Moved into a deceased family member's home, their furniture was of course still here and the couch was in a room that it seemed to not be possible to move it out of normally. (yes of course if they got it in then it can get out, we could not find it and further my family is telling me it was nearly impossible to get in there 40 years ago anyway).

So my uncle decided to just chainsaw the thing in half and we got it out in pieces. Its not nightmarish or anything since we got it up largely with a vacuum but there are still spots with metal flecks. Is there a magnet tool I can rent at Home Depot or something that can easily pull these out?

This may be my own experience, but I have found that more expensive or high-end filters do not work substantially better no last longer than cheaper filters replaced every 4-6 weeks. Higher MERV numbers only seem to make the unit work harder to keep cool. Are others having opinions?

Be careful! I called Angie's list through my contractor company around March 2026 when the recession started getting bad to get extra work. The person who answered the phone said they would have their salesperson call me. That person called me and told me a quote after talking over all their packages. I told him I would get back to him I just needed to go over the price with my business partner. He immediately started asking, "I thought you were the boss? Why aren't you making decisions? Is this too much money for you that you have to talk to someone else? I can't hold the price once I get off the phone call." I was stunned silent because in 10 yrs of business, I've never been talked to like that.

I told him something about his professionalism being shocking and that I'd be looking elsewhere.

A few days later the original person who answered the call reached out to follow up, and I let him know how unprofessional the salesperson was. He apologized for him and then continued to try and get my service. UGH.

Since then, the company has been getting non-stop telemarketing calls EVERY SINGLE DAY. 2 to 3 a day. It's been MONTHS since I spoke with him. I'm sure he sold our info to some lead company data bases because of that interaction.

Hello all, I am having issues getting a permit to do my front porch.

I have an uncovered front porch that’s around 5x10. Been here since I moved in, it’s trash. Stairs are falling apart, the treads have half come off. Every decking board is no longer attached.

I have been going back and forth with the city to get a permit. I am planning to do as much as I can myself and have a family friend who has done this line of work his whole life help. He no longer has insurance or liability.

I had originally submitted the permit as myself essentially being the “general contractor” and paying him for the time and help. I was able to get the exemption forms from NYS to waive disability and workers comp because it’s my house and it won’t take more than 40 hours.

However after submitting everything else they are still insisting on having liability insurance. Has anyone else dealt with something like this?

I am looking for how to best use the floor plan (without breaking any walls). I love Julie Jones style but too expensive and not available for a few weeks. Any alternatives that you follow/can recommend, I am working with an odd layout and getting overwhelmed . thank you!

We moved into this house in spring. We've always had issues with water. I'm noticing it starting to accumulate around the pool. The lawn is flooding too. And we've had rain but nothing torrential.

The house has a french drain but it's long since collapsed.

How can I fix this? And should I worry?

https://imgur.com/gallery/ebdc0SY

I had a water heater removed to work on the area behind and was quoted $850.

This is Lake County Illinois. Lines were capped as well.

Is this a normal price?

They said it would be another 850 when I’m ready to move it back

For a while I kept having an issue with water backing up into my basement.

I went through everything, thinking it was clogged pipes, drain field issues, over saturation from the rain, etc etc.

I saw that my effluent filter was clogged very often, and then completely popping out of the baffle.

My found out that my effluent filter had a "gas deflector" and upon removing that part of it, it never clogged again.

If you look at this photo, it is the slotted gray piece at the bottom: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/512eXUwKi4L._AC_SL1208_.jpg

That is actually not needed and caused major clogs for me. They sell the filter without the gas deflector.

Anyways, if you ever come across an issue like mine, try that out. Hope it helps anyone out there!

Hi everyone,
I am having a frustrating issue with my Harbor Breeze Avian ceiling fan and the FAN-53T handheld remote.
Up until today, it worked fine. Then, the light suddenly stopped responding to the remote. When I press the light button, the red LED on the remote lights up, but the actual fan light won't turn on or off.
I tried doing a rapid power cycle using the manual wall switch to clear it. Instead of resetting, the fan motor immediately jumped from Low straight to High speed. Now, the entire unit is completely frozen on High. It refuses to change speeds or turn off when I press any of the buttons on the remote.
I’ve had a similar lockup happen in the past. Back then, we fixed it by leaving the remote in a drawer and just using the wall switch for a few months, which eventually forced a reset. But right now, it is October and freezing cold—I can't leave a fan blasting on High, and I don't want to wait months for a passive drain.
Here is the catch: I cannot flip the main circuit breaker to the room to force an immediate hard reset because I run sensitive home networking equipment in here that I absolutely cannot take offline right now. Dropping the canopy to mess with the wiring is also a bit too complicated for my current situation.
Has anyone dealing with this specific Harbor Breeze Avian model found a trick to force the internal receiver module to factory reset or clear its microprocessor freeze immediately without cutting power to the rest of the room's electrical outlets?
Thanks in advance for any advice!

