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"Obvious" Things You Should Have Known But Didn't

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Here is some more homeowner stuff people might not know.

A slate roof should never need to be replace, it just needs to be maintained. It only needs to be replaced when the labor of the tiles that need to be replace is more than the cost of a tear down and replacement. That is about when 50-70% of the tiles need to be replace. So if a roofer tried to convince you to replace or put on a different type of roof, go find someone honest and knows what they are doing.

You should flush little water out of your steam boiler every week or two during heating season to clear out any sediment and build up.

If you change out the anode rod every couple years on your hot water heater, it can double or triple the life of your hot water heater.

If you buy your own cable modem, it will pay for itself in the first year of internet service since you won't have to pay the rental charge.

LED light bulbs can actually save you a noticable amount of money on your electric bill each month.
 
inliner311 said:
Here is some more homeowner stuff people might not know.

A slate roof should never need to be replace, it just needs to be maintained. It only needs to be replaced when the labor of the tiles that need to be replace is more than the cost of a tear down and replacement. That is about when 50-70% of the tiles need to be replace. So if a roofer tried to convince you to replace or put on a different type of roof, go find someone honest and knows what they are doing.

You should flush little water out of your steam boiler every week or two during heating season to clear out any sediment and build up.

If you change out the anode rod every couple years on your hot water heater, it can double or triple the life of your hot water heater.

If you buy your own cable modem, it will pay for itself in the first year of internet service since you won't have to pay the rental charge.

LED light bulbs can actually save you a noticable amount of money on your electric bill each month.
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Didn't know about the anode rod. That's interesting.

Also, the furnace filter is supposed to be changed monthly or bimonthly. I have been in rentals that were never changed in 2-3 years.
 
inliner311 said:
There is also a filter on your dish washer that you should clean every couple months. It's real disgusting what builds up on it. You might think your dish washer is broken if it gets too clog.
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This is what is happening when you get tiny specks of food on everything. The filter needs cleaned. It is horrifying.
 
Cavatt said:
This is what is happening when you get tiny specks of food on everything. The filter needs cleaned. It is horrifying.
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Horrifying is the proper description the first time you decide to clean the dish washer filter.
 
Our home dishwasher came broken from the previous owner, and when a repairman came to install a new one, he said it couldn't be done because it was a half inch off the proper size. So I dishwash the old fashioned way -- manually. I leave them to dry in a dish drainer.
 
bob2the2nd said:
so i assume the two of you have figured it out, but washers are rated for specific laundry detergents. the HE detergent is not somethign you can mix with a non-HE washers, and vice versa. It will take a little while but it will eventually destroy the washer.
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I do know this, but the owners of the house before me did not. They left their washer and dryer. The washer left everything smelling mildewy and but of course, they were using regular detergent. It doesn't wash it all away. I don't know about breaking it, but it leaves a residue that allows mold and mildew to grow, which was happening in all the lines.

I got a hand-me-down super nice set of electrolux washer and dryer, but the dryer heating element was burned out, so I had to replace it which is how I found out that the inside of your dryer needs cleaning out occasionally.

Teflon tape or thread sealer is crucial when you are servicing water or gas lines to appliances. Thread sealer is preferred for gas.
 
KevinLoveFan said:
Our home dishwasher came broken from the previous owner, and when a repairman came to install a new one, he said it couldn't be done because it was a half inch off the proper size. So I dishwash the old fashioned way -- manually. I leave them to dry in a dish drainer.
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There are slimmer sizes and even counter top small ones.

This is hard with a baby. I was all hand wash until I had a kid. Dishes explode in number and you do use a lot of water hand washing
 
KevinLoveFan said:
Our home dishwasher came broken from the previous owner, and when a repairman came to install a new one, he said it couldn't be done because it was a half inch off the proper size. So I dishwash the old fashioned way -- manually. I leave them to dry in a dish drainer.
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I wonder if one of your cabinets shifted and took up that 1/2". I bet a handyman could move it so you can get a dishwasher in it.
 
The sheer amount of little things about maintenance is so much. I definitely was not taught about 100% of the last 2 pages and will probably never learn how to do most of those things. I am always really impressed by the amount of knowledge you need to really keep stuff functional.
 
KevinLoveFan said:
Our home dishwasher came broken from the previous owner, and when a repairman came to install a new one, he said it couldn't be done because it was a half inch off the proper size. So I dishwash the old fashioned way -- manually. I leave them to dry in a dish drainer.
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We had one of those dishwashers when I grew up.
 
CleveRocks said:
I had a room mate in college studying Aeronautical Engineering. He was from Algeria.. As a junior, he had a project to make a model for a wind tunnel. He locked himself in his room for a weekend making it from cigarette boxes, tape and glue.. when he came out with it , he was super excited.. he had built a model of a passenger jet in perfect proportion, including engines and aerodynamic wings.. But the tail , while built like a wing was affixed to the back 90 degrees to what was on and actual jet.. He had never noticed the tail on the airplane.. We were all laughing our asses off for an hour..Dude was a cool guy.. and actually graduated.. Married a girl from Buffalo and moved to Seattle.. but was one of those moments..
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Moved to Seattle? He works for Boeing and helped design the Max, right?
 
cavsfever said:
Moved to Seattle? He works for Boeing and helped design the Max, right?
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The Max problems stem from not mechanically redesigning a plane to accommodate the new engines.. " We can fix it in Software" What could go wrong?

This followed by arguing there would be no need for training as "flying would be substantially the same" as long as the software works....

So if my college friend had been involved with the Max, I think that would have delivered a safer product, and might not have put one of America's jewels at risk..
 
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