from each sink basin join right at 90 degrees and the snake wouldn't make it around the corner. I almost immediately encountered what seemed like the clog just a few inches past the p-trap and went at it, pretty confident that I'd cleared that. While I was there, used the full 25' length of the snake for good measure. Put everything back together... still clogged. Backed up almost immediately. I was pretty miffed at this point because I figured with 25' it _must_ have gotten past a junction with other drains into a larger pipe (and nothing else was backed up). So at this point I went into the crawl space to scope things out and look for a cleanout. Turns out that the 1.5" drain pipes went to 2" almost immediately after leaving the cabinet space and entering the crawl space, and there was a cleanout right there, with a very long and mostly straight length of 2" until hitting the main 3" after everything else in the house. Pulled the cleanout cap, got sprayed with filthy water (but anticipated that and had glasses and a bucket, still made a mess). Snaked from there, and about a foot short of the end of the snake encountered another clog. Went at that until I felt pretty confident I had done as much as I could, put the cap back on and ran the faucet again. Backed up, yet again. At this point I was ready to throw in the towel and call a plumber, and pretty frustrated and filthy took a shower to calm down a little and relax. The master bedroom in this house has a pretty weird and gigantic jetted tube; a square shape about 6 by 6 feet. While I was showering, a few inches of water had backed up from a bit of hair blocking the drain strainer, so I cleared that out of the way and got out when I was done. When I returned to the kitchen, the rest of the family told me that when I finished my shower, the sink suddenly drained completely. Everything was fine after that. My theory: the backed up water in the shower suddenly draining all at once passed by the junction with the kitchen sink drain, the clog was just upstream of that junction, and the suction from the rushing water pulled it out after I loosened it with the snake? At any rate, maybe I need to give up in frustration on things sooner in the future.
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Dec 27, 2019 17:53
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Yeah, I grew up with septic and certainly learned that lesson. Mother in law is not used to having a disposal and probably doesn't realize it's not a magical device for any food scraps. It's also entirely possible that something larger went down the normal drain on one of the basins because it didn't have a strainer when we moved in, just a hole: 
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Dec 27, 2019 22:04
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Meant to add that when I was a kid and didn't know any better a neighbor kid and I spent an afternoon putting rocks down the pipe into the septic tank in the yard. My dad was super pleased with that one.
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Dec 27, 2019 22:09
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 Can anyone confirm that this is a carpenter ant, or if there are any other possibilities? Probably 3/8 inch long, maybe a half inch. In the mountains near CA/NV border if that makes any difference.
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Dec 31, 2019 02:17
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On the subject of rodents, I was just in our crawl space this weekend doing some coax rearranging, and noticed 3 dead mice. I'm pretty sure but not positive that they're all new since I moved in (2 months ago), since I'd been in the same areas before and didn't notice them a number of weeks ago. I've got no poison or traps, so not sure what would have killed them aside from starvation (though I sorta doubt that my house would actually be that impervious to them finding food, but perhaps!). The thing that caught my eye was that they were in various states of decay; one looked almost like it could have been alive, the next looked like it had possibly been nibbled on by another critter (caved in skull) and the last was curled up and almost like it had been half digested by something. I can't imagine what, or how, though. For anyone who feels like looking at some dead mice and taking guesses at what might have happened to them, I'd appreciate any insight, idle guesses, or wild speculation https://imgur.com/a/RwZtyYK
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Feb 18, 2020 21:47
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I'd like to run ethernet from my house to my detached garage as it's just far enough away the wifi doesn't work well out there. Fortunately, the previous owner put in a PVC conduit between the two buildings while he had a trench dug for something else. The obvious easy thing to do here is just pop the caps off the pipe, drill small holes in the walls of the garage and crawl space, and run cat5e. Any particular things I should be concerned about with this simple plan, or things I can do to make it a bit more tidy / professional? Should I be worried about debris/water getting into the conduit?  
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Mar 22, 2020 16:53
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Thanks, that's helpful. Given that both ends of it are capped off right now, I'm hopeful that it's clear in there. For a box to put on, what should I be looking for? Not sure how clear it is from the photos but it's 2" PVC pipe, so it doesn't seem like a normal PVC junction box is likely to do the trick unless I cut it up. Not opposed to doing that, more curious if there's something more ready made for this.
