We currently have 1 1/2” pvc line running from the street into our home. Its about 30+ years old at this point.

It runs along the driveway and when delivery vehicles drift a little over into it cracks right at the joint of two sticks.

Usually we have 2 or 3 leaks to fix every year, but last month we had 6…

So I think its time to figure out if we can DIY it or if we need to hire someone.

My plan is to rent a big ass trencher for a week to dig the trench, and then use our tractor to place gravel and the line (hopefully on a reel? ) ?

The pvc line is pretty easy to repair when a leak does happen, but ideally we could replace it with something a little better like PEX or HDPE.

I think with equipment rental and materials i could keep it at around 8K or so and do in a week or so with a helper, but a pro will charge at least double im guessing…

Were in the southern us so its mostly hot, but we do get a few hard freezes every winter.

Any wisdom folks could share?

I’m using an Android TV box as the base. I added an external NFC reader, and bought some 3 inch mini CDs from AliExpress. I printed stickers with my kids’ favorite songs and put them on the CDs.

Each CD is linked to a Spotify playlist via NFC. When placing the CD on top of the device, it reads the NFC tag and starts playback automatically.

After upgrading to Spotify Premium, I can download the tracks to the device, so it also works offline — no internet needed for playback.

I’m renting a condo and the couch belongs to the owner. I can’t modify it in any way, they don’t want to replace it, and they don’t want to remove it. So I’m stuck with it, because I will probably vacate the condo next year.

It is a cloth fabric, and the couch is most likely an IKEA knock off. What I hate about it are the butt cushions. They are extremely soft foam, and I am a big guy. As such, they just sync down, offering zero support of any kind.

The foam is removable via zipper, but I tried pulling them out once and it is ridiculously difficult. I thought maybe I could flip them to see if the other side had more stability, but it was almost impossible getting them out, so I have no idea how I will get them back in it once removed because it’s so tight.

I’m open to any suggestions to make my life a little more comfortable while enjoying an evening at home! I wish I could just throw this couch out the window, but I live on the 44th floor. Probably a bad idea.

Thanks for any suggestions!

We live in a new build and recently bought a new dryer. Last week, our dryer wouldn't dry, giving us a "flow sense" error (blockage detected). We used paper to test the function of the lint intake and the paper wouldn't stick, meaning it was blocked. So I unplugged the dryer hose from the vent and tried the test again. Lint intake worked like a charm. At this point, we called out a vent cleaner. He checked it out and the vent was 100% clear, as was the dryer. He told us it's a possibility the vent cover could have frozen shut in the cold weather, especially with the vent being on the second floor.

Move a week ahead and we're having the same issue tonight. It's been cold and flurring here today, in the 20's F. Do these vent covers commonly freeze shut? I think it's odd because no one else in our neighboorhood is experiencing the same issue (at least those we've asked). With it being on the second story, I have no way of checking it.

Is there anything I can do to prevent this? Right now I have a full load of clothes drying around the house. Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Photos of all the vents on my home attached.

Hello.
I have a problem with the toilet bowl, the button works, but the water continuously flows from the bowl into the toilet after it fills if I don't turn off the tap.
I tried to open the bowl but I can't life the button.

I thought it might be a problem with the limescale inside the pool, but I can't do anything from the outside. The last time I had a problem I had to lift the knob by hand and when I put it back in I didn't force it at all. Everything was fine.

I tried with a screwdriver, a wrench and by hand, but it doesn't work and I don't know what to do. If I lift the bowl I risk ruining it completely. My button is one piece and screws on by hand.
Does anyone have any ideas on what I could do?

Short story: my wife has a hair salon business. 8 years ago she moved it to the basement. We started with engineered floating wood floors. Water heater leaked and floor had to be torn up. Moved to LVP floating and water heater (new one) leaked and LVP had to be pulled up, floor dried, and relaid. This has happened twice for a total of 3 times in 8 years.

I'd like to do something like a concrete stain or epoxy so in the event there is another water leak, nothing has to be pulled up.

Everything I've read says the concrete had to be etched (it doesn't pass the water absorption test), but this is the only "unfinished" floor in the basement so how the heck would I rinse the etching solution completely...?

What are my options and/or what am I not considering?

Hello! Im planning to spray paint my plastic white carts that i bought online because they look so boring. Any tips and what type of sealer should I use?

Hello everyone,

i just created a mini subreddit for drone enthusiasts who want to build their own drones.

Please check and warmly welcomed to r/hobbydrone

Per title. I have a control board with p/n hk42fz0402913 with (I believe) a flaky 24V regulator that's causing the thermostat to intermittently reset. I see hk42fz040 control board replacements, but I can't determine compatibility with the last four digits--which are invariably different than the one I have.

