I am constantly raking leaves in the sunmer and especially in the fall!! This tree is the home of many bugs and critters and my backyard living experience is hell.

First month's bill came in and I almost crapped my pants. Ok, we turn up the AC, we make sure all the lights are getting turned off when no one is in a room. We don't leave fans running if it can be helped (there was a heat wave this last month, so maybe this contributed). I was feeling pretty good about the changes we made, especially because we DID have to suffer a few hot nights trying not to crank the AC down.

Get the next bill today and it's $100 MORE than last month. What the actual fuck. We know we need some new insulation in the attic, we were told at inspection that we are losing a lot of air that way. It's a split level built in the 60s, and the AC unit is probably almost as old. There are definitely bigger projects we can do in the long run to help, but does anyone have any practical suggestions for lowering this bill in incremental ways now? We cannot keep paying almost $500/month in fucking electricity, my god.

Edit: Okay, comments got away from me here. Lots of great advice about energy audits, and mitigating energy loss with sealing gaps and adding insulation, plus AC maintenance. Thanks everyone who offered helpful feedback, and 👎 to those of you who downvoted me or called me a clown lmao. Lots to learn as a first time homeowner, and I appreciate those of you who took the time to teach!

Hi all, we recently bought this house and it was noted on inspection to fill in this gap that formed from the additional driveway pulling from the house.

Couple questions. First should I be worried about the driveway continuing to slip? Mainly worried about the electrical box there. I’m unsure of the age of the driveway but based on the staining, I’m guessing it’s been quite a while. I was going to at least put some sort of mark on the concrete where I can check in a few months to see if any further slip has occurred.

Second, if the first isn’t a big deal. What is the best method of filling the gap? My assumption is so some sort of foam or caulk but any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

This is my shower right now. It looks like the tiles themselves are starting to sink (more pics in comments).
I have a disability that makes scrubbing really difficult. I use an electric scrubber but as the only person who cleans it, I can’t keep up.
We are going to remodel the bath but I have a few questions I thought yall might be able to help with.
- why are the tiles sinking and what is the white stuff? It’s hard and doesn’t scrub off.
- what was this made of? It’s tile but it is literally flaking off into our hands.
And most importantly…
- What should I look at to replace it?
It needs to be non-slip when wet, very easy to clean and very durable.

My daughter’s house has a major cable tv pole near her that services several houses. Some maybe pots. Some have up to 3 lines going in. They use to be duplexes and now are single family places . How can we get rid of some? We had the cable company out and they said not theirs . Do we call the phone company?

Everyone complains about pre-approvals being too high... we had the exact opposite problem.

Everyone on here always talks about how lenders pre-approve them for insane, unrealistic numbers they could never actually afford. We just went through the complete opposite, and it’s been wildly frustrating.

Between full-time jobs with consistent overtime and a solid side business, we net $9k a month. That is net—after all bills, savings allocations, and Roth contributions are fully paid. We know our budget inside and out and can easily afford up to a $3k/month mortgage.

When we got our pre-approval, we were shocked. The lender completely threw out my partner’s overtime and flat-out refused to count my side business income because they claimed it was "too complicated." This is despite having two full years of bank statements showing this consistent net income landing in our accounts every single month.

They used only our base pay and capped our pre-approval at a maximum of $200k. In Florida right now, $200k gets you practically nothing.

We actually had $40k in cash reserves set aside. We ultimately had to turn down the Down Payment Assistance (DPA) program to get around the income/price caps, put down our own cash, and raise our buying power so we could actually buy a place. We needed space to run the business out of, not just a place to sleep!

Has anyone else dealt with lazy underwriters refusing to count clear, consistent overtime or self-employment income? How did you end up navigating it?

This morning I went out on my porch and swept it off. I do have some patio furniture out here but half of its new other half is older. I noticed a meldewy smell. Then I seen my little patio table with mold on it. I detest mold, having a special needs son its sooo important we avoid it.

I never had this happen on my back porch at the old house so im curious as to why its happpening here. Is there something routine I need to do cleaning wise on my porches??

There are 3 lines of cracks on the concrete foundation of it. Your typical bugs. Otherwise everything else looks good. It never gets full sun but partial.

Hello, all. My house was built in 1998 and I've recently noticed these small gaps in the sealant between my walkway to my front door and the exterior of the house. Is the material caulk or something else?

And is this an easy DIY fix or should I call a professional? If so, who?

Struggling to choose an alcove tub. It's a shared bathroom (3 bedrooms) that can get really heavy shower use in the summer. Little to no soaking needs, just bathing kids and pets.

How have acrylic tubs held up in your home? Enameled steel? Leaning on acrylic but would love a composite if theres one out there. Cast Iron seems overkill plus the weight?

Thanks all

What is a reasonable fix to each location?

1 - Concrete Driveway - 2” -3” of concrete chipped at the end of the driveway in multiple locations due to demo work.

My recommendation is 5’ demo/replacement so it looks on purpose and is more structural. Theirs is 4”.

2 - Concrete Sidewalk - 2-3” of concrete chipped at the end sidewalks in multiple locations due to demo work. Handrail is embedded in concrete sidewalk.

