I close on this house March 21st. I'm pretty excited. It's the first house I have owned.

3/5/2011 12:35:45 AM

Badass! i miss having a garage.

3/5/2011 12:37:31 AM

I just had my carport converted into a garage(workshop). Best idea EVAR!

3/6/2011 7:15:17 AM

Picking up a two car garage was definitely one of the best things about moving into the house we bought last year from the apt we had. Not having to scrape windows or freeze my butt off halfway to work in the morning is definitely nice.

3/6/2011 10:32:53 AM

Having lived in my current house (rental, will buy later this year or early the next) for seven months now, I have the most solid piece of advice I can give right here for folks just buying/moving into somewhere:

Fix the damn leaks in your doors and windows before it gets too hot or too cold outside.

A few weeks ago when we had a moderate temperature day I noticed that the door to the deck was so delightfully warped that even 1/2" thick insulation foam tape can't fill all the gaps. Still, fixing what I could on that door made the kitchen at least a few degrees warmer.

I'm just going to have to replace those doors at some point, they warp terribly with the weather and either won't seal or won't open/close depending on how things are going outside.

3/6/2011 2:00:02 PM

Quote :

"I close on this house March 21st. I'm pretty excited. It's the first house I have owned. "

congrats. it looks like a nice house. however the roof looks kind of funny, like someone was sledding down it a lot.

3/6/2011 6:53:57 PM

Yeah I though it was a little odd how the color seems to be running. I climbed up there with the home inspector though and he ensured me that everything was fine. Can't really do anything but take his word on it since the roof is only 12 years old.

3/6/2011 11:05:25 PM

http://www.roofbeclean.com/page/page/853837.htm

3/6/2011 11:11:27 PM

^^^ yeah I am about to buy new fiberglass doors, gonna cost $utah

[Edited on March 6, 2011 at 11:53 PM. Reason : .]

3/6/2011 11:52:58 PM

Quote :

"however the roof looks kind of funny, like someone was sledding down it a lot."

I see this on tonsss of houses. If I remember correctly from reading up on it when we were looking at houses, it was a kind of algae and the roof can be cleaned by yourself or a professional. It's not really a problem or a sign of the roof needing to be replaced.

[Edited on March 7, 2011 at 8:16 AM. Reason : .]

3/7/2011 8:16:05 AM

does anyone have any experience with the insurance services that progress energy offers? I got one yesterday about water heater coverage for like 4 dollar bucks a month. I figure it might be worth it since my water heater is older, but i'm not sure.

3/7/2011 11:05:30 AM

heat pump

3/7/2011 11:39:47 AM

In the new place a week and dishwasher breaks. God bless home warranties.

I'm tempted to just say the hell with it and replace these old appliances with stainless steel.

3/8/2011 12:03:42 AM

Quote :

"http://www.roofbeclean.com/page/page/853837.htm"

Cool. Once I get in there I will be sure to hire someone to clean the roof.

[Edited on March 8, 2011 at 5:53 AM. Reason : df]

3/8/2011 5:52:54 AM

3/14/2011 6:52:07 PM

^ hahahhahaha, that's the type of shit my dad likes to rig up. In his world, doing it cheap > doing it right.

When I was three, I had a makeshift storage building collapse on me. He had rigged it up from random scraps of material to keep firewood dry, and then expanded it it to store other stuff in it, then kept adding more and more crap to it. I wandered in there one day, and as three year olds are good at doing, i found the one piece that held it all together, and knocked it out, causing the entire thing to collapse in a heap on top of me.

It took my parents an hour to dig me out. Somehow I was pretty much unscathed. I should have probably died at least 4 times before I turned 10.

3/15/2011 10:21:14 AM

^^ The previous owner of my house was letting some jackleg piece of s&%# do wiring jobs. Mine "looked" better than that, but I've undone some serious fire hazards. I'll see if I still have a pic, but my garage door opener wires were stapled in place with a staple gun. While it might not have been so bad if they used big staples that cradled the wire the bastards stapled through the wires sheathing itself; tagging the actual copper with staples in many cases. And you could tell the stapling was done haphazardly without any real method...Some of the staples looked like they would short two of the three wires, but I guess there was a tiny bit of sheathing separating it from the copper.

