We purchased our first house about a year ago. It was built in the late 1800s and was flipped immediately prior to purchase. We are now noticing some irregularities - some few cracks in the wall paint, weirdness in the wood floor (particularly on the first floor). My husband is concerned that these findings are indicative of an issue with the foundation. We did of course have an inspector assess the house prior to purchase and he did not find any foundation issues; however, the inspector was a buddy of our realtor who was very motivated to earn his commission so my husband is concerned about the accuracy of this inspector's assessment. (Obviously looking back we should have insisted on using someone we picked independently but here we are.)

So here's my question: what sort of professional could we hire to come assess these findings and help us interpret them? Would it just be a different home inspector? Or a contractor? We are both concerned about this and unfortunately are not experts in /foundations/etc; we are willing to hire someone for their opinion/advice but don't know where to start.

Some preliminary HOA bids are showing that you can shave off 30-40% (!) off the cost of a recladding job by going for vinyl rather than fiber cement, which is the second cheapest material. Plus it shaves off the time required to complete the job and reduces risk due to needing less skilled labor.

But there's disagreement over what the actual price difference is for a condo: some source say 3%, some 5%, some up to 25%. Is there any good way to settle this?

IMO Modern vinyl looks solid and AFAIK doesn't have the same issues as previous generations of vinyl.

Hello everyone

I am doing a full house renovation. I was just put in touch with a general contractor that had a couple drywall crews. I've never dealt with him before but told a friend to pass my contact info along because I was taking estimates on drywall finishing.

The house is a single level 1,500sqft home that I am estimating will take ~100 sheets of drywall that I was going to hang. The GC informed me that his crew only likes to finish what they hang. I can respect that, but thought it would push the cost out of my budget.

His quote for the whole house, buying the supplies, hanging, finishing with no texture, and priming was $7,500. This price is cheaper than what I expected for just finishing drywall that I purchased and hung.

Obviously I want to jump all over this, but it feels like one of those prices that you'll get what you pay for. It doesn't help that this was over the phone so he has no idea of the layout or corners when he quoted this.

He said it would be half the price when the job started and half when it was finished.

I can't believe I am saying this, but he gave me such an attractive price that I am hesitant to pull the trigger. I am considering having him come to the house and look at the job and make sure his quote is accurate.

Has anyone ever been in a situation like this where it worked out, or do you think I'm about to get some really shoddy work that goes 2x the quote?

Hi! In search of recommendations for a couch that also serves as a decent bed for guests because I don't want to put a permanent bed that takes up space in the home. Any suggestions?

Looking for some advice. I have a high efficiency furnace and it’s nice on the wallet but holy smokes my house is DRY. I’m currently at 10% humidity. It’s -27c outside expected to get into the mid 30’s so that furnace is ripping.

I have three humidifiers. I’d say we’re putting out about 16L of water into the air a day.

Do I just keep buying humidifiers or how the heck can I get my humidity up. It makes us feel horrible being this dry.

New home owner here. I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions about how to clear out second storey gutters without risking my life on a ladder. Also looking for suggestions for gutter guard systems you might have had success with. I'm in Australia, so I'd need a product that's available here. Thanks in advance

I need some advice. My fire sprinkler on the porch of my condo burst, and now I’m dealing with a mess. There’s been water damage throughout my unit, drying machines running for days, and now demolition work is about to start to fix everything. The HOA is responsible for maintaining the sprinkler system, but I don’t know if this was just bad luck or a maintenance issue on their part. From what I was told, the sprinkler froze because the insulation was installed on the wrong side—instead of keeping the cold out, it actually kept heat away from the pipe, which made it more likely to freeze.

Because of this, my place has been completely unlivable. I’ve been forced to stay with my parents, who live an hour away, which has completely thrown off my routine. I’ve had to commute extra, take several days off work to deal with this, and make a bunch of adjustments to my life because of something that wasn’t my fault. Meanwhile, there’s still no update on when they’re actually replacing the sprinkler, and the hole left behind is currently plugged with paper towels (yes, seriously). On top of all that, I’ll be stuck living elsewhere for at least a month while repairs are being made.

At this point, I need to figure out who’s actually responsible for covering all these costs. Am I entitled to reimbursement for temporary housing, extra commuting costs, personal property damage, and restoration work? Who should I be pushing for compensation—the HOA board, the property manager, or their insurance provider? And if they try to stick me with the bill, what’s my next move?

Anybody been through something like this before? I just want to know what’s fair and how to get my money back without getting jerked around. Any advice is appreciated!

So outside of the big projects like insulation etc...

