One of the torsion springs on my garage door broke. That's looking like a $200 - $250 dollar repair.

7/13/2009 1:29:54 PM

yeah, that's not a DIY job unless you want to risk death or already do this for a living.

7/13/2009 2:11:41 PM

Quote :

"add me to the HVAC unit needing to be replaced (i think) club. i was very unhappy about it at first...but then i looked and saw the $1500 tax credit, and sears has some $1275 carrier rebate and this could end up being not that bad. we'll see...hope to have an HVAC guy come out tomorrow and confirm my suspicions...."

It's a 30% of purchase value tax credit on certain energy star models with a maximum value of $1500, so you might not get as much $ as you think. Sounds like, if you play your cards right, you could get a pretty decent heat pump unit for about 1/3 of its original price, though.

^^ And yeah, good luck with that. At least your garage door system didn't fall apart or something. Garage doors cost too much, especially for some dinky little aluminum door that has zero insulation.

7/13/2009 2:33:37 PM

Nice garage doors are insulated, but I see what you're getting at.

7/13/2009 4:02:01 PM

Quote :

"If you get them to bite on your story you will have it taken care of shortly. I would send your story over if you don't have any feedback in a day or so."

still hadn't heard anything so i sent my story

7/13/2009 4:15:48 PM

They love stories like yours so I would drop them a line.

Keep us updated so we know what happens

7/13/2009 7:14:44 PM

well...one household woe saved. my AC unit that i was fearing having to replace ended up being a $120 for the installation of a new capacitor to replace the busted one.

i may consider replacing it towards the end of 2010 to take advantage of the tax credit since the unit will be 13 years old by that time...but at least i'll get another 2 seasons out of it.

7/13/2009 9:26:15 PM

Quote :

"Nice garage doors are insulated, but I see what you're getting at."

I'm mostly just talking about what my parents paid for a basic 2-car garage door (either steel or aluminum) that they got to replace their old solid wooden one. For what you get for the $ I just thought it was stupid, and I'm guessing my parents shied away from a nicer one because it would've probably been way worse on the wallet.

7/13/2009 11:11:52 PM

doh my roomie may be moving out to his own house soon. another 450 a month our of pocket.

7/14/2009 9:42:21 AM

got a call today that our fridge will be delivered tomorrow...here's hoping!

7/15/2009 2:54:17 PM

This past weekend:

Month of July: Packing

Thursday:
Movers at the old house at 8:30. Loaded the truck and gone by 12:00.
Cleaning ladies at the house at 1:00. Cleaned for 1.5 hrs.
Final Walk through at the new house at 3:00.
Back to the old house to get the swingset and last odds and ends.
Spent the night at the mother-in-law's

Friday:
Closing on old house at 10:30. Buyer's wife was a no-show to sign deed of trust.
Closing on new house at 11:00. Lawyer let us go ahead and sign even though we still owned old house.
Movers at new house at 1:00. Thunderstormed like hell while we were trying to unload our stuff. Movers were finished by 4:00
Agent called at 2:30. Buyers wife finally signed and both deeds were recorded by 4:00
Time Warner Cable install @ 5:00
Spent the night at the mother-in-law's

Saturday:
Hooked up W/D
Hung 15 of 17 blinds
Painted baby's room to match how it was in the old house.
Hung wallpaper border in baby's room and upstairs bathroom.
Arranged upstairs furniture
Finally slept in the new house.

Sunday:
Unpacked
Unpacked
Unpacked
Flattened boxes
Arranged it so we could get one car in the garage.

That was the extent of the weekend. It feels like it is going to take forever to unpack with the headway we have made so far. It is a woe and a joy at the same time.

The bad part is that I still have furniture in storage that I have yet to get moved.

8/3/2009 10:47:20 AM

I finally went to fix the leaking master shower drain.

Theres no evidence of it being fixed before, so I'm betting the builder did this, but there is fucking sheet metal formed to make a funnel, taped to the pipe under the drain fitting. I guess to catch any water that leaked. BECAUSE THEY DIDNT FUCKING SEAL THE DRAIN.

8/3/2009 3:05:58 PM

I finally got a chance to get in my old house's crawlspace and check out the plumbing, and it's a mess.

The subfloor was hacked out to make room for the septic pipes-- instead of drilling a four-inch hole, they just removed the six-inch wide subfloor board from joist to joist.

Then Rebath got their hands on it just before I purchased the home, and cut two large chunks out of the top of a joist just to make room for shower plumbing.



On the plus side, this house is full of good surprises; there was gorgeous hardwood under the wall-to-wall carpet, original 1928 checkered tile under the bathroom linoleum, and never-touched hardwood under the kitchen linoleum.

8/3/2009 11:24:07 PM

quick question...i know in college its nice to live near your friends...but what do you think about that now that you've grown up and are out on your own?

My friend bought a house in a subdivision about 6 months ago. There is one for sale on his street now, about 10 houses down +/-. Too close? should i even consider going to look at it?

8/4/2009 8:34:23 AM

I wouldn't make a decision based on proximity to friends one way or the other. I would love it if some of my friends bought a house in my neighborhood.

