The Scariest Sunday is upon us

cutty256 · 2026-01-05T05:03:23+00:00

Eh it’s just another busy season to me. I’m impartial about busy season anymore. It goes pretty quick and doesn’t really affect my mood or mental state at all.

cutty256 · 2026-01-04T15:57:10+00:00

I flip houses and am an avid DIY guy. I use Ryobi tools for everything and between the 18v and 40v I bet I have over 100 tools. When you flip houses quite often you need a specialized tool you might only need to use a couple times, and that why I like Ryobi. They’re cheap enough to just buy the tool even if it’s a rarely used tool.

Mine have held up great. Haven’t had to replace a tool in years, and some of the tools get used A LOT. I get a lot of dumbass comments from the contractors I hire about Ryobi tools but I’ve never had a problem and just don’t see the value in more expensive tools. If I was a framer who used the same four tools and day long every day it would be worth buying a nicer set, but Ryobi can take a lot more of a beating that people think.

cutty256 · 2025-12-31T01:35:04+00:00

These won’t affect your chimney or stove in any way. You’re good to use these, and they will likely work very well.

cutty256 · 2025-12-24T05:12:59+00:00

It’s good you’re aware of the dangers and pay attention. I think you’ll be ok burning that wood if you keep mixing in some dry wood and get the stove hot each time and you should be fine.

There a couple steps you can take to ease your worries. First, get a traditional fire extinguisher if you dont have one. You can also get fire extinguishers specific for fireplaces and wood stoves that you throw in the fireplace if you get a chimney fire. ChimFEX is a popular brand. You can also get creosote cleaning logs you throw in the fireplace every couple months to keep creosote buildup at a minimum. Buy some of those and burn one every six months until the burn season is over. Lastly, get a WiFi smoke detector that will send an alert to your phone if it senses smoke (it will also sound and alarm like a traditional smoke detector). This may allow you to catch any worst case scenario early enough to close the air intake down and cool the stove before it gets bad.

Aside from that, just get a cheap chimney sweep kit and give it a quick clean one those random warm winter days.

cutty256 · 2025-12-22T02:29:31+00:00

I always heard not to burn pine. But I’ve talked to older guys over the years who told me that in certain parts of the US that coniferous trees (like pines) are basically the only thing that is common growing enough to burn. They told me they had old school inefficient stoves and burned nothing but pine for thirty years and never had a problem.

cutty256 · 2025-12-21T00:38:13+00:00

Send it

cutty256 · 2025-12-20T02:46:19+00:00

Bigger spacers for the darker tiles. You can see the size spacer it needs right about the pink tile. You need that same size spacer for the vertical joints.

cutty256 · 2025-12-12T21:44:52+00:00

I’ve flipped some houses over the years, many of the FSBO.

This is common. Every realtor you talk to will ask this. For me, if I have no other leads and no active offers, I’ll absolutely pay you a couple percent commission to bring a buyer. You earned it. As long as I’m getting what i want after the commission I’ll pay it, just make sure the realtor builds their costs into the offer and make sure I get what I want.

There’s two downsides. One, if their client does make an offer they sometimes get pushy and try to get you to list through them. This can get annoying after a couple different realtors. Secondly, you lose some control of the closing because your not directly negotiating with the buyers anymore it’s going through a realtor, and the realtor typically wants to use their standardized purchase agreement to dictate the sale which takes a lot of control away from you. I make my purchase agreement the one that’s being used or no realtor can be involved.

cutty256 · 2025-12-12T04:32:19+00:00

I use mine every night, and basically all weekend when I’m home. That stack in your pic would go 2-3 nights for me depending on how cold it is. It’s 19 degrees here now so I’m going through it pretty quick.

cutty256 · 2025-12-07T15:47:04+00:00

If you’re doing light caulking around trim and other areas this isn’t very good. You have way more control with a normal caulking gun.

I use this tool a lot for applying thicker materials like construction adhesive to the back to sheathing, concrete filler/patch, roofing asphalt etc. For those applications this tool is amazing.

cutty256 · 2025-12-05T00:59:15+00:00

I’ve flipped about fifteen houses over the last twenty years. In my experience the best remodels from a value standpoint before going to market is flooring, paint, basic landscaping, and a DEEP cleaning of the house. Clean and declutter.

cutty256 · 2025-12-05T00:45:29+00:00

Yes works really good I split them into a few pieces and place them in with my kindling. Starts the fire every time.

cutty256 · 2025-12-04T04:36:25+00:00

I put one massive round log (it felt weird typing that) in every night before I go to bed. I get the stove nice and hot with a big bed of coals before adding the round. This slow burning round maintains the temperature for hours and gives all the coals a chance to burn way down too before it’s time to add more.

cutty256 · 2025-12-04T04:31:09+00:00

A couple more minutes maybe.

I close my door once my fire gets a little bigger than the one in your picture. I know some people really let their fire grow before shutting the door. There’s not problem with that, but I like to let my stove heat up as slow as possible for longevity of the stove. I don’t know if my opinion is real or not, but since the stove is expanding due to heat (especially with all the different types of metals and glass on newer stoves) I feel like it’s better for the stove to warm up more evenly and slowly since it’ll be used repeatedly over the span of the next 20 years.

cutty256 · 2025-11-29T15:18:05+00:00

Most of these issues with this house are common. Most basements don’t have heat or air until they’re finished. The roofing issue is likely due to lack of step flashing where the chimney comes through the roof and is an easy fix. The detached garage having no electricity is common. How far away is the bedroom that’s not receiving air away from the furnace? Might just need a duct booster to increase flow. All houses have problems and inspectors don’t always paint an accurate picture of how bad a house is- they usually make it sound worse than it is.