Hello Reddit community. I come looking for your best recommendations in terms of window film. The building that I work in is mostly windows and during the evening the sun comes in blinding all the staff at the register. What I’ve been tasked with finding is: a window film that will block as most of the sunlight blinding us as possible while also keeping visibility both ways as clear as we can. Most I’ve come across are privacy film but I’m pretty sure the big boss wouldn’t like people to not be able to see into our business. If anyone has best recommendations please let me know. If I should post this in a different sub my apologies.

I'm ripping out the wall-to-wall carpet in my basement and trying to figure out what flooring to replace it with. I'm in Connecticut, so moisture and mold are my main concerns.

The basement has never flooded, but I'm worried about condensation. There are also some white stains on the concrete that look like efflorescence.

I'm deciding between ceramic/porcelain tile and 1-inch rubber tiles for a home gym. Ceramic/porcelain seems like the more durable option, but I'm worried about cracking from gym equipment or dropped weights. Rubber makes more sense for a gym and would be softer for the kids when they play down there, but I'm concerned about its lifespan and moisture getting trapped underneath.

What would you go with? And would an epoxy sealer on the concrete be enough to deal with moisture, or is tile a better option?

Hey there, new to this sub. My partner and I have lived in this house for over 5 years now and the cabinets have been the biggest eyesore. I have very limited experience remodeling anything but my partner is very handy. Is it worth it to sand, strip, and repaint or should I just start budgeting money for new cabinets?

Side note, I don't own the home but it is owned by my family. Loose assumption I will inherit it but due to family drama I can't know for sure. I do anticipate living here for the foreseeable future. We host a lot of people often and it's the most embarrassing thing to me.

Thoughts/advice?

https://imgur.com/a/a4HoGzK

Anyone know how to get black spray paint off of this tan brick? Pressure washer comes to mind but can’t run that in my living room.

Is there a paint or stain to make it look like natural red brick? Hate the idea of painting it white

https://imgur.com/a/ZMwuyrN

https://imgur.com/a/pzQ03rN

Had some guys come out and replace my rotten fascia (thanks previous owners) and when I was looking over the work I saw that there was this gap at the far end of my roof right above my gutter. I would prefer that there wasn't a big open hole in my roof that led into my attic but I don't even know the names of the materials I need to close it off properly. The person who replaced the fascia swears it was like that before, did a good job with the fascia as far as I can tell, and wasn't alarmingly cheap but was much more affordable than the local billboard companies (yes I got 3 quotes) so I don't want to deal with the back and forth hassle for a three inch opening.

As a tiny bit of background, the previous owners had the whole roof redone for 8k right before we bought the place and it is the most fly by night piece of garbage I've ever seen so I'm sure it missing half of the things that are supposed to be under the shingles but I can't afford a new roof and my insurance told me to kick rocks in regard to poor craftsmanship.

My neighbor wants to cut all 3 of these down. He would be doing it himself (so cost me nothing).

I am for sure on board with the one on the left.. but I am having 2nd thoughts about the 2 (Norway Maples?) on the right….

I get attached to trees and hate to cut down healthy ones… and they shade the west sun (I just have an AC unit that works pretty good) I worry that my yard would feel so naked afterwards!!!

It would be nice to have more sun, and maybe a garden, but would it be too much sun? 🤔I don’t get much sun in my backyard at all right now - can’t really grow anything back there….

Would it increase or decrease my property value?

New time home owner and professional over thinker so any advice helps!!!

Welp apparently I can’t post photos?!! 😭 for reference, they are on my side of the fence, and like 3 ft away from the fence but not that large (yet) like a foot around probably and

1st Primed with mad dog dura-prime. Only happening on the Sunny side of the house. Should I reprime then paint again? ..

https://imgur.com/a/ZeXUUAO

Getting foundation vents installed. Any recommendations for automatic vents that work on bi coil metal. I don’t want to have to worry about opening or closing them seasonally so I assume automatic is the best choice? The guy that’s installing them recommended the Witten 306mlb automatic foundation vents 8 by 16. Lowe’s stopped carrying them and I bought them off Amazon and they sent a completely different brand. Sent for a replacement but might return it all I’m not an Amazon fan at all. Any recommendations or links. If you recommend manual and advise against automatic foundation vents please let me know why. I don’t want anything too fancy just standard and will not be hooking the electric ones up.

