Home Improvement: $180 kitchen refresh |
- $180 kitchen refresh
- Is there some secret to get in furniture up the stairs in my 1942 Midwestern home?
- Spraying for ticks DIY
- How often do I need to paint our brick house? One of the contractors said that we have to paint every ten years.
- An annoying neighborhood-wide problem
- Teach me about land surveys
- Am I breaking my house somehow or is this normal?
- Best way to redo kitchen cabinets
- Looking for thoughts/tips on mud room
- These are all the same color. A lesson in paint department color matching.
- Looking for a type of shelf bracket I'm not sure exists
- Value of metal vs traditional roof
- Replacing kitchen sink, granite hole too big...
- Do you install doors or floors first?
- Highest leverage improvement for a 'stuffy' upstairs in historic home: mini-spits vs attic insulation
- Finally done! First shower complete with before/after
- To soundproof basement or not
- Deck footings and concrete patio
- Who to call about utility cables hitting roof?
- Chain link fence replacement
- Permit needed for drywall and insulation? (CA)
- Gaps around a door?
- I need help rearranging this space
- Fixing cabinets help
| Posted: 10 Jun 2020 05:32 PM PDT I posted on here a few weeks ago about resurfacing laminate or possibly doing laminate sheets (not a possibility for me). I had hated my kitchen and it's honey oak cabinets. Those really made my countertops look awful. I thought I'd share my before and after. It's the first time I installed a backsplash so it's not perfect - but I am still excited about how $180 later my kitchen looks entirely different and the countertops look good (until I can afford stone!) I painted using Dixie Belle chalk paint. I installed a backsplash from Home Depot (found one for $1.98 a sheet!) and installed new handles. Thanks, everyone! [link] [comments] |
| Is there some secret to get in furniture up the stairs in my 1942 Midwestern home? Posted: 10 Jun 2020 11:42 AM PDT We can't seem to fit anything up the stairs in our house, at least not of any decent size... We can't fit our Queen box spring or the dresser pictured past the banister. Is there some trick to taking this thing off? Surely, people in the 40's had dressers and such that they would want to have in their bedroom... But near as I can tell this thing is nailed in. :( EDIT: Wow! I have apparently struck a chord with many of you folks. Mad feels to everyone who has ever sawn something in twain or done home renovations on account of their old-ass staircase. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 10 Jun 2020 11:27 AM PDT I pay a local pest company $650-$750 a year to spray for ticks. They spray the perimeter of my 1.25 acre property. About 15% of the property is wooded and there are deep-ish woods at my property's rear/west and house-left/south. The pest company comes every 4-5 weeks between March & Nov. The guy that comes has a backpack STIHL blower with a liquid tank up top. It doesn't look hard. Does anyone out there do this themselves? I'd have to figure out where to get the potion (the active ingredient in the one i pay for is listed below) and the cost of the blower would be significant, obviously, so wondering how long it would take to break even, what experiences folks out there have had. I'm in 6A, lower Hudson Valley area NY. Their potion which they dilute at 50% (3 gallons of potion + 3 gallons of water was used last time) Rosemary Oil 10.0%, 3.0000 Gallon Peppermint Oil 2.0%, Oil of Wintergreen, Mineral Oil USP, Vanillin 88.0% I really can't speak to how effective their spray is. I would love feedback on that too. Part of me wanting to do this myself is cost savings and another part is because I'd be able to do it whenever I feel it's needed rather than waiting for them. Sometimes I'll see a tick and blame duration since last spray. EDIT: For everyone saying permethrin and bifenthrin , any risk with well water? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 10 Jun 2020 07:24 PM PDT ** Hollow clay tile for those in the US** Hi guys, We have a house similar to the photo below and I was told by one of the painter contractors I asked told me that we need to paint it ever ten years. Can someone more familiar with painting houses advise me how often we need to paint a modern brick house? Thanks Here is an actual close up: https://imgur.com/a/old7O5l [link] [comments] |
| An annoying neighborhood-wide problem Posted: 10 Jun 2020 09:01 AM PDT Not sure if there's a better sub but you all rock so thought you might have some ideas. Our neighborhood is full of 1950s/1960s ranch-style houses, and for some dumb reason, when they were laid out as tracts back then, they made all the addresses divisible by 5. So on every street we have (for example) on the east side 2210, 2220, 2230, 2240, 2250, and 2260; and on the west side, 2215, 2225, 2235, 2245, 2255, and 2265. Every street in the neighborhood is oriented north-south, it's all on a grid, and every street has these SAME numbered houses. So there are 6-8 houses within a 1/2 mile with the address 2225, and 6-8 with the address 2255. The problem is mail delivery, UPS,FedEx, and Amazon. Amazon is probably the worst offender, followed by USPS. Packages and mail are frequently delivered to the wrong house number on the same street, or to the right house number on the wrong street. To make matters worse, when the houses were built, the builder put *idential* number plates on every house, with the same shape and same lettering. most people on my street still have the original number plates on their house. It's very annoying. We personally have a package delivered to the wrong house at least once every month. The only idea I have to fix this is to make new number plates for everyone on the street, that each look a bit different, and have giant, brightly lit, numbers in very readable fonts. But I'm not doing that for another 6 streets... Any ideas? