What home repairs are you working on?

^^^And he didn’t need a ladder.

So, big thing: Last night I did some math. If you take our mortgage and home improvement loan payments together, we could be living in a house that does exactly what we want - basement bar with pool table, dance floor, and music stage. And we’d save 2400$ a year.

So, looks like I’m going to be remodeling a 2nd floor bathroom (with open plumbing below!!), doing some Sheetrock repairs here and there, finishing a garage (maybe) and painting so we can sell this place, walk away with maybe 30-40 after all the egregious fees and whatnot, and then we dump that plus some savings into the bigger house.

If we pay that 2400$ to principal only, and do biweekly payments we can pay it off before I die.

This summer, we will have owned the house 6 years. It was purchased at a pretty good price from the boyfriend's parents, but the downside, is that they didn't do most of the repairs one would expect from a seller.

We already replaced the 'old enough to be president' carpet with laminate flooring. Repainted most of the interior, and all of the exterior. Replaced the stove with a gas one (black iron for gas cost as much as the stove did!).
Now...full kitchen remodel. We are going to pay someone to do this, but he's a good friend, and will be helping too. One catch is that we also are the local social spot, and have 10-15 people over most weekends.
The fridge is ancient and drools, the linoleum style floor is ripped in like 5 places, and the stove has no external vent.

If people have fridge brand/model recommendations, would appreciate it!

DO NOT GET SAMSUNG. They make great TV’s and phones (except the spying thing) but their fridges are CRAP. We spent more in repairs after 4 years than we did to buy it.

We have a Frigidaire now, wasn’t too bad in price and it’s a beast.

We moved house on the weekend (part of the long running issue with my wife's cancer was she couldn't manage the stairs in our old house so after 3 months of hell we are in a house where she can access a bathroom and kitchen).

After the heavy lifting, now we are in that annoying stage of a new house where all the hooks, power points, etc are in the wrong spots so today is a trip to the hardware store to buy a bunch of hooks and extension cables.

I’m replacing our kitchen sink.

Why? What would make me want to?

IT DOESNT MATCH THE FRIDGE.

I’m about to say something that may “appear” sexist but is the result of growing up with three sisters, two mothers, having a wife of 22 years, and having two daughters: Females have a thing for matching objects together that resembles a collective, programmed OCD.

I just spent 239$ on a fucking sink SO IT WOULD MATCH.

Christ, be my shield

´´honey, now my spending doesn’t match that of a person with reason »

People who have been married a long time will probably say you just spent 239 bucks for peace of mind. They’re probably right.

On Saturday, I once again failed to fix my plumbing problem.

Originally, the hot water was leaking in the basement bathroom sink. Early on, I discovered that the shut-off valve for the cold water wasn't working, so I had to shut off water to the whole house until I dealt with that problem. After ridiculous trouble finding compatible replacement shut-off valves, I installed additional sharkbite shut-off valves on both water supply tubes. Then I replaced the entire faucet, because that actually seemed easier than replacing a washer or cartridge alone. The sharkbites worked fine, but now the cold water side was leaking a lot whenever I tried to use cold water, and even when I just used hot water, a little bit of hot water was leaking out the cold water side under the sink. I probably permanently pinched that hose a bit out of shape because I used tin snips on that side when prepping for the shark bite, and that was preventing the water compression from forcing a tight seal.

So I assumed that I just needed to replace the supply hose on the cold water side and be careful to re-attach it properly. Not good enough. Same situation, same amount of leaking.

There is a well-stocked plumbing supply store on my side of the metro that is actually open on Saturday morning. So I will get up early, take apart my sink again, and bring in the supply hose which is not getting a watertight seal with the faucet, to see if I can replace the compression seal portion of the connection. If that fails, I call in a plumber.

Before the weekend, I will also take a shot at replacing the bath tub spout with one that works with a handheld shower attachment. I scouted out the possibility of doing a normal shower installation with the existing pipes, but some exploration in the wall revealed metal pipes and I draw the line at soldering or welding. I helped my dad with a comparable repair when I was a kid, and he briefly set the wall on fire. As always, my dad was stubborn enough and resourceful enough to get the job done, but made scary and ugly mistakes along the way. I would call him for advice on this, but he passed away years ago. Anyway, I feel like my limited skills can probably handle replacing the bath spout with the external diverter and then attaching a hand shower to it. I want to do that before the weekend, in case I need additional stuff from the plumbing supply store. And if both repairs go poorly, I can have the plumber address both in the same appointment.

Next year, as cash flow permits, we can do a proper re-model that will include a normal shower head installation, professionally-installed replacement tile, and a ventilation fan.

SuperflyTNT wrote: I’m replacing our kitchen sink.

Why? What would make me want to?

IT DOESNT MATCH THE FRIDGE.

I’m about to say something that may “appear” sexist but is the result of growing up with three sisters, two mothers, having a wife of 22 years, and having two daughters: Females have a thing for matching objects together that resembles a collective, programmed OCD.

I just spent 239$ on a fucking sink SO IT WOULD MATCH.

Christ, be my shield

I have never seen a sink that would match a fridge, unless maybe the fridge was made of brushed steel. My current white fridge sort of matches our white porcelain sink, but not really.

SuperflyTNT wrote: I’m about to say something that may “appear” sexist but is the result of growing up with three sisters, two mothers, having a wife of 22 years, and having two daughters: Females have a thing for matching objects together that resembles a collective, programmed OCD.

I just spent 239$ on a fucking sink SO IT WOULD MATCH.

My wife was adamant that all the appliances were the same brand, line, and had the same finish so it would match. Other kitchen items also need to be the same finish. Also, her sink (she banished me to the new tiny sink in the island) was $1,200. Of course, it's 45" wide. But still...

That is correct. I think matching appliances was supposed to diminish in importance sometime after the 50s

I had to throw some wet patch on the roof a couple of weeks ago in a freezing rain. There is a new roof in our future. Thankfully it is the flat part. However, the wood will need to be replaced in places along with proper insulation and a fan for the bathroom. bleh

Disgustipater wrote:

SuperflyTNT wrote: I’m about to say something that may “appear” sexist but is the result of growing up with three sisters, two mothers, having a wife of 22 years, and having two daughters: Females have a thing for matching objects together that resembles a collective, programmed OCD.

I just spent 239$ on a fucking sink SO IT WOULD MATCH.

My wife was adamant that all the appliances were the same brand, line, and had the same finish so it would match. Other kitchen items also need to be the same finish. Also, her sink (she banished me to the new tiny sink in the island) was $1,200. Of course, it's 45" wide. But still...

Stainless appliances.

So, mamasan has that same idea about appliances - but I refused since we don’t buy many appliances. I mansplained that if we get all Samsung and Samsung sucks, we’ll have a shit kitchen. I won, only got the Samsung fridge.

Samsung fridge was a fucking nightmare. If I had a lot of land I’d have run it over with a tractor, then loaded full of tannerite and blew it the fuck up.

We're in the 8th week of a kitchen remodel that we actually contracted out this time -- which kills me because it is a verifiable insane amount of money. But, it is completely gutted, demoed walls, custom cabinets, the whole 9 yards -- including a $1200 farmhouse sink.

Looks like I might be doing engineered wood in the basement this fall. I'll do that myself.

I would rather cut my own balls off than pay a contractor to do a remodel again.