Home Improvement: My DIY full kitchen remodel/redesign. Long abandoned auction home purchased as my primary residence. Before/After and progress photos of my kitchen renovation and expansion. |
- My DIY full kitchen remodel/redesign. Long abandoned auction home purchased as my primary residence. Before/After and progress photos of my kitchen renovation and expansion.
- PSA: If you’re relying on Lowe’s to track your paint color history, prepare to be disappointed.
- [Urgent] Lump grew under tile floor
- Looking for advice on a cracked garage foundation before buying
- Gas fireplace blower turned on by itself - on a hot summer day
- you ever look in the attic and just say "what the *&!^#‽‽‽‽‽‽"
- Installing plain MDF baseboard.
- I bought 18 tons of river rock with "some sticks in it." What the hell do I do with this.
- I set a person record for most store-trips needed to compete a weekend-project.
- How hard is painting kitchen cabinets, and is it worth the effort?
- Switching dimmer to dimmer
- Was this whole-house humidifier installed incorrectly?
- Re-pointing brickwork from a house built in 1883. Lime mortar?
- How to remove cast iron flange?
- Help! Dryer connection
- What are these dark lines in the ceiling?
- Siding Quote
- Laundry room floors are hurting! Any ideas what to do to make better?
- Replacing Ungrounded Outlets with GFCI Outlets
- Help with drywall!
- Gap between siding and roof
- To (attempt) Repair, or replace now (central air)
- Is it ok to run a dryer after getting a D80?
| Posted: 27 Jul 2020 02:13 PM PDT Photos: https://imgur.com/a/IEvhUSW My current house, full kitchen renovation and redesign, I attempted to keep the original feel of the house while modernizing and expanding the kitchen to be more practical. I did all the work myself besides quartz installation which I contracted out, as well as extending natural gas line to range which was also hired out. Total process took me 3-weeks working a couple hours each weeknight and most of the weekends. Total cost was a little under $14,000. I still have a couple things left to do such as adding floating butcher block shelving on one wall, and possibly adding handles to the cabinets. [link] [comments] |
| PSA: If you’re relying on Lowe’s to track your paint color history, prepare to be disappointed. Posted: 27 Jul 2020 07:18 PM PDT My husband and I bought our house a little over a year ago. Since then I've painted almost every room (I hate white walls). I had all my paint swatches stored in our junk drawer, but I tossed them because I remembered, Lowe's tracks my paint color history! I distinctly remember multiple instances where the cashier said "wait I need to scan the top bar code for your color." And I remember in the self scan, after you ring up the paint it asks you to scan the top bar code for the color. Ive done this multiple times. Today I needed one of my colors pulled up because I ran out of paint on a project and needed like a sample size more to complete the wall. So I went to Lowe's and asked to pull up my color history. Alas they did not have the specific color I was looking for. Which would have been a bummer, but understandable if one purchase snuck by without clicking the paint color. What was a much bigger bummer and way less understandable is that they do not have one single color history saved for any of my paint purchases ever. NOT. A. SINGLE. ONE. So if you're relying on Lowe's to keep your paint colors organized for you, prepare yourself that they may have failed you as well. [link] [comments] |
| [Urgent] Lump grew under tile floor Posted: 27 Jul 2020 03:37 PM PDT Image of lump (a little tricky to see) Within the last two hours, a lump, probably an inch high and somewhat hollow, appeared under the tile floor of our kitchen (on the first flow). While it was forming, the wood in the windowframe near the floor creaked very loudly, but nothing has broken. This floor has no history of damage, and has not been refloored since originally constructed in the 90s. We are located in North Texas, and there has been rain recently. EDIT: our AC excess discharge valve on that side of the house has been active for a while because there was a blockage in the regular water drainage channels. It's been blocked for a few days/a week, and we unblocked it yesterday. That excess discharge isn't a lot; it's just killed a few inches or grass. However, it discharges 2 yards away from the bump, a couple inches off the foundation. The foundation is concrete slab, and looks fine. No hairline cracks or anything [link] [comments] |
| Looking for advice on a cracked garage foundation before buying Posted: 27 Jul 2020 06:34 PM PDT This house has a detached garage where the foundation bricks are cracking in one corner. I hired a company to get an estimate for repair and they said it would be cheaper to build a new garage than to repair($30k+), he said that the one wall is moving away and that is causing the cracking. My home inspector said that the structure seems fine. My questions: *Can I fix this myself for cheaper? How? *How long can I wait to repair? *Would installing siding be a bad idea without repairing? *How much value could I expect to add to the house if I did rebuild? *How much discount should I ask from the seller for this issue? https://i.imgur.com/ioC7bcg.jpg https://i.imgur.com/f0u63Dm.jpg https://i.imgur.com/llMfOf1.jpg [link] [comments] |
