Caught a small break for once.

"Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo" (thetomselleck) 09/03/2019 at 23:27 • Filed to: Casa de Zoidberg

4

29

Found out the previous sellers had paid for a maintenance plan for our hot water tank and furnace (both on natural gas) a month before they sold the house. So, today we just got free service on both.

Not much money at all, but it’s one less expense for us. Guy said our tank and furnace are in great shape, a concept I find to be antithetical to the rest of the home.

You know, this almost makes up for all the many items that the sellers blatantly covered up before they listed this  home. No wait, it really really doesn’t. At all. 

CB > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 09/03/2019 at 23:32

0

I think this further proves that they were incompetent.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 09/03/2019 at 23:33

0

You realize all the service guy did was  look at the tank and furnace and say “looks good to me!”

BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 09/03/2019 at 23:34

0

Picture it: Zoidberg’s house, 2019

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 09/03/2019 at 23:35

1

H e replaced a filter, drained the tank and cleaned sediment off the heating elements and such, whatever hell else this invoice says . He was here for a few hours. Again, for free.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo 09/03/2019 at 23:37

3

If my house was a car.

.

.

.

.

( The joke is it’s broken)

fintail > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 09/03/2019 at 23:38

1

120 year old turreted castle has deferred maintenance issues?  No way!

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 09/03/2019 at 23:39

0

Well that ain't bad really. I know the old house drill, you get an extra thousand in the bank start thinking about a winter vacation to Florida and then you need a roof.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > fintail 09/03/2019 at 23:43

6

My rationale is that this [affectionate tone] dump is still in better shape than most new construction I’ve been to over the years... It’s aging better than me, and I’ve only been on earth one- quarter of its existence.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 09/03/2019 at 23:44

0

Well, per the dated plywood  visible in my my attic, I'll be needing one by 2033. Which, based on my concept of time, is sooner than you think.

fintail > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 09/03/2019 at 23:48

2

Probably a valid point, given the amount of plywood and compressed oatmeal construction out there.    Nobody will ever accuse this area of having over-built modern housing.

wafflesnfalafel > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 09/03/2019 at 23:49

0

very nice, congrats, (I do not wish to reveal how old our furnace is.... it should not still be alive....)

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > fintail 09/03/2019 at 23:51

3

For residential, I’ve found the sweet spot was really the mid 80s (depending on the style of home and location). [Compared to today] high quality materials, excellent woodwork, no heavily dated trends (70s being the worst), intuitive architecture, and not too old to have countless problems. AND no asbestos.

BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 09/03/2019 at 23:52

0

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > CB 09/03/2019 at 23:53

1

That's a glass half full right there.

RPM esq. > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 09/03/2019 at 23:57

1

That has been my feeling too, unless somebody did something really poorly considered and structural in the ‘90s.

smobgirl > wafflesnfalafel 09/04/2019 at 00:01

0

Mine was possibly from the 40s but at best the 60s. Just got rid of it last December. Does that help?

facw > wafflesnfalafel 09/04/2019 at 00:04

1

My parents’ last house had a secondary furnace that looked like it was from the ‘50s (maybe ‘60s?) It actually heated quite well, though I assume not very efficiently. It was a “ something-King” so you know what you were getting into. You can see it on the side of this pic:

A lso yeah, nothing to do with the furnace, but the wall caved in. That beam is helping hold the rest in place while they dug out around it so they could do repairs (sometimes it feels good not to be a home owner).

fintail > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 09/04/2019 at 00:08

1

My grandma is an original owner of an early 60s house. The build quality seems higher than modern stuff, with its brick trim, hardwood throughout, large windows, fireplace wall, slate entry, etc - and this was nothing more than a middle class house. It’s also on a quarter acre, where new houses in the neighborhood are sometimes on 4000 sq ft lots. They don’t do it like that anymore around here.

I kind of like some of the dated features and goofy design elements, but only for corny quirks. I recall golden oak style trim was a huge thing in the 80s. When I was a kid, my parents had a couple of old houses - amazing workmanship in terms of trim, but they required some work.

wafflesnfalafel > smobgirl 09/04/2019 at 00:15

1

ok - got me beat there

smobgirl > facw 09/04/2019 at 00:23

0

Octopus furnace?

Mine was a 250k btu furnace for a 900-ish square foot house. It was certainly toasty warm while it lasted!

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > fintail 09/04/2019 at 00:26

1

The modern stuff is bad, but it still blows me away how poorly constructed housing has been for many decades here. I still believe it’s the boom town/frontier mentality taken to an extreme. Everything is built with the expectation that you’ll be long  gone before it rots away and/or falls over.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 09/04/2019 at 00:26

1

I can get behind this. I’m a pretty happy camper with my built in 1989 house, especially since I’ve now updated most of the 1990 cosmetic stuff. It is pretty well put together. Just new enough for modern style dual pane windows and insulated sheathing, but old enough to still be pretty stoutly framed. It seems wired well and is just new enough to have a reasonable number and location of outlets for today, juuust old enough to have all copper plumbing, yet new enough to have PVC drains....

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 09/04/2019 at 00:33

0

I think the sweet spot ran from the late-80s to the early-90s, but only like the upper 10-15% of homes. It was right when a lot of people had tons of cash from Microsoft, but before the proliferation of McMansions. They’re the only houses that are under like 3M that seem to have been built to last that aren’t 80+ years old .

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > smobgirl 09/04/2019 at 01:04

1

Winters nearly bankrupt me every year. I discovered that the electric heater in my place was meant for a mobile home. OK, it’s an old building, remodeled a bit, but with the low-end contractor-grade fittings and appliances.

With any luck this Nest thermostat will work wonders for winter like it has  so far for summer; my electric bills are currently running about 42% lower than previous years, and that’s with me being at home all day instead of at work.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 09/04/2019 at 01:23

0

Phew, i t’s okay...our place doesn’t have either of those things.

The hot water heater is a little t ankless instantaneous unit and our heating is a slow combustion wood fire that we installed new back  in February. We don't have air conditioning...

shop-teacher > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 09/04/2019 at 07:10

0

Here is the real truth. Every house is a piece of shit. Every. Damn. One. As long as you've found a piece of shit that you like, you just gotta go with it.

MM54 > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 09/04/2019 at 08:16

1

Mine was built in ‘78 and I’m happy with it (so a little earlier than your window, but the same idea). It’s well built and has been maintained, and is just your basic ranch. 12" block, 2x6 outside walls, insulated, copper plumbing/plastic drains, modern romex wiring (I did replace the old federal pacific box when buying it), central air, etc. It was mostly updated into the early 90's when I bought it (hello pastel carpet) but I’ve remedied most of that. The kitchen cabinets and tile still ooze 1978 but I’m okay with them. Not perfect but way better than a lot of what I see!

fintail > Eric @ opposite-lock.com 09/04/2019 at 09:22

1

I think it’s that way in many places. A friend of mine who works in land use planning/zoning had a stint in Atlanta. His assumption was that anything more than 25 years old was a teardown, and anything more than 10 years old would need a massive renovation, as it was poorly built to begin with. They build lots of trash in the south, but they also don’t pay much for it. Here we get some junk, and pay through the nose.

I think locally, nobody is expected to be in a house more than ~10 years, so nobody cares.

smobgirl > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 09/04/2019 at 11:44

0

It’s a constant battle here to keep random pipes from freezing - some day I’ll replace everything and fix what’s wrong  but it’ll involve gutting the kitchen and I’m much too poor for that now. New heat source was the more important battle!