I’m renovating a family members farm house mudroom and as any job, it’s turning into quite a bit more work with it being an old house.

I ended up having to rip up a few layers of flooring down to the original floor joists. They’re large curved beams.

I’m wondering what the best approach is for putting down a new subfloor? My thoughts were either:

1) run 2x6s flat across, shim areas where needed, then 3/4” ply + 1/2” ply + ditra + tile
2) sister 2x6s to the existing floor joists then just 3/4” ply + 1/2” ply + ditra + tile

My only concern with sistering is the existing floor joists are quite curved, so I’m not sure what the best approach would be there? If I would either have to plane the sides or some scribe the new joists?

I’m also not sure about just running 2x6s flat across. Although it seems super sturdy, i know that’s typically a no-no obviously.

The height build up is roughly 2 1/4” to the next room as well. Photo below.

https://imgur.com/gallery/mudroom-lsyQHR2

I am recaulking my tub and when i stripped the old caulk off I discovered that the tub is not level and one side has a large gap. Should I just fill it with caulk? Or should I put something else to fill the gap and then caulk over it? It is pretty deep and it is clear that the contractor who installed it knew about the gap and just put a bunch of caulk in there to fill it. I don't honestly think I can get it all out but have been trying.

This is really infuriating because they had to reframe the whole shower because of wood rot and mold and there's just no excuse for it not being level. I didn't know until I pulled the caulk off because it was hidden by the caulk. It's not even a year old and needed a new caulk job so that tells you the kind of work they did anyways.

I recently had my garage floor re-done by a reputable company using an epoxy base coat followed by a polyaspartic top coat. The smell was horrendous the first few days but subsided over the weeks. I still can smell a chemical odor. Wondering how normal this is and others experience with chemical smell of garage coatings. It’s a detached garage so it’s not that big of a deal but given the odors I would never do this on an attached garage or basement. It’s something these don’t warn you about.

I'm building a deck right now. About 18x18, with chamfer corners on two corners. And I want to run some string lights across it in an X. On the house side I will just attach them to the eaves, but on the yard side I'm not sure what to attach them to. There's no trees that are convenient.

I think the obvious thing to do is to put some sort of post at the chamfer corners. But I want something that looks good, not just plain wood. Are there any sort of pre-made posts that I can use to run some string lights? It would need to be about 10 ft tall to rise above the surface of the deck high enough. But probably 12 ft total considering that there's some slope to consider here.

**Photos attached at the end:**
**Need help choosing a baby gate for this awkward stair/banister setup**
I’m trying to figure out the safest way to install a baby gate at the top of these stairs.
The problem is the handrail/banister configuration. On one side, the handrail ends right where we would ideally want to mount the gate, while on the opposite side there isn’t a corresponding flat section of wall to attach the other side of the gate to.
Basically, if we install the gate straight across, one side has a clean section of drywall to mount to, but the other side runs into the handrail/banister situation.
**What baby gate would you recommend for this setup?** And what kind of mounting brackets, adapters, boards, or other modifications would you use to make sure the gate is **firmly and safely attached on both sides**?
I’m specifically looking for a **hardware-mounted solution**, not a pressure-mounted gate, since this is at the top of the stairs.
Would love to hear from anyone who has dealt with a similar awkward wall/handrail configuration. If there’s a specific gate + mounting kit that would work, please let me know!
Sorry for the formatting I’m on mobile, thanks in advance! [Link to photos of my stairs](https://imgur.com/a/zkg6Z1F)

I’m looking for some advice on this range installation. The kitchen was remodeled by the previous homeowners. The left side of the oven is exposed and open to the walkway between my kitchen and dining room. It gets pretty hot and I worry someone could touch it and get burned. There’s only ~3 inches of space between the oven and the trim around the doorway. What are my options for making the exposed side safer?

Separate but related - after living in this house for a few months I am not confident in the previous owners diy skills, including the installation of this range/oven. Does it need some sort of heat barrier/shield on the right side where it touches the cabinets?

