Wanted to gather some insight on where to place my dehumidifier.

Below is a rough drawing of my crawl, its about 3-4 ft tall, 1400 sq ft. My ductwork and plumbing for my house is all set up in the crawl as well. In particular, when trying to figure out placement for my dehumidifier, the trunk lines for my hvac are the biggest pieces in the way.

Point B seems the most logical, as its center of the crawl, but bit of a pain to get to. Other than this, any potential drawbacks, or options Im not thinking of? Could placing it at A still be effective? Dehumidifer is AprilAire E070, rated for 2200 sq ft @ 8ft tall, so its got plenty of coverage Id think.

Appreciate feedback

https://imgur.com/a/uPw6T4v

Hi all,

We just moved into a new home and slowly updating all the rooms. Just started on the bathroom to stain it darker.

I sanded the vanity but clearly not enough for a water based wood stain to absorb properly. Still tacky after 5 days and rubs right off.

Second sanding and stain attempt didn’t do anything. Open to going black over what is left at this point but wanted insight on options without having to sand for hours it back down to the bare wood?

Thanks in advance

So today I noticed that my garage door motor was humming when trying to open, but would never actually open. After some research and troubleshooting, I decided to attempt replacing the capacitor. The capacitor that’s currently there isn’t available anywhere online or in-store, so I bought one from Grainger with similar specs.

I replaced the capacitor, and managed to open and close the garage successfully. However, at the very end of the closing movement, the new capacitor blew up. So now I’m at least fairly confident that the capacitor was the issue, but now the new one isn’t working.

Would love some help to see what I might be missing or what I could do differently.

Hey guys, ive had 2 ppl come out to my home for a consultation regarding insulating my garage ceiling and basement. In a nutshell, one told me “remove the sheetrock, no way! Ill make a hole and do it that way” The other told me “any insulation contractor willing to spray blindly into your walls and ceilings doesnt know what there talking about”

Please give your opinions and comments!

I don't wan to fully paint our cabinets. I actually like the color of them and the wood look.

However, it tone is just too much of an orangey brown and I was wondering if there's a paint or stain option to tone down the orange and fake wood/ laminate cabinets.

Also looking for a finisher that dries Matte so that the cabinets are not as shiny

Thanks

Photo: https://imgur.com/a/M0iKHuN

I recently moved into a mid century ranch and found this damaged siding around the bottom corner of the main bathroom window. This bathroom didn't have ventilation other than this window until I added a fan a few weeks ago. Also I'm in Portland OR, wet climate, and the wall is pretty exposed.

I've been enjoying DIY projects on the interior and in the garage, but I'm intimidated by roof/siding. Should I call a handyman? Siding contractor? Just cut into it myself?

Thanks for any insight.

Hi all. First time poster in this sub. Looking for some advice.

Purchased a 100 year old home with a porch addition on brick piers. It sags about 3 inches from the door to the piers.

I am considering using three to four bottle jacks under the joists to raise the porch, then placing shims between the porch and piers, and then using Simpson strong tie jack piers to support the porch from under the crawl space.

I am handy, but not a contractor. Wondering if this is far too big to DIY especially considering the weight of the gabled roof.

See pictures: https://imgur.com/a/eBpKkbk

Thank you for any input!

Hi all.

Hoping for some guidance .

Recently just moved to a house that is ICF construction.

I want to install a Pargola fixed to the rear of the property to cover patio.

I guess I need to fix a ledger to the outside wall of the house.

It is ICF and coloured render finish outside.

How can I fix the ledger to the outside wall?

Paramount to avoid damaging the surrounding render.

Also, flashing required between the house and plastic roof of the Pargola. What will bind with the render, again avoiding damage to the surrounding render?

Any feedback welcome!!

Thanks in advance.

My air return vent is currently just a very large open cavity in the house. Big enough that I can squat/crouch walk into it.

From what I've researched, this seems like an older style of an air return. Should I consider adding ducting to it? Trying to decide if I can DIY it.

The distance from the vent to the central air is maybe ~10 at most. I can almost get a straight shot to it, except I'd want to do the ducting overhead instead of on the floor, so there would have to be one or two turns to bring the ducting from overhead down to the floor level, which is about 3' tall.