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 10 Jun 2020 06:20 PM PDT I am a new homeowner. Long Island New York so it is the suburbs. My property is fully fenced. I have a paper from the sale with property dimensions but a survey wasn't done. I don't think it is common here or necessary for a sale. On one side I want to replace the old fence with a new one and was thinking about a survey. How does surveying work? Do I call the town or is it any private company can do it? How do they mark it? My property is pretty square. Do they just do corners? Are the marks permanent or like a little flag? Is there any chance this blows up in my face and causes me issues? What if they find I have extra or less room compared to the current fences? How accurate are they? To a foot? 6 inches? 2 inches? 1 inch? Thanks for any info. [link] [comments] |
| Am I breaking my house somehow or is this normal? Posted: 10 Jun 2020 06:25 AM PDT About two years ago, we purchased a home that was originally built in 1995. The previous owner was a part-time contractor and had done all sorts of beautiful remodeling. However, since we moved in, we've had two major issues: popped nails everywhere and squeaking floors. The popping/popped nails in the living room are so bad that we are going to have to get drywall screws, since we are afraid eventually parts of the ceiling will come down. (We are going to try to do this part ourselves.) Also, when we moved in, neither the stairs nor the upstairs floors squeaked at all, but now the squeaking on the stairs has gotten so bad, that we are probably going to have a professional come check it out. I understand the concept of this stuff happening due to fluctuations in temperature, but are we the ones doing this? Was it possible that the house was doing this to the previous owners and they just temporarily fixed it before we moved in? I'm not super-handy, so if there's anything I can do to prevent this stuff instead of throwing money at it in self/professional repairs, that would be awesome. Thank you for any advice that you can offer! [link] [comments] |
| Best way to redo kitchen cabinets Posted: 10 Jun 2020 11:32 AM PDT Hi all, I have old kitchen cabinets that have a sort of stick on vinyl it seems like on the actual cabinets themselves and the doors. How would one go about resurfacing these or is it even possible? Can the vinyl by removed from the doors or do you just sand/prime/paint right over it? Can I peel away the strips that are stuck on the actual cabinets themselves? It's is cracking/pulling away in one part at the bottom. It appears the actual cabinets are made of solid wood. If I peel off the vinyl overlay would I then just scrape off any glue and be able to resurface them? For the doors could I just put new doors on then or is it worth the effort to try and salvage the old ones? Any input/advice is really appreciated. I am a bit handy (handy enough to demo and retile a bathroom shower, basic wood work etc.). Are there companies that could do this kind of work and generally what would they charge? Thanks! [link] [comments] |
| Looking for thoughts/tips on mud room Posted: 10 Jun 2020 11:43 AM PDT We just moved into our first home and there are a couple areas that need some love. First and foremost this mud room. I was just going to do the floor, but now I'm thinking I should probably do it all at once. I've got a terrible eye for design/decor/aesthetics. What would you do to renovate this room? I'm going to put in some vinyl flooring, but what would be a good beginner way to bring this to a new level? I've been looking for images online all week but haven't been able to find ideas of renovated rooms that are of similar size and layout. I'm thinking some new paint, maybe a little shelf unit or something? Any tips on colors or maybe I should paint the walls two different colors for some contrast? Maybe just a curtain for the window? I'm not really sure, I'm struggling. Appreciate any help!! [link] [comments] |
