c/abq-home-repair

The week my water heater died taught me a lesson about home warranties

Last month my water heater gave out on a Tuesday. I had a home warranty I'd been paying $50 a month for 3 years. When I called them they said it'd be 5 business days just for someone to look at it. I ended up calling a local plumber who came same day and fixed it for $600. That week made me realize I was throwing money away on that warranty policy. Has anyone else had better luck with those things or am I not the only one who got burned?

Spent all morning chasing a water hammer noise in my pipes from the ABQ winter freeze

Woke up at like 6am to this banging sound every time I ran the kitchen sink. Took me 4 hours to figure out it was from the cold snap we had last month. Ended up draining the whole system and wrapping the exposed pipes in the crawlspace. Anyone else deal with this after the freeze? Did you find a quicker fix?

Had to choose between patching a leaky pipe or calling a pro... I flipped a coin

My kitchen sink pipe started dripping last Tuesday and I stood there for 10 minutes deciding if I should spend $12 on a repair kit or $150 on a plumber from ABQ Plumbing Co. I grabbed the kit, tried to tighten a fitting, and ended up with water spraying all over my cabinets. Has anyone else had a simple fix turn into a bigger mess than the original problem?

Learned my stucco mix ratio was off after a monsoon test

I repatched a spot on my east wall last spring in Albuquerque. Used what I thought was a standard 3-to-1 sand to cement mix. Then a monsoon hit in July and the patch cracked and bulged within a week. I looked up the city building guide online and found out my area needs a 4-to-1 ratio for stucco because of the clay soil here. Has anyone else had a patch fail from using the wrong mix?

Spent $200 on spray foam insulation for my crawlspace in Albuquerque and now I swear or saved big on heating bills

I dropped $200 on spray foam for the crawlspace 3 months ago and my gas bill dropped 30%, but my buddy says it traps moisture and will rot my floor joists down the road has anyone else dealt with this trade off?

Vent: Everyone says to caulk baseboards but nobody warns you about the cleanup

I read on the Fine Homebuilding site that caulk actually shrinks by up to 10% as it cures, which means you have to go back and fill cracks anyway. That made me rethink the whole "caulk everything" advice people push around here. Has anyone else found a brand that doesn't shrink that much?

That sprinkler valve I put off fixing flooded half my lawn last Saturday

I had a leaky Hunter valve in the back for months, kept telling myself I'd get to it. Finally popped during the night a week ago after that rain we had. Water was pooling by the fence, about 3 inches deep in a 10 foot patch. Tore it out Sunday morning and replaced the whole solenoid assembly for like $15 at Lowe's, but I had to dig through clay for an hour. Anyone else deal with these old Orbit valves from the 90s that just refuse to seal?

Rant: My adobe gate hinge broke after 30 years and nobody stocks the old-style replacements

Went to three hardware stores in Albuquerque last Saturday looking for a 5-inch heavy strap hinge for my 1950s gate and got told they only carry the skinny modern ones now, anyone know a salvage yard or custom shop in the South Valley that could help?

Pro tip: that $15 moisture meter from Amazon actually works

I laughed at my buddy using it to test his stucco before painting, but after our last monsoon season I borrowed his and found a wet spot behind my kitchen sink that saved me from a big mold problem later. Anyone else had a cheap tool surprise them like that?

Debate I keep having about diy window replacement in abq

Last week my neighbor Maria told me she spent $600 on a new window from Lowe's and installed it herself in a weekend. I went the other route and paid a guy out of Corrales $1,200 for one window, but he fixed the frame rot too. She says I overpaid, I say her window will leak by next monsoon season. Anybody else go back and forth on this?

That moment when a plumber in Rio Rancho showed me why my water heater was 5 years past dead

He just tapped the side with a wrench and this rust dust poured out, then he said 'that tank is basically a tea kettle waiting to blow.' Has anyone else had a pro give you that one obvious clue you'd been missing for months?

My plaster repair looked great until I tried the premix vs. the traditional hot mud mix

I was patching a hole in my living room wall off Central Ave and used the pre-mixed joint compound from the big box store because it was easy. After three days it cracked right along the edge of the patch, so I scraped it out and mixed up some hot mud myself following an old YouTube video. Has anyone else had premix fail on them in our dry climate here, or did I just get a bad bucket?

Tried cheap caulk vs mid-grade caulk on my bathroom trim. Never again with the cheap stuff.

Had to re-caulk the tub in my rental off Central last month. Grabbed the $2.99 tube from the hardware store thinking caulk is caulk. Three days later it was already cracking and peeling. Pulled it all out, spent $8 on a better brand, and it's still holding strong after two showers a day. Anyone else learn this lesson the hard way?

