Previous owner painted all four walls of a 144sqft bedroom in high gloss paint. He also decided to kindly extend his paint skills about 4 inches into the popcorn ceiling from the walls as well.

After spending two days removing the popcorn ceiling, chipping away the painted popcorn, and sanding the walls so primer can adhere to it, I’ve decided it’s time to fight.

What is the etiquette for challenging the previous owner of a home to martial combat?

- Pistols like gentlemen?
- Rapiers, also like gentlemen?
- Fisticuffs?
- Form a posse and fight his rival gang?
- Weapon of choice?

For legal reasons, this is a joke.

I closed on a house recently and my real estate agent bought a year of home warranty as a thank you/home welcoming gift. I’m well aware that home warranties are a scam and would never have purchased one myself. The house was neglected by the previous owners and there are a bunch of small repairs that I’ve had to make throughout.

Predictably, every home warranty claim I’ve made has been rejected by the company, since they are claiming they were preexisting issues that started before my purchase. (Which, to be fair, they are.)

However, I’m finding that it’s been extremely useful to use the warranty service to diagnose issues that I’m not familiar with, which I then fix myself.

Basically I make a claim with the home warranty, they send out a technician to look at the issue, he diagnoses it and files a report with the company, they reject the claim, then I use that report to fix whatever’s going on. The callout fee is $75, which has been absolutely worth it since I don’t have the knowledge or specialized equipment to diagnose these issues, and the alternative would be to hire someone to fix them for me.

Some examples I’ve used it for so far:

• Dishwasher: needed a replacement heating element
• Hot water heater: needed replacement lower heating element
• Leak from upstairs bathroom into room below: replace wax ring on toilet (this was especially useful because I was positive the issue was stemming from the shower)
• HVAC: poor air circulation, vents needed cleaning

Another thing that has been extremely helpful is that I can make these claims through their online portal, and they find and schedule the plumber or HVAC tech for me. Saves me the time of calling around to find someone who’s available.

To be fair, the home warranty also rekeyed the locks in my house, which a couple locksmiths had quoted for $200. So I did gain $125 in legitimate value from them, which maybe offsets the cost of the callout fees above.

Based on my experience, I would definitely not recommend a home warranty service, which most people here probably already know, however it has still been helpful for me.

We have a small dining + kitchen area - about 9' × 19'. We'd like to reno the kitchen, which would require layout chnages, all new appliaces, etc. I understand it is a big job and require moving gas/water/electric. But I wasn't expecting $90k+ quotes for for mid-tier upgrades. I just cannot fathom how people are paying for all of these home renos these days. That many people have 100 grand in cash just laying around or in liquid assests? Or are tons of people taking out 20 year loans and getting socked with $1000+/mo. payments for over a decade? I just cannot believe my parents' small kitchen was able to be done for $15k and now it is like 6x the price. Insane.

Finishing a ~1,200 sq ft unfinished basement. 9 ft ceilings, four egress windows already in, brick foundation, newer construction. Scope, kept deliberately simple: two legal bedrooms (framed, with closets), one full bath with new plumbing tied into existing basement lines, and the rest left open-concept — no extra partition walls. Plus a small all-electric kitchenette: just a bar sink, a counter, and plug-in appliances (kettle, induction burner, microwave). No gas. Modest/builder-grade finishes.
Budget target is ~$50K and I'm getting three quotes. Questions for people who've done similar:
Is $50K realistic for this in a high-cost area, or should I brace for more? Where would it likely land?
The full bath is my biggest line — anything about basement bathroom rough-in (ejector pump, venting) I should confirm is in the contract up front?
For the kitchenette, I'm planning a couple of dedicated 20-amp counter outlets + GFCI near the sink — anything else electrical I'm missing?
What tends to blow up mid-project on a basement finish (panel upgrade, drainage, moisture)?
Not looking for contractor names here — just a reality check on the plan and number. Thanks.

First time home owner. I didn't pick up any knowledge from my parents on home care. I've learned a few things. Replaced the fill valve and flapper in my toilet today, but I have a lot of knowledge gaps like this. I know I could use draino but that's apparently terrible for the environment. So I'm looking for some insight. I also am trying to get rid of phorid flies and their breeding grounds by doing this.

Thanks in advance :)

During very heavy flooding rains here in the pnw water seeps through the back wall and then begins to come up from around the pipes that go through the concrete. In the 14 years I have had three times where water has flooded in and I have been bailing to save my interior. Usually it is just a trickle.

I have now gotten two bids. One is $12k to dig out 10" along the interior of our back wall, out in a drain, put in a sump and then pipe the water out to a dry well. I am told this guaranteed for 10 years to not leak, but requires me to redo the interior of my home along the wall.

