Unfinished basement, all concrete, high water table, basement has weeping tile and a sump pump

We got COSTCO interlocking foam floor tiles to create a play area for the kids in the basement when it's way too cold to play outside during our 5 months of winter. It gets to be -40 in the coldest month or two most winters.

With the spring melt it took on a hint of mildew. I raised up the squares and BAM lots of mildew smell with just barely visible mold patterns on the bottom side.

So we tore it all up, washed the floor and both sides of the foam matting first with dish soap and water followed by bleach solution, and bought a dehumidifier, keeping the humidity at a constant 35%.

With the floor being the coldest surface in the house and the high water table there's going to be condensation between the mats and the floor so the mold will come back again.

What is my best option for preventing moisture intrusion from below but also condensation from above?

I've been looking at Liquid Rubber and other sealant products to prevent moisture from below, but the surface is still going to be cold so how do I minimize condensation from above?

Is 6 mil poly vapour barrier enough insulation or do I need some kind of foam padding layer on top before I put my foam mat layer back down for the play area?

I have several trades in ATM fitting a new bathroom. I work from home but am in meetings all day so don't have time to make them brews. I told them to help themselves to any drinks in the kitchen but it's been 2 days and no-one has. Should I make them for them? Is it bad manners not to?

Hey, I’m 25 hrs old, Navy (Machinists mate) reservist. I want to get into the trades, nothing specific but would like to be an electrician or plumber. I recently visited Lincoln tech and Apex but I can’t decide what’s the best choice or to go to the IBEW, considering the wait time for them is going to be a while. Anyone got any recommendations for what’s the best plan to get into the trades, working hopefully by the fall. I have a kid on the way and just want to make decent money in a long fulfilling career with my hands.

Hi,

I am looking to buy a house soon and in the garden of this house is an outhouse which the previous owners had used as music studio. It has a working toilet in it.

i am thinking converting this into a seperate residence/flat for hosting Airbnb or keep tradional tenants.

It doesnt have a gas boiler or gas supply going in. The outhouse is located within 10 meters of the property itself

With regards to gas, i think its probably better to have a seperate supply/meter to avoid complications.

Im posting this to see what the process would be for this? can any qualified builder qualify for this or do i have to get British gas to dig up the garden/road to lay down the supply? Will the supply split at the point of where my gas meter is? (The outhouse has electricity from the house but we would need its own meter as well)

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts

Hello trades of all kinds,

This isn't quite the question I'm sure you guys were expecting on this page in particular but I need advice.

My husband (21 M) and I (21 F) just made the decision to accepted a position with a well known telecom company and he will be traveling 30 days out 10 days home. I'm super excited for him and want to support him in the choice to make this work. We are young both in age and in married years so we are still learning each other and how to navigate marriage. It's been very rough going for about a year now.

I can't go with him for personal and my own work reasons but I wish to support him in the best ways I can! What can I do for my husband before he goes? Is there something your SO's do that is meaningful/helpful to you?

My husband is very.. Unemotional and says he does not care whenever I ask him directly so I want some outside opinions.

Another question is what items are helpful while traveling for a trade? Snacks, notes, good travel bags, etc.?

Seriously any advice is welcome. This is a whole new ball park for us so I'm a deer in headlights.

Hi All, I have really good plumbers but I am stumped and I think it may be a cross trade issue. I am on well water with a pressure tank (probably 1968) that is somehow associated with the newly installed radon system with it's own pressure tank. I believe it's the newer tank that fills the system but I'm not 100% sure. We have had the water fail twice recently and when it does we also lose a bunch of outlets and some lights. Obviously I start looking for the problem at the 200 amp electrical panel or the boiler room subpanel and I find no tripped breakers. What's weirder is that in both cases, the outlets and water have restored themselves a few hours later. What kind of electrical issue resets itself?

I appreciate any insight you can offer.

I have a baxi combi boiler which for a couple of days has been cutting out with error 133. The gas mains pressure is fine, the condensate pipe isnt blocked and it sometimes runs fine for a few hours if I turn the gas supply off and back on again. Occasionally after resetting it, the heating will cause the fault to reappear, but running the hot water will kick it going with no issue. The fan sounds okay, and the pump is doing its thing. Any ideas what might be triggering the fault? Thanks all!

First of all, I have a feeling I have listening and concentration problems. Maybe ADD or ADHD. To god I hope not. I've tried, tried my hardest. Forced my self to work super hard and pay attention to all details. And when I get home I repeat the things I did at work in my mind. First month they taught me the basics. How to install wires and where all the lines and nulls go. And then I had to make pipes for where the cables go in. I fked up so much in the beginning but stopped making mistakes after 2 months. They tell me things and then I do it then they come back and Im like in my head

"When was that even said? "

so the pipes mostly always go 10 cm from the wall. And if it's on the ceiling maximum distance the braces can be is 40 cm. That I understood. But for the entire 10 cm thing I just learned after 2 months. And after that I could do it flawlessly.

