All Forum Posts by: Just Don

they actually prefer paper and their all time fav is cardboard. NO cardboard should be in any crawlspace or basement even in contact with cement floors or walls. Next worst thing is loose wood debris in yard, crawl space or basement. Guess they like the water it holds.

Might start inspecting the area and all others with a screwdriver. Tap with a good force and if its solid no termites,,,if it is infested you will know,,thin wall barrier and inside all chewed up. They eat from the inside out.

The new Canadian way of treating them is best way. It is putting tubes of what they like around. They drag insecticide home to their den and queen and kills whole colony. Treatment by spraying them is only a barrier and chases them to another easy location and doesnt kill a thing.

insulation is the gift that keeps on giving,,,heating and cooling season. Call an insulation contractor and get quotes, lots of them. Its easy to forget the roof leaks,,,during a drought!!

always always address insulation when remodeling. Or pay the price for not doing it when opportunity arises. Drill the outside walls and blow them full,,,12 inches in attic.

worst I ever had was a twin prop taking off from Springfield Mo. , trying to beat a severe thunderstorm. Didnt quite get there on time.

Turbulance bounced our heads off the ceilling hard multiple times with a tight seat belt. never figured out how,,,but it did and it settled down in 10-15 minutes and thats what mattered most!

I dont know what level it was. But saw people de-plane once in Atlanta airport,,there faces were green, and food and drink dripping from there hair. Just got served their meal and hit the bad stuff. Food and drink hit ceiling and dripped back on them. Plenty of sick faces to go with so they got bounced around big time!!!!

Took a long time just to clean the plane let alone inspect it!!! Lets just say the air sick bags werent in the right spot at the right time!!!

if the water has to travel up 3 or 4 stories,,,is he giving it enough time to get from the heater to his faucet??There is alot of pipe if it is 3/4 especially. My shaving sink has to run for almost 2 minutes to get hot because it is so far of travel.

Can you put one of those small helper units in line, right in his apartment? They can fit in pretty small places.

Waiting till it leaks is a bad idea. Are you going to 'camp' there all the while it rains,,,everytime,,so you know?

You cant always SEE the leaks and resulting damage till it gets costly.

Buy a safety harness, shingle gun and a hammer and fix it when the sun is shining. Meaning tear off old,,,nail on new.

Teaming up with a buddy so he helps you and you help him works best. Tarp at nite if any risk of rain.

OR shell out big bucks for an unknown quality job.

neutral color that doesnt show dirt well or footprints if dirty or wet.

Advantage of a one person home. No kids to color the walls. Single older men and women are most likely tenant. Even a couple in a small house works fine.

Disadvantages-Cant sell it to the up and coming yuppie family. Exit strategy should come before purchase.

Now as small as yours is another story. MY concern is the politics of the town of location. Is there a move to eliminate this (their term, not mine)substandard blighted house?? HERE our building inspectors do every trick in the book to eliminate these, condemn them, and require they be torn down, hauled out. They even do things bordering on illegal but fight them and your troubles only began. There legal resources are limitless,yours and mine are.

If it is indeed that much smaller than average for area, maybe find a better longer term property.

Saying all that in SOME high priced, high cost areas that wouldnt be considered that small. Example in point Key West and prob Hawaii.

So long story short,,,determine the 'long haul' viability of that property. Or residual lot value 'in case'

for a first time do-it-yourself especially,,,,you forgot to factor in the 'burnout' element.

Its real and if you demo the whole house at once you get there sooner than you think.

Stick to small short projects to get your feet wet experience.

Those couple weeks drag into several months,,,then before you know it couple years, then 5-10 years down the road you hire the guy you might have back then.

Happens more often than you think.

relooked at that,,,cant tell what door configeration is on top there. Just wanted to point out if it is shakey,,,,right angles fix that faster than anything. So say add a foot coming sideways down edge of concrete and then turn towards house a foot or two or however far that is. 2 right angles will make it much firmer if connections are solid. Anchored to house makes it even solider..

Hope this is clear as mud.