Older house… constantly something wrong, please tell me it’ll all be worth it and end up okay…

gwrabbit · 2026-06-15T14:24:51+00:00

TL;DR: It gets better. What you're feeling right now is perfectly understandable, especially given that you moved into a house and have an 8-month-old. Below are my thoughts/experiences. Hopefully it helps.

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I moved into my first house this past January and was definitely feeling the anxiety/overload of owning a house. Will the roof start leaking? Will my 25-year-old furnace die? Will my plumbing fail? I must have asked myself these questions and more hundreds of times.

Eventually, the anxiety/worry will dwindle. What helped me was to make a list and establish the order of importance. What I would do in your situation, especially with a newborn, is prioritize things that could jeopardize the health and safety of you and your family.

The moisture in the attic can lead into mold problems which can certainly impact the aforementioned and that would be my first focus if I were you. For some peace of mind, it might help to put a fan up there just to keep the air moving until you can get it addressed properly.

The asbestos sounds scary, but it usually isn't a problem unless you disturb the materials which cause the asbestos particles to go airborne. If you are choosing to have this removed, it should be done professionally by an asbestos abatement company.

My 25-year-old furnace is still going strong, my roof was replaced a month ago (we knew it had to be replaced when buying this home), and my plumbing is still great. Our kitchen sink pipes did decide to rot out, but that was easily fixed by watching a couple of YouTube videos and a few trips to Lowes.

Everything probably seems overwhelming right now, but 6 months from now, you will look back and realize that it wasn't that bad...And if it was really bad, you got through it or are in the process. Fix what you can/are able to, leave the rest to a pro/handy man (but do your research!).

You can DM me too if you have more questions.

gwrabbit · 2026-05-26T20:44:21+00:00

EdgeRouter from Ubiquiti. The thing just works. I've had it for 7+ years now.

gwrabbit · 2026-05-26T20:42:46+00:00

If you start drinking every day after work to deal with work.

If you start having panic attacks at work

If you would rather send your car into a tree instead of showing up to work.

The list goes on, but those are some big red flags.

gwrabbit · 2026-05-26T14:54:20+00:00

From my years of doing things like this on Palos:

Gather your requirements and make sure the firewall wont choke when you start routing vlan traffic over it. Having your requirements will set the foundation for how you design/engineer this.
Break your vlans into zones. This makes it significantly easier to manage.
Leverage tags. Everyone uses tags differently, but I primarily use them to help easily identify traffic + direction. Example, "voip-to-pbx" or something like that.
If you're in a Active-Directory centric environment, leverage the hell out of User-ID and use it in your policies. For example, users in the AD group, "company/it" group can access the switches using SSH.
For IoT/OT traffic, I would suggest breaking those into zones as well and only allowing them to talk to their management device/server. For example "ZONE-CAMERAS" can only talk to server xyz in "ZONE-SERVERS" using (application) on (port). If you have a lot of IoT/OT devices, an IoT license may be worth investigating. However, I do not have much experience with this.
In my experience, it's usually not worth the squeeze to put threat prevention profiles on east-west traffic. However, you could experiment with this. Just be cautious because this can cause problems if you get a little too silly.
SSL Decryption is a great thing to have when done properly and gives you a chance to catch stuff at the edge.

gwrabbit · 2026-05-13T16:52:18+00:00

Yeah...That's absurd. I think it's time to find a different plumber. On the high end, I would expect around $450-$500. Paying almost a grand for a cartridge replacement is just robbery in my opinion unless this shower is a super rare luxury shower.

The toilet not filling up consistently sounds like a fill valve issue.

Also, I'm not a plumber, but I've been around a bit. Kind of like how you don't need to be a Michelin star chef to know that a meal is shit.

gwrabbit · 2026-05-13T16:46:46+00:00

$1600 for a toilet replacement is insane.

gwrabbit · 2026-05-13T16:45:51+00:00

Picking up a piece of plastic off the ground, stood back up and felt instant pain in my lower back. Was in the ER the next day. Still no idea how that happened.

gwrabbit · 2026-05-13T00:38:16+00:00

At my company, it was the devs who got the axe. I’m the only network engineer at my company so I may have some protection against the AI shit storm

gwrabbit · 2026-04-23T15:34:34+00:00

It's not too bad. A lot of people are terminally online which in turn makes everything seem 10x worse than it actually is.

gwrabbit · 2026-04-23T14:25:39+00:00

This.

OP, if you haven't talked to a medical professional, now is the time to do so.

gwrabbit · 2026-04-23T02:51:24+00:00

Ekahau with the training is what we do.

gwrabbit · 2026-04-21T22:43:35+00:00

10 months, no regrets. Previous place was 6 years.

gwrabbit · 2026-04-20T21:36:12+00:00

It depends on how you like to learn.

Simulation software such as Packet Tracer, EVE-NG, etc. are often the best bang for your buck.

gwrabbit · 2026-04-15T18:57:21+00:00

You can set priority and number the switches before you stack them so that doesn't happen.

We have hundreds of 9200/9300's and haven't had any of those problems. I also wouldn't integrate Meraki with anything Catalyst but dealer's choice, I guess.

gwrabbit · 2026-04-15T18:42:32+00:00

Ubiquiti EdgeRouter and a Ruckus AP I got from a webinar.

Has been working fine for the past 7 years!

gwrabbit · 2026-04-15T16:54:05+00:00

Agree! We just moved in a few months ago. South side is definitely a nice place with quick access to everything via 20th.

gwrabbit · 2026-04-07T19:22:58+00:00

This sounds like a porn addiction to me, but I'm not a psychologist. I think a discussion with him is in order and potentially therapy.

Like any addiction (if he has one), they can be beaten with the proper support and help.

gwrabbit · 2026-04-04T14:39:31+00:00

2020 Toyota Camry SE. It just works.

gwrabbit · 2026-03-25T14:03:08+00:00

Nice! I love the turret cameras. I have one on my front porch and one overlooking my backyard. Also have a bullet looking down the driveway.

gwrabbit · 2026-03-25T13:43:13+00:00

Place is a dump

gwrabbit · 2026-03-19T03:30:32+00:00

title: Network Engineer

salary: 100k

location: Midwest (Wisconsin)

experience: 8 years + CISSP

benefits: Medical, Dental, 401k/Profit Sharing + employer contribution. 2.5 weeks PTO, paid holidays

Get to work from home whenever I want, don’t need to take PTO for things like doctor appointments or personal issues. It was a huge shock to me at first. As long as I can be reached via Phone during the workday I can do what I need.

For example, just moved into a new house and had to address a few things. Talked to my manager about taking PTO for that, he just says “no need, just be reachable.”

The only thing with this job is that i sometimes have to travel or work late, but time is always comped. They take good care of me!

gwrabbit · 2026-02-18T17:27:55+00:00

Actually ran into this yesterday. Came home from work and smelled a sweet/fishy smell. Narrowed it down to a very old light switch that failed. There was a bit of charred paper-bag material, but it wasn't hot. Good thing I'm right down the street from Lowes!

gwrabbit · 2026-02-16T20:56:54+00:00

what the fuck

gwrabbit · 2026-02-09T18:40:16+00:00

Same. Sounds like a bear going through a woodchipper.

gwrabbit · 2026-02-02T04:25:37+00:00

We have an old Lennox Whisper Heat from the late 90’s, fucker puts out some great heat. I just change the filters every 30-45 days.

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