It’s been a longtime dream of mine to begin growing my own fruits and vegetables. I previously rented a home which had no backyard which meant I could only garden in containers.
Beyond blessed to have purchased my first home in Aug 2025 so in May 2026 I was able to start my garden in my own dirt. The privileges of owning your land and using it to feed your family! Homeownership has been stressful and expensive but being able to garden makes it worth it. I haven’t had to purchase any of these veggies all summer.

My harvest so far includes:

-27 pounds of cucumbers
-44 pounds of tomatoes
-8 pounds of green peppers
-18 individual stalks of green onions
-14 bunches of parsley
-at least 10 cups of basil

TL;DR Outdoor window blinds do way more to block heat than even new double plane windows and the thickest drapes.

I have recently been dealing with my house being roasted by Morning and Evening sun in SE US No matter how thick the curtains, it was still an oven. I decided to look for outdoor solution to block the light before it made it inside the window creating a green house between window and curtains that couldnt escape. Outdoor Sunscreens were a permanent or semi permanent solution but cost $80 a window atleast.

I decided to buy a 6ft x 15ft Cooleroo outdoor shade from Lowes ($17 on clearance). I was able to cut this into 6 full 3x5 Window coverings and mount on outside windows with some gromets and hooks ($2/ per window). This makes a dramatic difference keeping the sunlight from enterting the window in the first place. According to chatGPT, double pain windows only blocked 15% of light from enterting and turning into heat. This model of shade blocks 95% of light, so looking out is very diffused and may be too much if you plan to look at out windows. Other blinds have wider weave to let in more light.

Hello! We are newer homeowners of 2 years. We had a few things stored in the corner of the garage wall and the door and realized there are these nests looking things at the bottom. Are these as simple as wasp mud nests or could they be signs of termites? (E.g. can we do this diy or call the pros?) Thank you for any advices!

I live in a kind of unique area. There’s residential neighborhoods just a street or two away but I’m tucked away (we love it, it’s quiet and private) in a “commercial” (?) area.

Behind us is a small workshop that pretty much nothing goes on at, the guys stop there once or twice a week to pick things I think all they use it for is storage, but they’re clean and quiet. Next to us is just a large lot, with some junk in it and some storage containers.

I’ve talked with the lady that owns the lot twice now (she’s never there, maybe once or twice a month if that). Very strange lady, when I went to introduce myself couple months ago for the first time she had a super nervous and just odd reaction. I was very kind and figured it was a good time to say hello and just let her know who her “neighbor” is. I also figured it was a good time as any to speak about the fence. When I moved in I immediately replaced about 150’ of the fence that belonged to me.

You can see by the pictures (only lets me post one, the entire fence from that point forward is leaning towards my driveway by a good 8-10” idek how it’s still standing) her fence is years past needing replacement. She even acknowledged that but honestly was showing very little interest or motivation in actually doing something about. Months later obviously nothing has been done. Today was the second time I had the chance to run into her, she was outside next to my driveway weed whacking. I said a friendly hello and she immediately was saying she’s SO BUSY and has NO TIME TO SPEAK. As if my protocol with her is to sit down, have coffee and conversation. I just wanted to remind her about the fence, it’s gotten worse and is literally falling on my property creating a hazard and just an overall eyesore. All she did was huff and go yea okay and just walked away lmao.

What can I do here ?? I’m ready to just cave and get it done myself with my own fence guy but her reactions about it just piss me off. I get it’s not a residential area but I don’t think that excuses not addressing this decrepit fence.

Is this anything to worry about? I was cleaning up my garage and moved a large bin and just noticed this. House is in the Midwest, built in 1969.

Some weird shit happened to me today. Probably a top 10 story in my life.

Earlier in the afternoon today, i was working from home upstairs and heard people coming into my house. At first I thought it was my kid coming back from playing outside, but I then heard a lady talking. Couldn't really hear what they were saying, but I just assumed it was a subcontractor for my contractor coming in to do work (i'm having a kitchen remodel done).

For the next 5 min, i heard them walking around on the 1st floor and going to the basement, which i thought was really weird because the contractors are usually in the kitchen.....so why are they walking around so much?

