this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2023
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Home Improvement

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I am a proud owner of a brand new home. I am in love with it. It's cute the yard is perfect. It is old and lived in hard. And we couldn't afford really nice. Pretty much everything we looked at had some serious issues so we chose the one we loved the most and the one we felt we could handle the issues. I have lots of questions so I will be here a lot.

I have a very basic knowledge of tools and carpentry but very little knowledge about how to apply that to a home ownership. So my first question is can you recommend books, websites, other lemmy communities that are also good resources?

And my second is how do you prioritize your home projects when under budget constraints and they are of equal importance or unimportance?

Last question (for now) how do you deal with the overwhelm/frustrations of previous owner issues or poor workmanship? (I still love it. It's ours and I love it but we are picking up on stuff that we didn't know about ex the neighbor told us there is a sinkhole under our driveway and it had already been repaired but poorly or the fact that we didn't see it empty until after close and it's obvious their pets handled the moving process poorly and have urinated in every room with carpet)

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)
  1. This is one of the few things YouTube is still good for. The channel This Old House is usually a good resource for a lot of projects, but you can find tons of other channels that have good info. Some creators are contractors, so their focus will be on doing things efficiently at scale and might not be as relevant to you, but there's still good information to be found.

  2. One of the lessons I learned getting an Accounting degree is that everything around you is constantly degrading. Every object has a limited number of uses, and we can only take guesses at what that number will be. Every time you open or close a door, you are putting wear on the wood of the door and frame, the hinges, and the latching mechanism. Every time you open or close a tap you are putting wear on a valve. Every rain drop that hits the roof is trying to erode your shingles, work it's way into the sealant around fasteners, damage your gutters and downspouts, and erode your land and foundation. So try to be gentle on what you can and keep up on preventative maintenance when you can.

To start off with, you take care of emergencies. Things that will cascade into more damage to your property or health if not addressed. Sewer line backing up and flooding your basement? Emergency. Water leaks in the roof? Emergency. Hot Water tank leaking? Well, the leak is an emergency, but a lack of hot water probably isn't. If you're strapped for cash, you should be able to turn some valves to disconnect it and live with cold water until you can afford to fix it properly. But if you're somewhere cold in winter, that could put those pipes in danger of freezing. (In case you couldn't tell, water causes trouble everywhere it goes)

Without knowing the details of your financial situation, I'm going to assume you're like most new homeowners. Young, probably just starting to get financially established enough to break the rent cycle. Maybe some other car or student loan debt you're trying to pay off. Expecting to advance your career and make more money in the coming years. Assuming your income keeps up with inflation and your interest rate on your mortgage is fixed, from now on your housing costs as a percentage of your income will most likely go down.

So you'll probably have to put things off for the first few years. You'll need a couple of years with mild and extreme summers and winters to get a feel for how much your utilities cost. Try to keep an emergency fund (credit cards can work in a pinch, but they cost you long-term). Some problems might need temporary, cheap solutions. The general financial wisdom most old people gave me was "buy cheap, but twice", but sometimes you just need to "waste" $50 on something janky to last a couple years until you can afford the $5,000 proper renovation. You'll slowly transition from being reactive to proactive over time. First set aside money for an emergency fund. Once you have a couple grand, start setting aside some for cosmetic stuff like flooring and paint (it's less important objectively, but living in a house with peeling paint and stained carpet can be bad for your mental health). You probably want ~$10k in an emergency fund eventually (in today's dollars), but don't feel too much pressure to get there immediately. And don't be afraid to use that money for emergencies either: that's what it's for.

Identify any big, expensive, non-urgent projects: how much will the cost and when will they become urgent? You'll need a roof every 25-50 years depending on the kind of roof and where you live. In today's dollars in the US you're looking at the ballpark of $10-$20k. You will probably be able to finance part of it if you need to.

  1. You can't control what the previous owner did or did not do, the corners that a builder cut, or the flaws in the architect's designs. If there's something serious that was legally required to be disclosed to you and was not, you could consult a lawyer to see if you have any recourse against the seller.

You are going to be making a lot of your own repairs and decisions restricted by your budget, equipment, and skills. 10 years from now you might find you're cursing your past self just as much as you're cursing the previous owner now. Either way, there isn't much to be gained from getting upset over what 'the last guy' did. All you can do is try to be nicer to 'the next guy', who may or may not be you.

