pay someone to put in a pre-hung. you won't save enough doing it yourself to make it worth the frustration.

8/3/2013 1:36:40 PM

If you order the slab, you need to get all of you measurements of the existing hinges and lock set location, plus door dimensions to be sent in to the manufacturer for it to be prepped for your frame.
Or, you can really go all out and do that all yourself, but then you take on a lot more risk of screwing up.

Having gone both ways on interior doors, pre-hung is by far easier, and was actually cheaper as well.

Exterior may be a little different.

8/3/2013 2:13:36 PM

I appreciate the feedback. I will definitely look into a pre-hung then. I can certainly imagine all the issues that could arise having to retro-fit a slab. I was thinking it could still be done, but you are probably right that it would be a PITA.

In reality, the cost of the actual door itself may end up being the hindrance to my project. I'm going to have to look into a few different species of wood and get a ballpark idea of how much it would cost to get what I want pre-hung. No sidelights or anything, but still, a wooden doors appears to be more expensive than I was anticipating. Hoping I could get out for <= $1500 but it looks like estimates are all over the board depending on brand and wood-type. I just need to call up a local lumber and millworking place that sells doors and get a price from them. If it's in the ballpark (maybe +25%) of what I had in mind I'd still consider it.

Thanks again.


[Edited on August 3, 2013 at 4:31 PM. Reason : ]

8/3/2013 4:10:25 PM

Definately go pre-hung. If you haven't done it before or can work with someone that has done it before, I would suggest paying to have it done. I had the help of my father-in-law and he showed me a couple things that I wouldn't have thought of....(although I am sure there are plenty of DIY videos on the web). It helps to have some extra hands around so that you can have them hold the door in place and you can focus on getting it in correctly.

8/5/2013 1:12:46 PM

speaking of doors, my house got broken into last week

motherfuckers took a bunch of shit & used a battering ram to enter through the patio

this is similar to what i have

all that has to be replaced. FML

8/5/2013 5:44:55 PM

Ugh. Found out the house I'm under contract on has polybutylene pipes. Anyone have any thoughts/experience with this stuff?

8/15/2013 9:54:39 PM

very expensive to replace, obviously.

It's a big risk, IMHO. You could get cracks or a burst at anytime. If there is access to some of the piping and fittings, you could request to have some sections/fittings removed for inspection, just to see how much damage/corrosion/etc. there is. Still in the long run, you may be looking at replacement and/or water damage + replacement...

You're sure it's polybutylene and not polyethelene?

[Edited on August 16, 2013 at 9:24 AM. Reason : .]

8/16/2013 9:22:20 AM

Inspection guy said it was polybutylene. It was built in 96, which I guess was right around the time they figured out they should stop using the crap.

8/16/2013 1:03:24 PM

We have one of the mid 90s supply pipes that had problems, but it's the flexible supply pipe that usually leaks at the fittings. Looks like they did the fittings correctly here, but we're planning on upgrading to PEX at some point anyway. Since it's flexible it shouldn't be too much trouble to change out. Don't remember any issues with the drain pipes.

8/16/2013 1:10:45 PM

Avoid the house like the plague.

They can fix it on their own dime, then sell it.

8/16/2013 2:35:17 PM

Quote :

"Found out the house I'm under contract on has polybutylene pipes"

Yeah walk away from that shit. Total deal breaker.

8/16/2013 4:10:54 PM

I'm gonna ask them to replace it and see what they say. I at least want to see how much it would cost to re-pipe with PEX before I walk away (especially since I'm already in for inspections + appraisal + due diligence fee). Its a smaller 1 story house with a crawlspace so I'm hoping its more in the 2000ish range rather than 5000+.

8/16/2013 7:41:03 PM

crap guess i shoulda consulted this thread first before buying my house. built in 89 pipes ,are good now and i got a warranty but still

8/17/2013 12:51:05 AM

^^

I don't know that I'd even be willing to accept that. One of the things I learned with my recent house purchase, is that whatever needs to be fixed is going to be done in the cheapest way humanly possible to meet the bare minimum standards-- which might even fail a few months down the road. If you like the house, I'd suggest selecting your own contractor and getting estimates to replace the polybutylene pipe, and let the seller either use them or take that much off the price of the house.