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Mar 22, 2020 18:50
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Sirotan posted:My mom's place is in a subdivision and all the back lawns on her side of the street have been sloped in such a way that when there is a heavy rain the water just runs through them all into a drainage field in a common area. Some people have done nothing about this, and will see ~10% of the lawn flood, with water running under and between their fence slats. My mom's got a french drain running along that bit of the lawn with a half-circle cut out of the wood fence and some metal grating over it, to let the water out but not let animals in (theoretically, don't know that it's keeping anything out really). Works pretty good most of the time. My backyard, right now:  Some of my neighbors have prettied up their drainage with landscaping rocks and such. This is my first winter in the house so still feeling things out. Inclined to do similar though so the area is less of a mud pit / marsh during snowmelt
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Apr 8, 2020 15:29
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Sirotan posted:You could probably have a The latter is what I had in mind, and exactly what several neighbors have done
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Apr 9, 2020 01:39
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rain garden or river rock drainage bed with a tiny bridge if you wanted to go all in.
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100 feet of riverfront? I don't usually think of riverfront properties as having (what looks like) a major road between the property and the river
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Apr 23, 2020 16:16
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I love living in California where all the entitled boomers think their property taxes are super high despite having owned their houses for decades and paying a fraction of what I do. And what I pay is still less as a percentage of my property value than people in most states pay. Blows my mind.
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Apr 24, 2020 04:13
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DaveSauce posted:The other side of that is that you steadily raise costs for people on fixed incomes who have otherwise owned the property outright for years, which has the effect of pricing people out of their homes. I believe that this is a real problem. However, I think prop 13 is a poor solution, even for those folks on fixed incomes: for example, it dis-incentivizes downsizing if they have to suddenly pay more property tax because they are now paying based on the full value of the new property (some counties allow you to transfer your tax basis for this reason, I believe). The primary concern that I hear is that if property values increase significantly through no action of the owner (broader market changes, not improvements to the home), then this can really hurt older folks. Totally get it. What I don't understand though is why it seems like everyone debating the pros/cons of a policy like prop 13 assumes that there are only two options: what CA had before it, and what it has now. That ad-valorem tax assessed must always be a fixed (over time) percent of the assessed value of the home. That's a false dichotomy: there are plenty of areas of the country that don't work that way. Are local government expenses always proportional to total property values in the area? No? Then it doesn't seem to make much sense to make total tax levy proportional to total property values, either. The way it works where I grew up and my dad lives (roughly) is that the county legislature sets a budget, and determines a total tax levy from there. The amount each property owner pays is then a share of that total levy that is proportional to their property value. If the real estate market goes nuts and property values increase by 10%, tax paid would stay the same (except presumably to the extent that increased real estate costs increase the tax revenue required to cover costs). If your property value goes up significantly relative to others in your area, or if the overall tax levy increases, that's when taxes go up. http://www.ongov.net/rpts/explanation.html Even then, if those increases cause a hardship for a senior on fixed income, there are exemptions provided: https://www.townoflafayette.com/assessor.html I'm sure this approach has it's downsides (anger at county government for increasing spending, etc), and I have no direct experience with it personally as I've never owned property there, but it seems like a reasonable approach. At the least, it seems like it should be discussed in CA as an alternative to our current system, but I have not once seen that happen (maybe looking in the wrong places?)
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Apr 24, 2020 17:24
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Slugworth posted:... Orrrrr, and hear me out here, a little old lady who is on a fixed income but can afford to stay in her home because her property taxes haven't increased due to sick tech bros buying every property around her and tearing them down to make mcmansions... yeah and this is exactly why the system I described above seems better: this would seem likely to actually decrease little old lady's property taxes in that system, rather than increase them. But no, prop 13 yes or no is the only choice.
