The Joys of House Living

[jurann]

How come it's never the things I -want- to be broken in a house are broken, but the things I DON'T want to be broken break instead? =P So we just moved into this house a couple weeks ago, and it's been an adventure of circuit breakers blowing just from plugging surge protectors into wall sockets, plugs falling out of wall sockets, water pipes being

Comments

[xodiac]

Are you renting, or did one of you buy? I can't recall, to be honest. If you're renting, then get the landlord, stat! If not... er, that's a lot of stuff that needs fixing. Though only the sewer is critical, really. Still, the fridge and the circuit breakers ought to be looked at.

The loose plugs can be fixed without too much difficulty. Turn the power off, unscrew the cover plates, remove the old plugs and install new ones.

And what do you mean by water pipes backwards, anyway?

[jurann]

Renting - Dia has zero interest in ever buying a house, and while I do I'm not ignorant enough to buy one until the market shakes out and the foreclosure market is forced open by the Feds. By water pipes backwards, all of the downstairs water hook-ups have hot and cold backwards from "American Standard" which is hot on left, cold on right. =P

[xodiac]

Aaah. Well, the pipe thing is irritating, I'm sure, and a little odd, but nothing worth worrying about so long as they actually work. For the rest, though, just get the landlord to fix it. That's his job, after all.

[odakota_furry]

Yikes! Sounds like my place when I moved in (had been empty a couple of years.) The electrical fixes are generally easy, plenty of self help household wiring books. Plumbing can be tougher depending on access, digging up the sewer line is ugly. I had to do all of it at one time or another, house was built in 1915. No rocket science though, just prioritize and learn as you go. If you're renting, not buying, all that stuff is the landlords responsibility. If you're buying, the home inspector failed miserably and you may have some recourse in that direction.

[jurann]

We're renting, and this house is the first renovation the owners have ever done, so it's understandable that they didn't do a very good job. Still, I'm prolly gonna hafta fix stuff just so I don't hafta worry about expensive electrical gear getting damaged by the frequent circuit breaker tripping. =P

[xodiac]

Before you fix ANYTHING, talk to the landlord. If they truly won't do it themselves, then you can ask them if they'll let you take the price of repairs (including labor!) off your rent. And if they won't do that, and there are such major problems as the SEWERS backing up, then you can talk to the county health inspectors; that house may not be livable-in.

Really, it's the landlord's responsibility to keep infrastructure in good shape. That's what you're paying him rent FOR.