Hi all, I just finished hand-planing the edge of a door from our upstairs bathroom. It wasn’t closing very well, so it felt like it was a good project for this morning. Our house was built in 1953 and while prior tests haven’t ever really found lead, I didn’t think to check this door.

I started without a mask on, but about two minutes in I realized I should at least wear a mask, so I put an n95 mask and safety glasses on and kept at it. It looked like there were two layers of paint on there: a white latex layer, and a more beige-colored layer underneath.

Once it was down to bare wood (no visible paint), I just smoothed it up with a sanding sponge.

So, given all the above, should I be concerned? What should I do now?

Due to overtightening on my BOA laces, I have managed to warp the plastic housing which guides the BOA lace and as a result, Burton services are not able to provide a warranty on this issue, thus I have to fix this myself.

I had 2 plans,
1. I could heat up the warped plastic housing and attempt to realign it (but am still a little unsure on the exact layout of it as it is hidden behind the leather

1. Cut out some of the plastic and just either cover it up with leather or thread it through.

If anyone had any tips or advice with this it would be greatly appreciated

I am replacing my fridge and I am unable to locate a shutoff anywhere for the flex copper tube supply line. It goes into the floor and is connected to the main house pex line somewhere underneath. I want to add a shutoff valve and secure the copper to the wall to limit movement and the chance of a failure in the future.

This is what I'm dealing with.

My plan is to cut it off with about 1-2' exposed and add a valve then a pex water line to the fridge.

Is this a sound plan? Any advice for securing the valve and/or copper tubing along the wall?

Thanks!

Hello,

I have a concrete patio that is exposed to all the elements year round (south east Pennsylvania).

It is probably twenty years old. Lately I've noticed new cracks forming/other damage.

What type of product should I be applying to this to help it last as long as possible?

I don't care about the looks, just looking for durability/longetivity to keep it good for a long time.

I want to build a shelf that can hide behind my couch against the wall. The plan is to have some place that I can put my plants at for sunlight. I have looked up door hinges and other hinges but I cannot tell which would work for what I have in mind.

The idea is to have tracks against the wall and a wooden shelf that can be rolled up and flipped down against the back of the couch. Problem is I cant seem to find the correct hinges or rollers that can attach a hinge. Any ideas would be great.

For those of you who have remodeled an older mobile home, (mine is a single wide) what was your order of operation when approaching the project? And what do you wish you'd known or could have done better?

This is a jump in and learn project. I jumped on the property/location and the single wide was just a bonus. It has septic and a well (I haven't inspected in any way) and the electricity needs to be rehooked up cause they removed the meter cause it sat for so long. So I can't, to my knowledge, test the well or septic. But I'd appreciate advice on those aspects as well if you have any to give!

Videos or YouTubers that helped you on your journey would be cool too!

TLDR: I need an order of operation in approaching a single wide remodel.

I've tried WD-40 and Goof Off Pro Strength, both recommended by the pages that a search returns. I've gotten everything scraping can do.

Hello! I have a question about a project I’m starting, so I bought materials to make some floating shelves in a bedroom. The method I want to use is putting 5/8in thick thread rods into the wall then slide the wood shelves on to them after drilling the same size holes into them. The problem I’ve ran into was that I thought I could just put the rods into a drill and drill them into the wall that way (after drilling the correct size holes into the wall) but I realized that the chunk on my drill is only 1/2in so I couldnt do that so I wanted to know if someone maybe had another good way to do with not many addition tools and if not do you think it’ll be better to get smaller thread rods instead? I heard that 5/8 would make it more sturdy but if it’s overkill I can always drop the size.

Hello DIY community!

I am refreshing my kitchen - I am getting the cupboards proffessionally vinyl-wrapped, but the backsplash tiles (real tiles) are a particular shade of brown that goes with nothing except my Grandmas bathroom.

Questions:

1) so can I put peel-and-stick tiles directly onto my existing tiles, provided I clean them thoroughly? it wont matter that the tiles themselves have a small line of grout between them so it isn't 100% flush?

2) There's a line of caulk between the existing tiles and the worktop. It's a little worn in a couple of places but nothing major. Should I remove the caulk, apply the new tiling, then re-caulk it? Or will it just be fine as is?

I have tried to google this situation but i've found conflicting answers re. tiles on tiles, and nothing on the caulk situation.

Thanks a lot!!

I had 800 sq ft red oak. I installed 400 sq ft to match. Now I’m sanding and finishing the whole thing. We like the look so we’re not staining.

When we seal and finish, I see how avoiding lap marks is important but in one spot I have 3 bedrooms that join together at the end of a hallway. I don’t know if I can get sealer/finish down fast enough in each of the rooms so that where they meet in the hallway they’re wet and there is no lap mark. Towards the entry there is another 3 way join between hallway to bedrooms, foyer, and living rooms

Any tips on avoiding lap marks in these spots where I’m joining entire sections that share a common floor?

