The Home Improvement Thread. Successes and Failures

[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 shit I do not mess with.

 

[DonaldD]

After living in a few new houses that I built, the wife and I decided to down size to a smaller ranch built in the 1960s. The kids were finishing high school and we didn't need the space. We found one in a great location with some things already done. We bought the house in the fall of 2019. So far I have:
Built a 10x10 shed.
Remodeled the living room with new hardwood flooring, paint and alder doors/trim.
Gutted the main bath and installed tile in the tub shower and the floor by https://www.festfloor.pl/. Built a custom vanity and recessed mirror/light. Paint and alder door/trim
Converted the single stall attached garage into an indoor/outdoor bar with an indoor golf simulator in it. Installed field stone siding around the new bar door.
Removed and replaced the shingled roof with steel and new gutters.
This summer I am adding a 26x28 attached garage and I have some trim to paint. which will cut into my golf rounds, significantly.
Next year it will be a new kitchen cabinets, paint and flooring. Some pictures.
I'm already starting to wish that I just built a new ranch

 

[dxmnkd316]

Converted the single stall attached garage into an indoor/outdoor bar with an indoor golf simulator in it. Installed field stone siding around the new bar door.

Thread over.

 

[French Rage]

It's easy to do all that when you're a bot.

 

[St. Clown]

After living in a few new houses that I built, the wife and I decided to down size to a smaller ranch built in the 1960s. The kids were finishing high school and we didn't need the space. We found one in a great location with some things already done. We bought the house in the fall of 2019. So far I have:
Built a 10x10 shed.
Remodeled the living room with new hardwood flooring, paint and alder doors/trim.
Gutted the main bath and installed tile in the tub shower and the floor. Built a custom vanity and recessed mirror/light. Paint and alder door/trim
Converted the single stall attached garage into an indoor/outdoor bar with an indoor golf simulator in it. Installed field stone siding around the new bar door.
Removed and replaced the shingled roof with steel and new gutters.
This summer I am adding a 26x28 attached garage and I have some trim to paint. which will cut into my golf rounds, significantly.
Next year it will be a new kitchen cabinets, paint and flooring. Some pictures.
I'm already starting to wish that I just built a new ranch

You and I seem to have bought a house at roughly the same time. While I can’t claim to have done all of their myself, or anywhere near the scope the work you’ve done...

*Fixed kitchen drawers that fell apart
*Fixed a Venetian blind that kept falling apart when pulled the wrong way
*Built a storage rack in the basement utility room
*Built shelves in the office closet
*Built garage racking
*Replaced the kitchen faucet
*Replaced the driveway (contractor)
*Fixed both slow draining bath tubs
*Tore out a bunch of overgrown lilies obstructing the operation of my A/C
*Painted the nursery
*Painted the office
*Built 10x12 shed
*Tore down the old shed
*Tore out a 3 old, badly placed lilac bushes
*Cut down a sickly looking pine tree
*Replaced front entry door (contractor)
*De-squeaked all of the squeaky doors
*Replaced over-the-range microwave, which required slightly reshaping one of the cabinets.
*Repainted most of the basement walls
*Added water supply for new refrigerator (contractor)
*Replacing next week both furnace and A/C because a prior owner really fucked up the A/C badly and nobody knows how much that’s badly impacted everything else related to the HVAC system. (Contractor)

I think there’s more, but that’s what I can recall at the moment.

 

[St. Clown]

Anybody know of a good way to stop the squeak between the floor slats of a hardwood floor? My house was built in 1955, and I’m mostly certain that the floors are original.

Reading on some sites, I saw powdered graphite rubbed into the seams is supposed to work. It didn’t, and the aftermath mess has me really regretting that I did it. Of course, Murphy’s Law is in play here in that the boards are loudest just outside my toddler’s room.

 

[burd]

Anybody know of a good way to stop the squeak between the floor slats of a hardwood floor? My house was built in 1955, and I’m mostly certain that the floors are original.

Reading on some sites, I saw powdered graphite rubbed into the seams is supposed to work. It didn’t, and the aftermath mess has me really regretting that I did it. Of course, Murphy’s Law is in play here in that the boards are loudest just outside my toddler’s room.