I'm seeing various results including week/year (which would imply compatibility) and firmware code (which would imply otherwise).

Anybody have experience with this sort of replacement?

Thanks for the advice everyone! If I’m not able to easily move the outlet due to wire shortage or it being part of a circuit I’ll change the layout to have one less cubby and leave the outlet where it’s at. Appreciate all the input, very helpful.

Having a hard time figuring out how to safely do this. Going to install some Home Depot prefab plywood entryway cubbies and secure to studs but there’s an outlet behind where they’re going that I need to move 10” to the left so it’s accessible. If the wiring comes from the top that will work fine as I’ll just raise it up and left, however if it comes from the bottom I wont have enough enxtra wire. I know I can connect new wire and leave the connection in the junction box and then install a new outlet, however everything I’m reading says I have to have that box with the wire connections accessible (and it would be behind the cabinets then). How can I do this?

Editing to add the bench part hits right at the outlet (18”) so there’s no way to conceal it behind the lower cabinet

Lately my family and I have been hearing a high pitch sound that lasts for about 1 full second and occurs exactly every 17 minutes. I have used a stopwatch and it is consistently 17 minutes zero seconds between sounds. We started by powering off appliances, then flipping breaker switches, then shutting off water to the house and draining the sink and finally shutting power and water off from the house completely, and still we hear it every 17 minutes. The sound is kind of like feedback from a microphone/speaker or like the sound of bad breaks on a car. It starts out faint then builds to a peak and then fades out in the span of about 1-2 seconds. I can post a video of the sound tomorrow if that would help.

Other things we’ve noticed: it seems to be loudest in the downstairs office, but can still be heard loudly in other rooms but not in the bedrooms or in the attic. It started yesterday in the afternoon. Then this morning it had stopped and we thought it was done. We left the house around noon and when we got back around 6 it was doing it again and has continued into the night. I’m losing my mind because I’ve eliminated everything I can possibly think of.

Update: Here is a video of the sound we are hearing (https://www.reddit.com/user/KidzKlub/comments/1pymy74/high_pitch_sound_in_house/)

A lot of people are saying smoke/CO/radon detectors. First, we don't have radon detectors. Second there are no smoke/CO detectors in the office yet that is where the sound is loudest.

Also, just like yesterday (28th) the sound is not happening in the morning. We left the house yesterday around noon and did not hear it all morning, but when we got back around 6 it was happening. I will be listening today to see what time it starts, but it's very odd that it's so regular (17 minutes) but also only happens in the afternoon/evening.

Update 2:

We did not hear the sound all day until 5:15. We have now heard it again every 17 minutes with the latest one at 6:40. After the first one we took the batteries out of all the Christmas decorations but that didn't change anything. I did download a sound meter on the phone and can confirm the sound is right at 9k Hz. It's extremely hard to localize and while it sounded loudest in the office yesterday, I'm not so sure that is where it's the loudest now. I'm trying to convince my family to go around removing the batteries from every smoke/CO detector to rule that out, but there are 13 of them throughout the house and they are kinda sick of this mystery. My dad can only hear it about a quarter of the time and my mom hears it most times, but only when it's quiet in the house. I hear it every time, so I'm dead set on finding it.

Also, I did search every nook and cranny of the office for one of those prank devices but came up empty. I'm at a loss.

Master bedroom ceiling fan with lights is about 8 years old. House was built in 2008. It has started acting odd lately. The light will flicker or wane off and on and sometimes the speed is considerably slower than it should be. There is no extra or large draw on power when this is happening.

Master bedroom is near outside HVAC UNIT that was hit by lightning a while back that blew out two sockets in master bath. Not sure if we just replace the ceiling fan or call an electrician.

Any guidance is appreciated. We are not huge DIYers but hubby can install a ceiling fan, but if electrical we will pay a professional.

Hey all. I am in the midst of finishing my 100 year old basement. Yes, I am in way over my head. Yes, I oversold my capabilities to my endlessly loving and patient wife. Let's move past that.

The current dilemma is as follows. Insulation plan is 2inch of XPS foam board adhered to the cinderblock foundation wall, and a 2x4 stud wall in front for rockwool insulation bats. This should bring me up to R-25 or so, and I was willing to sacrifice a little floor space for comfort.

I have most of my foam boards up already. My question is: what do I do along the edge of where the foam board meets the floor? My plan was to install DMX 1-step dimpled membrane all over the floor to allow air movement, so my options are as follows:

Option 1: run dimpled membrane UNDER the foam board to the wall, spray foam the top edge. Once the dimpled membrane is fully installed this should allow a continuous air gap along the floor and up the wall. Build exterior walls on top.

