Fix It Fast: Start here for DIY help! (You'll know when it's a problem by smell.)

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Fix It Fast: Start here for DIY help! (You'll know when it's a problem by smell.)

stealie72: Jan 10, 2007; Their eyes locked and suddenly there was the sound of breaking glass.
\

tater_salad posted:

Pick 2

You can fix it fast, cheap or good.

Except for times when you can only pick 1.

# ¿ Oct 18, 2020 13:26

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 13:58

stealie72: Jan 10, 2007; Their eyes locked and suddenly there was the sound of breaking glass.
\

floWenoL posted:

I installed the very same headboard a month ago! I ended up getting https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/fixa-260-piece-screw-and-plug-set-00169249/ for the drywall anchors, but I made sure that 2 out of the 3 screws of each french cleat was attached to a stud -- I wouldn't feel safe otherwise! See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQx5SVj0biA for why it doesn't matter that much what type of drywall anchor you use -- if there's enough weight on it, the drywall part will fail first.

Maybe I do it wrong, but as long as whatever I am hanging spans two studs and I can put two screws into a stud, I never put in drywall anchors for anything. So, even if I've got 15 inches at the end of a shelf hanging in space, I just leave it because I figure a screw into a stud is going to be so much more secure than anything in drywall.

I still use an anchor if whatever I am using doesn't span two studs obviously

Have I been doing this wrong for two decades?

# ¿ Jan 18, 2021 15:22

stealie72: Jan 10, 2007; Their eyes locked and suddenly there was the sound of breaking glass.
\

GD_American posted:

I hesitate to ask this, but what does a normal 220v oven hookup look like coming out of the wall? Is it a female outlet that the oven just plugs into?

Because mine is a 220v wire just poking out of the drywall and connects to the oven.

Like...gets wire nutted together?

# ¿ Feb 27, 2021 04:01

stealie72: Jan 10, 2007; Their eyes locked and suddenly there was the sound of breaking glass.
\

stinkypete posted:

I am looking into buying a small air compressor for filling up tires and running an angle grinder. I keep seeing the gallon size of the tank and how many PSI it can provide. If I bought a small compressor and started buying electric tools instead of pneumatic would I be making a smart buy?

I wonder if the electric / battery tools are better?

Pneumatic tools have their place, but by asking this question, you (and i) are not someone who needs them.

Compressors are fantastic for filling tires, blowing air at things, and running nailers.

Anything else you're better off with electric.

What tools are you looking for other than an angle grinder?

# ¿ Mar 9, 2021 04:01

stealie72: Jan 10, 2007; Their eyes locked and suddenly there was the sound of breaking glass.
\

VelociBacon posted:

Just wanted to mention the biggest upside of electric which is not having a loud rear end compressor going off in the middle of ~~your working.~~ the night because you forgot to shut it off amd drain it and now the entire house is awake at 2AM because of course the dogs started barking the second it started up.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2021 14:04

stealie72: Jan 10, 2007; Their eyes locked and suddenly there was the sound of breaking glass.
\

JacquelineDempsey posted:

Hi HCH! I've got a home improvement question and would like to know which thread it oughtta go into (or if anyone can tell me a good answer right off the bat).

I moved into a house built in 1900 back in November. It has no screens on the original windows and no central air; my neighboring houses of the same vintage all have window units. I've got a hand-me-down window AC which I plan to put in the bedroom and keep that closed off, just for sleeping.

I'm alright with hot weather as long as air's moving, but I don't want to have wide open windows with no screens. Especially after a wasp was trying to get in my kitchen window yesterday. Plus, we're hoping to get a cat soon.

The windows, like I said, I think are original; doesn't look like any way to put screens in (did screens not exist back then?). Any ideas on how to keep bugs out/cats in? I can take pictures of the framing if it helps. Right now I just wanna know where I should post this, as I don't hang out in HCH often. Thanks!