I always harm myself at home because of how shit I am. But then I think to myself I should pay more attention. Then I had to make the wall sockets. And I aint even had enough practice with that. So it took me longer because using the level didnt really feel natural. It was only after a few tries I could do it well. This pissed off the journeyman and my boss because of my speed.

And I'm so confused. First they tell me I can better ask 100 times then to f it up. But when do at one point they tell me I should figure it out myself and that they are busy and can't help me all the time. Which is reasonable. But then when I try to figure it out myself and eventually finally get the hang of it, my boss comes and gets pissed because it took 2 days. (I had to place covers onto LED strips that were awkwardly placed behind a wall of a toilet stall where it was hard to reach. Someone didn't even install the profiles right which caused me a lot of fking time)

And then my journeyman finally comes and tells me and shows me this is how I do it. And I finish it faster than ever. Like in a few minutes.

IDK what to think of myself now or what to do. I don't wanna blame anyone because of course it's my fault I didn't do hard enough.

How can I overcome my alledged ADHD? It's ruining my life. No matter how hard I listen, It just goes one ear in and out. It's not that I don't wanna listen. It's just that my brain somehow doesn't process it and it makes me wanna kill myself. I get so angry I punch my head a lot.

But whatever it is, I got no excuses. How do I just get better and learn faster?????

IDK I'm just confused as to why I'm told I'm not improving? It felt like I learned a lot and managed to perfectly install things without having to redo them???

I keep hearing a very faint, intermittent beeping by my sink and I can't for the life of me figure out what's causing it. It beeps once every two seconds and randomly beeps twice sometimes. What's even weirder, is that it seems quieter when I stick my head under the sink as opposed to putting my ear to the drain in the sink, like the noise is coming out of the drain itself. I've checked the under sink water filter, the garbage disposal, the dishwasher, nothing is making the noise. Does anyone have an idea of what's causing it? It's driving me nuts!

I live in an apartment in the DFW area, where like many others we’ve been experiencing a deep freeze over the past few days that the building isn’t really made to handle. We’ve been dripping our faucets the whole time but a few of our neighbors likely have not as the water had to be shut off for an emergency repair yesterday morning.

Things were running fine for a few hours after the water was turned back on until about 8PM, when the faucets started belching air and then slowly losing pressure until there was no water. About fifteen minutes later it came back slowly, and while it’s full pressure it’s this gross cloudy slimy viscous texture like in the photo that will slowly rise to the top and dissipate somewhat but never fully go away.

This only happens consistently in one bathroom. In the other bathroom and the kitchen the water runs clear but tastes and smells metallic.

Does anyone have any idea what this could even be?? It came on very quickly, prior to the second cutoff everything was fine. I’ve notified maintenance but their service request queue is so deep I doubt I’ll hear from them before tomorrow afternoon, just wondering if anyone here might have an idea.

Which trade would you recommend? What are the trade-offs (no pun intended haha)?

FWIW, my situation is...

• 35 yo with a wife and baby (so no remote work and pref no super heavy/dangerous work, because my body wont last)
• Mechanical engineering degree and some experience with HVAC engineering, also have lots of engineering operations experience (but hate coporate/office life)
• Have a decent amount of savings to invest

​

Thinking about HVAC and plumbing, maybe electrical. Happy to go to trade school first.

The goal is to own my own business (yes I understand the demands) and build wealth.

Advice? Tips? Direction?

I had thought all trades had a reasonable amount of physical labor, but recently saw a thread elsewhere on Reddit with some in skilled trades claiming that their roles didn't involve much labor. However, I am skeptical as to how much that might only be true for the employers these tradesmen had experience with, rather than as careers in general.

​

(In case you're wondering, I'm not lazy--I'm someone who thinks the trades are a severely underrated set of career paths...but who also happens to be physically disabled and injury-prone; hence I had always assumed this form of career to be firmly closed to me. If that is not the case, I'd be thrilled to consider it.)

I'm living in a 3-story townhome, with basement/garage on the lower floor. I get a lot of smoke and fumes frequently throughout parts of the house and I am unable to isolate the source. This is with all windows and doors closed. When I check airflow from windows or go check outside there is no smoke or fume smell.

Cigarette smoke and/or sewer gas, at different times. This has happened at two other residences, both apartment complexes in different parts of town.

How could someone outside of a home force fumes inside a residence?

I cannot find a source inside.

