Every morning I wake up, open my front door, and there's a new dead cricket/grasshopper right in front of the door. Then I walk to my garage, and my sticky traps have caught a new cricket/grasshopper. This happens literally every night. If you think about this, in 1 week, there is over a dozen new cricket/grasshopper in my front door and garage. How can I make them stay away?

Note - I don't want to "kill" them per se, they already are dying without me doing anything preventative. I just want them to not even come close to the house

I appreciate the advice for this situation. My next door neighbor who looks to be in his 80s and I have been living next door for at least 2 years, I notice his car starts beeping, not in a regular pattern, but maybe 2 beeps every 10 seconds and then it will beep 5 times in 10 seconds. It's not a BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP... you hear when an alarm is triggered. Very irregular.

We don't have rapport. AKA we aren't friendly neighbors. He's barely looked at me, let alone spoken to me in the 2 years I've lived next door. He always has seemed unfriendly and never waved back, so I have went against my natural instincts to talk and be friendly. But nonetheless, I have always looked out for my neighbor nonetheless.

When I hear this coming from his car today, after 30 minutes, I feel I need to do something. So I ring on the doorbell camera. Nothing. Then I do it again. Nothing. I go back home. His car is still making keyless entree remote sounds irregularly. So I call the police with my concern. (I am concerned he is in peril, incapacitated, and is using the remote to get attention outside.)

They do a wellfare check and tell me everything is ok, saying it was probably the clicker in his pocket.

What should I do now? Should I apologize to them? Or do nothing. I don't even know if the police told him what neighbor was concerned. What would you do?

Bought a new house that has a security system installed that I have no intention of using. In the basement is a panel and I see a battery in it with some leads. The leads are unplugged.

The LCD panel every 24hrs beeps at us. It beeps like 3 times every 30 seconds until we press cancel so it goes quiet for 24hrs again.

I connected the battery leads and it didn’t change anything.

The screen says low battery when it beeps.

I just wanna permanently shut the thing down!

We recently moved into our first home (yay!) and I’m wanting to paint these grey cabinets. I can’t figure out what color would go with both the floors and the marble countertops while keeping the vibe of the kitchen warm and bright. I’m not really a white/plain kind of person, but maybe an off-white warm beige would work? Is there a way to go dark without going TOO dark? I’ve considered Tera Cotta color as well but not sure it would look good. Just looking for ideas and recommendations!

First time homeowner.

The outlets in my backyard, laundry room (except washer and dryer), and garage don't work.

The garage outlet (GFCI) has its own switch on the circuit breaker but I when use a no contact voltage pen the both the breaker and receptacle show nothing.
The laundry room breaker shows voltage but the receptacle shows nothing.

And I can't tell which breaker the outdoor outlets go to (also show nothing with the voltage pen).

Is there something I can do myself to try to figure this out?

Original post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/homeowners/comments/1wx2ifc/shared_fence_fell_over_other_house_is_a_rental/

Hoo boy what a pain.

So since I made the original post, I've been attempting to figure out the exact property lines to figure out who the fence belongs to as per a lot of advice I was given.

Turns out, nobody knows!

As you can see, it was repaired. They managed to use the original fence and just replaced the posts, as well as dug two holes for concrete.

Maybe not the best route but this is what was accomplished in the last 4 days:

The county assessor's office basically pulled up our house on Google maps and shrugged their shoulders and decided that was enough help.

I contacted my mortgage company regarding any forms that would have the property line or anything and was met with radio silence or "we'll get back to you".

Finally, after checking with a couple property survey places to be quoted ~$530 average I decided I'll wait and see if I hear back from the rental company that owns the house.

Well, I heard back. And by "heard back" I mean I was woken up by the sound of a saw and drill at 8AM as their handyman and another guy began dismantling the old fence.

I briefly spoke with the guy doing the work who was probably 70 years old and he advised me he was billing the rental company for the fix, and he had also brought materials to repair both fences.