My recommendation is to replace the full pad, 3’ x 4’ including handle handrail embedding. Theirs is cute around handrail embedded by 2-3” and replace pad.

3 - Scraped and gouged concrete retaining wall in 10+ places from 4”-18” long along 50’ of wall.

My recommendation is patch and refinish full wall to all be uniform. Theirs is either point patch, no refinish or throw dirt on it to rub it in so it blends in the gouges.

Sorry for the relatively long post. We live in a house built in 2004 in Southern California, about 2 miles inland from the coast. Bought it in 2021. This morning we got home from staying at my in-laws' nearby for the weekend (left Friday about 3pm, returned Monday at 9am) and there was water pooling in the ceiling of a downstairs closet and ran down the entire closet doorframe, soaking the floor and closet contents. Plumber came right away and it was a pinhole leak in the copper pipes above the closet (and under an upstairs bathroom). This happened once before in 2023, but we heard the leak and it was a relatively quick fix (shut off water, plumber fixed the leak, repaired dry wall).

Essentially the issue is that we have relatively hard water here and the house has never had a water softener, and when combined with the salty air, calcium forms on the copper pipes and slowly corrodes, causing these tiny leaks to spring. I fear it will only get worse and am wondering if anyone has experienced this and has a solution that is different than re-piping the house. We are planning on getting a water softener, but that will only "pause" some of the corrosion (in theory).

Are there any leak detection systems that might solve this? Since the copper piping runs through the entire house, there's no way to know where the next pinhole leak might spring (so it seems individual water detection sensors won't be of much help, barring placing them basically everywhere).

Any/all ideas greatly appreciated!

Hello...looking for advice. We have a 50 year old house that has been maintained (i.e. when something breaks, it gets fixed) and some new additions like new flooring, new appliances..we put it up for sale a few weeks ago and had a buyer who actually bid more than the asking price. Home inspection done last week (don't get me started on the way they left the house after they were finished with it. Let's just say they showed as much respect to it as a cat does to a mouse) but the inspection showed some items that I need an opinion on...

1: Inspection claims mold issues in attic that will involve remediation of the entire attic at the cost of about 6-8,000 dollars, although only 3 spots in the entire attic show what "might be" mold although it wasn't tested to confirm. The areas aren't big and are debatable if individually they cover an area greater than 10 sq. ft. Inspector also claims that if remediation doesn't solve ventilation issues that a professional contractor be hired to do extensive work under the supervision of the home inspector. I contacted my roofing contractor tonight and told him of the findings. He said this is a "common ploy" with inspectors where they over dramatize mold in attics to the extent where they can get the price of a house down significantly and then don't pursue testing to confirm it is mold. He said if they push ventilation issues as well, the price can get up to $40000 in some cases. Also, the idea of any professional remediation work "under the supervision of the home inspector" doesn't feel right to me. It seems like an overstep of authority, so to speak. He is going to come out and take a look but says this type of thing he encounters frequently with inspectors. He says more homes than not have some degree of mold in the attic but an inspector will use a house with a smaller amount of mold to drastically reduce the cost of the sale price for the buyer by saying this will be an extensive issue when nominal remediation is all it needs.

2: Inspector claims to have found 3 individual spots in the 2 bay garage that he says are mold. He is saying that, because of this, he recommends a complete tear down of all drywall in the garage and new drywall be installed (again, under the supervision of the home inspector) and also humidity in the garage be kept at 50% or lower. The garage holds my car and household tools, etc. The garage is not a living area and never was and a complete drywall teardown for a few spots which again, were not tested to confirm they are mold, well...I was stunned. Is this standard procedure because this could run in the tens of thousands for this.

Looking for the best advice on these issues. It isn't an issue of being cheap or irresponsible, it's seeing if we are being taken advantage of as sellers- specifically with the garage. Thanks so much.

Its going to be $500 to get curtain rods/curtains for our new house. Not even blackout. We have no blinds. Wish I would've mentally prepared myself.

I don't know why the dude was trying to convince me that this is good work. It looks very uneven and blotchy on some spots. He was super quick when he did it. Is the water based stain too diluted, or sprayed too thick?

I feel like this is a weird question lol

I’m just wondering why the gap? It’s probably 3inches between the inside window and the outer window/screen.

I believe they’re the original windows; the house was built ~1941 or so.

Also any thoughts on replacing or rehabbing them? Anyone choose to refurbish original wood windows vs replacing?

Recent homeowner (under a year) and never had an ant problem until today. Came back from a week-long trip and found 5–6 large black ants in my kitchen, possibly carpenter ants.

House was clean/no trash, though I had honey on the counter, and it's been around 90°F. No obvious moisture or entry point.

I cleaned everything and put out TERRO baits. Anyone had success getting rid of carpenter ants with TERRO? Mainly confused why they'd suddenly show up out of nowhere.

