Am I allowed a rant (it’s a long one so forgive me) about run off water and crappy flippers? The backstory: I own my house in a very old city neighborhood that was built on a series of springs and big hills. My house happens to be directly next to (and slightly below) a formerly derelict property that was recently bought by flippers. The previous owners let the house go and allowed the water infrastructure, among other things, to completely deteriorate. Over the years, I spoke with them numerous times about issues I was having because of their water, one of which was the lack of clay pipes under the downspout causing my basement to have water. 3 years ago I offered to buy an extender and disconnect the downspout to run the water to the street. They agreed. The water issues stopped. Before I go on, it’s worth noting the water table here is generally higher than most. Also worth noting I do have a tile drain system in my basement and a sump pump. I mention these because it’s not like I haven’t done what I can on my end. My property sits slightly lower than theirs and the properties are only a driveway width apart.

Fast forward to the trash flippers. I met one of the owners in late winter 2024 and explained all the issues I had because of the property and asked them to either: fix the clay pipes, install a retaining wall and French drain, or use an extender and bury it to direct the water away from my property. It is against code here to direct water into neighboring property. The piece of trash owner said they “would be a good neighbor” and address the issues.

It has been the slowest flip in history and painful to live next to. The noise and the related issues from their shoddy work has been trying to say the least. They ripped all the greenery out of the backyard and shifted dirt. When it rains, the incorrect sloping caused all their crappy clay fill dirt to slide through the fence (because there is no retaining wall), into my yard killing my grass and 2 of my elephant ears, while causing my other neighbor’s retaining wall to partially collapse. Neighbors as far as 4 houses down have their crappy clay fill dirt in their yard because we are all on a hill and they are at the top. None of us have ever experienced these issues UNTIL they improperly graded the backyard. The city did nothing when my neighbors and I filed complaints about the runoff water, dirt, and related damage. The landslides occurred for months every time it rained heavily. When I spoke with them, they tried to pacify me by burying what they claim is a French drain. It is not a French drain. It’s a non-perforated drain tube shallowly buried with no backfill, no sloping and exits on the corner of my backyard. It is not connected to anything so it’s literally just a tube. After the last landslide, the end of the tube is buried under 8 inches of dirt and debris.

Last week they finally got around to the front yard. The lateral sewer line was recently replaced but the clay pipes were not. While they were landscaping, I saw them attaching the front downspout. They were trying to direct it into the ground where the collapsed pipe is versus running an extension and burying it. I went outside and talked to the family (yes a family) doing the general contract work. I asked what they were doing and reminded them of the collapsed pipe. They said they had a new pipe and it was fine. I politely replied that no, they had a new lateral sewer line and not a runoff line. I reminded them that in this neighborhood there are 2 pipes- one for sewer and one for runoff. I reminded them that the downspout was disconnected because the pipe is collapsed and if they direct that water downward, it will cause water in my basement. They stopped working and left after calling their crappy bosses. The next day I see they just buried it anyway. Last night we got a bunch of rain and shocker, now I have water in my basement again for the first time in years.

These pricks put lipstick on a pig, have done zero to be “a good neighbor”, and will inevitably want (and probably get, knowing my luck) top dollar. To their credit, the house looks amazing at first glance. But like the majority of flippers, they used subpar, cheap materials with unskilled/unlicensed labor and didn’t do ANY of the material fixes they should have. The foundation was literally pulling apart from previous water damage from a bad roof (which they only replaced a portion of) and of course, they just caulked and painted it instead of fixing it. The other side of the house has a stretch of foundation that is literally bowing and to cover it up, they put on a deck. They are so lazy when painting the foundation they literally painted over old wasps nests instead of simply removing them. Now I’m having water issues again because of their cheap, shitty work.

It is beyond infuriating that these pricks get away with this. And they’ve been getting away with it for 20 years, according to their Facebook page. I’ve called the city, I’ve talked to them and nothing changes. The only other recourse I have is a lawsuit. My other plan is to conveniently be outside when perspective buyers are there. They love asking neighbors questions and I will stick to the facts but make it clear what the issues are. And trust I’ll catch any buyers inspector and make them aware of the same.

All this to say- fuck you flippers. You are a blight on neighborhoods with your shoddy work and inflated prices. You are part of the cause of the housing crisis and why people can’t afford homes. I hope you are inundated with lawsuits and stagnant properties that won’t sell. You suck and I hope you never know peace.

