c/diy-home-projects

22

west.casey•4h ago

PSA: That cheap palm sander from Harbor Freight smoked out after 15 minutes on a single cabinet door

I overheard a guy at the hardware store say you don't need expensive tools for weekend projects but after 3 tries with different sanders from there I learned the hard way that spending $25 on one just means buying another one the next weekend, has anyone else burned through budget sanders faster than sandpaper?

35

jana881•1d ago

Bought a cheap paint sprayer and regretted it after 2 rooms

I thought I was saving money by grabbing a $40 sprayer from the hardware store for my living room and hallway. First room looked okay but the second one had globs all over the trim and it clogged twice on me. Tried cleaning it three times but the nozzle just wouldn't spray right after that. Ended up spending more on brushes and roller covers to fix it anyway. Anyone else had a cheap sprayer fail on them mid project?

10

reese_lee9•2d ago

My dad questioned why I spent $200 on a track saw instead of a circular saw

Last weekend my dad came over to help me build some garage shelves and he saw my new track saw on the workbench. He asked why I spent so much when a regular circular saw can do the same job for way less. I showed him how the track saw gave me dead straight cuts on some 8 foot plywood without needing to clamp a straight edge down. Has anyone else had to justify a tool upgrade to a family member who just doesn't get it?

10

the_wendy•2d ago

Painted myself into a corner trimming baseboards with a miter saw

All those videos said compound miter cuts would take 10 minutes but it took me three hours and a trip to the hardware store for a coping saw to get my inside corners to actually fit tight, anyone else find coping way easier than trying to match angles perfect?

2

nancyjones•5d ago

Old water heater finally gave out in the middle of a shower

My 40 gallon Rheem from 2008 started leaking at 6 AM last Tuesday while I was rinsing shampoo out. Had to drain it, haul it to the curb, and install a new one by myself since my helper was on another job. Anyone else had a water heater fail at the worst possible time?

25

sean854•5d ago

My basement floor drain backed up at 11 PM on a Saturday

Was in the middle of finishing the laundry room when I heard gurgling. Next thing I know, gray water is creeping across the concrete. Turns out a wad of old paint chips and mortar had blocked the line for years. Spent Sunday with a shop vac and a drain snake in the dark. Anyone else deal with mystery clogs that show up at the worst possible time?

19

diana_kim66•6d ago

Tried to fix a leaky faucet in my bathroom and flooded the whole cabinet underneath

I was just tightening what I thought was the compression nut under the sink in my apartment in Philly, and the whole brass fitting snapped off, spraying water everywhere for like 5 minutes before I found the shutoff valve. Had to tear out the particle board shelf and run a dehumidifier for three days straight - has anyone else had one of those $10 repair jobs turn into a $200 headache?

3

murray.cora•10d ago

My $30 shower re-caulking job took 6 hours and I'm still mad about it

I thought I could recaulk my master shower in under an hour like the YouTube guys do. It ended up taking me a whole Saturday because I didn't realize how hard it is to get the old silicone out of the corners. I must have spent 4 hours just scraping and cleaning before I could even put the new stuff on. Has anyone else had a simple caulk job turn into a whole day project?

24

max223•11d ago

I rebuilt my deck with composite instead of pressure treated wood

After three summers of splinters and staining I finally put in Trex and now I just hose it off whenever it gets dirty, has anyone else made the switch and found it worth the extra cost?

26

rileygarcia•12d ago

My father-in-law said I was crazy for using a level on every stud

He's been framing houses since the 80s and never uses one, just eyeballs it. Last weekend I helped him finish a wall in his garage and we hung drywall on it - three of the seams were so wavy we had to shim the corners. After 2 hours of extra sanding he finally admitted maybe I wasn't totally wrong. Has anyone else had an old-timer tell you their shortcut is better but it ends up costing more time?

16

calebc40•12d ago

My basement lighting upgrade cost me a whole Saturday

I spent 6 hours last weekend swapping out the old fluorescent shop lights in my basement for LED linkable panels from Home Depot. I figured it would be a quick 2 hour job but I hit a snag when the mounting brackets didn't line up with the studs in my drop ceiling. Has anyone else run into weird mounting issues with those LED panels?

6

sean854•14d ago

Rant: My $20 attempt at fixing a sagging gutter cost me $200 last month

I figured a quick fix with some brackets from Home Depot would hold up my back gutter in Portland. After a solid rainstorm, it ripped off the fascia and dumped water right into my crawlspace. Turns out the real problem was a clogged downspout that I ignored for like 3 years. Anyone else learn the hard way that patching symptoms never works with gutters?

21

sagecooper•1mo ago

Swapped my standard drywall screws for the ones with the deeper Phillips head

Saw a guy on a jobsite using the GRK type screws and laughed at him for spending more. Then I put 150 of them in without a single strip or cam-out and realized I've been making things harder for myself for 20 years. Anyone else finally make a simple fastener swap that changed how you work?