| Gas fireplace blower turned on by itself - on a hot summer day Posted: 27 Jul 2020 09:26 PM PDT It's super hot in my house. We had a sunny day in the nineties. It's about 85 in the house because I didn't turn on the air conditioner today. I'm home now with windows open and it's cooling off, but I just noticed that the blower for the gas fireplace is on. No one turned it on. No one touched the thermostat. The pilot light is on, but there are no flames - just the blower. The air being pumped out feels slightly warm, but not hot. [link] [comments] |
| you ever look in the attic and just say "what the *&!^#‽‽‽‽‽‽" Posted: 27 Jul 2020 06:24 AM PDT how do you even get to the point where you put up a piece of plywood and a kitchen pot instead of just fixing the pipe? [link] [comments] |
| Installing plain MDF baseboard. Posted: 27 Jul 2020 08:28 PM PDT Is it easiest to paint the baseboard before or after installation? I have two different people telling me to do it two different ways. Just trying to do whatever is easiest and will look best. [link] [comments] |
| I bought 18 tons of river rock with "some sticks in it." What the hell do I do with this. Posted: 27 Jul 2020 07:56 PM PDT I called up a nearby quarry to get some bulk river rock that their website said they had available since they recently opened a sand plant at the river. They said it had only been through to get sand out, but hadn't been through the plant yet for cleaning and had a few sticks left in it but I could still buy it for $22 per ton plus $130 freight. Heck of a deal considering the other supplier in town is $55 per ton plus $200 freight. They sent me an example pic so I could see it first. Yeah man, I can rake a few sticks out to save over $600. Wrong. It's more than a few sticks. It's a disaster. Now I have 18 tons of this mess and no fricking clue what to do. My first thought was that wood floats so I could get a couple of those IBC totes, cut the tops off, and fill one half full with water. Then dump a scoop of rocks in, skim off the floating sticks and then pump the water into the other tote. I could then dump out the clean rocks from the first tote, put a load of dirty rocks into the other tote, and repeat. No dice. Half the sticks don't float! At least I tried it with a 5 gallon bucket before buying the totes. I've also watched probably dozens of videos of people washing landscape rocks to get dirt out but nothing like this. I have a tractor so moving it is no big deal. I just need ideas on how to efficiently clean this stone. [link] [comments] |
| I set a person record for most store-trips needed to compete a weekend-project. Posted: 27 Jul 2020 09:04 AM PDT I've had three electricians tell me it was not possible to install a garabge disposal in the kitchen due to my 100 year old house's walls, and the assumption they're concrete. I took a look, they're not. 27 hours later its done. First store run: garbage disposal. There is a light switch jumped off an electrical outlet on the backspash. I disassembled both and extended the hole to insatll a double gang box. The slat wall had long since given way so I can't saw these holes larger, the wood inside the walls just moves mockingly with the walls and doesn't cut. It took forever but I got a 2 gang box installed with a chisle. Second store run: illuminated light switch so I don't turn on the disposal fumbling for water in the middle of the night. I travel a lot for work and have done this too many times in hotels. I start to cut a hole for the disposal outlet under the sink and broke my last jigsaw blade. Third store run. I hit a nail while drilling through a stud to run romex from the original outlet to the new one under the counter, spent half an hour trying to free the bit. I installed a normal electrical outlet, but then had a moment of genius! I have a bunch of Night Angle TM outlet covers that always felt sketchy and I never used. Now I have a single gang plastic box on an outlet, feels safe enough. But the receptical I have is the normal two-oval outlet and I need one that fits the large GFCI sized plate. Fourth store run, new receptical. I dismantle and rebuild the outlet with the new fact plate so I have motion activated under-sink lighting. Wire the new plug in to the junction box, update remaining outlet to GFCI because I'm here, why not. Test circuits. Everything... is not go. I forgot the point of the dedicated outlet under the sink is to not have power when the disposal is not in use. Cabinet lights will not work. Takes break to laugh at myself. I open the disposal to find it comes with an L shaped tail pipe to go in to the trap, but I need a straight piece as its a double bason sink and feeds in to a T. Fifth store run, straight tail pipe. I disassemble the sink and start putting in the drain for the disposal but can't find my plumber's putty. Sixth store run. Cool, hardware is installed. I mis measured the lenth of the disposals mounting and there is a half inch offset between the disposal exhaust and drain T. I disassembled everything to shorten the lenth of pipe below the trap so I can join the disposal to the T. Now the other half of the sink needs a longer tail pipe. Seventh store run. There is a pending 8th store run. Once I finished I relaized I used white faceplates on the outlets and switches to match every other room in the house, but the kitchen uses eggshell. I should make that match sooner or later. At 10PM there was much rejoicing. I probably woke the neighbors laughing and throwing ice cubes down the disposal. [link] [comments] |
