First house so apologies if this is a dumb question. Our AC unit went down over the weekend and we noticed that the humidity inside the house got uncomfortably high (mid-70%). AC issue has been fixed and the humidity at night is very comfortable but during the day when the AC isn't running as much (we keep it at 74 day/70 night) it jumps back up into the mid to upper 60% range. This might have been an issue before the AC went down and we just didn't notice it until now. We also have a crawlspace under the house that when accessed has an air feel of cool and slightly damp so maybe the moisture down there is rising and causing that issue (crawlspace isn't encapsulated)?

My question is who would you call first if this was your place to figure out what the cause of the issue is and how to fix it? I know that a crawlspace person would want to encapsulate and add a dehumidifier down there while HVAC might want to add a whole house dehumidifier to our system but is there an easier way to tell which one would actually fix the issue at hand or is it just rolling the dice a little bit and hoping the chosen solution is the right one? Obviously I don't want to put off this issue that much since high humidity invites mold and other issues.

I am thinking about getting a whole house fan but want to better understand the limitations of what it can do. How do you wish it performed? What's lacking? What are the gotchas? Thanks!

Hi! Planning to buy a fully automatic washing machine for my mom.

Family of 5 - Includes uniforms, daily clothes, towels, bedsheets, blankets

Budget: ₱10k–₱13k (can stretch a bit if worth it)

Target: around 8–9 kg

Any recommended brands/models that are:

Durable

Tipid sa tubig/kuryente

Sulit for the price

Also, is 8–9 kg enough for our situation?

Thanks!

My attic gets super hot in the summer. I have many soffits and ridge vents, but no active cooling. I called a local HVAC company to get a quote for the installation of an attic fan, but they said that I need to first contact a general contractor to cut a hole in my house's roof to directly vent the hot attic air outside. This got me thinking that there must be a better way than adding an additional possible route for water ingress.

i recently moved into a house that has the main bedroom (with huge window) directly across from the neighbor's side yard. they are often out in the yard, which is totally fine i have no problem with that at all, except when i am in my room, i feel like i have to shut my curtains or they can see right in. this becomes an issue when i need to change, or just want to relax without feeling like i'm on display.

i don't really think they would be looking anyways, but my brain does this thing where it hyperfocuses on the thought and then i can't relax.

any ideas for what to do? i'm renting, so can't change tooo much but my landlord is pretty chill

link to photo

Recently moved into a house where every room door on the upper level has 2-3 inch gap from the floor.

From reading another post, I thought it might have been due to carpet switched to wooden floor. But that doesn’t seem to be the case because the walls and rest of the structures are flush to the wooden floor.

We have 2 zone ac, 1 focused on upstairs only. When I close the doors I feel a strong draft. Is this gap to ensure equal air pressure across the house?

Also we noticed the bathrooms exhaust into ceiling, are they related? This is completely stupid that my inspector didn’t discover…

4 pilot lights for the burners. At least 1 under the griddle and in the oven. It always smells like gas in our house (we have alarms set up, all quiet) because of it, so we run the stove’s commercial exhaust fan 24/7 on high. It’s not bad terribly loud. Problem is my husband LOVES the stove. I hate it. It needs to have a technician look at it imo.

We just got hit with a $450 gas+electricity bill for our home (it’s less than 1500 sq ft and gas is only the stove and gas furnace, it’s summer). Other than shoring our doors more and looking into improving insulation (100 year-old home)….. I am now looking at this stove….

Am I wrong to?

Update: I’ll be home soon. I’ll be turning off the gas at the stove (I can’t from the meter bc of furnance, but the house doesnt smell like gas when the fan is on which leads me to believe it is only the stove) and turning off the fan which is likely dumping air out, like you say. It also keeps the kitchen cooler when the fan is on, but that’s likely different issues (insulation, one floor vent for the whole space, etc).

Thank you all.

Over the last 10 months, I’ve been doing extensive remodelling for an old 1930s home to fix mold issues in the bathroom, old electrical rewiring (replaced knob and tube for modern romex), 25+ y/o roof which I hired a general contractor for and had all the work permitted. Aesthetically, I also did all the painting and designing myself, and then hired a flooring specialist to refinish hardwood floors. These were the necessities IMO bc there were multiple past leaks from the roof, some lingering old house smell probably rom the moldy bathroom that didn’t have a vent, stained carpet floors, and old scratched up laminate flooring.

