c/diy-renovations

20

elliot_miller22•1d ago

Appreciation post: The old hardware store near me still mixes paint by hand

Stopped into McGregor's Hardware over on Elm Street last Saturday to grab a quart of eggshell for a bathroom touch-up. The guy behind the counter actually pulled out a stirring stick and started mixing it manually instead of just shaking it on the machine. Am I the only one who thinks there's something special about places that still do things the old way like that?

13

wesley83•1d ago

Painted my kitchen cabinets over a weekend and the difference is night and day

I finally did it after putting it off for like 2 years. My cabinets were that ugly 90s oak with the orange tint. Started Friday night with a degreaser and sanding, then used a tinted shellac primer. By Sunday evening I had them done in a matte navy blue. Cost me about $65 for paint and supplies total. Did anyone else see a huge change just from painting cabinets instead of replacing them?

20

daniel552•4d ago

Caught myself tiling the wrong way for 15 years

I was redoing my bathroom floor last month and my buddy who's a contractor stopped by. He watched me lay out the tiles and said I was starting from the wrong wall, should've found center first. I've been doing it the same way since my first house in 2012 and never once questioned it. Anyone else have one of those moments where you realized you've been doing a basic thing totally backwards?

17

gavin_clark•5d ago

Caught my neighbor complaining about my fence repair last weekend

I was staining my side of the fence last Saturday when I heard my neighbor Mark on the phone saying I was doing it wrong and the boards would rot in a year. He didn't know I could hear him through the gap. I've been using exterior grade stain for 8 years and never had rot issues. Turned out he was mad I didn't ask his permission to work on 'his side' of the property line. Has anyone else dealt with a neighbor who thinks they know your DIY project better than you do?

3

gavins43•5d ago

6 months into tiling my bathroom floor before I realized the pattern was upside down

My buddy came over and asked why the tile pattern looked like it was pointing to the ceiling, then I looked at the box and realized I had been installing them wrong the whole time. Has anyone else made a silly mistake that took way too long to notice?

27

the_beth•5d ago

That week I tried skim coating my living room ceiling solo

I spent 5 straight evenings after my mail route up on a ladder with a 12 inch taping knife, and by Thursday my neck was so wrecked I could barely look left to check for traffic. Has anyone else tackled a whole ceiling alone and found a way to not feel like a pretzel the next day?

12

blake302•7d ago

TIL I've been mixing thinset wrong for 10 years

A tile pro at the supply house told me I need to let it slake for 10 minutes before mixing again, and my last bathroom floor came out way flatter. Why do none of the bag instructions mention that step clearly? Anyone else skip this and get lumpy results?

16

aaron_ellis42•7d ago

Why does nobody talk about using drywall shims for cabinet leveling?

I was trying to install some IKEA cabinets in my kitchen last weekend and the floors are so uneven in my 1920s house. I spent like 2 hours trying to get the first cabinet level with those little plastic feet they give you. Then my neighbor came over and handed me a pack of drywall shims. Said to use those behind the cabinets to shim them level against the wall and at the base. It worked way faster than messing with those feet. The cabinets now sit solid with no wobble. Has anyone else used this trick for kitchen cabinets?

23

sarah198•10d ago

Tiling debate with my neighbor that still bugs me

My neighbor Dave insisted I needed backbutter on every single tile for my kitchen backsplash. I told him for small subway tiles in a dry area it's overkill, just notch the wall. He got all red in the face and said I'd have callbacks within a year. Three years later everything is still solid. So which side are you on, do you backbutter every tile even for small walls?

10

kai_bennett•11d ago

That contractor who told me to skip the vapor barrier cost me $3,000

Ngl, I hired a guy who claimed he'd been doing basements for 20 years. He said vapor barriers were a waste of money in our climate here in Portland. I listened because he was local and seemed confident. Six months later I had mold creeping up the drywall and had to rip everything out. Has anyone else dealt with a contractor's bad advice that ended up costing way more than doing it right the first time?

17

janac59•11d ago

Flipped my opinion on drywall mud after a painter laughed at me

I was at Home Depot last Saturday grabbing joint compound for a small patch job, and some painter guy saw me reaching for the premix buckets and just shook his head. He told me quick-set powder is way easier for small fixes because it doesn't shrink or crack, and it sets in 20 minutes without waiting overnight. Has anyone else found a trick like that that completely changed how you do a simple job?

12

taylor_flores•13d ago

My attempt at restoring an old wooden window turned into a total disaster

I tried to fix up a 1950s casement window in my 1920s bungalow here in Portland (thinking it would be a quick weekend project) and ended up cracking the glass when the frame warped. Turns out the original lead paint (yeah, that was a fun discovery) had bonded the sash to the frame way more than I expected. I had to shell out $120 for a replacement pane from a local glass shop and now I'm wondering if I should've just hired a pro from the start. Has anyone else had a DIY window restoration go this sideways?

10

hugo236•14d ago

Had a drywall guy tell me I was wasting time with my mudding technique

I spent like 6 months doing 5 or 6 thin coats on every drywall seam because I thought that was the only way to get a flat finish. Last weekend a buddy brought over his dad who does drywall for a living and he watched me work for maybe 5 minutes. He just said "why are you leaving so much mud in the middle? you're creating twice the sanding work for yourself." He showed me how to apply a heavier coat and feather it way wider on each pass so the ridge flattens out naturally. Tried it on a closet wall and finished in 2 coats what normally took me 4 or 5. Sanding was way easier too since there wasn't a big hump to grind down. Has anyone else had to unlearn some basic technique they thought was right?

