I second the UST thing. The tanks at our facility had to be replaced... cha-CHING plus we had big brother (EPA) on our *****. Double D'oh!!

 

Bah, it could only cost what????
A million dollars or so for every gallon that leaks?
It's underground how would they know????

 

I normally would stay out of discussions such as this, I respect everyone's right to an opinion, but just returned from a weekend with my Son(41), his wife, my daughter(36), son-in-law, and my 4 grandchildren. It was the birthday of two of the girls. It was priceless. I have great kids and there is no explaining grandchildren to someone that does not have them.

 

I was actually kidding. The basement remains dry. I was just getting uncomfotable with the descussion. Hey! Just kidding there, too. Just trying to bring the topic back up. That's all.

From my stand point, as some one who services hydronic and steam heating systems, steam is good. It's a reletively simple system. It's reletively easy to maintain. It does require your attention in the heating season to ensure it's proper opertion. It's not something you can ignore and expect to continuously provied reliable heat.

Yes, the underground tanks do pose a problem. Often times you can work with a seller to remedy this situation. It doesn't have to be a deal breaker.








Kids?

Some people want kids, some don't. I'm some one, and am partnered with some one, who doesn't. I believe that I understand why people want to have families. It must be quite an experience to be a parent. I can see wanting to teach and instill values. Wanting to pass on your admirable traits. Really, I can.

I also see young people having kids, with no fore thought what so ever. They figure oh well. They bog down their own lives and hinder the development of their kids. They often cost the rest of us. We end up paying for their poor judgement because we can't let a kid sufferer, any more than the parents have made him/her. I see parents struggling to make ends meet. I think the "have" and "have nots" are far more prominent for people with kids. It's got to be harder to deal with the stresses of every day life when you've got kids to care for. I see people do it every day, but I'm not sure that I would be so good at it.

I'm selfish. I don't make a lot of money, so the money that I make, coupled with the not so large sum of money my girl makes, is just enough for two of us to live modestly. If there were kids in the mix, there would be a lot less. Less things, less time.

I admire all of you that choose to have families. It's important that people do. You have one hell of a job. I wish you all the best. I wish that all kids had the chances of success that kids from loving families have. Unfortunately they don't. I wish there were something that we could do so that it were loving people who want to be parents that were the ones having kids. I think a lot of us would feel better if that was something that we could do.

 

Easy to maintain is good.


Requiring my attention disqualifies it as easy to maintain.

Please define "requires my attention".

The real estate agent emailed me and here's what she wrote:

She doesn't say if the gas is from an outside line, or from a tank on the property.

Does this sound like a good system? If it's run by gas from an outside line, does that cut down even more on how much attention I have to pay to it?

Yeah, I'm clueless . . . I pretty much expect to set the thermostat and forget it. If it doesn't work, that's what HVAC dudes are for.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide . . . .

 

NG (Natural Gas) is a line that runs into your house and you pay by what you use, it's on a meter like electrcity.

 

Oh and yes, that is one less thing to worry about or pay attention to as you dont have to worry about running out or having a tank filled, you just have to read the meter every month to know how much to pay.

 

Yeah . . we have that here in Lost Angeles. Just wasn't sure if it's like that in the great untamed hinterland or if NG , like propane, may be in tanks on the property.

Most stoves/ovens here are gas. In this place I'm moving to, everyone has electric stoves/ovens . . . not sure what that's about.

Since there is a gas line running into the house, that means I can rip out the damn electric stove/oven and install a nice gas one.

(Assuming I get this house . . . I hear the neighborhood isn't as good as some)

 

The main reason is simple, only the last 10 years did some areas get NG lines and it's stil not wide spread.
If there is not an NG line on your street, then to cook with gas you would have to have a propane tank. Which means you would have to make sure to keep it filled and maintained. Electric, is more expensive, but it is just easier. The only reasons electric wont work is if you dont pay your bill or power is out for what ever reason. Or if the stove goes out. If the stove goes out, you pull it out, unplug it, replace with new, (which purchase cost is about half of a comparable gas unit) plug in new one and you are cooking again with no plumping or worrying about leaks.

If I had an NG line I'd switch to gas water heater, stove and back up heat.

 

BTW, there is not as many appliance repair places experinced in gas units, many won't even touch them. You ussually have to call your gas company and they fix it. Granted you may have to sale body parts on the black market to pay thier bill... but they can fix it!

 

This is a hydronic heating system. Circulated hot water, not steam. This one is sometihng that you don't need to do anything with. Just call in a professional in every year just before the heating season starts to have them check it out. Often times your gas supplier will offer this service.

Natural gas is usually supplied through a pipe line. I believe there are certian situations where natural gas is stored in a tank. I don't believe I've ever seen this though.

It sounds like the heating system should be ok.

 

Sweet!

Thanks wittom.

 

Uhh... Your sump pump system shouldnt be sending water into the sewer system... it should be sending it to either the storm water system or to the lowest point of your property (if this point is below your home and this is allowed in your municipality)...

 

Kobi...

Im sure the question has been answered a million different ways but my grandpa is passing away and i dont have all the time to read through the many post...soo....

What part of the midwest? Im from northwest Iowa and love it. The Iowa Great Lakes is some of the best enjoyment a person could ask for. So if your thinking about moving this way you wont be too dissapointed...just chilly winters.

My dad and i have a construction business and we build a lot of new houses. Today in most citys it is requiered to have drainage tile around the house footings if there is a basement. We use a system called form-a-drain footings (im sure its over your head since your not familiar with basements but i can explain if you want). The forms we use for the basement footings are plasic 2'' X 6'' with the center hollow and the one side has holes or slits to allow water to pass through. Since the footings are level it will self drain into a sump hole located in the inside of the house in the mechanics room. From there you can add a sump pump if the water table is high and then drain it out the house. We dont have much of a problem with water. As far as water leaking through the basement walls....i can expand greatly on that as well if you would like.

So im sure its been answered a million times but there it is once again. Im interested into where your looking to move too but if you want some out back pictures of around where i live i can send a few good ones. Hope all is well for you, take care.

 

Uh Oh!