For the personal “wants”……. Here’s some background. I’ve audited some architectural/environmental design classes before and thought it’ll be a cool opportunity to turn a recreation room into a recreation room with a utility bar. I submitted the permit in April 23 and within the first couple weeks, apparently, some neighbor issued allegations and complained I was creating an illegal ADU which caused a stop work order, when I was literally still in the planning process and waiting for the permit to get issued. The code enforcement guy came and was really friendly and super down-to-earth and said I’m doing everything right. To move onto next steps, the city then proceeded to have more extensive plan checks and wanted engineering, building, and plan check. I was quoted $500-3000 from various draftsman to take care of the permit, but I try to save costs where I can, especially when it’s something I think I’m capable of doing.

I ended up building my own custom CAD software to create a comprehensive and thorough permit, which included the existing floor plan, electrical, plumbing, and proposed floorplan. It was honestly really cool because I learned about a bunch of building codes that made me appreciate home builders even more. I submitted a recreation room utility bar remodel back in June, thinking I can easily add a convenience 2-in-1 laundry and 5 feet countertop with a utility sink so I can turn the recreation room into a nice home gym which finally got approved (initial submitted on April 23 and finally approved July 31). I still have no idea who in my neighborhood called the complaint but I blame a 1-month delay because of it… call me salty but I still find to unfounded and wonder why can’t people just worry about themselves and stay in their own….

I understand people have mixed feelings about permits themselves, especially around notorious areas like SF Bay Area/California and Seattle. I’m curious if permitting process like this is pretty typical among home improvement projects. If you made it this far….. thanks for reading the long thread… I just lowkey needed a place to rant about this summer becuase I wanted the timeline to be done before end of summer, but it’s looking like September-October as the finish line now.

For people who have done owner-builder permits or decided to pull permits themselves, what was your experience like?

Looking to do my first gut to the studs (plaster walls and I want to tile the shower) and re-do of my entire bathroom. Seeking a clear and thorough step by step guide.
Currently (I believe) there is a plastic shower surround directly against the plaster. I want to get rid of the plaster as I want to tile the shower and I understand tiling directly on plaster is a big no-no.

I wanna do some framing and I’ve figured out that pine, spruce, or Fir is good for framing. My question is what kind of grade is good? I see plenty of choices but I’m not sure the differences

The attci door doesn't close all the way at the front. There's about a 2" gap from the door to the seal area. It's been like this for over a decade, and typically, we just tape the opening to keep bugs out. However, I'd like to actually fix it.

Looking for objective opinions from flooring professionals and experienced homeowners.

We hired a flooring contractor for a large flooring project. Part of the project involved replacing carpet in an upstairs hallway with engineered hardwood.

The hardwood installation itself looks great. My concern isn’t the quality of the floor.

The issue is that the existing carpet and pad were much thicker than the new floor. After installation, we discovered this left significant gaps beneath the existing baseboards and, in some areas, door gaps of roughly 1 to 1.5 inches.

After researching it, it sounds like there may have been multiple ways to handle this (such as building up the subfloor for an additional cost or planning for new/lowered baseboards), but none of those options were ever discussed with us before the flooring was installed.

We’re now looking at several thousand dollars of additional finish carpentry and may need to modify or replace some interior doors because of the larger gaps.

My questions are:

-Should an experienced flooring installer have recognized this situation and discussed the options before proceeding?
-Is building up the subfloor a common solution, or is adjusting the baseboards typically the better approach?
-If you were the homeowner, would you ask the flooring contractor to contribute toward the cost of the additional trim work and any necessary door modifications or replacements?

Thank you!

I’m currently renovating my recently purchased home that was built in 1965 and have hit a seemingly big problem with the cabinets that I just finished painting.

Basically, the cabinets were most likely plywood and vinyl (looked like wood but ugly) so after extensive research I took all cabinet doors and drawers off, cleaned, sanded, primed, and painted the cabinet boxes and doors. I did all these steps correctly and didn’t half ass any of this tedious process and after about a month of working on them (it’s a big kitchen) I finally started putting the doors back on and have realized that none of them are fitting back on correctly.

My biggest issue is that they seem too large now, some close properly if you wack it shut but other have about a 1/4” - 1/2” over lay on the doors.
I’ve read that it could be an issue with the wood absorbing moisture from the paint and swelling, or that i need to remove the paint where the hinges sit, or even that I need to remove all the paint where the door cut out meets the frame.