The other is to put a French drain in about a 3' from the foundation wall, and daylight it on the side yard. About $5k. The French drain only goes down about 18" which seems shallow to me, but he said that is normal for French drains.

I don't know what to do as one is very intrusive and one I am not sure will work.

Do any of you have experience or advice with this type of stuff?

https://imgur.com/gallery/kdsRTlR

For some context, they are not done. I feel bad for these guys because it sounds like my house's original 1984 windows were absolute monsters to try to work with, resulting in them having to completely redo my trim at no additional cost, so the expected 8-12 hour project has already stretched into 20+ (and they're coming back tomorrow), and I'm pretty sure one of the guys put a nail through his finger along the way... yeah it's just sucked for them, but before I send them off, I noticed some little imperfections and just wanted to ask people who know better if these are totally normal or if i should ask them to correct them. I've attached some videos to try to show what's in the following bullets:

• New trim not fully flush to the wall, and in some places slightly misaligned
• Random nail in my wall lol, nail on the very edge of the trim slightly visible
• Minor splitting in the trim
• Imperfectly cut interior framing piece
• Living room windows have visible vertical gaps at the edges so the upper windows can wiggle side to side a bit
• Dirty windows and frames (I can probably clean them if that's normally on the customer! Just don't know the etiquette)
• Flashing tape residue on exterior of home including a spot where the outer layer of the composite siding was stripped away and it's now exposed wood

Would appreciate some input! Please let me know if I'm being ridiculous, I just want to make sure I'm getting what I paid for before they leave. Thanks in advance!

Hey everyone. So I’ve noticed that the caulk behind my bathroom sink is straight up disgusting. It’s discolored and cracking apart. I can also see an area of the drywall nearby with what I can only assume is water damage due to people reaching for a nearby towel after washing their hands. My question is how do I go about repairing this? Do I dig out what I can of the old caulk and re caulk? Is there a certain type of caulk I should be using to avoid this happening again in the future? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

https://imgur.com/a/oLloOaP

Central BC - we just had all of our windows replaced by a local company that manufactures the windows in house.

We have vinyl siding and the installers removed all of the old J channels around the windows and directly fit the siding into a channel they cut in the new windows.

When I push the vinyl siding back from the top of the window I can see the bare plywood wall. This doesn't seem right to me since water going down the siding will pool at the top of the window against the plywood. Video linked below. Wanted to see if this is fine before talking to then owner.

https://imgur.com/a/RBmzXSs

Had a minor A/C leak from a line that drained into an upstairs bathroom. I did a test with a moisture meter with pins and there's maybe 10 sqft of flooring that's showing an elevated (20%) moisture reading. Walls are dry as is the rest of the floor. I have run a dehumidifier off Amazon but the percentage hasn't decreased much.

My bathroom flooring is cork and has plywood subfloor with cement backer board. The flooring is not squishy/water doesn't come out when I step on it etc.

Would prefer not to replace the flooring of my entire bathroom due to elevated moisture under one or two planks and it would be impossible to match the flooring at this point.

Is there any major consequence from just leaving everything as is? Am I overreacting? Any insight is appreciated.

I'm starting to think the previous owner had a personal vendetta against future homeowners.

We've been in our 1970s split-level for about two months, and every project leads to another discovery. This time, it's the walls.

I went to patch a small hole in the living room and noticed something weird. The drywall paper looked wrong—too thick, too textured. I peeled back a little more and realized: that's wallpaper. With two layers of latex paint slapped right over it.

I checked other rooms. Kitchen? Wallpaper under paint. Bedrooms? Same. Hallway? You guessed it. Every single wall has painted-over wallpaper, and I'm pretty sure they used no primer before painting.

Now the seams are showing. In the hallway, edges are curling up under the paint. In the bathroom, there's a bubble the size of my hand that's grown over the last few weeks. If I don't deal with this, it's going to get worse.

I've read about options, but each comes with its own special misery:

• Strip everything, deal with glue residue, repair damaged drywall, prime, paint. Weeks of work and a lot of cussing.
• Skim coat the entire wall to cover seams and texture, then paint. Faster, but sounds like something an amateur would do that a pro would curse me for later.
• Hang new 1/4-inch drywall right over everything and start fresh. Expensive but foolproof.

I'm leaning toward skim coating because the wallpaper seems well-adhered except at the seams, and I really don't want to open the can of worms that is stripping 50-year-old wallpaper from 1970s drywall.

Questions for those who've been through this:

• If I skim coat over painted wallpaper, will it fail in a few years when the wallpaper eventually peels?
• Is there a way to tell if it was installed over bare drywall or over liner paper that might make removal easier?
• Has anyone used a steamer on painted wallpaper? Does it work, or does the paint just turn into a gummy mess?
• If I do the 1/4-inch drywall overlay, do I need to extend all the outlet boxes, or is there a simpler way?
• What option would you choose if you had to do this in your own house while actually living in it?

