We're buying a house!
Anyone ever have to have a furnace replaced? It looks like the one in the house is from 1986 and will probably not last long... same with the water heater and air conditioner.
Plus, we need to learn to stain and seal a deck, caulk bathrooms, etc. etc. Overall it's not too bad though compared to the horror stories I've heard.
Little townhouse... any thoughts on getting new heating systems (or just home repairs in general) will be much appreciated!
many tine tanies
1986? It will last much longer than you think. My mother just replaced her furnace last year; it was the original furnace in the house. Probably installed in the 1940's. A newer one would be more efficient but it probably wouldn't make up the replacement/installation costs for a long time.
Staining and sealing a deck is basically "wait until you are sure you'll have at least a few days of sun. Then coat with sealant/stain." Caulking is about having a steady hand, though removing old caulk is a pain in the ass.
It doesn't sound like you have much work to do, which is great, but there is always more work, which sucks.
Congratulations!
Stay Free!
Adult Education: A Useless Lecture Series
The people in my neighborhood
Stand-up clips
A new children's consignment store in Brooklyn For the kids. In my house. Not a joke.
Yeah, our furnace is from the mid-eighties and going strong. Just have someone come and service it, clean it up, give you his or her opinion on where it's at.
RE: the water heater.
If it has to be replaced make sure you don't go with the old tank version which heats a large reservoir for use throughout the day, rather go with a high efficiency water heater that takes up a fraction of the space and heats water as it's used.
I just bought a house too! First fun surprise: no hot water in the garage, where the washer-dryer hookups are. After debating getting a water heater just for the garage, we opted for the annoying-but-cheaper-in-the-long-run option of digging a trench across the yard to bring hot water from our water heater to the garage. Otherwise it's been pretty smooth. Moving in next week. Very excited.
I've found that YouTube is surprisingly handy for step-by-stepping me through most home repairs. Even though I'm looking at replacing a good chunk of roof, I'm really enjoying the homeownership thing. This past spring, I diagnosed and fixed the broken sump pump in the basement and felt handy as fuck. Take that, 1950s grandpas everywhere.
We're thinking of putting in a moss lawn (instead of grass because I think it's too shady to grow grass) and I'm super excited about it!
many tine tanies
At 5am this morning I learned all about how I'm supposed to pour bleach in my air conditioner drain trap once a year to kill algae and keep the line from backing up. Thanks, work-related stress insomnia!
Why was the third floor AC not cooling properly? The coil was frozen! Possibly caused by low Freon or dirty filter. Now I get to worry that the melted ice is going to overflow in the drip pan.
MEANWHILE: some of the gutters are pulling away from the house and we also need downspouts / rain chains or water damage is going to rot and ruin the wood below. Oh, and there's something leaky going on under a very steep part of the roof that they need to send a two-man rope team to uncover. And I need to install a pet door in the garage door, which doesn't work right half the time anyway.
HOUSE MD AMN'T IT?
The pilot on our (3-year-old) water heater goes out about once a day, but lights fine when I (incessantly) re-light it. I cleaned out the air intake thing underneath with a vacuum cleaner, at which point it stayed lit for like three whole days... and then went out again. A plumber looked at it a couple of weeks ago and concluded we should just get a new one, because hey, it's under warranty. He declared this without: A) checking the air intake thing or saying anything about it (I learned about that from calling Whirlpool), and B) knowing that the warranty on a water heater is voided when the people who bought it sell the house (also learned from Whirlpool). So that plumber sucks!
we're renting a cool 3 bed room, 3 floor crib. $750 a month. It's pretty nice has the original wood paneling from the 1930's. We had a problem with some Racoons in the attic trying to live rent free and I wasn't having all of that!
Gotta be Pittsburgh. Though, it'd be closer to $500 if it were.
(Goddamn my friends and their cheap living.)
$500 plus utilities maybe, and those utilities run well into $300/month for heat in the winter. i live in pittsburgh and the rents have climbed steadily since i moved here 3 years ago. i feel pretty lucky to only pay $650 including utilities for a 1-bed apartment in the city. that's a pretty low rent compared to most people i know.
it's still a goddamn dream to pay so little for a place. i used to live in vancouver, where rents were nuts (if you wanted to live alone, you were looking at paying at least $750 in rent for the shittiest place you've ever seen). but those big cheap pittsburgh rowhouses aren't cheap in the winter.
Kentucky. About 2 miles down from the Kentucky Derby/Churchill Downs.Originally Posted by Berliner
We are still waiting for this fucking loan to go through. The type-a, project manager part of my brain despises all of this uncertainty. Do we pack, or don't we? If I don't get this house I'm going on a fucking vacation.
many tine tanies
I am looking to move but renting a 900 square foot 2 bed duplex is around $2,100 a month. Squalor it is, then!
Completely empty and repainted because it looks bigger... Do you have nice views?
many tine tanies
empty and repainted, unless your home decor looks like a hotel, then take the pics furnished but offer the condo unfurnished.
and, in a really big rental market (like new york or LA), you should relist the craigslist ad every day because so many ads get listed that it'll push your listing way back in only a few days.
Hi gang - long time reader, rare-time poster: My wife and I just moved into a house-like duplex where the responsibility is more on us tenants to do home repairs. Anyone know how to locate the main water shutoff valve leading to the house? My water heater's making bumpy noises after each hot water use, and the Internet says this bad boy needs flushing. Problem is that the cold water shut off valve leading into the tank is stripped, so I'm trying to find the next stop up the pipe to flush this sucker.
Also, I'm a fool, but are there any steps to getting an oven to light up/produce gas the first time? All my previous places have been apartments, so utilities have been fairly hunky-dory.
AND another thing - I'm responsible for maintaining the backyard. Any sprinkler recommendations? I don't think I'm hardcore enough to get a system installed, but if anyone has experience with hose-based dealies I would be gratefully interested.
Thank!
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