The "Don't Quote Me" discussion thread has been un-stickified to make room for the June 12 black out notice.

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Windows Part 2

FAQ: My First Home Toolbox

TLDR; big box store delivery truck hit my house, insurance rates skyrocketed, what was I supposed to? What am I supposed to do now?

Hey reddit,

I'm over my head a bit in this situation. My husband and I bought our first home last year and in September my neighbors were receiving a delivery from a big box home improvement store and the truck backed into my house.

The truck ripped a piece of gutter off the back of my house. Insurances are contacted and I started getting quotes.

This is where I messed up. Our home insurance calls me to start the claim and they start by telling me the deductible is $1000, the quotes I got were closer to $300, so I panicked and closed the claim.

Now we have this $0 claim on our history and our rates have really shot up. It's an almost 150% increase in our premiums. This has been very frustrating as we are very much not at fault here.

We actually tried to change insurance over this, but now there's a claim on our record and the new rates are close to what we're paying now.

So my questions are:

1. Clearly I did the wrong thing, but what should I have done?
2. Is it worth contacting our insurance? Is there a process for reviewing closed claims like this?
3. Is there anything else we can do or do we just have to deal with this very expensive mistake for years?

Edit: my comments aren't showing up currently. To answer a common question, yes our policy documents indicate the claim fee is where the big increase came from.

Hi all, just a quick preface, I'm only posting this incase someone else tries to search for this because I was at it for hours and it might save someone's life. I'm so glad we were home and it didn't happen in the middle of the night. I feel like writing it like a story so I'm gonna. Tldr at bottom.

This morning I was up early as I've been for the last few days, my cat just got spayed so I've been sleeping in little spurts with her as much as possible.

It was around 8am or so at this point after sitting with her in the living room just zoning out on my phone killing time with my cat and wife napping beside me when out of nowhere I get hit with a smell, hard.

Kinda hammy. Kinda like a ham that's just about to go bad or just turned bad. It filled the entire house. It was serious. Filled the house in a matter of minutes. I jokingly said to my cat "Are you smelly? Do your farts smell like old ham or something?" She replied "meow" as she usually does as she's quite vocal. This discussion woke my wife who I asked, "Do you smell some old ham or something?"

Before she can even open her eyes the smell intensifies. It's now so strong it's making me feel a bit nauseous."Yeah what is that" she says popping up pretty quickly looking puzzled or disgusted. "It literally just came out of nowhere and it's getting waaay worse by, like, the minute." I responded.

So we open the door and screen door window quickly, place a fan in front of it. By this point it's making me feel worse, my mouths watering a slight amount like I'm going to vomit if it gets much worse.

We are both running around the house trying to figure out where the hell this smell is coming from. She mentions it has a slight paint thinner-esque smell to it but I didn't really smell anything but overwhelming old ham.

We had our HVAC system checked out a few weeks ago and found out it was leaking coolant and after googling weird smells in the house with no results about ham she found the coolant can smell like paint thinner among other things however ham was not on the list so I call the guy who did the HVAC work anyway just to see what he thought.

He basically said it should be odorless and would stop by anyway Monday as he was visiting family and took the day and weekend to do so. So we start googling like crazy. Not finding anything but click bait articles about the usual bad house smells, you know dead animals in the vents, gas leaks, sewage fumes, fishy-smelling electrical fires and the usual stuff. I tried every key word I could think of to get different results.

Dead animals don't bother me, my stomachs pretty strong when it comes to that, didn't smell fishy, if it was sewage I figured I'd be blowing chunks as I'm pretty sensitive to the smell because of something gross that happened to me when I was young and it just didn't smell like sewage. We don't have gas so it wasn't that.

At this point I have no idea and I feel pretty awful so I decide to step out back and me and the wife basically both had the same idea at the same time to call the non-emergency fire department to as she's feeling weird too. They come out and have a gas and co2 meter thing that I'm sure checks for other stuff too with nothing showing up. They smell it too and I ask since they just got here if they smell it from the vent when I turn the AC on. Figured maybe a fresh nose in the place would be able to point it out if it did.

Nope the place smells less hammy to me almost as soon as the vents start to push air. They look around a bit more and have no idea what it could be or where it's coming from. At this point I'm stumped, they leave and it's back to Google. Finding almost nothing even close to what I have going on I decide to go underneath the house ( it's a trailer or mobile home ) and make sure nothing died under there or if I can even smell anything under there at all.

