Home Improvement: Mostly-DIY Kitchen Project Cosmetic Upgrade! Before/After Pics, Process, and Details with Budget ($4,500) Included. |
- Mostly-DIY Kitchen Project Cosmetic Upgrade! Before/After Pics, Process, and Details with Budget ($4,500) Included.
- Make Balcony Toddler Safe?
- Don’t hide/bury old lines in your home. What do I do now?
- How far can you cut into a wall? 4 inch limit?
- Perfect storm of unfortunate events and I’m trying not to freak out.
- How to fix insulation / cold spots in a house?
- Electric baseboard heating needs replacement - modern options?
- I did a dumb, and made a mess chiseling doors for hinges. It's bad. I want to fix it, and that's where you come in! Plan and photo inside.
- Bathroom light switch shorting
- Nail Pops and Drywall Seams
- Help identifying basement bathroom rough in plumbing
- Cold Bedrooms
- Door gap- heat loss
- What type of trade would i reach out to to have a stone like circled in the picture added to the hearth of my fireplace?
- Drywall shims?
- Tub to tile grout Cracked
- Dual 20 Amp Breaker?
- Brand new well was put in and the water smells like farts
- Portable AC ... Dehumidifier option
- Finishing Basement
- How do I remove this faucet cartridge?
- Gorgeous new ventless fireplace in my house
- Brick Fireplace TV advice
- LED can lights flickering?
| Posted: 30 Jan 2021 11:18 AM PST TL;DR: Originally, we were planning to do a small kitchen upgrade and just replace the ugly vinyl flooring and hallway carpet. Pretty quickly, we decided if we were going to do the work, we may as well do it all! It took about two months to complete and approximately $4,500 - cosmetic, no cabinets/plumbing/structural changes. Upper Midwest. You can find all the images here, including before/after and process. Some background: Our house was built in 1927, but appears to have been flipped sometime in the early 2000s.... a DIY flip where they ran out of money in the middle, according to our neighbors. We have done a bunch of projects, but usually my dad helps out (he's a great woodworker and engineer). This was our first totally independent project, with some FaceTime support for questions and some borrowed tools. When we bought the house three years ago, we decided it's an 8ish year house, so all projects we do with that in mind. It all started with a random Friday night when I asked my husband if he would help me rip up the carpet in the hallway.... After ripping up the carpet, we had grand plans to sand/refinish the floors underneath. Luckily we had my dad come to lend us his sander and he told us the black mastic was probably full of asbestos (clearly someone had removed old tile in the 80s (?) then just laid carpet on top). We got some quotes for asbestos removal and refinishing and quickly decided it was not worth it and just put a new subfloor over the hallway. This also was a good choice because it made the kitchen, bathroom, and hallway all the same height. We assume they had done something similar in the kitchen, but decided to cover the tile/asbestos glue with subfloor instead of carpeting. It was our first time independently laying subfloor, and went surprisingly well - despite the stupid corners that we fixed before we put down flooring. We used a circular saw and a straightedge to cut, this was before we had a workbench so it kind of sucked. We lived with the subfloor only for a few months as we figured out what to do with the rest of the kitchen. Cabinet decisions/process: We actually like our cabinets size/orientation and were a big reason we bought the house. For a small kitchen, they really utilized the space well for storage while maximizing counter space. We went back and forth between whether to paint or not paint. Our dream kitchens all have beautiful wood cabinets. Our kitchen had wood cabinets that we saw at Menards while picking up quarter round. So, we decided to paint them. We researched paints and colors and eventually decided on a Benjamin Moore paint. The bottoms are Tarrytown Green and the tops are Chantilly Lace. We considered blue, but then when we showed a sample my husband's family all said "I thought you were choosing green." and we landed back on green. We regret all of our paint choices!! Not the colors, we love those, but the paint itself. It ran all over the place, randomly dripped, and was generally hard to work with. All the trim in our house is Sherwin Williams Emerald Enamel Trim Paint and now that we've used something else, realize that paint is totally worth the absurd pricing. We only chose Benjamin Moore because we couldn't find a green we liked at Sherwin. The actual process was fine, the usual sand/prime/sand/paint/sand/paint/wait forever/install. We kept our hardware since we liked it, and installed soft close door hinges (never going back!) Countertop decisions/process: Originally, we wanted a butcher block. My husband bakes a lot of bread, and we decided that doing quartz would just generally be easier for flour cleanup. Our local friends had a good experience with IKEA, so we decided to do that. AND they were running a 15% off countertops so we could spring for the better looking ones. The whole process was super slick! You choose and purchase at IKEA, with a close estimate of the price. IKEA