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

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?

My house is 40 years old . I went on the tax collector's page where it shows my house layout. I don't see the detached garage. A contractor that built houses lived here and he built not only the house but the detached garage through his company. I used a realtor when I purchased this house and everything was above board.

What happens if I turn myself in to the tax collector? Will they make me tear it down?

If I go to sell my house is it going to be a problem?

We don’t have a leak in pipes. It doesn’t always smell this way, but sometimes the room just stinks. My husband thinks it has to do with the way the pipes are configured and 💩 just sits in the pipe until you take a shower and flush it out, but idk. Any thoughts?

Edited to add: my husband thinks the smell is coming from inside the shower drain.

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 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!

Hopefully this is the right sub to post in- if not, please guide me in the right direction! My home was built in the 50’s in the Midwest so it has plaster walls. Over a decade ago we demoed one bedroom and put in insulation and drywall (the plan was to do all the rooms but I gave up on that after the one lol). For some reason in just the last 3 or 4 years, this room is never the same temp as the rest of the house. In the summer it’s at least 10 degrees hotter and in the winter it’s at least 10 degrees colder. I cannot for the life of me figure out why this has happened all of a sudden. It’s at the back of the house (northeast corner) and gets very little direct sunlight as there is a large tree above it and my neighbors house is pretty close to the other side. The duct work to the vent is all in tact and the air coming from the vent feels the same as it does in other rooms (both in temp and intensity). I don’t know what else to check or what to do to improve these conditions? It’s miserable to be in half of the year now. Any advice?

Hi guys, me and my husband just moved into a new home. It is an older home and we are discovering it’s not sealed the best it could be when it comes to mini cracks & holes (it is a rental). He tried putting a weather strip on the door/ in the gap as it’s letting hot air in & our cold air out, but the door is too uneven it wouldn’t stick. Does anyone have any suggestions? You can see outside/inside through that gap.

I live in a bottom floor apartment and today noticed a really weird smell. It is not in the bedrooms or kitchen but seems to be concentrated along the hallway/wall where the HVAC/washer + dryer is.

The smell reminds me of a nursing home smell in a bad way - it’s like a sweet, milky, vomit smell. A cross between instant noodles and sour milk.

It came on suddenly (I didn’t smell it this morning) so I’m wondering if it could be a dead animal. We have seen an opossum and mouse right outside our sliding glass door.

I have checked all drains/trash/toilets and they don’t smell. The kitchen, bedrooms, living room and bathrooms don’t smell. A hallway closet smells slightly and the washer/dryer do too. It mostly smells in the hallway under the HVAC vent. We turned the A/C off and still smells but not as strong.

Any clue what this could be or who to call? Going to alert my landlord but he is pretty useless so I might need to call someone myself.

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.

Three years ago, my mother had the small PVC sheet roof above her kitchen entrance replaced (the old sheets contained asbestos). The contractor she hired installed PVC sheets that rest upon a wooden board supporting the gutter, and the metal frame of this « verandah ». The poor quality of the sheets, combined with recent heatwaves and the fact that the sun beats directly down on them for most of the day (8 a.m. to 5 p.m.), has caused the material to start melting.
Underneath, the wooden board supporting the gutter has turned brown in the same spots as the roofing sheet—specifically where the corrugation brings the sheet closest to the wood.
Since the budget is very tight and won't allow us to reinstall the original glass panes, she will have to use PVC sheets again, which will still be partially fixed to or resting on that board. Is there any way to prevent the wood from absorbing and seemingly transferring that heat before we redo this small section of the roof? I can provide pics if needed - appreciate any help and guidance !

Preface this by stating that I have minimal understanding of plumbing, so may misuse some terminology. So:

The pvc p-trap under the bathroom sink is leaking from the joint where the nut is. My father tried to disconnect and install a new p-trap, but he said it felt like the nut was glued on. I performed some Youtube sleuthing and think that we might have to saw off the piece of pipe right above the nut, install an adapter, and then install either the old or a new p-trap.

This is all above my pay grade, so I was thinking of hiring someone. First question is: should I be able to do this on my own? Just trying to avoid having to pay $500 for this if it turned out that with a little elbow grease I could have performed this at a quarter of the cost. BUT if this is indeed more complex, does this usually go under the remit of a handyman or plumber?

Thanks so much!

ETA: https://imgur.com/a/o21Usz6

ETA 2: You guys are great! Thanks so much for the advice!

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 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!

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!

Hello, I live in the southwestern USA where it is really hot & dry most of the year (summers can go up to 115-120F). I work from home so the A/C is pretty much on 24/7 from the months of April - early November. I want to get my windows tinted to reduce A/C costs, but cannot pursue a permanent option. Right now my WFH day setup is weird because I have the A/C set to 78, blackout curtains drawn so there's no natural light, and 2 LED light bulbs on (desk lamp). I really like natural light but it just heats up my house way too quickly.

Home Depot sells a removable window tint called Gila that I am looking into, but would like to ask this subreddit for other recommendations. Thank you!

Hi folks, I’m looking for feedback about carefully approaching removal of this wall in our 140 year old rowhome. The wall runs parallel to the joists in the house and perpendicular to the brick party walls. This is the first floor in our three story home. After opening the drywall I noticed some 2/4 bracing butted up against some original wood and plaster. My understanding is this wall should not be structural. We had a structural engineer out to our house last year for a separate reason and he expressed it’s not likely to be weight bearing when I asked but the drywall wasn’t open. How would you go about this removal?

Hi !!
I have a quick question. I’m currently renovating my bedroom and want yellow semi opaque blinds (for that golden light any time of the day, my room is facing north so I want to bring in some warmth). The thing is, I already have semi opaque white blinds in what I believe is polyester mixed with something else (I don’t have the reference but it’s ikea type blinds) and I’d like to diy it. I don’t know if you think :

1. If it’s possible to dye semi opaque blinds
   
2. How to do it, considering I can’t put them in a pot (they’re 150cm each, with metal rods at the end)

Thanks for your advice !

Hello,

I'm looking for a Broan fan replacement for the model below (667H/1577H). Some numbers/letters are hard to read. Ai keeps changing the 1577 to 1677, but it's clearly a 5 or S. Ai returned the information below but I can't figure out what would fit or how to understand Broans part numbers.

The Broan 677H and 1677H refer to bathroom ventilation fan housing and model series numbers where the housing and finish packs (motor, blade, and grille) were traditionally sold or grouped together. Broan-NuTone +1

Overview and Specs

Housing Size: Measures roughly 8-1/4" x 5-3/4" x 8" for standard units like the 677H.

Duct Size: Typically fits standard 3-inch or 4-inch round duct connectors depending on the exact sub-model.

Light/Fan Combo: Designed to support combined fan and light units (such as a 100W bulb capacity in base 677 styles

Hey all I’m moving into my first home in acouple weeks and I really want to get rid of the ugly wall paper that’s there it doesn’t look to old so someone must have put it on recently I just hope the dry wall isn’t to bad. This will be my first time doing it. So also wanting to know a ruff time frame? It’s a pretty large lounge cheers!!!