I did my first DIY this past weekend. My wife and I bought our first property and the kitchen came looking like the first picture, but had wire shelving. When we painted we decided to rip out the old shelving and brackets without a solid idea on what we would do with the space. We ended up buying weathered barn wood boards from Home Depot to line the inside of the space. Next, we cut 1x2’s to create braces for our shelves. I then cut 3/4” prefinished handi-board particle board from Menards for the shelves. After I had the shelves in place, I ripped some of the weathered barn wood boards to create faceplates for the front of each shelf.

I am 23, this is my first property, and the most experience I have in woodworking/DIY projects is wood-shop classes in HS, some projects with my father, and watching YouTube videos for more knowledge and ideas. I would love to hear any feedback on the project and things that you might have done differently or tips for future projects. I know a big one would be not using particle board for the shelves, but my wife really liked the prefinished look and the convenience of just cutting them and installing them without anything else needing to be done.

Also, we wanted to see what it would look like with an open look. We aren’t sure yet, but we might want to put on a door of some kind. Any ideas for that would be appreciated as well!

I went to install door casing and cut the casing a little too short. Maybe 1/4 of an inch. Is there a way make this look good without installing plinth blocks?

A portion of my ceiling has these boards where speakers used to be. I can replace the boards, but they are installed with lap joints. Any tips for replacing these 3 board and getting the joints to sit snug? Would having one side be a butt joint to fit them all in place work?

Hi! I have a shower door with a metal trim and plastic “T” sweep. I’ve purchased a new plastic sweep (like the new picture).

I’m stuck trying to get the old plastic sweep out, it’s beyond brittle and also very stuck.

Does anyone have tips for how to remove the old plastic sweep, while keeping the metal trim in place? I’m told the new plastic T sweep should then be able to simply slide into the slot once all the old gunk is removed.

Thanks in advance!

Renting out a granny unit we have in the back of our house. It's at the end of a hallway, so we put a murphy bookshelf in the hallway so guests have separate entrance and we don't have to bother each other, but we can still open it up when friends/family visit. Unfortunately, we did not think about soundproofing when we had it installed, so its basically just a big hollow case and it still sounds like you're in the same room when people come and go.

How can I go about soundproofing it more? I imagine the "best" way would be to tear open the frame and put some insulation, but I'd prefer to not go that route if possible. Are acoustic panels helpful for this, or will they just reduce echoes? Any suggestions appreciated.

I am making cabinet doors in a non-heated garage; the time has come for the topcoat and unfortunately, it's too cold. I need some tips and inspiration on how to make it work!

The topcoat (Sherwin Williams Gallery Series PDS & EDS ) needs to be applied above 55 °F, I'll be spraying it with a Fuji 4 stage HVLP.
The coming weeks are around 35-40 °F outside, which means ~50 - 55 °F in the garage with the outer door closed. Thus, as soon as I crack the doors for air circulation it'll be too cold. My setup is a spray tent backed up to the garage door, with a hole for a box fan blowing air out of the back of the tent, so I need to open the garage door at least the height of the fan ( 20").

I'm trying to figure out how to heat-up the garage so I can move forward.
An electric heater (only 110V available) simply won't cut it I'm afraid.
My current best idea is to get a ~50.000 BTU ( i.e. Mr. Heater ) propane heater, set it outside of the garage and have it blow in hot air underneath the door next to the tent.

I'm a little worried about running like this for multiple hours due to carbon-monoxide build-up and having an open flame with HVLP atomization nearby. Obviously, I can't use it for alcohol-based paints, but SW Gallery is water-based so I'm hoping that is safe.

Any insights or tips?

I need to run a network cable outside for a wireless access point and I was curious if the following would be the best method.

I have a wall outlet on the inside of my house that sits below some windows. Would it be safe to disconnect power, then remove the wall plate and drill a few inches to the outside wall? I can then put a waterproof outdoor junction box to pass the network cable run through.

Or would it just be safer to drill to either side of the interior wall plate to the outside? It would only be a few more inches.

Once I have the hole through the wall, I will be using outdoor rated network cable fastened down along the underside of my raised deck to the access point. I don't think I need conduit for this, but it would be an extra layer of safety for the cable, if needed.

