🏡 Better Homes Brag / Complain About a DIY Project Thread
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I had to replace all of my appliances within a 2 year span, had I known they were all going to go out in that short timeframe I would’ve gone stainless. I’m actually kind of pissed I didn’t (that’s what I get for listening to my wife). Cabinets are probably going to get painted colonial gray with darker colored handles to match the ceiling fans and light fixtures that are going to be done as soon as I buy them and rent a 12’ ladder.
The gray or dark color would be nice if u had a window in your kitchen A white would make the kitchen look brighter and bigger. I have a few condos and the ones with white cabinets in the kitchens look bigger and they are all identical.
White is definitely on the short list of colors but I’m worried it’d be too much white with the light colored countertops. If we do gray or blue (blue would have gray in it) I’m trying to convince the wife aka “Decision maker” into doing white subway tiles for a backsplash.
Ryobi makes a 18v to USB inverter for about 20$.
I had amazon rewards and picked up one of these 12-24v USB plugs for $12 (but was actually FREEEEE with rewards):
Printed a 3d case someone made already, put it together with misc. wiring and plugs I had....and for about $2 in materials...I put together this:
Tested and works great!
I had amazon rewards and picked up one of these 12-24v USB plugs for $12 (but was actually FREEEEE with rewards):
Printed a 3d case someone made already, put it together with misc. wiring and plugs I had....and for about $2 in materials...I put together this:
Tested and works great!
That is fantastic, I want one for my Dewalt now.
I've been re-wiring the light above the pool table for LED lights. The old bulbs or balasts died (I don't care which) and I'm not a fan of fluorescent since the LEDs are brighter. Bought 4 more of these off Amazon and the basement is totally converted now except the 8 footers in a small room I never use anyways. Good stuff. You snip the ballasts off, connect line on one end neutral on the other and good to go.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074M8KCJ1/?tag=tcg21-20
I've been re-wiring the light above the pool table for LED lights. The old bulbs or balasts died (I don't care which) and I'm not a fan of fluorescent since the LEDs are brighter. Bought 4 more of these off Amazon and the basement is totally converted now except the 8 footers in a small room I never use anyways. Good stuff. You snip the ballasts off, connect line on one end neutral on the other and good to go.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074M8KCJ1/?tag=tcg21-20
So the house we moved into this summer had a finished basement and the previous owner ran wired all over the place here. Coax up and over walls everywhere, even a coax from the basement into the garage that I still need to pull out of the walls.
I pulled wires through the wall using existing wires and tape. Got a new subwoofer and wanted to run the RCA through the walls as well and attempted to do that today. Yeah, apparently that tape wasn’t strong enough or it snagged on something in the basement wall and all the wires came out of the wall for the sub and the front left speaker.
ran to Harbor Freight and picked up a wall cable running tool and attempted to start over. Spent about 5 mins getting it going and of course the tool and wire are stuck in the wall. So now I have to go buy another tool tomorrow and try this again, maybe from the top down this time, IDK. Ithink the speakers are too far too the corners of the room anyways so maybe I’ll go get some electrical boxes and relocate the wires and box closer to the TV. Fuck.
pic from the day I got the sub, was moving it to the far left corner.
I pulled wires through the wall using existing wires and tape. Got a new subwoofer and wanted to run the RCA through the walls as well and attempted to do that today. Yeah, apparently that tape wasn’t strong enough or it snagged on something in the basement wall and all the wires came out of the wall for the sub and the front left speaker.
ran to Harbor Freight and picked up a wall cable running tool and attempted to start over. Spent about 5 mins getting it going and of course the tool and wire are stuck in the wall. So now I have to go buy another tool tomorrow and try this again, maybe from the top down this time, IDK. Ithink the speakers are too far too the corners of the room anyways so maybe I’ll go get some electrical boxes and relocate the wires and box closer to the TV. Fuck.
pic from the day I got the sub, was moving it to the far left corner.
Shit I'm way behind the times, I should have documented our basement reno from the beginning in here.
The basement in our house is about 60% finished, around 750sqft, here's the only before pic I could find - shitty popcorn ceiling, track lighting, wood paneling, and dated fireplace.
A month or 2 ago I was rooting around and figured out that the paneling had drywall behind it that just needed taped and mudded.
After some discussion we decided to make refinishing the basement our winter project.
We started out this last weekend pulling carpeting up and paneling down then running that to the dump.
I didn't get any pics of that but it was shitty painted wood paneling, trim and carpet we had installed 10 years ago when we moved in.
Dad and I then scraped the popcorn off of the ceiling, lots of hot water in a pump sprayer and it came right down.
We then removed the 2 65w ceiling light fixtures and installed 11 100w LED puck lights and 2 eyeball fixtures down by the fireplace.
While we did that my wife and mom did a German Schmear to the fireplace, it's a very light gray now and looks way better.
I put everything on dimming smart switches, previous system had 2 circuits and I split it into 3.
