House/Homeowner Thread: This is no longer a quick or little project

That_Guy

Once again I welcome you to the house/homeowner thread. Bitch about how much that thing is going to cost or how long it's taking that other thing to get fixed. Crumbling walls? Cracked Foundation? Leaking pipes? Look no further for dubious advice.

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zepherin

If you are in the USA. Several states offer programs for no money down mortgages or to pay the downpayment and/or closing costs of an FHA mortgage.

FHA stands for federal housing authority, and it is the program with which most mortgages originate because you only need 3.5% down.

StarZapper

zepherin wrote: »

If you are in the USA. Several states offer programs for no money down mortgages or to pay the downpayment and/or closing costs of an FHA mortgage.

FHA stands for federal housing authority, and it is the program with which most mortgages originate because you only need 3.5% down.

That's a bit misleading, because you can get conventional mortgages with only 3.5% down too. The main difference is FHA lenders will accept much lower credit scores, and many housing organizations have down payment assistance available specifically for FHA/USDA loans, so functionally it can be even less than that.

Simpsonia

StarZapper wrote: »

zepherin wrote: »

If you are in the USA. Several states offer programs for no money down mortgages or to pay the downpayment and/or closing costs of an FHA mortgage.

FHA stands for federal housing authority, and it is the program with which most mortgages originate because you only need 3.5% down.

That's a bit misleading, because you can get conventional mortgages with only 3.5% down too. The main difference is FHA lenders will accept much lower credit scores, and many housing organizations have down payment assistance available specifically for FHA/USDA loans, so functionally it can be even less than that.

Beyond that, it's best to avoid an FHA loan unless it is the only option left. They charge exorbitantly more in origination fees that get tacked on to your balance, and a monthly MIP (which is similar to conventional loan's PMI, but 2-3x more expensive for no reason) that cannot be dropped even if you hit 80LTV. The only way to drop the MIP payment is to refinance.

zepherin

StarZapper wrote: »

zepherin wrote: »

If you are in the USA. Several states offer programs for no money down mortgages or to pay the downpayment and/or closing costs of an FHA mortgage.

FHA stands for federal housing authority, and it is the program with which most mortgages originate because you only need 3.5% down.

That's a bit misleading, because you can get conventional mortgages with only 3.5% down too. The main difference is FHA lenders will accept much lower credit scores, and many housing organizations have down payment assistance available specifically for FHA/USDA loans, so functionally it can be even less than that.

True. For an FHA loan you can get a mortgage in the 620+ credit range.

Whereas conventional mortgages for 3.5 down (or 0 down) have credit requirements in the 750 and higher range, and the level of scrutiny is much higher.

For most lower income home buyers the best bet is FHA with a state program to pay your downpayment.

Maryland has a program if you make under (60k I think or 120k as a couple) they loan you 3 percent or 5k that gets forgiven if you pay your mortgage on time for 5 years.

That_Guy

If you don't mind living a ways outside of major cities you can do what I did and get a 0 down USDA loan.

StarZapper

The real problem with FHA / USDA is getting sellers to accept the offer, as they'll usually prefer a conventional loan or cash over it everytime even with a higher bid.

zepherin

StarZapper wrote: »

The real problem with FHA / USDA is getting sellers to accept the offer, as they'll usually prefer a conventional loan or cash over it everytime even with a higher bid.

It depends on the area. Most often if there aren’t immediately multiple offers and there is one strong offer

If there are multiple offers chances are always going to be slim and the cash buyer has a huge advantage over contingency contracts (usually contingent on their house selling) or any mortgage.

But FHAs are still a large part of the house buying pie. So people are accepting them. But conventional is always going to be big. Banks make so much money with mortgages that they give them out to anyone who meets the credit income and debt to income requirements.

Mugsley

My wife said she'd buy me a table saw, coming out of Christmas and Birthday for me. I found a nice Dewalt 10" on sale but commenters said, "the industry is moving to 8 1/4" " and now she doesn't want to buy the 10" saw. I'm very confused what to tell her as to what else to look for/at.