Shoutout to the neighbor who told me to check the pressure relief valve on my water heater...

My water heater started making this weird popping noise last month... called a plumber and he wanted $200 just to look at it. Buddy next door said check the pressure relief valve first, it was just stuck from mineral buildup. I tapped it open with a screwdriver and let it drain for 30 seconds, now it's fine. Has anyone else had a simple fix like that save you a bunch of money?

my furnace went out during that cold snap last week and i learned a thing

Tuesday night my old furnace just quit on me. Temp dropped to 28 and i was scrambling with space heaters from the garage. Called three HVAC guys wednesday morning, one showed up by noon and found a clogged flame sensor. He cleaned it with sandpaper in like 10 minutes and charged me $75. That was way cheaper than i thought it would be. Anyone else have luck with simple furnace fixes before calling for a full replacement?

Just realized my old Craftsman table saw beats the new Dewalt hands down for precision cuts

Picked up a used Craftsman 113 from the 80s off Craigslist for $150 last month after my buddy kept bragging about his new Dewalt jobsite saw. Spent a weekend tuning it up and got the fence squared. Ran 20 boards of oak through it side by side and the Craftsman gave me dead straight cuts every time while his kept drifting. Maybe its the cast iron top or the belt drive but that old iron just holds up better. Anyone else stuck with vintage gear over new stuff?

My neighbor told me to stop using dish soap on my brick patio

Bob said the soap would leave a residue that traps dirt, and I figured he was just being picky. After three months of cleaning twice as often, I finally switched to a masonry cleaner and the patio stays clean for weeks now. Has anyone else found a brand that works better than simple green?

Had a water heater flood my whole garage last Tuesday - worst day of homeownership so far

I went out to grab a shovel and stepped in about an inch of water. The old 40 gallon tank finally gave out. Took me 3 trips to Lowe's to get the right fittings and a flex line. Had to rent a wet vac from the hardware store on Lomas. Anyone else deal with a burst tank before?

The plumber who told me to stop using Drano was right after all

I had a slow drain in my kitchen sink and kept grabbing the blue bottle of Drano thinking it was the easy fix. Then I ran into Frank from Frank's Plumbing at the hardware store on Lomas and he told me that stuff eats away at the old cast iron pipes in these ABQ houses. I ignored him for a few months until the drain got completely clogged and I had to call him out. He pulled out a snake and showed me how the Drano had actually melted some of the pipe lining and made things worse. Ended up costing me $450 to replace a section of pipe that could have been a simple $75 snaking job. Has anyone else here learned the hard way that chemical drain cleaners are bad for these older homes?

Why does nobody talk about how magnetic stud finders are useless on lath and plaster?

After my $30 stud finder kept beeping at nothing for an hour, the old guy at Sunrise Hardware told me to just use a strong fridge magnet and tap for hollow spots, and it found every stud in my 1942 Nob Hill living room on the first try.

Debate: is it worth insulating a 1950s adobe or does it cause more rot? I saw a huge difference in my electric bill after I did mine last winter drop from $280 to $160 a month but my neighbor says his walls started sweating and he got mold. What's the real deal with old ABQ homes?

Learned the hard way: stick with brick ties for stucco, not wire mesh in ABQ

I used welded wire mesh on my south wall instead of proper brick ties like the old-timers said, and after two monsoons the stucco started cracking right above the lintel on my garage window near Juan Tabo. Replacing that section cost me about $400 last fall. Now I'm re-doing the whole side with galvanized ties and wondering if anyone else has seen mesh fail with our adobe soil here.

Overheard a plumber say PEX is just as good as copper for hot water lines

I was at the hardware store on Coors Blvd last Wednesday and heard two guys arguing near the pipe aisle. One said PEX saves money and time, the other swore copper lasts twice as long with no failures. I just had to repipe my old house and went with PEX, but now I wonder if I made the right call for a 40-year home. What do you all think, is copper actually worth the extra cost or is PEX just as good for the long haul?

Compared a $300 pressure washer to a $50 one I borrowed from a neighbor in Corrales

The cheap one took twice as long to strip the moss off my driveway but the expensive one left a gouge in my concrete that I'm still patching, so what's the real cost here, anyone else find the middle ground works best?

The day I realized I was tightening plumbing fittings way too much

Took a call about a leaky shower valve in a house off Candelaria last week, and the owner said he'd cranked it down with a pipe wrench. Turns out I'd been doing the same thing for years - hand tight plus a quarter turn is all you need, overthinking it just cracks the brass fittings. Anyone else learn that the hard way?