Taylor’s Blog

How do you find a decent job? I am so tired of hearing folks say shit like “With the education and
experience you have you should have no problem finding an awesome job”.. That sounds so great to hear, but where are these jobs? When I was working at
[Monster Wireless Corporation] there were opportunities abound if you wanted to stay in that industry, but my interests aren’t to go back to the wireless
industry.. I would for some 250k/year contract work in Dubai, but I would knowingly be selling my soul to Satan for tons of money which I am OK with.
Aside from that I don’t have much interest in working in that environment again.. it’s too big, too many employees, far too much politics for me to handle
and keep my sanity, at least it was where I used to work and honestly it left quite a bad taste in my mouth..

Sure I can dream and say shit like
“I’d love to work on something really cool like the $100 laptop initiative for the one laptop one child program”, or “some small startup even if it
bombs”.. The problem is all of those jobs I have no idea where to even find them.. When I lived in Raleigh there were enough nerds around you might be
able to hear about something.. When I was working there was the possibility I would know someone.. Now living in Greensboro where most folks I know are
blue collar or work in banking/finance, and not working I don’t hear about anything.. I am convinced the types of jobs are everywhere out west, but here
on the east coast they are hard to find..

If I look at Monster.com all it is are super big corporations which I really have no interest in working
for.. Where can I find something I might be the remotest bit interested in?

I’ve toyed with the idea of being an electrician but to get a license
in NC you have to have 2 years experience as an electricians apprentice.. My education or knowledge can’t be used to substitute for any bit of that, so as
a realistic possibility it’s not something I’d put much thought to.. I could do it but I doubt I would last 2 years being someones bitch.. I’ll just stick
to doing work on my house and helping my dad do work on my folks houses..

Any ideas guys? The last job interview I had was in December 1999.. I
don’t have a clue where to look..

Well in case any of you think that I never fuck up when doing home improvement let me assure you that
yes.. Yes I do fuck up sometimes..

I’m a bit pissed at myself right now..

Its
not a huge deal, but still uggh..

So far there have been very few projects on my house that I have completed yet.. Most stuff is up in
the air, but I can actually say without lying that I have completed one project.. You might say it’s a sub-project of many other larger projects, but fuck
it.. It’s done..

The washer and dryer have been in the kitchen ever since I moved in.. I always said that I wanted to put them in the basement,
but it’s far more complicated than just moving it down there. I had to install new electrical wiring, run new pipes for the washer, and install a utility
tub with a pump because the sewer line is above the basement floor..

So this week I picked up the drain pump, got it installed, and ran most of
the new electrical wiring for the dryer.. All of this stuff I had done before in some form.. PVC plumbing work is simple.. Electrical isn’t a big deal to
me.. But what remained was installing the pipes to feed the utility tub and the washer.. I have never worked with copper pipe before.. I was a bit
intimated, but I did as much reading as possible, and did some practice joints in the shed before it was time for the big show.. I also bugged a buddy I
know who is a plumber up in Canada for quite a while with many questions..

So I spent 3-4 hours yesterday putting together as much of the copper
pipe as I could without having to tap into my real water supply.. I finished it up this morning, and then the moment of truth came.. I cut off the water
supply.. I had my buckets of water ready in case i caught something on fire, all the buckets ready to drain the pipes when I cut them.. It took me about
3-4 hours to get all the joints assembled, and get the plumbing back together, but the first time I put the water back on it worked! No leaks! Nothing..
I’m pretty stoked.. I also put some pipe straps on many of the pipes in the house because they were pretty loose and they aren’t supposed to move much at
all..

As usual here as some photos of my progress, er completed project!

Part One – Electrical Wiring for the washer /
pump

Part Two – Utility Tub, and drain pump installed..
Yeah the trap under the tub leaked when I was testing it..

Some of the copper joints I sweated

All of the trash from removing the old washer / dryer
connections

New laundry room.. New electrical outlet for the
dryer, copper pipes, etc.. Just add washer and dryer..

The space that I will get back in the kitchen as soon
as I can get a buddy to help me move the washer and dryer into the basement.. Oh and Bacon sniffing the washer..

Over Thanksgiving weekend I went with my dad to see my grandfather.. He’s been living in a retirement
home for close to 10 years now.. My grandmother died earlier this year, and it’s just him now.. He’s either 95 or 96 now.. I can’t remember which.. He
hasn’t been able to hear very well for most of my life, and he can’t see very well either.. He has parkinson’s so he has these tremors in his limbs.. They
don’t seem to be much worse than I remember then 5 years ago.. He still cracks me up though making fun of himself in his old state..

