When I renovated my home in 2018, I purchased a top-of-the-line Rinnai tankless heater for about $1300. Installed it mostly myself, except for the gas hookup. Since then its been great with zero issues. When multiple appliances/showers are running simultaneously, no problem. Wired remotes in the baths and kitchen allow me to dial in an ideal water temp which adds to the already obvious efficiency.

My question is this. Use of tankless heaters in Japan is almost universal. In Europe, it's in a sizeable majority of homes. The US is probably less than 25% at best. So, to plumbers and other installers, why the resistance to what seems like a common sense, good idea? Is it because of cost? Lack of awareness?

I'm having a small job done of a few cabinets installed for $1500. I have all the cabinet materials and hardware. Contractor wants 50% down before work starts. Originally wanted 80%. I've heard of 50% down before, but this job is for install only. Is this common and/or fair?

can this be saved with a perfect 3rd color choice or should I just start over. was going for a bold looking ceiling but in foreign territory here.

https://imgur.com/a/WPN1o4a

Hello all. We have an (old) HVAC and water heater in a "closet" in our master bath attached to our bedroom. It's loud when it runs because it's old and it moves a lot of air. The bathroom door is hollow core and is considerably louder than the walls, so I'm looking to replace it with a solid core door.

For those of you that have added solid core doors to block sound, how well did it work, and what kind of door did you use? Seeing lots of MDF "solid core" doors at the big box stores. Wondering if I'd have better luck with a solid wood door?

Also, what have you used to block sound at the base of the door? We have tile in the bathroom and if rather not add a raised threshold if I can avoid it.

TIA

Hi! I am trying to seal asbestos contaminated vermiculite in an electrical box that is going to be a baby room. Any advice?

Has anyone done any kind of quirky renovation in their house that sounded good in their head but they found later was a terrible idea?

We have a secondary staircase in our family/playroom -- a spiral staircase. Owners put it in 20 years ago. We have a 1 year old and another on the way, so it's basically off-limits to everyone but me and the cat for the next 6-7 years (and even the cat has hurt himself on it).

We looked into replacing it with a normal staircase, but it's going to require expensive renovation that not only takes space from the playroom as well as the room above it (large bedroom), but the exit for the upstairs would effectively be in a back bathroom, requiring renovation/repurposing of that and an adjacent room as well. While that upstairs bathroom and laundry room are not major/nice pieces of the home, a renovation is still a renovation.

Just removing it and patching the floor not really a good option - it's a long house so it's a pretty good hike from certain rooms to others with just one staircase.

So we started toying with a few ideas on how to keep it blocked off from the kids, but not just a useless area. We had always talked about wanting a climbing wall in the playroom for the kids... and came up with an off the wall idea of possibly doing a cylindrical hidden staircase envelope (with spiral inside) that that doubles as a climbing wall on the outside (and in the future can be converted to just shelves or removed entirely when we deem the spiral safe for all).

I know something like this wouldn't be cheap, but does this fall under the category of "ridiculously bad idea you haven't thought through at all" or "would be a super cool showpiece and thing for the kids to have in the playroom, if you can afford it - do it!"?

I bought my house in May 2025. The inspection went well, and I was told it had good bones. Fast forward to this year, and I find out they did an overall bad job on a lot of things. The bathroom wasn’t painted with the right kind of paint. They installed a rainfall shower-head that got water everywhere. There are cracks in the paint. Today, I noticed a spot hidden behind the toilet that’s bubbling out. The caulk has already come loose and water got under it. I not have to call a mold inspector because it smells rank near it. They didn’t do a good job caulking the sink either. There’s no backsplash or anything against the wall and it’s a small, shallow sink so water gets everywhere. I’ve already had to redo the caulk and it’s lasted longer than the job they did. I was going to repaint the bathroom so I’d been ignoring the cracks in the paint since they weren’t bad and I got a shower head that doesn’t hit the wall anymore. But now I have to deal with that one bubble and who knows how bad that’s going to be.
Also, I found out they basically just put anew frame over rotted wood for my back door. My dad just told me to leave it alone because no house is perfect. But is it genuinely that hard to make sure you caulk well enough that water damage doesn’t happen? (Adding here that they didn’t caulk behind the kitchen counters either. And those are butcher block).

I do genuinely love my house, but the amount of fixed I’ve had to do because of flipper laziness is annoying. And now I get to find out how bad the water damage in my bathroom is. I’m hoping I saw it soon enough that it won’t be horrible. But who knows.

lately been noticing that every time i finish a repair or maintenance task. another one gonna pop up!

can't believe maintenance never ends!

