c/edmonton-diy

Talking to my uncle about his old paint job changed how I see prep work

My uncle was helping me paint my basement last weekend and he kept going on about sanding every little bump. I always thought primer would cover stuff like that. He showed me a wall in his garage he did 15 years ago that still looks flat because he took the time to sand and fill every hole. Made me think I've been cutting corners on prep for years. Anyone else find out they were doing something the hard way after watching someone else do it right?

The day I stopped using a plumb bob for fence posts

I used to line up fence posts with a string and plumb bob for hours (you know, the old-school way), but last spring I borrowed a laser level from a buddy and got a 40-foot row perfectly straight in 20 minutes. Turns out my neighbor's fence that I always admired was done with a laser too, not some magic touch. Anyone else switch from a manual tool to something digital and wonder why they waited so long?

Ripped out my basement ceiling after 3 failed attempts at patching

Last month I spent a whole Sunday trying to fix water stains on my drop ceiling tiles in Edmonton. After the third patch job looked worse than the original stain, I just tore the whole thing down and started fresh with drywall. Anyone else just give up on ceiling repairs and go a different route?

Just realized my patio paver project took 3 weekends instead of 1

I thought I could lay a 10x12 foot patio in a weekend, but the ground prep alone ate up two full days. Leveling the sand base and cutting those edge pavers with my cheap wet saw added another 6 hours I didn't plan for. Turns out I spent almost 30 hours total on a project the store website said would take 8 hours. Has anyone else dealt with a simple DIY that ballooned way past the time you budgeted?

The way people treat their paint brushes after staining a fence drives me up a wall

I swear I watched my neighbor soak his brush in a bucket of water for two days and then act surprised when the bristles fell out like when did you last clean a brush properly dude?

Quick tip for mixing mortar in cold weather

I kept getting crumbly mortar on my basement block wall until a guy at Beaver Lumber told me to warm the mixing water to about 40 degrees Celsius before adding it. Tried it last November on a cold afternoon and the mortar stayed workable for a full hour longer than usual. Anyone else run into this issue when working through an Alberta winter?

Old fence gate finally gave out after 12 Edmonton winters

My back gate hinge rusted clean through last Tuesday during that wind storm. The whole thing dropped and scraped against the concrete path. I ended up cutting out the old screws, replacing the hinge with a heavy duty one from Home Depot on 50th Street, and reinforcing the post with a Simpson strong tie bracket. Has anyone else had luck fixing older fence hardware that's seized up from all our freeze thaw cycles?

My garage reno went from looking like a crack den to a showroom in 3 weekends just from drywall mud and sanding

Messed up a weld on my trailer hitch last weekend, had to redo the whole thing

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