c/albuquerque-homeowners

Paid $600 for a 'premium' pest control plan and caught the guy napping in my backyard

This was about three months ago back in August. The company was Green Earth Exterminators (out of the Northeast Heights), and they promised quarterly treatments with zero missed bugs. I came home early one Tuesday and found their tech stretched out on my patio chair with his eyes closed, right next to a half-eaten burrito. Has anyone else had a contractor just clock out on their dime like that?

That one week last August when my AC died and my water heater followed two days later

That $200 weed barrier I laid down 3 months ago is already worthless

I spent a Saturday afternoon putting down heavy fabric and staples around my flower beds in Rio Rancho, thinking I was done with weeds for the season. Cost me about $200 for the roll and enough staples to cover a small yard. Fast forward to this week and the weeds are just punching right through the fabric like it wasn't even there. The gravel on top didn't help either, it just shifted and exposed the edges. Has anyone in the Albuquerque area found a ground cover that actually stops bindweed and goatheads for more than a season?

Unpopular opinion: That advice about xeriscaping saving water is overhyped

My neighbor Bob told me ripping out my grass for rocks and cactus would cut my water bill by half. Turned out my HOA fines from the dead lawn cost me $350 in fees before I replanted with buffalo grass. Anyone else find xeriscaping just trades one headache for another in the Albuquerque heat?

Tried spray foam over fiberglass in my attic. Game changer.

My house in the North Valley was basically a sieve for AC. Summer bills hit $280 easy. I kept adding fiberglass batts but it never sealed the gaps right. Finally bit the bullet and had a crew do closed cell spray foam in the attic. Cost me $1,800 for a 1200 square foot house. Difference is night and day. My house stays cooler way longer and the HVAC barely kicks on now. Plus the air quality feels better since it seals out all that dust. Anyone else made the switch and seen a huge drop in their bills?

Plastic pipe vs copper in ABQ hard water

I replaced my old copper water lines with PEX about two years ago. Cost me around $400 in materials for a 1,500 sq ft house. The copper was getting pinhole leaks from all that hard water we have in Albuquerque. I did the work myself over a weekend. So far not a single leak or issue. My neighbor did the same thing and he saved on his water bill too. Has anyone else here switched from copper to PEX and seen the same results?

Tried a cheap foam gun vs my old brush for house washing and it's no contest

Honestly, I spent $30 on a foam gun from Home Depot last month and it cleaned my stucco way faster than scrubbing with a brush. Took me like 20 minutes instead of 3 hours. Has anyone else switched to one of these for exterior cleaning?

The guy who broke my sprinkler valve told me to just "turn it off at the main" like I was born yesterday

He was standing there in my front yard in Albuquerque last Tuesday with my water shooting ten feet in the air, and when I asked him if he could fix it he just shrugged and said "you can turn the main off yourself, right" before hopping in his truck and driving off. Has anyone else dealt with a contractor who ditched mid-job like that?

My whole backyard looked like a dust bowl until I planted clover instead of grass 3 months ago

The bees showed up within 2 weeks and now I spend maybe 10 minutes a week on watering versus dragging the sprinkler around for 45 minutes every other day, so has anyone else swapped out their lawn mix around here and seen a big difference?

Best $40 I spent this summer was on a crawl space dehumidifier

After that monsoon last August I noticed musty smell coming up from the floor vents. Bought a small dehumidifier from the hardware store on Coors and stuck it down there with a drain line running to the sump pump. Cost me about $40 plus $20 for the hose kit. Smell cleared up in like three days and my energy bill actually dropped a bit too. Anyone else deal with crawl space moisture after heavy rains?

I used to just hose off my patio every spring and call it good, now I'm out there with a pressure washer and a toothbrush

About 3 years ago my neighbor down the street in the North Valley, she's like 70, saw me just spraying water on my flagstone and said 'you're not getting the mildew off like that, hon.' So she brought over her little electric pressure washer and spent 20 minutes showing me how to do it. Now I'm that guy who scrubs the grout lines with a stiff brush before even turning on the machine. It takes me like 2 hours instead of 10 minutes. Has anyone else had a neighbor give them a chore upgrade that turned into a whole thing?

Used to hand tighten my swamp cooler every fall like clockwork

Growing up, I'd spend an hour with a wrench on that roof in October, but last year I threw a $40 smart switch on it and now my phone tells me when to drain it. Has anyone else switched to smart controls for their ABQ coolers?

Water bill dropped $40 after I fixed that drip

Had a faucet in the guest bathroom that dripped for like 6 months. Ignored it cause it seemed small. Finally replaced the washer and O-ring last month. Next bill came and it was $40 less than normal. Anyone else find a sneaky leaky drain on their wallet like that?

