Home Improvement: Tip for Hanging Pictures |
- Tip for Hanging Pictures
- Advice for Shady Contractor Work?
- What on earth is wrong with my circular saw?
- Advice for Solo Homeowners?
- How to install bathroom vent with no attic access.
- Home Depot Recalls 200,000 Ceiling Fans
- Is there any way to salvage kitchen cabinets if we are shifting location of the stove?
- ~Entertaining all ideas for this poorly executed staircase~
- Am I overreacting to this? First time home owner, using some contractors...
- How can you tell if a crack is just the house settling or a bigger issue?
- Building Garage Shelving vs Buying
- Does anyone have any experience with junk removal?
- Insulate Garage Ceiling
- Sewer line pipe broken?? Help!
- NYC Bathroom Window: How would you tackle this project?
- Sewage coming up in front yard, sellers obviously knew there was an issue, but not sure how to proceed. Advice on fixing in the meantime?
- Rusted corrugated steel floor. Major red flag?
- What do I need to know before splitting the bill on a privacy fence with my neighbor?
- Unexpected large power bill - how do I figure out what happened?
- Repainting chipping/bubbling paint
- Wall covering ideas
- Closet Rod Install on Sloped Ceiling Advice
- Hey! Remember me? The one with the roach infested bathroom?! We have a happy ending :)
- Foundation Cracks
| Posted: 28 Dec 2020 01:12 PM PST Not sure if this will help anyone - but I came up with a way to help hang pictures solo. Probably been done before and I'm just thinking I'm so smart, but maybe it can help. When hanging a large picture (heavy and takes 2 hands) with a wire hanging point I always found it hard to get the wire to engage the wall hook because the wire would press against the frame and jump over the hook every time. Solution - take an empty toilet paper roll (or similar) and cut it down so it would be long enough to push the wire out from the frame but not so long that it "stressed" the wire. Then you can hold the frame away from the wall and slide down until the wire engaged the hanger and then wiggle a little and the roll will fall out leaving the wire on the hook. Just something I came up with while trying to hang pictures in lockdown/quarantine. Hopefully it will help someone else. [link] [comments] |
| Advice for Shady Contractor Work? Posted: 28 Dec 2020 11:26 AM PST The contractors were supposed to add a new bathroom vent, a vent jack, and a cap connected to the roof. This work was done in Feb and a big portion of the ceiling came down in Dec in the bedroom. We were lucky no one in the house was severely injured. Upon inspection, we found the cap was not secured on the roof at all so it slid down and the rain was pouring in, what it used to be wood covering the roof is now a piece of cardboard with shingles on top of it, the vent jack was connected via few pieces of duct tape and has came off some time ago, the water leaked through the ceiling causing water damage in the room next to the one they previously installed the vent in. They gave me their business card with the license on top, I tried to contact them, but they blocked me. I was trying to report their work since it is very hazardous what happened, but found out on the labor and industries website that their license had expired over three years ago. A new contractor came by and accessed the situation, they confirmed there were a lot of steps skipped, and it'll cost over a few grand to fix all the damage they caused. I get that people want to save money and this year is hard for a lot of people, but I'm angry they would disregard the safety and wellbeing of people just to cut corners. I don't plan on attempting to sue them or anything since I think this year has been hard on everyone already. I did however, reported them to contractor fraud since I don't want anyone else to be injured on their account. I'm not sure what else I should do so they can't injure someone else again. [link] [comments] |
| What on earth is wrong with my circular saw? Posted: 28 Dec 2020 05:44 AM PST I have a nearly new Makita dual 18v cordless circular saw. Immediately upon purchase I used it to build a deck- cross cutting PT 2x6 and then switching to a composite decking blade for the decking. No problems. Recently I went back to the multi use blade that came with the saw and was cross cutting some cedar and pine for various small projects. The saw was really struggling to get through the wood, and the cuts were very rough. Worse, it was burning the wood - generating so much smoke I had to stop to let it clear so I could see! I thought maybe the blade was shot so I went and bought a new Diablo finish blade. But the problems persisted - maybe even got worse. Odds are I have overlooked something real basic here but for the life of my I can't figure it out. Help! EDIT. omg the blade was on backwards. I feel like such an idiot. I installed with the label facing outwards just assuming that was correct. Ugh. Thanks everyone. Edit 2. Feels good to know many others have been down this path before, and no judgment! After reflecting, using the label of the blade to orient was so stupid given that some saws have the blade to the right of the motor and some to the left. I legit can't believe I cut so many boards with the blade backwards lol. