c/diy-home-projects

That fancy paint sprayer I bought still sits in the box

I dropped $180 on a Wagner sprayer thinking I'd finish my living room in a weekend. Three months later, I've only rolled two walls with a brush because I'm too scared to clean the thing out properly. The instructions say to flush it with mineral spirits for 20 minutes and that just seems like a whole project itself. Has anyone actually used one of these without it clogging up halfway through?

Pick your drywall compound carefully - I went with the cheap stuff and paid for it twice

Needed to tape and mud a bunch of seams in my basement last month. Had a choice between the $12 bucket of all-purpose and the $25 plus 3. I figured mud is mud, right? Wrong. The cheap stuff shrank like crazy and I had to do three coats instead of two. Plus it was way harder to sand smooth. My buddy used the plus 3 on his garage and was done in half the time. Anyone else have a similar experience with different mud brands?

Found out my paint sprayer was wasting half the paint

I was cleaning my Wagner sprayer the other day and noticed the cup had a ton of paint left in it. Looked it up online and found out I was losing almost 40% of each quart because I wasn't using a liner bag system. Bought a pack of 10 liners for $12 at Home Depot and now I barely waste anything. Has anyone else had that rude surprise with their sprayer?

Fancy $50 caulk gun was a total waste in my bathroom reno

Bought that expensive dripless caulk gun for my bathroom tub surround, thinking it'd save me a huge mess. Ended up clogging halfway through the first bead and I had to toss it and finish with a $3 throwaway from the hardware store. Anyone else find those pricey guns just don't work as advertised?

Wasted $200 on a fancy paint sprayer that I barely used

Bought a Graco sprayer for my kitchen cabinets last spring, spent more time cleaning the thing than actually painting, and now it's just sitting in my garage taking up space - has anyone else found a simpler way to get a smooth finish without all the hassle?

The weekend my garage ceiling nearly caved in from old insulation

I was up in the attic running some new wiring for a light fixture last Saturday, and I stepped wrong onto a old fiberglass batt. The whole section gave way and dumped 15 years of dust and mouse droppings right onto my workbench below. Took me 4 hours with a shop vac and respirator to clean it up. Has anyone else had a hidden attic hazard pop up out of nowhere like that?

Just tried reusing drywall compound instead of tossing it

I had a half bucket of joint compound that sat in my garage for 3 months. Figured it'd be crusty and useless, but I added a few tablespoons of water and stirred it up. It came back smooth as new and I finished my basement patch job in under an hour. Has anyone else had luck reviving old compound like this?

Had a nightmare of a day trying to hang drywall solo in my garage last Saturday

I must have measured and cut that first sheet 4 times before I got it right, and then the screw gun jammed halfway through hanging it, which made me wonder if anyone else has a better method for getting a perfect cut without a dedicated drywall square?

Overheard a guy at the hardware store say 'just use wood glue for everything' and it got me thinking

I was picking up some deck screws last Saturday and this dude was telling his friend to use wood glue on a fence post that's clearly gonna rot out in a season. I mean, wood glue is great for indoor furniture and stuff, but for anything that sits in the ground or gets wet? That's just asking for trouble. Has anyone else had a project fail because you used the wrong adhesive for the conditions?

I changed my mind about painting kitchen cabinets after 3 failed attempts

I used to be firmly in the camp that painting kitchen cabinets was a huge waste of time and money (you know, because it never looks as good as the real thing). But last month I saw my neighbor's kitchen after she did hers - she used a small sprayer from Harbor Freight and took 4 full weekends to do it right. The finish was so smooth and even, no brush strokes or drips at all. What really convinced me was watching her process in real time: she sanded every single door down to bare wood, primed with a bonding primer, and did 3 thin coats of cabinet paint. The before had these yellowed 80s oak cabinets, and the after looks like a $5,000 custom job. So I borrowed her sprayer and tackled my own tiny kitchen last weekend. Has anyone else had luck with a specific paint brand or sprayer for cabinets?

That old kitchen faucet finally gave out and left me scrambling

Wednesday morning my 20 year old Delta kitchen faucet started spraying water everywhere from a crack in the handle base. By noon the cabinet underneath was soaked and I had a puddle spreading across the linoleum. I shut off the supply valves and ran to Home Depot for a replacement, but the new one didn't fit the existing holes. Ended up having to drill new holes in the granite countertop which took 3 hours and a diamond bit. Anyone else run into trouble swapping out old plumbing fixtures that aren't standard sizes anymore?

Found out my pressure treated deck wood was rated for ground contact - from a lumber yard guy in Tulsa

I spent three weekends building a raised planter box for my wife using regular pressure treated lumber from Home Depot. Then a guy at a lumber yard in Tulsa told me that stuff is only rated for above ground use and will rot in 3-4 years if it touches soil. He showed me the stamp on the end of the board that says "ground contact" or "GC" for the good stuff, and regular PT doesn't have it. The price difference is like $2 more per board, which for my whole project was maybe $30 extra. Has anyone else dealt with rot from using the wrong grade of pressure treated wood?

