I've had an actual lawn for almost 4 years and still haven't had any chances to tell people to get off of it and that's a real, genuine shame. I'm looking forward to it so much
Father in law is currently digging it up with a mini digger. He really seems in his element when he gets to smash stuff.
SharpyVII on
+28
webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
edited March 2019
Helped my dad remove old fence posts with the tractor. I was the chain wrangler and woof my arms are tired. It went super fast though compared to a single person doing it and always having to get on and off the tractor.
3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
Went around and pulled all the random 60 year old metal garbage off the house today in anticipation of the painters coming this week. Gonna be nice to finally have a house that's painted nicely instead of the awful colored aluminum it is now.
One day we'll just pull the siding off entirely and restore the shingles underneath, but with no way of knowing their condition beforehand we're going to have to have 25k earmarked just for that in case we find out that it's a complete nightmare underneath the siding.
Spring is here and I find myself needing to do everything
- we have a bunch of lightbulbs to replace, many of them in awkward places. The outside porch bulb has burned out, for example, as has one of the garage lights, and I’m a bit nervous going up our ladder.
- I still haven’t replaced the laundry room light bulbs! I need to find LED bulbs rated for use in enclosed fixtures. They exist, but not in any store near us, so either I need to make a trip to Home Depot or order online.
- Our bathroom ceiling fans are super dirty, need to take a look at those.
- I have curtains to put up, plus I need to reorganize the kitchen and living room
- Yardwork! I’m still not much of a gardening fan but it’d be nice to get our yard looking nicer. I can at least prune and I have a few other things I want to do: remove the water fixture (it’s a broken-ish fountain - still works but looks ugly) since that’s nothing but a mosquito pit and kid hazard. It’ll leave a big hole I’ll need to fill. Plant the fuschia I bought today. Prune the hydrangea in the back yard.
+4
MichaelLCIn what furnace was thy brain?ChicagoRegistered Userregular
Spring is here and I find myself needing to do everything
- we have a bunch of lightbulbs to replace, many of them in awkward places. The outside porch bulb has burned out, for example, as has one of the garage lights, and I’m a bit nervous going up our ladder.
- I still haven’t replaced the laundry room light bulbs! I need to find LED bulbs rated for use in enclosed fixtures. They exist, but not in any store near us, so either I need to make a trip to Home Depot or order online.
Get some Cree bulbs while they're still making them.
+1
webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
I hear that. I'm lucky a buddy of mine is a jack of all trades kind of dude and he'll come out and help with things that I can't (or don't want to) do myself for not too bad a wage. He's out doing a 50% prune on our fruit trees right now.
Spring is here and I find myself needing to do everything
- we have a bunch of lightbulbs to replace, many of them in awkward places. The outside porch bulb has burned out, for example, as has one of the garage lights, and I’m a bit nervous going up our ladder.
- I still haven’t replaced the laundry room light bulbs! I need to find LED bulbs rated for use in enclosed fixtures. They exist, but not in any store near us, so either I need to make a trip to Home Depot or order online.
Get some Cree bulbs while they're still making them.
Ooh, thank you for the recommendation! They look perfect.
There are only 3 incandescent bulbs left in this house. All of them are in the bed rooms and when you go from LED or CFl bulb you can really tell the difference
Just the LED in one of the bathrooms has a hum when you turn on the light which is kind of annoying
0
JedocIn the scupperswith the staggers and jagsRegistered Userregular
Huh! So today I learned about why you can't use regular LEDs in enclosed fixtures, which is something I hadn't heard before. Neat!
I only found out when I removed the bulbs from the light fixture and, when reading the blurb on the side to see what I needed to replace them with, one bulb said quite clearly ‘not for use in enclosed fixtures’ - which might explain why the light had burned out in the first place!
0
webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
We switched out to CFLs about 7 years ago before LEDs were big, and we've yet to have one burn out. I even have 3 or 4 new ones left, waiting for the last couple incandescent bulbs to pop.
I weeded a bit in the back yard, plus planted a couple of new plants. I also finally removed the water feature.
It was so disgusting. It was a decent sized tub (as evident by the photos) filled with stagnant water that was a dark brown. Really stinky. Definitely glad I got rid of it before the warmer weather set in. I basically made about 30 trips with a large saucepan to empty it, then managed to wrench it out of the ground (it was weighed down with rocks).
