DIY Horror stories

[trailrated]

The MMM community is quite resourceful and has a great do it yourself mentality. Most of the time this ends with gaining a new skill, saving money, and feeling like a badass.

This post is not about that. This post is the "Oh shit what have I done, I should have hired a professional" thread.

Example: I am a dispatcher at a concrete company. Someone called yesterday asking for 6 yards of concrete, from the questions they asked I could safely assume they were attempting to save money with a DIY project on a back patio. I recommended that they use a pump to move the concrete (extra charge roughly $250) they said they would be fine with two wheelbarrows. I explained that moving 24,000lbs of material was going to take a long time and they only had 30 minutes to unload the truck for free... they would be charged $2/minute after in standby fees. I also recommended they use a retarder to slow the setting up process of the concrete at an extra $6 per yard because they would need more time if they had never done it before. They opted to save money instead.

End result: It took them two and a half hours to unload the truck (extra $240 in standby fees) so the pump would have saved them an insane amount of time and effort. They did not research how to finish concrete and they did not have any finishing tools. They attempted to run to home depot to purchase them halfway through the pour. Since there was no retarder the concrete began to set up on them and they could not finish the second half of the patio. I went out to take a look in person and the whole area is not level, the aggregate is showing through the concrete, and joints were not placed which means visible cracking will occur.

It was a train wreck that could have been avoided by hiring someone that knew what they were doing, or by doing some more research themselves. Anyone else have a horror story?

[GuitarStv]

There are dozens of dozens of patios, walkways, and interlocking driveways clearly DIY around our neighbourhood.  Every summer I see another one or two go in.  Every spring I see that they weren't properly compacted below the interlocking brick, and the bricks start to shift/wobble.  Within two or three years there are usually big ruts all over the place and weeds poking through everywhere.  Within about five years they pretty much have to be pulled up and replaced they're so uneven.  Interlocking brick is doable as a DIY job, but it's not as easy as just laying a bunch of stones on the ground.  There appear to be few people who understand this.

[horsepoor]

My dad almost electrocuted himself trying to fix something on my POS old house, where they had used a SUB PANEL for a freaking hot tub as the main service panel to the house, so there was no main shutoff.  I don't even remember what he was trying to accomplish, but I think I was begging him to stop messing with it until I called the power company to unhook it at the pole, when the lid to the panel dropped out of position and a bolt of electricity shot a hole through the conduit where it turned and went through the wall into the house.  Knocked out power to most of the block, and I had some pissed off neighbors since it was July and over 100F outside.  I spent the next week without power while a wonderfully kind co-worker who'd built his own house helped me install a proper service panel over a few nights after work.

[SnackDog]

My father frugally selected my brother to install a drop ceiling in our basement. It included acoustic tiles and flourescent lighting. Fabulous interior design.  He installed it with his usual remarkable haste and complete lack of attention to detail.  A few weeks later we were all having dinner upstairs when a calamitous noise arose from beneath our feet. We crept down the stairs to find the ceiling on the floor in ruins.

[paddedhat]

As a retired builder, your concrete story not only fails to tickle my sympathy bone, it actually gives me warm fuzzies. I absolutely love a good self-inflicted wound, as long as it doesn't cause anybody physical harm.

Western society suffers from two gigantic delusions. First, tradespeople are just overpaid low-lifes who couldn't find a better career. Second, skills, training and experience are not required, since anybody can do it. They know this since they watch HGTV.

It's always fun to whine about this topic with fellow tradesmen, and some of the stories can be great, including tales of flat out structural failure of  DIY abortions because silly things like proper design, adequate rafter thrust resistance, and wind bracing considerations are all ignored.

My two favorites?   First, an addition I did where the customer was going to save money by reusing old lumber for a new attached deck that he would build at the end of the project. When I stepped on the deck it felt like an old trampoline and made cracking sounds like splitting firewood. I jumped off and looked under. His floor joists were 12' 2x6s. Several had notches that exceeded half the joist depth. So, in reality he had frame a 12' deep deck with old, cracking 2x3 joists. Second was the couple who wanted to save $1100 by DIY painting the interior of their large, new two story colonial. It wasn't my gig, but while discussing this at a party I strongly advised them to rethink the plan. I knew two things about the deal. The builder was a scumbag who WELCOMED this dumb idea, since it was in the middle of a boom, and it effectively eliminated  any schedule he committed to. Second, my sub's crew needs a full week with three very productive pros. to do a job of this size. This couple, with two full time jobs and a toddler, told me that it was a great way to save, since it will only take  "a Weekend" to paint the place. We next saw them after the house was done. The paint job was pure shit, $6/gallon bone white flat, full of dirt, drips and runs. The trim and interior doors were nailed up with a coat of stain slopped over the raw wood. No sanding, or urethane. They told me that it was the job from hell and took every waking moment that they were not at work, for a MONTH to get this far. I asked about finishing the trim? The builder told them that time was up, and they would just have to varnish it in place.   

I have nothing but respect for all those here who take the time to become competent DIYers, and will gladly help anyone who needs it. But, damn, I really love to watch fools who do things like pour a six yard patch of concrete and spent the next weekend jacking it out......... Nothing like a slap in the head by reality when you suffer from the "any idiot can do it" delusion.

[Nords]

Just one DIY horror story?

I should let my daughter tell this one.

My spouse and I were renovating our master bathroom.  I had just ER'd and we were doing a leisurely hour or two of work each morning-- and some days not at all.  After a few months we'd removed the old tub & shower, reworked the drains & plumbing, and installed a new 48"x72" whirlpool tub.  For the tub/shower surround we decided to go with cultured marble.  It's powdered limestone/marble mixed with epoxy into custom colors & patterns and cured/hardened into custom shapes & textures about 3/8" thick.  It's heavier than Corian but back in 2002 it was cheaper, and we had used it before in another house so we "knew" what we were doing.