Hi all,

I'm seeing some spots on the ceiling and I'm hoping to get some advice on. Over the past few months I've noticed the spot getting bigger. I was not taking it seriously but occasionally during last couple of rainstroms, I'm hearing dripping sound, which leads to believe me water is coming down the roof. I have also attached a photo of the spot. Happy to share more if needed

Location: It's located in the middle of the house.

Questions:

• If not leak, what are the most common cause of ceiling water spots?
• Should I consider hiring a professional?
• Any other tips appreciated.

https://imgur.com/0MqPeRZ

Structural engineer? Foundation company? Something else. The first picture is taken in the garage and that part of the wall/door lead to outside on the patio. Looks like someone has patched it before with the difference in color. Thanks for any guidance!!

https://imgur.com/a/9YlHyfZ

I’m paying almost a 200% increase from what I was paying in 2020. My HOI is now as much as my property taxes and they are saying it will increase again next year. I’m getting to the point where I can’t afford to keep up with year over year increases.

What companies are y’all using and what’s your best advice. I’m in Texas but as a banker I know Florida is dealing with the same issues us Texans are.

I have never filed a claim if that helps.

Thanks

Hey reddit,

I could really use a little advice or insight here if anyone has a moment. So due to my own bad life choices several years ago I have accumulated a lot of damage to my house that I am now, finally, able to deal with financially. I've had water damage accumulating and it will be a very large, expensive repair that I doubt insurance will want to touch since it was my own negligence that caused it (long story, addiction, was poor, etc. You know).

Anyways so I have a pretty good job now and have saved up $30k that's currently sitting in a HYSA. I have extra funds every month. I have zero debts besides my mortgage. I could feasibly take out a loan (heloc maybe?), use some cash, and get the wall and the section of ceiling repaired/replaced, deal with any mold, and not involve insurance at all besides having them do the roof.

I also want a new homeowners insurance policy, but do not want to get the timing wrong on all of this. What is the best path forward?

Get the repairs done asap, ding my current insurance for a roof, then cancel the policy and move to a cheaper one with another insurer? Maybe even see if they will cover some portion of the repairs, fully intending to leave them when it's over?

I just have no idea how to go about this without screwing myself over. I'd love to just get a new policy now since saving a couple hundred a month would make paying for repairs a lot easier, but any inspection would kill that idea real quick.

Any advice?

Thanks

Agitator vs Impeller Which brand is best?

Help!

It's been about six years since I purchased this house, but I learned that I've let my ficus trees grow too far into our neighbor's property. It's not something that I gave too much thought about, because the trees were a big selling point for me when I first found this house and I also thought that my neighbors (located behind us) benefited from the trees just as much as I did (if not more so, since they don't have to pay for maintenance and water).

But without any prior indication that our neighbor was having problems with them, she asked me (via text) if I had plans to trim them, to which I responded "I didn't have immediate plans, but I'll reach out to my landscaper and we can organize something" (I have been doing annual trimming up to this point). She followed up to say "you are horrible neighbors" and "you suck" (no kidding -- it really was that abrupt). She then ranted on about all the problems the leaves cause to her pool (of course I was unaware, since she kept this all bottled up until her outburst) and she even threatened to tell my other neighbors about it (I think they'd probably just laugh). It was really the type of conversation that I'd only expect to see posted on reddit. I don't really want to skewer her by sharing those texts publicly, but that's a reasonable summary. You might think it always takes two to tango, but I promise I was being cordial throughout (except for the fairly sarcastic "Always a pleasure, <name>" that I exited with).

After that conversation, I don't really know what to do. I've already scheduled my landscaper to trim the trees down by half (yes, half) because I don't want to cause problems, but I don't feel happy about validating her shitty treatment of me by giving her what she wants. I've also since learned that she's been living in that house for 30 years and the realization that I'll be living near her for another 20-30 years most likely (she's in her 60s) is really sinking in and I'm feeling immense dread about it. Do I really have to go that long living so close to someone who hates me so much? Every time I go for walks I have to avoid eye contact?

So I guess I could use some advice on both fronts. First, do I need to comply with her on every demand she makes about the trees? I understand that going forward I'll have the trees trimmed entirely on my side of the property line, but do I actually need to worry about the effects of my leaves on her pool? If she weren't so rude I'd actually be sympathetic to the pool problem, but now I just want to avoid legal trouble (this is Arizona).

Second, how the hell do I deal with this socially? I understand that some people are unreasonable, but in most contexts there's an eventual end (other than, say, dying) and so you can brush it off. But 30 years of avoiding eye contact? I mean, tonight I was planning to take my kid trick or treating and I loathe the prospect of having an encounter with her.