My inspector found a roof leak. They fixed it. a month after closing it was leaking again. Since they provided receipts of the work done, my only legal recourse was going after the contractor. Well, it turns out the contractor they used was one of those fly by night types that does shitty work, doesn't charge much, and "goes out of business" every couple of months to shirk any liability and starts a new business a month later. lather rinse repeat.

So, I had to eat the $1300 repair myself. There are a few other things that I've seen which were supposed to be fixed and were done poorly, which I had to re-do myself. Not major things, but shit that I shouldn't have to waste my time with.

Don't trust the sellers. They'll do whatever they can to minimize the amount of money they have to spend.

8/19/2013 12:09:49 PM

agreed. of the few repairs we asked the seller to do, just about all of them were shoddy work (not immediately visible because we wouldn't have accepted it, but they have come to light over the 3 years we lived there).

8/19/2013 1:11:51 PM

My 1 year builder's warranty is up in September.

Have 1 more year for systems and 9 more years for structural via my home warranty.

Should I renew my home warranty for systems/appliances? $329 for 1 yr; $679 for 3 yrs. There are also add-ons... just not sure if anything is worth it...

8/19/2013 1:30:16 PM

Wouldn't mfr warranty cover pretty much all of the big ticket items in your case? That said, I would have said it's a waste of money in the past.

the sellers gave us a home warranty (mind you our house is 21 years old, and some of the systems are that old, some newer, but all at least 5 years old)

and within the first three months our dishwasher shit the bed, and one of the HVAC units failed a reversing valve.

Surprisingly the home warranty company fixed them, and i paid a $60 deductible for each. the dishwasher needed a new circuit board, which would have been $400, and the reversing valve was a $900 fix. so i got my money's worth out of it.

8/19/2013 2:43:34 PM

Pretty sure the mfr warranties are 1 year for appliances. Purchased via commercial sales so the warranties aren't the same as consumer sales.

Everything is new, fwiw.

[Edited on August 19, 2013 at 2:57 PM. Reason : .]

8/19/2013 2:57:19 PM

So I'm in the process of selling my house to the tenant and the appraisal was today. MOLD! Cries the appraisal firm! I just looked at the photos and it is quite plainly camel cricket crap smears all along the joists. How the hell has this person not seen the remnants of those disgusting little bastards before?

Oh well, I'm out a couple hundred bucks for mold testing because an appraisal firm is dumb. Great.

8/20/2013 6:21:53 PM

Soooo, buying my first house and wanted some insight from other home buyers - do you think it's worth it to toss $2-3k on a low interest credit card for some updates to the house if all I have to do is pay for materials? I have no credit card debt, so it kind of worries me. At the same time, I have the chance to get updates done that I want for just the cost of materials.

And before you go crazy - I have a contractor friend who owes me. This is his way of repaying me.

8/20/2013 11:52:25 PM

My first question would be, how fast can you pay off that 2-3 grand? If its a drop in the bucket with your disposable income, it wouldn't be a bad idea. Specially if you get in on those promotional cards that give you cash back after spending $x in the first three months. I know visa, american express, mastercard and discover card did those for a while or still do; paybacks were 100-500 range for 500-3000 in the first three months if I remember correctly, plus whatever reward program you choose with it such as frequent flier miles.

Also, I'd actually look at a vendor specific credit card like lowes or home depot first if you plan on only using the card for building materials; they tend to have better in-store reward program plus I think you also get a discount for anything in the store if you use the card. I haven't had one in a long while so I'd just say take a gander of what they offer.

If anything, grab yourself a bill-me-later citibank credit card and charge the full amount on it; interest free for 12-24+ months free when ever they do those promotions (and they do it all the time) provided you pay it all off within that time period. Plus bill-me-later works seamlessly with paypal and ebay.


The only down side to getting a new credit card is that your credit rating will take a slight hit for opening a new line of credit, no matter how small of a limit; even with perfect credit and great history. So if you plan on buying a house with a mortgage, get the credit card after you secure your loan(s).

Once you get the new credit card, pay it off a little at a time over months if you can't pay for it straight out. It actually will help your credit rating as it'll again buildup your credit history with the new line of credit.