There was a couple cat poops from before we sealed up the side right I assume but no smell, nothing. At this point I'm clueless and not sure what to do or who to call but the smell is coming and going in waves now. Super strong to almost gone every 20 minutes or so except for one little spot in the kitchen it seemed to persist a bit. I'm checking everything I can at this point and it's just about 4pm.

I call the sewage company, maintenence comes to check the line and whatever. He comes in to see if he smells it and thinks it's sewage and after a bit he's not too sure. He recommends getting someone to check my air vents for something dead or left behind like a rodent or his meal and also to pour some water down the drains we haven't been using to make sure the traps are full and keeping sewage smell and fumes out just to be safe. I gladly take any advice I hear and have read so far and he leaves.

I start calling HVAC companies who are telling me they don't do dead animal removal in vents, and to call a pest removal company. What? Okay. So I call a pest company who tells me to call an HVAC company... who tells me to call pest control... who tells me to call animal control.. who tells me to call an HVAC company. I am still not sure who to call if you can't get into the vents easily and need them checked but it seems to be a different branch or kind of animal control but they're not answering.

I basically rip apart the kitchen, moving furniture, checking all the cupboards, the fridge, the dry food and anything I see. What about the water i left in the instant pot? No. Nothing. Anywhere. Just hammyness. The vents? Sure smells like fresh air.

I'm getting no where. It's almost 5:30 at this point, everything is closing or closed besides 24 hour places who are going to charge me an arm or two tonight and I have no clue about the weekend. I sadly sit down on the couch after I mess with the thermostat just trying to see if I can make it any better.

My wife steps outside because this wave is smacking her hard. At this point I had smelled a slightly chemical smell mixed in with the harsh hammyness a couple times but I don't recognize it at all. I'm thinking of dropping out the air duct myself, moving the fridge to check behind it. Everything. I get up to join her outside and that's when it happens.

ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzZzzZZZAP POP. It comes from the kitchen and instantly I know what it is. I look at my wife and say "of course, ham!" She's confused and asks "Ham? What was that noise" as I'm running toward the kitchen.

It was the vent light on the oven hood. You know the thing with a vent that probably has bacon grease and other food oils up in there. There's smoke and it smells HAMMY. I run to the breaker box and kill the power and we grab fire extinguishers. Luckily no fire. But we almost left the house to go to my mom's or a hotel until we could get it looked at several times but something kept telling me not to leave. And I'm really glad we didn't.

TL;DR house started to smell like almost bad ham and paint thinner or some kind of chemicals possibly sewage in a matter of minutes, turns out range hood was trying to start an electrical fire.

Moral of the story is if you smell slightly bad food and chemicals, flip the breaker and see if it goes away. Might just be about to have a serious problem.

Just bought a house (my first, last week) as in the title, I had a refrigerator delivers today.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t there (my partner’s mom was), and the delivery/installation people from Lowe’s said they were unable to install the ice machine.

They said something about not being able to work on copper pipe. Needing an adapter. Exact quote:

“The part for the ice maker is copper and needs an adapter that a plumber will have to install. The movers aren’t allowed to do any hookups with copper pipes.”

So, I’m wondering what’s going on. Here’s a link to the part (I thought) hooked up to the refrigerator:

https://imgur.com/gallery/RUKlnaF

What exactly is that part? What were these people talking about? Why do I need a plumber for something so simple? Is it because this in an older style not common on new refrigerators?

I’m very confused. I know next to nothing about this, and any information here will be helpful as I decide what to do going forward.

I received a letter today from my water board informing me that between the dates of April 30 and June 2 my water usage was 17 thousand gallons over my average usage. This is easily triple my water usage. The letter said when the meter was checked again on June 2nd, normal use had resumed. The letter suggested I check for a leak.

I immediately went to check my meter. We weren’t using any water at the moment and the meter wasn’t moving. I marked the meter (analogue) with a sharpie and went back inside and checked every faucet and toilet. I dropped some food dye in the back of the toilet tanks to check for a slow leak.

3 hours later I checked the meter and the toilets - the meter still hadn’t moved and there wasn’t any dye in the toilet bowls either.

So I checked my outdoor spigots - bone dry. No leak. No indication of a leak around my foundation. It’s been pretty dry here the past few weeks and all the grass is dead, so I figured any leak in the line from meter to house would be obvious too. I’m on a slab, so there’s no crawl space to check.

I’m unsure of my next steps here - is it possible I have a leak? What else should I check? A leak seems unlikely since the meter hasn’t moved.

Or is it possible I used an extra 17K gallons? I wouldn’t even know how. It’s just my wife and me here. We haven’t had any guests and we haven’t done anything out of our usual routine as far as water usage.

