Decided to cut and bend the top of the handrail to fit under the light switch. Only took an hour to reshape the rail. Took a lot longer to sand all the paint off and repaint it. But much happier with the result. For those that didn’t see the original post, my wife wanted a metal handrail for the stairs and didn’t want to spend $850 for one. Bought some 1.5” square tubing and made one. Just took some cutting, bending, and welding. Overall have $115 into it, brackets included. But didn’t test fit and the rail had to go past the switch so. So had to reshape it today as you can see.

My wife wanted a higher end look to our island and I have a limited arsenal of tools. Thought I came up with a simple solution that not only dressed it up but made it look a little more solid.

In November, I had cracked grout going around the base perimeter of my shower. I removed the grout, and replaced it with this sealant. Now I noticed that the water is leaking into the floor of my closet that is on the other side of the closet. What did I do wrong?

Fence build on a budget. Used 150mm palings instead of 100mm cause it worked out cheaper, reused an old jarrah post and put him at the front, morticed all posts instead of buying pre cut (was a punish).Took about 5 days at a relaxed pace. Were a bunch of services to duck and hide from (NBN, water, electrical) so had to hand dig all post holes.

All in all I’m happy with the end result, might add a couple sleepers underneath the palings in the high spots to stop dirt enter ring neighbours side.

My parents are re-doing the basement walls (painting), and the walls have years of mold on them. My dad and I used some mold killer and disinfectant and scraped the walls, and were wondering if there was anything else we could do to prevent more damage and hopefully keep water out.

The walls are cinderblock, and the house was built in the 70’s.

The photos are after spraying and scraping the walls.

Hi All,

The house came with this shed in the backyard but as you can see the base is rotting. I'm a completely newbie here, so would love some advice on how to make this space more usable.

Dimension - 10ft long x 6ft wide x 6ft tall.

Could I just dig out debris, and remain pieces of flooring (which seems to be plywood), and put concrete pavers from Home Depot in? Or would I have to pour concrete in?

The shed seems to be structurally secure, and I only intend to use it for storage. I want to make sure no critters burrow up from the bottom into the shed.

Thanks in advance.

I don't know what to do about this door. I can not get it to seal. It will be hard as can be around the lock, which is ugly i know. But loose at the bottom and top. You can see daylight around the edges. Its this super dense foam that has very little give. I've tried a few searches and I've not been able to find just what I should do to seal up the door way.

Most of the posts I’m getting when I search on this topic are from people who hired it done versus doing it themselves. I want to hear from people who did a complete DIY bathroom renovation (or maybe you did 90% of the work but hired out things like plumbing and electric). What all did your project include, how many hours per week did you work on it, and how long in total from start to finish?

Hello, we bought a house last year that inexplicably has two hose spigots in the front yard, and none in the back. This is... useless for the most part. I would love to just have a new one routed, but the home is brick, so that is both not DIYable (at least for me), and likely very expensive for a plumber to do. So, is there a way to essentially just "move" the one I have, but leave it always on, at least during the warm months, and route it to another one that I am able to turn off/on? I would obviously need a solid connection to the always on one, but I am also not sure if that is just a horrible idea or something people actually do.

Edit to add: the spigot I want to "extend" is only 5-8 feet away from the backyard, so this wouldn't be a long run.

Is this something I can possibly fix myself? And what will stop this from occurring in the future? Is this why it looks like the brick was painted at one point? I'm guessing the salt and harsh winters aren't helping.

I'm in the process of patching a wall after removing a medicine cabinet. While cutting the drywall, the paint around it started peeling off so easily I could pull it off. I continued scraping and removed quite a lot. In areas this actually reached the drywall paper so it wasn't an badly adhered, but most of it came off very easily.

My question is where do I stop? Do I carry on peeling off everything which comes off easily? If not, how do I make a clean stop? Also will I be able to hide the difference between the areas with old paint and without paint, using primer?

For context, I'm working on a bathroom, changing the vanity, replacing medicine cabinet with a mirror, and repainting. I'm a novice diyer but eager to learn.

I'm getting a strong smoky smell in our living room, where we have a fireplace with a pellet stove insert. Chimney sweep says the smell is due to a couple of things: 1) The chimney crown is pretty cracked and needs to be sealed and waterproofed (moisture is seeping in and causing the smell). There's also algae growth on some of the bricks. 2) The pellet stove liner only goes partway up the chimney, so a full liner should be installed.

After doing some research, it seems like sealing + waterproofing the chimney crown is pretty straightforward. Getting all of the bricks on the entire chimney waterproofed seems harder without harnesses etc. I don't feel comfortable touching the liner.

Is sealing + waterproofing a crown DIY-able for a not-super-handy homeowner? And am I wasting my time only addressing the crown and not the full chimney? Sweep's rate is $700 for full chimney seal + waterproof and another $700 for the liner.

Recently got a new outdoor AC unit installed and now have a defunct and drained sleeve unit AC in my brick wall in the basement.

I'd like to insulate the inside and rip out the ancient insulation on the sides and seal it up nice once and for all.