Not sure what to do with the old water feature. I believe it’s still functional. Offer it up on Craigslist for free?
I also don’t know what to do with the hole. Mori’s mom says it’s a nice pre-dug hole but it’s also relatively close to our house, so...
(Kids for scale)
Edit: I also trimmed whatever that plant is in the bottom photo back from our window. On windy nights it scratches the window and sounds really creepy. I’ve trimmed it all back now so we shouldn’t hear that sound any more...
Nice! What are you looking for, size-wise and whatnot?
i need a 4 bedroom house. in the town I live in that narrows it down pretty specifically
- Rare 70's era ranch that happens to be that huge already, in the core of town
- Big honkin mcmansion style house located farther away from city center
I've seen both. I don't like the honkin mcmansions, which has brought me down to exactly 3 options in the entire city right now, so I have an offer in on one of them
Nice! What are you looking for, size-wise and whatnot?
i need a 4 bedroom house. in the town I live in that narrows it down pretty specifically
- Rare 70's era ranch that happens to be that huge already, in the core of town
- Big honkin mcmansion style house located farther away from city center
I've seen both. I don't like the honkin mcmansions, which has brought me down to exactly 3 options in the entire city right now, so I have an offer in on one of them
ok well that was easy (it is when you can count your targets on one hand)
under contract sale pending inspection... I wouldn't call it a fixer upper but it's definitely unloved, so we're going to inspect the hell out of this thing.
4/3 with a pool and some very, very, very, very ugly flooring
A trip to Home Depot for Cree LED light bulbs later and whee, we have light in the laundry room!
Mori also replaced the porch light, which I was reluctant to do because it’s pretty high up.
Now, I am concerned that since the previous owners (or the renters, more like) had the wrong bulbs in the laundry light that they probably put wrong bulbs in our other enclosed fixtures, too. But I still cannot unscrew the other fixtures for the life of me!
(I did clean the inner windows but ugh, some of the windows are so dirty on the outside, I apologize for that).
(I did clean the inner windows but ugh, some of the windows are so dirty on the outside, I apologize for that).
Our house is, as the crow flies, about 400m from the beach. The windows at the front of the house are only not visibly disgusting for the day that they get cleaned and maybe, if there's no wind, about a day or two after.
I've yet to find a window cleaner that can reach the skylights, though. They'll stay disgusting
The one about the fucking space hairdresser and the cowboy. He's got a tinfoil pal and a pedal bin
skylights (from years of experience) are the best and the worst. They always need cleaning and always eventually leak. but when they're clean and not leaking, they're so nice!
I love skylights soooo much, but somehow I never considered that they may need cleaning!
To be fair I could just open them up all the way and then wash them from inside. But to reach the bottom (which would be at the top as you flip them open upside down) I'd have to stand on something which sets off my fear of heights because at that point I'm two storeys up with a waist-height ledge between me and oblivion.
And I'd have to put a sheet down or something
And my to-do list is already so long
The one about the fucking space hairdresser and the cowboy. He's got a tinfoil pal and a pedal bin
Sorry, to be clear I agree someone should inspect your home, just have that person be a general contractor. I don't trust inspectors because where I am there is no oversight/licensing and the best they can do is suggest hiring a contractor to give you a quote.
i have hired the ultimate god tier home inspector. 7 hour session. 100+ page report. Thermal imaging cameras to detect shit behind the drywall
we're going all-in. if a squirrel took a dump in my attic 25 years ago, I will know what it had for breakfast
what will I do with this information? I'll think of something.
How much did that cost?
Also how much will that change anything about your decision to purchase the house?
...I have opinions about home inspectors.
Roughly double a standard box-checking inspector. And yes he's a GC. I hired him specifically to find the big stuff and the unseeable stuff. He came with multiple recommendations, and I have his licenses
When I bought my first home I went the cheap route, and that ended up being an expensive mistake.
I'm primarily looking for major structural problems, etc... stuff that would take 10k+ to remediate.
Sorry, to be clear I agree someone should inspect your home, just have that person be a general contractor. I don't trust inspectors because where I am there is no oversight/licensing and the best they can do is suggest hiring a contractor to give you a quote.
