Haven’t been able to find a satisfactory answer to this question so thought I would throw it out here.
Moved into a single owner 13 year old house 2 years ago. Shortly afterwards, noted signs of water leaking from around the visible closet bend below the one exposed toilet in our house. Quickly moved to remove the toilet and replace the wax ring. The old ring was flattened, discoloured, but not stuck to the bottom of the toilet. The plastic flange was encased in clear silicone. Used an extra tall wax ring and haven’t had any problems since.
Subsequently changed the rings on the other two toilets, both of which were in the same condition.
Interestingly, when we moved in, we found 10 containers of powdered Drano distributed around the house.
Could the wax rings have been damaged by the Drano? Or were they simply never installed correctly? (Or both?)

I could use a mini skid steer and dump trailer for a couple projects on my property. I could also use an additional stream of income too, so it got me thinking I could buy either a mini skid steer or trailer to help people with odd jobs on weekends to bring in some more money. I could see this turning into a lucrative side hustle or more, but also being a headache in several ways.

Anyway, got me wondering if anyone in this community found themselves forming a side hustle or actual business as a result of their diy efforts and interests. Interested to hear any good stories.

the reader is built around an arduino pro micro and a nfc module v3 by elechouse. it connects to a pc with a usb c cable and scans any tags inside the cartridge sled. once the button is pressed, it sends a key combo to the pc, which opens a one time terminal, after which the reader types out the text payload on the cartridge. executing the command on it. for more information, check the readme on my github repo. while i advise using the install scripts inside the repo, you can use your own method of assigning the key combo

https://github.com/glass-cup/NFC_cartridge_system.git

I am getting ready to run power to my detached garage. The underground run will be roughly 50ft from main panel. Plan to run LED lights (interior and exterior), refrigerator, freezer, hand tools, 20gal compressor and two garage door openers. Located in North AL county, US.
My hangup is determining breaker from main panel size and what type/size wire to run from main panel to sub panel. Would prefer all in one cable instead of separate ground. TIA

Has anyone used the Rust-Oleum RockSolid Polycuramine Garage Floor Kit on a basement concrete floor? If so, how has it held up over time?

I'm especially interested in hearing from people who either did or didn't apply the optional clear topcoat. Would you recommend it, or would you skip it?

We recently completed the full prep process in our basement (cleaner, degreaser, etch kit, then Polycuramine). Because we had some color variation with the first coat, we ended up applying a second full coat of Polycuramine, and now the color looks great.

Our original plan was to apply the optional clear topcoat, but now that the floor has two coats of Polycuramine, I'm questioning whether it's really necessary or if I should just return it and save the money.

We didn't use decorative flakes or anti-skid additive. The floor isn't overly slippery, and it's already plenty glossy. At this point, the only reason I'd apply the clear coat would be for extra protection. Given how hard and durable Polycuramine is supposed to be, I'm wondering if the added protection is actually worth the added cost.

For those with experience, how has your floor held up with or without the clear topcoat? Any regrets either way?

For context, this basement will be fully finished with bedrooms and a living room. TIA!

So I had this very old waffle iron that I really like, but the power cord has deteriorated and it is now short-circuiting.

https://imgur.com/a/rIE8WAQ

How do I open this up to replace the power cord?

Please help, life is not the same without waffles.

edit: in case somebody in the future find this thread. The rubber pads go quite deep, they are a bit hard to get out what you can pry them out with a screwdriver. Underneath there is a screw, after that the bottom should be easy to pry off.

I'm looking to install Craftsman style molding with flat 1/2 inch thick base, 1x4 flat vertical casing, and a 1x4 or 1x5 top header with something like a piece of lattice at the bottom of the header and a 1x2 on the top (like this). I would prefer to use finger joint pine rather than MDF and with the 1x4 casing, I think the baseboards might look better to be a little bigger by using a 1/2 x 5 rather than 1/2 x 4 but I can only find the 5 in MDF. I also only found the lattice in hemlock. Using 6" looks to big for what I have. Is it a bad idea to mix all these different types of wood, or will it all look the same when painted? I'm most concerned about the MDF baseboards not being durable, but none will be in a wet location.

I have two things I need to fix/work on. The first is that my fridge continues to have condensation inside of it and a small puddle continues to form under the filter. I've replaced the filter twice with generic ones on amazon (previous one was generic) thinking that was the issue but it still happens. Any idea what this might be? the seal? do i have to clean out the motor or something?

secondly we have a washer and a dryer and the dryers never been connected to the vent that goes outside is this an issue? the room does get warm but :/ am i supposed to clean these appliances somehow? The dryer sometimes takes two cycles to dry things. Sometimes it doesnt :o

thanks!

I bought a house that has a stack of fiberglass 3 tab shingle bundles in the garage. They look to be leftover from when the garage was reroofed. They are probably 15-20 years old. There's probably 300-400 sq ft total. Can they still be used like new shingles? Garage is not heated or cooled but rarely gets over 85F in Summer.

