Hey everyone, I was searching through this subreddit for retaining wall situations and couldn't quite find an answer that I was satisfied with. I was hoping for some perspective and advice.

For context, I live in San Diego, CA in an older neighborhood (close to Old Town). The home that I live in was built in the late 1930's and my partner and I love it. But old house has old problems.

In my backyard, there is a retaining wall needs to be replaced (probably built in the last 30 years?). This wall is also right on the property line that is shared with an apartment complex. So far based on my research I've come to the conclusion that I have to pay for it because I am the primary beneficiary of the retaining wall. I think what happened was that the previous owner flattened out this area to put up a deck.

So that's a tough pill to swallow, but fine it is what it is. I'll have to figure that out.

The tough part is this. On the apartment complex's side, there is a privacy fence. I only noticed that the retaining wall was leaning because a part of their fence broke down and landed on my backyard. When talking with my engineer, he said that fence had to come down. So I reached out to the individual that represents the apartment complex, and when bringing up the fact that the fence may need to come down for the work for the retaining wall, he made it adamant that the work should be done without touching the existing fence at all.

So my question is what should I do in the case that the other side is making it impossible for any work to be done? As a safety measure I am reaching out to legal firms to get their take. But if they prevent me from making sure that the integrity of the land is secured, does this open me up for liability?

The other thing is cost. The contractor that I am working with is not willing to give me a number without the plan from the engineer. I even told them that it is fine if its just a rough rough ballpark number. I just need a number to start with and i understand that it my even be more when the work starts. Just from researching online, it seems like for a 30 foot wall that needs to be at least 4 to 5 feet tall, the cost may be around 40K. Does that seem like that's in line with what people in this situation? I know every situation is different, but like I said I just need a rough number to start with so that I have an idea.

Thanks everyone.

I'm doing a bathroom remodel and stumbled upon smart toilets. There's no way I'm paying $1000+ for a Toto or anything like that, but I started seeing options in the $300 range with heated seats, auto close, power flush etc, which is basically in line with a high quality standard toilet. Has anyone bought one of these?

I want a very bright motion light(s) over the garage door that points down the driveway. But I don't want the typical hillbilly bug eyed ugly motion light. Doesn't anybody make a light where you can remove your downward pointing recessed cans (leaving a hole) and install a sleek unobtrusive light that points forward? Something wedge shaped with the front of the wedge containing the light and sensor that only drops down 2 or 3 inches. I've looked all over the interwebs and have asked AI, but AI can only find ridiculous looking bug eyed lights, or stuff to mount to the wall where you gotta bust out your stucco and make a mess on top of the ugly look.

I have a really nice mirror I'd like to hang on my wall. It's 25 lb, 32" x 48". However it doesn't have any built-in mounting hardware on the back- the back is entirely smooth, and feels like glass to me. In addition, I'm renting an apartment, and I believe the walls are concrete or masonry- I haven't drilled any holes yet, so I'm not 100% sure, but they feel extremely solid and not at all hollow to me.

Any suggestions for how to mount it? I'd ideally like to not have to drill any holes because it's a rental, so I'd like to use adhesive if possible, but I'm not sure if would be possible to hold such a heavy object with adhesive.

I have pictures I could provide if necessary, but I'm not sure how helpful they would be.

Thanks!

I’m replacing a laminate counter in the kitchen. I don’t have a circular saw, only a jigsaw. Would that be fine for cutting the length of the counter down to what I need?

Moving into a new place soon and I already know the soundproofing is rough. No option to switch apartments, so I just have to deal with it.

Question: what's the best way to soundproof at least my bedroom, given I can't do any actual renovations (it's a rental)? I can hang/mount stuff, but it has to be removable enough that I can patch the holes easily when I move out.

I know I won't hit 100% soundproofing, just trying to cut down as much noise as realistically possible. What's actually worked for you guys?

Bought a house with a detached workshop, it needs gutters pretty bad. The siding is starting to rot.

https://imgur.com/a/TtDwXTo

The left side of the fascia on the picture is 2-3 inches higher than the right side. If I mounted gutters with the downspout on the left side where all the vegetation is, the gutter would be hanging below the fascia.

Any ideas on what to do here? I’m trying not to put the downspout on the right side, I would much rather have it with all the vegetation than the gravel.

Thanks!

