I'm with you, congrats, I close August 6th. Biggest work presentation of my life in front of the entire firm next Tuesday in Boston, close on my first house on Thursday. Big week for Ol' Cotton. The underwriting process has been very easy for me as opposed to the horror stories I've heard elsewhere.
Welp my upstairs A/C is dying (original unit from 1997). the controlboard is shot to hell and doesnt know when to turn the outdoor unit on and off basically. So looking to get a new system. Any best tips for where to go? Small licensed contractor? Home Depot Home Services? I actually have the American Home Shield Home Warranty but am about to cancel it...even though I need a new A/C. They have been a nightmare to deal with for pretty much anything and I am convinced they wont approve a new A/C. And even if they do i dont think i have confidence in the installer they will send.
Been looking for a plumber for two years. Over the weekend my next door neighbor finally tells me his son in law is a plumber. Timing was perfect as my water heater had begun to crap out. He replaced it and a toilet for 975 bucks out the door. I am very happy. New toilet flushes so good Now I need an electrician that I can count on
which one, the gravel patio or the patio stones? Edit - Nevermind, i'm dumb. Here's what I did, there was a bunch of vegetation there, I dug it all out to a 9x26 area, used the old bricks that had been there as the new border, and threw in 2-1/2 tons of gravel Spoiler: spoilered for size
Carrier is the best and most expensive; Trane is generally overpriced and their stuff is resold by a few other brands (just google it). Would definitely bid out to 3-4 different local outfits.
Yes, in part because Trane is manufactured in the U.S. still, and American Standard is not. Source: my town was home to a joint Trane/American Standard plant until American Standard moved their operations to Mexico.
Anyone else recently go through the home building process with a construction company and have any pointers? This is our first one and since i'm a poor we are not going full custom, this is an existing floor plan in an existing neighborhood.
Pay attention to everything and go see the construction a lot. But at the same time, don't be a complete dick unless you absolutely have to and even then not to the workers. I saw a lot of home owners be complete assholes to guys working on their houses, some not deserved, instead of dealing with the bosses. Being a dick to the guys out there putting your house together won't do you any good.
Basically be nice, but firm and if there are issues take them up with the guys running the show, not the guys doing the hard labor.
Also, anyone try a heat pump water heater? I'm thinking of upgrading once I move in. I think it will have about a 3 year payoff over a standard electric water heater.
If you go out in the late afternoon, an occasional cooler with water/Cokes for the workers will go a long way.
Budweiser & Clamato, imo Like others have said- just pay attention to the details. If you can catch a fuck up before it becomes too big of a fuck up you'll save everyone time and money. Be firm, but not too much of a dick. I had a pretty large home re-model after damage from a tree. I wanted to kill my contractor, and his sub was the dumbest a-hole I've ever met. Had to stay on them quite a bit, and it was a horrible experience...try to build up a good relationship with the guy you'll be working with.
Built a house once. Stay out of their way and check stuff in off hours. No one likes someone looking over their shoulder. If you see something in the off hour, catch up with the contractor and ask. No big deal. Show up with a tape measure and a square during the day and watch your house fall apart a year after you move in.
Saw a guy make a crew stop pouring his walkway from the driveway to his house so he could measure how thick it was. It was like a couple mm's thinner than what the plan called for and he threw a fit. Not sure if that would make a big deal but he definitely went about it the wrong way. He did numerous things like this throughout construction. Needless to say, the crews did not go out of their way to help him. Like y'all said, check after hours, offer some cold drinks late in the day, and deal with the boss, not the crew.
Some of the fun times from my tree forced remodel... Spoiler It's been a few years so I don't remember all the details but... Few times came home and the garden hose was in the middle of the yard, turned on... for who knows how long, yard was flooded though Went out of town for a week, came home- noticed flies around my freezer. They had unplugged it and didn't plug it back in.... few hundred dollars worth of deer meat gone. They moved my washer connection in the laundry room so instead of the washer and dryer fitting nicely next to each other there was a few ft gap They moved a stand-up cabinet in the laundry room, there was no flooring where the cabinet was so I then had a nice 3'x3' of exposed concrete with flooring all around it. Covered up 2 wall outlets in the kitchen... just put the sheetrock up right over them. To move appliances they just grabbed them and drug them around so had some nice gashes in my flooring Not to mention the contractor was a complete asshole who would ring a door bell like a 3 year old. He'd show up in the morning and just sit there pressing the button until you got there. Dude it's 7 I'm brushing my teeth, and getting ready for work, give me a minute. I know I'm forgetting a lot more, but it was a horrible experience I don't wish upon anyone. It was an insurance job so it was hard to find someone willing to take it, and I was selling the house as soon as it was finished so I didn't have time to fire him and get a new person in there. It took the sub an entire day to install the hood in my kitchen. I can only assume he'd show up, look busy while I was there- get high as shit and sit around doing nothing all day until I got home. I used to work for an appliance store and help out installing these things. When you're going into a new house it shouldn't take more than 30 minutes.
It was all insurance money, so I didn't even care what they charged, and my insurance company never balked when I would add a new invoice- I just wanted the work done right, and on time (to sell the house)
It's way thicker than Bermuda. I spend twice as much keeping the weeds at bay on my Bermuda yard. It also grows about thirty percent slower than Bermuda, so naturally it doesn't have to be cut as often and is way more draught tolerant, so less watering. Like I said, I have both and it's not really close.
