Thread: howdy

hi y'all!

ok, i'll get this out of the way to begin with. I am not, have never been, and will more than likely ever be, a home inspector. Not that I have anything against it, I just find that my ( money making ) strengths lie elsewhere.

I am, however, a first time homebuyer. I have lived in ( rent ) houses for many years, and I usually know the landlord on more than just a 'landlord' basis. Many times in the past I have done repairs and maintenance either in exchange for rent or just because they needed taking care of.

Now its _my_ house that needs repairs and up keep, and according to the inspection report that came with the house, there is plenty of it ( honestly, I didn't buy the house, my other half did... JUST before I moved in. How convenient. ).

Anyway, according to the site rules, I had to get a membership in order to see pics and get access to some other stuff, and it was free, so I went for it.

about me:
When I was younger, I helped my step-dad remodel almost the entire house, so I know how to do most things, but some things I'm still not sure about. I know alot of these repairs aren't hard, and while I'm unemployed at the moment, I have a lot of spare time and would rather do these fixes myself, and _know_ that they're done right and up to code, as opposed to have to hire a contractor and look over their shoulder to make sure its done right.

In short, I will more than likely be more of a lurker than a poster, but I'm sure from time to time I will make a post asking: "wtf is this?" or "whats the proper way to do that?"
I'm hoping I wont get too much hassle when I do.

so, without further adieu, nice to meet y'all.

questions?

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Originally Posted by james spargo

When I was younger, I helped my step-dad remodel almost the entire house, so I know how to do most things,

questions?

Welcome to the party ... and just be aware that the way you learned IS MOST LIKELY not the correct way.

That stuff "just happens" and you learn from it when you learn the correct way to do things.

Jerry, I totally understand your skepticism, although my step dad is rather anal-retentive. He was an EE by trade and is a perfectionist at heart. I remember at one point during the remodeling, he had hired contractors, but fired them after watching them cut corners and not doing stuff up to code. Thats when I got 'hired' to help out ( and by hired, I really mean forced labor. What else are you gonna do with an unemployed high school kid? ).

He's always reminding me "If you do it right the first time, you won't have to do it again." and unfortunately, I've learned the hard way how true it is.

These are the main reasons I'm fixing up my house. Everything here 'works,' its just either not up to code, or not done well enough to my liking. That, and currently I've got nothing else to do with a large portion of my time during the day, so why not make where I live a little nicer?

James,

Understood (I went through the same "forced labor" aspects when I was young and helping my Dad, who was an Master Electrician by trade). I later worked for him for "money", although not a lot of money, of course, back then, $0.50 per hour - I think I started at $0.25 per hour with my Dad. I then went to work repairing TVs for $0.75 per hour. Then to a two-way radio shop for $1.50 per hour. After high school and moving, I went to work at a defense plant for $1.97 per hour - I was RICH!

dang. I'll hold off on the old man jokes.

not sure how much i learned back then since i was only the helper. Then again, I'm not sure how much i was paying attention either. At this point though, i do call him up every once in a while when i need advice or guidance on stuff i've never done before and don't want to have to do twice ( once to learn how to mess it up and twice to do it the right way ), so i guess i'm still getting something out of it.


whats that a picture of on your thumnail? I see the sub, but I can't tell what that is under it? Me being an IT weenie, it looks like a bunch of server racks, but I'm pretty sure I'm wrong.

cheers.

I see you don't recognize a subpanel.

rick

Originally Posted by james spargo

whats that a picture of on your thumnail? I see the sub, but I can't tell what that is under it? Me being an IT weenie, it looks like a bunch of server racks, but I'm pretty sure I'm wrong.

Originally Posted by Rick Hurst

I see you don't recognize a subpanel.

Rick has it.

If you are in a house and not in a sub, no way is that thing you are looking at a subpanel.