r/homeowners

I’ll be honest with washer dryers … I don’t know if I really see the value in spending 2k va 1k. I was thinking just an affordable lg or whirlpool

But for refrigerators , I may go a little more expensive. Any recommendations here ?

Part of me thinks that Samsung ai fridge is badass , but I could see ai fridges being half the price on like 8 months

After shopping the last 2 weeks im literally about to go offer some random person thousands of dollars for their old washer and dryer that still work...please help. What is happening to appliances

Bought my house 3 years ago and have had problem after problem, right when I don’t need it. This time, a slab leak in my hot water supply, that appeared three weeks after my dad received a terminal cancer prognosis. Only this time a bad apple plumber has tried me at the wrong freakin time.

Been through this before, did my due diligence, got multiple quotes from licensed and insured contractors, didn’t hire the cheapest quote, checked online reviews (100’s with 4.8 google average), pulled permit with the city, etc. Bit the bullet and re-piped my entire 1985 2 story copper in slab home.

Two guys, I’ll call them beavis and butthead, spent the week installing all new uponor pex, running through walls and the attic instead of busting the floor. Raised a few quality issues during the build and received attitude and short temper in return. Kept my mouth shut until they finished and looked over their work after they left. I’m as appalled as I am pissed.

In my attic, my air ducts (installed Jan 2025) were cut from their strapping and left kinked and on the ground. Also in my attic, my insulation (installed March 2025) was ripped from the walls and left loose or completely uninstalled. Nail plates are missing & screws are barely set for some clamps and plates. I’ve got an exposed supply line within 4 feet of my front door (after I asked for it to be moved) & to top it all off, my hose bib is as crooked as a politician.

I’ve texted the owner and told him I have some concerns. Called the bank and canceled the check. City inspector comes tomorrow and I’ll tell him to come back another day once they’ve made it right. I’m not taking this crap and you shouldn’t either. You are the best advocate for yourself and your home, don’t let beavis and butthead bully you out of what you want or know is right. FFS

Hello all,

I am selling my first home and was wondering something about the Realtors we've interviewed. So far we've interviewed two and like them both and really liked what they said/offered. The only difference between them was expected selling prices. The first one said we could list at one price, but said she can see it selling for $10k less or slightly more than asking if she gets a bidding war. The second one said she expects it to sell for around, at least, $27k more than the first listing price.

Now, I understand being conservative with estimates to temper expectations...I get it. I actually wasn't expecting the ranges we were given. But does that seem like a weird difference in pricing? We were thinking of interviewing a 3rd to see where they landed in the estimated sales numbers.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what we should ask/look for when taking to these Realtors? They both had great reviews/testimonials online and both have a couple decades experience. They both came in at the same commission rates as well.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

I have a weird neighbor whose house faces mine and every time I'm out in my yard there's a 50/50 chance he'll lean out his window and watch me until I go inside.

I don't do anything out there worth looking at nor am I particularly attractive, we're both the same race so it's not that, I've never spoken to him or his family, and there's no political, religious, or any ideological markers at my house to warrant targeting. He also likes to agitate my dogs when I let them out to pee by getting them to bark.

There's no way to block his view due to the vantage point, and he's not "doing" anything so it's not like I can report it anywhere.

I don't really know how to deal with this, I just know it makes me feel uneasy. Has anyone dealt with something similar?

I’m in Sydney and our west-facing deck (around 5m x 3m) gets hammered by afternoon sun, especially from like 2–6pm. It gets so hot that we barely use it in summer, and the glare comes straight into the living room too. I’ve been looking into retractable awnings as a middle ground since I don’t really want to build a permanent structure like a pergola and we like the idea of being able to extend it during peak sun but still retract it in winter for light.

The one who have retractable awnings, are they worth it? or what are your suggestions?

So last year a few of my roof shingles blew off due to a big storm. A guy we were referred to come out and replaced the broken shingles for a few hundred bucks.

This past month or two due to the storms, other shingles have blown off. A handful of roofing companies have been going door to door but based on what I read in this group, I have been ignoring them.

My house was a new construction home built in 2017. Should I just call roofing companies to come out and they will work with insurance for a new roof? Or is the roof too new that I should replace/fix the shingles again? What makes the door to door salesman companies different than calling one I find from Yelp or Google?

Please educate me on the correct process to assess if a new roof would be covered under insurance and how to find a reputable roofer to do it. Not trying to get scammed with crappy materials or something. Thanks!

My property has a wet weather creek that funnels storm water through a city easement. The previous owners of my were some real redneck engineer wizards and now their work is collapsing. It’s a “retaining wall” and part of the concrete slab they poured almost completely up to creek.

I’m not sure who I would contact to begin to address this situation. My gut instinct is to have the wall and the slab removed which would make the carport a casualty or require it to be moved back about 6 feet. I’m not in a financial situation to spend tens of thousands of dollars to save this if I could spend a few thousand to just remove the concrete and be done with it, assuming erosion won’t completely eat my backyard.

Photos here: https://www.reddit.com/r/landscaping/s/GxbFP8z4NW

I'll keep this short. i just need some guidance on what to do.

