Home Improvement

Context: I found what looks like a regular mildew (white, fuzzy and organic, in somewhat large splotches, easy to clean with vinegar, only found on the wood beams) in my basement when my dehumidifier broke and it was particularly humid this summer in my area. I've cleaned it up to the best of my ability and I have a new dehumidifier that should handle the total square footage in my basement.

It looks like my cleaning is working for the mildew, but it sparked a visceral fear that I didn't know I had which was the fear that there is mold in my house. As far as I can tell, I don't have any but I do have some sites in my bathroom and kitchen that look like they could be good areas for mold to start growing. I.e. I have to fix the sealant around my tub, there are some gaps at the back of my old cupboards in the kitchen, and the vent fan above the stove doesn't actually vent anywhere, it just runs the air through a charcoal filter it looks like.

Are there any tips for what I should look out for regarding the starting signs of mold growth or any kind words that can bring my fear addled mind some peace?

Thank you.

Edit: Ok no worries guys it was definitely just the tub leaking! It just took several hours for it to stop dripping afterwards which is why I was confused at whether or not it was the tub or something else. All is well! It's a very infrequently used shower/tub so I hadn't noticed anything prior.

I'm guessing it's likely the tub drain itself that was leaking or it's possible one of the outflow pipes leaked from there. Either way it's not an urgent fix thankfully! I just posted this a bit hastily I suppose. I appreciate the comments!

-----

Hello. So the other night I had a tub filled up with water for a prolonged period of time. I do not typically use the tub in that bathroom. The tub water was stagnant and thus the leak would not have been caused by inadequate caulking between the tub and wall.

Today I have awoken to find that my ceiling below the upstairs bathroom is wet and there is a dripping noise in the wall downstairs roughly under the tub.

I have drained the tub about 20 minutes ago, but there is still a slow, but continuous dripping noise in the wall below the bathroom. Since the dripping noise is still occurring at the same slow pace, does that mean it is unlikely to actually be dripping from the drain or pipework that drains from the tub?

My unit has a shared wall with the neighbor, so there is a chance that there is actually something leaking from their unit instead of mine.

Is there a way I can troubleshoot this a bit further without immediately ripping out the walls? Even if I can't find the exact source, just narrowing it down to something with the neighbor versus my own bathroom would be helpful.

I can't call a plumber right now because we literally just had a hurricane so they are going to be tied up for a bit.

Thanks all.

I acquired this older Black & Decker Hedge trimmer and it seems to have a special kind of cord. Any idea where I could find this cord or what its called? I have not been able to even figure out what the cord looks like yet.

UPDATE: I cut off the extra plastic to get access to plug it in and the tool doesn't even work anyways. Time for the garbage.

Essentially any large flush through my house (washer, shower) has started coming up through my basement drain in the floor. I bought this house two years ago for full price and already am 20k deep in hidden repairs (all from basement flooding, yayy). I can explain if I need to, but I really just don't have extra funds to put to this after the others. I'm thinking I can't bathe with more than a gallon of water and not wash dishes or clothing until I can fix it.

Edit: Thank you for all the comments. I'll hire a plumber.

Hey, apologies if I'm not using the correct terms, I'm going to do my best to describe the issue.

This is a photo from my shower. There's a glass "wall" and a glass door. The door is connected to the glass wall by a hinge. The glass wall was glued to a metallic frame but it looks like the glue is not holding it in place anymore.

!

!

!

Is it a DIY job for a new homeowner after the millionth thing broke down this month and is ready to step into traffic? Or should I just hire someone? What profession am I even looking for to get it fixed?

If it's an easy enough fix, what keywords do I use to look up a fix and the materials needed?

Any other useful information or advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

Update: thank you all for the comments. I don't think I have the skills to do this project by myself and don't want to risk glass all over the bathroom floor. I've contacted some people who fix windows and stuff, and they've agreed to this work at a reasonable price.

How bad is this crack? I just noticed it today but I assume it's been there a while and happened after an earth earthquake we had a few months ago.

Is this something I can just fill in with mortar and keep an eye on?

I plan on reaching out to our insurance company to see if they'll pay for it but if not we're pretty strapped for cash at the moment.

