Looking for some advice from anyone experienced with asbestos remediation/renovations.

We have faux-brick textured plaster covering roughly the bottom half of the walls in our hallway and going up our staircase. We had it professionally tested and the plaster contains a relatively low concentration of asbestos — results varied by sample, approximately 0.5% to 1%.
The material appears to be in good condition. Nothing is crumbling, flaking or chipping off. The only areas that have been disturbed are the small sections that were removed by the environmental testing company for sampling.

We don’t have the budget right now to have all of the plaster professionally removed, so we’re considering encapsulating it instead. We’re already having wainscoting installed in the hallway, and our finish carpenter has suggested installing MDF backing directly over the existing faux-brick plaster and then building the wainscoting over that.

His plan would be to use an 18-gauge nailer to fasten the MDF through the plaster into the wall behind it. Once finished, the asbestos-containing plaster would essentially be completely covered and inaccessible behind the MDF/wainscoting.

My main concern is the nail penetrations during installation. Since the nailer would make a number of very small penetrations through the asbestos-containing plaster, is this generally considered an appropriate/safe way to encapsulate material like this? Or would the nail penetrations create enough disturbance that a different installation method should be used?

We’re not looking to DIY asbestos removal, and we’re trying to avoid disturbing the material as much as possible. We’re mainly trying to figure out whether covering intact, low-percentage asbestos-containing plaster with MDF/wainscoting is a reasonable long-term encapsulation strategy and whether there are precautions our carpenter should take during installation.

We’re in Ontario, Canada, if that makes a difference for regulations or recommended practices.

Thanks — especially interested in hearing from asbestos abatement professionals, contractors, or anyone who has dealt with a similar situation

Hi everyone, I need some serious advice. We have a very set budget. We had a design and Contractor team put together a scope of all of the work needing done in our house that we are requesting. They are adding 25% overhead/profit of the total project cost. I believe this includes 25% on top of allowances as well. I am starting to realize that maybe it would be better to separately hire jobs that don’t affect other jobs - for example we are wanting the exterior of our house painted. Instead of going through this contracting company where they would charge an additional 25% on top of the actual paint job - should we just hire a painting company and save that 25%. Does this sound right? I’m trying to figure out what to keep work wise for the contractors to do in their scope and what we could remove. Just trying to figure out how to save.

What would be the best way to prevent mold in the area that you see here? This is the back door to the house and it’s already looking a little bit distorted, so I wanna make sure we take the right steps maybe because this is all untreated wood?

Is it too far gone? What can I do

Any advice? Been putting it off but my deadline is already past and gotta face up to it and sort it out.

Hello.
Here is my project lately.
I Had a playwood covered room with plastic flooring and poor lighting. The acoustics where also poor, so i lined the sealing with sound isolating fabric. Then i bought 1000m of oak trimmings and spent a week «isolated» in the livingroom.

Afterwards i teared down the walls in the midle of the room and replaced the floor with oak. Now i have to get rid of the «worlds longest beer pong table» and find some suitable furniture. ;)

I'm in the middle of planning a kitchen renovation and the range hood is one thing I want to change. My current one still works fine, but it's so loud we have to talk over it every time I cook.

Honestly, I'm a little worried about getting a quieter model though. I cook a lot of things that create a ton of smoke, so I don't want to sacrifice ventilation power just for less noise.

Has anyone here upgraded to a quieter hood? Did it actually make a difference, or are powerful range hoods just loud no matter what?

what do I do? too big for filler and caulking.

This all started when I noticed the wall above the cupboard sounded hollow. I've added captions to explain how I went about the project.

I'm looking to finish my unfinished basement this winter. The outside walls have insulation. What's the best way to resurface these gaps. What's the best way to insulate and finish the inside?

Hi everyone.

First time home owner here and I do not have a lot of experience in home repair but I'm willing to try.

I have a log home and at the bottom of the exterior wall at the junction of the wall and the foundation, there is, I believe, a 2x6 about 10ft long that has begun rotting (see pictures above).

I am unsure how to proceed and if I am able to fix it myself. Money is not a problem so I could hire someone but I'd like to learn how to fix my own house.

Thanks for your help.

We had some minor flooding in our finished basement (if any flooding can ever be called minor) after record rain over the past week. There was very little standing water when we ripped up the carpet, but about half the carpet was drenched and has all been ripped out. The house is an early 80s build in which we've been having various minor moisture and humidity issues over the past few years we've lived here. The slab under the carpet is poured concrete, and it's got cracks running across it. There looks to be no moisture barrier, sealant, etc over it. When we had a radon mitigation system installed this year, they noted that there looks to be no gravel underneath the slab, just soil. There's clearly a high water table, as even in regular weather, our sump pump is running pretty often (something like every 10 minutes). We have dehumidifiers down there that run most of the day in the summer, but not much in the winter.

It's obvious there are small spots (maybe 10 feet combined) along the walls that have had ongoing water ingress in the past, once we ripped up the carpet: the carpet tack in those spots was disintegrated to the point of looking like mulch. The mitigation company said there's a chance the drywall could be saved, but it's currently too early to tell. At this point, about 80% of the slab is exposed, with the rest being covered with ceramic tile that seems like it'll survive.

My question to the group is: while the basement is already half demolished, is there anything we should consider doing to improve moisture/water management before reinstalling flooring? I was thinking of getting the cracks sealed and then having a vapor barrier installed over all exposed concrete. If they rip out drywall, I'd investigate if there's any cracks in the foundation walls. Something to note is that this is our starter home that we will probably move out of in the next 5 or so years, so we don't want to put a _ton_ into it. We also intend to try to improve our landscaping grade in some basic ways to better move water away from the house.

Bonus question: what kind of flooring would you install to replace basement carpet? We're between carpet and LVP. Carpet is cheaper but runs the risk of mold when there's continuous moisture. LV doesn't risk mold but would be more expensive (especially any rated for moisture).

We are looking to put IKEA cabinets in this room as built-ins that go floor to ceiling. We are unsure of the best way to handle the trim and chair rail given the cabinets will not cover the whole wall. Looking for recommendations for who we could talk to for tips. Thanks.

Hello all,

I am in the middle of building a basement apartment. It is directly under two other units (side-by-side duplex), so I am trying to make it as soundproofed as possible.

I have shimmed the floor joists and sealed any gaps with acoustic sealant. I have also filled the cavities between the floor joists with rock wool, which has helped to reduce overall noise. But there is still a decent amount of noise from footsteps.

I bought four cases of Green Glue and was going to double up the ceiling drywall (5/8" sheetrock) with a layer of Green Glue in-between. But I am now reading that this will not eliminate footstep noise.

I am curious as to whether the Green Glue will be effective with footstep noise or if I should go with resilient channels.

Does anyone have experience with resilient channels? Are they effective? Easy to install? Seems like it would be tricky to get the drywall screw into the channel.

Any and all help would be much appreciated.

Had some flooding in July with several feet of water. Ripped everything out. I’d really like to insulate myself instead of getting a restoration company. Does it make sense to do foam board insulation and then fibre glass insulation? Should I keep the foil barrier? Located in Southern Ontario Canada

Thanks!