But at the same time, I was in this situation in my old neighborhood, and we actually saw them less than we do now. It's like when you live really close to someone, you're always like "ah, they live right down the street, we can hang out any time" and then you never do.

or maybe that's just how it worked out with us

8/4/2009 9:06:56 AM

The house next to my wife's mom and stepdad went up for sale a couple of years ago and a couple that was pretty good friends with them bought it.

They hang out frequently and probably wouldn't do so as much if they lived farther apart. It is much easier to hang out when you can walk home

One of my wife's friends tried to get us to buy a house in their subdivision, and we were very seriously looking for a while, but by the time we had sold our house, all the ones that we wanted were already gone.

If it were me, I would look at it on the internet first. Since I just got done with the buying process, I had to be happy with EVERYTHING about the house I ended up with. If you like the way it looks on the internet, go see it in person. I don't know what is important to you, but for me there were several factors.

8/4/2009 9:33:42 AM

i want cheap carpet

8/4/2009 9:39:54 AM

Quote :

"i know in college its nice to live near your friends"

Depends on lifestyle. Some folks like to go out and/or hang with friends, regardless of whether in college or not in college. My wife and I enjoy company, but not on a frequent basis. Not a part of our lifestyle, so not a factor in our choosing a home.

Minor Woes for building your own home, for any who choose to build instead of buy. Basic engineering principle: "Cheap, Fast, Accurate/High Quality ... pick two but not all three". Being your own general contractor ensures Cheap and High Quality, but sure as hell isn't fast, nor easy to coordinate multiple contractors .

8/4/2009 7:29:12 PM

thats why people pay GC's like me

8/6/2009 12:54:03 PM

i've seen people get screwed for trying to be their own GC. over paying on a few parts of the project can easily cost more than just having a GC handle it that knows what everything should cost.

not saying you're getting screwed..just the GC's can be worth what they're paid sometimes.

8/6/2009 3:23:40 PM

#1 Rule: Always get three bids

8/7/2009 9:38:37 AM

Quote :

"UNWANTED HOUSE LEECH"

8/8/2009 10:16:26 AM

So I was moving some shit around in the garage and saw mouse droppings all over the place.

two weeks ago, some transplants from NYC were moving in, and I helped them unload some furniture from the PODs. Noticed a couple of dead mice in there too, thought nothing of it until I saw the fucking mouse droppings in my garage.

I don't get into this whole north vs. south thing in general, but motherfucking yankees need to leave their fucking pestilence up north before moving down here.

so with that said, what's the best shit to get rid of them? I don't care about being humane. I just want them gone. dead or otherwise.

8/8/2009 10:48:33 AM

Get the d-con bait trays.

Just watch out, if one of those mother fuckers dies in a box or something, their guts will leak out and stain the hell out of everything.

I have a stain on the plywood floor of my shed from where a squirrel got into the box of d-con pellets, ate half the box, and basically exploded on the floor of my shed.

I didnt notice for a week either, talk about smell.

8/8/2009 11:37:11 AM

New heat pump = $texas

8/12/2009 12:22:56 PM

I just spent the past week getting 3 of my 4 bedrooms completely repainted, floors ripped up for new carpet. I went all out on this painting. Painted the ceiling, painted the walls, windows, trim to the floorboard, doors... I HATE PAINTING. Looks really good, though. Carpet gets installed on Friday.

8/13/2009 9:50:03 AM

^^^^ I killed three mice in my attic with the oldschool spring + wood traps. Put peanut butter on the trap and within about 3 days those traps damn near decapitated the mice. Haven't had any issues since. Plus you wouldn't have to worry about them running off and dieing in a wall or something.

[Edited on August 13, 2009 at 10:36 AM. Reason : d]

8/13/2009 10:36:32 AM

mouse trap + peanut butter.

i used this type:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000P9URDQ

it's covered, and it has a wide neck breaker to guarantee the neck breaking without decapitation.

i once caught 8 mice in 24 hours using peanut butter as bait.

8/13/2009 11:11:24 AM

^ I got traps similar to the one you posted, baited with peanut butter, but I haven't caught one yet.

my yankee ass neighbor who brought them down told me on Tuesday that one of his traps caught one. I haven't seen any evidence of the mouse in my garage since. Perhaps, it was going back and forth between our garages(our garages are oriented so that they're right next to each other).

i'll leave 'em out a little while longer, but hopefully it's gone.

[Edited on August 13, 2009 at 11:59 AM. Reason : a]

8/13/2009 11:59:37 AM

speaking mice... we've got problems with "flying mice"... yes bats.

last weekend. around 2am i happened to be awake and all of the sudden one swooped down at me... of course it scared me senseless and i screamed like a little girl.

i don't know how these suckers keep getting in but we've had 4 in the last year. no holes that we can find, and i've shut both chimneys.

8/13/2009 1:29:04 PM

Quote :

"On the plus side, this house is full of good surprises; there was gorgeous hardwood under the wall-to-wall carpet, original 1928 checkered tile under the bathroom linoleum, and never-touched hardwood under the kitchen linoleum."

