c/diy-and-reno

Hot take: power washing a deck vs. staining it first is a debate that cost me a whole weekend

Spent last Friday power washing my deck in Portland until the wood looked brand new, then my neighbor said I stripped all the natural protection out and should have stained it right away. The other side says let it dry for a week first. Which camp are you in after your own Reno jobs?

PSA: I found out that taping drywall joints wrong can cost you a whole afternoon in rework

I was reading a forum post from a guy in Denver who said most people skip the mudding step on the tapered edges of boards and just go straight to flat joints. I tried it on a small closet job here in Phoenix and had to sand for an extra hour because the paper edges bubbled up from being too wet. Turns out that pre-filling the tapered gaps with a thin layer of mud before taping actually saves time in the long run. Has anyone else learned a simple trick like this that seems backwards but really works?

Tried skip trowel texture after years of using orange peel and I'm never going back

Finally had enough of fixing orange peel touch ups in my rental, so I tried skip trowel on a 12x12 bedroom last weekend. It hides drywall patches way better and took me maybe half the time once I got the mud consistency right. Has anyone else made the switch and found it works better for older walls?

That day I tried to save $200 by renting a concrete mixer and ended up buried in mud for 6 hours straight

Just hit 500 drywall screws in a single day for the first time

I was patching up a ceiling in my garage in Denver and somehow got into such a rhythm that I ended up sinking 517 screws before my drill battery died, has anyone else ever gotten weirdly obsessed with hitting a certain count on a basic task?

Tried to fix a squeaky floor and drilled into a water pipe instead

I was in my hallway last Saturday trying to screw down a loose floorboard, heard a hiss, and realized I hit a 1/2 inch copper pipe. Now I've got a wet patch in my ceiling downstairs and a $200 plumber bill. Anybody else ever accidentally turn a 10 minute job into a whole weekend disaster?

Spent 4 hours trying to level a concrete floor for my shed base

I was setting up a 10x12 shed in my backyard near Austin, thought I could just pour some self-leveling compound and be done in an hour. Turns out the floor had a 2 inch slope from one corner to the other, way too much for that stuff to handle. Had to break out the grinder and diamond cup wheel, then do multiple thin pours over two days. Anyone else run into a floor that's way more unlevel than you expected?

Vent: neighbor's advice about painting over wallpaper was a disaster

My neighbor Bob told me to just paint over the wallpaper in my hallway instead of stripping it. Said he did it in his house and it looked fine. Three months later the wallpaper started bubbling up in these big ugly patches. Had to scrape it all off anyway plus deal with the paint mess. Anyone else had bad luck with this shortcut?

My brand new moisture meter was reading 25% on dry lumber

Picked up a cheap meter from Amazon for like 30 bucks. Tested some kiln-dried oak I had sitting in my shop for 6 months and it said 25%. Grabbed my buddy's expensive pinless meter and it read 8%. The cheap thing was just measuring surface moisture from my humid shop in Portland. Anyone else get burned by a budget tool from a random seller?

I swore by cordless drills until my brother showed me his old corded one from 1995

Used to paint trim with a cheap brush from the hardware store, now I spend $25 on one good angle brush

I spent years fighting with brush marks and drips on baseboards until a painter at the Benjamin Moore store in Austin told me to try a Purdy brush. Switched six months ago and the difference in control and smooth finish is night and day. Has anyone else noticed a huge jump in quality just by upgrading one tool?

I finally gave in and bought a laser level after years of using a spirit level

For like 5 years I was dead set against laser levels. Thought they were fancy toys for rich contractors. Then last month I had to hang 12 picture frames in a row at my sister's place in Phoenix and my old bubble level had me redoing every other one. Borrowed her husband's cheap $40 Bosch and got all 12 done in 20 minutes flat. Now I'm wondering what else I've been stubborn about for no good reason. Any other tools you swore off for years that turned out to be worth it?

Found a hidden leak behind my bathroom wall after ignoring a musty smell for 6 months

Turns out that faint smell in my guest bathroom was a slow drip from a loose pipe joint, and after finally cutting open the drywall in my own house in Columbus, the mold remediation cost me $1,200, so has anyone else dealt with a sneaky leak that took forever to track down?

Hot take: that weekend I tried to remodel my own bathroom was a total disaster

So last spring I decided to save some cash and redo my tiny bathroom myself. I watched like 20 YouTube videos and thought I had it figured out. But man, that Saturday when I went to tile the floor, I realized I bought way too few tiles and the ones I got were the wrong color. Then on Sunday, I tried to install the new vanity and accidentally drilled right into a pipe behind the wall. Water started spraying everywhere and I had to call my neighbor who's a plumber to come fix it. He charged me $300 just for the emergency visit. Took me two more weeks to finish everything and it still looks kinda janky around the edges. Has anyone else had a bathroom project go way worse than they expected?

