All Forum Posts by: Bob H.

I had that done on a storm drain. It didn't work at all. I had to dig up and replace the line, which was clogged with roots.

Yeah, I hate to see painted masonry. Paint it beige and then paint the trim and gutters in a contrasting color, maybe forest green. If you have a little bit of height below that doorway, how about a nice deck covering up that sidewalk leading to the door and the grass to the left of it? Then add a lot of flowers around the edges of the deck and in the area between the other sidewalk and the side of the house.

I would like advice on how to get a reliable cleaner and caretaker (possibly the same person and possibly not) for a furnished vacation rental.

I recently purchased a home in Fort Collins, CO, that I hope to convert to a furnished rental in late summer. During a month or so that I spent fixing up the house before renting it out unfurnished, I found it very difficult even to hire a one-time cleaner who would do a good job. I hired one, then another cleaner and ended up further cleaning rooms they had cleaned after they left.  Another cleaner stood me up, and a fourth did not call me back with a scheduled time as promised. With that experience, the thought of finding someone to provide regular service is daunting.

I once built one of those. I used plain, medium-sized gravel with sand on top of it, then more sand to sweep into the joints once the pavers were down. It worked well.

The one thing I'd change is that I saved a little money by not renting a compacting machine to settle the base. Because of that decision, I probably had a little more uneven settlement than necessary. My main problem over the years, though, was that a tree nearby had roots under the patio and eventually would push up the pavers. That required removing some pavers and sand and trimming the roots in some areas before resetting the pavers.

One more thought: I recently bought LemiShine Multi-Purpose Machine Cleaner to clean the inside of a dishwasher that I thought was not washing well. I suppose it helped. I didn't have a rust problem, but I see that the product claims to eliminate rust stains. A three-pack at Big Lots was cheap, so it's worth a try. (It says you should use two pouches for an initial cleaning of heavy buildup.) The product also is intended for clothes washers and garbage disposals.

Try Lime-A-Way, CLR or the generic equivalent from Dollar Tree. If the racks have rusted, you can buy time with a vinyl paint called Uber Goop.

Both red and black are used as hot conductors. White ordinarily is used for neutral. Typically a three-conductor cable (black, red and white, plus a bare ground not included in this wire count) is used when you need alternate paths for the hot voltage to reach a device. One common case is when you have a lighted fan and a switch that lets you separately control the fan and light. Another common case is a set of "three-way" switches at opposite ends of a hall or staircase, allowing a person at either end to turn the light on or off.

I don't know the LA market, but I found this book by Michael Corbett quite interesting: http://www.michaelcorbett.com/flipit.html

I just reduced my fee from $40 to $30 per adult, because my screening company, National Tenant Network, changed its pricing structure in a way that lets me order one report rather than two for each applicant and still get both a tenant screening score and a national criminal background check.

@Perry Ivy, how about a picture of Jesus, or maybe Thomas Edison, on the cover of the breaker panel? :)