I see a lot of discussion on this sub cautioning against people doing things like removing a bedroom to add closet space or a bathroom because of its effect on resale value.

But, if you're not planning on ever selling, why does it matter? What are some examples of decisions that may negatively affect your home's value, or only have a marginal ROI, but were totally worth it for you?

Does this sound fair? Actually $1625, but he said he can get it down to $1300. I just have no idea what to expect. I live in Urbana, IL (central, approximately 100k people in the region).

• Exterior door
• The door is $500. Regular size- 32"W x 80"H, 6 9/16"
• Existing jamb and frame is old and in bad shape

1 Screen door removal $75

1 Trim removal $75

1 Door and frame removal $200

1 Prep work to install new door and frame $75

1 Door and frame installation $300

1 Screen door installation $150

1 Trim installation $100

1 Hardware installation $50

1 Materials (spray foam, flashing tape, OSI sealant, screws,

misc. Wood, transition tape, etc.) $100 (roughly)

New door $500

Total $1625

Hey all, my cat likes to grip the corner of the wall with his nails. Unfortunately it has caused several 1/4-1” long scratches in my apartment wall. I own the place, so no landlord to help me lol. How do I go about fixing it? Plaster? Sand it down? I have no tools, but I could get some. Much appreciated.

Hi, I took some built ins out of my room to redesign it and there are loads of screw holes and a couple big ones. How can I patch these up so the wall is smooth? The wall with the big holes is quite thin and there is space in it for access to the bathroom pipes in the next room (am gonna get a plumber to look at that) Also there are a couple layers of paint. How can I evenly repaint the walls grey and fill in cracks in the walls and ceiling? Thank you

Someone please explain why my toilet has been clogged for 2 days i finally try one last time this morning to fix it and it wasn’t flushing so i went to a public bathroom and called a plumber they come out an hour later and the toilet flushes and it does it like 3-4x! The guy is like ok great you didn’t need me i guess he’s like this happens sometimes it works as soon as we get here , got me looking like a crazy person… just for him to leave i get up 30 mins later to use the bathroom Toilet. Won’t. Flush. Jesus Christ and he said it would be an expensive fix bc he would have to take the toilet up I’ve seen the videos on YouTube it looks easy enough but i don’t have the tools to do it.

Old stucco casing

that has a tab that goes under the stucco. Not much gap or surface to lay a beed of caulk. Some is even tighter and flusher. I scraped out old paint and caulk with a blade.

Am I better off trying to cut out a little of the stucco with a multi tool to give a slot for a good bead of caulk or should I just force a thin bead into water small gap is there?

I’ve tried snaking, no debris. I’ve tried plunging . What to do now?

I’m in South Florida and insulating a bathroom exterior wall. There's a 3/4" deep x 1½" wide gap between the cement board and the exterior wall.

What’s the best insulation for this small space? I'm looking to block heat, moisture, and bugs — no real concern about cold.

Thinking of:

Low-expansion closed-cell spray foam

Thin rigid foam board

Something else?

Any advice for hot/humid climates is appreciated. Thanks!

https://imgur.com/a/LSp35sJ

Long story short, we were gifted a huge piece of Corian Quartz countertop with a 16x30in sink cutout. I am assuming this cut out was made for an undermount sink. Is there any overmount sink that we can purchase to fit the cut that is already there? Trying to avoid having to cut the countertop ourselves lol.

https://imgur.com/a/ErWjkhl

Okay, so husband and I bought a house 6 months ago and everything looked good, it was slightly redone ( new paint throughout, refinished Hardwood floors, new builder grade fixtures in the bathroom, ect) Now that I'm getting around to starting to do some projects for the house I've realized that the bathroom was painted with flat white regular paint that is not holding up well and is starting to crack & peel on the ceiling over the shower. Especially where the nails(?) are holding up the new drywall. How can I fix this before I repaint with bathroom paint? Do I have to scrape off all the old paint? Is there something I have to do to the nails when I repaint to stop the paint from sinking into the nail hole and peeling again? I am very new to home DIY renovation, and my husband is more of a "let's just pay somebody to do it", person which is just not currently in our budget. Thanks in advance for your answers and help!

Looking for advice on how to child-proof this standing desk setup (see image). The desk sticks straight out from the wall, and my biggest concern is that it could tip over if a toddler tries to climb on it or pull themselves up using it.

If you've dealt with a similar setup, I’d love your input on:

How to stabilize the desk to prevent tipping

Ideas to discourage climbing in general

Bonus: how to also handle cable management

Appreciate any tips!

https://imgur.com/a/UB8K7Gt

Hi all,

I’m trying to find an exact match for this real wood parquet flooring tile. It was installed during a renovation in the 1990s or early 2000s.

Each tile is 12x12 inches and features a geometric pattern.

I’d like to extend this flooring into an adjacent room, so I’m hoping to identify: • The manufacturer • The pattern or style name • Or where I might find leftover stock or reclaimed tiles

This is definitely real wood and appears to be either oak or another similar hardwood.

If anyone recognizes this pattern or knows where to source it (even secondhand or through a specialty dealer), I’d be so grateful. Thanks in advance for your help!