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Apr 24, 2020 17:26
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I bought a house in December, and one thing that was noted during the inspection process was the deck railings: the space between the balusters is too large, and the sweep space between the deck surface and the bottom of the railings is too large as well. I figured this would be a straightforward DIY fix, and didn't view it as a pressing safety concern in part because the decks are all fairly low; mostly 3-3.5' above grade, at the highest points no more than 4'. So I put off fixing until spring.  I live in a snowy area, and I realized over the winter the likely reason why the sweep space is so large: 1+ foot overnight dumps of wet, heavy snow is not at all uncommon here, and the large sweep space makes it much easier to clear the decks by pushing the snow off the edge, rather than shoveling it up and over the railing. With about 700 square feet of deck space, this isn't an insignificant convenience. That said, I do care about safety and keeping up to code. My question: any brilliant ideas for how to update the railings to be code compliant while also maintaining ease of snow clearing in the winter? I'll just deal with more difficult shoveling if I have to, it's not that big a deal, but would be nice not to.
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Apr 24, 2020 22:01
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The last faucet I installed had a two part construction that allowed it to be installed entirely from above the counter, no basin wrench or loving around behind the basin under the sink needed. Basically there's a base piece with winged/cammed nuts on it that clamp the underside of the counter when you tighten from above, much like an old work electrical box. Then the actual faucet assembly attaches to that. It was a fantastic surprise. https://www.kraususa.com/kitchen/kitchen-faucet-collections/oletto/kraus-kpf-2631ch-commercial-style-pull-down-kitchen-faucet-in-chrome.html
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Apr 26, 2020 16:23
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I've ordered a play structure for my kids. Starting to prepare the area where it'll be installed, where it's supposed to be level and have some soft material under it, apparently e.g. 12" of mulch/bark/chips given the height of the structure, out 6' on all sides. This is a pretty large area, about 34x29'. Any recommendations on best way to level this out and put down material? Default was a bunch of shoveling, then pressure treated or redwood 2x on edge for the border. Any tools (eg power tools I could rent) that would be worth getting to make the leveling a lot easier? It's gently sloped as is and not far off level. Should I put anything down under the mulch? It's not a terribly friendly environment for weeds to grow as is, pretty dry...  Surprisingly hard to see but the stakes and twine marking the area are there
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May 27, 2020 04:57
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Aquila posted:34'x29'x1' is 36 cubic yards of mulch (or anything) and would be at least one truckload, probably more. Mulch comes in many types and qualities and can cost $50-100+ a yard plus delivery, and you definitely want delivery. If at all possible have it dumped directly into the prepared area. Preparing the area would probably take a bulldozer a few hours at most, or many days to do yourself with a shovel and wheelbarrow. Either way where are you going to put 36 yards of dirt. At a minimum you should probably put weed mat and a pre-emergent herbicide down. Also consider other mulch like substances. My neighbor had some sort of rubber mulch put down in his backyard for the play area for his kids, 3" of it I think. I'm not an expert, I've just talked to my neighbor about what he had done and am planning to put down ~1000 sqft of mulch in my backyard. I've checked into mulch prices here; I can get "playground chips" from a local landscaping supply company for $50/yard plus $50 delivery, though I imagine they wouldn't do that for 36 yards. I can also get mulch/chips in varying grades for 10-20 per yard. That said, I'm certainly inclined not to do the full 12" if it seems overly conservative, but also willing to pay/do what it takes to do things right without cutting inappropriate corners. I should clarify that I don't intend to _remove_ dirt to a depth of 12 to make the mulch even with the surrounding dirt; I just want to ensure the dirt under the mulch is sufficiently level. As I said it's not that far off right now (need to get around to determining exactly this weekend what the high/low difference is). My default plan was to box the area in and the mulch would be slightly above grade. Have thought about other materials but think chips/bark/mulch is right for us. Motronic posted:That's an insane amount of material for this, and it's WAY more than one truckload. A triaxle only holds like 20 yards. A long quarry trailer might just kinda sort of fit 36 while looking like an ice cream cone. Yeah, it certainly seemed like rather a shitload when I first ran the numbers. Definitely curious to hear more experiences from others with play structures installed. For reference, this is the sort of monstrosity we ordered https://www.backyarddiscovery.com/collections/swing-sets-playsets/products/skyfort-ii
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May 28, 2020 01:39
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tater_salad posted:A foot of mulch is stupidity. It's cyoa in case a kid falls and gets hurt. A foot of mulch? Contemplate that.. have you ever been to any playground anywhere that you have 12" of mulch to dig to before you hit dirt. Haha, I think it has been a few decades since I dug up playground mulch before hitting dirt. It's funny how different my default perspective is from a risk management standpoint now that I've got kids of my own, though not surprising. I figured I'd start off on the cautious side here and ask for input, not wanting to err too far on the side of being hands off and carefree. (I've been surprised a lot in the past few years with home stuff how stringent/conservative some code and safety things are, and learned that a lot of them are for quite good reasons, so didn't want to be dismissive of the suggested safety measures here).
