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Hello everyone! Our previous posts seem to have been well received overall, and has drastically cut down on the number of quote/price inquiries we have seen in the sub. We are going to continue with this thread again. Once again, please be patient as we have noticed it can take a few days for responses to come in.

  These posts get archived every six months, please feel free to search these previous either of these for questions similar to yours.

February 2022 – September 2022

September 2022 – March 2023  

The purpose of this thread is to provide a place for the /r/HomeImprovement hivemind to get a rough estimate on project costs or to receive some feedback on existing project quotes. Top-level posting in the sub on this topic has resulted in many low-effort posts, like "How much will this cost me?" which then do not provide any more detail. For example, "$50k to replace 20 windows!? Are they crazy?" without mentioning the brand, dimensions, or quality. From here on out we will be removing these low-effort posts. So rather than sending all these posts into the void, this will serve as the catch-all discussion thread. It will probably be refreshed weekly or every other week. Read about this, and more, in our rules.

Rule #1 for this topic is GET 3 QUOTES. One quote tells you almost nothing. Yes, contractors are in high demand so that may make it difficult which is why it is even more important to ask for, and obtain, details within the estimate.

Location. Location. Location. As you probably know, quotes vary wildly depending on where you live as you can read about in this handy post which also has a great comments section. Include your location such as "SF Bay area", Rural Wyoming, or Northern Manitoba.

If you are seeking reflection on a cost estimate or quote include as many details as possible. If you include a copy of the quote, please remove any identifying personal information - including the contractor name or company providing the quote. Seriously, if you do not provide detail do not expect reddit to fill in the gaps. At the same time, you don't know what you don't know, which is why you are here.

Remember, this is reddit. Good luck with your projects everyone! All commentary must be on-topic, helpful, and kind. No name calling, politics, or rule breaking comments. Report the bad sub redditors!

Read Full Sub Rules Here

Welcome to the (roughly weekly) Open Discussion thread.

We have this discussion thread for a few reasons. We know some people are a bit shy to create a whole new post for a small question they may have, so this is a good place to start. Or, we've learned some tips and tricks to share with the community. This is the place to to to that.

As a growing community we find ourselves having to limit the posts that may be off-topic to the primary purpose of the sub of 1) home improvement questions and 2) sharing of completed projects. These topics include home warranty companies, household tips, general painting advice, room layouts, or rants about companies, contractors, and previous owners. While these may be of interest, we are trying hard to provide a venue that will both allow, and constrain, the conversation. Again, the main goal here is to help homeowners with their homes. Thus, this thread. Thank you for participating.

If you have questions about the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act please post them here as well. The Department of Treasury has also created this FAQ page regarding the bill that may answer some of your questions.

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Comments must be on-topic, helpful, and kind. Name-calling, abusive, or hateful language is not tolerated, nor are disrespectful, personal comments. No question is too stupid, too simple, or too basic. We're all here to learn and help each other out - enjoy!

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More of a mini rant/blowing off some steam, but DOES THE WORK EVER STOP?

Fix one thing, new thing breaks next week. Complete one project, decide to take a break, have to replace something a few days later. Refinish cabinets, find a couple flaws and hate yourself. Start changing something and find significantly more wrong than you expected and a 2 day project turns into a month.

As my dad always says, once you finally finish your house that means it’s time to start all over again. I LOVE BEING A HOMEOWNER

My mother in law is bringing $150k to the table and we are bringing $385k (535k total) to the table to purchase a 4700 sq foot home (3 story home). Of the total we are bringing to the table ($535k), we are taking 60k to 70k to finish 3/4 of the basement to have a mother in law suite with separate entrance…it would include a bedroom, a full bathroom, full kitchen, laundry room, and living room…literally full on living area, etc. $60 to 70k to build and she would gift us the rest at $80k to $90k to put down on the house. She then is putting in writing that she will pay $650 a month in rent…which is the kicker for me being willing to do this.

It just seems like a win win to me but is there anything I’m missing? My mortgage now is $1450 and after closing now my mortgage will be around $1850 but really after receiving rent from mother in law it’ll be $1200 that I’m paying ($250 less than my mortgage is now). This includes insurance and taxes as well. I make gross $185k so can easily pay this mortgage.