subcontracts to a local company who takes it from there. They were fast, communicative, did good measurements, fabricated in about two weeks, and installed in an hour, including the under mount sink. I've heard some horror stories on the internet, so it's good if you're considering IKEA custom quartz countertops to get a local friend's experience. We disposed of our old countertops via a "free" sign in our yard and a FB marketplace post. The person who picked them up said they use them for his Habitat for Humanity (ish, can't remember the company) homes in Guatemala. Sink/faucet: My husband loved spending forever looking at sinks and faucets. We don't have much space so choices were limited! We love a large, single sink. The touch less feature on the faucet sucked so we turned it off (less water pressure, slower). Next time we'd get the cheap regular faucet, same style. We ended up getting the Kraus Dual Mount Drop-In Sink and the Kraus Bolden Touchless Sensor Faucet. Demo: We were prepped with drywall to fix the backsplash drywall post demo. As we started, we quickly realized it was actually just peel and stick tile - who knew that existed?!? So that ended up being super easy and immediately made the space look better. The vinyl flooring went quickly once we started. The cat hated the residual glue on the floor and it was hilarious. Flooring decisions/process: This was another go-back-and-forth decision, if you've noticed the trend... We originally wanted Marmoleum. We installed sheet Marmoleum in our mudroom and it is our favorite floor. It was a pain to install though, so we had already decided we would hire out if we did Marmoleum. Since the rest of our house is blonde original hardwood, we didn't want something that would look too similar to the rest of the house since we knew it would be a lot of work to get a perfect match. We ruled out tile flooring since we already had a 3/8inch difference in flooring heights and weren't looking to have a tile hallway. We eventually landed on doing Cali Bamboo flooring, in Aged Amber GeoWood since it claims to be easy to install and also waterproof. We laid the flooring ourselves using the Cali underlayment. It was a pain to cut since it was a limestone core, but eventually we got the hang of using a jigsaw for weird parts. We blew through a bunch of blades. We used a mitre for the straight cuts. We ended up flooring in the bathroom too, to get rid of the ugly vinyl. It looks good, but we wouldn't do it again. It's already coming apart in places despite our best efforts. It would have worked better with a rubber mallet and an s-bracket to tighten them up even more in the hallway. A floating floor is weird. We prefer hardwood, and if we were to do it again we would just get the hardwood we actually want. Even good looking engineered isn't the same as real wood. We still think we made the right choice for the space, function, and time in our lives. Backsplash decisions/process: This one was easy. Dream handmade local tile is not for an 8-year house and subway tile is unbelievably cheap and easy to install for your first time. We used a tile cutter and an angle grinder to do the outlets, installed in a day. Used info from here to help out, as well as internet searching for the best way to lay tile backsplash. My husband also researched grout forever - we wanted a light grout but did not want all the work of light grout. We do not like the dark grout + subway. We ended up with Platinum grout and it was the right choice for us. Reaffirmed I hate all concrete work, grouting included. But it looks good! We cut out around our magnetic knife strip, which was a great idea because now knives aren't hanging on the wall by our back door. Thresholds: My dad made us maple thresholds for Christmas, custom sized to our transitions. I stained and polyurethaned them. The staining was annoying because it was spotted all over the place (I didn't use a wood conditioner the first time). So, I had to re-sand all of them then wood condition and stain. A short project became a long annoying project... oh well! Undermount lighting: My husband also was obsessed with undermount lighting, and researched a bunch before going with the Philips LED strip, plugged in with our microwave. Finishing: We finished it all up with installing some quarter round, painting trim, and installing thresholds! And lots of caulking! And a new light fixture from Olde Brick Lighting on Etsy! The walls are all Alabaster by Sherwin Williams. Order of Operations:
Budget-ish ($4500):
If we were going to do it all again:
Working with your partner on DIY:
If you made it to the end... congrats! Thanks for reading! Hope this helps someone! [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 30 Jan 2021 07:34 AM PST Moved into a new house with a balcony railing we are concerned about for the little ones. Any ideas on how I can make this safer? Imgur Gallery Edit: Went with sheets of plexiglass, zip tied to the banister and down to the baseboard. Blocks hand/foot holds and is easily removable. Thanks to everyone who brought ideas and discussion! [link] [comments] |
