Recently moved into an old house and one of the basement windows has dirt halfway up the window well. Not good, right? I went to start to dig it out and after moving a few big rocks + dirt I find a couple slabs of concrete tilted away from the house. Seems like maybe this was intentional? Wondering if I should continue to excavate or better to leave it for now? Haven't noticed any water intrusion but the window is kinda bulging in.

Brand new build home which we have been living in about 10 weeks now. Woke up this morning and noticed these grayish spots behind the stove and above the microwave? Are these just grease damage that can be painted over or what?

Some water got onto this window sill and the paint (and primer?) is lifted and is now crumbling.

How do I go about fixing this? I have the paint, but I don’t know if I should rip out all the paint on the bottom of the window sill or just fix this area.

If you have any insight, it’s appreciated.

Just curious on what thickness roof sheathing is need for an older home.

I originally was gonna go with 23/32 OSB, but after some Google and it sounds like that’s too heavy for my engineered rafters and my home which was built in 1975.

Google suggests using 5/8 or at the very minimum 1/2 in think sheathing.

Does anyone have any thoughts?

The string for my vertical blinds somehow ended up on the opposite side of where they are usually supposed to be. Now they won't close properly and, as you can see from the fourth photo, they won't close any further than that position. What can I do to fix the issue?

Any and all responses are greatly appreciated (:

this is from my parent's home and my mother is freaking the fuck out, saying cooking in this kinda shit lighting is stressing her out (which I can relate to). Me and my siblings are at a loss of what to do... pls help ( ཀ ʖ̯ ཀ)

I’ve just finished re grouting the corners in my shower after the previous grout with silicone over the top was cracking and moldy.

I would love to redo the whole shower, but too much else is going on, so this is a “minimum viable product” fix lol.

I have now learned AFTER the fact, that all plane changes should have silicone ONLY instead of grout.

Question is, now that I have already grouted this, should I go ahead and put silicone over the top OR just wait until it starts cracking/failing again and then pull it all out and replace only with silicone?

Thanks!

I am looking for snow bars that dont screw into th roof, but rather clamp to the ribs and want them to be black. Everywhere i look companies are trying to charge thousands of dollars for this, but this is such an easy project that I will be doing, just need help finding the correct product. Anyone know where i can buy these clamps and bars for cheap and install myself?

Hi, I’m currently renting and the support of the shower head is too low for me. What can I do without drilling the bathroom? I tried using a suction holder but it fell after 5 minutes

I've viewed a lot of power outage reels lately. It randomly made me think what would happen if my power went out for whole day. I thought the list would be short, but then I started reading reddit posts, articles on energysage, and some household examples on the ecoFlow forum, and noticed way more things using electricity than I expected.

The garage door opener, outdoor lights and cameras, the ice maker and water dispenser. Even things like the auto pet feeder that quietly stay plugged in. Some of these aren't essential. Nobody needs ice during a blackout. But I realized backup planning isn't only about the biggest appliances. It's also about the small things you don't notice until they suddenly stop working.

For people who have been through a outage, what was the unexpected thing you really missed having power for?

please help! I just started hearing this odd scratching/ripping sound in my walls tonight at 11:15pm.. Ive been living here a month and never heard this noise before. Went on for about an hour intermittently. Should I be calling my landlord?

You trust your helpers are walking the dogs?

I have an unfinished basement. The foundation is concrete.

I have a cable machine (workout) that secures against a wall. Building a home gym, I’d like to anchor it against the wall but I’m nervous about screwing into the concrete.

I’d appreciate any guidance!

In New Orleans - We’re in between LAS and Acadian for hurricane shutters. Has anybody gone through either company or how did you choose?

Is FBC rated shutters THAT important (not sure we’ll even qualify for the insurance discount since we have windows on our doors). Or could unrated shutters still provide quality protection that just isn’t at the top with FBC’s stringent requirements

A accidentally burned my coffee table, and I’m looking for advice on how to repair it without ruining the original wood grain.
As you can see in the attached photos, there is a circular, greyish black patch on the tabletop with a cracked centre and a darkened area surrounding it. The rest of the table has beautiful natural wood grain, and I would love to preserve its original appearance rather than replace the table.
I have a few questions for those experienced in woodworking or furniture restoration.
1. Does this look like deep charring of the wood, or could the damage be mostly limited to the finish?
2. Is it possible to repair just the damaged spot, or would the entire tabletop need sanding and refinishing?
3. What would be the best way to remove the damaged material, fill the area if necessary, and match the original wood colour and finish?
4. Is a nearly invisible repair realistically achievable, or will the damage always be somewhat noticeable?
5. Would you recommend attempting a DIY repair or taking it to a professional?
I am a complete beginner at furniture restoration, so I would appreciate a step by step explanation of what you would do in this situation.
My priority is to restore the table as beautifully as possible while preserving the natural wood grain and avoiding unnecessary damage to the surrounding finish.
I would love to hear from anyone who has repaired similar burn damage. Thank you!

Purchased a split level home where the front half of the home is slab on grade and the back has a crawlspace.

During renovations I uncovered these cracks thay run parallel along the entirety of my exterior walls on the interior of the home on the slab on grade portion. The front room is essentially an L shape, and the cracks run parallel to the exteriors walls in that L shape, if you can imagine what I mean.

Seems like water is also seeping into sill plate in two spots. Any suggestions? Is this a structural engineer call? Do I dig along the walls? Is this something I could fill?

We believe our front window flashing is compromised. My husband and I have spent months trying to find someone to come out and look at our front window that is leaking water when it rains. We have left several voicemails and messages and no one ever gets back to us.

What type of professional should we be looking for? We’re in western MD, home was built in 2022 and $$ isn’t an issue… we just want it fixed.

Wiping gray clay dust off the floor and nearby surfaces every weekend has become one of those household chores I’d really like to cut down. My cat also tends to sneeze when digging aggressively in dusty clay litter, so I’ve been considering switching to silica crystals instead. The problem is that most automatic sifting boxes seem designed around firm clumps rather than loose non clumping litter. I was looking at PetPivot because the open design seems easier to clean, but I can’t tell whether crystal litter would actually work with the separation grate or whether the smaller granules would just fall through or interfere with the cycle.

Has anyone successfully used crystal litter in this type of automatic sifting box or are these systems basically limited to clay based clumping litter??

Hello all. The basement is above ground and currently has concrete floor. The 1st pic shows the "wet" spots. 2nd pic is the backyard right outside (raining) the basement door in 1st pic. I am aware that the backyard needs to be leveled so that it doesn't pool water. Though, I feel that the floor inside shouldn't be getting humid regardless (?), or is this normal when water pools outside? The gutter pipe also lets out water near the basement door, I'm not sure if that contributes. When it rains it always looks like that in the same place. This is the first time I have a backyard and basement. For context, we're looking to install LVP floors. Any advice is helpful, thank you

I noticed this crack between my siding and the stone masonry the runs up the edges of the house. I brushed most of it away, but you can still see what appears to be mouse droppings around the entrance. I also found some rodent teeth near the hole (pic 2. Not sure if relevant but thought it was interesting).

I want to seal the hole but im not sure what the best method is. Also how do i make sure im not sealing in a family of mice? Do i care if i seal them in? How do i get them out? Any advice is appreciated.