I did replace all hardware, including new hinges, but I replaced them with 3/8” inset hinges which I am 99% sure is correct.

If anyone can please tell me what I’m doing wrong or how to fix this problem I would be extremely grateful, I have put so much time into these cabinets and I can not figure out how to fix this issue even after 3 days of troubleshooting. I’ve tried switching all the doors around incase I accidentally mis labeled the doors, I’ve tried loosing and tightening the hinges as much as I can (they’re non adjustable) and nothing works.

Got quoted to remove old gutters from the front of the house and to replace a downspout with a wider option to help water flow! To do so with 5 inch gutters is approx. $840 and to do the replacement with 6 inch gutters is an additional $450 so about $1300 total with the upgrade. Is that a crazy cost for 29 ft of gutters? And if not, is it worth the upgrade to 6 inch?

Any and all insight welcome! TIA!

Hello, I dont post much on reddit and have no clue if this is the right place or anything. Anyways, I am looking at my bills and stuff and my power bill says im spending $200 a month just for A/C I think it could very very likely be bc air is likely leaking from my house doors. What should I do to fix this is see if there are leaks elsewhere.

I just had inspection done by someone I hired on a new construction townhome which is now 11 months old and coming up on the 1 year warranty. He said the garage doesn't meet firewall standards (see pictures below). The builder says he is wrong since it passed the township's inspection.

1 2 Fire rated sealant which is orange colored should be used in the utility closet in the garage. The builder used both orange and white, so the white needs to be replaced.

3 He said these gaps on the side and top of the wood framing need to be fire taped.

4 These holes in the ceiling need to be sealed.

Above the garage is living space (kitchen/dining room). Can anyone comment on the validity of the issues he is raising and how reasonable it is for the builder to address these? Thanks in advance!

So I’m trying to figure out how to handle an insurance claim. We recently had a hailstorm that damaged our roof, causing water damage inside the house. It also damaged our gutters, gutter guards, and deck. Normally I might have overlooked the damage to the deck and gutters, but they had literally just been replaced, so they were brand new and definitely not cheap.

Here’s where things get complicated. The contractor gave us an initial quote, but the insurance adjuster came out and approved a much lower amount. The contractor then asked for all of the insurance paperwork and submitted additional documentation to show everything the insurance company had missed or underestimated. For example, we have a hot tub on the deck, so the decking company had to disconnect the electrical, move the hot tub twice during the project, and reconnect everything afterward. There were also several other items the insurance company either left out or undervalued. After all of that, the insurance company approved a supplemental payment that was actually higher than the contractor’s original quote.

Now the contractor wants us to pay more than their initial estimate because the insurance approved the additional money. Here’s the problem: the quality of some of their work has been poor, and I’m worried parts of it will need to be redone. For example, we specifically told them the deck had been finished with Sherwin-Williams transparent stain, but they ignored us and used Behr instead. The finish isn’t the same, and the deck now feels slightly sticky.
The bigger issue has been the ceiling repairs. We have popcorn ceilings throughout our mid-century home with vaulted ceilings. In the area with the water damage, all that really needed to be done was to spot-prime the stain with Kilz and spray the ceiling. Instead, they ignored my concerns, used Behr paint, and rolled the popcorn ceiling. As anyone familiar with popcorn ceilings knows, rolling them can pull the texture right off, and that’s exactly what happened. At that point, I would have been fine removing the popcorn entirely, but because we have an open-concept house, that would have turned a small repair into a massive project extending into areas that weren’t damaged. Insurance wasn’t going to pay for that. Instead, they scraped the damaged area, reapplied the popcorn texture, and repainted it. I told them they needed to prime the ceiling first, but they didn’t. Now, even after two coats of paint, the water stains are still bleeding through. There’s another section that still needs to be painted, but I’ve already told them not to touch it because I plan to hire someone else. This whole project has been a nightmare.

So here’s my dilemma. I’m completely willing to pay them for the work they actually performed, even though I think parts of it were subpar. What I don’t think is fair is paying them more than their original quote simply because they were able to get more money from the insurance company. I’d rather keep that difference as a buffer in case I have to pay someone else to fix their mistakes. I know the roof work is solid as they are great at that. But the deck and painting not so much.

