Home Improvement: [OPEN DISCUSSION] Weekly thread |
- [OPEN DISCUSSION] Weekly thread
- I Made my first built it.. it turn out pretty good
- Needed somewhere to put the grills so I could get them off the deck. How'd I do Reddit?
- Do I have ground against this company?
- Beer cap stained my wooden dining table
- RIDICULOUS Business Experience! Am I crazy?!
- My water smells like rotton eggs but didn't used to.
- Zircon HD900 AC Scan help
- What are these panels on my wall? Can I remove them?
- Starting stripping the paint on my trim... it's a mess
- What are my options to get rid of a rodent in the ceiling?
- What is the board behind my baseboard?
- Block the ajar door mostly but keep some of the bottom free?
- Budget kitchen update - paint existing cabinet doors vs. ordering replacements?
- Bathroom Fan Replacement Question
- Leaning brick wall in my living room.
- Need some paint advice
- Roommates foot went through the drywall of our rental during a game of True American, any advice?
- What should I put in here? Shelves? A lazy Susan?...
- Drilling/Pilot Hole question
- 5/8th done with our home renovation and we’ve hit a snag on the master closet
- Adding a water spigot to 2nd floor deck
- What to work on inside the house when it's too hot outside?
- Need help deciding on material for deck
- Rural Property Water Drainage
| [OPEN DISCUSSION] Weekly thread Posted: 01 Aug 2020 11:46 AM PDT Welcome to the (roughly weekly) Open Discussion thread.
We do this for a few reasons. We know some folks are hesitant to create a new post for a small question they may have. Well, this is the place to ask, and discuss. At the same time, with a growing community we find ourselves having to limit the posts that may be off-topic to the primary purpose of the sub (home improvement questions and project-sharing posts). These topics include home warranty companies, general painting advice, room layouts, or rants about companies, contractors, and previous owners. While these may be of interest, we are trying hard to provide a venue that will both allow, and constrain, the conversation. Thus, this thread. Thank you for participating.
Just a reminder to stay away from any personal or disrespectful commentary. From the sidebar:
If you haven't already, please review the sub guidelines.
Have fun and stay safe folks! [link] [comments] |
| I Made my first built it.. it turn out pretty good Posted: 01 Aug 2020 05:42 AM PDT |
| Needed somewhere to put the grills so I could get them off the deck. How'd I do Reddit? Posted: 01 Aug 2020 02:01 PM PDT Purchased our first house a few months ago and the grills have been on the deck eating up most of the space. Finally took the time to get a solution set up for it. A few hours and 10 bags of stone of the local Big Box Store later it's all done. [link] [comments] |
| Do I have ground against this company? Posted: 01 Aug 2020 06:35 PM PDT Back in February I paid for a window well with a drain installed. Quoted me for $1000. Ok, paid. They did the work in a day and were done. No problem. Like two days ago, big storm hit. Lots of rain. Went downstairs to the basement and saw the window well full of water and pouring in through the bottom of my window. Great. Shop vac'd probably near 200 gallons of water. Went inside to deal with the basement. Vacuuming, towels. Today I ripped out the flooring, baseboard and am cutting part of the Sheetrock out. I called the company and they're coming back next week to put a proper drain in (they just put pvc straight in the ground.) Obviously they must feel slightly responsible since they're coming back to do a drain, should I be going at them to pay for the damages? [link] [comments] |
| Beer cap stained my wooden dining table Posted: 01 Aug 2020 06:55 PM PDT Hello... I left beer cap on our family dining table overnight, and it somehow left a dark ring stain on our wooden dining table. Wondering how to get this off? I tried using: isopropyl alcohol, goo gone, baking soda, toothpaste No luck yet :( [link] [comments] |
| RIDICULOUS Business Experience! Am I crazy?! Posted: 01 Aug 2020 08:54 PM PDT Okay so, hubby and I have been shopping around for carpets... this is how it ended up going. Am I crazy for being super frustrated and wanting to demand compensation of some sort? Let me know what you think...
