c/diy-home-projects

Talked to my grandpa about his old workbench and now I feel like I've been doing woodworking wrong this whole time

He was over helping me fix a squeaky floorboard last weekend and saw my setup in the garage. Said something about how I'm fighting the wood instead of working with it. He showed me his planes from the 50s and how he sharpens them by hand. Hit me different because I've been using power tools for everything and just buying new blades when they dull. Now I'm wondering if I'm missing something basic. Has anyone else had an older relative just drop some simple tip that made you rethink your whole approach?

Had doubts about those rubber mulch bags for the playground, but they held up through a whole Michigan winter without fading.

Figured the cheaper stuff would just wash away after the first freeze, but my daughter's been out there every day since April and the color still looks decent. Has anyone tried it for garden paths instead of real mulch?

Just realized my drainage pipe was sloped wrong this whole time

I was digging up a section of my backyard to put in some French drains near the fence line, and I used a 4 foot level to check the slope on my old pipe. Turns out I had like a 2 inch rise over 10 feet, so water was just sitting there. Found out from a blog post by a guy named Mike in Oregon that you need at least 1/4 inch per foot for proper flow. Has anyone else fixed a dumb mistake like this after years of ignoring it?

Tried to fix a leaky faucet with flex tape and flooded my kitchen

Honestly, last Saturday I thought I was being smart. My bathroom sink faucet had a slow drip so I grabbed some flex tape from the garage and wrapped it around the base. Ngl, it held for about three hours then popped off while I was making coffee downstairs. Water sprayed everywhere and I ended up mopping for a solid 20 minutes. Anyone else ever use tape as a quick fix and regret it immediately?

A guy at the local hardware store spent 15 minutes showing me how to sharpen my chisels with a simple jig he made from scrap wood.

He said 'most folks overthink it' and now I get a mirror finish in about 3 minutes per blade, has anyone else tried a homemade jig for sharpening?

Is it better to paint trim before installing or after? I've done both ways.

Last month I put up new baseboards in my living room and decided to paint them after nailing them in. It was a nightmare getting paint on the walls and having to tape everything off. 3 years ago I painted all my crown molding on the floor before hanging it, and that way was way faster but I had to touch up the nail holes anyway. I'm thinking pre-painting saves more time overall, but maybe I'm missing something. What method do you guys use and why?

Spent 4 hours trying to fix a squeaky door hinge that just needed WD-40

I was determined to adjust the strike plate on my bedroom door because it squeaked every time I opened it, so I grabbed a screwdriver and spent an afternoon filing down the hole. After three attempts with different tools and a lot of cussing, I realized I never actually lubed the hinge itself. Anyone else ever overthink a simple fix and make it way harder than it should be?

Can we talk about the big debate on painting over wallpaper?

I was at a hardware store last Saturday and overheard two guys arguing about painting over old wallpaper instead of removing it. One guy swore it saved him 20 hours on a 12x12 bedroom. The other said he tried it and the seams showed through after 6 months. I've always been team tear it down because paint just hides problems for a while. But now I'm wondering if I've been wasting my weekends with steamers and scrapers. Has anyone here painted over wallpaper and had it hold up for more than a year or two?

Why I stopped using caulk from a squeeze tube

My buddy Tom came over to help me fix a gap in my baseboards last month. He took one look at my caulk gun and said 'you know that tube stuff is garbage for anything bigger than a pinhole, right?' He had me buy a $25 caulking gun and a standard tube. The control is way better and I didn't waste half the tube squeezing it wrong. Has anyone else made that switch or am I late to the party?

Hot take: sanding between coats of paint is totally unnecessary for most walls

I keep seeing people in every DIY group insist you have to sand between every single coat of paint on interior walls. I'm sorry but that's just wrong for 90% of us. I painted my whole living room last month and skipped sanding between the primer and first coat and between the first and second coat. Used Behr Premium Plus from Home Depot with a 3/8 inch roller nap. The finish came out perfectly smooth. No brush marks, no roller texture issues, nothing. Unless you're painting over a glossy surface or you've got actual drips and runs, sanding just kicks up dust that settles into your wet paint. I learned this after doing a hallway three years ago where I sanded between every coat and ended up with tiny dust particles trapped in the paint. Has anyone else tested this and found sanding made things worse?

Hated painting until I spent a weekend at my sister's place in Austin

She was repainting her whole kitchen. Made me hold the edging tape. Watched her do that trick where you cut in with a 2 inch angled brush. Changed my whole view on painting. Has anyone else picked up a skill just by being forced to help someone?

My bathroom ceiling fan died mid-shower and now there's mold everywhere

Last Tuesday the motor just seized up with a loud grinding noise while I was taking a hot shower. Anyone dealt with getting mold out of drywall without tearing the whole thing out?

A roofer told me I was laying shingles backwards and I argued with him for 20 minutes

Turns out I had the nail strip on the wrong side, letting water creep under every seam. Anyone else have a pro call them out on something obvious that saved a whole project?

