Yeah...I can afford any material...just wondering if paying the extra $200 is worth it. It's $40 for a pair of vinyl and maybe $70 a pair for composite wood. Probably just need to go somewhere and check it out.

4/8/2011 10:40:20 AM

putting your eyes on them is a good idea. i've not seen vinyl ones up close so they could end up really fake or something. idk

anybody had a house painted recently? i need to get my trim (incl around windows & doors) painted SOON before things start rotting. rest of the house is brick. needs powerwashing, scraping, & painting. house is 1604 SF, 1 story ranch. there's a bump out in the back. front is 58' long, left side 32', 24', 3', 33', right side 30'. don't know if that's helpful or not.

i got a quote from one guy for $1320 incl paint. i don't know if that's reasonable. i'm in rocky mount, so if you know of any painters out here, please lemme know

4/8/2011 10:54:36 AM

is that a door to your porch?

4/8/2011 3:49:12 PM

are those cameras or lights on the window sill?

4/8/2011 5:39:13 PM

I'm trying to figure out whatsup with the party-wall-esque deal on the roof. Is there a deck on top?

4/8/2011 10:25:41 PM

^^^^ Just for perspective, having our entire 2-story 1600sqft house painted after a new siding/trim job was $3,050.

[Edited on April 9, 2011 at 12:22 AM. Reason : .]

4/9/2011 12:21:59 AM

Long story short:

A toilet shut-off valve on an upstairs toilet leaked for about 20 minutes yesterday. Water ran over the tile floor to the wall of the bathroom, ran down into the floor, and made it's way diagonally about five feet and dripped through a light fixture in the room below. I found it, turned the water off, cussed, and it's in the repair process.

The ceiling shows a light water stain at one drywall seam in the ceiling, right under the bathroom wall above. Between the and the light fixture looks fine. I'm gonna wait a few days before I turn on any fixture in the downstairs room.

Anyone been through that before? I'm just looking at some Killz and a coat of white ceiling paint at the stain, right?

4/11/2011 9:57:01 AM

yep. call in a company to dry your shit out or 6 months from now you will have major mold problems. it will be expensive, and probably an insurance claim, but better than dealing with mold.

[Edited on April 11, 2011 at 11:10 AM. Reason : ]

4/11/2011 11:10:07 AM

I would imagine mold would only come if there was a more constant source of water

4/11/2011 11:25:27 AM

i dunno... water in the walls does not dry on it's own as fast as water on the floor or whatever. it's a pain in the ass but it's worth it to get it dried out. we had something similar happen and it cost over 4 grand after all repairs and cleanup. (closer to 5 grand actually)

thank god for homeowners insurance.

4/11/2011 11:43:40 AM

To clarify, I'd ballpark about 4 ounces of water dripped out of the ceiling downstairs. I get the sense that it quickly ran onto the conduit to the light since there's no watermark between the toilet and the fixture.

It was dry to the touch this morning.

4/11/2011 11:44:26 AM

you can always drive a small hole in the ceiling yourself to check (and then patch it)... if it wasn't that much water then it probably wasn't as big of a deal as our water damage.

4/11/2011 11:47:19 AM

I need some recommendations on a tree service. what do you have?

4/12/2011 7:52:20 PM

http://www.everetttreeservice.com/

Jimmy Everett went to State and he cut down about 10-12 trees in my yard. I got his name from everyone on my street. Had some folks from work use him as well out in Cary.

Good guy and good pricing.

4/12/2011 8:53:04 PM

who's found the best deal on triple shredded hardwood mulch?

$15/cubic yard + delivery is the best i can find. anyone seen anything better?

also interested in price per cubic yard + delivery + spreading. mulch masters will do it for $36/cu.yd though i doubt anyone's gonna come out to be cheaper than getting a couple of neighborhood kids to spread it.

4/12/2011 10:22:03 PM

Who has it for $15?

4/12/2011 10:32:43 PM

I'm going to attempt to put exterior shutters on the house today. Shouldn't be difficult, but I'm not exactly Bob Vila...but I'm working on it.

4/13/2011 9:06:08 AM

are your windows not too close together for the shutters that will fit in between?

4/13/2011 9:22:47 AM

I was going to swing by my parent's house last weekend and my dad asked if I would help install a microwave over the oven while I was there. He said all he needed was for me to help hold it in place while he attached it. They were going to be taking out a traditional vent hood and installing the microwave in its place. I told him I'd help, but that he needs to make sure he has enough room because the cabinets above the vent hood usually have to be modified/removed when installing a microwave. He assured me that he had measured and there was plenty of room.

When I got there and saw it there was no way it was going to fit and look decent. The microwave itself was huge. It was going to be sticking out way past the cabinets and way below them. The burner/oven controls at the back of the oven would not be visible without ducking to look under the microwave and if you put a large pot on the stove you wouldn't be able to stir it because the microwave was only a few inches above it.

