c/diy-home-projects

Paint or prime first on old drywall? I got opposite advice from two pros

Warning: my living room ceiling almost fell on me Saturday after a bad DIY patch job last month

I tried to fix a small water stain on my ceiling in April using that quick dry spackle from the hardware store and thought I was good. Last weekend I was watching a movie and heard this cracking sound, looked up and saw a big bubble forming right where I patched. Turns out I didn't sand down the old paint enough and the new stuff just peeled off in a sheet about 2 feet wide. It crashed onto my coffee table, missed my TV by maybe 6 inches. My neighbor who does drywall for a living said I needed to use joint compound and mesh tape for anything bigger than a nail hole, not that spackle crap. Anyone else had a ceiling patch fail on them after a few weeks?

Plumbing mistake I made for 8 years

I always tightened PVC fittings as hard as I could. Then a pipe cracked in my crawlspace last winter. Hand-tight plus a quarter turn is all you need. Anybody else overtighten everything in your first house?

That neighbor who keeps borrowing my tools without asking finally pushed me over the edge

So last Thursday I'm in my garage trying to patch a hole in drywall from a pipe leak, and I realize my putty knife is gone. I walk next door and there it is, sitting on his workbench covered in old paint. He says 'oh I just needed it for 5 minutes' and I'm standing there thinking bro, it's been 3 weeks since I saw it last. Has anyone else had to put a lock on their tool shed to keep a neighbor from treating your stuff like a free rental?

Debated between laminate and vinyl plank for my basement floor, went with the vinyl

Honestly, I spent about two weeks going back and forth on this. I was worried about moisture since my basement can get a little damp after heavy rain, and everyone online kept saying laminate swells up if it gets wet. Ended up grabbing a luxury vinyl plank at Home Depot for $2.50 a square foot, and after installing it last weekend, I'm pretty happy. The click-lock system was easier than I thought, and it looks decent for the price. Has anyone else had issues with laminate in a basement, or was I just overthinking it?

That week I flooded my basement with a bad solder joint

Last Tuesday I was sweating copper pipes in my laundry room and thought I had a solid connection on the hot water line. Turned the main back on and heard water spraying inside the wall, ended up with about 2 inches of water on the concrete floor. Took me 3 tries to get the joint right and had to rent a wet vac from Home Depot for $45. Has anyone else had a small plumbing mistake turn into a whole day of cleanup?

My neighbor laughed when I said I was regrouting my shower, then he showed me his 3D printed tile spacers

He told me he makes custom spacers for weird angles and now I'm rethinking all my bathroom tile work, has anyone else tried 3D printed tools for a simple DIY fix?

Why I picked vinyl plank over hardwood for my basement

Everyone told me to go with engineered hardwood for the basement remodel in St. Louis, but I chose luxury vinyl plank instead after reading about moisture issues. Three months in with a minor flood from the washing machine and the vinyl held up perfectly while a neighbor's hardwood floor got wrecked. Has anyone else dealt with this and found vinyl to be a better long-term bet?

Saw a total wiring nightmare at Lowes last weekend

I was grabbing some conduit fittings at the Lowes in Tempe and walked past the electrical aisle. Some guy had his phone out asking for help matching a wire he pulled from his wall - it was that old cloth-covered stuff from the 50s. The employee just said 'yeah that's fine, grab some 14 gauge romex' without even looking at the amperage rating. Please for the love of god do not trust random store advice for your knob and tube replacement. Has anyone else caught bad advice like this at the big box stores?

Spent 6 months painting trim with the brush angled wrong until I watched a pro at Lowe's do it in 30 seconds flat

I was using a 45 degree angle on the bristles, but the guy showed me to hold it almost flat and let the paint flow into the gap, has anyone else gotten a huge lightbulb moment from just watching someone else work?

Watched my neighbor's deck rot away in just 18 months after he used untreated lumber

He built a beautiful raised deck out back of his house on Maple Street, used regular pine from the big box store. After one winter of snow and spring rains, the boards started curling and turning gray. By the second summer, there were soft spots you could push your finger into. I told him to use pressure treated or cedar from the start but he wanted to save about $150. Has anyone else seen a project fail fast from skipping the right materials?

That closet shelf project took me 3 weekends instead of 1

I decided to build custom wood shelves for my hall closet in Philadelphia. Thought it would be a straight 2-day thing, but I spent 4 hours just leveling the brackets because the old plaster walls were totally wonky. Then the cuts were off by like a quarter inch and I had to sand everything down. Ended up buying new brackets from Home Depot after the first set stripped out. Has anyone else had plaster walls just ruin their timeline like that?

Everyone loves those peel-and-stick backsplash tiles but I found something that changed my mind

I was all for the easy peel-and-stick look until I read a stat from the National Kitchen and Bath Association that says 62% of those tiles start peeling within 2 years if your wall isn't perfectly clean. I found that in their 2023 material durability report. Has anyone else had theirs fail that fast?

Finished my first real bookshelf after 3 failed attempts

I spent last Saturday building a bookshelf out of pine from Home Depot, and my neighbor Bob walked over to tell me my dado joints actually looked decent. He's been doing woodworking for like 40 years so that little comment from him really made my day. What was the first thing someone said to you that made you feel like you finally knew what you were doing?