So my
grandfather had been given new roommates over the last few months and they would always die within a few weeks of moving in with him.. Eventually they
decided they would move him to another room.. So my dad asked my grandfather how he liked the new room.. He replied that he enjoyed the view much better,
and how he could see the maple trees and other color of fall.. The last room he was in just looked into a parking lot.. We had some other conversations
about the old days.. The photographs that were on the wall, etc.. Then my grandpa says “You know what else is nice they don’t play that music in this wing
of the building like they do all the other rooms that I’ve been in”.. Mind you there are no speakers in the room, and my dad and I have never heard music
in the facility in the last 10 years they have been there.. Then my dad says to him “Ya know you can’t really hear us talk half of the time, so what makes
you think you can hear music?”.. He then tell us he thinks it was pumped in above the ceiling tiles, and says that no one would believe him anyway.. Then
his final argument is “If I am making up this music in my head, which is possible, why would it be some crap I don’t like? I mean if I am going to make up
music and have to listen to it don’t you think I would like it?”..

Anyway he cracks me up how he can be so joking about getting old and maybe a
little looney.. I thought i’d share that all with you guys.. So i guess the lesson here is if you are in your mid 90′s and you hear music it might be in
your head.. Heh..

I have tried to watch the latest 3 episodes of the Sarah Silverman Program.. I have made it through 1
complete episode, and the last two I just stopped watching.. Who the hell thinks she is funny.. I do love satire, and making fun of social issues can be
fun.. Chris Rock and Dave Chapelle can take some racist shit and make you laugh your ass off.. Now Sarah on the other hand thinks that playing some sort
of dumb bimbo character being oblivious to the issue she is targeting is going to be funny.. The first episode I watched she takes on abortion, and then
makes it seem like its a complete joke by having some joking relationship with her abortion doctor.. How can anyone act like having an abortion is a
laughing fun kinda thing.. She could have made fun of the right wing crazy church folks and it might have had a chance of being funny.. The next episode
she gets in trouble for licking her dogs ass? Come on.. The latest one she says she is being discriminated against because she is jewish and gets into a
“its’ harder to be a jew than a black man” argument with a black waiter..

I could also be tainted by the fact she was supposed to be the announcer
at the Sasquatch! festival out west and she showed up once about 3-4 hours late, made a joke about doing lines of coke in the bathroom which turned into a
lame joke about how women don’t shit.. Then she never showed up again for the next 2 days.. I sorta wonder if she was out back doing coke the whole time..
Anyway her show is garbage in my opinion and I’d like that 45 minutes of my life back..

Seriously does anyone find her funny? Do I not appreciate
her bimbo angle on satire?

So I did it.. I got an A- in the class that mattered.. I also got an A- in the other 2 classes I took
for a grade.. So I got straight A-’s.. I can stay at UNCG.. I think I just got the highest GPA I have ever had.. Yippie for me.. Now everything else at
UNCG should be far less stressful.. I shouldn’t have to worry about this type of stuff anymore.. Just take the classes pass em and get the degree..

So most of this week has been spent moving the doorway.. The chaos is coming to a close.. i still have
to hook the electrical back up now, but the doorway has been moved.. I’ll leave you all with these photos..

Before

Plaster removed and most electrical moved

King and Trimmer studs in

Preparing to cut old studs

Done!

I am not starting on the kitchen yet.. I still am concentrating my efforts on getting the dining room
complete so I can have a least one fixed up room.. To move the doorway I need to remove a few layers of flooring in the kitchen doorway so I can put in
the new framing.. I forgot about how much fun it can be to remove all the layers and layers of crap when working on an old house.. Check out the varying
layers of flooring when I started cutting it away..

Top layer of ugly vinyl.. Maybe 90s?

Next layer down – Some cheap brick pattern peel and
stick floor.. 60s or 70s

Checkered Pattern Linoleum – 50s (Maybe 40s) – It’s a
bit damaged with all the removal I am doing..

Bottom Layer – Hardwood flooring covered with nasty
mastic from the checkered floor

Here is what they all look like put together.. It’s
about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of flooring from over the years..

Hopefully the hardwood can be sanded back to a lovely finish whenever I get to the kitchen
remodel.. My parents had the hardwood floor in their house covered with a similar stuff for all of the time I lived with them, but they took it up a few
years ago and had a similar glue sanded off leaving them with a beautiful floor.. There may be hope for my kitchen hardwood flooring yet..

Tori asked me some home inspection questions so I figure I’ll just write a long ass blog about what I
look for, and maybe it will be a benefit others as well..

I should preface this all with the fact that I am not a home inspector, and this is a
general overview that skims the surface of what I look for..

