My house is driving me nuts - several issues, taking suggestions (other than move ;)

Moved in in Sept. and have a few issues..

1. Mice. They're mostly under control but I wish I could find a way to keep them out permanently as compared to taking care of them once they're inside.

2. Ants. And roaches. They're all over the place, and not because of food laying around or anything. They just like it. Bug guy came and I now find them dead on the floor, but they're still here crawling around. And I hate bugs.

3. Spiders. All over the outside of the house. I spotted 8 with my PD while standing on the porch looking at either side of the door. Did I mention I hate bugs?

4. No garage door opener. Great garage, no opener. The previous tenant took it down when she left. What would you all do? Can I put it up myself?? If so, where can I find a reasonably-priced kit??

5. Dishwasher died. It's really (really, really) old, so I kinda figured it was coming, but it worked just long enough to get used to having one. Now nothing. And it's not fun NOT having one.

6. Couple nights ago the dryer died. I took the clothes from the washer, put them in the dryer, hit the start button and no drying. Then I started smelling that nasty burning electrical smell. Flipped the breaker and cussed a bunch.

7. Hot water tank isn't big enough for one shower, much less two. Forget about inviting family over for a few days, NOBODY can take a shower then!

Anybody want to float me a loan to redo the house??

Re: My house is driving me nuts - several issues, taking suggestions (other than move

hello ACmarina

Here's what I would do:

1) 3 mouse traps in every room with different kinds of bait, mouse poison
2) buy some chemicals
3) buy some more chemicals
4) open garage myself
5) wash dishes by hand
6) hang clothes out to dry
7) get electric shower

Hmm.. OK that's not much help is it?

Re: My house is driving me nuts - several issues, taking suggestions (other than move

I've already got 2 traps in most rooms, 5 in the kitchen. It keeps them manageable. I'm probably going to go with something under the house to help out as well.

Bugs just stink, and there aren't enough chemicals to take them all away for my taste. Maybe if I could train the ants to kill and eat the roaches and spiders...

I already open the garage by hand, generally three or four times a day as I come and go. It's almost more trouble than it's worth, and I've been know to curse the manual door and park outside. Which isn't as good for the car.

Been washing dishes by hand, not so bad but the sink is chipped from dropping a casseroll dish in there. Can't hang the close out to dry because of the spiders. Electric water heater was a thought, but I don't know anything about them.. would it be worth it in a 2 bathroom house?

Re: My house is driving me nuts - several issues, taking suggestions (other than move

I was talking about an actual electric shower as opposed to an electric water heater. I don't know if they have them in the US but I have one in my 2 bedroom flat in the UK. It heats the cold water directly as you're having a shower. They use a lot of electricity but should be cheaper and easier to fit than a larger hot water tank.

Re: My house is driving me nuts - several issues, taking suggestions (other than move

1. Seal up _all_ outsides holes. They have to be getting in somewhere. Put traps all over the place to kill the ones already in the house. Shoot mice that don't get caught in traps. Again, make darn sure the holes are sealed up. There are probably more than you think.

2. Keep the food sealed up and the mice's food sealed up. Use poison baits.

3. Don't get rid of the spiders. They keep the population of other insects down. Lots of spiders means lot of things around for them to eat. Imagine the bugs you'd see if they weren't around. Only remove spiders that are dangerous to humans.

4. Buy one and put it up, it's not hard. Sears, Home Depot, Lowes, etc all sell that sort of thing. Do your research beforehand. There are basically two brands out there, and you only want one.

5. Fix dishwasher or replace it. What's wrong with the current one?

6. Fix the dryer. Older ones are infinitely more reliable than the one news, and can reasonably be kept running for 50-75 years with minor maintenance. The only deal-killer is bad timer if they're out of production. Dryers are very easy to work on--they're basically hollow metal boxes.

7. New or additional water heater. New ones are a lot more efficient.

Re: My house is driving me nuts - several issues, taking suggestions (other than move

I've not seen one stateside - it may have to do with electrical codes or people's fear of electricity and water. There are "tankless" heaters that do the same thing, but they supply hot water to the entire house rather than just the shower..

