Buying A House: C or D?

In britain it's quite normal to not have a dryer and laundromat are rare (every flat I rented back home had a washing machine but no dryer, in canada no apartment I've rented has had in-suite laundry). Unless you have a damp apartment that needs remediation you can dry things by hanging and you dont smell like mildew, and I lived somewhere where it rained most days. I'd rather have an in-suite washer and no dryer than both washer and dryer in the building like I do now.

I've lived with both, without both, and with just a washer, and truly believe that living with both is a luxury, and also one that I'm totally fine with allowing myself. I lived in a 140 sq. foot truck with another person for three years— at a certain point, I need to allow myself some nice things.

as i said, I'm not anti-dryer, it's not standard here and you'd generally need to pay out to have one, if you have the luxury of spare appliance space in the first place, otherwise you'd probably need to remodel your kitchen. (I've never heard good things about combination washer-dryers).
I don't believe that not buying an expensive item because I don't need it or have space for it makes me sanctimonious. I genuinely don't give a shit if anyone else has a dryer or not.

btw the jeans and top I'm wearing both have the "no tumble dry" label on. I'd mainly be drying sheets and socks if I stuck to the care labels.

Kinder, I wasn't targeting people who don't have use or space for them.

It's more the 'I'm sAvInG tHe PlAnET' types that get to me.

what good is saving the planet if i don’t get to be sanctimonious about it ffs

and vice versa tbrr

In britain it's quite normal to not have a dryer and laundromat are rare

wait what? laundromats are rare in Britain? This is like so contrary to my vision of Britain based on movies and tv! ... Seriously, I thought y'all had as many laundromats as pubs.

no!! in cities maybe but I've always been far enough away to need to drive! except my last place which was near an excellent one which was also a coffee shop.

Eastenders is to blame, it's full of people using the laundrette all the time

... and that one movie with Daniel Day-Lewis

I saved the planet by not driving until I was in my 30s so I kind of feel like I have a free pass to leave the disco lights on all day

I could live without a dryer. I currently live with a tiny sink, limited counterspace, and no dishwasher, and that is the poops.

in the UK it’s a citizenship requirement to have a shitty washing machine under the kitchen counter iirc

does any home have unlimited counterspace though? like have you lived anywhere where there was "too much" counterspace?

xp def had that at our london airbnb. then somebody left a coin in their pocket, and i did washer repair on vacation.

In britain it's quite normal to not have a dryer and laundromat are rare

wait what? laundromats are rare in Britain? This is like so contrary to my vision of Britain based on movies and tv! ... Seriously, I thought y'all had as many laundromats as pubs.

― sarahell, Friday, October 23, 2020 9:57 AM (twelve minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

maybe quite rare is an overstatement but there's certainly much more of them in North American cities ime

re: this conversation about sustainability and eco-consciousness in appliances, you all realize that there's quite literally nothing that you can do as an individual household to make an impact on catastrophic climate destabilization, right?

let's all follow this logic to its conclusion and see what happens.

you're arguing with the idea that people should line dry (or whatever) and then retire undefeated from the world of climate activism. by all means fight things at a structural level. but it's possible to do more than one thing.

using your dryer less is probably not even in the top 50 things for most people in the US in terms of carbon output. but it's very easy to do for many people and it's absolutely *insane* that it doesn't happen more often in the US.

and just on a tactical level, i think advocating for personal changes (or at least understanding your personal footprint, which includes services, capitalism, etc.) is effective because it's a good way for people to learn where the majority of CO2 is coming from globally, which will hopefully lead them to advocate for dismantling things. (it won't but it's better than nothing.) working on yourself doesn't require you to forget about capitalism and shell oil.

I wish I still had the Google street view of the house from before we bought it— it looked like absolute shit.

Caek, I have no problem with people doing whatever they want to feel like they're doing their part. Just over sanctimonious (and frankly, often very classiest) BS

Sanctimonious I’ll grant you by this is a thread for people buying a house. A lot of us are buying in the most unaffordable markets on earth. Classist is a stretch.

I like line drying because the physical act of hanging up damp clothes to dry is surprisingly zen-like and calming to me. Also, with the dry air from the Santa Anas my clothes dry faster than they do in the dryer.

we bought the old dairy farm house. i am scared.

Wait is this the retaining wall house???

no, this is the foundation house

Lol I got a foundation guy, I can send him your way. Whereabouts is the house?