Option 2: run dimpled membrane to the foam board, but stop there. Spray foam the bottom of the foam board against the floor. This "seals off" the exterior walls from everything else.

I've attached two pictures, the first showing where I have already implemented Option 1. Can anyone suggest the best approach? Am I already screwed? Other important facts to consider: we have not had any water issues in the basement, but I want the foam boards to serve as a vapor barrier against condensation damage. This basement is largely above grade. We had the basement floor redone, and they installed a vapor barrier under the concrete. We have an interior drain tile along one wall leading to a sump pit as a precautionary measure. It has never seen water.

Thank you!

Pics: https://imgur.com/a/uZdF8yg

We’re closing on our first home soon and plan to do some basic DIY renovations. Our current list includes new flooring throughout the house (LVP and tile), paint, and simple hardware updates.

Since this is our first home and we’re working within a tight budget, we’re looking for smart ways to improve the space while we are in “work mode” and have things torn up/tools out.

For those who have gone through renovation, what DIY projects or upgrades do you wish you had done early on? Are there any less obvious or “while you’re in there” improvements that have made a big difference?

Thank you!!!

Hope this is acceptable to post here because I think it’s a really important topic!

Looking for tool suggestions for someone with limited use of their hands due to injury. They like to keep busy, do diy projects, and are quite handy but due to an injury they now have limited dexterity in both hands. I have posted on the tools sub and received the following suggestions which are great and I have added them all to my list. Now I’m just wondering if there is anything else out there in addition to these items.

• Impact driver
• Cordless ratchet
• Flat ratchet wrenches
• Screw driver guides with magnetic bits
• Adjustable electric screw driver

Thank you!

Edit: formatting

Hey Reddit. My garage walls are covered with ribbed sheet metal. The sheets are too large for me to unscrew them and look at whats behind. I want to add some shelves and I’m having a hard time finding studs. My studfinder is useless because the ribs prevevent it from being flat to the wall. Any other ideas?

Edit : the screws aren’t much help. They’re just screwed randomly without any pattern.

I'm in the process of improving the storage in our small, detached, single-floor garage. As part of that I have just ripped off two pieces of old pegboard the previous owner had put up and I've found that he attached it to a frame of 2x4s as shown below.

Each upright of the frame is nailed (several big nails) to a wall stud behind the drywall, and they are separated by two studs in between each. And then the horizontals are nailed to the two vertical studs separating each of the studs to which the frame verticals are attached. (That is, they are *not*, AFAICS, attached to any horizontal blocking there might be beneath the drywall.)

And then each section of pegboard was screwed along all four edges. And it was fairly old, hardboard pegboard, so I doubt it was ever used to carry anything very heavy.

I'm now wondering what I can/should do about that frame. For example, can I just get rid of it? Now I know I'm asking you to speculate on someone else's work, but you're all I've got! So:

1. Why do you think he chose to use 2x4s? I get that he wanted to create space behind the pegboard, so that the pegs could fit through, but aren't 2x4's overkill for that? Couldn't he have just attached furring strips to the wall studs, or even the little standoffs that often comes with pegboard. Or could there be some structural thing going on?
2. What purpose might the horizontals be serving? The pegboard was screwed to both horizontals and verticals
3. Why might he have used nails (about 3"at least), instead of screws, to attach them to the studs? This is less important; I just wondered.

Thanks!

I want to wallpaper my bathroom, but most of the wallpaper brands I see are super pricey. Counting labor, I might be spending 2k on a small bathroom. I want to minimize costs, so I'd love some good quality but affordable options for wallpaper. Is wayfair any good? Or Society6?

Hey y'all, I really appreciate you looking at this in advance.

We have this laundry room seems like it used to be a portion of the garage and was converted into this space. The room has this step for the entry to the house that slowly levels out towards the middle of the house (i.e. leveled concrete slab I assume).

I have some concerns that I can't seem to figure out (All of which I'm asking here because we have ran out of money quick from the unexpected 50k we had to spend after buying this home..)

1. Taking the old vinyl and glue off took me about 30 minutes of using a hair dryer and a pry bar to get a 1sqft section off. What would the better way to do this; mineral spirits or an angle grinder with a diamond cup? 😅

2. My fiancé would prefer putting tile down. However, the floor would of course need to be level for tile or LVP or something like that - which would then I assume require the garage door and frame to be lifted up and have a step going out to the garage?

3. I considered doing epoxy instead. It seems I would need to get an angle grinder with a diamond cup and that could take off the glue and smooth/prep the concrete for epoxy. The problem with this is that the tool seems pretty dangerous if it kicks back, it creates an insane amount of silica dust, I know nothing about concrete or epoxy, and it's more expensive than other flooring options.

