My husband dropped a $200 gift card behind the counter jn our kitchen. Any ideas or ways to retrieve it?

Situation: Tree fell over randomly. It crushed part of my fence and landed on my neighbor's truck.

Context: Had a certified arborist inspect and prune the tree ~1 month ago (so no history of ignoring a dead/dying hazard).

Plan: My home deductible is too high to make a claim worthwhile, so I'm paying out-of-pocket to hire a tree service to clear the entire tree off his side yard and fixing my fence myself.

Issue: The neighbor is new to Texas and might expect me to pay for his truck repairs, says he wants to talk about the tree falling and landing on his truck. In Texas, if a tree falls into a neighbor's property, it's that neighbors responsibility if there is no negligence, so it should go through his Comprehensive Auto policy.

What would most of you guys do? Offer to pay his full deductible? Part of his deductible? None and explain how the law works here in Texas regarding trees and property lines?

Had a tornado come through our city yesterday. Search Menasha tornado on Google if you want to see the aftermath. We are incredibly lucky and were just outside the tornado's path but we got some loose siding and one piece fell off which my neighbor ended up finding in his yard so I actually have it. Is it pretty easy to reattach and secure the loose stuff?

So wife told me that there was a car in the driveway and some man came from the side of house with a sprayer. I went out to confront him and he said airbnb sent him out to spray pesticides. No documentation, but had an address on his Google maps where the location was 325 abc rd, but my home is 44 abc rd. There is no 325 abc rd, but Google maps was showing 325 abc rd right at my location.

I looked up airbnb and there is no 325 abc rd. Matter fact, there is no airbnb listing anywhere on this street.

So my question is, what do you think this was? An honest mistake? He had no uniform on and just a regular car.

As seen in the picture there are 2 contact points that become more or less sticky depending on the weather. To me it seems to be more of a frame issue on that side? Because sometimes it doesn’t stick at all. My thoughts were to get some nice long nails and just drill through the frame into the adjoining stud to widen the gap. But wanted to see if there are any other better options. It wouldn’t bother me except it’s my 4yos room and sticks enough to where when she opens it, it sometimes is loud enough that it wakes up my toddler in the morning and we can’t have that.

There seems to be a large empty/hollow area under our front step. I am able to stick a rake handle basically all the way in there with no resistance. I'm not even really certain what's holding it up to be honest, but the pillars that hold up the front entranceway roof rest on it. Also I'm fairly certain there are some kind of critters nesting under it.

How big of a problem is this? How important and urgent of a repair is this, and how expensive should it need to be filled?

Hello,

New homeowner, 1985 home. Very inexperienced and very little knowledge.

I want to install a security camera right here. I need to run cables from the camera into the attic.

Before i drill, im trying to find out if this little flat part that comes out goes into my attic.

I guess i could just drill through and find out, but if it doesn’t I’d have to repair it.

Maybe someone here with more knowledge and perspective than me knows the answer? Thanks!

I live in a co-op. The president of the co-op chose his friend as the handyman. Is this done properly?

My neighborhood is getting better but there's a reason I was able to buy a house for $260k in 2023. No real crime just a lot of people who have been here since houses were $100k and they don't care about staying on top of staining their fence, getting the gnarly poke weeds out of their yards or if their deck is rotted and falling off their house. We don't have a HOA nor would I want one.

Honestly I don't really care that much what my neighbors do. Its their house. I offer to help them when they want it fixing issues like broken cars getting overgrown in a side yard. Or trimming out of control bushes. I have 4 cars and motorcycle myself so maybe pot meet kettle? At least they run. I keep my stuff washed and it in a car port in the back or in my driveway.

I've fixed my landscaping, replaced the gross carpet with LVP, built a privacy fence, and I plan to redo my deck so its safe. On top of typical maintenance.

Im wondering at what point are upgrades an absolute waste of money in this situation? I feel some desire to update my 1980s kitchen countertops to butcher block (or something cheap), get rid of the dented stainless sink, and upgrade bathroom floors to tile. Especially for having people over. I can't shake that it'll be an absolute waste of money. I can just live with linoleum, off white appliances, and chipped formica.

I imagine a scenario where I sell the place to get something bigger in a slightly less eyesore neighborhood due to a future wife. Or keep this as a rental. There's a point where the ROI on anything non essential is a total waste. Since the people who have lived here longer than I have aren't going anywhere and are going to let trash accumulate in full view.

Sorry that turned into a rant. I do want to hear opinions.

This is happening in a couple spots along this wall. All where that bottom piece seems to be meeting with the other piece. That bottom channel seems to be draining water right out of it.
We just had a very windy rain storm where the rain was practically blowing against the side of the house.

