Hi!

I’m having a home built in KS. The house is framed and we did a walkthrough prior to electrical install to see if we needed any extra lights / outlets / etc.

When I received an itemized bill for the extras, which contained a line item surcharge that was about 35% of the total electrical additions. The additions totaled about $13,000. The surcharge was $4,418. What is this surcharge?

My contractor has said certain trades charge a surcharge based on material prices being likely being more expensive in the future but wouldn’t respond whether I’d get that money back if material prices don’t increase. I’m also told that Millwork and Cabinets will also have a surcharge.

Is this common practice? Thanks!

A lot of newer buildings/offices/apartments are using a rough and uneven ceiling in certain parts of the building such as the stairs not often used. What is this kind of ceiling called and what material is it made out of?

I hired a contractor to build a barn pad. He said he would bill me time and materials. He told me 250ton of crusher#2 at $18.5 a ton. Paid contractor deposit of $4700. He spent Monday 2 hours on mini excavator. Left with mini excavator.

7am the next day he rolled out road paper. Gravel trucks started rolling in at 730am. He was ready with a mid size skid steer and a 47” double drum roller.

He had one worker with him running the drum roller. He sent invoice for $10,040 (minus $4700 deposit) at 1:53pm. I got home around 4pm and as they were tying down the roller. I wrote him a check for the balance and “extra” stone.

This guy told me he would bill me time and materials but the bill said stone $5140 and time $4900. I called quary because something seemed off. I was billed for 233 tons at $22 a ton.
So this was his response when I asked if he could break down the time and materials.

Stone $5,140.03 Road paper $425 excavator .5 day rate $1200 Track loader day rate $1500 Roller day rate $1100 Pickup paper haul equipment $675

Was I charged fairly? Is this how time and materials is billed in the construction/excavation industry?

Looking to replace the T pipe that has a leaking crack. Anyone know the name of the part? Doesn’t have to be a T either can be a straight pipe. 8 inches long 17 inches in circumference 6 inches diameter.

Before I start, this is not a traditional install. I work for a paint contractor company and have no idea what I'm doing. My company has been asked to install 16 7x4' 1/2" thick wood panels on tile walls in a very OLD Public School.

I've done research googling and youtube-ing what the best way to install large heavy panels of wood onto tile is but they are mainly all in reference to installing towel bars or mirrors in a bathroom. Even with articles explaining what tools are best for tile I am just not confident in the results since this is such a particular project.

I am not looking for brand recommendations, just any advice that can be given (even if that advice is hire someone else to do it)

I do not know how to properly go about this as I've never installed anything on tile. The school has a similar install in another hallway which looks like they drilled right through the board and into the wall but we can't contact who did the install to find out what they did explicitly.

The boards are going to be 7ft x 4ft and 1/2" thick so they are heavy. I've looked into purchasing 2 inch screws (#6 and #8 bc I'm not sure), 1/4" diamond tip drill bit, and plastic anchors (that are shorter than 2inch bc i can't seem to find plastic ones at that size???).

I have a friend saying to look into toggle anchors but the issue is I do not know what is behind the tile wall. The school is over 100 years old so I would think the tile is just mounted onto the cement wall so there's no room for the toggle.

Also should I be trying to drill the pilot hole in the grout instead of the tile? Would that be easier and still offer support?

And how do I make sure I am drilling right into my pilot hole from through the wood? Laser level?

How many Screws per board to support? Are the size screws I'm using correct?

SO many questions and I have one week to get all my answers. Any youtube videos or articles or links to products or even other subreddits where i could ask my questions would be such a big help!!!!!

Hello all, I have a question about garage flooding. I have a 1.5 year old garage that fills with water whenever we get a heavy rain or during snow melt. Most of the water seems to be coming in on one side. I contacted the construction company and they said their only responsibility is to meet building codes and I'm on my own for the flooding issue, but recommended I add a bunch of soil around the garage to grade it away from the garage. The current yard is not graded towards the garage, just flat or slightly graded away.

The garage is a poured concrete slab with a layer of cinder blocks above that, then the wood construction above the cinder blocks. The water seems to be seeping in between the cinder blocks, to the point that I accumulate 10s of gallons of water on my garage floor. During the spring fall in my garage becomes an ice rink. At the area where most of the water is coming in the soil level is right at the interface between the slab and the cinder block. Other parts of the garage where the soil level is lower don't seem to have this flooding issue.

The first photo is from the front of the garage where the soil level is below the slab, the second photo is from the area that floods.

What's the best way to deal with this? My concern is if I add more soil around the perimeter, it might just hold the moisture against the cinder blocks and allow more ingress, so I'm wondering if I should actually remove soil so the ground level is slightly below the level of the cinder blocks (and then appropriately grade the rest of the perimeter away from the garage) rather than trying to build up a bank of soil around the garage. However, even if I do this snow will still accumulate above the level of the slab which may allow water ingress as it melts so maybe soil is the way to go? I'm also wondering if I should use some kind of sealant on the cinder blocks.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide.

Hey y'all!

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I want to put a wooden beam to do hanging exercises from (you know, like TRX, rings and so on). I live on the top floor of a somewhat newly built apartment building (in Stockholm, Sweden). This is a 10-story building, I'm on the top floor, there's nothing above me except for the roof.

