Woodworking/DIY/Home Improvement Mega Thread

[MikeDeTiger]

Yeah I'm good with carpentry but terrible with sheetrock.  Anything that requires going into a wall, is going to get hired out by me.

I got so much really valuable experience when I restored the vintage Airstream.  I had to do everything on it.  I rewired about half of it, completely replumbed all of the water lines, and completely replumbed all of the propane gas lines as well.  Plus all of the new build and restorative carpentry.  I made plenty of mistakes but it's such a small space, it's easy to fix them.

I forget what kind of engineer you are--if I ever knew--but I always just assume engineers know a lot about wiring stuff.  

My oldest stepson went to a trade school for something like an electrician degree, but he was also learning some type of programming, an aspect he liked better.  He did electrical work for a while when he started out, but now he's moved into robotics programming, which he's happier with and seems to pay more.  He's rather sharp at anything electric-related around the house and I've gotten him to help me a few times with some stuff that needed doing.  The problem is he stays so busy that it's hard to nail him down on what little free time he has.....and I get it....nobody wants to help their stepdad fix wiring on their day off.  The other problem is it's a little bit humiliating to have to depend on people way younger than you to help you fix your life.  

"Honey, we have to fix this and I don't know how.  Let's call the kid and see if he can come over."   Le sigh.  

[medinabuckeye1]

Oh, gas was also mentioned:

Gas isn't nearly as hard nor as dangerous as people think.  There are high-pressure lines that they use to transport gas around the country, those are dangerous but the gas in your house is at >1psi.  That is nothing.  The gas company tests for leaks by pressurizing the house to (IIRC 120PSI) then just waiting.  If the pressure holds the system is good to go.  If not, there is a leak.  

Anyway, my dad taught me to check for leaks using the plumbing torch.  That sounds crazy until you understand it.  The danger with gas is accumulation.  If you do have a leak in something you just put it, using the torch to test will identify the leak.  It will just flame up (very small flame) from the leak.  Then you fix it by shutting everything back off and tightening that joint.  The danger, like I said, is accumulation.  If you DO NOT check for leaks and it just leaks into your house, that gas will accumulate until it hits a spark then explode.  

[medinabuckeye1]

Yeah I'm good with carpentry but terrible with sheetrock.  Anything that requires going into a wall, is going to get hired out by me.

Years ago my brother and I were working on something and I did the sheetrock because he said I was better at it.  My (then) g/f heard this and said "No you aren't, he just doesn't like doing it."  

She kinda had a point.  I've done LOTS of drywall over the years and I can if I have to but I REALLY hate it.  I don't know a lot of people who don't.  

[utee94]

My dad's business was taking care of Rental Property so I was an assistant plumber/electrician/carpenter/drywaller/painter from the time I could walk. 

As such, commenting on the comments above about electrical/plumbing:

Electrical:
For a complete novice, I think the biggest thing to understand is the difference between 220 and 120.  If you screw up with 120, you'll shock yourself.  It really doesn't hurt and almost certainly wont kill you.  One of the older electricians I worked with tested circuits by putting his thumb on one wire and running his finger across the other.  If it buzzed him, it was live.  220 is a completely different animal, it can kill you.  When I do 120 projects I almost always do them hot (breaker on) so that I know if it is working or not.  When I do anything 220, I do that cold then turn the breaker on after I am completely done. 

Another thing about electrical that will help you if you hadn't already thought of it is this:  ALWAYS START AT THE END.  Ie, lets say you are popping breakers in your kitchen so you want to add a new breaker and circuit.  If you start at the breaker box and work your way out to the kitchen, everything is hot from the start.  Instead, start in the kitchen and work back to the breaker box. Even if you don't want to do ANYTHING hot that is fine, have an electrician come in and hook up the breaker but everything beyond that is already done.  Saves a lot of money without actually doing ANYTHING hot. 