8/21/2013 12:45:19 AM

If you don't have 2-3K in cash lying around then I probably wouldn't be comfortable with spending 2-3K on anything.

8/21/2013 1:00:21 AM

^ agreed.

However, why not get a card that has no interest for 12-18 months. I did that for our hardwood flooring even though we had the cash to pay it off when we did the work. That's how we handle any renovations/updates/aesthetic improvements; we set aside cash specifically for that. Unless it is a required repair, it can always wait and isn't worth "financing" imo.

[Edited on August 21, 2013 at 8:49 AM. Reason : ]

8/21/2013 8:35:22 AM

I wouldn't plan on financing renovations because no matter how great you think the house is, stuff will break in the first year that you weren't planning to fix. Add that on top of the $3k and you might find yourself in trouble. We're about to have to drop a couple grand on a HVAC unit, but we knew it would need to be replaced when we bought the house.

8/21/2013 8:45:46 AM

low interest? how about no interest?

only fools pay interest.

8/21/2013 8:50:14 AM

Yeah, that's what I was saying. There are plenty of 0% intro/promotional period cards out there at any given time.

8/21/2013 8:53:17 AM

Derp! Completely forgot about no-interest cards. Found a few for 15 months. Granted, I can pay it back over the next 3 or 4 months, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

As for unexpected expenses, seller is covering a 1 year warranty. After that, I have a fantastic friend who will replace the heating and AC units for cost plus a couple hundred for his tech. Not too worried there.

8/21/2013 2:55:45 PM

I need to find a HVAC guy with a couple dumb kids so I can tutor them.

8/21/2013 3:10:32 PM

^^discover IT card was doing 18 months, though it was through a generic credit card website that linked to discover.

8/21/2013 4:30:13 PM

My water heater was new when I bought my house 2 years ago. I keep getting postcards selling me on a $59 maintenance service of draining it and flushing sediment. I've googled this and it looks like a real thing, but how necessary is it?

8/21/2013 10:06:08 PM

If you really wanted to do it, I would find a way to do that yourself. I mean, its water. Not like flushing a radiator, if you gave a shit what you did with the coolant.

[Edited on August 22, 2013 at 12:01 AM. Reason : that said, i have no clue how needed it is]

8/22/2013 12:01:01 AM

Yay, we got the building inspector to give the site another look and he wrote a letter for us to give to the appraisal firm to say "nope, it's camel cricket crap". I'm not out any money for testing because reason prevailed. <3

Now if I can finally just get rid of this damn house, ffs.

8/22/2013 12:42:29 AM

for the water heater flush, all you need is a water hose from ouside and a washing machine hose. takes 20 minutes max.

8/22/2013 8:46:12 AM

This happened a while ago but still feel like posting:

Paid this guy to exterminate some roaches and get a termite bond at the house last year. You could tell he was struggling with his business (company truck was broken, so he was using his personal vehicle and his wife came with him to help every time he came out to the house)....but I'll be damned if he didn't do a bang-up job getting rid of the german cockroaches.

At the same time, I was going to do a divorce for his daughter at a discounted rate (he was going to give me two free years on pest "check-ups"). Well he went out of business...so not only was I out a termite bond, but I'm out half attorney's fees for a divorce.

So I spent $800 for a new bond and told the daughter to get-to-steppin (she actually ended up working it out with her man...so no harm no foul). Anyways....that sucked.

8/22/2013 1:28:48 PM

My expansion tank was leaking, but now it stopped, good thing I ignored it.

8/22/2013 1:33:33 PM

refinancing while rates are low.

neighborhood average is about 122/sqft, 215k. appraiser put my house at 190k, despite being similar size/shape to other homes (lower than when I bought it as a foreclosure during a housing slump). wtf. the only thing he noted was some peeling paint on the front railing.

shit gives me a headache. how the fuck does a foreclosed house with a damaged garage wall (i fixed it) get appraised more than a house in decent shape when the market is better and currently on the rise (per his own report).

screw that guy

[Edited on August 22, 2013 at 2:50 PM. Reason : had he noted other shit or not put me 25k under the average i might be less annoyed]

[Edited on August 22, 2013 at 2:50 PM. Reason : gubment appraisal (i know that means jack) is at like 210.]