[Edited on March 15, 2011 at 10:31 AM. Reason : s]

3/15/2011 10:31:10 AM

bigass snakes in texas.

i fucking hate snakes.

about to start hanging them from my fence as a warning. apocalypse now style.

i've got to do something to keep them out of the fence line. one of the dogs (the boxer) is especially prone to finding and cornering them. western cottonmouth got all up in my hanging out in the yard and grillin' time this weekend.

ungh.

3/23/2011 12:24:38 AM

get you some sulfur

[Edited on March 23, 2011 at 8:10 AM. Reason : sp]

3/23/2011 8:10:10 AM

I think I might have bats in the attic. Anyone had previous experience with bats before/while I start googling shit??

Going to try and not pay someone to exterminate. I actually like vampires and I'm not afraid of the consequences.

3/23/2011 9:29:04 AM

no firsthand experience, but I would imagine the best thing to do is:

1.find out where they're coming in
2.wait till they leave for the night
3.seal the entry point
4.profit

3/23/2011 9:32:14 AM

Just discovered a bunch of these crazy weeds in the front of my house. I've never even heard of them before. They have spring loaded seed pods inside them and when you touch them they spring open and shoot seeds everywhere. They seriously just take the slightest touch and boom. My feet were caked with seeds yesterday after just walking through the grass in flip flops. Anyone know how to deal with these things? Regular weed killer?

3/23/2011 11:13:08 AM

Chickweed maybe? It's some of the first to pop out in springtime, and can spread seeds like crazy when touched or walked through. It's tough stuff and in my experience weed&feed doesn't zap it. I usually get spray-on weed killer that doesn't affect fescue and specifically lists chickweed on the label.

Next year, in February, apply a crabgrass preventer. Most of them will prevent chickweed (if that is in fact your problem).

Good luck!

3/23/2011 11:39:44 AM

^I just did an image search on chickweed and it doesn't look like it. I'll try to get a picture when I get home.

3/23/2011 2:07:36 PM

3/23/2011 2:23:05 PM

Any recs for gutter cleaning service?

3/23/2011 3:49:51 PM

Wraith

http://www.turffiles.ncsu.edu/Weeds/Bittercress_Hairy.aspx

3/23/2011 5:27:50 PM

^That's the one. The little fuckers are taking over my front yard. Thanks for the info.

3/23/2011 6:00:02 PM

You know, I kinda like that stuff. I dont like it in the grass, but it will grow in the mulch area or in pinestraw, and the flowers are actually pretty. I have no problem pulling it out of grass when it appears.

3/24/2011 1:01:28 PM

Has anyone done a wine cellar before?

4/1/2011 4:54:25 PM

we close tomorrow at 3!

o h s n a p !

4/5/2011 12:21:31 PM

congrats

4/5/2011 12:42:02 PM

i guess since i moved i need to begin sending out change of address notices to some places..what are the key things I need to notify?

4/6/2011 11:29:32 AM

Fill out mail forwarding request on usps website.

4/6/2011 11:41:39 AM

yep^

Other then that I just made a list of every important company or document that had my address or sent important stuff to me (1099s, financial statements, etc). Banks (normal banking, credit cards, student loans, etc.), utilities (obviously this has probably been taken care of already), DMV (can be completed online usually), the address your work has on file, insurance companies...that's about all I remember physically changing.

Other than that I did the mail forwarding request + change of address on the USPS site and wrote letters to family we didn't talk to on a very regular basis if I didn't have their email address to let them know.

Stuff like doctors' and dentists' offices I just updated upon my first visit after moving.

If you do the mail forwarding, you might find a place or two that had sent mail labeled and forwarded to you that you didn't think about. Usually they are things that aren't very important/time critical (for us it was our frequent flier miles info).