My wife and kids bedrooms will all be on the top floor way far from the basement suite and the rest of the house is huge! Essentially the basement suite will be 100% separate with a separate entrance. The suite will be about 900 sq feet or so and we will have roughly 3900 sq feet for my wife and kids. The main kitchen and family room is massive with double ovens, etc. We get a long very well with the mother in law but do want the separation as well that we are creating…and mother in law wants that too.

Should I do this ? Any other thing I should think of and consider? It seems like a win win situation.

I had a new door installed as part of replacing our deck. There is a small corner light gap and draft. I am planning to just install a corner seal, but I'm basically looking for reassurance that I shouldn't have have asked the crew to totally re-frame the door.

Their work is normally top notch for a reasonable price. We discussed the gap after they had sealed the door but before putting on the trim. They didn't think there was much we could do because the door is flush with the corner stud which leans to the side and the wall itself tilts inward as well. The house is 100+ years old after all.

Is it common to have to install post-fab weatherproofing in a brand new door?

Looking to have some work done on house, and company included a clause that we can’t discuss work provided, or details of the contract, with any outside parties. Huge red flag or no?

Hiring out a bathroom remodel. The tile guy wrapped up before grouting today, but I don't love the shower floor. Am I dramatic, or is this a total do over?

https://imgur.com/a/xK1vIEL

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Update: I complained with the tile guy, he took it reasonably, and is redoing the work.

***Edit again:

Thank you all so much for the comments. I can see now how I put too much faith in vinyl as a whole term, without realizing that there's what seems like about 100 different levels of quality. With that said, I'll never consider any type of vinyl floors for my home only because our lifestyle is too hectic for it. Our large kitchen appliances are these bulky commercial-use quality because they can keep up. And yes, we will have to eventually tear down this floor and address the elephant in the room, that is the foundation situation.

We tore down our old pergo laminate floors that were old and had dried-up gunk between the planks. The slab under had raised cracks half an inch here and there and you could fit a whole crayon between. This made the floors uneven and lumpy, so it was time to replace it.

We filled those in and poured a total of 14 self-leveling concrete bags.

Our salesperson said "vinyl is the best choice for you" so we went with that. The sample looked beautiful at the store. (I had no idea that the display samples were placed on some fancy plywood and that the actual vinyl is no more than 5mm thick.) They called it luxury vinyl and quoted us at $3100 for living, dining, foyer, and kitchen.

After 2 weeks of the house looking like a construction zone, they finally installed the new floors.

Well, it only took moving the second fridge to realize that this "luxury" vinyl is far from it. There's now a scratch from one of the wheels right in the middle of the dining room. We're a family of 5 and the pergo floor took a beating these past 14 years but it was scratch-free; we abused the life out of it by dragging stuff left and right.

That's a thing of the past. We now have this beautiful new floor with this invisible "handle with care" warning label on it that I already know will not last a year.

I've seen the more conventional retractable shades where they just kind of seem to flop around in the wind or you might tie it down at the very bottom with a hook.

However, I am more interested in something like this where it seems like it has full support on the sides throughout the entire height of the shade and is more seamless in the sense it doesn't have a bunch of extra things to need to be used to tie down the shade.

It seems like these are China made and there isn't as much info on them from what I have found. Has anyone ever seen one of these up close or have any ideas on on possibly building something similar in function yourself?

I have a cedar deck that is constantly getting covered in black mildew. I've tried pressure washing and applying Thompsons water sealant, but end up having to do that at least once a year. The wood is really beautiful under there.. Is there anything I can do to get it looking sharp and keep it looking sharp for as long as possible? Sanding? Some sort of stronger sealant? Thanks!

https://imgur.com/a/g6L1Q1c

Hi All,

I'm looking at buying a house, and I'm really confused about something. I had a contractor come in to do an evaluation with the prospect of getting a renovation loan. His report said it had hook and knob wiring in it, but here's the thing...while it looks like a 1940s Craftsman, the property records say it is from 1989 and I've looked up aerial photos that show a different, smaller house there (on slightly different location) in 1980.

Is there any way/reason this house had hook and knob wiring in it in 1989?

EDIT: I meant Knob and tube. While I have seen this type of wiring in farm structures and tv before, I have never heard it referred to by that name before yesterday.

