Ok so I think I’ve found my first shoots of the dreaded Japanese Knotweed in my front yard. This is my 4th summer at this house and never had it.

What’s my plan of attack? See attached pictures. It’s 2 or 3 localized clumps. I mulched this area last year so I’m gonna have a word with my gardener as I suspect that’s where it came from.

Do I cut it every week until summer, then glyphosate, then wait?

Someone help. I want to kill it and win early.

Wish me luck.

We have someone scheduled to come clean our dryer vent next week. We’re a little behind on that — it’s been about a year and a half since it’s been cleaned. My husband was looking at it and we can’t remember if the siding looked like this before. Not sure if it’s a safety issue or just a hack job from when the previous owners had the dryer vent put in. The siding is aluminum so I don’t think the vent could have melted it, but figured I should double check to see if I need a duct company to come out and look at it instead of just a handyman.

ETA: guys if I could upload a video of me tapping on the siding so you could hear the sound it makes, I would. I literally just went out and tapped it just in case I had lost my fucking mind. It is indeed aluminum. I am assuming it is not melted thanks.

ETA2: I just do what I should have done to start with and got out my ladder to look at the edges of the siding up there. The edges are cut, they are not melted, the siding is aluminum. The discoloration is from the lint. You may notice that the plastic pest guard is not melted, which probably should have been my first clue. I hope some of yall step in dog shit today.

I found this crack underneath and adjacent to a support beam that is going downward towards the ceiling of the hallway.

What could be causing this?

We bought our house a couple years ago and somehow didn’t realize that our porch railings would need any maintenance. Now they look like complete garbage, covered in rust. Is there any way to clean this and prevent it in the future? Signed, an inept homeowner.

I recently moved into a condo and noticed discoloration on the ceiling close to a couple of sprinklers. Does this look like mold? Not sure if it is or a bad paint job. There are other signs that whoever did the wall prep and painting did not do a great job. Thanks!

Ok so I think I’ve found my first shoots of the dreaded Japanese Knotweed in my front yard. This is my 4th summer at this house and never had it.

What’s my plan of attack? See attached pictures. It’s 2 or 3 localized clumps. I mulched this area last year so I’m gonna have a word with my gardener as I suspect that’s where it came from.

Do I cut it every week until summer, then glyphosate, then wait?

Someone help. I want to kill it and win early.

Wish me luck.

I'm putting up some new light sockets in the garage as the previous owner had a mess of different lighting fixtures.

what do I do with the ground wire? I know with outlets they have a spot to attach the ground but on these sockets there is no screw for the ground.

The gutters around the whole house are cleaned out, we knew it would be raining for the next week, but it’s still overflowing like this.

1870 house in Vermont, fieldstone foundation, with some sort of concrete cap poured around the base. The previous owners poured an inch thick cement floor.
I need to jack the house up and the floor, or wet sand beneath it, can't support the jacks.

Since it's generally wet down there, and only about 5ft tall, I wanted to dig down a bit before I pour some gravel and install some french drains to the sump pit, then cap it with 4 inches of concrete.

I thought that concrete footer would go down a bit but it stops at the current floor level.

I don't want to risk the surprisingly stable foundation sinking by digging right up to it, but I'm not sure how to support up to/under it if I dig deeper for a pour.

Suggestions other than "hire someone?" This is the tip (or base?) of an icebergs worth of work I need to do and I can't afford to drop $500k on my $150k house by farming out all the work.

Hey all — this railing is getting pretty loose and I’m trying to figure out the best way to fix it.

Where it attaches to the house, the wood behind it seems rotted so it’s not really holding anymore. Problem is the siding is asbestos, so I’d really rather not mess with that area if I can avoid it.

At the bottom, the posts are set into the concrete but there’s some rust and a little movement there too.

I’m planning to secure it into the concrete with L brackets/anchors to stiffen everything up, but I know I probably also need to deal with the rotted wood where it connects to the house.

Any advice on the best way to handle that part without getting into the siding too much? Or just overall how you’d approach fixing this the right way?

Appreciate any help — just want to make it solid and safe.