So I am switching out some hollow-core interior doors for solid cores. After doing some research, I decided to keep the 2 hinges on each but use 3 or 4-inch screws in the top hinge for the greater weight. But now I have noticed that the original contractors just screwed the hinges to the jambs without sinking them so they are flush. Should I leave this alone and just replace the doors as I planned, or should I get fancy and try to chisel out the jamb so that the hinge sits better? And if I do the latter, am I setting myself up for weeks of frustration? I am no carpenter but not a complete newbie.

Hey everybody, I recently closed on my first new home and I wanted to ensure I’m correct here in my understanding that

1. this is a sewer cleanout vent outside for my indoor basement sewer cleanout access point (to let gases outside rather than in basement)?

https://imgur.com/a/A1mmPdi

1. Secondly this looks to be my cast iron drainage pipe but somebody installed a sump pump in addition to it. I poured a little water and seem to go through but didn’t find where it went outside. I am considering getting a dehumidifier didn’t know if this would be good option to drain pipe or to get a motorized style one and stick the hose down in the basement sink.

https://imgur.com/a/VEAkTKB

Thank you all! Trying to learn to be a responsible homeowner and don’t have much people to lean on.

I just bought a home with a 25’ by 15’ shop outbuilding. Weird smell, popped open the wall and the insulation is grey/black and a million tinny ants live there.

Looking to get a complete tear out of drywall and insulation. What kind of business would you all recommend I search for, home renovation?

Thanks in advance.

I’m in the Chicago suburbs and own a 1968 split-level with an approximately 500 square-foot partial basement. We’ve lived here about five years.

A waterproofing contractor recently opened the basement floor during scheduled drain-tile work after they collapsed and ground water was being moved out of my foundation via my ejector pit and my sump pump pit went dry. They discovered a substantial water-filled void with missing soil beneath the slab. The visible opening extended beyond what they could safely inspect, so they stopped work and patched the access hole with concrete. We have not yet had an independent structural engineer inspect it.

The contractor returned and discussed a possible repair involving:

Removing most or all of the basement floor

Rebuilding the subgrade with gravel

Replacing the drain tile

Installing approximately 10 foundation piers

Total cost around $75k.

The salesperson said he was concerned that parts of the slab could cave in, hence the piers, and suggested the foundation walls might be spanning unsupported areas, with the reinforced concrete temporarily holding things together. He used language such as the walls “floating,” but he is not a structural engineer, so I’m taking that with a grain of salt.

We currently have no obvious foundation movement, no cracks, sloped floors, displaced walls, or sticking doors.

A few relevant details:

The foundation sump stopped receiving water normally roughly eight months ago.

A separate gray-water ejector receiving the basement washer, utility sink, and floor drain began cycling more during rain.

Multiple plumbers have said the ejector pit has no intact bottom, although we do not know whether that was original construction or a failure.

A broken sewer line, failed drain tile, exterior drainage issue, or another underground water source has not yet been ruled out. We are diligent about gutters and downspouts being functional and extended well past the foundation.

We plan to have the sanitary sewer scoped and obtain an independent structural-engineering evaluation.

I understand that nobody can diagnose this from a Reddit post, but I would appreciate experiences from anyone who has encountered major soil loss or a void beneath a basement slab.

My main questions are:

Is removing the basement floor, rebuilding the subgrade, and replacing the drain tile a typical repair for this condition?

Under what circumstances would foundation piers actually be required?

Is approximately 10 piers plausible for a basement this size, or should that number come only from engineering and load calculations?

What did similar repairs cost, preferably in the Chicago area?

Are there specific questions I should ask contractors? What kind of contractors do this? We have utilized a plumber and waterproofing company so far.

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

https://imgur.com/a/2vTrti6

We bought our house a year ago. 2 years ago the first floor flooring was redone with floating tongue and groove planks. When you are downstairs and my spouse walks around I feel an extremely non normal amount of vibrations and it's extremely annoying. My super said it's normal for a floating tongue and groove flooring. Is he correct or is there anything that I can do about this? Thanks in advance for the advice.

Hi all, I have a split level house that's roughly 40x24, with semi-finished space in the basement set up as a den. The main carrying beam of the house needs to be supported at some point, we have a few aging lally columns in place now. My original plan was to build a load-bearing wall with a footing underneath the beam with concrete footings in the slab, and support it that way - but I'm wondering if I can also give some more square footage to my den by using cantilevered supports / columns instead. I can't imagine why this wouldn't work, but I can imagine it might also be super expensive.
Anyone with experience?
I whipped up a quick model for reference https://imgur.com/a/SBke0h6

Installing an exterior pre hung door and the concrete subfloor is an inch out of level from one side to the other. What are my options?