Just realized my cheap paint sprayer was clogging because of wrong filter

I was out in my garage last Tuesday trying to paint some kitchen cabinets and my Wagner sprayer kept sputtering after 2 minutes. I was about to throw it in the trash honestly. Then I overheard a guy at the hardware store tell someone that most budget sprayers come with a 60 mesh filter but for latex paint you need a 30 mesh or it clogs immediately. Swapped it out for a $4 pack of 30 mesh filters from the same store and it sprayed like butter for the whole project. Saved me from buying a $200 Graco I was eyeing up. Has anyone else had this issue or found other tricks for cheap sprayers that actually work?

Am I the only one who thinks those pallet furniture projects are overrated?

Last summer I went to a neighborhood block party in Cleveland and saw a guy bragging about his pallet couch. It had splinters everywhere and a nail poking out the side. I tried building one myself with a free pallet from a hardware store and after 3 hours of sanding and pulling staples, the wood still looked rough. Has anyone else had better luck with something like a cheap lumber pile from a local mill instead?

Painted my kitchen cabinets and they looked worse for a full month

I used Behr paint because everyone says it's great but it took four weeks to fully cure and stop looking sticky. Did I just pick the wrong kind or is that normal for any cabinet paint?

My 90 year old house finally got its original wooden windows back

Bought this place in 2019 and it had those cheap vinyl replacements from the 80s. They were fogged up and one wouldn't even stay open. Spent about 6 months on and off restoring the original double hung windows I found in the basement rafters. Stripped 12 layers of paint off each one, replaced the cords, and reglazed all the panes. Anyone else tackled window restoration in an older house and found it worth the time?

Replaced my old push mower with a reel mower last month

I got tired of spending $20 every time I needed gas for the Toro, so I swapped to a manual reel mower from a garage sale for $15. The cut looks way cleaner on my Bermuda grass and I'm not breathing in fumes the whole time. Anyone else tried making the switch from gas to something quieter?

Tried epoxy coating my garage floor and it peeled up in 2 months

I spent a whole weekend last spring prepping my garage floor in Columbus for an epoxy coating. I cleaned it twice, etched it with acid, even patched some cracks. The first month it looked amazing, like a showroom floor. But after two months, it started peeling up in big flakes near where my car tires sit. I think I didn't let the floor dry long enough before applying the epoxy, maybe 24 hours wasn't enough. Or maybe I used the wrong type of roller and it left air bubbles that caused it to lift. Has anyone else had epoxy fail on them and figured out what went wrong?

Learned that painter's tape on my saw blade stops chip-out on plywood cuts

Rant: My attempt to build a raised garden bed turned into a trip to urgent care

I thought I could slap together a simple 4x8 raised bed from cedar planks in an afternoon. Got to the third corner and the drill bit snapped, flew back, and hit me right in the knuckle. Ended up at the clinic on Main Street getting two stitches and a tetanus shot for $180. Has anyone else had a basic project go totally sideways because of one stupid mistake?

Tried painting my kitchen cabinets without sanding first and now I'm paying for it

I watched like 5 YouTube videos that said you could use liquid deglosser instead of sanding and I thought hey that saves some work. So I spent last Saturday degreasing and deglossing my oak cabinets in our 1950s house, then put on two coats of cabinet paint. Looked amazing for about 36 hours. Now the paint is peeling off in sheets on the door edges where my hand touches to open them. I guess the deglosser didn't work as well on the old varnish around the handles. Has anyone else had the deglosser trick fail on high-touch spots?

Rant: Tried peel-and-stick tile in my kitchen instead of real tile and instantly regretted it

I spent a weekend putting peel-and-stick vinyl tile on my backsplash in Austin thinking it would be an easy shortcut. By day three the corners were already peeling up from the heat near the stove. Has anyone else had a similar experience with fake tile or did I just pick a bad brand?

Switched my plan on the fly after a stair tread split on me

I was building a set of oak stairs for my 1920s house in Portland and had it all figured out. Then about halfway through, I cut a tread maybe 5/8 inch short because my tape measure slipped on the second story landing. I stood there staring at the gap, then just cut a new tread instead of trying to shim it like I normally would. Using a piece of scrap to test the angle first saved me from ruining another $40 board. That split happened because I was rushing to beat the rain coming in through an open window. Has anyone else had a moment where stopping for five minutes actually saved time?

Drywall patch took me 3 full days - should i have just hired someone?

I needed to fix a hole in my kitchen wall from where an old pipe access panel was. Figured it would be a quick afternoon job cutting out the damaged drywall and slapping in a new piece. Three days later I was still sanding and re-mudding because I kept getting bubbles and ridges in the tape. My buddy who does this for a living said he could have knocked it out in a few hours with no sanding needed. On one hand I learned a ton about feathering compound and using a 12 inch knife instead of my 6 inch one. On the other hand I spent like 40 bucks on tools and materials when a pro would have charged maybe 150 total. Anyone else spend way too long on a simple drywall fix just to prove you can do it yourself?