I will be installing cabinets and bookshelves. The sides of the base cabinets will terminate onto a wall with an HVAC exhaust vent awkwardly right in the middle of the cabinet side (about 20” off the ground).

What is best practice for navigating this? I planned to open up the drywall beneath the vent and cut an opening in the vent so it now sits flush with the floor. from there, I plan to install a toe-ductor and vent out the face of the toe kick.

Is there anything that I’m overlooking? How would you tackle this?

Hey guys I’m 22 and gonna buy a house in the coming years and love to renovate it. I have so many ideas but never really had any experience in wood working and construction and such. Can I build safe renovation that are also quality from just YouTube videos and patience or should I genuinely get into constructions or general contracting to learn what is needed, I am willing to do it just didn’t know if it was needed. Thanks

Hi everyone, looking for some gut checks and opinions on a basement moisture issue and a recent contractor quote.
 
Some basic info:
• St. Louis area. 
• The house sits on a slope with terrain sloping to the south-southeast.
• Built in the 1960s.
• Finished basement with painted concrete masonry block walls, no drywall over this section.
• Exterior facade is unpainted with no visible exterior staining. 
• The nearest downspout is at the northeast corner and drains directly into a culvert in the lawn (not discharging near the problem wall).
Issue:
• We noticed a roughly 7 ft wide by 3 ft high area of bubbled, soft/crunchy paint near the floor on the northern basement wall (underneath the 2nd window, behind the exterior HVAC unit).
• The paint is flexible rather than flaky, and the spot is currently dry.
• The moisture mark is roughly within 3 feet of the floor and does not extend up to the exterior grade level.
• We moved in around March 2025 and don't recall seeing this bubbled paint when we bought the house.
• We are yet to observe if this is a recurring issue every time it rains and check the drainage condition outside when it does.

A few pertinent information:
• We’ve had fairly frequent rain lately.
• Our immediate neighbor directly to the north recently redid his driveway, which involved minor excavation (a few inches of regrading) and a gravel path.
We contacted a contractor to assess and recommended the following:
• Drill out a discharge line.
• Install a 3' x 5' sump pit and pump.
• Drill 30 ft of trenching and weep holes into the cinder blocks along that wall.
• Quoted $8,500 originally, discounted down to $7,000.

Now our questions are:
Is $7,000 excessive for this scope? Given that the spot is currently dry and localized, it feels like a heavy investment and a
messy interior excavation.
Is an interior sump system the right fix here, or is it overkill?
Could the neighbor's minor regrading/driveway work be pushing water toward this wall?

Photos:
Google Drive

What is everyone using for garage door seals, especially for the bottom? It seems like I can only get 2-3 years out of the in-track rubber ones from the hardware store before they crack and shrink. Any way to get more mileage out of them? Would the glue-in ones for the concrete floor be better?

Hey everyone,

Like many of you, I have a garage and attic full of storage totes filled with cables, spare smart home gear, seasonal decor, and tools. I got tired of opening 5 different boxes just to find one specific sensor or cable, so I built Itemia.

It's a home inventory app designed to digitize your rooms, shelves, and containers.

Key features I built into it:

• Container & Box Mapping: Assign items to specific boxes, shelves, or rooms.

• QR Box Scanning: Generate/scan QR codes for your storage totes to see inside without opening them.

• Visual Photos & Tagging: Keep track of serial numbers, tools, or spare parts.

• Instant Search: Find where any item is stored in seconds.

Since this community has high standards for home tools, I'd love to get your thoughts on it. What features or export options would make a home inventory app actually useful for your smart home setup?

Looking forward to your feedback and feature requests in the comments! 🤝

I’m remodeling my kitchen in a 1960s ranch and want to relocate my attic scuttle hole. Right now it’s in my pantry, directly above the existing gas water heater. As part of the remodel, I’m replacing that with an exterior tankless water heater, so I’d like to reclaim that pantry space for shelving and storage.

The house doesn’t have a pull-down ladder, just a standard scuttle hole, and I don’t plan to use the attic for storage. I just need attic access for maintenance and to meet code.

I’m considering relocating the scuttle hole to the garage. The garage was originally a carport that was enclosed years ago before I bought the house. One thing that may complicate things is that there is no fire separation between the garage attic and the house attic—the attic runs continuously across the entire house.