Well more specifically, get someone who has insurance and a inspectors license. The guy I hired was a general contractor and was not licensed to do inspections and had no insurance. So I got him to "inspect" the house cheaply, but he didn't notice the broken valley beam in the roof and the general structural problems in the roof that caused the break and was likely to break the other valley beam.
Good news was that I got a good deal on the house since we bought during the recession and the whole shebang was repaired last year, but it was five years of anxiety about the roof every time we got heavy snow.
DisruptedCapitalist on
"Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
Sorry, to be clear I agree someone should inspect your home, just have that person be a general contractor. I don't trust inspectors because where I am there is no oversight/licensing and the best they can do is suggest hiring a contractor to give you a quote.
Well more specifically, get someone who has insurance and a inspectors license. The guy I hired was a general contractor and was not licensed to do inspections and had no insurance. So I got him to "inspect" the house cheaply, but he didn't notice the broken valley beam in the roof and the general structural problems in the roof that caused the break and was likely to break the other valley beam.
Good news was that I got a good deal on the house since we bought during the inpsection and the whole shebang was repaired last year, but it was five years of anxiety about the roof every time we got heavy snow.
Yes good point. None of this is required in California, which is kinda bullshit and makes me not care how many pages you filled out.
Sorry, to be clear I agree someone should inspect your home, just have that person be a general contractor. I don't trust inspectors because where I am there is no oversight/licensing and the best they can do is suggest hiring a contractor to give you a quote.
Ah I gotcha. MA does have a certification process and inspections have to be publicly filed, so you can vet the company you're thinking of hiring.
that's.. pretty insane. what is even happening in california
could I inspect a house in cali?
hmm yes... this house.... it has... paint. that's a +. ok looks good to me, buy it
Yeah... this is basically what the guy I hired did. I mean, he even crawled up into the attic, but didn't even notice the broken beam that was directly above the trap door. (Never mind that you could see the whole thing sagging from the street!)
"Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
Due to a mardy skip hire company the schedule for the drive was looking like it might be totally thrown off track.
I know what this sentence means but I need you to know that as an American I have never wanted anything more than to be able to use the phrase "mardy skip hire" and be taken seriously.
Posts
Father in law is currently digging it up with a mini digger. He really seems in his element when he gets to smash stuff.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
One day we'll just pull the siding off entirely and restore the shingles underneath, but with no way of knowing their condition beforehand we're going to have to have 25k earmarked just for that in case we find out that it's a complete nightmare underneath the siding.
- we have a bunch of lightbulbs to replace, many of them in awkward places. The outside porch bulb has burned out, for example, as has one of the garage lights, and I’m a bit nervous going up our ladder.
- I still haven’t replaced the laundry room light bulbs! I need to find LED bulbs rated for use in enclosed fixtures. They exist, but not in any store near us, so either I need to make a trip to Home Depot or order online.
- Our bathroom ceiling fans are super dirty, need to take a look at those.
- I have curtains to put up, plus I need to reorganize the kitchen and living room
- Yardwork! I’m still not much of a gardening fan but it’d be nice to get our yard looking nicer. I can at least prune and I have a few other things I want to do: remove the water fixture (it’s a broken-ish fountain - still works but looks ugly) since that’s nothing but a mosquito pit and kid hazard. It’ll leave a big hole I’ll need to fill. Plant the fuschia I bought today. Prune the hydrangea in the back yard.
Get some Cree bulbs while they're still making them.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Ooh, thank you for the recommendation! They look perfect.
Just the LED in one of the bathrooms has a hum when you turn on the light which is kind of annoying
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
I weeded a bit in the back yard, plus planted a couple of new plants. I also finally removed the water feature.
It was so disgusting. It was a decent sized tub (as evident by the photos) filled with stagnant water that was a dark brown. Really stinky. Definitely glad I got rid of it before the warmer weather set in. I basically made about 30 trips with a large saucepan to empty it, then managed to wrench it out of the ground (it was weighed down with rocks).
Not sure what to do with the old water feature. I believe it’s still functional. Offer it up on Craigslist for free?
I also don’t know what to do with the hole. Mori’s mom says it’s a nice pre-dug hole but it’s also relatively close to our house, so...
