Home Improvement Thread

mac5155
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Postby mac5155 » Thu May 12, 2022 6:20 pm

We spent that in materials for our entire house. Wow.

meow
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Postby meow » Thu May 12, 2022 7:54 pm

Inflation do be like that

robbiestoupe
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Postby robbiestoupe » Thu May 12, 2022 8:36 pm

Just wrote a $6k check for flooring materials. Someone fire up a GoFundMe
You’re half way there

robbiestoupe
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Postby robbiestoupe » Fri May 13, 2022 1:18 pm

Here's some encouragement @@meow. Contractor is finishing up on flooring, paint, backsplash etc. Wants an extra 50% on top of what he originally charged. When I looked at his line items, he's charging me $7800 for materials. Problem is, I bought 75% it - all the flooring, backsplash, transition pieces. He bought some drywall and framing (all for about an 8 foot section of bulkhead), a couple outlets, the mud/grout for the backsplash, paint, and 450 feet of baseboard. Maybe a few ancillary items. That's MAYBE $2000 with 3/4 of that being the baseboard.

**** contractors are the worst. I didn't even bring up all the rework they had to do due to poor quality and all the extra material I had to buy to let the guy cut the same piece 4 different times before he got it right. As a matter of fact, he had the audacity to charge ME for the rework.

I figure most of the work is done, so if he wants to dodint about the final cost, he can take his **** and leave the job. I'll finish it, but he isn't getting another penny from me. Figure I rightly owe him about $2000 more.

Lesson in all this: ASK FOR RECEIPTS!!

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Fri May 13, 2022 1:22 pm

Source of the post I figure most of the work is done, so if he wants to dodint about the final cost, he can take his **** and leave the job. I'll finish it, but he isn't getting another penny from me. Figure I rightly owe him about $2000 more.

Lesson in all this: ASK FOR RECEIPTS!!
:thumb: Couldn't agree more with this, and I'm glad you stood your ground. It drives me nuts when I see people let themselves get taken advantage of because they don't want to put their foot down.

robbiestoupe
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Postby robbiestoupe » Fri May 13, 2022 1:24 pm

Source of the post I figure most of the work is done, so if he wants to dodint about the final cost, he can take his **** and leave the job. I'll finish it, but he isn't getting another penny from me. Figure I rightly owe him about $2000 more.

Lesson in all this: ASK FOR RECEIPTS!!
:thumb: Couldn't agree more with this, and I'm glad you stood your ground. It drives me nuts when I see people let themselves get taken advantage of because they don't want to put their foot down.
I know why he's doing it. It was supposed to be a 2 week job that turned into a month+. Not my fault, bud.

I was talking to a friend last night who does this for a living. He knows the game and just shook his head.

mac5155
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Postby mac5155 » Fri May 13, 2022 1:34 pm

That's pretty crappy of him to try and cover his own mistakes on your dime. Good for you for standing your ground.

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Postby MrKennethTKangaroo » Sun May 15, 2022 9:34 am

Roughly once every 10 minutes I’m hearing a thumping noise come from between the the first floor of the house and the basement. It thumped a bit more after i flushed the toilet in the basement. Any conjecture on what this might be? A/C isnt running. Heat isn’t running.

meow
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Postby meow » Sun May 15, 2022 9:50 am

Ghosts

robbiestoupe
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Postby robbiestoupe » Sun May 15, 2022 3:43 pm

Was able to come to an agreement with my contractor*. So glad that is behind us. Now we just need him to finish the job and do it right. So many little errors they need to fix, let alone the work that is left

* he finally admitted to charging me twice for materials. Saved me $5500 plus tax

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Sun May 15, 2022 3:48 pm

:thumb: :thumb:

mac5155
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Postby mac5155 » Sun May 15, 2022 11:40 pm

Roughly once every 10 minutes I’m hearing a thumping noise come from between the the first floor of the house and the basement. It thumped a bit more after i flushed the toilet in the basement. Any conjecture on what this might be? A/C isnt running. Heat isn’t running.
Could be your pipes have a water hammer. I've never done it but Google suggests shutting off your main and opening all faucets/flushing toilets. Then turn your main back on.

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Postby dodint » Wed May 18, 2022 6:57 pm

I'm going to call my insurance folks in a bit, but I'll ask here while I wait.

