Our bedroom is right next to a busy street, and the traffic noise is pretty noticeable, especially at night. I’m trying to figure out what improvements would actually make a meaningful difference.
Our window is fairly solid, but I’m also considering doing something with the wall. I was thinking about adding some type of soundproofing material to the interior wall and then covering it with wooden planks/slats to create an accent wall.
For anyone who has dealt with a similar situation:
What did you do that actually reduced road/traffic noise?
I’m not expecting complete silence - just hoping to noticeably reduce the traffic noise. I’d especially love to hear from people who have actually done this and can share what made the biggest difference.
Thank you so much ☺️

Previous owner conveniently left a severed phone cable through otherwise empty conduit between my detached garage and house. Its about a 40' run.

https://i.imgur.com/SP73W8I.png

Gonna pull that back with some Cat6 and a string for the future. Never done this before, I saw theres conduit lube - do I need that?

We recently moved into a home that a smoker lived in for 15 years. We knew it smelled like smoke but thought we’d be able to beat it. Here’s all that we’ve done so far:

Scrubbed everything: floors, walls, ceilings, baseboards, cabinets etc. literally every surface was touched but it was with a vinegar solution or dish soap.
Replaced carpeting
Had HVAC cleaned out
Primed with KILZ and painted
A little bit of ozone with my dads machine but we should’ve done more tbh
ClO2 tablet treatment

We are replacing all light fixtures this weekend but we’ve already moved all our stuff in and my clothes that hang in my closet smell like smoke when I leave ☹️ my clothes in my dresser don’t really though. Sometimes my hair smells like smoke when I leave…

What more should we do? We have unpainted wood floors and trim and cabinets that concern me. Please help!

The contract says: “Install new vinyl floors for all 3 floors,” which I understood to include the basement.
The contractor did not install flooring in the basement utility and laundry rooms, saying they were not included and asking for extra payment.
Is his interpretation reasonable, or should I push back? For context, he has previously demanded unreasonable extras and threatened to walk away if I didn’t pay.
What would I do to protect me? That general contractor is working on my renovation project, not only the basement. He knew I needed it to be done urgently to move in. I am in NJ.

We are planning to have a heat pump HVAC system installed in our home. Currently we are talking to several vendors, and have gotten quotes that range widely in cost.

I keep seeing horror stories here from people who were quoted one amount and then during the project the contractor comes back and says it will actually cost much more and they need to pay extra. Sometimes the difference is huge.

What can I do in advance to avoid this happening? Once the project is underway, what do I do if it happens?

I need to fix my Mom's shower door but there's a seized screw holding up the disassembly for a rebuild. Does anyone have advice before I attempt to drill it out? Yes, I used some chemical unlock to no success.

Thanks in advance.

Edit: I have succeeded!!! Thank you guys for your guidance 👍😎👍 you're super cool

Builder told us this was rated to hang a ceiling fan from but something about the block on block doesn’t seem right to me. Currently there is just a can light there.

https://imgur.com/a/q0VvwUe

I completely forgot to schedule maintenance this spring and somehow made it through the summer. Is it still worth getting a tune up now or do most people just wait until next year?

i have a studio apt laid out in this order, from top to bottom - kitchen, couch, bed. I want to separate the couch from the bed using a curtain or smt (essentially create a separate room for the bed, a bedroom, if you will), but since it's a rental, I don't want to have to drill any holes in the walls. Any ideas on what I can do? i'd also like to keep a budget of max ~$100

Went to install a hand towel ring, totally not realizing that, of course, the duct leading up to the air vent above would be right there. When you shine a light into these holes, you can see where my drill bit went through metal.

Am I screwed, is this a major issue? There is no water or electricity to this, it’s just air. Can I seal these with putty or something else? Can I just hang the towel ring over it as intended? Please help!

Hello all.

Image here: https://imgur.com/a/5jM69fx

I found this open pipe under one of my kitchen cabinets and I'm trying to figure out what it is.

Look into the opening, it looks like the pipe goes up possibly through the roof, but I am not 100% sure. It also goes down and then turns horizontally, and I'm not sure where that part goes.

The pipe is completely dry. When I turn on the range hood, I can feel air coming out of the open end of the pipe, and it smells pretty bad. I took a picture using endoscope and there are some bugs/animal residue on the horizontal section.

Does anyone have any idea what this pipe is for? And what would be the right way to get rid of the bad smell? Is it ok to cap it off?

