Every drop of water, crack, ant, royally freaks me out at this point. I can’t afford to rent. I own a shitty house that is a fixer upper. So frustrating.
NEVER start a plumbing project when the hardware or big box stores are closed.
Similar to auto repairs. If you have one vehicle and you start working on it make sure you have uber or a neighbor willing to drive you to the parts store because you forgot a part/wrong one.
Reminds me of dental issues too. If you bust a tooth it will ALWAYS happen from Fri evening-Sun when the dentist is off.
I did learn this one the hard way. This is excellent advice.
Don’t tell me… I’m 36 years old. Five years ago, I bought my house—an old one in a small town here in Spain that needed a complete renovation, including the roof. After four years of very, very hard work, mostly done by myself, I managed to restructure the house. I redid everything except the exterior walls. I moved in six months ago. So, here’s what happened: last month, some workers were installing new fiber optic cables for the whole street. They climbed onto my roof without asking and drilled a hole in it to run the cables—without my consent. For the past two weeks, I’ve been battling the fiber company and insurance to get this fixed. Meanwhile, I’ve had a bucket in one of my rooms for two weeks, and the room is now full of humidity and mold. The entire ceiling, which is made of drywall, needs to be completely redone. My hair is falling out nonstop—I’ll be bald like a light bulb in a couple of months if this keeps up.
It would be a real shame if that cable which is on your property suddenly wasn’t.
Username checks out.
Never, ever, under any circumstances, think that you’ve finally done everything that needs doing.
Not really much advice other than being proactive about issues, but it is funny how concerned you quickly become with all types of water once you own a home. Rain intrusion, drainage in the yard, leaky pipes, dripping noises, frozen pipes, gutters, humidity, water heater, storms, etc, etc. It’s a real menace and so are squirrels (as I also found out after purchasing a home).
This right here. Every running water noise your ears perk up thinking that it’s the worst. Then you realise it’s just the dishwasher.
Did you hear that? I feel like the toilet flushed funny
I just fixed the dishwasher that is original to the house. I’ve never used a dishwasher before(ty technology connections). my god is it loud and keeps giving me a heat attack even a week after using it, but I can’t argue with clean dishes.
You certainly can argue with them. It’s only a problem if they start to argue back.
how concerned you quickly become with all types of water
LOL, yes! 99% of my problems these last 5 years have been related to water. It’s really made me want to learn more about plumbing.
I pulled the hydrometer out of my cigar humidor to became more aware of the dampness of my basement. I also spent over $1,000 on evicting a family of raccoons out from under my backyard deck. So yeah, I get it HAH
Did you have to hire a lawyer to serve them papers?
They just ate it as well :(
Ugh gotta repair my roof in a few weeks. At least it’s metal so cheap af… Damn snow pulled some flashing down.
Learn to fix these things.
I get ants turn up maybe once a year during summer. putting some ant killer powder down when they show up usually sorts them out.
DIY isn’t too hard, plenty of vids on youtube about how to do more or less everything.
I did all the laminate flooring in the top floor of my sisters house using nothing but youtube, a dremmel and a mitre saw.
I probably should have invested in a laminate cutter in hindsight but i got it done
To add to this, perfect is the enemy of good. You probably won’t do it as well as a professional, but having it done is better than not at all (since DIY is generally cheaper.
I know it is cheesy, but look at every maintenance project as an opportunity for learning a new DIY skill.
Start going to garage sales and flea markets to collect tools.
It helps if you can chitchat with someone IRL about mutual homeowner issues.
Homeownership is man’s continuous battle against water.
Homeownership is man’s continuous battle against water.
Yeah, a heck of a lot of household troubles can be put on the backburner, but anything involving water intrusion needs to be fixed right away.
My home is from the 1890s and has a sandstone foundation with no footer. It leaks ground water, but only after a torrential downpour or when a lot of snow melts. Sandstone was not designed to ever be completely watertight. Leaks are incredibly common due to it just being a stack of rocks in the ground.
