Would love some recommendations in closing this gap between drywall and tub.

FYI - We plan on doing tile.

Looking for suggestions on how to go about sealing an existing gap between the bottom of exterior sheathing, sill plate, and concrete foundation wall, all of which appear to be in separate planes.

I discovered day light coming through my subgrade laundry room while looking up towards the top of the foundation wall. Removed the bottom row of siding to take the attached photos. Would a product like ZIP system liquid flashing work as a fix-all? Should I install something like a weep screed flashing first? The existing sheathing is not in great shape, but isn’t totally crumbling. I am willing to take a few rows of siding off and replace the first 2-3 feet of sheathing if necessary, but I’m not sure that’s required.

https://imgur.com/a/gap-to-seal-qMQAvdA

Last night, my hubby was in the shower and I went to the basement to switch the laundry and noticed a ton of water coming from where the bathroom is. I looked and thought it was just a seal, but it's actually corrosion around the drain and there's a fingertip sized hole there. We are going to get something (see image) to do a temporary fix until we can remodel the bathroom.. but before we completely tear the bathroom apart, are there any other ways to fix this or replace something instead of getting a completely new tub, shower wall, drywall, flooring, etc? I just bought this house in October, and really don't have the budget yet to remodel so soon.

Just a quick question. Do the lead test kits that you can buy at Home Depot work accurately? I'm going to sand down some interior walls and don't want to poison myself in the process!!

My home is a 100 year old mining cabin that has been added onto many times in its life. The most recent addition (that houses my bathroom and all my major plumbing) is by far the worst construction of the whole place. I initially thought I could renovate it, but upon finding that the current structure has basically no foundation (a little concrete poured onto a tarp in a ditch), I am currently planning to tear it down and rebuild something better (and a bit bigger) in its place. I am hoping to build the new addition to include an unfinished basement for utilities and storage.

My question is - how do I build a concrete basement foundation and tie it into the wall of the house it's connected to? I am considering options like ICF for much of the basement walls, but very open to suggestions.

The part of the house it's connected to is a 8" slab on grade with no stem wall. I know almost nothing about when/how the slab was poured. We are high in the rockies so our soil is decomposing Granite, and it is a dry climate, but that side of the house does hold more moisture than elsewhere. The wall is about 14' long that adjoins the house. I included a diagram if it is helpful. The green is the proposed addition, the highlighted yellow is the slab. Ignore the black numbers because they are confusing or inaccurate. The wall in question is a gable end that doesn't take much weight.

Can I dig under a few inches of the slab, down enough to pour a full height retaining wall without completely risking the integrity of that foundation? Or do I need to dig a little at a time to underpin slowly. I have done some concrete work in the past, but feel free to talk to me like a novice.

Addition measurements...

Dry, rocky soil here...

There is a half wall in the kitchen that I’d like to remove. There’s just a hallway behind it. How can you tell if it’s load bearing?

I’m not sure if anybody knows this info but we were going to start to process for redoing our bathroom from the ground up. This includes tile, wood, and everything else that goes into a project like this because our bathroom is from the 70s.

With the government forcing tariffs down our throats I’m not eager to pay 20-30% more for this project next month then I would have just a month ago.

Is it best to avoid taking on a project like this and waiting it out?

Previous owners had left me with beautiful exposed wood ceiling and then they painted the walls, not caring if they got paint on the wood.

Any advice on how to get the paint off with damaging the surrounding stain.

Hi everyone,

I have a fireplace in the corner of my living room with a TV mounted above it. However, the TV is too high for comfortable viewing.

I'm wondering if it's possible to reduce the thickness around the fireplace to lower the TV. I've marked some areas for discussion, and if feasible, I'd like to remove all of them to achieve a better viewing height. If it is possible i want to remove all letters. If not which of them can be removed?

Could you please guide me on whether this is possible? I'd like to create a sleek, modern look with a marble surround.

