Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

stickguy

Well, I meant for the dealer to do, to make sure you had nothing to worry about.

imidazol97

My oil inlet on my Cruze turbo had a very slow setup when my son owned it. Collected at bottom of tube.
I replaced it after I had the car again.

Nine months later car developed a hot oil scent. Kept getting worse. I decided it was return oil tube on turbo.

Took car to dealer expecting the worse. Turned out my nut on top of my repair was seeping. It dropped over the turbo right n next to the exhaust.

I was red faced. I forgot to check recent work.

BUT, synthetic oil is hard to ignite.

laurasdada

BUT, synthetic oil is hard to ignite.

Try mixing it with a bit of gas, that should help you get the party started.

mjfloyd1

Wrangler 4xe getting the recalls done while I’m out of town. Jeep dealer calls that they found road debris in 3 tires. I was given “multi care ultimate” policy by Jeep due to prior issues with this dealership. SA informs me that I have coverage for 1 tire. Seriously?? I had to explain to him how the policies work and coverages. I think they were confused because Jeep actually gave me two Mopar tire works warranties as well as multi care ultimate.

explorerx4

@jmonroe1,
I tried to post this picture last week but couldn't due to the site technical issues.
This house looks nicer than the average flip. They've been working on it a while.
One thing I was wondering about is the chimney, seems like it clashed with the rest of the house.

kyfdx

Surprised they didn’t paint the siding and the chimney on that side

venture

It doesn't look like they are finished yet.

The end of the porch still has OSB on it and it needs the soffit and fascia done. In fact all of the soffit and fascia needs done.

A work in progress.

explorerx4

They are a long way from done but they did spend a lot of money on that stone.

ab348

I’ve been getting quotes for a number of jobs done to my little (26’x34’, 1100 sq ft finished space) house. Some of them are reasonable, like getting insulation blown into the walls, which happens next week. Others, like getting my gas furnace replaced with a ducted heat pump, are pricey but not a real surprise. But this week I got estimates for removing the ancient aluminum siding and replacing it with new vinyl stuff. Yikes!

cdnpinhead

Is the aluminum stuff failing somehow? What is the failure mode?

oldfarmer50

ab348 said:

I’ve been getting quotes for a number of jobs done to my little (26’x34’, 1100 sq ft finished space) house. Some of them are reasonable, like getting insulation blown into the walls, which happens next week. Others, like getting my gas furnace replaced with a ducted heat pump, are pricey but not a real surprise. But this week I got estimates for removing the ancient aluminum siding and replacing it with new vinyl stuff. Yikes!

I had a handyman buddy do my vinyl siding back in 2010 for $5500 I think. My house is about the same size as yours.

jwm40517

Our townhouse neighborhood built in the mid 80's with cedar siding is required to use James Hardie board as a replacement. It is a fiber cement product that comes in 8.25" x 144" for our applications.
Way more sturdy than vinyl. Locally it costs about $13.00 per board.

ab348

My original thoughts were that it is 7” (or is it 8”?) reveal, so it looks dated. When I first talked to insulation companies about blowing cellulose into the walls they said it had to go first, so that prompted the quotes. Then I found one company that said they could do it by loosening a couple of courses on each side of the house, gently bend it up enough to drill the holes and do the job. No guarantees it would all survive perfectly but they said they did it before, so they’re getting the job. The other thing was that I was thinking of adding some iso foam board under the new siding for even better insulation, but that brings its own set of problems with existing window and door openings, etc, so that seems unlikely now.

Maybe I’ll just get it painted if it survives the insulation job. I hate the color, Grenadier Green. Maybe I’m just tired of it. But a near $20K tab to replace it is a whole lot.

venture

I vinyl sided my whole house quite a few years ago and added insulation. Of course, I was replacing windows and doors as I went so window fit didn't matter.

I used vinyl because it is maintenance free (except for hosing it down or pressure washing any algae that forms occasionally).

I didn't spend nearly that much but work like that is mostly labor cost...and coil stock!

venture

explorerx4 said:

They are a long way from done but they did spend a lot of money on that stone.

I reread your original post. Yes. It clashes.

ab348

venture said:

explorerx4 said:

They are a long way from done but they did spend a lot of money on that stone.

I reread your original post. Yes. It clashes.

