After 10+ years my disposal decided it didn’t owe me anything. I’m in my 60s and under the delusion that I don’t need to call The Guy for every little thing. I bought the same model and it looks like a pretty basic procedure … what do I need to watch for so I don’t end up crying on the kitchen floor in the fetal position?

We built our own floor planner for property and renovation projects, and we’ve now made it free for anyone to use.

No signup, no ads, no watermarks, and no paywall on exports. Your project files are saved locally on your own computer, so you keep control of them.

We originally built it as an internal tool for our own real estate projects, mainly for the early design stage where you want to try different layouts before involving architects, engineers or contractors.

It works well for renovation planning because you can draw rooms using exact dimensions, move walls around, test furniture layouts, add doors and windows, and quickly compare different ideas without having to learn something as complex as AutoCAD.

You can also switch into 3D and walk around the project in a first-person view, which is surprisingly useful when trying to understand whether a room will actually feel too small, whether a hallway is awkward, or whether a layout works in practice.

If you already have floor plans, drawings, photos or videos, we also built an AI kit that can help turn that material into an import file, so you don’t necessarily have to recreate everything manually.

You can export projects as well, including STL if you want to 3D print a physical model. We use that ourselves quite a bit.

It is not intended to replace proper architectural or engineering software. The main purpose is the concept and planning stage - getting from “maybe we should move this wall” to something visual and measurable that you can actually discuss with a contractor or architect.

We made it public because we had already built it for ourselves, and the additional cost of letting other people use it is basically negligible. So putting a subscription or account system around it seemed unnecessary.

If anyone here is planning a renovation, extension, remodel or new build, feel free to try it:

https://kjoller.com/tools/floorplanner/

We would also genuinely appreciate feedback from people actually doing renovation projects, especially on anything that feels missing, confusing or annoying to use.

We’re figuring out outlets and lighting for a bathroom renovation, and I realized I had only thought about the vanity area. Two outlets by the sink, one for the mirror, exhaust fan, done.

Then I started looking at bidet seats and smart toilets and realized I’d need to think about power near the toilet too. Not exactly something I had on my original bathroom mood board

For anyone who’s redone their bathroom, what small electrical or plumbing details are easy to overlook until it’s too late?

About a month ago, I posted looking for advice on how to restain my deck because I didn't want to pay my HOA $680 for them to do it. I was ripped apart about this so let me tell you what I did since I got no advice.

I rented a pressure washer for $41 from Menards and took 2.5 hours of my time to pressure wash the dirt and badly chipped stain off my deck. I did not need to sand it down because the pressure washer did all the work I needed it to. My HOA agreed that I just needed to get the dirt and old stain off.

I spent about $110 on stain and supplies. We tried two different color samples for $12, bought a gallon of solid stain for $50, bought brushes for $17, a paint tray liner for $1, and I needed a hose for the pressure washer so $30 for that.

My husband did the staining in just around 2 hours.

Total time 4.5 hours, total cost $151. I learned how to do something on my own as a DIY project and knowledge on how to take care of the aspects of my home is priceless. I also bought everything but the hose from Menards so all my receipts were sent in for their 11% rebate. Had I planned this better, I could have borrowed a pressure washer from either of my in laws and saved the $41. Unfortunately, we asked after they both left their second homes where they both keep theirs.

I just moved into this new apartment. The room is all one bedroom, sink, and closet area connected. However, right next to the sink there is an opening.

See the images here

Since the sink area is also open to the bedroom area, this means this opening makes the bedroom open to pretty much the entire common area of the house.

Does anyone have any ideas how I could somehow cover up or close up this hole in the wall? This way the bedroom isn't audibly connected to the rest of the house.

Another requirement is that this has to be non-invasive. Since I'm renting, its not like I can just break into the wall, put some drywall up, and plaster/paint it up or anything like that.

Thanks!

So we have a mouse infestation, and the pest guy took a look at my attic and saw evidence that they were living up there within the 40+ year old blown fiber insulation.

The plan right now is to have them vacuum all of it out, and replace it with treated anti-pest fiber at a cost of about $8000. Sucks, but thats what emergency funds are for.

Anyway, two things I was thinking:

• A neighbor told me that when he had some work done, he found that the builder used nails for fastening the ceiling gypsum. That made me realize we have significant nail pop, and even some sagging ceilings. Would this be an opportunity to have someone (a handiman, maybe?) re-fasten things with screws and re-glue things?

• I don't currently have cables running up the walls, but maybe this might be an opportunity to drop some conduit and cables down, and put some ceiling drops into a place or two for a wifi AP or whatever.

Are those ideas dumb? Are there any other opportunities staring me in the face?

I'm installing a new stacked washer/dryer set. It is located on the 3rd floor of my home inside a closet, the wall vent sticks out from the ceiling.

