We Bought a Home AAHHHHH

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Check here if you want to see how little Julie and I know about leaving a rental and owning our own place.

First up: does anyone know what this thing in the bathtub is called?

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jwhouk

jwhouk

And you need a new one.

Yes, it's a bathtub overflow valve, and likely the automatic drain lever. You pull/turn the lever to put the stopper in the drain. It looks like it's been rusted through... you did think to set aside some cash to pay for repairs like that, right?
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

jwhouk said:
And you need a new one.

Yes, it's a bathtub overflow valve, and likely the automatic drain lever. You pull/turn the lever to put the stopper in the drain. It looks like it's been rusted through... you did think to set aside some cash to pay for repairs like that, right?
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We have, but I needed to know what it was called. It's like $9, so that'll be no trouble. Thank you!

(We've never used one, so I was clueless.)
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Okay, new problem:

IMG_20181007_180422.jpgIMG_20181007_180608.jpgIMG_20181007_180441.jpg

So we're trying to put curtains up here, but I'm not sure what these jutting points are or if they're meant to sustain a current rod, or if we need to remove them and screw in new anchors.

Also:

IMG_20181007_181024.jpg
Our water heater is at a strange and immovable angle, so I don't know what kind of tray could fit there below the TPR outlet pipe extension. I want to say goodbye to the whole thing and get a tankless one, but I don't want to go nuts on the new and first credit card and regret it.
 
Celt Z

Celt Z

Those are curtain rod supports for a specific style of curtain rod:

Unless you have that rod, I'd get new ones. We have some in our house. They're fine for very light curtains or valances.

All I can tell you on the water heater is the last person I know who got a tankless one said their water bill shot up. With almost unlimited hot water, everyone was using a lot more of it. Otherwise, I know nothing.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

Hailey Zero Mission said:
So we're trying to put curtains up here, but I'm not sure what these jutting points are or if they're meant to sustain a current rod, or if we need to remove them and screw in new anchors.
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This is the type of mount you get with a "lockseam" type curtain rod, which has the end placed over the projection and then brought downwards to "lock" it in place. They're not terribly durable, but they're good for privacy-type curtains. I wouldn't hang any kind of room-darkening curtain from them, though.
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Hailey Zero Mission said:
Our water heater is at a strange and immovable angle, so I don't know what kind of tray could fit there below the TPR outlet pipe extension. I want to say goodbye to the whole thing and get a tankless one, but I don't want to go nuts on the new and first credit card and regret it.
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By the time water is coming out of that pipe, you'll be worrying about more than where to put a catch tray.
That pipe is there as a release in case the pressure inside the HWH reaches dangerously high levels, so aside from testing it now and again to make sure it works, there's no real reason you must have a tray there, because the alternative to having a wet floor is much, MUCH worse.


--Patrick
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

PatrThom said:
This is the type of mount you get with a "lockseam" type curtain rod, which has the end placed over the projection and then brought downwards to "lock" it in place. They're not terribly durable, but they're good for privacy-type curtains. I wouldn't hang any kind of room-darkening curtain from them, though.
View attachment 27730
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Thank you. I've seen the kind in the picture before and they're flimsy as you say. We'll have to pull out those curtain hangers then and install new anchors, because Julie bought heavy curtains for room-darkening purposes.

By the time water is coming out of that pipe, you'll be worrying about more than where to put a catch tray.
That pipe is there as a release in case the pressure inside the HWH reaches dangerously high levels, so aside from testing it now and again to make sure it works, there's no real reason you must have a tray there, because the alternative to having a wet floor is much, MUCH worse.


--Patrick
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:eek:

Thank you but OH MY GOD I need a tankless water heater.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

Hailey Zero Mission said:
OH MY GOD I need a tankless water heater.
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I mean, you need a tankless water heater ANYWAY because duh endless hot water and doesn't run when you're not using it, but yeah.
Just try not to cycle them on and off unnecessarily. They don't like that, especially the ones with pilot lights. Sometimes the "whoosh" of ignition can blow out the pilot light if it doesn't stay on long enough to fully ignite.

--Patrick
 
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blotsfan

blotsfan

PatrThom said:
I wouldn't hang any kind of room-darkening curtain from them, though.
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Why do you say that? I have those kinds of curtain rod and use blackout curtains with them and haven't had any issues. Am I going to rip apart the wall of my apartment?
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

blotsfan said:
Why do you say that? I have those kinds of curtain rod and use blackout curtains with them and haven't had any issues. Am I going to rip apart the wall of my apartment?
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The rods themselves are usually not very strong/tend to sag, so if you’re going to be hanging anything heavy (like blackout or actual insulating curtains) it’s probably better to go with something designed to take the weight. If you prefer the convenience, you can get ones like that meant to be installed as a duo or even a trio.

—Patrick
 
Dei

Dei

Hailey Zero Mission said:
Thank you. I've seen the kind in the picture before and they're flimsy as you say. We'll have to pull out those curtain hangers then and install new anchors, because Julie bought heavy curtains for room-darkening purposes.



:eek:

Thank you but OH MY GOD I need a tankless water heater.
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Ours cost $5000 with labor because it needed it's own vent and we needed an electrician to run another outlet. So keep that in mind and temper your expectations for a few years as the tech gets cheaper. (We also got a higher end one after research and recommendation)
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Dei said:
Ours cost $5000 with labor because it needed it's own vent and we needed an electrician to run another outlet. So keep that in mind and temper your expectations for a few years as the tech gets cheaper. (We also got a higher end one after research and recommendation)
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I'm hoping it'll cost less for us since our home is already all electric.
 
drifter

drifter

Had a tankless put in, cost $1500 with install I believe. This was to replace a 50 gallon unit.
 
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Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

I poured Liquid Plumber in the bath drain to undo a clog and this floated up:

IMG_20200205_174123.jpg

We don't use bar soap, so ... are we at the beginning of a bad horror movie? Will they hatch?
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

I can't tell what that even is.

If you don't know what kind of pipes you have, you should probably stick to just the alkaline drain openers. The acidic ones can destroy pipes.

--Patrick
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

PatrThom said:
I can't tell what that even is.

If you don't know what kind of pipes you have, you should probably stick to just the alkaline drain openers. The acidic ones can destroy pipes.

--Patrick
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Did not know that.

When I flushed the drain, the things went down. I dread the spring.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

Hailey Knight said:
Did not know that.
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The most common acidic drain cleaners use sulphuric acid. While effective on most organic (and some inorganic) clogs, it is extremely hazardous to clothing, skin, lungs, eyes, etc. It can also corrode the pipes themselves if left to sit there in the pipes once the drain is moving again.


tl:dr; - Your go-to will probably always be lye.

--Patrick
 
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