Archive for August, 2005

Tip: Behold the Power of Craigslist

Monday, August 15th, 2005

Friends and family have been amazed at some of the deals we have gotten. Specifically an almost brand-new Maytag washer and dryer that was originally over $1300 (I have the original receipt) that we bought for $350. Then there was the brand new Frigidaire stove that we got for $100. Oh, and the real wood blinds (the really nice, expensive, wide kind – 3 of them) for $90. The latest purchase was a 2-week old Porcher-brand soaker tub. For $50. No, I didn’t forget a zero on there, though that would still be a steal. I’ll write more about the tub soon (we pick it up tomorrow evening), but for now I’ll just share the secret: Craigslist.

Just pick your city from the right side of the page and peruse the free ads. They’ve got an RSS feed for each category, which is how I keep track of the few categories that I monitor (tools, household and furniture). If you’re close to a one of the cities that is listed, keep your eye on the free section, too. There are often old windows, doors, etc listed there. We’re too far away from Chicago to get anything that is free – it’d be long gone by the time we got there.

A few examples in Chicago: (these may be gone by the time you read this)

So, there’s my tip for the week. Make your renovation money stretch further by using Craigslist.

Posted in Tips | 2 Comments »

New Homes Have Problems Too

Saturday, August 13th, 2005

My parents live in a new(er) house – only 9 years old (compared to our 75+) and a couple days ago they started getting water in the basement. It coincided with the first major rain we’ve had in months, so they assumed that with a shop vac and a day or so, the water would be gone and then they could figure out what the problem was after they got back from vacation.

Well, 36 hours later, the water wasn’t showing any sign of slowing down and they were tired of emptying the 6 gallon shop vac every 15 minutes (literally – they probably emptied close to 200 gallons of water). So, I stopped by to see if I could find the source. I ripped out a section of drywall where the water seemed to be coming from – note: wet drywall is as messy as plaster, which I thought nothing could be messier than – and nothing. The wall was dry. So I went into the adjoining bathroom, took out a floor to ceiling cabinet, ripped out the drywall behind it and found where the water was coming from.

The water wasn’t just oozing or trickling in, it was pouring in – mud and all. Right around the hole where the water line comes into the house. So, we went outside, found approximately where the line was and dug out a few shovel-fulls. Instantly the holes we dug filled up with water. You gotta realize that Illinois has been in a drought for several months – water shouldn’t fill a hole that is only 8-10 inches deep. At that point, we pretty easily figured out that there was pressure behind the water and that it was coming from the water line that goes into the house.

We started by calling the water department. No answer. Same with every other non-emergency number that we could find. Apparently only 911 works on Saturday afternoons. So we called. 2 minutes later, the fire department arrives – real firemen were in the house! It was kinda cool, actually. They wanted to see the water and where it was coming in. They confirmed that it was indeed coming in from outside and appeared to not just be ground water. But they didn’t have the equipment to shut off the water. One of the firefighters, though, knew someone who knew someone who worked for the water department. 45 minutes later, he showed up and after fighting with the shutoff for 15 minutes, finally got the water shut off. We got the last of the water vacuumed up and felt like we had just won a big fight – it was quite a relief to not have water pouring in anymore.

Though we didn’t exactly enjoy the battle, it was comforting to know that things go wrong in new houses, too.

Posted in Other Houses | 2 Comments »