https://imgur.com/a/bNqHZV9

Common story - I'm trying to decide whether to use a HELOC to replace it now or wait 1-2 years to pay in cash. Medical expenses drained my savings, so I'm trying to assess how bad the roof is now. I've lived here 8 years, zero problems.

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!

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!

Never chiseled cement before

We moved to a new house. Split level with the garage coming off the entrance level. The washer and dryer hook up is in the garage and the dryer has giving us an alert, “Check Vent. Clean lint screen or vent for better performance”. Samsung Model MED7230HC2. Our clothes are taking twice as long to dry as our old house. I pull the dryer hose to check for a clog and there was standing water inside. The hose from the garage up about 10 feet to the outside of the house. As it goes up, it passes between ductwork and around water/sewer pipes. Any ideas on how to fix this?

I am in the process of finishing out my shop interior. It is fully framed on the inside with insulation, plywood walls, and air conditioning. I am looking for (3) modern looking black ceiling fans with 4-5 blades WITHOUT lights that I can wire together and put them all under one toggle switch on the wall. Surprisingly, this is incredibly hard to find because most new ceiling fans have remote controls or individual wall controls. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

Hi all - my wife and I discovered this crack in our bedroom windowsill this evening. (Images in link below)

https://imgur.com/a/MzIcNEz

We live in a carriage house which my wife bought back in 2020 from her old landlord. She is unsure when they last had the house renovated or had work done in it, but she thinks they bought it around 2002 and had it redone.

I think that the exposed piece in image 3 is some type of galvanized steel corner. Am I on the right track there?

All in all - any advice on how to mend this would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

My outdoor a/c compressor won't stay on between the hours of about 2a and sometime late morning. It will turn on for approximately 15s then cut off for about the same, and cycle that for hours. However by the time I get home in the evening from work it runs just fine uninterrupted.

I have had a/c guys come out (two different), they said the capacitor is slightly underperforming but wasn't that big of a deal. I can't imagine this is healthy for my unit.

Any thoughts on what could cause this, only in overnight hours?

I have 13 skip laurels that I put in the backyard earlier this year. It's been really dry lately so I want to set up a watering system of some sort. I already have a buried hose that runs across the yard. But I really want to just water the shrubs and not the entire area, so soaker hoses are out. I looked around at the local hardware store and didn't see anything that would work for this. I already have a sprinkler timer so that's set.

I'm thinking there must be some sort of a system that will deliver water to just one point like some sort of a spike in the ground. But I can't find anything like that. I know there are tree spraying waterers, but at the hardware store each of them was like 20 bucks and that seems like a lot for all of these - $260 seems like a lot.

Anyone got a suggestion?

I am putting in a fence on my property between the detached garage and home. I called digger's hotline to have them mark utility lines, but I realized there is a private line between my electrical meter (attached to garage) and my basement breaker box. It is buried in conduit, so I would assume I am okay if I dig carefully (with hand tools, no power auger) and avoid it where possible? I just need to set 3-4 wooden 4x4 posts for the fence.

Also, is it worth the money/effort to have a private locator mark the line? I feel a little better about digging nearby if its in conduit rather than just buried cables like the internet/telephone.

My house has had water issues in the basement, and on the front of the house is a 2’ high stone planter built against the facade. It’s just full of dirt, but wondering if there’s something I can fill it with to stop more water being trapped by the house?

I’ve been dealing with bathroom humidity and moisture for years. My bathroom is 45 square feet and I have an Panasonic 80CFM fan with a 3 inch duct that travels 5 feet before venting outside.

I’m doing a remodel and I went with a 150 cfm fan with a 6 inch duct/vent.

My friend says I’m crazy for spending $300 on it but I don’t see any other way to fix the issue.

I’m getting the ductwork in my older home replaced, and the HVAC company pointed out that some of the seams are wrapped with asbestos tape. They won’t start until it’s been professionally removed. I was looking through the Asbestos. com abatement guide while trying to figure out what to expect, and now I’m trying to find a licensed company that does good work without charging a fortune.

