MOTHER FUCKING HOME OWNERSHIP! I want to fight my house!

[bob]

So about a week ago I found "evidence" of a mouse in my house.  I was able to trap the little bastard and since I have two infants, I called an exterminator to see if anything was up and if Mickey had any friends hanging around. Long story short, the exterminator pulled my dishwasher out and found a hole. While the dishwasher was being moved, we saw a large FLASH and the dishwasher no longer worked. He never shut the circuit off before moving it.

Fine.

Call an electrician (a friend of mine) and ask him to come over and look. Remember, this was all a few days ago.
He couldn't come over until tonight.

Today, not long after I get to work, my wife calls me and tells me my basement flooded. FUCK!
I rush home and find shit, SHIT, in my washing machine!  The god damn septic backed up and sent SHIT back into the house and it came out my washer drain pipe.

For the last 4 hours, I have had hazmat here doing clean up. Half my finished basement is torn up and in my yard along with a lot of nice kids Christmas presents they just got. As for me, I lost a vintage sanyo pachinko machine that was used in a casino or bar or something. It was pretty heavy duty with an ash tray built in.
Anyway, I don't care much about what I lost, but I'm pissed I already have to replace the 6 month old washer after all the insurance red tape.
Either way, home ownership sucks sometimes, and it never fucking ends.

First world problems.

PS, no turbob was harmed as a result of these events.

[PCEngineHell]

I wouldn't actually call it first world problems, you had shit back up into your home. I'd say that's about a legit a complaint as anything.

[NecroPhile]

Man, that sucks.  I just hope your insurance covers everything lost, though you'll never recover the hoop jumping and headaches.

[RoyVegas]

Now that's a shitty bad situation!  I hope things work out cheaply to get everything fixed and cleaned up.  Sorry to hear about the bad luck.

I've had my house for a little over two years now and luckily I haven't had any issues at all. Knock on wood.  I guess the issues will eventually come in time though.  I'm really looking forward to having something major happen like the A/C going out.

[Sparky]

Damn glam, ya it always seems to come in 3's as well so you are all good now. Hope things get back to normal soon for ya, hell of a start to a new year

[bob]

Pro tip: start mold abatement now if you haven't already, and pick up some heavy duty dehumidifiers asap. And then never buy a house with a basement again. Lol

Yes, hazmat was literally here all day and left two industrial dehumidifiers for the weekend and took care of mold control. They were great.

[blueraven]

FUCK. That sucks. Shit in yer washing machine is no good.

[geise]

Damn that sucks Galam.  You need to write your exterminator a bill for the dishwasher.  That falls on him not you.

[bob]

Electrician was free. That wasnt a problem.  And to be honest, if the dishwasher didnt break, this would have happened sooner.  I would rather deal with this over a weekend.  Im trying to find any silver linings here.

[soop]

Ah maaan

[roflmao]

Electrician was free. That wasnt a problem.  And to be honest, if the dishwasher didnt break, this would have happened sooner.  I would rather deal with this over a weekend.  Im trying to find any silver linings here.

Hang in there, man!  It doesn't sound like much of a "pleasant weekend project", but at least you still have your house.  How's that for a silver lining?

[bob]

Been cleaning out the basement all day and found boxes that I haven't opened in 10 years.  Uncovered some stuff from my childhood.
Pics later...

[TR0N]

Should have bought a cat problem solved naw jk  

[NightWolve]

Sorry to hear, that sucks! Mice aren't that difficult to deal with, I would never have called a pro for that... The secret I found is actually peanut butter, not cheese or anything. Snap traps (the better ones or else the bait will get eaten with a chance of no snapping) or even glue traps (though after collecting dust a while, they'll need replacing) with a chunk of peanut butter on them will get the job done... The final option is those blue poison pellets. I would put a few into the peanut butter so even if the mouse ate the bait without a snap, the poison would still get the job done. Minor problem with this is the mouse will die in some tucked away spot and you won't know about it till the smell of decomposition gets going... ;)

Anyway, glad I don't have a septic system... I've seen the trouble firsthand with them at my dad's house though. I helped with a sump pump reinstallation that handled draining water from the washer and bathtubs/sinks, not the toilets thankfully (they were routed differently); was still pretty disgusting though. Well, I feel for ya... Good luck!

[SMF]

Dam bro sorry bout your luck... Wishing you good vibes.

[turboswimbz]

Getting Fed up with all the unplanned weekend fix jobs . . .