The smart switches were a royal bitch to get working right, if I wired them off of the same trunk line they'd feed back across the circuits so I had to run fresh circuits for each group of lights from the breaker box. Pain in the ass but whatever.
Also had to cut out the old triple 2x8 beam and install this 9 foot 4x4x.375 tube and a couple of floor jacks to support the load.
This required us to remove the framing there on the corner so dad and I rebuilt it, much stronger this time.
Here you can see how much of the wall I'll be removing - the black sharpie line in the grout line - this will allow us to install a standard 30 inch door between the laundry and finished areas.
Wife inspecting her schmear job on the fireplace.
Shes not happy with it. I think it looks fine so whatever.
Also, while at it I checked our the stairs as they were creaky like you'd expect to find in a 70 year old house.
I went through and screwed everything together to get rid of some creaking and a couple of risers need replaced. I'll work on the risers next weekend while she paints.
Drywall guy is supposed to be here tomorrow thru Wednesday after work to tape, mud, texture and fix holes.
Knockdown texture on the ceiling, orange peel on the walls.
Concrete guy said he would be by Monday or Tuesday to cut the rest of the wall out with his wet saw so there's a nice clean edge to frame off of.
Once he does that I'll get it busted down and opened up. Then I can figure out post and door placement, etc...
This area will be a rec room/reading area by the fireplace, the other end that I don't have pictured yet will be a TV/movie room with the potential of being a 4th bedroom if people want.
Plan is to paint the built-ins white, add nice base and cove molding then gray-ish LVP flooring.
There's also a 3/4 bath off to the left of the stairs that I'll be cutting a hole in the wall and installing an other header tube in and adding a door between the finished area and the bathroom.
More to come, this is gonna be a few month project.
The basement in our house is about 60% finished, around 750sqft, here's the only before pic I could find - shitty popcorn ceiling, track lighting, wood paneling, and dated fireplace.
A month or 2 ago I was rooting around and figured out that the paneling had drywall behind it that just needed taped and mudded.
After some discussion we decided to make refinishing the basement our winter project.
We started out this last weekend pulling carpeting up and paneling down then running that to the dump.
I didn't get any pics of that but it was shitty painted wood paneling, trim and carpet we had installed 10 years ago when we moved in.
Dad and I then scraped the popcorn off of the ceiling, lots of hot water in a pump sprayer and it came right down.
We then removed the 2 65w ceiling light fixtures and installed 11 100w LED puck lights and 2 eyeball fixtures down by the fireplace.
While we did that my wife and mom did a German Schmear to the fireplace, it's a very light gray now and looks way better.
I put everything on dimming smart switches, previous system had 2 circuits and I split it into 3.
The smart switches were a royal bitch to get working right, if I wired them off of the same trunk line they'd feed back across the circuits so I had to run fresh circuits for each group of lights from the breaker box. Pain in the ass but whatever.
Also had to cut out the old triple 2x8 beam and install this 9 foot 4x4x.375 tube and a couple of floor jacks to support the load.
This required us to remove the framing there on the corner so dad and I rebuilt it, much stronger this time.
Here you can see how much of the wall I'll be removing - the black sharpie line in the grout line - this will allow us to install a standard 30 inch door between the laundry and finished areas.
Wife inspecting her schmear job on the fireplace.
Shes not happy with it. I think it looks fine so whatever.
Also, while at it I checked our the stairs as they were creaky like you'd expect to find in a 70 year old house.
I went through and screwed everything together to get rid of some creaking and a couple of risers need replaced. I'll work on the risers next weekend while she paints.
Drywall guy is supposed to be here tomorrow thru Wednesday after work to tape, mud, texture and fix holes.
Knockdown texture on the ceiling, orange peel on the walls.
Concrete guy said he would be by Monday or Tuesday to cut the rest of the wall out with his wet saw so there's a nice clean edge to frame off of.
Once he does that I'll get it busted down and opened up. Then I can figure out post and door placement, etc...
This area will be a rec room/reading area by the fireplace, the other end that I don't have pictured yet will be a TV/movie room with the potential of being a 4th bedroom if people want.
Plan is to paint the built-ins white, add nice base and cove molding then gray-ish LVP flooring.
There's also a 3/4 bath off to the left of the stairs that I'll be cutting a hole in the wall and installing an other header tube in and adding a door between the finished area and the bathroom.
More to come, this is gonna be a few month project.
My whole house was wood paneling and wallpaper from the 70’s when I bought it 20yrs ago. Wallpaper was in every fucking room upstairs. Basement walls were half wood paneling and half wallpaper. Basement also had a drop ceiling that had tiles stapled to studs lol. Was going to do what you did in basement just pull paneling and wallpaper down and just float the walls with mud. Negative, just like everything in this fucking house that led to double the work. Wound up ripping all the drywall out and replacing it all. Ripped drop ceiling out as well and hung drywall.
