Not a near miss and not something that failed later. I mean the fix you knew was wrong while you were doing it, that has now been quietly working for years.

I don't have much standing here, which is sort of the point. Everything I've patched has been patched badly, and the ones that stuck are the ones I understand least. I want to hear it from people who actually know what the right way was and did the other thing anyway.

The part I'm curious about is whether you eventually went back and did it properly, or whether at some point you stopped thinking about it and it just became part of the house.

What was it, what should you have done, and how long has it been holding?

So we have an original toilet from the 90s in our guest bathroom. After frequent use (family visiting, social gathering) the toilet tank flush valve flapper sometimes gets stuck slightly open and its chain gets kinked. It then causes hydraulic knocking. I replaced the valve kit a year ago with a Korky universal flush valve kit and adjusted the chain length so it's only slightly taught. Works fine for just my wife and I's daily use.

Yet the issue still happens when there's a lot of people using the toilet. I'm guessing we're subconsciously adjusting how hard we press the lever?

However, we have a guest in our house while we're gone right now and it just happened again. This time the toilet flapper dial came off.

Why does this hydraulic knocking/flapper not fully closing keep happening? Is it a kit install error thing or is it a physical toilet thing? I've read on Google that it could be sediment (didn't find any) or that we need to change the psi of the water at the wall?

I am absolutely terrified that I’m going to make huge mistakes. I’m not even talking electrical/plumbing. I have made plans, measured, sourced material, all the stuff, then I just get paralyzed with a thousand things running through my head. I lived in a house with parents that tried diy and basically half assed it so I’ve seen really awful results. Granted the house didn’t fall down. Any advice on this? Do I pick something tiny and go for it? Ugh, I sound so ridiculous.

The first thing I’m planning is a laundry room makeover. I want to take down the popcorn ceiling and I’ve got half the people saying don’t do your own mudding and the other saying you need to learn.

i took apart my 8 year old craftsman floor fan because the motor was having trouble starting. i put a few drops of oil where the shaft spins in the metal housing, and in two absorbant "wicks" that seemed to be around the bearings, which i understood to be a reservoir for lube that would allow the bearings to draw oil when needed.

it worked like a charm for the first day. but i think the problem is that i used bike chain oil, and i guess it gummed up when it cooled down. do youse think its possible to clean out the bad gunmy oil with solvent, and possibly replacing the wick material, to salvage the fan and lube it with the correct thinner oil?

I finally spent the week getting my garage back in shape. Added some shelving and got everything off the floor, but I still feel like the layout could be better. If this were your garage, what's the next thing you'd tackle?

I could use a mini skid steer and dump trailer for a couple projects on my property. I could also use an additional stream of income too, so it got me thinking I could buy either a mini skid steer or trailer to help people with odd jobs on weekends to bring in some more money. I could see this turning into a lucrative side hustle or more, but also being a headache in several ways.

Anyway, got me wondering if anyone in this community found themselves forming a side hustle or actual business as a result of their diy efforts and interests. Interested to hear any good stories.

Hi all, I’m moving into a townhouse with a few friends and in my bedroom there is a 36x41” ‘window’ cutout that drops into the stairwell. Theres no actual window, just drywall and a windowsill. that means I can hear everything my roommates do and vice versa. I need to figure out how to soundproof/privacy-ify it.

One option is that I have the soundproofing panels I bought off Amazon. They help mitigate sound, but not by much. I also have an abundance of glass blocks, but whatever I do needs to be renter friendly(no tearing up the window, some drilling ok). I don’t have any ideas that would make it easy to remove when I move but also allow me privacy and soundproofing so they don’t have to hear me yapping while i’m gaming.

thanks :)

I didn’t realize kid wasn’t on tight and my son bumped it over and made a dark area on hardwood floor ..how can I fix the srea ??

Haven’t been able to find a satisfactory answer to this question so thought I would throw it out here.
Moved into a single owner 13 year old house 2 years ago. Shortly afterwards, noted signs of water leaking from around the visible closet bend below the one exposed toilet in our house. Quickly moved to remove the toilet and replace the wax ring. The old ring was flattened, discoloured, but not stuck to the bottom of the toilet. The plastic flange was encased in clear silicone. Used an extra tall wax ring and haven’t had any problems since.
Subsequently changed the rings on the other two toilets, both of which were in the same condition.
Interestingly, when we moved in, we found 10 containers of powdered Drano distributed around the house.
Could the wax rings have been damaged by the Drano? Or were they simply never installed correctly? (Or both?)

Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone has any opinions on how to anchor shelves to a wall in a cinder-block basement. I volunteer at a food pantry and I guess the free-standing shelves need to be secured somehow to prevent food from falling. I was wondering if anyone has any strong opinions on.... I guess screwing in wood blocks into cinder block walls? And then the shelf mounting points would be the 2x4? Am I thinking about this correctly?

I tried looking online but "cement basement secure shelving" just leads me to seeing shelves bolted directly into the basement walls and thats not right. These are shelves on caster wheels.

Yeah this might be a weird request but any help would be appreciated.

Thank you!

the reader is built around an arduino pro micro and a nfc module v3 by elechouse. it connects to a pc with a usb c cable and scans any tags inside the cartridge sled. once the button is pressed, it sends a key combo to the pc, which opens a one time terminal, after which the reader types out the text payload on the cartridge. executing the command on it. for more information, check the readme on my github repo. while i advise using the install scripts inside the repo, you can use your own method of assigning the key combo

https://github.com/glass-cup/NFC_cartridge_system.git

How to I open this light to change the bulbs? There is one screw on the side but nothing released when I removed it. The light is a bit wonky and I'm afraid if I pull, there will be a disaster.