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May 28, 2020 02:45
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BonoMan posted:Oh... Yeah just leave the dirt underneath it. A thin layer of mulch or chips if you absolutely must. Maybe just throw an old mattress under the monkey bars. They'll be turning three in September. For the near future for sure they won't be using it without supervision anyway
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May 28, 2020 03:04
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Fallom posted:I remember climbing on the roof of our 2-story playset and jumping off of it into the snow I grew up south of Syracuse. We get substantially more snow here than Syracuse in the winter; this is definitely in their future
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May 28, 2020 05:55
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I spent my afternoon continuing play structure construction 
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Jun 8, 2020 06:54
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Rhusitaurion posted:Basically no real skills or heavy equipment, hence the appeal of the kits. This would basically be babby's first construction project. The "fun" of learning is part of the appeal of the project, though. My dad's just south of Syracuse and has had Amish folks swing by and offer him money to cut down and take his walnut trees
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Jun 27, 2020 20:14
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Deer chat, west coast edition: I looked out my office window this morninh  Literally every day.
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Jul 8, 2020 03:15
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Not totally sure if there's a better thread for this, but hopefully this at least gets me started. I moved right at the start of last winter into a house in a very snowy area: the town averages about 200 inches per year of relatively wet, heavy snow, and it's not at all uncommon for that to come in big storms that drop 4-5 feet or more. Last winter we just paid for snow removal service, because we had enough other things to deal with at the time that weren't figuring out best snow removal strategy. But over time that'll add up to quite a bit of money if I'm paying someone to do it every year, and I don't generally mind doing it myself (grew up in a different snowy area). It seems like the right move is a walk-behind snowblower: I don't think I can justify spending more on something bigger, and it'd be nice to be able to use it to clear my decks as well. Almost everyone here has a Honda of some sort, everyone I've talked to has said it's the only good option for the snow we get, and in particular the tracked models rather than those with wheels. I've got a fairly long driveway (about 100 feet plus a parking area behind the garage), and folks I've talked to have recommended at least the 928 (9hp, 28"), but I'm wondering whether or not I should bump up to the 1332 (13hp, 32").  1332 is a couple hundred more bucks, and is of course bulkier which might make it more of a chore to get it onto the deck(s), and needs more space for storage. On the other hand, I'm not really short on storage space and the spec'd snow clearing rate is almost 50% higher; I'm certainly not averse to spending a little bit more to make things go a good bit quicker and easier in years to come. Does anyone have direct experience and have any advice?
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Sep 23, 2020 17:40
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It is a lot of driveway, but that photo was taken before I bought the house. I do have a truck (2014 F150), but I'm not terribly interested in that option. I've got no desire to be "the plow guy", there are plenty of those already and I have no interest in being one. As mentioned I would like something that can also clear my decks, and the truck is also one of our daily drivers that my wife frequently uses to drive the kids around. We'd rather not drive around with a plow on it all winter, or deal with taking it on and off every time it snows, and navigating the plow around the parking area between the garage and deck while getting the snow where I want it to be seems like it would be tricky.
