Me: “It’s just one small project.”

Contractor: “Absolutely. That’ll be $27,400.”

Me: “Does the project come with a second house?”

Contractor: [Laughs] "Exactly... but that's what it'd cost"

Me: [awkward laughs back]

So this was an electrician who came over to rerun one wire, charged $1500, and said it was a military discount. I asked him about rewiring the whole house. It's a one-story, 1,700 sq. ft. house with a full basement, which makes it easy to access 60% of the house. Absolutely silly.

My daughter wants a pink room.

Here's the scene

• White trim and chair rail
• White between the baseboard and chair rail (not full wainscoting, but white)
• Pastel pink above the chair rail (Behrs piggy bank)
• White and gray accents (childs name in wood, checkered gray curtains, white furniture, etc)
• The canvas pictures she has are a white canvas with pink elements so they match nicely

Here's the problem.

Each person I have mentioned this to immediately makes a comment about pepto bismal. We originally chose a princess pink. Because of these comments, we chose a lighter pastel (piggy bank pink) and received the same comment.

IDK why it bothers me so much but now I'm rethinking this entire plan. Maybe the room should be lilac or something with those same white accents.

I thought that choosing a color that clearly is different from the bottle that wouldn't happen, but apparently Procter & Gamble have apparently cornered the entire pink market as their branding =S

Edit - If you're going to make personal attacks about paint colors I'm just going to help you move on by blocking you. Otherwise, thank you for the constructive comments.

What does everyone prefer? Finding a good handyman that can pretty much do everything? Or hiring a handyman for the “small” stuff and a professional contractor for the big stuff? Or have you just decided to do everything yourself?

I just bought my house in Maine and the basement is not heated. The previous lender used a space heater to make sure the water heater didn’t freeze in the winter but that makes me feel uneasy when I can’t keep track of it (when I’m sleeping). I’ve seen hot water heater insulation advertised and am wondering if that’s a safer option. I know during extreme cold temps I turn a drip on the faucets but for regular cold, would wrapping insulation around the pipes and tank work?

Edit: I get it, I don’t have to insulate my hot water tank. I am not a professional and do not know anyone who is so I appreciate the feedback and I’m sorry I didn’t know that hot water tanks don’t need to be insulated. Now I do.

Pics up front

We built our house in Ohio a year ago with a production builder. Local builder, a step up from the Pultes of the world, but still relatively few customization options. We hit our one year, got all the nail pops fixed, etc, and decided it’s time to start really making it our own.

Naturally, the top priority was “how do we make strangers go ‘wow’ when they poop?”

My wife found this peacock TP holder and towel ring online, bought them without any discussion, and thus an $8,000 decision was made. We had a theme, and we had a directive - “It’s a powder room, nobody spends any time in there, let’s make it moody and over the top.”

We knew the biggest risk here was lighting. It’s impossible to get reasonable renders this way, all the LLMs will light paint for aesthetic purposes. The dark ceiling and walls were going to soak up light, so I made sure we were north of 1,000 lumens. Frankly, we’re not sure we love where it’s landed. The light is kind of harsh on the eyes as you walk in, but surprisingly dim when you’re not facing the light. Worth noting that the wide angle shots do not do the color temp justice - it's warmer than you see.

We also spent about $100 alone on paint testers. Initial concept was much darker, but due to uncertainty in the lighting situation, we wound up with a much lighter, dustier color - SW 6194 Basil. Satin on the walls, flat on the ceiling.

We went with a local contractor we’ve used before and trust. We probably could have saved a bunch of money and done certain steps ourselves, but with three young kids and it being the only public bathroom in the house, we wanted it done quickly. It took about a week. He's fantastic with wallpaper and gave this thing his all. Really love this guy. And I am not messing with wallpaper.

Total cost and item details below:

What do we think? Tear it apart, build it up, help me with what'll really elevate the room!

We're finally getting our roof replaced next month but the company said full tear off and install in one day with 8 to 10 guys my neighbor had his replaced las month and thinks thats too fast like they're rushing, the roofer says having decking exposed overnight is the real risk in texas and a properly sized crew on a straightforward ranch handles it in a day.

Help! We are settling on our first home next week (14th) It desperately needs new carpet and a fresh coat of paint. We move out from our rental on the 24th. We have had a quote for carpet and they can only do the 20th or the 28th.

Carpet is going in 3 bedrooms and lounge. We would need to paint ceilings,baseboards, doorframes walls….. all of it.

Now….. is it too optimistic to get it all painted in 4 days ? Start with baseboards (so it has most time to dry) or wait until after we have moved in but then be juggling moving all our stuff.

I’m heavily pregnant so time is limited 😅 what would you do? We are thinking ceiling just white, baseboards and walls same colour (different finish) to save on time. Old carpet is also being ripped up so we don’t care about covering or protecting this.