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 28 Dec 2020 05:57 AM PST Long time lurker, first time poster -- looking for some general advice! I'm a first time home owner of a small (<1k sq ft) house built in the early '60s. It's a good little house but there are lots of things I'd like to improve and modernize. I'm a handy person already, and I'm very motivated to learn how to do pretty much any project. This sub has definitely helped me get a better handle on what's doable vs. what I should hire out, but one thing that I struggle with is that I'm live alone and don't currently have any friends or family that can help out. For some projects, like staining my fence, that means it just takes a little longer to do. But for other projects, I'm either worried about safety issues if no one is around, intimidated once I start to think of doing something completely new without someone to be a sounding board as I go, or it's literally impossible to do with only one set of hands. Some examples are: anything involving climbing a ladder, renovating my (only) bathroom, and building a shed. I sometimes think about trying to hire someone to do work with me, but that seems potentially risky? My ideal situation would be having a handy friend or relative who could help out, but that's obviously not in the cards at the moment. Any tips or advice from other single homeowners that DIY a lot? Edit: Thank so much everyone! This sub is the best, I'm feeling very encouraged to dive into my next project, which I'll definitely post about too!! :) [link] [comments] |
| How to install bathroom vent with no attic access. Posted: 28 Dec 2020 10:53 AM PST We recently moved into a home from the 60s that has no ventilation in the bathroom. It is clear that it has had mold issues in the pass so I'd like to try and install a vent. The tricky part is that there is no attic access. It is an old mobile home. So everything will have to be done from either inside the bathroom or from the roof of the house. [link] [comments] |
| Home Depot Recalls 200,000 Ceiling Fans Posted: 28 Dec 2020 08:03 PM PST Almost 200,000 ceiling fans sold at Home Depot are being recalling because the blades can detach while in use. The recall is for Hampton Bay 54-inch Mara Indoor/Outdoor fans sold exclusively at the home improvement store. The recalled fans came in these finishes:
King of Fans, the Fort Lauderdale-based distributor of the product, said it received dozens of reports of the blades disconnecting. The trouble does not impact all of the China-made Mara 54-inch fans, according to the company, which offered a link to a YouTube video showing consumers how to determine if a fan is defective and needs to be replaced. [link] [comments] |
| Is there any way to salvage kitchen cabinets if we are shifting location of the stove? Posted: 28 Dec 2020 11:25 AM PST Looking to put in all new appliances and redo countertops and backsplash. The cabinets are solid wood and currently in excellent condition, they were installed about 15 years ago and the previous owner is elderly so she barely used the kitchen. I hate the thought of just demo-ing perfectly good cabinets so I was just going to reface them. Is there any way to salvage them? This is what the kitchen currently looks like on top vs what I want it to look like in the bottom photo (minus the cabinet style but same exact brand of stove and same type of sink): [link] [comments] |
| ~Entertaining all ideas for this poorly executed staircase~ Posted: 28 Dec 2020 06:05 PM PST Hello all! I apologize if this is the wrong subreddit, I searched around and this one seemed the most appropriate, even though I'm not a homeowner yet. If you redirect me to a different sub, that's okay too! I've put in an offer on this home (Hudson Valley NY), I love the loft which I plan to use as my bedroom, yet there's a snafu with the staircase. It's a spiral staircase, and the headspace at the top landing is non-existent. I'm 5'9 and have to double over once I reach the top step. Aside from anticipating this getting old day in and day out, especially on a 2 am bathroom run, I have no idea how to get furniture up the stairs and clear the 4 foot space. I'm entertaining all practical ideas for opening the space by replacing the stairs, altering the stairs, or as a final resort, adding stairs to the balcony off the loft. Unfortunately, the ceiling is the roof line, as much as I would've liked to open that space up. It is a tin roof, so I don't think dormers an option. I'd like to accomplish this as frugally as possible while retaining floor space, this home is small. I've included images of staircase, and top and bottom. This is my first post, I hope all 4 images uploaded. Thank you in advance, any who contribute! -Sincerely, Raeven ***edited to mention tin roof and location. Wasn't expecting this great feedback, thanks y'all! [link] [comments] |