I ended up taking off the cabinet doors, knocking out the bottom shelf, and getting started adding a new bottom shelf at a higher spot for the microwave to tie into. Also had to move an electrical box while I was at it. My dad is supposed to cut the cabinet doors to size, re-attach the bottom hinges, and finish the bottom shelf. Told them I'd help finish it when I come home for Easter.

Gotta love it when volunteering to help hold a microwave turns into so much more.

4/13/2011 9:26:28 AM

^^It'll be close at the front of the house. I did measurements, and depending on how the shutters are installed, there will be a 6-8 inch gap between the shutters. We'll see how it looks. The windows on the side of the house have plenty of room though. I've checked out a ton of houses in Charleston, and the only houses where it didn't look good was when they shutters were basically touching (you've got to wonder why they even have them...it looks horrible).

But there really isn't another option unless I get the shutters custom made...which would be texa$. I've bought the current ones already made, and got an absolutely ridiculous deal on them. There was an option where it would have added an extra inch between the two...but it almost tripled in price.

Again...we'll see.

4/13/2011 9:36:31 AM

Quote :

"Who has it for $15?"

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/grd/2317965954.html

4/13/2011 9:59:36 AM

Finally got my place set up. Only "homeowner-y" thing I've done is sealed the grout in the bathroom. Not too annoying, except for the small glass tile trim pattern that makes a border around the 3 non-shower walls. I need to paint but I can't get motivated to think about what colors at the moment.

4/13/2011 12:03:49 PM

we moved in this past weekend. wife, sis-in-law, and mom-in-law painted the living room, dining room, baby's room, and guest bedroom while us manly men moved all our crap. we're currently working on the kitchen. here's a little reminder of what it looked like before (will put up pics after we finish it):



there's a lot of yardwork that needs to be done, too. a lot of everywhere work, really

one project at a time, i guess.

4/13/2011 1:21:22 PM

Shutters look friggin amazing. It's crazy how much a difference they make. Waiting to borrow a friend's ladder to get the bedroom windows that are not on the porch. Hopefully the downstairs shutters come in before the weekend. Feeling more and more like a handyman.

This is a pic of half of the upstairs porch (so 2 of the 6 windows upstairs):



[Edited on April 13, 2011 at 1:50 PM. Reason : .]

4/13/2011 1:39:34 PM

looks good. I like your dvd case window prop too

4/13/2011 2:23:41 PM

looks great. It really is amazing how that kind of stuff adds a lot of detail to houses. Like I've said many times, the simple trimwork that my wife and I have done in several parts of the house so far has made much more of an impact than we originally thought. It's really spurred us to work on so many of the other projects that we have around the house after seeing what kind of simple and relatively cheap upgrades can do to the look of a house.

4/13/2011 2:47:49 PM

Quote :

"I like your dvd case window prop too"

Ha! As do I....as do I.

^True. Just now realizing these things.

4/13/2011 2:59:24 PM

Huge fucking hail storm hit here in SC over the weekend. I have about 200 holes in my vinyl siding, metal flashing is all fucked up, two window frames are cracked (no glass broken thankfully), seven window screen wrecked. Hail was coming in sideways so roof was spared any major damage, but neighbors had damage to the sides of their cars, but not the tops. Crazy.

Insurance adjuster was out yesterday and he said he's never seen a hail storm like this. Not looking forward to dealing with the insurance agent(s), but I have USAA and they have always been first class involving everything else I've had to do with them. Never had anything this major other than a car accident.

4/13/2011 4:05:43 PM

My dogs made a 6" deep hole in my yard and uncovered a power line from the shed to the main circuit breaker in my house.

4/13/2011 7:40:50 PM

I got some stains on my carpet. What do you think would be the best thing to use for that?

4/15/2011 10:51:09 AM

depends on the stain, what is it?

4/15/2011 1:31:48 PM

Quote :

"My dogs made a 6" deep hole in my yard and uncovered a power line from the shed to the main circuit breaker in my house."

shouldn't that be more than 6" below the surface?

4/16/2011 12:35:37 PM

Anybody's property get damaged by yesterday's storm?

My neighbors were grading their entire backyard with some dump truck loads of dirt they had. Friday they were laying out some sort of mulch on the surface (maybe some sort of topsoil, smelled like ass) and then this rainstorm came along and washed almost half of the stuff they just put down away (on the surface, the dirt below was compacted by a contractor i think and looks alright, but they get to redo all of friday's work now).

As far as I can tell my place is fine, some hail but it didn't damage anything. Pinged off some of the windows and I'm glad that didn't break anything, haha.

4/17/2011 2:27:08 PM

Folex^^^^

4/17/2011 10:24:23 PM

^^^ should be 18". Sounds like running electricity was someones DIY project.