Renting a room in an old house. The landlady is one of the rare good ones and cooks for me somtimes so I'm trying to be handy where I can.

This light in my office died, and a few others in the house are in dire need of replacing. Rusted and covered in decades of caked on dust, probably hazardous.

I keep seeing units like this. https://a.co/d/iU3hAd3

But I'm wondering if I should get a few of those or get another bulb style ceiling lamps and just use LED bulbs?

You know the temperature thing you turn round from like 0 to 5 depending on how hot you want it to be? Well I think, in trying to turn it off I may have turned it too far. As the it just keeps turning but in a jerky movement and the number doesn’t change if that makes sense? Like there’s a little plastic arrow that points up at the setting it’s on, so that you know what setting it’s on. But now it’s like the whole thing is turning rather than just the plastic cover with the numbers on.

So I think (well I’m hoping cos the opposite would be worse) that it’s now turned completely off and there is no way to turn it on. But because the whole thing is turning and the numbers don’t change up or down regardless of which way you turn it, it’s possible it could be on any one of the 0-5 settings but only stuck as showing on 0.

Any ideas?

Cheers!

Another before:

!

It's green Vermont slate, figured out that it was originally painted black and marbled. Victorian thing, faux marble mantels. Fireplace is also Victorian faux, red brick, would have had logs and a red light. I'll be putting in a gas insert at some point.

Started at 220grit, and worked up to 1000. Finished with a 50/50 mix of boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits:

Didn't realize slate could be this pretty and figured:

!

!

I made these for a friend but others kept asking me to make more, so I put them on Artisans coop. I've tested them up to 45 pounds so far. What do you all think?

I fixed my roof a few years ago, and have part of a roll of tar paper sitting in the basement. I’m now re-laying some hardwood flooring. Can I use that leftover stuff as underlayment, or is there some subtle but important difference between “flooring” tar paper and “roofing” tar paper that means I ought to go buy some other product?

(If it matters, the house was built in the 1940s and uses materials typical of that era. I’m just doing repairs/small modifications, so I’m patching in like-for-like stuff.)

I moved my business into a new building, and there is a doorway i want to put up a door in it. However the doorway is about 1/4" narrower at the bottom, than the top. Neither of the top corners are square. I am looking for the easiest way with the least amount of work and knowledge needed to hang this door. It is only a barrier, it is not for security. It will be closed most of the time, so i am not worried if it is going to naturally swing open or closed.

Also, the cuts for the hinges on the door and the frame do not line up. I am fine with buying a new door, but I would rather not replace the frame of i can avoid it.

Any suggestions?

Our bathroom sink overflow is driving me crazy with the awful smell.

I know it gets contaminated through regular drainage rather than overflow drainage. If I don’t clean it out at least once a week, foul smelling crud accumulates in the overflow slot.

I’ve changed the drain assembly 2x. I’ve disinfected it, used hospital-grade cleaners, hot water, vinegar. Nothing helps unless I clean the accumulated sludge, and I can’t figure out why it’s accumulating in the first place.

Should I plug the overflow slow? Tape over it? Is it the sink design that’s defective? I’m at a loss.

The project entails blowing out 2 bay windows and putting standard size ones in place. Problem is we need to figure what to do about siding. The last 7 years we have looked at siding and have never came across these. I've considered doing cider slats painted this color but it's still gonna be an eye sore.

And for those who will suggest it, no I'm not going to reside my entire house.

Hello!

It looks like the builders never installed J-channels around the windows, and we've noticed some water coming into the house through the window frame during heavy rain and wind. The internet tells me it's possible to slide some J-channel under the existing siding but I can only find videos on doing it before the siding goes on.

Any help would be appreciated :)

Edit 1: this only happened one during a very intense rain, not all the time.

Edit: Figured I'd update in case it can help anyone. I got in touch with someone to come take a look, and it turns out these windows have built-in J-channels so that wasn't the issue at all.

The problem was where the house wrap actually went behind the window, making that J-channel useless basically. While it was still taped across, that's really the only place water could have come in so there must have been a gap in the seal. So he sliced the wrap, inserted another barrier under it and layered it so that water could never get behind it again.

Also confirmed no water damage/stains around the windows so it's likely all the water that came in was caught inside by our towels.