| Don’t hide/bury old lines in your home. What do I do now? Posted: 30 Jan 2021 09:55 AM PST So, while getting started finishing my basement, I was going to take out this weird lip of concrete next to the wall so I could replace the bottom plate and some studs and lay down subfloor flush to the wall. While hammering out the concrete I saw a spark, and thought, "What the hell?" Then I smelled fuel. Shut off the power (we have a gas furnace and water heater). Called the fire department and our utility company. FD shut off the gas line, and took a look. It's an old fuel oil line that someone decided to cover up instead of removing. Had some residual fuel in the line. The firemen and utility guy both said this was the dumbest thing they've seen this year so far. Took some pictures, and left. Although I'm pissed this happened, and discouraged from working the rest of the day, I would like to know if there is a procedure to taking this line out or blocking it off? Utility guy said to just cap it, but he's not sure if that's the proper way to do the job or not since he's not a plumber. Any help is great. Thanks [link] [comments] |
| How far can you cut into a wall? 4 inch limit? Posted: 30 Jan 2021 06:05 PM PST Hi, to make a long story short I am having my house built and wanting to have wide electric fireplace recessed into my living room wall. However I am being told by people at work that you can only cut into a wall 4 inches ( since the wall is made up of 2x4 pieces of wood). Now this particular wall is for a living room of a townhome. So it's a shared wall to the next townhouse. So I am not sure exactly how much room I am going to have. But I am sure the thickness between these higher end, brand new townhomes are thicker than a foot. In short, I want the electric heater to be flush with the wall. Which will require a hole of at least 5 inches. If not 6. So is my only option to bring the wall out? Or can I cut in deeper than some of these individuals are suggesting? [link] [comments] |
| Perfect storm of unfortunate events and I’m trying not to freak out. Posted: 30 Jan 2021 07:45 PM PST I apologize for the long post. I bought my cottage style home 5yrs ago. Of course I had a home inspection and some minor issues were pointed out. I had a roof guy come out prior to closing and he said roof had about 5 yrs left on it. The small, original part of my house was built in 1930. Twice previous owners added additional square footage, it's now around 1900 sq feet. I had the roof replaced this month, thankfully my insurance covered all but the $1500 deductible. This was a huge relief because I knew it needed replacing, but due to storms in my area and good insurance, all in all I felt very fortunate they covered it at all. The roof leak caused damage to my interior walls. I had no indication of a roof leak - no water spots on the ceiling, it seems the leak followed the eaves of the original roof from the original section of the house which you can see from inside my attic. The prior owner just put a new roof over the old roof when they added on. So water seems to have flowed directly in my hall and living area walls - not a single water mark on any ceiling anywhere. Hall is sheetrock, living space is painted board, honestly not sure what to call it. It's not traditional paneling, bead board or shiplap; but it's slightly textured which you really only notice up close. The pattern repeats so I know it wasn't applied by hand. I really like it, it is subtle but more interesting than drywall. However, the water damage has caused it to buckle out, now seams and nails are visible that weren't prior to roof leak. I also need to have my electric panel updated. Actually, the way I discovered the roof issue is because water was leaking out of my electric box in my hall. Around the same time, a pipe burst in my crawl space and soaked my subfloor for about a week and a half. Plumber reported there's a conglomeration of copper, pvc and even trailer pipe in the crawl space. Plumber replaced a 3 foot section of pipe to repair the leak. Luckily I was able to show an increase in my water bill to my insurance and show it wasn't an ongoing slow leak. I filed a separate claim for my floors, was paid out some but another $1500 deductible was held. Prior to the water leak my subfloor had some soft spots, but now it's obvious all of it needs replacing. And before I replace my flooring, I'm going to want to upgrade the plumbing to PEX pipe. I'm also considering a tankless water heater, my current one is in my laundry room and takes up a lot of space. So I'm kind of overwhelmed at all the work, money and disruption of my living space that I'm facing. I'm thinking the order of repairs should be electric, then plumbing, then subfloor, then interior walls, then flooring. I have savings but will be will have to keep repairs on a tight budget. Any advice on how to take all this on? I can't imagine I'd be able to stay here while the subfloor is repaired, but will be very difficult to move my elderly mother and 2 dogs out. I won't be DIYing any of this other than painting new walls. Also, any idea what the textured board paneling might be called & era over the last 90yrs it may have been installed originally? I'd like to have the same stuff but there's nothing I can find that resembles it online. [link] [comments] |