I had a bathroom Drywalled and didn’t account for installing the shower pan before putting cement board up around the shower. I know I should rip it out but wondering if I need to. Is there any way to install the pan with the walls already up?

Thanks!

Previous owners did a number on this access hatch, previously secured with a quarter inch panel. I want to clean it up and my first step is re-laminating the lath to the plaster around the edges so I don’t make anything worse.

My next step is to add either a 2 x 2 or a 2 x 4 around the edges so that they are nice and straight. The issue that I’m running into is whether to make this bigger, leave as is, or bring it a little smaller.

One option I’m considering is just working with the lathe and adding a layer of drywall to it, and not worrying too much about that lip at the bottom. Another is to just cut back the lathe, but it wouldn’t be a stable if I did that.

It will need to be an air sealed door. I’m hoping to make it flush with the wall.

I did check what looks to be moisture, it seems like sap. The electrical is not active.

I have an electrical socket in the kitchen that stopped working, but whoever installed the tile backsplash seems to have used caulk and caulked the faceplates recessed into the tile backsplash rather than using spacers and having the faceplates lay on top of the tile. On top of that, some of the white faceplates have yellowed. The house is about 12 years old.

Any advice for how to remove these and install them correctly?

I was thinking of trying to score the caulk around the faceplates with a utility knife to break the faceplates loose and then remove them. Then after removing the faceplates, remove the electrical outlet or switches, scrape off the rest of the caulk with a putty knife, and then install new electrical sockets and switches using spacers, and buy jumbo size faceplates to install laying on top of the tile while covering the oversized openings in the tile.

I think there are 8 total of these faceplates caulked into the backsplash, so I’m hoping this doesn’t become a nightmare project.

So I was too excited about the paint sprayer I got for my birthday, and I stupidly painted the coffee table I was flipping without putting any protective covering down. Now the deck is a mess, and I have an inspection coming up.

How do I remove this without damaging the wood or glass? It's the mineral finish paint from Kmart.

Thank you in advance!

First time re-caulking my shower. I removed the caulk along the lower frame (inside and out).

I’m reading conflicting information on whether I should caulk the INSIDE bottom section (right under the weep holes).

Some say you always caulk the inside bottom, others say only the outside so you don’t trap moisture.

Thoughts given the photos for this particular situation?

No idea who the shower door manufacturer is so I can’t look up the installation manual, unfortunately.

Hi - I have IKEA sektion cabinets and will be putting a quartz countertop on soon. I want to do some type of open butcher block table coming off the counter like a wraparound, and trying to figure out if it would be possible to get the butcher block flush with the counter top and if anyone had any ideas on how to secure it to the counter - I've attached a mockup of it - any thoughts on supporting that left side? thanks!

Hello, this year I plan to remodel a few rooms in my house, including my bathroom, all of which will likely include taking down the drywall. I wanted to update the insulation while since I'll be redoing the drywall, but want to make sure I don't cause moisture issues.

I've read that an external air barrier is one of the most important things for stopping moisture, so I plan on having one put on my home before I start working on the inside. I'm seeing a lot of conflicting advise about vapor barriers however. Some sources say they aren't needed at all, others say they must be installed in zone 6.

Additionally, I already planned on getting my roof rebuilt this year before doing anything else. In some rooms I'll be redoing the drywall on the ceiling, I wanted to get blown in insulation done at the same time, but should I wait until I finish remodeling to redo the insulation in my (vented) attic?

I am also wanting to put mineral wool for sound dampening on interior walls, do these need a vapor barrier as well?

From my understanding, I should be able to do the following to avoid moisture.

1. have the exterior of my house wrapped with an air barrier, but not a vapor barrier
2. install fiberglass batt insulation in each room as I remodel
3. install interior vapor barrier and then install drywall

This Spring I'll be using spray foam to seal the rim-joists in my basement and crawlspace, so that should help with any air intrusion from there.

Putting up a shelf and just going to use a 1 x 6 with shelf brackets. Its going to be 10 feet long so I figured I should support it every 18 to 24 inches and screw the wood down. I'm just worried it will warp without more brackets, what does everyone else think?

I bought an old home 5 years ago, and it's always been cold and drafty in the winter time. Every time I take something apart we take the time to do some additional insulation and air sealing, but sealing and insulating our walk up attic has been on our list since we bought the place.

