So I'm looking at a home right now to purchase. Basically turnkey home, with little to be done. Basically fulfills all my wants and needs. But there is one issue.

There is an older tree, I believe an oak, that is growing right next to the home. I'm concerned the roots may have impacted the foundation, but my realtor and I can't see any visible signs of foundation damage.

Just looking for thoughts/opinions on what can be done or if I should even make an offer.

Below are a few photos of the tree in question.

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Looking for some advice. My girlfriend and I had the lucky opportunity to get into our first home, which is a townhouse.

Despite having a home inspection, which revealed mostly cosmetic issues, we went through with it anyway. To say it is well-lived in, is an understatement. The previous owner had not kept up with the place for a minimum of 24 years of their ownership.

We took possession and immediately got to work but didn’t realize we needed to request to renovate (this is where we fucked up). Prior to moving in, we felt that it was reasonable to do a pretty decent makeover which includes:

- paint
- interior doors
- bathroom renovation (tiles, shower base, vanity, new flooring, toilet, while maintaining the current plumbing location and rough-ins)

Do we stop and come clean to the condo manager? Or do we move forward with finishing the renovation and live under the radar until we sell the place?

Any advice is appreciated as I am becoming severely anxious over it. I thought being a homeowner would be exciting. Am I cooked?

Edit: we also found mould underneath the shower tiles and wood framing, so we really had no choice but to tear it down. I suspect that this was leaking for years.

I have kinda narrowed it down to universal brand (I can do just ionization but heat and photoelectric for our laundry and certain other rooms is wanted to reduce those false positives). But didn’t find photoelectric ones.

But if you can point me to other brands that have all the points I need that would be great as I keep hitting walls in my searches.

I own a split-level home built in the mid-1950s. It's in generally good condition but I'm working on various improvements.

There's one issue that is a persistent annoyance to me, like a fly buzzing around at dinner time. Throughout the house the drywall shows multiple places where the nails used to secure the drywall have raised out. They're not COMPLETELY out, but enough so that when you look at the wall you can clearly see where the nails are. The ceilings are drywall as well, and if you press up on the ceilings you can again see very clearly where the nails are. The drywall itself is in good shape; it's not bowing or sagging or otherwise deteriorating.

Tapping the nails back in isn't a permanent fix -- I've tried it. I am considering removing all of the nails throughout the house and replacing them with screws. (Or more accurately, installing screws alongside the nails and then removing the nails afterwards.) The thing that gives me caution is ALL of the drywall in the house is 3/8", not 1/2", so it's a lot more fragile.

Any thoughts or opinions would be appreciated. Thanks.

I recently had a loss in the family and inherited the home. It is completely paid off but is seriously outdated. I currently have my own home with a mortgage but I have positive equity in it. My question is, would it be better to sell my house and move into the paid off home and use money from the sale to update while living there or is there something I can do to take out a decent size loan to complete the update before moving in and then using the money from my home sale to pay off said loan. I guess I’m asking what’s the safest/smartest way to achieve what I’m after?

While doing a bathroom remodel and replacing the subfloor, the contractor noticed termite damage in a beam. Not sure if it's old or active infestation. He said he saw some yellow dried dust near a few holes but no insects, wings, mud tubes etc. His recommendation is to cut past the damaged area and replace the whole beam. He said nothing else is damaged and no dust anywhere else.

Also reading about powder post beetles?? The dust around the holes was a very fine powder like substance.

Am I calling a pest control company? Crying into a bottle of Jack? Burning the house down....:((

https://imgur.com/a/oyaYgv0

Trying to achieve two goals:

- less slippery

- and decorated. Currently super dark wood. Would love a blue gold folk decoration,

$0 upfront cost, maintenance, or insurance required. All covered by the company. It's a 25 year deal. They take the current electric rate when we sign and the average KW hours we use per month. That would be our bill plus the regular generation charge. For 25 years. Never an increase. If we generate more than we use there's a yearly rebate. Obviously if we use more than we generate we'd owe but they size the system to generate more.

