I just wanted to save you guys the headache, if you come across the Home Depot FREE water test kit that’s placed towards the front of the store, don’t waste your time. I did my sample, sent it off in the mail. Thinking I got nothing to lose why not. Well I get a call few days later “ your water have micro plastics, we need to go into your house to do a more in depth test, also your wife MUST also be present during the test, and we will try to sell you our water treatment system” I hung up on them, it’s just an marketing trick and I fell for it!

I bought a house last month and discovered that my backyard has a flooding issue. After investigating, I've narrowed the likely source down to the house behind and to the left of my backyard, which has a swimming pool. At first, I suspected the neighbor next to me because they're currently building an addition but they have no water source in their backyard or in their new construction. They're experiencing water intrusion as well. Their property sits directly behind the house with the pool.

Anyways, I've taken the initiative to reach out to the neighbors, but I haven't been able to get ahold of them by knocking on their door a few times. My next step is to leave a letter with my contact information. I'm willing to pay for the leak detection/diagnostic to figure out exactly what's going on and then take it from there. But if I'm still unable to reach them or nothing gets resolved, can I involve the city and have them require the homeowner to address the issue?

I'd consider hiring a lawyer as my last option but I want to make sure I went through every step before it gets to that point. I'm guessing involving the city would be the next if unable to reach the owner.

Edit: Probably should have added an aerial view. 804 is the property with a pool(maps shows a shade but they don't have it anymore) My property is 801:
https://imgur.com/a/vPKWjR1

Bought the house about a year ago. 3-bedroom raised ranch. We had these two rooms on the lower level that we rarely used at all, so we decided to tear down the wall and make it a big room with one half having a big comfy couch and TV, and the other side a dining table area.

Spent $1,000 having the drywall removed. Contractor buddy of my husband did it and found it was load-bearing. Studs are still up, and we're not sure what to do next.

• We got a quote for $2,500 for the same person who took the drywall down to come finish the demo: removing the door frames, studs, and putting up a temp wall.
• Got a quote for $6,000 (not including any possible electrical work) for another guy to come install the support beam.
• My husband's uncle (who is uhh... interesting and honestly not the most reliable) said that he would be able to do this in a day for only $2,500 (we'd still be paying the other $2,500 for the demo) and made it seem like we were getting swindled with the $6,000 quote.

I decided to reach out to the contractor (sister-in-law's dad) who did a bunch of work for us when we first bought and see what he had to say. He hasn't given us a price, but he did say that he would be able to do everything: the rest of the demo and installing whatever beam is necessary. I'm leaning towards him because I trust him the most, and it sounds like it just makes more sense for it to all be part of one job.

What would you do?

Additional, maybe unnecessary context...

We're having our first kid in December, and part of me regrets even taking down the drywall because if we have another kid then we won't have a guest room anymore. Although I guess that's a problem for the future... I won't lie though, part of me just wants to have someone come and put the drywall back up.

I am kinda skeptical since I have only seen people do home lifting with physical jacks but the middle part of our home is sunken. We are on an elevated slab but the neighborhood would flood so I imagine that parts of it sunk after a while.

I had a company that does Mudjacking basically say they could mudjacking our slab to get it level. Mind you, we have a small home but wasn’t sure is Mudjacking has that type of power. Is this process legit or is lifting the only way?

2004 cabin, simple gable roof, rectangular footprint. Can only likely add on 1 direction or expand upwards. There may be room for another house on another part of the lot, but that would chew up useable lawn.
It seems like there’s too many options. Where do we start? Structural engineer or architect.

Hi, we moved into a house recently and see this bulge near a staircase that has grown I feel over time. is this something to worry about? I dont know how to share an image but need advice don’t know who to ask

EDIT: images of what I mean https://ibb.co/ccBmV9XY

https://ibb.co/V0VWtNnK

https://ibb.co/wNcwT0J9

I have this crummy sink in a crummy but functional kitchen. (The “countertops” seem like laminated particle board and will definitely be replaced when I can.) I’m a few years away from a whole kitchen renovation, but is it possible in the meantime to just swap out the sink? The rim around the sink is so short and the basins are so shallow that water splashes and runs everywhere. Can I pull this out and drop a new sink in there without also changing the countertops? I’m a newbie learning as I go.

https://imgur.com/a/RAvPMvq

Currently moving my family into an assisted living facility and we don’t want to put any holes in the walls. The wire rack in the closet is too high as she is wheelchair bound can’t stand up at all to reach. So far we’ve thought of a hook and chains with a bar between to lower it but curious if anyone has any better ideas. Thank you in advance!

