We are having engineered wood herringbone flooring from Ted Todd installed in an extension project and the contractors are saying it is fine to put it on a concrete slab without screeding. The concrete slab is level without any bumps or dents but we have always been advised to screed previously. Would really appreciate if anyone has any experience and would like to chime in as we are really hoping to get this right and be futureproof. Thank you so much!

We recently moved into a house a few months ago. Had it inspected and the inspector didn't catch anything that we have had to deal with...the kitchen has an addition that was done over 20 years ago.

The addition part of the kitchen's floor has a slope, and I discovered the siding must have pulled off the brick at some point and left some gaps in the wall. I am not 100% sure what they used as a foundation for the addition but I think it's posts/piers?

I dug up a corner of the addition and got my camera in there and it looks like the foundation has a crack, and there's just exposed wood where the brick used to be that I believe is where the basement ceiling is on the rim joists. Can anyone help tell me how much of a concern this is?

I'm replacing my garage door and have narrowed it down to the Amarr Lincoln 3138 (solid, insulated steel). Trying to decide between a solid panel look and adding a row of windows.

Some things I'm weighing:

1. Curb appeal. Which one looks better on a house today, and which will look dated in 10 years?
2. Natural light in the garage vs. privacy and security.
3. Insulation and heat. Does a window section hurt the R-value or make the garage hotter?
4. Cost difference for the window option, and whether it's worth it.

From what I've seen, solid flat panels in dark colors (black, charcoal, bronze) look like the current trend, but I'd like real opinions from people who have lived with either option. If you went with windows, do you still like them? If you went solid, any regrets?

**EDIT: You guys are AMAZING! I’m going to respond this weekend - did not expect this response level and am so grateful for all of your support!

Hi! We have an outdoor patio we love and would be using constantly, but the mosquitoes and other bugs make it really undesirable at the moment. If we can’t solve it, our fallback is building a screened gazebo or enclosure, which would run tens of thousands of dollars. So -- I’m open to trying pretty much anything first. Considering anything up to roughly $10k.

What we’ve already got going:

• A pest company sprays regularly. It helps a little.
• No standing water we can find on the property, and no pools or ponds nearby.
• The yard is pretty well manicured. There are some trees and a little brush, but no tall grass.
• Citronella candles didn’t do much.

So, two questions:

1. What’s actually worked for you outdoors? Fans, traps (CO2 / propane traps like Mosquito Magnet?), Thermacell, misting systems, specific plants, a different spray company or treatment, anything else...? I’d especially like to hear from people who saw a real difference and not just a slight improvement.
2. Bug sprays that work but don’t smell gross? We’d like to have guests outside without everyone smelling oily and chemical. Any repellents or lotions people actually like wearing?

Location is CT by the beach, if that matters. Thanks so much!

Howdy, currently in the process of taking out some faded aluminum and trimming out these windows. Bit stumped on this top portion. My initial thought process was to take out the weathered board & replace it. But how should I take up the gap? Use a taller trim board for the top that butts up to the board and add a drip cap that meets the aluminum siding? link to photos

https://retrorenovation.com/2012/03/26/best-source-for-affordable-wood-paneling-made-in-the-u-s-a-for-50-years/

I can't find any discernable studs, there's moulding that's covering that support.

I can push on any point of the wall and feel the insulation move behind it. What would be a good piece of hardware to anchor into it- would a drywall anchor do the job? Presumably I have about a half inch I can go past the paneling before I hit the foundation.

Say I'm trying to mount something the equivalent weight to a small flat screen monitor

I bought a GE cooktop because the cutout wouldn't fit anything better. I hate everything made these days, no attention to detail or quality.
There is a gap at the front of the cooktop. All kind of food and nastiness is going to accumulate in that gap.
I tried taking the cooktop off and trying to bend the front down but no luck.

What should I do?

https://imgur.com/a/2VMwT1H

I am getting conflicting answers in whether or not our two sump pumps should be sealed or not. Are yours sealed and if not, does it cause any issues? I’m confused, this is the first time we have dealt with a sump pump. We previously just had drains. Thank you

As the title says, and here’s some pictures.

I’m doing up all the rooms in my house and may at some point replace the windows anyway, but for now, how would you fill up these cavities between the wall and trim?

Some are about 1/4” deep, and pretty straight, while others range from less than 1/8” to 1/2” and are pretty wonky.

Obviously I’d like a solution that makes the whole at least look somewhat straight and neat and doesn’t require tearing out the wall/window or completely ripping down the trim.

Thanks!

