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I never get to actually contribute to this thread in any form but some stupid picture of a cement block usually so i feel special to be able to contribute. My girlfriend has rented out her house while she lived with me and her tenant recently had to break the lease. The tenant mentioned that her son had put a hole in the ceiling but that it was small and they had fixed it. That fucker looked like a tumor was slowly pulsating on the drat ceiling. Ended up having to saw out 24 x 24 inches of popcorn loving ceiling to find the repair consisted of - The broken ceiling bits - A few pounds of spackle - newspaper - chicken wire - bits of Styrofoam sorry about the lack of pictures bit i kinda lost my temper at seeing that poo poo and just started hacking at it.
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Aug 10, 2016 23:47
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The tenant was evidently a car body shop mechanic.
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Aug 11, 2016 01:12
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But drywall is very inexpensive? And much less work than cobbling together these things?
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Aug 11, 2016 01:26
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http://lifehacker.com/old-towels-are-the-best-material-for-cheap-diy-sound-ab-1785114646 Yeah, put a bunch of stuff up on the walls that will turn your house into a fire death trap. quote:Maybe just add more smoke detectors in key places? I don’t know. It’s only an idea.
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Aug 11, 2016 03:14
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Discovered by my wife on the living room ceiling today
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Aug 11, 2016 11:20
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Wasabi the J posted:Discovered by my wife on the living room ceiling today Tape pulling free? I've got a couple of those myself, and it's very irritating. I'm waiting for the weather to cool down a little bit, and then I'm going to fix them and repaint.
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Aug 11, 2016 11:23
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As someone who is poo poo at home repair, how hard is it to fix nail pops in the ceiling of your shower? I got like 6 of them.
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Aug 11, 2016 14:27
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Easy to fix, just hit them back in and try not to put additional holes in the drywall. You'll probably have to spackle over if you knock it in too far. Normally you also pop a screw in there along the joist on each side of the nail to hold things together. The problem is they pop out because of the wood and drywall expanding and contracting over time from humidity changes. So your bathroom might not be ventilated properly, if nothing weird is going on above it like another bathroom leaking.
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Aug 11, 2016 21:45
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Incidentally, this is one good reason to use screws instead of nails as your fastener of choice, at least for situations where the head will be exposed, like with drywall. Screws have a much harder time working themselves loose.
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Aug 11, 2016 21:49
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Wasabi the J posted:Discovered by my wife on the living room ceiling today It looks like the panel on the right is starting to sag. You might have to screw it back up. Expect nails to pop when you do. FogHelmut posted:Easy to fix, just hit them back in and try not to put additional holes in the drywall. You'll probably have to spackle over if you knock it in too far. Normally you also pop a screw in there along the joist on each side of the nail to hold things together. For popped drywall nails, I always sink a new screw about 2 inches over from the nail into the wood, then pull the nail out with some needlenose pliers. That nail isn't holding onto much anymore. The only thing it can do now is cause problems. They also make special drywall screw bits for your screw gun that prevent you from drilling in your drywall screw too deep.
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Aug 11, 2016 22:27
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kid sinister posted:
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Aug 11, 2016 22:43
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The bits have a collar that bottoms out on the drywall, the screw won't go any further in when the bit isn't touching it.
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Aug 11, 2016 23:21
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Anne Whateley posted:Because the effective cost is so low compared to rent and the value is so high over time. For my last couple apartments, I just brought my own washer and dryer with me and took them when I left. Same with the showerhead upgrade; just replace the old one when you leave.
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Aug 12, 2016 01:02
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Powerlurker posted:For my last couple apartments, I just brought my own washer and dryer with me and took them when I left. Same with the showerhead upgrade; just replace the old one when you leave. Smart thermostat is one of those things that also really improves your quality of life. Unfortunately I learned about C wires now that we've moved to a new place.
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Aug 12, 2016 01:51
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FogHelmut posted:Easy to fix, just hit them back in and try not to put additional holes in the drywall. You'll probably have to spackle over if you knock it in too far. Normally you also pop a screw in there along the joist on each side of the nail to hold things together. Yeah maybe we're not running the fan long enough when we shower. The only thing about it is the attic.
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Aug 12, 2016 02:44
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kid sinister posted:It looks like the panel on the right is starting to sag. You might have to screw it back up. Expect nails to pop when you do. flosofl posted:Tape pulling free? I've got a couple of those myself, and it's very irritating. Good news is I rent the house so it's not my problem
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Aug 12, 2016 07:17
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Cakefool posted:The bits have a collar that bottoms out on the drywall, the screw won't go any further in when the bit isn't touching it.
