DIY home improvement projects
- Thread starter Pope
- Start date
Came home with a new radon fan, a new chainsaw, and a pile of wood for new front porch steps yesterday.
My wife recommended I just do 1 project at a time, but that seemed ridiculous. So I cut up a neighbor's tree for an hour but the batteries died so I had to stop that, installed the radon fan but needed a little bit of conduit to finish the electrical portion so had to leave that, backed the car out the garage so my wood wouldnt get rained on (despite it literally being installed to be outside 100% of the time as steps
) and lugged my chopsaw up from the shed to the garage to be "prepped". Thought I'd get to mow just a little bit, but when I started it, the battery was almost dead. put it on a charger for tomorrow.
so tonight I'll buy a new lawnmower battery on the way home, maybe install that or finish the tree or the radon wiring? ... only 4 "open" projects in various states of almost finished, that's not bad right?
My wife recommended I just do 1 project at a time, but that seemed ridiculous. So I cut up a neighbor's tree for an hour but the batteries died so I had to stop that, installed the radon fan but needed a little bit of conduit to finish the electrical portion so had to leave that, backed the car out the garage so my wood wouldnt get rained on (despite it literally being installed to be outside 100% of the time as steps
) and lugged my chopsaw up from the shed to the garage to be "prepped". Thought I'd get to mow just a little bit, but when I started it, the battery was almost dead. put it on a charger for tomorrow.so tonight I'll buy a new lawnmower battery on the way home, maybe install that or finish the tree or the radon wiring? ... only 4 "open" projects in various states of almost finished, that's not bad right?
Had an unexpected DIY project pop up. Came home Friday to standing water in a basement bedroom. I think the drain in the window well plugged up. I got that cleaned out but I ended up removing a whole bunch of drywall chasing water and mold. The spray foam behind the drywall was soaked. I was wringing out water like a kitchen sponge.
Slowly progressing on my summer project, deck refurbish. More railing replaced, new skirting, new gate. At the rate I'm moving, I figure I'll be done by mid 2028.
How do I deal with a dripping shower head?
Guest bath has a typical bent pipe showerhead coming from the wall. The plate that secures to the wall around it is loose. When I run water, there's no visible leaking, but water eventually builds up on the pipe and it gets under the paint layer around the fixture into small bubbles. No issues when water not running.
I take that to mean the water is condensing on the pipe and dropping into the paint, but how do I properly fix it? Do I have to strip, prime and repaint that area? Throw caulk on the plate, jam it on the wall and call it a day?
I have replaced and re-taped the actual showerhead, but I haven't checked to see if the entire pipe is also threaded inside the wall and can be removed/thread-taped also.
Guest bath has a typical bent pipe showerhead coming from the wall. The plate that secures to the wall around it is loose. When I run water, there's no visible leaking, but water eventually builds up on the pipe and it gets under the paint layer around the fixture into small bubbles. No issues when water not running.
I take that to mean the water is condensing on the pipe and dropping into the paint, but how do I properly fix it? Do I have to strip, prime and repaint that area? Throw caulk on the plate, jam it on the wall and call it a day?
I have replaced and re-taped the actual showerhead, but I haven't checked to see if the entire pipe is also threaded inside the wall and can be removed/thread-taped also.
99% it will be threaded
just get a towel and small pipe wrench,... unscrew it from as close to the wall as possible. reapply threadtape and or dope
Shut off water main and drain it first I assume? Or not necessary? I haven't turned this head on in weeks at this point.
It will only have water in it if you turn the shower faucet on. If you have a way to turn off the main line to the shower, it wouldn’t hurt, but not necessary as long as you keep the shower faucet off.
The weekend of 7/12 my sump pump stopped working a flooded out my basement. We are now working through the insurance process, but before I start fixing everything, I want to add an alarm or monitoring system for my sump. Anyone on here have something, or have had success with something in the past?
They have cheap water bugs you can purchase to set down in the area that would be a way to do it. I bought a 4 pack of them and put a couple in our basement and one behind our washing machine. They’re loud enough that you’ll hear them from most anywhere in your house.
If you're gonna do this, I'd also invest in a cheap pump and hose to at least have stored beside it. Usually these events happen at 2AM and if your pump isn't working there isn't a lot the alarm is going to do but annoy you while it floods again.
something like this from Lowes is probably something every DIYer should have on hand for a random event. I even pumped out a kayak that was stored open side up and was too heavy to move with one.
Water pressure backup pumps are a better solution IMO. So if the power goes out, you can still pump water.
it'll look like this 99% of the time (we don't make any promises about the 1% lol).
the towel is so you don't scratched the finish. a small pipe wrench or even channel locks or a big pliers will do the trick. I'd tape and dope - I'd guess when it was straight it wasn't quite tight enough or they couldn't make a full turn and had to back it off - tape & dope makes up for that possibility
probably right. I haven't had many electrical / flooding paired events ... but it would definitely suck to be dealing with both
like AllIn said, you definitely don't have to ... but I at least put a piece of masking tape on the shower handle so I remember not to have a stupid moment - works with light switches too if you're wiring a fixture. you would not believe the times I forget and go to the switch to get more light only to think "why is this tape here... Oooh!"
I've got a similar pump and the amount of times I've either used it or lent it out over the years has been pretty surprising.
Same. When you choose the emergency sump pump, make sure you get the version that draws water from the very bottom of the unit so it sucks down the water as much as possible.
And if you have enough space, I'd support looking into some kind of emergency automatic backup sump pump that will cover you if the power goes out and/or you're away and don't catch it.
This last winter I replaced all the outlets in my house, for a few reasons...
1. The previous owners had light almond outlets and switches, they decided to update to white, but only replaced the covers, SMH.
2. The outlets were all backstabbed, and I want to run some space heaters (long story short, we have many solar credits that I want to use not lose.) Backstabbing in a chain can create some issues, especially if you just so happen to be running a large load at the of that chain.
3. Many of the outlets were loose, plugs falling out. Also dangerous with load.
4. I wanted to go to decora outlets and switches.
1. The previous owners had light almond outlets and switches, they decided to update to white, but only replaced the covers, SMH.
2. The outlets were all backstabbed, and I want to run some space heaters (long story short, we have many solar credits that I want to use not lose.) Backstabbing in a chain can create some issues, especially if you just so happen to be running a large load at the of that chain.
3. Many of the outlets were loose, plugs falling out. Also dangerous with load.
4. I wanted to go to decora outlets and switches.
ugh. yeah my basement was definitely wired by a DIYer without a clue or a contractor that didn't give a flying f. I'm changing all of mine from the round style to the square so I can tell what I've replaced. so far found unlanded wires, grounds snipped off, and loose connections or trying to fit 3 wires on a screw and janky shiz like that.
I'm probably 2/3rds of the way finished. I agree I think the back stab connection just isn't as good and makes it seem like amateur hour.
