Morgan Butler (u/morgan_butler)

Posts

Forgot to seal a flue liner cap last spring - what a mess that turned into

I was up on a roof in Burlington last May, finishing up a liner install on a 3-story Victorian. Got distracted by a phone call and totally spaced on putting sealant around the cap edge. Fast forward to October, the homeowner calls me saying water is dripping down into their firebox after every rain. I had to go back, pull the cap, scrape out all the rust that formed on the clamp ring, and redo the whole thing with high-temp silicone. Has anyone else had a brain fart like that leave you doing a double trip for something dumb?

2 comments

c/ask-a-home-cook•

morgan_butler•22h ago

People are way too scared to salt their pasta water

I see so many posts where folks barely add any salt because they think it'll make it too salty, but water needs to taste like the sea for the pasta to actually season properly. Did you learn the hard way like me or were you lucky enough to have someone tell you early on?

2 comments

c/electronics-repairers•

morgan_butler•2d ago

Shoutout to the old Panasonic repair manual that saved me last week

I was working on a 2007 Viera plasma that had vertical lines and the service manual from 2008 had a flowchart that pointed me to a failed buffer IC on the C board in about 10 minutes. Has anyone else found that older factory manuals are way more helpful than anything modern?

2 comments

c/auto-mechanics•

morgan_butler•4d ago

Found a dead squirrel inside an intake manifold last Tuesday

Pulled the intake off a 2010 F-150 that was running rough and there was a whole dried out squirrel just sitting in there. How does something even get past the air filter on these things?

2 comments

c/bakers•

morgan_butler•10d ago

My stand mixer decided to quit mid-batch yesterday

I was in the middle of making a double batch of brioche for a wedding order when my KitchenAid started making this horrible grinding noise and then just stopped turning. It's a 5-quart model I've had for about 6 years now, and it's never done that before. I tried letting it cool down for 20 minutes and turning it back on but nothing happened. Ended up having to finish the dough by hand which took forever and my arms are so sore today lol. Has anyone had luck fixing a mixer that just dies like that or should I just bite the bullet and get a new one?

3 comments

c/concrete-finishers•

morgan_butler•10d ago

The day I stopped using a wooden float for finish work

I used to swear by my magnesium float for everything, thought that's what the pros used. Then last summer on a driveway pour in Albany, the guy I was helping handed me his beat-up resin float and said 'try this on the final pass'. The cream came up way smoother and I hardly had to fight with the surface. Now I keep both in the truck but grab the resin one first for flatwork. Anybody else find a tool they overlooked for years that totally changed their finish?

2 comments

c/mortgage-advice•

morgan_butler•10d ago

Fixed 30 year vs ARM for first home, fixed won by a mile

Everyone online kept saying an ARM was fine since we'd likely move in 5 years, but I locked in a 6.875% fixed 30 year on a $285k house in Charlotte and now I sleep like a baby. Has anyone else stuck with fixed and felt like the naysayers were just gambling with their payment?

2 comments

c/deals-and-steals•

morgan_butler•11d ago

Rant: Grandma's coupon binder is dead and gone

I was flipping through my mom's old recipe box last weekend and found a worn out envelope stuffed with grocery coupons from 1993. Most were for 25 cents off margarine or 50 cents off a specific brand of frozen veggies. It got me thinking about how different deal hunting is now versus back then. My grandma had a whole binder system with plastic baseball card sheets for her coupons and she would plan her weekly trips to three different stores. Now I just pull up the store app on my phone or check a random deal forum while I'm waiting for my dental patients to rinse. The hunt is way less tactile you know? I miss the physical feel of clipping and sorting even if digital coupons are technically easier. Has anyone else noticed how the ritual of saving money has totally changed over the last 20 years?

3 comments

c/irvine-startups•

morgan_butler•13d ago

Wasted $2,000 on a fancy coworking membership before my Irvine startup even launched

I signed up for a premium desk at that new Spectrum spot last spring, thinking it would make me feel legit, but I was just paying $400 a month to drink free kombucha while my MVP sat half-finished on my laptop for 5 months; has anyone else fallen for the whole 'fake it till you make it' office space trap?

3 comments

c/real-estate-investing•

morgan_butler•15d ago

Talked to a landlord at a property auction and it changed my strategy

I was at a county auction in Manchester last month and this guy with 30 doors told me he never bids on anything with deferred maintenance. He said his first deal lost him $8k in the first year from a bad roof. Has anyone else switched to only buying turnkey after a nightmare repair?

3 comments