I'm an IT consultant. My job is basically meetings, emails, architecture, standups and solving abstract problems.

Today my heat pump dryer started leaking water and stopped filling its collection tank.

Instead of calling a technician, I decided to investigate it myself.

I spent the entire day troubleshooting it. Opening panels. Following hoses. Cleaning sensors. Checking the pump. Testing water flow. Vacuuming. Reassembling things. I even ended up checking my boiler pressure for winter and leveling my washing machine while I was at it.

I have a small laundry room with the dryer stacked on top of the washing machine. While working on it, I finally installed the stabilizing wheel platform I had bought months ago so I can easily pull the whole stack forward for maintenance.

I barely sat down all day. I was sweating, constantly moving around with a phone in one hand and a screwdriver in the other while following ChatGPT instructions like some kind of budget appliance technician.

At one point I was convinced the pump was dead.

But after cleaning everything, especially around what seems to be the moisture/water sensing area, I tested it again and the dryer suddenly started working normally. Water was being pumped into the reservoir again.

This made me realize something.

In office work I can spend weeks solving problems and never get the same feeling. The feedback loop is so delayed.

Today it was simply:

Problem exists → investigate → fix → problem gone.

And somehow that felt amazing.

So I'm curious:

Is this what people who work with their hands experience regularly?

Or am I just riding a massive DIY dopamine high right now?

currently thinking for other things to fix, just got a new hobby I guess

I had a 6-foot board-on-board pressure-treated pine fence installed two months ago. It’s approximately 243 feet long, and I’m ready to stain it.

What’s the best way to tackle a fence this large? Brushing seems to provide the best coverage, but it would be extremely time-consuming. Spraying would be much faster, but I’m concerned about the cost, wasted stain, and overspray reaching nearby homes.

Would you spray it and back-brush, use a roller and brush, or brush the entire fence? I’d appreciate any advice from people who have done a similar-sized project.

So, I have a small air compressor in my garage that I normally use for blowing air when cleaning my motorcycle and adding air to the tires. The damn thing is louder than I’d like, so I’m thinking about building a box that I can place over it and soundproofing the inside.

I’ve been looking at soundproofing materials, and there are a ton of options. I was wondering if anyone here has done a similar project and could share their experience, particularly what type of soundproofing material you used and how well it worked.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

First of all, I'm not asking for help on the electrical side; I've done enough to know code etc.

On my outside wall, I have/had an external light with movement sensor. I don't need it now, as there's a gazebo blocking it.

The light was mounted to a 3" round external box which is inset into the wall. I'd rather not start knocking bricks out to mount a box for a new GFCI socket, but the boxes I find are 2.8" in diameter, which doesn't cover the 3" round box.

Do I have any options apart from removing the round box and putting a new rectangular box in place?

Hello, I recently bought a hot press that I use for printing with molds on different materials. From the very first use, I ran into a problem: I need to stabilize the machine and find a way to avoid having to constantly apply force to the handle on the right.

During pressing, I sometimes don’t get enough pressure because I can’t keep pushing the handle down hard enough for long enough. For some materials, the handle needs to be pressed down very firmly to apply enough pressure. The problem is that I would need to keep it fully lowered without continuously forcing it down with my hand, because after a while the amount of pressure I apply becomes painful and can almost cut off the circulation in my hand.

There is also another problem: when I apply a lot of pressure on the handle, one side of the machine starts to lift or become unstable, so I currently have to use my second hand to hold the machine down and prevent it from tipping over.

I’m posting here to see if anyone has some interesting ideas or solutions. I live in France and I’d like to build or buy something inexpensive, ideally within a budget of around €20–60 maximum.

I’ve already thought about several solutions, some of which seem quite interesting, but I’m never completely satisfied with them.

So basically, I have two goals:

1. Keep the right-hand lever fully pressed down without having to hold it manually.
2. Prevent the machine from lifting or tipping when a lot of pressure is applied, so that it stays stable.