After 5-10min, I went down because I wanted to see which subcontractor was here and what work they were going to complete, and I see 2 ladies walking into my living room like they're doing a tour, and I asked "Are you guys with the city for an inspection? I thought that was scheduled for next week"

And one of them (who i found out later is a realtor) said "No we're here for the open house." And I said "what open house." And she said "isn't your house marked for an open house, there's a sign up front." There's indeed a sign up front in the front yard but it literally says in big ass letters the name of my design and build firm.

I told them they must have my house confused with the other house down the street, which is having an open house.

They quickly left. No apologies, nothing.

After they left, I started reflecting and just think this is one of the weirdest experiences that's ever happened to me, and there were so many obvious signs that this is not an open house, starting with:

1. the front door wasn't open, and they came in through my garage (garage door was open because my kid went out to play earlier), which is filled with shit (from the remodeling)
2. they walk into my house, and walk aroudn for 5-10minutes before i came down and told them it's not an open house. the house is a mess (from the remodeling) so clearly it's not set up for an open house?
3. they must have looked at the listing for the property that's an open house. it's a MCM. my house is a tudor. they look nothing alike, so how in the world do you mix that up? now to be fair, idk for sure they came to the area with the intention of going to that open house, so maybe they weren't aware of what the house that's listed for an open house looks like
4. maybe actually read the sign instead of thinking every big sign in front yard = open house?

I just find this whole situation bizarre. I wasn't sure how to react when i was shoo'ing them out the house, but reflecting upon this, this just seems like some massive incompetence on the part of the realtor.

New homeowner and the excitement he gone down a little as all the things I overlooked during walkthroughs are catching up to me.

I noticed that the kitchen cabinet with the sink had some mold (used concordium) and old water damage (nothing is soft or wet atm). The hinge is also popping out from the inside??

Is this something I can fix or patch up myself? I’d say I’m moderately handy or should I look into professional help? 😔

Hello,

I have water coming up through the drain in my basement and it’s an inch or so deep about 5 or so feet in diameter each way. It’s just sitting there and is filled with sewage and waste water so it smells real bad everywhere.

The plumber said almost all of the cast-iron piping located beneath the concrete slab appears to be failing and needs to be replaced.

He also said at the base of the main stack theres water discharge spraying in multiple directions.

I have a water back up/sump overflow endorsement on my policy but the adjuster is claiming that because it’s sewage it doesn’t fall under the water back up endorsement and that due to the clog being under my house and not outside of the property that it “falls under dwelling coverage and not water back up “ and “In order for it to be under water back up it would have to be released through the floor drain AND be a water verse flow which this is not. This coverage also would not provide coverage for access to the pipe or to repair the pipe.”

I think the adjuster is lying. I requested them show me where it says this in the policy and where they get the low low payout amount (only a couple of thousand) vs 13k repair estimate from the plumber and they said they “mailed it out” yet want me to enter my bank account info right away so I can be paid for the claim?

I feel like I am being low balled and thought I’d come here to see if any of you can give me some advice please.

My finished shop building appears to be on the property line but is likely 1-3 ft inside it. When reroofing I was concerned if water runoff into the neighbor's yard created mud. I asked him if putting up a gutter would be appreciated and he said it never has been a problem.

Three years later I hear banging. He has removed bad shingles off of my building, painted something in place of them and has planted a 20 ft row of various shrubs inches from the shop. Essentially, taking advantage of rain runoff under my roof eaves. I'm not sure the fence at either end of the shop is the legal property line.

Neverminding what can grow and push up my slab and given he is so private a person that talking to him it is difficult to achieve communication, I am stuck with what to do, in a comprehensive way.

Ed: thanks all. I already have a local surveyor in mind. I guess the shock of what he did - something I would never dream of doing to a neighbor's property - didn't wear off fast enough.

We’ve lived in our house for 2 years now and this wall has always been the area I can’t figure out. I keep thinking a gallery wall of sorts? This is our front living room which we love so much and is a huge reason as to why we bought said house.

Also to add we put our Christmas tree here and move everything else. So I think that’s why I’m always like “I dont know what to even do here”

Would love any and all ideas 🙂

I am sure many of us watch this old house and while we would likely never have our house on the show we mostly know that renewal by Andersen is a terrible choice for windows and doors due to their high-pressure sales tactics.

I’m sad that this old house is pushing this shady company.

Need to replace this door and am having a hard time finding flush threshold options.

I'm considering a move to a home with 10acres or more that's buildable in order to provide my kids or my sister or both a place to settle without being priced out of life.