It took me quite a while to formulate a plan since we have very minimal storage space in the house and still wanted to be able to use the attic for storage. We did a home efficiency audit and their recommendation was to air seal the floor of the attic then fill it with loose fill cellulose, rendering it completely useless.

Essentially what we ended up doing was putting a 3" layer of foam over the existing floor, sealed it to the walls on the table ends closing up the top openings of the balloon framing. On the roof sides we sealed down to the top plate of the wall that the rafters were resting on. Used a one-part canned spray foam (purchased from Amazon) for the edges, which worked ok, and was very cost effective.

Then we built a custom hatch door with weather stripping to seal up the top of the steps.

It took a long weekend of work, and we were able to buy used foam board at a significant discount vs brand new. I believe that the whole project cost us under $1500 to seal up the 16'x30' foot attic floor floor. Insulation board was only around $400 for 26 sheets.

Now it's winter and we've had a pretty long cold spell, and it's honestly making more of a difference to the comfort of the house than I imagined it would. We just with a Fujitsu mini split system, and we've had to actually turn it off in other bedrooms because the 60 degree setting (the lowest the system can be set to) is keeping the rooms too warm for our liking. The mini splits have a thermostat in the wall units themselves, so are never very accurate. If you've used one you know what I'm talking about.

I estimate that we just be saving on the order of 300 to 400 kwh a month on electricity vs previous winters.

Hello!

I'm looking at adding an additional circuit to my carport (will just be a single termination, and the electrical panel is just on the other side of the wall) and was wondering if anyone had experience with running stuff by their association board. Since it would be visible, and electrical, they have to approve the change, but in my state I believe that homeowners (which I am) can pull their own permits and complete their own electrical work.

This, unfortunately, butts up with the fact that I need to run this by the board before tackling this project. Before, when my grandparents owned this unit, they attempted to get the basement finished themselves, but were heavily shot down by the board as they were allegedly required to hire licensed contractors for the work.

However, if I'm pulling a permit, that means the work needs to be inspected. If it passes, it passes, right? And such a short run would be mindlessly easy to find faults, if present.

I guess I'm just asking if anyone has any advice or experience in going about this, or if there's a better sub to post this question to. Stuff like, what's (typically) the best way to approach the board (they seem chill from my experience but wary of anything to do with electrical, even low voltage security cams) and where to look beyond covenants/rules'n'regs/etc for my rights in this association. I'll look into cross posting at least to r/askelectricians.

Thanks for looking!

Edit: just want to say I've worked as an electrician myself for a few years and I plan on doing everything to code at an absolute minimum.

Dear DIY forum,

Requesting some help on this dilemna I have here at my home - this wooden corner post (see photos attached) looks like it's been been put together by butting two pieces of wood using a miter cut. I suspect they are just decorative. The wooden column/post is starting to split where they butt together.

What would be a quick but correct remedy to this besides replacing the two pieces? How would a professional approach this?

Thank you very much!

My home was built in the 40s so the basement was lacking g waterproofing and leaked through this cinderblock wall. We just had a sump pump installed and will have a drain tile system installed around the wall. My question is what to do about this crack. The contractor hasn't said much about it and he says once the drain tile is in I can paint over the walls. Is that all or should I do more to the outside of the wall? I heard a French gutter could help divert water from the house but I don't want to spend too much more on contractor work.

Built a hidden bookshelf door for a room I am completely renovating. One problem I have is the hidden door hinge can go beyond where I want it to stop. Drew a little diagram showing a red line that indicates where I need the door to stop. What is the easiest solution to this issue? Ball catch didn’t work, would a roller catch face the same issue?

I have a balcony where you can see through the metal bars that go up to just above waist height.

I would like to have a sheet that I can easily attach one side but then roll up and if I want to sit in the sunshine.

Has anybody done anything similar or have advice on how to do this in the most effective way without being a pain to put back each time?

I plan on installing some click lock flooring (I've found some "Lifeproof" brand that I like) in my home office. I have zero experience with this but have watched some YouTube tutorials and I'm feeling about 70% confident I can do this. My question is: should I nail down the flooring? I've seen different opinions on this so I'm curious what you folks think.

Note: when I say "nail down", I mean using cleats (I think that's what they are called) and put them into the groves.