| Am I overreacting to this? First time home owner, using some contractors... Posted: 28 Dec 2020 03:54 PM PST So I got windows replaced by a highly rated contractor. Came out, did the work. Two things irked me, and I'm about to pay for final payment so I wanted opinions on should I argue or let them know? 1) when they put in the windows, the tore off some of the dry wall. Like, two large chunks. Nothing I can't fix myself over a weekend. I mentioned this to them...first they said "oh we won't paint your wall!" But once they actually figured out what I was saying....they said they would repair and paint it. So a painter came to the house (I was out)...I came home...not painted. 2) I came home after work the day they were working on the windows and my garage door is wide open, with no one in the back. I've had stuff stolen in the past from the garage and I was already miffed about it. Then I notice my tools are out...I have a small table saw, drill, miter saw....all out and obviously used. So I walk in and I asked the guy...he sheepishly said "yea we had to use your tools because ours stopped working". All of them? Also, doesn't that warrant a phone call? I don't even care that much they used it, but...at least let me know. What if they broke one...were they just going to put it back and forget they ever used it? This isn't including the scratches I have on my floor from ladders they used (also mine btw) without putting down drop cloths. So...I guess I'm asking if I'm over reacting and this is all normal stuff. I'd feel bad if I got all pissed off over something expected. Do I file a complaint? Social media? Like I said, they are highly rated. I'm going to pay and I don't even care about a discount but, this is all leaving a bad taste in my mouth. [link] [comments] |
| How can you tell if a crack is just the house settling or a bigger issue? Posted: 28 Dec 2020 08:13 AM PST There are two areas of my newly renovated house with a vertical crack. One is where the window meets the wall and I can feel cold air coming in. Can I just caulk it or is there a bigger issue here? https://imgur.com/gallery/VOhIUlY [link] [comments] |
| Building Garage Shelving vs Buying Posted: 28 Dec 2020 01:33 PM PST We just moved into our house a few months ago, and I'm beginning to clean up and build out my garage for working on cars. I'm torn on whether I should build shelving with 2x4s that attach to the wall, or just buy the heavy duty wire shelving at HD or Costco. We are only planning on being here for 5-6 years before buying our "forever home" which is why I'm thinking it might be better to buy. But I know building the shelves could be sturdier. Any advice would be appreciated. [link] [comments] |
| Does anyone have any experience with junk removal? Posted: 28 Dec 2020 09:10 PM PST So, my yard is a mess. We've taken over care of a house that was not well loved and are fixing it up. The one thing that is really stressing me out is the yard. We have a huge yard behind a small cabin on a hill with no usable driveway to speak of, we park on the side of the road about 50 ft up the hill on the street side. Our yard starts on a bank so there is no accessible ground from the street. The previous owner has just thrown all of his trash into the yard. usually in bags that have been torn up. We have gotten most of the household type trash out and to the dump, but we are left with piles of old construction trash, presumably from when he built the house? ive found piles of carpet and broken windows grown over with moss. I have no way of getting a dumpster in our yard, and bagsters seem too small but may be our only option. Looking at various junk removal services but not sure if they would agree to handle grown over glass shards? Im honestly scared to touch it as its on a hill and if one of us falls we could be hurt. Has anyone ever dealt with anything like this? I would love to have a usable yard sometime within the next year or so. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 28 Dec 2020 09:02 PM PST The room above the garage is always cold in the winter months, I have tried googling and reading reddit posts but all I see is ripping out the drywall and adding spray foam or some kind of insulation and then installing the drywall again. I haven't seen any options for screwing on Insulation Boards on the entire finished Ceiling. Is this a practical option that will resolve this issue or will it not do much? If this does work, I am sure I would need to watch out for fire retardant properties and local codes? FYI, the garage doors are not insulated, there are plenty of places for air to come in... This is an issue that will also need to be resolved to get this to work right. For now assume this is complete. Below is a link for the boards I am scoping out: Thoughts? Thanks in advance! [link] [comments] |
| Sewer line pipe broken?? Help! Posted: 28 Dec 2020 12:40 PM PST Hi all! First time posting. My boyfriend just bought a house and we moved in on November 9, 2020. All has been well. We hooked up a washer and dryer about a week ago and noticed some water backing up into the basement. Well it got way worse and sewage started coming up. Called a company out to snake it. Now this is where the real problem arises. The guy said basically he couldn't snake it more than 10 ft, and our pipe that leads to the city sewer line (I guess where all of our water ends up going) is broken?? My boyfriend is so stressed out. I thought I would post here and see if anyone has any advice? Basically all we've been told is check your home-owners insurance and contact your realtor seeing as we haven't lived in the house more than 2 months. Thanks in advance to anyone that replies. I'm hoping there's a happy ending to this that doesn't involve my boyfriend having a heart attack lol [link] [comments] |