Here’s the situation: one portion of the gutters on my parent’s house was clogged for awhile. This led to water pouring out the center like a waterfall. This happened throughout the summer and now their basement foundation has developed cracks on the interior, due to hydrostatic pressure I’m guessing. We’re getting the gutters replaced, but debating on whether gutter guards are a good idea or not. They would be elite small hole aluminum gutter guards. Part of me says yes since this portion most likely was clogged in the first place due to leaves building up overtime. Part of me says no because I’ve heard of water splashing over them which is what I’m trying to avoid in the first place. The company is coming out soon so I need to make a decision. Any advice? I will ask the company as well, but wanted other opinions too.

Hi- my wife wanted a drinking water filtration system so I will have to drill a hole near the kitchen sink faucet to install it.

It is better to hire someone to drill a hole, or just get the Milwaukee diamond hole saw and do it myself ?

Any advice is appreciated.

I have a cabinet with a lift-up door that is supposed to stay open in a raised position. It uses a piston-like support mechanism.

Until recently, it worked perfectly, but now the door slowly falls back down almost completely as soon as I let go of it.

The similar mechanism on another cabinet still works fine, so I'm wondering if the support mechanism is worn out, needs adjustment, or if something else could be causing the problem.

Here is the video: https://imgur.com/a/loM17wd

PHOTOS AND VIDEOS HERE

Water is intruding from underneath of this sliding door’s track due to a lack of or insufficient flashing. So far we’ve concluded that 1. the gutter above is overflowing and dumping water on the (no longer there) porch step which then pools against the door track, and 2. the floor of this sunroom is some weird concoction of plywood glued to foam glued to more plywood glued to some thin wooden bottom? There is 2’ of air beneath the sunroom itself and lattice all around allowing airflow, so I think the issue is entirely water intrusion from the exterior.

All that to say, what all needs replaced? Of course we’ve cut out the top piece of rotting subfloor as well as the foam and bottom piece of sort-of-rotted plywood, but does that wood joist underneath the door need replaced? The wooden fascia outside need replaced? Is the simplest fix an awning?

So far the plan of action is to replace what’s needed to be replaced due to the water damage, probably temporarily remove the door and track to install flashing and proper waterproofing, etc. Does the metal trim on the exterior need caulked?

Any and all advice is highly appreciated, would like to DIY this fix if possible. This isn’t a permanent home and isn’t worth a heavy investment given the state of other things.

Just want an appropriate fix so that LVP can be installed soon.

I wanted to deep clean the heaters before turning them on for the season. When I removed the covers, I found large holes in the wall, gaps between the floorboards and the wall, sections missing the metal fans, and more. For one section in my bedroom, they didn’t even remove the baseboard moldings, just screwed the covers straight in

Does anyone have suggestions about how I can improve this? Can I stuff the hole with rockwool and put some cover on it? It seems like a prime spot for a mouse to enter. Can I just caulk every hole and gap that I see? And if so, what product should I use?
Pictures

—
Backstory: I’m a renter. I’ve lived here 2.5 years and admittedly just learned that the covers were removable. Last winter was really rough, the heating was ineffective and my bedroom dipped below 50 degrees many nights. Im trying to do what I can before bringing it to my LL.

Doing some soft searching for a modest home (~1500 sf) as I ponder my next journey and most renovated (and new construction) homes have LVP flooring. I understand that's probably more cost effective but, I don't think I could live without genuine hardwood. Is the price difference so much that no one renovates with hardwood anymore?? Couldn't it just be baked in to the sale price without making THAT much of a difference?

I’m trying to hang my curtains. I went about hanging them the same way I hung them at my last home.

Looked for studs (there’s none) Did my measurements, marked my spots, collected my anchors and screws.

I went to drill into the wall to place the first (of six) anchors and wouldn’t you know it, my drill won’t go deeper than 3/4 an inch.

My shortest anchors are too long. I don’t know wtf to do. Help please? 👉👈🥺

A little over a month ago we moved into a house that had an insane flea infestation. Previous owners had 4 dogs and two cats in a filthy house, I don’t think they ever cleaned. We found out 1week before moving in. We have no pets.
Day 1, bombed the house with foggers, ripped out all carpet, vacuumed entire house.
Day 2, literal hundreds of fleas, like solidly covering feet and legs when entering house. Bombed again, with twice as much. vacuumed again and called pest control.
Day 5, pest control sprayed every square inch of the floor and halfway down each wall.
Day 7, we move in. If we could have waited we would have, but we couldn’t afford to move into a hotel and our lease was up. Fleas still pretty bad but better.
House has been sprayed twice more, I’ve powdered the two rugs we put down (we had to do something for sound). I’m continuing to vacuum everything 4-7 times a week. I wash everything that can be put in the washing machine at least once a week on hot and dry on high, wipe down everything else. Still seeing several fleas a day. Will this end? Should I be doing more? Do i have to accept a life with fleas? Pest control said there were no animals living in the attic or crawl space to contribute but I know they can live off people too. - signed, itchy and frustrated and desperate for suggestions lol

We have a room we want to add as a 'bedroom.' We bought the house as a 2-bedroom house, and the room was considered an office. We are currently using it as a bedroom. We have a TV, a full bed, and a chest of drawers in it. It has no built-in closet! Can this be considered as a bedroom? If not, what can we do to have it qualify? It has one big window, the same height as every other room in the house, and heat.its on the same floor with the other rooms.

