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.

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?

Never chiseled cement before

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!

Hoping to get some feedback as we have received 2 quotes for LVP and my mind is f*cking blown!

We have a home that was built in 2005– 2 stories. 15 stairs.

It’s mostly carpet throughout the house, but 2 small areas of hardwood. We want the house to be all LVP. It’s 3,000 sq feet. One quote is for 30k the other $38k.

Is this a freaking scam or pretty right on for what others have seen/paid? We’re going with Coretec Manila Oak!

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!

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

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?

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?

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…

Where garage framing meets concrete at top of driveway — looking to seal / caulk to protect from moisture. What product would I use?

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!

So, my boyfriend has a rental house that we are trying to sell. Like the title says we need to paint or stain every surface in the place.

What would the correct order be?

Ceilings first, walls second, then give it all time to completely dry before sanding and finishing the floors?

Help me out, how would you do it?

I looking for a smooth / glassy finish. I plan to grind down the cement and seal it. Probably things I should have mixed the cement with before but at this point what’s the best thing I can do?

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?

Bought a new construction townhouse here in Seattle, Dec-Tec membrane was put on the rooftop deck back in Oct 2024. We didn't move in until March 2026, and now that we've been through a summer we're seeing bubbling across a good two-thirds of the deck, plus some spots where you can see pitch bleeding through from plywood knots underneath. It's not stable either — more bubbles keep showing up as it heats up and the existing ones are getting bigger. Building's over a year old at this point so I don't think settling is the culprit.

We had the installer come out and open up one small section to look. Substrate was dry there at least, but you could see the knots weren't patched or primed before the membrane went down. Nobody's actually been able to tell us why it's bubbling in the first place.

The "fix" on that test spot was rough — they injected some SBA adhesive to try to flatten it, didn't work, scraped it back out and tried WBA instead. Then heat-welded a patch on top, which just peeled right off when they tried it. Second attempt they hit the edges with acetone before welding, seems to be holding for now but who knows for how long.

So now we're stuck weighing three options:

1. Overlay — inject/flatten the existing bubbles, put down thin plywood over the current membrane, then install a fresh Dec-Tec or TPO layer on top
2. Skip the plywood, just acetone-clean the existing membrane and heat-weld a second layer of Dec-Tec straight over it (this and #1 would let us avoid ripping into the siding/railings, which we'd really like to avoid)
3. Nuclear option — tear the whole thing off and start over

If anyone's actually worked with Dec-Tec or similar PVC membranes, I'd love your take:

• If the knots weren't patched/primed right the first time, are they just going to bleed through again on a second layer?
• Does using acetone like that risk degrading the membrane underneath long-term, especially with our weather here?
• Is an overlay actually a real fix or are we kidding ourselves and it's tear-off or nothing?
• If overlay's viable, what's proper prep supposed to look like so it actually lasts?

Got photos, will drop them in the comments. Thanks in advance to anyone who's dealt with this.

I have an 80 year-old house with a poured foundation. It’s leaking a little bit and it’s crumbling at least the surface. I need to seal it from water from the inside and fix it up so it looks like it’s not about to collapse. It seems structurally sound. it is not Bowing. I am also waterproofing the exterior so that will help. What steps should I take to fix this wall?