18

fiona_kim•1mo ago

Painted my whole living room and hit exactly 3 gallons used

I just finished painting my 12x16 living room in Austin and the math worked out perfectly. Three gallons of Valspar paint covered two coats on the walls, the ceiling, and the trim with barely any left over. Has anyone else ever nailed a project like that where the supplies lined up almost too perfect?

0

hannah320•1mo ago

Had a painter tell me I was using too much primer on trim and he was right

Last year I was painting all the trim in my 1920s house in Portland. I kept doing three coats of primer because I thought more would hide the old wood grain better. Then a friend who paints houses for a living came by and told me I was wasting time and money. He said one good coat of oil-based primer is all you need if you sand and clean the wood right first. I tried his way on the living room baseboards and the finish came out smoother than any of my triple-primed work. Saved me about $40 on primer and two days of work for the whole house. Has anyone else had good luck cutting down on primer coats?

9

hannah320•1mo ago

Discovered that painter's tape is not just for painting after using it to label every wire before replacing a light fixture in our 1920s house

I spent a full Saturday tracing unlabeled knob-and-tube wiring in the attic before I tried flagging each wire with a small piece of tape and a sharpie, and it saved me three hours of guessing which black wire went where, has anyone else found a weird second use for a basic tool like that?

15

felix414•1mo ago

I tried pocket hole joinery vs plain butt joints on my last bookshelf build

I built two identical bookshelves from pine last month, one with pocket holes and one with just wood glue and nails. The pocket hole shelf still sits perfectly level after loading it up with about 40 pounds of books, while the other one already has a sag in the middle. I thought the extra $20 for the jig and screws was a waste but now I get why everyone uses them. The nails just pull out over time, especially on softer wood like pine. Has anyone else seen a big difference switching to a stronger joinery method for simple shelves?

27

annajenkins•1mo ago

Finally tried the painter's tape trick for drilling precise holes in tile

Put a piece of tape over the spot, marked it with a sharpie, and the drill bit didn't wander at all - saved me from cracking a $12 subway tile on my backsplash project.

3

hayden_craig95•1mo ago

Feathering mud wider than needed on drywall joints is still a thing people get wrong

Was helping a buddy tape his basement walls last month in Aurora. He was spreading joint compound like a foot wide on every seam. I told him to keep it around 6 inches for the first coat. He said his dad always did it wide. Then we had to sand for 3 hours to fix the bubbles. In my experience the wider you go the more you have to sand. Has anyone else noticed new DIYers doing this or is it just me?

0

mark_ward•1mo ago

Found a cheap trick for levelling cabinets at a thrift store in Denver

I was poking around this old thrift shop last weekend and noticed a guy using ceramic tile shims under his base cabinets instead of buying those expensive plastic packs. He said a box of 50 cost him $4 and they hold up way better against moisture. Has anyone else tried something like that for getting things plumb?

6

claire_young76•1mo ago

I used to think caulking was optional until my baseboards looked terrible 6 months later

Everyone online always says caulk everything but I figured paint would fill the gaps just fine... big mistake. After a dry winter, I had these big ugly cracks where the baseboard met the wall in my living room. My neighbor came over and pointed out I needed to use paintable caulk on every joint, not just corners. I spent a whole Saturday redoing a 12 foot section in my hallway and it looked 10 times better. Now I actually take the time to run a bead along every seam before painting. Has anyone else dealt with gaps showing up after the seasons change?

30

hollywhite•1mo ago

Built a bookshelf that ended up 4 inches too tall for the alcove after I already stained it

Measured three times, cut once, right? Nope. I measured the alcove height but forgot to account for the baseboards being deeper than I thought. So the shelf unit sits on the floor but the top sticks out past the top trim. I had to take the whole thing apart, cut 4 inches off each vertical piece, re-stain the cut ends, and reassemble. Took me an extra 6 hours on a Saturday. Anyone else ever mis-measure something and have to basically rebuild it?

15

angelarivera•1mo ago

The IKEA display kitchens taught me a cheap trick for fake marble countertops

I was walking through the showroom in Brooklyn last week and noticed they used peel-and-stick vinyl wrap on one of the MDF countertops to mimic marble, so I tried it on my own laminate counters for $30 and it's held up through three months of coffee spills and hot pans, has anyone else tried this fake stone hack?

3

charles_young92•1mo ago

Unpopular opinion: painting over old wallpaper is fine if you do it right

I overheard a guy at the hardware store last weekend tell his friend to always strip wallpaper before painting, but I've done it twice in my 1920s bungalow and it held up perfect for 3 years now. I used a quality primer and took the time to fix all the bubbles first, so maybe that's the real trick. Has anyone else here actually tried this method and had it work long term?

31

blakestone•1mo ago

PSA: Stop using spackle on drywall screws, just learn to dimple them right

Was at a Habitat for Humanity build in Phoenix last month and this old foreman stopped me mid-motion. I was about to dab spackle over every screw head and he goes "son, you're making more work for yourself." He showed me how to set the screw just below the surface with the right depth. Took me maybe 20 minutes to unlearn my bad habit. Has anyone else had a random stranger save them hours of sanding?