I fixed the roof now onto the dry wall. I’ll post in the comments a picture from the house and from the attic of the dry wall in question. Do I need to cut it out and replace it or just paint over it or something else I am unaware of?
Good post for sure. I can chime in from the environmental consulting and remediation side. Honestly, from the pictures that doesn’t look that bad. If it were my house I’d treat with biocide, paint, and be done with it assuming it’s fully dry and the water problem is gone.
Not an official recommendation of course, but I wouldn’t use bleach. Bleach can damage building materials. What’s a better option is something like Shockwave or Concrobium, something that is EPA-registered for use as a biocide. I would apply it on both sides of the drywall to the point of it soaking in, and then allow it to get fully dry. After I was SURE it was dry I’d paint both sides with Kilz primer, and repaint to suit. The Kilz primer will act as an encapsulent and make sure you are not exposed to any of the dead mold.
I’ve done quite a bit of mold removal in my house from before we encapsulated the crawl space, and this has worked flawlessly even though I have family members that are extremely sensitive to molds. I wouldnt worry too much about mold spores present throughout your house- the dirty secret of the remediation industry is that there are mold spores literally everywhere. They key is to make sure the humidity levels in your house are controlled and never exceed 60-65%.
Oh man, I can second the tree removal experts. We have a corner lot with a lot of large mature trees, and we get tree services knocking on our door monthly, telling us we should cut all of our trees down to “protect the house”. We were concerned enough to hire a certified arborist who worked with an engineering firm, who came out for a couple hundred dollars, assessed our trees, and told us all those companies were morons and our trees were just a bunch of nice healthy oaks.
We’ve been exploring a thankless solution, but the company that quited us said it isn’t a good idea in our area because the ground freezes in the winter. We don’t live in a super cold area, but it does snow a few times a year and it can get into the single digits of degrees Fahrenheit.
That’s why we installed a tankless unit, it freed up an entire utility closet because we were able to tuck it in to a pretty small space while still respecting the required clearances. The only downside we’ve had was initial cost, and the yearly flushing process, which really isn’t bad if you install the correct valves from the beginning. Takes about 30 min. a year, which is worth it for endless hot water. Our gas bill has also been lower too.
I was hanging a ceiling fan in this room when I discovered that the mounting screw holes in the electrical box are stripped. My dad has suggested using JB Weld putty, letting it cure, drilling it out with a small bit and then using wood screws. I’m a first time homeowner and have neither the confidence nor the expertise to...
Definitely don’t use JB weld, and I think you should be able to do it without replacing the box.
Regular electrical boxes are usually 6-32 size screws, ceiling fan boxes usually 8-32. If the holes are stripped, especially with plastic boxes, a lot of times you can get away with using the next size up (either 8-32 or 10-32) and forcibly screwing them in. They will cut new threads in the soft plastic/metal of the box, and you’ll be good to go. This is how most electricians would handle it without replacing the box.
If you want to do a cleaner, less hacky job, you can get a set of drill-taps, like this:
You can usually find them in the electrical section of your big-box home improvement store of choice. Just use the next size up and get some appropriate screws.
Roof leak has been fixed, what about the drywall?
I fixed the roof now onto the dry wall. I’ll post in the comments a picture from the house and from the attic of the dry wall in question. Do I need to cut it out and replace it or just paint over it or something else I am unaware of?
YSK: Noticing cracks in your drywall or foundation? Beware of foundation companies
This happened to me a while back but I thought it would be good to share to possibly save someone 10s of thousands of dollars....
What is a good situation to use a tankless water heater?
We’ve been exploring a thankless solution, but the company that quited us said it isn’t a good idea in our area because the ground freezes in the winter. We don’t live in a super cold area, but it does snow a few times a year and it can get into the single digits of degrees Fahrenheit.
Stripped Screw Hole in Ceiling Advice ( i.imgur.com )
I was hanging a ceiling fan in this room when I discovered that the mounting screw holes in the electrical box are stripped. My dad has suggested using JB Weld putty, letting it cure, drilling it out with a small bit and then using wood screws. I’m a first time homeowner and have neither the confidence nor the expertise to...