Our daughter (then 10 years old) was visibly/audibly peeved at having to share "her" bathroom with Mom & Dad for the last few months, and she was greatly anticipating the completion of the job.  The marble slabs had been delivered and we were installing the one on the tub's shower/faucet wall.  We had to cut it down a little to fit it around a windowsill and it took a while, but we could see that it was almost perfect-- just another 1/16" to file off.  When we quit for the morning we simply jammed the slab into place against the wall (friction fit around the windowsill), put some duct tape over it to hold it against the wall, and planned to finish the final trimming & mastic tomorrow.

The sun went down, night fell, the evening began to cool off.  Everyone went to bed.

At 2:38 AM, we were all sound asleep when the dew point hit and the temperature dropped a few more degrees.  The marble slab had been cooling & contracting for several hours, and it finally slipped free of the windowsill.  It tilted over into the whirlpool tub and hit with a gigantic BAM!!!!, shattering into a thousand marble shards. 

I levitated out of bed and started bouncing off the walls.  I thought the noise had come from our garage, my spouse thought it was on the street, and our daughter thought it had come from the roof.  We all ran around like idiots for a couple of minutes before we triangulated our bearings and looked in our bathroom.  What a mess.  The tub survived the impact without a scratch but the marble was in dozens of pieces, none larger than my hand. 

I looked at our daughter and said "I guess we'll be sharing your bathroom for a few more months..."  Nobody appreciated that humor.

After cleaning up the next morning, we went with a lightweight plastic tub surround.  We wasted $450 on the marble, but the plastic was much easier to work with.

[trailrated]

As a retired builder, your concrete story not only fails to tickle my sympathy bone, it actually gives me warm fuzzies. I absolutely love a good self-inflicted wound, as long as it doesn't cause anybody physical harm.

Western society suffers from two gigantic delusions. First, tradespeople are just overpaid low-lifes who couldn't find a better career. Second, skills, training and experience are not required, since anybody can do it. They know this since they watch HGTV.

It's always fun to whine about this topic with fellow tradesmen, and some of the stories can be great, including tales of flat out structural failure of  DIY abortions because silly things like proper design, adequate rafter thrust resistance, and wind bracing considerations are all ignored.

My two favorites?   First, an addition I did where the customer was going to save money by reusing old lumber for a new attached deck that he would build at the end of the project. When I stepped on the deck it felt like an old trampoline and made cracking sounds like splitting firewood. I jumped off and looked under. His floor joists were 12' 2x6s. Several had notches that exceeded half the joist depth. So, in reality he had frame a 12' deep deck with old, cracking 2x3 joists. Second was the couple who wanted to save $1100 by DIY painting the interior of their large, new two story colonial. It wasn't my gig, but while discussing this at a party I strongly advised them to rethink the plan. I knew two things about the deal. The builder was a scumbag who WELCOMED this dumb idea, since it was in the middle of a boom, and it effectively eliminated  any schedule he committed to. Second, my sub's crew needs a full week with three very productive pros. to do a job of this size. This couple, with two full time jobs and a toddler, told me that it was a great way to save, since it will only take  "a Weekend" to paint the place. We next saw them after the house was done. The paint job was pure shit, $6/gallon bone white flat, full of dirt, drips and runs. The trim and interior doors were nailed up with a coat of stain slopped over the raw wood. No sanding, or urethane. They told me that it was the job from hell and took every waking moment that they were not at work, for a MONTH to get this far. I asked about finishing the trim? The builder told them that time was up, and they would just have to varnish it in place.   

I have nothing but respect for all those here who take the time to become competent DIYers, and will gladly help anyone who needs it. But, damn, I really love to watch fools who do things like pour a six yard patch of concrete and spent the next weekend jacking it out......... Nothing like a slap in the head by reality when you suffer from the "any idiot can do it" delusion.

Perfectly said, I got a good laugh out of that too. Thanks for sharing. I just got a call back from the people that poured yesterday, they wanted the price for 1 yard to place in the dips so the whole slab evens out. My jaw dropped. I am all for making money, but not to screw people over. I told him there was no way to salvage it and pouring more concrete on top of existing concrete a day after the initial pour is beyond stupid and a waste of time and money.

[NoraLenderbee]

These are great stories. You builders and tradespeople must have a lot of horror stories.

This is a gallery of Harry Homeowner DIY photos taken by a building inspector:
http://www.structuretech1.com/home-inspection-photo-gallery/

I love these stories and photos, for the same reason I love watching Hoarders.

ETA: A bunch more stories, some with photos.
http://www.inspectorsjournal.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=11344

[Oldguy]

I received a call years ago from a relative asking if I could help out a friend of theirs who had decided to supervise the construction of their own house. It was roofed with mechanicals roughed in when I met them at the house. It wasn't hard to determine the slab had been poured using a flipped set of prints. Everything else had been built using un-flipped sets. The worst thing was the survey stakes only on the left side of the lot. The other two were on the other side of the lot next door.

[chouchouu]

When my mother was selling her old house she hired a friend and they made decking for the pool using old crates. It took them so long she paid double what she would have had they just got a professional in.

One day her tenant called to tell me her "handyman" whom my mother hired to install insulation was disturbing all the asbestos in the roof. My mother told me to vacuum all the asbestos up and wouldn't listen when I told her how toxic it is, she told me to buy a mask from the hardware store. In the end my brother had to hire an asbestos removal crew which costed several thousand as it needed to be cleaned up before the weekend when my mothers handyman would be back. We also had to pay for the five star hotel the tenant insisted on while her house was cleaned up.