Doodmann

Mugsley wrote: »

My wife said she'd buy me a table saw, coming out of Christmas and Birthday for me. I found a nice Dewalt 10" on sale but commenters said, "the industry is moving to 8 1/4" " and now she doesn't want to buy the 10" saw. I'm very confused what to tell her as to what else to look for/at.

10" blades are always going to be available, there are too many units out there. I'm confused.

Also Dewalt is pretty much your only choice on the lower end.

If you're going to spend big money get a sawstop.

CptHamilton

Mugsley wrote: »

My wife said she'd buy me a table saw, coming out of Christmas and Birthday for me. I found a nice Dewalt 10" on sale but commenters said, "the industry is moving to 8 1/4" " and now she doesn't want to buy the 10" saw. I'm very confused what to tell her as to what else to look for/at.

Even if "the industry" decides to prefer 8 1/4", there are an awful lot of 10" saws out there. Blades aren't going anywhere soon. And it's not like you go through a ton of blades on a table saw anyway.

Gilgaron

A bigger blade lets you cut thicker things... 8 1/4 isn't much better than a circular saw so that seems odd to me. If you want an alternative to a Dewalt that is less than a Sawstop, I have a Bosch 4100 that I like, although I don't know if the newer models are equivalent in terms of the extensions and digital gauge and so on. Either way I'd recommend a narrow kerf rip blade, but be sure it makes a wider kerf that your riving knife.

Edit to add: brief google makes it look like 8 1/4 is a thing because of cordless table saws. Likewise they have fairly small miter saws for cordless use but for plug in I like my 12"

Simpsonia

Yeah I guarantee this push for 8.25" table saws is just for portable jobsite saws. Woodworkers are always going to keep using 10".

It makes sense though, if you're DeWalt. 80-90% of your table saw customers are probably contractors who only use it for ripping sheets of plywood/OSB, and you don't really need a 10" for that.

Nosf

Steel roof starts going on Monday, a month ahead of schedule - a month ahead, not 6 months behind - how utterly bizarre.

Mugsley

Ok, so I'm not completely insane. I'm looking for a plug-in unit either way. Bosch or Skilsaw were my other candidate brands; just managed to see a Dewalt deal pop up on Slickdeals yesterday.

MegaMan001

Mugsley wrote: »

Ok, so I'm not completely insane. I'm looking for a plug-in unit either way. Bosch or Skilsaw were my other candidate brands; just managed to see a Dewalt deal pop up on Slickdeals yesterday.

Just to echo everyone else, ten inch blades aren't going anywhere.

And just to defend the honor of DeWalt, the jobsite model can do a lot more than just ripping plywood. The miter gauge in particular is surprisingly accurate.

I am buying a Sawstop Jobsite model in the next month or so because I can't justify the pricing difference between that and the contractor model in terms of features. Also I don't have enough skill to get enough out of the cabinet model.

A Sawstop Jobsite with after market sled / miter gauge is about as much as a sweet spot as I can figure.

MegaMan001

Actual real question for the thread. My kid snapped our toilet paper holder off the wall. I got a replacement, but I need to get this thing out of the wall first.

It doesn't seem to spin or turn.

That_Guy

There are probably screws in those dark recesses.

MichaelLC

May also be a small screw on the bottom that is tightened to the plate that's attached to the wall.

CptHamilton

One of the above, or the previous owner decided to liquid nails that bad boy to the wall.

zepherin

Nosf wrote: »

Steel roof starts going on Monday, a month ahead of schedule - a month ahead, not 6 months behind - how utterly bizarre.

I would have preferred a steel roof. I got a 50 year shingle roof. But steel roofs are awesome.

Stupid HOA

Shadowfire

CptHamilton wrote: »

One of the above, or the previous owner decided to liquid nails that bad boy to the wall.

When in doubt, expect the previous owner did something stupid.

Bullhead

Shadowfire wrote: »

CptHamilton wrote: »

One of the above, or the previous owner decided to liquid nails that bad boy to the wall.