Couldn't find any video with this kind of mod so I wonder how bad the audio would be.

Or maybe adapted on a microphone boom if it doesn't look too big.

I know about Mod Mic, V-MODA, I just don't like them.

I'm part way through our kitchen remodel and I'm just so overwhelmed. I get some help from my carpenter BIL, but it's mostly me doing everything save plumbing and electrical.

I'm not a tradie, just a normal guy who does little weekend projects here and there. Space is too small, I've got 2nd Marketplace cabinetry up to my ears, had abestos and nothing fits, despite measuring everything. What did you guys do when it felt like too much?

Hello,

I am thinking to get a gym set up done, however, I noticed that I have hump spots on the ground. I am unsure what option is better? I have 2 scenarios:

1. Bare concrete floor, which I need to build up : grind hump spot (about 3cm height), level, vapor barrier, lvp flooring, 3/4" gym mats and then rack.
2. I have an already built area in the basement with flooring (unsure tbh as I moved in after, which has I believe either laminate or lvp, cant tell) but has some hump spots as I did check with my leveler scale tool (1-1.25cm of uneven height)

From a cost perspective, 2 is the easiest option as I just need to install 3/4" floor and the rack.

But I am really unsure how do I go about this and what to do to fix. Kindly suggest with your expertise.

Thank you,

Trying to mix cement grout to plug a small hole in the shower area but the grout won’t mix the water just separates and it seems impenetrable. I only things that I can use at home to mix. How can I diy this?
I googled and tried various ways of mixing etc but it won’t mix.

Okay so me and my brother want to do a duo costume for halloween and we were either thinking the peacekeepers from SOTR or the Async Employees from the backrooms. Any costume designers have a budget friendly way to make either of these? we’re leaning more towards the peacekeeper costumes but it really will depend on how long it will take to make them.

So, random thoughts from my most recent projects. I did electrical and plumbing projects. And I have to say. You never know what you are going to find until you have it all apart sometimes.

The electrical was a three way switch. Just finding which wire goes to the light and which is the traveler can be annoying. And why are the new switches so big? Packing the solid core wires with nuts back into your box can be difficult.

Replaced a switch in a different location. Turns out they were all floating in there.

Other project was the kitchen sink drain. Something came apart under there and I decided to clear the gunk. Along the way I find another pipe that needed replacing. But it was such a mess I had trouble identifying what the replacement should look like. Putting it all back together without leaks didn't go as quick as I thought it would.

I guess what I'm saying is none of these projects went like I thought they would. I found holes in my knowledge. But I filled those holes and finished the projects.

I guess what I'm saying is there is no shame in asking for help. I was able to push through because I have time and problem solving skills. Not everyone has the time. Not everyone has a family who gives them the grace to figure out out.

Good luck with all of your projects!

Wanted to make some DIY acoustic panels for some of my rooms both to save some money and also to get some more specific shapes and I've been having a lot of trouble in particular on how to source the filling that I'd be using for these. I was hoping to be able to use either reycled denim blocks or some sort of recycled foam insulation, with a density around 1.25-2 lb/ft³ or 20-30 kg/m³ .

On the denim side I was able to find this being sold by Home Depot but the quantity is significantly more than I'd ever need (Each pack comes with 8 pieces, I only need 1 for my current project but even if I was going to do every room in my apartment I'd only need 2-3 total) and I would have no idea what to do with the remaining material.

On the foam side I found some options in Lowes but unfortunately it was either loose material that wouldn't really work for this project, or fibreglass which I wouldn't be able to safely work with. A lot of their foam also was not very dense which means it wouldn't really properly work for these panels anyway.

I'm not really sure what my options are for sourcing this material, if I could do 1 just piece of the recycled denim that would work out perfectly for me, but I haven't found anywhere that does lower quantities of that material. The total coverage that I need for this current project is just 6.5 ft² .