Hello everyone. What is the cost of vent cleaning? We moved to the house 7 years ago and we have a quote from a company and the guy said that the venta hasn’t been clean at all at any time. This is the quote

Dryer vent cleaning $349 Main unit furnace $99 Return tank $249 Supply vent ceiling 49 x 8 = $392 Supply ven floor = 39 x 8 = $312 Return vent 79 x 5 = $395 AD $1696 DV $349

Is that reasonable?

Thank you

Hi everyone, I’m a first time homeowner. My partner and I just closed on a beautiful 1991 build last month after doing a full round of inspection, talking to people in the community, doing A TON of research and basically feeling like we went into this fully informed. 3 weeks into moving in, we felt that there might be something wrong with the vents so we called an Attic & Crawlspace inspector. Turns out there’s a shit ton of mold which requires us to remove and reinstall all insulation. There’s also a lot of rodent activity - the inspector believes we’re actually breathing in air that’s contaminated by rodent activity.

I’m so frustrated. We’re highly analytical people and I can’t believe this didn’t show up in the pre inspection that we did before buying. The current attic inspector said this is all fixable for gave us a 10 year warranty on mold and rodent activity.

I’m just feeling really anxious about this purchase and was looking for some stories on mold/rodents that ended well for you all? How worried should I be? Did we make a bad purchase?

So, I bought a house within the last few years and the previous owner (who was also the original owner) had about 2/3 of the basement finished. To my knowledge, they hired contractors and this was done without pulling any permits.

Few details:

• There was no bathroom installed or any impact to plumbing.

• The "mechanical" stuff (Furnace, water heater, water shutoff valve) are all in a section that was not finished.

• One room could be viewed as a bedroom (not that I'll ever use it as such); it does have an egress window which was present when the house was built.

• The majority of the work is fully covered and would not be able to be inspected without ripping drywall down.

• The tax assessment does not reflect the basement being finished in terms of square footage or taxable value.

• The listing for the house did include images showing the finished basement and called out the basement as finished, but the square footage did not include the basement.

I know that this kind of thing is common, and a lot of people would just say "yup that's how it works when you buy a house" and not really care about it. But because I'm one of those people that worries about shit, I've been stressed about this on and off since buying.

On a small level, there's the question of "can I get in trouble for the lack of permits", but I think I can probably just point out that it was like that when I bought it and that the listing was upfront about the basement being finished.

But my much larger concern is the tax situation. I ran into a tax assessor outside of my house when they were doing routine reassessments in the neighborhood. I discussed the few changes I'd made to the house/property honestly (not that there was much) but I did not say the basement was finished.

So, realistically, what happens moving forward?

If the local gov finds out, can I get in any trouble for not having sought permits retroactively? Or is that not my problem since I'm not the one who had the work done?

If they find out or if I just tell them myself in the future, will they just update the tax assessment or would I also be expected to pay back taxes? Since there's no way to prove when the previous owner had that work done I'm not sure how far back that can go. My state has a rule about how much the taxable value can change per year so I would assume the difference isn't huge. Lastly, if this happens would they then also tell the permitting department that there is unpermitted work done or would they likely be happy as long as I pay whatever taxes I owe?

They have great range and seem well made. There are dip switches in the controller which I would expect should correspond to switches in the receiver, but I can't find them there. Anyway, trying to figure out how to isolate them so I don't need to buy two brands or get fancy with home automation. Anyone seen this or dealt with it before?

I'm looking into getting an HRV installed in my old home, but I'm concerned about getting 2x 6" holes cut for the inlet/exhaust, because that side of my home already has so many holes for other things.

I was told about a tandem kit, it basically combines the inlet and exhaust into requiring only 1x 6" hole. I think the exhaust was diverted upwards, and the inlet from below, from the little bit I could find to read, the sales pitch says the design prevents cross contamination of air streams.

I was looking for a demo or something on YouTube, to see someone actually test or prove that with coloured smoke or something, but didn't see anything. I'd be interested in knowing if anyone has experience in this, because all installation guides I've read talk about a 6 ft spacing between the inlet and exhaust to prevent contamination.