I imagine that when they get around to finishing the side with the chimney they will paint that side the same color as the front gable end. Chimney probably the same dark/black paint too.

stickguy

all this siding talk. Our new house was sided this week (should be done, they started Wednesday). So this weekend we can see if we like the color we picked out!

venture

ab348 said:

venture said:

explorerx4 said:

They are a long way from done but they did spend a lot of money on that stone.

I reread your original post. Yes. It clashes.

I imagine that when they get around to finishing the side with the chimney they will paint that side the same color as the front gable end. Chimney probably the same dark/black paint too.

You may be right but I'm not sure the gable end is painted. It may be some kind of weatherproof covering until they get siding or something on there. It's hard to tell from that picture. It is weird around the 2 windows.

It also looks like they are finished with the stacked stone. It's a straight line at the end of the porch.

I guess the possibility exists that they may put that stone on the chimney.

explorerx4

My parents had the house vinyl sided around 1980 and it still looked ok last time I saw it about 5 years ago.
I usually walk the kid's dog and go on that street once a week, so I'll find out what the reno guys do, at some point.

ab348

The guy who provided this siding estimate told me the whole job would be about 5 days work for their crew - not sure if that is 2 guys or a bigger number. He also said that their estimates are generally 30% materials, 30% labor, and 30% margin for them. Not sure about the final 10%.

stickguy

5 days just for the siding on a small house? or are there other things going on (like the insulation)?

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

5 days just for the siding on a small house? or are there other things going on (like the insulation)?

My guy by himself with a little help from his young son did it in about 7-8 days.

stickguy

I think when I had our old house down the crew was done in a couple of days. 2 story colonial. not sure how many guys. though I am sure they were not going slow for perfection.

there is a new build neighborhood up the road from us I walk through daily. When they start the siding it tends to be done quite quickly.

I will know on the new house when I see it this weekend how long it takes, since the builder said they started Wednesday.

ab348

stickguy said:

5 days just for the siding on a small house? or are there other things going on (like the insulation)?

No, this quote does not include any insulation other than something he called "levelwall" which I think is a type of thin accordian-style foam underlay. He also mentioned Tyvek while he was talking to me but I didn't see that on the quote.

I have another quote coming soon that will be interesting to compare.

sda

Beautiful 75 degree weather today motivated me to do a spring wax job on the TL. Don't look too close, compliments of my daughter all 4 rims sport curb rash and the black trim around the windows need refreshing. Looks nice overall.

sda

I have never had a lawnmower rust like this. A band-aid job for sure. Four layers of thick, heavy duty tape. The goal is to make it through one more season. I like the one lever height control and rear drive. We have had a really wet season thus the muddy machine.

explorerx4

@sda,
That mower is mad you only wax the cars.

stickguy

had a surprisingly successful day house wise. went to the lighting store to pick out, well, everything. And the wife was all worked up that we would not find anything she liked, and if so, it would be brutally out of budget. We had looked at their website (terrible to use) and it was frustrating. But, the lighting designer was actually quite good, explained a lot, and was able to show us options that we liked. A couple the boss is not quite sold on (because I like them, and of course can't let that happen). But mostly are done, and could really go with these choices as final and have a very nice end result.

now just waiting for him to pull it all into the quote so I can see the damage, but most of the pieces I was dreading came out a lot more affordable than I expected. So of course going over the allowance, but maybe not nearly by as much as I was afraid of.

kyfdx

I remember asking the lighting showroom person about a number in the catalog: Is that the model number? 1320.65

Nope, that was the price. Next!

This was in 1998

explorerx4

I had the builder double our lighting allowance and we spent all of it.
We did add half a dozen ceiling fans.

stickguy

I am having ceiling fan boxes and switches/wiring put in 6 rooms. Probably waiting to put them in myself.

light prices are crazy. Not just high, but wildly varying for stuff that looks very similar. My favorite was looking at the post head selection on the website (builder installs the light post, we have to buy the light to go on top). First one that came up (in their "featured selections") was $8,000. For one light fixture, to sit outside in the weather. I thought it was obscene when I first looked and thought it was $800. Could not believe they wanted $8k for it.

28firefighter

Yesterday was nice and sunny in the mid 50s, so the vert got a nice wash, wax, and vacuum. Today we were in the mountains and then back home it’s 70 degrees, so the top is down for all errands.