Re: My house is driving me nuts - several issues, taking suggestions (other than move

Get a cat or put little D-con boxes around the outside of the house. peanut butter smelling sticky traps inside. Installing a garage door opener is not hard - especially if it had one before. Until you get money for a dishwasher (I've never used one but have one) just wash and rinse as you use them - don't get a sink full. Dryers are fairly easy to fix or get a good used one for aroun $50-75 or garage sales. Water heater is easy to replace and most are not that expensive. Selling one or two good lights should cover everything except the bugs. Depending on where you live they can be difficult. Silicone in all the little house holes and along baseboard trim and around windows can keep some out except the ones that come through the front door. Other than that I'll have to leave the bug solution to others. Moving would surely cost you more than fixing everything and you'd probably find a new place has some problems too.

Mother nature...hmm, that's tough. The rest just take $$ thrown at them. Do your neighbors have similar issues?

How are the larger critters finding their way in? Once you can seal the interior space from them, the comfort level goes up. Bugs...ugh, I feel for ya. Many times, they have taken up in the walls so any superficial spray treatment is only temporary. A fumigation with tent permeates into the walls to some extent.

A family member with raised foundation home built about mid-40's sealed up his interior spaces. Back then, the built-in closet floor was open to the crawl space. Ugh...he installed 1/2" ply and silicone sealed the spaces. That helped in climate control too since cold or hot air wasn't being drawn up. He still has ant issues but the constant spray has helped. Roaches have found another place to go in his instance. It took about 2 years top gradually drive them out.

Re: My house is driving me nuts - several issues, taking suggestions (other than move

FORGET TANKLESS water heaters - big discussion around here somewhere I believe and they are a nightmare IMO. Don't work that well and require special heavy guage wiring and huge amounts of electricity. AND expensive to start with.

Re: My house is driving me nuts - several issues, taking suggestions (other than move

ABTOMAT, dishwasher wouldn't drain. And the racks were missing pieces and the new racks were $85 for the pair. I was willing to work with bad racks, but once it stopped draining I more or less wrote it off. The current dishwasher is pretty old and bare-bones - I could replace it for $200ish. I'm gonna take a look at the dryer tomorrow on my day off and see if I can't find out what's burning inside there. Hopefully something simple I can fix easily. If not I know a guy that used to be a sears repairman who has access to all kinds of stuff - he's like my middleman if I can't fix something.

What are your thoughts on dryers?? I've been able to check out Sears, Genie and Liftmaster but they all look okay to me.. teach me something

Water heaters - anybody got info on those?? I have a 30 gallon tank that's supposedly working properly but there's not enough water for one full shower.. Can you piggyback them??

Re: My house is driving me nuts - several issues, taking suggestions (other than move

Just a note on waterheaters - if it's 30 gal. that's plenty for a small family normally - if it's working right. Old water heaters crud up and don't have the same capacity. Basically you just replace when it gets down to not having enough for a couple showers.

Re: My house is driving me nuts - several issues, taking suggestions (other than move

Older dryers are better, but not too old. The sweet spot is about 1975-1995. Maytag, Whirlpool, and Kenmore(made by Whirlpool) are great and easy to find parts for. Whirlpool designs are slightly easier to work on, but not enough to be a major factor. Never, ever buy a new dryer. You can get them used for $50-75 off Craigslist all day long. Figure on putting a $25 rebuild kit in if they haven't been overhauled for a decade or two.

Even older Maytags are pretty reliable, but over complicated. Lots of belts and pulleys--from the days before they discovered using a single skinny belt wrapped around the drum.

You can fix any dryer with a good manual. Lots of websites have free information for that sort of thing now, too. Can't beat it.

Re: My house is driving me nuts - several issues, taking suggestions (other than move

I'm quite sure you would not want to piggyback water heaters. Just replace the one you have - not sure who thinks it's working okay but if it was you would certainly get more than one shower out of it. If it's over 10 years old it is suspect.

Re: My house is driving me nuts - several issues, taking suggestions (other than move

Agree 100% with Abtomat on dryers - I've never bought a new one and I've fixed several. Eazzzzy.

Re: My house is driving me nuts - several issues, taking suggestions (other than move

1. Mice: traps, and get a cat?

2. Ants: Combat is the best ant killer for the consumer, because fipronil (sp?) is effective even in their droppings, which I guess they eat (yuck). It isn't even expensive. Get a whole bunch of them and place them all over the house, and even outside. You may be able to get some outdoor ant granules (I don't believe Combat makes any, but I have had good luck with Ortho brand) and sprinkle a wide band all the way around the house.

