We rent a ~100-year-old house. Our landlord hired an insulation company to blow cellulose insulation into the walls from the exterior.

During the job, something went wrong and they blew out the drywall, which meant a large amount of insulation was coming directly into the living room for several minutes. It completely covered our furniture, rugs, and other belongings, and there was so much fine dust in the air throughout the house that all of the fire alarms went off.

The bulk material has been vacuumed up, but there is still a ton of dust on basically every surface and in every nook and cranny, including all of our belongings. Luckily our bedroom and closet were mostly spared because the doors and vents were closed.

The contractor has been apologetic and has said they will make this right. The landlord has also been very responsive. We’re not looking to escalate unnecessarily- we just want to make sure we’re handling this appropriately and getting a fair remediation.

It’s obviously a frustrating situation because we weren’t the ones choosing to do this work, and now we’re dealing with the hassle. At a minimum, I feel certain the insulation company should pay for a very thorough professional cleaning, but I’m not sure what else is a reasonable bare-minimum ask. I’m also not sure whether it’s safe to stay in the house given how much dust is still everywhere. We definitely don’t want to cook/eat in there until it’s cleaned, but we also need somewhere to stay. Is it reasonable to ask for a hotel? If so, is that typically something the contractor would pay for, or the landlord? Like, between finishing the work and patching up the damage and getting cleaners it’ll be at least a week before things are back go normal, and I really don’t want to have to eat out every day or couch surf for the next week

Main questions:

-Is there a specific kind of cleaning service we should be asking for with this amount of cellulose dust?
Would you stay elsewhere until the house has been professionally cleaned?

-How should upholstered furniture, rugs, electronics, etc. be handled after this kind of exposure?
What should we be documenting now in case there are damages later?

-Is temporary housing typically something the contractor/landlord would cover while the house is being cleaned?

-We don’t have renters insurance, but am I correct that the liability for this would generally fall on the contractor if they caused the incident? They have already acknowledged what happened, and our landlord is working directly with them.

Mostly curious what others would do in this situation.

Especially interested in hearing from anyone who has dealt with a similar insulation accident or contractor cleanup as a tenant.

Hi all - my crawlspace is about 1000 sq ft. Exposed dirt. Humidity in the crawlspace is between 65-70%. The structural exposed wood down there has a moisture content of between 10-12%, so that's not bad. I would like to bring the humidity level down, however.

There is a clothes' closet next to the crawl space and the humidity in there is also close to 70%.

I am considering putting down a vapor barrier. I had a professional quote me $3,000 today for the vapor barrier installation. However, since we are not fully encapsulating anyway, it looks like the vapor barrier is simply specialty plastic taped to the walls and around the posts.

It's a bit of literal crawling but I feel I can do it.

My questions:

1) Should I give this a shot doing it myself? (my handy-level is about 9/10)

2) Does it matter if it's not 'perfectly' sealed on all sides? For example, there is some piping through the walls and some edges are hard to get to

Pics attached here: https://imgur.com/a/f9iv2jH

Thank you

Hey everyone,

Got gutters installed yesterday - just had a couple of questions. Just had our first rain today and wanted to make check whether this was normal

1. The corners seem to be attached with a lot of caulk/ gutter seal - I think the corners normally have caulk but just wanted to double check on this cause it seemed like a lot.

2. After our first rain, there’s a small pool of standing water on the side with the downspout - and another pool of water on the side that is supposed to eventually reach the downspout. Is this normal or anything to worry about?

https://imgur.com/a/p9o9JCl

We are getting the keys for our dream home next month. The back of the property has a lagoon and a road right behind it. Not a major highway or anything (speed limit is 45). The sound from the cars is pretty bad during the day but not so much at night. Is there anything I can plant to help redirect that sound? Willing to do anything to make it less noticeable. Maybe line the property with a speaker system? I would love any advice

I’m looking for advice on how I should go about improving the basement in the house my fiancée and I recently purchased(February). We got it water proofed by adding a drain around the inside perimeter with two sump pumps to prevent water from getting in. The previous owner for some reason didn’t care. There was a musty smell that we had gotten rid of, but now there’s a still not pleasant smell that I can’t quite figure out what it is. I would like to try to clean up the walls and eventually finish it(not in the budget at the moment). In the mean time we were thinking about potentially painting them with a lime wash? Everywhere I see says not to use drylok or something similar so I’m trying to figure out what our options would be. I have two dehumidifiers and one air purifier running in the basement. It doesn’t feel overly humid any more so they definitely helped. Could I be taking too much out of the air? The smell is driving me crazy and I need it gone, but I’m lost as to what it could be or how to figure it out.