Any recommendations on what I should be buying from Home Depot / any tips.

https://imgur.com/a/TOCPKPx

Roughly a year ago a carpenter friend of mine and I replaced the flooring in my bathroom with laminate flooring. A few months ago I noticed this bump and chipping underneath the toilet. As a first time DIY, of course I've been procrastinating finishing the trim since we did this. I plan to finish it this today and tomorrow and am deciding how extensively I need to rework this. I need to redo the endcap panel too (it was poorly cut and needs to be re done).

Do I need to rip up all the flooring to get to this spot? Can I remove the toilet and just redo this one spot?

Running into issues as I can't find a video of my exact model. Most videos show that I can unplug the old one and plug in the new one. Once I got the ignitor off, there is no plug. DonI have to take the back off to get to the plug or do I have to splice the new one in?

It’s 16 inches wide & the bottom shelf is 6 inches out from the wall. I found a spot for it within two studs, on either side for the hanging. Should I just use an angle bracket under the shelf at the bottom and a nail the top inside the built-in hooks?

Hello, my sump pit has some water in it. I've been in this house for 4 years, I suspect something has changed with the water table over the past 2 years (it was dry as a bone before). Whatever the case is, I want to install a sump pump. We have a cover over the pit right now which was installed during radon remediation the last time the house changed hands.

Anyway, I'm purchasing a Zoeller M53 with a Zoeller 30-0181 check valve (unless people here disagree).

I assume all I need beyond this is a 1 1/2 inch PVC coupling to screw into the unit and of course the same width pipe, and few elbows. I very conveniently have a downspout just outside the house where the discharge would exit into the same 4" PVC (that runs to the city storm drain) that the downspout drains into - I can not drain to the sewer line within my house. Illegal where I am in NJ. I can do the PVC work, I've got the purple primer and dope and I've previously repaired/replaced some broken PVC piping for my irrigation system.

My question is - how do I bore a hole through the cinder foundation wall. I've got a 18V Makita drill with a hammer mode. What bit do I use and how do I seal around the hole?

Is it just a 2" carbide bit and some for-concrete DAP?

Any other advice for me as a DIYer?

Also, I think the 4" PVC outside my house which goes to the city storm drain will be able to handle the additional volume of water if that is a concern.

Hey All,

I am needing to add some ventilation to my entertainment center since I had to inter my PS5-Pro into it because my almost 2 yr old son decided he loved pressing the buttons on it repeatedly. The EC I have is linked below as well as the fans I bought to use. I'm trying to think of the most optimal way to set this up while limiting access to the controls (again, due to the curious toddler). Any tips or thoughts would be appreciated. Please let me know if you need any additional information.

Entertainment Center: https://www.wayfair.com/furniture/pdp/three-posts-keefer-tv-stand-for-tvs-up-to-80-w004422355.html

Fan System: https://a.co/d/gVy2Tku https://a.co/d/55kA0Je

Thanks in advance for your time!

Before wallpapering I'm supposed to prime the wall. Would watered down Matt emulsion be ok? So prime the wall with watered Matt emulsion then wallpaper straight after drying?

I’m planning on installing shoe molding in some areas in my house (I think the finish carpenters must’ve run out of time lol) and I have a few questions about how to do it. First of all, I’m planning to install it on a staircase (among other places); does it make sense to only install it on the landings, or should I add it to all of the steps too? If I’m installing it next to doorway, should I end the run of molding with a miter edge right at the inner edge of the doorframe (yellow lines in the picture), or should I stop at the outer edge of the doorframe (blue line)? The door frames are fully flush with the trim, so there’s no physical reason why I can’t cover them with molding, but I’m sure how it would look aesthetically.

Looking at doing a cement pad for a Gazebo that is 12x10.

I done VERY basic concrete work like pouring a ramp to to my barn ~8" high.

Is this something I am over estimating myself on or something I can do as a DIY.

I plan on having a truck deliver the cement, there's a company that does 3 yard deliveries.

Should I use rebar or no?

Long story short, I plan to patch a hole in the roof. I have asphalt shingles on plywood. If understand the shingles part, peeling them back, installing new ones. If I cut a square in the old plywood, put a new patch of plywood on, across two roof joints, my question is... what do I put on the plywood and across the seams of the patch before I put shingles over it? Some kind of paper? Some kind of tape over the paper? I know there are fancy patch options that are sold in bulk to contractors but I'm a homeowner so I just need something reliable, ideally not in bulk, that I can get readily at a US hardware store.

Thanks!

This is a doorway under a stair case and the hinges are super intact on the way but continuously disengage from the door. In addition, the door should probably be trimmed a centimeter or 2 to allow for smoother opening/closing. Anyway, do you think these hinges should be removed from the wall, wood puttied over and replaced elsewhere? Or can I leave the hinges in the wall, wood putty over, and place new hinges elsewhere?

https://imgur.com/a/ctNcBvU

I want to repaint my kitchen cabinets and am looking into doing it myself. I've tried doing some research into the process but get conflicting results on which steps are optional vs necessary. I've been in the house about a year. The cabinets were painted white and that paint job is still in good condition. Which prep steps (degreasing, sanding, stripping, priming, etc.) are actually necessary under these conditions? I saw that a lot of guides started from finished wood instead of an existing paint job.

I have some duraforms hardware .. have anyone tried making duraforms with 3/4 plywood ??