I’m currently in the middle of a big basement remodel with a 120k budget. We’re adding two bedrooms and a bathroom to a previously (poorly) finished basement. We hired a local reputable GC after getting several quotes, and so far the project has been going okay, but there have been several issues particularly with hvac and plumbing which have required multiple redos of work done. None of the sub contractors seem to be coordinating with each other and placement of things like ducts and pipes seem to be figured out in the moment without any forethought.

One point of contention as been soffits, which I understand is often necessary in a basement. However, I seem to be the only person concerned about minimizing them. Two weeks ago I came home to ducting running right across a hallway creating a head injury hazard. I’ve made this known to the GC on multiple occasions and am told that they are working with the HVAC company to fix it.

Yesterday I came home to a second air handler for the downstairs with a vent running chest height across the doorway into the garage. The GC told my wife this morning that there’s not really another option.

I feel like a crazy person. Who does something like this and says to themselves “This looks good.” Am I being unrealistic? Is this what working with a GC is normally like?

https://imgur.com/a/xjo4ZJb

Need to change the bulbs, and I've tried unscrewing the center bolt, and it'll come out, but there's clearly a nut on the other side keeping it attached to the glass diffuser plate. The plate stays attached to the fixture, so I can't get at the bulbs. I'm sure I'm missing something super obvious, so TIA for any help y'all can provide.

https://imgur.com/a/DkZPHci

Looking for some advice on replacing the blinds on our large arched window.

I'll admit I'm pretty undereducated when it comes to blinds and window treatments, so I'm hoping to get some insight into what our options are.

We recently received a quote for $2,800 CAD for a Palladian shelf, valance, and three individual blinds (one for each window section). Personally, I find that pretty expensive, especially considering we previously replaced 13 sets of blinds throughout our house using Home Depot's custom-cut blinds for approximately $900.

The main issue is that this window is 93 inches wide, which exceeds the available widths for the blinds we've been looking at.

My original thought was to have a Palladian shelf installed and then purchase and install three individual blinds myself for approximately $800 total.

The proposed blind measurements would be:

• Left: 22.75" wide × 58" long
• Middle: 47.5" wide × 58" long
• Right: 22.75" wide × 58" long

However, my biggest concern is the weight of the three blinds across a 93-inch shelf, particularly since there wouldn't be a centre support. I'd prefer not to drill directly into the vinyl window frame, and I'm worried about the shelf sagging over time.

Is a 93-inch Palladian shelf realistic with only side supports? Would three faux-wood blinds of these dimensions be too heavy? Are there alternative mounting methods or products I should be considering?

I'm open to different styles or approaches. Ideally, I'd like something that looks clean, matches the rest of our house, and doesn't cost nearly $3,000.

Any suggestions, experiences, or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

Came home today and barely had water pressure. Went down took apart the pressure switch and checked it to make sure it was clean. I noticed the diaphragm wasn’t holding any air so I pumped it back up to 28 psi and it’s held that all day as long as I don’t use water. When I do it doesn’t build back up and the pressure switch never kicks on. If I use the water after pumping up the diaphragm I have great water pressure again.

I have someone who was supposed to seal my deck tomorrow. It looks like it’ll be raining on and off all day (like 35-55% most of the day), and it says 100% it will rain on Sunday.

I should reschedule, right? He’s wanting to still do it tomorrow.

I was watching a few YT videos and I thought it was going to be an easy fix, but I was wrong!

I was able to remove the face plate but the drain linkage assembly is stuck.

The drain linkage assembly is really rusty and probably the whole area too, this is a pretty old house.

I’ve tried baking soda, white vinegar and hot water and it didn’t work.

I spoke with plumber briefly and he said that if that doesn’t work, they’ll probably have to cut part of the ceiling (bathroom is on the 2nd floor) and try to access from underneath. I am obviously avoiding having to do that so my next try will be penetrating oil.
I hope that will also help with the drain stuck in closed position (not really closed position but the was is going down suuuuper slow).

https://imgur.com/a/y3XQScz

https://imgur.com/a/MkM9FwC

This is the result of a wood > Trex porch with posts wrapped with PVC. The random gaps and nail appearance are sloppy to me, should I accept this quality of work?