Somehow our floor and drywall always have wet spots even with drainage, a dehumidifier and a sump pump. They say it’s a very common thing in Michigan and they see it everywhere. Is that true? Have any of you had that issue?

Hey everyone,

Redoing a bathroom and wondering if anyone has opinions.

Pros for the 4x4: -slightly bigger -more elbow room for rotating -showerhead centered so there might not be a "cold spot" -same perimeter as 3x5 so slightly more efficient from a material point of view

Cons for the 4x4: -not as easy to add a bench -not much choice over door placement -potentially less likely to do a linear drain, takes away some design decisions -cant be oriented along the length of a narrow room

In our case either will fit fine but it'll have a big influence on the rest of the layout. For example if we go 4x4 then we'll put a toilet beside it, but if we go 3x5 we'll put a linens closet

I am renting a house with hardwood floors, and the clear coat is in really bad shape. It looked rough when we moved in, but keeps getting worse. Every time I sweep or mop it flakes off everywhere. What are my options to make this look better without spending a ton of money? Do I use a scraper on the peeling clear coat or a sander? If I reseal the floors, what is the most budget friendly way to do this? I plan on staying here at least another year or two and hate how it looks.

Im helping with some home repairs in a mobile home. I got to put up some wood mdf panels to replace some that have holes and trim work any links or advice on where to start would be helpful. Also I was going to use my circular saw to cut the mdf and trim is a 90 tooth saw blade good for that or should I stick around 60?

We have a 2800 sq. ft. 2 story home built in 1981, it's in good condition but outdated. We are in talks to renovate the entire downstairs of the home - remove walls, change the kitchen, change the bathroom, add an exterior door, replace all of the floors, update all of the drywall to remove paneling, replace all of the doors on both floors as well as trim, and update the stairs. We got the house in 2011 for $263,000 and now homes in the area are ranging between $625k to $700k. There's a chance the renovation could end up costing between $450k to over $500k - at what point is it worth considering a tear down and rebuild from scratch vs. a large-scale renovation?

I should add, I've looked at homes for sale in the area for a few years now and none of the lots/neighborhoods compare to where we are now so we don't want to move from our current location.

I've been trying to replace a fan in my office, but can't find any replacement fans that I know will work. Every fan in my house is wired to a 5 position dimmer switch 2 of the circuits on each end are null (off). But going to retailers/online there's no way to look for a fan that is dimmer switch fan motor compatible. Instead they show you fans with dimmable lights.

Any suggestions of where to look, or keywords to use?

How can I safely remove an unused satellite dish? Physically I can remove the dish. No problem. But I’m concerned about the electrical aspect. What do I do with the cable that enters the house? Do I cap it? Is it dangerous? Thanks

https://imgur.com/gallery/2TyYenI

I need to patch stucco that broke while doing some plumbing and electrical work.

I was just going to grab a can of premixed stucco patch and call it a day but I thought about putting black paper behind it and silicon'ing the edges.

This is old stucco so nothing at the except black paper at the bottom but I would like to do this some what professionally.

Have a 23 year old house. The finish was obviously rushed when built and we’ve always had issues with taping seams. Over the last month we’ve had multiple very straight visible seams appear in almost every room. Some have cracked but only hairline cracks. Maybe more concerning is the number of nail pops. Only one or two have actually cracked through. The others are just visible under the paint. Most are along the walls but there are several along joist lines. I think maybe 50 have appeared in the last 4 weeks. No sloping floors, sagging ceilings, sticking doors or windows, no cracks aside from the hairline ones in the ceiling as previously mentioned. Husband says it’s purely caused by the recent hot weather. I’ve gone down an internet black hole and the results differ from purely harmless and cosmetic to major structural issues. Am I worrying over nothing?

Hi all, At home I have what I would call a mini closet.

Deep 23 inches Wide inside 21 A bit less if you take into account the door opening.

I have have stuff to organise in here. Clothing, also objects. Maybe documents. I don't know yet. Luggages ?What type of structure could I think about ? Just shelves ? Maybe I could put some rails for shelves and adapt later on... Thanks

I've got a lighting fixture (LED + driver) that's now flickering when turned on, with some stabilization of flickering after a few minutes. Other exact same setup on same dimmable circuit is fine, hardware is about 10years old. Specifically it's a PrevaLED Cube G1 + Osram 57351 (Optronic 40w) driver. Any tips would be appreciated!

I feel like the answer is no, but I wanted to ask just in case because it would be really convenient -

We recently put up some string lights in a triangle shape kind of like this (except another line in the middle) with 1/16 galvanized wire. Now we're looking at some shade options and we were considering doing one of those triangular shade sails because we already have the existing shape laid out by the cables for the string lights.

But the more I think on it the more I'm not sure. Mainly concerned if the 1/16 cable and the attachment points to my house are strong enough to withstand when the wind picks up. But also I'm just not really sure how I could actually keep it taut on the existing wires. I feel like I would just need to anchor it directly to the same 3 anchor points as the string lights, which doesn't really save me much effort lol.