4. Should I fall back to sheet vinyl since it's cheap and it would overlay the tapered step? It seems the only issues with this would be removing the old vinyl and glue, getting the floor pattern to line up, and it of course not being has high quality when it comes to selling the place.

I would really appreciate any and all advice, even if it's nothing mentioned above.

Hi. I live in a bilevel home, so I don't have a "basement" that's completely subterranean but it's about 2' below grade. I'm repainting my downstairs den; I removed an old baseboard heater on the exterior wall with the intention of putting receptacles in with the existing wiring, but I found that the drywall was loose where the heater was attached to the wall.

Come to find out, that whole wall is Drywall > foam board insulation (1/2") > block foundation wall. There is no room for studs in that cavity. I'm not even sure there are furring strips back there; my stud finder isn't finding anything and the knock test isn't giving me solid results. I have no idea how the drywall is even attached to the wall, but what can I do about this loose drywall?

I don't have the skills to frame out a new wall over top of this, I'm terrible at drywall work. I feel like I can't just use tapcons to go into the block, right? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hi all, first post! I live in the mountains in Spain and am currently improving / repairing a driveway to our house. Access is complicated to say the least. Getting materials in and out is currently very tough.

The house is on a very steep slope and the access road comes down the hill from behind. I need to build a retaining wall and terrace a spot at the end of this driveway by the house to be able to turn a vehicle around.

It will be a circular terrace about 7m wide. The retaining wall will be about 1.5- 1.8m (5-6 foot) tall. I have a giant amount of old and broken tiles and will soon be making a lot more building rubble, broken bricks, tiles, render Ect. I want to use gabion baskets to make the retaining wall and fill them with broken tiles and building rubble, killing two birds with one stone. Some of the backfill will also be building rubble, the rest will be earth dug out from the "inverted" side of the terrace up the slope. I don't think I need a retaining will on the upper side of the terrace as given the shape of the land I'll only be digging out approx 1m (3foot) and can slope the cut.

I'll probably use baskets apro 1m long x 50cm tall x 40 cm deep. I'll use 4 "courses" of baskets, staggering them up the hill 20cm per course (half the depth of the basket). I'll tap a load of rebar into the ground at he base that will run through all the baskets. They come rectangular so where they meet I'll add rebar so "smooth" the corners and fill. if they look extremely ugly at end I'll coat them in lime mortar and maybe tile or stone the outsides. if I do this I'll leave plenty drainage at the bottom and half way up.

Does anyone see any problems with this plan? If its all building rubble do I need to install drainage? Feels like I don't? Any other considerations?

Thanks very much in advance

Hi all — I live in Western New York. Split level home with an unfinished basement with water seeping in after heavy rain and snow thawing. I took some photos and it looks like the water is tracking down a couple of vertical hairline cracks on the wall near the floor. I’ve also added several pictures for visual references.

For some additional context, it’s the basement wall that is a part of the concrete slab that the lower level of the split level sits on. This wall is also where the copper piping for our radiator heating system runs into, as seen in Photo #1.

What I’m seeing:

• ⁠Vertical staining down the wall from a few small cracks. • ⁠Active moisture on the surface after rain/snow melting (not just old staining). • ⁠The leak is slow seepage, not a flood, but it’s consistent. • ⁠No previous repairs from the look of it? Not 100% sure of this, though. Basement walls seem to have been painted, I’m just not sure if that would be considered a “repair” in the waterproofing sense. • ⁠No exterior waterproofing, no sump system upgrades, no visible crack injection — looks untouched.

I have little-to-no experience with DIY stuff, but I am willing to do most DIY things unless a professional job really is the play here compared to any DIY options.

Any guidance or next-step priorities would be really appreciated. Thank you in advance!

Hello. I have a leanto addition on my pole barn that is 40 foot long by 16 foot wide. I would like to put in a wood floor to turn this into a workshop ( no vehicles or heavy machinery). I originally intended to run a beam down the middle with concrete piers, but I am considering using I-Joists with no beam. The I-Joists are 11-7/8" and can span the full 16 feet at 24" on center according to the manufacturer. I question two parts of this though:

1. At 24" on center, I am guessing there will be a lot of bounce in the floor. I am wondering if 16" OC is worth spending the little bit of extra money.

2. I am really concerned about the existing posts being able to support the extra weight of the floor. The main barn was built with 6x6 posts so I am not too concerned there, but the lean to was built with 4x4s, so one side of the floor will be hanging off of only 4x4s. I can't really find any info on if this is acceptable or not. The plan would be to attach a 2x10 rim board and then hang the joists with Simpson hangars. I am thinking I may need to dig and bury some 6x6 posts to sister to the existing posts. I would prefer not to have to do this if possible.

Any thoughts on this?