Electrical

When you look at a house never assume that if it has 3 prong plugs that it’s been rewired.. I lived in a place in Raleigh that had 3 prong outlets in place but the 3rd prong wasn’t actually connected.. When buying an older house chances are work was done at different times so some parts may be re-wired/upgraded and others may not be.. My current house shows signs of at least 4 different electrical “upgrades”.. Service Panel / Entrance First I would look at the breaker/fuse system first.. It should be close to the power meter.. You want to see a breaker panel and not fuses.. A breaker panel is the electrical box with switches.. I put some photos on the right of what you may have.. You want a large breaker panel.. 200 Amp is what most houses have these days it will have I believe 40 openings for breakers.. You can have a smaller breaker panel say 125 Amps or so from the 50 or 60s.. It will have 20 openings or so.. There is nothing wrong with a 125 amp panel, but it may not meet future electrical needs, so you would want to replace it one day.. To upgrade a 125 amp panel to 200 amps would probably be around 1000-1500 bucks.. It is no rush though unless you are popping breakers all the time and the panel is out of space.. If you are not sure of the size, it is indicated usually on the inside door somewhere.. You may have fuses in your panel if it is an older house.. They can look like the photo to the right, or they can be little glass fuses with screw threads like a light bulb.. These have to be replaced.. Most insurance companies will not insure a house with fuses and will want you to upgrade to a breaker panel.. You can also have what are called sub-panels.. These are smaller panels like your main panel in remote locations.. There is nothing wrong with these, but they too will need to have breakers (switches) not fuses.. You might find a sub-panel in a garage, or in an upstairs section when it made more sense to have 2 panels instead of one to save on wire.. Sometimes they will also put a sub panel next to a main panel if the main one is out of room.. Outlets As far as testing the outlets you can get an electrical outlet tester at home depot or lowes for 7-8 bucks.. If you are getting a home inspector to look at the house (which you always should) he will have one.. Make sure he/she uses it in every outlet.. It will tell you if it is properly grounded (3rd prong), or mis-wired in a few very common ways.. If you have 2 prong outlets in the house you will want to eventually swap them out for 3 prong grounded outlets which will require you to re-wire that circuit.. I am not sure how much that costs, but you will probably have a bunch more outlets like that and it will probably also be bundled in with a panel upgrade so you are looking at maybe 3-10k depending on how big the job is.. Overall If you have a 200 amp panel in a house, and all of the outlets are 3 prong and test properly chances are the electrical system is in A-OK shape.. Anything else could be an expensive repair/upgrade.. It’s just a cost of purchasing a home so just be aware of it and factor it into your budget when negotiating a purchase price..

200 Amp Breaker Panel – What you want 125 Amp Breaker Panel – Not what you want but OK Fuse Box – Not What you want

Plumbing / Sewer

You have 2 sets of pipes in your house.. The feed pipes that your water comes in (1-2 inch pipe) and the sewer line (4-10 inches) that waste returns to the system.. Keep in mind if there is natural gas in the home you will also have gas piping.. If in doubt trace the pipes from the gas meter and figure out what is what.. Sometimes they will put stickers on gas pipes to say “gas” but don’t count on it.. Feed Pipes If the house was built in the 70s-80s you should look for polybutelene plumbing.. it is a grey plastic pipe that is no longer used.. There was a series of class action law suits over it, and it should be replaced.. The problem with it is that it springs leaks very easily.. It was one of those new “perfect solutions” that turned out to be a dud.. The pipe breaks down with certain nutrients they think in the water, and NC isn’t nearly as bad as some states like Texas.. Either way google it and you will know what it looks like.. It WILL cause problems, and you will want it to be replaced, and it will also be a liability for you when re-selling it.. You want your water feed pipes you want to have copper, cpvc, or pex.. We all know what copper pipes look like.. It’s probably the best thing you can have, but it’s also the most expensive.. CVPC and pex are types of plastic pipes.. They are typically white or off-white.. If you see these you are probably in good shape.. What you don’t want to see are galvanized pipes.. They are going to be silverish dull metal pipes.. I am not sure when they stopped using them, but they will rust, and eventually break due to the internal rusting.. They will need to be replaced.. This will be the typical piping of an older house (My guess is 40s and earlier).. As the pipes rust they will constrict like cholesterol in your veins, and reduce the water pressure.. In the photo you can see one galvanized pipe connected to copper.. Water Feed from the City You will also want to find the connection to the city water supply.. This is the pipe buried in the ground from the water meter to the house.. In my house they re-did the piping inside the house but left the connection to the city as an old galvanized pipe, and I need to get it replaced.. It’s going to run me around 2500 bucks, so it’s not a cheap thing.. Even though the rest of my house was re-plumbed the pressure still sucks cause of that feed from the city.. You can also have a polybultelene water feed.. Typically these feeds are blue.. Not something you want to have.. The best material for the feed from the city is copper, but it’s also the most expensive.. Sewer Most forms of the sewage pipes are OK.. Old house will have cast iron pipes.. They will probably outlast the house, nuclear holocaust, etc, nothing to worry about.. You can also see PVC pipes these are fine as well.. I wouldn’t worry much with these as long you don’t see anything really questionable.. Maybe duct tape being used to patch a pipe or something really strange..

valign=top> Galvanized Feed connected to Copper

Structural Things

Cracks above doors and windows are normal in houses.. This happens when a house
settles and there is little you can do about them.. Don’t worry about these..