| These are all the same color. A lesson in paint department color matching. Posted: 10 Jun 2020 04:48 PM PDT Pic for reference numbers below https://imgur.com/sc803eJ My goal was to select a color for my shed. It is barn shaped so I went with the classic red barn with white trim. I didn't want the red to be too bright so I was looking for something a bit more subtle. I shop at Menards mostly because if its proximity to my home. My youngest child works at a place that shares the parking lot at Lowe's and HD is across the street from there, so I will go to either of those occasionally when dropping off or picking up said child. I don't have the color swatch any longer to compare to but that isn't necessary for this demonstration. The colors look even more different in daylight then the do here on my work bench via a phone pic. #2 looks downright pink compared to the others. #1 – this is a pint sample of Dutch Boy interior paint using the color code I had chosen. They didn't have a sample size of the exterior paint and at this point all I wanted was a sample for the color so I took it. It came out as a dead ringer for the color swatch. There were almost indistinguishable. I painted a patch on my shed and it looked great and even in the sunlight it matched the color swatch perfectly. #2 – I had second thoughts about DB quality (I also hate their plastic cans) and thought "Well Behr at HD is good stuff. I have used it before. I'll see if they can use the color swatch there." I asked the guy at the paint counter if they could use color swatches from other stores. He said yes. My mistake was to not clarify that what I was asking is if they have formula in their computer already (I have seen this before), not to use the color matching machine. He used the color matching machine. It was busy and I stepped away while he mixed it up so I didn't see that until after it was mixed. So I bought 1 gallon of Behr Premium Plus Exterior Satin in this red and one in white (actually Polar Bear white – had no problems with that color). I painted some on my shed next to where I had painted some of the DB sample and it was a stark difference. I ended up returning this one. #3 – I went back to Menard's to get DB Forever Satin Exterior. They didn't have the tint base in stock. So I asked if they could mix it into the similarly priced Pittsburgh exterior satin paint (Paramount I believe) and they say yes. I confirmed that the formula was already in the computer and they were not going to use the color match machine. They mixed it up and in the store the color looked pretty close. But even after the blow dryer I knew it would change a bit more as it dried and we were looking at it under fluorescent lights. So I took it home. Again I painted a patch on the shed next to the original test (covering up the Behr paint). It was not right. Much duller color – not really close in my mind. I returned it. #4 – So the next day I drove to the next closest Menard's another 30 mins away after confirming they had the tint base in stock. They mixed up a gallon of DB Forever Satin Exterior paint. Again it didn't look quite right in the store but still better than the Pittsburgh. I slapped on another patch on my shed over the Pittsburgh sample (that spot is well covered, let me tell you!). Again it wasn't the same as the original sample and did not match the color swatch. But it was the closest so far. It is a bit shinier than the original indoor paint sample even though they are both supposedly satin finish. Even though it was a DB color code it came from different store and different machine then the original sample - maybe that machine was miscalibrated. At this point I figured I had lost a good 4-5 hours of project time. It was close enough so I went with it. The shed looks great completed. Maybe it would have been fine with any of them but it did teach me to not expect colors to match – even when they have the formula in the computer, even when you are buying the brand of paint that the color swatch is supposed to represent. The color swatches are a close approximation at best – well unless you are buying DB interior satin I guess! Some other thoughts;
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| Looking for a type of shelf bracket I'm not sure exists Posted: 10 Jun 2020 02:14 PM PDT Hi, I'm looking to install a shelf on the wall of my kitchen to create a little dining nook of sorts, but there's moulding on the wall right at the height I'd be putting the brackets to do so. I've looked around for different varieties of bracket, but I can't find what I'm envisioning. My MS Paint drawing of what I'm looking for All the brackets I can find are either type A or B. Has anyone seen type C, or, more likely for support, type D? My alternative would be to use A or B and just cut away the moulding where the brackets would go, but I'm nervous about how that will end up looking. Thank you all in advance! [link] [comments] |
| Value of metal vs traditional roof Posted: 10 Jun 2020 09:38 AM PDT Purchased my first home a few weeks ago. Located in very northern Midwest where the snow is plenty and in the market for a new roof. Looking for unbiased advice on the pluses and minuses of metal shingle and metal standing-seam roofing. There are a good number of homes around here with metal roofs. Additional question if I go that route, a company around here offers to sell materials only if someone's interested in self-installation. Is this something the average Jane can do well with a little youtubing? I do have time, but not willing to risk my home on it if it's best left to professionals. Thanks! [link] [comments] |
