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Refinancing Costs
I’m calling our bank regarding our refi – and while they’re optimistic they’e giving me early estimates of fees/costs that total a hair over $5,000. Just soliciting opinions – is this ballpark correct? Will I do better through a broker?
01/12/2011 11:45 AM
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Wood floor repair
We had our original pine floors refinished last year, even though they were a hundred years old and had a certain amount of wear and tear on them. The floor guy used some wood putty it seems to fill the larger gaps between planks, but it was brittle and has quickly cracked and come out. What can I put in there that will smooth out the surface, be flexible, color-neutral, and not require a refinishing?
11/29/2010 10:55 AM
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Broker for Refinance?
We’re due for a refinance, as we were buying in the midst of the collapse and wound up with a bit of an odd mortgage situation – we got the major mortgage from Wells-Fargo, but then to get past the PMI levels of downpayment (nobody was offering PMI at the time, so it was either buy without it or don’t buy at all) we also got a seller-held 2nd mortgage for a small part of the ‘down payment’ amount. That mortgage is good for 3 years and then we have a big payment to close it out, or else refinance it into a single mortgage.
Thus, the time has come to roll the two loans together (and hopefully get one of the current rates on it). Is this doable directly with the bank, or due to the complication of the seller-held 2nd mortgage would this best be handled by a broker? We used one for the purchase, and am glad we did because it got pretty dicey under the economic circumstances. How would a broker get paid on this kind of deal? Part of my concern is not paying extra fees for something that can be done ourselves, yet also getting it done reasonably painlessly.
10/22/2010 11:25 AM
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Front Garden and Pavement
Our place has a paved front area that is stepped up from the sidewalk by 8 or 10 inches – though I don’t know why. No other places on the block have it, except the sister house to ours.
Anyway, our plans are to cut some openings and garden it up, before finally repairing whatever’s left, plus our stoop and gates. We are ready to start some gardening, but we don’t have the full repair funds ready this year. The winter was tough on the pavement, though, and now it is cracking and moving forward, like it’s going to spill out onto the sidewalk.
Three questions:
What is the step-up for?
Will opening some garden plots in the front help the situation by relieving strain, or make it worse?
Is there a way we can shore up this listing step on our own before we eventually need to replace all of it?
03/23/2010 8:49 AM
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Musical Xmas Lights
Just spent the day putting up our xmas decorations for our first holiday in our new digs. Our neighbors – been here 10 years – also put theirs up today, and outdid us, to say the least. Unfortunately, it turns out that they have not only lit up the night (great by me), but are using those sound-chip driven musical lights. Our bedroom is about eight feet from the nearest relentless 8-bit loop of ‘jingle bells.’ Windows down, storms in, yes, you hear it.
Now, the last thing I want to be is grinchy, but the chiptunes are really awful. And yet we’re the neophytes in the hood and I don’t want – after 2 days of decorations – to necessarily ask them to squelch their cheery (to them) tradition.
I get that we can talk – but I’d like to solicit some opinions on tact and etiquette here. Or is their another way to live through this?
12/15/2009 9:43 AM
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Hot Water System Help
Last time I wrote about capping a radiator, Bobjohn correctly asked whether I was unknowingly describing a hot water system. Well, it’s a new place (for us) and we’re just getting to know the place, so yes indeed it is a hot water system (converted from steam, it seems, years and years ago).
During our reno, the system was bled and this one radiator was taken out. Do I have this right: I need to connect the two pipes where the radiator was, not cap them, right?
And is this a piping connection that’s going to need soldering? I can’t visualize how to get two elbows plus a piece of straight pipe together with threading, unless there’s a clever coupling I can get.
And last, what am I looking for in a vlalve on the hot water heater to let me charge the system back up once I’ve closed the gap?
Thanks!
10/15/2009 3:02 PM
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Cap for a removed radiator?
During a renovation we had a radiator removed from a room where it wasn’t needed, though the pipes and everything else remained. I just noticed that where the radiator connected the pipes are still open. Will I need to cap these for the system to function? WIll the absence of the radiator screw up the rest of the system – i.e. do I need to close the connection between the 2 ends? Thanks for your help!
10/03/2009 11:42 AM
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Steam heat pipes near wood
There are some wood beams from an old wall frame in our basement that run right along the top of the 2″ steam heat pipe that is dropped down from the ceiling to serve the upper floors. I’d like to use the frame to run down some shelves, but is it safe to have bare wood so close to the pipes? They do not touch, but are a fraction of an inch apart-
What are the guidelines for wood around heating pipes and radiators? There’s no room to wrap insulation around the pipe in this spot – is there another treatment I can use (on either the pipe or the wood) to make this safer? Is it particularly dangerous to being with?
Thanks-
08/12/2009 7:47 PM
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Laundry Machine Plumbing
I’ve got a washer/dryer to hook up. The gas and vent are already there, and the hot/cold water is a couple feet away with T’s ready to go. The waste line needs to be tapped into the drainpipe, though that’s also immediately behind the washer’s location. So there’s some connecting to do, but no long runs. I’ve gotten estimates now that range from $300 to $2000, and I have no idea anymore what to expect. If it weren’t for the waste line work, I’d probably try it myself; but now I have multiple estimates at both ends of the range, so it’s not like there’s an outlier. Anyone able to give me a ballpark idea what to expect here?
07/22/2009 4:22 PM
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adam_dahill
May 21, 2012 | 02:16 PM