r/HomeImprovement

Two days ago my water heater went out. I had Gemini locate a highly rated, honest pluming company to come work on it. The guy that showed up looked really sleazy, but the company was highly rated so I decided to give them a try. The guy came in, looked over my heater, felt the pipes, then pulled out his iPad, and without telling me what was wrong, flashed 3 options on the screen to replace the heater...... for $8,000.00!!!!! When I questioned why it needed to be replaced, he said "there's water in the pan, and the pilot light is off." Huh??? I refused the option. He said "Don't you believe me???" and I said, "I don't know, I just want a second opinion." With that, he got up, and walked out the door. Just like that. No 'well, if you change your mind sir, please give us a call.' Nope. So I went over and read the installation date on the heater was 10 years ago, so I knew I'd need a new one. So I went online to Lowe's, found a similar heater with a 12 year warranty and bought it....for $826.98 plus delivery fee of $69.00. Lowe's also provided the installation service, who just completed the job along with installing a new vent pipe, for $1,471.00. My total savings for managing this myself: $5,633.02!!! And now I have a brand new water heater and $5,600 in my pocket! This shows that you should always buy the equipment online and have it delivered to you, instead of having them buy it for you and marking it up hundreds of percent. It's so easy to do, and as a new homeowner, I'm learning never to buy their 'service' of providing the equipment for you. And, if you think the $1,471 was high for the install, the initial estimate was $1,100.00, but as he went through it, found the vent pipe was blocked and the heat coming out was melting the plastic gaskets on top of the heater, so I needed to be replaced, so an additional $371.00 for that. And it's good he did, because it had been causing an exhaust smell in my room because of the poorly ventilated heater, and now that's fixed too. So, I stuck it to the rip-off plumber. I didn't fall for their scam!!! How good I feel!

I’m trying to mount a 55” TV in a 2014 apartment building and every pilot hole stops at about 3/4” depth.

This happens whether I’m on what I think is a stud or not, and at multiple heights across the wall. The wall has a coax outlet and is the obvious TV wall.

When I put the drill bit back in the hole and tap the obstruction, it sounds metallic. The drill keeps spinning but won’t go any deeper. No metal shavings. The wall sounds pretty much the same everywhere when I knock on it.

I also can’t angle the bit and find a cavity behind whatever I’m hitting. It feels solid.

Interior wall, not exterior.

I’ve never hung a tv before anywhere so any advice would be appreciated.

Hi! I’m a complete noob and looking for advice on how to mount floating shelves on vinyl siding..It is an indoor/enclosed sun room so I don’t believe weatherproofing is needed (tell me if I’m wrong pls). It was an addition to the home and it is made of the same material as outside of the home.

Is it possible? What is the correct way? Pls and thanks!

We are having our basement finished, and the area where the new bathroom is, already had a drain in the floor. So I naturally wanted to keep it, since it’s now going to be a bathroom/laundry room. The flooring guy ran the LVP Tile over the drain, and then drilled holes in the new flooring in a circle where the drain is. This seems lazy to me, as now if the drain ever backs up, I would have to rip the flooring up to get to it. Is this normal, or am I right to tell them to fix it the right way?

this doesn't really count as home improvement but figured you guys might be the people to ask. my sliding patio door glass just shattered on one side. it is still in the frame and all in one piece from the best i can tell. should i tape and knock it out before putting in the temp plywood. or should i just tape it up and put the plywood over it for now. will be about a week before it can be replaced and not sure if the people doing the replacement will deal with the broken glass or not.

Edit: thanks for the reply's. glass started falling while being taped. so going to tape what i still can and then knock it in

Update: turns out the outer pane didn't break. So the inner pane was taped to tiny little squares, and the plywood is in place and foamed in. then channeled my inner new yorker here in texas and through a layer of plastic over it just for good measure.

Thanks all for the input

Last night AC condenser unit decided to take part in the 4th of July celebration with a lot of clanging.

Went outside this AM and the one fan blade is torn to sh-t and there are metal shards all inside the unit.

Can't get anyone out till Monday to have it looked out.

Just wanted to get thoughts on if we are looking at replacing the condenser unit or just having them replace the blade/motor and calling it a day. Unit is at least15 years old.

I live in Central Texas where it can get quite hot. I have a metal roof on the house (1,700 sq ft home). I’m thinking to get the attic closed cell spray foamed. 2 pound foam x 3 inches. The contractor told me that he would also open new register from my attic space (4in outlet from the air handler unit) once he finishes the spray foam he wants about $12k considering I’m a bit rural. Is this reasonable and is this a normal technique to open a register for the attic space?

A few years back, my insurance was threatening to drop me if I didn't replace my 15 year old rolled roof eventhough I had two inspection reports saying my roof was solid and basically at half it's life span. I had a metal roof laid over top. At the time, I had massive oak trees that provided near full shade coverage, but the trees had to be removed from hurricane damage, and we got full sun. The metal roof came with a ridge vent cap, but bc I had such good shade, I elected not to pay the extra for them to cut it open. I have soffit and gable venting. But in the Florida summer with full sun, my attic space is cooking. What would be the best method of cutting open my ridge? I'm fairly used to cutting through shingles and roof decking in hvac to run ventilation out the roof in new construction, but I've never cut through this material specifically. I attempted last year, and the tar from the rolled roof liquified and made it impossible with my multi-tool and sawzaw. I made 2 cuts and stopped. I spoke with a roofer I did an hvac repair for and he said to buy a cheap circular saw blade and coat it with wd40 before a cut is made and between each cut, and to do it on a cool winter day... well, reddit, what do ya think?

I bought a new home last week. Yesterday, I discovered that there was water damage on the tiles peel and stick infront of fridge. Under the tiles was wood. Removed the moldy wood and another layer of some sort of peel and stick to find what is most likely asbestos tile. The tiles are peeling up from the moisture I assume. How would you go about fixing this? I know you can seal it them but I worry that there’s more water damage underneath the tile because of the peeling. Should I flatten out the tile as safely as possible then seal or remove it? Can you safely DIY the removal or or are you better off to hire somebody?

I need to some recommendations on how to fix wood rot on the post outside my door. I have been trying to fix small things here and there with my house and this has been lingering on me for a while. I’ve researched stuff but thought I’d ask here to see who might be able to recommend the best stuff.

We live outside of Chapel Hill, NC.
We woke today for find thousands of mostly dead ants on our pavers.
They seem to be collected in the shadows of our furniture and near an irrigation hose.
We are suffering through a drought and I wonder if that's what led them to our house.
We have a pest control service but I was hoping for some advice on this holiday weekend.