Caught myself cutting drywall circles with a utility knife for years until a buddy showed me the keyhole saw trick

I was doing a ceiling patch in my basement in Pittsburgh and struggling to get the hole for a can light right. He handed me a $12 jab saw and I got it done in 30 seconds instead of 10 minutes. Anyone else waste time using the wrong tool for basic stuff like this?

That barn find from 2018 taught me to check for rot first

I drove three hours to a farm outside Boise to look at an old table someone was giving away for free. Turned out the legs were solid but the top had water damage so bad you could poke a finger through it. I spent the whole ride back thinking about how I should have asked for more pictures. Now I always make sellers send me close ups of joints and edges before I even pack my truck.

Tried using a laser level for hanging shelves after years of bubble levels

I always thought laser levels were overkill for simple home jobs. Last weekend I had to put up 6 shelves in my laundry room and the first one came out crooked with my old 24 inch level. Borrowed a neighbor's laser level and got all 6 perfectly straight in under an hour. The time I saved on measuring and redoing work was worth it alone. Has anyone else switched over from traditional levels and found it made a big difference?

My uncle swore by taping drywall with mesh tape, I finally learned why he was wrong

So I've been mudding my own drywall for years (garage, basement, small stuff) and always used paper tape because my uncle told me mesh was a gimmick. Last month I did a patch job on my living room wall and decided to try mesh just to see what happened. Yeah, that crack came right back in like 3 weeks. Paper tape on the same spot? Still holding perfect. My uncle was right all along. Has anyone else had mesh tape fail on them or did I just get a bad brand?

Found a cheap fix for squeaky stairs that actually works

Spent two weekends trying different fixes for my stairs in this 90s house - bought $40 worth of screws, tried powder, nothing stopped the squeak. Finally grabbed a tube of cheap construction adhesive and ran a bead between the tread and riser while my brother stood on each step. Anybody else got a hack they wish they'd found before wasting money on the fancy stuff?

TIL drywall dust gets into EVERYTHING if you don't seal the room right

Just finished patching three holes in my living room wall last weekend over in Phoenix. Taped off the doorway with just a sheet and some painters tape, figured it'd be fine. Nope. Two days later I'm still finding a fine layer of dust on my TV stand and in my coffee mug. Has anyone else figured out a cheap way to keep that stuff contained without buying a $200 plastic zipper door kit?

Just watched a whole wall of tile come off because my thinset was too old

I was tiling my bathroom in Austin last month and halfway through the job, a whole section just slid down the wall like butter. Turns out that bag of thinset I had sitting in the garage for 8 months had gone bad, even though it was still sealed. I had to rip out 200 dollars worth of tile and start over with fresh mix. Has anyone else had this happen with expired mortar?

Tried that old 'paint over wallpaper' trick and ended up with a nightmare

So I bought a 1920s bungalow in Cincinnati last year and thought I'd save time by painting right over the ugly floral wallpaper in the hallway. Big mistake. The paint basically reactivated the glue underneath and the whole thing started bubbling up within a week. I had to strip it all off anyway, which took like three weekends of steaming and scraping. Learned that you can't cheat old houses, they'll always find a way to get back at you. Has anyone else fallen for that shortcut and regretted it?

Always thought those self-leveling compound ads were hype until I had to fix a dip in my living room floor

My 1950s house had a good 3/8 inch dip right in front of the fireplace that made laying vinyl plank a nightmare. Picked up a bag of Henry Pro-Finish from the local hardware store last weekend and watched it smooth out perfectly on its own. It honestly felt like cheating compared to mixing up mortar or trying to sand down joists. Has anyone else been surprised by how well something like this actually works?

Hit 500 square feet of tile in a day and my crew thought I was nuts

I've been running painting jobs for years but my crew needed help on a kitchen backsplash last month. I figured I'd just lend a hand for a few hours. Turns out we laid 500 square feet of subway tile in one day between three of us. My back felt it for a week but honestly I didn't think we'd get past 300. Has anyone else pulled off a number like that on a tile job?

Showerthought: My kitchen backsplash looked so bad I redid it twice in a month

I tiled my first backsplash last summer and it looked like a drunk did it. Grout lines were all over the place, tiles weren't level. After 3 weeks I ripped it all out and started over with spacers and a level. Second attempt came out clean and straight, took me 4 hours instead of 8 cause I knew what I was doing. Anyone else have a DIY project that took two tries to get right?