I finally decided to get a dehumidifier for my basement because it always felt damp, and there was that musty smell that seemed to get worse after rainy days.

At first, I wasn't expecting it to make a huge difference. But after letting it run for a while, I was honestly surprised by how much water it pulled from the air. The basement feels much more comfortable now and doesn't have that cold, damp feeling anymore.

I've been keeping the humidity somewhere around 45-50% and letting the unit turn on and off as needed instead of running it constantly.

The only thing I'm not a huge fan of is having to empty the water tank. I'm thinking about setting up a continuous drain, but I'm still figuring out the easiest way to do it.

For those of you who already use a dehumidifier, do you keep yours running all year or mainly during the more humid months? Also, did you notice much of a change in your electricity bill?

Can a whole house (2600 ft^2, 3 story, No attic) fan be effectively  installed in this window (30 x 45 in) at the peak of a skylight? Live near ocean in Southern California where evenings are usually cool from breeze. (See post in r/hvacadvice for photo)

https://imgur.com/a/8GH1Xqc

is this pipe freeze damage, or something else? if so, can i replace just the portion that burst, or should i replace the whole baseboard run?

We just purchased a home and will be remodeling the master bathroom which is on the second floor. What should we do/ask the contractors that we interview?

Important items

- Mold: Terrified of mold. Best way to prevent mold? Are there special boards or water proofing to be used? What exhaust fans should we buy?

- Tiles: We like the look of large format tiles. Minimal maintenance type tiles? We are looking at porcelain and minimal grout lines.

- Design: Turning the tub into the shower and making the small shower a closet. Any red flags with that idea? We would replace the counter top, but the vanity is in good shape. Better to rip out for new vanity or just rebuff and stain?

- Fixtures: Any specific material/brand to recommend?

Anything I missed feel free to let me know. Hoping to stay under $25K

I live in a students dorm, my room is 20 square meters and I have silverfishes on the walls and floors. I vacuum every 3 days and I also change the air a lot besides using traps since months and spray them. The problem is that this room has a lot of open spots in the walls near the ceiling and once they are in your room they don't go away. The dorm doesn't care. Is a dehumidifier my only hope? what do you think about COMFEE Dehumidifier 12 litres/day. Please let me know, I'm losing my mind they are disgusting.

Has anyone bought a cheap scoping unit and done this DIY? Maybe Harbor Freight, etc. I was just quoted $145 for first and $70/each after. This would total about $360. I’d love to do it myself and have to the tool available for future use if possible.

I have a really old gorgeous armoire that belonged to my grandma. Its in rough-ish shape (stain wise) but otherwise is in good condition. Its a very very very deep reddish brown, which I actually love but my bathroom is very small.

I dont want to paint over it, or alter the original stain, but i do want it to match ny bathroom more since right now it sticks out like a sore thumb.

I was thinking of the renter-friendly wallpaper ive been around? Would it damage the wood or no?

Stink bugs keep getting into my attic — how can I get rid of them permanently?

Hi everyone, I'll get straight to the point: I have a huge problem with Asian stink bugs in my attic.

I've already sealed every single hole, crack, and possible entry point I could find, but they still keep getting inside. I constantly find them in the attic

Has anyone dealt with the same problem and actually found a permanent solution?

What I really want to understand is how they're still getting in despite me sealing all the visible openings, and what I can do to stop them from getting inside once and for all.

Any advice, personal experience, effective methods, or things I should check would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

My neighbors backyard is about 4-5ft higher than ours. When we moved in a few years ago there was already a 3 ft retaining wall built about 4ft from the fence (see photo), but the dirt within is sloped and when it rains the water passes over the dirt and flows straight into our pool and yard, causing the pool to get dirty and the side yards to flood. Ive gotten a couple $30k quotes to install drainange and an additional step retention wall between the fence and existing wall.

What are our best DIY options? We’re thinking of making the existing retaining wall higher so its flush with our neighbors yard and adding some drainage between the fence and wall, but I’m not sure how practical that is or if that’ll create too much weight pressure on that tall of a wall. Adding an additional wall would mean we need to rip all the plants out and do a lot of digging.

https://imgur.com/a/GSDDKkI

My GC recommended a tile person that already did a stucco wall for us and did a very good job. I like the guy seems good and works hard. He showed pics of his work on really nice looking jobs. After planning to use Tile person i learned he does not have a contractor or business license. What are my risks in using someone that does not have licenses? Its about 300 sf of tiling a master bathroom and $9-12k in OC, CA. Thoughts pls?