Background: I live in a twin home with thin walls. The house attached to mine is owned by an LLC. When we were considering buying this house, the previous homeowner told us some kids who have some level of disability live there. Since moving in, it is indeed several teenage-aged boys and a rotating cast of caregivers. I have never known or seen a parent going in to the house, but I’m also not Karen-level spying. We don’t see the boys often, just the caregivers, two of whom I see regularly. Otherwise, it’s a cast of random people going in and out at all hours, sometimes (rarely) we can hear fighting. We hear yelling pretty rarely. very regular (almost daily) banging at all hours. Then on Monday I could clearly hear one of the boys screaming that he wanted to leave, to call the cops, etc. It was the most escalated argument I heard. I didn’t call the cops because it calmed down and because - here’s the advice part - what can I really do here? I feel like I’m going to end up on Dateline or someone’s true crime podcast as the neighbor they’re like, how did they not know?! Should I request a wellness check? I have spoken with various people there in passing and kindly, but I’m nervous to knock on the door and be like what are you doing? Because it’s LLC owned, I haven’t been able to find an owner to get in touch with. Thanks in advance.

Furnace system directly under the bare spot but I don’t feel any hot air or anything leaking when unit is running

Pic: https://imgur.com/a/H4RxYRG

The spigot was mistakenly left on and the hose that screwed into a header, apparently had a slow leak at the threads that went unnoticed for 2-3 weeks. The ground beside the foundation was saturated and I'm worried about any issues it may have caused.

Using past city bills I was able to determine that the amount leaked was likely 3-4 cubes of water at most. I pulled the interior trim and noticed some mostiure so I cut the bottom 2 ft of drywall out along the basement wall where the leak was (about a 25 foot section) There was moisture trapped behind the vapor barrier and the batts of insulation were somewhat wet on the foundation side, so I removed them and ran an industrial dehumidifier and box fans for a week.

How concerned do I need to be here? I know water against a foundation is problematic and I'm worried about the foundation/settling. I have noticed a bit of a dip between some joists on the upstairs floor and a few spots that almost seem like the joist has heaved up a bit...

I'm in Canada with cold winters for the record. How concerned do I need to be here and what should I be doing to address the issue ? Obviously the water leak will never be repeated but as I've said I'm worried about damage or potential damage that's already done.

Thanks in advance, any and all insight is greatly appreciated 🙏

My freezer keeps making ice build up at the bottom inside so I defrosted it and cleaned it. Took off the back panel and found a wire green, not hooked to anything just dangling. My thought is that it’s a ground wire. The other side of it is attached but who knows. Under the fins is this tinfoil looking tape that allows all drips to flow to the bottom of my freezer. What’s going on in here??

To preface I will say I keep my house super clean. I regularly vacuum and mop, clean counters and bathroom, and my sheets are washed once a week. However, I live out in the country and if I leave my house lights (inside or outside) on for more than 30 seconds every bug in a half mile radius beelines for my house. So bugs slip in my house if I ever need to go outside in the early morning or late evening.

What can I do to get rid of them?

Seems like my dryer is overheating and creating some condensation underneath. I always remove the lint before starting a load. Have heard that I might need to clean out the vent that goes out the back of my house.. tried to put a shop vac hose in there and didn't seem like it could get far enough in to help.

Thoughts?

Any chance this company will workout a loan modification without me having to meet income requirements?

Being a caretaker for 3+ years until my mother died in hospice has really put me in a bind financially, I inherited her home but need some time to regain employment and get my credit card debt paid down before I would be approved for a loan.

My credit is not bad, as I have no late payments or collections, but it’s obvious I’ve been living off of debt, as my cards are nearly at their limits.

Any guidance on this topic would be appreciated

I'm a potential FTHB interested in a $300K house and I am trying to figure out approximately how much $$$ I should expect to pay out of my pocket to a realtor throughout the process of buying the house.

We noticed a wet spot on our bathroom ceiling + wall, so I went into the crawl space above it and found that the dryer venting was suboptimal (long runs, bends, grading) and had the seams on bottom which was resulting in leaking. I short term fixed the venting (cleaned the vents, rotated the pipe seams, reaped).

There was black mold (pictured) where the water had been pooling. I sprayed it with bleach, scraped it, bleach again, and then covered with plastic.

It had probably been leaking since the home was built (6yrs ago) with us living there 4. Given that this is in a sealed crawlspace, would these spores be circulating in the house? We have central HVAC with HEPA and it is rarely humid inside.

Do you think this warrants removal of all the affected wood + drywall? I think we'd end up essentially needing to remodel our bathroom, and run new dryer piping. I hear that there are a lot of scams WRT mold remediation.

https://imgur.com/a/HANDBui

My lender said I'm eligible for a HELOC, "which has no closing costs when opened at the same time as your new mortgage." They also said there is no annual fee, and payments only begin if and when I decide to use the line of credit.