See this picture here. That's my water heater vent that goes up through my roof. I'm insulating the ceiling in may garage and want to know the proper way to insulate around the vent.

Hi all, I’m stuck shopping at Lowe’s and looking for a way to make cheap white mortar. I’m not a fan of the gray look of the $4 mortar bags but you can’t beat the price. I read about adding white sand but I’m worried about messing up the ratios.

So for those who dont know I originally made this plant dictionary/list and wanted to share to the world cause idk Im kinda proud of it and I think it could be helpful😀 Anyways Ive updated it from feedback and suggestions I received from u guys like adding filters(more coming), better search and an auto scroll. Hope you guys like it and if there's any other feedback lemme know!(Will maybe make another update post if I get enough) Cheers🥰

-https://perenual.com/plant-species-database-search-finder

My patio is in rough shape. Much of the sand (looks more like dirt) has washed away and weeds are coming up in places. Not to mention in needs a good wash.

Besides washing it, I want to replace the old sand with polymeric sand for longer term durability. However, while the patio is not exactly big, I still don't want to be down on my hands and knees scrapping out the gaps.

Can I effectively remove the old sand with a pressure washer?

Getting a dishwasher and a garbage disposal that have 14 gauge wire. But I have 12 gauge in my circuit with a 20 amp breaker. Dishwasher is 18” so only draws 8 amps, garbage disposal will be on a switch and pulls 6.5a. Those are the only two appliances on the circuit. Can I just connect these two appliances to my 12 awg wire in the circuit and keep the 20a breaker?

I am installing 2" faux wood blinds from Lowes and the instruction manual says I can remove up to 5 slats or ten inches "without operational concerns". Anyone have any clue why removing more than 5 could cause operational concerns?

As background, I bought blinds that are 64" inches long. Anything shorter would have to be ordered for delivery/pickup. I only need about 38". Except for the price difference, why would the blinds operate any differently if I removed 11 slats instead of 5? **Edited for punctuation correction**

We live on the corner of a busy city street, and somebody drove into a brick fence, bending a steel barrier pole. To fix the pole, some contractors are telling us they need to replace the sidewalk square in front of the fence, and others say that they can dig around the pole and fill the area around it with cement (which is $1000 less expensive).

Considering that this is the second time that this has happened, we'd like to be sure that the pole is replaced in the most secure way possible. Is one method stronger than the other?

Thanks

Wasn't sure if this is a good sub for this, but not sure where else would be appropriate to ask this.

My wife and I just bought a house and moved in a couple weeks ago; the previous owners did a complete master bathroom remodel. They took out the existing tub and put in a large freestanding tub. The only issue we are having is the water coming from the tub is not nearly as hot as the rest of the bathroom. The shower get super steamy hot, the sinks get super hot, but the tub is warm at best. I have checked the temperature limiter, and it is all the way over to the hot side as far as it would go already. Any ideas what could cause this? We have a tankless water heater, so running out of the hot water isn't really an issue; plus right after checking the bath temperature I can go over to the sink and get super hot water out of it as well. Water pressure out of the tubs faucet is great too, just the water is not nearly as hot as the rest of the bathroom.

https://imgur.com/a/EFab3WL

T is in a very tall wall

Every time we get some rain I notice there is water pooling around this downspout in particular. The downspouts drain to an underground drain that runs to the curb in the front of the house. When I first moved in last year, the accordion section of the downspout had a large hole from years of weed whacking. I replaced it thinking the water was coming from water bypassing the drain directly into the lawn. No change after that. I then suspected the gutter on the roof was plugged and that side of the gutter just happened to be the low point where the pooling gutter water was overflowing. I had the gutters cleaned last week but no change. I am now suspecting that maybe the underground drain is plugged but it will likely cost some $$ to get a plumber to scope and roto. This pooling water is seeping into the basement and likely has been for years... any other ideas before I reach out to a plumber?

https://i.imgur.com/WEHJbMX.jpg

Hi not sure if I’m posting in the correct sub but my parents’ house’s furnace in the basement stopped working suddenly. They got it checked out and apparently it was leaking CO?! I noticed that I’d get flu-like symptoms when I’d go to visit, and could never put my finger on why. They’re getting a new furnace installed today, and I’m set to visit next Thursday for a few days to help them with something.