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Aug 12, 2016 10:41
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Wasabi the J posted:Good news is I rent the house so it's not my problem If all of my past landlords are any indication, it won't be theirs, either.
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Aug 12, 2016 15:15
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-S- posted:If all of my past landlords are any indication, it won't be theirs, either. They are doing something sketchy honestly; they are abusing one of those whole home warranties.
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Aug 13, 2016 05:58
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Wasabi the J posted:They are doing something sketchy honestly; they are abusing one of those whole home warranties. I didn't know it was possible to abuse a whole home warranty, I thought those things were pretty much scams for unassuming first time home buyers who don't know any better
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Aug 13, 2016 17:17
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Horse Clocks posted:oh. All the bits I've gotten in boxes of drywall screws were just standard bits then. 
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Aug 13, 2016 18:09
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Unfortunately, I get to make a post about the house we recently bought and moved in to. It's largely good and has some great features, but I'm slowly learning that the previous owner liked to DIY some poo poo that he really had no business DIYing. So instead of getting to start right off making improvements, I have some maintenance debt to take care of to get things back to a better baseline. Walk with me, let's have a look around! Let's start with something simple, like installing a drawer pull in the kitchen. Did fine on the cabinets, but the drawers have that double-thickness, and poo poo, the stock screws didn't fit. Well, can't be bothered to just get the right size screw, so let's use these 2-inchers and shim with some washers that were handy. On every single drawer in the kitchen.  Okay, that was good, but we don't want that for the bar downstairs, do we? Nah. So let's just mount the pulls super high on the drawer such that there's less than 1/4" between the pull and the countertop. Oh but dang, these are male knobs, so we'll just, uhh, put a nut on there I guess. Perfect!  Speaking of that bar, since we used leftover bamboo flooring for the surface, we need some sort of edge. I know, how about some cheap aluminum extrusion!  Dangit, that made some super deadly corners that like to tear open love handles. I know, we'll just grab some foam padding and contractor adhesive, problem soooooolved.  Now that that's out of the way, let's go install that sweet jetted tub. Gonna need some molding around the "amazing" tile work, but poo poo, angles are hard. I know, fill it in with some putty, stain it, and use a touchup crayon to make some totally convincing wood grain. Can't even tell!  Speaking of tile work, wouldn't a slate tile floor in the kitchen be hella sick? You know it would! But who wants to pay a contractor for installation, or even bother to learn how to do it one's self? WE'LL DO IT LIVE.  Perfect. As a bonus, if you ever need to itch your foot while you're cooking, there's always an edge handy to scrape against. Or if you need to stub your toe while carrying a pot of boiling water from the stove to the sink, because we put a second island right in the middle of the fridge-oven-sink triangle so you have to do laps in order to get anything done. Next up, let's head upstairs to the master suite (more like "sweet," am I right???) where we got this totally awesome salvaged two-way door.  Now, being a two-way door, of course you don't want a stop on the jamb, so the door can swing through. But for some loving reason, let's screw the two-way hinge into the edge of the door so it only swings one way, and we'll just count on the hinge sorta bottoming out and flexing past where that side of the hinge should flex to stop the door. It'll be fine.  Also, how about those killer blinds, eh? Wanna know how those were applied? Well you see, we got some pine boards, slapped together a box, and stuck it on the back of the door. Easy peasy, any idiot could do it!  Since we're on doors, let's go look at some others. Here's a pretty typical example of how to install a strike plate:  With that out of the way, it's time to install some outlets and switches. First off, when installing lovely custom shelves, it's probably impossible to plan ahead at all and make them fit around your light switch. No problem!  Also, installing around wainscoting is hard.  Like, super duper hard.  Lastly, let's head back to the master closet, where we have a small ray of sunshine and my absolute most favorite John Poley Special, as I have taken to calling them. As an appetizer, here's a little bit of cheap wire shelving that just couldn't cut it and had to be "repaired."  But the real grade A work is down by the floor. Remember that wainscoting from earlier? I guess there was some surplus, because aside from being the backing for super awesomely crappy shelves next to the fireplace in the living room, it also double as a great drywall patch!  Lookin' goooooooood! I wonder how they attached it, and what's behind it?  Of course, a half-cut hole that clearly didn't go where they expected, so they just said gently caress it, glued the partially removed drywall onto the wainscoting scrap with some more contractor adhesive, then glued that to the wall the same way! These are just a few items I've found so far. I'm pretty confident that the house itself is fine, he just did some DIY/remodel work himself but didn't have the chops for it, or was just a lazy gently caress. So I'm slowly working through this stuff, and then the actual fun starts. Oh, and as for that ray of sunshine I mentioned? In my opinion, I could walk away from my work on that closet patch right now, and it'd still be 1,000,000 times better than the previous job. 