If you want to keep The Historic Character (tm) you are probably looking at rather expensive wood framed screens that fit inside the window and hang from two cleats at the top and use a little hook in the interior side to stay in place. There are also storm windows that work this way. More info here: https://www.oldhouseguy.com/wood-storm-windows/

These work great but are heavy, expensive, and are a pain in the rear end to deal with.

Otherwise, do what every other house on the block did in the 50s and get sliding screens/storms installed. They're ugly but they are cheaper, lighter, and much easier to deal with.

# ¿ Mar 11, 2021 23:12

stealie72: Jan 10, 2007; Their eyes locked and suddenly there was the sound of breaking glass.
\

actionjackson posted:

I'm going to get a few 15 amp GFCI outlets to match my new wall plates, but noticed something weird with the two main brands HD sells (lutron and leviton)

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Lutron-15-Amp-Tamper-Resistant-GFCI-Duplex-Receptacle-in-White-CAR-15-GFST-WH/206793173 1 for $49

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton...1-04W/305340161 4 for $55???

there doesn't seem to be any enormous differences, though one is 120 volt and the other is 125 volt, and I have no idea if I can do either voltage.

I'm wondering if maybe some Lutron stuff is just out of stock

Any reason you're buying the $50 ones and not the $15 ones?

# ¿ Apr 21, 2021 04:06

stealie72: Jan 10, 2007; Their eyes locked and suddenly there was the sound of breaking glass.
\

Anecdote: my old house had 70s wallpaper in the kitchen that was hideous. Taking it off wasn't that hard. Used one of the roller tools that pokes a bunch of holes in it, hit that with the chemical, and then rented a steamer to peel it off with.

What loving sucked was then fixing the walls after because they just put it up with nonprep and the plaster under was hosed. I ended up basically skim costing the walls, and I am not good at skim coating so that sucked too.

# ¿ Jul 1, 2021 13:09

stealie72: Jan 10, 2007; Their eyes locked and suddenly there was the sound of breaking glass.
\

FogHelmut posted:

My parents did that in our house when I was a kid. They ended up putting 1/4" drywall over everything though instead of skim coating.

I should have done that. But it started as "let me just smooth these rough sections over" them "poo poo, thats lumpy. I need to feather these out more. And now they're touching. gently caress. Guess I'm skim coating."

# ¿ Jul 1, 2021 20:09

stealie72: Jan 10, 2007; Their eyes locked and suddenly there was the sound of breaking glass.
\

mr.belowaverage posted:

If you loosen the wire clamp on the right, there may be some slack in the wire. If you pull it out a bit, you may find there is a ground that has been trimmed. You only need a little to tie to.

Given the "ground up newspaper as insulation" we're seeing there, there's not gunna be a ground, but maybe he'll get lucky.

# ¿ Dec 8, 2021 15:52

stealie72: Jan 10, 2007; Their eyes locked and suddenly there was the sound of breaking glass.
\

Oh no. My friend.....

Several years ago, me noticing a little wet patch where the wallpaper was lifting off the drywall along rhe shower led to me having to go to the studs on 2.5 walls. I was seeing the tip of the iceberg where it had finally come through the wall, and the backside of the drywall was straight up black mold.

# ¿ Jan 27, 2022 00:18

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 13:58

stealie72: Jan 10, 2007; Their eyes locked and suddenly there was the sound of breaking glass.
\

CRUSTY MINGE posted:

In the US, you can have insulation blown into your walls. Loose fluffy stuff, but you need to cut holes in the drywall to stuff the nozzle in, between each stud. So you'd still have to patch a bunch of holes, but you wouldn't need to rip down the walls.

Have also seen it done from the outside on cedar shingled houses. Not sure if that's better or worse, but wood outside means plaster inside which is not as easy to fix as drywall. Of course, holes inside don't mean an incursion point for water.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2022 15:58

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Fix It Fast: Start here for DIY help! (You'll know when it's a problem by smell.)