PS There is also an IRS change of address form. We did not fill this out because we filed to amend our taxes with the first time home-buyers credit so it was basically a part of that process. I know that technically if you fill out a change of address with the USPS it gets picked up by the IRS and it shouldn't be an issue but I just wanted to throw that out there.

[Edited on April 6, 2011 at 11:54 AM. Reason : .]

4/6/2011 11:51:52 AM

cool thanks! took care of vehicle registration since i had to snail mail that form in and the USPS forwarding as well. A change of address to my license is next.

4/6/2011 1:21:31 PM

dont forget to save the 10% off lowes coupon from the USPS address change form package

4/6/2011 1:37:20 PM

lol they're in my trashcan

4/6/2011 2:20:20 PM

where are some decent places to look for TV stands for the main living room? The furniture stores i've been to all have these oversized units that just don't quite fit what i'm looking for. I definitely want something more than a generic plywood box stand, but I don't need some 300lbs hardwood unit.

4/6/2011 4:54:53 PM

What exactly are you looking for?

What style is the room? Are you looking for something with a lot of storage in it or just a place to place the TV and associated media boxes? Are you opposed to wall-mounting the TV?

4/6/2011 5:10:55 PM

I have to say I love living in this place so far. I have only had one issue. The thermostat went bad 3 days after I moved in. So the fan would not stop running and heat would not turn on. I was able to diagnose the issue from the led indicator.

4/6/2011 8:50:53 PM

Wall mounting the TV isn't really an option at this point based on the window locations and couch viewing angles. It's going to be in the corner, so something built for a corner is an option too. I don't need much media storage, i'd like to try and keep bluray and game boxes out of site for the most part. So really it needs to be able to hold my DVR, PS3, U-Verse modem, and a future receiver.

4/7/2011 8:32:46 AM

^Have you checked Best Buy/Target/Wal-Mart? I got a decent glass stand at Best Buy for like $50 when I moved into my house a little over a year ago.

4/7/2011 9:28:00 AM

^^ I'm a fan of Ikea and Heavner (across from carmax on 70)

theres also a furniture thread in the lounge with good suggestions

4/7/2011 11:44:05 AM

Anyone someone who does Decks and/or Rotten Wood Repair?

4/7/2011 2:40:15 PM

These are the names my neighbor got quotes from when building their deck. All had great reviews on Angie's List. Think they went with the last one.

Garuda Custom Decks
(919) 460-8802
http://www.servicemagic.com/rated.GarudaCustomDecksInc.16821186.html

Craftsmen Builders
(919) 369-5539
http://thecraftsmenbuilders.com/

Decks By All Means
(919) 388-7886
http://www.decksbyallmeans.com/

4/8/2011 1:03:13 AM

Anybody have shutters on the outside of their house...similar to these:



I have four windows (two top, two bottom, both directly above the other) that I want to put them on.

Riding my bike all around downtown Charleston, I've noticed that most houses have the raised panel on the bottom windows and the "louvered" shutters on the top windows. So I'm about 95% sure I'll do the same. Here are my questions:

What color?? I'm thinking black, but I'm open to other suggestions. Here is a picture of the front of my house:



What material?? Vinyl is obviously the cheapest, but will also last longer than wood (which looks better...but is the difference worth it?). Most expensive is "composite wood." Any experiences??



[Edited on April 8, 2011 at 10:17 AM. Reason : .]

4/8/2011 10:12:09 AM

pic didn't work. you have to link to the file itself (ends in .jpg or the like)

i've noticed a lot of people paint them the same color as the front door, at least in my neighborhood, and that's how mine came when i bought the house.

[Edited on April 8, 2011 at 10:16 AM. Reason : ]

4/8/2011 10:15:29 AM

^Duh...didn't even think about that. Different color would definitely clash with the front door. So black it is.

Guess that just leaves the question of material.

4/8/2011 10:18:02 AM

mine are original equipment from 1964 and are wood. they've held up just fine. my consideration would just be price. i'd say get whatever you can afford.

4/8/2011 10:20:50 AM