The Super Official Homeowners Thread

[ViPER1313]

Yea that’s broke

[JPolen01]

You have a freon leak

[Jewels]

Or the filter is dirty, or the coil is frozen. Typically a coil is frozen because there's a refrigerant leak, but if the filter is dirty in the air handler then there's not enough air flow to the coil and that bad boy will freeze up quick. Turn the unit off for 24 hours so the coil can thaw. They can't fix it if its frozen anyway. So do it now. Do not continue to run the unit because you are literally just throwing your money down the drain. If it ain't working, stop using electricity you pay for it run it.

[Sully]

I've tried two different filters. One brand new. Still does it. This has been going on for at least a month. Don't think it's frozen coils cause we've had cool days where it hasn't had to work hard and it'll get to temp at night. My experience with frozen coils, it won't really cool at all and the temp will keep going up. We are top floor and get all the heat so I can't really turn it off (I would if it was frozen) cause it'll be like 100 degrees. It can keep it under 80 at least now.

I will double check the units when I get home. Still annoyed that I'm pretty sure their checking the AC was coming into the apartment and staring at the thermostat for 20 minutes seeing it was indeed the correct temperature at the coolest part of the day.

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[Jewels]

If its 100 degrees out and your system keeps the apartment under 80 degrees the only thing wrong with it is that its likely old, and inefficient. 1 or the other or both. In this kind of humidity and heat an older unit cannot keep up. Its typical to see a 20 degree variance. As you said, Apartment life ain't all its cracked up to be. But as a reference my Window unit at 1 end of my house is set at 70 and the living room was 71 yesterday at lunch time. My bedroom is probably 75 with the ceiling fan helping. So I dunno man.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Just be prepared to pay more than you think.   Time from their home base, not when they get there,  rounded up hours,  they nickel and dime you with tape and blankets.  And no,  they wont tell you before or give you an estimate.  

I always hire movers now,  but 3 guys in their 20s should be able to do it easier, faster, and with a lot less hassle than hiring sketchy movers.

3 guys in their 20s? Move yourselves come on!

I ended up moving myself down to NC for several reasons
1. They wanted $6k for ONE trip
2. I needed 3 trips, one before staging, one when we sold the stuff, and then one more when we moved our stuff from the storage unit to our house (Our house wasn't ready until 2.5 weeks after our old house sold).
3. Trust a bunch of movers to care about my stuff/not steal tools was enough of a concern.

If someone else is paying or comping a move for you, I can easily see paying someone else.  But shit, $6-12k is still a lot.  I ended up paying some movers (2 dudes) for 2 hours of their time for I think $175 or $200 and they moved all the heavy stuff in (treadmill/big dressers/chairs etc).

Next move? I want something smaller and just getting rid of all our shit.    Moving myself was extremely tough but still ended up only taking me a couple days and I viewed it as a workout.

[Sully]

It worked last summer so yea idk. But I'm not paying another $100 on top of my current rent (the proposed rate adjustment for next year) plus an extra $120 on my power for all the summer months if that is the case. They can kiss my ass. Already have to pay an extra $150 to $200 a month on power in the winter because the system and their apartments are so inefficient.

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[Deceus]

It could just not be keeping up. My parent's AC did the same whenever it got to be over 95. Just too big of a house for that unit. It was good for 20 degrees at best until they replaced it. So if was 100, the best you could hope for was that it stayed under 80 inside.

I was going to ask if you were on the top floor because that makes it even more likely. But you're probably right that no real check was made. Had the coils freeze at a place at VA Beach and you're correct that it wasn't doing any kind of cooling until it was fixed. Only way to know for sure is if this wasn't happening last year, is it a new place?

edit: since it wasn't happening last year, something is definitely on it's way to failing.

[Apoc]

Just be prepared to pay more than you think.   Time from their home base, not when they get there,  rounded up hours,  they nickel and dime you with tape and blankets.  And no,  they wont tell you before or give you an estimate.  

I always hire movers now,  but 3 guys in their 20s should be able to do it easier, faster, and with a lot less hassle than hiring sketchy movers.

3 guys in their 20s? Move yourselves come on!

