c/edmonton-diy

Tried two different methods for refinishing my old kitchen cabinets

I spent last weekend sanding and painting my oak cabinets with a brush and roller, what a mess. The brush strokes were terrible and it took me three coats. My neighbor let me borrow his Wagner paint sprayer and I redid the other side of the kitchen in about 2 hours with way less cleanup. Has anyone else tried the sprayer method for cabinets in Edmonton's dry weather?

Took me 15 years to figure out how to properly sharpen a chisel

I always thought you just grind the bevel flat against the stone and call it good. Then last winter I watched an old cabinetmaker at Lee Valley Tools in Edmonton show a kid how to micro-bevel the edge and it clicked... been doing it wrong since I was 20. Now my chisels actually cut instead of just scraping. Anyone else have a basic skill they thought they knew but totally didn't?

I finally found a way to get old paint off brick without wrecking the mortar

Tried pressure washing a brick wall in my backyard last month and it just blasted craters into the old mortar joints. Switched to a gel paint stripper from the hardware store on a small patch and let it sit for 45 minutes. Then used a plastic scraper and a stiff nylon brush instead of a wire one. The paint came off clean without damaging the brick or the mortar lines. Has anyone else had better luck with chemical strippers over sandblasting for old Edmonton brick houses?

Found out OSB costs way more than plywood now in Edmonton

I was pricing materials for a shed build last week at Home Depot on 99 Street. OSB was $58 a sheet and 1/2 inch plywood was $52. I double checked cause I always thought OSB was the cheap option. The guy in lumber said it flipped about 18 months ago due to mill closures. Has anyone else noticed this screwing up their project budgets?

Had a drywaller tell me to stop sanding so much and it saved me 2 hours per room

I was sanding every single joint until it was glass smooth before even thinking about primer. A buddy who's been hanging board for 20 years watched me for 5 minutes and said 'you're chasing perfection nobody will see.' He showed me how to knock down the high spots with a 6 inch taping knife and just dust off the rest. Now I spend maybe 10 minutes per room sanding instead of 45. The texture on the finished walls looks exactly the same. Anyone else waste time overdoing prep work that doesn't matter?

Tried painting my own kitchen cabinets and learned a hard lesson about primer

I figured I'd save some cash and do my kitchen cabinets myself instead of paying a pro. Grabbed a $30 gallon of cheap primer from the big box store and went to town. Two months later the paint is peeling off near the sink where it gets humid. Guess I should have spent the extra $20 on a proper bonding primer like everyone says. Has anyone else had luck with a specific brand that actually sticks to melamine?

Just had an electrician rip me a new one about knob and tube

I was bragging about rewiring my 50s bungalow myself and he told me I was creating a fire hazard by not replacing the cloth wiring in the walls I opened up. Now I'm going back and swapping out 3 full runs of knob and tube I thought I could just leave dead. Anyone else get told their half-assed electrical work was dangerous?

Can we talk about using vinegar instead of expensive grout sealer?

I spent $35 on a bottle of grout sealer for my bathroom tile last month. The stuff smelled like a chemical plant and only covered about 30 square feet. After 2 weeks it was already wearing off in the shower corner. My buddy from Fort McMurray told me to try white vinegar and water mix instead. I thought he was crazy but gave it a shot on a test patch. Three months later that vinegar spot still looks the same as the sealed areas. Anyone else ditch the expensive sealers for this?

The contractor who ghosted me after leaving a pile of drywall in my driveway

Back in March I hired a guy off Kijiji to fix a water damaged ceiling in my living room. He showed up, did like half the job, then vanished after I paid him 400 bucks. I was left with chunks of wet drywall sitting in my driveway for 3 weeks cause my truck was in the shop. Eventually I hauled it to the dump myself and finished the ceiling patch with help from a YouTube video. It came out okay but not perfect, and now I'm paranoid about hiring anyone off the internet. Has anyone else in Edmonton dealt with a runner like that? How do you vet people for small jobs around here?

Finally got my garage organized with a pegboard trick I saw on YouTube

I spent 3 years piling tools on a workbench because I thought pegboards looked tacky, but last week I mounted one and used a color coded system for the hooks. It cost me about 40 bucks total and now I can actually find my hammer without digging through drawers. Has anyone else tried painting the pegboard to match your wall instead of leaving it white?

Had a guy at Rona argue that big box caulking is the same as pro grade

I walked out with both tubes because I couldn't decide and now my shower is half done with two different beads.

Countersunk all my deck screws too deep and ruined 12 boards

Was building a deck in June and got carried away with the impact driver. Drove every screw a quarter inch below the surface and split the wood around half of them. Had to rip out and replace 12 boards at $15 each. Anyone else ever wreck lumber by overdriving?

Rant: That cheap laminate flooring from the liquidation place cost me double in the end

Thought I was smart buying that clearance laminate from the place on 50th street for 80 bucks total. Now 6 months later half the boards are lifting cause the locking system is garbage and I gotta tear it all out. Anyone know a decent supplier in Edmonton that won't screw me again?