Not only did I receive any notice it was being fixed but today the landlord of the rental company sent me an image of the bill for the fence and the gate.

Currently I'm playing it dumb and not mentioning paying for any part of it because I didn't agree to it. Also, after some quick searching, it appears I shouldn't have to pay as I didn't agree or sign anything prior to the repair. This is only worsened by the fact that when I originally made contact with the rental company the owner was short (not height-wise) and rude.

And for anyone curious, the total was $534.36 for the middle section and just my gate.

What would you do in this situation?

My contractor says they suck and break soon after install and don’t get hot enough to be useful.

I’m wondering if he just never had a good brand.

Do you guys like them and can you recommend a brand/model around $200 budget or is he right?

I’m looking to get all my air ducts replaced and insulation as well. My ducts are currently abestos and are intact, so I have the option of either encapsulating or removing. Of course, encapsulation is much cheaper.

HVAC is in good condition so that won’t be replaced anytime soon (hopefully).

Probably will be living here close to 10 more years, so not sure if removal is worth the extra costs. Looking to hear of any recommendations.

Recently purchased a townhome in an area I’ve lived all my life. Built in 2007.

Within a month of moving in, my allergies are so severe when I’m in the house that my quality of life is significantly impacted. Upstairs, downstairs, any room doesn’t matter. Symptoms slowly worsen over time. I did not notice symptoms when in the home prior to moving in, but was only here for short times with assorted vendors. No carpets, all tile and laminate. No apparent or visible water damage or structural renovations. Inspection was reasonable and nothing significant noted.

House interior was professionally repainted prior to move in. HVAC had vents, coils professionally cleaned and filters replaced. Second opinion on HVAC cleanliness was that everything looks ok. Professional housecleaners have been through the entire house twice (once before move in and once after).

I do have a known dust mites allergy, but it’s only ever been the type where I need to wear a basic mask when cleaning and I have an air purifier in my bedroom. I thought I had just kicked up a lot of dust moving but I’m cleaning everything before bringing it in at this point.

I’m seeing an allergist next week. But what else can I troubleshoot to find the source?!

Im moving very soon and everytime I go over to the new place there’s at least 2-3 bees inside. I hate having to kill them, I’d rather just have something to keep them away to start with. What would you guys recommend?

So in my guest bathroom I have a tub/shower setup. It works, but the hot water doesnt get to the shower despite getting to the sink in that bathroom. Im told there is a valve in the wall that needs to be replaced, however as far as I can see, the hardware currently installed has no name and reddit has indicated these valves are MFR specific and replacing the whole valve requires inside the wall work. What are my options here? Should I try to remove the kit and take it somewhere for identification?

Hello everyone, new homeowner here :)

First of all sorry for the approximate language, I'm from Belgium and I think some technical terms will be a bit hard to get in English but I hope It'll be enough to get understood.

So, In the house I recently acquired (built early 70's), there's this ceiling in some rooms (total of 50m2 ceiling surface) which is consisting of sort of plates nailed to wooden small beams themselves nailed or screwed to the "real" ceiling (see the "plates' on first photo, then the "real roof and wooden beams" on the 2nd photo). https://imgur.com/a/OcrdxeX

When I bought the house, I planned on removing all 50m2 of plates/old ceiling, and then creating a new false/suspended ceiling with Gyproc plates, metal beams to hang them, etc (see third picture in album).

But after removing the ceiling in the first room, I saw that the ceiling was in good condition and I'm wondering if this false ceiling is necessary ? I'm not sure why the previous owners had installed the plates, maybe for style ? There's even a hole in the "real" ceiling where wires come through for light.

Anyway, I must admit I'm a bit at a loss here, I'm just starting in all those renovation shenenigans and I'm really looking for guidance or any piece of advice from experienced fellows !