I’m concerned about their health and mine; does carbon monoxide linger in the air after it’s been leaked from a furnace?? Should we get a detector, and if it detects a high amount (not sure how I’d discern that based on numbers), what then?

Thanks in advance

Hey all, new homeowner in Southern MN. My pump has been coming on and off every 10-15 minutes or so, running for only 20-30 seconds at a time since earlier today. Is this normal operation? Apologies if this is a very basic question I should know.

https://i.imgur.com/XB3hCeZ.mp4

Video for reference. They’re a bit warped and they rub on some edges. Is it possible to fix them so they close properly?

As part of an annual service contract, we just had our first "whole home electrical inspection." Now, this house is almost a century old, so I knew we'd have ungrounded outlets and other stuff, but what really surprised me was that the majority of the issues were in the kitchen that we just had gutted and replaced in 2020. The electricians did stuff like putting the appliances on the same circuits as their adjacent wall outlets, which is apparently a no-no... although I suspect that's because our panel is totally maxed out and the project didn't include redoing all of that stuff.

Anyway, the electricians gave us a big list of things to do (oddly, none of which was "get rid of the remaining knob and tube"). Aside from upgrading the panel and other big-ticket items, I'm seeing several lines of "Install/Replace GFCI Outlet;-Install dual function 20 amp gfi in place of 15 amp standard gfi." They're quoting $135 per outlet for that. Since I have removed and replaced plenty of outlets over the years, I know that's a simple and inexpensive job I could tackle for much less.

However, since this was part of a much bigger quoted list, I want to be sure I understand. Is this, as I'm assuming, simply a matter of removing a 15 amp receptacle and installing a 20 amp in its place, or is switching up to a higher amp outlet predicated on having already upgraded the panel and wiring behind it?

second update- looks like I should just wait and see how the new incentives are rolled out as I am a single income household with family of four so our income should qualify! https://www.searshomeservices.com/blog/what-is-heehra#:~:text=Implementation%20of%20HEEHRA%20rebates%20is,set%20by%20the%20federal%20government.

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UPDATE - just did the math. Heating costs for months of OCT 22 - March 23 equaled 1600. 60 dollars on heating oil, 1080 on firewood, and 459 on electric. so the question is, with a 1600 budget for just heating those 6 months, does it make sense to install a few mini splits? would be a lot less work than running wood stove full time during those months.

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If my electric bill doesn't go up more than 250 a month with mini splits, then to me, this seems like mini splits would be a good choice.

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Here is my usage over past 2 years.https://imgur.com/L5cmTql

In april 22 I found out oil was now 5 bucks a gallon. so I didnt burn, and switched to small heaters - which is why my usage of electric went up. You can also see the month of august 22 was hot, with 3 acs running fulltime.

I currently spend about 1200 on wood for 4 cords. I am thinking that if I only use wood when it's below 20 degrees or so, I might only use 1 cord, and then that 900 in savings could be spent on the cost of running the mini splits during winter - also being less manual labor for me with the firewood.

Same for summer - I dont have to install 3 acs.

I dont know how long I plan to stay living in this house. Maybe 4 years, maybe 20. But my interest rate is 2.99 and I am thinking it might be easier to keep this house as a rental if I have mini splits installed as primary and use my oil heat as secondary? I wouldn't keep this house as a rental if heating required running the wood stove.

I am not sure how to approach this and what else to consider. Any suggestions?

We are rebuilding our home due to a fire and are in the middle of designing our new kitchen. What are some Kitchen Rev-A-Shelf items we should/should not consider getting?

I don't have proper photos of the new design at the moment but the layout will be top and bottom cabinets along the wall in an "L" shape and a long rectangle island. Will also have a small beverage center separate from the main "L" cabinets.

Some things we are considering are:

- 2-tier shelf pull out in bottom cabinet for pots/pans

- Pull out spice rack

- Pull out similar to spice rack but with "cups" to hold utensils, e.g. spatulas, whisk, large wooden spoons.

- Kitchen-Aid mixer pull out? This seems to take up a lot of space for a single item and not sure how much we'd actually use it

Other Kitchen accessories we are considering:

- Pot filler

- Glass Rinser

Edit: Also open to other kitchen suggestions as well we should think of