c/diy-home-projects

My basement floor patch keeps cracking after a few months

I used a concrete patch mix from the hardware store on a 2-foot wide hole in my basement floor about 4 months ago, and now there's a hairline crack running down the middle again. My neighbor said I probably didn't wet the edges enough before pouring it in. Anyone have a trick for making patches actually stay put in a damp basement?

TIL my basement floor drain was clogged with a tennis ball

I was at my buddy's house last Saturday helping him fix his sink, and he mentioned his floor drain was slow. I told him mine has always been fine. Then I got home and my basement had an inch of water from the washing machine backup. I pulled the grate off the drain and a kid's tennis ball was wedged in there from 3 years ago. Has anyone else found random junk in their floor drains causing problems?

Shoutout to the guy at Home Depot who told me to use a chalk line for tile layout

I was at the Concord store last Saturday grabbing grout, and this older worker saw me staring at tiles. He walked over and said 'you're gonna end up with crooked rows if you don't snap a line first.' Saved me from ripping out half my kitchen floor after I messed up the first row. Anyone else get gold advice from a random store employee?

My neighbor Jim out in the boonies showed me why spray foam insulation is overrated

Jim's been living off grid for 20 years. He pointed at my can of spray foam and said 'you're just trapping moisture in there.' Then he showed me how he uses rock wool and a vapor barrier with a 1 inch air gap. Cost him $400 for his whole 1200 sq ft shop. My spray foam job was $1800 and I'm already seeing condensation in my attic. Has anyone else run into mold problems after foaming?

Fixed a leaky outdoor faucet with a $3 O-ring instead of calling a pro

Last summer at my brother's place in Phoenix, his hose bib was dripping nonstop. I figured it was a worn out washer or O-ring inside. Took me maybe 15 minutes to unscrew the handle, pop out the old rubber, and match it up at the hardware store. Cost me $3 and the drip stopped cold. Has anyone else had luck fixing simple faucet leaks without replacing the whole thing?

Wasted $80 on a fancy paint sprayer, shoulda just rented one

Bought a Wagner sprayer 3 years ago thinking I was gonna save time painting my living room ceiling. First use it clogged up after 20 minutes and I spent more time cleaning it than actually spraying. Finally tossed it last week and rented a Graco from Home Depot for $45 a day. That thing worked perfect. Anyone else learn the hard way that buying cheap tools is usually a mistake?

Spent a whole Saturday chasing a leaky pipe behind a wall I didn't want to cut open

Everyone says "just cut the drywall and patch it after," but that patch cost me three trips to the hardware store and a mismatched texture that still bugs me two months later. Any tips on making drywall repairs blend in better without a pro sprayer?

Found a game changer for patching drywall holes without sanding

Tbh I've always hated sanding drywall compound. The dust gets everywhere and my shop vac can't keep up. But last weekend I tried using a damp sponge instead of sandpaper on a patch job in my hallway. You just wet the sponge lightly and wipe the compound smooth after it sets for about 20 minutes. It took me maybe 15 minutes total for a 6 inch hole and zero dust. Has anyone else tried this method or do you stick with traditional sanding?

My neighbor insisted I was crazy for not back-priming the cut ends of cedar fence boards.

He watched me slap up 80 feet of fencing without hitting a single raw end with primer, then handed me a photo 3 years later showing every single board rotting at the base, and I never skip a seal again, you ever had a local tradesman prove you wrong that hard?

Hit 100 fence posts set this weekend and I'm still standing

Honestly, I've been putting up a cedar split rail fence around my backyard in Austin for the past three Saturdays. I hit 100 posts set in concrete on Sunday afternoon and it totally caught me off guard. I started with like 20 on day one and thought I'd never finish. I just kept digging with my one-man auger and mixing bags of Quikrete by hand. Has anyone else lost count of their progress on a big project and been surprised by the number?

My new electric planer put a gouge in my tabletop in 2 seconds flat

Was smoothing out a pine table last weekend and my electric planer decided to take a chunk out of the middle. My buddy said I was pushing it too fast and not checking the depth setting first. He was right, I had it set to 1/8" instead of like 1/32" and it just grabbed. Any tips on fixing a deep gouge in pine without sanding forever?

Used a dull chisel for 3 years until a neighbor borrowed it and asked why I was basically hammering a butter knife into wood.

He sharpened it in 5 minutes and the first cut through oak felt like slicing butter, so now I'm mad at myself for all those tear-outs and bruised palms, has anyone else been knowingly using dull tools just because you didn't know better?