  1. Just some general advice. You'll probably hear other advice recommending that you do not buy cheap tools, but to wait and buy nice, expensive tools as you find you need them. I strongly disagree. If you don't already have screwdrivers, wrenches, sockets, a measuring tape, hammer, etc those cheap kits can be great. Sometimes it's nice to have tools you don't care about for dirty jobs or loaning to a neighbor. I don't want to use the same screwdriver I would use on my guitar or computer on a sewage pipe or my car, for example.

Also keep records. Put together a binder with receipts, warranty cards, etc. If something has a 30 year warranty you need a good resource for how to claim that 25 years from now. And it's a great thing to hand off to the next owner. What year was this roof installed? What was the hex code and brand of paint on the trim in the living room? Is there lead paint that is currently sealed behind newer paint? Did you upgrade the Ethernet to cat6? Does the basement flood once every 200 years, once every 20 years, or once every 2 years? Think of all the stuff you wish the previous owner would have told you and start writing it down for the next person. A house shoukd last a few hundred years, and I would argue that the quality of records should be a factor in buying/selling.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

This is all great advice! I would add:

  1. Youtube is great for how-to videos that will allow you to take care of a lot of small repairs more or less for "free", but it's not interactive. Sometimes you just don't know the right term to use in an internet search, and you need to ask people. Use this Lemmy community and/or diy.stackexchange.com to crowd-source solutions to your problems (explain the problem and post a few photos) that you can then watch videos about to get the details right.
  2. In regard to tools, I like the following rule: when you first need a tool, buy the cheapest one that will get the job done; then when it eventually breaks (because you're using it for new jobs) buy a good-quality one. This way, you're not spending extra money on stuff you're only going to use once or twice, and when it comes time to buy something you're going to have for a long time, you'll have some experience so you know what features you want.
  3. Laws in the United States allow a lot of work to be done by the homeowner, especially when you're replacing "like for like" (e.g., swapping out an electrical socket); but if you're doing more than that, check on whether you're going to need a permit from the local municipality. In other countries, laws may require licensed contractors perform certain work (e.g., electrical and plumbing).
  4. Take care of emergencies, but then get comfortable. It's your home, you're going to spend lots of time there, so you don't want to be living in a construction zone for a decade. Work towards a standard of living that you (and your family) can not only tolerate but have some level of comfort in.
[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

how do you prioritize your home projects when under budget constraints and they are of equal importance or unimportance?

I'm a fan of lists for this type of thing. Include how many hours of work and cost today and the costs and time if you skip it for a couple years. As in peeling exterior paint is cheap today, but if not addressed, you're replacing boards for much more time and cost.

how do you deal with the overwhelm/frustrations of previous owner issues or poor workmanship?

They were trying their best to keep it in decent shape. Just as you will do the same.

their pets urinated in every room with carpet

There is a product called "Nature's Miracle". It has an enzyme that removes urine smell from carpet. It's sold at pet stores or online. Get the gallon size to start.

[–] prettybunnys 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

natures miracle is a godsend but it if made it through carpet to the subfloor you’re generally fucked unless you absolutely soak the flooring in it.

If you have hard floors, much better luck and a good mopping is enough.

Good luck OP

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah, we had a cat who we found was frequently peeing in a somewhat hidden corner of carpet. Upon further investigation, the subfloor has to be replaced for that corner as it was so deteriorated.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I hope that's not the case here. It didn't smell like urine when we toured but they were still living here and some of the spots I am seeing are where furniture was covering. It smelled strong when we did the final walkthrough so I am hoping it didn't soak into the subfloor and was just more recent accidents from stress.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Ah I didn't think of the time cost on stuff. Uff da. I think my list is going to get very long very quick but you make very good points.

And I had no idea nature's miracle came in a gallon! Good stuff and good to know.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

it’s obvious their pets handled the moving process poorly and have urinated in every room with carpet

Cleaning up pet urine can be really expensive depending on how bad it is. If it's not just a few spots here and there, seriously consider ripping out all of the carpet and padding and living on the floor boards until you can get new flooring.

