So we bought a house- now what?

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

I would put this in GQ, but it’s a bunch of little questions, many of which are in IMHO territory, so it goes here. Mods, feel free to shunt around as necessary.

On Thursday, the girlfriend and I closed on our first house. Technically, she closed, because I have no credit history (never had a credit card, never wanted one, only have two auto loans on my record, know I need to fix that).

There are a thousand little things that come with a house (well, this one) that apartment living doesn’t prepare you for. I haven’t lived in a house I had to maintain since I was under my mother’s roof, and that was in England, where we didn’t have about 90% of the stuff American houses virtually all come with - garage door openers, garbage disposals, central air conditioning, and so on.

So, there are a few things I need help with. I apologize in advance for the sheer dumbness of some of these questions.

1. We’ve got a garage door opener. It’s a Genie Intellisomething, and it appears to work. Goes up, goes down, light works, etc. It’s noisy as hell, though - it sounds like it’s going to tear the door off. Is that normal? I’m afraid to spray the wheels and tracks with WD40 because I think it eats rubber, and the wheels have little rubber “tires” on them. Is there a special “garage door lube” or something?

There’s a code pad outside, but the previous owners either didn’t have the code or didn’t bother supplying it to the realtor. If I call the manufacturer, will they be able to walk me through resetting it, or will I need to get a repair guy to do it?

2. We’ve got a sprinkler system- a Rain Bird. I found the control panel, which is operated by a twist-knob thingy. Unfortunately, the settings are “off” and about a million automated program selections. I assume I can call the company and get a manual or get one off their website or something, but how do I figure out how often my yard needs watering?

3. Air conditioner is old but works fine. Problem- in my apartments, the filter was right on the main AC compressor/coil unit. In the house, that’s in the garage, and I assume it doesn’t draw air from out there. There doesn’t seem to be a filter panel on it anyway - will the filter be behind one of the vents inside the house? There’s one big one that looks about the right size, but it appears to be bolted to the wall in a more or less permanent fashion.

4. The house was vacant for about 2 months between the previous tenants (renters) moving out and us moving in, but the power (and thus, air) was on. there are a few little spider colonies dotted around, though, all with a bunch of ant corpses underneath. I haven’t found any live ants, though. Do I need to look harder, or is that normal?

5. There’s a whacking great big DirecTV dish on the side of the house, which we have no plans to use. Am I within my rights to unbolt and toss it, or is it “property of DirecTV”, etc.? It doesn’t even look like it would be functional; the dish is pointed about 2 degrees above the horizon.

6. Wifey is paranoid about ground-level living, and wants to get a monitored alarm system. We’re getting a quote or something from Brinks tomorrow - any recommendations for other companies?

There’s probably some other stuff I need to know, but my brain is fried from much moving and mowing and such. Thanks in advance for responses.

[Cluricaun]

Congrats on the house! I’m still fairly new at this too, but the garage code thingy can be reset by pressing and holding a button on the back on the motor unit. Then you get to pick your own code.

Also, you can toss the DirectTV thingy anywhere you please. It’s on your house and you didn’t ask for it.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@Cluricaun

Congrats on the house! I’m still fairly new at this too, but the garage code thingy can be reset by pressing and holding a button on the back on the motor unit. Then you get to pick your own code.

Also, you can toss the DirectTV thingy anywhere you please. It’s on your house and you didn’t ask for it.

Thanks! And thanks! The wifey is kind of afraid of the house - lots of odd noises, no constant hum of neighbor’s TVs, etc. - but I love it.

[Cornelius_Tuggerson]

No advice, since I still rent, but a recommendation - Move In Dopefest!

[Goblinboy]

1. I don’t know anything about garage door openers so I’m not sure if you need to lube your rollers, but if you do, don’t use WD40. WD40 is an antirust fluid and is excellent at unsticking pieces of metal that are rusted together. However it evaporates quickly and will leave a tacky residue that will attract dirt and grit and make things worse then they started. Use an actual lubricating oil if you want something to work smoothly for a long time.