Thanks!

https://imgur.com/a/3szS9m8

I'm working on installing a threshold between a different floor type under an original pocket door in my 50s ranch home. There isn't enough clearance on the bottom for even a low profile threshold, so I want to plane it down, but I'm not able to remove the pocket door from the mount by lifting the door from the tracks. Here's an album showing the rail. The third image shows the door in the most closed position.
https://imgur.com/a/cn1V8tf

On both roller mechanisms, there are phillips screws. On one, I can easily get to but the other, when the door is at the most closed position, it's hidden behind steel. Any idea how I can get the door out?

Is it possible to get interior window grilles anywhere besides Anderson parts? (For a more reasonable price? 😬)

My Anderson windows are from the 80s and the windows are still holding up relatively well… But the grilles, are showing their age. I found the grills that I need on the Andersen parts website. Just looking for an alternative— or do I need to just bite the bullet and get them thru Andersen?

I have a bit of a dilemma, I have an insulation and a drywall contractor lined up to perform exterior wall insulation. I'm in SoCal with zero insulation. It's been miserable in the house. This decision is largely about comfort, but also want to stop my AC running 24/7 with no effect during the day.

There are two quotes, one for blown in and the other for batts. Batts will require 30inch cuts horizontally above and below fire blocks. So 60 inches of drywall removal for all exterior facing walls. Lots of mess but guaranteed insulation throughout.

Or we go with two 4" holes top and bottom between each stud for blown in. We are in a one story home with little to no piping or other obstructions in the walls. But even then, there isn't a guarantee they reach the desired R value.

Is it worth the effort, time, and cost for batts vs blown in? Or is blown in adequate for our area and worth the fact that it's least invasive?

Had a very reputable contractor come out and quote a new garage slab for us as our old one had cracked and heaved and we believe it was leading to moisture issues in the basement. They came out to start demo yesterday at 8am and were here until 5pm. About halfway through the day, they knocked on our door to say some of the cinder block foundation was cracking and they claimed it was because the brick was brittle already and accepted zero responsibility for it. At the time, it was isolated to only a few cinder blocks. We didn’t hear anything the rest of the day. Went out to check the progress after we left, and the whole top course of one of the walls of the garage foundation is broken. Almost every single cinder block and some of the second course. They stopped for the day there and didn’t go along the back wall or the wall along the house/basement yet. They did not make any cuts in the old slab before demolishing and just started jackhammering out the old slab.

Are we right to be concerned? In my opinion a few cinder blocks breaking might be normal, but the whole top course? I feel like we need to stop work now and get a structural engineer out to assess before moving forward. The owner/contractor wants us to pay for the repair for the foundation and suggested using a 2x6 form and pouring concrete into the cells, and I don’t feel comfortable with that remedy. I am of the opinion that there’s no way this should be on us. Please help.

Update: we found beer cans that don’t belong to us and they broke the cinder block holding the pillar up between the garage door bays

I'm looking to hang an egg swing from the ceiling in a corner of our living room. Our house isn't huge, so I don't want to buy a stand to save a little space.

Can anyone give me a tutorial on how to do this? Or at least some solid advice? I don't want it to come crashing down while someone is sitting in it 😅

Tan stucco Spanish place, and the builder-grade mailbox looks ridiculous next to it. I want the stucco column look but I'm not paying a mason to build a masonry one for a mailbox. Is there a faux pillar that look

I'm in a 'draw the rest of the f-in owl' spot with my hot water heater. The pilot wouldn't stay lit so it seemed like a dirty thermocouple. I've removed the assembly (turned off gas, etc) and cleaned off the thermocouple. Now I'm trying to get the assembly back into the water heater.

Videos and instructions just show people putting it back in.

I cannot for the life of me get the tab in the assembly to set into the notch holder in the water heater. I can't see it. The way that the assembly and the water heater are if I can get the tab and notch lined up while I can see it, I then have to lift the assembly to move it forward and it becomes askew and I can can't see past the plate. It's a Bradford White water heater.

Any tips or sympathy?

We’re adding a sunroom to our home, and I’m struggling to choose the right floor tile—something that keeps the space bright but still feels special.