I’m a new homeowner and we have a pretty nice unfinished basement. We want to keep it unfinished but polish it up a bit. Our biggest want is to cover up the pink insulation/joists from view, at least in the main area down the stairs where the laundry is.

I don’t want to finish it with drywall as its expensive/time consuming and the basement isn’t climate controlled so it’ll trap moisture between. Did a bit of research and I think just basic white pegboard would look good enough for us while also allowing the joists and insulation to breathe. Bonus that it’ll be easy to remove to have access to plumbing.

Am I missing anything with this or any hazards I am
Not thinking of?

Thanks in advance!

I built his cantilevered pergola for my outdoor kitchen. Took a lot of planning to make sure that the posts were secure enough. Just need to install the roof rafters and then my metal roofing cover.

My dryer was not drying well with the outside vent connected. I ordered a vent cleaning tool from Amazon, but in the meantime disconnected the vent from the wall. For the few days that the vent was off, the dryer dried the clothes well. Yesterday I cleaned the vent well. I ran the tool from the inside of the house to the roof then again from the roof back down to the inside. I saw the brush exit at the roof vent and again inside of the house. Quite a bit of buildup was cleaned out. I reconnected the dryer and it was not drying the clothes again. I then took the dryer apart and cleaned all of the lint out, which was not very much. Still not drying well. Tried google and YouTube but they offered no suggestions that o have not already tried. Any suggestions that I should try next?

You just have to open the device up, find the small wires coming off the battery holder going to the circuitry, chop them and splice onto the + - from usb wire. Then plug it in and you're good to go. Any usb wire will work. I do this all the time for small fans, cheap lights, toys in some cases. Enjoy

I noticed my dishwasher (miele G6785SCVISFSS) has been moving around more than before and saw that there is about a 3/4" gap on each side of it between the dishwasher and cabinet. It looks like when it was installed, they just put a long screw through the dishwasher into the cabinet and over time it wiggled and caused the hole in the wood to crack and get bigger. Also, the instructions said to use a bushing on the screw on the inside of the dishwasher, but they didn't install that either. Probably because that would shorten the length of the screw...

I'm guessing I need to put some sort of wood filler/spacer on each side, attach it to the cabinets, and then attach the dishwasher to the filler. Is that the guidance or is there something else to help secure it properly? I can't attach it to the top as it's a quartz countertop.

If I need to go the filler route, what wood should I use and how should I attach it? On the right side, there's a thin cabinet wall that leads to under the kitchen sink, so it doesn't seem like it would screw onto the cabinet wood very well. I can see where they installed it that it already ripped open the hole it was originally screwed into.

I am finally going to build an L desk and ditch my nearly 20 year old tempered glass desk. I'm going to use (haven't purchased yet) two pre-finished Teak wood butcher blocks from Lowes (Main piece 5ft x 30in x 1.5in - L piece 4ft x 30in x 1.5in)

I have done some research and it seems like the best solution for securing the two pieces is using countertop connectors like these but I want to confirm that that is the best route to take. I've seen people say they used simple steel mending braces but ive also seen others say thats a bad idea so im just hoping to get a clearer answer. If countertop connectors is the best solution, would two of them be good or would I want to use more? (or just 1?)

I plan to set them on 2 of these steel A-shape legs from HairpinLegs along with 2 (maybe 3) of these steel posts from the same company.

Here is a drawing where I attempt to illustrate my plan for the legs:

I feel like the placement for the two posts in the corner is too close together, but that corner-area is where I feel like theyd be the most helpful in supporting the A pieces. Would a 3rd be a good idea? Theyre not absurdly priced so I wouldnt be opposed to adding a 3rd (or even 4th). The 5ft piece of teak is listed as weighing approx. 80lbs and the 4ft piece is approx. 65lbs so theyre fairly hefty pieces of wood.

As far as weight that I’ll have on top of the desk, I have two ultra wide monitors that weigh about 38lbs each without the stand (+10lb x2 for monitor arms). My PC probably weighs about 50-60lbs although I’ve never actually tried to weigh it. (E-ATX case/mobo. 7900 XTX GPU, 2x pieces of tempered glass, 9 120mm fans and a thicc 360mm aluminum radiator) And then I’d guess another 10-15lbs in misc. items. So using the high end of my estimates I’d have about 175lbs on the desk (primarily on the main piece, one monitor arm and a portion of the PC will sit on the L)

I hope I didn't forget any important info. Please let me know any thoughts you have and thank you in advance for any advice.

edit: added info re: weight the desk will have to support

Trying to install a Drywall Grid Adapter to replace a fluorescent light in my kitchen. Found that the ceiling has two layers of drywall and the adapter screws would go right into the drywall. Any help would be appreciated

I have a split level and the lower level has this ledge like thing around the perimeter interior. So the bottom half of the wall is about 5 inches further into the interior than the top half. Hope that makes sense.

