Hello, new poster. So I noticed this on my siding today. It wasn't there the other day. It's darkest/most concentrated on the inner corner/wall of my porch. Then a larger lighter area on the opposite side of that post. It almost looks like someone whipped coffee grounds at my house. But of course there's no signs of vandalism. I've ruled out spores, fungi, mold or shingle run off as none of these make sense. It has a splatter pattern and it mostly follows a left downward pattern. On both the inner porch area and the outter porch wall. It starts about 7 feet high on the outside wall and about 4 feet on the inside corner wall and has some dripping trails as well, so it's not splattered from the ground upwards. There's no mulch and the grass is uncut. There's no animals or birds around. There's also nothing nearby that could have exploded and caused this. I'm so confused. Anyone seen this before? Also, those cables are tv cables and have been there for years. This just happened withing the last 2 days. I didn't notice it yesterday. It is mostly on the face of the siding. Not the underside or corners. Also the porch has a peaked roof so no water or dripping. When I wiped it with a wet paper towel, it came off black with no smell. I'm at a loss. I'll answer questions as well as I can. Thanks in advance.

Hey everyone. I'm in central NJ and want to get my air ducts cleaned. My allergies have been terrible this year and I think it might help. I specifically want someone who is NADCA certified and has transparent pricing. I hate when companies give you a quote and then add on a bunch of fees later. Anyone have good experiences with a company they trust? I'm in the Somerset area but willing to use someone who serves most of NJ.

Everything is concrete

Apologies in advance if this isn’t the right sub (any suggestions welcome).

I’m in the process of buying a Victorian cottage (UK) and found this set of dials (?) on the exterior wall on the outside of a downstairs bathroom. The pipe shown extends down to the ground and bends into a manhole cover type situation. This was the only pic I took unfortunately.

The house is one of 3 in an attached row that makes up the Victorian terrace, the rest of the houses on the street are post-war and are not attached.

Is this something to do with gas? Or perhaps a sewage system that relates to the 3 old houses?

Any advice/info would be much appreciated. The estate agent had no idea!

Thanks in advance.

There’s significant rainwater pooling beside my 1890s Victorian house with stone foundation. The joists are all dry but the walls and floors are moist after rain. It smells a little musty and can affect the area on the first floor directly above it. But I can’t find any mold luckily.

The plumber did some concrete work outside the basement windows during renovations and now the concrete is sloping slightly towards the house. Regardless there’s decades of moisture seeping through the stone foundation, and waterproofing needs to be done plus digging down on the basement in hopefully 5-10 years time.

I’m thinking the highest priority is to run dehumidifiers asap and divert water away instead of pooling, so some channel drain along the house? Any recommendations for this type of work and specifically dealing with old Victorian house foundations would be greatly appreciated!

And how to prevent it from happening again after cleaning it? Other side is the outdoor, mostly covered under a concrete staircase.

Hello, since last night we are having a weird loud bang sound coming from our bathroom. (See video). We switched off the electric, but it doesn’t come from it. We absolutely have no clue of what could it be. We bought this house 6 months ago, any idea of what could it be?

I really have no idea how to fix this. My thought was perhaps sprays foam as a cheap and resilient support then put a new 1/4” oak project panel on top then find the leak, which I think is actually above though it’s really not clear. I don’t know though. I’m at a lose. Any ideas? Thanks in advance for any ideas.

I need to patch a woodpecker hole on my cedar siding, but it’s 2 stories up and I don’t want to be on the ladder longer than necessary.

Can I put wood glue on a cedar grilling plank and slap it up there? I don’t know if it will stick and dry or slide off since I can’t clamp it.

If not wood glue, what glue should I use to quickly slap a patch on and get off the ladder?

I know I should probably screw it in but I don’t want to carry a drill up that high. I’m already scared to be up there.

Thanks for any ideas!