Went to fix the caulking around the tub on Friday.  15-minute job... But of course, it tore up the floor, which was brittle and revealed some water damage around the tub.  Sooo I've spent all weekend removing the toilet (the only one in the house) and vanity, tearing up the old floor, fixing the subfloor, reinstalling said vinyl floor, and reconnecting the toilet and vanity. Along the way, I found out the that the seals on my shut off valves are no longer working.  Lucky I was able to contain the small flood.  So now I have a pan underneath the sink collecting the dripping water until I can replace them when the floor completely dries.  100-year-old houses suck.  On the upside, I was then able to fix the caulking.

[xcrement5x]

All the odd jobs on the house are what kill me too.  When I buy my next home, I plan to make sure it is much closer to totally finished than my current one, I'd rather have my weekends back and not be working on shit all the time.

[blueraven]

FUCK. I wish I had a house. With house problems.

Highest real estate market in the country. A shitty 2BR rat-shack is $650k.

[turboswimbz]

FUCK. I wish I had a house. With house problems.

Highest real estate market in the country. A shitty 2BR rat-shack is $650k.

I feel your pain man.  Damn I didn't realize it the market was that high up there.  there are many an area around here like that. 

Also I understand that these are problems others would love to have, but it's my mom's house not even mine, and it's like eating me that every weekend there is another little nugget, for house that needs so much work it isn't worth fixing to sell.   But it made me think of this thread from idk how fucking long ago and I said well at least I don't have literal shit in my house.

[NecroPhile]

FUCK. I wish I had a house. With house problems.

Me too.  I wouldn't want an old house, though, as they have too many problems and usually aren't very efficient (little insulation, leaky windows, no air barrier, etc.).  Apartment living is kinda nice in that nothing is my problem, but the extra space, accruing asset value, and not having noisy neighbors in a house would be worth the trade off.

Highest real estate market in the country. A shitty 2BR rat-shack is $650k.

Man, fork that.  Unless my pay was proportionally higher to compensate, I'd be moving.

[EvilEvoIX]

I lucked out with buying my house in 2009 during the bottom.  It's worth twice what I paid for it and is easy to maintain.  I put a new roof over it and just keep at it.  Excellent learning experience.

[xcrement5x]

Yeah, I bought my current home at a reasonable price for the time too and it's worth much more.  We are planning on moving to another home for a better school district.

So now my current predicament is whether to sell the home outright and use the funds toward a new home, or use it as a rental property.  I've got about 50% equity in the home now and would have it fully paid off in about 10 years so it could be interesting to go the rental route.

[bob]

i cant believe my thread is back.  reading my OP  just "flooded" me with memories.

[turboswimbz]

i cant believe my thread is back.  reading my OP  just "flooded" me with memories.

You are welcome.  Thanks for the Turbob, arrived safe and sound.

"flooded" hahahahahahahaha

in other news 2 weeks out from closing on my new house!  Now I'll have 2 homes to take care of!

[esteban]

i cant believe my thread is back.  reading my OP  just "flooded" me with memories.

You are welcome.  Thanks for the Turbob, arrived safe and sound.

"flooded" hahahahahahahaha

in other news 2 weeks out from closing on my new house!  Now I'll have 2 homes to take care of!

Goddamn!

So... damn!

I didn't have the energy to fix the backdoor of my garage, so I stopped using the door years ago.

Like...10 years ago.

That's how I manage things.

[khyron65]

FUCK. I wish I had a house. With house problems.

Highest real estate market in the country. A shitty 2BR rat-shack is $650k.

Glad im not the only one. while the market isnt that bad where im at a nice crack house will run you a cool $250000. If you want to have a house you can raise a family in your looking close to $400000 and thats not for a large house. Just a somewhat modern house in a neighborhood thats kind of ok for kids. Im waiting for the next home market collapse since i dont see how this can continue.

[xcrement5x]

Once North Korea finally manages to get a nuke to the west coast prices there will drop since it'll all be radioactive.  Or it will hit the fault line and fall into the ocean and then we will turn the rest of the state into a maximum security prison that's only for the really bad dudes, prostitutes, a couple smart guys, and a classy as fuck cab driver. 

[Bloufo]

I've recently done quite a bit of maintenance to my place.

Repainted the exterior walls of the house incl window frames and doors, fascia boards, gutters and downpipes, and all the boundary walls.