That week in July when my basement flooded and every towel I owned got sacrificed

I live in a 1920s house in Portland and last July we got like 4 inches of rain in two days. My sump pump died at 2 AM and I woke up to ankle deep water in the finished part of the basement - ruined about $300 worth of drywall and baseboards. Took me a whole week to haul out the wet insulation, rent a industrial dehumidifier from Home Depot for $85, and get the new pump installed. Has anyone else dealt with an old house basement that just decides to become a swimming pool at the worst possible time?

Bought a cheap moisture meter and it actually works better than my expensive one

I picked up a $12 moisture meter from Harbor Freight last weekend just to check some drywall after a leak. Everyone in my local hardware store told me it'd be junk and to spend at least $50 on a professional model. Well, I tested it on like 10 different spots in my basement and then borrowed my neighbor's $60 pinless meter to compare. The readings were within 2% of each other every single time, which shocked me. I get that pinless meters have their place for tile floors and stuff, but for basic wood and drywall checks, the cheap one does the job. Has anyone else gotten good results from budget tools that the pros look down on?

Finally fixed a squeaky floor with a trick from a guy in Ohio

I had this one spot in my hallway that drove me nuts every time I walked over it. Tried baby powder and carpet powder, nothing worked for more than a day. Then a contractor in a Home Depot in Columbus told me to try a flooring screw with a special bit that countersinks itself. I picked up a box of 50 for like 12 bucks, drove a few in through the carpet, and that squeak has been gone for 3 months now. Anybody else stumbled onto a fix that simple?

My neighbor told me to stop back-buttering tile and I fought him for a month before I tried it his way

Been doing tile work for about 6 years and always back-buttered every single tile before setting it. My neighbor across the street did tile for 20 years and kept telling me I was wasting time and making a mess. I finally tried not back-buttering on a small backsplash job in my own kitchen last spring. Turns out my thinset mix was always a bit dry because I was compensating for the extra adhesive on the tile. Has anyone else had to unlearn a habit they swore by?

My kitchen cabinet refacing project turned into a 3 week nightmare

I decided to reface my kitchen cabinets because the doors were fine but the boxes looked horrible. Got all the new veneer and trim pieces from the local hardware store in Austin. Thought it would be a weekend job, maybe two days tops. Nope. The old adhesive from the 80s would not come off no matter what I tried. Spent 4 days just scraping and sanding down the cabinet frames. Then I realized the new veneer was way too thin and showed every single imperfection underneath. Had to buy a second batch of thicker stuff and redo half the work. Total time from start to finish was 21 days. Has anyone else run into a simple project that just snowballed into something way bigger?

My neighbor told me my deck stain was blotchy and I was furious until I looked closer

I spent three days last summer staining my back deck. Thought it looked fine. Then my neighbor Linda comes over and says hey you got some blotchy spots near the railing. I was ready to snap at her. But I walked over and squinted and she was right. The wood had some old sealant residue I never stripped off. So I sanded those sections down and reapplied with a thinner coat. Came out way more even the second time. Now I always do a test spot in a corner before I commit. Anyone else get unsolicited advice that actually saved your project?

That time my cheap paint sprayer clogged mid-project on a Saturday afternoon

I was finally painting my living room ceiling last Saturday, about 3 hours in with a $40 Wagner sprayer from Home Depot. Everything was going smooth until the thing just started spitting chunks of dried paint all over my freshly taped floor. Turns out I didn't clean it well enough from the last job three weeks ago and the tip was completely gunked up. I spent another hour taking it apart, soaking the parts in mineral spirits, and scrubbing with a tiny brush. By the time I got it running again, the light was fading and I had to rush through the second coat. Has anyone else had luck with those cheap sprayers or should I just bite the bullet and rent a real one next time?

Spent 6 hours trying to hang a single shelf because my stud finder kept beeping at nothing

Turns out my cheap stud finder was just detecting the metal pipe behind the drywall, so after I finally borrowed my neighbor's $80 scanner I had it up in 10 minutes - has anyone else wasted a whole day on a job that should've taken 20 minutes?

Dropped $350 on a smart thermostat that made my house dumber

Tbh I thought spending $350 on a smart thermostat would save me money on heating. Instead it kept setting itself to 60 degrees at night because the motion sensor thought nobody was home. I woke up freezing for a week straight before I figured out the problem. Ended up taping a piece of cardboard over the sensor and now it works fine. Honestly I could have just bought a $30 manual one and saved the headache. Has anyone else had a fancy gadget totally backfire on them?

I finally measured my door gaps before painting trim

Spent 3 hours caulking and painting last weekend. Looked great. Then I measured. Almost 1/4 inch gap on the bottom of the door jamb. Never even thought to check before. Now I gotta sand and redo it. Who else forgets the simple stuff before painting?

Tried to refinish my oak table and it looks like a zebra now

Used Minwax dark walnut stain over a polyurethane coat I didn't fully strip off. Thing has blotches everywhere. Sanded twice already. Should I just paint over it or try stripping again with citrus strip? Hoping someone's done this before and can tell me if paint will even stick now.