But if you only do laundry once a week (which is my schedule), you've got that quiet office 6 out of 7 days, right? So maybe not crazy. Can you put washer/dryer in a closet or otherwise block them out visually? I think it would bug me to start at them all the time, but that's just me.
Yes! Put that washer in the kitchen where the dishwasher should go (fuck dishwashers) and then air dry the laundry. Did it for 3 years! V chill and not that intense. Although maybe in Mass you can't air dry it? It'll freeze?
no way, it's cozy! Just don't let the office become a huge dump/pile of dirty clothes--you have to have a classy hamper and stick with it, lest the office become a place of pain and anguish
inspection was yesterday. Took so long! 3 hours! We'd been warned that all inspections of all houses on earth will always turn up a million things that are wrong with the house, so we didn't end up being that shocked. There are some fairly major things about the house that will need to get dealt with right away, and some others that we can kind of figure out on our own. Currently getting estimates for all the weird shit so we can renegotiate the sale price of the house. Things like, they had all the knob and tube wiring removed, but there's still some down in the basement! Also, a weird rotten spot on the roof that was hastily shingled over instead of fixed.
Main issue is it looks like there might be a decommissioned oil tank buried in the yard (a normal thing that used to be done, but that is obvious now considered a huge environmental hazard). If this is the case I'm not sure what happens.
We have to do things like get storm windows put on all the windows; get gutters put on the roof; etc.
Also hilarious long-term things like: hire an aborist to come up with a 3 year plan for slowly lowering the apple tree's height without killing it (weight of the huge branches is becoming hazardous)
Also weird old-timey house things like: the bathtub faucet is lower than the overflow outlet, which means if you accidentally fill the tub up past the faucet apparently it can suck water from the tub out into the city water supply, causing a huge public health hazard, to which I say: LOL
"loose toilet"
It was funny walking around the house with this cool old man doing the inspection, jamming a screwdriver into every surface and prying off big hunks of wood; we were like EEEEEEK
Wait - do you mean a regular ol' oil tank buried in the yard or a DECOMMISSIONED oil tank buried in the yard? If it's decommissioned, and you have all the paper work, it looks legit, etc., then is there still a problem?
I think I mean a decommissioned oil tank? I'm not sure. Everyone is acting like if it's there it's a really big deal/health hazard. Maybe they mean just a regular oil tank?? In which case that is GNARLY as hell, can I not even eat blueberries from the garden?? The fire department isn't returning our agent's calls so we don't know yet.
Far as I know, they just run soil tests around the tank and make sure it's drained, then filled and sealed up. As long as it hadn't been leaking before, it should be ok.
Today's the day! We find out about termites and hopefully the oil tank. Please keep your fingers crossed that there are no termites or oil tank, and that the sellers accept our revised offer
house is officially ours! Sellers accepted our revised offer. List price baby! Now we gotta call a plumber call a roofer buy some storm windows find a sleeper couch get a ladder (apples)
Hey, all - we need some work done on our house. I'd like to get some bids from reputable (licensed/bonded/insured/etc) and - important - NOT FLAKY people. Got any recommendations? Women and people of color a plus.
@kdawg I'd say look for "weatherization" specialist people. I had an energy audit done and the guy was going to do a bathroom fan in addition to insulation and stuff like that.
I joined Angie's List once and it didn't even have what I was looking for, and they were super obnoxious about the auto-renew option. It annoyed me so much I'm very unenthusiastic about joining again.
I don't know but anytime I need to hire someone to do anything on my house I'm going to call our realtor, he is awesome, honest, and super knowledgeable about good companies in the area. Do you have somebody like that you could ask--a realtor, or someone else tapped in to the local building vibe?
Oh man! I totally let you down. But NextDoor is AMAZING. It's a treasure trove of information and you can meet your neighbors for fun and interesting reasons, like because someone down the street needs help moving a bed frame and you happen to be free so you just shuffle on down there to help out.
Comments
My gut reaction is: yes, that is crazy.
But if you only do laundry once a week (which is my schedule), you've got that quiet office 6 out of 7 days, right? So maybe not crazy. Can you put washer/dryer in a closet or otherwise block them out visually? I think it would bug me to start at them all the time, but that's just me.
We'd been warned that all inspections of all houses on earth will always turn up a million things that are wrong with the house, so we didn't end up being that shocked. There are some fairly major things about the house that will need to get dealt with right away, and some others that we can kind of figure out on our own. Currently getting estimates for all the weird shit so we can renegotiate the sale price of the house. Things like, they had all the knob and tube wiring removed, but there's still some down in the basement! Also, a weird rotten spot on the roof that was hastily shingled over instead of fixed.
Main issue is it looks like there might be a decommissioned oil tank buried in the yard (a normal thing that used to be done, but that is obvious now considered a huge environmental hazard). If this is the case I'm not sure what happens.
We have to do things like get storm windows put on all the windows; get gutters put on the roof; etc.
Also hilarious long-term things like: hire an aborist to come up with a 3 year plan for slowly lowering the apple tree's height without killing it (weight of the huge branches is becoming hazardous)
Also weird old-timey house things like: the bathtub faucet is lower than the overflow outlet, which means if you accidentally fill the tub up past the faucet apparently it can suck water from the tub out into the city water supply, causing a huge public health hazard, to which I say: LOL
"loose toilet"
It was funny walking around the house with this cool old man doing the inspection, jamming a screwdriver into every surface and prying off big hunks of wood; we were like EEEEEEK
The office is already kind of a huge dump but piles of disorganized books about ancient greco-roman history are more attractive than piles of clothes
Please keep your fingers crossed that there are no termites or oil tank, and that the sellers accept our revised offer
thank you for your prayers
List price baby!
Now we gotta
call a plumber
call a roofer
buy some storm windows
find a sleeper couch
get a ladder (apples)
FUN
OMG
We move in Aug 31
DANG
LARGE WINE TIME BABY
Vent installation for bathroom fan, over-the-range microwave, clothes dryer.
The electrician we asked about the fans said they don't do it. HVAC dude who came by to look at our furnace said they don't do it either. Who does it?
I forgot about UHX when school ended but I logged in today and GUESS WHAT???
YOU BOUGHT A FUCKING HOUSE!!!!!
AND SO DID GARY!!!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
PORCH SWING IS A FUCK YES 100%!!!
YAY!!