r/HomeMaintenanceAdvice

Hi! We live in Waco, Texas and bought a house that was built in the 1950s. We have had it for three years. When we purchased it, we were informed that the house had some water under it (there had been about a week of rain). The owners negotiated with us that they would pay for repairs and had sump pumps installed and a French drain. We thought that would be the end of it (quite naively, unfortunately).

About a year into owning it, we noticed that the house felt humid and had some uneven floors. When checking under the house, we saw that there was a lot of pooled water and the sump pumps were not working properly. We then paid contractors to install a different french drain and a dehumidifier, based on their recommendations. Unfortunately, the problems persisted, with mold starting to grow inside a pantry closet and in the subfloor. The same contractors came back and removed the mold and tore up the subfloor and many of the beams, suggesting that almost all of our joists needed to be replaced. We spent thousands of dollars living in Airbnbs while they worked and ultimately decided that they weren’t a good fit after all. After researching containing crawl spaces, we decided that we would do that with the crawl space and repair the floor ourselves.

Anyway, it rained maybe an inch or two last night and we came to check on the house. This is what we’re seeing, inches of water that appears to be below the water table. We’re at a complete loss. We have struggled to find anyone in the area who deals with water issues and are increasingly stressed that there isn’t a solution. I have multiple pics but could only attach one. We are meeting with a structural engineer tomorrow (we scheduled it before seeing the water). Can anyone provide us any suggestions or ideas? We feel so discouraged at this point and would greatly appreciate any help😔

I just bought this place and have a small part of the house (behind bathrooms and main bedroom) have the floor slab exposed at the bottom underneath what I assume is a rendered cement sheet.

Is this compliant and Whats the fix for it? What issues could arise from this?

House is 30 years old so it can’t be too bad if it hasn’t caused damage yet but I’m also not sure if it’s a more recent Reno.

Can anyone lead me in the right direction? Any advice is much appreciated.

Yesterday I took some drywall off the ceiling and wall (only about 6" on each) because I suspect some sort of leak coming from either the bathroom upstairs or the window isn't sealed properly. Some of the drywall was flakey and had mold but most of it was solid with no mold. Could you tell me the next steps in finding out where exactly the leak originates? I just had the toilet replaced and there is no moisture under the sink which is on the wall where the window is on the next floor up. And there was only a few drops of water in the bubble after I made a pinhole in it. I have attached pics. Could you advise me on the next step I take and what to look for? I appreciate it!

Im pretty sure this is the exhaust vent for our dryer. No there are no vents anywhere around the sides of the house.

Shouldn't this silver duct have a cover like the black vent in front of it?

New homeowner here. Our 1st floor recently had 3 inches of canal water come in after a nor’easter. It was about for 2-3 hours and I’ve had had fans and dehumidifiers running but being told laminate flooring and drywall should be removed. This would be a huge job. Should I really remove everything or any recommendations for people in similar situations. Also tips for better protection next time from experience to prevent water coming from under the doors

This black stuff is appearing across all the white painted wood trim around my house. Any idea what's causing this and how I can best remove to make it pure white again?

We bought a house in Houston, TX, around May 2025. I first noticed a small bubble on the 2nd-floor ceiling right next to a smoke detector in January 2026 (photo with one spot/bump next to the smoke alarm.

It is right below the attic with insulation materials, and when I checked in the attic at the time, I did not find any clear water spots or leaks at the time. It did not grow and did not see any new spots.

Now 10 months later, more water spots have showed up.

Have anyone seen something like this before? I am pretty clueless when it comes home maintenance and couldn't find anything similar online. Because the bubbles are still quite small, AI suggests it is likely not a water leak from a pipe/roof, as those leaks would look much worse than in 10 months. It might be condensation along the alarm wires because of cold air in the house and warm air in the attic mixing. Is that plausible?

Any advice, similar experiences, or troubleshooting tips would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

We’ve got this siding on a wall of our front porch. I found some mice poop under our fridge this past spring so I’m trying to seal anywhere I find they might be able to enter before winter is here. Should the siding of this be caulked to our concrete/ceiling?

My dehumidifer was working great for the first month, but it started becoming weaker and i would hear this crackling pop sound coming from the back every few minutes. I thought maybe ice but its not nearly cold enough? Any ideas on what's causing or how to fix? Thanks!

Can’t get panel 4 all the way down don’t know why