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Home Improvement
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Noodleface
A Mod Real Quick
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Now that it's heating up we have our Mitsubishi heat pumps doing out ac again. Barely saw our electric bills go up. Single greatest purchase in my home. Next year we are doing the other side of the house too (office, kids room, kitchen) . It will be another $5k but goddamn are these things great. Much more efficient than central air.
Dandai
<WoW Guild Officer>
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For the record, a reciprocating saw is not a good substitute for a jig saw in the hands of an inexperienced individual. I butchered my back door, but fortunately the install area of my new pet door is a couple inches smaller than the plastic border so it's well hidden.
Edit: Oh and when they say use a 3/8" bit, they don't mean 1/4". It's amateur hour all day over here.
Edit: Oh and when they say use a 3/8" bit, they don't mean 1/4". It's amateur hour all day over here.
Big Phoenix
Pronouns: zie/zhem/zer
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Brilliant, but no. Electric company is good about giving you information like that, can view previous days usage the nex day on it on their website.
Bad part is ac was set to 79/80. Shitty insulation ftl.
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Yeah insulation is key, bro. My house would not even cool down past like 78F or 79F on a 90F day. Now with added insulation, like $500 worth blown in myself (about 12 inches) ive had 72F last summer no problem but we usually keep it at like 75-76 on hot summer days.
You can tell the difference in heating bills too in the winter.
You can tell the difference in heating bills too in the winter.
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Dandai
<WoW Guild Officer>
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I've got a situation where my deck is level with my back door, and when it rains the water will run into/under my back door. I've never seen water on the floor in the house, but the floor is slightly softer and more springy next to the back door. Additionally, the back door is a bay window configuration and technically attached to the house as part of the deck. At some point someone identified that the joist under the back door had water damage as they put steel plates/reinforcement around it. During my original home inspection before I bought the house, the inspector said the deck should've been built 6" below the back door (and the water damage is being caused by that oversight).
My question for you guys is is there anything I can do to fix this besides rebuilding the deck and dropping it 6"? Building a deck myself is outside of my comfort zone, but spending a ton of money having a deck built probably wouldn't make a lot of sense financially as my house and neighboring houses are valued at ~130k. If I was planning on living here forever I'd be more willing to spend a lot of cash making it how I want, but I'm tentatively planning on renting this house out when we move to a bigger/different house.
My question for you guys is is there anything I can do to fix this besides rebuilding the deck and dropping it 6"? Building a deck myself is outside of my comfort zone, but spending a ton of money having a deck built probably wouldn't make a lot of sense financially as my house and neighboring houses are valued at ~130k. If I was planning on living here forever I'd be more willing to spend a lot of cash making it how I want, but I'm tentatively planning on renting this house out when we move to a bigger/different house.
Big Phoenix
Pronouns: zie/zhem/zer
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Yeah, looking like not so much shitty insulation as much as more or less non existent? Attic looks okay, though the space above my room could use definitely use some more.
Problem seems to be I dont think there is much if any along the exterior walls. I pulled out a phone jack along the north wall in the living room and didnt see any insulation at all. Went to the room along the north wall and pulled out the jack in there, nicely insulated. I know in my room if I have a pillow up against the wall, the part it covers become noticeably warmer than the rest of it.
Make sure your attic has decent airflow, and pay attention time where the sun is hitting, get curtains or eaves. There's prob an energy efficiency audit company there, may be free even.
Post pics dandai
Post pics dandai
Ryoz
<Donor>
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Here's what I'm dealing with. It's only on one side of the house. I realized on that side the sofit vents are completely covered by insulation. Why my inspector didn't note this when I bought the house, I'm not sure. Getting a quote to have the mold cleaned. I can buy those foam trays and put them in myself.
Borzak
Bronze Baron of the Realm
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Inspections are nothing more than someone walking thru to make sure the house will meet code. That's it in most places. Not that they are safe, free of mildew, or well built. Lots of people I talk to seem to equate a good inspection with quality. Has nothing to do with quality, just like code has nothing to do with quality.
Khane
Got something right about marriage
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You can clean the mold yourself as well if you're inclined to. The mold and mildew remover spray bottles/cans you can buy at local grocery stores or home depot/lowe's work, and work well. I think just straight bleach would work too.
Those companies that do mold removal don't really have any special chemicals that aren't available to the general public for that from what I understand so you're just paying for overpriced labor.
Those companies that do mold removal don't really have any special chemicals that aren't available to the general public for that from what I understand so you're just paying for overpriced labor.
Yeah that's a fault of inspector. 7 years later though. It will probably die out when you get air flowing
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You can even do one better than that. Get one of those large spray canisters they use for weeds. You pump the thing up yourself. Fill it up with 12% pool chlorine mixed down to 50% and go to town.
The real problem is whats causing the mold? Obviously there is some type of moisture problem in attic space that needs to be resolved.
Ryoz
<Donor>
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There's a ridge vent and soffit vents. On one side (the side with the mold) the soffit vents are completely covered with insulation. The other side (the good side, no mold) those foam trays are in place, allowing air around the insulation.
I believe by putting those foam trays in on the other side I'll open up the airflow.
I believe by putting those foam trays in on the other side I'll open up the airflow.
Frenzied Wombat
Potato del Grande
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Inspectors are useless, and their contract shields them from any liability regarding faults they don't find. IMHO, except for the most glaring deficiencies, inspectors don't find jack and have no accountability. I'm currently in month eight of major repairs to our 5 unit condo complex ($200,000 worth of damage) due to water penetration behind stucco that literally rotted out 80% of the OSB sheathing on one whole side of our building. We're talking years of unseen water penetration into the wall cavities before it got to the point where we were able to detect actual internal damage. I mean when they ripped off the stucco from the house, it was literally a sea of black rot, yet over the years there were five inspectors out conducting pre-sale inspections for new buyers and NONE detected the fact that one side of our building was rotting to shit. One poor sod that bought his unit two months before we discovered all this tried to go after his inspector, and when he was asked why he didn't find any of these water intrusion issues he said "you need to specifically request a moisture intrusion inspection or building envelope inspection". Basically despite water intrusion being the #1 problem with homes, it's supposedly not included in a basic inspection..
Also, as a rant, is there anything in life more painful than dealing with general contractors? Is there any other profession out there that has as many incompetent, irresponsible, thieving people in a single profession? We've gone through two general contractors in the last ten months, each total scumbags that didn't adhere to their contracts, tried to cut corners, never showed up on time (or at all), etc.. We're eight months into our renovation, only maybe 50% done, and each day where we actually see workers on the property feels like a D-day fucking victory. It's insane-- eight months later and I'm still running home when it rains to place buckets in my living room.. There's a point where you feel like a powerless victim at the hands of these construction scumbags..
Also, as a rant, is there anything in life more painful than dealing with general contractors? Is there any other profession out there that has as many incompetent, irresponsible, thieving people in a single profession? We've gone through two general contractors in the last ten months, each total scumbags that didn't adhere to their contracts, tried to cut corners, never showed up on time (or at all), etc.. We're eight months into our renovation, only maybe 50% done, and each day where we actually see workers on the property feels like a D-day fucking victory. It's insane-- eight months later and I'm still running home when it rains to place buckets in my living room.. There's a point where you feel like a powerless victim at the hands of these construction scumbags..