A guy at Totem told me I was using the wrong paint for Edmonton winters

I was at Totem picking up supplies for a fence repair and an older guy in the aisle told me my exterior paint was meant for dry climates, not our freeze-thaw cycles. He pointed me to a flexible acrylic instead and said it would stop the peeling I kept getting every spring. Has anyone else switched paint types after getting a tip from a stranger at the hardware store?

Hot take: those cheap plastic drop cloths are a total waste of cash

I was painting my living room last weekend and grabbed a pack of those blue plastic drop cloths from Home Depot for like $12. Thought I was being smart saving money over canvas. Man was I wrong. Within 20 minutes I had paint soaking through where my ladder sat and a huge tear from stepping on it wrong. Ended up rushing to buy canvas ones from Sherwin Williams for $30 each and they actually stayed put. No sliding around or ripping when I moved my gear. Has anyone else dealt with those plastic sheets just failing mid project or am I the only one who learned this the hard way?

Bought a $200 dehumidifier for my basement and it paid for itself in 3 months

Switched from drywall anchors to toggle bolts after a shelf collapse

I had a shelf in my garage fall down last month because the plastic anchors gave out. It cost me about $40 in broken stuff and a cracked shelf board. After that I swapped to toggle bolts for the replacement, and the difference is night and day. The shelf is rock solid now even with heavy bins on it. Has anyone else switched fastener types after a failure like that?

Made a trip out to the old Strathcona junk yard yesterday

Was hunting for some 2x4s to salvage for a raised bed frame and noticed the place is barely half the size it was 15 years ago. Back in 2009 I could spend 3 hours digging through piles of lumber and scrap metal without repeating an aisle. Now they got maybe 4 racks of wood and a tiny bin for hardware. Guy at the counter said land prices forced them to sell off the back lot. Anyone else notice how hard it is to find good salvage spots around Edmonton these days?

Stripped a screw head with the wrong bit on a 100 year old door hinge

I was fixing up this old Victorian door in my house near Whyte Ave and the hinge screws were these ancient slot heads. I figured a regular flathead would do but I grabbed one that was too narrow and it just cammed right out, totally mangling the slot. Now I've got this screw stuck flush with the hinge and no way to grab it. Ended up having to drill it out with a small bit and retap the hole, which took like 2 hours on a Saturday. What I learned is to always match your bit width to the slot depth on old hardware, not just jam whatever fits. Has anyone else dealt with stripped antique screws and found a trick that doesn't involve drilling? I need a better method for the next hinge.

The time I refinished my own deck and regretted every minute of it

Last summer I decided to strip and stain my 12x16 deck instead of paying someone $800. Three days in, the rental sander broke down and I had to hand sand the whole thing with 60 grit paper. By day five my back was wrecked and the stain looked patchy in spots. Still cheaper than hiring it out, but next time I'm at least renting a better sander from Home Depot on 137 Ave.

Wasted $80 on a cheap paint sprayer from Amazon for my kitchen cabinets

I figured I'd save time on my kitchen cabinet refinish by buying a budget HVLP sprayer online instead of renting one. After 3 attempts and a ton of cleanup, the finish looked like orange peel and my wife said it looked worse than the old cabinets. Ended up having to sand everything down and spend $65 to rent a proper sprayer from Home Depot for a day. Has anyone else here had bad luck with those cheap sprayers or is it just me?

Talked to a plumber at Rona last week about my shoddy DIY drain snake job

He said I likely just pushed the clog further down and now it's probably stuck in the main line, has anyone else had their home fix completely backfire like that?

Buddy from Fort McMurray told me to use spray foam in my rim joist

He swore by that Great Stuff stuff for sealing up the basement rim joists. Did the whole job last fall and now I'm worried I trapped moisture in there. Anyone else deal with mold after using spray foam down there?

Tried big box store laminate flooring vs. a local Edmonton supplier and the difference was night and day

I needed to redo my basement floors in my 1950s house near Whyte Ave. First I grabbed some laminate from a big box store, like $1.50 a square foot. After laying it down, the edges chipped within a week from my dog walking across it. Swapped to a local place on the south side that sold me a mid-range product for $2.20 a foot, and that stuff has held up way better through two winters now. Has anyone else found a big gap in quality between the cheap stuff and what you get from a proper supplier?

Caught my basement reno costing 30% more in materials than I budgeted

I was pricing out lumber for my basement framing last week and nearly fell off my chair when I saw the OSB sheets were $68 each. I built a shed two years ago and those same panels were like $38. Found this stat in a 2024 building materials report from the Canadian Home Builders Association that said lumber prices in Edmonton have jumped 34% since 2022 because of tariffs and supply chain stuff. I had planned a $4,200 materials budget but after adding up everything with current prices at Home Depot and Windsor Plywood I'm looking at $5,600 easy. Guess I should have checked prices before I tore out the old drywall last month lol. Has anyone else in Edmonton had to totally rework their project budget because of these price jumps?