Home Buyin/Maintenance Thread - Where most of us are 30ish but act 47. Oh, and fuck home inspectors

Any particular questions? I have installed most if not all of the styles of fiber cement siding. Panels, lap, shake.

 

Not really to this point. I'm running a few quotes from James Hardie approved installers. I don't want to do it myself, because I'll break my neck. We have a fairly large home and the first quote came in at 28k. I was figuring around 30k. Any general tips you'd give me going through this process of selecting installer/product?

 

note, my experience previously mentioned with caulking was on factory painted Hardi products with their color match caulking

 

fancy.

 

I love it so far. Just switched from vinyl to hardi within the last few months. Wasn't that much more than new vinyl and looks great painted.

 

Same. And mine ran 28k, so sounds about right depending on the size of your house.

 

It sounds fancier than it is. The prior owner of our house put in the factory painted hardiplank with color matched caulk. I'm sure it looked great at the time but over time the caulk changes color at a rate that is different than the siding. Five years later, it doesn't look great.

 

exactly
and the thickness of application varies as the fading varies

we are trying to steer owners away from it to panted, but fucking architects

 

As others have mentioned, I recommend steering clear of the pre-finished, unless you are after the stained wood look. You get a better product with painting after installation.
Some details you might want to ask about include replacement of the vapor barrier (housewrap), exterior trim materials (cornerboards, etc.)(PVC recommended), how the new siding will tie in to your existing windows and doors (do your windows have a siding receiver/groove, or is there J-channel), and what the plan is for terminating the new siding at the top of the wall and or eave locations. There are some specific nailing details with the different widths of lap style siding from the manufacturer, and possibly additional requirements locally that should be considered. Are you having the soffits/cornice/overhangs re-worked, or leaving as is? How will they work around the service entrance/meter base/other utilities attached to the house? From the contractor side, we appreciate you trimming bushes and trees to allow us to have swinging room for work. It is also nice to have a place to cut the material where some crumbs won't be noticed, as it is hard to contain all the little bits, if you are using the shears to cut the new siding.

 

I use Amazon music unlimited exclusively. It’s only a few bucks extra per month on top of prime and I rarely have trouble finding a song. Prime Music without unlimited by itself is still a really good option.

I haven’t experienced the mixup between the echo vs. sonos speakers. You’ve probably already done this but just in case, make sure you sync the speakers using the sonos app and then using the skill on Alexa and then you need to name each room that has sonos speakers. After that your command will simply be “Alexa play Smashing Pumpkins in living room”.

 

Any particular reason you'd steer clear of prefinished? That's what we were thinking of doing. They're not replacing the boxing. We have j channel windows. Does that change much? The guy we're talking with is a local dude and he's a preferred installer from James Hardie.

 

I retract my fancy designation then.

 

Would go zoysia then. Your water bill will be crazy high trying to keep fescue from getting fried out here. My zoysia loves sun and heat and this end of summer into fall was almost too much. It's going to be more expensive on the front end but you will save money in the long run, plus it's a great looking grass.

 

The prefinished is easy to scuff, and the touch up doesn't match perfectly. Important depending on nailing pattern (blind nails are hidden, face nails are exposed, varies with local codes and/or width of siding). The color matched sealant fades/chalks somewhat with time, so you get a little more contrast in the place where you want it to look seamless. I wouldn't argue a customer out of it, but I would certainly give them this information. I just think that you get a better looking, more sealed job if you use the primed product and paint afterwards. As far as the window/termination details, if everything was installed correctly before (membrane style flashing), it is unlikely to be a big deal, but asking for a mock up or demonstration might be beneficial before you drop 30k on it. Good luck, holler if you have questions.

 

is that a world market table in the nook? bought that table for our dining room and it looks great

 

this morning i noticed our water heater is leaking, don't know exactly where from, as it is wrapped in insulation. my father in law is going to be in town this weekend (while I'm out of town for KSU game) and will take a look at it to see if he can repair it or if it needs to be replaced

gonna do a search of this thread shortly, but has anyone had any leakage issues w/ their water heater before? easy fix or should i be prepared to spend $600 replacing it. need to check paperwork from the prior owner to see how old this water heater is. had no complaints in the 4 months we've been using it so far.

 

I just noticed some water on the garage floor below mine as well. Gonna have to investigate it in a bit.

