BG Homeowner and DIY Thread - Out of the Basement Edition

[Malithar]

Thanks for the advice on the closing costs. I can definitely pay it, the cost isn't the concern, more the principle of it. At the closing table, I was told it was included with the loan and can see it listed, but on the actual line items of the closing, I do not see it listed. Still waiting on the mortgage and realtor to get back with me to see what the plan is.

Note: this is not personal property and all the extras your homeowners has, this is for dwelling.

Very good advice on the homeowners insurance. When getting quotes, I had so many wildly different estimates that tried to provide $300k coverage on a $140k home and such. I ended up going with Liberty Mutual with personal property + dwelling coverage totaling $150k which seemed more realistic.

For the water heater Ksandra, I'd follow Seraph's advice. It's not something worth messing with unless you have experience. The common parts that need replaced are the ignitor, anode rod, and gas valve parts. Depending on the area of the home and the water standard, you may get corrosion or build up in the tank due to hard water. Those sort of issues won't be repairable. Water pressure is also a major concern. If the home doesn't have a PRV installed already, the heater could be taking on additional wear and tear due to high pressure. It really depends on the age and efficiency of the unit too. Low efficiency needs less repairs due to less work on the system, but higher energy costs. Higher efficiency units get more wear and tear. That "prolly needs replaced in 3 years" is just an estimate. If it's that old and hasn't been maintained, then many plumbers wouldn't flush the system for risk of build up coming loose or being unable to reseal it.

tl;dr - Use it til you need to replace it if an unexpected cost down the road isn't a big deal, or replace it before it becomes an issue. If it's old/worn enough, most licensed plumbers won't recommend or even offer repairs, and it's not just cause they want the commission on a replacement, it's because they couldn't guarantee the work.

[Boyiee]

Thanks. I'm in the process of closing this week and yeah my loaner required full mortgage coverage for homeowner insurance. 1k premium. After closing we're dropping to the 85% value (or whatever insurer requires) and dropping premium to $800 so it's in place for next year already.

[archibaldcrane]

Ksandra, if you are worried about the water heater get some service to do a tune up for $100 or whatever - they'll drain it and refill it to descale or whatever - but otherwise you just ride it til it dies, they work til they don't, and then you get a new one. My last one at my rental was like $850 installed, not the end of the world.

[Ksandra]

Ok that’s good to know. Thanks!

[Buffy]

Only thing about the hot water heater is depending on the age of your house, make sure the drain pan and stuff or the drain is good. Older houses don't have a drain near the hot water heater.

[Ksandra]

Just curious on what you mean by old? Ours if from the 70s, which is considered old here, but I grew up where people still live in homes from the 1800s.

[Buffy]

Just curious on what you mean by old? Ours if from the 70s, which is considered old here, but I grew up where people still live in homes from the 1800s.

yeah, that would be in the range I would be curious about.

To be clear, without a good drain/drainpan if the water heater lets fly and starts leaking, without a good drain or a pan to catch it, you'll ruin the floor it sits on (and the rooms around it).

[archibaldcrane]

This is California, the water heater is probably outside.

[Dantrag]

Buy homeowner's insurance if you can. $125 per visit and you can have them visit multiple items. I've had AC in my old house that was built in '85 repaired with parts that would have cost us a few hundred + service. I should have bought it for my 3 year old house after I bought it but I figured nothing would break too soon. I was wrong, AC unit broke on our downstairs unit about 1 1/2 years in. That was a fun bill.

[archibaldcrane]

You mean a home warranty

[Ksandra]

This is California, the water heater is probably outside.

It could be just because different areas we interact in, but 100% of the water heaters in houses we looked were in the garage.

[Jaybar]

It could be just because different areas we interact in, but 100% of the water heaters in houses we looked were in the garage.

Could be a municipal code to keep it "indoors" to prevent ugly ass HVAC being visible on the side of houses. Also it seems so alien to me to think of water heaters outside considering the winter climate I am familiar with, but then I had to just use my old noggin to understand why yall do it.

[Drai]

Hey Ksandra, if you have concerns about the water heater I can try to answer them for you, I’m a Journeyman Plumber in canada, and although we do installations a bit differently (mostly just due to climate and whatnot) the tanks themselves would be the same.