Luckily it all leaks right into an old grey water line in the floor. It tends to slowly fill up, then makes its way back into the earth either through that or my brick floor.
It can be a little gross and stressful at times but I’m waiting til spring to install a sump pump
I know some people with a similar house. I guess the bright news is that when a house gets that old, but it’s still standing, you probably have some time, lol.
I agree so much with the water thing. I spent two days on reshaping my yard
I’m trying to convince myself I need a table saw to replace a rotten board in my deck.
One board? Hell no. Circular saw it. If you don’t own a circ saw, buy that instead
Yah, I was going to just get a board cut but this is an excuse to buy a new tool, right?
So many people who are mentally and cognitively bankrupt own houses. They never do any maintenance on them, or if they do, they never do it right. And yet, their houses aren’t (always) falling apart.
Houses are more sturdy than our anxieties convince us. Fix things little by little as they come, prioritize what comes first. Your house won’t fall apart or blow up. This is what I tell my wife when she gets nervous about something creaking.
I learned to fix it. Before YouTube, that usually means not so great. But now, I usually do at least as good as a job as the people I’d hire.
Fixing stuff is easy, and you have to accept that there’s no perfect fix.
Ants, set out ant bait traps. Look outside and see if there’s a trail, follow it to the source, and spray it with ant poison.
Cracks, YouTube that. They may be nothing.
Leaks, if it’s plumbing, you can buy pipes at home Depot and replace them.
Granted, it will take a while. Maybe all day. But you’ll get an endorphin rush when it’s done and eventually you’ll come to know all the ins and outs of your house.
But it’s you look at it and it’s too big, Google a company to do it. Even if you’re halfway, and find you’re stuck. No shame in getting help. This shines you don’t have a family member or friend who’s already handy.
But really, if you can’t fix it, can’t afford to have it fixed, just do what you can to keep the house clean and work on it a little bit or put aside money till you can. That’s hard, but that’s owning a house. Like anything in life, it’s difficult. But it doesn’t have to stay that way, with enough time and practice.
You’re already smarter than many, asking for other’s opinions. Don’t suffer in silence. I believe in you!
no perfect fix
And if you need convincing, go measure some parts of your house. Peak around in places and see how its actually assembled compared to how you thought it would be. Then realize it hasn’t fallen over yet, so maybe perfection doesn’t matter.
We all want to believe that these rooms actually follow geometry with things like parallel/perpendicular walls.
I’ve just been making a wardrobe in an alcove where in the space of 1200mm they have managed to be out by 40mm (1.5 inches in 4ft for our American folks) Trying to be within 1-2mm and deciding on referencing a side wall that’s curved but making the room “more square”, and having a variable depth wardrobe or making something that looks right but that I know is a parallelogram. Either way a future guy with a tape measure will ask “what idiot built this?”
And if you are not 100% confident, take lots of pics as you go. And every step, do something that you figure you can undo. Worse case scenario, it goes back to how it was…
Great advice. Here’s another hint for first timers: you’re going to get it wrong. Spend half a day replacing a faucet, following all the instructions and the collective wisdom of YouTube. Turn the water back on and… drip, drip.
Patching drywall, fixing a drawer slide, replacing a loose electrical outlet… No matter how much you read or watch there is some finesse to each. Practice and experience will make it so you get it right the first time more often, and then when you’re an old person like me you reach a point where you can pretty much do it better than the fly-by-night contractor you’d hire.
One more piece of advice. Don’t mess with live electricity. Wall current can stop your heart instantly or start a fire in the middle of the night. Turn off breakers and be diligent about tightening connections and keeping things to code, but don’t be too afraid of it. A little bit of awareness is all it takes. And the first time you turn that breaker back on it may pop, then you’ll see what went wrong and never make that mistake again.