In other news, I found 3 dents in the hood of the Tesla this week. Must have been from a branch during the wind storm. $1200 for PDR due to the aluminum. I’m not amused.

venture

sda said:

I have never had a lawnmower rust like this. A band-aid job for sure. Four layers of thick, heavy duty tape. The goal is to make it through one more season. I like the one lever height control and rear drive. We have had a really wet season thus the muddy machine.

That thing needs a wheel alignment.

That picture reminded me. It's probably time for me to trade in my mower for a new one. I usually do that about every four years. The one I have now is a Toro (I think) with a Honda engine.

roadburner

I have an EGO electric push mower. It does a great job and mowing time is spot on for what we use it for. The only downside is that I lay awake at night terrified that it might catch fire.

stickguy

roadburner said:

I have an EGO electric push mower. It does a great job and mowing time is spot on for what we use it for. The only downside is that I lay awake at night terrified that it might catch fire.

that is what I have. Love it. much better than the crappy troy bilt that never liked to run. EGo even does a better job cutting. If the battery catches fire it will solve my problem with needing to sell the house and hire movers, because the batteries are in the garage. Right next to my hybrid. Lot of lithium out there!

stickguy

Nice day here again (not as nice as yesterday, but some sun and in the 50s). Had the truck out last couple of days running errands, and it managed to get dirty since it rained recently. So, that got a bath today. got ambitious and pulled out the ladder and started washing gutters. Can't say that was fun, but the ones I did look much better!

jmonroe1

stickguy said:

I am having ceiling fan boxes and switches/wiring put in 6 rooms. Probably waiting to put them in myself.

light prices are crazy. Not just high, but wildly varying for stuff that looks very similar. My favorite was looking at the post head selection on the website (builder installs the light post, we have to buy the light to go on top). First one that came up (in their "featured selections") was $8,000. For one light fixture, to sit outside in the weather. I thought it was obscene when I first looked and thought it was $800. Could not believe they wanted $8k for it.

————————————————
I never heard of a light fixture that costs 8 grand. Sounds like the lighting store equivalent of a car dealership saying, “if you don’t ask, you don’t get.”

When we built our house in SC in ‘92 our lighting allowance was $1,500. In the end we topped $3,200.

The interesting part was the 2 story foyer fixture. When we were at the recommended lighting store, Mrs. j was drawn right away to the foyer fixture but it didn’t have a price on it. I told her it was probably too expensive anyhow. It was a big job too, almost 4 feet tall. The saleswoman came over and told us that fixture was discontinued and that was the last one but she’d get us a price. She came back and told us it was originally something like $1,350 but they’d sell it for $700. Since it was a floor model, I able to negotiated that price down to 600 bucks even. Still a lot of money to me at that time.

The funny part about this is the electrician wanted us at the house when he installed it because he didn’t want to do it twice and he warned us if he had to come back to adjust it he was going to charge us 75 bucks to do it again. So, he asked Mrs. j to go out on the street and look at it through the big window above the front door. I remember saying, “wouldn’t you just center it on that window?” He said ordinarily that’s how he’d do it but his experience says it’s best to view it from the street because some folks didn’t like it like that. In the end it was mounted dead center within the window.

It doesn’t take much to bust the builders lighting allowance. I never talked to anyone that build a house that didn’t.

jmonroe

stickguy

ours is only $2k. but surprisingly were able to stay in the ballpark. The foyer light I was expecting to be the biggest problem, and it wasn't going well, then the guy showed us an option in the catalog we both ended up liking. Not really what we were expecting, but grew on us! After that, pretty easy. waiting until after we move in to decide on a light over the dining table since we want to make sure we know where that will end up before we commit to a light.

I think the only changes from our first selection set is going to be the powder room vanity light (she already knows what she wants instead of what I picked out) and probably the pendant lights for over the island. Those we may end up getting on our own elsewhere.

explorerx4

I wanted some Framburg lights, which are made to order(4 lights total), for the bathrooms.
Also got my preferred dining room light, so I consider it money well spent.

stickguy

I get whatever I want.

as long is it is what my wife wants also.

so I compromise by just making sure that it isn't too expensive.

explorerx4

I pretty much got zero input on the kitchen. I saved my bullets for other places.

ab348

Aside from those who build faux-French chateaus, most new houses I see these days have bumper crops of pot lights in ceilings except for the entry hall (though sometimes even there) and over the dining room table. I almost never use my ceiling lights here except in the kitchen and bathrooms.

tjc78

J - when the initial plans came through for our corporate office there was a 20K lighting fixture on the plans.