(Kids for scale)
Edit: I also trimmed whatever that plant is in the bottom photo back from our window. On windy nights it scratches the window and sounds really creepy. I’ve trimmed it all back now so we shouldn’t hear that sound any more...
the houses in the area where I am looking I feel are overpriced... but... i need a house so... oh well i guess!
the only fun thing about this time is that i have a ton of flexibility for moving in, so I can do home improvement BEFORE i have furniture everywhere
Move to Australia! Our dollar is weak, and our housing market has stagnated!
It pays to spend the extra $2-5 on the high end LEDs.
i need a 4 bedroom house. in the town I live in that narrows it down pretty specifically
- Rare 70's era ranch that happens to be that huge already, in the core of town
- Big honkin mcmansion style house located farther away from city center
I've seen both. I don't like the honkin mcmansions, which has brought me down to exactly 3 options in the entire city right now, so I have an offer in on one of them
i have enough problems with quarrelsome wildlife in my current situation ty
I promise I won't bite!
under contract sale pending inspection... I wouldn't call it a fixer upper but it's definitely unloved, so we're going to inspect the hell out of this thing.
4/3 with a pool and some very, very, very, very ugly flooring
Mori also replaced the porch light, which I was reluctant to do because it’s pretty high up.
Now, I am concerned that since the previous owners (or the renters, more like) had the wrong bulbs in the laundry light that they probably put wrong bulbs in our other enclosed fixtures, too. But I still cannot unscrew the other fixtures for the life of me!
(I did clean the inner windows but ugh, some of the windows are so dirty on the outside, I apologize for that).
Our house is, as the crow flies, about 400m from the beach. The windows at the front of the house are only not visibly disgusting for the day that they get cleaned and maybe, if there's no wind, about a day or two after.
I've yet to find a window cleaner that can reach the skylights, though. They'll stay disgusting
To be fair I could just open them up all the way and then wash them from inside. But to reach the bottom (which would be at the top as you flip them open upside down) I'd have to stand on something which sets off my fear of heights because at that point I'm two storeys up with a waist-height ledge between me and oblivion.
And I'd have to put a sheet down or something
And my to-do list is already so long
We were due to have aggregate delivered today but had to put it off because the skip company wouldn't collect the skip.
Fortunately a late intervention by my father in law and some clever rejigging of what we've put in the skip has got us back on schedule.
The aggregate company has been great and have been really good in fitting us in after we had to cancel our print slot.
The tool hire company have also been great which has made us feel better after the skip hire company were utterly useless.
we're going all-in. if a squirrel took a dump in my attic 25 years ago, I will know what it had for breakfast
what will I do with this information? I'll think of something.
make sure the squirrel is getting proper nutrition for one
How much did that cost?
Also how much will that change anything about your decision to purchase the house?
...I have opinions about home inspectors.
We passed on a house we'd had an offer accepted on because of what the inspection found. Home inspections are super important.
Always hire an inspector.
Roughly double a standard box-checking inspector. And yes he's a GC. I hired him specifically to find the big stuff and the unseeable stuff. He came with multiple recommendations, and I have his licenses
When I bought my first home I went the cheap route, and that ended up being an expensive mistake.
I'm primarily looking for major structural problems, etc... stuff that would take 10k+ to remediate.
Well more specifically, get someone who has insurance and a inspectors license. The guy I hired was a general contractor and was not licensed to do inspections and had no insurance. So I got him to "inspect" the house cheaply, but he didn't notice the broken valley beam in the roof and the general structural problems in the roof that caused the break and was likely to break the other valley beam.
Good news was that I got a good deal on the house since we bought during the recession and the whole shebang was repaired last year, but it was five years of anxiety about the roof every time we got heavy snow.
Yes good point. None of this is required in California, which is kinda bullshit and makes me not care how many pages you filled out.
that's.. pretty insane. what is even happening in california
could I inspect a house in cali?
hmm yes... this house.... it has... paint. that's a +. ok looks good to me, buy it
Ah I gotcha. MA does have a certification process and inspections have to be publicly filed, so you can vet the company you're thinking of hiring.
Yeah... this is basically what the guy I hired did. I mean, he even crawled up into the attic, but didn't even notice the broken beam that was directly above the trap door. (Never mind that you could see the whole thing sagging from the street!)
I know what this sentence means but I need you to know that as an American I have never wanted anything more than to be able to use the phrase "mardy skip hire" and be taken seriously.