I'd like to hang vertical blinds on my floor-to-ceiling windows (272 cm in height). Ceiling is concrete and has a rail already mounted.

The off the shelf solutions I see have mounts that are fixed to a wall, not to the ceiling.

• Can I fix a mount to the white window frame shown in the picture?
• If not, is it a good idea to remove the existing rail, and use the existing holes in the concrete to hang a mount for the vertical blinds mount? Perhaps with a right angle bracket?

I had to take down my old post. I got a few messages since then how it is now that it's "done".

I am not completly done, in winter I will install the backwall of the kitchen about 30-35 cm high against the wall with the same material my kitchen counter is. Or I will use tiles to spice it up, but haven't decided what colors would fit or if I will just stick with the kitchen counter as background.

I know it will get dirty, especially with the coffee machine near the wall but thats a winter project for me.

So here is the endresult with the open wood ceiling.

Edit: Oh and one shelf on top is missing that will be installed in 5 weeks though, will just fix the symmetry

I work in a basement office. There is a below-grade egress window, with a 3-4ft ladder and a large plexiglass dome that you can push out of the way.

I noticed a terrible smell when I opened my window the other day, and it was because of a dead mouse that presumably couldn't get out of the recess. On inspection, I found the remains of several more dead rodents there, so this has been a problem in the past too.

Any ideas on how to prevent this? I both feel bad for the dead animals and am disgusted by the smell when they decay. The plexiglass dome has chicken wire for airflow, so I can't necessarily block those off. Maybe there's some method to repell them, or help them escape?

I'm currently working on my sprinkler valve box. It sucks ass. It's dug in the ground. I'm on my knees trying to replace a Hunter valve. This is the second time I'm back here this week because replacing the diaphragm didn't fix the leak. I think I'm gonna have to replace the whole valve, but the stupid valves are in the stupid valve box. So now I have dig out the box anyway (which is something the valve box is supposed to save you from).

I don't get why people think valve boxes are a good idea... It's making maintenance a bitch. It also hid the leak from me for a while. I only found this problem because I had a HUGE helldivers2-style bug breach here. Which makes sense: the box provides shelter and water.

I'm thinking of redoing this part of the Irrigation system and having the valves stick up out of the ground. Obviously now I have to protect against the weather, but that seems like a decent trade off for easy maintenance, easy malfunction discovery, and less potential for a bug infestation. (Don't give a crap about looks.)

Does anyone have any recommendations for above ground enclosures? The main weather I have to protect against is sun. I don't get snow or crazy wind. I just need something like a wooden crate or something to cover the valves.

So it’s currently 100 degrees F in my garage today. I’m sure it will only get worse as the summer goes on. I added some of those insulated garage door panels, but I don’t think they did anything.

Now I’m wondering if I should add fiberglass insulation to the attic space above the garage. Would this help, or just lock in the heat? Would using a radiant barrier up there work better?

This is probably a dumb one, but here goes.

I've got a tiny house with one bathroom, and it only has a shower. I love taking hot baths, used to do it 2-3 times a week, more often when I'm sick, and I miss that. I have a pretty big shed in my back yard, think one of those pre-fab things... it's got some tools and stuff but it's mostly empty space. It's pretty close to a hosebib and an exterior electrical outlet on the side of my house, so I've got cold water and extension cord access.

Is it even reasonable to consider ways to set up a tub in the shed? Maybe freestanding? maybe something I build from fiberglass? I'm pretty confident I can drain the water out into my backyard with no issues (big yard, neighbors won't see / care), but is there anything obviously impossible or really stupid about this idea? Is it possible to use an electric water heater or should I figure out something with propane / butane? Anyone tried anything like this before?

I live in a pretty old house in the midwest, built 1929, bought in '21, single-story, ~1300ish sqft, and with a large, spacious basement. Every time summer comes around I've had issues with the basement getting MUCH colder than the rest of the house (like >10 degrees F difference), presumably due to poorly-insulated floors and cold air sinking. The HVAC is still capable of keeping the main floor at the temp set on the thermostat, but the temperature differential indicates it's working quite a bit harder than it really needs to be, and is probably wasting quite a bit of money.