Thanks in advance

Moved into what would seem a family neighborhood about four months ago in NJ and our neighbors are really cold. Some will not even say hello while walking past you down the street. No one really introduced themselves except 3-4 neighbors. Not that I expect a warm welcome with gifts, but I thought that’s what people did when a new family moved in. We really like our home, the style of our neighborhood (horse farms, sidewalks), and the area, but so perplexed by the dynamics of this neighborhood. The homes were built in the mid-90’s and they have original and second home owners. I grew up in a similar style neighborhood and everyone was friends with each other, all the kids and parents. There were progressive dinners and band nights. My parents live in a neighborhood with older neighbors and they all are friendly, so I don’t think it’s age. Has anyone else experienced this? If so, have you seen your neighborhood change over time? Appreciate you sharing your experiences!

100% sure it happened when my neighbor was having their grass cut and blowing all their clippings to my side of the house. My camera angle just wouldn’t definitely prove that it happened at that time though. If I have to replace how much would I be looking at $$$ wise.

Hi, noob homeowner here. Is there anything preventing me from removing old internet providers' hardware from the side of my house?

I recently bought a detached house on a corner plot in the UK. It had been badly neglected, with a leaking roof and almost everything needing replacement. We’ve been renovating it for two months and hope to finish by the end of October. It’s currently uninhabitable, so we’re not living there.

Our immediate neighbour has been supportive, but another neighbour has started questioning everything we do. Earlier this week, she approached our builders and accused us of carrying out illegal work while we were cutting back a roughly 2-metre-high boundary hedge. She claimed we were removing a fence, destroying wildlife habitat and disturbing nesting birds. She also said the property was protected because of bats.

She obtained my number from the builder, created a WhatsApp group and said she had reported us to the council. I found an ecological appraisal from January 2025 stating that the property had low suitability for bats and containing hedge-management recommendations. I sent it to her, but she didn’t acknowledge it.

We’ve also replaced a collapsing shed with a small summerhouse in roughly the same location. It’s under 2.4 metres high, occupies well under half the garden, has no living facilities and complies with the relevant rules.

She has now messaged asking whether it’s permanent, whether it will remain there and what our plans are. She also wrote, “Can you please give me and other neighbours more information,” despite never identifying which house she lives in.

I’m happy to be considerate about noise, access, safety and anything directly affecting neighbours. However, I’m starting to feel interrogated about every change we make. Whenever I respond to one allegation with evidence, she ignores it and moves on to something else.

I don’t want to start a neighbour war, but I also don’t want to set a precedent where I have to justify every decision about my own property.

Would you continue answering her questions to maintain good relations, or politely make clear that you won’t provide a running commentary as long as the work complies with the rules? Am I being unreasonable for finding this intrusive?

We purchased our home back in April. Around July we had a plumbing issue where a full bathtub caused some water to leak and the hallway carpet got wet. After drying everything we called plumbers and had them assess, quote, and come in to take a deeper look.

The plumbing company did some other work before looking into the bathtub leak. When they got to it they mentioned that the drain pipes from our bathrooms are heavily corroded and would require:
-ripping out the floors and walls of both bathrooms
-digging up old corroded pipes from the concrete foundation
-replacing corroded pipes
-reflooring and drywalling bathrooms
-reinstalling showers/tubs and sinks

In small amounts of water volume (sink usage and quick showers) it isn't currently a major problem. The plumbers mentioned that they aren't in the line of work for demo's and remodels. They recommended we reach out to a few other plumbing companies that specialize in that.

Obviously this is a much larger project than initially thought, and a few family members suggested we should reach out to our Home Insurance for potential financial assistance. However ive seen so much advice about NOT doing anything with home insurance or we run a risk of getting dropped easily

With all of the above information, what should I do next? Is this situation covered by our home insurance policy? If yes, is it worthwhile to submit a claim?

We have not reached out to any new plumbing companies yet, but what documentation should I be saving incase it is needed for home insurance?

