u/Degenerate_in_HR

TL;DR 1901 house, 2nd flood gutted, foam sealed all gaps, would it be OK to not insulate and then fill cavitites with cellulose?

House: 1901, platform framed. Sheathing is 2 inch think lumber, with wood siding ontop of the sheathing and cement siding ontop of the wood siding. No housewrap etc. 4.5 inch (+/- half inch) deep stud cavities.

Goal: I am not trying to create the most energy efficient house in the world...I just dont want mold.

Situation: 2nd floor gutted for rewire job and now suprisse renovation.

What ive done: I have sealed the gaps with expanding foam to make things more air tight. I was going to put R19 in and vapor barrier but reading online has me convinced that fiberglass insulation will mold and rot my framing - especially becuase the r19 would be compressed.... I dont want to spend close to double on rockwool.

Proposed plan: hang sheet rock, and then blow in cellulose insulation. Would this reduce mold risk?

Location: zone 6A, upstate NY

House: 1901 platform framed house. From outside to in, walls consist of Cement Board Siding --> Wood siding --> two inch thick sheathing. The sheathing is dimensional lumber ranging from 4-8 inches wide. Stud cavities are mostly 4 1/2 inches deep, but vary in either direction up to a half inch.

Current Condition: I have the entire 2nd flood gutted open due to a recent rewire job.

What Ive done so far: I foam / epoxy sealed all of the gaps in the sheathing. Some of these were very wide - wide enough to stick my fingers through. Prior to sealing wind blew through house almost freely. Since sealing, I can not detect airflow and over the winter it actually remained a nearly comfortable temperature up there.

Insulation: i bought a bag of unfaced R19 to test it out and it seems to fit in the space well. I know R19 is 6.5 inches think but it doesn't really look like its bursting out of the cavity. It fits nicely around the edges and bulges a little in the center but only by an inch maybe. I was going to buy buy a bunch tomorrow and finish the job but reading online has me convinced that if I use fiberglass it will get wet and rot my walls out...but didnt people use fiberglass for decades? Im worried im making the wrong choice.

I am sure rockwool would be the ideal material here, but it just isn't in my budget. Some quick napkin math based on prices at my local lumber yard it would cost more than double.

Any advice?

I am about to replace my basement window but my foundation is stone. I am going to frame the opening with a treated 2x10.

Im planning to set the frame in mortar (after cleaning up, repointing the joints etc). Do I also need to use masonry screws as well, or should the mortar alone be enough?

Edit to add: I ask because Im not sure if a masonry screw will properly bite into stone. Do I run the risk of cracking the stone?

Looking at buying a 2019 with the 2.0 with 100k miles. Dealer is asking for $14k.

This subreddit seems to be bipolar about this model year....some saying it has coolant intrusion issues, some saying it has a newer engine that doesn't have intrusion issues....so whats the scoop?

Anything I should look into?

I switched from spectrum to frontier fiber (1GB) and got a much lower rate. I was told that there was an incentive where I would recieve a voucher/coupon for $400 off select Samsung products of $799 or more and an additional $100 visa gift card.

I thought those incentives were pretty great because im in the market for a new TV. The rep never said anything about how I redeem those though. Ive been trying to call and chat support about this for a couple days now but can't get through to anyone helpful...

...anyone have an insight into what I have to do to redeem these incentives?

Just went to Verizon to replace my 6 year old phone that was starting to fail. The rep originally tells me after I take my new phone home I'll have a month to return the old one to "trade it in" (so I have time to get information, pics off it etc).

I was thinking, ok sounds pretty standard.

Then the mamager comes over and tell the rep that they should have me keep my old phone and do a "BYOD" so they can set up a new line for that phone. They claim this line will only cost me 5 bucks a month and then I can use my insurance to replace that phone, effectivley giving me two usable phones and an extra phone line.

Admittedly this sounded appealing...I could have an extra phone for emergencies, or to carry around when I'm doing stuff that might damage my regular phone.

They said this would save me money because they could apply a promo that would offset the addition 5 bucks a month....

It all just seems sketchy and unnecessary to me.

Thoughts?

I live in the middle of nowhere and I am getting ready to car shop for the first time in years. Im thinking of buying a new, economy car (trax, kicks, trailblazer, HR-V etc).

The frustrating thing as I look at inventories online is that pretty much every new car dealer in my area has maybe one or two of any given model on its lot - so its hard to find the options, trims, colors etc that I want.

When I look at big dealerships near cities in my area (all hour+ drives away) they have FAR more inventory. One dealer has over 100 Chevy Trax showing in their inventory.

**So my question is: is there an advantage to me as a consumer to shop at the small town dealership with no selection or big city dealerships with infinite selection?**

I know im not going to negotiate much off of an cheap little econobox anyway, but I do want to go where I can expect to find more competitive pricing and service.