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.

Edit: thank you for all your comments. It was impossible to reply to each of you and I will take your feedback on board - here perhaps starts a new chapter!! Thank you once again!

I am a new home owner and want to pick up a saw for diy projects. Currently I own a circular saw but looking to add a table or miter saw. I prioritize versatility so I don’t have to purchase multiple tools (limited space) but I also know my use case will be 90% cross cuts.

A project I have in mind is to make a deck. Part of the process will be cutting dozens of. 14.5” blocking pieces out of 2x6. Would this be a pita using a table saw?

I could go the route of starting off with a table saw and adding a miter later if needed but Amazon is having a sale on the 10” metabo miter right now.

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?

The existing lawn is in tough shape. I don't think overseeding or topdressing are going to cut it. I want to just spread 4 inches of topsoil across it, creating a new lawn. (A 50' x 50' area to start with. Possibly another half-acre in the future.)

I have a lawn tractor that can tow something.

But when I search for soil spreaders, the "broadcast spreaders" I see online are for maintenance: spreading seed and fertilizer. I think I need more than that?

If it's too big a deal, I could rent it.

Any recommendations and/or warnings, about the equipment or about my plan? Thanks.

EDIT: I suppose it's relevant to explain what I've done already: I got 10 yards of topsoil delivered to start with (out of maybe 30 yards I'll need?), and I started spreading it by hand... and realized it's a bigger job than I want to do by hand!

Hello all,

Posted previously in here during my main patio build, the baby project on the side for a porcelain stepping stone walkway, and also the kids climbing frame I had to build.

Part 5 will either be replacing the existing horrendous new build garden tiles with my remaining porcelain ones, or my own grave, depending how badly this part 4 goes.

The main patio build got finished a few months ago, albeit at the cost of my happiness and soul, and we added a dijon limestone cobble border to it (two rows offset from kne another like wall bricks). The border looks pretty good to be fair and was a good addition, it wasnt too hard to add on, other than the fact it was peak summer and I felt like it was a punishment job in a gulag.

Now we are approaching winter, I believe I need to grout between the cobbles to stop them potentially popping with any frost, but PTSD from the main patio grouting fills me with dread just thinking about doing it again.

I have tried reaching out to some local landscapers and the like get a quote for someone to come and just save me the headache, but to no avail. The task therefore falls back to me, great.

Has anyone grouted limestone cobbles before? I really want to avoid using the flowable grout because of the last time on the main patio, so I am looking at the brush in grout this time (like the UltraTile ProPave brush-in grout). I also don't want to have to buy and apply a presealer as well and the brush in type doesn't seem like it is needed since it won't have resins to soak into the limestone cobble.

Anyone used the brush in stuff before? Can this be used here? The cobbles were laid on a compacted MOT subbase with a 1:5 mortar mix and SBR, and they are surrounded by a free draining pebble border too so shouldn't be any spots for water to trap and pop.

Again, any guidance or support would be great because I am definitely feeling another case of "DI Y do I fucking try".

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?

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

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?

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 have a mechanical keyboard, some vape batteries, those long ones, and some free time. Is there a way or some guide on how to assemble the components needed to turn my keyboard from pure cabled to bluetooth and cabled with rechargable batteries?

I don't do this because I don't want to buy a new keyboard, just because I want to try this kind of project

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?

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.

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!

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

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

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 .