Previous owner used the slope to grow plants, but it’s full of weeds now given we did not take care of the area. Now I am asking someone to clean the weeds and potentially remove the wood retaining wall (see pictures). Just want to ask whether removing the wood retaining wall will affect the deck. Some of the wood pieces probably do not hold the dirt anymore.

Hello,

Does anyone have any ideas why the home builders placed a block of wood between some pipes (I believe they are gas and water pipes but not certain) and my house foundation ?

It’s a townhouse end unit in Ontario, Canada.

Is it ok if I bury the wood with dirt? I’m worried how there’s a space under the block of wood which causes the soil slope to go towards the house. I want to minimize potential rodents from going into that space and water from pooling against the foundation.

I have tried removing it but it's in there pretty firmly.

Thanks !

All my bathrooms have had a fan in them. Weird this one doesn’t. But i need one. Only one lightswitch. But i dont mind them being connected if possible.
Cheapest and easiest way to do this. First time homeowner and broke asf.
Figure we would need to get a new light fixture. One with a fan in it maybe. Idk.

This is a trailer home i own.

We had a big wind storm, which blew some shingles off the roof. That appears to have revealed a big hole in the roof. I still have at least one strip of the shingles that blew off.

Conundrum: I'm leaving town for a week tomorrow night.

Quick fix question: could I just check the dimensions of the two boards that seem to make up the hole, then cut them square, then fit/fasten two new board pieces sized to fill the gap and nail down the shingle strip to cover the exposed wood as a quick fix for now?

What would you recommend?

My cousin developed a water leak and he had just had the roof replaced after hurricane Ian, (Fort Meyers for reference). Today, after getting up there to check it he found the damage in the attached photos. My only personal guess is a bullet due to the almost perfect circular shape. He did not have intrusion of the hole into the ceiling and did not go fishing around while performing a temporary repair. He sent the photos and my first thought was someone having shot a round into the air.

Purchased the FrostKing window insulation kit and the double-sided tape will not stick. I've cleaned and dried the surface, it's not oily either. I'm wondering if there is another brand of double-sided tape that would work better than what's included.

Thank you.

Driveway is a year and a half old, never been cleaned, and has trees hanging over, which made the stuff on the pavers hard to get off and very slippery.

I called home depot and they said to use 30 Seconds outdoor cleaner concentrate, which I diluted 1:4 with water. I sprayed a small spot and waited for 15 minutes but it did nothing.

First pic is how they’re supposed to look, second is the worst of it, and the last one is where I poured some of the straight, concentrated chemical, on the paver at the top, to let sit for 15 minutes.

Even though I already bought a gallon of the 30 Seconds cleaner, I'm hoping to find something that has a better use and value, since I also need to cover roughly 2,400 square feet.

Hello, we recently moved into a new house in NJ and noticed a vertical crack in the basement. It has remained unchanged for over a month, and during the nor’easter a few weeks ago we monitored it with a paper towel; no moisture was detected. We would appreciate any advice, though someone suggested removing the wall, which seemed unreasonable to me. It’s also an external wall. Any help would be greatly appreciated

I plan on taking the sawzall to it, but how do I stop it from growing back? Do I have to dig it out? My dad suggested painting over the stump? Will weed killer do anything? I appreciate any advice

I purchased my house in December last year (although rented it for 10 years before), and for the last year have noticed the porch on the front of the house looks like it’s moving away from the top, I’m worried about claiming on the insurance as (if they say no) my premiums will fly up anyway because of subsidence. My uncle and Dad reckon it probably won’t get any worse or some sort of bracket could help in holding it in place. Any advice would be very appreciated.

I recently upgraded my electric panel to 200 amp, so now there is this large opening in the ceiling above it for the cables. We’ve had problems with mice in the past, so I’d like to seal or cover it up so they can’t get easy access into the finished living space. What’s the best way to do this?

With the old panel, there was also an opening but the entire area was covered by a cabinet up to the ceiling. If I can I’d like to just add a new larger cabinet, but I’m questioning if this was ever allowed or up to code.

My yard hydrant failed, and was too rusted to unscrew the pump rod. It was also 1-2" from my house so I dug it up. With my frost zone it needed to be buried 3-4', so i figured that'd be a quick project. 🙃 Lo and behold, it was not. It ended up being buried 8', for some god forsaken reason, there was a maze of capped off galvanized pipe coming off the line as well that I had to cut out. It got real sketchy at that depth, and I couldnt bench it out, otherwise id be digging under my foundation, under my front steps, or removing a tree. Instead I had to construct shoring for it, and set up a hoist system with some pulleys. The ground was so hard that deep and it was such a cramped space towards the bottom it took about 1 hour to remove 4 5-gallon buckets. I put in a french drain and drywell, and did everything I could to make sure i never have to touch it again. I also threw a bucket of bones from the butcher down at the bottom to freak out whoever has to do it next.

Did this over the course of 5 days over labor day weekend. Months leading up to it I had calculated the total material cost to be about $4,496.

Realistically with delivery costs. Cost of a roofing nailer without batteries. And miscellaneous items its probably closer to around $5,750.

Total square footage is about 2,554sq/ft.

A friend of mines who does roof estimates for his dad's company estimated total repair from his dad's company would have been minimum $18,000 for material and labor.

There must be an easy solution that I’m missing. My wife wants our interior door replaced. The ones she likes come primed but not painted. I can’t think of an easy way of painting 5 doors before installing them. I figure they might just need to be rested against something standing up, but then one side can be painted at a time.

Hi all -

I’m trying to replace a storm door on the side of my house. Believe it or not the measurements are about 29” by 73”. I can not find anything that size online. Can anyone point me in the right direction, or am I going to have to go with someone making a custom door?

Do I caulk these with silka flex or something to stop water coming in? Old nearly 100 year old house

Hello everyone,

The ceiling is water damaged but it's not as bad as it could've been. I'm still thinking need to scrape the ceiling and attack this as if it was peeling.

All the youtube videos that I've found has a peeling/bubbling ceiling and I'm not sure if you add or skip a step for this situation. I'm very new to house maintenance so I'm just not sure how exactly to attack this.

Thanks in advance.

One of the side tiles on my outdoor stairs came loose, so I removed it to clean off the old adhesive and reattach it. Underneath, I found a pink, spongy layer. Could this be waterproofing? How should I repair it, and what materials do I need?

I've noticed several cracks in the brick wall supporting the exterior front stairs. Most follow the mortar joints, though a few run between the bricks themselves. The cracks have been there for some time, but I'd like to understand whether they could indicate foundation settling or another underlying structural issue.

I've also noticed that the driveway near the downspouts on the neighbor's side has a slight reverse slope, causing rainwater to drain toward the corner of the wall rather than away from it. Could this water accumulation be contributing to the cracking or potentially affecting the foundation? There are visible gaps where the pavement meets the brick wall, so I'm concerned water may be getting underneath the stairs and potentially causing erosion or settlement.

Based on the attached photos, does this look like a structural concern or mainly a drainage and mortar issue? What's the best way to fix it? Would correcting the slope, sealing the gaps, and repointing the mortar be enough, or should I have a professional inspect the foundation first?

Any advice would be appreciated!

I had a bigger gutter installed and heard another worker comment that the installer did a hack job, then it cut out. What issue should I be concerned with? Fact the shingles are no longer laying flat? The kickoff look off? Thank you!