The existing wall vent has a 5" diameter and the dryer has a 4" duct. I bought a 5" to 4" reducer.

I was planning to crimp the 5" end of the reducer to insert it into the wall vent (I read that the reducer should be on the inner side of the vent to follow the direction of the air flow and to avoid trapping lint)

However, I realized the wall vent is already crimped. I think if I just cup the reducer over it may potentially trap lint. Photos here: https://www.reddit.com/r/appliancerepair/comments/1x6c28h/wall_vent_is_crimped/

Would it still be okay to crimp the 5" end of the reducer and try to insert it in, then tape it w/ aluminum tape and clamp it?

If not, what is the best way to go about installing the reducer without modifying/replacing the existing vent? I'm in a townhouse/strata in Canada so I cannot modify/replace the existing vent without going through the strata council.

I have a set of three hanging lights over our kitchen island. We plan to remove the island and change the hanging lights to recessed lights. The diameter of the existing recessed lights is about 6 to 6.5 inches. The diameter of the hanging light fixture in the ceiling is about 3 inches. How difficult will it be to widen the diameter to get it closer to match the existing recessed lights?

Had someone come over to fix a small leak under the kitchen sink. Was supposed to be a pretty simple job until they found another issue with the plumbing behind it

Now part of the cabinet needs to come out and the original repair is the cheapest part of the whole thing

I know this stuff happens with older houses but it's getting annoying how often a small problem turns into something big

At this point I'm almost scared to call someone to fix anything else

HI Everyone

Looking to buy a new home and of course I can't find everything perfect lol

I found a nice home but the living room set up is a little wierd, and I love my big screen TV's

Here is the current set up.

How in the world can I fit a 65" or bigger TV in this space? I assume I can't cut out the middle of the wall lol

Just seeing if any ideas

Thank you

https://imgur.com/0hrZHRV

Old photo with it empty https://imgur.com/VdIdrFg

For context, my house abruptly and randomly started smelling like a dirty litter box in my basement and kitchen (they’re connected with the strongest smell being in the basement). We have absolutely no idea why and the smell completely amplifies when it rains. We are desperate for answers because it smells so awful. It’s not a rotten egg or sulfuric smell either.

Any tips on where to start with this would be great.

Just curious if chimney cleaning for a natural gas furnace and water heater was necessary yearly?

I thought it was only necessary for oil or wood burning stoves.

I bought a house that I’ve been in for one year and I keep getting a call from a company that cleaned the chimney here for the previous owner. And it just had me thinking.

My apartament doesnt get direct sunlight any time of the day (very high buildings on the side).

I wanna get a split unit for my living room and conected kitchen.

The rooms have 8ft ceiling and I live in a city that get 100°F and very humid in the summer, much like Miami.

I was thinking 12.000 or 18.000 btus.

Wich one should I get?

Hey all, I am wildly infuriated by the lack of strength my silicone gun has at the moment. I put the silicone tube in the gun and it was working great for about 10 minutes, then all of a sudden the trigger no longer feels like it's giving anything a good push, and my silicone stops coming out. The gun works fine when I take the tube out, all seems great. Put the tube in, it gives up. What on earth am I doing wrong? I checked around the gun to make sure nothing was stuck or slipping, and everything appears to be as it should - the push plate is slightly off kilter, but I've used it this way before with no issues and it appears to move just fine. I'm on a very limited budget right now and would really love to not have to go out and buy a new one. Advice?? (Or shoot me)

Joists in an old home are sitting flush with sill plate and wall framing, but with blocking in between, instead of having the usual rim joist.

Is this better, worse, or the same as having a rim joist?

Quick question! Just bought our first home and will be painting the living room, dining room and hallway a warm creamy white. I prefer the look of matte, but how annoying will that be to clean with small kids? Is eggshell the better option even though I would prefer no sheen? I think we're going with Benjamin Moore Regal Select paint.

Thanks!

Edit: Thanks everyone! Definitely going with eggshell after reading all of your comments :)

Hello all. We will be moving soon and I plan on finishing the basement. It is approximately 550sf of exposed joists and ductwork. I’m considering renting an airless sprayer. Anyone have any tips or tricks to make this go as smoothly and quickly as possible? Thanks in advance.

https://youtu.be/WHm3xTDKNkc?si=K0ipOjF-HIeReBEO

We’re looking to get a concrete patio installed and quoted around 11,870 for 456sq and stairs. The former quote said
-Install 456sqf of broomed finish concrete
-Diamond saw cut design
-Rebar dowels into house foundation to prevent settling
-Install rebar wire mesh for extra strength
-Concrete mix 4000psi with half inch aggregate mix -Install 2-3 gravel base and compact down
-Concrete will be 4 inches thick on patio
Slope patio away from home 1/4in per 1 foot (1in per 4ft)
-Compact down gravel using powered plate compactor
-Crack control joints will be saw cut following day concrete is poured

but when I asked recently, they needed to update it to fiberglass rebar 3ft on center. What’s the difference? Is this better to prevent cracking?

