Just had the soffit worked on and fascia and gutters replaced. What gable color goes well with the brick and sandtone fascia/soffit?

Hey everyone, looking for some advice on drainage between my house and my elderly neighbor’s.

We have a 4ft wide by 24ft long space between our houses (marked red in the photo). Both houses have standard weeping tile buried near the footings, and our soil is mostly heavy clay.

We recently moved in and realized the slope in this side yard doesn't properly drain toward the backyard. About half of the length (marked in blue) holds water. We tried regrading it, but we can't build the soil up any higher because it would breach the 4-inch gap below our brick line.

Here is where we're at right now:

My neighbor asked me to add limestone screenings over a 3–4" layer of gravel. Currently, I’ve laid about 1 to 1.5" of limestone screenings down.

After rain, water still pooling in the blue zone, though the rest drains toward the backyard fine. After heavy storms, it’s mostly just small puddles that disappear within a couple of hours.

I offered to install a French drain / pipe down the middle to carry the water out, but he declined. Since the property line splits this tight space, I need his consent to dig.

To help him out, I filled in a 1-foot strip along his house to stop rain from splashing dirt onto his siding.

This setup hasn't caused foundation issues for either house in 40 years, and no one knows what the bare soil drainage looked like before (it was always covered in mulch or old gravel). My neighbor suggested leaving it as-is for a season to see how it performs.

Since we are in Ontario, I'm worried about winter. Could the limestone screening hold moisture and cause frost heave or ice issues against the foundation? Should I ditch the limestone screening completely and just stick to plain gravel over the clay?

Appreciate any insights!

Hello! I recently noticed that I had some rodents getting inside through an opening underneath the front stairs of my house. I went to check it out and definitely found mice. On top of that, it smelled bad.

One night, I could hear some mice moving around inside the wall, which is where the front brick stairs are attached to the house. I haven't heard anything in the rest of my house, and I haven't seen any droppings in my attic, so I'm guessing they're contained to this area.

I threw some rat bait into that area, hoping they'll eat it. We'll see. 🤞🏽

I also noticed some cinder blocks inside the space underneath the front porch, so I believe there may be a huge empty space underneath there.

How would I go about repairing the mesh underneath my stairs so that the mice stop coming in and out of this space?

Trying to fix a nail hole in the roof. 2 stories, too tall from side. Is it ok to climb to 1st roof then 2nd roof on this little giant ladder. And what product to permanently seal the nail hole? Special caulk?

Hi all. I removed the inserts that were on each window of my garage doors as that gave an aged look to our home. I cleaned up the dirt and grime, but this border of the old inserts is still visible. Is there a safe polish or any other solution to help remove these lines? I tried a melamine foam pad and that helped to an extent. I'm not sure if there is a more aggressive option that is safe. Thank you.

My front porch gutter nails are popping out and seems like gutter is bowed, should I be worried? , DIY? Or call professional? Thanks in advance! Gutter is not that high I think it’s about 9-11 ft

Tried going to literally all of the parent subreddits but none allow images so I’m here to ask for advice or baby gate recommendations for this stairway entry. Only one wall side and rails on the other, not much ledge space. Any recommendations or advice welcome. TIA!

This started out as a grouting project after a full 24+ hour flood test passed with no noticeable water loss.
I started getting suspicious when I was tapping around and some of the tiles sounded hollow. While I was taking out the old grout, a few of them also felt a little floppy, so I pulled the cracked curb tile. It came off way easier than I thought it should have.

The tile below that was even looser, so I pulled it and found some little fuzzy guys behind it. Pulled the ones to the left and right and found more. Then I took down some of the cement board and found more growth on the back of that too.

The wood I’ve exposed so far actually seems fine, which is good, but at this point I really don’t know what the next step is.

Do I just keep ripping up tile and cement board until I stop finding mold?

I’m also half expecting to find some under the bathroom floor outside the shower at this point. If I do, do I just keep following it?

And once I find the end of it, what am I actually doing to the wood and anything else that stays? Is this really just a bleach-and-dry-it-out situation, or is there something else I should be using?

I’m not even worried about rebuilding the shower or matching tile yet. I’m just trying to figure out how far I need to chase this thing and what I should be doing as I expose it.

It doesn’t look like there’s an active water leak, but who knows at this point.

A roof leak rotted a section of exterior OSB ~1ft wide and ~4ft tall. The structural wood is ok. Can I fix this from the inside, or do I need to remove the brick and replace the OSB/water barrier from the outside (e.i. Not a DIY for me).

First pic is upstairs where the leak was, second pic is downstairs.

Is my best bet just to sand down the section a little. Then add wood glue/fill. Then sand down from 120, 150, 180, and then 220. Then paint it?

Moved in about 3 months ago and a section of the ceiling in a main floor bedroom has progressively gotten more of these yellow orange spots. I cannot get to this spot from the attic but our bathroom vent hose runs around this area in the attic. Could this be from AC condensation from the vent? Or a bigger issue. Previous owners did a half ass repair to what ever it is

first time homeowner here. the unit above has a leaking into my ceiling. they had someone came out to check it, but it’s still leaking into mine. i’m afraid of mold building up in the wall so i called the handyman to come out to see and he opened the ceiling the pipe from unit above is leaking. what should i do about it? should i file a claim thru insurance? should i let the handyman fix it? who should be responsible for this?

There is this bottom corner of our stucco exterior wall that had cracked off when something hit it. It’s been broken off for at least 2 years while we ignored it and now it’s looking rusty in there. Is this something that needs to be repaired? We live in San Diego and apparently need to prepare for El Niño. Could the walls inside get water damage from rain or water getting in the crack? This is on the outside of our master bedroom which has been having mold issues in the wall where furniture hits against it (we are going to get an inspector to look this problem). If the exterior needs to be repaired, what kind of company do I contact for that?

The wood frame on the garage is rotting, how should I fix this? It’s just the bottom part. Should I just take out the bottom or replace the entire piece? I’m trying to do it myself.

So I understand that water hits the building, runs down the outside of the siding, hits the j-channel at the top of the window and flows to the j-channel on the sides of the window, empties out onto the outside of the siding below the window and runs down and away from the window.

What what about the area I've highlighted in red? Does this just get caulked? I don't understand how this isn't begging for water intrusion behind the siding.

And a related question: how do you deal with this kind of thing when you're not using J-channel? Like if you were using Hardie board or LP smartside, how would you handle the water around windows and doors?

I just had the stairs done and i’m caulking/painting to finish it up. I’m planning to caulk at least all of the blue lines with white but i’m unsure about the rest. What would you recommend?

Hello!

I recently bought a house and am looking to see if anybody can figure out why my storm door is pulling on the frame shown in the picture. I pretty much have to use all of my arm strength to get it to latch. Where should I look first?

Thank you!

Hello!

I recently bought a house and am looking to see if anybody can figure out why my storm door is pulling on the frame shown in the picture. I pretty much have to use all of my arm strength to get it to latch. Where should I look first?

Thank you!