I'm fuming. Literally everything went wrong with this order, through ALL steps of the process.... and we went through all the trouble to first transport the wrong rugs, and then cut and measure the pads for them to still be too big because they sent us a rug that is smaller than what we ordered. What would you do? Is my frustration justified? My hubby has been patient and calm with them up until this point. I think my frustration is rubbing off on him... but like... it really seems like this business does not give a f*ck. I am starting to feel like we "got played". They tried to pull a fast one on us to see if we would notice the rugs were different and then the fact that the rug isn't even the size we ordered and PAID for..... WHAT???? Also, on top of it all... there are some COVID concerns that the business seemed to try to cover up..... 🙄 [link] [comments] |
| My water smells like rotton eggs but didn't used to. Posted: 01 Aug 2020 07:22 PM PDT So my wife and I moved into our home a year ago. It has a water softener and is on a well which is a new experience for me. The water has tasted and smelled fine for the last year but in the last couple months it smells like rotton eggs a little (at least enough to notice it). The salt is full and it's working as best I can tell because we don't have rust stains and I hear the system regen every couple of days. As far as I can tell the system doesn't have any filters save for a small line running to the water heater which is on the opposite side of the house. The water also doesn't feel as slimey to me when using soap (bad description but that feeling you get when you use too much soap with a water softener and have to just keep rinsing) but that could be because I'm used to it and don't notice it any more. Any suggestions or things I might not be considering? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 01 Aug 2020 08:12 PM PDT Hi Guys, i recently purchased a Zircon HD900 to help be find ac wiring behind my wall. I'm trying to mount multiple shelves on my wall. The issue I'm having right now is that the wire warning keeps going off or it will detect a wire very close to the spot that I'm scanning but not go off. Now I've made the mistake of screwing directly into a wire before so I'm trying to avoid that. Anyone have any tips and tricks for ac scans? The wall I'm scanning is the outer wall of the house, so on the other side of that wall is the outside. This is also a room on the second floor. Sometimes when I do a second pass in the same spot to double check, the AC Scan doesn't detect anything. It's very weird. [link] [comments] |
| What are these panels on my wall? Can I remove them? Posted: 01 Aug 2020 07:25 PM PDT Hey all, I recently bought a 1950s townhouse with a high (approx 15') ceiling in the living room. The common wall is painted cinderblock and has about 2-3 ft of these panels at the top. I'd like to repaint and would prefer to remove these panels beforehand, but I have no idea what their function is and if I need to leave them in place. I don't have a ladder yet so I won't be able to take a closer look until next week, but does anyone know what they're for? Edit: Forgot to mention I'm in northern Nevada. [link] [comments] |
| Starting stripping the paint on my trim... it's a mess Posted: 01 Aug 2020 07:17 PM PDT I recently bought a condo and a few areas needed some attention. A floor to ceiling window in the bedroom had flaking paint around most of it so I decided to strip and repaint it. Then I decided to go to town on two doorways; big mistake. I've gotten through 2-3 layers of paint (appears to be 4-5 total). Well, let me clarify, I've gotten through 2-3 layers of paint on one side of one part of the trim using Citristrip, a scraper, and sanding block. Holy cow is this laborious! I don't think I have the time or energy to do ALL the doorways in this place. The doorway trims are definitely gummed up with multiple thick layers of paint which is why I wanted to go over them. The top layer has peeled (not flaked, but peeled like vinyl/latex) in a few sections which is why I thought the strip would be smart. Question is, how can I paint over the trim and prevent it from peeling like the previous owner's paint job? Or conversely, am I missing an easier way to strip the paint? I might just strip the inside of the doorways so the doors close with less resistance then paint over the rest of the trim? Never done anything like this and figured I'd try to do it myself before hiring a pro. Any tips/tricks would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! M [link] [comments] |
| What are my options to get rid of a rodent in the ceiling? Posted: 01 Aug 2020 07:14 PM PDT About two weeks ago my wife and I heard something crawling in the ceiling. We had our exterminator come and concluded by seeing some hair air balls in the air vents that it's possibly a mouse. It's believable because I had a mouse in the air vent a year ago and was able to get rid of it in an very weird way. This rodent walks between three rooms. Living room, kitchen and sitting area. It's a two story home and there are no signs of mice or any type of droppings in the attic so the issue is in the ceiling of the first floor. The exterminator (two different ones) did not see any droppings, markings, bites or sings of any mice on the floor or ceiling. The last time the only reason I discovered the mouse was because it was gnawing on the grate of the air vent. This time I haven't actually seen it. This noise starts at about 9-10:30pm and it's only for a short period of time. After maybe 15-30 minutes the sound stops and there are days that the sound doesn't happen at all. My wife and I have gone to bed at 1:00am and have not heard any movement so it's weird. The exterminators suggestion was putting a snap trap or a sticky trap on each air vent and hopefully I'll catch it but I don't know if it's actually passing the vents. I put one snap trap on a return with a tootsie roll three days ago has not gotten to it yet. I don't even know if it can get that way. What are my options to getting rid of this thing without destroying my ceiling? Yes, I know I have to find out where it is coming from because another one will come again. We walked the property with the exterminator and he could not figure it out. Do those sound repellants works ?I'm just at a loss. [link] [comments] |
