A thread for people who do home improvements

[The Ponzzz]

So anyone else into making home repairs and improving things within their home? I been making a "Project List" each week that I try to complete. I figured there might be some interest in posting/sharing your projects you have done and are currently doing! Maybe even drum up some ideas on what others can do to their place.

Anyways, discuss!

[Euler]

I am doing a project, but I keep melting wires. Is there a wire that can take more juice than the standard copper stuff?

[Doughboy]

I am doing a project, but I keep melting wires. Is there a wire that can take more juice than the standard copper stuff?

Smaller gauge wire (the thicker shit).

[diethx]

I don't have a home. :(

One day though, when we settle somewhere and can buy one, I will so contribute to this thread. I'm an HGTV addict.

[thefarmer]

http://gobudgettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/vandownbyriver.png

[Euler]

smaller gauge = less resistivity?

[Celephais]

smaller gauge = less resistivity?
Correct, also don't let the wire get crimped (avoid sharp angles)

[Euler]

I am getting nasty arcs too. I need to find a way to do some after market insulation. ideas?

[Doughboy]

I am getting nasty arcs too. I need to find a way to do some after market insulation. ideas?

what the fuck kind of wire are you using....

Electrical work is fairly straightforward. If you've got arcing, you really fubar'd something. What are you actually trying to do?

[Cephalopod]

Get out of that Faraday cage.

[Celephais]

I am getting nasty arcs too. I need to find a way to do some after market insulation. ideas?
Is this that microwave in your basement? Can you tell someone who knows you to post here after you kill yourself to tell us what happened?

Easy aftermarket insulation would be heat shrink tubing.

[Mighty Nikkisaurus]

I'm putting in a tiled back splash in my kitchen, and once summer rolls around I hope to install a rock patio in my backyard.

Besides that, just basic home improvement like painting all the rooms and decorating them (been lazy on that front). My bedroom doesn't even have curtain rods yet, which I'll need to install across an entire wall.

[Euler]

Is this that microwave in your basement? Can you tell someone who knows you to post here after you kill yourself to tell us what happened?

Easy aftermarket insulation would be heat shrink tubing.

go ahead and laugh, but I will be phoning home anyday now.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/ET_Communicator_Cropped.jpg/180px-ET_Communicator_Cropped.jpg


my wife has detailed instructions on how to liquidate my gs loot should I microwave myself.

[BriarFox]

go ahead and laugh, but I will be phoning home anyday now.

Damn. How are you melting shit? Stop trying to run a 220 line on speaker wires!

[Doughboy]

So anyone else into making home repairs and improving things within their home? I been making a "Project List" each week that I try to complete. I figured there might be some interest in posting/sharing your projects you have done and are currently doing! Maybe even drum up some ideas on what others can do to their place.

Anyways, discuss!

Lets see...

I just laid some irrigation piping into my garden...yeah I lay the pipe..
Redid a bunch of the wiring in the TV room
Ran wiring for a bunch of malibu lights in the backyard also added a GFI down by the dock off of that wiring
Need to fix a few sprinklers...

I've got a few huge projects that I want to do that I don't have the time for though.

One of those kick ass Kohler walk in shower stalls
New deck/gazebo/etc etc area with the built in grill and stuff

[Doughboy]

Damn. How are you melting shit? Stop trying to run a 220 line on speaker wires!

rofl...I know people who have tried that before...


Man I know some really dumb smart people....

[Euler]

Lets see...

I just laid some irrigation piping into my garden...yeah I lay the pipe..
Redid a bunch of the wiring in the TV room
Ran wiring for a bunch of malibu lights in the backyard also added a GFI down by the dock off of that wiring
Need to fix a few sprinklers...

I've got a few huge projects that I want to do that I don't have the time for though.

One of those kick ass Kohler walk in shower stalls
New deck/gazebo/etc etc area with the built in grill and stuff

amateur.

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/gallery_photos/fly_goldblum_gal.jpg

[BriarFox]

I totally installed a new light fixture in my girlfriend's closet. She was most impressed. This was good.

I also mounted a 30lb circular tabletop on the wall for her. She'd painted the thing and wanted it hung. That was kind of a pain in the ass. But she was even more impressed - this was better.

