Home Improvement: Replaced 60% efficiency furnace with 90% one, replaced 20-year-old hot water tank but didn't see any drop in gas bill. WTF????? |
- Replaced 60% efficiency furnace with 90% one, replaced 20-year-old hot water tank but didn't see any drop in gas bill. WTF?????
- What should I know about swapping all ungrounded sockets to GFCI instead of getting them properly grounded.
- The tale of my 10th plumbing service call. And my floors are still cold
- PSA: Don't run your sump pump on an extension cord.
- Home Maintenance Schedule
- French drain installed by the previous ho in my 1940’s cape. We had a decent amount of rain and also melting snow today. I’m finding that the French drain system in the basement isn’t really keeping up. And it’s overflowing past the dug out areas. Advice for the future.
- We bought a house! Looking for a pre-move-in list!
- Is it okay/safe for me to put empty cardboard boxes/ empty travel suitcases on top of this insulation?
- What type of 3-4 foot fencing or railing would work best for our work-in-progress dog run?
- I was gifted a $100 bill for Christmas. How do you guys recommend I spend it on my house?
- Drywall tape lifting by the ceiling joints
- No access to attic
- Mobile Home - Frozen Pipes?
- Roof leaking - what to do in short term when everywhere is closed since it's Christmas?
- Should I be concerned with this amount of basement seepage after a big storm?
- Weird smell in garage, gas?
- I have a leak at a plastic end cap on a plastic downsize adapter going into a metal T junction and trying to find out what mistakes I can avoid by asking here. I put a link to my post on r/plumbing with pictures and some more info. Thanks!
- What are these marks on my wood floors? How do I get rid of them?
- Water heater T&P valve leaking
- Possible mold in the basement flooring joist
- Nasty culvert full of water
- Water pooling in gravel driveway
- Remove Trim Veneer or Replace?
- Best way to transport drywall?
| Posted: 25 Dec 2020 08:11 PM PST Someone explain to me please how come there is no reduction in gas consumption. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 25 Dec 2020 10:43 AM PST I'm buying an older home (1955) and none of the sockets in the house are grounded. They all have 3 pin sockets but none of them have the ground wire running to them, so I'd have to hire an electrician to rewire the whole house properly. My inspector suggested I could put in GFCI sockets instead to save some money. What are some things I should keep in mind if I choose to go this route? [link] [comments] |
| The tale of my 10th plumbing service call. And my floors are still cold Posted: 25 Dec 2020 12:46 PM PST Had a water heater that runs my radiant floors die of old age. New tank installed, replaced circ pump and air bleeder tank. All of this done over 5 separate calls. Still no dice. They replaced the blower. No dice. They replaced the entire (new) unit. Now, Day 3, no hot water. The blue indicator lights flash 3 times. This is a pressure switch issue. Which was addressed on the first new tank via the blower assembly replacement. It's always been the 3 flashing lights (Rheem tank) Thoughts? [link] [comments] |
| PSA: Don't run your sump pump on an extension cord. Posted: 25 Dec 2020 07:04 PM PST Just moved into a new house. My inspector called this out and said we should install a permanent outlet to the sump pump, but it didn't seem urgent. Well, subcontractors working in the crawlspace borrowed the extension cord running to the sump pump for their tools and didn't plug it back in. Now I have 4" of water in my mechanical room and the GC has 6 brand new batts of waterlogged R-30 he has to replace. Silver lining: now I know the sump pump works and works well. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 25 Dec 2020 02:59 PM PST The wife and I just built a brand new house. This will be our first house together. I've own a condo before but I wasn't responsible for the maintenance of it. My question is what type of maintenance schedule should we have to keep it in the best possible shape? What should be done monthly? Yearly? Every couple years? This is all new to me and I want to get on a good schedule before our one year warranty runs out on the new house [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 25 Dec 2020 05:00 PM PST It seems like after I started digging into the rocks in the French drain a little bit it improved the water flow to the sump pump. I don't know if light sediment or something built up over the years or what. But after messing with it the flow is definitely better than what it was. Is it possible to put the wrong type of rocks or if they get packed down is that not good either?? Another thing I noticed was I have a small porch with no gutters or anything and there is a decent size puddle pooling up near the foundation in the same area it was leaking inside. I need to do something with the roofline either put gutters in or something else. And also find a way to divert water away from the house. It's an unfinished basement and I'm not freaking out too bad lol but if I can improve it for next time I'd like to. I'm just happy I'm getting the sump pump to take water and now wish I saw that eight hours ago. [link] [comments] |