When in doubt, expect the previous owner did something stupid.

This is an excellent thread title at some point

Mugsley

Shadowfire wrote: »

CptHamilton wrote: »

One of the above, or the previous owner decided to liquid nails that bad boy to the wall.

When in doubt, expect the previous owner did something stupid.

Speaking of this. Who tf puts baseboard in BEFORE the flooring? Or more to the point, I see how cheap the old owner was. Rather than replacing the baseboard when putting in this horrid linoleum, they told the flooring guy to just run up to the existing and add quarter round.

FML

Shadowfire

Whoa, quarter round huh? Luxury housing over here.

Aioua

now, I'm no plumber, but I think I found the source of the leak...

Shadowfire

Spray a little flex seal on it. It'll be fine.

StarZapper

Just throw some duct tape around it, I've seen worse.

Mugsley

Ignore those guys. This is your chance to learn how to use Pex/Sharkbite.

The others are trying to keep you from learning something new!

AbsoluteZero

Any interior paint recommendations? Got 3 bedrooms to paint. Need something that will stand up to kids and is washable / scrubbable.

Aioua

AbsoluteZero wrote: »

Any interior paint recommendations? Got 3 bedrooms to paint. Need something that will stand up to kids and is washable / scrubbable.

https://youtu.be/S4RPaoU47jo


When we did our house we went with that valspar signature and I was pretty happy with it, except the off-white we got either we or they didn't mix properly I don't think, it was just too thin and needed like three coats. But the two colors we did went on really nice.

zepherin

Professionally and personally I use sherwin Williams. Professionally I use their zero VOC paint. I think it’s promar, because it cuts down on the smell. Personally I use super paint for white and emerald for color.


Real pro tip
If your company has a sherwin Williams account or you have a friend who is a contractor who has a sherwin Williams account you can use your credit card to purchase it but use their discount. They just have to be there or call it in. You can get a 30-40 percent discount depending on how much paint they buy.

Artereis

If you go the Sherwin Williams route, be conservative in how much paint you buy. We way over purchased because we were assuming we'd need two coats everywhere, but it covers really well so several rooms only needed one.

Shadowfire

I ended up having to get more when I did our downstairs. I found that the lighter the color, the more coats you need. But that might be partly because of the plaster walls too, I have no idea what I'm doing.

zepherin

Shadowfire wrote: »

I ended up having to get more when I did our downstairs. I found that the lighter the color, the more coats you need. But that might be partly because of the plaster walls too, I have no idea what I'm doing.

Plaster is my nemesis. I have had robust discussions with folks who live elsewhere about it. But I greatly dislike it. Drywall is great. Drywall life.

Shadowfire

Plaster is pretty nice in the summer since it keeps cooler, but yeah, it's a pain in the ass to work with.

Soggybiscuit

I painted 2 rooms in our house after getting our flooring installed and I figured out the trick to doing it right, which is to prime the walls first.

It doesn't matter if the paint is supposed to have primer in it, primer is $20 a gallon and it goes on easy. Unless you are painting a room white, the primer is white so it's very easy to see missed spots even with lighter colors. Instead of needing 2 gallons of paint per room it took me to 1 gallon primer + 1 gallon paint for rooms about ~120 sq. ft. with 8 ft. ceilings. Another plus side is the primer doesn't stink and dries much quicker than paint, meaning the time between priming and painting is very short, so it saves time as well.

In short, just use primer. You won't regret it.

AbsoluteZero

That's another thing I need to find is some good stain blocking primer.

Shadowfire

We used kilz for most of the rooms in our house to cover the old stains and get rid of the smoke smell.

Soggybiscuit

Yeah, I used Kilz as well. I bought 5 gallons, which was a drastic oversupply for the amount of wall I needed to paint. It was very easy to apply and stark white. Made finding missed spots much easier with the colors I painted on the walls. I highly recommend it.

Artereis

Anyone have experience with drywall texture? My house has orange peel everywhere, so it looks like crap any time you need to gap fill. Should I invest in a sprayer, or are the aerosol products pretty good?