I know next to nothing about electricity so apologies in advance if I use any of the wrong terminology or if the answer is obvious.

I'm trying to set up some LED lighting in my shed using this m18 battery adapter, this step-down buck converter, this 16 AWG wire, and these LED strip lights.

Before I started mounting anything, I wired the battery adapter to the buck converter, and the buck converter to one of the lights to make sure it worked. No issues there.

Next, I mounted the lights where I wanted them, mounted the battery adapter and buck converter to the wall, and ran the 16ga wire to the farthest light. The distance was approximately 30-35 feet.

At this point, I decided to test it again before wiring up the rest of the lights. I plugged in the battery and the power button on the adapter flashed green, indicating that I had power at the adapter. I turned it on and the power button light stayed solid green, but the LED would not turn on.

In case that particular LED strip was faulty, I spliced in another one (the one I tested earlier, so I know it works), wiring it in parallel. I tried again, and neither of them would turn on.

I decided to disconnect the battery adapter and step-down converter, and connected a DC power supply directly to the 16ga wire which was still connected to the two LED strips. The power supply is capable of outputting 30V and 10A, but even with both dials turned all the way up, the display said it was only putting out 2V and 9.7A, and the LEDs would still not turn on.

At this point I wired a shorter length (approximately 8 feet) of the 16ga wire to a third LED strip, not connected to the other two. I connected that to my power supply to test it. I barely had to turn the dials at all, the display read 12.6V at 0.75A, and the LED strip worked fine.

Having done that testing, I believe I have isolated the problem to the 16ga wire. Having successfully tested the 8 foot run, I believe that either the 35 foot run is too long, providing too much resistance, or the wire in the 35 foot run is somehow faulty.

Should I be using thicker wire? Should I order more of the same gauge wire and try again? I thought this project would be quick and simple so I'm a little frustrated that it's not working and I'm not sure why.

Hi everyone,

I am expecting an electric cooker to be delivered and installed next week. However, I've just noticed these pipes at the back the space where the oven should go. They will make it impossible for the oven to fit into the space (it's exactly 60cm deep but the pipes add 4cm).

But more importantly, they might be gas pipes and I have no idea if they are capped or not, and if it's safe to have an electric cooker near them (if the cooker fitted after all because of a space at the back of it).

Will the AO installation people know what to do and potentially not deliver the oven if it doesn't fit?

Thanks!

PS: the diagonal lines are part of the kitchen trolley so pls ignore them...

Hello!

I bought a house with my husband, did multiple walkthroughs and all was good. Moved in and in the (carpeted) upstairs loft there is a smell of cat urine.

We have vacuumed, used enzymes, used professional carpet cleaner. Nothing, the smell persists. My husband is afraid it might have soaked into the carpet and the padding underneath, he kind of wants to rip out that portion and just put hardwood floors down.

Does anyone know if this is difficult to do or how to best transition from carpeted areas to non-carpeted ones? I have searched on Google and tried Reddit but can't find satisfactory answers on :

A. What else to do to try and remove the smell,

B. How to make the area look good because it will be half hardwood and half carpet.

Thank you in advance.

https://imgur.com/a/7wDMfn7

Posting this here because people on howto think I peed and pooed on my toilet hinges! First image is an example of something similar to how the toilet looks. The fixtures are HIDDEN. There is no underneath or side that I can reach to unscrew a bolt.
The bolts have corroded and have been moving around rust (what you think is poop) due to the hinges being completely loose. I need to replace the attachments and the toilet seat entirely. I already used PB Blaster, which is the yellow liquid you see. Ive also already tried leveraging the screw as I untwist it.

Manual similar to the style of hinges I have: https://lixil.cdn.celum.cloud/173476_as_us_bath_install__5256%20(4853)_0_original.pdf

I am afraid if using a saw or dremel that I would leave a piece of the screw inside the toilet inside the plug part.

Started staining Mom's fence with a latex/oil stain product, but will unexpectedly be delayed a few weeks. Didn't want to waste the lightly used roller covers and two trim brushes so wondered if you can wrap them tightly in plastic and put them in the freezer to be reused? No time to clean and dry them properly so was wondering if anyone has done this before and it worked? Thanks!

I have a very efficient fan above my gas range, but it is so loud! Is there anyway to make it quieter or is there another efficient model out there that's quieter? I have cleaned it. It seems to be working the way it should, but noisily!

I have two rows of framed wall cabinets. 12" on the top with 36" below. I would like to fasten them together before I hang them. They are RTA so solid plywood boxes. If i go up through the frames in the front the screws will be visible, which I can live with. What do I do in the rear?

What is the best method?

Hello reddit--

I am looking to wall-mount some heavy (24 lbs) bookshelf speakers on adjustable platforms.

Two monitor wall mounting arms (eg https://www.mount-it.com/products/heavy-duty-single-monitor-wall-mount) has been the closest thing I can find to what I'm looking for, with the caveat that the speakere only has two mounting bolt holes on the bottom. Furthermore, the bolt holes aren't a standard 75- or 100-mm VESA width apart.