| Replacing kitchen sink, granite hole too big... Posted: 10 Jun 2020 11:44 AM PDT Hey guys. A bit nervous here and would really appreciate your advice. I'll try to keep it quick. So we bought a house where the previous owner was a big time DIYer, and shouldn't be. I've been spending the last year fixing his issues. Not sure if he was dumb or just cheap and didn't care. Anyway, kitchen sink was nasty. Some off brand of plastic sink I've never heard of, with caulk all around the edges. Finally got around to ripping it out, only to find out he put all the caulk there because he cut the granite hole too big... looks like a 22x33" sink is supposed to have a hole around 32.5" wide. He cut the hole to 33.5" wide. This is why he used so much caulk: he filled in the gaps with caulk. The sink itself is an odd size at 33.25". Every single sink we've found at Lowes and HD is exactly 33" across, leaving a half inch gap on either side... I'm at a total loss. I can't afford to replace all our countertops, nor do I really want to as theyre otherwise really nice. Do any of you have tips or have experienced this before? Is there some sort of trim kit out there, or a way to fill in the granite like you would with wood? Or does anyone know of a standard kitchen I can find locally that would have a slightly wider edge to cover the gap, around 33.5"? Thanks so much guys. [link] [comments] |
| Do you install doors or floors first? Posted: 10 Jun 2020 05:03 PM PDT Hi, We are currently updating a a house we bought. Are putting in Vinyl flooring in, and we also want to replace all of the interior doors with new prehung doors. Should we remove the old doors and jambs first and install the flooring and then put the new doors in? Or is there a proper sequence of events to follow? Thanks in advance. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 10 Jun 2020 09:17 AM PDT We had a home energy audit but they REALLY sold hard on the product they install: air sealing and insulation, and was hoping to get a broader opinion. During the summer the upstairs gets VERY hot. There's a converted attic space as well as a regular upstairs living space, and the combination of hot air rising, and the summer sun beating down just really ratchets up the temperature. The air also just feels very 'still'. I'm wondering if the highest leverage fix would be to install a mini split system upstairs. The heat-pump HVAC does a nice job down stairs, but the return duct is in the stairwell, _below_ the top floor. The airflow through the floor registers is weak. We're thinking the ideal would be to try and install radiant on the first floor, by going under the crawl space. Kind of a separate topic, but hoping that reduces our need to rely on forced air in the winter, since the upstairs also gets overheated or our guests downstairs freeze. So, tl;dr, would we see the highest impact by putting a mini split upstairs and closing the HVAC up there? Or would doing proper insulation in the attic and/or air-sealing make the bigger difference? (The constraints are we don't want to lose the wavy glass historic windows, and we're _never_ gonna be able to make the historic portion of the home air-tight. We'd prefer to find a way to balance passive / natural with technology to bridge the efficiency and comfort gap.) If you've read this far, thanks for your time!! [link] [comments] |
| Finally done! First shower complete with before/after Posted: 09 Jun 2020 11:23 PM PDT So late last year I went to replace an aging shower head in the guest shower and found the whole entire tile wall moved in and out when pushed/pulled. Not good! Did some poking and smashing, turns out it was built like garbage. Simple tile on regular ass drywall, no waterproofing. There was a pan liner but it wasn't 100% flood tested apparently. What was going to be a simple $30 replacement shower head turned into a full tear out and rebuild. The deeper I dug the more stupid shit I found. Rotted studs, weird business with the drain, rusted toilet flange, water soaked brick shower bench that was secured to nothing under the tile, out of plum walls, the list went on. I've done plumbing and electrical and other large scale improvements over the years, but never a shower. So I spent a few weeks reading/watching/surfing various forums. Got rid of the silly drop ceiling, led shower light installed, the crappy old shower was setup at some point to be steam capable. No more. New properly squared studs, cement board, drain was done via divot method with pea gravel to protect weep holes. Hydrobarrier with fabric reinforcement in all changes of plane. 24 hour flood test was rock solid! Tiling - never did any of that either, but it came out fantastic for a first time job. Laser level is a life saver. used schluter edge trimming as well. And yes, the ledger board screw holes were filled and sealed with silicon before doing the bottom few rows of tile :) I chose to go with full/half alternating wraparound for the corners, downside are the edge pieces that were smaller than I'd have liked but the shower glass helps make it not as noticeable. Glass is 10mm kit off amazon - very solid and while the Chinese instructions suck, there are good youtube videos out there. If I could go back and do it over again? I'd choose something else besides penny tile for the floor. Came out great, but it was a pain in the ass to work with. It was a guest shower and I live alone, so I had the luxury of working on it at my own pace that I felt comfortable with aka 6 months, there were times I'd hit a roadblock and have to go research this or that to figure out how best to proceed. Enjoy the pics :) (and yes, I need to cut the toilet bolts down and get a cap set for them, just gotta go to home depot in the morning) [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 10 Jun 2020 07:35 AM PDT Hello! My husband and I are finishing our basement. We are wondering if it is worth it to insulate the ceiling for sound. Any advice would be appreciated. We are trying to save money when we can, we were quoted $1500 to insulate. [link] [comments] |