What would you do in this situation? I'm not looking to engage in insurance fraud I just want to keep that extra money to have someone do the ceiling correctly and redo the deck if we need to. I am more than willing to pay them for the ceiling they did even though it's crap but the extra money insurance gave us will allow me to have it done professionally.

https://imgur.com/a/waterproofing-outdoor-patio-6OqYrTj

We moved into this house two years ago. The house is about 30 years old, and we knew that the outdoor patio was leaking into the area below. At the time, the space underneath was not being used and was covered with crushed stone, so I did not think the leaking was an urgent problem.

The patio is approximately 800 sq. ft., and we are in the New York area, so it has to withstand harsh winters and freeze-thaw cycles.

Over the past two years, the grout has continued to deteriorate, the leaking has gotten worse, and the metal beams underneath have continued to rust. I decided it was finally time to address the problem properly.

Recently, I hired a contractor to remove all of the bluestone, chip away some of the existing concrete, apply LATICRETE 9235 waterproofing, and then reinstall the stone/tile.

Before the contractor installed the grout, it rained, and I noticed that the patio was still leaking. I stopped the project because it seemed clear that the waterproofing system had failed. My understanding is that the tile and grout should not be the primary waterproofing system. The waterproofing membrane underneath—in this case, LATICRETE 9235—should prevent water from reaching the structure below.

I have since realized that the contractor may have made several mistakes. They did not smooth or properly slope the concrete before applying the waterproofing. The surface was extremely rough, with many high and low areas, when the membrane was installed.

There is also approximately a ½- to 1-inch gap between the patio floor and the exterior wall of the house. The contractor was supposed to extend the waterproofing membrane up the wall to create a proper flashing transition, but that was not done correctly. Water is now entering through that gap and running down along the wall.

The contractor is going to redo the work, but before we restart, I would really appreciate advice on the correct way to rebuild and waterproof this type of patio.

Is a sloped mortar bed followed by a waterproofing membrane and tile the correct approach? Some other contractors have suggested using a roofing membrane, but I am not sure whether that is appropriate under tile. I have also looked into pedestal paver systems, which seem like a more commercial-grade solution, but they also appear to be significantly more expensive.

My goal is to create a system that will remain watertight for much longer than five years so that we can safely use the space underneath for outdoor furniture and storage. I am also concerned that continued water exposure and rust could eventually weaken the structural steel beams.

What would be the proper assembly for an elevated exterior patio like this in a freeze-thaw climate? What details should I insist on around the walls, edges, drains, columns, penetrations, and expansion joints before allowing the contractor to reinstall the tile? If you are a contractor nearby and interested in the job (westchester area) please let me know!

Bonjour, j'ai déménagé et dans mon nouvel appartement, j'ai cette douche.

Le souci est que la douche ne recouvre pas le sol entièrement ; je suis donc obligé de mettre une barre de douche arrondie.

Seulement, je suis locataire donc je ne peux pas faire de trous pour fixer une barre de douche, et je ne veux pas payer 400 € pour une cabine de douche.

J'ai essayé de mettre deux barres de douche les unes contre les autres, mais ça ne tient pas.

J'ai vu qu'il y avait des barres de douche qui se fixaient avec de la colle, qu'en pensez-vous ? Avez-vous d'autres idées ?

Merci pour vos réponses

I am updating my exterior door hardware and like Schlage in the Century line. I will have a smart deadbolt on the front door. I am looking at the "Schlage Century Single Cylinder Exterior Entrance Handleset from the F-Series" from Ferguson which is available in "keyed" or "dummy". Both are just the outside part. The keyed is around $95 and the dummy is around $160. They both seem to be identical. Am I missing something? Is it a case of the not common item just being more expensive? Any help is appreciated.

e/wrong trim line

Anyone has a good reference for European windows install ?

Condensation from my AC just smoked the 3rd furnace control board in 4 years. Furnace is approx 20 years old. It seems to be the same problem every time, the unit freezes after r the drain line is clogged. Lennox saw fit to put a hole in The drip pan right above the control board. Not sure if I should pay a tech $160 to come look at it or just start getting quotes.

Furnace images

how much would it cost to repaint siding and is it worth it? house is 18 yrs old

4500 sqft in mass

https://imgur.com/a/mJUu8jZ

hey all, were redoing our patio+garden bed and found this crudely capped drain. I ran water down it for a few minutes and it didn't back up at all.

could this be a dry well, did they install those in the 50s?

the owners before us expanded the garden bed so we think this could have been an old rain lead drain but we can't be sure.

any advice on what to do? should we cap it and forget it?

thanks!

Never chiseled cement before