Foundation

Look at the outside foundation
and see if it bows, or isn’t straight.. That is a concern.. Look to see if you have any cracks in the brickwork, as these may be indicators of structural
problems..

Other

Look for major sloping in floors.. Some dips are expected in an older house, but you don’t want to be
able to put a marble floor and have it racing for the wall instantly..

Outdoor Stuff

Be leery of houses covered with vinyl..
Especially new vinyl jobs.. I would make the assumption that something rotting has been covered over..

Check the lot to look for puddles of
water, see if there are any water runoff issues..

HVAC

I’d look at the age of the HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) and
know that it’s going to be expensive to get replaced (5000 bucks or so) when it’s dead.. So just be aware of it’s age..

General

Call
home inspectors and get references.. Ask to be present when they are doing the inspection.. Ask them questions about what they are doing and why.. You are
spending 300 bucks or more get your moneys worth! I have let my agents choose my home inspectors with both houses I have bought and I feel like that was
a mistake..

Look at angieslist.org and see if you can find reviews of home inspectors.. They also must be registered with the state, so lookup
their license on the website and make sure they are still licensed..

Sign up for angies list.. it’s a free site that lets homeowners post reviews
of contractors.. it’s quite useful..

Non-Home Inspection Suggestions

Title Insurance – Environmental
Rider

When you get title insurance (you should always get it), get the “environmental rider”.. I don’t really like insurance, but
typically it will be a one time cost of less than $100 bucks and protects you from any environmental cleanup that could be required on your property..
The last thing you want to find out is a leaking oil tank on the property from the old heating system, and you have contaminated your yard and the 8
houses around yours.. The EPA could require you to cleanup all of it at the cost of 100s of thousands of dollars.. Even if the risk is low, it’s an
insurance that is worth having..

Home Warranties – Shove them up your agents ass

I wouldn’t get one unless they give it to
you for free.. Hell I might even ask for the money in lieu of a home warranty.. Here are the many reasons I am against home
warranties:

• They don’t cover most expensive things if you read the fine print.. HVAC covered up to 2000 bucks if problem not caused by
  rust, so that “when the ac breaks you can get it replaced for free” line i’ve heard from so many agents is total shit..
• The agents get an
  additional commission on selling them
• You don’t get to choose the repair person making the repair the home warranty company does
• You have to
  call someone else to dispatch a repair person to your house
• They don’t cover existing problems
• Most have clauses that require you to have
  “maintained it properly” so who knows what the hell that means but sounds like a good way to get out of paying for any repairs they don’t wan
  to..

Just take the risk and don’t get it.. Houses require repairs, and sometimes they aren’t cheap.. I feel like home warranties are a
scam to be coupled with loans for under qualified buyers making them think they don’t have to worry about repairs pushing them over their budget and into
foreclosure..

So I have my new plan for the 2 weeks between classes.. (Yes I am being positive that I am going to
get my A- in Marketing)..

The problem with the kitchen in my house right now is that it’s a really weird shape.. It’s 10 feet by 20 or so.. And
it has all these weird doorways, and where the windows are placed it sucks for layout.. The solution that has been suggested by Sheila numerous times is
the only solution I can see having any potential.. Turn the kitchen into a galley kitchen.. To do that will require moving the doorway between the dining
room and the kitchen.. That wall is not a load bearing wall, and I already have done a shit-load of ripping it up cause of plaster issues.. So it seems
logical to go ahead and open the wall up and move the doorway..

The doorway will get moved to where the red boxes are..

This is looking toward the kitchen..

This is looking toward the dining room..

I will
just put in an opening somewhere between 44 and 56 inches.. 44 would leave 12 inches between the counters and the doorway which seems about right.. 56
would be 6 inches and too tight..

So that is my plan for the 2 weeks between classes.. I am sure i’ll post more photos, and of course turn the
house into more of a disaster zone.. I also need to look for some french doors.. If anyone in Raleigh goes to the Habitat Reuse center if you see a set of
decent french doors let me know! The one in Greensboro sucks ass..