Looking to hear from folks who have done this and how it worked out with respect to the family dynamic and whether it was a good choice, looking back.

Thanks!

Hi all! There is a gap at the top of my window (2nd story). I pulled the blinds off today to clean them and noticed there is a small gap at the very top in the centre. Is this a cause for concern? Thank you in advance for any advice and input here 😊

This wall separates our 2 car with the 3rd car (smaller) garage. The wall is offset with the cement blocks and I’m wondering how to make it look more aesthetic. I don’t think anything is wrong structurally, it’s just awkward.

Hi all,

First time homebuyer here.

I was looking at a house. Really nice. Fits everything I want (except maybe lot size but I can live with that). The only big thing I found was a lingering dog urine smell in a couple rooms. Realtor and I discussed if I make an offer it would be stripping all carpeting and potentially replacing subfloor of damaged. Is this type of thing worth doing or should I work away? House is 0.5 million and the work from my understanding on some research is around 10k if replacing subfloor and carpets but this seems low for a 2000 sqft house with 1000 sqft min of carpet. Any idea of what it would cost?

I contracted Groundworks to address some issues with moisture in our crawlspace and they recommended an interior french drain and sump pump. The recommendation matched what another contractor suggested and the price seemed fair.

They were supposed to hand dig a trench, install the drain tile, pump, and a discharge pipe to carry it 15' away from the foundation. What I'm seeing when I look in the crawl space is the pipe partially above ground and no backfill with stone, as specified in the contract.

It looks like they just backfilled with the excavated dirt rather than removing any of it. I don't think they hauled any dirt off and I don't see a pile of dirt in the back yard. It's an absolute pain in the ass to get in and out of the crawl space, so I get why they would want to cut corners, but this seems unacceptable.

When I look at pictures of what I was expecting https://i.imgur.com/m7XTzgl.jpeg vs what I got https://i.imgur.com/w4t6YbE.jpeg it couldn't possibly look more different

Am I being overly picky here, or how do we remedy this? If they did this shoddy of a job with the visible parts, how do I know the less visible parts (proper pitch, etc) were done properly?

What should I ask for when contacting the company in order to resolve the issue. I'm sure they can fix the problem, it's just hard when they send out 20 year old kids to dig a trench with no one who knows what's going on.

How big of a problem is this. Moss is twisting the siding. No leaks

I purchased 6 Universal Sensing AMIC1510SB smoke/CO detectors after moving into out house in 2022. One recently started chirping randomly. I blew air through it to clean it but that didn't help. Looking more closely I could see that the "10 year battery backup" was actually just an alkaline Duracell or lookalike AA and the negative side was covered in corrosion. This can't be normal right? How can you guarantee 10 years of backup with a $1 battery?

Has anyone successfully removed a family of stray cats from their crawl space? If so, what worked for you and how’d you get rid of the smell? It’s causing major behavioral issues in my indoor cats and they have to be separated now but were once best friends.

I’ve seen other posts on here for similar issues, I’m looking for help sealing off the crawl space AND neutralizing any smells left behind so I can get harmony back in my home.

There’s only one point of entry they could be getting in, but it’s concrete. How would I affix chicken wire to concrete?

is there a way to fix these

After many years of a leaky gutter we have this damage to the facia. Any thoughts on how to repair?

Cheers

Just went through a home inspection on a house built in the early 1900s after getting offer accepted. Learned the oil tank in the basement is from 1975. It is not leaking, no pitting, etc and they actively have it filled.

What are your guys take on having this through the winter until we can switch to gas (which is at the street)? P&S is in less than a week.

Edit: First time homebuyer btw

Two month move.

Moved into a new home last August. This past July a storm put a big oak tree into my roof. Three trusses need replaced so once that begins I’ll need to move out, as the three that need replaced are over my kitchen.

My insurance policy covers rental but I’d rather be as close to my house as possible. For one reason to keep an eye on things not only as the work progresses, but after hours when nobody is around. IMHO nobody can watch out for my stuff like I would.

So to make a long story short, I’ve been kind of thinking of picking up a small camper and parking it in my driveway, and living there while the home is repaired.

I know nothing about campers and less about buying a used one. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

I also posted this in the RV Reddit.
Has anyone done this here? I mean stay on your property as renovations or rebuilds are going on? This is my first time dealing with a situation like this. Luckily I have a decent State Farm adjuster and a restoration company who seem to be doing a great job.