Plumbing:
It amazes me how much this has changed in my lifetime.  When I was a kid we did drains in cast iron.  A 10' stick of 4" Cast Iron Sewer weighs 170.9 lbs (I had to look that up, I only knew that they were freaking heavy).  Lifting those onto threaders and then lifting them into place and threading them together was backbreaking work.  According to the interwebs a 10' stick of 4" PVC sewer pipe weighs 10 to 14 pounds.  Oh, and you don't have to thread the pipes anymore, just smear adhesive on the ends and stick them together. 

I've said many times that modern technology led to women's lib.  When I was a little kid there weren't any female plumbers.  It wasn't so much because they weren't allowed as because how many women do you know that can lift up their end of a 171# stick of sewer pipe? 

Anyway, I've done lots of plumbing with Iron Sewer Pipes and, in the old days, galvanized supplies.  Then Copper.  Now I have a pex tool and I'm pretty sure everything I've installed in the last 10 years probably weighed less than 171#. 

Yeah PEX made all of the supply line plumbing in the Airstream SO easy.  In 1963 all of the supply was copper pipe, fitted and sweated by hand.  Over the years, on my 26' trailer that had spent time in Ohio, Indiana, North Carolina, California, and Georgia, much of that copper had burst or rotted away, and been replaced with an astonishing collection of galvanized pipe, DWV-rated PVC, and even some electrical conduit (no lie) mostly interconnected using automobile heater hose and clamps.

It was quite satisfying to rip all of that out and replace it with long, clean, fresh runs of PEX.  I used crimp connections for most of it, but in a few places where I expected I might need regular access, I used the sharkbite fittings and just checked them for tightness about once per year. It worked great and was so easy!

[MikeDeTiger]

We got a home generator about 6 months ago, and the gas company evidently ran a high pressure line to the unit, which it's not supposed to have.  When they went to fire it up it kept not working and finally they realized a low-pressure line was supposed to be run from the city hookups, but instead a high-pressure line had been run.  They had to put a limiter at the generator in order for it to work, so that the entire line didn't have to be dug up again and redone. 

I'm glad I don't understand it more, because I'm not sure I'd sleep as well if I did, knowing that a high pressure gas line is running across my yard, to right near the house.  

[utee94]

I forget what kind of engineer you are--if I ever knew--but I always just assume engineers know a lot about wiring stuff. 

University of Texas Electrical Engineer, 1994.

[FearlessF]

We got a home generator about 6 months ago, and the gas company evidently ran a high pressure line to the unit, which it's not supposed to have.  When they went to fire it up it kept not working and finally they realized a low-pressure line was supposed to be run from the city hookups, but instead a high-pressure line had been run.  They had to put a limiter at the generator in order for it to work, so that the entire line didn't have to be dug up again and redone. 

I'm glad I don't understand it more, because I'm not sure I'd sleep as well if I did, knowing that a high pressure gas line is running across my yard, to right near the house. 

call before you dig

[medinabuckeye1]

Yeah PEX made all of the supply line plumbing in the Airstream SO easy.  In 1963 all of the supply was copper pipe, fitted and sweated by hand.  Over the years, on my 26' trailer that had spent time in Ohio, Indiana, North Carolina, California, and Georgia, much of that copper had burst or rotted away, and been replaced with an astonishing collection of galvanized pipe, DWV-rated PVC, and even some electrical conduit (no lie) mostly interconnected using automobile heater hose and clamps.

It was quite satisfying to rip all of that out and replace it with long, clean, fresh runs of PEX.  I used crimp connections for most of it, but in a few places where I expected I might need regular access, I used the sharkbite fittings and just checked them for tightness about once per year. It worked great and was so easy!

I'm sure that made it a LOT easier.  

We have some REALLY old, pre-Civil War buildings.  The place more than any other that I wish I'd had pex was running a replacement supply in a building that was originally built in the 1830's.  

To explain this building, it was built sometime in the 1830's (that is a guess but based on pretty solid information).  Sometime in the early 1900's the original house was moved back about 60'.  The original house was very close to the street which, in 1830 was just a walking/horse path but by the early 1900's it was a busy street and after Henry Ford's Model T came out it became crowded with cars so they built a brand new foundation well behind the existing house then moved the house back to the new foundation.  Thus, the foundation of the old part of the house is from the 1920's.  The old part of the house is ~90 years older.  Then it was added on to in the 1940's, 1950's, and 1960's so it is just a mess to work on because there are four different sets of foundation and everything has been added onto.  Today it is commercial downstairs and an apartment upstairs.  