Our head of procurement sourced something very similar for 1K from Wayfair.

stickguy

ab348 said:

Aside from those who build faux-French chateaus, most new houses I see these days have bumper crops of pot lights in ceilings except for the entry hall (though sometimes even there) and over the dining room table. I almost never use my ceiling lights here except in the kitchen and bathrooms.

we did cans in a few extra rooms (office, master bedroom). The whole great room (kitchen/DR/farmily room) is an open space (whole back of the house) and has a bunch of cans. including 2 roughly defining the space for the dining table. But we put a box in the center also because the wife still likes the idea of a fixture over the table. Just likely not getting that until we are sure we need it.

the other ceiling lights are all simple flush mounts (hallway, spare bedrooms, closets). Other than the 2 story foyer and over the open (180 degree turn) stairwell. Those are hanging fixtures.

Michaell

stickguy said:

ab348 said:

Aside from those who build faux-French chateaus, most new houses I see these days have bumper crops of pot lights in ceilings except for the entry hall (though sometimes even there) and over the dining room table. I almost never use my ceiling lights here except in the kitchen and bathrooms.

we did cans in a few extra rooms (office, master bedroom). The whole great room (kitchen/DR/farmily room) is an open space (whole back of the house) and has a bunch of cans. including 2 roughly defining the space for the dining table. But we put a box in the center also because the wife still likes the idea of a fixture over the table. Just likely not getting that until we are sure we need it.

the other ceiling lights are all simple flush mounts (hallway, spare bedrooms, closets). Other than the 2 story foyer and over the open (180 degree turn) stairwell. Those are hanging fixtures.

Every light in our house (now almost 7 years old) is a can style, except for the ceiling fans in the bedrooms and living room.

oldfarmer50

sda said:

Beautiful 75 degree weather today motivated me to do a spring wax job on the TL. Don't look too close, compliments of my daughter all 4 rims sport curb rash and the black trim around the windows need refreshing. Looks nice overall.

Beautiful for an 18 year old car. Up here you’d be waxing nothing but rust.

oldfarmer50

sda said:

I have never had a lawnmower rust like this. A band-aid job for sure. Four layers of thick, heavy duty tape. The goal is to make it through one more season. I like the one lever height control and rear drive. We have had a really wet season thus the muddy machine.

How about using Bondo?

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

I am having ceiling fan boxes and switches/wiring put in 6 rooms. Probably waiting to put them in myself.

light prices are crazy. Not just high, but wildly varying for stuff that looks very similar. My favorite was looking at the post head selection on the website (builder installs the light post, we have to buy the light to go on top). First one that came up (in their "featured selections") was $8,000. For one light fixture, to sit outside in the weather. I thought it was obscene when I first looked and thought it was $800. Could not believe they wanted $8k for it.

My wife’s relatives who live on the ocean in Gloucester had to replace their outdoor fixtures every year due to corrosion. Maybe if they had spent $8000 they could have avoided that.

oldfarmer50

roadburner said:

I have an EGO electric push mower. It does a great job and mowing time is spot on for what we use it for. The only downside is that I lay awake at night terrified that it might catch fire.

You joke but I hear some cities won’t allow electric scooters to be stored inside apartments over fire concerns.

https://youtu.be/e-nE-w72Yrg?si=zRy7wMyVPhZd5jCN

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

roadburner said:

I have an EGO electric push mower. It does a great job and mowing time is spot on for what we use it for. The only downside is that I lay awake at night terrified that it might catch fire.

that is what I have. Love it. much better than the crappy troy bilt that never liked to run. EGo even does a better job cutting. If the battery catches fire it will solve my problem with needing to sell the house and hire movers, because the batteries are in the garage. Right next to my hybrid. Lot of lithium out there!

When Troy-bilt was actually built in Troy NY their equipment was top line. I still have a rototiller that I bought from their factory store in 1976. Now it’s just a name.