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Robostyle
Well-known member
Lots of times the company owns the tank. They charge you a little each month.
JDs Couch
Well-known member
Picasso
Well-known member
Inbred Beta Coward CUNTz is on the dole, doesn't pay taxes.
Floyd Eye
Well-known member
I have 4 of my own. Smaller ones. 100 pounders. I want to have a 300 pounder brought out I just haven't gotten around to it. I only use propane for the stove. Anyway the propane company will provide the tank as long as you sign up for the service where they top it off anytime it gets below 20%. Considering right now I have to take them up to get them filled once a year I like the convenience of never running out. And I'm still only paying for the gas I use so it's a pretty good deal.
Stumplegriltskin
Well-known member
2700 SQ/FT. Basement is finished, but no gas heat down there. I have a 220V wall heater I put in and put in on for an hour if I'm going down there. In the winter, I get it up to 72 in an hour and an hour later it's 65 again. Yep, $1300 I owe the fucks. I'm not kidding. The bill keeps going up. I'm on a budget plan and as I mentioned, I pay $300 a month tops, and then in August, I got hit with an $800 bill. Example below. So I'm going into debt paying these assholes. It's out of control in MA. My house was built in 2002 and I need windows as well. I don't have 30k for windows to outsource it. The house is too high on the 2nd floor for me to want to do it myself unless I rent staging. Last 2 story house I ever will own. The house is vinyl sided and I refuse to cut off the flanges of new windows and caulk them in. That's what these butcher window companies do. Cut the existing windows out and cut the flanges off new windows, couple screws and a bunch of caulking. If I stay in the house, which is unlikely, the siding will come off and I'll do it properly. I'm getting absolutely KILLED with Electrical and Gas bills. I told Eversource, they'll get $300 a month, or shut it the fuck off.
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JackTripper
Well-known member
I lived in Queens (LIC) in the 90s. Even back then, walking down the street was like traversing through a Third World bazaar. If you were white you stood out like a sore thumb. I moved about a half mile due west and it was another would. And today, less than a half mile from there is "billionaire's row." Probably not many places where you will find that kind of cultural and economic diversity so concentrated into one place.
Now I'm far north of the city in the 'burbs. The most diversity you see in my neighborhood is if someone goes rogue and uses red mulch rather than the standard black mulch.
Floyd Eye
Well-known member
Lots wrong with this. So the extra $800 is an adjustment for your budget bill, not a bill for one month. Which means your budget bill was too low.
This yearly adjustment is typical with gas and electric companies. Question, is your gas bill higher than your electric bill ?
Regarding the windows. I was a contractor for a couple decades and have installed literally thousands of windows. Typical install on vinyl siding is to sawzall the old windows out, that’s true. But if you are cutting nailing fins off new windows, they’re selling you new construction windows, not replacement windows, which is what you should be buying. Remod/ replacement windows are usually an inch thicker and have no nailing flange. You screw it in to the window jamb (2x4) on the sides. A normal size window will have two holes in the frame on each side, one top and one bottom. And you float the screws with a level. Then insulate around it, trim or caulk the inside and caulk the outside to the siding J channel with silicone caulk. This is 100% the proper way to install vinyl replacement windows. Any deviation will void the manufacturer’s warranty.
I have to laugh about the taking the siding off and doing it properly thing. That’s pretty much the shittiest system for installing a vinyl window. It’s vinyl man. It has to expand and contract. How’s it gonna do that with 15 nails in it ? And how are you gonna level the window ? And nail in windows are difficult or impossible to insulate around.
JDs Couch
Well-known member
Yup.
lol
Well-known member
Trickle down taxation.
Stumplegriltskin
Well-known member
What's wrong with taking the siding off and using the flange? That's how the house was built to begin with? That's what I did when I replaced my slider last summer. I ripped off the J-Channel and used brick molding with a J-channel built in though. I just had to peel back the siding, not remove it completely. Just the top I had to remove. I'm not a window guy; I do lots of finish carpentry but never got into windows. I'm not saying your wrong, but to caulk the window to the side of the j-channel seems butcher. If the caulk fails, then you have water issues. If you use the nailing flange, I would think there would be less of an issue with water and just use Tape over the flange to the water barrier. But I suspect your method would provide a better insulation for the window and is probably why I've always had drafts since the beginning.