I am open to suggestions on other places to ask.

One is white and the other has a clear plastic cover. I can't find anywhere online that explains which is which

We moved in recently and didn't pay attention or notice this, and it wasn't called out in our inspection. The Mantle seems stable - I can't move it if I push or pull on it, but I'm worried it may fall off the wall one day.

Hi,

I am Oscar and I am currently performing a research project into the current usage trends of construction workers and their power tools. Would be amazing help if you could fill in the form, Should not take more than 10 minutes of your day.

Thanks

https://fpovvnvs8en.typeform.com/to/qOVEEcS4

I'm having two major pieces of work done on one wall of my house at once: window replacement and mold removal from inside the wall (under the old leaky windows).

The new windows are in, the outside stucco has been patched, but the sheetrock inside has not yet been replaced. I noticed (by way of a California king snake in my living room) that there is a 1/2" gap at the bottom of the exterior of the wall.

This shows the wall frame, the tar paper and at the bottom a metal strip (flashing?) that is nailed to the frame, yet it is not really in contact with the frame, it is gapped up to 1/2" away:

https://imgur.com/a/1cwryxU
https://imgur.com/a/qXkumiz
https://imgur.com/a/k26wPIo

Looking at the left of the first photo, you can see there are multiple strips, and in some places they are closer to the 2x4 than in others. They are bent and irregular.

And here is one more photo where you can see a random nail head between the metal and wood on the left: https://imgur.com/a/U5RgTub

The outside (the gap is floating maybe an inch or two over the mulch of this flower bed): https://imgur.com/a/caG1RTH

I don't think the gap is the fault of either the mold removal crew or the window replacement crew. They did not replace the tar paper or that metal strip. At first I thought maybe the demolition of the old stucco could have caused a separation here. But, there is another area where the stucco was not touched, and I can see a similar gap there, so I think this gap predates me living in the house. If that gap had been born recently in an area where the stucco was not replaced, I'd think that I'd see cracks in the old stucco due to the movement of the surface.

The reinstallation of sheetrock will be an improvement, but still not perfect (snakes and their other critter friends could still get into the walls, but not the house).

How should I handle this? I'm thinking the easiest solution is just spray foam that gap (from the inside) while the walls are still open. I know it's not ideal, but short of rebuilding the whole wall I'm not sure what else to do.

I have a ducted heater (see photo) it will be turned on but won’t actually work, it will be set above the current room temperature and suggest it’s on but it’s not actually blowing hot air.

To fix it I have to turn the power off/on to the house and then it works again for a while ?

Any advice ?

The facts...

House was built in 2020.

Circuit #15 has my front bedroom, and front of home outdoor lights (2 coach lights, one porch light, and 4 up-lights)

I have unplugged everything from the wall plugs.

I have a lamp plugged in so I can see when the circuit pops.

When my refrigerator compressor turns on it trips the breaker. The fridges breaker doesnt trip, but this other circuit pops.

When the HVAC kicks on the same thing happens, it trips the breaker of the this other circuit.

I am stuck and don't know where to go from here. Any help or guidance would be appreciated.

I live in a duplex complex. The property is dense with trees, almost forested. I really like the setting.

The parking lot is root cracked all over. Noting terrible, just uneven paving.

I’ve noticed this crack(?) in my floor. The wood grain is a veneer or vinyl floor covering. It’s not hardwood, just made to look like it. You can only see the crack when the light hits right. You may have to blow up the pic.

As I am a renter, I’m not really concerned with damaged property values or any of that. I’m just wondering if this is something I really need to care about?

My biggest concern is that we have rent control. It’s the reason we’ve made no attempts to move. We will never find better rent within a hundred miles.

Is this a problem enough to bring up to the property managers? I fear that they’ll evict or move us to a different unit and we’ll lose our rate.

Is this a shut up and don’t tell anyone sort of thing?

where the brick face is bulging in areas; roof is new, damage is old. What options do I have without rebuilding the existing wall? without tearing down the existing wall?

I'm looking at a powerwashing the brick face at a high-psi, placing wire mesh across the face of the wall, stripping out any cement in between the brick that is loose, pegging the wire mesh to the underlying structural block, applying copious amounts of hydraulic cement to the brickface/mesh, then applying a stucco to that.

Any problems or caveats to that solution I should be aware of?

--

Any alternatives other than completely rebuilding the masonry facade?

Ask questions as you like. I can provide specific details as necessary in order to elicit solutions that will work.

Hello, can anyone tell me if there is a specific way to remove these from the wall? I’m wanting to repaint the room but there are rows of these poking out from a poorly installed countertop the old owners built and aren’t budging at all. Thanks in advance.