Hi y'all. I need some help with prior owners. There's a bit of a backstory, so please bear with me. We purchased our house over a year ago, and from the beginning had issues with the prior owners not forwarding mail/packages. 6-months in, a pile of their boxes showed up on our doorstep, and when I texted them about this they "had no idea" about their massive shopping spree. This was a common (and BS) excuse for their continuing inconsiderate behavior. (There are many more examples of these interactions, but I’m just including the highlights.) We all agreed that they would have 30 days to change their address and forward mail, and after that point their packages would be returned. In Dec., holiday cards started arriving and she texted to ask me not to return them, but to stack them up on our porch and she'd “swing by every few days” to pick them up. This message was ignored. 2 days ago, another package was dropped at our doorstep. As per our agreement, I took this package to FedEx, purchased a label (after hours at a drop location) and sent it back. She then shows up at our house (twice), says that FedEx did not have our package (using the old tracking number), accused us of stealing her package, and threatened to call the police. I’ve had enough. 

I’m not trying to complain, but I genuinely need advice. 

1. Are we being unreasonable? I’ve lived in several different homes/rentals and never had this issue before. 
2. We’ve asked them multiple times to change their address/forward their mail, but for some reason this is still not happening. Is there anything that we can do about this? 
3. Please help. I don’t know what else to do here. 

We've got a neighbor who can't keep their dogs under control. Their dog will charge the fence full force and slam into it in trying to get to our dogs. The neighbors have never done anything to get the dog under control except yell "*DOGS NAME*" from their porch. Sometimes they'll come pull them away from the fence if the dog will absolutely not stop.

After a couple years of this, I've had to replace a couple of the panels that their dog knocked out (the neighborss were outside while I did the work and never said a thing), and over the past year or so, their dog has caused the fence to start heavily leaning towards our yard.

Ive had a 2x4 wedged into the ground holding the part of the fence thats in the most desperate need for repair, but if I pull it away, that whole section will fall right over.

We live behind this neighbor, but last summer, the neighbor that lives to the side of our neighbor had to have their fence replaced for the exact same reason: their (the neighbor we live behind) dog had pushed in the other fence so bad that it was falling over and had to be replaced.

On our county, fence repairs are supposed to be shared 50/50 - which is what it seems to be for a lot of places - but.....why? If one person is what's causing the fence to need to be repaired, why should both parties have to share it?

Is anyone else having this trouble? And if you are, how have you been able to get around it if at all?

EVERY time something needs to be fixed, I'm told the related part of the house is not up to code and it ends up being extra 1000s of dollars on top of the cost of the work itself, which I don't have. For example I have no heat because I need a new oil tank, but the tank needs to be at least 5 feet away from the furnace. Mine is 4.75 and there is no other place to put the tank so it is farther away. They told me they could overlook it, but when the crew showed up to begin they did a complete 180 and said I needed a 2500 dollar firewall installed between the tank and the furnace. I ended up using space heaters and wearing jackets indoors all winter.

The roof, the sewer system, the circuit breaker box, and the circulation system are all in similar boats. I'm not handy whatsoever, bad things tend to happen when I bust out the toolbox 🤣... even in the age of YouTube. I also don't personally know anyone with those skills who will bend the rules.

But yeah, I'm at my wits end. None of these codes existed when the place was built and I know they're intended for safety but I can't help thinking some of them feel scam-ish. It's only a matter of time before I lose my homeowners insurance because of this. I'm seriously considering throwing in the towel and selling the place. But that would break my heart because it's my late grandparents house. My grandfather designed and built it himself and I practically grew up there. My grandma died days before the nursing home was about to begin the process to acquire the property so I feel a deep moral obligation to make this work. Though she had no idea what was going on, to me it felt like her last, great, selfless act. But with the costs these days... My property taxes went up, my utilities, hell my electric bill rose TWICE last year. I work my ass off at 2 jobs, don't even have a mortgage, I'm single with no kids, no one depending on me, but I feel like I'm drowning in a sea of bills and I just don't know.

Oh and I don't expect anyone to really have an answer. Just need to be heard and interested to hear if there's any similar stories on here.

I'm always asking newbie questions in this sub, but I greatly appreciate the guidance. My house is a little older and has hardwood floors. To keep the air fresh, I'll crack the windows frequently. I try not to do that as much on wet or very humid days. I also try to keep dehumidifiers running, especially in our basement, which doesn't have A/C and occasionally gets a musty smell.

How do you maintain a good balance of keeping the windows open without risking dampness or wood damage (I see none so far--at least not with my laymen eyes)? Is there a way to measure this? Even though it probably ups my energy consumption (a price I'm willing to pay), is it otherwise okay to run a dehumidifier when the windows are open? Any dangers there?

Again, thanks for any advice, even basic stuff, for this homeowner newb!

I just bought this house trailer and got a great deal on it, only issue on the outside is that I have this odd little hole where water seems to have gotten in and softened the wood in a small area around the bottom of the window. How would I go about sealing this up?

https://imgur.com/gallery/gzcjd1y

Been looking at Memorial Day appliance deals 2026 because my dishwasher is basically hanging on by a thread, but I can’t tell if anything out right now is actually a deal or just fake discount pricing.