| What is the board behind my baseboard? Posted: 01 Aug 2020 05:54 PM PDT While taking off the baseboards I find a board behind them. I'm Wondering what this board is called and what it does if anyone can help. Also, if these boards can be replaced easily (pull out existing and slide new one in). They seem solid but look like they may have had some moisture exposure. When looking online, it seems like it might be a sill plate? It's a block home built in 1960 in central Florida. In one area I've found so far, there are two boards that meet but they feel somewhat loose. When removing the baseboards, one of them had a fair amount of give and pulled away from whatever is behind it. Edit: image https://imgur.com/gallery/8QbDuFM [link] [comments] |
| Block the ajar door mostly but keep some of the bottom free? Posted: 01 Aug 2020 06:52 PM PDT Hi all, here:s my deal, it:s just me so in the night/late evenings I keep the A/C off and just have a personal A/C in my bedroom. I usually keep it running for most of the night so I want to keep my door closed to keep the cool air in and keep the whole thing efficient. The problem is I have a cat and she sometimes stays in my bed, sometimes roams, snacks, etc. so the door def cannot be closed closed. For the past few weeks ive just thrown a rather fluffy comforter over the door so the top 3/4 is more or less covered but there is space at the bottom for her to come in and out. My question is: is there a better way to do this? Many thanks in advance [link] [comments] |
| Budget kitchen update - paint existing cabinet doors vs. ordering replacements? Posted: 01 Aug 2020 08:13 PM PDT Budget kitchen update - paint existing cabinet doors or order from Barker? We are getting mentally prepared to do a small update on our circa 1989 kitchen. The plan has been to paint the honey oak cabinets (degrease, sand, prime, paint), add hardware, paint the ceiling and walls, and remove the recessed light fixture. Tile countertops are staying for now due to cost, although I'd love to see them gone! (Grout is not my favorite.) I painted our bathroom vanity and I remember how long that took. Our kitchen cabinets are builder-grade with thin plywood inserts; the finish on them is cracked and worn. Structurally the doors are fine, but they will take a lot of sanding to get a smoother surface for the rest of the process. If money and time are both being considered, should we just suck it up and start painting? Or will it save considerable prep time to go with replacement doors, like from Barker? Are those doors typically ready to prime, or will they need to be sanded as well? I would consider staining the cabinets and doors too, in lieu of painting, but I'm assuming that is a trickier venture due to the shape of the detailing on the doors, which is curvy. Would appreciate any input! [link] [comments] |
| Bathroom Fan Replacement Question Posted: 01 Aug 2020 05:24 PM PDT I just finished replacing my bathroom fan. The model of the fan I got had the wiring on the outside of the unit, so it's up next to the attic insulation. Part of the ground wiring was stripped pretty far back, so I covered it up with some electrical tape. I'm not typically very handy, but I know a little bit and I can follow YouTube tutorials and such, so I feel like I did everything the way I was supposed to. My question is... does the stripped wiring wrapped in electrical tape pose a fire hazard? Should I take the unit out and try to get the wiring inside of the unit? Or do we think I'm ok? Thanks in advance!! [link] [comments] |
| Leaning brick wall in my living room. Posted: 01 Aug 2020 08:01 PM PDT Hey all, I just moved to a new apartment and I have some concerns about how much my brick wall is leaning and moving. I'm on the 3rd floor and I sit near the wall, so please assure me it's normal. The wall in question is a brick wall that leans out towards the street. The rest of the apartment is drywall. I first noticed it because the wall makes horrible creaking sounds around the clock. The wall leans out about 1/4 an inch away at the floor, and almost 3/4 an inch away at the top. It moved about an 1/8 of an inch in the past week. I talked to the maintenance guy and he said it was fine. I understand brick moves a little, but does it sound normal for a wall to be moving that much? Any input would be awesome. I'm probably just worried about nothing so please put my fears to rest. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 01 Aug 2020 06:16 PM PDT I just scored a pair of solid core doors at a local salvaged building supply place. Unlike most I've seen there, they aren't drilled for handles, just some hinge mortises, so they should be relatively easy to swap in place of a couple hollow core doors on our kids' rooms. Only problem is that they have some kind of oil based stain finish on them (the wood veneer is birch). I can't find much on how to prep and prime this kind of finish (most of the results I get are for covering oil-based paints and I don't know if that's close enough or not). We want to paint the doors solid white to match the trim, so we want to figure out something. Can anyone recommend a good primer or paint/primer combo that will cover the oil based stain? Preferably something I can get at Sherwin-Williams or Home Depot, as I have those stores very close by. Anything I'd have to do besides give the doors a light sanding before priming and painting? Thanks! [link] [comments] |
| Roommates foot went through the drywall of our rental during a game of True American, any advice? Posted: 01 Aug 2020 09:49 PM PDT Started playing True American (from New Girl) as a household. Made a rule we had to stop if anything got broken (a rule we hoped wouldn't go into effect during the first game) https://imgur.com/gallery/e0x3QJ5 here's a photo with a comparison of the hole to a dime. Honestly hilarious, just wanna see how to repair the damage. Any and all advice appreciated! Thank you! [link] [comments] |
