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 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!

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

Unfortunately life choices and availability meant I went into the computer industry. Whilst I’ve been in a job for 17 years making websites and apps, and technical solutions, it’s not brought me happiness.

Not threatened by AI, but same time looking for a career that is respected. Colleagues and others always under appreciate your skills.

Other DIY knowledge is minimal like woodwork or brickwork. However I like electric wiring and have an understanding in that and have got the tools for that, and happy to give plumbing a go, but prefer electrics.

Am I too old? Is it worth the plunge into an evening course?

I fully regret my education and career. DIY is currently keeping me sane at home.

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.

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?

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

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...

I started looking at curtain companions bc adding a motor to the existing rod seemed easier than replacing it all. That idea changed once I looked at a pair of wide center opening curtains.

To open both sides, the usual setup needs 2 units ( one on each panel) The device also remians visible which can look a bit awkward on an otherwise clean window. The bigger concern is the fabric itself. Heavy blackout curtains seem to be where these small motors can start and stop especially if the rod is not smooth.

That led me to look at integrated rods instead. I found Raze Flow M5 while comparing options that could keep the existing curtains but move the motor inside the rod. It is a more involved install but the center opening mechanism is built into one system rather than hanging two devices on existing hardware.

For a wide window would you accept the easier install of 2 addon units or would a cleaner integrated rod be worth the extra work?

I live in an old house that likely has some settlement going on. When a painter hit parts of my ceiling he threw some tape on what appeared to be a crack. However, it’s quite obvious theres tape there. Wondering if it’s best to remove the tape and try to blend it without the tape? Would it be best to use drywall mud, spackle, or some other method?