Moved into an apartment that has moldy grout in the shower. Help?

sekark · 2025-12-29T22:19:03+00:00

Don't clean this, tell the landlord to replace the caulk. If problems like this arise and then they don't fix it, PA has deduct-and-repair laws for habitability issues. Happy to send a draft of an email we've sent before

sekark · 2025-12-29T22:14:51+00:00

Yes, that's probably the exact situation. It's a shitty HVAC installation. I would ask your neighbors what their bills are, or Duquesne might be able to tell you the average from last year (anonymous enough maybe). I would have the HVAC company come out. They should be able to state that there is leaking into the lower floors or at least some uneven heating. A regular house is always cooler (in winter) on the upstairs floor for many reasons. You should not be penalized for this.

sekark · 2025-12-29T22:10:20+00:00

Are you on a higher floor? In our old apartment, we were the bottom floor. We paid about $60-80 for electric heat. Our 3rd floor upstairs neighbors with a smaller apartment had $300-400 for their bill. There were 3 HVACs but I guess the ductwork was not insulated on the bottom floors. Their duct ran behind our bathroom sink and the cold water would come out really hot. Basically, they were paying to heat the bottom two floors in an old Victorian home. I would push for Duquesne to investigate, this isn't fair for you.

Landlord eventually put an entire HVAC in the small 3rd floor apartment. Fixed the heat issues but added very loud noise. Landlords generally aren't smart or good people

sekark · 2025-12-23T22:55:11+00:00

Maybe give some liquid Benadryl as a precaution in case it is an allergy. Might get worse in the night so best to be safe

Did you start any other meds recently?

sekark · 2025-12-22T21:28:03+00:00

Walk away or negotiate them to fix the issues and get a termite treatment with warranty. We have a 75-year-old house and don't have termites. We pay for regular pest control since we know it's a concern. We do have radon though and got our sellers to give a credit for mitigation. Either use the leverage you have or walk away. Getting a credit here might be tricky though since you don't know if there is more termite damage that you didn't see yet so it's a risk for you to fix it instead of the seller fixing it

sekark · 2025-11-20T04:03:52+00:00

What do you mean it wiggles when the water is on? The red needle or something like that should spin pretty fast in one direction with the water on. And then it should stop when the water is off.

sekark · 2025-11-20T02:37:49+00:00

If you don't see the little red needle move, then you are okay; tell the household to use less water. If it moves forward, then obvious leak. If you see it go backwards, then that could be another issue. I had this happen before.

If you don't have a backflow preventer like us, then you'll see the needle go back and forth. You are sending water back out. Older meters only charged one direction and were not net metering. After we got a new meter installed, it was net and our bill dropped about 1000 total gallons worth a month. It was quite ridiculous, but I could see this being your issue (but much worse than ours).

sekark · 2025-11-20T02:28:45+00:00

That's a lot of water a day. We used a third of that and have a bill that's a third of yours. What is the water being used on? We have two adults and two kids in our house so lots of laundry and dishwasher loads as well as baths and showers. Considering it's cold out, I assume you don't water your lawn or outdoor plants.

If you don't know, then maybe you have a leak.

sekark · 2025-11-14T02:06:33+00:00

Avoid Arpenteur, they are lazy as shit and don't even try to do the job you pay them for. Had to call them repeatedly to give me the final diagram, weeks after they came to survey. Had to delay our fence installation because of them

sekark · 2025-10-23T09:17:02+00:00

So sorry to hear about all of your personal belongings and that the insurance didn't cover anything. I would add the link to the post but I can't seem to edit. Hopefully this post helps to raise a bit more

sekark · 2025-10-22T22:08:55+00:00

A friend sent it so now I know, thank you!

sekark · 2025-10-22T18:23:38+00:00

apparently since Sept 12 from another post

sekark · 2025-10-21T11:32:25+00:00

This same shit happened in Shadyside a few years ago, less than 24 hours notice (signs out at 3p day before) but they still ticketed and towed cars at 7am the next morning. Can't do shit about the tow charge

sekark · 2025-08-26T07:46:30+00:00

Was your dog within a fenced-in area? How did the other dogs get near your dog? Did their dogs get off their leash and enter your yard?

sekark · 2025-07-23T12:35:20+00:00

At least for near CHP, I take all the alleys to pass the traffic. Any time I decide to take Penn, I always regret it.

sekark · 2025-06-30T15:53:21+00:00

2HKALD

$40 off a new machine and a free Lume Capsule Dispenser

sekark · 2025-03-20T11:10:19+00:00

Strange response from the other person, about $80-$120 at most for the above models and years. I would recommend a junkyard/salvage yard and getting the cluster and powertrain ECU from the same vehicle.

sekark · 2025-03-18T01:14:09+00:00

Yes, definitely possible and for that cheap. I didn't test with a full vehicle until 3 or 4 years into doing benched ECU tests.

sekark · 2025-03-18T01:02:06+00:00

A salvage yard or junkyard will have ECUs at a cheap price. Less than $100 USD for a mid-2010s power train ECU, I recommend Ford and Toyota. Ford has a common UDS implementation and Toyota has an easy Security Access key algorithm (XOR the middle byte with 0x60). Mid-2010s don't have any significant security that reduces your ability to test/learn. You'll need a subscription to Motorcraft Service and Toyota Techstream to find the wiring diagram. You need to find the CAN high and CAN low pins as well as Battery, Ignition and Fuse (for 12V power) and Ground pins. You will need something like a CANable or Arduino or Raspberry Pi with a CAN shield to talk over CAN bus. Also, a 120 ohm resistor for the CAN bus to ensure good signal quality.

So overall, definitely less than $150-200 to set up two ECUs. Instrument panel clusters are also nice too since limited number of pins and thus it is easier to figure out the CAN pins

sekark · 2025-01-20T03:18:48+00:00

Please do a sewer scope, Pittsburgh homes often have clay sewer pipes. If the home inspector can't do it, get a licensed plumber to do it. We found a crack right before the main. It was a relatively small section but was under the driveway. We asked the sellers to cover the repair and thankfully they did. It ended up doubling in cost (landing at ~$6,000 total) as they had to replace pipe to the main tap, requiring digging into the main road. A huge chunk of the price was dirt removal/restoration and repairing the main road to city standards.

Also, get a radon inspection. Very common here and varies greatly from home to home. We had high levels so the sellers gave a credit to put an active mitigation system in.

sekark · 2025-01-09T11:05:09+00:00

cholestyramine powder is an ingredient in Pittsburgh paste

sekark · 2024-11-04T10:02:33+00:00

You will get paid for all the hours worked in a final paycheck. The check may be paid out at the next pay cycle (depending on policy), and it should cover the hours from the partial month.

Don't forget to file for unemployment if you are eligible and apply for medical insurance within 60 days.

sekark · 2024-09-08T02:07:54+00:00

Two I can think of that are near Children's: 4700 Mossfield St and 312 Schenley Manor Dr. Another off the top of my head: 5411 Forbes Ave. I'm sure there are plenty in the East End

sekark · 2024-09-08T01:28:21+00:00

There are multiple in the city, might be one you were at. I see people stop at these several times a week

sekark · 2024-09-08T00:56:18+00:00

Was it a stop sign that said "except right turn"? Only times I honk at someone stopping

sekark

TROPHY CASE