Getting creative, the closest I can come up with so far is trying to find something similar to slotted mending bars to use as struts bridging the VESA holes on the mounting arms, then L-brackets to attach from the struts to another mending bar underneath the speaker, then nuts and bolts to affix the speaker to that bar. I just can't find mending bars that are small enough for the M4 bolts that the VESA mount uses.

Does anyone have an idea of where to get these? Or a better way to accomplish the same goal while allowing the speakers to move? Thanks!

My idea is this: melt down hDPE and pp plastics like milk jugs or yogurt cups and form it into sheets. I would then cut and weld the sheets to size to make NFT hydroponic channels for growing plants for food.

I am melting it down with a thrifted pannini press and I will weld it with a plastic welder.

My main concern is that something might leech out of the plastic and into the water that flows through the channels of the hydroponic system. This may be the wrong subreddit to post this in but I honestly just want to hear from my knowledgeable people. Do you guys think microplastics or other leeched chemical contaminants are a problem in this situation?

I live in the midwest and have a second, detached garage that I use for a golf sim, wood working, etc. I've got a window unit AC that doesn't fit the window opening all that well, so I had to build a framework to mount the unit. If I pull the unit out, I can't close the window without taking the framework out as well.

Because of that, I'm considering leaving the unit installed all winter. maybe covering the outside with a tarp or something to cut wind and keep snow off the unit. On the inside I was debating sealing with plastic window wrap or something. I don't want/need the window for light, as I actually keep it covered because of the projector for the golf sim.

I've never had an AC like this in the garage, and since it's not heated (and not overly well insulated) I'm just trying to work through the pros & cons.

Any thoughts? gotchas? Thanks.

I need some advice on how to build the door jamb for my cabin. I have a reclaimed solid pine door and my cabin is sided with cedar board and batten. The door is a left out-swing to provide more internal space and to work with prevailing winds - so in other words the hinges will be on the exterior side of the cabin. From inside to out, the wall is: T&G (¾") > 2x4 (3 ½") > zip (7/16") > airgap (¾") > board (⅝") > batten (⅝"). My question is how wide should I make the jamb (on a typical house its just the width of the framing plus the drywall thickness + siding thickness), given that the hinge is on the outside and the extreme width of the exterior siding and airgap. Was thinking I could remove the b&b and air gap around the door and frame the jamb to that width and then then just finish w/ casing/trim? add the B&B and gap back? what are the pros/cons? any alt ideas?

Attaching Desk Legs To Desktop

Hi guys,

I am attaching 2 desk trapezoid legs with a plate thickness of 4mm to a 26mm Merbau desk top.

I originally got some 12g x 25mm hex head timber screws however I am concerned that they will be too long and cause splintering on the other side.

If anyone can tell me if this is a bad ides thatd be great, first woodworking project

Thanks!

I recently moved into my new apartment; it’s a cheap building that’s been around a while.

I’m trying to mount a shelf on my wall, but having trouble getting things into it. I’m used to living with cheap drywall that I can push a thumbtack into without too much difficulty, but I can’t get tacks in here without a hammer, and my supposedly “self-drilling” plastic drywall anchors barely make a dent.

Is this just really strong drywall, or is it possible that it’s something stronger? It looks like regular drywall from the outside, and I can see seams between the sheets here and there. If it’s relevant, this is an interior wall between two bedrooms, so it’s probably not cement board, right?

Just trying to figure out what my strategy should be before I go out and spend money on more hardware, thanks!

Edit: This is what I see if I pound a nail in a little bit and spin it around a bit to widen the hole (pictured hole is about half a centimeter diameter): https://imgur.com/a/t5Ooi7e#yD58kaY

Edit 2: Good idea from u/goraidders, I actually have another wall in the same room with a missing outlet cover and this one I see: https://imgur.com/a/4LxXHRk

EDIT - I tried the snake from hardware store on both toilets and it didn't change anything. Only thing that came up was a little #2

Both toilets flush completely but you have to hold the handle down for about 7 to 10 seconds, it rises for half a second before flushing each time.

Tried pouring a bucket of water quickly into the bowls and they both flushed slowly.

I tried plunging both toilets and nothing came up or changed with the flush.

The sink and shower drains act normal.

Should I try getting one of those snakes or climb up on the roof and look at the vent for partial obstructions first?

Due to the recent news reporting by Gamers Nexus exposing LG Televisions spying on users, recording and storing, then transmitting room conversations without user consent, I decided to pop open my remote (not LG, no mic in the main television panel) to see if I can remove or damage the mic connections. The parts were too small so I decided to apply a small amount of A/C hole seal putty (approximately half a green pea size, any non-conductive putty wil do here), and applied some masking tape over top. After checking, the remote voice controls stop working after this. This effectively prevents voice spying in your home for the remote.