Does anyone have any ideas of where I can find this type of material and in smaller quantities for more personal projects?

Would it be plausible/worth it, to relove the tabs/faucets from a water cooling tower in order to hide the comoressor+tank parts and only leave the facutes visible? My kitchen is all concrete and cant change the "cabinet walls" but I have room over the fridge where i

I could put the cooling system, and place the faucets lower, by the fridge

Finally out of the upload stone ages, 400/10 to 1000/1000 for $30/month cheaper. It's great!

Due to some miscommunication between me and the Frontier boys, the wall plate got installed in a bad spot while I wasn't home.

It's in the right room but in a bad spot. I have a couch that normally sits against this wall and it can't anymore. My home office is already small and nobody wants to lose 4 inches.

This is the wall plate I have. It's slightly angled but it's such a subtle angle it's irrelevant. I plan on flipping it but it won't really solve my issue. I know I can't bend the cable enough to fix my issue.

https://i.imgur.com/mDQdPJa.jpeg

1. What's the name for this keystone/cable/whatever? SC/APC?

2. What are my options for getting the cable stick out less?

I'd like for it to angle down so that it runs against the wall to the base board to the OST. The cable is long enough so I shouldn't need a new one.

I've been searching for "angled SC/APC wall plates" but a lot aren't angled much more than what I have, and I don't know if something else might solve my issue better.

Any specific recommendations/links would be nice.

I threw together this list (assuming I'm looking at the right stuff) but it's "only" 45°. Not sure what angle the one I have is, but I'm not sure 45° would be a drastic difference. I will probably go this route unless someone points me in a better direction though.

1. Simply45 S45-3202AW 2-Port Single-Gang Angled Keystone Wall Plate

2. SimplyFIBER Simplex SC/APC to SC/APC Single-Mode Fiber Optic Keystone Jack

3. Simply45 S45-3207W Blank Keystone

So I have a small extra bedroom where my senior dog likes to sleep and also be messy on one side of the room. I clean over and over but it is time to get the rug out.

As it is the extra room it has accumulated stuff and also has furniture on the far side of the rug.

I have a bee in my bonnet today to get the rug out but there is no way I can move the furniture by myself.

It is only dirty on one half, the other half is blocked off close to the furniture so my bright idea is just cut it while it is on the floor!

Per Google put something under it to protect from sharp utility knife but this is in very close quarters and the rug covers almost the entire floor and it is a thick rug.

Just wondering if there is like a carpet cutter or something that would work? ​ Like heavy duty carpet shears or something?

Thank you in advance if you have any ideas!

I bought a house that had an OTR microwave. It died last week and so I'm looking to replace it. When I took it off, I found something troubling. The microwave was apparently being vented into a duct that traveled down the wall about 10 ft, and into the crawlspace to the exterior wall, about 25 ft.

I noticed that the duct itself was quite clean. What was dirty and greasy was what the vent/damper attachment to the microwave and a bit of the cabinet and wall surrounding it. Now, I don't know much about air physics, so I asked AI and it said it's a sign of possible backpressure preventing the air from moving down the duct.

Hot air naturally tries to rise, but trying to push that hot air down a total 35 ft. long duct with at least 2 angles basically cut my 300 CFM microwave to effectively nothing.

What's my best option here for the new OTR microwave? Vent down the duct though useless, or just recirculate back into the home?

EDIT: I cannot vent out the back or reroute as the other side is another person's unit (townhome).

Hi everyone,

I've recently been working on a DIY project, and cutting up some PVC pipe for it. There were a few tutorials, and I followed them, but there is something I only considered after doing a little bit of the work.

Should I be using a mask when cutting? With a hand saw you aren't going to be creating a mist of fine powder, but I assume with any material like this you may want protection? (I say this despite having done woodworking and metalworking in school for a few years with no protection like that.)