If it’s a tank type water heater then usually the things you’d look at are the drain valve on the lower side of the tank, some tanks come with plastic drain valves as stock and over time due to the water heating and cooling they can become brittle and either start to leak or in rarer cases can crack and release, most better quality tanks have brass drain valves so it’s less of a worry.

The other thing to look at would be the T&P valve (Temperature and pressure) located near the top of the tank, it shoukd have a tube attached to it to direct water to the ground to help avoid scalding if it were to release when someone is near, you can check the floor for any signs of water because over time the spring inside can get weaker and sometimes allow water to slowly pass by, the last thing isn’t visible from outside the tank, but if you find that your tank is producing less hot water then it should be, the dip tube located under the nipple on the cold inlet is likely warn away, this tube directs the cold water coming into the tank down to the bottom, pushing the hot water up to the top, if the dip tube breaks it means the cold water coming into the tank now mixes and cools the hot water trying to flow out the top of the tank.

There’s other possible issues that you could have with the tank, but without knowing if the tank is gas or electric I can only suggest the common issues you could find on both types.

If the tank is a high efficiency tank type or an on demand tankless heater, I’d need to know the model and make to help diagnose any issues with it ^^/

[Ksandra]

Ty! We won’t really know yet until we move in. Insofar the inspector said the tank is fine, just that it would need replacing in 3 years. Once it starts giving us issues I’ll let you know!

Appraisal for our home came at the sell price (thankfully). New homes appraiser comes on Tuesday. I’m a bit nervous of it coming in under. I am hoping if it does we can strike a deal with the sellers. Keeping fingers crossed it comes in close enough that they don’t mind lowering the price to it.

So excited!

We’re getting a pirate boat for the front yard (after we officially close, that is). Every year for Halloween I’m going to add something to it. I can finally do that!

[Boyiee]

So let's see, where were we...

[Boyiee]

My house had inspection yesterday and the appraisal is tomorrow. Literally biting my nails our closing is supposed to be next Tuesday the 15th.

Thanks. I'm in the process of closing this week and yeah my loaner required full mortgage coverage for homeowner insurance. 1k premium. After closing we're dropping to the 85% value (or whatever insurer requires) and dropping premium to $800 so it's in place for next year already.

We fixed a couple things for inspection and appraisal was good, we were set to land the closing date. It got pushed back to the 18th due to slow paperwork. We find out the house we're buying can't close until the 28th because they are going on fucking vacation. Whatever, 28th. I schedule movers, truck, everything. Closing both houses sept.28th.

The morning comes and we get the truck and we start loading and we get a phone call, the seller's never got the message we confirmed the 28th and aren't ready to close... The truck is totally fucking loaded with our house, The Buyers are already parked on the street ready to do their walkthrough before closing, and the sellers of the house are going to tell us The earliest they can close is October 7th due to no movers being available.

We park the moving truck somewhere and unload a couple things into a friend's storage in a panic while we wait to hear from lawyer. He tells us we should move back into our house in the meantime so we're not homeless and cancel the sale postponing it and screwing our buyers. We decide not to shit on our buyers that would be in the same situation as us and let the sale go through as planned. Felt it would be bad juju to screw them too and we'd never get out of the house.

We are homeless, got an overpriced storage unit on short notice and now require renting a truck and movers again doubling our moving costs + extra. Staying with inlaws for a week which totally sucks except for the food the food is almost godtier.

This really was the worst shit ever.

Oh also while we're unloading the truck last night daycare called and said they're closing for two weeks due to two teachers getting covid so we have no child care either lol.

[Boyiee]

Like they're already getting my mail since I had planned to be living there already. The internet shit arrived in the mail already and I had to delay the service start date lol.

[Jaybar]

That was a trip, holy shit so sorry to hear this happened.

[Boyiee]

Yeah we are working on getting compensation via the realtors commissions but it's a reach. Also our interest rate lock had to be extended which was almost a grand.

[Koyangi]

Jesus Christ, I'm surprised this wasn't in the random fail thread (too). That's horrible.