8/22/2013 2:47:44 PM

Quote :

"refinancing while rates are low."

What rates are you looking at?

8/22/2013 3:41:45 PM

Historically, rates are still quite low.

8/22/2013 9:32:07 PM

home appraisals are a crock of shit

8/23/2013 7:52:51 AM

^ yes. they pretty much do a CMA, walk through your house, and combine the CMA with a number pulled out of their ass.

8/23/2013 10:17:02 AM

Shrug rates were in the 5s back in 08 or so. Maybe high 4s with perfect credit.

8/24/2013 1:37:35 AM

Quote :

"home appraisals are a crock of shit"

I'll agree with that, having just had ours done after the kitchen work (and other renovations totaling ~$30k). I couldn't make any sense of the comps the guy used, and why he didn't use others. We've given him a couple of other properties we think are more indicative of the market in our area and he's going to (hopefully) adjust it and get back to the bank. It's ridiculous.

8/24/2013 6:47:18 PM

My AC was out and my normal go-to Allen Kelly couldn't make it here until tomorrow, so I called Progressive. The found the GFI that the water pump (whatever it's called) was popped (can't believe I missed that), so the reset it, and charged $98 service fee and then $89 diagnosis fee. Dude was here like 15 minutes.

Is that normal? And if so, the $98 is just to get them to show up, and the $89 was seeing that light on the GFI and resetting it?

9/3/2013 12:47:14 PM

I think the $89 fee was for noticing the light. They didn't charge you for hitting the button.

they were really doing you a solid by not charging you for that

[Edited on September 3, 2013 at 2:10 PM. Reason : .]

9/3/2013 2:09:09 PM

synapse: YES

Bottom line: A lot of the more organized companies do not want to come to your location to do a free estimate (if they aren't going to do the work in the end) or come to your location for anything less than $150. So they build in these bullshit charges to make it worth 'their time'.

When I contact someone for service or estimate, I don't mind them charging a minimum charge, AS LONG AS it is credited towards the work.

9/3/2013 4:02:42 PM

Allen Kelly said they wouldn't have charged a diagnosis fee for something that simple, fwiw

9/4/2013 7:42:54 PM

My dad came up with a question that we cannot really find a good answer to. Can you use a sink drain with overflow holes on a sink that does not have an overflow?

9/5/2013 2:12:51 PM

I'm getting a new roof put on my house. What are some questions, things I should ask about? I know nothing of roofs and want to make sure a good job is done

9/10/2013 10:01:24 AM

Anybody recommend a Home Security System?? I'm looking more towards the affordability side because I don't think we need one...but the fiancee insists. ADT? CPI?

9/10/2013 11:06:18 AM

^I love FrontPoint, which is what I have... it's a completely DIY system with wireless sensors. It is a cellular system as well, so no need for a phone line. As for affordability... upfront it can be more money, depending on how much you want to do.

After getting estimates and talking with several other companies (ADT, CPI, etc.), I was not impressed. For what monitoring/features you get, FrontPoint was a better deal (and even cheaper in many cases).. though it still depends on what features/functionality you want.

I spent about 1.5 more on the equipment compared to the other companies, but I got the security system I wanted and not what the rep wanted to sell me (If I did the same exact system with ADT, for example, I would have spent more money). Also, if you sign a 3-yr contract, you get something like $300 off of your equipment. If you call and ask, you can typically get more, depending on your total equipment cost (I got $450 off).

Lastly, FrontPoint's customer service is A damn +. I hardly ever have to wait for a representative to take my call; the techs & reps are extremely nice and always helpful. I wanted to add 2 components, but FrontPoint didn't offer those, but the tech suggested the brand and place to buy them and that they'd help me add them (no charge) to my system.

In short, I've been very impressed with FrontPoint. If you decide to go with them, let me know and you can use me as a reference - they used to do $10 off/month for both people... not sure if that's still going on or if there's a new promotion

Edit: damn, I think it's just one month free for both now. That sucks. I think it used to be $10/month for 1 year.

Also, Frontpoint can be pretty cheap if all you want is a panel and a few door sensors.

[Edited on September 10, 2013 at 12:32 PM. Reason : .]

9/10/2013 12:27:02 PM