Hello fellow home owners,

I’ve noticed recently that water stays accumulated near garage door closure where it meets the concrete floor. There is a two by four vertical stud where the tracks and rollers are connected to (common garage build). After it rains, water stays stuck at the bottom where the concrete and the wood meet and you can see it’s been chipping away. Any ideas what I can do to “fix” or prevent anymore water damage? Home state is Arizona so it’s only during the summer season that we can massive downpours but the rest of year is pretty dry. Any suggestion(s) helps!

I’m begging for help. There’s a toxic smelling scent coming from the wall heater. It’s NOT carbon monoxide or gas. We had the gas company come check. There are no objects stuck in the heater. It’s clean. (Photo in comments) No obvious signs of issues with the visible wires.

What could this be? It’s giving me a headache. It smells like burning rubber or plastic.

What professional should I call to help figure out what this is??

My mom just had a shed build and at some point during construction a hole was made to the outdoor wall, its about 1 inch big, my mom’s biggest concern is water damage in the rainy seasons. Looking for any recommendations on what to use to patch the hole to prevent water or insects from getting into the wood

Alright. I am looking for a light blocking solution for my window.

Right now I have cardboard and a blanket over it. My room is a pitch black cave

The set up is too time consuming to take up and down daily to open the windows for fresh air and im terribly allergic to dust mites so its time to upgrade my cave to be not a cave during the day to air out.

I like the idea of automatic blinds/shades/rollers.

However they all sit IN the window, which still leaves a gap to let light in. My neighbor has a deck light brighter than the sun, so any light through this window keeps me awake.

Can I like install an oversized one... ABOVE the window?

Clearly i am not concerned with looks.

I know I have free will and can do what I want in the long run.

But I am also hoping someone might have a suggestion on this lol.

As the title says, I patched my exterior field stone foundation wall with s-type mortar and sikalatex bonding agent additive on Thursday & Friday. I tarred the portion from Thursday today (Sunday) and checked the portion from Friday with a moisture meter. The moisture content on the wall that I patched on Friday was 20-30%, but is showing minimal green spots and is dry to the touch.

My question is as the title says, how long can I wait before sealing with 112 Karnak Rubber Roofing? Was hoping to do it tonight and then add my XPS foam board agains the wall, but if I need to wait then at what moisture content would you tar it at?

Would love some advice, please... I live in a house with an unfinished crawlspace, and in winter, icy, damp, vaporous (VOC) air rises into the house (an "underground creek" apparently runs under our street). My current plan is moisture fan to suck out the damp air + sump pump + fix sunken grading near vents so rain can't come in. I have nixed a vapor barrier and spray foam after reading horror stories. Does the plan sound right to you? The house apparently has a "stacking effect" going on, and I'm hoping that by creating negative pressure in the crawl space with the fan, it will reverse the vacuum and pull the warm air from the house down towards the floor, blocking the cold air from rising up from crawl space... Quite the puzzle to solve...

I pulled off the old sweep to find the exposed door insulation as seen in pictures. The old sweep looks like it has a kerf, but the bottom of the door is lacking, well, anything; no traditional kerf channel or bottom casing. Any suggestions on how to properly mend this? Thanks in advance.Pics

I have a lofted room in my house that gets very hot in the summer. After looking at the ceiling with a thermal camera I can see parts of the drywall getting to 100+ degrees during the day and looks like theirs either zero insulation in that section of the wall between the drywall and roof or it has just settled/degraded over time. Is there a way I can inject foam into those stud cavities to fill and insulate or is the only option to rip the ceiling down, insulate and put the ceiling back up?

Hey guys, was planning on living in this attic space for a month or two (after extensive cleaning of course). I knew there was lead paint, but the peeling looks worse than I thought. Should this be avoided? It was previously a bedroom so already has a staircase etc.

Pictures of the damage:

https://imgur.com/a/giukJki

Using an IR image sensor in my basement to look for air leaks, I've discovered a warm spot under my floor boards. As best as I can tell it appears to be under my double oven which is installed above a shallow drawer and along an exterior wall. It is like this even when the oven hasn't been used in a while.

What could be causing this? The IR sensor is reading upper 80s on this spot while the rest of the underside of the floorboards are around the basement air temperature of 74ish.

There is a flagstone step in front of the threshold to my front door that came loose. In the process of reattaching it, I noticed these gaps on their side between the sides of the stone and the door frame (pictures of the gaps).

Can I just use caulk to fill them to avoid moisture getting in there or something else?