Refitted new 10 strand perimeter electric fence and new energizer unit with new back-up battery, to power the whole thing.

The main problem I have now is with a slightly sagging corner of one of the roofs. This is a relatively new issue that has cropped up. If there's a heavy downpour, sometimes some of the water drips inside that room. And we have had unseasonal torrential weather here the last couple weeks.

Other than that, need to replace and redo a few loose floor tiles, and wall tiles in the downstairs bathroom and shower.

[esteban]

Bloufo... forgive me, but you sound like you have a ranch of some sort (electric fence). At first, I thought you might be referring to a "dog containment system" with collar zappers...but then I realized what "10 strand" probably referred to...

My prior home developed a leak in the roof...patching that bastard with new shingles was annoying but well worth it (I was selling the home and didn't want to invest in a new roof). However, the roof wasn't sagging (no structural issues).


MY BORING STATUS:
The grossest bathroom you have ever imagined will remain untouched for another year. I don't use it anymore. My kids use it and it needs to be gutted completely. It needed to be updated 11 years ago. At this point, I don't see the point in touching it until my kids are older and less likely to trash it further.

I finally painted my garage this autumn...the goal was to get it done before the first frost. Mission accomplished. Note: It needed to be painted 10 years ago.

Ha! We haven't even discussed landscaping that needs to be done. Every winter, a new, random bush (or two) will die...it was easy to ignore the first few casualties... but now, 11 years of attrition have made it obvious that the few token replacements I've planted are inadequate.

Also, my entire backyard needs to be re-seeded, since the weeds are winning the battle against the grass...

Seal the driveway...
Power wash everything...
Fix the outdoor electrical receptacles...
Re-point the brick chimney (no, I am not doing this myself)...
Install new garage door...

[Bloufo]

Bloufo... forgive me, but you sound like you have a ranch of some sort (electric fence). At first, I thought you might be referring to a "dog containment system" with collar zappers...but then I realized what "10 strand" probably referred to...

Not a ranch. lol

It's for security reasons. No matter how high your perimeter walls are in this neck of the woods, if you don't have the added protection of an additional deterrent such as electric fencing, the chances of you becoming a crime statistic are increased substantially.

When I get back from work later I may take a pic for reference.

[NecroPhile]

How high you gotta go on the bzzt bzzt to keep out humans and/or how dumb are the criminals?  I've been zapped by farm fences plenty of times (I grab my parent's moo-moo and donkey fence to see if it's still working or needs some help) and they'd be super easy to ground intentionally if you wanted to get through 'em.

[Bloufo]

How high you gotta go on the bzzt bzzt to keep out humans and/or how dumb are the criminals?  I've been zapped by farm fences plenty of times (I grab my parent's moo-moo and donkey fence to see if it's still working or needs some help) and they'd be super easy to ground intentionally if you wanted to get through 'em.

10,000 volts runs through it.

What they do these days is toss a long heavy rubber mat over the fence and try to get over that way.
My fence is though is linked to a security company which operates less than a mile away from my premises. So upon the fence alarm activation, the response time is pretty quick.

[xcrement5x]

Bloufo... forgive me, but you sound like you have a ranch of some sort (electric fence). At first, I thought you might be referring to a "dog containment system" with collar zappers...but then I realized what "10 strand" probably referred to...

My prior home developed a leak in the roof...patching that bastard with new shingles was annoying but well worth it (I was selling the home and didn't want to invest in a new roof). However, the roof wasn't sagging (no structural issues).


MY BORING STATUS:
The grossest bathroom you have ever imagined will remain untouched for another year. I don't use it anymore. My kids use it and it needs to be gutted completely. It needed to be updated 11 years ago. At this point, I don't see the point in touching it until my kids are older and less likely to trash it further.

I finally painted my garage this autumn...the goal was to get it done before the first frost. Mission accomplished. Note: It needed to be painted 10 years ago.

Ha! We haven't even discussed landscaping that needs to be done. Every winter, a new, random bush (or two) will die...it was easy to ignore the first few casualties... but now, 11 years of attrition have made it obvious that the few token replacements I've planted are inadequate.

Also, my entire backyard needs to be re-seeded, since the weeds are winning the battle against the grass...

Seal the driveway...
Power wash everything...
Fix the outdoor electrical receptacles...
Re-point the brick chimney (no, I am not doing this myself)...
Install new garage door...