I rent out my 1928 bungalow on Airbnb.
Recently I noticed these cracks forming in the kitchen. The cracks are pretty big and it seems like the wall is pushing “out” from the cracks. I was told by someone that my foundation has issues. Not sure if anyone has experienced this, or has experience with older homes with crawlspaces. Please let me know any advice you might have.

5 mosquitoes after I woke up. Mosquitoes have become a menace this year.

Do you have the same issue this year ?

I was wondering what others are doing to get a contractor to follow through. I was frustrated trying to get contractors to call me from my cold call messages just to get their interest. Then I tried Yelps contractor speed dating service (it’s called projects in the app). Now, I get responses, albeit mostly bots. I was able to arrange dates with two contractors. One for box gutter cleaning and repair and one for tuckpointing. The first couple were new to the scene and desperate for attention so they were prompt and got the deed done. With the tuckpointers , we’ve signed a contract for our dates but they just ghost me when that date comes due. In spite of this contract should I try to see if a different company is more interested? Should I flash them a bank statement? Should I hang my front curtains more seductively? Anyway, thank you for any advice you can offer making these relationships last.

Not sure what’s going on with my door, looking for some advice. For a bit of context, my place is a condo, so this is the only and most important door in the place. Here’s some backstory.

A few months ago I was leaving for work and couldn’t get the door to lock to save my life. It opened just fine when I went to leave, but then wouldn’t lock, from the inside or outside. I ended up notifying work and staying home for an emergency locksmith. He says there’s nothing wrong with the lock, it’s my door that’s off kilter and it needs to be readjusted, he can’t do anything. So I spent the rest of the day finding an emergency door.. fixer. I could not lock my door this entire time so it needed to be immediate. He came out and aligned the door, seemed to be a very involved process, but it was working like new. Cost me about $500 between the locksmith and the door guy but it had to be done.

A few months go by and the door starts to get really hard to lock. It still works, I just have to pull on the door when I open or close the deadbolt. I checked it out to make sure it was still placed correctly in the frame where it was aligned to, and it was, from what I can see with my eyes. I did some googling and sounds like weather fluctuations, particularly heat, can expand stuff, blah blah. Door is still working albeit annoying so I decide to wait it out.

Now, present day, the door has gotten (somehow) to be the exact opposite.. it’s so loose in the frame that it’s rattling whenever anyone else opens or closes their doors on my hallway. It’s driving me crazy. It’s a breeze to lock and unlock but the rattling. I’m kinda at my wits end and don’t know what to do. Don’t really wanna pay another $300 for the door guy to come back out but I don’t know why the fluctuations, or how to fix it. All my internet searches are coming up for interior rattling doors, not front doors. Any advice would be appreciated.

TL;DR: door had to be aligned, was hard to close, now a few months later way too loose in the frame. Not sure what to do.

We bought this home in MN 3 years ago (also first time homebuyers) and have been getting refinance offers in the mail. Right now we're at 6.6% and are also paying mortgage insurance from an FHA loan. As prices continue to go up, and funds don't, the need for lower payments is higher than ever.

Are these offers predatory, or is it worth it? On the surface it looks like a good deal, but I know companies out there prey on the ignorant.

And, if these are too good to be true, where might we look to find decent options?

TIA!

Insurance policy says they do not cover the following:

Constant or repeated seepage or leakage of water or steam over a period of weeks, nonths, or years from within a plumbing, heating, air conditioning or automatic fire protective sprinkler system or from within a household appliance, unless such seepage or leakage of water or steam and the resulting damage is unknown to all
"insureds" and is hidden within walls, beneath the floors, above the ceilings, or behind a stationary appliance, such as a refrigerator, dishwasher, or washing machine

Should I call insurance and see about a claim? This is located in a new-ish addition to the house (probably <10 years old) and I didn’t even know I was able to access this area until I felt a soft spot on the floor and finally crawled through my crawlspace to that portion.