| NYC Bathroom Window: How would you tackle this project? Posted: 28 Dec 2020 11:10 AM PST Hi, all. Hopefully, you've seen worse . . . I am renting an apartment in which the recessed area going into the bathroom window was tiled, yet the person who did the work apparently decided to have a large gap between where the tile ends and the window/window frame begins, as you can see in these photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/164772882@N02/? Any suggestion for what the best option would be? It seems like we need to use cement board to fill in the gaps, along with silicone caulk? And then we would have to apply a thin strip of tiles on top of that? Thank you. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 28 Dec 2020 02:00 PM PST Where the small river of toilet paper and turds starts in our front yard there is a 7" Orbit sprinkler valve box on top of what is effectively an open drain. The cap to the pipe that passes under it was off and the metal threads were all screwed up so my guess is that there was a previous effort to auger out the drain and the cap did not go on well when trying to replace it so they forced it and eventually it came off. bottom/side of cap, showing screwed up threads The junction of these pipes seems to be about 4" and they run away from the house, down the yard to the street. my rendition of what seems to be going on open pipe with 3.5" opening on top Not sure what to think...I could try to just get a replacement cap and screw that on, but if the previous cap had issues what are the chances of that working? This opening is probably 11" down from ground level and then a 90º angle immediately so I am not sure how well an auger would go into it. Don't you usually try that at an angle? And want the "opening" of the auger as close to the pipe as possible, within 6" or so? Should the bottom of the pipe feel smooth? I guess I am specifically asking about this junction box or whatever the two pipes are meeting at. It felt like there were some ribs or something on the bottom. [link] [comments] |
| Rusted corrugated steel floor. Major red flag? Posted: 28 Dec 2020 09:51 PM PST Hi everyone! I'm a long time admirer/first time poster so I apologize in advance if I'm doing anything wrong. I read the rules, I swear! I'm considering buying a single family home and my inspection turned up some rust on the corrugated steel under the concrete floor. You can see the crawlspace at large in the two pics below: https://i.imgur.com/j7VGnJ9.jpg https://i.imgur.com/iO9fWuH.jpg However, the was more serious rust deterioration under the bathrooms and kitchen. You can see some of that damage here: https://i.imgur.com/PqW4c6a.jpg https://i.imgur.com/akOSWVL.jpg There's certainly some leaky plumbing to be fixed and the crawlspace ventilation needs improvement, but at cursory glance, does this seem like something in need of a major undertaking/extensive fix? I just don't want to invest in a home that's a safety hazard to myself and my family (let alone a bad investment). I can't say I've had experience with this type of flooring and I'm not quite sure where to turn. I'm going to the house tomorrow to spend some more time in the crawlspace investigating and taking pictures. I'm also considering hiring a structural engineer but I haven't gotten to that point yet. Thank you in advance for any insight you may have! I am located in the Colorado front range. [link] [comments] |
| What do I need to know before splitting the bill on a privacy fence with my neighbor? Posted: 28 Dec 2020 09:14 AM PST So I have two sides fenced in and I was looking at getting a standard wood privacy fence built on my third side I share with a neighbor. They said they were open to the idea of splitting the bill on a fence so that we'd both have a gate but wanted to know how ownership and maintenance would go and whose property it would be built on. What's the general way this is done and what pitfalls should I/we be aware of? Edit: Lot of people saying no, I haven't heard why yet... We live in a suburb in the Nebraska. [link] [comments] |
| Unexpected large power bill - how do I figure out what happened? Posted: 28 Dec 2020 04:56 PM PST Edit: I got a lot of helpful suggestions. My takeaways are 1) see if the power company has any more granular data, and 2) check everything, including appliances that appear to be functioning normally. Thank you for all your help! Last month I got a large power bill for 1337 kWh, when our normal usage is between 200-450 kWh. The power company says all the readings are "Actual" readings. Since I got the bill, I've been keeping track of the meter, and our day-to-day usage is on track with our lower, normal bills. So, what happened? We do heat a 300 sqft room with an electric heater, but it hasn't been terribly cold, and we did that last winter as well. Other than that, we have a fridge, washer / dryer, dishwasher, dehumidifier, all of which seem to be in normal working order. The house was built in 1939 and has knob-and-tube wiring, but surely a breaker would flip before a short somewhere could run up 1000 kWh of use - right? (And it would have burned the house down, anyway!) What should I be thinking of here? [link] [comments] |
