The New "Home Improvement" Thread

[BrooksBurner]

new roof getting put on tomorrow.

Start of several projects due to ice dam[age].

 

bye bye close-to-healthy bank account.

 

Is ice damage not covered by home insurance for you? I had a new roof put on two years ago because of hail damage, covered by insurance.

[4EverRangerFrank]

there's also a small half bathroom off the side of the kitchen we'll probably redo but cost-wise I'm not worried about that. Might just have a plumber install a new toilet and for us to be safe

 

Many years ago, there was an "Old Mother Hubbard" looking house we sold in one of our auctions that had a free-standing toilet right next to the stove - yup, right out in the open for all to see. LMAO! While selling it and showing a slideshow of the interior, I said, "...and grandma can multitask while stirring the pasta sauce." The room of 300 people burst out laughing. We sold it.

[josh]

Is ice damage not covered by home insurance for you? I had a new roof put on two years ago because of hail damage, covered by insurance.

 

Only the area where there was a problem. Roofing company was supposed to take a report with pictures during the tear down. They didnt. They won't even give us the bill of sale. We had other issues with our insurance and switched reps. It's a mess.

But there's additional damage to the living room, we are getting new ceiling, practically new back wall, have to replace the hardwoods for that room.

[Parsley]

Only the area where there was a problem. Roofing company was supposed to take a report with pictures during the tear down. They didnt. They won't even give us the bill of sale. We had other issues with our insurance and switched reps. It's a mess.

But there's additional damage to the living room, we are getting new ceiling, practically new back wall, have to replace the hardwoods for that room.

 

That sucks. I figured hail damage is classified as "severe" on the spot weather event, but ice wouldn't be as it's more a build up over a longer period of time?

 

I literally have nightmares of "water damage" to my home. Busting pipes, flash floods. It's a recurring dream I have usually once every few months. My new home has a sump pump in the basement and I always fear the thing failing even though I had an emergency back up pump installed after moving in. Luckily it almost never fills unless we have a tropical storm-like rain event. Some people in the neighborhood deal with it pumping almost every rain event. That'd make me paranoid.

[Keirik]

That sucks. I figured hail damage is classified as "severe" on the spot weather event, but ice wouldn't be as it's more a build up over a longer period of time?

 

I literally have nightmares of "water damage" to my home. Busting pipes, flash floods. It's a recurring dream I have usually once every few months. My new home has a sump pump in the basement and I always fear the thing failing even though I had an emergency back up pump installed after moving in. Luckily it almost never fills unless we have a tropical storm-like rain event. Some people in the neighborhood deal with it pumping almost every rain event. That'd make me paranoid.

Are you worried you won't notice the water down there until too late if it failed? There are actual tools some home owners install that detect water in the basement. Not sure the exact name of them though but they do exist

[Parsley]

Are you worried you won't notice the water down there until too late if it failed? There are actual tools some home owners install that detect water in the basement. Not sure the exact name of them though but they do exist

 

Not worried really at this point having the back up pump (driven by our water pressure if needed). Just never had a sump pit in my home growing up or in my wife and I’s first home.

[Vodka Drunkenski]

We are currently between doing an extension for a bigger kitchen or just buying a bigger house. Love the street we are on, nice and quiet so though to give it up. Hate the neighbors across the street though.

[BlairBettsBlocksEverything]

We are currently between doing an extension for a bigger kitchen or just buying a bigger house. Love the street we are on, nice and quiet so though to give it up. Hate the neighbors across the street though.

 

not sure what the real estate market looks like near you now but near us, and what we've heard from a lot of other people elsewhere, is that prices are insanely high at the moment. And that there is also another housing bubble-burst on the horizon.

[BlairBettsBlocksEverything]

Does anyone have a 'grass-free' front lawn?

 

I honestly never got the appeal of just grass. think it's boring for a front lawn. We are planning on doing a mulch/stone/some perennials throughout the front lawn. Going to take a stab at doing it DIY despite having never done any landscaping before.

[Keirik]

Does anyone have a 'grass-free' front lawn?

 

I honestly never got the appeal of just grass. think it's boring for a front lawn. We are planning on doing a mulch/stone/some perennials throughout the front lawn. Going to take a stab at doing it DIY despite having never done any landscaping before.

 

You're really taking the anti suburbs to a new level lol :p

[josh]

As long as you don't plan on having pets or kids, grandpa.

[RodrigueGabriel]

That sucks. I figured hail damage is classified as "severe" on the spot weather event, but ice wouldn't be as it's more a build up over a longer period of time?

 

I literally have nightmares of "water damage" to my home. Busting pipes, flash floods. It's a recurring dream I have usually once every few months. My new home has a sump pump in the basement and I always fear the thing failing even though I had an emergency back up pump installed after moving in. Luckily it almost never fills unless we have a tropical storm-like rain event. Some people in the neighborhood deal with it pumping almost every rain event. That'd make me paranoid.

Water sucks, period. We got lucky, I guess. Our kitchen hot water pipe ruptured and inundated an entire wall of a 6-month old basement renovation. Insurance covered it because the water came from inside the house. At least in VA, any external water and you're shit outa' luck. What the fuckers wouldn't cover was the mold remediation - go figure.

 

Sent from my SM-G970U using Blueshirts Brotherhood mobile app powered by Tapatalk

[BlairBettsBlocksEverything]

As long as you don't plan on having pets or kids, grandpa.

 

kids can enjoy the back yard. Dog will pee where I tell her lol. Our street has a median which is really nice, and also is good for dogs to pee on without messing up ours or anyone else's lawn.