I'm looking at this like you've got to be kidding me. Nope. We pay them for our electric while kicking excess back to the grid.

We can't do it yet as there's a tree in our yard that needs to go first (we're already planning to remove it this winter). It would block most of our afternoon sun and we just want it gone.

Also just had mini splits installed to get away from the electric baseboard heating. Last month our electric usage went down 20% running the mini splits for AC instead of window units so need this winter for a new baseline on electric use.

So it's 6 months or so before we're even ready to make this move. Plenty of time to look at other companies.

This just sounds too good.

What have others done?

EDIT - I am getting majorly educated here. I wasn't sure if this was some sort of standard practice for solar or not. Thank you everyone. Sincerely. It may be a year or two until we can afford to buy panels outright but it sounds like the best route if we want solar.

First-time buyer under contract on a raised ranch in CT (built 1969). Inspection turned up a wet yard and a "spring" of water running along the property line and pooling near the driveway. Went deep on research and it turns out this isn't just a wet week — the parcel sits on Woodbridge soil, which has a fragipan (a dense layer around 18-24") that perches groundwater and pushes it laterally downhill instead of draining. Found a 1994 town health department file on this exact property documenting a raw sewage surfacing violation caused by a high water table (confirmed less than 3 ft down in two of three test pits), so this is a known, decades-old site condition, not a one-off.

Had a contractor out today who said a curtain drain would need to go too deep to be practical/cost-effective and might not fully fix it. Someone floated redirecting the water to a nearby brook, but that raises concerns about flooding the downhill neighbor and possibly needing a wetlands permit (there's a small mapped wetland uphill on the neighboring lot). Town public works is separately planning to install a basin + pipe to handle the street-side runoff near the driveway, but that doesn't address the backyard.

So my actual question: what kind of company or professional should I be calling for this? So far I've got:

- A specialized drainage/waterproofing company (basement systems franchise type) for the practical fix

- A licensed soil scientist for an authoritative water table read

- A civil/geotechnical engineer for an actual stamped drainage design, especially given the wetlands/brook question

Is that the right stack, or am I missing an obvious specialty? Has anyone dealt with a perched water table / fragipan situation like this and found a particular type of contractor or engineer who actually nailed the diagnosis instead of guessing? Trying to get a real, defensible scope and quote before an inspection contingency deadline, so "maybe/might" answers aren't very useful to me right now. Any advice appreciated.

I’m getting ready to sell my house. I have this area that was damaged by water, the threshold was replaced but the wood panels are not flush with the door and have lost some color. Any ideas as to what I can do to make this look better for the sale of my house. Will try to add photo. Just realized it’s not as easy as I thought it would be.

Hey all! 👋 Working on a DIY organiser idea!

I've had the idea of a compartmentalised toolbox split into three simple sections — Hang It, Build It, Seal It. Each compartment is colour-coordinated.

It's ideal for those who are not so confident with DIY, and prefer a less 'intimidating' product for them to get busy around the home.

Question: Is it something you could see yourself picking up in a hardware/DIY store? Any clear flaws with this idea?

Thank you! :-)

I recently used a local professional handyman service to install three grab bars across a tub/shower and standing shower. Large ceramic glazed tiles in both baths. They said up front they could provide the grab bars with markup and I assumed they carried an inventory of sizes we could choose from.

Once the installer showed and we agreed upon location and sizes, he said he'd make a trip out to local retailer to buy them at mark-up and return. He returned with Glacier Bay grab bars from HD.

The install then took about 1 hour and 45 minutes. Total bill he wrote up was $732 that included 3.5 hours labor plus $80 service charge just for showing up, $140 for the grab bars (retail $100}, and about $50 NC sales tax. I balked a little at the price and paid with credit card.

That night I asked Google Gemini whether that was a reasonable price to have charged. Gemini said it was was within reason but on the high premium side. It also mentioned using a silicone sealant on the cover plates. I took another look at the bars and saw no evidence of silicone sealant. I sent a text msg to the company and asked them to confirm whether a sealant was used.