We got lucky, only one or 2 rooms had wallpaper upstairs and it came off pretty easy - they even had wallpaper on the closet doors - wtf.
Our sunroom had ceiling tiles stapled and glued to the bead board that is the ceiling. What a pain in the ass that was to fix.
Paneling blows, what possessed people to hang dark wood over nice drywall. I'll never get it.
I have really gone back and forth on just tearing it all out and re-hanging but the drywall guy said just leave it and he'd float it out and make it look good for about half the money.
Works for me.
Houses...a constant fucking.
Our sunroom had ceiling tiles stapled and glued to the bead board that is the ceiling. What a pain in the ass that was to fix.
Paneling blows, what possessed people to hang dark wood over nice drywall. I'll never get it.
I have really gone back and forth on just tearing it all out and re-hanging but the drywall guy said just leave it and he'd float it out and make it look good for about half the money.
Works for me.
Houses...a constant fucking.
life hack for wallpaper get a garden sprayer and fill it 50/50 with fabric softener and water. score it and then spray the ever living fuck out of it.
My Dad used to own a painting company. All we ever used was a garden sprayer and super hot water, no scoring needed. It would generally come off in 2 layers. 1st layer would be the face of the paper, then have to re-soak to get the backing off. Finally, a big sponge and hot water to wash the glue off. I could see the benefit of scoring it, but we never did.
I got an 8 pack of LED T5 style lights for my basement workshop. I’m not strong on home electricity but I figured out how to run a switch off the old basement pull chain light and get them all going. All I can say is wow! It’s a huge upgrade from having like 4 bare 60 watt bulbs on pull chains
My daughters hamster died after one week because, as I found out later, it’s cage was too small. I bought everything including the animal at pet smart at the same time.
Anyway, after that I decided to build a bigger cage asap. Couple pieces of wood, 2 hinges and 2 metal shelves (had to cut the front one down to fit) and my baby’s happy again. Can completely open it by lifting the metal top off, or just open the back wood that’s hinged for quick access.
Anyway, after that I decided to build a bigger cage asap. Couple pieces of wood, 2 hinges and 2 metal shelves (had to cut the front one down to fit) and my baby’s happy again. Can completely open it by lifting the metal top off, or just open the back wood that’s hinged for quick access.
Gonna suck to switch out the bedding in that beast! But very cool thing to do.
Thanks! I thought so too so I bought a dust pan and can have it empty in 2 mins after taking the toys out.
Too small? Wow, I've never heard that one before. I had two hamsters when I was about her age, think they were in like a 15 gallon fish tank (wire covered top for fresh air) so not that big, plus the toys and tubes for them to run through. My sister had two gerbils that she did not take care of and they passed away. Because of her lack of empathy my parents gave me her tank, which was larger and I got more tubes to run up and over to go between the two tanks. My hamsters lived to be almost four, which is pretty old.
Nice work, probably built better than what you could have bought
And this just brought back a memory, to the Shawn thread I go lol
And this just brought back a memory, to the Shawn thread I go lol
Yeah, never heard of that one. Had a few when I was a kid too. As I think I've mentioned before had one motherfucker who'd escape anything. That sumbbitch could chew.
The house I had would’ve been fine for a dwarf but I bought a Syrian. One night it got stuck in a tube and got wet tail and was dead the next morning.
fuck i read this as sybian and then read the rest of it too, and was like goddamn GWD i knew you partied but fuck. this is next level bro.
Nothing major today. Took the kiddo's computer, helped him get his SSD installed and then installed a sound card as well since the onboard wasn't working. Naturally that started working so I'm going to reclaim my sound card. 
Besides that we put a CPU cooler in yesterday. It's an older box but it's running pretty good after I moved a couple of his Steam Games over.
Besides that we put a CPU cooler in yesterday. It's an older box but it's running pretty good after I moved a couple of his Steam Games over.
And here we are. These dumbfuck POs of this house are probably going to cost me thousands in a new roof/sheathing because everything has black discoloring/mold in the attic. The insulation, the sheathing, luckily not the actual stringers. This is the THREE inch flex pipe they used and just terminated ON the insulation. Not only did they not use 4” pipe but they fucking bought an adapter to make it even worse. Probably why it stayed so fucking humid in the bathroom so long after a shower.
View attachment 81763
And here’s the “I actually care about the shit I buy” finished project.
View attachment 81764
Probably just going to call my insurance come summer and see what they/I can do. I’d rather drop 2 grand on an insurance claim than 5+ farming it out.
I’m just at a loss for words at the literal brain dead, dumbfuck retarded shit these people did.
View attachment 81763
And here’s the “I actually care about the shit I buy” finished project.
View attachment 81764
Probably just going to call my insurance come summer and see what they/I can do. I’d rather drop 2 grand on an insurance claim than 5+ farming it out.
I’m just at a loss for words at the literal brain dead, dumbfuck retarded shit these people did.
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