Michael D. wrote:Ouch! $6000.00.
On the bright side 75% of all sewer piping and water lines in this country are failing and are 100 years old. I did not know that your piping was ceramic, (those lines break very easy and often as they age) most old lines in MN are cast iron. Newer lines are PVC. Tree roots get into everything. It is really amazing what plant roots can do to things.
For Kate, newer home construction in the US is done cheap, shotty, and often bad, plus sold for way too much $$$$$. Older homes have their share of problems but were often built better/stronger. Home construction materials used very greatly depending on the area of the US where the homes are built. There was a time in your area of the US that all homes were made from cinder blocks/concrete due to the desert.
Agree with Laura, home ownership really is the best thing if one can get into a home. Buying a home in the US has become a nightmare for most people and a lot of people can’t afford a home. I had built my parent’s house and finally have gotten into a house of my very own. Seven houses from where I grew up. It’s a MN thing. I am the last person who thought that I would wind up back in the old neighborhood which now at times can be called the hood.
Interesting to read about other people's living situations/houses in other parts of the US and in Finland in Memnoch's case. Michael - I liked your comment "It's a MN thing." We don't live on the same block we grew up, but feel so grounded and rooted in Chicagoland/the midwest having grown up here and all our family near by, that we never really seriously entertained the idea of living anywhere else. We really love the city too - the architecture, the lakefront, the museums, and so many things to do. If we didn't live in the city itself, I probably would not be going to many or as many metal shows and the like. Most of the venues are a short bus, train, or cab ride away, and some are even within 5-10 minute walking distance. The really close ones don't have many metal gigs, but when they do (as in the case of Corey Taylor, Kvelertak, and Satyricon in the past few years), I love that. So, if I feel like seeing a show for example on a weeknight, I'm generally not gone for many hours, which is not a big deal considering work, family, and all that good stuff.
The only venue that is a bit of pain to get to is Reggie's because it is located many blocks south of the downtown "Loop."
Back to the house discussion - I don't agree that all new construction in the US is necessarily crappy. Ours is a wood frame house, and we watched it being built in the summer of 1992. We were/are satisfied enough with it (husband is an architect/general contractor), and the price was certainly right. When we put a 22 foot, 2 story addition (family room first floor, expanded master bedroom/bath second floor) on the back of the house about 8 years ago, we had all new siding put on the entire house, had all the windows replaced with better quality ones (rather than trying to match the siding & windows of the new addition to the original part of the house), replaced the first floor carpeting with wood floors, and completely gutted and re-did the kitchen and the downstairs bathroom (we couldn't afford the wood floors and our "dream kitchen" back in 1992). The main reason the house was so inexpensive back in 1992 was that the developer had bought several empty lots on our street for only $5,000 a piece because the neighborhood was still so gang infested....so, we weren't paying some super inflated price because of land value. Now, that ours is a "hot" neighborhood, a really crappy 120 year old run down eyesore of a house next to us sold for $200,000 as a teardown (insane? yes!) about 5 years ago, and a young couple (early 30s) built a $1,000,000 house there.
I'm sure the neighbors appreciate it.