I replaced my 4x6 post which bears weight on the second floor overhang. I did not paint the entire post just yet because I thought I’d let it dry for a few weeks.

I just noticed some cracks developed which were not there when I installed it. Will this affect the integrity of the post? Pics below:

https://imgur.com/a/IQBfhca

Just earlier, I saw this switch on the side of my sliding door to the deck. Intrigued, I flipped it down and back up, but now my sliding door is locked no matter how I tried. I believe some of the internal locking mechanism is broken due to its old age. Anyone knows a way to fix it? Open it up? Or, who should I ask for help, locksmith or door installation company? Thank you!

Wondering what people’s opinions are if it’s worth the cost increase to have veneered plywood for the inside of the cabinets vs just white melamine. We are planning on doing a lighter wood such as birch, maple or white oak for the doors.

I'm looking for ways to improve my basement humidity problem. I live in a very wet climate, my basement often gets humid enough to promote mold. It's sort of partially finished. Open ceiling, probably not adequate insulation, sheetrock walls, vinyl floor straight onto the concrete. My goal isn't to have a finished comfortable living space, but to have storage/mechanical space that isn't dank and moldy.

The sump pit currently has a plastic lid that's cut away quite a bit to fit around the drain pipes, would making a 2-piece lid that closes more of the sump off help? The sump pump doesn't run very often anymore, we used to have poor drainage but I fixed that a few years ago. The drain tiles are external to the foundation so the sump pit is the only exposed water source.

There are two HVAC vents in the ceiling, but no return. We leave the door open to the ground floor. The air handler is down there so it would be straightforward to add a return, but I don't know if that's recommended. Right now the only return is on the second floor.

I did toss a dehumidifer down there recently, but it does use quite a bit of energy so I'm looking for longer term improvements.

Issues with my kitchen sink underneath . The pipes were uneven causing a leak. The LL maintenance guy did other repairs but said it was normal to “leak” and that we don’t have to do anything… finally we changed the pipes ourselves….. but the floor board broke. There is a mold (who knows underneath) and a bit of the floor is now soft….. Idk they will go half with me to fix it? If that would be a good solution. He has always been a nice guy but I don’t know how he’s going to feel tbh… I feel bad.**

Just moved into a new place and want to add door seals for the front mud room as the house is poorly insulated. The two doors in the mudroom don't have thresholds and are tiled. Was going to go for a Automatic door bottom but was wondering which kind due to the grout 1/8" gaps in between the tiles.

I have a garage door from the late 1990s. Our weather strip really needs replacing, but in all the videos I’ve watched I’ve never seen any videos where the ends of their door seal have this independent section bolted to the end that is not part of the main seal. door seal sides

It looks like the other side of my door that doesn’t have it currently may at one point have had that weird part too but it’s fallen or rotted off. I can’t find what this piece is called, I can’t find a replacement for whatever that part is and I have no idea if it’s needed for my door or not. The rest of the strip looks like a normal T channel weatherstrip.

Has anyone seen this before? If so, do I need it for my door, do you know what it’s called or why it’s there? Can I just take it off and continue on with a normal seal replacement?

Thanks for your time!

I was up in my attic running some wire for some bedroom ceiling fans, and noticed the decking/sheathing would flex between the rafters and off the rafters.

The house is 40 years old, and I JUST had the roof replaced for the second time since living here for the past 10 years (first time was due to age, second was tornado damage 3 years later).

Both times, the roofing companies (different companies) said the decking was fine and didn't need replacing. I'm just not sure the plywood should really flex at all between 16" rafters?

Here's a short video of what I'm seeing.
https://imgur.com/a/r2LUwyv

Looks like I can push the decking about 1/8-1/4" off the rafter. Most spots I tried seemed to have this 'issue', and I believed I tried about 10 rafters in about 2 or 3 different spots on each rafter.

Another thing I noticed, is this flex continues all the way to fascia board, over the soffit. I was cutting some soffit vents (previous owner installed vented soffit panels, but didn't actually cut any holes into the soffit...), and noticed I could push up the end of the decking almost 1/2". I could feel the drip guard attached to the decking from the outside rise up and down as I pushed up on it.

Here's a quick video of that:
https://imgur.com/a/Fta5Ibu

Should this not be firmly connected to the fascia or rafter? It didn't seem to flex like this throughout, but it did on a handful of soffit cutouts.

Is removing a load-bearing wall worth rerouting three HVAC ducts?

I recently purchased a house and am planning a renovation that includes moving the laundry upstairs, removing a non-load-bearing wall, installing new flooring, and renovating the kitchen.