What are the small things you have or do to keep the warm in? I'm talking like door/draft seals and garage door insulators and anything else that is reasonably affordable but could maybe add up to be very helpful

Hello, I'm looking for suggestions on how to do just about anything with my side yard. I don't need to take advantage of the whole space but right now it feels completely wasted. It's about 30ft long but only 54" wide between my house and the side fence. The fence at the front doesn't have a gate so it's essentially a narrow alley with a dead end.

I'm not sure the laws of putting a narrow shed there? My only other thought was maybe a lean-to to at least get some storage there, but again not sure if that's legal so close to the property line. Feels like a total waste of space at the moment!

Hello everyone, I’m looking for some advice on how to keep my walkway lights upright. When we bought the house our walkway didn’t have any lighting. So I bought some lights, a low voltage transformer, the appropriate wire, conductive gel and direct bury wire nuts. Everything looked good and was working well, until a year or two later and now it looks like an earth quake happened and they are all heaved and sticking this way and that.

When I put them in the directions said to just bury the wire and then stake them down and pack the dirt around them. However, now I assume there is a step missing or some other thing I should have done to keep them better secured into the dirt.

What can I do? Create cement bricks? Fail the area with sand around it and then pack it again? I’m just not sure what to do as this type of outdoor work isn’t really what I’m typically good at. I got the electrical down, but not the landscaping and yard management expertise to know how best to keep the lights securely in the dirt and not bent over or out of alignment.

All advice is greatly appreciated.

Edit: We live in the Northeastern United Stares.

Hello,

Please point me to the right sub-reddit if needed. I have a huge tree on my property, which I would like to get removed. I hate it for all the leaves in autumn, and also because it looks pretty dangerous, with heavy branches above my house. My neighbor hates it too, because of the same two reasons - leaves and branches affect his property too. This neighbor runs a landscaping business and has a lot of connections, and offered me that one of the business he knows personally will remove the tree now, during the winter when they don't have too many customers. The price will be very attractive if I pay in cash, with no paperwork. This business is licensed and insured , these are not amateurs with ladders. They will use crane, and my neighbor will let them use crane from his property as it is more convenient.

I like the offer, but the job seems to be complex and risky because of the tree size and houses under it. So my question is - let's imagine we don't have a contract , and something happens when they do the job, like property damage or injury. Will their insurance work? Or it becomes too risky for me?

I'm not American even though live here from 2019, so not sure how all this stuff works. If you guys tell me that insurance will not work and we need a contract. Then can I try to offer that we sign a contract, they do the job, and if everything is good then I destroy the contract and pay cash. Does this sounds reasonable?

What are other recommendations? Apart from pay normal price - it's just toooo expensive.

Scroll to see both photos. I didn't have any heavy machines or work done at my home. This happened over the weekend. Thanks! https://imgur.com/E0H33Lg

Just as the title says, I have newly poured concrete which we forgot to seal last season. Now we have experienced a freeze/thaw cycle in Chicago.

Would this have cause unseen damage to the concrete and weaken it over time? I did notice some minor cracks which will be fixed.

I've been in my new home for a week, and I decided to run my first load of laundry in the washer that was left by the seller. First of all, both valves were turned off, which should have been a sign something was wrong. When I get them turned on, the load runs fine, but there's water all over the floor. Silly me didn't notice that the drain hose wasn't running to the drain between the two valves, and it was tucked into a random hole in the back of the machine, so it drained into the actual interior of the washer. Now, it won't turn on, probably because the water shorted it out.

So, do I call my home warranty people and drop a $100 copay to look at it or should I just skip that and start looking for a new-to-me washer I might be able to get for $200?

Whether you’re looking to find cheap tools and materials for your next project or just make some extra cash, Rubble is your new go-to resource for all things construction. We developed the app with the goal to reduce construction waste while keeping money in our local communities. Download and list some items today! rubbleapp.com

Full sorry below but Tl;Dr - Slowly uncovering more and more concerns about our roof that aren't urgent (yet) but are causing anxiety over unknown future costs. No signs of moisture damage except for on the exposed wood fascia.

Frankly, it's overwhelming for a new homeowner. If you've gone through some similar roofing issues, can you share where you would start, if you did it piecemeal or in one full swoop, any DIY or all contractor, etc.

