What did you do to your house today?

[Traum]

It is quite a coincidence that you are asking just now. My brother's place has just recently finished the remediation work, and I helped him moved the final bits of furniture back down into the basement this past weekend.

After a LOT of asking around, they found a plumbing company that was willing to look into the work, and it turned out to be a *really* big mess. Their bungalow is ~60 yrs old, but we don't really know whether any renovations have been done to the any of the foundation concrete or drain pipes. As it turned out, however, the old drain pipes were all brittle and cracked, so there was definitely water seepage coming into the basement through that during heavy rain. On top, they found a crack in the foundation (on the outside, I believe) near where the drain pipe was, and they suspect that was likely allowing water to come into the basement as well.

As both a remedial and preventative measure, the plumbing company dug a trench all around my brother's bungalow, replaced the drain pipes, re-applied water sealing all around the foundation concrete, and covered everything up again. It was hugely expensive and took a long time because a lot of the work could only be done during good weather.

Based on what you said in #1, the fix that my brother had to do is likely the same "proper fix" that you mentioned. If your inside seal is working well enough, I would (naively) just leave it at that. Or potentially, if you are concerned, I wonder how viable it is to just dig up that side of the house a bit, and only re-seal the foundation around the vicinity of where the crack is found?

[EvoFire]

How much did it cost to dig and reseal? I didn't get a number, but it said that I can just patch it, dig up that 3 ft where the crack is. Thing is, the crack is 1" on the inside, it might be much bigger on the outside. Though at least it runs straight up and down and not sideways.

[Hondaracer]

Fuck yea what a mess and if your house is so close to the next that it has to be all hand dug that’s $$$$

[underscore]

Finally we're getting it painted, 11 years of staring at butter yellow is enough. It's hard to get an accurate photo of the new colour but we're really liking it so far.

[Liquid_o2]

Is that teal? Bold move.

[Traum]

You DIY-ing this? My goodness... you're a god to me~

[underscore]

Oh hell no, I have zero painting skills. Just doing my wheels was bad enough. We hired pros for this, it's lighter and less blue in person, but definitely a bold colour. We were thinking grey at first but 3 houses up the street did that recently and we wanted something more exciting. Picking a colour was hard cause almost everything is an improvement on the yellow lol.

[snowball]

Originally Posted by underscore

Oh hell no, I have zero painting skills. Just doing my wheels was bad enough. We hired pros for this, it's lighter and less blue in person, but definitely a bold colour. We were thinking grey at first but 3 houses up the street did that recently and we wanted something more exciting. Picking a colour was hard cause almost everything is an improvement on the yellow lol.

What are they doing for prep? Always curious to learn how they keep the paint on after being covered in dirt and soot for so many years. Then I look at my neighbour, whose house is actively shedding and they had it painted in 2021.

[underscore]

They came by a bit before and pressure washed the whole place, I'm not sure what they're doing for the stucco now but I can hear them doing something before they spray. The wood trim was all scuffed up and sanded a bit before they brush it.

[Hondaracer]

I think it will look pretty good, somthing different that isn’t totally crazy lol

Reminds me of my parents Aerostar

[underscore]

It's looking pretty sharp with the trim painted white.

The pic really does look like Aerostar green lol. I'll have to play around and try to get a more accurate looking shot.

[bcrdukes]

Never in a day of my life I would ever come across someone painting their house Aerostar Green. Just fantastic.

[68style]

Late to the party, but I'm digging this.

I might be rolling around in Kelowna in mid September... have to sus out this house now... I'll just ask around if anyone knows what path leads to the Aerostar

[bcrdukes]

Somewhat related, but I recall seeing a few articles where it mentions Conan O'Brien still owns his '92 Ford Taurus SHO in this exact colour.

[68style]

His SHO is like a dark forest green... or emerald... forget what they called it.

It's less blue/teal than this.

[Koflach]

Last month we had the blower fan go out on our HVAC system. It was great timing as it happened during the big heat wave during the second week of July, so we had no AC for a few days (i know, first world problems). A couple weeks later, we noticed a lot of water outside of our mechanical room and assumed we had an issue with our hot water or possibly a grey water back up. Nope, it turns out the fan going down caused the drip pan for our central AC do get a hole in it and we had a slow leak for over a week.

So, now we are waiting for insurance to do it's thing and we will get rid of the carpet/dated moulding in our basement for new vinyl plank and baseboard/casing to match the rest of the house. Hopefully, my work discount on building materials will bridge the gap between what they will cover for carpet and the cost of the new flooring.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, our AC is down again as we are waiting for the HVAC guy to come back and fix the tray as he isn't available until Tuesday. Good times.

[AzNightmare]

Originally Posted by underscore

Finally we're getting it painted, 11 years of staring at butter yellow is enough. It's hard to get an accurate photo of the new colour but we're really liking it so far.

How's it look now? Any updates with a more accurate colour?

[underscore]

I tried to play around with editing it a bit, I got it looking closer on my laptop but it makes everything else look a bit fucky.

[bcrdukes]

Sweet Jesus. I love it.

[Traum]

Aerostar green... damn...

I used to work as a lot boy at Budget Rent a Car, and they had plenty of Aerostars, including some in that Aerostar green...

[bcrdukes]

BBQ @ underscore's place?

[Hondaracer]

I like it

Those garage doors are unfortunate though lol

I’d say just bite the bullet and get the white slab doors for the garage now and enjoy your need paint job to the fullest for the next decade lol

[snowball]

I think the trim would look better beige like the gutters?

[underscore]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

I like it

Those garage doors are unfortunate though lol

I’d say just bite the bullet and get the white slab doors for the garage now and enjoy your need paint job to the fullest for the next decade lol

That's the plan, we skipped painting them because they're beat to shit and original from 1988 so due for a replacement anyways. Trying to get quotes has only been slightly easier than the paint quote. Everyone is so busy now it's hard to even get someone to call you back.

Gutters are getting swapped to white as well. Those are only 24 years old but they weren't done right to begin with. Weirdly swapping the soffits (?) costs twice as much as the gutters and downspouts so we *might* skip that for now.

[sonick]

Originally Posted by underscore

That's the plan, we skipped painting them because they're beat to shit and original from 1988 so due for a replacement anyways. Trying to get quotes has only been slightly easier than the paint quote. Everyone is so busy now it's hard to even get someone to call you back.

Gutters are getting swapped to white as well. Those are only 24 years old but they weren't done right to begin with. Weirdly swapping the soffits (?) costs twice as much as the gutters and downspouts so we *might* skip that for now.

Not sure who you've reached out to for garage door but I used Casp Enterprises out of surrey on bcrduke's recommendation and was happy with them.