My Soffett under cover is sagging with the thin strip holding it up having the nails pulled out. I want to try to repair this myself. I'm a real amateur at repairs. I was going to buy a Brad Nailer but was told no, that 18 gauge nails had too small a head to hold it up against gravity over time. So, my questions are:

1. What type of strip is it that is used under the Soffett to secure it?

2. Is the Soffett covering too warped to try to resecure? If so what kind of wood is generally used - it is quite thin.

3. What type of fastener to use. I am old and not very good on a ladder so I think a traditional hammer will be too hard for me to lean back and work over my head - that's one reason I wanted to use a Brad Nailer.

I hope to just fix this one section that is bad and not around the entire house. Probably drive the better fastener every few feet around the whole house as a preventive measure. For reference the house was built in 1969 and I believe all original materials in the Soffett.

Thank you all in advance for any and all advice!

YIKES! I FORGOT THE PHOTOS! I WILL ATTEMPT TO PUT THEM IN A SECOND POST.

I'd like to add some lighting to this basement apartment living room and attached bedroom - currently only lit by a 3-bulb flush mount light, a fan w/ integrated LED, and a teeny window (that will soon be upsized to a proper egress casement). It's fit for cave goblins but not humans.

I think I want to install recessed retrofit E26 can lights (not integrated LED or pucks). The living room space is 13x17 (8' ceiling) and the bedroom is long and narrow, 8' x 18' (~7'6" ceiling).

The ceiling is double drywall on I-joists, and I have access to the cavities from an adjacent unfinished basement so fishing wires will be pretty easy.

What am I missing here? What would you do? (flooring and paint are already part of the plan)

https://imgur.com/a/ZIa0S49

We added a room in the back of our house, with a deck off of it. We just realized that the deck seems to have been very poorly designed. Basically it is a hollow concrete rectangle with boards on top. We are afraid of water pooling under it every time it rains leading to stench and eventual structural damage. We're not sure if there are any simple fixes or what should be done. Image below is prior to putting some composite boards on the top, but best indicates the structure.

https://imgur.com/a/9SI1D4W

Got a quote today that made me choke on my coffee.

We've got about 600 square feet of original 1970s oak hardwood on our main level. It's under carpet right now, but we pulled up a corner and confirmed it's actual 2-1/4" red oak in decent shape—some scratches, a few stains, but nothing that looks like structural damage. No water damage, no major gaps. Just needs sanding, staining, and three coats of poly. Pretty standard job, as far as I understand.

Guy came out, spent maybe 10 minutes walking around, took a couple measurements, and emailed me a quote this morning: $8,200.

I was expecting maybe $3,000–$4,000 based on what I've seen online. I know lumber prices are high and labor isn't cheap, but this is literally almost $14 per square foot just for refinishing—not even installation. I checked with a couple neighbors who had similar work done last year and they paid around $3.50–$4.50/sq ft.

I asked for a breakdown and he just said "includes sanding, staining, sealing, moving furniture, and disposal." No line items.

So my questions for the pros and experienced homeowners here:

• What's a realistic price per square foot for a basic sand-and-refinish job on red oak in a medium-cost area?
• Is there something I'm missing that could justify this number? Like is 1970s oak somehow harder to work with?
• Should I get more quotes (obviously yes), and what specific questions should I ask each one to make sure I'm comparing apples to apples?

Also—anyone have experience with DIY sanding and refinishing? I've watched about 14 hours of YouTube at this point and I'm starting to convince myself I could rent a drum sander and figure it out. Tell me why that's a terrible idea before I do something stupid.

My water heater has broken down, and is located in the attic. Is a heat pump water heater feasible for an attic? I'm in South Central Texas, so not in a super hurry - the water is not very cold.

I think the very hard water here contributed to the failure (lots of popping or cracking over last couple years). This will be the third water heater I've had during the 12 years I've had this home. So I would like to add a filter system for the line going into the water heater, but the system would need to withstand Texas heat in an attic. A water softener system is not feasible due to weird layout of plumbing lines going into my home. Any advice for that issue? Thanks!

Hi all,

You’ve probably seen my other posts. Currently working on adding back subfloor under a toilet due to a failed wax ring. Should I waterproof the plywood before laying it back down, if I will have a cement/backer board over it?

I can’t find good info on if I should or what to use. Thanks!