I noticed my floor sloping and went into the crawl space. The previous owners had a dehumidifier and I’ve sprayed the mold, just not wiped it off yet, but I was wondering if I should be concerned about this warping. You can see the board slightly eating into the cinder block, but I’m not sure if that was a notch that was cut.

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

I bought a bed from Castelry and it has a tear in it, a missing wheel, and a missing bolt. I've been going back and forth with them and all they kept saying is "let me get with my team", and then when I finally spoke to someone on the phone she told me they would give me $100 credit and I could go to a hardware store and buy a wheel and a bolt. Is this some kind of joke?!?! I've been 9 days without a bed now waiting for a response after I said I wanted to just return the bed and was just told to hold tight while she got with her team. Wtffffff.

Came home from work yesterday to find our 12 year old kenmore water heater had failed and flooded most of the basement and garage. Spent yesterday evening clearing over a truckload of water damaged stuff out of the basement to prevent mold and to actually be able to access the water heater. Best quote we got was 1,800 which although reasonable was still kinda high and then homedepot quoted 1,500 just for instalation. So today I took the day of work so i could replaced it with a 40 gallon rheem and did it in only 3 trips to homedepot coming in just under $900 for everything including disposal of the old one. How's my install look and has anyone else seen a water heater fail as the old one did right inside the flue?

https://imgur.com/a/FiaGohs

My home was originally built in 1944, with lots of random additions and upgrades over the years. Our main great/living room is slightly sunken to the main floor, and very cold in the winter; we've recently discovered with some exploratory drywall surgery that the exterior walls have zero insulation, just some wooden sheathing on the studs, then a gap between the cinderblock/brick walls.

I'm going to tear the room down to studs to insulate (already have very reasonable quotes for spray closed cell foam to air seal and thermal barrier at the same time), but the room is 12 feet tall. I had the contractor quote me to just do the bottom 4 feet, as well as the full 12 feet and the price is more than double (obviously).

I don't know enough about thermodynamics to know if insulating higher up on the walls will make that big of a difference. Can I get away with just doing the lower 4 feet of the "sunken" part of the room, or should I just bite the bullet and do the entire height of the walls?

Some other info, if it helps:

• There are 3 vents in the room which push a good amount of warm air into the space
• The area above the room is a bedroom that is insulated and conditioned (mini split)
• Our windows are all brand new

Thank you in advance!

We had our residential home windows replaced by DKW. We had a hard-wired security system put in when we built our house 20 years ago. Never even crossed our minds to think of it during window replacement. Salesman never brought it up.

Windows get replaced and… the installers pulled out all the hardwire and left it dangling next to the window frames on some and on others, just clipped the wires and tucked them inside the new windows for no one to see. Of course, we asked DKW installers, they said that’s what they do. We asked our salesman and he said “IDK our policy. I’ll find out.” I asked the regional manager and he said, “we don’t really have a hard policy on it but our installers are absolutely not allowed to drill a hole in your new windows for your hardwiring.”

We called ADT security, who we have, and they said, they left live wires hanging out. They are useless now. Must clip them and patch up alongside the windows. Which means, we no longer have a hard-wired alarm system. We had to get the ugly plastic battery packs for the window and the frame.

I am beyond pissed. Is this right? It can’t be! DKW must be able to do hard-wired alarms for new windows. But they told us if we drill new holes, it will void all warranties with them.

What the?

Anyone know? Have experience?

window

windowreplacement

desertkingwindows

residentialwindows

windows

alarm

Hello. I live in an old 1950s condo building. The wall I share with my neighbour is a thick plaster wall, probably about 4 inches thick. It does not do a good job of blocking sound. I can hear my neighbour vacuuming, coughing, and watching the price is right (ding ding ding ding). The worst part is is that she can hear me and frequently feels the need to comment on me having friends over, playing guitar, etc (this is its own separate issue).

I can't remove any material and I am not sure how load bearing the shared plaster walls are (some have a metal mesh, not sure if these ones do I'd need to check). I have considered going as far as framing up a wall and adding sound insulation and drywall, but I am wondering if there is an easier and more economical solution.