3)Your filter should be on the evaporator coil, the cold coil. The large vent sounds like the return air vent. It’s possible it’s behind the vent, but normally the filter is right before the cold evaporator coil. I’m assuming you have a split system, btw, with a condensor and compressor in one package outside, and another, smaller box, inside with the evaporator coil in it. Is there any sort of access panel into the duct work at all?

[ivylass]

@Really Not All That Bright

1. We’ve got a garage door opener. It’s a Genie Intellisomething, and it appears to work. Goes up, goes down, light works, etc. It’s noisy as hell, though - it sounds like it’s going to tear the door off. Is that normal? I’m afraid to spray the wheels and tracks with WD40 because I think it eats rubber, and the wheels have little rubber “tires” on them. Is there a special “garage door lube” or something?

Automatic garage doors are faily noisy, in my experience. As long as the wheels are on the track and everything is where it it is supposed to be, it should be fine.

3. Air conditioner is old but works fine. Problem- in my apartments, the filter was right on the main AC compressor/coil unit. In the house, that’s in the garage, and I assume it doesn’t draw air from out there. There doesn’t seem to be a filter panel on it anyway - will the filter be behind one of the vents inside the house? There’s one big one that looks about the right size, but it appears to be bolted to the wall in a more or less permanent fashion.

The big one in the house? Yes, that’s where you change out the filter. If you look closely you’ll see a couple of latches that you can slide open and closed. Change your filter every month (we vacuum ours every two weeks to get a little bit more life out of it.) I would also recommend getting your AC serviced on an annual basis…the cost is well worth it.

5. There’s a whacking great big DirecTV dish on the side of the house, which we have no plans to use. Am I within my rights to unbolt and toss it, or is it “property of DirecTV”, etc.? It doesn’t even look like it would be functional; the dish is pointed about 2 degrees above the horizon.

When we cancelled our Dish the dish is still on the roof. They didn’t come and collect it. It’s bolted to the roof, so be very careful when you take it down.

6. Wifey is paranoid about ground-level living, and wants to get a monitored alarm system. We’re getting a quote or something from Brinks tomorrow - any recommendations for other companies?

I’m surprised at you. You live in Orlando and have never heard of SafeTouch? They advertise ALL over the radio stations…look into them.

There’s probably some other stuff I need to know, but my brain is fried from much moving and mowing and such. Thanks in advance for responses.

Set aside money now each month for a house repair/renovation fund. It doesn’t have to be much, maybe $50 a month, but you will be happy for it when the AC blows out or the windows leak.

[Belrix]

My first response to “Now what?” was “Start fixing it.” but you’ve already found that out.

Careful unbolting the dish, it’s often recommended to leave the mounting plate. If you unbolt it all, you risk the bolt holes becoming entry points for rain.

See if you can narrow your noisy door’s source - your bearings in the wheels may be dry and need a shot of heavyweight oil. That said, noisy doors are pretty common.

Your yard’s water needs vary greatly by heat, location, aridity and all that. One piece of advice I read is to water early in the morning (before the day’s heat). If you walk across your grass and can turn back and not see footprints, the grass is not overly dry. Google your area for watering restrictions and suggestions. Our town has a web page for that.

In the recent near 100-degree heat, watering in the early morning, every two days, has been necessary to keep our grass alive but Colorado has fierce sun and very low humidity. Things dry out fast, here.

Spray for the ants - draw a border around your house’s foundation & entry points. If you have a crawlspace, put bait traps in there. It’s cheap insurance.

Good Luck!

[Voyager]

@Really Not All That Bright

I would put this in GQ, but it’s a bunch of little questions, many of which are in IMHO territory, so it goes here. Mods, feel free to shunt around as necessary.

On Thursday, the girlfriend and I closed on our first house. Technically, she closed, because I have no credit history (never had a credit card, never wanted one, only have two auto loans on my record, know I need to fix that).