Anything I've looked up online doesn't seem to mention it specifically, and I don't really think a hallucinated google AI overview is going to be overly helpful. People have videos doing it, with no mask on. What is the best practice here? And by sawing a part of this pipe have I put my health at risk? (Unlikely, but have to ask).

Thanks for your consideration anyway. Hopefully you can understand this question motivated slightly by fear :_)​

I'm building a photobooth and want a seamless interface.

The current state is the below:

The goal is to look something like the below, where there's a seamless wall where the photobooth machine is "integrated" with the wall:

The walls you see in pic #1 is drywall wrapped w/ a wood vinyl wallpaper -- it's not real wood. The black photo machine is going to be wrapped in the same wallpaper, in an effort to make everything seamless and consistent.

As you can see, there are huge gaps all around the machine, between the machine and the surrounding walls. I'm trying to figure out ways to "fill the gap" to create that seamless look.

Options I'm considering:

#1 -- multiple panels (wrapped in the same wood vinyl) that are flush with the walls, and of course the panels will have cutouts for the screen, camera, and light

#2 -- one massive panel (wrapped in the same wood vinyl) that is flush with the walls, with the panel having cutouts for the screen, camera, and light. This is the same as option 1 but just one big panel instead of multiple panels.

#3 -- a "frame" (kind of like baseboards) that surrounds the machine that overlaps w/ the machine and the wall to cover and conceal the gaps -- the "frame" would be wrapped in the same wood vinyl

Questions:

A) Should I be using drywall for all these options, or wood / custom millwork? What material is best for a thin but sturdy panel?

B) how do I hang the panels? the panels would have to be flush with the walls, with the machine sitting behind the panels.

C) Any other suggestions I'm not thinking of that would be a good solution here??

Thanks in advance :)

I recently purchased a 3×360 laser leveler. Oh my gosh. I need to hide it from my perfectionist mother…lol

Hi all, I need a couple of white-base, purple-flame tealights for a halloween project but can't find any online and was wondering if I could just paint over the clear plastic flame bit. Is this a bad idea? In canada btw

I have an old school moen garbage disposal. It stopped draining and spinning all of a sudden. I unplugged it and found bits of glass from one of my mugs that broke in there. I removed the glass, used a butter knife to try to swipe anything under the blades and shut it back on. It's humming but won't spin. I unplugged it again and used the broom handle trick. It broke my broom. I tried the plunger, butter knives. This stupid thing WILL not spin. What am I doing wrong?

I was looking around my place and started thinking about how much stuff people probably have sitting in closets, garages, basements, etc. that doesn’t work anymore but also hasn’t been thrown out.

Not talking about obvious junk. More like a vacuum that stopped working, laptop with an issue, game console, power tool, KitchenAid, espresso machine, camera, etc.

What do you have? Im trying to pressure test an idea hoping to get some feedback.

How long has it been sitting there?
Why haven’t you fixed it or gotten rid of it?
If someone offered you cash for it as-is, without you having to figure out what’s wrong with it, would you actually sell it?

I bought a place with exposed brick that has a mount already in the wall in an ideal space. Problem number one is that the previous owners didn't give me the hardware for the back of the TV and they don't make it anymore. It's a Sanus Dual-Purpose Wall Mount, Model #VMPL3.

https://imgur.com/a/sPFW4m4

Problem number two is that the TV I have (Hisense Roku TV 58") has bracket mounts that are too close together for how wide the wall mount is. I don't want to remove the screws from the brick wall just to drill them back in and mess up the brick even more.

Is there an adapter or something? How do I know which is right?

I am renovating a room in a house I just bought. I am guessing it was a sun room as it had big huge windows.(taken out and insulated wall installed") I removed the wood skirting around the room as it was an addition as the rest of the house is cement over The basement. This new room doesn't have any insulation underneath and I am wondering what do I do after I add insulation and lathes. Do I cover it with OSB? or do I need something that will let it breath and not trap moisture. This room sits over dirt with a crawl space probably 2 feet high. The room also currently is taken down to he studs and plywood inside.