Her "handyman" was a real vulture, my mother had a lot of money and absolutely no concept of cost. She had a door installed that cost about $8000 if I remember correctly. This was fifteen years ago. Even worse was that it was not a beautiful solid wood door and frame. It was a door he picked up on the side of the road and it actually had a hole in it he patched up with filler. He also came in every morning to install this door in my bedroom at 6 am. I believe it took him a week. The door also happened to be installed for a room that was accessed through a small corridor and another door. Yep, the $8000 was entirely unnecessary. She also paid a small fortune to install a laundry sink in the kitchen of the tenant. It costed so much because there was no existing plumbing where the sink was to be installed. Not to mention the tenant already had a laundry room and the cost of installing the ugly sink costed more than replacing the roof which still hasn't been replaced a decade later. Next up on my mothers to do list is installing a gas pipe line and replacing everything with gas appliances, for the tenant so that the tenant has a reduced electricity bill. I believe the gas company told us it would cost 25k for the gas line. Obviously my mother is short a few marbles...

[surfhb]

I design and author Blu Rays and DVDs.    Had a producer go out on his own after I gave him my fair rate and he delivered the incorrect file set while having a replicator who didn't bother to have any a amount of due diligence.

Long story short, he spent $20,000 on discs that failed to play on people's players and were placed on retail shelves around the world.    I think he's still in court on this

[webguy]

I was recently using paint stripper to try to remove paint from my deck. I poured the paint stripper into a small plastic tub so that I could apply it with a brush. I then left that plastic tub containing paint stripper on my laminate kitchen floor over night. The next morning I went to continue stripping my deck to find that the paint stripper had eaten through the bottom of the plastic tub along with an 8" square patch of the surface of my laminate floor. I'm yet to figure out how to repair it.

[seanc0x0]

My DIY horror story is how a $60,000 house ended up with $230,000 worth of renovations.

First a little back-story. Way back in 1992, my dad bought a house to rent out. He kept this place until 2008, when he decided to divest himself of the place, selling it to us for what was left on it. The house was pretty much perfect for my wife and I... huge yard, relatively small, great neighbourhood. The only problem is that it was a little on the run-down side.  But hey, we were only paying the $60000 left on the mortgage and closing fees. Similar houses in the area were going for $325k+, so we'd do some renos and get it all fixed up nice and pretty and be way ahead of the game, right?

We started the reno by ripping out the basement suite. It predated my dad's ownership and was not really legal under the current code anyway, so no big loss. This was relatively easily accomplished by hiring a dumpster and buying a couple cases of beer and inviting my brothers-in-law over for a smashing good time.  So far so good.

The next step was to gut the upstairs. This house was built in 1952 and used stone-lath and plaster upstairs, which made it hard going. But we got it done. This is where the whole thing went off the rails.  Turns out the previous owners had decided they wanted a bigger kitchen, so they moved the kitchen wall over about 2 feet.  This wall ran the length of the house, originally, and was directly over another wall in the basement.  People who understand terms like 'load-bearing' will be wincing about now, but not the previous owner!  Just move that wall on over, no biggie!

There were some external indications of the problem, that had I known then what I know now, I would have questioned. For instance, the stucco on the back of the house has a crack at the top of the poured foundation that runs almost exactly the length of the kitchen (and the moved load bearing wall). This was my first house though, and since it was so cheap I didn't question like I should have. 

Anyway, we had to get a contractor in to fix the issue. By then I was stressed out and tired of the whole thing, so I got them to do the rest of the reno as well.  They originally quoted $80000 to fix the problem and do the basic reconstruction, but every time we turned around another problem would crop up. I got used to phone calls costing about $10k. 

In the end, we spent $230,000 to fix everything, the bulk of that being to satisfy the structural engineer.  By the end we had a great house that was exactly the way we wanted it, and still came in around the average price for a similar house in the same neighbourhood without all the work.  I still consider the move a win, but talk about a stressful start to the new place! I'm now a lot more reluctant to think "oh, that'll be a snap to do myself".

[jordanread]

For me, only one thing was a disaster, and only the first 3 times I tried it: tiling. I initially tiled a kitchen in an old house I had, and didn't do enough research...what is this cement board people keep talking about? Obviously, the tile started coming up about 3 days later. I redid it the following weekend, still without researching, and decided to use a mortar with some type of epoxy...reused the tiles, and all was good...for a week or two...then I decided to say screw it, and tried to polish the subfloor (pretty sure I was drunk), once again without doing research. It didn't work that well, and the moldy spots pretty much dissolved. New house, actual research, and it turned out great, with the exception of some slight give in the subfloor. Cracked the grout, but manageable. We're redoing the floor in the whole house before we rent it out next year, and since then I did the bathroom on my own, doing a mosaic out of all the left over tile, and that was damn near perfect. I continue to get better, and now I research a lot more before trying something new. :-) Live and learn.

[Joggernot]

I was recently using paint stripper to try to remove paint from my deck. I poured the paint stripper into a small plastic tub so that I could apply it with a brush. I then left that plastic tub containing paint stripper on my laminate kitchen floor over night. The next morning I went to continue stripping my deck to find that the paint stripper had eaten through the bottom of the plastic tub along with an 8" square patch of the surface of my laminate floor. I'm yet to figure out how to repair it.

Similar problem here.  I used brake cleaner to clean some parts on the kitchen table.  I thoughtfully put down a couple layers of newspaper to soak up any extra cleaner.  When I was done I lifted the newspaper to throw it away and lo' the finish had been completely stripped from the nice oak table.  After suitable discussions with the wife, I ended up completely stripping and refinishing the table.  Still looks good, and the brake cleaner stays in the garage.

[Doomspark]

I fix computers, laptops, etc as a side business.  Got a desktop PC a few months ago.  Description of problem: "not working".  I plug it in, and press the power button...  nothing happens. Nada.

Pop the case.  The power supply - normally a sealed unit - has been pried open, and there's a hole the size of a quarter burned in one of the circuit cards.  I took a photograph and emailed the customer asking exactly what had happened.

Fred (not his real name) relates the following story.  The computer belongs to his son who fancies himself an electronics expert. So he wanted to upgrade the computer, including the power supply.  Apparently Fred's son thought that changing out some of the components on the circuit cards would increase the power-supply output.  So he opened the case and took a screwdriver to the power-supply to get at the guts of it.  He locates one of the circuit cards and attempts to replace a capacitor.  Not having a soldering iron, he decides to use an arc welder. Bear in mind that he did not remove the power supply from the computer.

