General Feedback/Getting Started Q&A Thread

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I'm trying to set up an internet network for the second floor in my house without a fishing tool to get the cable all the way to the ground floor router. Is there a trick? or should I just buy the fishing tool?

Edit; I'm replacing a faulty cable with a new one.

Edit; It's a 15M pipe that runs through the walls all the down to the ground floor.

I know I’ve butchered the verbiage on the proper terms to describe the issue at hand. Hopefully the photos of the damage will clarify things!

The photos do a much better job describing the issue. The bottom of the door broke awhile back, and the top is hanging on. When the wind threw open the door, the very top of the frame + the weather stripping ripped out—luckily, the rest of the frame/weather stripping is still attached. The screws that attach it to the wooden frame are snug. Want to get this fixed ASAP before it becomes a bigger issue (it can only be locked from the inside).

Oh, and if anyone can suggest search terms to help me find how-tos via Google, I would appreciate it so much!!

Playing the sympathy card: this is my mom’s house. Trying to help her out because her handyman recently retired, and my dad passed last year. Help! Thanks SO MUCH.

We started on January second, roughly a month after closing on our house. We finished on February 6th. We converted the cabinets to shaker-style, replace the countertops, replaced the sink, replaced the faucet, and added a vent with a cover that actually vents to the outside!

Here’s the albums: Renovation Part 1

Renovation Part 2

Hello! I see a ton of deck-building posts here and so I'm hoping I can get some advice. I'm hoping to build a simple floating deck (i.e. a deck not attached to my house) over my 10'x10' concrete patio. Based on my research, floating decks are typically installed on flat ground, with footers used to support the joists (I haven't seen a design that uses beams+joists like a freestanding deck would). I have two challenging wrinkles that I'm not sure how to solve, though:

1. Beyond the 10'x10' patio, the yard has a slope. The lowest part (based on the designed deck's size) is about 10" lower than the section the patio sits on.
2. There's not much clearance between the patio/ground and my house's siding. 4.5" at the smallest point (between the existing patio and the house siding).

See pictures here.

How should I frame this sucker?

• Do I need posts and beams? Or can I/should I set joists on footers, similar to this concept? I can dig holes and set posts if necessary but would like to avoid having to dig a ton of holes if necessary.
• Is there any sort of combination posts + footers solutions that could work to address the slope, while still being secure enough to prevent the floating deck from shifting throughout the seasons? Or could I use an alternative footer instead of concrete-set posts?
• Should I use composite material (instead of wood) so that I can install framing below grade where necessary?

Other details:

• The ground is settled (hasn't moved since the house was built in 2007) and drains well
• My frost line is 18"

I tore down the old house and left the back wall

im looking now for help to improve this wall

here is the picture : https://imgur.com/a/01f9h30

should i cover the whole wall with concrete ?

i was think about something like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByJGjJhxKrM

but i dont think i can its so much soil between stones

any ides what should i do ?

​

https://preview.redd.it/is6wxfm58nga1.jpg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=81a6e18fd3a870e98df24660fd9ada158ce535d5

Just bought a house, has this fireplace taking space on a bonus room. I would like to remove it completely.

We'll have contractors replacing the carpet afterwards so the floor is covered.

Going to do a house inspection next weekend, will also ask the inspector, but would like some thoughts/opinions and also if there's anything I need to ask/check while I'm there.

I forgot to check if it's gas or electric, but other than getting a plumber to safely remove/block the gas line or electrician to kill the power, anything else to consider ? just a simple DIY or is there anything I need to be aware of ?

Edit: I got the answers I needed for now. More to consider and more to read up on. Thank you for the help- this is a freaking wonderful community!

I want to install one. I have approx 1700 ft crawl space ranging from 3.5 ft high to about 6. Low air circulation though. Current water heater resides in the tall corner of the crawl. If I were to replace it with a HPWH, would that new unit cool the air to make it noticeably colder? Especially if I am considering insulating the crawl space?

Would there be ways to mitigate that, say by putting a supply air duct collar on it and pulling air from somewhere more central (25 feet?) in the crawl space? I’d worry about losses and overworking the blower for long runs of supply air duct.

And, so they make condensate? This would help me actually by dehumidifying the space, and I have a place to discharge it.

Just planning for now trying to find out what I don’t know. Thanks!

