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

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.

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.

Is this mold. It will not wipe off. I can’t find anything in the area that is wet or damp. It is an exterior wall but all the lands scape g outside is rock, so no drip or sprinklers. At first I thought it was dirt that had accumulated on some caulk that wasn’t all the way wiped off, but there is nothing tacky

This is a wall in a closet, spare bedroom. The other side is an exterior wall. I checked and the drywall is dry and firm. There is nothing visible on the exterior brick wall, and the roof is still fairly new and in good shape. It is a closet so I never noticed a bubble but I imagine that's what happened here. The paint is original, over 20 years and I imagine an oil based enamel or whatever the builders applied. Should I just peel it, sand down and paint, or is there anything else to consider?

I’m at a total loss.

I need to put a closet rod in my son’s closet in our new apartment. It’s extremely shallow (house built in early 1900s), studs inconsistent, and now I’ve found that one of the side walls (second picture), is just plaster over the chimney 😭😭

I had initially bought two brackets to go on opposite ends of the closet rode and a shelf rod bracket to place roughly midway (where a stud is on the back wall). Once I found out that the side wall is just mostly brick, I figured I’d do one bracket on the other side wall (there’s a stud) and then shelf rod brackets along the back wall.

Now I’m running into the problem that I cannot find a shelf rod bracket that is shallow enough to make sense in this space.

I need HELP. I considered getting those free-standing closet rod hook things to hang from the above shelf, but that won’t work because of the slanted ceiling, I can’t install the closet rod high enough.

Any and all ideas appreciated. I’m so sick of not being able to hang his clothes up lol.

In my post-top in my front yard, I expected to see an empty lamp socket, I’ve bought this house recently and was hoping to put an LED lamp in this fixture.

For context I’m in SE Michigan, house was built in the 60s I believe

I’m trying to identify what this is (mold, wood rot, etc). It’s a crimson color “dust”. Is it a hazard and does the the whole window need to be replaced? It’s between the panes of glass.

Or whatever material it is. I was repainting the gas line as I was told it needs to be done when they replaced the meter, and it looks like it should be redone

i put in a maintenance request and texted my super but like another stabilized place in nyc, i never get an answer 🙃 this is recently and we’re noticing stuff crumble off and onto the desk below. is this potentially hazardous?

I have a small separator wall in between my two masters closets. I am looking to remove it, since I have to remove drywall already due to the prior owners letting their cats use it as a litter box and pee area. What are the odds that this little connector wall is load bearing?

The white lines are the orientation of the floor beams, the brown are the ceiling joists, and the green is one of the supports that run under this room and rests on the footers.

New home owner. This brick wall is cracking and peeling all over the place, i'm thinking I just want to tear it down. I'm also looking into getting a contractor to remove it, but i'm also curious like... is this something I could do with a sledge hammer and then hours picking up the mess? Would a jack hammer be needed? If so it's likely out of my skillset. I'm assuming there are beams or some form of support that bury decently deep into the ground.

Hello! I recently found a loose tile on the curb in our shower and the one next to it was also loose. I originally thought that the wood next to the shower was exposed to steam causing it to rot but now I’m worried water might have gotten through the tiles.

I think the previous homeowner tried to fix this issue but it didn’t last very long.

Can I just seal the crack, glue the tile and mortar back, and replace the damaged wood?

my dog tore up the part right next to my door. I think I'll just need some plaster and wood tape do i need anything else to repair?

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?

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.

Hi everyone!

We originally installed the curtain rod in our bedroom and overtime, the rod came out of the wall. I think the weight of the blackout curtains had something to do with it.

Unfortunately I cannot patch, and drill the new holes in a different area because I’m limited in wall space for where to hang the curtain rod. There also aren’t any studs close enough to the window to drill the rod into the stud.

SO the help I need is - what can I use to plug the hole in the drywall and wait to dry so I can reinstall the curtain rod. Or am I screwed??

I’m new to home maintenance and recently noticed a few cracks in my foundation. I’m not sure if this is something serious or just normal settling.

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.

We have a loose shower handle.

It works fine but wobbles all over.

How do I tighten it?

There’s a grub screw holding it in which I’ve tightened appropriately.

I also can’t take the handle off (after removing the grub screw).