Congrats, sufjan! GL with the foundation--how bad could it be?

thanks, io. xp is the foundation guy named Todd? House is off 192 in Mission Canyon. It's not up high on the mountain or anything. Just old and probably has clay underneath. Prepare David Thewlis.

Foundation guy is Colin. Foundation guy #2, that is. Congrats!

No one but me cares but I have a minor homeownership saga going on.

1. When we moved in there was dingy but serviceable beige carpet in our basement.

2. Insert 13ish years of kids, pets, beer, spilled coffee, imperfect potty training, slightly-too-raucous band practices, etc.

3. It looks hideous in the extreme but it had several pounds of furniture and about 2,000 books on top of it.

4. Just as a lark we decided to get an estimate on replacing it. Wow, just two thousand dollars? Heck, sounds great! Go ahead! I'd feared it would be way more. Crap, if I'd known how affordable it was I'd have done it long before.

5. I spend like three days boxing and moving stuff to make it possible to do the installation.

6. The day comes and... it's raining. Apparently they can't do it if it's raining. Fuck. Okay, reschedule.

7. On the rescheduled day, welp, they took a look under the old carpet and there is what looks like asbestos. From circa 1940. No can do.

8. I get an asbestos testing company out and yup, they need to do full abatement - another three thousand dollars. Yikes.

9. Only after that's done can we re-engage the carpet installers.

Bear in mind, the whole time, our thousands of books are in storage, I can't use my music studio and my wife can't use her office.

I guess we don't have much choice - if it's not done now it will just be kicking the can down the road. But argh.

We wust wanted to not look at a coffee stain from 2008, yo.

In general, I think the recommendation is to cover over asbestos rather than remove it? But maybe that's just for walls and roof stuff?

Unfortunately it's in the adhesive under the carpet, and no professional will touch it now without remediation.

If I could do the job myself, I might consider just covering it and pretending nothing was found, but a) I am way too tired and b) I am not skilled enough or devious enough

https://www.instagram.com/p/CIYPbY6hOct/?igshid=9h9fxt2uzewy

Despite the location, I could get down with living here and dedicating my life to renovating it.

Without a serious budget I think lifetime project might be generous. But with a kitchen, a shower and enough heat to survive the winter I could get by.

god that account is such a rabbit hole. i want to buy any of those new york ones. and there are two really interesting ones in crisfield, md. they don't advertise that it's 3 ft above sea level, goodbye houses.

Living in the sunbelt sucks, everything was built after 1965.

that library front desk would be great for the new wfh future.

I think it would be dope as a bar

Now way to put in a vent without being unsightly but inlay an induction cooktop and have the ultimate home breakfast station.

I think it would be dope as a bar

this. an open floor plan kitchen was my first thought.

Music space? Coffee house / wine bar with folkie acoustic gigs, jazz combos, piano and cabaret singers?. Cutesy marketing about how it's the only library you don't have to be quiet in.

This and every cheap church that comes up, I think recording space.

dude, churches are more ideal for music venues because they are already categorized for "group assembly" so it is far less likely you'd have to upgrade them to current building (etc) codes for that purpose. Also, some have living quarters built in, or have historic use of building for a living unit, so you could actually have a residential occupant (or host touring acts or have an artist in residency thing) ... like, churches were the original live/work/event warehouse spaces

so many 'they recorded in an old church' indie band release narratives to contend with, though

buy an old whispering gallery to escalate

I know a guy from college who bought a church and literally has been renovating it for almost two decades -- I think he does have some money but is doing a lot of the work himself. It seems like you have to want that kind of lifetime project for its own sake, he's that kind of guy.

Also, that thing has 4500 sf of space just on the main floor! You don't want to deal with that shit -- just the sheer amount of renovation and maintenance that amount of space means, not to mention heating, cooling etc.

"help yourself to some breakfast. we keep our cereal boxes in the old tabernacle."

"west elm doesn't make a barstool that's the exact height of a martyr's crypt. you have to make it yourself."

friend of a friend bought an old historic church 7-8 years ago with the idea of making it into a recording studio but afaict having access to all that extra space has just removed the guardrails from his gear-hoarder tendency, and hes basically been walling himself up there inside a giant tomb of broken amps and garbage-picked gear ever since

https://i.imgur.com/ozqsw1V.jpg

"for this album we wanted to go back to the basics: just 7 monsters in a room making music"

never noticed before the attention to detail in the sets and props. Sweet silverface fender amp