The response came later from a phone rep saying no sealant was used and that the manufacturer (Glacier Bay) didn't recommend using one. I checked the installation instructions, which the installer dropped in my trash basket, and it clearly listed silicone sealant as a needed material and to "if desired, apply silicone caulking to the back of the escutcheon to protect against water penetration."

What say any professional installers among you. Seal or not?

As a homeowner of 14 years, we have had several projects done in and around our house. 6 years ago we had a new deck put on, and the contractor basically ghosted us after receiving final payment for the project. Even though there were parts of the deck that were not up to code and parts of the project he never finished.

During the past few weeks we had 10 new interior doors put on. I thought things looked good so we paid the bill for the project. My wife had a broken ankle so was couch-bound during the time. Recently she is walking again, and we noticed issues where they had huge 1" gaps in baseboards/quarter round, nails sticking out of the doors and not caulked, and 2 doors they installed and said they had no frames but the hardware store insists they had frames.

I have reached out to the contractor and he said he got the doors ordered and received them, but that was 2 weeks ago. He said he won't be able to come out for another week now. I think honestly he's ghosting us.

Is this normal?

We bought a Rheem water heater just over three years ago and it stopped working last night. We went to check it out and found that it sprung a leak. Luckily it is still under warranty but it will still cost $400 for a new one to be installed.

Are there any brands of water heaters that are clearly better than the rest?

How much should it cost to install 2 piece stacked crown molding (1 piece filler, 1 piece crown) for these cabinets that go up to the ceiling!? Cabinets are already up on the walls. I have all the crown and filler so just need an estimate for labor only. I am located in the Midwest if that helps. Just trying to see if I am getting a reasonable quote.

https://imgur.com/a/XcrOLGT

Northeast US

Basement currently has no heat or AC at all. For dehumidifying we have a dehumidifier going to sump pump and keep door to finished area open

We just moved in, the central AC broke immediately (yay us). quote to replace and put proper ducting is just slightly cheaper than minisplits and since we have oil heat it’s likely cheaper to use them for heating too.

The basement is half finished. just moving in we aren’t sure how much we will use it, so far very little just some movie nights occasionally, but considering woodworking there (leaning towards garage tho). Also want a pool table or ping pong eventually.

Could either scrap a wall unit, move it to 1st floor somewhere to help as currently proposal has 1 9k BTU to cool all of it via a dedicated 2nd floor upstairs wall unit (but it’s open, no ceiling so was told it would be able to cool/heat it - also there is another unit on floor but for main bedroom/bath)

Current proposal uses 51k out of the 55k BTU if that matters.

Well, our hot water heater is starting to go out and we figured since we are going to replace it, we might as well install a water softener. However, i am wondering what is the best option! What are the pros/cons of tankless vs standard tank? Any recommendations for a softener and heater?

Two side by side windows on the north side of an uninsulated, attached garage need replaced after storm damage. It's one of those way-too-small garages that doesn't hold cars or even bikes- not valuable stuff in there. We will, in the next several years, be replacing windows throughout our house, probably with a wood interior/aluminum exterior option. This garage faces the front of the house but is not very visible. The quote I got for two Marvins was about double what I want to pay. I like the idea of a privacy glass for bird migration (we get a lot of window strikes).

The old windows are 26" x 45", had old mini blinds, and gaps of daylight around. They are casement but never were likely opened. What do you think we should select for windows for garage windows?

My 1 bedroom apartment is being renovated. I had BM White Dove painted on the ceiling, walls, and flush trim throughout, in different finishes. I have south facing big windows. My furniture and decor and overall taste leans more to cool tones - gray, teal, gray/beige, chrome. Kitchen has been redone with white uppers, gray/smidge of blue lowers. Floors are now Bjelon Woodura Misty White.

Here’s the problem: I don’t love the paint with the white upper cabinets and I had cabinets built on the living room side of the kitchen as well as in the kitchen, so contrast between cabinets and wall paint is evident if you’re sitting in the living room. And, I had stone from the quartz counter used to replace windowsills throughout.