I know I said one more, but here is one more “one more”. Hit yard sales or estate sales for cheap tools. You’ll have to do this proactively and not when you actually need them. Usually you can pick up stuff for pennies on the dollar. An old caulk gun, adjustable wrench, half box of drywall screws… All good to pickup on the cheap.
I know DIY isn’t everyone’s favorite past time, but after the first few things you tackle you might find it actually enjoyable. I know the combination of saving money, securing my home’s integrity, and completing a job well done is something I look forward to.
Remember this is a marathon and not a sprint. So think in long terms for fixing things. Even if you sell the house having something done correctly will increase the value. Fix something and maintain as best as possible to keep it working or as high value. This feels best if you do it room by room so you can enjoy the things you fixed.
I remember going from being super excited that I owned the walls and fixtures around me to then realising I owned the walls and fixtures and no-one else was going to fix them. Not everything needs doing now though, so separate the issues into things you can live with, mid-term renovations and now things.
Oh, and always remember you’re not paying off someone else’s mortgage anymore!
That’s how i deal with it.
It’s not causing more damage, it can wait.
It’s not someone else who’s benefiting from my hard earned money
Know when to bodge a fix, and when to nut up and spend some time and money on something. Damp mouldy patch on the ceiling? Have a look in the ceiling space, see if you can spot the issue, fix it if it’s easy. Slap some mould killer on it, done, don’t worry about it. If it comes back? Get it fixed.
Writing shit down helps. I’ve got a whole todo list of things that need to be fixed. It’s shitty how long it is, but because it’s written down it’s already half taken care of and I don’t have that random stress of ‘oh good that’s right there’s a leaky shower’ and having to remember to do that thing.
List the issues, google one by one how to bodge it, decide if it’s worth it.
If you have a damp moldy spot on a ceiling, that’s likely leaking from the roof. Roof leaks can be very difficult to find; if you have asphalt shingles that are starting to curl at the corners, then it’s probably just time to replace them, along with flashing. Thankfully, depending on the pitch of your roof, re-roofing isn’t that awful. It gets ugly it you have a really steep roof pitch, or if you have an flat EPDM roof in a brick home.
Learn/Improve your DIY skills, most things that need fixing around the house are actually pretty simple to do yourself
This 100% also most general contractors are just scam artists that will do a very shit job or make the thing worse.
It beats having a landlord.
Same sentiment for me, at least I’m paying myself ( mostly ) every month to live in this place
If you can afford the down payment, it really makes a lot more sense to buy your home than rent it.
This is it for me. There are a lot of things that aren’t awesome about owning and maintaining a house, but not dealing with a smug, PITA landlord every month is absolutely worth it to me.
Maybe take a moment to appreciate the incredible privilege you have to own your home. Nearly everyone reading this will never get to own a home.
It’s been far more expensive than renting. We bought a house with a lot of problems and kt8a struggle. I would never call it a privilege. It’s like buying a car built in 1983 with 500,000 miles.
Then sell it
Oh, I want to so much. But I can’t convince the wife.
Then quit complaining and accept your choices
Depends on the condition of the home. Make sure you get a good inspection before buying and understand the ramifications of anything they find if you go ahead with a purchase. Things that eventually need to be replaced, likely in the lifetime you’ll own it, are the water heater, refrigerator (assuming it is cheaper than replacing the compressor), HVAC and roof. Not terrible but you have to budget for it. Since you say you live in a “fixer upper” I’d say just keep it so it doesn’t leak. Don’t worry about ants as long as you keep all of your food sealed up and they aren’t carpenter ants. If they are then you need an exterminator.
You WILL find the occasional bug, odd noise, scheduled repairs and replacements, etc. These aren’t causes for panic. I can do most basic repairs but I leave plumbing and bigger electrical jobs to pros because they require specific skills, familiarity with the issues and lots of tools I wouldn’t need again. Yard maintenance is just work. I call it my “gym” lol.
My mortgage payments will go down over time unlike rent that just goes up. On the downside my property taxes and insurance costs have gone up as the value of my home has gone up. I have great neighbors also.
