c/diy-home-projects

Spent $20 on a wet tile saw blade vs. a $5 cheap one and the cut quality difference was night and day on my kitchen backsplash last weekend - has anyone else noticed cheap blades just burn through material faster?

I was fighting chipped edges and burning smells for three hours with the budget blade and swapped to the better one and finished the whole backsplash in under an hour with zero chips.

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grant.jason•12h ago

Debate: sanding between primer coats or just rolling on two thick layers?

I painted my living room last week in Austin and spent 4 hours sanding between primer coats for that smooth finish. But my neighbor swears he just rolls on two thick layers of Behr Premium Plus and it looks fine for years. Which side are you on? Has anyone actually compared the final look side by side?

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baker.ben•19h ago

Tried using a pressure washer on my deck without checking the PSI first

I borrowed my buddy's electric pressure washer last weekend to clean my deck in Portland. Hooked it up, sprayed some cleaner, and started blasting away. After 10 minutes I noticed the wood looked shredded in spots like someone took a wire brush to it. Turns out his machine puts out 2000 PSI and I should've used a wider tip or lower setting. The deck's all fuzzy and rough now. Gotta sand the whole thing down before I can stain it. Anybody know a good way to fix that kind of damage without replacing boards?

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hayden587•22h ago

Found a trick for painting trim without tape at a hardware store demo in Austin

I was at this Lowe's in Austin last Saturday and a rep showed me how to use a 2-inch angled sash brush with a light touch to cut in clean lines on baseboards. He said you gotta load the brush right and keep a wet edge, no tape needed. I tried it on my living room trim and saved like 3 hours of taping time. Anyone else skip the tape and just get good with a brush?

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charles_coleman•3d ago

Blew a hole in my drywall with a hammer drill last weekend

I was mounting a TV bracket in my living room and the bit caught on a metal stud, wrenching the drill sideways into the wall. Took me two hours and a bucket of joint compound to patch that 4-inch gash before the paint would even stick. Has anyone else had a drill slip and wreck their wall like that?

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thompson.robin•3d ago

Took me 3 tries to get drywall tape right before I finally watched a pro do it

I used to think those mesh tape patches were just as good as paper tape for flat joints. After my bedroom closet project in Albany left me with cracks showing through after 2 months I figured I was doing something wrong. My buddy who does remodeling for a living came over and showed me how he embeds paper tape into a thin bed of mud first. He let me run my hand over the finished spot and you literally can't feel the seam at all. The difference was night and day compared to my old method where I just slapped tape over dry mud. Now I only use the mesh stuff for corners and it's been holding strong for over a year now. Has anyone else switched their taping method after seeing it done the right way?

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patwest•9d ago

Didnt realize how much drywall dust I was making until I weighed it

I was cleaning up after mudding a bedroom in my house in Toledo and decided to weigh the dust pile out of curiosity. It was over 12 pounds from just one small room, which shocked me since I always thought it wasnt that much. Has anyone else measured what their projects actually leave behind?

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lee_bailey65•10d ago

Tried to fix a leaky bathroom sink. Made it way worse.

Last weekend I was under my sink in Denver. Tightened the p-trap too hard and cracked it. Water sprayed everywhere, soaked the cabinet. Had to run to Home Depot at 8pm for a new one. Anybody else ever turn a small fix into a bigger mess?

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ryan719•10d ago

Found out a heat gun works way better than a scraper for old wallpaper glue

I spent two full afternoons scraping a single wall in my 1920s kitchen in Buffalo, barely making a dent in that sticky glue residue. Then I remembered a guy at work mentioning a heat gun for softening old adhesives, so I borrowed one from a neighbor and hit the worst spot. Anyone else have a random tool they tried that made a horrible job suddenly go smooth?

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kevin_carr•10d ago

Spent $80 on an electric paint sprayer that gave me nothing but grief

Bought one of those cheap HVLP sprayers from the hardware store thinking I'd save time on painting my living room ceiling, and ended up with paint everywhere except where I wanted it. Has anyone else had better luck with those things or is it just me?

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christopher_flores46•12d ago

Plywood vs MDF for garage shelves, I learned the hard way

Built a set of shelves in my garage last month using 3/4 MDF because it was $20 cheaper per sheet. After loading them with paint cans and tools, the middle shelf bowed almost 2 inches in the first week. Should I rip it all out and switch to plywood now or can I add a support beam underneath to fix it?

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jackson.jenny•12d ago

Vent: That time a plumber told me my PVC glue job was 'garbage' and I got mad, then grateful

I was redoing all the drain lines under my kitchen sink in my 1920s house in Portland. Used that orange Oatey heavy duty PVC cement, thought I did a solid job. Plumber buddy stopped by to borrow my saw and just laughed. Said I was using way too much glue and it was pooling inside the pipes, which would catch debris and clog eventually. I was so annoyed at first, felt like he was nitpicking. But he showed me how the excess glue was actually dripping down and forming these little ridges inside the joints. So I had to cut it all out and start over, using just a thin coat on the male end and a swipe on the female. Total pain but the new joints are so clean and no leaks after 6 months. Has anyone else had a pro give you a tip that made you redo your whole project?

