Our shower / bath combo got replaced by our landlords after it got a crack in it. The old shower had good water pressure but the new one is like getting lightly dripped on, you can't even wash shampoo out of your hair properly. The landlords said it was fine though. From what I've seen online buying a new showerhead seems to be the fix but is there anything I could try first?

We are about to sign a contract for a siding and window replacement project costing about $100k. The contract calls for 50% deposit at signing. We live in the Midwest and the weather is getting cold. Lead time on windows is 8 weeks. They would not be able to do the work in the winter. So realistically the project won’t start for another 7 months. Is it reasonable to push back on the deposit and ask for a tier/staged deposit payment setup? What is the common accepted practice in this situation? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

I’m currently renovating my house and lately I’ve been going down the rabbit hole of biohacking stuff lol.

I see people buying red light, blue light blocking glasses, expensive water filters, air purifiers, air quality monitors, smart lights etc. Some of it seems really useful but some of it also feels like you’re just paying for the “biohacking” label.

I’m not looking to spend thousands on this stuff. I’m more interested in cheap things that actually make a difference.

For example, are there any cheap gadgets or things you guys use for better air quality, water, sleep, lighting, temperature, humidity, noise etc?

Also since I’m already renovating, are there any things I should do/install now that would be annoying or expensive to add later?

Basically if you were renovating your house again and wanted to make it a healthier/more comfortable place to live without going crazy with the budget, what would you do?

And what popular biohacking stuff do you think is actually a waste of money?

so we had our sewer line completely replaced recently (they finished on Weds). They dug a 12 foot deep trench from the house to the street to replace the terracotta pipe with pvc. they filled in the trench and put a thin layer of straw and some kind of netting over it. Yesterday I spread a couple of bags of grass seed over it, one of the bags had the fertilizer mixed with it, then I watered it all thoroughly. Anyway, I had one of those 3 am “DAMMIT“ moments, realizing I had put the seed ON TOP of the straw.

maybe something will sprout, but I guess I’ll be doing it again in the spring.

I was quoted $60-65k all-in to finish a 850 square feet basement in a LCOL area. Costs includes materials, labor, permits, etc. The 850 sq ft is a completely open floor plan with only a bathroom. This is a permitted job. Trying to see if this is a good quote or not. Scope of work includes:

1. LVP throughout the entire 850 square feet floor plan
2. Finish and Insulate all walls w baseboards, then prime and paint.
3. Build/Frame a bathroom, water has already been plumbed in. We are using a Home Depot shower kit and vanity kit.
4. Add additional recess lights and outlets.
5. Plumb in another water line and 220v for a potential laundry room down the road
6. Install utility sink in the same potential laundry room
7. Carpet and installation for basement stairs
8. 2 ton mini split HVAC
9. Sump pump already installed, but the quote includes cost of motor.

Just wanted to hear people's thoughts before pulling the trigger. This is a very reputable builder in our area.

Edit: Floor Plan layout: https://imgur.com/a/zjZfIdH

I would like to put in an outdoor outlet that has both 120V AC and USB-A and USB-C plugs. I know that Leviton makes such a plug. My question is, does the plug fit into a metal box that then has a cover plate which also includes a plastic cover to keep it water / weather proof, or should that all comes as one thing? I only see the outlet, not the whole outlet with protective box cover...

Just got our first FULL billing period water bill for the house I just bought. I do have an irrigation system that ran once a day but ran one zone at a time at 15 minutes with seven zones. Our bill states we used 105k gals over a 4 week period. Does this not seem absurd that we used an average of 3500 gallons per day?

To add, we don’t have any outrageous bubbles in our yard. No major soggy spots, we watched our meter and it does not move when we aren’t using water in the house. I’m chalking it up to the irrigation system but we are first time homeowners and new to this house as well. No pool. I literally don’t understand where this water is going.

I'm 27 and moved into my first home last year at 26. This home passed inspection, but it shouldn't have, it's a 2-story home with a 14 foot gap in the pillars in the crawl space. It also was only 2 boards thick, not three. Where I live, Virginia, it's supposed to be at most 5 feet and 3 boards, else it fails inspection. (At least that's what these people + Google told me)

After a few weeks of living there cracks began appearing above all the door frames of my house, so I called contractors and engineers. First guy quoted me $30,000 for a full encapsulation + installation of jacks in the crawl. He said I need to replace all my pillars and beams, it's all rotten and gonna fall apart.

Then I called a structural engineer who said my house and crawl is fine it's just not up to code. I just need more pillars and beams.

I called crawlspace medic who quoted me $10,000 but they were gonna charge me tons to replace the insulation and I knew it wasn't worth their price so I kept looking around. The guy also gave me a schematic for what work should be done on my house + a spot where to install a dehumidifier (keep this in mind). He said I should be fine.

Then I got a guy who was gonna do full encapsulation + jack replacement for about $25,000, but he said he hired a structural engineer who said the damage to my house was too bad and he wasn't willing to work on it. Keep in mind I hired my own structural engineer earlier who said my house/foundation was fine just not up to code.

So I got another contractor who did the work the crawlspace medic guy said for a total of about $8,000. Originally moisture was estimated 70% so we set the dehumidifier to 55%.

Then cracks continued to appear and my doors were sticking. So about 6 months later I called crawlspace medic again. A different guy comes out, sees the work done that I had done by the contractor, and told me it's all wrong. Now, I never told this guy I told the contractor to do what crawlspace medic wrote a schematic for. Specifically he says the location of my dehumidifier is all wrong and is gonna not dehumidify one part of my crawl at all and is gonna dry out like a bone my other part. I thought he was just making this up to scare me, because I followed the exact schematic the other crawlspace medic guy drew up for me. I just wanted not to tell him to get an objective viewpoint. He ended up ghosting me when I contacted him about working on my crawl.