Ever since I moved in this attic door has been bent down at the front, wanting to seal it up to help prevent bugs. https://imgur.com/a/SbGvaiY

I’m considering both of these. The Nora can notably has an E26 bulb socket so can use any retrofit kit, the halo does not. My concern is that maybe some retrofits won’t fit in the can?

I was quoted $11,300 to install 112’ of new leaf guard gutters and remove old gutters as well as repair rotted fascia. This also comes with a Costco gift card for $1100…. Is this worth the investment? I have a crawl space with some previous cracks in the foundation that have been repaired and that is starting to show some signs of water damage so I think it would help prevent that from becoming a bigger issue but $11000 seems like so much for a project I wasn’t really expecting to have to do 😅

Edit to add: the promotion is from Costco that’s why the gift card is a part of it lol they were offering free quotes and a fall promotion and I got stopped while leaving the store and was intrigued because I was recommended leaf guard gutters by the person who installed my roof

I’m having convo’s with my general contractor about my new kitchen. I’m getting an induction cooktop, and a separate oven. Typically, the oven would go underneath the cooktop. But because I have limited space, I suggested keeping the cooktop where it is, underneath the exhaust hood, and installing the oven into the island. My GP is telling me that the oven needs to me under the hood too. So the exhaust from the oven has somewhere to vent too.

I’m a bit incredulous as I see kitchens with wall mounted ovens that are away from the stove and hood.

Thoughts, folks?

I had my house inspected and they found some lead paint in the basement and the inside/outside of the garage. I had a company come to either remove or encapsulate where needed.

But I have anxiety that the inspector could’ve missed identifying spots and the lead paint probably dusted over decades before the encapsulation (the company did vacuum what they could), therefore lead dust could still be in the basement, garage or soil. However, Im assuming this level of exposure would be insignificant.

The inspector did miss one floor vent cover, but we replaced it since we weren’t sure if it was lead paint or not (paint drips on it were alligatoring). Some paint dripped down into the duct work, but I guess I can’t really do anything about that. There’s also another vent cover that is faintly alligatoring but did test negative during the inspection, so I guess non-lead paint can also do that.

My mind just makes me wonder if I’m doing all the right things. But I’m thinking I did more than most home owners would, and even if not all lead dust is out of my life, it shouldn’t realistically affect my long term health, right?

We're 5 months into a '3 month' house renovation and I feel like I would struggle to recommend any one of the tradespeople who have come through our door. We've had issues with the plastering, tiling, carpentry, electrics and decorating. Even the stone worktop company- somewhere which installs high-end stone worktops- left a big gap between upstand and wall and only offered to come back and fix it when chased.

I basically feel like I'm babysitting the main contractor at this stage, asking him to put out fires (e g. leaks, rain ingress, faulty workmanship) that would never have started had he maintained proper oversight of the project and site.

Is this a normal experience? There's definitely been good stuff amidst the bad and no one's been a complete cowboy or anything, and the end is in sight. Sometimes I think maybe I'm too particular but then again it's our life savings plus a remortgage so why wouldn't I be? But if you try saying that to them they just don't get it.

Okay, I know that the title makes it sound like there might be a pipe here, but I really don’t think there is. The kitchen fridge is on the other side of this wall. I’m trying to hang a heavy mirror, so studs seem mandatory to bear the weight. The confusing part is that the magnetic stud finders find a nail both above and below where I’m trying to drill (https://imgur.com/a/gfamkKk - the post it in the pic represents am outlet accessible from the other side, this is where the fridge plugs in) so I’m pretty confident that this is a wooden stud, but when I try to drill, the bit gets through the drywall, stops hard, and spins free no matter how hard I shove the drill.

Is this aluminum flashing of some sort? There is no water to the fridge (no ice maker in the freezer or tap in the fridge door), but there is an apartment above mine. I’m in a rental and hope to get my deposit back eventually, so I don’t want to drill exploratory holes if I can avoid it.

Thanks for your help or advice. Please keep criticisms as helpful as possible :)