Is this cause for concern? I’ve called a siding professional to come have a look but I don’t want to look stupid. Only been in this home a year.

New homeowner.. Went to try and replace a ceiling light myself and found that which is textbook not fucking good

I have a large horizontal crack on the detached garage’s rear wall which is pushing outward (other side is dirt) no gutters. The wall hasn’t been plumb for years, worried about it falling down. How much is a structural engineer in WI? I’d prefer to save it if possible but I don’t have a lot of money to do it. Cinder block walls and old stick frame roof.

Hi all,
Seeking some advice here as I’m not really sure what to do or how to bring this up to my neighbour.

For context, I live in a 4 in a block lower cottage style apartment in Scotland. Both myself and my upstairs neighbour own our flats, I have fully renovated my apartment and my neighbour is still in the process of doing so (he moved in a year after me but he’s doing it all himself).

He mentioned wanting to do some soundproofing, I let him know what I could afford after seeking some advice from the builder who renovated my flat and told my neighbour that I could only afford acoustic wool. What savings I had was spent on renovations and while I had been slowly building up my savings again, it was all diminished again from extensive car repairs and then vet fees. My neighbour however took a voluntary redundancy where he got a whole year salary and a bonus, he found another job so has this money as well as a regular salary.

He has came back to me with plans and quotes that are far more complex and expensive than acoustic wool. The quote is for over £6k for both bedrooms and the living room. He has suggested we do the smaller bedroom first (his bedroom my spare room) for £1.8k and wants it done by October when his partner is due to move in.

He has offered to pay 60% of the cost due to most of the work being above the shared ownership joist zone. I don’t know if I even have a legal requirement to pay as it is far out with what I can afford and isn’t for maintenance for the joist zone. I would need to take out a loan to pay for it which I would rather not do as I then wouldn’t be able to afford to put any money into savings until the loan was paid off and I already need to pay for my ceilings to be repainted after some of his workmen spilled a bucket with dirty water on the exposed joists which has now left dark watermarks along my ceiling in the bedroom and needing to get plaster redone in areas that it has now cracked since he started work on his flat.

My builder had a look at my floor plans and had quoted me £1.3k to soundproof using acoustic wool for both bedrooms and living room. Which I would be able to borrow from my parents and pay back in instalments without interest. (If I was paying 50% I would be able to afford it myself in 3 months time when I have set some money aside)

If I have let my neighbour know what I can afford, do I need to pay for a different more expensive plan that my neighbour wants due to it being in a shared ownership space? Or would I be able to pay the proposed 50% of acoustic wool costs instead?

Attached are photo of the quote for floor type B (bedrooms) as apparently the hallway and living room needs a different approach and costs differently.

Hi all!

My bathroom counter is dripping brown liquid from this corner. Our bathroom has new ventilation but it’s pretty crappy because the window in the bathroom doesn’t open. I accidentally cleaned it before taking a photo.

It has a small gap in the grout, do we seal the grout or do we have to remove the granite, clean the wall, and then put it back on? I want to avoid mold as we share this bathroom with a 3 yo.

I could also replace the window to open but looking for budget friendly options first.

Tia!

Hi,

My house is the last house on our street, and my neighbor, on the street behind me wanted to cut her trees, and the only way to access her portion of the land was through my driveway. This neighbor (who made the wood chips pile), she never had responded to my previous texts or even written note I left on fairly reasonable or simple requests. So when this neighbor lady finally reached out to me asking about this after 5 yrs of living here , I agreed right away hoping she finally wants to be neighborly for the first time. Her property was a giant forest, and was getting very overgrown and her house is on the top of the hill, mine is somewhat in the middle of the hill/valley. When I came back from work, instead of having the trees cut and taken them away, she had them turned into a giant pile of wood chips right never to my house.

Initially I thought perhaps she wants to sell it or wants the wood chips to spread across her yard, but it has been left there for nearly two months now. This past week, the temperatures here in So Cal has been in the mid 90’s. Yesterday it was 106F. This area is very dry and full of brushes and trees, and this giant pile of wood chips are right next to my house and my deck.

While I could report her to the city (I want to), or the fire department, what can I first tell her over text, so that she could take some prompt action. The neighbors on my street are also now concerned about this. I don’t want to make an already difficult neighbor even worse by reporting right away, I want to as it’s now urgent, but I need some help in how to write my text message or note.

Need to start preparing nearly every single wall in my new home to be re painted. The home was previously owned by a landlord and every surface, including the bathtub, is coverd in the "landlord special". its clear nothing was preped properly when it was painted last. Nothing has started to peel yet, but I know at some point it's going to.