20

eva_ward88•14d ago

Walked through a 1920s bungalow in Denver and saw the original plaster moldings still intact

The owner said they used a lime-based plaster mix and a horsehair base coat that's held up for nearly a century. Has anyone here tried matching that kind of old school plaster work on a reno?

11

cameron_owens49•15d ago

Try to tile a backsplash without spacers and see what happens

I thought I could eyeball the gaps on my kitchen backsplash and save $8 on spacers. Turns out my lines are so crooked it looks like a funhouse mirror in there. Anybody know if I can just rip it all out and start over without wrecking the drywall?

20

mark676•16d ago

Am I the only one who used to just slap joint compound on cracks without taping first?

Finally got a clean finish on my drywall repair after I started using fiberglass mesh tape and a 6-inch knife, swear it cut my sanding time by half - anyone else have a go-to tape trick that made a big difference?

7

abby_henderson•16d ago

Just hit 50 electrical boxes wired in my basement and the 51st nearly burned the house down

Thought I had it all figured out after 50 boxes. Then I went to put in a new outlet and realized I'd been stripping way too much wire on every single one. The exposed copper was almost touching the metal box on the last one. Anyone else hit a milestone and then realize they've been doing something dangerous the whole time?

23

abbyc33•17d ago

Finally got the hang of feathering drywall mud after 6 bad patches

I kept getting those hard ridges between coats on my bathroom reno in Denver until an old painter told me to feather out the edges way further than I thought, like 12 inches instead of 4. Tried it on my last patch job and the sanding was literally half the work this time. Anyone else have a simple trick that took them way too long to figure out?

4

barbara_taylor83•19d ago

Vent: used to mud drywall like a maniac til I caught what was really slowing me down

I was putting on thick coats and sanding forever for 2 years until a buddy showed me how to do thin passes with a 12 inch blade. Why did nobody tell me it saves like 4 hours per room? Anyone else learn a basic trick way later than they should have?

2

troy_wilson8•1mo ago

Finally figured out how to cut crown molding without crying

I used to fight with crown molding for hours... trying to get those inside corners right with just a miter saw and guesswork. Last month I picked up a cheap compound miter saw from a guy on Craigslist in Denver for $60. Turns out flipping the board upside down and using the fence as a guide makes all the difference, who knew. My first try after watching a 10 minute video on YouTube gave me a joint that actually fit tight on the first cut. I wasted maybe 30 feet of lumber before that practicing bad technique from some old articles. Now I can finish a whole room of crown in like 2 hours instead of a full weekend. Anybody else have a tool or trick that totally changed how you do trim work?

25

the_joel•1mo ago

Wasted $200 on a cheap spray gun that clogged every 5 minutes

Bought a budget HVLP gun off Amazon instead of spending the extra $150 on a decent one from Home Depot and after fighting with it for 3 weekends on my kitchen cabinets I finally tossed it in the trash, has anyone else learned this lesson the hard way?

21

kai_bennett•1mo ago

Spent 2 years tiling my backsplash wrong before a contractor friend pointed it out

I was so proud of my kitchen backsplash until my buddy who does tile work came over last month. He took one look and asked why I didn't use any spacers between the subway tiles. I told him I thought you just butted them up tight and called it good. He laughed and showed me how the grout lines are all wonky because there's no consistency. Now I'm seriously thinking about pulling it all down and starting over cause it bugs me every time I look at it. Has anyone else had that moment where you realized you skipped a basic step for years without knowing?

10

taylor.jordan•1mo ago

I used to go full demo on every bathroom reno, now I try to save the tile

Six years ago I would rip out everything down to the studs no matter what. Took on a job in a 1920s bungalow in Denver where the original subway tile was in decent shape under some grime. Client wanted it gone but I talked her into keeping it. Just regrouted and cleaned it up, saved her around $400 in disposal and new tile costs. Now I always look at what can stay before swinging the hammer. Anybody else found themselves holding onto old finishes when they used to tear it all out?

31

clark.iris•1mo ago

That one tile spacer trick that saved my kitchen backsplash

I was laying subway tile in my kitchen in Phoenix last month and kept fighting with lippage no matter how many leveling clips I used. An old tiler named Joe who was working on a house three doors down came over to borrow my chalk line. He saw me struggling and said, "You're using too much thinset on the back, try a 1/4 inch notch trowel instead." I switched to that smaller notch and suddenly my tiles sat flat without any rocking. Those clips went from fighting me to just holding things steady. Has anyone else had a random neighbor walk over with a tip that completely changed their process?

16

lily360•1mo ago

Put a screw through a pipe in my bathroom wall last Sunday

I was hanging a new medicine cabinet in my half bath here in Phoenix. Measured twice, marked the studs, everything seemed fine. Then I drilled in the first screw and water started spraying out from behind the tile. Turns out there was a copper pipe running right where I put the screw. I shut the main water off fast but there was already a puddle on the floor. Ended up cutting out a 6 inch square of drywall to expose the pipe, then used a sharkbite coupling to patch the hole. Took me like 3 hours total because I had to run to Home Depot for the fitting. The patch job is ugly but it holds, and now I gotta figure out how to fix the drywall without it looking terrible. Has anyone else dealt with accidentally hitting a pipe like this, and what did you use to make the wall repair look smooth?