| We bought a house! Looking for a pre-move-in list! Posted: 25 Dec 2020 08:24 AM PST Hi Everyone, Merry Christmas! We went into contract yesterday on a house! We never thought we could buy in San Francisco (we both work normal jobs, not in tech), let alone a nice house with a garage and backyard that's in a good neighborhood. After having our baby sleep in the bathroom in a packnplay for two months, we began a search. In 24hrs of finding the house, the contract was signed! Christmas miracle!!! It is over 100 years old but in livable condition. The bulk of the issues are water damage related, which we know will cost us. It was freshly painted inside and out, so we know there will be some extra water damage surprises. The bulk of the damage is in the in-law unit. The shower wasn't vented correctly and there is probably a leak in the wall between the bathroom and kitchen). One or two of the front windows also show signs of water damage and the city will want us to replace with wood frame windows, ugh. It also could use some electrical work—upgrade some to gfci and added outlets are currently on the floor instead of the wall. We plan deal with water damage first, knock down the added shed/room under the deck that we are surprised is standing at all, and maybe tackle the electrical (may sub electrical out) before we move in. We have a month overlap with our lease to get this work done. Does anyone have a move-in check list for things to change? We were going to change plumbing fittings and put together a pipe repair kit—two things I've noted on this subreddit. My husband is a structural engineer and we both grew up with parents with rentals (aka child labor!), so we plan to do as much as possible on our own...with an 8 month old baby during a pandemic. Thanks in advance for the advice!! [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 25 Dec 2020 01:04 PM PST I'm thinking I'd like to just place a few empty suitcases or 2 or 2 empty boxes from certain electronics up in my attic. picture of my insulation in attic. I've been watching videos online and it seems safe to walk around if you step on the visible frame boards to avoid a thin roof surface. I'm honestly thinking of putting little enough there that I probably could just place it around the access point from the roof inside my hallway. But is it even a good idea to place anything on these at all? Do I run a high risk of the fibers of the insulation getting into the suitcases/boxes and making anyone who brings them down from the attic later suffer an itchy doom? I gather that if I want to use this space as storage long term then adding solid wood flooring above the insulation is the best bet, but at this point that seems more than what be necessary for my limited desired use. Thanks for any knowledge shared. Several minutes of googling lead me only how to install insulation and the like. [link] [comments] |
| What type of 3-4 foot fencing or railing would work best for our work-in-progress dog run? Posted: 25 Dec 2020 12:33 PM PST We are building a dog run on a formerly very steep area. It is still very unfinished, but the outer landscape timber wall is complete. How should we finish with a railing or fence on top to keep our small dogs in. 3 or 4 foot should work. I'm leaning towards trex railing kits, but they seem expensive. Approx 14*20 with one gate. Will be filled with gravel. [link] [comments] |
| I was gifted a $100 bill for Christmas. How do you guys recommend I spend it on my house? Posted: 25 Dec 2020 06:18 PM PST As the title says, I've got a Benjamin from my parents and need to spend it. What are your recommendations? I have a 4 bedroom colonial on half an acre. [link] [comments] |
| Drywall tape lifting by the ceiling joints Posted: 25 Dec 2020 08:19 AM PST I have drywall tape cracking or lifting by my ceiling joints in a 2 year old house. Is this normal settlement activity or could it be because the humidity levels are around 33% causing everything to shrink? I just moved in about two months ago and painted and it was all fine then...I would hate to have to repaint all these spots again. Pictures: https://imgur.com/gallery/36lPBQR This is in multiple rooms on the top floor. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 25 Dec 2020 08:26 PM PST Has anyone come across this in their home? We had our townhome (built in '02) inspected and our inspector told us he wasn't able to locate any doors to the attic. I checked myself and sure enough no signs of a panel in the ceiling in any of the rooms. Do I need to get one installed? Fortunately our roof is in good shape but I don't know if a lack of access to the attic is cause for concern. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 25 Dec 2020 08:11 PM PST Mobile Home - Frozen Pipes? None of my water is working. Been about 4 hours since I know for sure I had the water running and we just noticed. None of the faucets are working or toilets. Assuming the pipes froze? It's about 19f outside and currently 11pm here. I know we have heat tape under the trailer. Any suggestions? I have the faucets on right now. What else should I do tonight? Is this something I can deal with in the morning? [link] [comments] |