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blair_allen•13d ago

Appreciation post: The old timer who taught me to measure twice on framing

Last summer I was building a shed in my backyard in Columbus and kept messing up my stud spacing. An older neighbor walked over, saw my pile of scrap wood, and just said "you're cutting before you think." He showed me his system: mark every layout line in pencil first, then check each measurement against the total before making one cut. Saved me from wasting another 40 bucks on lumber that day. Has anyone else had a random neighbor save them from a dumb mistake on a project?

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taraw16•13d ago

Frozen pipe burst in my basement at 3 AM on Christmas Eve

I was up late wrapping presents when I heard water dripping. Ran downstairs and saw a crack in the copper pipe near the foundation. Turned off the main valve quick but water was already everywhere. Used a compression fitting and a torch to patch it since no hardware stores were open. Anybody got a better way to handle emergency pipe repairs without calling a plumber at 3 AM?

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iris_rivera44•15d ago

That week last summer when my bathroom reno just kept going wrong

I decided to retile my bathroom floor last June and it was supposed to take three days. Day one went fine until I realized the old mortar was way thicker than I expected and my floor height was off. Then on day two I dropped a brand new tile saw blade and it chipped the edge beyond fixing. By day three my wife was asking if we were ever gonna get our shower back. I spent another full day just leveling the subfloor with self-leveling compound and waiting for it to dry. The worst part was the grout drying a weird shade of gray because I mixed a batch wrong. It all worked out in the end but that week cost me an extra $150 and a lot of late nights. Has anyone else had a project snowball like that where you just keep finding new problems?

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claire443•16d ago

That $40 spray foam kit turned my attic into a disaster zone

Bought a cheap DIY closed-cell foam kit online, and it expanded so much it pushed my ridge vent right off the roof. Has anyone else had a simple insulating project backfire this badly?

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skylercooper•16d ago

Found a simple fix for squeaky subfloors that actually worked

My house was built in 1987 and those squeaks in the hallway were driving me crazy. I tried screwing the existing boards back down, but nothing held. What finally worked was using 2 inch construction screws with a special collar that stops the screw head from snapping off, about 30 screws total on a 12 foot run. Has anyone else had luck with a different method for older subfloors?

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wren_carr•17d ago

Am I the only one who swapped out hollow-core doors for solid ones and instantly felt my house got quieter by half?

After putting solid-core doors on all 4 bedrooms last spring my nightly noise from the living room TV dropped like crazy, anyone else notice that difference or is it just me?

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kai_bennett•20d ago

My new bathroom ceiling paint started peeling after three days

I followed all the instructions on the can, primed it, waited 24 hours between coats. Then yesterday morning I found big flakes sitting on the floor. Has anyone else had trouble with paint just not sticking to a freshly dried ceiling?

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skyler_mitchell•21d ago

Finally figured out I was using my paint sprayer totally backwards

I spent like 6 months fighting with my HVLP sprayer getting all these drips and uneven coats on my dining room wainscoting. Last week I was cleaning it after another failed attempt and noticed the fluid nozzle was actually on upside down. The little air holes were pointing at the cup instead of the tip. I flipped it around and my next test pass on cardboard came out perfect. Has anyone else had a similar "oh duh" moment with a tool they've been using wrong for way too long?

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the_cameron•21d ago

I tried painting my kitchen cabinets without sanding them first. That was 2 months ago.

Last month I decided to finally refinish my oak cabinets in the kitchen. I saw a bunch of videos online saying you can just use this special bonding primer and skip all the sanding. So I gave it a shot on a Saturday morning. About three weeks later the paint started peeling right off around the handles and on the edges of the doors. Now I have to strip everything down and start over, which means my kitchen's been a mess for weeks. My neighbor who does this stuff for a living came over and just shook his head. He said you really gotta rough up that factory finish or nothing sticks long term. Has anyone else tried the no-sand route and had it actually hold up after a few months?

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xenarobinson•24d ago

Finally figured out why my closet shelving kept sagging after 3 tries

Turns out I was using regular particle board instead of plywood with a 3/4 inch thickness, and now the new shelves have held up 40 pounds of blankets for 6 months without bowing at all has anyone else made this mistake with shelving materials?

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henrygrant•27d ago

Made the call to go with laminate over real hardwood for the basement

I spent like 3 weekends going back and forth on this. Real hardwood was gonna run me about $4 a square foot more and honestly, I kept thinking about moisture down there. Went with a mid range laminate that looks pretty decent and after a year, it still looks perfect even after my kid spilled a whole drink on it. Has anyone else just given up on real wood in basements?

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calebw50•27d ago

I finally replaced my 15 year old drill with a brushless one and wow what a difference

My old cordless drill from 2009 finally gave up after I dropped it off a ladder last week. Got a new brushless one on sale for $80 at the hardware store. First thing I noticed was how much lighter it is. Second thing was the battery lasted through a whole weekend of building a deck without needing a charge. My old one would have died after like 2 hours. Anyone else made the switch and notice a big difference?

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thompson.robin•27d ago

Stopped by a Habitat ReStore yesterday and saw a $300 faucet for $40

Was looking for cabinet handles and found a barely used Delta touchless faucet still in the box. The employees said it sat for two hours before someone grabbed it. Have any of you scored big at ReStore or other salvage spots?

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