So you've got asbestos under the asbestos in the bathroom and hardwoods under the asbestos in the kitchen?

8/13/2009 2:07:19 PM

Quote :

"So you've got asbestos under the asbestos in the bathroom and hardwoods under the asbestos in the kitchen?"

Haha, totally. There was black mastic underneath everything.

I didn't test it, though. I needed to be able to claim ignorance, since I just scraped it all up and took it to the landfill.

8/15/2009 1:43:19 PM

asbestos is white y0

8/15/2009 2:25:51 PM

So is milk. Therefore chocolate milk can't contain any milk.

8/15/2009 2:35:26 PM

Asked before but didn't get any bites, any recommendations for a roofer?

8/16/2009 9:55:44 PM

found 2 mice this morning. One in one of the traps I bought, and one that got stuck in a glue trap. Both are still alive. The one in the glue trap has been trying to gnaw it's foot off.

Now, what the hell do I do with two live mice? I'd have preferred if the traps had killed them. I can't let them go (well maybe if i had time to drive over to UNC campus...) and I can't think of a non-messy way to kill 'em myself.

hey DNL, if you're reading this, you can have them. I'm sure you're a pro at this kind of stuff.

[Edited on August 18, 2009 at 7:41 AM. Reason : a]

8/18/2009 7:39:58 AM

that's why you needed one of the old school traps



Those things are probably more humane than traps that let them live. As it is, I'd drive them a mile away to some woods and let them go.

[Edited on August 18, 2009 at 8:03 AM. Reason : s]

8/18/2009 8:02:58 AM

BobbyDigital, when i was living in the dorms at NCSU the girls in the suite beside us caught a mouse with one of the glue traps. my roommate used my handheld bb gun to kill it with a bb to the head. it was quick, painless, and did the job.

8/18/2009 9:42:00 AM

^^ yeah in retrospect that woulda been better.

^ if i had a bb gun that'd be the way to go.

I ended up michael vicking them.

Carl Weathers

Quote :

"Now you take this home, throw it in a pot, add some broth, a potato. Baby, you've got a stew going. "

tempting, but too late.

8/18/2009 12:21:10 PM

Pure awesome.

8/18/2009 12:25:03 PM

going to protest my property taxes in person tomorrow

i have documentation like a motherfucker, shit is indexed, high lighted, tabbed and in folders. bring it on

8/18/2009 8:57:14 PM

Quote :

"I ended up michael vicking them."

ahahaha

that's grand

8/18/2009 9:17:00 PM

^^ Did that last year. Took about an hour of my time and now I'll save over $100 each year I'm here.

8/18/2009 9:35:56 PM

hopefully i have some luck. since texas doesn't have an income tax, property taxes can be higher and sales tax is insane.

i have all my comps, my deed which shows how much i paid, my appraisal from when i bought the place in early 2008 and multiple local and national news articles about the housing market and what the predictions are.

furthermore, i'm going to play the job card... i happen to work in the division of caterpillar thats mostly driven by the housing market and i happen to know a lot about it. i'm including my business card in the folders im giving out (we're required to have 4 copies of all the shit we bring to the hearing) hoping that adds to my credibility. i also know for a fact that we're down 60% and the local dealers have not ordered machines in months, so the housing market is nowhere near coming back.

i bought my place for 141 and "they" appraised it at 156 then dropped it to 152 due to "local conditions" my comps show 139-150 for houses in my neighborhood within 300sq ft so i think im pretty solid there. i'd be happy with 150 but i'm going to push for 145

i have 5 sets of documentation in each folder (original appraisal from 2008, property deed, their appraisals, news articles & comps) and each one is individually high lighted and tabbed to point out the specific information i plan to talk about.

i spent several hours on this today and hope it pays off--

any advice for protesting taxes from those who have done it??

8/18/2009 10:36:09 PM

I was able to get mine dropped by 15K. In addition to the stuff you mentioned I got tax values from the previous year for close homes online and a lot of near duplicate houses had lower tax values. Also there are several articles on the web about decreased home values if you happen to have a sex offender living within a mile so I'd check the national database for that too.

8/18/2009 11:05:10 PM

^thanks! and fortunately for me, no sex offenders living close by (i checked before i bought the place and again recently)

as per your pm, my hearing today is in person. in texas you first send your written dispute then they give you a date to show up with your proof. if you're still not happy then you get a hearing.

i have solid news articles about the housing market being down. i also have an article stating that caterpillar is planning more layoffs in NC (where our building construction products division is) which further indicates that housing isn't coming back yet and its getting worse.

i have this fantastic article that shows texas is #3 nationwide for homeowners who are about to default.

the meeting is at 2pm, will report back!

8/19/2009 11:06:30 AM

plumbing leaking under stairs

8/19/2009 2:14:16 PM

got that shit knocked back $15k! go me

8/19/2009 10:44:04 PM

Congrats. What's the tax rate like in Texas?

8/20/2009 10:25:58 AM

34% property tax rate increase.

good thing the last tax assessment was done in 1982 and the assessed value is approx 1/4th of market value.

still blows though

8/20/2009 11:04:04 AM