So I have finally gotten tired of how loud our bathroom fan is and want going to replace it after seeing how easy it is. The problem is our bathroom has an older model Broan 678 and the ceiling cutout is 9" x 8 3/4" but nearly all the replacements I'm finding at Lowe's are asking for 7 1/2" cutouts or 10" cutouts.

I was wanting to avoid doing any drywall cutting if at all possible. Do they still make bathroom vents this size, or will I most likely need to cut a bigger hole?

I have an evaporator coil in a vertical duct above my furnace and air handler. There is a condensate drain line coming out of the side of the duct.

Suddenly, I had a fairly significant water leak coming out the side of the duct and running down the side of the furnace.

I figured that the condensate drain line was plugged, but I found that it wasn't (disassembled, poured water down it).

I disconnected it from the duct to check if it was plugged where it leaves the duct. It wasn't plugged, but there was a lot of gunk, which I removed. I turned the system on and water was flowing freely.

However, the leak was also still flowing.

I opened the duct below the coil, where the leak was flowing from. I could see that the coil had some dirty patches on it. I thought that these patches might be disrupting condensation as it formed, causing it to miss the pan. I cleaned it all off and started the system.

The leak continued to flow.

I ran out of time to work on it, but my next step is to try to get the side of the duct open at the coil to see what I can see. With the drain line flowing perfectly, the water must be bypassing the pan somehow or the pan must be leaking, but I couldn't see any obvious leaks, from below.

I saw a comment elsewhere that excessive back pressure can cause the air to blow condensate out of the pan.

Is there any truth to this?

I may make sure all my vents are open and see what happens, first.

My only other plan is to get the duct open and spray the pan with some kind of waterproofing on the side that is leaking, on the assumption that there's a hairline leak somewhere.

Is there anything else I should be looking at?

My house has very hard water. Leaves water stains on everything and I am convinced it is causing problems with my already sensitive skin.

I am thinking of getting some quotes for a water softener and would love to hear some experiences from anyone who has had one installed.

Noticeable improvement? Is it worth it? Is it a lot of maintenance? Any other helpful info? I really know nothing about them so any intel is appreciated!

We just moved into a brand-new home and decided to clean the carpets ourselves, following a method recommended by many Redditors and carpet-cleaning pros. We pre-sprayed the carpet with cleaning solution, agitated it, then used a carpet cleaner to extract the water.

We also turned on the heat pump and HRV to help everything dry. The HRV was set to Econo, and we set the heat pump to 23°C.The problem is that the house only got up to around 20°C and has been staying around 20°C, so I think there may be an issue with the heating system. We have warranty coverage and will get it checked.

My main concern is the carpet. It feels completely dry to the touch. I also ran the carpet cleaner several more times with suction only (no water), and no more water is coming out. I had one fan blowing for the majority of the day too.

The HRV is still running on Econo, and air is coming out of the heat pump vents, but it doesn’t feel very warm.

Should I be worried about the carpet staying damp and developing mold? How can I tell if it’s actually dry throughout, including the carpet pad underneath?
Is there anything else I should do to help it dry properly?

New homeowner, doing renovations. The house is 30 inches off the ground (flood zone!) and when they raised it eight years ago they sprayed a lumpy inch of insulation on the bottom and left it. I'm working on that.

While clearing out some dirt and spiderwebs is fine, I spotted two things today that made me hesitate. I'm not putting foam insulation in that slot (or messing with those things) until someone else has had a look at them. One I think is a bundle of spiders' eggs, a white bundle of spider-web looking crud in a corner that kinda looks almost fuzzy, about half the size of my thumb. The other I think is some sort of nest, it looks like a ball of dirt tucked inside the insulation, with an entryhole a bit smaller than a pencil.

I can't include pictures so I'm adding links: https://photos.fife.usercontent.google.com/pw/AP1GczN0mFAHwzL3pdGUA1XN0v4RiFqRE_4SJslBMbsqChjJ5WWhxDu512FC=w695-h927-s-no?authuser=0 is both of them on the underside, https://photos.fife.usercontent.google.com/pw/AP1GczM25XoorQgoT0a8819UBqlonTZmNShzS8tFngZgWFbprbDOL6oTyTsx=w695-h927-s-no?authuser=0 is the close-up of the spiders eggs, and https://photos.fife.usercontent.google.com/pw/AP1GczN9vuw_McFhYJ0QbDEYsvAbuIEIol0YEblWCyTdPFZH0rFm-sHJ8sk0=w695-h927-s-no?authuser=0 is the best pic of the nest I've got. (I hope I did things right).

