This Old #%&@*$ House

mudbunny wrote:
wordsmythe wrote:

As we come back around to spring, it's time to start thinking again about where water is getting in before ending up on the basement floor. Is there a way to, like, put temporary dye on the outside of the house at potential ingress points?

Yup. Most basement sealing specialists can do this. They use dye packs and a butt-ton of water.

Problem being that we're sure it's not a foundation crack. It's a question of what part of the wall, windows, or roof.

We had a leak appear a couple months after we moved into our house in 2015. We ended up getting water every time it rained, and it rained a lot that year. So 4 months after moving in, we had a company come in and install a $5000 drain tile/sump pump system(another few hundred for a dedicated circuit breaker) and they drilled holes at the bottom of each of the cinder blocks for drainage. They told me that one of places they drilled was full of water, where we were getting the leak most likely.

Our basement has been dry from outside water incursion since then. Any future house I move into, has to have a drain tile/sump pump going forward. The peace of mind on it is amazing.

Rainsmercy wrote:

We had a leak appear a couple months after we moved into our house in 2015. We ended up getting water every time it rained, and it rained a lot that year. So 4 months after moving in, we had a company come in and install a $5000 drain tile/sump pump system(another few hundred for a dedicated circuit breaker) and they drilled holes at the bottom of each of the cinder blocks for drainage. They told me that one of places they drilled was full of water, where we were getting the leak most likely.

Our basement has been dry from outside water incursion since then. Any future house I move into, has to have a drain tile/sump pump going forward. The peace of mind on it is amazing.

This is one of the things I wish they taught you in high school. We had a similar problem with our first house to the tube of 15k of remodeling (the basement was finished).

It’s definitely something I looked for in our current house. All houses should have something like it.

Cinderblocks? We must live in very different climates. It's all poured-concrete foundations in Chicago.

Might be an age thing as well. My house was built in the 60s in Eastern PA, all unreinforced Cinderblocks. It's, uh, not the most reliable construction material for basement walls, but it's cheap! I've had my own issues with them.

Here goes the great debate of do we sell or stay in our house.... More to come.

Sell

Yonder wrote:

Might be an age thing as well. My house was built in the 60s in Eastern PA, all unreinforced Cinderblocks. It's, uh, not the most reliable construction material for basement walls, but it's cheap! I've had my own issues with them.

What's a basement? (I'm from Florida. )

WizKid wrote:

Sell

Stay

Infyrnos wrote:
WizKid wrote:

Sell

Stay

Love it?!

Infyrnos wrote:
WizKid wrote:

Sell

Stay

So that's one vote for trouble, and one vote for double.

Jonman wrote:
Infyrnos wrote:
WizKid wrote:

Sell

Stay

So that's one vote for trouble, and one vote for double.

Fix it up!

Spoiler:

Toil!

Just sold ours. It had too many things to do - kitchen, bathroom, carpet, ceilings, gutters, old retaining walls and landscaping - and even if we did them all it would still be the same house and worth about the same. Sell.

Disclaimer - if it's not that bad and all the other houses you could afford are the same or worse, then stay.

Redherring wrote:

Just sold ours. It had too many things to do - kitchen, bathroom, carpet, ceilings, gutters, old retaining walls and landscaping - and even if we did them all it would still be the same house and worth about the same. Sell.

Disclaimer - if it's not that bad and all the other houses you could afford are the same or worse, then stay.

Meeting with a trusted real estate agent tomorrow. Will review with what we have done and what is left to do what we could shoot for. We can get a similar mortgage and better home with (seemingly) less work to do. I know there is always something to be done but not fixing the whole house.

The debate is if we stay here for 2 to 3 more years we could finish it and then probably be in a better place or do we swap out now and let my wife live in a house that won't stress her out every day. Idk idk idk....I feel like Pooh contemplating everything under the tree... Think think think.

Happy wife, happy life.

Cinderblocks - House was build in the 50s, basement because Minnesota.

Hobear - Same, only its me that stresses out about the house, especially the F*$king plumbing leaks that keep popping up. We love our neighborhood, its quiet, dark at night, and neighbors are decent. We have toyed with putting an expansion on, but it would be far less issues to update the house, and sell it and move to a newer house with less age related issues and better layout. We know what we like, which bumps up the price tag about $100-150K.

All of the houses in my neighborhood have block basements, they were built in 2001...

Hobear wrote:
Redherring wrote:

Just sold ours. It had too many things to do - kitchen, bathroom, carpet, ceilings, gutters, old retaining walls and landscaping - and even if we did them all it would still be the same house and worth about the same. Sell.