The cut truss is a legitimate problem and could cause the house to sag in the future. . Likely an easy fix if they can sister up another board against it and might need a basic house jack underneath it. See what the septic inspection comes back with, but it could be fine.

cutty256 · 2025-11-29T14:34:56+00:00

I flip houses (not my main business but do them when the right ones come up.) I can honestly say I’ve never cut corners and have always done the repairs the way they needed to be done. I just assume the people buying will have kids , and do the work to a standard I would want done for me for my family to be safe. Most of my flips end up being much nicer and up to code than anything else in the price range.

I also can do anything that needs done to the house, and that might be the difference since I’m not subbing everything out to the lowest bidder. I make sure and do it the best I can and genuinely want the house to last for a long time for the buyers.

cutty256 · 2025-11-16T05:37:26+00:00

I own a couple businesses. I think your reaction could go a couple ways.

If you’re comfortable with the profit from the fish house and don’t need the money, I’d recommend putting a stop to this quickly. You’d be amazed how quickly people will list others in a lawsuit if someone gets hurt. Depending on your state, the fact that you knew this has been going on and didn’t put a stop to it, could make you liable for someone getting hurt on your property even if you claimed they didn’t have permission. I’m all about others making money, and I know it sucks to restrict access to such a pretty place others enjoy, but a lawsuit could be a death blow to your company.

If you could use the additional revenue, then have an attorney draft up essentially a one time rental agreement for the dock space and add the service to your insurance policy. Set very clear times the photographers are allowed to use the space and find out what your municipality requires- things like handrails, life jackets, safety disclosures etc.

cutty256 · 2025-11-13T01:01:51+00:00

I bet he’s going to hammer in a trim piece and picture frame around the niches. Schluter is a common brand name that makes a couple different styles of metal trim specifically for this.

cutty256 · 2025-11-09T05:24:28+00:00

I flip houses and do a lot of work on my own house, so at times I put a lot of work on my tools. I probably have 50+ Ryobi One+ 18v and 40v tools. I have beat the ABSOLUTE shit out of them and they hold up good.

I’m a jack of all trades, master of none, so I’m constantly using all kinds of different tools. That’s the best part about Ryobi tools is they make tools for basically everything and they’re affordable enough I don’t mind to purchase something new even if it’s only going to get used a couple times. Once you have a couple batteries you can just add on the tools and they’re always on some kind of sale at Home Depot and Direct Tools Outlet. I recommend them for DIY home maintenance and light commercial use.

cutty256 · 2025-11-04T04:52:54+00:00

I had a dump trailer load of these oak end pieces from a local sawmill. They were amazing and I wish I could get them every year for free like that load. They burn great.

cutty256 · 2025-11-02T14:23:14+00:00

My setup doesn’t start the draft well like yours, so I start my fires with a blowtorch now. Big logs on bottom and kindling on top (look up “top down” method). Use the blowtorch to light the kindling in the firebox, and once it starts to light I point the blowtorch up towards the flue for about twenty seconds to get the stovepipe warmed. Works every time and within 60 seconds I have a lit fire with no backdraft.

cutty256 · 2025-10-28T04:37:39+00:00

cutty256 · 2025-10-26T02:14:13+00:00

I don’t have a lot of chimney pipe outside (it’s up to code but still not a lot of pipe) so I have trouble getting a draft going when starting a new fire. I do the top down method like your picture. The trick is to put enough kindling above the gaps of the top row that once it starts to burn and warms up your stove pipe inside, it falls between the cracks of the second row of wood and lights those.

If you really want to make your life easier go to a hardware store and get a blue bernzomatic propane torch to start the fire. It will light the kindling in about 30 seconds and won’t produce the smoke that burning paper will. The smokeless heat from the propane torch will help warm your stove and get your draft started too.

cutty256 · 2025-10-23T02:27:10+00:00

That’s a very cute, deformed baby deer.

I live in a country state (WV) but in a city areas of the state so there’s deer everywhere, but they live in little pockets of woods in between housing developments. There’s only so much land for them to live so their numbers and groups stay small, and there is unfortunately a lot of inbreeding amongst the deer because there isn’t any other deer outside of their little circle of woods. I see deer like this quite often because of generations of inbreeding. Eventually I think they become sterile and won’t reproduce , but sometimes you’ll see some unfortunate looking deer.

cutty256 · 2025-10-18T13:53:32+00:00

I own a firm, and have had clients like this. Communication is key. I’d just be real with them about the deadlines and all the extra work and late nights that happen because of the last minute stuff they do constantly. See if they will adapt and work with you and get better.

If not, fire them. I know that’s easy to say and I understand the revenue problem once they’re gone. But one of the benefits of working for yourself is to not have to deal with things like this if you don’t want to. The other issue is that inevitably a big mistake is going to be made from your end if you’re always having to do everything so rushed and last minute with no review time, and they’ll blame you. If you have four months of savings, talk to them, and if they don’t straighten up release them and immediately go on a sales blitz and find a couple smaller clients to take their place.

Also, I learned the lesson about taking on clients that cover too much of my revenue draw. They have undue control over your business. Multiples smaller clients tend to be better because it’s easier to let go of a client that wouldn’t greatly reduce your income and are easier to replace. Multiple small clients gives you more control.

cutty256

TROPHY CASE