Full sorry - We bought our first home in Oct 2024. After all the snow we've had recently, my neighbour came by today and asked if we've been having roofing problems. Actually, we have had new cracks develop in our ceiling which I've been investigating, and I told him as much (suspect they are caused by added weight of snow). He shared that the last owner covered the old roof with the metal roof and it took maybe two hours to completion (red flag!). No removal of old shingles, and in one section of the roof without soffits/fascia, I can see four (!) layers of old shingles, adding further extra weight to our kitchen ceiling. As our roof is actually two different heights, there's a parapet with vented soffit installed vertically as siding, which must be allowing rain in. I'm thinking I may need to strip the roof down and replace the whole metal roof again to ensure the structural integrity of the wood frame underneath even though it's in early stages of wear.

Thanks in advance for either quelling my anxiety or giving me a starting point in prioritizing.

Hello! My spouse and I just bought our first house. There are some wine stains the previous owners left behind on the granite countertops.

Has anyone been able to successfully remove wine stains?

1940’s home & we have vermiculite insulation. We had central AC installed and they decided to run the line in the attic (where the vermiculite is) when there was some miscommunication.

We don’t know for sure it contains asbestos but there’s a high chance it does.

On the first day of installation they dropped tons of it all over items in our closet where the attic entrance is including clothing, medicine, and some childhood items. Again, I did not okay this decision but through miscommunications with my partner this happened or I would’ve cleared out the entire closet.

We are having a hard time finding a reputable company to test and even if it comes back positive, we just paid for our AC and can’t drop like 10K on abatement or hazard clean up.

I’m tempted to throw out most items in this closet, but some are irreplaceable childhood items or expensive medications.

I have a P100 respirator I can wear when handling these items, but it kills me from a financial perspective to throw everything out. I wouldn’t even know how to clean vermiculite off things and a general google search isn’t helpful. Any ideas or resources? Thanks.

I am looking to rip out the laminate in my two bathrooms and replace it with the most moisture / water proof material known to mankind. The bathrooms need to be autistic-teen proof.

I am wondering if porcelain fits this bill? I am getting conflicting info about groutless vs grout as well as glazed vs unglazed. I need something that can stand up to a destructive resident while still lasting fof a long time. My bathrooms are small and I'd rather spend upfront for high quality material and workmanship to eliminate headaches down the line.

1. Would groutless make sense for someone in my situation? If grout is needed what material should grout be to be as moisture proof as possible?

2. Should I choose glazed or unglazed porcelain tiles?

3. Would I need the same tile also on the wall as "quarter rounds" / "baseboards"? Please help!

Thanks!

Ok, I’m feeling rather rejected. I haven’t been ghosted by a contractor in my years of homeownership.

Last Sunday (8 days ago), the wallpaper installer came over to measure the home and took photos of the swatches/detailed info on the wallpapers I’d like to install throughout the home.

A few days later, Wed, I texted him thanking him for his time and asked about a timeline for an estimate. He told me by that night or the next day he would have an estimate for me.

Saturday rolled around and I haven’t heard anything, and at this point I’m getting a bit nervous because our cabinetry people are getting ready to do our little media space, some of the furniture I ordered several months ago are in finishing stages and ready to ship in a few weeks, and I’m standing here with white walls. So I reached out again by text with a simple message, circling back to ask for an update on an estimate.

Today, I still hear nothing, so I texted and emailed the business (in case the texts weren’t getting through for whatever reason). Still nothing.

At this point, 8 days out without a word or an estimate, I am starting to feel like maybe I’m getting ghosted. I’m reaching out to another installer for an estimate now, but kinda sucks to be ghosted. None of the interaction had been unpleasant or adversarial either, sad face. It is possible that he has a personal emergency, but hopefully not.

End sad rant.

If i wanted to sell my home next week for example what should I prep with?

For example there are holes in my wall from mounting tvs. Do I get this fixed before showing or do I just deduct for this ?

Should I paint it one last time?

What would you guys do?

the other day i woke up at 3.30 am realizing that I had forgotten to my Bins to the Curb for next morning pickup. It was distressing to step out mid of night to do the Job. Is it possible that there are many others who are thinking that this service should have just been there?

BinGo - Moving Your Trash/Recycle Bins to the Curb. Would you use such a service?

I have a circular bulge in my wood floors (the vinyl crap) right where it meets another board. The bulge is about 2"x2". Last year we had a pipe break in the concrete slab (in another part of the house) which cost $10k+ to fix. So I'm having PTSD right now of another water leak. This bulge appeared a few weeks ago so I purchased a pin moisture meter. The spot of the bulge is at about 20-30% on the moisture meter. Since it's raised a bit, I was able to get the pins directly into the problematic location, but that probably wasn't the smartest idea since some of the wood chipped off. I also inserted the pins about 4-5 inches on either side of the bulge - those registered at about 6%. I don't know how well these register on vinyl and not sure if I'm even getting it deep enough to get a correct reading. I can access the concrete slab about 4 feet away from this location and it's bone dry. I checked the water meter and it's not ticking - so doesn't appear to be an issue with the water lines. But there are radiant lines in this location. This flooring is on a concrete slab, no crawl space.

