Home Improvement

Dandai · Apr 10, 2023

Intrinsic said:
Anyone have any experience working with Gas Company and/or City for driveway repairs?

A 12" gas line runs across the front of my yard, beneath the sidewalk, then beneath my driveway. The sidewalk and driveway are experiencing significant settling. The sidewalk is pretty much perfect until it hits the gas line and then you can look directly adjacent to it and see my driveway experiencing the same.

Gas Company guy was out today walking the line so talked to him for a few minutes. He was nice and not standoffish about anything, just said that until they dug down no way for them to know if the gas line was responsible or not. At that point though my whole driveway would be ripped up and I'd be out the cost to repair.

Sounds like I don't want to even start an inquiry until I'm ready to fund the whole thing just in case they don't or aren't required to take responsibility. I'm assuming their gas line is in some sort of right of way, but crosses my property. So my drive is in their right of way, which means it is mine? Maybe the more important thing is if there's any damage or danger to the line itself with so much movement.

I’m not super familiar with this subject, but it would seem unusual to me to have an easement that went through a driveway? You don’t want to/can’t jack the settled concrete back into place with expanding foam?

Intrinsic · Apr 10, 2023

Dandai said:
I’m not super familiar with this subject, but it would seem unusual to me to have an easement that went through a driveway? You don’t want to/can’t jack the settled concrete back into place with expanding foam?

Snapped some pictures. Yellow line marks the route the line takes:

Top of driveway / sidewalk:

Driveway looking back up to street:

lurkingdirk · Apr 10, 2023

Intrinsic said:
Snapped some pictures. Yellow line marks the route the line takes:

View attachment 468369

Top of driveway / sidewalk:

View attachment 468370

Driveway looking back up to street:

View attachment 468371

Yeah, sorry to say I think you have to bust up that cement and repour it. That's never going to be great again.

Intrinsic · Apr 10, 2023

lurkingdirk said:
Yeah, sorry to say I think you have to bust up that cement and repour it. That's never going to be great again.

Sure, but the question is, can I get the gas company to pay for it / contribute since their line "is causing the ground to settle irregularly and therefore pay me?" sort of thing. Without question they need to be involved one way or another with whoever comes out and does the repairs.

Dandai · Apr 10, 2023

Intrinsic said:
Sure, but the question is, can I get the gas company to pay for it / contribute since their line "is causing the ground to settle irregularly and therefore pay me?" sort of thing. Without question they need to be involved one way or another with whoever comes out and does the repairs.

Wish I could offer some insight. I’m cynical and my gut says even if it was reasonably “their” fault, they wouldn’t voluntarily cover the cost of the repair. Good luck sir.

BrutulTM · Apr 10, 2023

It all depends on how the contracts were made with the company when the line was laid. I don't know if that agreement would have been with the city or what. Seems like it would be worth a try to get them to contribute but it's hard to say if it will work. I know in agricultural land the contracts vary drastically depending on whether or not the landowner was smart enough to hire a lawyer to negotiate the contract or if they just signed what the gas company gave them. I would hope that a city government would have spelled out what happens in this sort of situation but you never know.

lurkingdirk · Apr 10, 2023

Intrinsic said:
Sure, but the question is, can I get the gas company to pay for it / contribute since their line "is causing the ground to settle irregularly and therefore pay me?" sort of thing. Without question they need to be involved one way or another with whoever comes out and does the repairs.

Not a chance. Sorry. They will come back with their gas line is stable, hasn't moved, isn't causing any issue.

Dandai · Apr 10, 2023

lurkingdirk said:
Not a chance. Sorry. They will come back with their gas line is stable, hasn't moved, isn't causing any issue.

That’s my expectation as well. And sadly they probably wouldn’t be technically inaccurate. The settling of the disturbed soil has a visible effect on the heavy concrete but probably hasn’t at all affected their gas line.

Daidraco · Apr 10, 2023

Intrinsic said:
Anyone have any experience working with Gas Company and/or City for driveway repairs?

A 12" gas line runs across the front of my yard, beneath the sidewalk, then beneath my driveway. The sidewalk and driveway are experiencing significant settling. The sidewalk is pretty much perfect until it hits the gas line and then you can look directly adjacent to it and see my driveway experiencing the same.

Gas Company guy was out today walking the line so talked to him for a few minutes. He was nice and not standoffish about anything, just said that until they dug down no way for them to know if the gas line was responsible or not. At that point though my whole driveway would be ripped up and I'd be out the cost to repair.