There are a thousand little things that come with a house (well, this one) that apartment living doesn’t prepare you for. I haven’t lived in a house I had to maintain since I was under my mother’s roof, and that was in England, where we didn’t have about 90% of the stuff American houses virtually all come with - garage door openers, garbage disposals, central air conditioning, and so on.

So, there are a few things I need help with. I apologize in advance for the sheer dumbness of some of these questions.

Congratulations! First thing is, you will get to know the inside of your hardware store very well.
Second thing - set up a workbench or something, and set up a place to store screws, nails, tools, spare parts, and stuff like that. At some point in the future you’ll find that you have exactly the part you need to fix something without going to the hardware store.
Third - don’t worry that you don’t know what you’re doing. Owning a house is a learning experience. I was always impressed at how my father could do anything, but after 25 years of house ownership I’ve gotten pretty good at fixing things. The first time you fix something you’re often confused, but by the second time you’re a pro. Google is also your friend. Now for the specifics.

1. We’ve got a garage door opener. It’s a Genie Intellisomething, and it appears to work. Goes up, goes down, light works, etc. It’s noisy as hell, though - it sounds like it’s going to tear the door off. Is that normal? I’m afraid to spray the wheels and tracks with WD40 because I think it eats rubber, and the wheels have little rubber “tires” on them. Is there a special “garage door lube” or something?

There’s a code pad outside, but the previous owners either didn’t have the code or didn’t bother supplying it to the realtor. If I call the manufacturer, will they be able to walk me through resetting it, or will I need to get a repair guy to do it?

I’d bet the noise is normal. Have your gf put it up and down while you listen to it from inside. You’ll probably be able to tell if there is a real problem. As for the control panel, I don’t have one but my remote went tits up once. It can be reprogrammed by holding down a button on the controller inside the garage while holding a button on the remote. I bet the outside controller works the same way. That’s reasonably safe, since you have to get in to change it. You can probably find the details on the web.

2. We’ve got a sprinkler system- a Rain Bird. I found the control panel, which is operated by a twist-knob thingy. Unfortunately, the settings are “off” and about a million automated program selections. I assume I can call the company and get a manual or get one off their website or something, but how do I figure out how often my yard needs watering?

I’ve programmed in machine language and microcode, and sprinkler programming is still complicated for me. How much water you need depends on your climate and your vegetation. Often every other day is fine. I’ve been doing my front lawn every day this summer, and it finally looks good. If you get mushrooms, you’ve been watering too much, if it gets brown, you’re watering too little.
Hint: get out your cell phones, and have your gf play with the controls while you see what control affects what sprinkler. (The cell phone sure beats shouting.) That way you can check to see if they all work. You can buy caps to cap off heads that aren’t sprinkling anything useful. A broken sprinkler head gushes water and doesn’t do anything useful - now is the time to fix it.

4. The house was vacant for about 2 months between the previous tenants (renters) moving out and us moving in, but the power (and thus, air) was on. there are a few little spider colonies dotted around, though, all with a bunch of ant corpses underneath. I haven’t found any live ants, though. Do I need to look harder, or is that normal?

I assume you’ve had a termite inspection. We don’t get ants inside, but we have plenty of spiders. Keep your eye out, but I doubt there is a problem.

5. There’s a whacking great big DirecTV dish on the side of the house, which we have no plans to use. Am I within my rights to unbolt and toss it, or is it “property of DirecTV”, etc.? It doesn’t even look like it would be functional; the dish is pointed about 2 degrees above the horizon.

I doubt they care, but you can call a local dealer or their 800 number if you want. We’re on DishNetwork, and used to have two. They improved their system so we only needed one, and the repair guy was not at all interested in taking the old one back. Since you don’t have a contract with them, you can toss it. You might have seen ads saying that people moving can take their cable boxes and leave their dishes - they do this in the hope that the people moving in will use their dish instead of the competition.