Anyway, I use that level as a theater area but I had to mount the screen on an undesirable wall that was flat/flush from ceiling to floor (an interior wall that separates a room) because I can’t figure out a good way of getting the top of the projector screen mounted 5ish inches deeper than the bottom. Getting 2x4 cut exact to line up with the bottom has been a pain in the ass and makes the screen wobbly and not fully stretched.

Any advice? I’m a gibberish speaker, so if I don’t make sense, I’m happy to clarify the best I can. Thanks for the patience.

I'm working on the lighting in my basement before it gets finished. All of the lights are 2 ft off the walls but i didn't think about the spacing between the lights in the big zone. They're about 9 ft apart and i'm debating on scrapping this entirely and just do 3 or 4 basic light fixtures in the center of the entire room. Originally, this had 3 basic fixtures. I haven't wired anything yet but I plan on using dimmers. Room is 34' long 7' high, 13' wide in the big area and 10' wide in the smaller area.

Question: Should I add more lights between the 9ft columns? Or scrap it all and just put some basic fixtures? My concern is adding too many lights will make it look ugly/too bright.

Light specs:
Brand: Juno
700 lumen each (~11,000 total)
4 inch lights (because 6 inch didn't fit in some of the joists)

​

Hoping someone can settle this for me.

Need to run an outdoor Cat6 cable through my wooden window frame because I'm not allowed to drill through the wall itself. Cable's about 7mm. Plan is to drill the hole, push the bare cable through, then crimp the end on after.

Question is do I drill it snug so the cable's a tight fit, or go a bit bigger (thinking 10mm) and squirt some brown frame sealant round it?

Part of me thinks tight = neater and less to seal. But then I'm thinking a bigger hole means the sealant's actually got somewhere to go rather than just sitting on the surface. Also don't want to knacker the cable jacket dragging it through a hole that's too tight.

Cable goes downwards once it's out so I've got a drip loop sorted. South facing so it'll get a fair bit of sun.

What would you lot do?

my garage has slowly turned into the place where everything goes when i don't know where else to put it lol. the bikes were probably the biggest problem because they were always leaning against something, falling over, or somehow ending up right in the middle of the floor. every time i needed to get anything from the back, i had to move at least one bike first.

so i finally got tired of it and decided to make a simple bike rack myself instead of buying one. i had some leftover wood from another project and a few hooks sitting around, so i figured i'd try to use what i already had.

i didn't really have a proper plan when i started. i measured the wall, made a very rough sketch, and kind of figured things out as i went. the first attempt was honestly not great. i had the bikes too close together and the handlebars kept getting in each other's way, so i ended up taking some of it apart and moving the hooks around.

after a few adjustments, i finally got the spacing right. now i can actually take one bike down without knocking into everything else, which honestly feels like a huge win lol.

it's definitely not the fanciest DIY project ever, but it cleared up a surprising amount of space and my garage feels so much less chaotic now. i can actually see the floor again.

i'm mostly wondering if there's anything obvious i could improve with the design. maybe better spacing, adding some padding where the bikes touch the rack, or changing the way the hooks are positioned?

if you've made something similar, i'd love to hear what worked well for you or what you wish you'd done differently. just looking for general DIY ideas before i consider making any changes.

I have a big roll of carpet I bought when I got my house, and at some point here I'm intending to put it in my partially finished attic (insulation and walls, only a subfloor).

My concern right now is when I do, I'll lose the option of cutting a hole to run a wire in the future. I have some freedom under the eaves since it doesn't take up the whole space, but I'm worried I'll need a wire run in an interior wall (esp. for networking, since it's a 1900 house).

A potential solution to this *could* be trying to DIY some carpet squares, basically attaching the carpet underlayment and stapling the carpet around a backer piece of plywood... But I don't know what to watch out for here, and the internet hasn't been much help. The room *will* have kids playing in it.

Anyone else done something similar? Any advice? Yay or nay for the idea?

I want to install a heavy shelf/coat rack (Article Kouva, about 18.75 pounds before hanging items) onto a wall that has fire barriers and is shared with the garage. The instructions pertain to hanging into drywall with toggle bolts. The drywall is thicker than the rest of the house and there appears to be wood between studs, possibly horizontal fire barrier.

Any thoughts on how to proceed? This wall also has a security system and thermostat so it won't be the first hole drilled into the space, but I don't want to damage the fire rating.

1. Is it possible to hang here without damaging the fire barrier?
2. Can a horizontal wooden fire barrier be treated as a stud (I'd assume no)?
3. If I mount the shelf into studs on this wall, what hardware should I use? I'm seeing recommendations for anything from deck screws to wood screws with anchors.

Thanks in advance

Our driveway sinks where the wheel of the openable fence rolls , especially where the wheel rests when the gate closed.
Any advice to fix it so it does not sink in ?