[Pete]

Does anyone have a 'grass-free' front lawn?

 

I honestly never got the appeal of just grass. think it's boring for a front lawn. We are planning on doing a mulch/stone/some perennials throughout the front lawn. Going to take a stab at doing it DIY despite having never done any landscaping before.

 

Consult your realtor before you make that move. You might not like grass, but if you do something too niche, resale will be a problem. Especially if you make the house look like it "doesn't belong" on the block. Curb appeal is a big driver.

[BlairBettsBlocksEverything]

yeah I mean we don't have any interest in reselling for a while. We purposefully bought a house at the edge of our price range, with enough room to grow into (and be able to pay off easier as both of our careers move forward) so that we don't need to buy a new place once we have kids but obviously I can't tell the future so who knows if we end up selling for some reason. I honestly could totally flip it for a fairly significant profit considering the work we've done plus the market (we also underpaid the appraised value by about 10k from the start).

 

There's another house nearby that has done it very tastefully to where it is definitely very different but doesn't stick out like a sore thumb. If anything I'd keep half of it for grass.

[BlairBettsBlocksEverything]

 

i like this look a lot, maybe less grass but a sort of example of what I'm thinking

[Pete]

 

i like this look a lot, maybe less grass but a sort of example of what I'm thinking

 

This is nice, plays off the front of the house well.

[BlairBettsBlocksEverything]

yeah ours would be different. The house is brown with really nice slate roofing which will kind of mimic a mulched yard with similar rocks layering the yard a bit. Whenever I get around to tackling this project I'll be sure to post pics!

[Keirik]

I would think you probably could look at Zillow for houses in New Mexico and Arizona and see how some houses do their “yards.” Or google.

 

I love my lawn. I find it actually a bit tranquil to work on it once u get all the maintenance and process right.

[4EverRangerFrank]

I enjoyed putting in my grass 20 years ago. I had 100-ton of soil delivered and rented a bucket/tractor to move the dirt around. We bought a tractor-trailer sized load of sod for the front of the house (back and sides were seeded by builder.) The day we were putting down the sod was hot as all heck. I brought out our garden hose and a couple of sprinklers and the guys laughed saying if I didn't have a way to water all this new grass it would die quickly. PANIC! So I called my local pool water delivery friend and he brought me a tractor-trailer sized water tanker with a gas powered pump - a few hundred feet of hose and 5 water sprinkler towers - the front of my house looked like a golf course sprinkler system LOL! I used 6,000 of water a week...for a month. We never had rain and it was in the 90's with beating sun every day. Fortunately it took and the grass looks great.

[4EverRangerFrank]

I really enjoy working with stone pavers, river rock and block. Another tractor rental situation was needed when we decided to add a parking area with pavers and 600lb stacking blocks. It looks really great but took a month to assemble. I think the product was Techo-Block. The town got stupid though and made me get a permit because I was using those massive blocks to go higher than 4' (I went 6') and that necessitated a engineered plan. Fortunately a neighbor is a Engineer and he drew one up for me in no time. I did have to install massive amounts of drainage stone and they made me use 'grid mat' under the pavers to lock the wall in place. So dumb. That wall is never moving. Ever.

[BlairBettsBlocksEverything]

I would think you probably could look at Zillow for houses in New Mexico and Arizona and see how some houses do their “yards.” Or google.

 

I love my lawn. I find it actually a bit tranquil to work on it once u get all the maintenance and process right.

 

yeah, i plan on doing it for the backyard for sure. backyard grass is pretty healthy overall, but what's in the front is already not good anyway so I figure lets get creative. There's a HUGE tree in front of my house (things gotta be well over 100 years old and its beautiful) that I would feel bad cutting down unless it was in danger of falling on the house. The downside (or upside) is the front lawn doesn't get much sunlight

[Pete]

I enjoyed putting in my grass 20 years ago. I had 100-ton of soil delivered and rented a bucket/tractor to move the dirt around. We bought a tractor-trailer sized load of sod for the front of the house (back and sides were seeded by builder.) The day we were putting down the sod was hot as all heck. I brought out our garden hose and a couple of sprinklers and the guys laughed saying if I didn't have a way to water all this new grass it would die quickly. PANIC! So I called my local pool water delivery friend and he brought me a tractor-trailer sized water tanker with a gas powered pump - a few hundred feet of hose and 5 water sprinkler towers - the front of my house looked like a golf course sprinkler system LOL! I used 6,000 of water a week...for a month. We never had rain and it was in the 90's with beating sun every day. Fortunately it took and the grass looks great.

 

I really enjoy working with stone pavers, river rock and block. Another tractor rental situation was needed when we decided to add a parking area with pavers and 600lb stacking blocks. It looks really great but took a month to assemble. I think the product was Techo-Block. The town got stupid though and made me get a permit because I was using those massive blocks to go higher than 4' (I went 6') and that necessitated a engineered plan. Fortunately a neighbor is a Engineer and he drew one up for me in no time. I did have to install massive amounts of drainage stone and they made me use 'grid mat' under the pavers to lock the wall in place. So dumb. That wall is never moving. Ever.

 

Next week we're getting our patio in the back redone with pavers, and new sod for the rest of it. Pretty excited.

[Vodka Drunkenski]

Next week we're getting our patio in the back redone with pavers, and new sod for the rest of it. Pretty excited.

 

Take before and after pics

[Pete]

Take before and after pics

 

100%. My backyard is an embarrassment right now, though LOL.