The things I didn’t answer I don’t know about. In the beautiful Bay Area we don’t need air conditioning. We don’t have an alarm.

One more thing I’d do. Look at your circuit breaker box. If it is not labeled, take some time to turn each breaker off, and see what it controls, and then label it. It will save you a lot of time when you are replacing a fixture or something and really want to know.

[Laughing_Lagomorph]

I’ve had reasonably good luck finding owner’s manuals I’d either misplaced or never owned for various applicances online.

Just search on the company and model name or number using Google or your favorite search engine. Also as you say sometimes the manufacturer’s website has them.

This could be helpful with your garage door opener and possibly your sprinkler system questions.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

Thanks for all the response so far- this is great stuff!

ivy, I listen to sports talk radio all the time. I hate hate hate the Safetouch guy. Their commercials annoy the hell out of me. I refuse to call them unless somebody tells me they’re the greatest security people in the world, ever.

@Goblinboy

I’m assuming you have a split system, btw, with a condensor and compressor in one package outside, and another, smaller box, inside with the evaporator coil in it. Is there any sort of access panel into the duct work at all?

Yes, it’s a split system, and no, there doesn’t appear to be an access panel to the ducts, unless it’s in the attic. shudder (It was 132 degrees when I went up there with the cable guy on Wednesday).

By heavyweight oil, do you mean regular hand tool lube?

[ivylass]

@Really Not All That Bright

ivy, I listen to sports talk radio all the time. I hate hate hate the Safetouch guy. Their commercials annoy the hell out of me. I refuse to call them unless somebody tells me they’re the greatest security people in the world, ever.

[screechy voice]So you HATE SAFETOUCH!!![/screechy voice]

[Belrix]

@Really Not All That Bright

By heavyweight oil, do you mean regular hand tool lube?

Could be almost anything from motor oil to tool oil to maybe even 3-in-one. I keep a small jar of bearing grease around that, if your bearings are visible, would probably work just fine. WD-40 & other spray oils are probably too light, though.

[MsWhatsit]

Speaking of owner’s manuals, one of the best things the previous owner of this house did for us - actually, the only good thing the previous owner did - was to give us a shoebox full of every manual for every appliance in the house. If you don’t have something similar, my advice would be to start maintaining one. Every time you buy something new, throw the manual into a binder or shoebox, and keep it in a safe place. This will prove invaluable, trust me.

The only item in your list that I have any personal knowledge or experience with is the ants. Do what Belrix said regarding preventative baits and spraying to create a perimeter. If you continue to get an ant presence, especially if they are large and black and you suspect they might be carpenter ants, do not hesitate to call in the professionals. We waited way too long to call in the pros on our carpenter ant infestation, and they did some damage to our deck.

Oh, and consider a subscription to Angie’s List, if it’s available in your area. We vet all of our contractors through Angie’s List before hiring them, and we’ve not had a bad one yet.

Congratulations on the new place!

[Dangerosa]

Congrats

1. We’ve got a garage door opener. It’s a Genie Intellisomething, and it appears to work. Goes up, goes down, light works, etc. It’s noisy as hell, though - it sounds like it’s going to tear the door off. Is that normal? I’m afraid to spray the wheels and tracks with WD40 because I think it eats rubber, and the wheels have little rubber “tires” on them. Is there a special “garage door lube” or something?

Soap will work. I think the last garage door guy I had out had me put WD40 on mine, but thinking about it, mine are metal.

There’s a code pad outside, but the previous owners either didn’t have the code or didn’t bother supplying it to the realtor. If I call the manufacturer, will they be able to walk me through resetting it, or will I need to get a repair guy to do it?

You can probably reset it using a button on the unit inside the garage. Find the manual on the internet.