You sound just like me when it comes to home maintenance.  They always say if you don't know who the bad neighbor on your block is, it's probably you

I've actually picked up the slack on my house maintenance recently, main bathroom is refinished and will probably be addressing my windows with condensation in January.  Also need to do some touch ups in general since we're considering selling/moving before the oldest starts school to get in a better district.

[turboswimbz]

Bloufo... forgive me, but you sound like you have a ranch of some sort (electric fence). At first, I thought you might be referring to a "dog containment system" with collar zappers...but then I realized what "10 strand" probably referred to...

Not a ranch. lol

It's for security reasons. No matter how high your perimeter walls are in this neck of the woods, if you don't have the added protection of an additional deterrent such as electric fencing, the chances of you becoming a crime statistic are increased substantially.

When I get back from work later I may take a pic for reference.

In High School I had a friend from your neck of the woods originally, and we thought he was kidding about these things. Later I found out he was quite serious. It seems that things have not gotten better . . .

[Bloufo]

In High School I had a friend from your neck of the woods originally, and we thought he was kidding about these things. Later I found out he was quite serious. It seems that things have not gotten better . .

I can comment as I've experienced it for about the last 20 years. Before that I was born and raised in Greece, before we moved here in my early teens.

The crime situation has most definitely gotten worse. In particular, increase in violent related crimes. Black on White.

Hijackings (what do you term it over there- carjackings?) are way up as well. Here in Joburg we are actually made aware and there are regular updates of "hotspots" of areas to avoid and the most likely times hits are made in those places.

As well, you factor in the unreported crimes. The police force here has a bad rep for incompetence, corruption, negligence. Some folks think it a complete waste of time to even bother reporting certain crimes.

Apologies if thread is being derailed. As you were.

[ClodBusted]

Don't worry.
Although there are some thoughts popping up in my mind about that electrical fence... You do not happen to inhibit some small island near Costa Rica, do you?

Sorry, joking aside I really hope your counter measurements will help you in defending your home against unwanted guests.

[NightWolve]

Electrified fence ... that bad huh ? I don't think that's legal here, can't kill a baddie trying to sneak in.

[turboswimbz]

Electrified fence ... that bad huh ? I don't think that's legal here, can't kill a baddie trying to sneak in.

This may have been a nice solution to the graffiti problem though

[Flare65]

Feel your pain man...

Wife an I bought the house we are in 3.5 years ago.  Since then...

Garage fire.  74K damage to the house and garage (garage is attached).  Thankfully insurance covered it.

One bathroom remodel due to water leaking into the lower level. 10K

Main sewer line to the street got clogged with tree roots.  6K for a whole new line from house to street.

And something else that I cant remember at the moment...

[NightWolve]

Wow! How did the garage fire start ?

[esteban]

Garage fire.  74K damage to the house and garage (garage is attached).  Thankfully insurance covered it.

One bathroom remodel due to water leaking into the lower level. 10K

Main sewer line to the street got clogged with tree roots.  6K for a whole new line from house to...

Damn.

That is a crazy amount of damage.

I am worried about my sewer line, myself.

[Gredler]

One bathroom remodel due to water leaking into the lower level. 10K

This happened to me the night before my wedding in May. I cleared out all of the lower level before finishing my vowes and speaches lol. Got back from honey moon and started slowly rebuilding everything. just got lower level all fixed up, and about 30% done with the remodel in the bathroom. We are not professionals, DIY Home Depot job, but hopefully functions alright when we're done

[turboswimbz]

Garage fire.  74K damage to the house and garage (garage is attached).  Thankfully insurance covered it.

One bathroom remodel due to water leaking into the lower level. 10K

Main sewer line to the street got clogged with tree roots.  6K for a whole new line from house to...

Damn.

That is a crazy amount of damage.

I am worried about my sewer line, myself.

Have em scope it with a camera, you should find someone to do this fairly cheaply.  (your town sewer company may even do this for free from the road to the house -> well not free you pay them a bill and taxes)  They can tell you if you got any issues.
for the record, I do a lot of subsurface work up there and rarely see issues with the city sewer systems and connections out to them.  (note for other NJ people this does not necessarily apply to Hudson and Bergen counties along the rivers, their systems are much older and prone to backups during storms due to also handling storm water)

[esteban]

Garage fire.  74K damage to the house and garage (garage is attached).  Thankfully insurance covered it.

One bathroom remodel due to water leaking into the lower level. 10K

Main sewer line to the street got clogged with tree roots.  6K for a whole new line from house to...