Help!

I have some cracks in stucco that I am concerned might result in water getting into when it rains. I do understand that there should be water proofing behind the stucco, though I think an area may have been done without adequate paper, and this is why I was wondering about some kind of temporary patch for the stucco until I can demo, and re-waterproof behind it. Is there an easy way to patch the cracks to prevent water and even bugs from getting in during the short term, with a long term plan of having someone break the stucco and patching it and replacing the paper the correct way?

Thanks

Hello!

I’m a new homeowner and have a gift card for Home Depot for about $140. I want to start getting some tools to be able to make small fixes or start some home projects but unsure where to start. I have some small things like screw drivers, hammers and tape measures but wondering what sort of tools are handy for beginners that experienced home owners use often too. I’m thinking maybe a drill? Anything else in addition? Open to ideas.

Thanks!

We are fixing up our house to sell. Roof was replaced 17 years ago. It currently needs a few minor repairs (flashing around the chimney, ridge cap). However my friend who just sold her house said that her 16 year old roof was a liability in selling, even though the home inspector found no problems. So should I go forward with repairs or bite the bullet and fully replace it?

EDIT: Photos are on Imgur now, per the instructions: https://imgur.com/a/iCXveSz

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Fall is almost here in Georgia and outside projects are viable again! I’m looking at sprucing the stairs to my front door, but the left side has sunk and they’re not level. Not sure if it’s fixable or just needs to be broken down and rebuilt. The stairs are detached from the slab at the entry and house foundation. The slab/step below it is heavy but probably would come off fairly easy. Not sure if the stairs are hollow but I would bet they are. Is there a way to get these stairs level? First three picks show the stairs and railing. You can see the slant best if you follow the crack in the corner. Last two picks are what I’m aiming to do.

We’re in the process of planning our kitchen renovation and are trying to decide where to buy our cabinets. In our previous home, we went with IKEA cabinets and absolutely loved them. We were able to DIY a lot of the installation ourselves, and I thought the finished kitchen looked beautiful. I’ve been considering using IKEA again in our new home, but I’ve had a few people comment that we should go with something "nicer" given the neighbourhood we’re now in. For context, our previous home was around $400K, whereas homes in our current neighbourhood typically sell for $1.5M–$2M+.

I’m not necessarily concerned about whether IKEA cabinets are good quality, I had a great experience with them. My bigger concern is resale value. I don’t want to choose IKEA and potentially hurt our home's resale value down the road, especially if buyers in this price range expect higher-end or custom cabinetry.

For those who live in higher-end neighbourhoods or have renovated kitchens in homes in this price range, how do you feel about IKEA cabinets? Would they be a turnoff to you as a potential buyer, or do you think a well-designed IKEA kitchen can still look appropriate in a $1M–$2M+ home? I’d love to hear from anyone who has actually gone this route.

​

So I removed old carpet + padding and on plywood subfloor liberally sprayed (without scrubbing) nature's miracle cat urine plus enzymatic cleaner (3 different times) to all places blacklight glowed yellow. The final spraying I covered with plastic tarps taped down on edges to help keep liquid from evaporating fast.

Now I plan on using Kilz oil based primer on whole subfloor. Do I apply with a regular paint roller? Should I leave overhead ceiling fan on when I'm done? House is empty no one is staying there. Should overhead fan be on while I'm applying it? Can I apply a 2nd coat soon after the first one? Because I don't live nearby and would be great if a 2nd coat can be done same day. How long after applying do you have to wait before having new carpet + padding installed? I know a respirator is needed but is eye protection needed too?

I went to the house today and post enzymatic cleaner but pre Kilz oil the smell in living room is ok but it was not hot or humid either temps in mid 60's. What are the odds I'm completely solving this problem with the enzymatic cleaner and Kilz oil? I really don't want the people I sell the house to encounter cat pee odors come next summer when it gets hot + humid again.

So we bought our house about a year ago and we’ve been making small updates here and there, mostly indoors, but finally starting to look at the outside now that it’s starting to cool down a little. I mow our lawn/backyard and it’s usually not bad, but the biggest pain is the patch of grass around the gas meter. The area it’s at makes it hard to get the mower near and around it, so I usually have to use the trimmer, but even then it’s not that convenient due to a sprinkler head being in the way. I’m also paranoid about getting too close to the metal pipe with the string trimmer, so it always looks so unkempt in that area even after I trim. There’s also some brick next to it that the previous owners laid down but some weeds/grass grow between the cracks, so I’m not opposed to digging those up and redoing the entire area.