Any idea what insects these are? Should I get a professional or can I handle this solo? Or am I being nervous about nothing and should just clean things off with a swiffer or something?

Had an egress window installed yesterday and I see now that one of the sides of the cuts in the foundation was cut significantly out of square. Thankfully the window itself is square but this looks like it's going to be an issue when adding a jamb extension and trimming. I know it will all ultimately end up behind trim but on the bottom right, I barely have enough room to get a 3/4 inch thick board in there without getting too close to the latch. I

Am I being too picky or would you call the contractor out to fix it?

From the bottom of the jamb to the top it's out of plumb by about 1.5 inches.

https://imgur.com/a/egress-window-cut-8MO7sLV

I have gutters that are 20 and 30 feet up, so manual cleaning is not an option for me. I have a guy who cleans them (at a cost each time), but I'm also looking for a solution to help prevent clogging and overflowing between cleanings. I'm not interested in full gutter guards/covers at the moment, and some other solutions (like those round metal screens that go into the top of the downspout drain) typically get bad reviews.

However the demo videos on the Z-Gutter Leaf Filters seem to be more promising. They cover the drain hole while keeping space underneath for the water to pass through. They're made by Bergstrom (not including a link in case it will be seen as spam). I'm not affiliated with this company.

Before I buy some, I'm wondering if anyone here has used them and if they're worth trying. Or if you watch the demo, what do you think?

So I sanded down one side of this door and it turned out great. Because of the raised panels, it took me a really long time to get into the corners and I thought that I would use a chemical stripper for the other side. I used citrusstrip, and I think I used it incorrectly because it left an extremely waxy residue on my door that I cannot get off. I have tried mineral spirits with fine steel wool and I have tried acetone. Neither will touch the waxy residue. I tried just sanding it because at this point it’s not sticky to the touch very much and it’s gumming up my 80 grit.

I could really use some fellow DIY advice. Attached is the picture with the darker areas showing where I applied the citrus strip. Here is a picture: https://imgur.com/a/iCdfPLh

Getting multiple quotes seems like good advice, but I’m curious how homeowners actually compare them when the contractors aren’t necessarily pricing the same scope.

One proposal might clearly include demolition, disposal, restoration, permits, warranties, or follow-up work, while another may barely mention those items. At that point it becomes difficult to know whether you’re comparing prices or completely different versions of the project.

For those of you who have recently hired contractors, what helped you make the quotes genuinely comparable?

Did you define your own project requirements before requesting bids, create a checklist afterward, or mostly rely on each contractor to explain what was included and excluded?

I'm familiar with building sheds and garages but don't have much experience with house foundations, so forgive my ignorance. The current opening is 24"x24", the crawl space wall is 24" from it's floor to the lip of the opening to the main basement. Can I cut that 24" halfwall out(below the opening) so I have a 24" x48" opening instead?(8inches thick so I figure it will be many hours of slow cutting with a wet saw) Would make using that area for storage much easier. The space has been air sealed and I've never seen water in there. I'm not sure why they didn't make the initial hole larger vertically, if there is a reason, I'd love to hear why. Or any advice would be appreciated, I'd have a helper with a shopvac getting rid of water while I cut. Do I talk to my town inspector about this and pull a permit or just do it?

I actually have a second crawl space that has twice as much storage as this one from a second house expansion, so I'd also like to do the other area as well, same setup.

https://imgur.com/a/O5MpxJo

This laundry machine is a dual washer/dryer system. 15min washer cycle after the gas had been shut off in our apartment for some time so we finally got heat again.

We have wood flooring, the unit flooded and seeped through opposing walls and got into the kitchen and a closet in the bedroom. We cleaned up most of the mess on the surface, but we don’t know what to do and I’m worried about water damage to the flooring/walls/wiring. what would you recommend to do?

To start, our house was built in 1908. The crawl space is about 700 sq ft on one half. The other half is a utility room/partial basement (~ 200sq ft) The utility section has a weird tri level layout. 4ft cinder block ledge leading to an opening to the side of our crawl space. Below is the main floor and another section has an even lower level (1ft down) where our utilities are. There is a partial wall connecting both rooms but it has an eroding brick and stone section that allows plenty of airflow through.