| Deck footings and concrete patio Posted: 10 Jun 2020 06:11 PM PDT I'm hoping to get bids from contractors and want to figure out if we need our deck footings to be in the ground or on top of our concrete patio (More background info below). I'm hoping to have it done the 'right way' so advice would be appreciated. My assumption is that the 'right way' would be to cut into the concrete patio to dig and place footings. That's fine by me to do, even if it costs more. I just don't want a contractor to lead me the wrong way and have consequences later. Background: We're replacing a 4'x4' wood deck landing that's 30 inches above ground. It was originally built (by the builder) with the posts sitting on top of a 3 inch aggregate concrete patio. We're hoping to build a much larger deck that would sit partially on top of the patio and partially over dirt. The entry to the deck (from the home) would be 30 inches but most of the deck would be a couple steps down from that. We're in the Seattle area so temperatures go below freezing but not significantly. [link] [comments] |
| Who to call about utility cables hitting roof? Posted: 10 Jun 2020 07:38 PM PDT There are some cables suspended from utility poles rubbing on my roof. I'm pretty sure they are fiber optic cables, but I have no idea what utility company owns them. Any tips on what to do? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 10 Jun 2020 06:04 PM PDT Hi all - I have a project that I have been kicking around in my head for several months now but not quite sure the best way to tackle it. background: I have a very old victorian row house in Jersey City NJ. Every old victorian in the neighborhood has a 4-ft high fence running on the front side of the house (on the property line abutting the sidewalk) essentially creating a block-long continuous 4ft high fence (styles vary from house to house) see example below: https://imgur.com/VEgFEpW My house has an old raggedy chain link fence painted black that is simply an eyesore compared to some of the very nice, wrought iron fences on the block. My goal is to replace my chainlink fence with a basic wrought iron fence (and gates). My questions are:
Ultimately my goal is to replace the chain link fence with a new fence (as basic as the one below) with minimal demo / re-setting work and without needing to order custom (expensive) size panels. Thanks, Randall [link] [comments] |
| Permit needed for drywall and insulation? (CA) Posted: 10 Jun 2020 09:49 PM PDT I tore out the plaster and lath in a bedroom of my house and I'm replacing it with drywall and insulation. An inspector is coming to the house to look at my kitchen in a few weeks - if I close up these walls will he want to see some proof of inspection? All electrical in the bedroom was permitted and updated within the past 10 years btw. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 10 Jun 2020 09:45 PM PDT I'm in the process of buying a home. It's got a few flaws and projects that I will be undertaking but I'm actually excited about that. I get to make it my own. Most of the issues are very simple such as walls that need to be repainted, carpet in the bathroom (my biggest pet peeve) that needs to become tile, other carpet that needs to be replaced (or maybe turned into hardwood if I want to get adventurous), a banister that needs re-finishing, a backyard that needs sod. Very simple projects that are still within my very limited abilities. However, there's one issue that seems a little out of my wheelhouse. The previous owners installed a new back door that is incomplete. They left a bunch of gaps around the door and some cracked siding. I am wondering how difficult/expensive of a project this is going to be to take on. Is this going to require a lot of construction capabilities to the point that I should be looking to hire someone more qualified? Or is this something I can learn via some youtube videos? Any advice? Here's the photo from the inspection: https://ibb.co/cNtCkCh [link] [comments] |
| I need help rearranging this space Posted: 10 Jun 2020 04:40 PM PDT Hey guys, I'm hoping you can help me. Here's my VERY VERY WORK IN PROGRESS office setup. The problem I'm having is that when both people are sitting in the chairs, they end up hitting each other. I don't care what it costs, I just want to figure out a way for both of us to work with room. Any suggestions? Monitors on the left are 32" and 49", respectively. Help?? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 10 Jun 2020 09:38 PM PDT So I've read various articles how to fix kitchen cabinets and I'm still not sure what to do so I'm coming here to seek advice as well. I have two issues. One is some wear on the top lip of one of the cabinet doors. The other is some chipping/damage on the frame of a lower cabinet. How would I go about fixing both these issues? I've included some pics of the damages. https://imgur.com/gallery/CQn6VNU [link] [comments] |
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