I'm planning on getting an insulation specialist in at some point to go over options for shoring up the insulation, but I'm wondering if there's anything else I could do to recirculate air in the basement through the rest of the house - even with good insulation, I feel like the laws of thermodynamics would still result in a basement at least fairly colder than the rest of the house.

Is there anything I could look into that is reasonably cost-effective for circulating air from the basement to the rest of the house so my HVAC doesn't have to work so hard in the summer? Thanks

There are a few spots I've neglected to replace old brittle sealant (around the kitchen sink) or never sealed at all (new faucet I installed 8 months ago). Now there's black gunk accruing under and around the sealant.

When I go to replace the sealant, how do I kill the mold so it's safe to seal over again?

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

We have a couple big projects that I'm not comfortable doing myself (mainly roof/foundation repair).

I've had a couple contractors out that I found on google and have been very displeased. Their work might be good but jesus the salesmen they send out.

They range from overly aggressive to incompetent.

So how do you find good contractors? I've noticed the bigger the company, the worse the impression.

Hi all. I have a 2 storey, ~1200 sq ft home in a hot climate. I have a single HVAC unit...central air and ductwork, electric AC/heat. There is no zoning to the system. The thermostat is downstairs.

Everything is great in the winter months. But in the summer months, the upstairs is absolutely stifling. I don't have a thermostat upstairs, but it feels like it stays at least 10 degrees hotter than downstairs. I get that hot air rises, but considering the bedrooms are upstairs, it makes things unbearable.

My HVAC air handler and condenser are from 2008, so they are rather old and I'm likely to have to replace them soon. When I do so, I want to figure out how to keep the upstairs more comfortable.

Before I start asking companies for quotes, I want to figure out what I'm doing first. Some things I've come across...

1. Install something like a Nest system with a remote temperature sensor. Place the temperature sensor upstairs and have the Nest use that to figure out when to cycle the AC on instead of the downstairs thermostat. I could install something like this myself instead of needing an HVAC company, though it isn't necessary very efficient.

2. Consult with an HVAC company about having dampers/a zoning system installed. From what I've read online, it seems like people are saying this isn't really financially worth it. But if I'm at the point where I want a new system anyway, would it make sense?

3. Window AC units are an obvious "solution", but I can't have them due to the HOA.

4. I have read of suggestions of people saying to close the vents downstairs in the summer, but it seems like this is bad advice, as supposedly it will stress your HVAC and cause it to fail prematurely.

Edit: Just found a new one...setting the fan on the thermostat to "on" instead of "auto". Although some people seem to warn of mold growth.

Would love to hear any and all suggestions. Thanks!

I'm framing up a non-load-bearing wall that has two closet doors on it, close together (the king studs for the two openings are 13" apart). Unfortunately, they are aligned such that one of the 16" OC common studs would fall within that gap. In fact, it would only be 1/2" away from the left king stud, so not even anywhere near the middle of the space.) Is it still normal/expected to include that stud, or can I omit it?

(BTW: both doors will go to the same closet so there's no perpendicular wall teeing into this one, in case that matters.)

My goal is to keep hot/cool air from seeping between floors. Is canned spray foam the way to go? Any recommendations? Pest resistance is a bonus.

Id do it like this but two people told me other way... Not sure?

I had a heat pump installed about a year ago. It came with one free service and the installing company has been calling me almost every week to come out and do the complimentary tune up. I know that I obviously should take a free tune up, but it made me wonder. How often do I actually need this done? What are they actually "tuning up"?

I am very much a DIY'er and doing my own HVAC repairs have never been out of the question. Actually, I have rebuilt a couple of systems, less the pressurized parts of the system.

HVACs are great until they aren't and the need for repairs always comes up at the worst possible time. It would be nice to know more details for those reasons.

If you ignore the direct question about charging an HVAC, there could actually be a small, slow leak in my system as it stands. That'll get troubleshot in due time. (Still, I don't think I have ever had a system that didn't need the system to be topped off after a few years, even with no detectable leaks...)

It doesn't seem difficult: Ensure system is at correct temperature; attach a gauge; depressurize/pressurize as needed.

There has to be some "gotchas" in there somewhere. The equipment is cheap enough and I am fairly sure I can source the correct refrigerant easy enough.