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Sep 23, 2020 18:30
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Some Guy From NY posted:Do you have a riding lawnmower? you can get plows for some of them. I don't think you are in the position to get 1 machine to do everything you want. I don't have a riding mower, no. I live on an acre, which would seem to justify buying one, except that pretty much all the moisture that happens here is in the winter, so I've had no problem keeping the lawn that I do have under control with a self-propelled push mower. If we decided we really wanted more lawn and wanted to invest in irrigation/etc, that would probably change. I've considered a smaller snow thrower for the deck, but wanting to clear the deck is only one of several reasons I'm not inclined to go the plow-on-truck route. The Wonder Weapon posted:Is that a bus? As mentioned, this photo is from before I bought the house. So none of that is my stuff. But it's an RV.
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Sep 23, 2020 20:33
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I am fairly confident that a honda snowblower of some size will be adequate. They're pretty much ubiquitous around here. (And resale value is insane). When I say that we get big storms that drop 4-5 feet or more, I mean over the course of the storm, not that I'll necessarily have to clear an accumulation of 4-5 feet. I believe this is about the most we got overnight this past winter:  I was mainly seeking advice from folks with direct experience with snowblowers of a similar nature, in terms of whether there are disadvantages/advantages to one size or the other that I might not yet be thinking about.
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Sep 23, 2020 22:28
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DaveSauce posted:I don't know if you looked, but a 13hp 2-stage honda is nearly 300lb. You aren't getting it on that deck. tater_salad posted:I live in a snowy area most 2 stage snowblowers work well. I've had a lovely old tecumseh engine one. I've had an okay craftsman one. Just get something that is a decent sized self propelled 2 stage and enjoy life. Wider is better if you want to do less passes. A ramp was exactly the plan. Fully aware that I'm not just going to lift any of those snowblowers up steps (and I'm not sure that I would bother for that particular deck in the photo, the main one I care about is larger, on the other side of the house, and with a much shallower and wider set of steps up to it). I managed to keep the decks clear last winter by hand, and it wasn't the worst thing in the world, so I'll play it by ear and if it turns out to be too much of a pain to use the full size blower I'll consider a power shovel or deck blower. As I mentioned, there are plenty of other reasons besides possibly clearing the decks with the blower that I don't want to go the truck + plow route or tractor routes.
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Sep 23, 2020 23:36
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Totally willing to believe that. The driveway clearing is the more pressing concern just because I need to decide soon what to get before things start to get scarce; I have no problem with throwing a bit more money at a power shovel if it is the right move but that's also a decision I can make later. At any rate that motivates me more towards the larger blower, since if I'm only ever using it for driveway clearing then bulk is less of a concern. To be honest part of me would really love to justify a truck plow or a small/lawn tractor with a snowblower attachment, because I love toys, but I just don't think I can. Truck mounted plow seems a poor options for the reasons already stated and I don't think I have enough other need for a tractor to go that route either. Folks I talked to locally have indicated that a larger snowblower should be fine, just narrowing down exactly which larger size is best for me. Thanks for all the input
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Sep 24, 2020 02:21
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Steve French posted:Not totally sure if there's a better thread for this, but hopefully this at least gets me started. Wanted to circle back on this in case anyone else ends up in a similar situation. We ended up buying the larger blower, the Honda 1332, based on recommendations from others in the area and it wasn’t that much more expensive. Had our first snow today, and while I probably didn’t need to do anything (only 5 inches or so, and even less on the driveway which must have been relatively warm when it came down overnight, and the sun is pretty strong), I did want to try it out and get the hang of using it. I think it’ll be fine for doing the whole driveway in a reasonable time; I just did the shaded part behind the garage today and the main deck. For what it’s worth, I had no problem getting it up there on a ramp on the wide and gentle steps.  
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Nov 8, 2020 23:17
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DrBouvenstein posted:I don't have enough lawn to justify a riding mower, nor do I have anywhere to store it. I’m no lawn care expert and I’m not sure how much volume we’re talking here in a relative sense, but I found my mulching push mower to be pretty drat magical at dealing with my aspen leaves. Much better than the leaf blower.