Replacement power supply would've been about $150.00.  However since I don't know what else the son monkeyed with while he had the case off, I told Fred I wasn't going to touch it.

[Nords]

Fred (not his real name) relates the following story.  The computer belongs to his son who fancies himself an electronics expert. So he wanted to upgrade the computer, including the power supply.  Apparently Fred's son thought that changing out some of the components on the circuit cards would increase the power-supply output.  So he opened the case and took a screwdriver to the power-supply to get at the guts of it.  He locates one of the circuit cards and attempts to replace a capacitor.  Not having a soldering iron, he decides to use an arc welder. Bear in mind that he did not remove the power supply from the computer.

I don't know how old Fred's son may be, but has he ever considered joining the submarine force? 

Because I think I served with a lot of guys like him...

[Alfred J Quack]

I fix computers, laptops, etc as a side business.  Got a desktop PC a few months ago.  Description of problem: "not working".  I plug it in, and press the power button...  nothing happens. Nada.

Pop the case.  The power supply - normally a sealed unit - has been pried open, and there's a hole the size of a quarter burned in one of the circuit cards.  I took a photograph and emailed the customer asking exactly what had happened.

Fred (not his real name) relates the following story.  The computer belongs to his son who fancies himself an electronics expert. So he wanted to upgrade the computer, including the power supply.  Apparently Fred's son thought that changing out some of the components on the circuit cards would increase the power-supply output.  So he opened the case and took a screwdriver to the power-supply to get at the guts of it.  He locates one of the circuit cards and attempts to replace a capacitor.  Not having a soldering iron, he decides to use an arc welder. Bear in mind that he did not remove the power supply from the computer.

Replacement power supply would've been about $150.00.  However since I don't know what else the son monkeyed with while he had the case off, I told Fred I wasn't going to touch it.

I work as a Helpdesk emp. for a company where this situation does not occur often but we have some interesting gems as well. Coworker comes up with a defective phone, water damage she said. While handling it I inquire what happened, fell in the toilet she said. I put it down and asked her politely to tell me this up front next time.
She did try to fix the problem though, put it under a hairdryer which caused more damage than it did good too.

On the DYI I've got 2 left thumbs, luckily I know this up front and ask my dad/BIL to help me on anything serious. Worst I did was set my moped on fire trying to switch the carburator while lighting a sigarette when I couldn't figure out why it wouldn't start...

[Zaga]

We have found a few gems in our house.  It was inherited, so some of the DIY disasters were probably done by a family member who has long since passed away, but some things were actually part of the original 1952 house.  The builder was clearly an idiot.

The worst so far is a real gem.  My DH found an electric box inside the ducts above the furnace, and enlisted my brother (an electrician) to help him remove it as it didn't do anything; most of the wires were cut short and led nowhere.  Turns out that the wires were live.  Yep, the one wire that was connected was a live feed.  And *nothing* was capped off properly, the wires were just cut off and left in place.  At one point one of the wires touched one of the ducts, there was a shower of sparks and a new tiny hole in that duct.  Scared the crap out of DH.

4 hour later they were both filthy, but out house was in significantly less danger of burning down.

A bunch of other little ones.  The covers of the light fixtures upstairs are nailed up.  To the plaster.  The only way to change a light bulb is to pry nails out of the plaster.  This one was clearly done by the builder.

The main drain out of the house under the basement floor was plumbed wrong, instead of y shaped drain junctions, they were all + shaped.  This house was built by a plumber!  What an idiot.  That was over $3K for a professional to fix, and our basement hasn't filled with water since!

There is a retaining wall that was falling.  To fix it the previous owner put up a stacked field stone wall in front of it.  I suppose that worked as the wall didn't finish falling down for over 20 more years.  Now we have a mess that we just haven't bothered to fix.  Fortunately the wall isn't structurally critical to anything, just ugly.

The shed was built right on the ground.  So it's currently about 50% termite by weight at this point.  Not looking forward to dealing with that one.

You guys get the idea.  Sigh.

[Simple Abundant Living]

We just built a roof extension over our deck- timber framed with a vaulted tongue and groove ceiling.  I decided that we could do the staining and save that money.  It will be a great family work activity, right?  We spent a week rolling stain over boards all over our lawn. My non-diy husband complained the whole time that we should hire this out.  When we were done, they brought in the timbers and framers. The lowest part of the timbers were 12' high and the ceiling peaked at 24'. Not the family friendly activity I was planning on!  I realized I was over my head and asked the contractor to call the painter to finish the rest.  The only problem turned out to be that I had rolled the stain, which had a different depth and texture than the spraying the pros had to do.  Which means they had to spray over the parts I already did.  So, we had a week of hard work in the hot sun for nothing!!!  But the patio is beautiful! ;)

[horsepoor]

One thing I forgot- in the aftermath of my dad trying to electrocute himself on my POS house, I found an empty 60-year old whiskey bottle inside the wall near the old fuse box.  That explained a lot.

I'm grateful that the previous owner of our current house never bothered to do many upgrades.  I tore chair rail out of a bathroom - he had used it for baseboard, so it had this lovely little dirt collection cubby where it met the floor.  He'd "fixed up" the kitchen by putting some really nasty-ass 6" wall tile directly over the old Formica with nice wide sanded grout lines, and instead of any kind of finished edge, just slapped some mosaic tile on the edges since it happened to be roughly the same measurement as the counter thickness.  Then the piece de resistance was the single row of wall tile with no bullnose or anything as a backsplash, lovingly embellished with fruit and vegetable stickers.  He also improperly installed some large tiles in the entryway, so they are uneven and the grout is popping out.  Amazingly, none of them have broken yet, but we'll get around to re-doing it properly at some point.