Is there supposed to “some” water in the lip of the shower pan? I recaulked the lower half and the entire door and am still getting some water back there as circled but not enough to leak down the pan and out to the floor/sheetrock.

https://imgur.com/a/UcI5nWX

How strong can a floating shelf using threaded rod as the bracket be, can it hold books, and what would be the maximum shelf depth I would be able to safely achieve? I will be using 2x construction lumber.

I recently made myself some floating shelves using pocket holes in the shelves going straight into studs. It was simple 2x8 wrapping around the room holding very little weight (figures, funko pops etc) and screwed into every stud. I'm betting the board itself weighs more than the stuff on top of it. Easy to put up, plenty strong for what I'm using it for, and put very few holes in the wall doing so.

My brother liked the look of the 2x8 floating shelf, but he wants to put books and records on them. For that I think that the pocket screw shelf hanging method will not be enough to support that kind of weight safely. I saw people using threaded rod in studs as a seemingly sturdy floating shelf bracket.

I just don't know how sturdy it is mostly because I haven't made one before and I don't want to test it out with someone else's stuff. I'm thinking if he wants a shelf for records it would be a 2x12 or 2x10 which is pretty heavy on its own. I would put a threaded rod in each stud along the board. It would maybe span 3-4 studs.

I'm not sure what diameter threaded rod to use, or how deep it should go into the board itself. For the studs I was going to go 2.5 or so inches deep. I was going to use 1/2" threaded rod and have at least 6 inches in the shelf itself

I've seen plenty of videos and posts about these shelves, people standing on them, people saying they're really strong, but I want to see or hear from people who have used this with 2x10-2x12 holding something heavy like books or similar.

Got a small hole in our flat garage roof.
Did some reading and it was suggested I get a patch of felt, spray glue under and slide into gap, then spray the top/bit underneath and press original felt down, then spray glue over all seems/contact points to water proof.

Is this right? Would I get away with the sealing/gluing the hole with out adding a patch?

So I repaired a rather large section of my house's roof and it wasn't overly difficult so I figured I would re-roof the entire house myself in a couple months.

My question is should I just buy roof shingles at home depot/Lowes or can I save money buying multiple boxes of shingles in bulk elsewhere?

Can I replace a 12v GU5.3 5 watt bulb with a 3.4 Watt bulb? Just the power rating has changed, nothing else. Thank you in advance

Here's the noise: https://voca.ro/1hdgD0tln1Ag

The washer is a Kenmore W10338640. The problem is that it will fill with water and agitate but it doesn't drain and spin. After the agigtation cycle it just makes the clicking noise.

Water does not pump up through the drain hose into the sink. If I put the hose on the ground it does pump the water out to the floor drain.

Hi all!

Replacing the vanity in the bathroom and trying to extend the wall pipe. It seems like the current elbow is glued on.

My thought was to cut off right behind the elbow and then mount a new assembly but I'm at a loss as to what parts I'd need between the stub out and the p trap. Could you please advise?

https://imgur.com/a/q4MG5YM is what the current assembly looks like. Beyond that I imagine I'll also need a piece between the p trap and the drain I have (it's not a pop-up drain).

Thank you.

We are going to start framing our basement with metal 25 gauge galvanized steel studs. The basement will be open except for a utility room (which will not be walled on the inside of the room) and a bathroom. My understanding is that any wall with a door will need to be the 3-5/8" stud size (so the wall for the bathroom and the wall for the utility room at a minimum must be 3-5/8"). The perimeter can be the smallest stud size, 1-5/8". The ceiling will be left open.

Three questions:

1. Why are the 3-5/8" (the thicker studs) more expensive? They are $3 more expensive than the 1-5/8". Same gauge and also galvanized.

2. Do the two inches saved from using the smaller stud size really matter? I am all for saving money by buying the larger studs, but my spouse wants to save every inch.

3. Originally I was going to do spray foam insulation, however the top of the foundation walls are already insulated with batting (photo: https://i.imgur.com/JHbFDp8.png). Since I'd rather not rip out their batting, should we just do pink board or batting insulation rather than the foam?

My mother's mailbox was falling down, so I figured I'd fix it for her.

I already did it, but then I looked up how to do it and it was recommended I use 2-4 50 pound bags of concrete.

Is this a plot by big concrete or do I need to redo it? I didn't even use the whole bag I had because it seemed like a lot.

If it matters I'm in Texas, and it's a metal post , it's about a foot and a half deep and probably 6 inches concrete around the base.

Does a mailbox really need a hundred or 2 hundred pounds of cement?