Of course, make sure you dry up the water/food supply, and find every point of entry and seal it tight.

3. Spiders. I'm not fond of them either, but you might weant to hold off on killing them, as ABTOMAT said.

4. If you are mechanically inclined, you can get a good garage opener for <$200. They are worth every penny. Sears brand is quite good (Chamberlain, I believe).

5. Check out repairclinic.com. They have articles, etc to help with appliance repair. You might be best served with a new dishwasher, however. Or, you can get a dishpan and dishrag...

6. As ABTOMAT stated, dryers are generally easy to work on, especially if they are electric. Check out the website above. I replaced all seals, glides, rollers, belt, etc in my dryer for about $80 and about 3 hours work. It was pretty easy.

7. Well, a new water heater is not terribly expensive, but installation might be. I have never placed one, but believe I could.
Regardless, I would probably bite the bullet and let a contracter do it.

Re: My house is driving me nuts - several issues, taking suggestions (other than move

Dryer is a Kenmore. Sounds like it'll be easy enough to fix, so I'll check into that. ABTOMAT, I goobered and should have asked you what your feelings were on the garage door opener

Re: My house is driving me nuts - several issues, taking suggestions (other than move

Sometimes the water heater problem can be addressed by changing the water temperature.

Many folks set the temperature low to conserve energy. If the heater holds 30 gallons of water, and you have it at 115 degrees, you will use the whole tank for one nice, hot shower. Set the temperature to 150, and mix that with equal amounts of 60 degree tap water and now you can take two showers.


There's also a posibility that your heater has accumulated sediment from the water. There is a drain ot the bottom of most heaters. Hook up a hose and see what comes out. I once lived in an apartment where the 50 gallon water heater had about a couple of gallons of sand covering the bottom. It did not heat well at all.

The electric garage door opener is easy to install. If there was one there previously, the electrical outlet is already run. You can get one from Sears or any of the big box stores (Lowes, Home depot, K-mart-Walmart0.

Daniel

welcome to home owner ship. all items listed are annoying but no where near causing someone to move.

1. roaches can be taken care of easily by using bait stations that use filpronil. you will get 100% kill. accept no substitutes.

2. get rid of all food sources. find steel storage cabinets. put lids on all trash etc.

3. put out lots of proper sized rat bait. pro's use traps, LOTS of them.

4. do a super detailed inspection outside perimeter of house. find where rodents are coming in and plug the holes with wire mesh.

all appliances have a final life... at some point they all gotta be replaced. welcome to home ownership... wait until you get to replace the roof or heating/ac systems :green:

ACMarina said:

Moved in in Sept. and have a few issues..

1. Mice. They're mostly under control but I wish I could find a way to keep them out permanently as compared to taking care of them once they're inside.

2. Ants. And roaches. They're all over the place, and not because of food laying around or anything. They just like it. Bug guy came and I now find them dead on the floor, but they're still here crawling around. And I hate bugs.

3. Spiders. All over the outside of the house. I spotted 8 with my PD while standing on the porch looking at either side of the door. Did I mention I hate bugs?

4. No garage door opener. Great garage, no opener. The previous tenant took it down when she left. What would you all do? Can I put it up myself?? If so, where can I find a reasonably-priced kit??

5. Dishwasher died. It's really (really, really) old, so I kinda figured it was coming, but it worked just long enough to get used to having one. Now nothing. And it's not fun NOT having one.

6. Couple nights ago the dryer died. I took the clothes from the washer, put them in the dryer, hit the start button and no drying. Then I started smelling that nasty burning electrical smell. Flipped the breaker and cussed a bunch.

7. Hot water tank isn't big enough for one shower, much less two. Forget about inviting family over for a few days, NOBODY can take a shower then!

Anybody want to float me a loan to redo the house??

Click to expand...

Re: My house is driving me nuts - several issues, taking suggestions (other than move

Luckily for me, anything that's actually part of the house is replaced already. The roof goes, it gets fixed. Same with heating.

Maybe this should be another thread, but what would it entail to add AC to a house that doesn't have it??

opss ... forgot to add, check your hotwater tank settings. if it's the normal sized 50gal tank, it may be simply set too low.

purchase blanket insulation kit for hot water tank, then set of lowest setting that still covers your needs. lots of folks get good results from instant-on heaters located next to hot water source inside.