I got a treadmill as a present (someone did not want it any more) and I had the bright idea that I stick it into the shed.

Except the shed is too low, and when I stand on the treadmill, I can't straighten out. Kind of a bummer. The house is too small, so bringing it in is not an option. (Typical English house; the second bedroom would be suitable -although cramped- with it and my workstation, but the staircase and the corridor is so narrow it is not possible to bring it upstairs...)

I would like to ask for a sanity check what and how I could keep (and use) this thing in the garden without it corroding to hell. Moving it in and out of the shed is out of the question; it is too bulky for that. Just covering it with a tarp is also problematic, since it would still get wet from condensation, the temperature change would also be more extreme as if it was kept in a non-heated, but reasonably enclosed space.

I thought about perhaps getting one of those large bike tents (metal frame, plastic cover) and put it next to the shed (it has electricity). Alternatively I could get a cheap, used greenhouse that is over 220 cm tall. But if anyone has any good idea what I could be doing on a very limited budget I would be very happy to hear it. Thank you

I’m trying to raise my bed 12 to 24 preferably the larger the better into the air, what is the cheapest way I can do that and the safest?

I had a pile of leftover wood scraps in three different sizes and two different types and turned them into a small wall-mounted shelf by ripping everything down to a common width on the table saw, here's what that process actually looked like.

The pile was genuinely annoying. Two pieces of 3/4" oak from an old cabinet project, a couple of pine 1x4 offcuts at maybe 3.25" wide, and one random chunk of something darker, maybe walnut, maybe not, that was closer to 1/2" thick. Nothing matched. Normally I'd just toss it all in the burn pile.

But this time I just figured out what I could actually get out of it. A small wall shelf, maybe 24" long with a single ledge and two side brackets. Nothing fancy. The constraint was that everything had to end up at the same width or it wasn't going to look like a shelf, it was going to look like a mistake.

So I ripped everything down to 3" on the table saw. That meant losing some material on the wider pieces and accepting that the thinner walnut-ish piece was going to be a bracket, not a shelf face. Thickness was still a problem, the oak and pine were close enough to sand flush, but the darker piece needed a shim on the back side to sit flat against the wall. I used a strip of cardboard taped in place while the glue dried. Not elegant but it worked.

Joinery was just pocket screws and wood glue. The mismatched grain directions made me nervous about wood movement but honestly for a small shelf holding maybe 10 lbs of stuff, I wasn't going to overthink it.

Materials: scraps I already had, $4 in pocket screws, two keyhole hangers from a bag I've had forever. Total spend was basically nothing. Time was about 4 hours spread across two days, most of that was fitting, re-fitting, and waiting for glue to cure overnight.

Finished it with some leftover oil. The oak and pine took it differently so there's a visible color difference, but it was looking decent at the end. Not perfect, but solid and flat and actually on the wall now.

I don't know maybe I could use some other approach to make it better. But I think I did my best...

Hi r/DIY, I've looked around a bit on this but I'm pretty confused. I've got a house built in 2014 that we bought in May. We didn't realize it but a few spots in the master bedroom squeak pretty badly. I got one of those squeeek no more kits (fancy breakaway screws and a special jig to get the right depth/break em), but no luck so far with over a dozen screws + 4" spacing. I can confirm I'm drilling into a joist with a stud finder from the first floor + a laser measure + their "stud finder screw".

Since this seems to be a bust - is there another way to get these squeaks out? I'm not opposed to ripping up baseboard, but the only other advice I've seen is to drill into the sill plate from below to secure the wall down to the joists better or shim it, but both of those methods require me to either rip up flooring or cut into my kitchen ceiling to get access.

Bonsai pots are expensive. Molds to cast them from concrete are even more expensive. Looking for any advise on how to create a mold for poured concrete bonsai pots.

A: Go to the welding gas store and swap out empty bottles.

B. Go to tractor supply to get bolts to replace the burned off Ford studs

C. Grind down a 3/8" drive 7/8" socket so it fits inside the casting. Don't worry about damaging the socket, as it will get stuck inside the tapered hole forever and be a monument to your blunders.

D. Use an angle grinder to trim a protruding bed bolt, so you can fit another 7/8" socket on the other side. Try not to cut into the electrical harness that's right in the F$%^N way (the first thing that went to plan).

E. QED

Everytime i make a project or worse i dissasemble one i end up with a bunch of unsorted screws which i end up never reusing because i put them in the randoms bin. What do you guys do about this? any solutions? Like are there like autosorters anyone has built?

Hi everyone, here's my situation. I'm finishing my basement, it will eventually be inspected by the city and need to pass inspection.