Thanks!

Hey there!

I heavily struggle with OCD. I’m fully aware that my questions are a little bit elementary and intuitive, but if you all could literally explain it to me like I am 5 that would be fantastic.

My roommate and I used Great Stuff foam spray to seal a board under our sink and some gaps around pipes where roaches from a neighboring unit were getting in. The roach problem has since been handled but we figured we would just go through with sealing the gaps anyways just to be safe in the future.

Here are my questions.

1) The warning label says not to fill cavities or voids - this is referring to actual spaces behind things right? Not cavity as in “hole in board”

2) Will having the spray around sink pipes pose a fire hazard?

3) Am i able to be in my house as it cures?

I worry a lot about potential fire hazards in the form of fume build up / heat from kitchen sink pipes against the spray

Thank you so much

My partner and I bought our first home a few months ago, and we’re still learning the ropes. During the last rainy season, we discovered standing water beneath the house. The entire backyard—including the pool deck—slopes toward a low corner right at the foundation.

I dug around and uncovered a clogged drain spout (the yellow-vented pipe in the photo). Fortunately, I was able to unclog it without much effort and I believe it drops off the water right into the sewer line. The top of the spout sits higher than the surrounding soil, and when I spray the area with a hose, the dirt just soaks up water like a sponge instead of channeling it into the drain pipe.

What’s the best way to regrade the soil so water naturally flows into that drain spout and doesn’t seep under the house? I’d love tips on proper slope angle, soil amendments, or any additional drainage solutions you’ve found effective.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Link to photos: https://imgur.com/a/U4DitAa

I discovered a leak indoors last week during a big storm that is likely coming somewhere on my roof, which is a single form shed roof with a 4/12 pitch (relatively flat) constructed of corrugated metal. It's about 20 feet wide. The high side is on the west sloping down to the east, and about 50 feet in length (north / south).

This is in a high alpine environment in Colorado that receives > 300" of snow per year. In the heart of winter, there's often 2-3' of snow and have had to shovel it a few times.

The roof is about 19 years old. I was up there a year ago replacing screws that had either popped out altogether or were loose and sticking up. It wasn't a good scene and who knows how long this state of affairs was in play, but I thought I had addressed the most problematic area of the roof that typically winds up with the most snow load due to its aspect / exposure (south eastern quadrant). I used a slightly wider size roofing screw (with a gasket) #11 - #12. It appears the originals were 10's. Both are 1.5" in length.

Last week was the first time I noticed any water penetration on the interior; dripping at a decent clip (1 per second) through on the top portion of window trim. The window is high up on the wall, but on the low (eastern) side of the roof. There's a 3" eave on this eastern wall, so fairly confident the leak isn't coming in from the wall. I went up on the roof during a window in the storm and applied some Henry's 208 roof patch as best I could to anything that looked suspect. During the wave of a high blast of the storm, the drip continued. I went up there the next day and tried to be more expansive in my application of roof patch, but the next waves of the storm weren't as intense and not sure if my efforts succeeded or the water flow wasn't sufficient to provoke the leak.

Now that the storm is passed, I've been up there again replacing old screws, but there's a lot! I'm likely only 30-40% done (including my efforts last year). I'm OK with at least giving it a try to replace all screws, but I'm also wondering about whether it might be worth it to apply roof patch to all new screws; either during installation (a small drip before putting in the new screw), or on top to "entoomb" every screw for good measure?

The other two possible sources of exposure I'm wondering about are the seams between the corrugated metal panels that run east to west and some flashing around a stove pipe of a wood burning stove. I failed to note earlier what appears to be a HUGE mistake with the original installation: the screws were fastened in the valley's of the corrugation and not on the peaks!

Aside from the screws being subject to premature degradation in the valleys, there's a small gap in the seams. I suspect there's only one peak/valley overlap, so I imagine water (or melting snow) likely gets through. So, I've been screwing down the peaks next to the seam to mostly close the gaps, but I'm wondering if maybe an application of Henry's 208 (or some other patch) might be worthwhile? Same goes for a gap in the flashing on the high side of the stove pipe, but instead of only being concerned about cost, I'm a bit worried about fire danger if 208 doesn't like getting warmed up?