I'm looking forward to the day I have to do something "major," like replace a fuse!

One of my friends (a girl) also poured rice down her bathroom sink and got it clogged (wtf rice in the bathroom), so I tore apart the pipes under the thing and cleaned them out for her, all because she was "too embarrassed to call maintenance." On the way, I was stalked by a rabid raccoon - I called her and told her to look out the window as the thing slowly tried to catch me at its lightning-quick, stiff-legged gait of 10 feet a minute. I didn't even need to make use of the pipewrench I was holding.

[Drunken Durfin]

Guest Bedroom of the new house...

Before:
http://drunkendurfin.webs.com/bedroom01.jpg

After:
http://drunkendurfin.webs.com/bedroom02.jpg

[Doughboy]

Guest Bedroom of the new house...

Before:
http://drunkendurfin.webs.com/bedroom01.jpg

After:
http://drunkendurfin.webs.com/bedroom02.jpg

Love the floor. Eventually I want to do this in at least my room, and possibly the kids room. I was in home depot earlier and was kind of surprised at how much some of the laminate flooring looks like hardwood.

[BriarFox]

Nice job on the paint job and especially the floor. Window looks way better without that stupid ruffly thing (I'm sure there's an actual name for it, but I couldn't care less) on top.

[diethx]

Love the floor.

Me too. I love the green too, in fact.

[AMUSED1]

I'm planning on installing a stripper pole in my bedroom. Hopefully the apartment manager will get a kick out of it when I tell her about it on the day I move out. j/k

[BriarFox]

I'm planning on installing a stripper pole in my bedroom. Hopefully the apartment manager will get a kick out of it when I tell her about it on the day I move out. j/k

Just don't try to bolt it only to the drywall ...

[Doughboy]

Just don't try to bolt it only to the drywall ...

If you do, make sure there is a camera handy

[Drunken Durfin]

The basement started out as a carpet removal project. The "screw it up yourself'er" that owned the house before us built a 20' wall on top of the carpet to make closet space. A fact I did not discover until I tried to pull up the carpet (which went half-way up the wall in the closet).

Much demolition later I discovered that the dry-wall was anything but and had to take out three of the four walls as well as 3/4 of the ceiling. My finished walk-out basement was reduced to rafters and cinder block before and has been reborn.

Mattock - not just for squashing tritons!
http://drunkendurfin.webs.com/basement02.jpg

http://drunkendurfin.webs.com/basement04.jpg

http://drunkendurfin.webs.com/basement05.jpg

http://drunkendurfin.webs.com/basement06.jpg

I don't have any pictures of the slate floor that I put down (grouting slate sucks by the way). Once I get the corner shelf finished, which should be done by Friday, I will put up pictures of the finished product.

[Doughboy]

The basement started out as a carpet removal project. The "screw it up yourself'er" that owned the house before us built a 20' wall on top of the carpet to make closet space. A fact I did not discover until I tried to pull up the carpet (which went half-way up the wall in the closet).


wtf...wall on top of carpet?

It's not exactly hard to cut carpet out to do it right the first time...

[The Ponzzz]

Lets see...

I just laid some irrigation piping into my garden...yeah I lay the pipe..
Redid a bunch of the wiring in the TV room
Ran wiring for a bunch of malibu lights in the backyard also added a GFI down by the dock off of that wiring
Need to fix a few sprinklers...

I've got a few huge projects that I want to do that I don't have the time for though.

One of those kick ass Kohler walk in shower stalls
New deck/gazebo/etc etc area with the built in grill and stuff

Nice.

Some stuff I've already done are:

Insulated the condensation pipe that goes from ym furnace to a vent pipe, as well as some of the attic where their were gaps.

Reframed a doorway leading to this room so the door would close properly.

Replaced the drain pipes for the shower that were like 40 years old.

There are a small handful of little things I been doing as well.

My current list is:

To fix a small hole in the bedroom closet where a pipe goes into the wall. I'm not sure what the pipe is, I assume it is a gas line that feeds to the furnace room. But cold air pours through this hole.

Figure out why the doorbell randomly goes off. It never goes off in the night, only in the day and it is pretty random in nature.

Summer projects are to take down the old deck and pool and put some nice landscaping together. Also to do something with the front yard, I dunno what, but it needs some work.