I don't have any immediate plans or need for this, so should I ignore it? Or take it in case something comes up in the future? I don't know anything about this stuff, so I just want to make sure I'm being smart with my decision.

edit: thanks for all the feedback! i think the "no closing costs when opened at the same time as your mortgage" line is what got me to even consider this right now. if it costs me $ to open a HELOC later on down the road, it seems like it'd make sense to just open one now and not use it until an emergency arose. i completely understand the caution against using this frivolously or irresponsibly, but i'm viewing a HELOC as a safety net to use if an issue specifically with the house came up that exceeded my current financial resources. not free cash to blow on things like a new car or house furnishings.

https://imgur.com/a/qjTTnzw

Does the whole shower need to be knocked down or can new tiles/shower be installed over the old one?

Looks like there’s mold behind the tiles. We also had visible mold on the caulking but that was recently removed and replaced. But if there’s mold behind the tiles seems to be a worse issue. A lot of the tiles have fallen off probably because of the moisture and mold.

Please let me know the best option to remove mold and prevent it from making me sick.

Do you guys know?

So I signed an agreement post hurricane Helene with a local roofer who has done good work with us previously. We wanted to get in with a local quickly and that's why we signed the paperwork. I have told him that he cannot start the job until I have an estimate from him, but I have cash in hand and am ready for him to start. Now he is refusing to give us an estimate and saying that there is a clause in the paperwork that he will only work based off the insurance coverage scope of work and he will not start work until we have the estimate from the insurance company. He is also saying that he does not give estimates on storm damage and that the cost is what the insurance company is going to pay. So, is this guy scamming me? I've confronted him on it and we are both threatening legal action. He has only tarped our roof and done no other work.

I apologize in advance as I know this topic is beat to death on here. However I feel like I've hit a wall and have nowhere else to turn.

My wife and I have lived in a house built 1973 for about 3 months now. This is in northern British Columbia Canada. The previous owners had animals that seemed to enjoy peeing on the floor in the basement particularly in one room. We ripped up the floor in that room and found what looked to be yellow mold, which also smelled extremely musty once exposed. We've since thrown out the floor, scrubbed the concrete subfloor, painted the walls with an odour killing primer.

Now that we've done that I don't notice the smell in there, however my wife is adamant that there must be water damage somewhere. We've cut small areas out of the drywall looking for mold or moisture and haven't found any. I would be fine ripping all of the drywall out, replacing the insulation and putting new drywall in to make sure there's no cracks in the foundation however we need to ensure we wouldn't be filling our lungs with aspestos which we can't afford to have professionally removed. Meaning we can't remove it.

Now I've got a very small humidier running in there aswell as a window cracked, thinking about investing in a large humidifier. We've also cleaned the gutters and replaced the furnace filter. There is no sump and no signs of water getting in the house at least along the floor. There's also a very large unfinished area of the basement next to the musty room that has no visible moisture.

It's also worth noting that this room shouldn't have any plumbing around it there are no bathrooms hoses or kitchens above or beside.

I do believe that my wife has a legitimate complaint, I'm a guy and typically we don't notice these things as much. I'm just wondering if it's anything to be concerned about. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I've heard if you don't pay property taxes on your paid-off house they can come and foreclose it without notice. How true is that? That prospect is just terrifying to me

Hello all,

To start off, I can’t stand lawns. I think they serve no purpose. I built my house almost 4 years ago and I’ve never really taken care of my backyard. It’s overrun with weeds. What I have wanted the whole time is to dig it up and put in rocks/fake grass/literally anything that doesn’t require maintenance.

A couple of times I have had people come in to “clean it up” but no one seems to understand what I’m asking for. I’ve been out there on my own with a shovel to dig up chunks of the lawn that tbh never really seeded properly. It’s extremely slow work. But everyone I’ve hired brought and used a lawn mower. I do not want to mow anything. I want to get rid of all of it. I’ve tried poisons. But clearly I am doing something wrong here.

Do I need to rent some kind of machine from Home Depot/lowes/etc? I’ve done some googling. But I have weed trees in my backyard, I just want something drought tolerant that I don’t have to think about. But that I am not ashamed of guests to see.

I’ve looked at tillers and sod cutters but I’m just not sure what is best here. I live in Boise, ID and it’s starting to get frosty, if there is a time of year to do this, that is fine I can wait I just want to have a plan in place. I have a photo if needed.

Appreciate any help.