[Zaga]

I just remembered the tape DIY in our house.  It was everywhere, whenever something started to fall or break it was taped back in position, usually with scotch tape.  So there were plastic wall tiles in the bathroom being held up with tape, and rugs all over the floor.  When we moved the rugs there was some floor tile missing, and what was left was held down by tape.  Oh, and the bathtub fixture leaked in the wall, so to take a bath gram would have to go in the closet and turn on the water to the tub, then turn it off again when she was done.

There was a 3 way light switch in the kitchen, but one of the switches was broken and so the whole setup would only work when the one switch was a certain way.  We got in an argument once because I told her it was broken and she said that no, it just worked that way.  She was the tape offender too.

[Silverwood]

I bought my house in Oct of last year and it's been interesting.  It's a solid house but the older couple should of hired out the electrical. I plugged in my Christmas tree and turned on the vacuum and the whole upstairs went dark. The back door hallway light is connected to the outside electrical. So to have a fan on in the sunroom or use my electric lawnmower the light needs to stay on. Waste of power. 

The basement outlets were connected to the pot lights.  They have cameras all over and generously left the box so I could hook it up to my computer. Except it won't turn on. 

They used wall board in the basement but drywall for the garage ceiling.  So the uninsulated unfinished garage has a drywall ceiling g?

[Nords]

We just built a roof extension over our deck- timber framed with a vaulted tongue and groove ceiling.  I decided that we could do the staining and save that money.  It will be a great family work activity, right?  We spent a week rolling stain over boards all over our lawn. My non-diy husband complained the whole time that we should hire this out.  When we were done, they brought in the timbers and framers. The lowest part of the timbers were 12' high and the ceiling peaked at 24'. Not the family friendly activity I was planning on! 

We had the same deal for our familyroom renovation.  We painted the beams in the yard, but of course the installation scraped them up again-- which meant wiping down and then a second coat of paint.  At least it could be done in the late afternoons (after the contractors left) when it was cooler.

It was a lot easier to do them before the sheathing went on.

[paddedhat]

They used wall board in the basement but drywall for the garage ceiling.  So the uninsulated unfinished garage has a drywall ceiling g?

This is a common code requirement in many locations. The "common" wall, or the one shared with the house, and the ceiling need to be fire protected. this is typically done with 5/8" sheetrock. The finish can be "Fire tape" or just a first coat on the joints with joint compound and paper tape, and a quick smear of compound on all the fasteners. Not quite sure what you are referring to as "wallboard and drywall" but the terms are interchangeable, and some brands of drywall are labelled "wallboard".

 The worst use of drywall is on a basement ceiling. Not only is it illegal to cover electrical junction boxes, water valves, etc... but it makes any future repairs and upgrades to the house a real PITA.

[Silverwood]

Sorry I'm not sure what else to call it.The basement has really thin old cardboard style walls.    While the garage has the drywall. The garage is detached so I don't think the drywall ceiling has anything to do with fireproofing. It's also not finished. No taping or covering of anything.

Thanks for the info on the basement ceiling. That does have drywall with the peeling tape and horribly patched areas where they had cut holes in it. It's all coming down and will definitely be a pain

[Zaga]

Sorry I'm not sure what else to call it.The basement has really thin old cardboard style walls.    While the garage has the drywall. The garage is detached so I don't think the drywall ceiling has anything to do with fireproofing. It's also not finished. No taping or covering of anything.

Thanks for the info on the basement ceiling. That does have drywall with the peeling tape and horribly patched areas where they had cut holes in it. It's all coming down and will definitely be a pain

Our basement walls have that over the fairly nice looking glazed block walls.  We call that wood paneling around here.  Because the previous owner didn't take care of the moisture, we suspect mold behind some of the panels, so they are on their way out.

Our basement ceiling was nailed up square paperboard ceiling tiles, so every time we have to do any wiring duct, or plumbing work (we have a ranch so it's all in the basement ceiling) we end up tearing down more ceiling tiles.  We are actually right now in the process of tearing it all out and are not sure what to replace it with.  A dropped ceiling won't work, the ceiling down there is too low as it is.  We're considering screwing (not nailing!) up 4'x4' finished plywood panels, so access would be relatively easy when it was needed.

[RunningWithScissors]

Zaga -

See if the 'Snapclip' ceiling product is available in your area ( from Costco or Home Depot on-line only).  It has removable ceiling panels with a grid that's secured directly to the structure so there's less than an inch of total depth to the system. 

Never used it myself, but it seems to be a good system and looks halfway decent. 

[Jack]

Our basement ceiling was nailed up square paperboard ceiling tiles, so every time we have to do any wiring duct, or plumbing work (we have a ranch so it's all in the basement ceiling) we end up tearing down more ceiling tiles.  We are actually right now in the process of tearing it all out and are not sure what to replace it with.  A dropped ceiling won't work, the ceiling down there is too low as it is.  We're considering screwing (not nailing!) up 4'x4' finished plywood panels, so access would be relatively easy when it was needed.

Rent a paint sprayer and paint the whole thing (pipes and all) either black or white.

[ketchup]

10:30AM, Saturday.  Roommate decided to change his rear brakes.  Brilliant.  He doesn't work until 5:45.  Plenty of time.  Plenty.

He bought the new pads at Autozone, and rented a caliper decompression tool that he was convinced he didn't need, but the Autozone guy was insistent.  $70 "deposit".

He gets everything home, and lo and behold, he does need that tool, says the internet.  His rear brakes are special in that you have to kind of screw in the caliper as you press on it.  The regular C-clamp that he used with the front brakes won't cut it.

So he's out there, doing the right one first.  He has everything apart and he's trying to put the tool on the caliper to do its thing.  This is where I walked out to the driveway and started assisting in the mayhem that was to come.

We successfully deciphered the instructions on the thingy, and we got it onto the caliper.  Then he started tightening it.  The caliper doesn't appear to be moving.