| How hard is painting kitchen cabinets, and is it worth the effort? Posted: 27 Jul 2020 10:58 AM PDT I'm in the process of getting quotes to have my flooring replaced. Currently my laminate flooring is a dark-ish brown color that matches my cabinets pretty well. I'm looking to go with a lighter color (greyish) with the new flooring and am concerned the difference between the floor and cabinets will stick out like a sore thumb, but replacing the cabinets is definitely not in the budget at this time. My cabinets are what I'd consider builder grade. Here's a picture. If I paint them, I'll do it myself so I'm trying to get a rough idea of how much work would be involved (a weekend, a few weekends, etc.) and how likely it is that the results would be worthwhile? Any info or examples of cabinets you've painted would be most appreciated. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 27 Jul 2020 08:34 PM PDT Hi folks! So switching older dimmer switch to a new one and the wires in the wall are copper and the wires on the new dimmer switch is aluminum (i think). Is it okay if i pigtail these two together? Or should i find a new switch that i can just plug the wires from the wall directly into the new switch? Thanks much appreciated! [link] [comments] |
| Was this whole-house humidifier installed incorrectly? Posted: 27 Jul 2020 07:50 PM PDT Recently bought a house and this looks wrong so I wanted to get some opinions before I attempt to change things up. In the linked picture, I'm not 100% clear on which way the humidifier air flows. If you look at the picture, the humidifier bypass connects to the Supply above the Control Unit. If the humidifier airflow goes from Supply to Return (left to right), then it's fine. The question here is that the air is bypassing the air filter. Is this how it should be? On the other hand, if the humidifer airflow goes from Return to Supply (right to left) then the control unit is saying that it's dry, then the humidifer turns on and immediately tells the control unit that the air is more humid without actually having done anything for the house. If this is the case, I need to switch the locations of the bypass and control unit so the control unit is above the bypass. [link] [comments] |
| Re-pointing brickwork from a house built in 1883. Lime mortar? Posted: 27 Jul 2020 04:03 PM PDT Hi everyone - I'm trying to repoint some exterior brickwork for my house that was built in 1883. I almost used a regular Type S mortar mix that I found at Lowe's. I happened to read that it is probably not a good idea. That is when I learned about lime mortar, which is probably what I have. The deteriorated part is a white powder, no chunks. I found this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ash-Grove-80-lb-Portland-Lime-Mortar-Mix-601-80-AG/202075623 I think this is probably what I should be using instead? I went to a few hardware stores and no one really knew what I was talking about. I think this is the product I should be using. I'm guessing I should take this and mix it with sand to repoint the joints? Here is a pic of my wall: https://imgur.com/a/GqBOrDN Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks everyone! [link] [comments] |
| How to remove cast iron flange? Posted: 27 Jul 2020 07:39 PM PDT I am remodeling my bathroom in my 91 year old house. It was a complete gut job, and I am finally getting started on the last few steps (I think!). I have to replace the subfloor under the toilet because the toilet was literally starting to sink into the floor. I think there was a leak either from the toilet or from the tub/shower that was right next to it and the subfloor under the toilet is rotting and needs replaced. I'm so ready to get the floor replaced so I can finish the sheetrock but I'm stuck on this stupid flange! I have never done a remodel before, so this is all brand new to me. I've been pretty proud of myself for getting most of it figured out, but Google and Youtube aren't much help with this. I had professionals for the electric and plumbing parts, and our plumber guy is usually pretty busy so I'm not sure when he can make it back over to take a look. And I am really trying to get this bathroom done! It's been almost 4 weeks of just my sister in law and I gutting it and putting it all back together. All that's left is getting the floor under the toilet replaced, finishing sheetrock and painting, getting vanity set, and then new flooring. Is this something I can do myself? If so, how can I get it out? It seems like it's stuck to the white pipe (sorry, I'm new, no idea what the pipe is called), but I can't figure out how to get them separated so I can get the flange off (if they even come apart??).. I just can't figure it out and have spent way too much time on it. Any help is very appreciated! ETA: I forgot to mention I have already taken the bolts out, and the steel part just spins freely and seems connected to the pipe (pipe doesnt spin with it). Also, I thought it was cast iron because some of the videos I saw of a similar flange said it was cast iron, so I assumed that's also what I had. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 27 Jul 2020 02:53 PM PDT Hi There, I just moved into a new apartment. I wasn't able to come view it before moving due to COVID. Loving the place so far and has a washer dryer - the portable kind - in the basement. Washer works great so far and is hooked up normally. The dryer is plugged in, but the air vent in the back doesn't go anywhere. There's the first part of the vent trunk coming down but doesn't look like there ever was an attachment to the outdoors or anywhere that I can find. I emailed my management company asking if it was ok to use and they said it was fine to use. It's also worth noting it's in the basement with the gas meters and hot water heaters. Does anyone know if it's safe to use a dryer like that without a vent to the outdoors? Thanks! [link] [comments] |