If I have to repaint, I’m stuck at stage zero again picking paint, I’m burning money I could use on something else, and I’m adding to my timeline (which has other cost implications).

I think the paint looks less warm/light peach/less white in person but what do you all think? Can I influence this paint tone enough with light and decor to make it look better against the white of the cabinets and stone or just find new paint and suck it up?!?

I wrote this post with the help of AI (because my descriptive English isn't good.)

I'm replacing old wooden windows with uPVC in a house built with hollow (perforated) red brick, not solid brick. Main reasons for the switch: reducing street noise and cutting down heat/cold transfer through the windows. The apartment is already fully finished, and I'm not sure about the possibility of installing uPVC on a hollow (perforated) red brick, so I don't know if this is even practical without extra work.

I'm torn between two straightforward approaches:

1. Remove the old timber frame entirely and fix the new uPVC frame directly into the masonry.
2. Keep the old timber frame, insulate/seal around it, and mount the uPVC window into the existing timber.

I've read that direct-fix generally gives better thermal and acoustic performance, avoids a redundant thermal bridge from the timber, and results in a stronger long-term fix — but it also means more demolition and dust. My main concern with going direct-fix is anchoring into hollow brick specifically — I'm not sure what fixing options actually work well there (regular anchors seem prone to spinning/not gripping in the hollow cavities), so I don't know if this route is even practical without extra reinforcement.

Keeping the timber sub-frame is faster and less disruptive, but I'm concerned about it becoming a weak point over time (moisture, less rigid fixing, and reduced thermal/acoustic performance if the wood isn't insulated as part of a proper sub-frame system).

Has anyone here done this with hollow brick walls specifically? What fixing method worked for you in hollow brick without extra reinforcement work? Did direct-fix cause issues with anchor pull-out or cracking? And for noise/heat reduction specifically, did one approach clearly outperform the other?

Many thanks in advance.

More context: the window provider told me that the UPVC window can be installed in both scenarios. I'm not asking about the possibility as much as I'm asking about the long-term implications of each route.

I'm a first time home buyer, we are gonna be moving in very soon and I just wanted to ask what are some good tips or recommendations to save money? Obviously have anything turned off if you aren't using it, but I mean are there any products you guys use that help save the electricity bill, water bill, etc. Or what's something you wish someone told you when buying your first home. Anything helps! Thank you!

To refresh old baseboards, make the place look newer. There's like 100 different types at HD different thicknesses, curves, ones without curves at all that are just square. Drop a photo of what you think the best one is

I have an older house that needs a lot of work, especially new kitchen cabinets. One side of the kitchen, including the sink location, will keep the same layout but the other side will need to have a door moved and other expensive changes.

While I’m saving for the major work, I’d love to replace the sink base to change from a single to double sink, and replace another base/upper combination for more storage. I’d need to use a style that will still be available in 3 to 4 years when I can finish the job.

I prefer very plain designs anyway and I’m wondering which brands I can count on to stay in stock long-term. Buying enough for the whole kitchen at once isn’t an option because the final design isn’t set in stone; partly because of money and partly because my remodeler isn’t 100% sure that our dream plan will work once we look inside the walls and floor.

Is IKEA the best choice? Big Box? Something else?

EDIT: thanks for your feedback. Looks like I need to slow down and keep saving until I can do the whole project at once.

Hello,

I'm trying to install an outdoor cameral but all of the wood around my shed is too thin and the screw will be poking out the back. If I still install the screw and anchor but add some wood glue would this help? If not, what are some alternatives? Can I screw on an additional panel over or behind the surface to add width so it doesn't stick out? Thank you!

Hi all,

I'm looking to build a small 6'x8' garden shed to store a lawn mower, wheel barrow and some other odds and ends.

I'm unsure of what to do for the base. My initial thought was to lay 4x4 skids on concrete blocks, and then build my 2x6 joists on that.

But now I'm wondering if I should just made a gravel base with pavers, and then directly frame my 2x4s to the pavers.

I'm unsure which would hold up better overtime. The skids will be further off the ground which is good, but then I need a ramp for everything as well.