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Hi all,
My husband and I are moving into our home in Sumter this June and we're SO excited! My husband spent part of his childhood in Sumter (military 'brat' who's now a career soldier) and he's thrilled to be coming "home", finally. The home in question is a handyman special we bought, primarily for it's location on a lake - it needs a LOT of work! A lot. Oh boy howdy, lemme tell ya, it's a fixer upper and a half! But we knew that going into this, and we're actually excited about doing the work - minus the HVAC unit work. We need to replace the subflooring beneath the unit, which requires disconnecting and removing the unit, and then reconnecting it after the new subfloor and flooring is in. I understand we'll need a licensed pro for this according to code, right? Certainly, it's not something I want to fiddle with!
Anyone have any recommendations for a decent HVAC person? And while we're at it, how about vinyl siding? Anyone in the Sumter area that's especially good? I hate the thought of just picking someone out of the phone book.
Second - I need an honest, reliable mechanic! My jeep is creeping ever closer to 200K miles and I want to make sure that the blue beastie is in good hands after we move to Sumter.
Thanks in advance for reading my rambling & any advice/recommendations you have!
For HVAC, my vote would definitely be for Boykin Heating & Cooling! We've had to use them twice for our system and both times they were friendly and fair. The first time we called they gave us some troubleshooting steps over the phone to prevent having to pay a technician to come out if it was something we could resolve ourselves.
For mechanics, Tim's Auto Pro on 441/Peach Orchard Road is pretty fair. We've used them a few times for stuff I couldn't handle with my tools/garage (or didn't want to mess with, like the timing belt). I think they're one of the more reputable in the area.
Thanks, Ceezer, I've jotted down both names. Boykin definitely sounds like a winner, I love that they'll give trouble shooting tips to help avoid paying for a visit - with all the work ahead of us, every little bit of money saved is a good thing! Looks like we've had woodpeckers using our deck as an all you can eat buffet - (little buggers!) so that's another thing to add to the list of stuff to repair/replace.
Maybe I've been in an urban area for too long, but there seems to be an enormous amount of woodpeckers and other birds on our property - is this the norm for Sumter?
I wish the woodpeckers would come and take care of the 48 bumble bees that hover around and burrow into our front porch railing/banisters.
Ugh, sounds like carpenter bees - looks similiar to bumble bees, slow moving, bores round holes in the wood? I had them going after my wood balcony in NJ - this site was very helpful:
It helped me get rid of them - I did the insecticide spray 2x, then filled the holes several days later, then treated the wood with a polyurethane sealer. One word of caution on poly sealers, should you go that route: if you have a sealant/paint/stain on your porch railing already, make sure you get the same type of base (water based or oil based) poly sealer as any existing paint/stain/etc. otherwise bubbling & peeling can occur.
Hopefully you'll be able to get rid of them too - they used to bump into me and freak me out something fierce!
DanaSQ, I am just getting ready to move to Sumter from Myrtle Beach, and have a shade tree off road shop for money on the side. I specialize in Jeeps (that's all I really prefer to do), so if I can ever be of any assistance, please let me know. I don't quite know where I will be living yet, but it will certainly be very close to the city, if not in it. As far as your worries of 200K miles on your Jeep motor, don't be. The 2.5 and 4.0 motors that Jeep's came with are absolutely fantastic. When properly serviced (and many times when not), they will go well over 300K. I just sold a 1992 Wrangler with 412K on the clock, didn't smoke or leak a drop of fluid. Had great compression and ran very strong. Never even had to rebuild it. I have 176K on my current daily driven TJ Wrangler, and a 1979 CJ7 with a little over 130K (which is amazing for vehicles from that era). The only weak points in Jeeps are the transmissions and the axle pinion seals. Grand Cherokees are known for being a bit problematic, but that's it. Feel free to ask any questions, as I am always offering up free advice, whether requested or not!
Thank you! I googled Carpenter Bees and found this information as well:
Quote:
They hover in the vicinity of the nest and will dart after any other flying insect that ventures into their territory. A common behavior of the males is to approach people if they move quickly or wave a hand in the air. The males may even hover a short distance from people causing unnecessary panic.
That's them to a tee! I found it odd that they would attack each other if one got too close, but never really bothered me other than swarming around my head a few times (which, naturally, freaked me out a bit).
Thank you so much for the link!
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