Hurricane Irene is MEAN!

It's been way a long time since I posted on my blog.  My goal was to post once a week but unfortunately I have been having major house expenses this past month. I'm not going to lie and write that life is dandy and I learned such a valuable experience and I am so lucky that I didn't have more damage.  Yes, I am lucky my house did not wash away but I am really bitter that when I bought my house 2 years ago my inspector didn't catch certain troubled areas in my house.

So Irene came along and I have water damage.  Water was pouring in from my front window.  At first I assumed that my brick pointer didn't point the bricks correctly.  So I hired a different inspector to come out and look at the damage and let me know where the leaks are coming from in my house.  It turns out that my roof and brick pointing is perfect. WHEW!  Lucky me.

However, all my windows were installed poorly and do not have window capping or caulking.  This seems like a simple fix right?  NAH, not really.  Capping cost money and I also want a professional to fix it.  So to get all my windows capped and caulked and to add window trim around all of my house windows, it will cost me 2K.  Not to mention I need a new transcient window covering because the old owners used the wrong material to cover this area and water is coming in through that area as well.  I also need a new chimney liner and I have no idea what that will cost me.  This doesn't include that fact that I need front walls replaced in my living room and master bedroom, especially since we now see mold growing. I also have to purchase a dehumidifier.

I will write more later on the progress of the work and my money pit. 

Home improvements = money pit.....

OK, so maybe I am dramatic but my house is costing me some serious cash this week.  I bought my house 2 years ago and I had an inspection.  The inspector told me to get a new electrical panel.  So this week I had an electrician come out and replace our panel.  I also needed a new porch light.  The porch light could have waited but we already purchased the light months ago and the electrician only charged me $50 to install it.  The breaker panel was $565.00 with installtion. Total cost $615.00 was spent just on Tuesday...

This morning I wake up and get a shower. I notice that my hot water is not working.  So I have my husband (who works from home) check on the pilot light. He doesn't see it the pilot light on.  So I call this heating company that I use on a yearly basis to clean my furnace.  They give me a $89.00 price quote and say they will send someone out to tell us what is wrong with the hot water heater.  Before the repair guy shows up, my father in law comes over to look at our heater and says we might need the whole tank replaced. Next the repair guy comes over and gives us the same exact advice that my father in law gave my husband. He says even though the hot water tank is only 7 yrs old-- it needs to be replaced. The technician charges my husband another $150 bucks for just giving us the same freaking advice and not repairing anything.  I am pretty pisst off.  Why do companies think they can get away with this crap by double charging us?  So I called and complained and they are not charging us $150.00 for the visit.



Right now we are looking into a new hot water heater.  Either we will get the same replacement and spend $750.00 including installation or we will spend $1500+ and get a energy efficient tankless heater.  It is double the price but we like to try to conserve energy as much as possible and our house is small and maybe we should invest in a tankless heater. 


Any advice on tankless heaters?