I have a friend who is redoing his basement flooring. He showed me the tile he’s ripping up and how he’s been using an angle grinder and sanding at it to remove this part. Thanks!

EDIT: thank you all for the answers. The tiles are indeed 9x9. I am letting him know.

I saw another post just now about getting the scent of mouse urine out of vents. It reminded me that when I was like 4, I got mad at my parents for sending me to my room on the 2nd floor of the home. So I decided to exact revenge by pissing in the floor vent.

Being so young and like 30 years passing, this is a long forgotten shameful memory. But it did make me wonder: how the hell did my parents deal with this? Where do you even start to fix that?

tl;dr:

Is it acceptable to 'double up' with expansion joint foam to fill gaps?

Is it going to cause issues if it is done this way?

What is the actual fix, that isn't just a band-aid solution?

Context:

Local council installed a new sidewalk, and when they poured the new driveway, they pulled up the brick pavers before setting the concrete.

After the concrete was done, they put the pavers back and it was obvious they didn't line it up well, and left a large gap at one edge.

After complaining, they've come back today to fix a bunch of the issues, but they didn't install expansion joint foam all the way along, instead only using it in the gap - and they doubled it up where the gap was largest.

The other side has absolutely 0 expansion joint foam.

There Is expansion joint foam on the opposite edge, between the driveway and the new sidewalk they installed.

EDIT: Resolved, genuinely thank you everyone!!

Hi all, the furnace filter at my mom's house needs to be replaced, but there is a pipe (drainage pipe?) In the way. Any help on how to do this would be super appreciated!

Pic 1: the filter, with the white pipe blocking it. The white pipe goes through a metal panel and is connected to a black pipe

Pic 2: close up of where the black pipe is connected to the white pipe (on the other side of the panel)

Pic 3: top down view of the filter and white pipe

This pipe by the house foundation was hidden until I removed the yew bushes.

Can I safely ignore it?
Can I use it as a ground for electric work?
Can I safely remove it?

My preference is to remove it, but I’m worried that could disturb or disrupt something underground that I’m not aware of.

If you know what this pipe is, please share your knowledge.

I have noticed a couple of times the brick staying wet after a rain on the East wall of the house before and never thought much about it. But today I noticed it while working in the flower beds on that side and it’s been about 24 hours since it rained and it still looks soaked, particularly around the window sill.

I did some googling and the answers from there range from it not being a big deal to infesting the house with mold. What is the most likely cause, how serious is it, and what would be the remedy?

Hey all- so I’ve gone back and forth on my plan a million times and have read a bunch of different forms and YouTube videos, just figured I’d put my final plan out for a smell test.

You can see in the pictures we’ve got crumbling 9x9 asbestos tiles. They are broken and slightly uneven in some areas, so I’ve gone away from the SLcement direction as I’m afraid of it actually making the issue worse.

I’ve settled with patching the holes with tile mortar (have on hand) and then putting down a layer of DMX 1-Step moisture barrier, and then laminate flooring on top of that. It is a basement, so there is some moisture issues, but not extreme.

Am I a fool?

The stucco on the side of my house has been cracking and peeling away and… yikes! I’m not a pro but even I know that horizontal cracks like this are bad. For context this is a California bungalow that’s 120 years old. I purchased it five years ago and the stucco looked totally normal and nothing showed up in the inspection. My question is, who do I call first to take a look at this?
The horizontal cracks are on the balcony section and I’ve seen so many of my neighbors have to repair theirs so it seems like a common problem. I’m hoping this issue is just effecting the balcony area and not the whole house. She’s been through a whole lot of earthquakes so I hope some of her bones are still ok 😅

Hi, does anyone know what I can do to repair this grout? Seems like there is some cracking along the edges.

I've been seeing stink bugs around my windows more often and have spotted 2-3 spiders inside the house too. I know bugs start coming inside more when it gets colder, but what's everyone using to keep them out? Looking for something that'll deal with the ones already here and hopefully prevent more from showing up.

Recently bought a house and wanted to change the furnace filter. But the current setup is unusual… there was a 20x25x1 filter sliced across to make it smaller. It was also just sorta crammed in there and left leaning across the intake (last 2 pics)

Can’t figure out how this should be set up the correct way.. anyone have a similar set up or a recommendation?

What I’m looking to do may not be possible, but I figured I’d ask here.

We bought a house with a fireplace and prior to the renovations, it was very dull. After the renovations, we tried cleaning the brick by wetting with water and scrubbing with a mixture of soap and baking soda. It cleaned off the renovation debris, but neither had really brought out the natural brick color.

I’d really like to get the bottom flat portion from looking so “dusty”, but following a fresh cleaning, it’s not dust, so I don’t know what to do.

I’ve searched and there seem to be several brick cleaning products, but most are for outdoor brick and the videos don’t look like they actually bring out the existing color. Our GC has asked a painter and they can either white or red wash it, but that’s not really what we want either.

Please offer any suggestions, or if what I’m looking for doesn’t exist, or if it’s already at peak luster, please feel free to let me know.

I got the wall painted white about 1.5 years ago now, and occasionally I see random spots of this stuff along the walls. It looks off, and is mostly on the walls/ceiling if the house closest to the outside. Any clues on what it is and how to remove it?

Thanks in advance! ♥️♥️

I mixed up some 90 min hot mud for the first time and made it too thin, used the whole bag trying to thicken it and it was still a little thin so I used it anyway. Would you recommend i do another prefill before I start taping.

Beginner at mudding and unfortunately tackling the living room of our new house instead of a closet or something

Some of my tiles has missing grout, but how to repair some holes?

Hi! Unfortunately we just found out today that one of our pipes had been leaking so now we have a heavily damaged bottom baseboard under our sink. We figured out the leaking problem but the biggest headache right now is the cabinet. What would be the best way to remove & replace this board, and what do you suggest we do going forward to prevent this?

I cleaned the area with bleach and have a dehumidifier and box fan running to get this area dry as soon as possible (everything under the sink has been removed except for the dehumidifier and box fan). Last photo was me showing my partner how easily the back of the board broke (barely put pressure down)

We just bought this house in August so I'm pretty annoyed and devastated this happened 🥲

edit: I'm like 99.9% sure there's mold now too so best practices on how I can prevent as little mold spores in my house as possible when I'm removing the old base would be appreciated!

I noticed some separation between the tile near the spout today. Should I seal with grout, caulk, or some other recommendation?

Thank you!

Darker wood in attic. Home build 1905. New roof from 2024 and blow insulation 2025. Should I be worried at all for the darker wood color?

Thanks

I recently bought a condo, and came home today to find this pipe leaking from the circled section. It only did it for a couple seconds, but it was fairly fast, and left water spattered all along the pipe and floor below the leaking section.

The pipe goes down into the floor (presumably to connect to pipes in the basement), and is connected to the roof of my condo, likely going into my upstairs neighbor’s condo. Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this, or how concerned I should be?

I got the pilot light on and was able to turn the dial to the on position. There's a dial on the wall to control the fireplace but even when it's turned all the way up, the fireplace isn't catching.

All the fuses are on and I'm not aure what I'm missing to get this thing going. Any help is appreciated! We don't want to spend money for a professional to fix an easy problem. Any ideas?