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) is oriented around: Only text posts are allowed here. YOU MUST have minimum karma to participate in the sub. Submit here: https://diy.stackexchange.com/ Recent activity samples show 72 posts/day in recent samples (~100% text). A rules list was not in our snapshot—use the live sidebar before posting. Recent phrase samples include “water heater”, “garage door”, “front door”, “home improvement”. Directory metadata files it 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; collected snapshots can lag.
SubMouse Editorial
The community was created on Aug 18, 2008, which makes it 18 years old. Since Oct 26, 2026, it has gained 2,731 subscribers (+0.06%). 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 (17:00 UTC) sees about 7.0× as many posts as the quietest (09:00 UTC).
Subscriber growth
Between Sep 19, 2026 and Nov 2, 2026, r/HomeImprovement climbed from 4,834,294 to 4,848,670 subscribers (+14.4K, +0.30%). That is about 327 new members per day. The chart uses our weekly snapshots (9 so far), so it gets longer every week.
Top posts on r/HomeImprovement this week
What the community upvoted most over the last seven days, as ranked by Reddit (collected Nov 2, 2026).
- Anderson $25,000 dollar front dooru/Miserable-Abroad2874 · Oct 26 · text post
- What's Actually Helped You Lower Your Electricity Bill?u/Ok_Solution_6532 · Oct 26 · text post
- [Connecticut] Installer sold me a $14.7K heat pump system that has failed repeatedly over 2.5 years and now refuses to service it. Can I force a removal and refund?u/SkinnyPete16 · Oct 31 · text post
- Cat pee coming through 3 layers of Kilz.u/Gannan308 · Oct 29 · text post
- choosing a nailer gun, air or battery?u/oldDotredditisbetter · Nov 1 · text post
- Is it worth insulating hot water pipes?u/Likalarapuz · Oct 29 · text post
- Contractor mismeasured sliding glass door, wants to put 1.5 inch wood blocking on the sides to make it fit (TX)u/waterlorelei · Oct 31 · text post
- Pull Out Trash Bin Draweru/jabolcnipolz · Oct 28 · text post
- Bought a house but every wall has the most awful textureu/Suspicious-Asking · Nov 1 · text post
- Can we just change the thermostat or does that need a professional?u/Mewlover23 · Oct 31 · 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 448 recent posts (Oct 24–Oct 31), the words that come up most are “door”, “home”, “water”, “window” and “help”. Other frequent themes are advice, shower, kitchen, house, wall and paint. Recurring phrases include “water heater”, “garage door”, “front door” and “home improvement”. By format, 100% are text posts.
Activity and best time to post
r/HomeImprovement gets about 72 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 Sunday (78 posts) and the quietest was Friday (55). Posting peaks around 17:00 UTC and is lowest around 09:00 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 4,848,670 subscribers (Nov 2, 2026), which makes it the #188 safe-for-work subreddit in the SubMouse ranking. It added 14,376 members between Sep 19, 2026 and Nov 2, 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 72 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 448 recent posts we counted 431 different authors.
When is r/HomeImprovement most active?
Based on post counts from Oct 24, 2026 to Oct 30, 2026, the busiest day was Sunday and the quietest Friday, and most posts arrive around 17:00 UTC, with the fewest around 09:00 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, home, water, window and help. 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/DIY (27.5M), r/homeautomation (4.6M), r/malelivingspace (3M), r/homeowners (3.1M) and r/starterpacks (6.5M).
Stats from public data (data updated Nov 2, 2026; activity, rules and archive totals via the Arctic Shift archive, Nov 2, 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.