| What are these dark lines in the ceiling? Posted: 27 Jul 2020 02:53 PM PDT Hi everyone, I moved into my house in April and noticed these dark lines on the ceiling. It looks like they're potentially in the same spots as the joists? Does anyone have any ideas what this could be? To my knowledge there was never a fire or any leaking in the roof. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 27 Jul 2020 10:21 PM PDT I got a quote for residing my house with Hardie fiber cement. Removal, installation, and painting was 29k. Does this sound about right? [link] [comments] |
| Laundry room floors are hurting! Any ideas what to do to make better? Posted: 27 Jul 2020 06:31 PM PDT Looks like previous homeowners never bothered to clean! We are getting new washer and dryer this week and want to do something before it gets difficult to get in and fix. Pics - https://imgur.com/a/gqZ6bar [link] [comments] |
| Replacing Ungrounded Outlets with GFCI Outlets Posted: 27 Jul 2020 06:26 PM PDT Hi Everyone ! I am searching for some guidance regarding changing out some ungrounded outlets with GFCI Outlets. Apologies in advance if I am misusing any terminology. The wiring in our house is a mess. Many of the three-prong outlets are not grounded. Also, some of the circuits will control half of the outlets in 2 or 3 different rooms, while another circuit will control the remaining outlets in those same rooms (I'm unsure if this is standard, but it can sometimes be a pain to deal with). Additionally, we are pretty sure there is Knob & Tube wiring in the attic. Eventually we'd like to get these issues properly taken care of by a professional, but it is cost prohibitive at this time and there are other projects around the house that currently have priority. I have done a little bit of reading and watched various videos about replacing the most "upstream" ungrounded outlet on a circuit with a GFCI outlet. Is there any benefit to just replacing all of the ungrounded outlets with GFCI outlets, or could that potentially cause any issues? Also, we would like to turn a portion of our attic in to some office-type space since both myself and my SO will more than likely be working from home for the foreseeable future. Would replacing the old two-prong outlets for GFCI outlets solve the problem? Would it be safe to run a window air conditioning unit or a space heater off of one of these outlets? Thank you all for the help! [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 27 Jul 2020 10:06 PM PDT Adding drywall to the walls(first time doing drywall) but i'm a little skeptical about how i'd do the top half where it starts to corner...how would i go about that with the little wooden corners? Project [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 27 Jul 2020 06:20 PM PDT There is a 1/2" gap between my wood siding and metal drip edge. The drip edge just barely covers the top of the siding. Should I fill the gap with spray foam? Leave it alone? https://imgur.com/a/HUW1OYE [link] [comments] |
| To (attempt) Repair, or replace now (central air) Posted: 27 Jul 2020 04:00 PM PDT I have two central air units in my house, installed before I bought it in 2009. I had one of units, the part that chills the coolant, basically die last week. This one cools the main part of the house with 8 rooms. I had a tech come out to investigate on Wednesday last week, says the motor is shot, and that the capacitance is too high. Ordered a part, said it should come in soon. Btw, we're in the middle of a heat wave. The part they need to replace is not in yet and they don't know when it'll come in. Covid is impacting it, less parts produced, just my luck. Right now, I'm waiting for them to replace it, with the bill being 887$ roughly. I have asked for an estimate on replacing it instead since they believe it is a least 12 years old judging by the refrigerant it has. They haven't broached this idea at all, it's solely my idea. So, I don't feel like they're trying to upsell me. So my question is this: knowing I'll probably have to replace them in a few years or less, should I just bite the bullet now instead of spending a little now, hoping that's all I need to get it back and running? I can provide more information as needed. [link] [comments] |
| Is it ok to run a dryer after getting a D80? Posted: 27 Jul 2020 09:56 PM PDT I'm running our LG dryer for my mom, it's not even a year old and ever since we bought it we usually have to run our clothes twice so they're fully dry not all the time though. I went to go start the second run and it said D80 which I figured was nothing cleaned the lint trap out and put it back. I started to get a little paranoid though which isn't unusal for me so I googled it and I saw it meant a vent was blocked so I took the lint trap back out, ran some water through it to make sure it wasn't blocked and shoved it back in there, I turned it on since it always turns off when it's done and there was no D80 even after letting it check the lint trap to make sure its clean. A few places said it might be my load is two small or theres too much mositure I am drying 2 adult sized beach towels and they do take up quite a bit of room in our washer so there's less clothes than a normal load I also can't guarantee the towels where dry before they where put in the washer since my mom loaded it. Would it be ok for me to run the dryer again? It just goes for an hour on cotton/normal and we can really take a look tomorrow and do cleaning but my moms asleep because she's got work in the morning (which is why I'm in charge of making sure the dryer runs twice) I'm going to be nearby just incase I notice something is off while its going. [link] [comments] |
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