Hi all,

I have a Cape Cod STYLE home from the 1950s in which insulation and energy usage weren't the forefront of people's minds. The current HVAC system is perfectly fine for the basement and main floor but I have the upper floor temperature issues everyone else with this style has. I'd rather not add in a mini-split or two and insulation only can do so much with that style of home.

The house has an unused Septic Tank from before it was connected to the city. I was thinking about cleaning the tank, relining it, and having my gutters collect into it as it's both legal and heavily promoted in my city. I would then use it to mist my roof as needed via home assistant.

Has anyone done a project like this before? Any tips? Am I just crazy? Thanks!

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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.

Hi everyone,

I’m planning to remove the carpet upstairs and install luxury vinyl flooring.

This is only for the upstairs area, so traffic is pretty light. Mostly normal walking in the morning and night. Downstairs already has hardwood and tile, so I’m only focused on the upstairs carpeted area.

I also have a small Yorkie. He is only about 5 lbs, so I’m not too worried about him scratching the floor, but I still want something durable enough to hold up for a few years.

A few questions:

What wear layer should I be looking for? Is 12 mil enough for upstairs, or should I go with 20 mil? Should this include wear layer?

Other than wear layer, what features actually matter? When I look at Home Depot and Lowe’s, every product has a long list of features, and it starts to feel like marketing. Waterproof, scratch resistant, attached pad, rigid core, commercial grade, UV resistant etc. I’m trying to figure out what is useful and what is overkill.

Should I care more about plank thickness, wear layer, brand, locking system, underlayment, or the type of core?

Also, I see people on Facebook Marketplace selling Lifeproof and other major LVP brands for 40 to 50 percent less than Home Depot or Lowe’s. They claim the boxes are not damaged, not rejects, not mixed colors, and they offer returns if there are issues.

Are those Marketplace deals usually legit, or should I be worried about fake product, old batches, mixed dye lots, warranty problems, or damaged returns?

Appreciate any advice from people who have installed LVP upstairs or bought from Marketplace sellers.

So I have a butchers block that currently has mineral oil finish on it. It hasn’t been reapplied for about a year and I’m looking for a more durable finish. That doesn’t require it to be reapplied for a few years at least.

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?

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

Hey fellow Diyers I was looking for alternate to the usual home improvement stores (HD,lowes, ace) for building materials . Do u guys if there are any alternates specific in long island and in general around USA. Curious What are the alternate options?

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/A1NnYpI0kAL.pdf

I encountered resistance turning this shower off yesterday, I'm worried that there is debris in the valve. I can't find any info on removing the knob to access the valve. No set screw I can see... unless the indicator knob also comes off somehow? I don't want to get stuck where I cant turn the thing off, and I don't want to break it.

The support email is no longer functional. I pulled straight out with the reserved force of someone who doesn't want the whole fixture to be portable.

Any help is appreciated. Thank you

We’re doing some major regrading on our 30-year-old property to fix our slope, and we’re stuck on what material to actually use. We’ve heard conflicting advice from contractors, so we’d love to get some outside advice.

Context:

• Foundation: Unpainted/unsealed exposed cinder block (2 blocks exposed currently).
• Depth Needed: Adding about 6 inches of dirt against the foundation to establish proper slope.
• There are two different zones: Open lawn (where we want healthy grass to grow). And where we want to put a deck (no grass needed, purely about drainage and stability).
• We live in a state that's already pretty grassy and that has soil with a naturally high clay content

Problem:

Contractors have mainly suggested topsoil, fill dirt, and clay.

Topsoil is obviously ideal for our lawn, but we’re worried about it holding moisture directly against our bare block foundation.

Clay / fill dirt sheds water great, but might not be great for getting our grass to grow later.

Layering clay on the bottom with topsoil over it has come up as another option, but we aren't sure about the depth of each layer.

What we want to know is if there's single soil/dirt type or blend that works for both zones to keep things simple/cheap, or should we use two different materials?

If we layer different soils, how many inches of topsoil do we need minimum for grass to thrive without compromising the slope/drainage underneath?

What are your thoughts?

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

Hi everyone! I could really use some advice from anyone who’s built a pantry with pull-out shelves.

I’m planning to use these Slide-A-Shelf pull-out shelves:

[https://www.lowes.com/pd/Slide-A-Shelf-34-5-in-W-x-4-in-H-1-Tier-Over-the-shelf-Wood-Sliding-Shelf-Kit/5525356?vid=17413\](https://www.lowes.com/pd/Slide-A-Shelf-34-5-in-W-x-4-in-H-1-Tier-Over-the-shelf-Wood-Sliding-Shelf-Kit/5525356?vid=17413)

My pantry opening is 35 in wide and 19 in deep. I’ve already hired a handyman to do the installation but would like to make sure I purchase the right hardware before he comes.