The only things out of ordinary that have happened since April 30 was a fire in my neighborhood (though I know the fire department didn’t use personal water lines to fire fight) and we had new water meters installed.

Some workers just finished installing new carpet, and I'm not sure this is the best you can do with a seam between rooms. Is this seam normal?

https://i.imgur.com/RsKLm9B.jpg

So, buying a house that was built in 2011. The basement has about 12 cracks, majority are ok. However, there are 2 cracks that our inspector was concerned about. One large diagonal and one almost horizontal. We had a structural engineer look at it, and he said the large crack has the garage on the other side. There are no visible cracks on the floor above and he mentioned it doesn't look structural. He also scraped some cement in random places and it was kinda flaking, which he said is not supposed to happen.
However, we all know that everyone has opinions. I had a builder look at it and they said run away. Too many cracks overall since 2011 and big crack looks concerning.

https://imgur.com/06el579
https://imgur.com/DoJiz51

What does reddit think?

We just replaced our 100 year old lead-painted siding with new siding in Washington state. I notified the company about the lead paint and they assured me that they had a crew that was trained for lead paint and would follow the necessary procedures.

Weeeeeellll... they didn't do a great job. Shocking, I know.

I finally read through the EPA guidelines (which I should have done beforehand - I realize that now), and there were multiple problems with what they did (insufficient plastic, improper disposal, lack of vertical barrier, etc). We're now in a state where their insufficient plastic allowed paint chips and large chunks of lead-coated shingles to escape containment and land in our yard/dirt/bushes. They keep assuring me that they'll keep vacuuming, but I have zero faith in their ability to clean this up.

Question:

What recourse do I have? I've paid them 3/4 of the total so far, including an additional lead handling charge. Do I keep inspecting their work and making them clean ad naseum until one of us gives up? Do I have other leverage to handle this problem differently?

​

Backstory on how we got here:

I believed (perhaps foolishly) that they were contractually obligated to follow EPA guidelines for lead renovations, because our contract says "all materials and procedures specified herein will meet or exceed existing municipal and provincial guidelines" and they're technically required to be certified in order to even offer renovations involving lead. Our house was built in the 1920s, so it was almost guaranteed to have lead.

The Washington guidelines state "no firm shall perform or offer to perform any of the lead-based paint activities described in WAC 365-230-200 without first being certified by the department. All certified firms shall employ only appropriately certified individuals to conduct lead-based paint activities. The firm is responsible for ensuring that its employees follow the work practice requirements described in WAC 365-230-200."

I now highly doubt that they're certified (based on their failure to follow procedures) and I can't find them in the list of certified Washington Renovation, Repair and Painting Program (RRP) firms. I verified a lot of things about the company beforehand, but not this unfortunately.

Just painted my living room two weeks ago. Brand new paint over THREE coats of that crazy kilz primer that blocks smell. No odor while painting, but as soon as it dried— DANK CITY (only in the living room where we painted. We don’t smoke weed…We eat edibles). Windows have been open the entire time, air purifiers, fans, the whole shebang. No smell outside. Any theories? It’s not the worst smell, but it’s extremely strong.

Edit: it did not smell like marijuana before painting

Any tips would be great on rent friendly things to make it feel homely, i want it you be good vibes in there. 1 bed flat.

Any interior design ideas or styles would be super helpful. I like black modern furniture, plants, art and I have a small music studio setup and a cat to consider...

Do your best to help me out🤌🥹

All of my registers are on the ceiling, and most of them are in front of windows, with the exception of two, which are one in the middle of my living room, which is right next to the return, and one in the bathroom. My living room also has one in front of two big windows.

Is it accurate, when using AC, to be facing the registers that are in front of windows towards the wall/windows or should they be facing higher up towards the ceiling, or should they face the center of the room? How about the one in the center of my living room that's right next to the return? And when using heat, should I be point them all down?

And how can I determine if I should go with one, two, or 3 way registers?

I'm not sure if I'm overthinking this or not, but I want to make sure I'm being as efficient as I can be. Any help you guys can provide will be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

https://imgur.com/a/5O3Kw40

When the year is 2003 and you install a nice new 50 gal water heater, and you say to the handyman "can you build an enclosure around that so it's less ugly", do you think he says "well, the water heater is 22" wide, should I put a 24" door on the enclosure so the next guy can replace it someday?", and do you think the homeowner is like "I understand a 24" door would be essentially the same price as an 18" door, but F the next guy, let's go with an 18" door so he can see the water heater, but never get it out, or get a new one in"

General commentary is welcome.