My neighbors and I both have a couple dogs each. We are separated by a fence. However, one or both of their dogs are aggressive in that every time I let my dogs out, their dog(s) attack the fence. Part of the fence (at least 1 post that i can see from my side) is now very thin it will break. My side of the fence is fully intact (a couple of scratches). This will lead to an major issue. I do not know if they rent or own.

I own and so I want this taken care of but I dont want to come off as rude to the neighbors. I just want this issue resolved before anything goes wrong.

I am in Texas is that helps.

Thanks in advance

I received a notification from Liberty Mutual that they were going to not renew my policy (renews in June) unless we painted our house because there was chipped paint and some missing paint. We dropped $8,000 to paint our entire house and just sent proof of completion to our insurance agent.

Is there still the possibility they will refuse to renew? I'm worried that they are just trying to get out of the Los Angeles area due to the recent fires, and are just trying to make up an excuse to drop us.

If they did still drop us even after we paid $8,000 to make the repairs (based on their statements that thats what we needed to do to keep our policy), would we have legal recourse of any kind?

Thanks!

We had a house fire yesterday. Wiring ignited in an upstairs bedroom. The fire crew ended up taking out the ceiling and walls in both upstairs bedrooms and the windows. There's water downstairs in the bathrooms from their efforts. They had to shut off power to the house. The crew felt it was still structurally sound.

The house was built in 1890 and I'm sure there are a lot of codes that it no longer meets.

Anyone with experience have thoughts on how this will pan out? We're obviously waiting on the insurance adjuster, but I'd appreciate any insight.

As the title states.

I closed in my first home on Feb 3rd. Fast forward to now when I finally get a company out to inspect my crawl space as I’ve got some areas in the house where the floor dips a little.

Inspector goes under there and finds the true extent of the moisture issue that I had under my home. The inspector that inspected before I bought didn’t do nearly good enough job of getting a proper look around so I’m pretty annoyed at that.

Long story short I’m dropping $30k to have them do a French drain system, new sump pump, fully encapsulating the crawlspace with new and much thicker plastic that goes almost all the way up the foundation, sealing up the vents (I learned that they apparently actually make moisture issues worse), installing a dehumidifier and also doing mold remediation as well as treating the wood with antifungal solution to prevent reoccurrence and installing some steel reinforcement to the areas where floor sagging is a concern.

Is there any way I can get some sort of tax benefit or anything like that off of this? I know just being a homeowner and buying means I can write off the interest on the home loan on my taxes. But I’m interested to know if big ticket repairs/upgrades like this carry some benefit too outside of putting the house in a better condition obviously.

Also how would you estimate how much value is added to the home as a result of this work? Once it’s fully encapsulated and a controlled environment my crawlspace would now become an area that I could safely use as storage. Adding more useable space to the home has got to up the value to some degree right?

We’ve been in our first home for a month after being in a rental that I loved dearly for 6 years. When does this start to feel less temporary and more like home? I just keep thinking “ehh it’s okay we’ll make it work for now”.

I should also add in I’m four months postpartum and I’ve been struggling with severe PPA and PPD the last few months as well so I’m not sure if that is playing a roll.

Shouldn’t this be some big grand love story? What we’ve all been waiting for? When do I stop comparing it to our rental? There’s a lot of good things about the house but also a lot that I don’t love and our lease was up so we jumped to be walking distance to the kids school. But I just don’t feel like this is IT, if that makes sense.

An operator puts some traps for mice in my appartment and I found this... How degusted I was god.... Please can someone tell me if this is a rat or mice?

Just a heads up: the photo is zoomed in, so the proportions/size may be a bit distorted.

https://preview.redd.it/wrp6qlkdtjtg1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=78f9a734d9badc491953aaba68205e91c9ffbaf7

New TV

Washer dryer

Refrigerator

Dishwasher

Mattress

Just want to maximize Costco direct discounts

Thanks

What do I google to help me find a “handyman” or maintenance company (maybe contractor?) and what do I look for to know they are legitimate and doing quality work?

Are there classes that can teach someone the basics I wouldn’t mind doing myself if it didn’t take forever to learn any basic skill just for the end result to be terrible (like shop class and home economics in the old days lol)

Long story short I’m young dumb and naive- trying not to fuck anything up. There’s a lot of things I want to do but fear of failure and/or commitment hold me back from just doing things and learning. Plus slow to learn on my own I need a teacher otherwise it takes so long to learn for me. Neither my husband and I are very handy or have a lot of “common sense” when it comes to maintenance stuff and both work very demanding jobs so we usually spend our time at home relaxing or catching up on cleaning and stuff. Dont even know where to begin like I just learned how to use a drill lol.

I'm living in an old, drafty rental in Melbourne, and the nights are getting really cold. My apartment doesn't have a built-in heater, and my landlord won't let me put in anything permanent, so I'm trying to figure out a way to stay warm without jacking up my power bill. I came across some portable AC rentals that have 4.0kW reverse-cycle units for both heating and cooling. I'm not sure if renting one of these is worth it compared to just buying a cheap space heater. Has anyone tried using the 4.0kW models for heating a room, and are they quiet enough to sleep with?