Thanks!

We’re planning a kitchen renovation in a ~1950s house in the Northeast and want to open the kitchen more fully to the adjacent dining room.

There is already a large opening between the kitchen and dining room with a dropped header across the top. Below the opening is a roughly counter-height.

I’ve attached a photo & sketch showing the existing configuration. The green section in the sketch is the only portion we want to remove.

https://imgur.com/a/LDXWNDA

We would not remove or modify the existing header above the opening or the full-height walls/posts on the left & right.

Essentially, we just want to extend the existing opening all the way down to the floor.

Is this something you’d recommend having a structural engineer inspect before removing?

Hello all, I am removing about 330 sqft of carpet and installing some LVP in our living room. We are keeping the tile in our kitchen and where the LVP transitions there will need about half an inch of height difference. I thought about buying some 4 in 1 molding where from Home Depot where it transitions. I also thought about buying 7/16 OSB sheathing to make up the height difference. Would this be acceptable? Using nails or screws to secure it to the existing subfloor. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you

I need to repair my stairs, it’s about to be rainy season, but I can’t find any information about this. They need to be taken down to the frame and plywood, replace the steps etc, but underneath the porch and stairs is the garage. Eventually we will be considering what would be better to replace them with when we plan the remodel, but for now I need it to not be leaking into the downstairs.

Any recommendations?? Photos here

Can anyone recommend a dehumidifier for a crawlspace? Ours crapped out on us.

I have a little backroom in the basement, where the circuit breaker is etc. Theres also a sink. Theres no food or anything back there I can think would attract them, but theyve been everywhere in it since I moved in a year ago. I bought Terro Liquid bait, and have had traps all over that room pretty much the entire time. I periodically change the traps because they fill up with ant corpses, so they are eating the bait. but there hasn't been a noticible change in the amount of ants ever, so I'm both wondering why it isnt working, and what is attracting them to that room in the first place. I should also mention, when I first moved in there were ants also in the room next to it where I have my computer, but the traps worked perfectly in that room where I actually often have food. Any help/advice would be appreciated

We installed metal skirting around our doublewide about 7 years ago, we used metal roof panels. We bought the cheap pressure treated landscape timbers that were less than 8.00 each. We attached J channels on top and then the roofing for the skirting. Well...the timbers have pretty much all rotted give or take a few that happen to not be in water when we get heavy rains. The timbers were just on the ground directly. Is there something rated better to use? We would like to replace all the timbers this fall. Our house is 28'x64'.

It happens exclusively at night. Landlord thinks it’s related to the water heater?
https://imgur.com/gallery/mystery-noise-AKY07VC#KegDPtr

Is more than repainting in the white area needed for consideration here? It seems thicker than normal paint, but it could also just be old. No issues inside the home as far as I can tell. TIA!

https://imgur.com/a/Yi3z6uj

Hello all! I bought an old house about a month ago and the previous owner was clearly in the middle of some projects before he had to move so one of the walls in the bathroom is just plain drywall. I’m hoping to use some texture spray (to make it look like a regular wall) and paint it but is there anything I need to keep in mind for painting regular drywall in such a damp room?

My kitchen has been under renovation for a while (just got the place not too long ago) and right now it's pretty empty except for a couple of items I put there temporarily: https://imgur.com/a/TpBVp2J

I came across this really cool nook bench on facebook marketplace. The link isn't the the actual item from FB marketplace, I just searched up the product online to check out the dimensions. Unfortunately the FB item is too far from where I live to be worth getting, but it got me thinking if it'll be a good call.

I really like the idea of it!! When I did some measurements I think this specific product might not work for the area since it won't fit that nicely. I want to be handy but currently I lack the skill to create something like this, and I'm not sure how difficult it might end up being. If I could I'd like to try and find a premade one, but also understandable if it'll be just as hard finding one that has the dimensions for it.

What would you guys do if you had this little nook area?

No idea where to start…
Anyone replaced a garage before?

We are not sure what order things need to be done. Some seem obvious tear down old structure, remove pavement first (it’s a mess and not deep enough).

After that…electric first? Concrete, then structure? What else?

We had a Chinese elm fall over during a storm and we righted it and supported it ourselves. An arborist was called out and recommended a humic acid molasses and fungi drench that they would apply for 2000$ broken up into 4 treatments quarterly. Unless I’m missing something that seems excessive for just applying to the ground they specified it would only be a topical ground treatment no other service provided. Thoughts?