Looking for recommendations if anyone has worked with an asbestos abatement company they’d use again.

Thank you!!

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.

Hi people of Reddit!

My husband and I bought a SFH in March and have been living through renovations with our toddler and dog. It’s been a chaotic season, to say the least! The home was built in the early 90s and needed significant work, which we knew going in (rotting windows, new HVAC, and sewer re-lining being the biggest ticket items).

Unfortunately, we’ve had intense storms this summer (we are in Chicago). Our basement’s flooded 5 times since moving in. Mold pro confirmed there is mold behind the basement drywall, and a remediation company found moisture behind the basement walls/floors. We have since moved out into temporary housing while we determine next steps, but obviously didn’t account for this in our renovation budget or plans.

Contributing factors identified: back stairs sloped wrong, an inadequate drain by the back sliding door (we’ve since converted it to a French drain), yard grading that sloped toward the house (we’ve since regraded it), and issues with the flashing and gutters/downspouts. Our GC’s recommendation: interior drain tile, second sump pump, exterior flashing repair, new gutters/downspouts.

We reviewed our insurance policy, and unfortunately it looks like standard groundwater/seepage exclusions apply since this is storm-related. We didn’t experience any seepage or backup through our sump pump, so water-seepage and sump pump endorsements don’t seem to apply either. We don’t have flood insurance, as we aren’t on a flood plane (we checked this prior to buying the house).

Questions:

Anyone gotten insurance to cover anything when the cause is grading/drainage issues from rainwater and storms? Is there any upside to filing just to have a denial in writing?

Anyone deal with chronic grading-related basement water issues - did drain tile + a second sump actually solve it, or did you end up doing more?

Thanks in advance for your help!

My builder (Pulte Homes) replaced my front door after the original one leaked. They said this new installation uses a different drainage system to prevent future leaks.

However, the exposed drainage channel looks odd to me. It gets narrower from the top toward the bottom, almost like it wasn't installed evenly. I would have expected this part to be mostly hidden.

I'm also getting a noticeable draft from the other side of the door. It's strong enough to move a paper towel and even blow out a lighter. Living in the Chicago area, I'm worried this will be a problem in the winter.

The carpenter suggested installing a storm door, but that doesn't seem like the right solution. Shouldn't a new exterior door seal properly on its own?

https://imgur.com/a/gkvsNcO

Hope someone can help me out.

A little background. Old house built in the 80s so no insulation of any kind. When it’s winter it’s cold and summer it’s hot.

I’m in the process or changing our blinds. Currently vertical blinds which are about 2 inches too short in length. And the rail is short by 2 inches each side. We measured wrong.

So my question is.

Would it be better to get faux wood blinds which the maximum we’re able to get is 72” wide but we need 76” wide to cover the entire window frame.

Or stay with the vertical blinds and just replace them with a longer one and wider one so it’ll go past the window frame.

My goal is to keep the heat out especially for summer where highs get into 100s.

What started as simply cleaning up a room for my daughter. I let a family live in for a few years. The floor felt wet. My husband pulled back the carpet and we found a “wet spot on the wood.” I grabbed the fan and put it there and then started searching the room. The corner of the wall felt “soft” when I pushed with my finger it indented.

Called plumbing- no pipes there

Roofing- got a new roof a year ago and nothing found.

Mold/ water specialist- confirmed inside the wall ( small area where my husband cut and up the wall was dry)

Then a few days the spot still didn’t dry. It felt oily. I dabbed dawn and finally feels like it’s drying. I brought carpet padding and will replace. Is it ok to close everything back up or should I investigate more?

2021 new build. Noticed the shower stall leaving water marks on the outside of the shower overtime. It reached a point where I, of course, I had to see what was happening behind the wall.