| Repainting chipping/bubbling paint Posted: 28 Dec 2020 06:27 PM PST We own an 80 year old home. Our plaster walls have been painted dozens of times over the years, I'm sure. Many of the walls have spots where the paint is bubbling up and flakes off. Obviously I need to repaint but I can't paint over the bubbles and flakes. I'm hesitant to scrape because there's most likely lead under there somewhere. What's the best way to seal up and smooth out the bubbling areas before painting over them? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 28 Dec 2020 09:05 PM PST In our dining room, we are looking to put something on the wall where the drywall is pretty messed up. The previous owners must have hung something on the wall and did a pretty bad patch job. We plan to fix it eventually but cover it up for now. It is about a 5 foot wide by 3 foot tall area. We would be open to artwork too, its just hard to find something that large that isn't super expensive. We thought about doing a section of wallpaper or one of the peel and stick murals or something but don't feel great about either of those ideas. Any thoughts? [link] [comments] |
| Closet Rod Install on Sloped Ceiling Advice Posted: 28 Dec 2020 07:20 PM PST Thanks in advance for any advice. I am trying to add a closet rod in my closet but it is on a sloped ceiling (finished attic). For the life of me, I can't find any premade sloped ceiling closet systems so I am making my own. I am modeling after this picture from Closet Works (https://imgur.com/a/v1MkQ4V). For the wooden cleat, would I simply screw in the board into the studs? Then add the brackets where needed? I am worried about placing too much weight on the brackets and the rod falling down. [link] [comments] |
| Hey! Remember me? The one with the roach infested bathroom?! We have a happy ending :) Posted: 27 Dec 2020 05:17 PM PST Ive been waiting to do this post until the bathroom reno is complete, but due to COVID surging like crazy we cant go out and buy a threshold so we are done except that element. I hope you can forgive us 😆. To update: We bought a house in July that we knew had a minor leak in the drain under this bathroom. Day 1 we fixed the leak which only brought to light the issue at hand. There were roaches all over the place. We thought we had it under control, but we kept seeing them in the other bathroom and kitchen. Then we noticed a funky smell from the half bathroom in our room. We had to keep the door closed and never used it because it smelled so bad. We thought maybe it was due to standing water from the leak, but once I did some research I quickly learned that the smell was awfully similar to how roaches smell. We decided to gut it and could have never prepared ourselves for what came from that. The last wall we took down unveiled dead roaches, live roaches, 18" of roach poop/egg sacks. The junction box for the light had SO MANY roach eggs in it. It was traumatic as fuck and we slept on the couch for 2 weeks. Thankfully we had an amazing exterminator who had been working with us and he came over that night (ON LABOR DAY AT 9P) and helped us do what we could with the room. Ive never seen so much roach poison sprayed on a surface. If you live in LA and need an exterminator I cannot recommend him enough. One of the hardest parts of this reno was getting the roach smell out. We did bleach, hospital grade bleach, enzyme cleaner, dawn, EVERYTHING. The smell persisted. We eventually just did Killz paint which worked like a dream. The wall separating the back wall and the other bedroom was literally just two pieces of plywood. No framing. So we framed that and made it sturdy. We had to fix some of the subfloor that was rotted out. The framing in the room was all wonky and different sizes so we had to plane it down in some areas so the drywall would sit correctly. All of the walls before were plywood too, so we drywalled everything this time and it felt way better in there. The tile we chose is amazing but ended up being a real pain to cut. After chipping two we decided to hire someone to cut and install it. We had done the prep work and we did the grout and sealing, so it was pretty affordable for him to just come in and cut and lay it. Other than that, we did all the work ourselves! I am surely forgetting some things but these are the things that stuck out in my memories. Hope you enjoy :) https://imgur.com/gallery/NHgQ677 EDIT: Forgot the most important update. We have been roach free for months and feel very confident in saying we have eliminated the issue :) EDIT AGAIN: Our total cost was around $2500. We had to spend $500 alone on the dumpster and had extra costs with all of the cleaning supplies and Killz. We used greenboard drywall for the walls and hardibacker on the floor. The tile is from Concrete Collaborative (the company sucks but they make great tile). The sink and cabinet are from IKEA. We made the countertop with birch that we glued together and cut to make it the custom size. The light is from Lamps Plus. Mirror from Wayfair. Toilet is Woodbridge and we really like it. The toilet paper holder is from Etsy. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 28 Dec 2020 02:10 PM PST I am considering putting an offer in on a house but noticed some cracks in the foundation. The house was built in 1974, so I'm wondering if these are to be expected or if they look problematic. Pictures [link] [comments] |
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