It won't tighten any more.  Can't undo it either.  The little handle dealy is bending.  Uh oh.  He works in two and a half hours.  Oh, and my car is parked right in front of his, up against the garage.

We twist, whack, yank, hit, and yell at it to no avail.  Caliper can't go back on.  Wheel can't go back on.  The car cannot move without this remedied in some way.  Mine can't either.  Tensions are getting high, roommate is getting really frustrated.

We had the idea that if we could get the caliper back onto the car, we could get more leverage with the wrench on the tool.  So we take the rotor off and fumble with trying to get it back on there with the tool stuck in it.  No dice.  The top and bottom of a metal part of the tool were in the way of the two bolts that we needed to use to secure the caliper.  Roommate's frustration peaked here.

So then I said those fateful words that mean we're pulling out all the stops: "Well... I could dremel it down to make it fit."

"Do it."

Six metal cutting wheels and lots of cool sparks later, I had cut off a portion of the top and bottom of the tool (I'm sure our neighbors were thrilled to hear the ruckus).  We were able to bolt the caliper on like we planned.

He grabbed the wrench.

He clanked the wrench onto the tool and gave it a push.  He pushed harder.  He strained and pushed still harder.

At the same time, three things happened.  It moved a quarter turn.  Jeff's knee collided with the big chunk of metal behind where the rotor usually sat.  His face exuded both extreme pain and incredible joy.  He did not mind one single bit that his knee was bleeding.

Then we put the old pads back on, put it all back together, he bolted down some food, cleaned himself up, and got himself to work on time.

A successful failure.  He didn't get the new brake pads on, and I'm pretty sure he's not getting his $70 "deposit" back for that now-mangled tool, but the car is drivable.  Sometimes that's all you need.  http://xkcd.com/349/ comes to mind.

He's still got some wear left in those old pads, so I think it'll be a few weeks before he wants to try again.

He only ended up being out the $70, and it definitely could have gone worse, but it was a pretty hair-raising DIY job gone bad.  He seems to have worse luck than I do when it comes to DIY car stuff.  He likes to jump in without doing as much research as he probably should.

[paddedhat]

Our basement ceiling was nailed up square paperboard ceiling tiles, so every time we have to do any wiring duct, or plumbing work (we have a ranch so it's all in the basement ceiling) we end up tearing down more ceiling tiles.  We are actually right now in the process of tearing it all out and are not sure what to replace it with.  A dropped ceiling won't work, the ceiling down there is too low as it is.  We're considering screwing (not nailing!) up 4'x4' finished plywood panels, so access would be relatively easy when it was needed.

Rent a paint sprayer and paint the whole thing (pipes and all) either black or white.

I have done this in an old, low ceiling, basement "rec" room. The walls were a combination of roughly plastered stone and nasty thin wood paneling.  I needed to make the room presentable for resale and not spend a ton of cash. I used a 1/4" air stapler to reattach all the loose paneling, then shot the walls, ceiling joists and underside of the subfloor with a few coats of a matte finish cream colored enamel.  The floors were done in a level loop commercial carpet. The lighting was flourescent strip fixtures screwed to the sides of the joists. The room looked great, cost very little to completely transform, and it's a durable place for kids to play, without worrying about ceiling tiles getting knocked loose, or drywall getting damaged.

For any of you suffering from the small, square, interlocking, acoustical tile ceilings, there is a way to remove pieces and get them back up without totally destroying everything. To remove a tile, use a utility knife and cut straight into the joints surrounding the tile. This will cut all the tongues off the interlocks, but it doesn't matter. To replace, position the tile exactly as you removed it, and "toe nail" it back in place with stick pins. (These are the nearly headless little buggers that come as hidden traps inside of nicely packaged dress shirts, LOL.) Take a small pliers and grab a pin, push it into the joint between tiles, at an angle, to hold everything up. On a small tile, two pins per side will do the trick.

[Zaga]

Zaga -

See if the 'Snapclip' ceiling product is available in your area ( from Costco or Home Depot on-line only).  It has removable ceiling panels with a grid that's secured directly to the structure so there's less than an inch of total depth to the system. 

Never used it myself, but it seems to be a good system and looks halfway decent.

Brilliant!  I will bring up this idea to DH tonight, love it!

[Zaga]

Our basement ceiling was nailed up square paperboard ceiling tiles, so every time we have to do any wiring duct, or plumbing work (we have a ranch so it's all in the basement ceiling) we end up tearing down more ceiling tiles.  We are actually right now in the process of tearing it all out and are not sure what to replace it with.  A dropped ceiling won't work, the ceiling down there is too low as it is.  We're considering screwing (not nailing!) up 4'x4' finished plywood panels, so access would be relatively easy when it was needed.

Rent a paint sprayer and paint the whole thing (pipes and all) either black or white.

That's a thought, but we'd prefer a solid ceiling if possible.

[Simple Abundant Living]

We just built a roof extension over our deck- timber framed with a vaulted tongue and groove ceiling.  I decided that we could do the staining and save that money.  It will be a great family work activity, right?  We spent a week rolling stain over boards all over our lawn. My non-diy husband complained the whole time that we should hire this out.  When we were done, they brought in the timbers and framers. The lowest part of the timbers were 12' high and the ceiling peaked at 24'. Not the family friendly activity I was planning on! 

We had the same deal for our familyroom renovation.  We painted the beams in the yard, but of course the installation scraped them up again-- which meant wiping down and then a second coat of paint.  At least it could be done in the late afternoons (after the contractors left) when it was cooler.

It was a lot easier to do them before the sheathing went on.

You are a lot more brave than we are! 

[happyfeet]

Two electrical wiring stories. 

First house.  Husband wanted to install a ceiling fan where there was no light fixture.  So hung the fan and ran an extension cord through the attic and drilled a hole in the garage ceiling and plugged it into an outlet in the garage.