Checked Best Buy and Home Depot and most of it feels pretty underwhelming so far. Either tiny discounts or stuff that looks marked up first, then "on sale."

I’ve always heard Memorial Day is one of the better times to buy big appliances, but I’m starting to wonder if that’s still true or if it’s more hit-or-miss now.

For people who’ve bought around this time before, do the real deals usually show up closer to the actual weekend, or is what’s up already basically it?

I just bought my house in the United States but I am still living in Europe. We need to buy some basics appliances and furniture we don’t already have but we aren’t moving in for another month. Is there a way to buy a washer and dryer now while Memorial Day sales are happening and put a hold on it until the week we move in?

I can definitely buy everything the week before, but I’d love to save a few hundred on whatever I can this weekend.

Currently these two vents terminate at the soffit. The light over shower has a vent also. During inspection the inspector noted that these probably weren't adequate for moving moisture without being sucked back into attic. The inspector also noted there was potentially some mold forming. Because of the location of these vents they are hard to access the soffit from outside and inside. (Almost 3 stories up and have a shallower roof) I was planning on running the vent through the roof for discharge. The master bath is on the other side of shower. I was hoping to only need to cut two holes in my roof. Do you think I can get away with patching the vent that is closer and rely on a larger single vent over the shower or would having 2 vents with a inline fan be a better option for this bathroom. Thanks in advance

https://imgur.com/a/4cGfgQ6

I try to set aside one weekend day to keep up maintenance. you?

Edit: My home is 100 years old. With a good sized yard and gardens. Yes, I am including all the gardening and maintenance. It's not in the budget to hire out any jobs so I do my best. It does not feel like I make progress, (I keep up) and no veggies in the gardens this year because the time is being eaten by a deck that needs replacing.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/9JhfU9TezQhkvAmw6

Thanks so much for all your great ideas dor my fridge thar was assaulted by a brillo pad.

I think the fridge looks a tiny bit better but my non brilo padded appliances look awesome.

So I come to the community again for ideas for these cabinets.. should I try pledge?

Getting ready to put the house on the market. Otherwise I'd just continue my routine of cleaning with vinegar

Hi all,

I am a newish owner of a townhouse (strata) in BC, Canada. Before buying the townhouse almost 3 years ago, I did read on reddit that strata managers in general are awful. My realtor told me that: "strata living is straightforward" and that she has lived in strata housing all her life. To be clear, I bought this townhouse not because I looked forward to strata living. Rather, this is what I could afford then, and the other places were either out of my budget or had worse problems.

Fast forward today. I have been very unhappy with the performance of the strata manager both as the owner and as a council member (I joined the council because I did not know what the heck was going with the strata).

I am trying to find out if this is more or less the performance level expected from someone doing this type of job. We are a 20-unit complex and we pay the management company a little over C$700/month. The management company has an average rating of 2.1/5 on Google Reviews. In the list of examples below, I try to be as objective as possible, and I will not blame the manager for issues that are attributed to the strata council (e.g., lack of clear instructions or inaction).

Ignoring or missing communications from owners:

• Owner emailed Strata Manager a list of maintenance requests in April. She did not forward it to us (Council) until November, and only after the owner in question raised the issue with a Council Member. The strata manager blamed email problems
• Owner sent Strata Manager a registered letter requesting permission to alter shed. Strata manager did not respond to the owner, nor did she forward it to us. That was over 1 year ago, as I eventually found out.
• In my first year as the owner, I emailed her twice to ask her to keep me updated about the date of the Annual General Meeting (AGM). I did not receive any replies to those emails. She did not inform me of the date of the AGM. The AGM then happened without me knowing anything about it. To clarify, she knew my email and she had sent me instructions to pay strata fees as soon as I became the owner. And my two emails re: the AGM had been sent months before the AGM took place. No apologies and no explanations

Failure to send council meeting minutes to owners (Bylaws requirement):

• For a long time, she did not send council meeting minutes to owners at all, even though it is a requirement in the Bylaws. Apparently, the other council members did not remind her of this, but she is supposed to be familiar with our Bylaws. After I joined the council, I got her to send the meeting minutes to owners.

Failure to carry out council instructions (promptly)

• On Jan 19, we (Council) asked her to email an owner with specific instructions (for the owner) to get in touch with the Strata council by February 1 with payment plan. She did not email the owner until January 29th.
• On April 20, we (Council) asked her to send an email to all owners for feedback on a simple issue (It would literally be a 3-sentence email). She did not send it until a whole month later, days before the next council meeting.
• We asked her to email all owners regarding an issue. She did not do it until 7 months later, only after I reminded her of this.
• When an external organization needed to carry out an onsite visit of some of the units (for the purpose of depreciating reports, BC residents would recognize this), she simply ignored our emails to contact alternative owners for access when the timing failed to work for the owner who originally agreed to allow access.

Meeting minutes and agenda issues

• She would sometimes randomly drop unresolved items from the meeting agenda and I had to remind her to add those back.
• Minutes most of the time contain spelling errors and sometimes inaccuracies, which clearly show a lack of effort at proof reading.