I have a $2,000 deductible on my homeowners policy. That storm we had last night knocked shingles off the roof and allowed water to incur into the attic and eventually down to my living room ceiling. Enough that it drained out of the light fixtures and caused damage to the ceiling. I'm not sure if this will significantly exceed the $2,000. If I initiate a claim but ultimately do not have them pay out to make the repairs does that still cause my premium to increase for using the claim service?
I guess I was being naive. They sent me an ETF for $12,700 today, so the claim was worth $14,700. There is also another $10k+ available if I need something upgraded to code.

Who knew?

mac5155
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Postby mac5155 » Wed May 18, 2022 7:07 pm

Sounds like a good time to upgrade some light fixtures and stuff!

robbiestoupe
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Postby robbiestoupe » Thu May 19, 2022 8:42 am

I'm going to call my insurance folks in a bit, but I'll ask here while I wait.

I have a $2,000 deductible on my homeowners policy. That storm we had last night knocked shingles off the roof and allowed water to incur into the attic and eventually down to my living room ceiling. Enough that it drained out of the light fixtures and caused damage to the ceiling. I'm not sure if this will significantly exceed the $2,000. If I initiate a claim but ultimately do not have them pay out to make the repairs does that still cause my premium to increase for using the claim service?
I guess I was being naive. They sent me an ETF for $12,700 today, so the claim was worth $14,700. There is also another $10k+ available if I need something upgraded to code.

Who knew?
We're looking to have our roof replaced as well. Working with one of the contractors right now to see if insurance will kick in a few grand.

Tried this about 2 years ago and got a claim for $1300 with a $1000 deductible. Hopefully we get a different claim agent this time around.

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Thu May 19, 2022 8:43 am

Just throw some big branches on your roof and claim it was storm damage.

robbiestoupe
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Postby robbiestoupe » Thu May 19, 2022 8:45 am

We did lose a shingle or two a couple weeks ago. Last time insurance said they'd pay for 4 shingles, the skylight, some other minor stuff plus labor. We'll see how it goes this time.

Nuge
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Postby Nuge » Thu May 19, 2022 9:06 am

We did lose a shingle or two a couple weeks ago. Last time insurance said they'd pay for 4 shingles, the skylight, some other minor stuff plus labor. We'll see how it goes this time.
If they pay for labor, I’d say that’s a win.

robbiestoupe
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Postby robbiestoupe » Thu May 19, 2022 9:52 am

We did lose a shingle or two a couple weeks ago. Last time insurance said they'd pay for 4 shingles, the skylight, some other minor stuff plus labor. We'll see how it goes this time.
If they pay for labor, I’d say that’s a win.
Labor is a big part of a roof replacement. I had a quote from two years ago: $12,500. Talked to the same rep from the same company this week, and he said materials have gone up 80% since then. Was expecting a quote for over $20k but he came back with $14,500.

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Mon May 23, 2022 9:31 am

Yep, that's just the supply, still have to pay for distribution. But my electric bill has been $59.99 every month since June 2021.

The supply is 100% from wind too, so no idea how that works, but whatever, works for me
Which company are you with? I see $19.99 unlimited plans for both WGL Enery and Inspire right now, and need to switch, as I just cancelled my old plan with Cirro (contract ended).

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Mon May 23, 2022 9:37 am

lol, nevermind. Both of those plans were "as low as $19.99/month". And in my case, Inspire was $204.99/month, and WGL unavailable. GTFO with that nonsense. Going back to PECO, which somehow has the lowest rate right now.

Side note: With WGL's fixed rates, their national wind rate was lower than their PA wind rate. How? Shouldn't it be cheaper if I use PA wind energy?

scb147
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Postby scb147 » Mon May 23, 2022 11:12 am

I know you said, nevermind, but I have WGL Energy

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Mon May 23, 2022 11:19 am

Sucks, because $19.99/mo would have been killer.

scb147
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Postby scb147 » Mon May 23, 2022 11:21 am

yeah, it's been nice having a fixed electric bill over the last year, my year is up next month, not sure if I can get the $19.99/month deal again yet or not

count2infinity
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Postby count2infinity » Mon May 23, 2022 11:25 am

Potentially odd question...

I have an outdoor water spigot that is connected via a hose over to a hose box that has our 100 or 150 hose in it. The spigot itself is back behind a shed. Imagine the spigot being at 12 oclock, the hose box is at 9 oclock (left side of the shed) and the only way to get to and from the spigot is going the long way around as going 9 to 12 is blocked off. So, my question, is there such a thing as a remote controlled valve for this kind of thing? Like I'm at my hose box, press a button and the valve turns on. I do my thing, press the button and the valve turns off. Is that a thing?

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