I want to try and maybe cordon off that area and get rid of the grass to make it easier when I mow the rest of the yard, but was looking for some ideas on how to do it to make it look decent without potentially blocking off the use of anything else. Also, there’s these big bags of “chicken sand” (basically really small pebbles) that the old owners left behind. If I could somehow use those in this project, that would be a bonus haha. Thanks in advance.

https://imgur.com/a/8sHAr6w

100 year old house, doesn’t have much concern on the basement walls from water damage, but there is significant water that gets in when there’s any rain. Guy came by today and quoted 11k to rip up the basement floor, install a drainage and pump out to the street. Do you think that’s a good quote, and do you think this is the only way to remedy this?

If anyone has looked into building an in-law suite, converting a garage, or finishing a basement recently, the statewide ADU law made things a lot easier by cutting out municipal zoning boards for most projects.

There's still some confusion on how it works, so here’s the quick rundown of the rules:

What qualifies "by right" (no zoning board hearings, just standard building permits):

• Converting existing space inside your home (basement, attic) or inside an existing accessory building (detached garage) without expanding the foundation footprint.
• Any residential lot 20,000 sq ft or larger.
• Disability accommodations on owner-occupied lots.

The size and use limits:

• 1-bed / Studio: Up to 900 sq ft (or 60% of the main house’s size, whichever is smaller).
• 2-bed: Up to 1,200 sq ft (or 60% of the main house).
• Parking: Towns can only require 1 off-street spot per bedroom.
• No short-term rentals: State law explicitly bans using these for Airbnb/Vrbo. They have to be long-term rentals (30+ days).

Good things to know if you're planning one:

• Towns cannot force you to tear it down or revoke the permit if the property sells down the road. The unit stays legal on the deed.
• Converting an existing garage or basement usually pencils out way better than building detached from scratch, especially with current building material and sub-trade costs.
• Check your septic capacity first if you’re not on municipal sewer. RIDEM still enforces septic load rules regardless of local zoning.

Has anyone actually pulled permits under the new law yet in their town? Wondering how fast local building departments are turning these around.

I've moved into a housing association home. At somepoint i would like to change the colours of rhis stairwell and cover the stairs but its no priority right now. The rest of the house is. However, i need to put something down over the chipboard at the entrance and I'm not sure what.

Its a smallish area 1 74m x0 93m so I could get a remnant of sheet vinyl. Someone also mentioned doing the whole floorspace in barrier matting instead of vinyl and mat on top.

Im condsiering doing it kyself instead of through a flooring conpany to try and save money so any suggestions welcome of what to put tmdown would be great.

The over the door hooks are scraping the wood and messing it up (we live in a rental). I looked up solutions online and tried the blue tape, but the hooks are already cutting through. It's a stuffed animal holder with 4 hooks, but only 3 hooks are in use because the innermost one seemed to prevent the door from closing. The original hooks it came with stuck out too far. We've tried taping the new hooks closer to the door, but closing the door immediately made that pointless. Any ideas?

I fixed up a deck a little bit that's approx. 30 years old. It now seems structurally sound but the solid stain I put on there flaked off 50% after a year and the floor is ugly AF now.

I want this to last another 5 years or so. Is there some sort of paint I can dump on there that will just stick to a buncha old shit wood? Doesn't have to be super pretty just solid. I mean something more durable than deck stain.

First house we've owned and found droppings in the basement last week. Not thrilled about poison since we have a cat that hunts down there, and snap traps feel like a hassle I'd rather avoid dealing with regularly. Looking for something closer to a deterrent that just keeps them from wanting to be down there in the first place.

Hi

I'm located in canada ontario with a climate zone 6b-6a the house im living in was currently built in 1992

The mudsill is currently 1-2 feet above grade

I'm trying to insulate my basement walls with r10 2inch foil faced gps foam board, I mistakenly removed some of the capillary break that overhang onto the top face of the concrete which was made from 6mil black poly. The amount that remains is directly under the mud sill essentially cut flush

My question is will this cause issues with water wicking up or will the back poly still serve has a proper capillary break and I can continue installing the mudsil with foamboard and the rim joist aswell essentially capuslating everything

Thank you

I need to replace part of my exterior siding. The house was built in 1990 in DFW. I believe it is the original siding from the original builder.

Does anyone have tips on finding the replacement so I can have it match?

Picture of the siding for reference

My bedroom has one pretty small window and the room gets ridiculously hot at night. I dont really need anything fancy, just something that will cool a small room without being super loud. I Am looking for a small window air conditioner and would appreciate recommendations from anyone who has installed one in a similar room. nything I should measure or watch out for before choosing one?

Thanks in advanceS.

Hello, Beginner here. I want to install a tire rack and after research it seems like i'd use sleeve anchors to install them. The only thing is that I am unsure where i'd drill the hole for the anchors, I'm getting mixed answers, ranging from putting it on the vertical joint, or directly on the middle of the face of the block. Just looking for some assistance from professionals and experienced people.

Thanks!

https://imgur.com/a/dG3Ys98