Aside from needing to store and manage a small supply of refrigerant and that there are some annoying risks (like a system freezing over, etc..), what cost factor and equipment am I not taking into account?

Recently had a new standing seam metal roof installed. Roofers could talk the talk but I was not impressed with the quality of work overall. My main complaint is that they installed the roof so that most of the sewer vents go right through the middle of a seam. The boots are clearly not designed to accommodate this and they've succeeded in creating more work for me in the future; which is what I was trying to to avoid by spending the extra money to upgrade to metal. The boots are going to leak. In fact, they already have.

I was pretty pissed about this initially and told the owner of the roofing company that if they had bothered to tell me this was going to happen, I would have moved the damned vent pipes myself if they weren't going to. The right fix would be to replace the panels and move the vent pipes but I have a feeling getting them to do that is going to be difficult if not impossible.

Is there a boot that's designed for this kind of install or a better way of sealing these? Or, am I going to be stuck checking and resealing them every couple of years?

Edit: Resolved. Decorative brick is actually a chase and doesn't need to be completely filled in. Thanks to @Death_Equity@lemmy.world for advice on rebuilding the crown.

I have a double sided wood burning brick fireplace which is honestly just a big collection of code violations. It was converted to propane shortly after -- I'm assuming -- the people who built the house 50 years ago discovered that it smoked badly in the house. I fixed all the major issues with the firebox and smoke chamber and converted it back to wood burning this past winter.

I had a new steel cap fabricated to replace the old brick and concrete cap, which I removed. During this process, I discovered that the brick is basically just a facade. There are huge gaps on either side of the flues which are encased in 4" cinder blocks. My understanding of fire code (at least in the US) for masonry fireplaces is that the material surrounding the flue is not permitted to have any gaps in it. NFPA says all gaps in the brick should be filled with mortar. However, I'm not sure what to do with a gap this large. I'm not sure if filling it with mortar or concrete is an option. I've considered installing a steel flue liner but those are expensive and there are two flues. I'm also concerned about steel liners changing the draft characteristics since the chimney is on the short side.

If money were no object, I would tear this thing out and put a more efficient steel insert in but that is cost prohibitive.

Anyone have any experience fixing something like this?

EDIT: I ended up using epoxy. Thank you for the help.

I've tried scrubbing it several times with bar keepers friend soft cleanser and although it improves, it never goes away completely and it always comes back.

!close up picture of bathtub floor discolouration

We have a motion activated sprinkler to deter deer from eating our tomatoes and I'm looking for a timer that will shut off the water flow during the day. The ones I've seen at the store seem to only want to water intermittently, instead of completely off/on. Does anyone know of one?

So my home office is in our basement while my wife’s is in a finished attic space. We have a mini split system, but it has to be all heat or all cooling, and many days it’s cold in my office, but hot in my wife’s office.

Thanks to a defunct chimney, I have a pretty decent path from the attic to the basement that could easily accommodate some kind of ducting.

I’d like to make a system that can push air from my office to hers or vice versa as needed. I think this would really help the house in general as cold air tends to pool in the basement.

I’ve seen plenty of ducting booster fans, but I’d like something with a speed (or at least direction) control accessible from the outside.

Does something like this exist? It would need to force air through maybe 30-40’ of ducting.

Had a nice little foundation leak during the last rain storm. Installed a drain line last fall to divert two downspouts and front walkway run off away from the house which helped a lot. Front walkway and a big retaining wall next to it ultimately need to be removed and reinstalled with proper grading and drainage. That's going to be a huge and expensive project so for now I'm just replacing all the worn out concrete sealant and hoping for the best.

I am not familiar with this bronze colored nut that is holding my current Grohë Ladylux kitchen faucet to the counter. Does anyone know the best way to remove this? Thanks very much in advance!

EDIT: I figured it out. You CANT unscrew the bronze colored piece from below. You have to Disassemble the upper part and then there's an internal threaded bit in the upper part that you have to unscrew. The guy in the video whips out some special tool that hasn't been seen or mentioned before in the video and uses it to unscrew the interior threads. I don't have that magical tool, so I just used pliers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRZ1QOinJsE

Renovating the bathroom and found these dark patches in the joists and roof lumber surrounding the old vent pipe. The PVC part is new.

Anything bad here? Anything we need to address?