The joists in the basement of the original house literally have bark on them.  In the 1830's they just cut down trees, shaped the ends, and stuck them in.  Anyway, at one point I had to replace a water supply for the upstairs apartment and doing this required navigating around bark-covered floor joists then through walls with additions so I had to install about 20' of 3/4" copper using about two dozen elbows with all 48 joints sweated together.  It is REALLY hard to solder pipe that close to very old and VERY dry wood without setting things on fire.  

[medinabuckeye1]

University of Texas Electrical Engineer, 1994.

I honestly never realized that.  I just thought "tee" was a phonetic spelling of "T".  

[utee94]

I honestly never realized that.  I just thought "tee" was a phonetic spelling of "T". 

That works, too!  I started using it on the old cnn/si message forums in 1995, shortly after I graduated.  At the time I worried that specifying the 94 graduation year made me seem too young.  Now, I definitely don't have that problem. 

As for the old bark-joists, I've seen that kind of stuff on This Old House and other reno shows where they are dealing with centuries-old construction.  It's really wild, but also really cool, to see it.  Definitely wouldn't want to solder next to it though!

[MikeDeTiger]

I honestly never realized that.  I just thought "tee" was a phonetic spelling of "T". 

Kinda what I always assumed.  I also misread Erin's name for a long time.  I read the "UTer" in UTerin03 as in a person of or from UT, like a person of or from the Highlands is a Highlander.  UTer in '03.  Nope, she was telling us her name and I just missed it.  

[NorthernOhioBuckeye]

Anyway, I've done lots of plumbing with Iron Sewer Pipes and, in the old days, galvanized supplies.  Then Copper.  Now I have a pex tool and I'm pretty sure everything I've installed in the last 10 years probably weighed less than 171#. 

Pex is the way to go. I've switched from CPVC and Copper, to almost solely PEX. It is so much easier to work with. 

[NorthernOhioBuckeye]

That works, too!  I started using it on the old cnn/si message forums in 1995, shortly after I graduated.  At the time I worried that specifying the 94 graduation year made me seem too young.  Now, I definitely don't have that problem.

As for the old bark-joists, I've seen that kind of stuff on This Old House and other reno shows where they are dealing with centuries-old construction.  It's really wild, but also really cool, to see it.  Definitely wouldn't want to solder next to it though!

I have a friend that bought a house that was built in the late 1800's. He had to replace the roof. When they tore the old room off, they encountered 2 inch thick walnut 2 ft by 8 ft planking covering the roof. If is wasn't for all of the nails, he could have made a fortune selling all of that walnut. 

It that house, it appears that they just cut up trees that were available on the lot. 

[medinabuckeye1]

As for the old bark-joists, I've seen that kind of stuff on This Old House and other reno shows where they are dealing with centuries-old construction.  It's really wild, but also really cool, to see it.  Definitely wouldn't want to solder next to it though!

I have a friend that bought a house that was built in the late 1800's. He had to replace the roof. When they tore the old room off, they encountered 2 inch thick walnut 2 ft by 8 ft planking covering the roof. If is wasn't for all of the nails, he could have made a fortune selling all of that walnut.

It that house, it appears that they just cut up trees that were available on the lot.

You DEFINITELY don't want to solder next to it.  Those logs have been drying out for ~200 years so they are REALLY flammable.  

You also don't want to have to drill through it.  On that building the sill plate is a solid hunk of wood.  I don't know if I explained that well but instead of having a 2x8 flat on top of the blocks then a 2x10 (or 12) sitting up on the outside, it is just one giant roughly 12x12 hunk of oak.  My dad and I installed an outdoor spigot for the tenant many years ago and to do that we had to drill through that enormous hunk of oak.  It took half a day and several drillbits.  

You are absolutely right @NorthernOhioBuckeye , back then they were clearing lots to make farmland anyway so wood was CHEAP and widely available.