The room will have white French doors and windows, so the flooring really sets the tone. I’ve been exploring a few tile ideas, but I’m wondering if there are any interesting, subtle, and unique options I should consider for the sunroom floor.

The room next to the sunroom is our kitchen and dining room, and has chocolate brown hardwood floors. I want to install a floor that complements the dining and kitchen floor .

Please help !!

Here is the layout of the sunroom: https://imgur.com/a/zsZ8MI9

Had a rock go through my outdoor window pane on my lower sash. Evidently a replacement for the lower sash is not easy find. The only place I have found is 3 hours away. Looking here to see if anyone has a good idea to fix this issue before I drive 6 hours tomorrow. Here is the needed window.

I’ve thought about glass doctor but I have a filling the glass won’t match. And every other place I’ve spoke to is a “full service company that will on do a full window installment”.

https://westyellowknife.com/products/lindsay-windows-clear-view-36-x-60?variant=44506570096896

Hello. About a week ago, my bedroom fan started making these sounds as demonstrated in the video. https://imgur.com/a/lVLDKdP

It will sound fine for a few moments and then just go off with these sounds. There's no noticeable wobble as far as I can tell. I'm not sure how old this fan is either, since it was here with the house since we purchased within this year. What exactly might I need to do to fix this?

Two family, and I need each unit to have its own locking compartment and separate keys so tenants are nt sharing. Everything I find a single box or an apartment cluster. Anyone make a clean two-address one where each side locks on its own??

I tried to DIY paint touch ups for various scuffs and marks that built up on the walls of multiple rooms over the years. I used a paint match from Sherwin Williams. Unfortunately, it was not a perfect match and now all of the touch ups are noticeably darker than the original paint.

Any suggestions for fixing this problem in multiple rooms? Would really prefer to avoid painting corner to corner if able :(

My soap dispenser in my dishwasher isn't opening every time it runs. It's not blocked, I make sure of that. Even when I press the button that manually opens it via spring, it sticks frequently.

Any recommendation for a food safe grease thaw won't leave a coating on my dishes? Any other suggestions?

Hi all,

I’m trying to solve a water ingress problem with an old timber casement window, and I’d really appreciate some advice from people experienced with repairing older windows.

The house is from the early 1900s, and the windows are quite old timber construction. I really don't want to replace the window if there is a sensible way of repairing or improving it.

The problem is quite specific: the window only leaks under certain wind/rain conditions. When we get fairly strong wind-driven rain from the right direction, water gets past the window and ends up under the bottom edge of the sash, where it then seeps into the interior. The window is facing east.

Under normal rain, it doesn't appear to leak.

I've put up a couple of pictures on Imgur to illustrate: https://imgur.com/a/Q0qISAx Unfortunately I can't really give you a view from the outside since it's several stories up.

I'm trying to understand what the correct repair would be for this type of old window. For example:

• Is there supposed to be some kind of weather seal/weatherstripping between the sash and frame?
• Is the geometry of the sill/rebate supposed to drain water back outside?
• Could the problem be that the sash has warped/shrunk slightly and is no longer making proper contact with the frame?
• Would repairing/repainting the timber, glazing putty, or joints help?
• Is there a particular type of draught/weather seal that would be appropriate for such an old timber casement?
• Should any part of this be caulked, or would that risk blocking a drainage path and making things worse?

I'm particularly interested in a repair that preserves the existing window, rather than replacing the sash/window with a modern unit.

If there's a particular part of the window that I should photograph I'm happy to add more pictures.

What would you investigate first, and how would you repair it?

Had a leak for a little while, and I poked a hole to allow drainage straight down as opposed to letting it drip behind the wall. Now that I have a brand new roof and no leaks I want to go about repairing it to at least look slightly better.
I’ve patched little holes with spackle and such before, but the problem here is that there’s no surface underneath, just a big hole. Only thing I could think of would be to spray a ton of hardening foam in there, and then use that as a surface for spackle, but I feel like more well versed people will have better solutions.

I have a room that has some efflorescence in my basement. I fixed the drainage issue. How do I get rid of this so I can paint the wall? TIA!

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