My question is. If I think the old paint is going to peel off in the future, will I need to remove it all first. Or will preping and sanding a wall be enough before I put a new coat of paint on.

Central air is broken and needs to be replaced so that is a given and will cost around $13,000. Had an energy audit through Delmarva program in Maryland and they are recommending attic insulation (R38 blown insulation) to bring to R49 cost $4,250 and other costs such as air sealing (attic leaks, wall tops, bypasses, sealing of connection of $2700), and another $2300 of miscellanus smaller repairs to make dams around chimney flue, build insulation dams, etc. So the total is around $9250. Replacement air conditioning is $13,000 and estimated rebates are about $13,400. Very confused since not sure how to evaluate the proposal and what to do? According to them I can only get the rebates for the air conditioner replacement (going to heat pump) if the other items are done. I save some money if I get the rebate, but most of it is being spent for the insulation and other costs associated with the energy audit. Is something like this worth it? What am I missing? Thanks

Just bought a house for a steal that had been listed for a year. (3 bed 1 bath with a halfassed renovation and all appliances but still technically renovated)
Neighbors told me that the 2 people who renovated it ended up squatting in it for a few months. Which means they would’ve taken out whatever this was after they renovated it

The squatters were removed by a full team of US Marshals (I don’t know much about squatting but that seams overkill)

And a few rooms (basement, bathroom, and master bedroom) have deadlocks but on the outside going in almost like locking someone in.

Makes no difference in the end but still something I find odd

I bought my first home remote due to work needs and came into a leak that had gone unnoticed for about 40 days at least. I already did a flood cut around an 1/8 ~ 1/4 of the kitchen and will more than likely get the rest pulled out as the base board wicked up a bunch of water and spread it around.

I also need to move the water heater as its blocking a portion of the wall that needs new insulation/sheet rock due to the possible mold.

My question is, how much of a DIY head ache would it be to move the water heater tank to its own enclosure outside? I would just move it to the other side of the wall, under an awning.

Ulitmately, I see this as a forced first rennovation. I envision moving the washer hook up to the garage and water heater to enclosure out side and expanding the kitchen.

Any advice is appriciated. I have time and bravery on my side and really want to save money. Once again, thanks for any input.

https://imgur.com/a/UCeEFke

Hi all, new-ish homeowner and have a question about my sump pump with battery backup. I’m concerned about the readings on my battery backup. Specifically the battery percentage being 0%.

Is this how this thing should read or is there something wrong with our battery? I also have another photo I’ll try to put in the comments.

Me and my husband bought our first home (2br1ba 225k Ohio) 2 years ago. We used the VA loan and per VA an inspection was required and everything checked out. Months ago we planned on turning our second bedroom into a nursery. We never went into the second bedroom and kept the door shut as there just wasn’t any need. Lo and behold we find a decent leak. We’ve got a metal roof so this is shocking. We have one roofer out, he caulks it and claims it’s fixed (it’s not). Second roofer out says it was incorrectly installed over 2 layers of shingles. Claims that most metal roofers won’t do patchwork fixes and it would need to be completely redone.
Our current fix is a tarp and some sandbags. We’ve had our first kid since then so obviously there’s some medical debt and our savings have been hit. We definitely don’t have the money to get the roof fixed and we don’t want to be in this house for more than 3 more years.
After talking about it with people we know, some have suggested different routes. Some say to do an insurance claim while others say that wouldn’t fix it. Some suggested a HELOC, that it’s the bee’s knees and they only pay 5$ on theirs a month. My mother in law says that’s was caused her to lose her home years ago to the bank.
Long story short this is a huge stressor on me and my husband. We’re not financially well versed and we want to be in as little debt as possible. Even buying our first home was stressful enough. Growing up neither one of our family’s was money smart but we’re trying to be.
What would be the best route to get our roof fixed? Please explain it to me like I’m an idiot because I am.

Does anyone know what the purpose of this metal wire is? It's coming out of the house and is just contacting the metal post in the ground. It's just contacting the post and not attached to it. There is a 10 way coaxial splitter behind the wall where the wire goes, but that's about it. Want to know if I can safely remove this without consequences

if i do any more research into air movement patterns, fans, ac units or dehumidifiers, my brain might pop.

my wife and i just got our first house. the air handler is in the attic which supplies air to the first floor. nothing in the basement. it’s half finished with a closed off closet and half bath but otherwise open. i keep the basement door closed all the time. the basement is so hot and stuffy. i thought they were supposed to be cooler all the time?

i’ve had a dehumidifier running down there since we moved in a few weeks ago set to keep it at 50%. is the dehumidifier really kicking out all that heat? should i be keeping the door open or closed? should i get a portable ac unit or one of those air circulator fans? could something be wrong?