4/18/2011 7:54:29 AM

the house we are buying is in Knightdale off of Forestville Road - which was one of the areas that was hardest hit. I drove by the new place yesterday and everything looked good. We just had our house inspection done last Monday, I really hope nothing got damaged during the storm that wasnt included in the inspection report, cause it will most likely be our problem to fix at this point.

4/18/2011 10:52:44 AM

I'm taking on a huge project soon. Completely re-sodding my lawn, taking up this fescue and replacing it with emerald zoysia. Also doing some landscaping with a couple new flower beds. Amazing how much time and $texas is about to be spent on this. :-/

4/18/2011 12:04:34 PM

From the storm we had a little bit of damage, there is major damage in areas all around my house. I lost some large patches of siding on 2 sides of my house. Quite a few shingles are gown and damaged fascia boards. A little water got into the attic, but I got the roof and siding temporarily covered yesterday. Two trees are down in our yard, I got those cut up yesterday. The kids play house in the back yard is damaged along with my outdoor furniture.

We still don't have power so I didn't really know how big the affected areas were until I got to work today. Almost all the above ground power lines in my area were down, most on the roads which has kept a lot of roads closed. I like between Buffalo RD and 401 in North Raleigh.

I have a few pictures but they are on the camera at home. Now I have to deal with insurance

4/18/2011 1:00:29 PM

My house was built in 2001. Back in 2003 there was a hurricane and water leaked in through the back door. The builder came out and put a gutter over the backdoor, changed the door seal, and resealed.

I thought it was fixed but apparently now it's become a disaster. As I stepped out the backdoor over the weekend, the spots on the floor I circled in red pretty much sunk. The wood subfloor is rotted and gave way and sunk. I see termites or some kind of other bugs with wings. Just the spots in red are sunk everywhere else on the floor still seems sturdy.

Is this going to be a major fix to replace the subfloor? Can anyone recommend a contractor or carpenter? I have a feeling this is not a DIY job. Any estimate how much this is going to cost?

I hate home ownership!

4/18/2011 3:39:37 PM

as long as you catch it early, replacing the subfloor isnt too bad. you just want to prevent the floor joists from rotting. you will probably also have to replace the linoleum unless it peals up nicely.

are you in raleigh? I am a GC. I could send one of my guys to look at it.

[Edited on April 18, 2011 at 8:52 PM. Reason : .]

4/18/2011 8:51:58 PM

how long as water been leaking and you not known about it?

4/18/2011 8:54:07 PM

The backdoor leads to a deck. The water has probably been coming in through the gap in the bottom of the backdoor and then down beneath the linoleum. I'm not sure how long. I am located in Apex.

4/18/2011 9:58:50 PM

So if you press down or walk in between the red circles it's solid? If so you are probably looking at just ripping up the vinyl and replacing the affected subboard areas. Then laying down new flooring. If it's soft all the way across you'll most likely need some joist repair. Which can get ugly depending on how bad the damage is. Is there a crawl space under that area? It so you should be able to tell the damage.


Edit: missed the part about the bugs. You might want to get a pest control person out to look. Or take a close up pic of the bugs. Termites are usually little white bugs that look mean as hell up close.

[Edited on April 19, 2011 at 5:44 PM. Reason : .]

4/19/2011 5:38:21 PM

So while I was out of town for business, something apparently happened to my upstairs AC unit.

The unit is working fine temperature wise, but now when it clicks on I hear a loud humming/vibrating noise coming from the unit.

Any ideas before I have to call someone out? Like I said it is working fine, but I don't want something to snap and break leaving us without AC.

4/19/2011 9:32:52 PM

^^

yep the area between the red circles is solid. there is a crawl space under that area. i just haven't had a chance to get under there. i don't like bugs nor dirt.

4/20/2011 9:38:42 PM

jbrick, i was strolling downtown last friday looking for your new shutters but i didn't see them. i should also point out that i don't know where you live, i was just in charleston

4/21/2011 8:20:21 AM

so our back yard is a veritable breeding ground for fire ants. anybody have a tried and true method for eradication? i've used some of that granule-type fire ant killer before at my mom's house, and sometimes they just seem to relocate. recommendations?

4/21/2011 9:01:16 AM

i have had decent success with I believe it's Ortho. It's the granule stuff. Also, back in college we had a terrible fire ant problem at our house and spent a few ours dousing the hills in gasoline and setting them on fire. seemed to work pretty well and was highly entertaining.


it was Amdro that i've used.

4/21/2011 9:40:25 AM

hahaha

i thought about that, but i don't know how keen my wife will be on any "let's set the whole yard ablaze" suggestion

[Edited on April 21, 2011 at 9:42 AM. Reason : seriously, them jokers is ERRYWHURR]

4/21/2011 9:42:37 AM

http://fireant.tamu.edu/controlmethods/products/index.php

4/21/2011 9:43:38 AM