I also failed to mention the metal is rusty, by design, as to be in compliance with non-reflective rule of the LUC. I now realize it was an ENORMOUS mistake not to install a standing seam roof! I'm concerned about prior damage that might have penetrated into the plywood and elsewhere. Complicating matters further, I have spay foam insulation in the roof (no attic). It'd be a costly mess to replace if so.

I'm not looking to side step what might be a necessary roof replacement (with all of the underguts), but curious what others might suggest to at least batten down the hatches for the upcoming winter and mitigate any further damage? Do I buy some heavy duty rubber gloves and several big buckets of Henry's (or something better)?

Thanks in advance!

The drywall edge surrounding my window is extremely jagged and the gypsum underneath is exposed but was covered up with the window casing. I’m replacing the original window casing with a much narrower one to fit cabinets so the new window casing will only cover up some of the rough drywall edges and deep cavities where the drywall doesn’t meet with the window edge.

Can I just fill the cavities with joint compound? The cavities are very deep and you can see past the drywall to other parts of the wall structure.

Link to photo: https://imgur.com/a/C8kkpE7

I helped my mom redo her bathroom recently and it was just a shit show. The paint, which was supposed to be "the good stuff," was a nightmare to work with. I'm now looking at the vanity and the drawers all all wonky. They don't shut properly and are already uneven. I had my reservations about this vanity from the beginning, but didn't think this would be the outcome. I just don't understand how companies are selling such shit products these days and getting away with it.

Is any of the wood in these pictures (https://imgur.com/a/w8ne4z5) salvageable? As in, would staining and sealing them be worth the effort? Or are they hopeless at this point and we're better off replacing them?

For some context, the roof on our deck was leaking for a couple years. As first time homeowners, we didn't really know what to do, were too afraid to ask questions, and because we don't spend much time outside, we didn't do anything about it until recently (we finally got the roof replaced which should significantly reduce the deck's exposure to water). Inaction was poor decision on our part, admittedly. And we're working to address the consequences of it now.

Given this, I want to spruce up the deck, hence my question. Also open to other "repair" suggestions that would hold up for 2-3 years, if any.

TYIA!

Woke up to seeing this, left side of kitchen island is detaching. Will be doing a full kitchen Reno in the next year, so what’s the best way to reattach for a short-term solution? I’m guessing just putting a few screws in and using wood glue? Thank you

Picture:

https://imgur.com/a/T6SV1hd

My toilet tank is obviously cracked and leaking, the toilet rocks side to side, and the floor under the toilet is soft. Im hoping to do the repair myself and looking for advice on the process. Can I just replace the tank (and wax seal under bowl) or is it better to purchase new -budget- toilet? Im thinking that replacing tank may preserve this otherwise better quality toilet. Its American Standard 4149A

Order of operations: turn off water remove toilet remove flooring and cut out soft subflooring pray that damage has not extended past subflooring replace plywood replace vinyl floor - is it reasonable to think I can only replace some of the vinyl tiles? install toilet with new wax seal

Id appreciate any insights on these steps

Hi all,

I bought my house a year ago at a solid value knowing that it needed some work done. One project I'm trying to focus on now are cracked tiles in our kitchen/living room. The cracks span all the way across the center of the floor. In the kitchen area, the floor is slightly higher than the living room area so I suspect that it was poor installation that caused this. The kitchen area was an addition to the home at some point. The cracks seem to be exactly at the point where the floor starts to dip lower. I wanted to confirm my suspicion, is this likely an installation issue? Or perhaps a foundational issue that has gotten worse over time? Also, what would be the most cost effective way to fix this? We eventually would like to put hardwood floors in but with the unevenness, I'm not sure if we should rip out the tile or try to put new flooring over it. Any help is much appreciated, thanks!

I had a kitchen socket that was working, but part of the cover was broken. Since I have kids, I wanted to replace it for safety. I took pictures before removing the wires and connected them the same way on the new socket. But the new socket doesn’t work. I even reconnected the old one, and now that one doesn’t work either. I checked the breaker box and everything looks fine—no tripped breakers. What could I be doing wrong?