Disclaimer - if it's not that bad and all the other houses you could afford are the same or worse, then stay.

Meeting with a trusted real estate agent tomorrow. Will review with what we have done and what is left to do what we could shoot for. We can get a similar mortgage and better home with (seemingly) less work to do. I know there is always something to be done but not fixing the whole house.

The debate is if we stay here for 2 to 3 more years we could finish it and then probably be in a better place or do we swap out now and let my wife live in a house that won't stress her out every day. Idk idk idk....I feel like Pooh contemplating everything under the tree... Think think think.

I'm not sure where you live but I know in my area home prices are on the rise and will only get more expensive in the near future so take that into consideration as well.

WizKid wrote:

Happy wife, happy life.

IMAGE(https://pics.me.me/twinzerdad-twinzerdad-while-i-do-subscribe-to-the-happy-wife-30795608.png)

Anyone in MN have recommendations for wood floor refinishers?

Hobear wrote:

Anyone in MN have recommendations for wood floor refinishers?

Would if you were in Duluth.

Yes, pm me. A friend of mine did mine he does it for a living

More progress on the bathroom. Next I need a plumber in to attach the drain to the sink, and replace the water control valve in the wall due to the design of the new style handle/plate. The old decorative plate behind the handle had the screw holes at the bottom left and right. The new style is lower right/upper left so have to replace the piece in the wall. Also, the water supply lines are not yet connected for the sink faucet.

Vanity I build installed, hardware attached to sink, and sink glued with heavy duty construction adhesive to vanity.
IMAGE(https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/28958880_10216921384133900_8988703827893186318_n.jpg?oh=186c7590eb5c57d07033c4a4deae1945&oe=5B4829D4)

We went to several stores this weekend trying to find a decent mirror for the wall, then when I was breaking down the boxes for the toilet and hardware in the bathroom, I found a mirror we had previously had over our dresser in our previous house that would work.
IMAGE(https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/29027378_10216931838075242_2988687886193415658_n.jpg?oh=e0e56895b4f9ed79c47094bc2aa3bf3b&oe=5B37EF0D)

IMAGE(https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/29136793_10216931838315248_1695352038104797671_n.jpg?oh=22360d12ab81468f75569ac0961fe039&oe=5B4DED8B)

Your basement bathroom looks nicer than my main bathroom.

Its taken me a year and a half to get that far.....we had to gut it October 2015 to put a drain tile/sump pump system in because we were getting so much water every time it rained. Its also very small, less than 28 square feet. Thank you for the compliment

Love the custom vanity. I have a very similar light in mine I just installed last summer.

We repainted the kitchen last night. Woof that was a whole day project. Light, almost white, gray over a Forrest green. Took pretty well. Another coat tonight!

Was supposed to build and mount a barn door but the rail as I was marking studs for install is 2 separate bars and only one bar is set to line up with studs on 16 inch centered, the 2nd half would just be in drywall with anchors which I don't like the sound of. So if we go through with this I plan to drill stud holes in the 2nd part of the rail... Not the original plan but one I trust more. What a poor design plan. Can't even try to do one to two studs on both bars as the middle has an 8 inch space so then no holes can line up with studs. Complete moronic move on the design...

So, we’ve got only two-prong outlets in the house. I know GFCIs should be put in the kitchen and bathrooms. What I’m wondering is about converting some other outlets in other rooms of the house with GFCIs so that we can plug in three-prongs without a converter. Worth it? I believe that would be the cheaper way vs. having rewiring done for a true ground? It also sounds fairly easy to do vs. having an electrican out.

Here is my experience with outlets:
I had an electrician replace a couple in my upstairs bedrooms when I moved in. They do make self-grounding outlets if you wish to do it yourself which are more expensive. Just be safe, make darn sure the power is off for that outlet first, and make sure you wire them correctly. Also make sure you get the correct amperage based on the circuit breaker.

At least in the state of Minnesota, I was told that new code is for any circuit that when the 2 prong outlets are on get replaced, the circuit breaker has to be replaced with some newer technology breaker which adds to the price. Now, if you do it yourself, no one has to know, but if you have an electrician do it, it may add $100-300 to your bill. ymmv and I don't know if it is the same code in NY.

After nearly five years of home ownership, I’ve moved to the “sell” column. The wife and I debated going through the process of making the home a rental property but ultimately decided against it.

Met with a trusted realtor several weeks ago who informed me that my house will likely go on square footage and that I should just finish up several outstanding home improvement projects.

I can’t say I would whole-heartedly recommend home ownership but it hasn’t been a completely negative experience either.

Thanks for the reply, Rainsmercy. Gives me some things to check into.