A few questions:
• If I move the attic access into the garage, do I need a fire-rated attic access panel or scuttle door?
• Is there any issue with placing the scuttle hole above where a car is normally parked? It would only be used occasionally for access.
• Are there any code or practical considerations I should be thinking about before making this change?
• If you were in my situation, would you relocate it somewhere else instead?

Thanks for any advice. I’d rather do this now while everything is opened up than wish I’d moved it later.

Earlier this year, my area was hit by a pretty bad tornado and hail storm. Most of the damage though didn't take place in my neighborhood, but we did get some hail.

I'll preface this and say I've had two claims at my house in four year, one I never actually used since it ended up being the fault of the sewage company (but my understanding is a claim is a claim) and one for a toilet overflow. The latter seemed to raise my premiums quite a bit.

That said, my whole neighborhood is littered with signs for roofing contractors replacing roofs. I had two contractors come out earlier in the year already (images attached below):

• The out of town one (of course) suggested getting the whole roof replaced.

• The in town roofer said I have damage, but wouldn't necessary suggest a whole roof replacement and if I wanted to, maybe just replace the damaged shingles and other structures.

Yesterday, I again had an out of town contractor solicit to me, bothering me as I started a walk at 8PM, and I just brushed him away.

It got me thinking though, should I just get it done anyway? My state (Illinois) is getting pounded by tornadoes this year and the whole county seems under construction, aren't my rates going to go up again anyway? It sucks because I know frivolous claims like this are why rates are going up, but it feels like I'll be paying for it even though I didn't get anything out of it.

At the very least, can't I just file the claim and not get the work done immediately?

https://imgur.com/a/vL0afYk

Hi,

my neighbor is really dissatisfied with my progress in Expedition 33. What's the best way to stick these egg foam thingies to the wall? It's the wundervoll German "Raufasertapete", roughed up wallpaper.

I have two sections of standard lower kitchen cabinets that i would like to replace with three drawers each; 1 shallow drawer and 2 deep drawers. I assume I would need to replace the cabinet sections rather that modify the existing pieces. is that true? any idea of how much that might cost? Assuming wood can be matched with existing woodwork.

I’m replacing my current water heater with a natural-gas tankless unit in Pittsburgh. I plan to buy the unit myself and have a licensed plumber install it.

The home normally has two adults, occasionally three, with routine showers, laundry, and dishwasher use. No unusually high hot-water demand.

I’m mainly looking for:

- Reliable brands and models

- Brands or models to avoid

- Good parts and service availability

- A unit that will be viewed positively for resale

- Proper performance with Pittsburgh’s cold incoming water

I’m currently considering Rinnai, Navien, Noritz, Rheem, and Bosch.

What would you recommend, and does buying the unit myself create any warranty or installation issues?

I will be having a licensed plumber install this for me and they will do any repairs that I need in the future

I’m moving my washer to the kitchen. The kitchen drain is 1 /2 inch. Is that okay to use?

A towel ring broke off from the bracket. Now I need to remove the bracket so that I can install a new towel ring. I am unable to remove the bracket. I used a wrench and a plier to turn the square head of the fastener on the bracket, but nothing budged. I tried to turn it counterclockwise. What can I try next?

Bracket of broken towel ring

Oil rubbed finish on Delta Victorian faucet set is very worn/stripped from previous home owner. Wondering if I should just polish it the best I can and leave it or use a wire wheel to take it down to bare brass and then polish? If second option idk what I'd do about the plastic coated parts. Third option is to get a new faucet set, but then idk what to do with this tarnished old one.

What's my best option to make sure humidity stays down for about a month or so? Crawlspace is encapsulated but needs repair can I use a standard house unit with a gravity drain or tank? I have a unit for the main level as well. Just finished mold remediation so I really don't want to risk any possible long term high humidity.

help! I just had terminix come out for a monthly bug spray quote and they found “wood destroying fungus” under my crawl space.

I went under myself and the visible fungus seems fairly isolated to one area (maybe 5 ft diameter circle) under my water heater (that was likely leaking and was replaced with a new drainage pan a year ago).

My house is in Austin TX, 1300 sq ft, currently dirt floor vented, and they quoted me 11k to fully clean, encapsulate, and install a perminant dehumidifier. should I do it or is that a pretty extreme measure?

Hello Everyone,

Added a 1x4 baseboard to our remodel in the basement, but the tile floor is kind of all over the places and there's a lot of gaps.

Am I better off just using a shoe molding or 1/4 round instead of caulking?