I'm not looking for perfect—I'm looking for the least miserable path to a wall that looks fine and stays that way.

I have a plaster wall where paint was peeling off. I was able to remove the peeling paint from the area and now have a decent sized area that needs to be filled and repainted. The plaster underneath the paint is sound and dry. Should I just throw some plaster joint compound on it, sand, and paint? Or do I need to seal the affected area and paint, then use joint compound, sand, and paint?

I am missing a thumbturn on one of my doors ( little kid perhaps threw it away ) . Where can I find one , it’s a 30 year old house

Hi all, here in Orlando FL and need 2000 sqft of floating LVP to go over tile. I learned today that Nucore / Duralux from Floor & Decor seems to be complete crap, Lifeproof from HD seems to be better quality with lots of positive reviews. Looking for any feedback honestly on what you all think, thanks!

PS - Not a flip, I'll be here for 20 years...

We are scheduled to have our house painted.

But we noticed that our box gutters have some issues and should probably be replaced with K gutters ASAP (no known leaks but unsure)

We may not be able to get the painters to reschedule and we're worried that getting the box gutters replaced after painting could mess up the new paint job.

How concerned should we be?

We have a leak that shows up on the center of the window only when there are heavy rains with heavy winds (rain coming in at an angle)

Video of leak and exterior photos: https://imgur.com/a/yM2IVP3

Window is on 1st level, same size window right above it on second level and has no leaks whatsoever.

House has brick veneer and build 2021. No leak on the window above it.

I am planning to move and make this a rental so want to get this fixed before the move next year.

I have had 2 guys come and try to fix it but it hasn't been fixed.

our electric bill used to be one of those expenses i could mostly work around. lately it takes a bigger bite out of the monthly budget, and cutting back on usage doesn't seem to move the number as much as i'd expect.

now i'm looking at the house a little differently. spending money on insulation, sealing or other efficiency work feels easier to justify when the monthly bills keep creeping up, but i don't want to throw money at upgrades that won't make much difference. i'm stuck on whether lowering the bill should come before spending more on the house.

Left to right my subfloor is flat but about 1/2” out of level. My plan was to cut up the remaining plywood in the area, sister each low floor joist and then put down new 5/8” OSB. Does that sound like a reasonable plan? Alternative was to patch what I have now and then do self-leveler, but would like to avoid that if possible

https://imgur.com/a/TQLuA1b

I have exterior moisture along the foundation of my townhouse. I have checked the wall on the other side and have slight splitting of laminate and so am not sure where to start or what to do. (First time home owner)

Both of my units are atmospheric venting. Run off propane.

Now, I would like to power vent these appliances because my chimney is to the point where it should really just come down before my new roof.

Or am I looking for the wrong types of pipe vents where I could instead run a pipe in the old chimney that exits through the roof instead?

I get the answers that I can and cannot power vent these appliances if they did not come that way from the factory, so I am looking for some additional input.

https://imgur.com/a/amJ65FW

See pics above. Going to repaint and replace casing. When the old stuff came off, a piece of the frame came out with it. What is the substance that broke off (wood is intact) so I can't patch it (likely will do after putting the casing on.

Thanks!

My house has baseboard radiators, and in some of the rooms the covers have 1/4 round trim on top of the cover and against the wall. Personally I find the trim ugly, especially when it's painted the same color as the wall.

I pulled the trim in one of the rooms, and it revealed a pretty big gap between the radiator and the wall. It seems like someone shoved a piece of 3/4" drywall between the actual wall and the radiator itself. I honestly have no idea what's going on there or why would anyone do that.

Pics: https://imgur.com/a/SdDszud

So I'm looking for some advice. What should I do here? In an ideal world I would remove the covers, and figure out what's going on there, but that would probably also require a heating professional to deal with the radiators in case they need to be moved back close to the wall. Also it looks like a lot of work that I don't want to do right now.

If I can make it nice, without pulling the radiators off the wall, I'd rather do that. Maybe a backing rod and some caulk (what caulk would be safe for this application so close to the radiators?)

I'm looking to either service or replace a Hampton Bay bathroom vent fan.

Model # TY-50-A(HD)

120v, 20w, 50 cfm

The fan is periodically squealing but has recently got to the point where it had woken me up in another room.

Is there a direct/easy motor replacement without removing/reworking the housing? Trying to keep it as easy as possible.

Is it serviceable by re-oiling bearings (if able), cleaning, etc?

Is servicing recommended as fan is 11 years old according to the manufacturer date on the sticker.

Online searches show the original fan as discontinued.

Any help is greatly appreciated.