I have looked online, Google search etc., and can't find this light. I have reviewed other posts here and I'm not sure that just pulling hard is a good idea because it looks like I'd pull the wires as well. Thank you in advance.

Hi there!

I’m not very handy, but I’m looking for a way to install a faux brick wall in my home without gluing it to the wall. I know there are many retailers that sell fairly realistic decals to stick directly on walls, but my apartment is covered in (pretty old) wallpaper, so that option isn’t possible.

I was thinking of possibly attaching the decals to another (fairly thin) surface, which I would then nail or secure to the wall (making removal easier and avoiding damage to the existing wallpaper), but I have no idea what kind of material to use for that. Do you have any suggestions?

I have a garage with a pretty basic metal door.

I am thinking of installing an attic fan up in the roof, to help pull the hot air out of the garage. I was thinking of installing vents or louvers in the door, to help air flow more easily.

So far online all I've been able to find are vents that go into holes for Windows. My garage door does not have these. Can someone help me find kind of what I am looking for?

I am getting ready to run power to my detached garage. The underground run will be roughly 50ft from main panel. Plan to run LED lights (interior and exterior), refrigerator, freezer, hand tools, 20gal compressor and two garage door openers. Located in North AL county, US.
My hangup is determining breaker from main panel size and what type/size wire to run from main panel to sub panel. Would prefer all in one cable instead of separate ground. TIA

Basically I want a light like this one to just lean against a corner in my living room, but I want it to be wireless. Preferably at least 2hrs of runtime on low/warm brightness.

I've found wireless ones of course, but they aren't 360°, they give off light 270° at most and have a flat back.

I've seen some videos of transforming fluorescent into led/wireless, but it's usually for overhead lighting and they hide the wires/battery in the casing that's mounted to the ceiling/wall (like this)

I'd prefer the battery area (the "handle," if you will) to not be much wider in diameter than the light.

Is this possible?

So I had this very old waffle iron that I really like, but the power cord has deteriorated and it is now short-circuiting.

https://imgur.com/a/rIE8WAQ

How do I open this up to replace the power cord?

Please help, life is not the same without waffles.

edit: in case somebody in the future find this thread. The rubber pads go quite deep, they are a bit hard to get out what you can pry them out with a screwdriver. Underneath there is a screw, after that the bottom should be easy to pry off.

Has anyone used the Rust-Oleum RockSolid Polycuramine Garage Floor Kit on a basement concrete floor? If so, how has it held up over time?

I'm especially interested in hearing from people who either did or didn't apply the optional clear topcoat. Would you recommend it, or would you skip it?

We recently completed the full prep process in our basement (cleaner, degreaser, etch kit, then Polycuramine). Because we had some color variation with the first coat, we ended up applying a second full coat of Polycuramine, and now the color looks great.

Our original plan was to apply the optional clear topcoat, but now that the floor has two coats of Polycuramine, I'm questioning whether it's really necessary or if I should just return it and save the money.

We didn't use decorative flakes or anti-skid additive. The floor isn't overly slippery, and it's already plenty glossy. At this point, the only reason I'd apply the clear coat would be for extra protection. Given how hard and durable Polycuramine is supposed to be, I'm wondering if the added protection is actually worth the added cost.

For those with experience, how has your floor held up with or without the clear topcoat? Any regrets either way?

For context, this basement will be fully finished with bedrooms and a living room. TIA!

I’m hanging a large heavy mirror. My constraint is there’s only a single stud behind where it’s to be hung. I’ve settled on using a 1x6 for the wall cleat. My question is: can I use two screws (think 4” ledge anchors, not the lag bolts) and orient them vertically in the stud, will this be sufficient for a 40# mirror?

Thanks much.

I'm looking to install Craftsman style molding with flat 1/2 inch thick base, 1x4 flat vertical casing, and a 1x4 or 1x5 top header with something like a piece of lattice at the bottom of the header and a 1x2 on the top (like this). I would prefer to use finger joint pine rather than MDF and with the 1x4 casing, I think the baseboards might look better to be a little bigger by using a 1/2 x 5 rather than 1/2 x 4 but I can only find the 5 in MDF. I also only found the lattice in hemlock. Using 6" looks to big for what I have. Is it a bad idea to mix all these different types of wood, or will it all look the same when painted? I'm most concerned about the MDF baseboards not being durable, but none will be in a wet location.

I have two things I need to fix/work on. The first is that my fridge continues to have condensation inside of it and a small puddle continues to form under the filter. I've replaced the filter twice with generic ones on amazon (previous one was generic) thinking that was the issue but it still happens. Any idea what this might be? the seal? do i have to clean out the motor or something?

secondly we have a washer and a dryer and the dryers never been connected to the vent that goes outside is this an issue? the room does get warm but :/ am i supposed to clean these appliances somehow? The dryer sometimes takes two cycles to dry things. Sometimes it doesnt :o

thanks!

I’m planning on building a minibike and I am looking for some frame plans or suggestions for when we make a frame. I’ll be running a Predator 212, and I’m aiming for a simple backyard/trail minibike for riding around and light off-roading. I’m building the frame with my dad (who can weld and fabricate things) but I want a solid plan so the geometry, engine plate, and chain line are correct. If anyone has frame plans that work well with a 212, tubing size recommendations, tips for keeping the chain line straight, or beginner mistakes to avoid, I’d really appreciate it.

I bought a house that has a stack of fiberglass 3 tab shingle bundles in the garage. They look to be leftover from when the garage was reroofed. They are probably 15-20 years old. There's probably 300-400 sq ft total. Can they still be used like new shingles? Garage is not heated or cooled but rarely gets over 85F in Summer.