I finally learned how to patch drywall properly after a contractor gave me a 5 minute lesson

Found out I was painting walls wrong for 10 years after a guy at Home Depot asked me one question

He asked if I was back-rolling my primer and I said no, so he showed me the difference on a scrap piece of drywall and the coverage was night and day, has anyone else had a random stranger fix their whole process like that?

Noticed my neighbor's deck was sagging after he used treated lumber from 2015

I was over at my neighbor's place last weekend in Raleigh and saw his deck is dipping in the middle. He told me he built it five years back with some leftover treated lumber he'd had sitting in his garage since 2015. I checked the tags and the wood was rated for ground contact but he'd used it for joists without checking the moisture content. The whole thing is bowing maybe three inches now. He's got to pull up the decking and sister some new joists in there. Any of you guys run into issues with old lumber that's been stored too long before building?

Talking to my contractor neighbor made me question if I'm overengineering my fence build

He said he just uses 4x4s and some quikrete for everything, while I've been digging 3 foot holes and using gravel bases, so which approach actually holds up better over 10 years?

Pro tip: that $200 epoxy garage floor kit is a total scam for DIYers

I spent 8 hours prepping my concrete, laying down that big box store kit, and after 3 months it's peeling up like a sunburn, so did I just get a bad batch or are these kits all garbage for anyone without a commercial grinder?

Home Depot flooring aisle gave me a new project idea last weekend

I stopped by Home Depot in Albany last Saturday just to grab some paint thinner, and I ended up spending 45 minutes in the flooring aisle. There was a demo setup for luxury vinyl plank that had this neat herringbone pattern, and an older couple was asking the store guy questions about installing it themselves. I stood there listening and realized I could probably do a small accent floor in my mudroom for under $200. I've never laid flooring before, so I grabbed one of those installation kits with the spacers and tapping block. Got home and started measuring, and now I'm wondering if I need to let the planks acclimate in the room for more than 24 hours. Has anyone here tried that pattern with LVP, or is it too tricky for a first timer?

My kitchen backsplash tile job is bulletproof thanks to a $5 leveling system I almost skipped

Everyone told me to just use spacers and eyeball it for my subway tile backsplash. I fought with it for two rows and the lippage was driving me crazy. Bought a cheap wedge and clip leveling system off Amazon for about five bucks and it made everything line up perfectly in under an hour. The clips snap off clean after the thinset dries and I didn't have to redo a single tile. Has anyone else found a simple tool that saved their whole project?

Just learned that painting over wallpaper adhesive without removing it first is basically a ticking time bomb

Was prepping to paint my spare bedroom last weekend - that room my landlord's been putting off for 2 years. Pulled off a strip of the old floral print and found this thick glue residue underneath. Thought I could just prime over it. Googled it before starting and found multiple contractors saying the glue will reactivate with moisture from the paint and cause bubbling within 6 months. One guy on a forum said he had to strip a whole kitchen twice because of that mistake. Ended up spending 8 hours scraping and using a chemical remover. Should have just asked the landlord to hire someone. Anyone else get burned by this or have a faster way to deal with old wallpaper glue?

Spent $120 on a fancy paint sprayer and it clogged after 10 minutes

I tried to save time painting my living room with a Wagner sprayer from Home Depot, but the tip clogged every 5 minutes and I ended up just using a brush anyway. Anyone else had better luck with a different brand or model?

Tried to save $50 by patching my own drywall last weekend

Bought the wrong mud, used a spatula instead of a proper knife, and now my living room wall looks like a topographic map. Has anyone else ended up with a worse mess trying to DIY a simple fix?

Finished painting my living room after 4 months of putting it off

I finally finished painting the living room this weekend after staring at those sample swatches since February. Got all 4 walls done with just one gallon of paint left over, which surprised me since I figured I'd need way more. Has anyone else had a project take way longer than expected but turn out better than you thought?

That moment I realized my fence was leaning because of one post

I was painting the back fence 2 months ago and noticed the whole section leaned left about 4 inches. Tracked it down to a single post where the concrete had cracked and the wood had rotted at ground level. Dug it out, replaced the post with a treated 4x4, and used quick-set concrete this time. Took me a whole Saturday but the fence is straight now. Anyone else had a fence post go bad on them after a wet season?

Vent: My battery-powered nail gun vs the old pneumatic one my dad gave me

Picked up a fancy cordless nailer for a deck job last month and it jammed on every third nail. Dug out my dad's old pneumatic one from the 90s and it ran through 500 nails without skipping a beat. Anyone else find that the older stuff just works better, or did I just get a bad unit?