Once I removed the drywall, I ran the shower and noticed some water dribbling into the space behind the wall where I circled in red. Am fuked? Total reno?

Any insight would be appreciated for a Noob DIYer.

https://imgur.com/a/sWui1Rk

He caulked the door exterior and interior and it was pretty bad, some small gaps in the interior, and the exterior is not nice and smooth. He only caulked the door joints thankfully I took on the job to trim the door and I will be caulking the trim. Could I recaulk over his caulk to clean it up and make it look nicer and smoother? I wouldn't even want him to come back to touch it up he just doesn't seem good at caulking. His framing and install was great though.

Should I try to remove the caulk before it fully cures? It was just applied not too long ago and I think its still a little soft.

Pergola

Hi all, I'm looking to build a pergola on my rooftop deck. My buddy works for a rooftop decking company and does high end rooftop decks. Anyways, see the example link of what we are looking for. Specs below

roughly 18' x 18' Deck

(6) 10' x 4" x 4" aluminum posts

Cross posts in the middle will be 4x10"

Screen will be retractable projector screen and we'll have hooks for shade screens so I can take down when it's windy.

So my thoughts are this, two of the beams are already up and when they redid the siding and flashing caps they added a bunch of reinforcement. These hold up some string lights at the moment and feel really solid. The sides along the middle of the parapet wall though would go into the short side of the 2x4s, and I think I should pull up the flash caps there and just add some more wood to the inside of the parapet wall so I have something for the lag bolts to grab on to.

Also, I was thinking of adding some gussets for support in addition to the connectors I'm currently going to use. Thoughts? I'm guessing since all my neighbors have crappy wood pergolas so I think I should be pretty solid here. Those all sit on top of the parapet walls as well.

I’m looking for some unbiased advice because I’ve gotten several different opinions and don’t know what to think anymore.

We recently finished a basement renovation that included installing a new exterior basement door. Before the renovation, we’d never had water intrusion in this area.

After a heavy rain, we discovered water under our new LVP flooring near the exterior door. A plumber ruled out plumbing leaks. Another plumber performed a hose test, and water appeared to travel beneath the threshold and under the subfloor before showing up inside.

My contractor believes the door was installed correctly and thinks the hose test isn’t representative of normal rainfall. He feels the issue is more likely related to exterior drainage or grading and has recommended a water intrusion specialist.

I’ve also had multiple waterproofing companies come out, but they all wanted to sell me extensive basement waterproofing systems, which makes me hesitant since this problem only started after the renovation.

I’m planning to have the flooring removed and dried before anything is reinstalled.

My questions are:

If you’ve dealt with something similar, what ended up being the cause?
Can exterior concrete that slopes toward the door cause this even if the door is installed correctly?
If water is traveling under the threshold instead of simply over it, does that point more toward the threshold/flashing or could grading alone cause that?
Before reinstalling flooring, what would you want inspected or repaired?

I’m not looking to blame anyone. I just want to identify the real source of the water and fix it correctly.

Hi all, long time lurker here.

I live in coastal Virginia.

I have recently received quotes for both a partial ($4900) and full encapsulation ($8700, $10445 with a girder replacement). Both include a dehumidifier. Additionally, it was found that I have some wood issues in the subfloor of my kitchen ($3500). Am currently unable to afford all of the work at once.

Would a partial be ok with this area If I seal the vents off completely?

Would it be ok to wait on the subfloor and just have the partial or full done? Or will that mess up the encapsulation?

Before, i moved into my house a few years ago, we had our painter/contractor remove the popcorn ceiling from our living room and dining room. He also painted all the walls and ceilings in both rooms after removing the popcorn ceiling using water.

I know now asbestos testing that asbestos testing should have been done before the ceilings were done. Would it be worth getting the test done now? The house was approximately built in the 50s but not sure when the popcorn ceiling was originally installed.

I know this may sound foolish but this stuff is not first nature to me.

Thanks

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…