Here are my questions
\- Can these pull-out shelves be **side-mounted** using wooden support cleats attached to the pantry walls?
\- or would it be better to buy separate side-mount drawer slides instead?

FYI all the side-mount drawer slides I can find are 21 in deep, while my pantry is only 19 in.

Would really appreciate any advice, corrections, or photos of your setup. Thanks so much! Also apologies if I have used any wrong terminology, I am a complete diy noob!

This is probably a stupid idea, but I have a couple gardens that I want to redo, that all have stones down, do you think it would work if I used my dust extractor to such them up into a cyclone bucket?.... was just a sudden thought I had while looking at it lmao

Our kitchen cabinets have a clear stain, with a kind of copper-colored tint. After eight years, they’ve got some scratches, and several places where water has landed and caused the finish to become lighter; kind of washed out.

Well, my wife called me into the kitchen a couple of weeks ago and said, “Check this out! I saw this on Instagram and thought I’d try it.”

She had a wadded up paper towel with some olive oil on it. She wiped it on a scratch and it completely disappeared after about three swipes. My eyes bugged out. She wiped it on the corner of a cabinet door with a water stain, under the sink. Good as new.

I told her I wanted to see if it lasts. They still look brand new.

Give it a try. You don’t even need a trip to Home Depot 🙂

I want to test the ability of some silica gel packets to absorb moisture. What I did was just heat up some water in a glass and put it in an air-tight container with the silica gel. However, when I measure the before and after weight of the silica gel, even after a couple of weeks, there is no significant difference and the water levels are also the same!

This leads me to think that maybe the atmosphere just isn't humid enough, but how do I create a box that stays humid, but I can also check how much water is being added so I can count how much is being absorbed by the silica gel?

Or is there another way I can test out this silica gel using DIY materials? I've tried searching but the plant humidity domes all just seem so technical!

I need to add some parking spaces for a salon that my wife and I own, and I was hoping for some guidance on planning it out. We are not flush with cash because we just renovated the interior, didn't expect to need the extra parking this soon.

Location is southern Indiana, parking area is rectangular, approximately 2200 sqft. Hiring a crew to pour concrete is out of my budget, I'm gonna get an asphalt quote but I expect it to also be more expensive than I can manage currently.

The plan I've worked up is based on knowledge I've gained from googling for the past week. Please critique any and all parts of it, I will not be offended.

Plan:

- concrete curb around 3 sides for retaining and aesthetics, 6" wide x 11" deep. (I will hire this part out)

- excavate site to 10" deep and compact soil

- woven geotextile fabric, Mirafi 500X or equivalent (US 200, etc)

- 6" of base, compacted in lifts. Crushed stone with fines, is there any meaningful difference between #53, #73, #411, and crusher run? They seem very similar and everything has multiple trade names so I may just go with what's cheap and available near me

- 1" of top layer, compacted. I'm looking at #11 (⅜ angular crushed limestone, no fines). Can a top layer without fines create a stable surface? I am trying to prevent dust and tracking debris inside if possible

This intentionally leaves about 4" of curb above the surface. My purpose for that is to future proof for concrete: remove the top layer and pour 5" concrete up level with the top of curb. Hopefully this will be in the cards in the next few years, whether hiring or DIY in small sections with some assistance from my old man. Is this a good idea or would I be better to commit to concrete or aggregate from the start?

Is an asphalt milling top layer worth considering? The Internet seems pretty split on whether it's the best cheat code or it never works.

Thanks in advance, sorry for wordiness

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.

How easy is it to work with 30 year old MDF, 18mm or 25mm? UK based so it's not formaldehyde free.

A friend is removing custom built fitted wardrobes installed in the 90s and it seems a shame for the boards to go to waste.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Hello! New homeowner looking to make some improvements in my NYC coop: Our stacked washer-dryer is currently in the second bedroom and we would like to move it into the hall closet next door. This literally means taking out the back wall of the closet that is shared with the bedroom, turning the appliances 90 degrees, moving them into the closet space and then closing the back of the closet behind them, adding probably 8-10 inches to the current closet depth. The hookup is in the wall of the bedroom. Can we just snake the hoses through an opening in the new back of the closet without moving the hook up?

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)