i didn't consider light-blocking after you said you'd keep the blackout curtains since that's their job, perhaps i should've.

is it not fun to think an apostrophe means something is possessed and you may also be sentenced to not owning several letters.

reviewing finish samples should always be conducted in person if you care about the results.

if you want to keep heat out of your house, stop it on the outside.

I still don't think it's that odd. HVAC systems don't always last that long and even if you have a leak, then it costs a bunch. Even just to maintain it isn't that cheap.

It really depends on the situation. Maybe $10k is fine and there are deals (or at least were) on financing for a lot of major issues. I just don't think $5k is nearly enough to feel comfortable.

Sorry that I can't edit, but if even the paint cost for a new homeowner is likely more than it seems like it should be.

To say to a new homeowner that spending more than $5k in unrealized costs is as likely as having a coronary just doesn't seem right... especially since we know no details of the home.

Sure, but "we don't know" != "is likely to happen". Since we don't know details of the home, it's just as likely that things are fine, and there will be very low extra expenses. Depends on risk tolerance, I guess.

"We don't know" is meant to encapsulate the situation. Certainly $5k or $10k isn't the same if the property is $100k vs $500k. Or if the property is 10 years old vs 100 years old.

While having money behind is obviously good advice, just throwing out a number like $5k or $10k has no context.

Word of non-monetary advice. Screen your prospective neighbors before committing a single penny.

Thanks for advice from all.

If you haven't got a full loan estimate on a representative property yet you're probably underestimating closing costs. If you're thinking you want to put x% down expecting that to be more or less the cash you'll need for closing + pre-purchase inspections you're underestimating by a lot.

I posted earlier about flooring and we bit the bullet and are having some vinyl planks installed. That includes on the stairs.

But that’s where we might have a problem. The design of the stairs is such that they switchback halfway up with a landing. On the upper half, there’s a little lip that hangs off the side. The flooring company called and said they were going to have their guys cut the excess sides off so the planks fit better. We were fine with that.

Today, the installer cut off 1.5” from the TREAD part of the steps and only on the lower section of the stairs. He didn’t shave off the little stuff on the side like we thought.

Our stairs already felt narrow but now the tread is extremely narrow and feels dangerous. The tread went from 9.25” to 7.75”. I wear a size 13 and was already having to turn my foot diagonally to use the stairs. I feel like I have to almost step sideways now.

It feels like the installer might have messed up. He says it will be fine when the nose is on but I’m not so sure.

Thoughts?

oh boy, I don't think your going to like the results.
Cutting a tread down like that doesn't really sound right, all or most of the install is on top of existing tread and riser, my sympathies.

That’s what I was thinking. The nose they’re putting on isn’t all that large, either. And they’re adding a new white riser to each step so that’ll be another 1/2” off the tread.

I really think the guy misunderstood what he was supposed to cut and messed up. The owner of the company is coming tomorrow to help with the install and I’m going to talk to him about it. But I suspect he’ll deny it being a mistake just so they won’t have to eat the cost to repair it.

check your local residential code but what they did to the tread might not meet it now.
if in fact they made your house non-code compliant, let your attorney take it from there

Yeah, I spoke with the installers today and they said they’re going to add another bit that will extend it “almost” as far as it was. I told them I was having a hard time visualizing it and they said they’ll do the lower half to show me. So they did and it seems to be about 3/4” shorter than it was now. I’ll measure it and see for sure but may have to talk to an attorney.

But my house was built in 1978. I’m guessing the stairs just have to comply with the 1978 coding which I’m guessing was different than it is today.

in most places you can keep what met code when it was built.
but once you change it you need to make it current and you sure shouldn't make it worse.

Yeah, it's very city and even inspector dependent. It doesn't sound like this is being inspected, but I don't think code is really the issue. Treads under 9" are certainly not standard and not what would happen in new construction and it's because it's not safe.

If the work was not done as specified and the treads are noticeably shorter and less safe, then the first thing to do is have a conversation about it and expect that it will be taken care of without resorting to lawyers until it becomes clear that that is the only option left. Imo.