Second story.  House number four - we finish basement ourselves  and he does all the electrical except hooking it up to the box.  We have to sell house for job transfer.  And of course home inspector says wiring not to code and not installed properly and has to be redone.  Electrician tells me "m'am never let your husband do electrical again".

And I never have.  Ok we can stitch out light fixtures and replace outlets.  That's it though!

[Papa Mustache]

Roommate bought a car with a ruined (burned) wiring harness. Was planning to clip out every burned wire and install new wiring. It was an 80s domestic hatchback that seemed to have three times more wiring than was necessary for a car with zero creature comforts. He hacked and wired and crimped for ages and never finished the car. It went to the junkyard.

I have bought several half-done project cars over the years. Someone thought having a shiny collector car would be cool. Except their experience ended mostly with oil changes. They took it all apart, lost interest and then sold it.

[Guses]

I posted this in the DYI section but I feel it deserves to be reposted here:

I recently successfully repaired an espresso maker's electronic control board that had cold solder joint fractures on it. YAY!!!

But then, while putting it back together.....

 Mistake #1: I accidentally inverted 2 of the 6 wires when I plugged it back up (even though I had them labeled). *SPARK*!!!!! One of the mosfets exploded.

Looking at the trace and circuit board, I figured there was a good chance that I could fix the board again by replacing the components that could have been damaged(7-8 things) and the mosfet. So I ordered those off of Digikey.

Mistake #2: I read the circuit diagram wrong and ended up ordering the wrong mosfet.

No biggy, I realized this mistake before I replaced the mosfet so I just reorder the correct part and desolder and replace the 8 components.

Mistake #3: In a stroke of genius, I decide that I should check the circuit voltage before putting the machine back together as a wrong voltage would mean that the repair did not work. So while measuring the voltage with my voltmeter, my probe slips and.... *SPARK*!!!!!!! I short out part of the PCB and a sizeable line of trace just explodes of the PCB.

At this point, instead of calling it quits and just ordering the damn replacement control board (+/- 60$), I decide that I have nothing to lose and that, I can probably just replace the portion of trace that was eradicated by using copper wire as none of the soldering points were affected.

Mistake #4: While this is going on, I have to plug in and unplug wire clips many times and the mechanical stress (and my own stress level) makes it so that I break off a connector. I decide that a good solution is to solder the wires directly to the PCB. After all, my control board is already looking pretty sketchy. For good measure, I add in wire extensions so that I can test the PCB outside of the machine (Mistake 4b?)

Now at this point, a sane person would have realized that the universe is trying to send them a pretty clear message: "STOP SCREWING AROUND WITH THAT BOARD YOU FOOL!" but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! After fixing up all my booboos, I decide to test that the machine works before putting it back together.

Mistake #5: "Hey look, everything works fine, would you look at *SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARK!!!!!!!!!*". In my eagerness and annoyance, I did not take the time to even put electrical tape on the wire extensions (see exhibit 4b). Yeah, because you know, the interior of the machine is plastic and plastic is an insulator. Except that the outside is made of metal and the wire were touching that.... OOOOPS. Again, Another trace off the PCB and no other apparent damage.

So now, I did what everyone of you would do and I decided to replace the damaged trace.... again. After that... and putting tape on the extensions, I test the machine again. "IT WORKS!!!!". Except that now the pump won't stop..... Hmmm, it's probably the command switches that are staying open or closed, let's open those!

Mistake #6: "Hey did you know that those switches weren't meant to be opened?". Well now you do and you can't put them back together.....

No problem, I can bypass the switches and just connect or disconnect the wires to send the voltage signal to the PCB manually. So let's fool around with that for 10 minutes straight.

Mistake #7: "Wow, would you look at that, the pump is working non stop regardless of which signal I send to the board.... Hmmmm I wonder why that might be. *TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK* Uh, what was that? *Silence*"

So I killed the pump I guess.

After that, I finally saw the writing on the wall and decided that maybe I should just replace the damn PCB for 60$. Except that now I can't because the pump and the switches also need to be replaced and they don't sell those for a reasonable price. So I bought a new coffee maker.

The replacement machine is the same make and model and I kept the old one in a box in the garage in case the new one needs "repairs" and parts.

The end?

TL,DR version: Guy spends hours replacing parts and "fixing" a coffee machine except that each "repair" makes it worse and ends up having to replace the entire machine. Guy might win a Darwin award some day.

[rob in cal]

   Anything that I try to do in the usual DIY spectrum of activities automatically becomes a horror story.

[Digital Dogma]

I took on a job with my Father at his Sisters home while they were away on vacation, the hardwood floor in their kitchen needed to be sanded down and stained. We set up plastic around the house for the sanding, removed the island, and got to work with a floor sander before we realized something was not right. The floor sander was a buffer-style rotating disc about 12" in diameter, and it wasn't touching the surface of the floor, it seemed to be collecting a wax-like substance on the exterior of the sandpaper which was completely coating it. The substance we were stripping off reminded me of ski wax it was so thick. So we called up his Sister and asked - whats up with the wax on the floor?

She told us that she requested her housekeeper wax the floor, and instead of using wood floor wax she applied some sort of vinyl wax to it, for the last 15 years. There was an incredibly thick coating of this wax built up on the floor, at that point we had done so much work trying out different tools/sandpapers it would've been easier to just rip the floor up and put new oak boards down. But that wasn't the job we agreed to do, so we had to stick it through to the end.

We finally arrived at a solution to our problem given the tools we had available, and it was not pretty. I learned that sandpaper grit goes down to the single digits, and a #4 grit just looks like someone glued rocks to some paper. Thats what we had to use to prevent the sandpaper from becoming loaded with wax, it was essentially acting like a plane instead of a sander.

We had a heavy 'edger' sander that weighed 40 pounds, it took 8" discs of sandpaper and stripped a 2X2" square sized area every time you touched it down to the wood. That means when we pick it up and do a strip, we get a 2 inch wide by 24 inch long strip of wood sanded before we have to pick up the 40 pound sander and do the next strip. We did the whole floor this way with #4 paper. Then we did the floor again with #18, and a final time with #80. Finally we ditched the edger and finished off with #200 grit paper by hand.