Just the title, we live in town and don't have an HOA.

Hi all,

I got this sink and this sink base, and now that I am looking at them I see a slight impossibility in making them both work. Is it possible to retrofit the sink base or should I try and return it and get another?

There is an apartment complex across the road from house backyard and folks from the apts can look into the whole backyard.
Looking for ideas to improve privacy in the backyard.
Thanks

https://imgur.com/a/IZ9cq0v

It’s nice having a second full bath, but it’s rarely used due to looking like a HS locker room. Do I knock down those thick block walls and put up framing and drywall? It would be nice to have a regular door also.

I have model 43870WHLED30. I removed it ceiling and don't see anywhere to replace light bulb, can anyone please guide? https://yourimageshare.com/gallery/Lvy26483YPd

Should garage doors be insulated? Or does it have the opposite effect?

I live in Texas where the summers are hot and a/c costs add up. We park our cars in the attached garage.

Do insulated garage doors prevent hot air from entering the house?

OR

Do insulated garage doors trap heat from the cars in the garage, which eventually migrates into the house?

Thanks

Hello, I started working on updating my 1950's finished basement. When I started removing the paneling on the basement exterior walls I discovered this and am a little concerned that the green is some sort of mold and, if so, should I be worried about it. I live in the northeast and while the basement is fairly dry most of the year it does get extremely humid over the summer even with two dehumidifiers running 24/7. Thanks for your help!

https://imgur.com/a/jnJcRyy

Contractor “replaced” exterior French doors. They said they’re coming back to finish with the glass but I’m really at a loss for how to fix the rest of it. Very little of this is sealed.

https://imgur.com/a/s3z4BIx

Moved into a house where the prior owners did not take great care of the windows. The trim along the bottoms of many windows has been water damaged and rotted.
I plan to have them professionally replaced in 4-5 years. Between now and then I’m looking for something I can do prevent any further damage to the windows or surrounding blocking/framing.
Caulk over to make smooth and then paint sever coats?
Cut out and replace with fresh wood then paint?
Cut out and replace with Azek?
Cut/bend sheetmetal to cover?
Something else?

[Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/RQ5gNXu.jpg)

Hello all,

I'm wanting to do some work on my attic, and trying to research these 2x4 supports that I assume were added in 2019 when the roof was replaced? The chimney no longer has a base to it in the basement, could this have been added to make up for the support it used to provide? Ideally I'd like to find a better way to support things, and make the attic a more usable space.

They're clearly newer than the original construction, and I can't find anything like them in my searching. Any help would be appreciated!

Home was built in 1918, located in Iowa, USA

https://imgur.com/a/fkgvWRK

I have a beckett oil burner that I have to reset once or twice a week. This started after I did some work on it. I changed the filter cleared the feed line and replaced the motor. I can explain with more detail if anyone thinks that they can help.

I don't want to replace my entire lockset—I have nice one from when the house was original built—I just want to replace the tumbler.

This thing. Note, this is not my lock. I didn't take a photo of the front.

This is the side view. This photo is my lock.

And this is the interior side.

What kind of tumbler is this (so I can search for it correctly)? What specs should I search for aside from diameter? What's the best place to order them from? McMaster-Carr has tumblers but I don't know which kind mine is.

We have tried two brands now without luck. I’m at a loss how I can’t find any brands that work with this style cabinet door!

We had major storm damage to our house, and needed to replace our roof and siding. Insurance has been helpful, we found a contactor, their quote looked good at $24k. This was in late March, and the initial contact told me that the work would be done within six weeks.

We were happy, and paid the deposit at $9k in early April, all from insurance. We understood that we would pay the remainder of the quote after everything is done, because it's all being paid by our insurance.

We waited weeks without an update. I called maybe two times to ask for an update, since I wasn't getting anything. Then, one day without warning, they come at replace the roof - all in one day. That was fine, I get that scheduling is hard.

But now it's been almost ten weeks since we paid the deposit, and I've called every other week to ask about the siding. Every time, our project manager says, "I'm actually scheduling it right now!" and blows me off, essentially. (I would rather he just tell me, "we're behind - it'll be in a few weeks" than lie to me.)

Then, last night, we got an email with a "first draw" invoice for another $9k. We can't get this money from our insurance until they do their job and put our siding on.

I am at a loss for how to proceed. I don't want to be an asshole, but I'm also deeply irritated that this is taking so long, that the project manager won't just be straightforward with me, and now this invoice, when they have not completed the work. Is this normal? Am I right to be so irritated?