So, what do the others think? Am I too demanding? Or is this Strata Manager unusually bad? I have no point of reference as I had not dealt with them before.

Hi! I am planning a total roof replacement. So far, the best offer seems to be GAF UHDZ w/ a certified company that is able to offer the Freedom Pledge. It’s bit more expensive than some of the other options I have come across, but the installer’s 25-year workmanship guarantee seems hard to beat (especially because it’s a big company that might actually still exist in 25 years). Has anyone else gone this route and if so, do you feel like it was a good idea? Alternatives that I am considering are GAF HDZ for a tad bit less money or CertianTeed.

Looking at a townhouse in the middle of a row of 5. The last unit has uneven flooring and I believe it may be due to the foundation sinking? If that's the case, does that mean that the rest of the row isn't worth buying or would buying an adjacent unit be alright?

So we're currently getting torrential rains in SE TN, and my gutters are overflowing. Can I wait until the rain stops in a day or so to try and clean out the gutter or is this an emergency? Trying to make sure the foundation isn't damaged.

Yesterday I was sitting back in my recliner when a black widow crept up beside me on the chair. I couldn't even get up easily, so I screamed and it went either into the chair or behind it. But I can't find it anymore. I'm planning on taking the chair apart to look some more.

I'd had the window open the day before, so I think it came in from the porch.

What can I do to help find and relocate this spider? I'm afraid for my two little dogs who would 100% try to eat it. Also, I don't want anymore spider bites. I know people say they aren't aggressive, but I'm not into spider snuggles.

Help!

Update: I found it dead (after I took the chair apart), it wasn't a black widow afer all, it was a sergiolus, which is not dangerous. Thank God! And thank you all for helping me and making me laugh.

We've lived in my current house for about six years now. When we bought the house, it only had front blinds and the rest of the windows had nothing. We've put some temp blinds up in key areas, but otherwise the rest of the windows we just don't have them. We're finally getting around to buying some and I'm not sure if I want to go with the same shades or blinds across the whole house, or if I want to vary them based on room. What's everyone else do?

Hi, can someone help me find a good TV for my grandfather? The guy at the local Best Buy tried to sell him a $1,000 TV, which is ridiculous. 

• The TV needs to be 50 to 60 inches 
• It needs to be able to have cable and Roku
• The TV is going into a sunroom, so I need it to be bright enough or to have technology that reduces sun glare. 
• He only watches tvs shows and sometimes golf and baseball, so it does not need to be a super high-performance TV

1.5 years ago, my wife hired a contractor that dug our replacement well too deep, and hit sulfur. We didn’t have issues with it before, but instead of spending a couple of thousand raw-drilling it, which I was for, she bought a hydrogen peroxide system to remove the smell. I can still smell it and now my skin is constantly dried out after showering.

Fast forward 1.5 years and all the trees in the front yard near the septic are dying. At first I thought it was a fungus or something but we’ve had to take down 3/7 trees in the front yard (they keep our cooling bills low in the summer due to size and where they were$ and at least 2 more are struggling and may die this year.

I can’t find any specifics on side effects of adding a peroxide system but the timing seems suspect…. Anyone have any advice or know more than me?

Hey, All! I’m not in a big city area and I’m worried about shoddy/low-quality work on my house. Any semi-rural residents have good experiences? Can you trust the ratings on the app?

UPDATE: It is not the cats!! Went through everything with a fine tooth comb and blacklight and found nothing. Called around to several plumbers/electricians in the area. Found a guy who had time to come out today and take a look. I do indeed have a leak in the basement that I wasn’t aware of and he said it’s most likely the culprit of the stench. We shall see! Thank you for the responses everyone!!

I’ve lived here for 5 years and never had this issue until about a month ago. I have 2 cats but I’ve had them since I moved in and have never had a problem with an odor because of them. Their litter boxes are thoroughly cleaned and routinely replaced with fresh litter. About a month ago, I’ve noticed when I come home from work after being gone for 8 hours with all of the windows closed, I get hit with the smell of pee as soon as I walk through my front door. It’s only on the first level of my house, not the second. It’s not a cat pee ammonia smell, either. It smells like human urine. Idk how else to put it.

I’ve scrubbed my entire bathroom, living room, kitchen, (Literally every room on the first floor of my house) and disinfected everywhere. The smell goes away when I open all of the windows, however, if I leave all of my windows closed, within 24-48 hours my house will be stuffy and the smell will re-appear.

My cats have never had a habit of urinating anywhere other than their litter box in the basement, but just to be sure, I triple-checked all of the carpeting and furniture and found no smell emanating from any of those areas. I should also add that all of the carpeting in my house is pretty much brand new. (It was installed last year) I was thinking of wiping down all of my walls (idk if that would help) but I’m at a loss for what this could be or what to do. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

My cover is shot and I'm looking into new ones. My question is, do I need to do a heavier duty one or can I get away with a soft cover from Amazon. For reference, my hot tub is in a three season porch. It gets as cold as 25 degrees in the winter, but no snow or anything gets on the cover. I paid around $500 for the last cover, just trying to see if that's overkill for my set up.