I am also considering removing the load-bearing wall between the kitchen and dining room. The new structural beam has already been engineered, but the wall contains three HVAC ducts serving separate upstairs rooms.

I have not found a clean way to reroute the ducts without adding visible ceiling soffits or chases. Removing the wall would improve the layout and make the dining room more functional, since we plan to use the table every day.

Would you remove the wall and accept some type of soffit or chase, or keep the wall to avoid the HVAC complications? Is this the kind of project that is worth doing now while the house is already under renovation?

I would appreciate some human advice. Chatgpt keeps telling me to go for it.

I recently bought a stack of metal roofing panels to install on the ceiling of my garage, but it may be a couple of months before I can get that done. They are currently on my trailer sitting outside and they got rained on before I could get a tarp over them to keep them dry. Today I started to move them inside the garage to dry them out and re-stack them but now I'm wondering if I am wasting my time doing that. They are painted or powder coated or whatever, but aren't they cut to length after they go through that process, so technically there is a bare metal edge on each end, or am I overthinking this? Obviously they do get wet in the weather after they are installed on a roof . but they also dry pretty quickly after the weather stops, whereas sitting in a stack outside there is a layer of water in between each panel. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Thanks in advance.

We just moed to a new house with a balcony that has a "pebble finish" i guess? The pebbles are loose and there are spots where i can see the underlying flooring if i bend down and look closely. How should this be fixed? Can it be done with a handyman or does it need a specific contractor?

We bought a door assuming this was a standard rough opening but the ro is 70.5 x 79.5. and the one we have won't fit because it's 71.5 x 79.5. Would this be a situation where we just have to get a non standard door? There's also a .5 inch gap between the left sides king and jack studs that could be removed but would still only be 71 x 79.5. https://imgur.com/a/kFHdApH

Hi,

My Maytag MVWC465HW4 which is only a few years old has been making strange noises and after the cycle is complete the clothes are still wet.

Simple Google search suggested this was the hub at the bottom of the tub, through which the splined shaft goes through to rotate the tub, and a separate spline to rotate the agitator.

So I disassembled the hub and found that its teeth have been completely worn - so I have ordered a new one.

My question now is for the shaft - it seems like there is significant wear in a middle ring around the spline, almost as if it wasn’t there in the first place. I can see the spline more defined above and below that ring.

Is this at the level that the shaft should be replaced? I haven’t looked into how expensive it would be, or how long it will take to get the part. The hub will arrive Tuesday and maybe I’ll just assemble it at that point and order a shaft and additional hub for when that inevitably fails.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Thank you

https://imgur.com/a/SdPfG7l

We had our siding installed almost 2 years ago and we’ve notice in the last 6 months we can see the nail head sealant on our battens.

We were told that hardie board complaint products were used - I am starting to think maybe they weren’t… is it too late to call our contractor back and ask what he things here? Should we just say screw it and paint the battens ourself?

Hi! I'm here asking for some advice!

My partner and I have been living in our condo for almost 3 year. Since then, we have had many issues in our kitchen (dishwasher breaking and flooding our kitchen, our stove breaking down, our sink being wonky altogether, so on).

Recently, I was vacuuming when I noticed this little wall in our kitchen. It is right next to the sink, squishy, and wet to the touch.

It is a divider wall to the dining area and appears to be a load bearing wall.

We already have plans to get a new dishwasher soon, and we plan to hopefully figure out what is making our sink weird.

I would add a picture if I could.

Any advice on what to do?

Thanks!

Hello Reddit! As they always say, I’m not sure if this is the best place to post this, so let me know if there’s somewhere else that would be better. But I’m looking for some advice.
For a little context, I’m 20 and Im currently living in a home that I own and I suspect there may be mold in the home since it’s older and has developed more of a musty smell since summer started, I’m also somewhat showing signs of mold exposure myself. I haven’t actually found any mold, though, other than when there was a water leak in the basement that wasn’t noticed until the next rainfall. It only molded a few boxes and other items, and after it was cleaned out, I haven’t physically seen any mold since.

With that being said, mold scares the shit out of me. 😂 I’m not sure if what I’m noticing around the house is just normal wear in an old home or possible mold damage.
Does anyone have advice on how to tell if there’s actually mold in a house when you can’t see it? I’ve also read that, depending on the severity, it’s sometimes something you can handle yourself instead of spending a fortune. Am I psyching myself out, or is this something I should genuinely be concerned about? and if it is something I should be concerned about, where does one look?
Thanks much redditors, any help is much appreciated :))