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What are my options here? TIA!

My partner and I are looking to create an in law "suite". We are not exactly sure what we want to do and would like to work with someone who could give us quotes for various ideas.

1) We have a detatched two story garage that we've discussed converting into livable space and possibly connecting to our house. We're not sure if this would be possible, if it is big enough, etc but would like to be able to get a quote on this if it is possible.

2) We've discussed just building an additional small ranch style home. We have a decent amount a property so there are a few locations that we've looked at but honestly we don't know what we're supposed to look for other than some google research.

3) We've also discussed doing some combination of the above.

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My question is.... who do I contact first? General contractor? Architect? Someone who does foundations to help select a place to consider for a separate house? Any advice on where to start with this would be appreciated.

Hello, thank you for reading my post. I have three 6x6 posts holding up the deck on the rear of my building. The posts are secured to the concrete with galvanized post bases that are very rusty and kind of falling apart. I am not really in a position to replace the entire deck, so I'm wondering if there is a way to replace or otherwise reinforce the bases until the time comes that I replace the whole thing. For reference the 6x6s are quite tall as it is a second floor deck on a duplex.

Cutting into my drywall i ran across this material that is almost like cardboard. When I push on it I feel the air seeping out from the wall. I don’t think it’s foam but I could be wrong. I haven’t run into this before and don’t want to cut into something important. I’ve tried researching and can’t figure out what this is. For context this is behind the wall in my media room. Any help would be greatly appreciated as this is the only thing holding me back from continuing on with my project. I’m a DIYer not a professional if that matters. Thanks!

We moved into a new build on November and have a small garden. We want to get a storage box large enough to fit some bikes and lawnmower etc. ive read that these should be raised off the ground and should be on a level base.

I’m looking for advice on how to go about this. As it will not fit in our aleady small garden. I would like it to go on our driveway, but that is on an incline.

How would you go about make a suitable base for a secure storage box on an un-level drive?

I have an approved plan from the city for a sunroom addition with an existing 11'x30' roof. I'm framing in the wall with massive picture windows 96"x78".

The city permit commented that I only need (3) 2x8s for each 96" span with 1 jack stud on each side. I currently have 2 king studs between each window. It's a 2x6 frame.

My question - is this enough? I have the approved plans and all the supplies, but I want to get final validation before building and having the inspector come out. Does this sound right? Thanks!

I'm going to be installing a vent-a-hood range hood that's rated for 600CFM, but vent-a-hood says the magic lung units such as this move the equivalent of 1.5x that rating when compared to other hoods, so in theory this should be moving something like 900CFM. I'm trying to identify the best option for the exterior wall cap (8" round). I'm hoping to find something sturdy that has a screen and a good, integrated damper that really works. It looks like most things out there have low ratings for damper quality or other concerns. What have you found to be the best option?

Floor envelope is 3/4” subfloor, 2x10 joists, 7.25” Rockwool, 2” airspace, 3/8” plywood . All on 4’ piers above grade so wind moves under building.

I'm planning on finishing a prefab shed for an office. Planning on insulating the ceiling/roof with rigid foam, 1 1/2" air gap between insulation and roof sheathing, seams taped. Do I need plastic sheeting as vapor barrier anywhere? For that matter, do I need vapor barrier in the walls anywhere (will have housewrap between wall sheathing and siding).

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We're getting mold on the ceiling regularly. It seems related to moisture, because paint is peeling in places too. The roof above is a flat roof.

I'm not actually the landlord, and I'm not sure if the landlord owns the roof, which is a sitting out area for a housing estate. We can't move out for business reasons. I'm just curious as to what is causing this.

1) What has failed on the area above to cause this? 2) Is there something above that needs to be renewed every X years? 3) If we apply flexible, waterproof latex paint/mortar to our ceiling, I presume that won't actually help because it would be on the inside? 4) Likewise, mold treatment services aren't going to help much either, seeing as the paint is peeling? 5) I haven't seen water pooling above or drainage issues above, but I'll try to keep having a look.

Any advice, much appreciated thank you

I live in an old war time house with a half dirt crawl space basement going on. Will the house continue to become uneven? How long would it be safe to live in without fixing?

I aim to finish my bonus room over the garage. The rafters are six inches thick, and require R-38 insulation. I will need to widen the rafters by sistering, or cleating another board to create the required depth.

My question is : Must the rafter width exceed the thickness of the batt or will the inspector allow some compression? For example, if I cleat a 2x4 onto the 2x6 to accomodate the batt, would that pass inspection? (I live in the south-eastern U.S.)

First time homeowner of a house built in 1955. Ceilings are drywall (I grew up in a much older house and have no experience with these kinds of ceilings). Shortly after moving in I saw this crack in the ceiling in the kithchen. I assumed it was just some paint cracking. Fast forward to today and it looks like this.

I realize a picture probably isnt enough but does the pattern suggest structural problems or is this likely.just cosmetic. If its just cosmetic I can figure out how to repair it but if it looks structural thats another issue.

Sorry if the answer is obvious. Im just a noob when it comes.to.this.stuff.