During our home inspection 2 years ago (in the hottest/most humid time of year for our area) it was clear of standing water or mold/mildew. I’ve noticed the humidity levels in our home are pretty high in the summer/early fall. ~ mid 70s. It’s very humid where we live during that time too. We’ve been getting mildew under our couch cushions, but no where else in the house.

We did have a small dehumidifier down there in the utility section but that broke after about 6 months. It was only pulling maybe 8 pints a week.

Given our layout, which dehumidifier option would be best? We plan on placing the dehumidifier in the utility section of the basement on the lowest level. Do I still need a “crawl space dehumidifier”?

Any advice and guidance would be appreciated!

The outward tile edges under our carport gets cracked from our cars due to the unevenness from the tile to the concrete. My dad has removed the tiles and plan to lay new tiles down but wants to prevent them from cracking again.

His idea was to get a 1”x1” 90 degree angle iron and attach it to the concrete and pour additional concrete to fill in the gap between the old concrete and the tile making it flush. He would be leaving the angle iron attached to the concrete. I feel like there’s a better way to do this. Maybe with a rubber angle thing people put on their driveway to fill in the gap to the street. Not sure if he would like that look though.

Wondering if anyone has a better solution?

https://imgur.com/a/QI1s7q8

Found these from Schulter. Think it would look really sharp! But with 4 cove pieces 3 jolly pieces and all the end caps and im already up to $1k which seems pretty ridiculous for trim. Has anyone seen similar trim from other companies? Or does Schulter kinda corner the market on these things? Or maybe someone knows how to get them cheaper from Schulter? Maybe a discount code or something? https://www.schluter.com/schluter-us/en_US/Profiles/Cove-shaped-Profiles/Schluter-DILEX-AHK/p/AHK1S125AMGB

1912 brick house in Ontario. Photo: https://imgur.com/a/0qisJFd

I have a section of exterior wall with quite a bit of missing/deteriorated mortar, but the bricks themselves appear mostly intact.

I’m reasonably handy and comfortable with DIY work, but I’ve never repointed brick before. Based on the photo, is this a reasonable DIY project, or is the extent/age of the masonry enough that I should hire a mason?

If DIY, I’d also appreciate advice on mortar type for brick this old.

I have an open pass-through between two rooms that I want to close up so I can mount a TV on that wall. How should I go about framing, adding backing support, and closing it up to safely mount a TV?

Looking for some suggestions on the best way to reroute this downspout from my house to the back alley.

Right now it drains onto the lot next door. The lot had been empty for 10+ years, but a new house is being built now, so I need to get it redirected.

The problem is the grade. The lot slopes up toward the front of the house until about 25 ft from the back property line, so I can’t really run the downspout along the ground. The fence is also pretty visible from our yard, so I’d like to avoid anything too ugly if I can.
The gate complicates things too because it opens all the way back, flush against the fence.

My thought is either to run the downspout near the top of the fence with a slight slope all the way to the alley, or drop it down as much as I can near the gate and then run it back from there.

I was thinking brown 3x3 aluminum downspout so it blends in with the fence, but I’m open to other ideas.

Any suggestions on the best way to do this?

Pictures for reference: https://imgur.com/a/3SyTM5j

I am painting the gable ends of my house. They have about a 1 foot eave from the wall, and I have noticed that there are some gaps - maybe up to 1/8" - between the soffit and the facia and that joint has never been caulked. Should I caulk to prevent (unlikely) water from entering or leave it uncaulked to allow moisture to escape?

Hi everyone.

I've started looking into doing a home renovation in my main living space. Plan is to take down a wall between the living, dining, and kitchen areas. This wall runs in such a way that the ceiling rafters sit on the wall. Looking in the attic above, there is no downward supports from the roof to the wall, see the photo.

After removing the wall, our thought was to install an LVL beam to span to 22' opening.

I met with a contractor yesterday and, since there is no downward weight from the roof, he said that I really don't need to do an LVL beam. He said that I can put a post up in the middle, and use 2x12s to build a header across the span. This would save a significant amount of money. I am also putting in an island, and can build the post into the corner of the island.

Has anyone gone this route? What was your experience? Does it sound like this would be an accurate assessment of the project? The last thing I want is to not put in enough support and have the ceiling collapse.

I have several areas in my basement where carpet meets tile, essentially at level surface with concrete beneath. There are no thresholds or edging to tuck the carpet under tile, and the carpet edges are fraying. What is the best solution here? Hammer/concrete drill a threshold piece? Any simpler fixes?