The Home Improvement Thread. Successes and Failures

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

On fridge ...yeah. I got a new fridge just over a year ago. Was horrified at the WiFi and features as I’m sure that crap breaks. I just wanted a fridge to keep my food cold. A camera to show me what door to open? Christ no.

my parents live near you and theirs died last month. They ran into stock issues everywhere too, culminating in success at some small appliance place over Warner’s. In fact they’ve now sworn off WS after being lied to on stock

[dxmnkd316]

So decided to take the whole dam thing apart.

The evaporator coils were frost free. So started pull everything else apart and test it. Stuck my fingers down the two vent holes and they were completely plugged with ice. Cleaned those up and then, because I'm a bad engineer and I don't have a multimeter, I partially reassembled the controls and tested components manually. The fan in the freezer wasn't working. Gave it a push and it started up. Guessing that's our problem. Fan was working so reassembled everything and set it back to normal operation. Sure enough. Temps in both compartments are going down

So now I guess I get to order a new fan motor and fix that. $20 << $2,000. So I'll take that even if it's temporary.

I have to say, glad my wife got us the freezer alarm. Saved a ton of food. Getting another one so we can keep tabs on the fridges too. Kind of a blind spot figuring the freezer would die before the fridge compartment. Wrong.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BL6KN8Y...HGMYCPT4FMA0RH

[Handyman]

In our kitchen remodel we got a fridge that has a Keurig...why you ask? No clue so I'm going with "We are White Suburbanites".

(It was also cheaper than the other model that fit our remodel)

[St. Clown]

So...my A/C needs refrigerant, R-22, and my house is therefore hot. Damm hot.

Add to that, the spigot to my front lawn hose broke when I tried to replace the broken handle. While pulling off the handle, the metal snapped within its valve socket (for lack of better knowing the correct term). While I’d love to replace it myself, I’ve never successfully soldered anything, and I also don’t want to burn down my house during the process.

[walrus]

So...my A/C needs refrigerant, R-22, and my house is therefore hot. Damm hot.

Add to that, the spigot to my front lawn hose broke when I tried to replace the broken handle. While pulling off the handle, the metal snapped within its valve socket (for lack of better knowing the correct term). While I’d love to replace it myself, I’ve never successfully soldered anything, and I also don’t want to burn down my house during the process.

Shark bite fittings, don't bury them in a wall but if you can see them

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Refinish your own hardwood floors, they said. It's a great job for DIYers, they said. :-/

At least the sanding is done, after three days of back-breaking labor. As someone else pointed out to me, the pain of cutting a check to a pro only stings for a minute. Sage advice for anything requiring a multi-day effort.

[burd]

Refinish your own hardwood floors, they said. It's a great job for DIYers, they said. :-/

At least the sanding is done, after three days of back-breaking labor. As someone else pointed out to me, the pain of cutting a check to a pro only stings for a minute. Sage advice for anything requiring a multi-day effort.

Why did you not rent a drum or vibrating floor sander.

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Why did you not rent a drum or vibrating floor sander.

We did, but it was still a chore lugging it around and trying not to gouge or burn the floor. My girlfriend struggled to control it, so I ended up doing most of the work. Trying to find 36 or 40-grit paper for a small edge sander is apparently a tall order, too. Ended up having to use an orbital palm sander on the edges because that was the only type of handheld sander we could find 40-grit paper for and the old topcoat was not completely coming off with 60-grit. Home Depot and Lowes only carry 36-grit pads for the big floor sanders they rent. Our local Ace only had the 40-grit orbital pads.

Now I'm looking at the forecast and seeing 90s/humid and going, "Oh fck, we need to get two coats of new poly down before the weekend."

[burd]

We did, but it was still a chore lugging it around and trying not to gouge or burn the floor. My girlfriend struggled to control it, so I ended up doing most of the work. Trying to find 36 or 40-grit paper for a small edge sander is apparently a tall order, too. Ended up having to use an orbital palm sander on the edges because that was the only type of handheld sander we could find 40-grit paper for and the old topcoat was not completely coming off with 60-grit. Home Depot and Lowes only carry 36-grit pads for the big floor sanders they rent. Our local Ace only had the 40-grit orbital pads.

Now I'm looking at the forecast and seeing 90s/humid and going, "Oh fck, we need to get two coats of new poly down before the weekend."

Sounds like you rented a drum sander. They take off a lot of wood but are tricky to master.

Good luck with the finishing.

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Good luck with the finishing.

Two coats down and dry, and it looks quite a bit better than I feared it would. Not a pro job, but most people aren't going to notice my handful of small defects, especially once furniture and rugs go down over them.

[burd]

Two coats down and dry, and it looks quite a bit better than I feared it would. Not a pro job, but most people aren't going to notice my handful of small defects, especially once furniture and rugs go down over them.

Doing things like that on your own home yield a benefit that goes way beyond cash savings.

[dxmnkd316]

Only if it's done right.

90% of homeowners don't.

i suspect fade did it right

[burd]

Only if it's done right.

90% of homeowners don't.

i suspect fade did it right

I think 90% is far too high. Nonprofessionals can do a lot of sweat equity work effectively, such as exterior scraping and painting, floor finishing like fade, interior painting, landscaping, etc. Even putting down tile. And I tend to be critical, having done that work both as a homeowner and as a professional working for others.

Now, things like electrical and plumbing, other than things like changing out a faucet or replacing a toilet, are f cked up all the time by amateurs and can eventually cost them.

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

If an hour or so of YouTube self-instruction counts as "doing it right", then sure. ;-)

I would never move or install new plumbing or electrical myself, lol. Decades ago, my grandfather supposedly tried to do his own wiring at our cabin up north, and then the inspector took one look at it and ordered him to hire a professional to rip everything out and start over.

[WisconsinWildcard]

If an hour or so of YouTube self-instruction counts as "doing it right", then sure. ;-)

I would never move or install new plumbing or electrical myself, lol. Decades ago, my grandfather supposedly tried to do his own wiring at our cabin up north, and then the inspector took one look at it and ordered him to hire a professional to rip everything out and start over.

Bought a house a little over a year ago and we paid to have the floor refinished. Happy we did it as I was living in a different state at the time so it was nice to move into basically a whole house of refinished floors. But also did so much painting, minor wood replacement, landscaping, etc ourselves.

Electrical and plumbing is **** I do not mess with.