c/diy-and-contractors

Had to pick between a hand plane and a power planer for my barn door project

I spent two weeks going back and forth on whether to buy a Stanley No. 4 hand plane for $45 or grab a cheap power planer from Harbor Freight for $30. Went with the hand plane because I figured it'd be quieter and I could use it on other stuff. Three hours in and I'm still flattening that oak board, and I'm starting to wonder if I made the wrong call. Anyone else regret going the manual route on a big job?

Rant: That plumber on Forest Avenue wanted $350 to swap a toilet flapper

I live over near Forest Avenue in Springfield, and my toilet was running nonstop last weekend. Called a local plumber, he quoted me $350 just to replace a $7 flapper... said it was a service call fee plus labor. I watched a 4 minute YouTube video and did it myself in 15 minutes. How do you guys decide when it's worth calling a pro vs doing it yourself?

I bought a house with a mystery leak and two plumbers gave me opposite advice - which side do you fall on?

Everybody says to use primer before painting but I skipped it on my kitchen cabinets

I painted my oak cabinets 2 years ago without any primer, just two coats of good quality paint, and they still look perfect with no chipping or peeling... I think if you sand them really well and use a paint with built-in primer it can work fine. Has anyone else gotten away with skipping primer on trim or furniture?

I finally fixed a squeaky floor without pulling up any carpet

My hallway has had this one loud squeak right by the bedroom door for like 2 years. I tried the regular tricks, powder lube, screwing down from above, nothing worked because the subfloor was lifted. Last weekend I drilled a tiny hole from below in the basement, shoved a shim in with wood glue, and hammered it flush. Squeak is completely gone now. Cost me maybe $3 and 20 minutes. Anyone else have a random trick that worked way better than the standard advice?

That one Thursday where everything went WRONG on a flip house

I was patching drywall in a 1920s bungalow and my mud knife slipped right into a hidden hornets nest in the wall cavity. Got stung 3 times on the arm before I even realized what was happening. Has anyone else found random wildlife mid-renovation?

A client told me my drywall mud looked like a bad cake frosting job

I was finishing a basement in a house over in Westlake. Homeowner watched me skim coat a wall. He said, 'That's not smooth, it's just thin. You're leaving ridges like you're rushing.' I always thought getting it on fast was key. He made me stop and feel the wall. He was right. I was using too much pressure on the knife, creating tiny lines. Now I do two thinner coats with a wider 12 inch knife, let the first dry fully, and sand lightly between. The finish is way better. Takes an extra half day but no call backs. Anyone else get called out on their mud technique and have to change it up?

My bathroom tile job went sideways when I hit a water line

I was installing a new shower niche in my Denver home and my rotary hammer drill bit punched right through a 1/2 inch PEX line I didn't know was there. Water sprayed everywhere for a solid minute before I could get to the main shutoff. I had to cut out a bigger section of the wall to install a coupling, which set me back a full day and about $50 in parts. Has anyone else had a close call with hidden plumbing, and what's your go-to method for checking before you cut or drill?

Update: I thought those new 'smart' circuit finders were just a gimmick for easy money.

I was wiring a new outlet in my kitchen last month and my old tone and probe unit gave me a false positive, nearly cutting into a live wire. A buddy lent me his Klein Tools ET310, which maps the whole circuit and shows the breaker number. I rolled my eyes at first, but after it found the right breaker in under 30 seconds on a crowded panel, I was sold. It even found a shared neutral I didn't know about. The $60 price tag seemed steep until it saved me an hour of flipping breakers and guessing. Has anyone else made the switch and found it actually worth the cash for bigger jobs?

Heard a guy at the hardware store talking about his dad's old framing hammer

He was telling the clerk his dad built their whole house with just a 22 ounce Estwing and a handsaw back in the 70s. I was there to buy a new battery for my cordless nailer. It made me realize how much we rely on power tools now for even simple jobs. Has anyone else tried doing a project with just hand tools recently?

Just counted the number of times I've had to redo a contractor's work in the last year. It hit 7.

Vent: Seeing a lot of new folks skip the layout step on basic framing

In my experience, that extra 20 minutes with a chalk line saves hours fixing a wall that's out of square. How do you guys make sure your first plate is dead straight?

I used to cut drywall with a utility knife and a straightedge. Now I use a rotary cutter. When did you switch tools for a basic task?

My brother-in-law swore by using a 4-inch hole saw for plumbing vents, and I'm glad I listened.

He said 'anything smaller will ice up in a Michigan winter' when I was redoing my bathroom last fall. I went with his advice and had zero issues during that polar vortex in January, while my neighbor with 3-inch vents had a freeze-up. Anyone else have a relative give you a specific piece of trade advice that paid off big time?

Pro tip: I used to just eyeball my miter cuts for baseboard, but after a $200 trim piece disaster in my living room, I bought a digital angle finder.

Now I measure the actual corner, transfer it exactly, and haven't wasted a single piece of material in six months. Anyone have a better trick for those weird, out-of-square corners in old houses?