What do we do about this? They have just finished it a couple days ago (not completely done everything but grouted) and the pooling is very bad, I expected a bit because it was tough for them to grade and I already made them redo it when they were setting it but now its clear that it still was not good enough. At the worst parts it looks like the pooling is like 1/4 inch deep…

It’s not possible to fix without damaging waterproofing membrane? They used the schluter niche.

Yes I wrote my contractor about it, I am awaiting a response I just want to see what my options are and what is worth pushing and what isn’t.

Here’s the video of me trying out the working hot water and broken cold water faucet handles. https://imgur.com/a/RiNYCka

I have no clue how to remove the faucet handle cap to check inside. I do not know the model name for this type of sink faucet, so Googling does not help.

Looking into installing a single head mini-split system to climate control my garage.

Garage dimensions are 20x20 with 9.5’ ceiling. Walls, ceiling, and back of garage door are insulated & there’s one window but it doesn’t get direct sunlight.

Temps average in the high 30s F in winter, although it’ll sometimes get down to single digits or teens for a few days. Summertime is in the high 80s low 90s usually, and the humidity can range anywhere from 40-80% depending on the rain we get.

I was looking at a Pioneer 230v system that’s rated for 9000 BTU cooling, and 10000 BTU heating, but after some google searches I’m unsure if this is enough to get the job done. I also saw some 12000 BTU units but with the price difference I don’t know if it’s worth it to climate control the garage.

Would the 9000/10000 system be adequate or would this be underpowered? On the other hand, would the 12000 BTU system be overkill? I had Pioneer recommended to me but I’m not very informed on this subject so I’m all ears if someone’s got expertise in this line of work. Thanks

I have an 100 year old house. I'm having some remodeling done and my contractor told me he doesn't think my exterior (brick siding all across) is waterproofed. I'm not sure how one can tell without the ability to look behind the brick but he said something about that if it's waterproofed, there should be some stuff at the bottom of the brick along the perimeter - it went over my head so idk what he was referring to.

I'm trying to figure out what a good distance is. It seems that 18" works, but 21" definitely seems to work. I should say that any use of this distance is for a module that is 25' wide, so every 3" results in 6.25 ft^2 of con$truction $pace. This is for new construction, but I am posting in this subreddit because folks here seem to be very keen.

Descriptively, think of a double galley kitchen with a peninsula on the end, and such that the side wall continues past the end of the peninsula for some distance (i.e., either 18" or 21"). Behind the seating is a main passageway. I'd like for the extent the chair seating a moderately sized human (i.e., a human with a big belly would have the seat farther back) to fit within that distance, but more importantly so that that human's face would not be visible from someone on the other side of the wall.

I've tried to research what a good distance would be, but have come up empty.

Here's a picture of the peninsula seating having the wall extend a little past the peninsula (the 3rd picture, titled "West Chester kitchen:), although this has a window instead of a passageway.

I recently laid the tile and I guess I wasn't meticulous enough with my sponge work while grouting and changing out my water bucket but I am now dealing with hazy tile. I have sponged it 4 times now and mopped with plain water but it still looks hazy. Im at a crossroad of 1) using grout haze remover and scrubbing the tile 2) dry buffing 3) sealing the grout and calling it good. Option 3 is my least favorite as it will be something that eats at me every time I look at it. Wife says she cant tell and it looks great but I can see it.

Any suggestions?

My husband and I want to rip up the carpet in a 1980s house we are buying and have hard flooring installed (the carpet is really old and just needs to go!). We’re considering linoleum, LVP, vinyl, or laminate flooring (hardwood and tile = too expensive!). We have about 1500 sq feet to cover overall, maybe a bit less. Included in that are stairs.

We have never done a home project like this ourselves, but we’ve been reading about how LVP installation can be a beginner-friendly project. (Especially LVP click lock.) However, ideally we’d prefer to have an experienced professional do it. Our budget is about $10,000 USD. We have a baby on the way and a cat, and we want something as eco-friendly / non-toxic as possible.

Curious to hear people’s responses to any of these questions:

1. ⁠So… what about doing lock-click LVP or another flooring type as a first-time DIY project? Any experiences with that?
   
2. ⁠Any thoughts on the different flooring types? Including comfort level? We like to regularly mop our floors (without leaving floors sopping wet) and will be growing our family, so durability is very important to us!

Especially keen to hear from folks whose flooring has proved itself to be durable (that is, installed like at least a year or more ago). Thank you in advance!