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Official Pit Home Improvement/DIY thread

The husband and I are looking to regrout the tiles in our master bathroom shower. How hard is this? Should I just pay someone to do it?

Sounds like I should head down for a weekend for some biking and grouting.
 
so we have a dishwasher, but it isn't anchored into the cabinets or countertop and i don't see any brackets to do it. am i missing something or is this normal?

You should probably ask Mike Holmes.
 
so we have a dishwasher, but it isn't anchored into the cabinets or countertop and i don't see any brackets to do it. am i missing something or is this normal?

There should be a little bracket along the top of the dishwasher. May have been broken off?
 
The husband and I are looking to regrout the tiles in our master bathroom shower. How hard is this? Should I just pay someone to do it?

It's a pain in the ass imo, either it's tedious when you're careful or you're impatient and easy to crack tiles while doing it.
 
I'm trying to picture this. So was it a pocket door? I do like those but don't think it would be a possible solution for this room. I don't think much in my house will ever look "impressive" either, it's just a little starter home that needs to look better.

This is kind of cool!

http://www.countryliving.com/homes/house-tours/diy-north-carolina-home#slide-10

sliding-doors-north-carolina-home-0512-mdn.jpg
 
so, I know michael and emily whose home is photographed here (deachoops does, too)... and they're kind of sickeningly adorable and good at everything, but they're lovely people so it's not annoying... and yet it is annoying, but not in a bad way. i know that makes no sense, but it does.

Wheels ruin it
 
so, I know michael and emily whose home is photographed here (deachoops does, too)... and they're kind of sickeningly adorable and good at everything, but they're lovely people so it's not annoying... and yet it is annoying, but not in a bad way. i know that makes no sense, but it does.

Agree. On anybody else, I would be disgusted by the sweetness (I would also probably assume it's mostly fake), yet with them, not only is it clearly genuine, but it's also not sickening. No clue why.
 
I'm replacing a fluorescent light in our kitchen and I had a couple of questions.

1) There is about 15 inches of space between the ceiling board and the bottom of the floor of the 2nd floor, according to my tape measure. Just curious as to where there is so much space between the 1st and 2nd floor?
2) The pre-drilled holes in the ceiling are 36 inches, and the knockout holes in the fixture are 41 inches apart, so I have to drill a hole in my ceiling through the drywall and ceiling board. Do I need a special bit or anything? The board doesnt seem very thick and I only need enough space to push a toggle bolt through
3) speaking of knockout holes, is there any easy way to snap these off? They are attached by a metal tab but the best I can do is pry them backwards
4) I'm trying to get this done by myself, so is there any way to temporarily mount the fixture to the ceiling? The center hole has a weird pattern of holes around it, but I'm not sure how I'm supposed to do it. The writing from the pic says "Warning. Detail for Temporary Mounting Only"


light_zps0afbf30f.jpg
 
we have a gas dryer and the dryer doesnt heat through the whole cycle. it ignites and heats for a bit but by the end of the cycle it is just blowing cool air. i was going to check the vent hose but it was all taped up and didnt want to mess with it.
 
io - re: 15" space... what dimension are your joists?
 
Not sure...how would I find that out?
 
If you have 8" joists sitting on 8" beams (as opposed to using joist hangers), that would give you about 15". It could also be 6" sitting on 10", but I don't think 6" would meet code for the joists.
 
Not sure...how would I find that out?

Well, I guess you've just got the little holes so you can't see them, but normally you'd just measure them :)

Mostly I was getting at what 2&2 says below. It's most likely a combo of your floor joists upstairs and some sort of structural beam supporting them. is your kitchen ceiling lower than any other ceiling in your downstairs? it's poooossible it's dropped lower to allow for certain ventilation/duct work/plumbing from upstairs.
 
Thanks, the ceiling is the same height so the joist/beam explanation makes sense.
 
So what is the Pit's opinion on nail guns? I few years ago, I put up some beadboard wanscoting and chair rail molding in my son's room before he was born. I did it all by hand with a hammer and nailset. It came out pretty good, though there are some spots with nail pops that have since worked themselves out. So now we have another kid on the way, so kid #1 is moving into a bigger room so that the baby can go in the smaller room. My wife wants the same beadboard wanscoting and chair rail concept (though different patterns) to go in his new room. I bought all the tongue and groove planks and moldings this weekend and prepped the room to start working. However, thinking back on what a pain in the ass it was to keep everything plum and set all those finishing nails in a much smaller room, I contemplated getting a nailer. I've used compressor-powered nailers before and there is simply too much stuff to lug around with those. I borrowed a battery-powered nailer once when I put up the hundreds of railing spindles on my backyard stairs (pictured previously on this thread), and it worked pretty well.

So I went ahead and ordered this from Amazon. I got the heavy-duty version as I know that if I have it I will end up using it for something more structural at some point.
DC616K_K2.jpg


My question is more psychological than anything. Am I wussing out by using this thing? On one hand, I think my grandfather would slap me upside the head if I told him I was using something electric to hammer a nail for me. On the other hand, the finished product comes out better because it really burries the nails flush without using a nailset that often warps the heads, and the project moves a helluva lot faster. I know it is the same concept as a compound mitre saw instead of a mitre box, but somehow this feels more like cheating because it is the most basic building function.
 
it's SO much more efficient- nobody can fault you for that (except maybe your grandfather, apparently). it's not like you are incapable of hammering a nail, you just happen to be involved in a project that makes sense for something that can do it quicker/better/easier.
 
do you think roofers feel like pussies b/c they use those things?

Probably not, but I'm not putting up a roof. I'm using it inside on a purely decorative detailed project. If I saw someone using one to build a dollhouse, then yes I would probably think they were a pussy. This is somewhere in the middle.
 
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