 

also is the tankless thing all that great or nah

water heater is in basement. our shower is on the second floor

 

It doesn't even have a tank, bro

 

Lawn overseeding question:

After I overseed do I just sit on my hands until the seeds have set before mowing? That's the plan now but with all the watering existing lawn is getting uncomfortably high. Been about 9 days, it's fescue so should set soon.

 

Did you aerate before?

 

I'm about to embark on transitioning shitty large flower beds to fescue. It's about 600-700 sq ft total. Gonna try to till the area tomorrow and lay the sod on Friday/Saturday. Any tips or things to watch out for?

 

Tilled/cultivated the whole damn yard up so dirt was nice and loose. Did not aerate.

Rocks and roots. Get a nice heavy pick axe.

 

I'm doing the same with a natural area full of ivy that borders my back fenceline. We cleared it, now need to til to get all vines out.

 

I already took out all the large bushes, but see one has tried to spring back up over the past few weeks. Would I be safe to till it all up, spray it down with round up, replace with some soil for the grass and lay the sod in 5-6 days? Or is that too close to spraying the round up?

 

Water the area heavily after the round up sets for a day for three days and should be fine.

I hate ivy. And I hate pulling ivy roots out of tiller tines. Godspeed

 

did you install the water heater yourself or did you get a plumber to do it?

 

My friend/neighbor is a plumber

 

I need to get me one of those

 

I did a lot of research on this and had a company come out for a consultation when I first got this house.

Ended up choosing to stay with a tanked heater. The installation cost for a tankless one was absurd.

 

Louis Holth High Cotton

For the price this thing is a tank.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Powermate-10-in-43cc-Gas-2-Cycle-Cultivator-PCV43/202674371

 

As someone who designs plumbing systems and has experience with both tanked and tankless heaters, I can say with total certainty that the additional cost to install a tankless water heater will not be cost effective for your house. If you got a home warranty as part of your purchase of the house, then you won't have to worry about paying for the water heater as that will pay for it (after $75ish deductible).

 

I might just buy this guy, I have gift cards.

Also picked this guy up to see how he does:

Spoiler

 

is that a link to the matrix

 

I have something similar that has metal blade inserts in the plastic. Works great.

 

no warranty :/ but found some solid options from lowe's/HD/sears

comparing all the specs now

 

I think RoundUp tells you not to plant new grass for 4 weeks.

 

Your good to lay sod or seed after a few days. Also, don't buy roundup. Just buy glyphosate off Amazon or where ever. It's the active ingredient and will save you a bunch of money if you spray a lot like I do.

 

found some solid gas water heater options. is self-cleaning all that important?

There's an $80 difference between two heaters with the same company/size/features other than the self-cleaning feature. I feel like this would keep the sediment from creating issues and I wouldn't have to drain the tank as often?

my wife found some w/ wifi but that i don't know why we need that

 

Shame.

Make sure the water heater you get has at least the same if not more storage volume (in case you add another shower).

 

Self cleaning is worth the $80 imo. You'll still have to drain it probably at least once during its life but the self cleaning feature will make sure to minimize sediment at the bottom of your tank.

And no idk why you would need wifi for a water heater. Seems like a lame gimmick (i.e. 3D TVs)

 

Just depends on how your water is heated re:the wifi. My family in California has their daily needs heated through their solar panels in some fashion and only turns on the main water heater for special occasions that require a lot of hot water or when they have guests staying over.

Obviously not a necessity but I could see it being useful in that sort of scenario. Obviously that's a small number of people

 

our current water heater is 50 GAL Kenmore from 2002. Never had any issues w/ hot water so far - plus it is only the two of us - part of me wants to take it down to 40 Gal as that works for 2-4 people and we don't take long showers and wifey rarely takes baths plus a 40 Gal from2017 would have to be more efficient than a 50 Gal from 2002 buuuuut I imagine we'll go w/ 50 just to be safe

 

my exact thought process and i ended up with the 50

 

Agreed. Ultimately you'll be glad you have the larger storage. I agree that the recovery rate of a newer water heater is better vs. 2002, but since it's only the two of you that recovery rate won't ever be an issue for you

 

Should’ve gone tankless.

 

Is that the kind that doesn’t have a tank?

 

It has no tank.

 

Pshhhhhh

Wtf, why does it have the word "tank" in it if a tankless doesn't have a tank?