About r/HomeImprovement
In its own words:
Only text posts are allowed here. YOU MUST have minimum karma to participate in the sub. Submit here: https://diy.stackexchange.com/
Community guide
r/HomeImprovement (#188, about 4.8 million subscribers) — Only text posts are allowed here. YOU MUST have minimum karma to participate in the sub. Submit here: https://diy.stackexchange.com/ A recent sample averaged 72 posts a day (~100% text). Recent phrase samples include “water heater”, “garage door”, “front door”, “home improvement”. It is listed under “Lifestyles”.
What belongs here
Stay inside the room’s stated scope rather than adjacent off-topic dumps. Conversation lately clusters around water heater, garage door, front door, home improvement, water lines.
How it differs from lookalikes
Prefer this room when your post matches its description and rules—not merely a larger sibling community.
Practical pointers
Read the live sidebar/rules before posting; rules can change.
The community was created on Aug 18, 2008, which makes it 18 years old. Since Nov 2, 2026, it has gained 2,398 subscribers (+0.05%). Among the 5 communities on our home improvement list it is the largest. It sits just behind r/PublicFreakout (#187) and ahead of r/manga (#189) in our ranking.
What sets r/HomeImprovement apart
Compared with other large communities, r/HomeImprovement leans heavily on text posts (100% of recent posts; the typical Top 100 subreddit sits at 35%). Its rhythm is strongly tied to time zones: the busiest hour (14:00 UTC) sees about 6.5× as many posts as the quietest (05:00 UTC).
Subscriber growth
Between Sep 19, 2026 and Nov 9, 2026, r/HomeImprovement climbed from 4,834,294 to 4,851,068 subscribers (+16.8K, +0.35%). That is about 329 new members per day. The chart shows 10 weekly subscriber counts.
Top posts on r/HomeImprovement this week
What the community upvoted most over the last seven days, as ranked by Reddit (collected Nov 9, 2026).
- Got swindled by Renewal by Andersenu/Commercial-Self-792 · Nov 7 · text post
- New Window -why do they insist on wife being home for appt?u/Piranha1962 · Nov 5 · text post
- Lumens.com charges you to return anything and then adds a restocking fee. DO NOT use themu/Alive-Adhesiveness93 · Nov 6 · text post
- Little Giant Recalls Ladders with Rapid Locks due to reports of ladders unexpectedly retractingu/DryBoysenberry596 · Nov 6 · text post
- Okay to flush 7 year old hot water heater for the first time?u/friendly-manspider · Nov 7 · text post
- I'm getting ready to sell my house and can't decide which improvements are worth doing first. Should I spend money on the kitchen or focus on repairs instead?u/SeniorTechnician4119 · Nov 3 · text post
- How many of you like the dated look of your home?u/LookAtMeInMyEyeball · Nov 3 · text post
- Plumber quoted us $12K for a sewer blockage, now wants another $20K after finding broken pipes. Does this sound reasonable?u/yumzz421 · Nov 5 · text post
- It feels like it is never ending.u/4shmed4i · Nov 2 · text post
- Surprise bill for inspectionu/FantasticBuffalo3902 · Nov 5 · text post
All-time top posts
The highest-ranked posts in the history of r/HomeImprovement, from 2020 to 2026, ranked by Reddit.
- Will you please stay the hell home....?u/Smitetheworldawake · Mar 26, 2020 · 8,339 points · 949 comments · text post
- Home Depot has the single worst website of any major retailer.u/gooneau · Jul 9, 2026 · text post
- How is anyone affording renovations these days? Getting $80, 90, 110k quotes to reno kitchen.u/ComfortableCoyote480 · Sep 7, 2026 · text post
- /r/homeimprovement will be going dark beginning June 12 in protest against Reddit's API changes which will kill 3rd party apps.u/dapeche · Jun 6, 2023 · 3,199 points · 4 comments · link
- Andersen quoted $26,000 for new front door. Is that crazy?u/teatime4every1 · Aug 21, 2026 · text post
- Why does a tiny bathroom remodel cost as much as a car now? Am I missing something? 😅u/midasweb · Mar 18, 2026 · text post
- I feel sick every time I shower at home, but nowhere else.u/Confident_Jicama4244 · Aug 1, 2026 · text post
- Contractor quotes have become a form of psychological warfareu/Dreznon · Oct 7, 2026 · text post
- After years in construction/remodels I made a list of things that should never be accepted by a homeowneru/Familiar_Bridge9072 · Feb 28, 2026 · text post
- Removing this golden phallus from my shower?u/Melt_in_the_Sun · Jan 28, 2022 · 2,004 points · 260 comments · text post
What r/HomeImprovement talks about
We read the titles of 445 recent posts (Oct 31–Nov 7), the words that come up most are “door”, “help”, “house”, “home” and “advice”. Other frequent themes are ceiling, water, wall, shower, floor and bathroom. Recurring phrases include “water heater”, “range hood”, “front door” and “bathroom exhaust”. By format, 100% are text posts.
Activity and best time to post
r/HomeImprovement gets about 69 new posts a day. The public archive holds 728,867 posts and 6,799,399 comments in total, about 9.3 comments per post. Last week the busiest day was Thursday (75 posts) and the quietest was Saturday (58). Posting peaks around 14:00 UTC and is lowest around 05:00 UTC.
How to join
Open reddit.com/r/HomeImprovement and press “Join”. Read the community rules in the sidebar before you post: every subreddit is run by its own volunteer moderators.
Frequently asked questions
How big is r/HomeImprovement?
r/HomeImprovement has 4,851,068 subscribers (Nov 9, 2026), which makes it the #188 safe-for-work subreddit in the SubMouse ranking. It added 16,774 members between Sep 19, 2026 and Nov 9, 2026.
How old is r/HomeImprovement?
r/HomeImprovement was created on Aug 18, 2008, so it has been around for 18 years.
How active is r/HomeImprovement?
Very active: r/HomeImprovement gets about 69 new posts a day (average of the last four weeks). Over its lifetime the archive counts 728,867 posts and 6,799,399 comments. In a sample of 445 recent posts we counted 433 different authors.
When is r/HomeImprovement most active?
Based on post counts from Oct 31, 2026 to Nov 6, 2026, the busiest day was Thursday and the quietest Saturday, and most posts arrive around 14:00 UTC, with the fewest around 05:00 UTC. More posts also means more competition, so a quieter hour can help a post get noticed.
What is r/HomeImprovement about?
The community describes itself as: “Only text posts are allowed here. YOU MUST have minimum karma to participate in the sub. Submit here: https://diy.stackexchange.com/” Recent post titles often mention door, help, house, home and advice. Most posts are text posts (100%).
Is r/HomeImprovement safe for work?
Yes. Reddit does not mark r/HomeImprovement as an 18+ (NSFW) community. SubMouse lists safe-for-work subreddits only.
How do I post on r/HomeImprovement?
Join the community on Reddit first, then use “Create post”. r/HomeImprovement accepts text posts only. Moderators remove posts that break the rules, so read them in the sidebar before posting.
Which communities are like r/HomeImprovement?
Communities with similar topics include r/homeowners (3.1M), r/RealEstate (2.5M), r/malelivingspace (3M) and r/spotify (3M).
Stats from public data (data updated Nov 9, 2026; activity, rules and archive totals via the Arctic Shift archive, Nov 9, 2026; top posts from Reddit’s public feeds). Point and comment counts are archive snapshots and can be lower than on Reddit today. SubMouse is an independent directory and is not affiliated with Reddit or the moderators of r/HomeImprovement.