Pro tip: I used to think all drywall mud was the same until a guy in my Milwaukee crew set me straight.

He saw me using a 90-minute mud for my taping coat and said I was making my life harder for no reason. He told me to switch to a lightweight 20-minute mud for that first coat because it sands so much easier. I tried it on my next job and it cut my sanding time down by at least an hour per room. Anyone else have a small change that saved a bunch of time on a common task?

Why does nobody talk about the weird stuff you find in old house walls?

I was pulling out the old plaster and lath in my 1920s bungalow here in Spokane last month, getting ready to run new wiring. The first wall was just dust and mouse nests, standard stuff. But the second wall, behind the kitchen sink, was a time capsule. I found a 1948 newspaper, a glass milk bottle, and a single, perfectly good leather work glove. Not a pair, just one. It looked almost new, like someone just took it off and left it there. Over the last three weeks, as I've opened up more walls, the finds have gotten weirder. There's a whole stack of 1970s Playboy magazines tucked above a door frame, a bag of marbles, and a handwritten note that just says 'Harold owes me $5'. The house went from being a simple renovation project to feeling like an archaeology dig. Has anyone else opened up a wall and found something that made you stop and just laugh at the randomness?

My plumber friend in Denver told me I was using way too much pipe dope on my flare fittings, which was causing slow leaks.

He said 'a dab the size of a grain of rice is all you need' and after switching to that, my last three connections have been bone dry, so has anyone else gotten a simple tip that fixed a nagging problem?

I finally stopped using a 4-foot level for everything after a plumber called me out

For years I thought my 4-foot level was the only tool I needed for any straight line, from shelves to door frames. Then a plumber I hired to fix a shower drain last month saw me checking a long baseboard with it and said, 'You're going to get a wave doing it like that, you need a longer straight edge for anything over six feet.' I argued at first, but he showed me the slight bow in my last piece. I bought an 8-foot aluminum level the next week and the difference on long runs is huge. Has anyone else had a basic tool habit they had to break for bigger projects?

Hot take: The new public library in Springfield has a design flaw that everyone seems to love

I was at the grand opening of the new Springfield Public Library last week, and everyone was raving about the exposed ductwork and piping in the main reading room. They call it an 'industrial chic' look. I spent about an hour there, and I have to disagree. From a practical building standpoint, it's a poor choice. All that exposed HVAC is going to be a dust magnet, and cleaning those twenty foot high ducts will require a special lift and crew every few months. I overheard one of the architects say it 'celebrates the building's guts,' but I see a future maintenance headache and a lot of wasted energy, as those ducts aren't insulated at all. It prioritizes a fleeting style over long term function and cost. Has anyone else worked on a project where the design trend clearly fought against basic building sense?

PSA: A job in Bellingham showed me why you always check the property pins

I was installing a fence line last month for a client who swore his backyard was 50 feet deep. He had an old survey from 1998. I spent half a day setting posts based on his marked line. The neighbor came out and calmly pointed to the actual iron pin, buried under some leaves, a full 4 feet inside my line. We had to pull six posts. Now I won't start a boundary job without physically finding at least two pins myself, no matter what paperwork the homeowner has. Anyone else learned this the hard way with property lines?

My old way of taping drywall was making my mudding take forever

For years, I would just slap on the tape and start spreading mud, which always meant a ton of sanding later. The tape would bubble, the joints would be lumpy, and I'd spend a whole weekend just on one room. About six months ago, I watched a guy on a job site use a 6-inch taping knife to bed the tape first, then immediately go over it with a 10-inch knife to smooth it out before it even started to set. I tried it in my own garage on a practice board, and it was a game changer. Now my first coat is so much flatter, which cuts my sanding time down by at least half. I don't know why I never learned that trick in the first place. Has anyone else found a simple change to a basic task that saved them a bunch of time?

My neighbor laughed when I said I'd fix a cracked concrete step with a bag of sand and some glue

The front step on my house in Phoenix had a nasty crack, and every quote was over $800. I mixed a 50lb bag of play sand with some exterior construction adhesive to make a thick paste. I packed it into the crack, let it cure for two days, and painted over it. That was six months ago and it's still holding strong. Anyone else try a weird mix like this instead of a full replacement?

My basement floor went from damp to dry in a single weekend

I've had a small damp spot in my basement corner for years, maybe a foot across. It would get worse after heavy rain. I always thought I needed a full interior drain tile system, which a contractor quoted me $8,500 for. Last week, I finally decided to dig outside along that wall myself. I found the downspout from the roof was buried and just dumped water right at the foundation. I dug a trench about 15 feet long, laid in a solid PVC pipe, and ran it out to the yard. The difference is amazing. That corner is completely dry now, and the whole basement smells better. It cost me maybe $120 in pipe and gravel. Has anyone else fixed a big moisture problem with a simple outside fix like this?

Question about a plumber who refused to use my parts, even though they were the right spec