| How to fix insulation / cold spots in a house? Posted: 30 Jan 2021 06:26 PM PST I live in a cold climate and I expect cold temperatures from the windows (and Google has suggestions for how to insulate windows). But the corner of the floor being 48 degrees makes me think something else isn't insulated properly besides the windows. Any advice? Edit: this is the ground floor and I don't have a basement. [link] [comments] |
| Electric baseboard heating needs replacement - modern options? Posted: 30 Jan 2021 05:11 AM PST Our mountain home is in a very cold climate where electricity is very cheap. As a result, most of the homes in the region are heated with electric baseboard heat. Our system is old and in need of replacement and I am trying to understand our options. Our current baseboard heaters work fine but are nearing life end. They are wired through a relay to standard thermostat which we recently changed to Nest Thermostats. All of our existing baseboard heaters could just be replaced with same-length baseboard heaters. Easy peasy. But is this the right choice? Is there any change in this tech in the last 40 years that would push us towards a different option? Are there more modern-looking baseboard heaters that have similar efficacy and function? Are there particular brands that are recommended? TIA [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 30 Jan 2021 06:42 PM PST At the beginning of the pandemic I decided to replace the old ugly hollow core fake wood doors with solid core doors. Such an improvement! However, I'd never cut out door hinge slots before. Youtube said "just chisel it!" So, I did. Viewer beware... Here is one of the monstrosities. Yes, they're all about this bad. Shockingly, here I am mere months later and I want to fix this. I've spent the months since taking on other projects, and every day become more familiar with tools and processes. The Plan:
[link] [comments] |
| Bathroom light switch shorting Posted: 30 Jan 2021 10:46 AM PST I live in a 1970s ranch home which has all manner of electrical quirks to it, and recently our bathroom light switch started shorting and smoking. Hoping to DIY this to keep an electrician out of the house but I'm not sure what I'm looking at! The two wires clamped together were wrapped up with electrical tape that had scorch marks on it so I'm guessing this is my problem spot. I can't for the life of me figure out why there were two hot wires spliced together in the first place, though. Any thoughts? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 30 Jan 2021 09:17 PM PST My house (roughly 10 years old) has some of the worst drywall work ever, and I'd like to try and fix it. I'd like to address 2 issues:
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks! [link] [comments] |
| Help identifying basement bathroom rough in plumbing Posted: 30 Jan 2021 08:58 PM PST Hey all - Pretty simple question - can anyone help me identify the rough in plumbing in my basement? Is it as simple as #1 = sink, #2 = toilet, #3 = shower/bath? Thanks! [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 30 Jan 2021 06:17 AM PST So with the winter months getting colder and colder, we've begun to notice how cold some of the bedrooms in our house are. Particularly the ones at the front of the house. We have forced air heating (I believe, the ones with the floor vents) with the furnace in the basement. Now, the bedrooms are pretty much above the furnace on the top floor, and they're the coldest, while the master bedroom is on the top floor as well, on the opposite side of the house, but it's not as cold. (It does have more vents though) So my question is how we can get the rooms to be warmer. Is it bad window insulation? or is it the vent not doing enough? We recently had the air ducts cleaned, as we thought that was an issue, but the room is still very cold. Is there a way we can pull more hot air into that room? I've closed vents in rooms that don't need the heat as much, and places like the living room, which always seem to be warm. Maybe close all of the vents on the main floor, as it's the warmest? And then the furnace will work to heat more often and the living room will get the heat from other floors. Someone did recommend that I turn the fan on for 10-20 minutes every hour, regardless of the furnace being on, and that helped a bit, but not enough. Thoughts? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 30 Jan 2021 06:48 AM PST My front door has a gap between the door jam and the door. I looked online to get something to fix it am uncertain what type of insulation to use. The have all sorts of types and I have no idea where to start. Any pointers on which type is easy to install and will last a while? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 30 Jan 2021 09:25 PM PST |
| Posted: 30 Jan 2021 08:51 PM PST Hey everyone, Recently basement got flooded, we remove the wood trims and wood panelling, and then we cut about 1' height of the 5/8" drywall from bottom and remove insulation behind. We have lots of 8x4 x 1/2" thickness drywall. Questions we have are: 1. Since drywall is 1/8" thinner, and they nail to the 2x4 anyway and hiding behind wood panelling, maybe it's not that bad? But, worried the wood paneling might bow inwards since not leaning against the drywall.