You should buy a black light. Nothing expensive, $20 or so. And shine it on everything with the lights off, urine glows. As a side note, anyone looking to buy a house, or even get a new rental should get a black light.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Did you get a home inspection? Start with the things on that. If you didn't, then start by reading up on home inspections, and start taking care of those things.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

We did get an inspection. I can't rave about our inspector enough he explained in detail which was helpful but a tad overwhelming. We are trying to get a contractor out to quote on the siding (it's original in 1987 house in humid area) but I'm struggling with some of the inside stuff that I know I can handle.

[–] Hellbrewer 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

You can rent rug doctor steam cleaners, it wasn't expensive. They have locations listed on their website. https://www.rugdoctor.com/rent/ We did every rug in our house before we moved in. It was amazing the amount of dirt that came out of clean looking rugs.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I may do this. We were also thinking of getting a professional in to do it for the first time since we don't want our dog to think peeing inside is okay though she is house trained. But a rug doctor sounds far more affordable.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

You honestly might want to replace the carpet. The carpet and pad and possibly the subfloor may be urine soaked. You can paint the subfloor with a smell blocker and then put in new pad and carpet. It's a lot more expensive but then you know what you are getting. Also carpet doesn't have a huge lifetime (depending on the material and quality) so if it's 10+ years it might be at its age limit.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Steam cleaning urine is a bad idea. The heat will cause it to bind to the carpet even better and make it even harder to get rid of.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'd start with spending my time cleaning.

Then I'd work on whatever bothered me the most day to day. If you notice the issue often, that's the one to fix.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Fair point. Thank you

[–] splix 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Congadulations on your home! Best advice I can give is go slow. All the DIY stuff has loads of YouTube videos to help you so just take it easy. Anything you can hook up to existing infrastructure, you can tackle easy. Installing new lighting, painting, redoing flooring, new faucets and toilets, etc.

Start top down. Roof, plumbing, foundation, grading, electrical, fixtures, cabinets, counters, paint, flooring. Water is your worst enemy, so deal with all water related problems first. Hire a licensed and bonded tradesmen for any major projects, such as roofing, electrical boxes, water heater or hvac. They will be able to work with permitting. If it’s old enough, a secondary concern will be cloth wiring, which is a fire hazard, also have your insulation checked for asbestos and your paint for lead. You’ll have to hire professionals for abatement.

These all can be done as they come up, but before any major changes are done. An example would be, if you have a boiler and radiator setup, and you want to change to central heat and air, you’ll need to have the wiring changed to handle the new load.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Thank you. I am going to do my best to remember to go slow. I'm just so excited and want to be able to get in and live here but I feel like there is a lot I want to do before moving in since it is easier.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Also good stuff!

For #2, one piece I forgot to bring up is the urgency. One of the reasons I advocate for having a small collection of basic, cheap tools is that there's some cases where you don't have time to get to the hardware store or wait for a delivery. Sometimes you need a wrench NOW to fix a leak. Or there's a foot of snow on the ground, the roads aren't allowed, and something goes wrong with your heat or the pipes are in danger of freezing. Or there was the time I had scheduled my new over to be installed and the old one disposed of: I was responsible for disconnecting the gas from the old oven, but didn't realize until about an hour before that I would need not one but two adjustable wrenches to disconnect it and had to make a mad dash to get another one. I've also had enough issues with toilets that I keep at least one flush/fill valve set and a sealing ring on hand (maybe I need to get a water filtering/conditioning system to go easier on my hardware?). Having a way to move water (either a cheap hand pump or the ability to use a shop vac) can also be critical.

A couple other things I keep in mind with tools are:

How often am I going to use it? A lot of experts giving advice, advocating for expensive tools, are craftspeople who use those tools every day. If I only need that adjustable wrench once a year, the $2 one from Harbor Freight is fine.

And specialized tools are different. It's hard to even try to buy them in advance because you don't know they exist until something comes up. When I looked into converting my home's landline phone network into Internet, I had to get a crimping tool. I noticed the old window AC units has a bunch of bent fins, and research led me to special combs for straightening them.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

One advice I haven't seen mentioned: there are tool libraries in many cities where home owners can borrow tools for a low membership cost. This can save you from spending a lot on tools, especially for ones you won't need often.