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Joeboo

Molten Core Raider
8,157
140
So update on the house across the street that had the fire. The pictures don't look bad at all. Supposedly the house is "totaled" in a house sense. Going to need to be rebuilt, possibly from scratch. A large chunk of the first floor collapsed into the basement. The fire originated down there, but they still don't know the exact cause as of yet.

I'll update pictures as they start to do the work. I can't really imagine them salvaging any of the house at this point, with the exception of the concrete in the basement and the cinderblock walls that make up the basement and the fire wall between the two houses.

The neighbor suffered smoke damage as well, but that isn't the end of the world.

I'm actually looking forward to seeing what they do with the place. Maybe it's just me, but I see a chance like this as really nice. You could re-design your entire house (as long as it fits in the same square footage) for the rebuild. I would absolutely do that as opposed to putting things back the way they were.

Plus, you would already be aware of things you didn't like about the previous build, so you could address them for the rebuild. But maybe that's just me. Other people might not care enough or would be frightened of the unknown.
Theres also a more than decent chance that they just take the insurance money, pay off their mortgage, put the leftover into a downpayment to buy a new house elsewhere, and then sell off the lot. A lot of people don't like the idea of living in a rental home or extended stay hotel for 6-12 months while their house is being rebuilt. I'm in the insurance business, and I'd say we are somewhere around 2/3 move to 1/3 rebuild for people with total loss homes. It seems like about the only people that stay put are ones that live on acreage in the country, or something of that sort where the land has special meaning to them. Most people in the city can buy a house right down the street and have their lives back to normal in a month if they want.
 

Xarpolis

Life's a Dream
14,662
16,355
Theres also a more than decent chance that they just take the insurance money, pay off their mortgage, put the leftover into a downpayment to buy a new house elsewhere, and then sell off the lot. A lot of people don't like the idea of living in a rental home or extended stay hotel for 6-12 months while their house is being rebuilt. I'm in the insurance business, and I'd say we are somewhere around 2/3 move to 1/3 rebuild for people with total loss homes. It seems like about the only people that stay put are ones that live on acreage in the country, or something of that sort where the land has special meaning to them. Most people in the city can buy a house right down the street and have their lives back to normal in a month if they want.
Interesting. I guess I understand as much. I'll have to let someone know about the soon to be available house.
 

Joeboo

Molten Core Raider
8,157
140
Interesting. I guess I understand as much. I'll have to let someone know about the soon to be available house.
Depending on the value of land/lots in your area you could come out ahead with the moving/selling lot angle. Around here, most lots aren't worth more than 10 grand at most, so by the time you pay to have all the debris removed and the lot cleaned up, you're often just breaking even by selling the lot. If you happened to be on a lake or somewhere that the land was worth significantly more, that 10 grand to clear off the lot would be well worth it if you could sell the lot for 50K or something.

Most decent homeowners insurance policies will have an extra % built in for situations where you need to clear debris and then rebuild. We build in an extra 20%, because if your replacement cost on your house is $200,000, you aren't going to be able to rebuild for just $200,000, it takes a lot of money to clear off the debris of the old home, so if your home is insured for $200,000, we actually pay up to $240,000 to rebuild. That stuff gets expensive quick.
 

mkopec

<Gold Donor>
26,238
39,962
So I ran into a bit of quandary in my living room project and want to run some ideas by you guys...

So whn I removed the paneling in the room I found that the doorwall going outside to the backyard is flush with the studs, or as flush as they could get it. The casing around it is not proud by the 1/2 in it should be. So now my drywall is proud of the doorwall by 1/2 in.

So I thought to add a 1/2 in strip of wood around the doorwall and putting trim on top of this. Is this the right way to do this? See below for a sectional view... BTW its not to scale, its just a rough sketch outlining what im thinking I would do...

rrr_img_71786.png
 

Oldbased

> Than U
28,437
67,426
Yup, that is the quickest solution and since you are painting the casing and jamb anyways it just becomes another part of the trim/jamb.
 

Ameraves

New title pending...
<Bronze Donator>
13,419
14,536
Where did you order those shades from? We have a big front window and are looking to do something exactly like that, where it is split into 3 sections. Looks like the same type we are looking for as well. Cordless, cellular shades.
 

Joeboo

Molten Core Raider
8,157
140
Put in window shades, now it's really done.

3AWUUb2.jpg
We have that exact little music/spelling/counting table in our living room. The 1 year old loves it, and I figured out how to play twinkle twinkle little star on the phone buttons, so we're all learning together
smile.png
 

Oldbased

> Than U
28,437
67,426
Put in window shades, now it's really done.
You do of course know I am fucking with ya. It does look great, especially for someone not in that business to do. It is above the skills of a good portion of carpenters that I've seen/corrected.

One thing does annoy the fuck out of me however. You did all that shit and put back old dirty vents? Spray paint those fuckers or buy 2 new ones for $25!
 

Draegan_sl

2 Minutes Hate
10,034
3
Where did you order those shades from? We have a big front window and are looking to do something exactly like that, where it is split into 3 sections. Looks like the same type we are looking for as well. Cordless, cellular shades.
Home Depot. They are standard shadow-lined whatever shades that have the black color in theme for heat. The Depot can cut them to whatever width you want.
 

Draegan_sl

2 Minutes Hate
10,034
3
You do of course know I am fucking with ya. It does look great, especially for someone not in that business to do. It is above the skills of a good portion of carpenters that I've seen/corrected.

One thing does annoy the fuck out of me however. You did all that shit and put back old dirty vents? Spray paint those fuckers or buy 2 new ones for $25!
I know I know. My wife put them back on before I could do anything about them. I'm doing a backsplash tomorrow in the kitchen so I'll be buying new ones when I go to Home Depot for supplies. The crooked one is because the drywall behind it is all chewed up. I need to fix it.

They are only there because that is where my daughter plays so they are temporary.
 

Oldbased

> Than U
28,437
67,426
Good deal then. Overall excellent work.
If all these sites for shitty unity games doesn't work out, I'd hire ya.