I ended up moving myself down to NC for several reasons
1. They wanted $6k for ONE trip
2. I needed 3 trips, one before staging, one when we sold the stuff, and then one more when we moved our stuff from the storage unit to our house (Our house wasn't ready until 2.5 weeks after our old house sold).
3. Trust a bunch of movers to care about my stuff/not steal tools was enough of a concern.

If someone else is paying or comping a move for you, I can easily see paying someone else.  But shit, $6-12k is still a lot.  I ended up paying some movers (2 dudes) for 2 hours of their time for I think $175 or $200 and they moved all the heavy stuff in (treadmill/big dressers/chairs etc).

Next move? I want something smaller and just getting rid of all our shit.    Moving myself was extremely tough but still ended up only taking me a couple days and I viewed it as a workout.

FWIW, we paid ~$850 to have an entire house moved across town. Nothing went missing or got broken, including when they had to get my pinball machine up this steep/narrow steps. I know my fat ass wasn't doing this...

Here's what the company email said. We packed everything beforehand, so there were no material costs.

You are confirmed for the 30th of June at 9am , 3 movers with our 26ft truck. Rate is $130/hour. Based on the information provided, I expect your move to take roughly 6-8 hours. This makes your estimated total roughly $780-1040 before packing and materials if you request them. Hourly charges are prorated by the 1/4 hour beyond the minimum for the day, pay for the time you use. We do offer free material delivery with all full-service moves. Payment is due, cash or check, at the end of the job. Credit processing is also available with a 4% surcharge. Gratuities are always welcome and appreciated. Please note there is a 4 hour minimum requirement for moves that take place on the weekend or in the evening(after 5pm). 1 hour minimum weekdays. 

[Sijray21]

What are the bigger pieces of furniture?

I've never used movers before, but now that I have actual furniture and plenty of disposable income for movers I won't be moving myself again. If you have a bad back then I'd be tempted to get movers if you can't get a group of friends to move stuff. We used a u-haul for the last move. We would've just used our cars if it weren't for a couch and and a bed frame.

Packing properly is key. I showed up to a friend's place expecting to move stuff and he was barely packed... I said I'd come back tomorrow when he was ready to move stuff :-p

I moved 7 times in 6 years after college and each time I just used my friends, my Integra (multiple trips each move), and my titan for my final move (2 trips) in that time span.

[Sully]

It could just not be keeping up. My parent's AC did the same whenever it got to be over 95. Just too big of a house for that unit. It was good for 20 degrees at best until they replaced it. So if was 100, the best you could hope for was that it stayed under 80 inside.

I was going to ask if you were on the top floor because that makes it even more likely. But you're probably right that no real check was made. Had the coils freeze at a place at VA Beach and you're correct that it wasn't doing any kind of cooling until it was fixed. Only way to know for sure is if this wasn't happening last year, is it a new place?

edit: since it wasn't happening last year, something is definitely on it's way to failing.

I would kind of agree that if it's old, it might not keep up but that still doesn't mean I should have to deal with it for what it costs to live there.

The other thing is, these are really the first hot hot days we've had. Its been in the 80's and it's still getting up to 74 or 76 inside with it set at 68 (if it worked, we would not have it set that low but the only time it ever actually gets to 68 is a few hours in the morning. For example it was just getting to 69 when I woke up this morning. I'm sure it's 75 by now.

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[Senor_Taylor]

Yeah, I'm not too invested in my manliness to sacrifice my health. I have back problems and I'm not willing to lie in bed all week to impress Evan and DJ.

I'll call around and get some quotes. I have a table, chairs, sofa, recliner, big leather chair, mattresses, bed, a huge pong table, 3 tv stands, a HUGE desk in my room, a bunch of end tables, and a few other things too big to fit in our cars.

In the garage I have big shelves and my big toolboxes. I can't imagine it would take pro movers more than 4 hours to do the whole apartment and garage in one trip.

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[.RJ]

I ended up moving myself down to NC 

If you have your own 20' enclosed trailer then yeah it makes a heap of sense to cart your own stuff and hire a couple dudes off of craigslist at either end to load and unload.  

If we ever find a house to move to in reston, I'm paying someone.  I'm not even sure I need to pack my own stuff but probably will.

[Jake]

I ended up moving myself down to NC 

If you have your own 20' enclosed trailer then yeah it makes a heap of sense to cart your own stuff and hire a couple dudes off of craigslist at either end to load and unload.  