| What should I put in here? Shelves? A lazy Susan?... Posted: 01 Aug 2020 03:50 PM PDT I have a peninsula in my kitchen with this dead space. Looking for thoughts and ideas. The space is a total 25.75" wide but that block in the corner is 6". I'm going to redo the lines from the dishwasher so I'll only need a little space on the right and in the back. Note that this is under the kitchen counter so it's only 34.5" from floor to the underside of the counter. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 01 Aug 2020 07:11 PM PDT Hi all, I am new to home improvement projects - I bought the ikea bench in the link below but am trying to configure it so it'll fit my apartment better. I'm trying to drill new holes into the furniture so I can attach the backrest to the opposite side, if that makes sense. I bought a drill today, but am not entirely sure if I'm using it right.... I first tried just drilling one of the screws directly into the wood but didn't get much success. Then I tried drilling a smaller screw into the wood to make a pilot hole (is that how pilot holes work?!) but also no success. In both cases, the screw goes in a millimeter or so - then it keeps turning, but won't actually make a hole in the wood. I included a link to my drill below (Ryobi 18 volt) and I used the highest torque setting. Any advice?? Thank you!! https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/aepplaroe-corner-section-outdoor-brown-stained-brown-50205179/ [link] [comments] |
| 5/8th done with our home renovation and we’ve hit a snag on the master closet Posted: 01 Aug 2020 05:24 PM PDT This is our unfinished master closet space at 12ft x2 1/2ft x 8ft. We stole some space out of our giant living room for this, previously we had a tiny four foot closet for both the wife and I. https://i.imgur.com/vvkFeS2.jpg We've hit a snag with pricing our closet renovation, we had originally planned to have a built-in here with larger cabinet style shaker doors like these The cheapest quote we've received ($4000) is about double what we expected ($2000) so I'm hoping Reddit might be able to help with some ideas. We looked at the IKEA pax system, but I've heard the quality is low and they'll fall apart after a few years. One of my coworkers suggested using four 36in hollow core doors and putting thin strips of MDF on them to make them Shaker style and then use some sort of hidden hinge to make them flush. Any help is great appreciated! [link] [comments] |
| Adding a water spigot to 2nd floor deck Posted: 01 Aug 2020 04:01 PM PDT With COVID, we've started doing a lot of gardening in planters. It's a bitch to water them now so we want to add a spigot to our deck. I have three scenarios I'm thinking about approaching for this but want to get others opinions. I'm handy There's an outdoor spigot about 30 feet away on the basement level. Everything is PEX so I plan on adding a T splice near the existing spigot and then running to the new spigot location. This would all run in the basement ceiling which is exposed still because it's not finished. One - Most Ideal. Directly add the spigot on the 2nd floor which would require me to feed . However, I have reservations about this as I assume I would need to cut out drywall to make this happen. Considering we just painted this area... I don't really want to mess with it. Two - No real concerns besides appearances and a 2 year old that loves to turn on the water when in the yard. I could just place it at a normal height and run a 15 foot hose up to the deck and install another valve up top... essentially making the hose a connection between two spigots. This allows me to disconnect in winter. Three -Virtually the same as option 2.. but Add the spigot at about 9 feet up and use a 5 foot hose. This would be right under the deck ledger... and I could hide it a lot better. While it might look odd, I don't think there's anything specifically wrong with doing this. But it would require a step stool to get to turn off. I know my spigot in the side yard is at the top of the basement wall but because of yard slope... is only 3 feet high from the ground. So I'm leaning towards option 3. Is there anything I"m missing in doing this from a standard US builders code or anything? [link] [comments] |
| What to work on inside the house when it's too hot outside? Posted: 01 Aug 2020 03:51 PM PDT There's no shortage of outdoor projects at my house, but it has been unbearably hot these past few weeks so I haven't done much. I finally broke down a few days ago and started looking for and spackling any holes or imperfections on my walls. I'm thinking of repainting crown moldings next. What are some other ideas on what to work on inside the house? [link] [comments] |
| Need help deciding on material for deck Posted: 01 Aug 2020 05:02 PM PDT I'm looking to add a new deck to a rental property. I'm having a lot of trouble deciding what material to use (pressure treated wood vs composite, etc). I understand the pros and cons, and I'm leaning towards composite due to low maintenance but second guessing it because of costs and all the complaints online about it (hot, slippery, unreliable [trex], etc). On the flip side though, people make wood decks seem like a nightmare headache. For those with real wood decks, how is maintaining them? If it's a rental, who takes care of it? Tenants? I recognize there is this affordability/maintainability tradeoff - where along this curve is optimal for a rental? If anyone has experience with this and can give some advice, that would be wonderful. Thank you! [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 01 Aug 2020 08:36 PM PDT Hello, I recently purchased a rural property and have some questions...
Thanks! [link] [comments] |
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