PSA: My property tax assessment was off by $12,000 and nobody told me

I was looking through the county assessor website last week just out of curiosity and found out my house was assessed at $320,000. Thing is I bought it two years ago for $268,000. I called the assessor's office and they said I could file a protest before the deadline. I figured most people just pay what they're told but apparently you can challenge it. Has anyone else actually gone through the protest process and gotten their number lowered?

Tried a $5 insulation trick on my old house in the South Valley

My 1950s place in the South Valley had crazy drafts around the windows in winter. I tried that foam sealant tape from Lowe's for $5 a roll and sealed up gaps on 8 windows in about an hour. Now my gas bill dropped by $40 last month compared to last February. Has anyone else found a cheap fix that actually works for these old adobe homes around here?

Unpopular opinion: landlord special repairs aren't always the worst thing

My neighbor told me last summer I should just patch a small hole in my drywall with spackle and paint, no mesh tape needed. I thought he was crazy but tried it anyway. That was 8 months ago and the patch is still perfect with zero cracks. Now my cousin had the opposite happen - she listened to someone who said skip the primer on a repaint and the whole ceiling peeled in 3 months. So who do you trust when every homeowner gives conflicting advice? Has anyone else had a quick fix actually work out long term or did you get burned?

I finally gave in and hired a gardener instead of doing it myself

After three summers of fighting with my overgrown yard in the Heights, I finally broke down and paid a guy $150 to come out. He showed up last Wednesday at 7 AM with a crew of three people and they finished everything in under 2 hours. I spent all weekend watching them work from my window while I sipped coffee, and honestly it was the best money I've spent on this house. Has anyone else found a good crew in the Northeast Heights area?

PSA: That guy who did my foundation work 4 years ago left a mess I just found

Last week I was digging up a dead bush in my backyard near the foundation wall, and I hit a chunk of concrete that wasn't supposed to be there. Turns out the contractor who poured my slab in 2021 just buried leftover forms and trash under about 6 inches of dirt instead of hauling it away. I paid that guy $8,500 for a full foundation pour, and now I'm pulling out rotten wood and old soda cans from 3 feet down. My neighbor said the same guy did his patio and he found a trowel buried under it last month. Has anyone else in ABQ dealt with shady contractors burying crap on their property?

Just hit 3 years in my ABQ house and found a hidden water line I never knew about

I've been in my place near the North Valley for exactly 3 years now and yesterday I was digging up a dead bush in the backyard to plant a new one. I hit something hard about 6 inches down and it turned out to be a old PVC water line that wasn't on any of the property maps I got from the city. Nobody told me about it and it was still hooked up to the main line underground. I guess the previous owner just buried it when they changed something. I called a plumber and he said it's a common thing around here in older homes. It cost me $250 to get it capped properly before it leaked everywhere. Has anyone else found random pipes or wires buried in their yard here?

That fancy drip edge install I see on half the new builds here is totally wrong

Everyone in Albuquerque is putting drip edge flat against the fascia but it needs to angle out so water actually drops off. Has anyone else noticed their siding getting stained from this?

My $30 moisture meter lied to me about a leak behind the drywall

I spent three weekends trying to find a musty smell in my guest bathroom before I finally cut a hole in the ceiling and spotted the pipe drip. Turns out the cheap moisture meter from the big box store only reads surface moisture, not what's a quarter inch deep. Has anyone else had a hidden leak take way longer to track down than they expected?

Talked with a realtor at a coffee shop who said most sellers are pricing homes based on what they need, not what they're worth

She told me three sellers this week alone listed 20k above comps just to cover their next down payment. Does that match what you all are seeing in the current Albuquerque market?

Solar panel production drop: cloudy month vs summer peak

I got panels installed on my house near the North Valley back in March 2023. In June that year, I was pulling around 900 kWh per month. But last December, that number dropped to just under 300 kWh. The shorter days and constant overcast really hit hard. Now I'm wondering if the savings are worth the upfront cost for folks who don't have great south-facing roofs. Has anyone else in ABQ seen a similar swing with their system?

My HOA board told me my xeriscaping was too 'messy' so I had to dig up the native grasses I planted last spring.

They wanted a 'cleaner look' with gravel and a single yucca plant, has anyone else had to fight their HOA over native landscaping?

My water heater died at 6am on a Tuesday and the repair guy saved my whole week

Two weeks ago my water heater went out right when I was about to shower before a big cleaning job. I called three places and one guy actually showed up within 2 hours, replaced the element for $180. The other two quoted me $400 and said they could come next week. Has anyone else had a crazy good or bad experience with emergency home repairs here in Albuquerque?