Found a weird crack in my basement wall last month

Narrow vertical line near the floor, not even a quarter inch wide. Did the tape trick to see if it's growing and now I'm paranoid. Anyone dealt with foundation settling before?

I finally stopped using pressure treated wood for outdoor furniture after it warped on me twice

Built a bench last spring with PT lumber from Home Depot and by August it twisted so bad the legs wobbled. My neighbor Mark who builds decks for a living told me to only use cedar or redwood for stuff that sits flat. He said PT is fine for fences and posts but it moves too much for tables and benches. I wasted $60 on that first bench. Anyone else switch to cedar and see a big difference?

I finally caught someone using wood filler to fix a rotting window frame

My neighbor spent 2 hours filling a rotted window sill with wood filler last weekend, and I told him it'd crack in a month because the rot goes deeper than the surface. He said I was wrong and that filler fixes everything, but from my experience rebuilding 4 windows on my own house, you have to cut out the rot first and use epoxy or replace the piece. Has anyone else dealt with a DIYer who swears by wood filler for rot, or am I the one missing something here?

Hit 200 sheetrock screws in 10 minutes flat and felt like a superhero

I was hanging drywall in my basement and nailed 200 screws in 10 minutes with my impact driver. Has anyone else hit a random speed milestone on a project that made you feel way too proud?

My dad swore by using dish soap to clean paint brushes...

He always said Dawn was better than any fancy brush cleaner, and I gotta admit after 6 years of trying both, the $3 bottle still leaves my brushes softer than the $15 stuff from the hardware store - anyone else have a old timer hack that actually holds up?

My neighbor Frank told me I was overthinking my drywall repair and he was right

I finally learned why my baseboards kept cracking around the corners

Last fall I was trimming out a room at my buddy Tom's place in Austin and he showed me how he copes his baseboard corners instead of using those cheap pre-cut corner blocks. He said a carpenter he worked with in 2019, a guy named Mike, told him that wood moves with humidity and a tight miter joint will always split around 7 months. Now I spend an extra 15 minutes per corner with my coping saw and I haven't seen a single crack since. Has anyone else switched over to coping and never looked back?

Started a debate with my neighbor about painting over wallpaper

My neighbor Mark said he's been painting over wallpaper for 20 years with no issues. I told him that's a bad idea because the moisture can loosen the glue and cause bubbling. He showed me his living room that's held up fine for 5 years now. Has anyone else tried this and had it fail down the road?

Shoutout to the guy at the lumber yard who saved my deck project

I was building a small deck last month, about 8x10 feet in my backyard in Portland. Some random dude waiting in line saw me picking out pressure treated wood and said I was grabbing boards that were too wet. He told me to check the end grain for cracks and look for a moisture content under 19%. I dismissed him at first but grabbed a moisture meter from Harbor Freight for 15 bucks. Turns out the first stack I picked was reading 28% and would have warped in a month. Who else has gotten game changing advice from a random stranger on a project?

Shoutout to my neighbor for changing my mind about reclaimed wood

Last month I saw him build a whole bookshelf from pallets and it actually looked legit, so I tried it myself on a small shelf last week. Has anyone else had luck staining pallet wood without it looking like a mess?

Debate: Do you really need to replace a whole deck board or is patching it fine?

I was reading a forum post about deck repairs and found out that a single pressure treated 2x6 costs about $8 at Home Depot, but some folks swear you gotta replace the whole board if there's rot, while others just cut out the bad spot and patch it with a piece and some joist tape. I'm leaning towards patching because it saves time and wood, but my neighbor in Ohio says it'll fail in 2 years. Which side do you fall on for a DIY deck fix?

Painted my bathroom three times because I kept skipping primer

Last month I decided to paint my small bathroom a nice teal color. The first coat looked blotchy and uneven so I did a second one. Still looked terrible with the old white showing through in spots. Finally broke down and bought a $12 gallon of primer, put one coat on, and the teal covered perfectly in a single coat after that. Anyone else swear by primer or do you think it's a waste of time and money like I used to?

TIL my cheap caulking gun was why my bathroom trim looked terrible

Watched a pro at the Habitat ReStore demo a Ratchet Rod caulk gun last Saturday, and now I finally understand why my beads always had those gaps and blobs - never going back to the $5 squeeze specials, has anyone else noticed how much simpler good tools make the finish work?