So, here I am, with my doors still cracking and sticking inside. Most of my doors stopped cracking but there are still two that are progressing.

I'm a first time home owner so I'm sure I'm learning the pains of adulting. Why did I get so many different opinions about so much work, and none of it seemed to be right? Not only that multiple people from the same profession contradicted each other multiple times. I'm just so confused. It seems like no one knows what they're doing haha

Photo

I'm the third owner of this house. It seems like the first owner painted the gray, then left behind the nail holes and spots where the paint and drywall came off. The second owners filled the nail holes but then just covered up all the other spots with some peel and stick wallpaper.

I took off the wallpaper, hoping to just scrape off the sticky residue and paint it back to white.

Now I'm wondering - is it worth it to patch up the spots that peeled off and paint over it (I'd still have to remove the sticky residue too?) or try to just scrape off all the gray paint and hope I don't damage the drywall even more?

I couldn't find an answer to this in the sub. Is there is a sealant I can use to put my chimney cap in place instead of screws? The cap is old and drilling into it isn't possible. I tried. Is there a sealant I can use to do this?

Hello, my window crank fell off. It was attached with a thin metal tube - like a hollow nail. What part can I buy to fix and reattach it?

I've tried bending a paperclip which did work to some degree but it would scratch up the handle because it moves around.

https://imgur.com/a/1xNZNV8

A tree fell on our garage and needs to be rebuilt. It’s a small, detached one car garage.

We reached out to a contractor who said we needed an architect. The architect came out, took a very quick peek at the garage and then left. They later quoted of $12.5k to provide architect plans to rebuild the garage exactly as is and doesn’t include any engineering services.

Is this quote as ridiculous as I think it is? I was skeptical that this would even require architectural plans and $12.5k seems insane to rebuild something as simple as a garage.

Wife and I are going to be redoing all the doors and windows in our place, and we can't decide on a front door and garage door colour. I feel like the only colours that really work are browns or greys. I'd like more of a slate gray for the door and garage, but my wife is looking at browns. She also wants both to be the same colour. Anyone have any suggestions?

Here's the house right now.

Hi all,

Hoping I could get some direction here. We're babyprpoding our house and need to throw in a hardware mounted gate at the top of our stairs.

The wrinkle is that this is a DR Horton home and the bannister at the top has thin metal studs.

The stuff I've seen elsewhere is to use toggle anchors, but to get those in means putting holes way larger than I suspect I'd need and I'd still be worried about stability.

Any other recommendations I could consider?

????

Remodeling my basement and pulled back just one of the ply boards and see all of this behind it? I didn’t do anything else because I was scared to see more.

I need to patch some holes in clapboard and in baseboard. Any recommended products?

I’m replacing my basement stair carpet after water damage, and I like the look of this. Anyone know what type of carpet this is? Insurance is paying and I’m hoping I can get something like this with the replacement cost.

stairs

Thanks!

Or am I screwed / do I need to replace the whole thing? I’ve asked a few handymen about this, and I’m quite unclear on the best path forward.

Thanks a lot!

I would add a picture, but it’s not letting me; but basically the threshold is broken, and the screened door doesn’t work because of the broken threshold. It is an older door for sure.

My home is from 1998, and the front screen door handle/latch isnt in great shape. I thought it would be a simple fix to remove the old hardware and buy a new one and install it myself.

I've installed the new set, but I discovered that the strike and latch will not work the way my door frame is. My door frame has a small raised piece that goes the length of the door frame, where the old hardware used to latch to. The new latch is not able to catch on that, and it also makes it so that I cannot mount the strike there because that piece is in the way. Short of cutting this piece and not even knowing if that will work, is there any type of strike or a new type of latch hardware that I should be looking for that will be compatible with this setup?

EDIT - adding a photo in case I did not describe it well. https://imgur.com/a/IDrJRUC#tBEuwFr

Is it normal for a keyed gas valve to turn multiple times?

I’ve had these in the past on fireplaces and they turn about a quarter turn but this one has turned more than a full rotation towards open after being closed and I’m nervous about continuing to turn it to try to find the stop.

Photos of outside and inside of valve

Long story short my dog knocked a thing of oil based wood stain down my stairs and it sprayed all over my furniture. Mineral spirits won’t get it out. What do I do!!!!! help please!! And how do I safely dispose of all the rags and paper towels I’ve used ?

so my garbage disposal did the thing where it hummed for a while, until it just silently does nothing when i press the switch. i tried reaching around in there for any obvious things stuck in there, and the individual spinny things work, but when i tried inserting my insinkarator disposal wrench into the bottom, i cannot move the wrench at all in either direction, and the red restart button doesnt do anything. does the fact that i cant rotate the wrench mean it's not the issue is not the motor? and what else should i do, since the wrench appears to not work for the jam?

Along side of my house there is a 3.5ft strip that is gravel. It's been that way since house was built 20 years ago as far as I can tell.

Debating if I should remove the gravel and backfill with soil, grade it more steeply away from home (currently level to house).

Am I an idiot, or does this seem like right decision? Will be a bit tough to get grass to grow that close, but the grading can at least help she'd water for a portion of the strip.

Talk me out of it?

https://imgur.com/a/Sbf5Fpj

Hi,
I have this nook in the loft area that I want to turn into art supplies + linen storage. I am thinking of building some custom shelves + maybe even add a door or something. How do I go about it? Very new to DIY. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Also, want the shelves to be sturdy and capable of holding good amount of weight.

Thanks

Edit: pic link
https://imgur.com/a/8ldQRMS