Did you try the graphite fix during the driest time of year, when the separation between boards would be greatest (depending on your climate control)? If the squeaking is coming from where the old rusted nails pass through the hardwood, the graphite will be of no use. With tongue and groove flooring, it's hard to see how that would work in any event.

Do you have access to the floor joists from below? Absent other fixes (such as humidity control), reducing the flex in the floor with cross braces or more direct means might be a way to mitigate the problem.

I guess the last resort would be to just tell your toddler it's monsters outside their door.

 

[St. Clown]

Sadly, no, I don’t have access to the floor joists in that part of the house, only under the kitchen, where the utility room is located. I have some fancy shims and screws to handle that part of the house. The rest of the basement is finished.

 

[The Sicatoka]

Re: The Home Improvement Thread. Successes and Failures


Any electrical appliance could kill you if you do the wrongs things, doesn't have to draw a lot of current to do it.

The old US Nuke Navy training was 50 VDC can kill you. It was based on 100 mA across the heart and a totally conductive, minimum resistive (salty sweated up to max) human drops to about 500 ohms hand to other hand (aka - across heart) --> 50 V/500 ohms = 0.1 A (aka 100 mA).

Since then they've found you can go as low as 300 ohms. --> The saw is now 30 VDC can kill you.

 

[The Sicatoka]

Did you try the graphite fix during the driest time of year, when the separation between boards would be greatest (depending on your climate control)?

Talcum powder is another option (same application criteria).

 

[The Sicatoka]

Yo, burd , where were you, bro, on Saturday morning? Your brush was waiting for you, and, I thought you said if you couldn't make it you'd at least send SJHovey.

I had to sand and repaint (two coats!) all six Adirondack chairs for the fire pit by myself. I used an exterior latex (that was like natural peanut butter if you put it 30 second in the microwave). They look great but the elbow and rotator let me know about it.

 

[burd]

Yo, burd , where were you, bro, on Saturday morning? Your brush was waiting for you, and, I thought you said if you couldn't make it you'd at least send SJHovey.

I had to sand and repaint (two coats!) all six Adirondack chairs for the fire pit by myself. I used an exterior latex (that was like natural peanut butter if you put it 30 second in the microwave). They look great but the elbow and rotator let me know about it.

What can I say? Hovey was supposed to be there.

The sanding part of that makes me hurt too.

 

[The Sicatoka]

Roll forward and the chairs came out great.

 

[The Sicatoka]

Sometimes you call a pro is the moral here.

A neighbor was selling their house. Buyer's home inspector quashed the sale saying roof needed replacing from August 2020 hail storm. I didn't think the storm was that bad (small, short duration). I couldn't see anything on mine. But after that roof got replaced, some additional neighbors (hand up) asked the roofer to take a look.

Most of my area, including me, will be getting new roofs, and in my case new "whirlybirds" (attic vents), fire place caps and vents, and rain gutters. But it was a strange storm -- shingles in the 'hood over about 13 years old failed, but the 10 year old shingles on my garden shed had nary a mark.

Given the thought of the cost of replacing my roof is a real gut ache, knowing my insurance company is doing it was well worth a conversation with a roofer and a call to my agent (to get their inspector out*).


*The insurance inspector found more damage than the roofer!

 

[state of hockey]

Water heater bit the dust. We knew it was bad, but lost track of calling the warranty outfit earlier. We got very lucky, a lot came out when I drained the thing. I think I caught it early. Some damp carpet, already dry after a day or two of fans. No standing water down there or anything.

Had the new one installed today. Plumber said the old one was too tall. The vent didn't have enough vertical length before bending to the slanted portion. Basically melted the top of the thing. We've got a low boy now, but it is still the same 40 gallons.

Noticed the plastic rings around the hot and cold lines coming out the top are already warping. This dang thing is backdrafting. As you could imagine, I'm very eager to figure out why. Even more so to pay for the fix.

 

[St. Clown]

I just came home from Menards.

2x4-8ft construction stud = $12.09 WT Fuck?!
2x3-8ft construction stud = $7.69

i was grabbing for the 2x4 until I saw the price. I’m just building some shelves for inside my shed, and don’t need that much strength. Thankfully.

Going back to my post from May 15 for reference.

A 2x4x8 is now selling for $5.75 at Menards.
The 2x3x8 is now $5.09.