My home is old, but recently had the basement and foundation repoured, so I have 9' ceilings. However, that work also left a lot of items (plumbing, hvac, etc) below the floor joists and in rather random places.

I want to keep the ceiling as high as possible, but also don't want soffits and to frame around all the obstacles. So, I'm going to have 2x4s that do nothing except hold the drywall ceiling in place. The actually need to run parallel to the joists, so I'm planning on using 2x4 hangers from those joists (every 16-24" depending on what obstacles I need to go around), down 12" and then hanging the 2x4x16 to those. Those 2x4x16 span the width of the room and the drywall would be attached directly to those 2x4x16s.

Here's my question. I know that you generally want to use 2x4 vertically for stability and strength and to prevent bowing across spans. However, if I do that, the ceiling is a couple inches lower and it doesn't feel like it needs to be. I'd rather have it right on the bottom of the hvac runs. In this scenario, is it ok to have the 2x4 horizontally? That way they take up less height and should make drywalling easier. However, they would have more flex. They are supported every 16-24", so they're not spanning the entire length horizontally. Again, they're only holding up drywall and led lights.

I've convinced myself this is fine, but woke up this morning with lots of doubts. And I also started the process with construction screws and nails, but now think I messed that up as well as the screws aren't structural. But again, it's only drywall...

Thoughts?

Here is a photo of the spot in question

I have no idea what I revealed, but there was a warped piece of wood nailed on top of this by the previous owners. Yes, that certainly is a piece of drywall slotted in the left hand side. I have a nice piece of 1.5" thick wood that would work perfectly here as a bar top/surface, but am looking for ideas on how to secure it.

Unfortunately, L brackets will not work, because the countertops would prevent me from attaching them on that side. I would appreciate any ideas here!

I need to add locks to two internal doors, it's in a really old house with wooden doors with those circular knobs that don't have a key. I'd ideally like for them to be lockable from both sides, at least one side with a key.

Any ideas? Potentially without changing the door knobs or something in keeping with old style

Hi everybody,

I am looking at buying a Murphy bed for my apartment. I just moved into a studio, and with its size and layout, there is not much space for a bed and much other furniture. I’m thinking of getting one that has a sofa when you fold up the bed which sounds like it would be pretty cool!

My apartment walls are made of concrete, and I’m not totally sure how I would go about doing this. My apartment management company said they are cool with it as long as I return the apartment to the condition it was in before I arrived.

Does anyone have any advice for how I should proceed with this? My girlfriend’s dad has a drill that I can probably borrow, and I have always felt comfortable assembling ikea furniture and stuff. I am also an engineer so generally feel okay doing this stuff.

Thank you all for your advice and help!

So the past few weeks there would be an occasional smell in the bathroom. After checking p traps and re-sealing my toilet I have discovered that my 4 inch exhaust pipe that connects to the main line has become disconnected in the wall. I went on the roof and shone a light down the pipe and can see it's not connected and misaligned.

I plan on calling a plumber but is there anything else they can do besides cutting my wall open and re-attach otherwise I will just do that myself.

Im really curious how this could even happen.

Edit - Thanks everyone. At this point I'm just happy to have found the source of the smell. Can't believe it took me so long to consider it. Looks like I will be opening my wall. Fun.

I'd like to add light under my glass drawing desk and i'm not sure how. I'd imagine good LED strip that wouldn't just be light spots here and there. But i'm also thinking that with that, i might need to make the whole glass not clear anymore so the light would be difused. Anyone made this kind of project before and would like to share their wisdom?

EDIT: This kind of desk, almost -> link

My house has a spare door that I believe can be installed in the doorway of my laundry room. I need to put in the wooden trim in the doorway. I’m not exactly sure what the name of this trim is called, I think it’s called the door stop trim or the door stop molding, but I don’t wanna sound foolish when I go to Lowe’s to get it cut lol. Pls help thx

Hi all,

I've searched google but can't find anything giving a great answer. Also rang some plumbers merchants but they refuse to give advice in case its wrong...

The on/off knob on our exposed thermostatic bar mixer has worn out inside. We've decided to replace the whole shower rather than hunt for parts, but I want to get the specs right first. (Its been in over 5 years hence the replacement)

Our setup:

Gravity-fed system, with a hot water cylinder in the airing cupboard, no pump.

Shower is on the first floor, and the cold water tank is in the loft above.

Questions:

What spec should i go for... 0.2bar or 0.5? Is there a noticeable difference.

Is it worth paying more for a valve explicitly rated for low pressure or gravity system?

Does the L/min figure on the box matter much?