Sounds like I don't want to even start an inquiry until I'm ready to fund the whole thing just in case they don't or aren't required to take responsibility. I'm assuming their gas line is in some sort of right of way, but crosses my property. So my drive is in their right of way, which means it is mine? Maybe the more important thing is if there's any damage or danger to the line itself with so much movement.

You should gather your paperwork on the land, and the rights granted to the gas company and talk to a real estate lawyer for an hour of his time. (Go to your districts courthouse and ask where property deeds are located and they'll tell you its there, the assessors office, or the county clerks.) As in - @BrutalTM hit the nail on the head with this part. The Lawyer will help you out tremendously in this area and give you your next steps. As the field tech that you talked to has no idea about the particulars of each and every property.

What will most likely happen is the lawyer will direct you to someone in your area that will try to give you a reason the land is experiencing subsidence. With that survey in one hand, and a lawyer saying its covered in the other hand, then you should be protected from receiving a bill regarding the work in the event the city decides they want to charge you for it. (Which most of the time, they'll do their best to slide it to the homeowner. But if you come prepared with the above - it makes it real hard to dispute and that lawyer is just itching to go to court in that scenario.)

In reality - fat chance you'll get anything, but the Lawyer will give you the best judgement call.

Intrinsic · Apr 10, 2023

Daidraco said:
You should gather your paperwork on the land, and the rights granted to the gas company and talk to a real estate lawyer for an hour of his time. (Go to your districts courthouse and ask where property deeds are located and they'll tell you its there, the assessors office, or the county clerks.) As in - @BrutalTM hit the nail on the head with this part. The Lawyer will help you out tremendously in this area and give you your next steps. As the field tech that you talked to has no idea about the particulars of each and every property.

What will most likely happen is the lawyer will direct you to someone in your area that will try to give you a reason the land is experiencing subsidence. With that survey in one hand, and a lawyer saying its covered in the other hand, then you should be protected from receiving a bill regarding the work in the event the city decides they want to charge you for it. (Which most of the time, they'll do their best to slide it to the homeowner. But if you come prepared with the above - it makes it real hard to dispute and that lawyer is just itching to go to court in that scenario.)

In reality - fat chance you'll get anything, but the Lawyer will give you the best judgement call.

Appreciate it.

Yeah, my heart isn't sold and I'm not looking for a fight or anything. Just thought it was an interesting question and before investing however many thousands of my own it was an avenue worth exploring.

Will look in to the real estate lawyer. Lots of old drinking buddies are lawyers back from when I was spending most of my life in a bar. They may know of a contact and course.

Fucker · Apr 10, 2023

TJT said:
Moved into a new house last August and it was great. This last week we had the hottest day of 2023 and my AC just couldn't keep up. Called the warranty office and they came over to check it out.

Turns out the geniuses they hired to install AC installed the system but never actually charged it with coolant. Luckily it was covered by warranty. But god damn.

House I bought before this one had portable AC and heater units all over the place in the listing photos. Bought it, moved in. Sweltering absolutely sweltering upstairs even with AC on full blast. I checked the vents. Almost no air.

I checked the HVAC. There was a dent in the main duct right where someone would punch it to get it into place. Dent was right on the damper flap and jammed it shut. 10 minutes later, flap was fixed and nice flow of cool air to upstairs.

They also had a smart thermostat installed that turned off the HVAC for 3 hours after midnight...with no way to disable that feature. I swapped it out for a $30 dumb thermostat. House cozy all the time from then on.

The house was either boiling hot or subzero all the time before I fixed it. The kicker? It was like that since the house was built in 2007. Previous owner bought it in 2016 I think. They lived in misery all those years and never once occurred to them to have someone look at the HVAC system.

Those people were complete meatheads. They told me the garage door didn't have a remote. FOR YEARS they opened it manually. Took me about 5 seconds to program a new one.

Their electricity bills must have been murder, too. ALL the rooms had portable AC and heater units. SIX YEARS they lived like this. SIX YEARS.

Intrinsic · Apr 12, 2023

Daidraco said:
Thats a hell of a gap between the flooring and the threshold transition. You're bringing the carpet in that far? Do you have enough carpet to do that? Pics when you're finished - I want to see how you did that.

Was just able to get to this today. Wife and kid are visiting her mom until Sunday so I took 3 days off to work on home projects. I'm pitiful at cutting the edge of carpet apparently. Not actually sure how to get it to look better lol.