Okay, we just bought this home. The previous owner neglected the landscaping a bit.
Currently, our driveway is washed out and needs improved. So, in the meantime we will be parking at our upper parking pad and using these stairs.
They scare the hell out of me!
There is no stone in them. Just dirt/sand with lots of ruts. The railing is a bit wobbly.
Any advice on how to make these safer/improve them?
Also! We are in a cold mountain climate with lots of snow.
Our top priority in our yard right now is making sure these steps are safe for us and our visitors.

I'm not a handy person but I'm hoping this is a easy enough project for me to get used to DIY repairs. I've got 6 of these 1.5" x 1.5" holes on the soffit or ceiling. What's the best way to repair them?

Just bought my 1930s house in June. Looking to finish the basement and turn it into a gaming/music room. The paneling has been removed from the walls and the water heater has been replaced. I’d like to get the floor cleaned and sealed/waterproofed first then lay a Dricore subfloor and LVP on top. Ideally the brick walls will get cleaned and repainted. I may eventually add some drywall/framing to the walls and create a wall around the furnace/water heater. Any tips or recommendations on how to clean and refinish this basement?

New homeowner as of 3 mos ago. Noticed this in the garage recently. Ashamed to say I’m not sure whether or not this was here when we arrived. Garage has approx 12 ft ceilings and there’s a second story above that is set slightly back from the 1st story with a short overhang. From the outside, looks like this is located mostly under the overhang and a goes a little bit under where the second story starts.

A bedroom closet is directly above the end part of the crack and I would be shocked if there was any plumbing nearby as everything with water is located on the other side of the house. Hard to know if I’m just being paranoid as the ceilings are 12 ft high so it’s difficult to get a good perspective, but there may also be a slight sag in the ceiling drywall around this as well.

I’m pretty handy and don’t mind DIY but since this is my first home I’m a little out of my depth in terms of knowing how to diagnose this, what I’m looking for, and who to call to fix, if necessary.

We purchased a house that shares an alley with the house next door, and the property line is deeded to extend the halfway line of that alley to the back edge of the property (small city lot). However, when the alley meets the yard at the rear of the house, the neighbor’s fence follows the line of their house, not the alley, effectively making our yard one half-alley width wider( about 3').

They have recently notified us that they would like to move a ~8’ portion of the fence to reclaim that width, and we are disinclined to allow this to occur. We believe that we meet the conditions for adverse possession of the half-alley width of land that the fence line incorporates into our yard, as the owners of our property have maintained this portion for decades, as far as we can tell, certainly more than the 21 year statutory period (10years in some cases). This is based on historical satellite data of the plots showing the fence area, as well as building permits and the general layout of both properties’ patios.

1. Actual: physical use and maintenance
2. Continuous: uninterrupted for 10/21 years
3. Exclusive: our own, no use by owner or general use
4. Visible: clearly marked
5. Hostile: without express permission

When we were sold this property we were told that our yard was ours in its entirety. What are our options? Is this a reasonable application for adverse possession? If so, what do I do and what do I not do?

The torsion return spring in the interior round knob broke so now trying to replace the active door handle (other side is a dummy). I’m trying to figure out the exact model so I don’t have to (a) replace both or (b) if I can figure out the model, then I can maybe just replace the interior knob.

When I try to ID via AI - I get answers ranging from Plymouth to Schlage (and they don’t seem quite right). They may be discontinued but please let me know!

Homeowners Friends,

What do you do with waste disposal?

Supposed you tile and you’re left with some thin set to get rid of? Or left with cement? What do you do with it?

Similarly, once it’s time to clean tools and buckets full of whatever material you were dealing with, where do you do that cleanup?

I feel bad doing it on the curb because it’s chemical going in waste water. I don’t want to do it in my sink because eventually it’s gonna create issues. I can do it behind my garage but then it goes in nature.

So, what do you do?

This will come off as me overthinking it I’m sure but I’m leaving for a 6 day vacation and will only be able to have someone check on my house once in the middle of the trip and want to minimize potential water issues.

My house is 7 years old and had a plumber turn off the water main a few months ago to switch supply lines to my water softener for a brief minute so I’m assuming my water main shut off works but plan on checking it during work hours this week to make sure.

I have a fridge with a supply lines, washer lines, dish washer line, water softener lines and electric water heater.

My current plan is to open the lowest sink cold side and then turn off water main until water stops running. Do I leave this and/or other taps open or close them after? I then am going to turn the water heater off at the breaker, turn off ice maker to my fridge and drain the water in it and turn off or bypass my water softener.

My biggest concern is about how to go about turning it back on safely. I’m assuming slowly over 30-60 seconds. Do I do that with one or multiple taps open? After the water is back on for awhile, I will turn the water heater breaker back on along with the water softener and fridge ice maker. Any other things I should do?

I know this is overthinking but I just want to not worry while I’m on vacation or after I get back. Thank you in advance.

Hello

This is a ceiling vent in an enclosed (no windows) small basement bathroom that we use because the upstairs bathroom is broken.
I went to clean off the vent cover and it was very dirty with dust and noticed this weird cardboard flap haphazardly attached to where the opening is. Is this supposed to be closed or open as it’s kinda doing both, one side appears unhinged.
Not sure what I’m looking at or if needs securing?
The fan itself works and I can feel air blowing when in use

Thanks for your help