2. We’ve got a sprinkler system- a Rain Bird. I found the control panel, which is operated by a twist-knob thingy. Unfortunately, the settings are “off” and about a million automated program selections. I assume I can call the company and get a manual or get one off their website or something, but how do I figure out how often my yard needs watering?

Website for manual. Trial and error for watering. You can put out a cup and try to water about an inch or two every other day and see if that works.

3. Air conditioner is old but works fine. Problem- in my apartments, the filter was right on the main AC compressor/coil unit. In the house, that’s in the garage, and I assume it doesn’t draw air from out there. There doesn’t seem to be a filter panel on it anyway - will the filter be behind one of the vents inside the house? There’s one big one that looks about the right size, but it appears to be bolted to the wall in a more or less permanent fashion.

My air conditioner filter is part of my furnace - the HVAC system is all one thing.

4. The house was vacant for about 2 months between the previous tenants (renters) moving out and us moving in, but the power (and thus, air) was on. there are a few little spider colonies dotted around, though, all with a bunch of ant corpses underneath. I haven’t found any live ants, though. Do I need to look harder, or is that normal?

Normal. If you see ants and don’t have kids Taro works really well.
5) There’s a whacking great big DirecTV dish on the side of the house, which we have no plans to use. Am I within my rights to unbolt and toss it, or is it “property of DirecTV”, etc.? It doesn’t even look like it would be functional; the dish is pointed about 2 degrees above the horizon.

Call Direct TV, tell them they have two weeks to get their dish (if its theirs) or you are pitching it.

6. Wifey is paranoid about ground-level living, and wants to get a monitored alarm system. We’re getting a quote or something from Brinks tomorrow - any recommendations for other companies?

We’ve had ADT in the past.

[Goblinboy]

@Really Not All That Bright

Yes, it’s a split system, and no, there doesn’t appear to be an access panel to the ducts, unless it’s in the attic. shudder (It was 132 degrees when I went up there with the cable guy on Wednesday).

There’s an evaporator coil in there somewhere. As Dangerosa says, it’s probably right next to your furnace. If not there, you may be able to track it down by following the two refrigerant lines coming off the condenser. The filter should be right next to it.

By heavyweight oil, do you mean regular hand tool lube?

Belrix already answered this. This was more of a warning about using WD40 as a lubricating oil. Use it properly and it’s a great tool, use it wrong and it can screw things up worse then it was before.

[CookingWithGas]

On Thursday, the girlfriend and I closed on our first house. Technically, she closed, because I have no credit history…

Make sure you know what you’ve done from a legal standpoint. Are you saying that your name is not on the mortgage? Is your name on the title? If so, how is it titled–joint with rights of survivorship, or tenants in common? Are you paying half the mortgage, or are you paying your girlfriend rent? Do either of you have a will? What would happen to the house if one of you, God forbid, dies? The two of you might need to chat with a lawyer.

1. Garage door. Oil the wheel axles and bearings, there should be no need to lubricate the track. The motor turns a chain, you can grease the chain but they rarely need re-greasing. You would use lithium grease like for a bicycle chain.

…code pad outside…

Search for the manual on the Internet or call the manufacturer. This should not need a service call.

2. Sprinkler system. The rule of thumb is to water an inch once a week. One deep watering is better than more frequent light waterings. If you see a lot of runoff to the sidewalk from your lawn while water you have probably watered enough.

3. Air conditioner. The filter should be near the circulation fan, which should be inside the house; it may be the thing in your garage but that sounds odd. I would not think the coil unit would be in the garage, since that is where the heat is dissipated. The filter would not be behind a vent. Do you have a separate furnace, or an integrated HVAC unit?

4. DirecTV dish. DirectTV leases their equipment. Oddly, their web site says if you move you can take the receivers with you to set up service in your new house, but leave the dish behind. IHMO it’s attached to your house, you own it, you can trash it.