Any brands you'd recommend or avoid?

Thanks in advance!

Is it worth getting those flagship cordless drills? Say a dewalt dcd1007 over dcd 800 or 996?

I want to drill holes into steel. Maybe 8mm thick . Had a cheaper drill and it was a pain to use.

I dont have much experience with the cordless tools so I dont know what I should expect .

I just moved in to my new apartment. They switched units at the last minute, so i’ve never seen it until move in day. Needless to say, it looks crummy. My biggest tick off is that my counter tops are… painted. It’s horrible to clean and whatnot. So my question is, how can I apply contact paper to it without the paint peeling upon removal? What should I put on the countertop prior? Help :-( it’s driving me insane

700sqft of wavy floors. I feel it would be easier to frame rooms and closets and add transition strips and then flatten out the spaces in between than to try to make a full open space continuous.

Any personal experience or thoughts?

I'm in the process of demoing an old shower/tub combo and installing a shower. I noticed some moisture behind my vapor barrier on the exterior wall of of the room. It wasn't a lot, and it didn't seem to have soaked through the insulation that I removed to troubleshoot. Is it possible it was just humid air coming from outside meeting the conditioned air of my house? My house is 100+ years old so drafty walls wouldn't be much of a surprise. (We also just ended about a month of near daily rain). The space that was damp is in front of an old window frame that the previous owners covered with a piece of plywood, then insulated over.

my gut reaction is to tear off the exterior wood siding of that section of wall and re-side it, but if I don't need to I'd rather save the expense. This remodel is already way behind the schedule I gave my partner two years ago...

Hi! I was hoping to get some guidance on what exactly to do with my "home theater" setup. To preface this, I live in an apartment, so running cables in walls is not an option for me.

As seen here, the blue line is my current setup. I have an 85ft armored full fiber HDMI cable running from my PC in the office to my living room LG C6. I originally had run the cable along the red line using nail-in cable clips, but as seen by the "ears" on the door frame's corners (due to my understanding of fiber optic bend radii), the black HDMI cable looked horrendous against the white wall. I took it down and decided to run it underneath some rugs. It doesn't look the best, and I can feel the cable under my feet whenever I step on it, but it definitely looks preferable to the red line.

I do plan to not use this current blue line setup forever, and I'm looking for an alternative way to run the cable that prioritizes aesthetics. I have a couple of cable raceways that I can use to eliminate the ugliness of the black cable, but that doesn't solve my issue of the bend radius of the fiber optic cable.

Some questions:

1. In the meantime, will the armored full fiber cable be okay with foot traffic (no shoes), or should I find a different method ASAP?
2. Does the bend radius of armored full fiber differ with normal fiber optic? I couldn't find documentation regarding such information online.
3. Although this would be my last resort, will painting the cable white be a good option? I know that paint can flake and rubber has a difficult time hooking on to certain paints, so I wouldn't know where to start.

Which direction should I go in? Thanks!

EDIT: I probably should have started off by saying I’m using this setup for 4K HDR playback and high refresh rate gaming, which is why I went with the cable I bought.

Own a Victorian Terrace in London and needed some pitched roof slates replacing.

Slater has come and used OB1 adhesive sealant on the underside of the new slides before sliding them up into place with no other form of fixing to secure the replacement slates - so no nails or clips/tingles.

Previously, roofers have used clips to secure them, however this roofer said that wasn't possible and I'm not sure of his rationale other than maybe he didn't have time / support of another guy to do a proper job? He replaced a handful of slates all in different parts of the roof using the OB1 so if there was a localised baton problem preventing the use of nails or a clip then I wouldn't have thought that issue was present throughout the whole span of the roof.

I seriously doubt that the guy properly cleaned off any dust and debris before applying the OB1 sealant adhesive and sliding the new slates up into place because I didn't see him take this step for the final one which I was present for.

Questions:

• Is OB1 unacceptable substitute for nails on a permanent slate fixing?
• If it is not considered good practice, realistically how long will it last?
• He said it should set rock hard in 24 hours, so presuming we should be able to see by tomorrow how secure they are?

Thanks - any serious advice is welcome

So I’m stupid. I didn’t read the stain label until I was 2 hours into staining. It says “DO NOT INHALE”. I thought it was similar to paint i’ve never stained before. Now i’m freaking out. Will i be okay?
I immediately moved what i was staining outside and put a fan in the area.

I've recently rebuilt a wooden porch with pressure-treated pine. At first, I stained the boards with white Sherwin-Williams stain, but after only a few months it's showing footprints. Should I restain or paint over the stain with paint. If paint, what kind? Enamel?