Damn.

That is a crazy amount of damage.

I am worried about my sewer line, myself.

Have em scope it with a camera, you should find someone to do this fairly cheaply.  (your town sewer company may even do this for free from the road to the house -> well not free you pay them a bill and taxes)  They can tell you if you got any issues.
for the record, I do a lot of subsurface work up there and rarely see issues with the city sewer systems and connections out to them.  (note for other NJ people this does not necessarily apply to Hudson and Bergen counties along the rivers, their systems are much older and prone to backups during storms due to also handling storm water)

swimbz!

Yeah, I am worried about tree roots that might have grown into my sewer line.

Thanks for the info, I feel more empowered now to "scope it".

I think I'll send a mini-drone into the sewer line.

[Flare65]

The sewer line backup happened when I took a shower at night when my wife was downstairs emptying the dryer.  Water started coming up out of the floor drain in the furnace rooms so we got lucky that the water didn't get into finished section of the lower level.  Thankfully she was right there when it happened as it could have been much...much worse if we kept using water upstairs without even knowing what was going on.  Calling a plumber out at 9:00pm on a Saturday night for two hours work was $600 and change...

He was able to clear the drain, but he pulled back a lot of tree roots in the process.  He highly recommend that he came back with a camera to check the drain.  Which he did for another $400.00 as he ran it form the sewer line in the street and form the house to the sewer.  With the new cameras they have, they even give you the video on a USB drive.  There were a lot of tree roots in the line.  They do sell some kind of chemical that you can put down your drain to kill the roots, but we had so many of them he didn't think it would work.  Its more of a preventative maintenance kind of thing that needs to happen yearly rather than a one time fix.

[Flare65]

Garage fire.  74K damage to the house and garage (garage is attached).  Thankfully insurance covered it.

One bathroom remodel due to water leaking into the lower level. 10K

Main sewer line to the street got clogged with tree roots.  6K for a whole new line from house to...

Damn.

That is a crazy amount of damage.

I am worried about my sewer line, myself.

Have em scope it with a camera, you should find someone to do this fairly cheaply.  (your town sewer company may even do this for free from the road to the house -> well not free you pay them a bill and taxes)  They can tell you if you got any issues.
for the record, I do a lot of subsurface work up there and rarely see issues with the city sewer systems and connections out to them.  (note for other NJ people this does not necessarily apply to Hudson and Bergen counties along the rivers, their systems are much older and prone to backups during storms due to also handling storm water)

I wish it was done for free!  In the city I live in, the home owner is 100% responsible for the drain to the street.  No assistance from them at all.

[NightWolve]

Wow! How did the garage fire start ?

So ... didn't want to answer ??

[Flare65]

Wow! How did the garage fire start ?

Long story, but it was some ashes from the fireplace that were dumped in the garbage can in the garage, which smoldered and melted the can, and the recycling bin next to it that was full of paper and card board.

Next to that, were two Rubbermaid containers.  One was full of EGM, Gamepro and Famitsu magazines from the 90s.  All my 80's Transformers toys were in the other container.    I had just dug them out of my parents attic the weekend prior.

And next to THAT was a gas can full of gas, a few quarts of M.E.K (Methyl Ethyl Ketone - extremely flammable), and various aresols of starting fluid, carburetor cleaner, brake cleaner, WD-40 etc, varnish, etc... 

My wife's Trek mountain bike turned into a pool of melted aluminum on the floor, except for the chain and sprockets.

[EvilEvoIX]

Wow! How did the garage fire start ?

Long story, but it was some ashes from the fireplace that were dumped in the garbage can in the garage, which smoldered and melted the can, and the recycling bin next to it that was full of paper and card board.

Next to that, were two Rubbermaid containers.  One was full of EGM, Gamepro and Famitsu magazines from the 90s.  All my 80's Transformers toys were in the other container.    I had just dug them out of my parents attic the weekend prior.

And next to THAT was a gas can full of gas, a few quarts of M.E.K (Methyl Ethyl Ketone - extremely flammable), and various aresols of starting fluid, carburetor cleaner, brake cleaner, WD-40 etc, varnish, etc... 

My wife's Trek mountain bike turned into a pool of melted aluminum on the floor, except for the chain and sprockets.

Wow, a really what not to do.

[seieienbu]

Wow that sounds Awful.  I'm glad to hear about the insurance footing the bill though.