If we ever find a house to move to in reston, I'm paying someone.  I'm not even sure I need to pack my own stuff but probably will.

RJ beat me to it, hah. Although DJ made it even easier given his trailer is like 36' long. My 20' would not have moved his house easily.

I'm moving in August and debating what to do. Brandon will be taking a lot of my furniture as I'm buying new stuff for the new place. I suspect I could get away with just using my F150 and a Suburban-sized SUV to move all in one go. The joys of only having 650 sq ft to deal with! The F150 + trailer would be a difficult option for a city move, as overall length is hard to manage vs a large UHaul box truck.

[D_Eclipse9916]

It was far from a "impress me Taylor" post. More like there are tons of ways to spend money in your 20s, blowing it on movers while you sit. Doing nothing most likely or perusing craiglist for the latest bad idea is worth more to you than a day moving with your friends.

:old man grumble: Complain about not feeling accomplished; small accomplishments can help with your well being far more than buying the latest bad idea and then sulking about the money spent. I get significant satisfaction of my small accomplishments through life even though it may have been easier to pay someone else and I am sure some good laughs will be had from something that happens with your friends while moving. Do what you want, just trying to lend some perspective.

[rherold9]

I just moved my one bedroom apartment with just my F150 this past week/weekend. It took 5 trips total (meaning back and forth). I had 2.5 loads, bed and cab full of boxes of clothes, bathroom, bedroom, kitchen items, garage tools, trailer stuff, extra car/truck parts, etc. Another 2.5 of bigger furniture, 3 person couch, dresser, mattress, tv table, and "coffee" table between TV and couch (about the same size as tv table). My bed frame and computer desk both can be taken apart.

Cabell helped me load/unload the big goods, thank you a lot Cabell!! Overall it was more stressful to think about than actually do it. I hated the thought of it but when I was doing it it wasn't bad. I think spreading it out and making it multiple trips made it easier. Although, Saturday was 3 trips alone, I still did it!

I was quoted $380-$520 to move in town and 2-3 hours of total time after everything was packed they said. This was a professional moving company $130/hour.

I managed to pack all my crap in about 3-4 hours. Completely unorganized, but it was packed... Didn't really need to be organized as I don't have tons of stuff and I didn't care lol.

[Apoc]

More like there are tons of ways to spend money in your 20s, blowing it on movers while you sit. Doing nothing most likely or perusing craiglist for the latest bad idea is worth more to you than a day moving with your friends. 

Even I'm not lazy enough to sit around and watch the movers do everything.

Load your car with the stuff you really care about, take it to the new place, and unpack while the movers are doing the heavy work. Saves some $ and you aren't sitting around playing with yourself while your cash flies out the window. I did all the electronics of our entertainment center, including our large LCD, because priorities. Boxes are usually the last thing on/off the truck, so you can generally start unpacking boxes at the new place as soon as they show up.

[Ken]

It was far from a "impress me Taylor" post.  More like there are tons of ways to spend money in your 20s, blowing it on movers while you sit. Doing nothing most likely or perusing craiglist for the latest bad idea is worth more to you than a day moving with your friends.

:old man grumble: Complain about not feeling accomplished; small accomplishments can help with your well being far more than buying the latest bad idea and then sulking about the money spent.  I get significant satisfaction of my small accomplishments through life even though it may have been easier to pay someone else and I am sure some good laughs will be had from something that happens with your friends while moving.  Do what you want, just trying to lend some perspective.

Yup, nope, he still has back problems. So, to your point, he could be down a lot more money in heath care should he blow his back out. 

Moved twice on my own, never again. This is definitely under the, "I went to college so..." column.

[Deceus]

I've moved like 10 times in the last 10 years and lugged all my shit every time. Most of those moves where done in a single truck bed or 2 though. I'm still a special kind of crazy because I could easily afford the last few moves to be done professionally but after this last move, I think I'm done. Definitely no longer too small of a job to consider $500-600 a waste.

[JPolen01]

Moved from our one bedroom apartment to our townhouse and I'll never move myself again. No idea how I even got my bedroom furniture up the stairs as I wasn't even lifting heavy back then.

Pay your dues once and never again.