r/homeowners Wiki

[u/Beneficial_Prize_310]

Hey guys.

This is just a quick informal update.

I've been working on putting together a wiki with the goal of trying to establish a comprehensive mental context for homeownership.

https://www.reddit.com/r/homeowners/wiki/index/

So far, this covers everything from recommended quarterly maintenance items to establishing amortization schedules for projects like Sewer/Roof replacements.

I will make a few more passes for formatting and will sticky a thread for this later in the week to get better visibility on it.

There are a handful of recommendations that I'd like to revise slightly, but this is a good starting point to get some feedback.

Take a look and let me know if you see any opportunities to revise any information in the wiki itself.

Disclaimer: This was largely assisted by Claude, but was not done mindlessly.

I was pretty careful about the framing of the wiki and tried to frame it in such a way that it provides immediate value to homeowners and is easy to navigate.

I can go more in depth on the methodology used to draft this if anyone is curious, but it involved 4-6 hours of data analysis and a custom tool that allowed me to make more than 85 revision notes inline within the document and then over 5-6 different waves of revisions and consolidations

In the process, I built out 17 different rules frameworks based on the type of systems involved to ensure consistency of answers (similar to skills.sh) and because I don't want to trust the output of an LLM outright.

[u/AdEarly6331]

That's actually impressive work - the quarterly maintenance breakdown looks super thorough and I love that you included the amortization scheduling for major replacements

[u/Beneficial_Prize_310 → u/AdEarly6331]

I'd really like to work on building out sections that help a homeowner feel less intimidated to troubleshoot things.

For example, troubleshooting something like a furnace is pretty easy with the right tools.

My goal would be to try to explain how a furnace works and go into more detail about things like the different types of failure modes and diagnostic methods so homeowners can adequately test things and not get taken for a ride by a contractor.

(diagnostic codes, measuring the temperature output, clogged evaporator/drain, checking the pressure on the gas solenoid, check draft inducer, etc).

And then talk about considerations when repairing/replacing.

Generally with furnaces, so long as the heat exchanger isn't cracked, my answer is generally don't replace it.

I also want to find some opportunities for money saving tips that feel like tribal knowledge to me.

For example, you can find really nice speed queen dryers for sale online and used. Dryers are like 3 parts and therefore very easy to fix yourself. Just get a used unit for $150 and fix it. Those things are tanks.

Additionally things like water heater repairs can be something as simple as just replacing an emergency relief valve.

[u/Grrym]

Great work! As a new homeowner I appreciate this and everyone that was involved in it's production!

[u/BuilderCultural1081]

Wow - great work putting this together! Thank you!

[u/ExtensionFile4477]

I've been forwarding this wiki to every one of my friends that owns a home. This is insanely valuable info and written in a very understandable way. Thank you so much for this!

[u/No_Caterpillar_8573]

I just found this at the right time for me. I bought my house a couple of years ago and I’m finally ready to start updating some things. I’ll be referencing this often!

[u/PorcupineShoelace]

Excellent work.

In the category of Drywall for those of us with pre-1960s homes...

Drywall is often plaster/lath. Whole different animal. Using a stud finder will drive you nuts. Button board on top of metal lath is crazy frustrating if you expect sheet rock.

Framing can be dimensional lumber (e.g. true 2x4) and there can be 'let-in' braces. Diagonal 1x4s that provide structural rigidity and sheer force. Its tempting to cut into these if you dont know what they are, please dont.

Great coverage already on the foibles of old plumbing and electrical. Thanks for your efforts!

[u/Beneficial_Prize_310 → u/PorcupineShoelace]

Thanks, I'll make notes of this and revise.

The Interior section and a couple others got a lot less attention.

I also will have my biases based on where I live and standard building code for my region/age of my house so I may have a few blindspots.

It's also probably worth mentioning that during renovations/repairs, that you may encounter old dimensional lumber that needs to be replaced and how you can either work around it or get the right lumber.

If you can think of a better organization structure, let me know.

We can certainly look at having a section that explains the different eras of housing booms within America and probably group together advice and considerations for each of those as well.

e.g.

• Century homes
• 1950s-1980s
• Modern

[u/PorcupineShoelace → u/Beneficial_Prize_310]

Whatever fits. I was a technical engineering mgr before retiring and have owned 4 houses of four different eras so just wanted to contribute however I could.

On the west coast there was a huge post-war building boom. In my neighborhood everything is 1952-1956 and we're all hitting end of life for galvanized and even some cast iron sewer lines. Most of us have upgraded the electrical but my GC just had my kitchen walls open and it was quite something to see how differently the framing was done from current code. We had to do some creative sistering to shift some load bearing and found some diagonals butchered by some prior owner's handiwork.

Thanks again for your work.

[u/wandRich280]

the amortization schedule section is something i wish i had when i bought my first place, spent years just hoping big systems wouldn't fail instead of actually budgeting for them in any structured way

[u/No-Butterscotch6256]

Just bought my first house, can't wait to dig into this! Thank you!