Any more ideas? We don't really need to mud it either because it's behind a wood panelling. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 30 Jan 2021 08:46 PM PST |
| Posted: 30 Jan 2021 06:33 PM PST Hello /r/HomeImprovement! I just found out that my microwave is wired on the same 15 amp circuit as all my kitchen outlets and lights. It's my understanding that this isn't to code. Additionally, when I'm using an electric griddle with my microwave, the breaker will trip. I'd like to add a new dedicated 20 amp circuit with 12 gauge wire, however my panel is full. I'm looking for a tandem breaker that will work with my electrical panel. A picture of the current breaker is here: https://imgur.com/a/B99THAK. I'd need a 20/20, or a 15/20. Any tips on where I can get a breaker that meets those specs? The panel is a Murray brand panel if that helps. For the record, I'm very comfortable with running new wire, wiring an outlet, installing new breakers, etc. I just don't have this particular part at my local Home Depot, and the two electrical supply stores I called won't sell to me unless I have a business that's associated with an electricians license. Thanks in advance! [link] [comments] |
| Brand new well was put in and the water smells like farts Posted: 30 Jan 2021 08:45 PM PST Is this normal and will it go away? Also the the water is a dingy dark color but apparently that is from the charcoal in the filter. Do I need to be concerned about this fart smell? I took a bath earlier and it was like I was bathing in smelly fart water [link] [comments] |
| Portable AC ... Dehumidifier option Posted: 30 Jan 2021 08:45 PM PST Hello all, I have a GE portable ac that uses a vent kit when I use the actual AC portion of the unit. If I were to use the dehumidifier option, would I still need to use the vent kit? Thanks Model: APCA09YZBW [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 30 Jan 2021 08:37 PM PST I'm looking into finishing our basement- dry, concrete floor, cinder block foundation, 1950s home- and am running into two issues that I'm not sure can be resolved. One: the ceiling is only about 7 feet above the concrete floor with unfinished rafters and subfloor above. Is it even possible to finish a space with ceilings that low? Two: there is a duct for the HVAC running through the center of the room and entrance via the staircase and garage, as well as a support beam. Both drop down to about 6 feet above the concrete floor. Is there a lower profile way for the ductwork to run, or is it possible/dumb to wrap it around the room? Is there any way to use columns instead of the support beam running the length of the house or are we stuck with it? Thank you for the help! [link] [comments] |
| How do I remove this faucet cartridge? Posted: 30 Jan 2021 06:19 PM PST In all of the videos/guides online there is a 17mm nut to unscrew. My faucet does not have this nut. How do I remove the cartridge? Please see photo: https://imgur.com/a/I27YEUd Thanks [link] [comments] |
| Gorgeous new ventless fireplace in my house Posted: 30 Jan 2021 08:30 PM PST I Added this ventless fireplace in the corner of my house. I love the way it turned out with the detailed. tile and carpentry work around it. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 30 Jan 2021 08:16 PM PST New homeowner, Looking for Reddit's advice on what appears to be a highly debated question. I'm planning on mounting a 65 inch flat screen above the fireplace in my house — should I be going into the brick or the mortar? All the mortar peeps (including home TV companies I've seen install videos from) say it's easier to install, easier to repair/patch, and that the brick is prone to cracking and is expensive to repair/can't be patched All the brick peeps say the mortar can't be trusted and is prone to crack/will not hold, etc. The mounting kit says not to go into the mortar, however I surmise that may be for partially for liability reasons. As it came with lag screws and sleeves which appear to work in both brick or mortar per my research, but I can definitely go get better anchors per recommendations as well. If it's worth anything construction (masonry) wise I got a 74 built house in the Midwest; and the previous home owner had their TV mounted there and all Five (5) holes are in the mortar currently. It had to have been the same size TV too cause it's about the biggest will fit in the space, I will maybe have 2-3" inches of play between the ceiling and mantle to work with (If mortar, I think I'd need to go into the same brick horizontal line he did to get it to fit, and different vertical mortar lines as the mount spacing doesn't line up with a 2nd horizontal mortar line, if that changes things) Finally... of course, I have recently acquired a Milwaukee impact and drill/driver (m18s) but have not yet gotten a hammer drill.... I Got the masonry bit down. I understand that for brick that's a necessity, (will probably rent this time around) but IF mortar is the way to go, w/ a nice masonry bit (and WD-40?) I've heard a a good impact driver or/or drill will do pretty damn good job if you slowly just need to do a few holes (and actually was recommend to try that first to not unnecessarily chip the mortar) TL:DR Brick or mortar - Which route do you fine ladies and gentlemen recommend? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 30 Jan 2021 08:16 PM PST Builder installed led can lights throughout the house. Multiple circuits, obviously. Without exception, after they've been on for 20 minutes or so they start flickering. None of them are on dimmer switches. Any ideas? [link] [comments] |
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