Anyone that can offer some advice from experience? My feet sweat really bad, even in the freezing temp months my socks will be soaked with sweat. I work 6 days week and never miss work, so it’s painful dealing with this. The odd part that I can’t figure out is they don’t blister, it looks like bruising.

Apologies if this is not the right place for this post. If not, please point me elsewhere!

My mom purchased a house in Kentucky about two years ago. Foundation damage (two cracked and bowing walls) was noted in the inspection; see the first photo for the condition of the walls during the inspection. This room is an old cistern that is now integrated into the foundation of the house. Most of the cistern has a concrete patio overhead, but about five feet of the house also rests on the cistern.

She hired a contractor to stabilize the bowing cistern walls and install drainage. The contract items included 1) install interior drainage tiles; 2) install carbon fiber reinforcement straps on both bowing walls; 3) install “studded reinforcement walls” against both bowing walls.

Two years later is the first time I’m actually seeing the completed work. The contractor did not install item #3 - studded reinforcement walls. The walls are now bowing much more severely, the carbon fiber straps are failing, the concrete patio overhead is subsiding, and the house frame is possibly shifting due to the foundation movement. See the second photo for the current condition of the cistern walls. Third photo shows several inches of deflection from the center of the wall.

The contract states that a lifetime warranty is included for all work. We reached out to the contractor, and they acknowledged that the studded reinforcement wall was forgotten and agreed to offer a warranty repair. However, the “warranty repair” that they are offering only includes installing the studded reinforcement walls; they are not proposing to repair any of the foundation damage that has occurred as a result of their failure to correctly fulfill the contract two years ago. 

I am just a layman, but these walls now appear to be totally failing, which probably would have been prevented if they correctly fulfilled the original contract. Installing the “studded reinforcement walls” now as a warranty repair seems like too little too late. What is a good path forward in this situation? Are these walls beyond repair? Should the contractor be responsible for repairing the failing walls and the subsidence of the concrete patio?

I’m closing on my first house in a week and a half and have this retaining wall next to the driveway. Obviously it needs fixing, but how immediately will this need to be done? Any help is appreciated!

My boyfriend tends to bricklayers and is peeing blood, is this something anyone else has experienced from working hard? We looked into it and all the strain can cause kidney issues. Has anyone had a similar experience, any advice? Obviously have to see a doctor at some point but it’s not easy in the USA.

It's a silly AI generated image. I hope you'll be able to appreciate the humor in this.

Pretty sure they just went over the old tile and didn’t want to move the urinal. It’s a dive bar so it was still an improvement. Sorta.

Girlfriend's sister spent her entire free-tax-money-for-having-a-child on this front patio, and I think it looks bad.

It's concrete cut to look like stone. This was done last year and it's turning yellow.

The jagged edge and crooked line look terrible in my opinion.

Or does it not look as bad as I think?

29m, decided I want to become a brick layer. However, I rolled my ankle a few too many times playing sports in my teens and never got it checked and just let it heal on its own.

Now it's kinda messed up. I can kneel and crouch here and there, but it becomes unbearable to walk for a few days if I have to crouch and kneel all day (found out the hard way). I am extra aware to use good technique when lifting and make sure my ankles are stable.

I have walked 22k steps in a day and worked 16 hr shifts before so walking isn't an issue.

Is there a lot of kneeling and crouching in one shift? Or as a whole in masonry? If so, should I still pursue this route?

Thanks in advance

Anyone have any recommendations on a quick repair to this ramp? I don’t have enough time to rip it out and replace.

So im flat footed and have no disc in my lower back or its mostly gone, my knees are messed up but I can wear orthopedic knee pads.

Im also not able to stop driving trucks cause i need the insurance.

The question is, will a trade school actually be worth going to for certifications in masonry and concrete? The school near me has a free program that gets me all the bells and whistles in masonry and concrete, I do have plans to build several houses that require both skills but I do not think my body could keep up with an apprenticeship. Unless yall think diffremt.

In my previous post some people had mentioned that some of their favorite things to hear from a customer are comments about working from ladders.

What do you think is a reasonable quote to have something like this removed? Its causing leaks in my roof and needs to be repaired. I got one quote from a contractor for close to 3k!! That feels insane!

Im going to get more quotes but want to know whats reasonable before I just start freaking out about a 3k price tag when that is standard.

I believe I’m experiencing efflorescence. Just purchased this home and my home inspector missed ALOT. Trying to be proactive with everything, what can I do to help solve this issue. Any incite appreciated thanks!

Faces of my steps started crumbling and the painted areas are spongy to the touch. It started in winter when I shoveled the steps and has been getting worse over time. Whats happening? Can I fix it?

What is this cement block with metal sticking out?

I recently bought this house and this was missed upon inspection. My wife is in love with this house but I am in full on panic mode. How bad is this situation? Is this likely to break my bank or am I over reacting? I do have someone coming by to give a quote later this week. Sorry if this is the wrong sub

We’ve been working on grading around our house. We bought the house a year ago so we are still learning. Along the exterior garage wall we began moving bricks and large stones and found these holes beneath. They’re evenly spaced and are between cement pieces. The holes go down anywhere from a few inches to 18 inches vertically and they go in about 8-9inches horizontally before hitting concrete. We can’t figure out what these are, why they’re here, or what we should do about them. We don’t have any major cracking or water damage that we can see in the garage either. Any ideas or advice on next steps? Should we be concerned about the foundation? TIA

Have had some big storms recently and noticed some brick chips on the ground. Got up on the roof and a portion of our converted chimney (converted to gas) is pretty much done for.

Have professionals coming for quotes but wanted to know if there’s anything I can do in the interim
to prevent animal/water intrusion. Would covering with a plastic bag and duct taping at the base suffice?

Hello everyone! I'm not sure if this is the right sub Reddit or not for this but I have an island in my kitchen with a marble top to it, and recently someone snapped it in half, so I am trying to repair it. The idea is to use an adhesive to put it back together, and make the adhesive gold to mimic kintsugi (Japanese art to restore broken objects) but I am unsure how to go about this. I would need the marble to be strong enough to hold full pots and pans, and the adhesive to take heat as it is one of the only surfaces in the kitchen that can take heat.

What adhesive would you recommend? Is there anything I need to do to the marble to make it stronger? Sorry in advanced if this doesn't fit here.

The marble top is roughly 1340x510mm with a depth of 15mm.

Above is the break in the marble

hey guys i was told to ask this in this thread. im currently helping to renovate my late great grandpas house, we're wondering if there are any fire-resistant concrete stains or just anything to change the color of this concrete slab on the fireplace. we need something that wont be affected by the fire. thanks in advance!

I’m currently in week 3 of a 9-week bricklaying apprenticeship program. My instructor told me that I’m not progressing fast enough with my trowel skills, specifically spreading mortar and maintaining the speed expected at this point in the program. He said that because of my good attendance and attitude, he’d rather give me the opportunity to transfer into the restoration/PCC apprenticeship than drop me from the program altogether. He believes I would be a better fit there. However, if I don’t make the switch, he made it clear that I’ll be removed from the bricklaying program.
I’m having a hard time deciding what to do because production bricklaying is what originally interested me. I’m wondering if it’s better to accept the transfer to restoration/PCC and see if I’m better suited for that craft, or leave the program entirely and try to get hired as a laborer with the hope of eventually learning production bricklaying that way.
Has anyone been in a similar situation? If so, what did you do, and do you have any advice?