This was the big year, I thought I did all my research, but there were plenty of gotchas.
Here's some quick tips for things that I ran into--
- Buy a water meter wrench for cutting the water on/off at the street before you need it. They are all standard and cost ~$15 at home depot. Be sure any adult living in the house knows how to go cut the water off at the street.
- Change your own locks instead of using a locksmith or your home warranty. If you get lucky and have modern Kwikset locks, they can be rekeyed for $10 and done in ~30 seconds, otherwise, buy new locks-- it's the same price or cheaper than having a locksmith rekey
- Change garage door code. If the garage door is the old pin switches, replace the unit with an opener that does rolling codes (made mid-90s and later).
- Buy standard sizes blinds, as much as possible, and install them yourself. Online custom blinds are ridiculously expensive. Local company quoted me $2.8k for blinds + install. Got nicer blinds at home depot and installed them myself for ~$1k
- Pay for movers and get them to move as much as possible (means days of prep packing). Worth every penny.
- If you have a gas furnace for heat, know where and how to use the on/off valve (or valves for multiple units).
- Attempt your own plumbing before using home warranty or calling a plumber. Old valves that are turned off/on very rarely might need the stop screw tightened if they leak (washer, water line for fridge). For other leaks take off the water lines or drain pipes and reseal the threads with plumbers tape.
- If a shower doesn't get hot enough, youtube search "adjust shower mixing valve"-- takes 5 minutes and you feel like a superstar handyman when you have piping hot water in your shower that use to barely get warm.
Submitted December 27, 2018 at 02:46AM by NewRedditor23 http://bit.ly/2TaIc5e
