Buying A House: C or D?

xp Sufjan -- isn't the process to take a sample and send it to a testing lab? The org I work for recently did this on a building we are working on -- it cost us $35.

thanks, sarahell. Been reading more about it and I believe you are correct. You can't tell from black adhesive color alone. Good news is it's also reasonably safe after you cover it up with a new floor. $35 not too bad! Would make things more danherous and expensive if we wanted to route any gas lines on the slab away from an exterior wall

iirc mastic is one of the safer asbestos containing materials bc of its inherent encapsulting properties

Yes, I agree. Mostly worried about the kids walking on it a bunch, which might free some fibers. Also, if we needed to channel the slab for a gas line to cross a doorway to an interior wall. We are leaning toward keeping the water and oven stuff by their already existing hookups to avoid headache. Everybody wants to sell you on an open design with a funtional kitchen island

I don't want to fuck around and end up the subject of mockery on the kitchen island thread.

worst part about this process is i can't sleep. I jokingly complain about our cat, who is an anxious runt leaving a ridiculous number of litterbox deposits. But i'm learning i too am ananxious runt.

wait but im not shitting a lot. or especially in a litterbox. i just can't sleep.

Bathroom leak ;_; ;_; ;_;

Turns out the bathroom reno was shitty and there's no waterproofing under the shower tile and the second showerhead (handheld) has been causing a leak for a long time. The owner didn't fix it, he just redid the sheetrock to hide it. May wind up having to retile the shower which means might as well just redo the bathroom about 5 years sooner than i was hoping to (didn't like it but thought we could live with it).

Boo!

I hate bathrooms

we should all bathe in lakes or streams

even the humble toilet seems to fail in the most obvious but still annoying ways

we should all bathe in lakes or streams

For three years, the nascent Talking Heads lived in a loft with no bath or shower; they would just go over to friends' houses and, after a decent social interval, just ask "hey, do you mind if I take a shower?"

Neddy Merrill of showers

For three years, the nascent Talking Heads lived in a loft with no bath or shower; they would just go over to friends' houses and, after a decent social interval, just ask "hey, do you mind if I take a shower?"

I feel like at some point it would be the friend asking "hey, do you mind taking a shower?"

Or "thanks for stopping by so i can complain about my problems. first, and this one is the least of it, but my shower broke. Have a seat. Shall i open a bottle of pepsi?" Etc.

I spent a good six months of my life bathing only in the river near our place, back when we lived off-grid.

Similar thing with our bathroom, man alive— whoever had done the reno before hadn't connected the shower properly to the main, so whenever we took showers for the first few weeks, water was spraying into the walls and ceiling. A real treat.

Movers are coming next week, after which we will be living with a bunch of staging shit. Gonna feel weird.

where are you moving to again?

Santa Barbara

!

Everybody surfs for a living there, right?

one of my bffs just move down there -- she works for a winery, no surfing

It will always be
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMWIxNGExMDEtOGU1My00YjVkLTkzN2ItYmIzYWNiYjNhMDAzXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjExODE1MDc@._V1_.jpg

(sorry if huge)

hahah every time I see A Martinez in a tv show, I think of Santa Barbara

When I was a little kid, I thought Santa Barbara (the show) was somehow linked to Hanna Barbara, so I would watch the first several minutes of it hoping to see cartoons.

it was on at 2pm (iirc) right before the cartoons and children's shows so ... it makes sense to me

got a quote of $160k for replacing a leaning retaining wall. this house likely not happening.

selling agent also gave us a survey, claiming it showed the wall on neighbor's property. It clearly has the wall outside of the neighbor's parcel line. So I think dude is just trying to scam us.

So dud, i guess

When I was a little kid, I thought Santa Barbara (the show) was somehow linked to Hanna Barbara, so I would watch the first several minutes of it hoping to see cartoons.

― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, September 17, 2020 2:58 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

Me too! I mean, I learned after the first time though.

Damn there goes my plan of renting and/or buying Surfjan’s condo

well we are just asking the seller to pay for it. they likely won't want to. so a bunch of inspectors/engineers made money off us. and we will remain houseless.

My retaining walls are making me not want to own property. I have three of them, two where I'm the upside neighbor and one the downside. They are all slowly failing. One is serious. After being replaced once 10 years ago, my 80-foot redwood tree which is beloved by the residents of the entire block continues to push out my wall into the neighbor's deck. I know I'm going to have to take it down, but it's huge and is hanging right over their house, and it is in the middle of the block with no street access whatsoever, so the idea of trying to remove it gives me nightmares. And thinking about dealing with the 12 or so other owners on neighboring properties who will inevitably be angry about it also really stresses me out

yeah, I am permanently off retaining walls after this.

Retaining walls are pretty much a given in a lot of parts of my town because it’s so hilly. The upside of that is that there are a handful of excellent local stonemasons who really know how to deal with them. We have a couple of old stacked stone walls and a stone and mortar wall and all are holding up well according to the people we had look at them.

All mention of this gives me shivers. I am wondering what am I going to do. How liable will I be for damage to my neighbor's property? Can they really take a four-foot diameter tree in sections out through my house to the street? Because there is no other way

probs with a crane

depends on where you live? ... stonemasons are great in theory, but if you live somewhere earthquake prone? Not the best idea, I think the general material used is concrete in that case? ...Also, depending on where you live, the tree issue could be fraught, like ridiculously fraught.

on the plus side: if you have a whole bunch of fraught trees, you can grow apples

the velvetundergrowth of retaining walls

i'd get that checked if that's a problem for you, likely mold

the velvetundergrowth of retaining walls

Not many people have built a retaining wall, but every one of them started a band

hahahahah thank you!

every one of them started a lawsuit

offering on a different house built in the 1850s. But no retaining walls, thank gourd. it's funny how an old house built in the 1970s is gross, but you go back to 1850 and all the gross shit becomes "charming".

"You installed this floating bamboo floor 15 years ago? It looks like dogshit. This is the original farmhouse wood floor from 1850? How chaaaaaaaaaarming."

"my head hits the ceiling in this room! People sure were hobits back then. Chaaaaaaarming hobits."

as much as I like living in a city, if I were going to buy a house now I would buy one far away from everybody

this sentiment, along with low interest rates, is why we must pay a 20% surcharge in this market.

people from LA bringing their De Niro Heat scheme money my way to escape the Heat