An $800 adjustment is ridiculous. My gas bill has been the same every month for 20+ years. Suddenly an $800 bill. That's more than an adjustment. They should adjust it into the monthly cost, not a sudden $800 bill. That's fucked. That's their idea of a budget plan? Nothing has changed as far as usage. My electric bill is usually $200 a month. My gas I think is around $250 - 300 a month I think. I just need to GTFO of MA. It's turning into the new CA. Wish I was in Florida, but wife is always sweating and the prospect of the humidity down there scares her. Know what scares me? FUCKING SNOW. I've HAD IT with snow and winter and heat. I told her whatever people use for AC units down in Florida, I would double it
if we moved down there.
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VonBonfire
Well-known member
My water bill doubled "for upgrades to the system". I still lose water once a month and it tastes worse than ever. I went from about $40 a month to $80. My electric bill has barely been a hundred bucks a month all spring.
As for windows...it pays to live in a shed. I trimmed my windows out with 2x6's, lol, so I can just unscrew them and replace with new lowe's windows. I own my own scaffolding so access ain't a problem either. Amazing what they charge vs what they provide in the chance you need to hire someone. I'd rather eat dirt than pay these crappy companies to do any work.
Stumplegriltskin
Well-known member
Yeah My neighbor spent 20k for Anderson to come out and replace his windows. The trim work on the windows was the worst I've ever seen. But most people have low expectations. 20k for them to sawzall out a window and put in a new one and level it and caulk it and do a shitty trim job. It was like 8 windows.
$2500 for each window + install and trim. That's rape. Back of my house is like 50' up. Ridiculous.
Floyd Eye
Well-known member
What's wrong with taking the siding off and using the flange? That's how the house was built to begin with? That's what I did when I replaced my slider last summer. I ripped off the J-Channel and used brick molding with a J-channel built in though. I just had to peel back the siding, not remove it completely. Just the top I had to remove. I'm not a window guy; I do lots of finish carpentry but never got into windows. I'm not saying your wrong, but to caulk the window to the side of the j-channel seems butcher. If the caulk fails, then you have water issues. If you use the nailing flange, I would think there would be less of an issue with water and just use Tape over the flange to the water barrier. But I suspect your method would provide a better insulation for the window and is probably why I've always had drafts since the beginning.
An $800 adjustment is ridiculous. My gas bill has been the same every month for 20+ years. Suddenly an $800 bill. That's more than an adjustment. They should adjust it into the monthly cost, not a sudden $800 bill. That's fucked. That's their idea of a budget plan? Nothing has changed as far as usage. My electric bill is usually $200 a month. My gas I think is around $250 - 300 a month I think. I just need to GTFO of MA. It's turning into the new CA. Wish I was in Florida, but wife is always sweating and the prospect of the humidity down there scares her. Know what scares me? FUCKING SNOW. I've HAD IT with snow and winter and heat. I told her whatever people use for AC units down in Florida, I would double it
The key words are “ that’s how the house was built”. Believe me when I say that nailing flanges on vinyl windows are there strictly for ease/speed of installation. And they’re designed specifically for builders to use. Unless you are building a custom home, whatever windows the builder puts in the house are gonna be “ builders grade”.
Anyway, clearly either window will probably be fine. At least for awhile, but I’m a guy who installed thousands of windows and at one point was the most expensive vinyl siding installer in St. Louis. I guaranteed my work for life and even customers on jobs that I had subcontracted got my phone number and guarantee. I’ve been out of the business for about 14 years and haven’t had any customers call me. Ever. A few years ago I tore off the old steel siding on my house, replaced my windows, added some French doors and put vinyl siding on. The perfect opportunity to save myself some time and use nail in windows. I used remod windows. Because they’re better windows and are much less likely to go out of square over time and much easier to hang square with enough room for expansion in the hole to begin with. I will say that since I had the walls down to the sheathing I did flash all the windows with an adhesive waterproof membrane prior to installing the siding. That said, a few years ago I ended up doing some work with my current employer at a house I had done windows, siding and a deck on about 25 years prior. Different people owned the house of course. It looked like it did the day I left it.
Essentially, if your caulk joints fail you did it wrong bro. 100% silicone on a clean dry surface and grooved in with a wet finger.
In fact I put a big ass bow window in my parents house in 1988 and it’s still perfect. Now that I think of it, I don’t recall ever seeing a bay or bow window with a nailing fin. Do you suppose all bay windows are “ butchered” into the hole ?
Of course if a regular homeowner who has no experience hanging windows insists on doing his windows himself I would suggest nail ins. Make sure the sill is dead level and set the window on it, then check the sides and top with a 2’ level before you nail the piss out of it. Flash it, starting at the bottom, then install your siding and caulk the J to the window with 100% silicone.