5. monitored alarm system. I evaluated four companies when I chose a system and Brinks is the worst. They also have advertising that lowballs the price then will show up and tell you what you really need, which turns out to be a lot more expensive. I was also not impressed with ADT. We used a local outfit (same guys who did Tom Clancy’s home) so the location won’t work for you, but I suggest you get at least three quotes. I also suggest that you get at least 3 customer references from each one. Go ahead and look at Brinks and ADT but look for an independent, too. Decide what kind of protection do you need:

How many entrances do you want to treat as primary entrances? If you enter a primary entrance, you have something like 30 seconds to enter the code. The secondary entrances trigger an alarm immediately.

Can the system be set to “at home” mode? That is, you can wire triggers on interior doors, and those doors will not set off the alarm in “at home” mode.

Do you need to wire windows?

Do you need glass-break detectors (they work by sound)?

Do you need interior motion detectors?

Do you want fire/smoke detectors wired into the alarm system?

[CookingWithGas]

@Really Not All That Bright

On Thursday, the girlfriend and I closed on our first house…

6. Wifey is paranoid

I would think she would be paranoid if she found out you bought a house with your girlfriend

[Tastes_of_Chocolate]

@Really Not All That Bright

There are a thousand little things that come with a house (well, this one) that apartment living doesn’t prepare you for. I haven’t lived in a house I had to maintain since I was under my mother’s roof, and that was in England, where we didn’t have about 90% of the stuff American houses virtually all come with - garage door openers, garbage disposals, central air conditioning, and so on.
<snip>
There’s probably some other stuff I need to know, but my brain is fried from much moving and mowing and such. Thanks in advance for responses.

Step one - find a local hardware store, not one of the big box (Home Depot, Lowes, Menards). Don’t be afraid to walk in there with the bits for your current project and ask for help. I’ve always been able to find a store that has that employee or owner, who’s been in the business for forever. It seems like I can say “the hose thingie on my dohickey doesn’t fit into slot B” and they can help me find the right parts. I try to only go to the big box stores if I know exactly what I need, and won’t be needing any advise.

Step two - even though I just said don’t expect to get answer at Home Depot, run out and get yourself a copy of the book, Home Improvement 1-2-3 from Home Depot. It does a decent job of describing what will be involved in a lot of common projects, and walking you through them.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@CookingWithGas

Make sure you know what you’ve done from a legal standpoint. Are you saying that your name is not on the mortgage? Is your name on the title? If so, how is it titled–joint with rights of survivorship, or tenants in common? Are you paying half the mortgage, or are you paying your girlfriend rent? Do either of you have a will? What would happen to the house if one of you, God forbid, dies? The two of you might need to chat with a lawyer.

Everything (the house and the mortgage) is in her name. She put all the money down; I will be paying half the mortgage. My contribution is more or less the same amount I was previously paying in rent, meaning if she decides to screw me over I won’t be out anything. If I die, she can make the mortgage payments on her own; if she dies, the house goes back to the bank and I wander around teary-eyed looking for an apartment again (or assume the mortgage, but that’s unlikely).

She has a will. I have virtually no assets (a car which is worth perhaps $2k more than I owe, a buncha consumer electronic stuff, and a few grand worth of furniture), which would all go to my mother anyway, as she’s my only next of kin in the US- so I haven’t bothered to write one yet. I have a life insurance policy with my employer which pays out one years’ salary if I snuff it, half of which goes to the wifey and half goes to my mum.

6. monitored alarm system. I evaluated four companies when I chose a system and Brinks is the worst. They also have advertising that lowballs the price then will show up and tell you what you really need, which turns out to be a lot more expensive. I was also not impressed with ADT. We used a local outfit (same guys who did Tom Clancy’s home) so the location won’t work for you, but I suggest you get at least three quotes. I also suggest that you get at least 3 customer references from each one. Go ahead and look at Brinks and ADT but look for an independent, too. Decide what kind of protection do you need:

There’s one front door, one rear entrance (french doors) and three likely break-in windows.

[TV_time]

Now email HGTV and have them decorate it for you.