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Aug 13, 2016 18:10
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Its against code to run two different circuits through the same junction box, right? Because yeah.. definitely just shocked the crap out of myself installing a ceiling fan.
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Aug 13, 2016 18:46
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 I'm trying to drink my loving water but the post won't end.Bad Munki posted:he just did some DIY/remodel work himself but didn't have the chops for it, or was just a lazy gently caress. Anagram of GINGER fucked around with this message at 18:59 on Aug 13, 2016 |
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Aug 13, 2016 18:53
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deratomicdog posted:Its against code to run two different circuits through the same junction box, right? Because yeah.. definitely just shocked the crap out of myself installing a ceiling fan. I did the same thing and asked the same question, and apparently the answer is "no." In fact, I was apparently foolish for not considering that possibility. In any case, it's a great way to get your heart going. Or...the opposite of that. 
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Aug 13, 2016 18:56
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Discovered this while removing moulding for repairs.  I hope he found what he was looking for! 
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Aug 13, 2016 19:17
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deratomicdog posted:Its against code to run two different circuits through the same junction box, right? Because yeah.. definitely just shocked the crap out of myself installing a ceiling fan. I thought that was a no no as well, I had a similar experience replacing a light fixture in the basement that I had shocked myself on with a live pull chain. The worst part was getting a second shock afterturning off the breaker and checking with a voltage sniffer, because another circuit went through the same box and the sniffer didn't get close enough to alert me the box was still live. All sorts of fun there  I almost did the same thing to the screws included with the new handles I put in, but in a rare moment of better judgement, I went ahead and threaded two nuts onto each bolt, clamped them up one at a time, and shortened each and every one with a hacksaw, and then chased the threads out with the nuts to clean them up. Took awhile, but it was easy, cheap, and the results were worth it.
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Aug 13, 2016 19:49
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Bad Munki posted:
Do not look behind any bookshelf, cabinet, or actual shelf I have mounted/anchored. OSU_Matthew posted:I almost did the same thing to the screws included with the new handles I put in, but in a rare moment of better judgement, I went ahead and threaded two nuts onto each bolt, clamped them up one at a time, and shortened each and every one with a hacksaw, and then chased the threads out with the nuts to clean them up. Took awhile, but it was easy, cheap, and the results were worth it. We bought some decorative pulls where the bolt side was 5" long. Put em on, marked the spot, and used the screw cutting holes in my cheap wire strippers to cut them to size, then hit it with the metal file to take the sharp end off, and chased the nuts off to clean the thread like you did. Works like a charm. The site claims they are 1.75" long, but I trimmed more than 2" off every one of them: http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/product/home-hardware-knobs/870066.jsp#/
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Aug 13, 2016 22:04
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Bad Munki posted:Speaking of tile work, wouldn't a slate tile floor in the kitchen be hella sick? You know it would! But who wants to pay a contractor for installation, or even bother to learn how to do it one's self? WE'LL DO IT LIVE. You bought a brown-slate-kitchen house! I saw so many of those when I was house-hunting, all as smooth and level as the mountain they were cleaved from. I assumed a lot of DIY, or a rash of malicious, drunken tile layers. We saw three in a row the one time my parents joined me, and that night my dad got very drunk and told a concerned concierge that 'there was no platonic ideal of a slate floor, but the lobby was drat close.'
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Aug 14, 2016 02:24
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Yeah, I'm sure if it were well installed, it'd be pretty sweet and I'd like it. As it is, I'm just trying to decide if I'm going to be ripping it up in six months or a year. Anyhow, I patched the poo poo out of that closet hole, if I do say so myself. Before: After:   Only primed, gonna color it tomorrow.