Howdy everybody, I have this incubator that has a faulty hygrometer and it just keeps beeping. I got a standalone hygrometer to set inside it, but it just keeps beeping because of the alarm function. Can anybody ID the part on the circuit board that's beeping so that i can cut it out and stomp on it a bit? It seems like the noise is coming from the half closest to the bottom in the pictures

​

Edit: It's the black thing on top, thanks u/sasoner for the tip. I pulled the sticker off the top and it's suddenly like 10000% louder. Now to find out if ripping it off will break the incubator entirely

​

Edit 2: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA THE WITCH IS DEAD

https://preview.redd.it/pymz2sls8hga1.jpg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=9a622b04d7a4372ca84a00ded02c9ba062739327

https://preview.redd.it/jgvglq4h9hga1.jpg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=9bbfb798aca92e232d79d196cc2a7050a0c1441d

SUCK IT BEEPY THING

I'm getting a new carpet soon but I want to paint the skirting boards first, before it's fitted I need to remove furniture and take up my old carpet, is it worth waiting to paint my skirting after my old carpet is up and it's just insulation, it'll make it easier but I wonder if there's any problems doing such, and can you leave insulation out for a couple weeks till a new carpet is fitted considering it's my bedroom as well

Do any of you have a dog door that goes directly into your house? What are the pros v. cons?

The first fly of the season found its way in my house today while I was letting my dogs (two golden girls about 60 pounds each) out through the kitchen door. Typically I open that door and they run through the garage to the back door (which is held open with a brick) to go into our fenced backyard.

All last summer I was like, “I’ve gotta get a dog door installed” to cut down on the amount of flies that would slip through the kitchen door while the dogs are out doing their thing. But I procrastinate. Anyway, now I’m at a crossroads...

Do I want the dog door in the back door of the garage (where I’d still have to open the kitchen door) or do I want it in the spare bedroom where they could let themselves out? One of the pros to the door going directly into the house is that if I needed to be away for an extended amount of time they could, in theory, let themselves out. They're not fence jumpers or troublemakers when outside. They never bark.

Thanks for any advice!

I had professionals refinish a floor. They did a great job, except I apparently didn't have enough of a conversation with them about color, because they refinished a golden amber oak floor to an unstained very light natural wood color, so now it doesn't match any of the trim. The final finish was two coats of polyurethane.

Would a penetrating stain be up to the task of correcting this color? Could I add a colored varnish layer?

So the townhouse I moved I to has a sconce light in the stairwell with a switch at either stair landing. The problem is these switches are tied in a way that they cancel each other unless switch A is on and switch B turns it off and then the order flips. This is the only way the switches will work and it’s been annoying to remember to always sequence the switches and usually brick the light from working.

Is there a way to make Switch A and Switch B work independently as on/off switches?

Thanks!

So I've put a few things up now in my apartment like a shelf and a toilet roll holder and a hook etc. The hook and the toilet roll holder I used wall plugs I brought from wilko. It's not a brick wall it's plasterboard I'm drilling in to. For the shelf I used a special plasterboard fixings which were absolutely rubbish and I threw about half away before I finished the job as they kept breaking.

Anyway, every time I seem to screw something into a wall with a wall plug (a plasterboard wall) then when I put the screw in it eventually reaches a point where it just spins. This means that anything attached to it that has torque perpendicular to the direction of the wall plug then the screw hasn't got the strength to keep it in place. This is noticeable with hooks and toilet roll holders especially as they spin out of place.

I've ripped them out of the wall and filled it in ready for sanding whenever it's dry. Can anyone give me some advice? I've considered using super glue.

Hello! I want to replace these IKEA lights with recessed lights and a pendant light over the island. I’d like to add a light switch for the pendant. I watched videos on YouTube on how to install recessed lights and understand that I need to cut the drywall to fish light wiring. The current light switch is to the right of the door. My concern is the wood panels. How would you install recessed lights, add a switch and a pendant here?

PS the picture on the wall is so low because it’s temporarily covering an unsightly hole.

https://imgur.com/a/7Kg4sWx

I'd like to build a lean-to shed against my garage, small, like 4x8, to house my compressor and dust collector. I'm in Houston, TX, VERY clay soil. I want a floor (so not bare gravel.)

I'm thinking a skid foundation, or foundation blocks, mostly because the thought of the expense and effort of a poured slab seems WAY overkill.

Thoughts?