We are going to be laying some Smartcore floors from Lowes in our second floor bedrooms. We laid it in our master already. The bedrooms we are about to do are above the main living spaces of the house. Currently we have carpet and you can hear a lot downstairs. We didn’t use underlayment in the master because it’s above the garage addition which is well insulated and sound proofed. What would be a good underlayment to use with these floors for soundproofing?

Hello! I have a house about 100 yrs old and runs on fuel oil. I have been noticing that the rooms with a window are colder than they should be. I see people use an insulation wrap, but I was wondering if those were worth it and if they can be placed outside the house? (I have cats) What other ideas are there to insulate this house to save as much money on heating as possible?

All windows, floors, and doors are original and appear to have to altering for the weather.

Also I’m in northern MN, so we get COLD COLD winters lol

Sharing info on our window replacement experience. Just had ours done this summer. This is in San Diego. We have 5 windows, 1 picture + 4 sliders, and 1 sliding patio door. For the color combo we wanted, bronze over bronze, only one manufacturer the companies we got quotes from worked with offered it, Simonton. Got 3 quotes from local companies - $9,264, $10,478, $12,760. This is for the same windows with the same options. We went with Simonton’s Daylight Max.

I few factors that did make it a bit more expensive:

·       Our HOA only allows 2 colors, and we also wanted to match the inside color

·       One of our windows is about 10’x4’, and needed thick glass for both panes, so it was pretty pricy

·       Another window needed tempered glass

We went with the one that offered the lowest quote (and it wasn’t just the price, their sales person was very good). Installation was great. The guys that came out were fast, efficient, clean. Their caulk lines were some of the straightest and cleanest I’ve seen.

Did have a couple of issues with the product itself – day before the install got a call from the installer telling me that the door came in damaged so they’ll order a new one, ask for a rush order, and come back out to replace it. It took about two weeks to come in from the manufacturer, and the installer came out on Saturday to install it.

The other issue is that on the day of the install I noticed a small crack in a corner of one of the sashes. It didn’t affect performance so they went ahead and installed it and ordered a replacement. Whey they came to install the replacement, it was somehow too thick and didn’t slide well. So they ordered another one. It’s not a big issue as they just put the original back in for the time being, and these windows come with a double lifetime warranty and the installer offers lifetime install warranty so I’m not worried about.

It also just so happened that when we were getting these windows, Simonton had a couple of promos – on specific series, including Daylight Max, they offered a free upgrade to “acoustical” glass package (instead of both panes being the same thickness, one of them is thicker, which is supposed to help reduce sound transmission). And for specific colors, one of which happened to be the one we ordered, they were giving a $50/window and $100/door rebate, so in the end it’ll come in a bit under $9k. All in all we’re fairly satisfied.

I’ve changed about half the receptacles in my current home moved into two years ago going a few at a time. I’m a bit stumped on this one. It’s got three neutrals two are backstabbed and the third is on a j hook on the screw. The other side has one red wire and one black and the tab is broken on that side.

This is in a master bedroom. Both outlets are on all the time and there is no switch (currently) in the room that controls an outlet. There is one switch for four recessed lights. There’s a cover plate in the middle of the ceiling, I assume the previous owners removed a central fixture or ceiling fan when they added recessed lights or a mini split. Also the outlet is on the same circuit as the recessed lights and half the rooms outlets are on that circuit, the other half are on a different one.

I would like to change this, using a pigtail or wago, but I guess what are the possibilities for why there is an extra neutral.
Thanks!

We're probably getting new floors anyway. 1930s home. Very simple. Basically cape cod style with an exposed and easy to work with basement. Ground settled over the past 100 years and there's about a 2 inch very gradual deflection in the cement floor, which has meant the main beam deflects very gradually and uniformly a bit. The floors are flat (not level).

Has anyone done this? I know the basics (digging under foundation if new lolly columns are installed) and I know that you do this extremely gradually (maybe 1/10 of an inch a month). Generally I think reddit can be some doomsayers. Professionals can do things like raise an entire house and replace a sill ... with people who know how to do this (not me) it's not impossible. Do I just add a bunch more of these adjustable columns (5 more for $500 is small price to pay) including right next to the old non adjustable columns and slowly raise over the course of a year? Then when it's in the right position I replace with concrete filled columns (including footers)? We don't have any stairs or plaster walls. We do have a selaed chimney running through center of house.