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Aug 14, 2016 02:45
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deratomicdog posted:Its against code to run two different circuits through the same junction box, right? Because yeah.. definitely just shocked the crap out of myself installing a ceiling fan. Yeah that is pretty common and necessary in many cases. Ideally each room or group of rooms has 2 circuits, one to the lights and one to the outlets. If there is a gang of switches that has control over 2 rooms then it will have 2 or more circuits going through it. Also always use a non contact tester before you remove a switch, after you remove a switch, and every single time you leave a switch and come back to it.
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Aug 14, 2016 04:09
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Bozart posted:Yeah that is pretty common and necessary in many cases. Ideally each room or group of rooms has 2 circuits, one to the lights and one to the outlets. If there is a gang of switches that has control over 2 rooms then it will have 2 or more circuits going through it. Yeah all I own is a multimeter, time to buy a tester I guess. I'm upset I got shocked due to stupidity but at least the wiring in my house isn't screwed up so that's a plus
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Aug 14, 2016 04:39
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Bad Munki I dont know how you uncovered all of that and still have the will to live.
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Aug 14, 2016 04:59
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SynthOrange posted:Bad Munki I dont know how you uncovered all of that and still have the will to live. It's all largely cosmetic and highly tractable. Also, I'm the sort of person that really likes to customize my living space, so this stuff (so far) falls into the no big deal category, and while I'm working in these little things, I have professionals doing the big stuff, like putting a slab down in the barn and extending the driveway and such. And along with the fixits, I'm doing improvements, like cabinetry in my wife's office and the like. I mean, I'm gonna bitch about the dumb stuff plenty, but in the end, I want to paint rooms and remodel bars and do poo poo like that anyway, this just forces my hand on certain spaces sooner rather than later. Plus, it's super satisfying to take a mess like that, throw an afternoon at it, and have a job well done where once there was an embarrassment. That being said, in no way would I tolerate an actual fixer-upper. The house has to be good at the core of it, and this one is. The same lack of DIY skills of the previous owner that led to these treasures is responsible for keeping him out of the meat of the house. And let's be honest: ripping out someone else's lovely work is extremely cathartic. I can hardly wait to get to the bar downstairs, that's gonna be a hoot. It's such an awesome space that has so much unrecognized potential. 
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Aug 14, 2016 05:13
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Bozart posted:... If there is a gang of switches that has control over 2 rooms then it will have 2 or more circuits going through it. The switch that shocked me was the disposal, in the same box as the kitchen light. Like, in hindsight it kinda makes sense that what amounts to an appliance is on a different circuit than lights, but i still feel like I wouldn't have seen that coming even if I weren't doing home repair drunk. vvv gently caress electricity Blue Footed Booby fucked around with this message at 20:50 on Aug 14, 2016 |
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Aug 14, 2016 06:15
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Blue Footed Booby posted:The switch that shocked me was the disposal, in the same box as the kitchen light. Like, in hindsight it kinda makes sense that what amounts to an appliance is on a different circuit than lights, but i still feel like I wouldn't have seen that coming even if I weren't doing home repair drunk. If you didn't wire it yourself, assume it's done in the cheapest, laziest way possible. If this means two, three, four circuits in a box, so be it. If it means neutrals got mixed up on those three circuits, so be it. Just realize you can turn off two circuits, have no live wires, and get shocked by a neutral that someone crossed up somewhere else.
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Aug 14, 2016 15:25
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deratomicdog posted:Its against code to run two different circuits through the same junction box, right? Because yeah.. definitely just shocked the crap out of myself installing a ceiling fan. Yes, multiple circuits in a box are allowed. For the record, how did you turn off that box? Bozart posted:If there is a gang of switches that has control over 2 rooms then it will have 2 or more circuits going through it. That is not a given, especially for light circuits. kid sinister fucked around with this message at 22:35 on Aug 14, 2016 |
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Aug 14, 2016 22:31
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Yall are going to like this http://mcmansionhell.tumblr.com/ "when it's got that gaping rear end in a top hat window above the front door you know its gon be good" "fireplace in the bathroom lux af" 
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Aug 14, 2016 22:45
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 that is a hell of a blog
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Aug 15, 2016 00:21
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kid sinister posted:That is not a given, especially for light circuits. Yeah it might not but my point was that sometimes it is necessary to have multiple circuits in the same box. Anyway the smart thing to do is assume each wire is live if you haven't tested it yet, and retest every wire after you leave (probably to the breakers to fiddle with something...) and then come back. It takes 10 seconds and avoids the lectric ants.
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Aug 15, 2016 00:48
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