We completed our sanding nightmare, then stained the floor It looked like beautiful light colored deep grained oak after we finished, instead of waxy dark shitty beat up wood. So while our DIY job was ultimately a successful nightmare, I'd call the housekeepers "DIY" fix to wax the floors without purchasing the proper material a massive failure 15 years in the making.

[Lis]

This is not making me want to DIY my bathroom floor....

[ketchup]

This is not making me want to DIY my bathroom floor....

I take the opposite lesson: at least if a DIY job goes bad you get a good story out of the deal.

[jordanread]

I posted this in the DYI section but I feel it deserves to be reposted here:

I recently successfully repaired an espresso maker's electronic control board that had cold solder joint fractures on it. YAY!!!

But then, while putting it back together.....

 Mistake #1: I accidentally inverted 2 of the 6 wires when I plugged it back up (even though I had them labeled). *SPARK*!!!!! One of the mosfets exploded.

Looking at the trace and circuit board, I figured there was a good chance that I could fix the board again by replacing the components that could have been damaged(7-8 things) and the mosfet. So I ordered those off of Digikey.

Mistake #2: I read the circuit diagram wrong and ended up ordering the wrong mosfet.

No biggy, I realized this mistake before I replaced the mosfet so I just reorder the correct part and desolder and replace the 8 components.

Mistake #3: In a stroke of genius, I decide that I should check the circuit voltage before putting the machine back together as a wrong voltage would mean that the repair did not work. So while measuring the voltage with my voltmeter, my probe slips and.... *SPARK*!!!!!!! I short out part of the PCB and a sizeable line of trace just explodes of the PCB.

At this point, instead of calling it quits and just ordering the damn replacement control board (+/- 60$), I decide that I have nothing to lose and that, I can probably just replace the portion of trace that was eradicated by using copper wire as none of the soldering points were affected.

Mistake #4: While this is going on, I have to plug in and unplug wire clips many times and the mechanical stress (and my own stress level) makes it so that I break off a connector. I decide that a good solution is to solder the wires directly to the PCB. After all, my control board is already looking pretty sketchy. For good measure, I add in wire extensions so that I can test the PCB outside of the machine (Mistake 4b?)

Now at this point, a sane person would have realized that the universe is trying to send them a pretty clear message: "STOP SCREWING AROUND WITH THAT BOARD YOU FOOL!" but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! After fixing up all my booboos, I decide to test that the machine works before putting it back together.

Mistake #5: "Hey look, everything works fine, would you look at *SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARK!!!!!!!!!*". In my eagerness and annoyance, I did not take the time to even put electrical tape on the wire extensions (see exhibit 4b). Yeah, because you know, the interior of the machine is plastic and plastic is an insulator. Except that the outside is made of metal and the wire were touching that.... OOOOPS. Again, Another trace off the PCB and no other apparent damage.

So now, I did what everyone of you would do and I decided to replace the damaged trace.... again. After that... and putting tape on the extensions, I test the machine again. "IT WORKS!!!!". Except that now the pump won't stop..... Hmmm, it's probably the command switches that are staying open or closed, let's open those!

Mistake #6: "Hey did you know that those switches weren't meant to be opened?". Well now you do and you can't put them back together.....

No problem, I can bypass the switches and just connect or disconnect the wires to send the voltage signal to the PCB manually. So let's fool around with that for 10 minutes straight.

Mistake #7: "Wow, would you look at that, the pump is working non stop regardless of which signal I send to the board.... Hmmmm I wonder why that might be. *TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK* Uh, what was that? *Silence*"

So I killed the pump I guess.

After that, I finally saw the writing on the wall and decided that maybe I should just replace the damn PCB for 60$. Except that now I can't because the pump and the switches also need to be replaced and they don't sell those for a reasonable price. So I bought a new coffee maker.

The replacement machine is the same make and model and I kept the old one in a box in the garage in case the new one needs "repairs" and parts.

The end?

TL,DR version: Guy spends hours replacing parts and "fixing" a coffee machine except that each "repair" makes it worse and ends up having to replace the entire machine. Guy might win a Darwin award some day.

Oh, we've all done that :P. Amazing.

This is not making me want to DIY my bathroom floor....

Just don't drink (excessively) as you do it, you'll be fine. I can provide pictures of what happens when you do. But it still looks better than linoleum.

[Lis]

This is not making me want to DIY my bathroom floor....

I take the opposite lesson: at least if a DIY job goes bad you get a good story out of the deal.

True!

Just don't drink (excessively) as you do it, you'll be fine. I can provide pictures of what happens when you do. But it still looks better than linoleum.

So fun story - when I bought my new place, I bought two bookcases from Target to set up in my living room. I'm decent at those build it yourself type things, and I don't hate it, so I grab a cider (and a second one a bit later on), throw on Netflix, and build bookcase 1. Takes me an hour and a half which is ridiculously long, but I was drinking, watching tv, and herding cats who didn't realize I wasn't building a jungle gym for them. All in all, it comes out just as it was supposed to. But I didn't feel like spending another hour and a half building a second one (it didn't have to take an hour and a half, but see reasons above), so I decide to put that off for tomorrow.

The next night, I decide that if I don't drink, don't watch Netflix, and lock the (then sleeping) cats in the bedroom, I could get the second one done in record time. So that's just what I do. Except somehow, in my effort to concentrate and focus more... everything gets inverted. The unfinished particle board is showing everywhere it shouldn't. So I end up having to take it all apart and redoing it. Needless to say, I grabbed a drink, threw on Netflix, and let the (now hysterical) cats out of the bedroom (GOD FORBID you lock them up when something fun is happening!).

Moral of the story: apparently I'm a better DIYer when I drink.