| Roof leaking - what to do in short term when everywhere is closed since it's Christmas? Posted: 25 Dec 2020 11:00 AM PST Hi everyone. Just bought a new house about a month ago and unfortunately our Christmas present seems to be a leaky roof. It's a flat roofed home with a brand new membrane roof installed this summer. During the inspection, the inspector said it looked great, but now it appears a tiny whole is somewhere up there and leaking what looks like soy sauce in a single stream down the wall on the second floor. It's been raining an insane amount today and a week ago, we got 3 feet of snow. It seems it was just too much :( We cleared off what we could with a roof rake, but I guess it wasn't enough. We'll call a roof repair place ASAP, but everywhere is closed as it's Christmas today. Any suggestions what to do in the meantime while we wait so it doesn't get even worse? Maybe that's not realistic and I'll just have to wait it out.... But any suggestions would be very much appreciated. [link] [comments] |
| Should I be concerned with this amount of basement seepage after a big storm? Posted: 25 Dec 2020 10:00 AM PST It rained quite a bit in the NE last night and I'm seeing a little seepage in my basement foundation where the wall meets the slab floor. How concerned should I be given that the storm probably dropped 2 to 4 inches on us? Arw there any steps I should take to mitigate this? Thanks, merry Christmas 🎄 [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 25 Dec 2020 11:59 AM PST For a couple of weeks now our garage has had a skunky (not like a an actual skunk, more like smelly weed) smell that I can only smell near the interior garage door. That door is next to the furnace closet door but it doesn't smell any stronger in there. We had our gas company come out and they said they're not picking anything up in the garage, but a tiny bit in the closet. He said he doesn't smell what we're talking about, tightened the piece on the furnace, did his tests and left. So I assume it's not gas, but it's gotten stronger since then and I cannot figure out what it is or if it's dangerous! Please help. My wife is 39 weeks pregnant and stressed out about it. Thank you! [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 25 Dec 2020 04:51 PM PST |
| What are these marks on my wood floors? How do I get rid of them? Posted: 25 Dec 2020 08:01 PM PST |
| Water heater T&P valve leaking Posted: 25 Dec 2020 05:02 PM PST Hello! I just bought a house noticed water in our basement next to the water heater. It looked like it was coming out of the temperature and pressure relief valve, and after putting a cup under it, I confirmed it. After watching some YouTube videos I replaced the T&P valve but water still is coming out. It only seems to happen when hot water is used? Any ideas what it could be and how to fix it? [link] [comments] |
| Possible mold in the basement flooring joist Posted: 25 Dec 2020 03:10 PM PST My inspector has hightlighted evidence of possible mold growing on the basement flooring joist. I have a previous post regarding moisture entering the basement because of a crack in the wall. https://i.imgur.com/LFAkbH1.jpg I have a company coming to confirm. They will take a sample. The picture is pretty clear to me and looks like mold. Curious to know that others have done to correct this? What is the cost to professionally clean this? I do plan to fix the basement and moisture issues. I am thinking, I would need to dehumidify this basement and make it less mold prone. Looking for suggestions here. Is this a easy DIY? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 25 Dec 2020 09:52 PM PST Hey guys, I have a long abandoned rural property that i inherited a few years ago, its taken me a few years to get the land somewhat livable. Long story short, the buildings are all condemned by the county and need to come down, i have no clue about what was or is currently on the property in regards to the sewer system. There is a large culvert hidden in the bushes on the back corner of the property, it is vertical about 2' out of the ground and completely full of nasty smelling filthy water. I have put a rock on a line and dropped it to the bottom it is roughly 35' deep. Any ideas on what this pipe is? Is it part of a septic tank? Is it possibly a well that got contaminated? Any help is appreciated! [link] [comments] |
| Water pooling in gravel driveway Posted: 25 Dec 2020 01:01 PM PST We moved into a new house built about 15 years ago. The driveway which is just gravel basically develops into a pond in places with any amount of rain. Is the best option just to get some more gravel and build up the places the water is? Or would there be another option? I'm looking for an easy fix I can do myself. Thanks, any additional info needed just let me know. [link] [comments] |
| Remove Trim Veneer or Replace? Posted: 25 Dec 2020 09:32 PM PST I am remodeling one of our rooms and am wanting to change the trim to white. Currently it is a wood with a dark brown veneer over the top. The room is 12x9 with a sliding closet that has been removed, 1 window sill & 1 door. I've done baseboards before but no other types of trim and this will include doing an entire door jam/frame whatever you wanna call it. My question is, is peeling veneer off, priming it, and painting it a thing or do people just replace all the trim with trim that's already white to begin with? [link] [comments] |
| Best way to transport drywall? Posted: 25 Dec 2020 09:31 PM PST Hi, I drive a crossover and live two blocks away from Home Depot, which is why I have a hard time justifying a delivery fee. An 8' sheet would hang out of my car about 2-3'. What's the best way to get it home? I dont have roof rails. Thank you! [link] [comments] |
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