We have toddlers with liquid spills on the floor all the time. So I'm hoping someone will tell me that their spills are what caused this so I can go back to dealing with the other issues in this house - like our washing machine that just crapped out. I've just never seen their spills do this before but maybe it just leaked perfectly between the two boards causing this expansion. If anyone has any other advice on further troubleshooting this, it'd be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Photos: https://imgur.com/a/KXYK8im

Hello, Bought a place back in September and the back yard is fence with an entrance on the side of the house, I would like to fence off my front yard and make it all open as I have a dog and would love to give him more space. Both my neighbors have chainlink fence and i do not want chainlink as I don't like the look of it. I'd my front yard rlfence is 4f and under i don't require a permit from what I have read online for my area but I'm curious if it would be a bad idea to do wood with the neighbors chainlink.

I bought my house in December of 2023. Everyone kept telling me to ‘homestead it’ but by the time I did it, it was too late and it couldn’t be done before 2024. That made my payment go up $82.70. This year I did not even think to homestead it. And now it went up another $99.70.

My questions is, what is homesteading. And how can I get this back down?? Is it possible? Does it need to he done every-year? What does it do?

My house was built in 1945. I moved in 3 years ago and have a terrible time with the cost of oil to heat this home. When I moved in, the furnace had been replaced by the owner with a 2016 Columbia Boiler Emerald Series EM-125 EE. The furnace eats oil at a crazy rate and having gone through the coldest couple weeks after the new year, I had a oil delivery of 235 gallons. Coming from an all electric run home to this one has been a huge surprise.

1945 build

2400 sq ft.

Radiator heat in every room but one.

I bought a Karcher K2300PS, which comes with a hose and hose reel. The reel is a game changer for me, so that was the purchase criteria. The 25' hose sucks and does not appear replicable. A couple posts here yielded no success in replacing the hose. Instead, I got a M22-14 union and added a 50' Flexzilla hose.

Once on and pressurized, I observe that when I pull the trigger, there is a brief pressure drop while the motor remains off--then the motor kicks on and pressure rebuilds. When I release the trigger, the motor continues to run as it pressurizes the hose then turns off. I presume that the motor works off of a pressure switch and remains off until the built-up pressure in the hose drops by the trigger pull, then the motor kicks on. When the trigger is released, the hose's pressure has to build up enough to engage the pressure switch for the motor to turn off.

I haven't tested with just the factory 25' hose, but this behavior is not desirable. My Husqvarna PS2300 by comparison is more instantaneous. With the same 50' Flexzilla, When I pull the trigger, the motor kicks on right away and when I release the trigger, the motor turns off quickly too.

Karcher even sells an extension for the K2300PS so I presume it's part of the design parameters. Is this delayed on/off behavior a Karcher "quirk" or do I have a poorly calibrated pressure sensor? I've read one Amazon review and one Reddit post describing the same issue.

I'd appreciate any thoughts or comments. Thanks.

Just bought a house in September. Bought a new dryer as well. The dryer never worked well. It took hours to dry clothes. I, dumbly, thought that it was because of the eco mode. Turns out, the vent is absolutely clogged. So, I wanted to clean it. There are 3 of us. We spent 3+ hours looking for an exterior vent. We even went and checked on the roof. Nothing. We can't find anything. This is weird. How do I find this?!?!? Any help appreciated.

Edit: The old owners said it's right above the dryer on the roof....but there are solar panels there...so....???????

ive lived in the same house for my whole life and no one around us has moved out so i dont have experience with new neighbors. were unfortunately moving to a rental house and im wondering if its normal to introduce yourselves to your new neighbors when you move in? like should we go up to their door and say hi or something? or do people not do that anymore?

i know i personally do not answer the door for anyone but im not sure if thats normal lol

Hello, I live in an older house in Philly. My house has been heating up like crazy recently and I don't know why. For example, today my heat is blasting at nearly 90 degrees even though I turned it all the way, it stops going crazy after a while but I need advice to stop it all together. I have memories of it happening alot when I was a kid during the winter( about 15 or so years ago). Also the type of heater is cga5spdn is that helps. PLEASE HELP

Edit: I'm sorry for the typo, didn't see it there. Also my house uses radiators