The Home Ownership Thread

[Van Veen]

I don’t think so. From what I’ve seen in Hurricane Sandy territory, most people who have lifted their houses or rebuilt are using what used to be the crawl space as a garage. I haven’t actually asked anyone what they call it, though.

 

[sugarbutch]

IIRC, the flood story uses are limited by code now.

 

[Van Veen]

IIRC, the flood story uses are limited by code now.

I’m sure they are. I don’t know the specifics, but it would defeat the purpose if that space could be turned into another room. I have seen people build in outdoor kitchens, though.

 

[sugarbutch]

That and garages seem like great uses of the space. I think I saw one of those flood kitchens on a site recently.

 

[Piobaire]

Have a nice cafe table for two in our ramada now. Still searching for bar stools.

 

[brokencycle]

Have a nice cafe table for two in our ramada now. Still searching for bar stools.

Is there a stool version of the piochair?

 

[Ataturk]

Soo...

After replacing that pipe I decided to do some preemptive maintenance on the water heaters. Drained off the sediment from the bottoms and checked the anode rods. The first one was fine. The second one my 1/2" impact couldn't remove. So I disassembled the impact and checked it out. Seemed okay so I re-oil/greased it and gave it another shot. Got it out too. Had about 70-80% of the rods left (I think). Not bad for ten years old.

But after I came back to check on it, I found the pressure relief valve leaking. Maybe I built up pressure screwing with it? So I play around with it some. Nope. It's just stuck open. And not like a little drip; quite a bit of water is coming out.

Then I discover that the imbecile who installed the water heater (presumably both of them...) didn't put a real gasket on the pan drain. It looks like he used electrical fittings (and didn't even tighten them!). So the pan was effectively 1/8" deep and the rest of the water was draining onto the ceiling of the master bedroom. Wonderful. So I had to clean that up.

This is why I don't hire people to work on my house.

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

Some of it is scary, my father found electrical fittings tying a wire together and just put back into the wall without protection, let alone an accessible box.

 

[jbarwick]

I have had some issues with people working on our house but we went with one of the bigger companies in town and they warranty their work. Over time I have kept the names and numbers of the workers I trust. I feel like I have a good list now and can read if someone will be shady in the work that is performed or not.

 

[Piobaire]

...

 

[Numbernine]

FWIW I just wanted drop this psa. About 20 years ago I installed double pane Milgard windows in my house. About 5 years ago some of them started showing a discoloration between the panes. Well to make a long story short after dicking around for about a year with Milgard they have replaced all the defective windows free of any charges.

 

[RedLantern]

wow, nice!

 

[sugarbutch]

Good to know. We used Milgard for our house.

 

[Numbernine]

Good to know. We used Milgard for our house.

Their man replaced the glass in 7 windows in 3 1/2 hours . Pretty impressive.

 

[Piobaire]

Anyone know a good paint on product to seal ceramic tiles? My new outdoor bar and countertop is 16x24 tile. It's beautiful but I want to seal against spills.