They’re supposed to finish the stairs tomorrow. Measured the tread on a couple of the steps that are finished and it’s 8.75”.

I agree about the safety factor. When my parents and in-laws come to visit, it might get dicey since they’re in their 70’s. I have a 10 year old and a 6 year old, too. Not to mention my big feet.

I’ll give them a test walk tomorrow when they’re done and if we determine it’s just too unsafe, we’ll have to call them and let them know and take it from there. The guarantee their work for three years and the manufacturer’s product warranty is lifetime for residential so we’ll see how it pans out.

having a 'bull nose' of a stair is a way of having a larger pad for stability without changing the incline of the stair. for cramped stair cases it helps and adds stability for a climber.

that being said, it should not be an addition to the pad, it should be part of the pad... one single piece. I would not accept an addition as they loosen and detached and aren't really stable but esthetic.

In the master BR, I have a large ~(95'x47') window. One of those with a fixed middle pane, and two horizontally sliding panes at the ends.

For years, I've had fake-wood blinds in there, 3 blinds on one rail . One blind covered each section.

Every several years, something would fail in the blinds, and I'd order up another set from Home Depot. As you can imagine, they are quite bulky and a bit difficult to throw up in there.

This spring, it finally clicked with me to look into shutters as a permanent solution (duh). Had a few companies come out and measure, then send me estimates. While that was happening, I was checking out reviews of the various places.

Ended up going with a local shop who installs Hunter Douglas stuff. They were middle of the road on price, and had the best reviews. Their showroom is only about 3 miles from my house, so I went up there to review things. The estimate didn't specify things like the frame, the hinge color., and louver size. I think this was the first company that came out, so I didn't know to ask some of these details.

The guy printed me off the details, and we talked about options. He had chosen options, but didn't specify them to me. A bit of concern that these details weren't part of the original discussion, but we got it figured out.

Changed up a couple things, including a less-fancy system (the old-fashioned bar across the slats, instead of an internal gear system). This saved me a few hundred.

He runs the deposit on my card. Some kind of tablet device, and a whitesquare thing that they called "clover", in which my card went. He's having trouble, and calls someone over to look. I can tell they're confused about something on the payment, so I get my phone out and go to my CC app. At about that point, she says, "we may have to run it again."

Fortunately, by that time I had the app up, and saw a pending charge from them. I showed them, and told them not to run it again.

Her: It doesn't seem like it went through
Me: Well, Capital One knows about it, so I'd argue that it did.

They went over to her system, and apparently could find the transaction and print me a receipt.

Of course, they're no technical people, so it's understandable that they didn't understand what was going on with the payment.

Anyway, should find out in about 6 weeks if they measured right and the installer can get them stuck in. Looking foward to having them put in. I think it's going to be a nicer look and a little darker.

not to be "that guy" but what you described in the process of getting these blinds does not inspire confidence.
Good luck.

Yeah, a bit of concern there. Knowing then what I know now and all.

Still, reviews were ~ a whole star greater than the other companies, so here's hoping...

In reality, nobody's going to die if something isn't right. I'll just have to deal with the lag until they get it right.

I think a handy feature of my EGO charger would be wifi support to send me a notification for when it's done charging. Even better would be a running update.

Forgot to menion: I also discovered yesterday that a house key apparently lasts ~23 years, 3 months before getting too worn down to move the pins in the cylinder any more.

Fortunately, left another door unlocked so I could go in and swap my main key for one of the spares.

Also took about 3 seconds on the grinder to wear the teeth off the old key before tossing it in the recycling bin.

Crosspost from LNL chat thread. Storm took out a tree, which took out part of my house while I was on vacation. Thankfully, my coworker who was feeding the cats while I was gone was a real hero, dealing with contractors, cleaning up the worst of the water and glass, etc.

Insurance sucking seems more common than not.

Ouch!

Been there done that, kinda sorta. Without the campground part.

I hope you were camping far away from the storms. Good luck dealing with that. It's a headache. Awesome coworker!