Random question about zoysia. I plan on getting some here in the next week, I am only getting one pallet though because I am a cheap ass and the for some reason the cheapest I can find it around here is $250. I plan on cutting the strips into 2x2 or 3x3 pieces and then kind of laying them in a checker pattern. This way I can get a little better coverage than plugging but can also stretch it a little further then butting all the strips together. The thing I am concerned about is them growing in evenly with this approach. With plugging you are having the sod all at the same height, but with the way I am going about it the ground level will be below the sod in between where I lay it. Should I be putting some topsoil in between the sod? I just don't want to make it more hilly than it already is when the zoysia starts to spread. It'll look like this:
next time I mention I'm going to rent an aerator and do it myself punch me in the balls and make me pay a guy to do it
positive from yesterday is I bought this beast and now I'm a leaf blowing machine just dominating all loose debris in my yard http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-185-mph-510-CFM-Gas-Backpack-Blower-RY08420A/203312654
Just had our preconstruction meeting and have a decision to make. We were thinking of adding a pool a year or two down the road but bc of our lot placement it looks like the only chance we have of doing a pool will be during construction. We have wildlife preserve around most of the house and can't get permit for construction equipment to go on it. Our lot lines are too tight on the other side. Question I have for the board are the pros and cons of adding it on with the mortgage or paying separately on a finance plan. I'm trying to figure out which might be the best way to go if we decide to get the pool.
I would definitely think that you should add some sand/top soil mix in between. Zoysia spreads way faster through sandy soil.
last week we maybe had a half inch rain on weds, cool on thurs, and i watered again saturday for an hour and the grass was soggy. retains a lot of soil moisture because its thick as fuck.
I made babyback racks and fresh chocolate chip cookies for my contractor and his workers. Everything went really smoothly.
Know someone that had a bunch of leftover smoked brisket from the weekend and he gave it to his contractors on Monday for lunch. Job went really well for him.
spent 3 hours cutting the lawn, edging, weed eating and blowing. ms swim cleaned the shit outta the house and made stuffed and baked french bread (with beef, onions, 3 cheeses, and some other stuff) polished my shoes, cranked the A/C, got an ice pack on my shin and bout to throw on some dvr and true detective fuck yes owning property is awesome
Stopped by the lot this weekend. Little more progress. House will be ready in January but apartment complex won't let us get out of lease until end of February. Having trouble posting pic so will try later.
Russellin4885 this. 2 parts sand 1 part top soil. Water water water. It will fill in. Did this with my Bermuda and it has only taken a month for it to show strong results.
View from the back looking towards the street. Backyard was bigger than I expected it to be after seeing it laid out. Now the pool or yard debate starts.
Post above reminded me of a funny story. A good friend of mine married into a family that lives out in the country. A few years before they were married her parents decided to build a house. Get the plans all drawn up hire the builder and gets ready to pour up the foundation. A family emergency happened and they weren't able to be there when they laid out and poured up the foundation. Come back in town and the foundation is poured backwards. The drive way pulls up to the back of the house. I don't remember the whole story but they just left it that way because they lived out in the middle of nowhere.
mine is a carrier and 15ish+ yrs old and still fine. got a tuneup when we moved in. just it goes out in the summer
i get mine serviced every year but its old too so have been just trying to extend its life (and one is basically, finally dead). They clean the 'coils'...whatever that means
Make sure you take a hose (not a pressure washer) to the coils on the outside unit to clean the dust and dirt off every year. Also make sure you change the filters at least every six months. The best part of mine is they use some ridiculous filters that are 5 inches thick which you have to order, no local places have them. Best part? They are like $100 for a pair. Oh and i looked all over for them.
As Sub-Zero says, it's pretty much just diagnostic and cleaning the coils. If the plenum is easy to get to, you can do it yourself and save some money. Just buy a can of stuff from HD or Walmart, put a tray under the coils, and go do work with a gentle scrub brush. If you have a home warranty, though, pay for the service because otherwise they could have grounds to deny you a claim (when it all fails) due to not doing proper maintenance. I dropped home warranty right after I had a call (unrelated) on an HVAC issue. The guy basically said to just do this and I'd be good. However, I do have a 15+ yo unit like Swim Cantore .
related...im about to drop the home warranty because ive had more bad experiences than good ones. an electrician checked something out one without an issue but i never had any good experience dealing with AHS directly when ive had to.
We had a pre-paid one from the seller that expired in May. They called me like 10 times asking me to renew. My only experience with them was for a repair on the refrigerator and they wouldn't cover the problem. We found out later that the technician had no idea what she was doing either as she didn't even check what she should have (my wife's cousin-in-law owns an appliance store and it took him all of 2 minutes to correctly diagnose the issue when he was at our house). So in essence she came there to collect the $100 deductible and provide no help.
Same deal but i kept mine specifically to replace the aging A/Cs. However I dont think they will ever approve the replacement until the day it actually dies - no matter how many problems it is having currently. Plus i am not convinced they will send out a competent installer. I live in the South so i'd rather say fuck it and pay the $4K or whatever for a new system than deal with whatever problems are bound to happen with AHS.
Y'all are really making me not trust my home warranty. Thankfully I didn't pay for it and have not had to use it yet.
This is a really long time to go between filter changes. I wouldn't recommend any longer than 3 months, I change mine about every month. Most filters are cheap and a good way to keep your unit from working harder than it should. Kind of like an oil change in a car, you can get away with going longer but your putting unnecessary stress on the unit.