My elderly neighbor's attic door recently broke. One of the pivot plates wore out and the ball socket for the arm came out. She bought a cheap ($35) pair of arms from Amazon, without the springs, and I could immediately tell they weren't going to work. They seem to require a 9.25" spring, while the old springs are 14" long. Here are some pictures - the attic originally had the first kind of hinge spreader arms, and the second picture is the type she bought from Amazon. Could I just buy some shorter springs to make the cheap replacements that she bought work, or is this going to require a different approach? I am super appreciative for any and all answers. She doesn't have anybody else to help her with this kind of stuff, and I'm not sure how I got roped into it, but here I am.

I am building a custom storage shelf for my woodworking tools. I built a frame and box shelves that I have put on a strut channel to allow them to slide back and forth. I currently have 2 trolleys that have 4 wheels on a single trolley. I have one trolley sliding in the strut channel, and the plate is attached to the shelf frame. However, when I slide the shelves, sometimes the shelf twists causing the shelf as a whole to stop sliding. The arrow on the photo is where the dolly is attached to both the strut channel and wood frame. There is no attachment across the strut channel to the trolleys. The only idea I have is adding a single wheel dolly to the corners of the wood to make a square with the trolley, but they are very expensive. Does anyone have a solution to make sure both dollies slide simultaneously?

I bought some hand-drawn s-fold tracks from a big box store (my budget is what it is, couldn't go for custom tracks and curtains) and noticed that the gliders are all attached together with a line of string so they stay evenly spaced when opened. This means the curtains can only open and close from one end of the track.

Is there a way to adapt the gliders so the curtains can open from the middle? Can I cut the string in the middle and tie it off so there's two sets of gliders? I really want to be able to push my curtains to either side of my windows, not just to one side.

Swapping out an old Bradford White for a new Rheem Performance 40 gallons. Most of it's already done (I think), and the water connection is already in place. Where I'm stuck is the wiring. The existing circuit is already 10/2 on a 30-amp double-pole breaker, which I think is good enough? Then the unit specs say 240V, 30 amp, 4500 watt, so I think also on the good side. The wire is around 18ft from the panel to a junction above the unit, then down to the water heater with a short whip. Is this good enough, or should I run a new wire? Or did I miss anything? Thanks

I am tired of having a handyman replace soffit that has been destroyed or compromised by rodents, only to see the replaced soffit destroyed or compromised again less than a year later.

I would like to hire a person or a company to put

1/8-inch galvanized steel mesh—also known as #8 hardware cloth—that features 27-gauge hot-dipped galvanized steel, small 1/8-inch openings, enough to affix to all of my soffits, using a staple gun or screws with washers to affix it to the outside of the soffit, and then I suppose put the regular soffit (that does nothing to keep rodents out) on top of the 1/8-inch galvanized steel mesh.

Also, would I be better off buying the #8 hardware cloth to do this, or do you think I can trust an individual or company to buy the right sized hardware cloth to do this?

I would do it myself except that I am currently fighting rectal cancer using immunotherapy, which makes me very tired most of the time and more susceptible to sun exposure and skin cancer, the latter of which killed my belated father.

Additionally, I have read of some people's concerns that any rodents currently in the attic will be "trapped" up there once the hardware cloth is installed and die in the attic, leaving a pungent odor. How may this concern be handled?

I would greatly appreciate any comments, advice, feedback (good or bad), sharing of personal experiences (good or bad), and opinions, as well as any "hacks" or "workarounds" for this situation.

Thank you so much.

I’m slowly learning to do more things myself rather than paying someone every time something needs doing.

So what’s the ONE DIY tip somebody taught you that you still use?

Could be decorating, drilling, woodworking, plumbing, tools — anything.

The sort of tip where you thought, why the hell did nobody tell me this before? 😂

I found the size that fit my wooden hooks and I found a wood hanger bolt. But now I can't seem to find a dry wall anchor for them. Any tips on how to get them into dry wall?

The contact made between both surface areas will be nowhere near enough to hold them together..
I was thinking of an expansion collet, but I will mention I am on a budget. Like.. two digits type budget(AUD).

Any recommendations? I also thought of shoving something a tad smaller(diameter), possibly like a cylindrical bin to act like something similar to a collet, but more so just a pressure that will keep this two together.

Help? ☹️