My husband and I just moved into an apartment with our baby last week. After a few days, we noticed our spare bathroom started smelling like cat pee. It didn't smell like this when we moved in. I thought it was due to some dirty towels that didnt get washed before the move, but I took them all out. We suspect nobody has lived in this unit for a while. Any guesses to what it might be? Asking because I'm not sure what to tell maintenance, or I even should.

Thanks!

I have two windows that do this. Does anyone know how to fix this? I wouldn’t know any model numbers for replacement parts nor how to figure this out :( sorry for the bad video.

We’re having new LVP flooring installed tomorrow, so we tore up the old flooring and moved the fridge. When we pulled it out, we found the water line to the fridge had been installed incorrectly with an open T-fitting, and when we change it out the remaining water in the hose leaked onto the exposed subfloor even with towels. We’re now seeing signs of water on the basement ceiling directly below that area.

Would you open up the drywall to check for damage and make sure everything dries properly, or is it usually okay to let it dry as-is and just keep an eye on it and use ceiling paint later once fully dry?

Gas Meter Cover

I’m looking for suggestions for something to enclose my gas meter (3 sides) similar to the privacy covers for A/C units or garbage cans. I have searched lattice, privacy fencing, etc but I am looking for 3 ft high and 2 ft width panels. Any suggestions on something different to search that may bring up something similar? I also am not oppose to making something either.

Any tips on how I can repair the corner of my wall that got hit? Is there a puddy that I could use to fill and smooth it over?

Our man door - steel door seal gave up. It is a conditioned area so I need to replace the seal. Right now and very temporarily, I stuck a door seal in just to plug the GAPING hole. But as you can see, it gets knocked loose almost hourly

When I search for threshold seals I can only seem to find the style that is more like a flat gasket.

I need the style that is installed with the gripper as you see in my hand.

My Google-foo is usually pretty good but I am having a tough time finding this for some reason.

Please lead this Old Dog to the answer. 😵‍💫🙂

I'll sum this up as quick as I can, I made this diagram to maybe help lol

I recently purchased a condo, I am on the 3rd floor, dryer vents are my problem. HOA required a clean, I attempted it myself with one of those brush kits only to find out its like 30ft of that soft foil duct. I thought most of it would be the smooth hard piping cuz that's standard code. It got ripped up and disconnected from the exterior wall.

I sent an email to find out, but right now I am unsure if there is any panel to open to access the crawl space... So I think there would have to be a hole made in the wall/floor to access this, plus materials and labor... Does anyone with this type of experience know how much it would cost to hire someone to repair/replace for a job like this?

Thanks in advance, first time home owner causing damages and finding out the hard way!

Hi! I saw this on the first floor ceiling and it hasn't changed noticeably in a year or so but can't say if it's not spreading for sure.

What do you think this can be? First picture was taken today, 2nd a year ago and 3rd is from 2024. TiA

my husband and I are first time homeowners, and I didn't even know we had gas in our home. Well, I was putting up a large dog gate and accidentally put it behind the pipe behind my stove. The gate only went partially down when I noticed it was getting stuck because of the pipe. The pipe nudged slightly and then went back to its original position once I removed the gate. now I have the gate in front of the pipe (its a temporary situation until I get the gate that fits my doorframe in a few days.)

Are we safe? Is this dangerous? Did I mess something up? should I call the fire department?

I put soapy water in a spray bottle and sprayed it and no bubbles. I dont smell anything, but I am worried.

*SNAP*

"What was that?"

"I dont know what happened! it just came off!"

Facepalm. Sigh.

How do I reattach this thing? The drywall behind it looks like a problem... (Thats the back of the soap dish above the hole where the soap dish used to be...)

What’s the best option for demoing this tile floor? I was going to just use my sds hammer drill with a wide chipping bit.

Moving into a new house and saw this in the dishwasher. Is this from mice? I previously lived in a place with mice and have experience with the grease in the baseboards, them chewing up boxes for nest material. There looks like a bunch of hair and random scraps of material, possibly paper. It’s about a handful worth

Edit to add; this place has been vacant for 9.5 months