I added a tack strip at the edge to keep the carpet secure. With the door closed there's a slight overhang of the transition. The main reason I did it like this is because in both bathrooms the carpet extends the same amount. I did undercut the door stop instead of trying to barely notch the corner of the transition, which may have been a mistake, but whatever.

Got the quarter round in but didn't want to overdo it my first day so stopped lol.

Regarding the paint sprayer: The Truecoat Plus that I found in storage wouldn't pass any paint at all. Could feel the pump trying to draw from the cup but nothing would come out at all. Tried everything I could think of to unclog it. Best I can figure is after using it 10 years ago it was never cleaned, thrown in a box, and sat there. Said screw it and got a Truecoat 360 from Lowes that should have been ready for pickup today but they "can't find it." If they can't find it tomorrow I'll have them exchange it for a Project Painter Plus. Almost stepped up to the X5 just because but decided not to be stupid.

Daidraco · Apr 13, 2023

Intrinsic said:
Was just able to get to this today. Wife and kid are visiting her mom until Sunday so I took 3 days off to work on home projects. I'm pitiful at cutting the edge of carpet apparently. Not actually sure how to get it to look better lol.

I added a tack strip at the edge to keep the carpet secure. With the door closed there's a slight overhang of the transition. The main reason I did it like this is because in both bathrooms the carpet extends the same amount. I did undercut the door stop instead of trying to barely notch the corner of the transition, which may have been a mistake, but whatever.

Got the quarter round in but didn't want to overdo it my first day so stopped lol.

Regarding the paint sprayer: The Truecoat Plus that I found in storage wouldn't pass any paint at all. Could feel the pump trying to draw from the cup but nothing would come out at all. Tried everything I could think of to unclog it. Best I can figure is after using it 10 years ago it was never cleaned, thrown in a box, and sat there. Said screw it and got a Truecoat 360 from Lowes that should have been ready for pickup today but they "can't find it." If they can't find it tomorrow I'll have them exchange it for a Project Painter Plus. Almost stepped up to the X5 just because but decided not to be stupid.

View attachment 468777

I dont see anything wrong with it from just that picture. Looks good to me? Main thing is if you're happy with it or not.

The paint sprayer I picked up - I used it for that one job and got overspray on a lot of the guards I had in place for overspray. But after I pulled all the plastic sheeting and tape away, it came out looking better. In fact, the way air spraying works is better on the trim parts I did in the first part as using a paint brush to touch up the other areas took several coats. The paint sprayer just coated it all evenly and since it doesnt have any pressure points, it never needs that second coat. Looks really good now.

lurker · Apr 13, 2023

Sometimes you're stuck with what somebody before you has done, but ideally, the transition from one floor to another when entering a room with a door, should happen under the door so that with the door closed, you will only see one floor or the other.

Daidraco · Apr 13, 2023

lurker said:
Sometimes you're stuck with what somebody before you has done, but ideally, the transition from one floor to another when entering a room with a door, should happen under the door so that with the door closed, you will only see one floor or the other.

His transition is directly under the door when its closed. Are you thinking it needs to be in the center for that to happen? ...

Intrinsic · Apr 13, 2023

That’s what I was going for but didn’t quite have the carpet to make it (my fault since I pulled the carpet and cut it back) so there’s a slight reveal of the transition with the door closed. So missed it by a tad.

lurker · Apr 13, 2023

Daidraco said:
His transition is directly under the door when its closed. Are you thinking it needs to be in the center for that to happen? ...

yes

lurker · Apr 13, 2023

Intrinsic said:
That’s what I was going for but didn’t quite have the carpet to make it (my fault since I pulled the carpet and cut it back) so there’s a slight reveal of the transition with the door closed. So missed it by a tad.

I'll never tell.

Daidraco · Apr 13, 2023

lurker said:
yes

Ahh with the picture of the door closed, I see what you're referring too now. Its nothing I would actually care about or look for, but I understand that its not perfect.

Mist · Apr 14, 2023

Wow, replacing an old over-the-stove microwave with a new range hood turned into the most ridiculous project. Turns out whatever idiot put up the microwave (aka my dumbass parents) didn't line up the exhaust vent at all, so I had to shorten the cabinets and redo all the electrical, paint half the kitchen, blah blah. And of course I had to do this on a day it was 93 degrees in early April in Rhode Island and now I feel like I'm going to die.

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