c/diy-renovations

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

Kiln dried vs air dried wood - my workshop disaster that changed my mind

I used to swear by air dried lumber for all my furniture builds. Cheaper, more character, that whole thing. But last fall I picked up a batch of air dried oak from a guy in Tennessee for a dining table I was building. All looked good when I planed it. Two months after delivery, the customer called me saying gaps were opening up between the boards. I drove over and saw it. One board had shrunk a quarter inch across the width. The whole table top had shifted. I ended up having to rip it all apart and re-glue with kiln dried stock from a local mill. Cost me an extra $150 in materials and three weekends of work. The kiln dried boards were dead flat and stable. No movement at all after six months. So now I'm torn. I love the look and price of air dried, but I hate the risk. How do you all decide which to use for your projects?

Spent all Saturday ripping out a shiplap wall I just put up because I forgot to check for level

I was 6 feet into installing it in my Denver basement when I realized the floor slopes a full 2 inches across the room, so I had to tear it all down and start over with shims which added 3 more hours to the job, has anyone else dealt with a wonky floor that messed up your whole plan?

Tried to save money on drywall mud and it cost me 2 extra days of work in my garage

I was finishing my garage in Phoenix last month and thought I'd go with the cheap premix mud from Home Depot instead of the good stuff I usually buy. Big mistake. It kept shrinking and cracking between coats, so I had to sand everything down and reapply three times. Finally gave up and spent the extra $40 on the better brand and the last coat laid perfectly flat. Has anyone else tried cutting corners on materials and regretted it way more than the savings were worth?

Just found out my 'vapor barrier' was actually trapping moisture in my attic

I was up in my attic last weekend checking for leaks after that big rain we had. I started noticing black spots on the plywood and pulled back the insulation. Turns out my vapor barrier was facing the wrong direction and it was holding all the winter moisture against the roof deck. I found a quick read from Building Science Corp that says this mistake causes 80 percent of attic rot cases. I spent 3 days stripping it all out and redoing it right with the permeable side toward the house. Has anyone else had to fix this basic mistake that the previous homeowner left behind?

Spent 4 hours trying to fix a crooked drywall corner bead before someone told me about the spray bottle trick

I was out there with a hammer, mud, and a level for way too long on that corner in my basement remodel before my dad walked in, sprayed water on it, and it bent perfectly in 30 seconds - has anyone else had a simple fix like that make you feel like a total idiot?

Rant: Tried the cheap grout saw from Harbor Freight against my old manual tool

I was regrouting my bathroom shower last weekend and grabbed the $8 saw on a whim. That thing broke after three tiles and left plastic shavings everywhere. Why do people still recommend those over just a good carbide scraper?

My bathroom tile job in Phoenix turned into a full flood last Tuesday

Honestly, I was replacing a cracked tile behind the sink and nicked the old copper pipe with my grinder. Water shot straight up, hit the ceiling, and soaked everything before I could even yell. I had to run to the street in my socks to shut off the main valve, which took like 5 minutes because the box was full of dirt. Anyone have a good method for cutting near pipes without causing a disaster?

Hot take: trying to level a 100 year old floor with self-leveler took me an entire weekend and a whole new bag of mix after the first pour just pooled in one corner.

Has anyone else had a floor that fought back this hard, and what did you end up doing instead?

My kitchen tile job taught me a thing about grout lines

I redid my kitchen backsplash last month and kept seeing people online say to just eyeball the spacing. I used those little plastic spacers for the first time, the 1/8 inch ones. The difference is huge, my lines are straight and even. Without them, my old bathroom tile looks wobbly now. What's the biggest mistake you see people make with tile?

I was sure I could tile a shower floor without a leveling system

I was working on my bathroom in my old house in Boise, laying penny tile on the shower floor. About halfway through, I noticed a serious dip in the corner that would hold water. I had to pull up all the wet tiles, clean the thinset, and start over using a clip system. It added a full day to the project but the floor is perfectly flat now. Has anyone else had a tile job go sideways like that?

Ran into a retired contractor at the dump who told me to always check the bottom plate for rot before putting up new drywall

TIL a $5 bag of sand saved my bathroom tile job

I was laying 12x24 inch porcelain tiles in my upstairs bathroom and the floor had a slight dip in the center. After leveling the first few, I realized my thinset was setting up too fast and the tiles were starting to sag before I could adjust them. My buddy, who used to do concrete work, told me to mix a handful of clean play sand into the thinset for the next batch. I was skeptical, but it gave me a solid extra 20 minutes of working time. The sand added just enough grit to hold the tile in place while I got the level right. Has anyone else used a weird additive like that to fix a timing issue?

Finally chose between a $400 tile saw rental and buying a cheap one for my bathroom floor

Went with the rental for a weekend, and the clean cuts on the porcelain were worth every penny of the $75. Anyone have a go-to trick for keeping those small mosaic sheets lined up straight?

My brother-in-law told me my tile spacing was 'a real eyesore' and I had to agree

I was putting up subway tile in our kitchen backsplash and thought I could just eyeball the spacing between each piece... you know, keep it casual. I was about halfway done when my brother-in-law, who does this for a living, stopped by. He took one look and said, 'Tess, those grout lines are all over the place. It's a real eyesore.' I stepped back and saw he was right. Some gaps were a fat eighth of an inch, others were practically touching. I spent the next two hours carefully prying off all the tile I'd set. I went to the hardware store and bought a bag of those little plastic spacers for about five bucks. Starting over with them made the whole job slower, but the lines are perfectly even now. It looks a hundred times better. Has anyone else had a simple tool or trick pointed out to them that saved a project?

I read that old lead paint is actually more stable than people think if you leave it alone

I was doing some research for my 1920s bungalow in Tacoma and found a study from a housing safety group. They said that lead paint that's in good shape, not chipping or dusting, is actually pretty safe to just paint over with a good primer. Everyone says you have to strip it all out no matter what, but the data showed that disturbing it creates way more risk than sealing it in place. I had a guy quote me $8,000 to fully remove the paint from my trim, which felt crazy. After reading that, I just cleaned it, used a shellac-based primer, and put two coats of new paint on top. It's been solid for over a year now with no issues. Has anyone else gone this route and had it checked later?

I just hit 1000 square feet of drywall I've hung myself

I was adding up the rooms I've done in my house over the last five years, and the total came to just over a thousand square feet. It surprised me because I started with one small bathroom patch and just kept going. Has anyone else been shocked by the scale of a project they did bit by bit?

My $80 tile saw rental was the best money I ever wasted

Just finished a small bathroom floor and I rented a wet tile saw for the weekend. It cost about eighty bucks from the big box store. I was sure I could just use a cheap snap cutter, but the cuts for the toilet flange and corners were a nightmare. The saw made every cut clean and took maybe an hour total. I probably wasted thirty dollars on tiles I messed up before I gave up and got the proper tool. Anyone have a good trick for knowing when to just rent the right thing instead of trying to make do?

Saw a whole street of painted brick houses in Portland and it's got me thinking

I was walking through the Irvington area last month and noticed at least 15 homes with painted brick, mostly in dark colors like navy or charcoal. Some looked really sharp and modern, but I talked to one owner who said the paint traps moisture and his wall started spalling after 3 years. Is painting old brick a smart update or a future repair nightmare? What's your take on this trend?

PSA: I used a 2-inch foam brush to paint my kitchen cabinets and the finish is weirdly textured, like orange peel. Was the brush the problem or the paint?