Privacy and your data

What is in the box

Home QZ keeps two small things about readers. One is the emails they send. The other is the routine log a web server writes. That is the whole kit. Home QZ is responsible for both, and you can ask about either at contact@homeqz.com.

Your emails

Stuck on a drywall patch, or unsure which bit goes into a masonry wall? Readers write to us by email, using the address above, also listed on our Write to us page. Email is the only way in.

Each email brings its own details along. We keep the address you wrote from, any name you sign with, the message and any photos of the wall or the baseboard. That lets us read the problem and answer it properly.

Emails are held for 12 months. Then they are deleted, photos included.

The server's own notes

The machines that host Home QZ write a log line whenever a page is fetched. A line might hold the visitor's IP address, which browser asked, the page name and the time. Those lines help keep the site online and flag attacks. They are not used to tell readers apart or to follow anyone.

No tracking cookies

Home QZ does not put tracking or advertising cookies on your phone or computer. That is why you never had to click through a cookie notice to get here.

Sold to nobody

Home QZ does not sell personal information. Nor does it share reader information with advertisers. Your question about a stud finder is for us to answer, and that is all it is used for.

State privacy laws and your rights

Residents of California, and of a growing set of other states, have rights under state privacy laws over information a business keeps about them. Home QZ treats every reader the same here, wherever you live.

Start with access. You can ask to know what we keep and get a copy. Next comes correction, for a detail that is out of date. Then deletion, if you want your emails gone before 12 months have passed. Last, you can opt out, telling us your details must never be sold or passed along. Neither happens here, but we will still record your choice.

Email contact@homeqz.com and say which of these you want. Send it from the address you used before if you can, so we can find your emails. We may ask one question to make sure the request is yours. Making a request will not change how we treat you.

Children

Power tools and ladders call for an adult, and so does this site. Home QZ is not directed at children under 13. We never knowingly take in a young child's information. That is the rule COPPA lays down for websites.

Should a child email us anyway, a parent can write in and ask. We will delete that email.

Updates

If anything here changes, the new version is posted on this page and the date below moves forward. Last updated November 5, 2026.