Additionally, the fireplace frame seems too thick to me. Do you think it would be possible to push the fireplace slightly back to reduce its depth?

Thanks in advance for your advice!

https://preview.redd.it/m3a757nafgge1.jpg?width=369&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f1ec33bb138021b3949f8b35afb27bf842144fa8

I’m looking for a camera for inside my shop. I don’t have wifi there so is there any security camera that is wifi free?

We are remodeling the kitchen and replacing all floors with 3/4" engineered hardwoods. The kitchen contractor and also the floor guys prefer the floors to go last. I want to understand what would be the best options. I can imagine 3 possible. Would appreciate some help on this.

1. Kitchen over finished hardwood. Provides the best look if hey do not end up ruining the floors when installing the cabinets.

2. Kitchen directly over subfloor. Easiest option, but the cabinets would sit lower. We calculated the elevations based on the finished floor. Don't like the idea of exposed subfloor which has numerous holes from old nailed floors.

3. Kitchen over 3/4" extra plywood. This is what I'm considering now. What if I ask kitchen contractors to put extra plywood under the cabinets so that it would raise them to the finished floor level. After the kitchen is complete the floor guys can put the floors up to the subfloors leaving about 1/2" gap for expansion. The toe-kick would cover that gap. Would you suggest putting the same plywood under the fridge and the range or get the floor guys to put finished floor there?

I'm leaning towards the option 3 but would like to hear your opinion. Thanks.

This is where my claw foot tub meets the wall. The caulking has all come up and some of the tile has fallen off leaving a big hole. Any ideas how to patch this?

My boyfriend and I bought a mobile home. I plan on removing the strips, mudding, sanding, priming and painting. But along the floor and corner moulding some of the panel/wallboard is frayed/split. Looking for ideas on how to repair this and make flush so it all looks like drywall and not typical trailer panel.

My house is undergoing major renovations after a tree fell on it. The power was disconnected when the tree came down, and since then, my electricians have done a total re-wire and fixed the mast and weatherhead. However, there aren’t any interior breakers (pic below), outlets, or switches installed yet - just the new wiring in place.

It recently passed the initial electrical inspection, and my contractor said to have the power reconnected back directly to the home. When the power company came out, they said they couldn’t hook it up because there was a breaker on somewhere. My electrician then told me that the exterior breaker needs to be switched off so the power company can reconnect service.

I’m pretty clueless about how this usually works but was under the impression that we’d need a temporary power pole in place until the interior panel and breakers were all installed. Is it normal to have the power restored at this stage, especially when there’s no interior panel hooked up? Does the electrician’s explanation make sense, or should I be concerned?

Thanks in advance for any insight. I’m just trying to make sure everything is done the right (and safe) way!

https://preview.redd.it/9g50adrkb7ge1.png?width=248&format=png&auto=webp&s=e8f518f933c0df985c3c373d134448467b8a9cf4

My basement was mostly finished when we bought (Sheetrock hung, peel and stick flooring, electrical done) all except for this section of the concrete foundation. We currently have a pellet stove in the basement that does a great job heating said basement. The only problem being this exposed concrete sucks up a lot of heat and is cold as well. I’m assuming they shied away from touching this because of the stairs? At this point I’m thinking of going over the wall in an epoxy and then doing some tongue and groove or shiplap. I’d like some suggestions. The under-stair section is hollow and being used as storage and isn’t really a problem. Thanks.

I have suspended cabinets over a kitchen peninsula. I need the cabinet space as it’s a small kitchen, however it blocks off the view to the dining room and a lot of natural light. I was wanting to remove the cabinet doors and half of the backing to make it a pass through. I’m wondering if they will still be structurally sound?

Our basement bathroom appears to have been framed in incorrectly, where there is almost no gap between the framing (untreated) and the cement brick. Some areas have 1/2”, some have none at all.

Is condensation going to be an issue if we put drywall up?

Should I paint the wood framing/shoehorn rigid foam where I can?

Is spray insulation our only option?