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Nov 9, 2020 16:24
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Since there are a few folks who seem to be knowledgeable on the subject and we're talking about renovations... I'm in the very early stages of planning a renovation / small addition to my house (updating a more or less original early 80's home and probably adding an office and guest room). We bought it relatively recently, well under budget and are financially comfortable. I'm starting to learn about various options for financing (or not) some or most of the construction costs. We're fortunate to have enough liquid assets to cover most if not all of what we're budgeting, but I'd like to look into lending options for a few reasons (rates are low, I know constructions costs can be really unpredictable and would probably prefer some cushion). Over the past year real estate in my area has gone a little nuts (relatively speaking), so while we haven't owned that long we probably have 30-40% equity right now. I'd of course like to balance that with leveraging the assets I have on hand to make sure things go smoothly (e.g. avoiding the lovely construction loan scenarios described above). Are there particular recommendations for options to start researching? Pitfalls to avoid? The construction loan detail was very helpful. Some searching last evening turned up this, which, taken at face value, would seem like an attractive option (not having checked rates, fees, etc), but I also expect that there are some catches I haven't uncovered yet; anyone know anything about them? https://www.renofi.com
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Jan 20, 2021 19:36
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Tezer posted:You live in your house, your builder will live near your house, so try and find a lender who works in your area. Just call around and ask if they do residential construction loans for additions and see what they say. Makes quite a bit of sense, thanks for the insight. In your experience, are the aforementioned concerns re: construction loans still applicable and a big obstacle if I did have enough cash on hand to make sure that the builders are getting paid, with the inspection requirements and all of that? Or is it primarily a big stumbling block when that money is absolutely needed at every step of the way?
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Jan 20, 2021 22:14
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Tezer posted:I'm not sure I wholly understand the question, so if I don't seem to answer it to your satisfaction try rephrasing. Sure; the additional detail you shared was helpful. But what I was wondering about was mostly in response to Motronic's earlier post: Motronic posted:I will also tell you that custom builders and a poo poo ton of money are the only way you're going to get a truly nice house built today. Building costs more than buying something that's already there, both in overall money terms and in what you need in cash to keep the build moving along. I can't stress this enough to people considering having their first home built: unless this is a barely customizable development house you better have some serious amount of cash on hand. Yes yes, of course you can get that construction loan and convert it to a mortgage later but what you don't know is how that works. You get the money in tranches, not one novelty-sized check. You get the first tranche and do say, site work and foundation. Ready for the next tranche, right? Wrong. Now all the inspections need to be done, even the ones that could be done later. All of them. Plus an inspector from the bank. Then they gently caress around for a few more days before they release the next tranche. Meanwhile your GC/builder and his subs aren't getting any work from you because you can't afford to buy more materials or pay them so guess what they do? That's right, they gently caress right on off to another job. And now your next trance just hit your checking account and you call and call and too bad - they're on another job. When they're done with that one they'll be right back. So in at least some situations, this certainly seems like a giant pain in the rear end (particularly if you don't have the 20ish percent cash). I'm not in that situation, so it certainly seems like a less-bad option for me, but what I'm wondering is how much of the process described above is still an issue even with a bunch of cash, vs how much of it is solved by it. e.g., would I still have issues with work having to stop and wait for inspections, would it still be the case that the contractors I'd want to work with wouldn't want to work with me and deal with the construction loan, etc. My read of what you followed up with is generally no, but extra clarity wouldn't hurt. I'm talking with one builder this week and for sure this will be a question for him (his experience with construction loans, willingness to work with them, and if there are any local lenders he's had good experiences with).
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Jan 21, 2021 03:14
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 04:42 |
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Motronic posted:This is partially dependent on jurisdiction, partially dependent on your contractor and what experience they have in that jurisdiction (i.e. their reputation with the AHJs) and.....the big one......everything about the supply chain is hosed now. Even when not EVERYTHING is hosed, building an entire house is a major project with a lot of pieces and moving parts. The more of those parts that aren't common/need to be special ordered the more likely it is for things to go wrong. Thanks. That's helpful. I've got some experience with how much of a pain in the rear end even smaller projects can be (and how much a great contractor can reduce that pain relative to a shittier one; had an almost completely pain free process having a partial foundation replacement and seismic retrofitting done on my last house, and a deck repair nightmare). You've both given me a good amount to start with and some direction to start learning more.
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Jan 21, 2021 03:34
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