r/DIY

okay so i was so done with cables. like they were everywhere. on my table, hanging off the side, tangled for no reason… and somehow my phone was still always at 10%

i kept saying i’d “organize it later” but you know how that goes

a few days ago i just snapped and was like fine, we’re fixing this right now. no plan, no measuring properly, just opened a drawer and thought… what if i just shove all of this in here somehow

i took an extension board, tried to make a hole at the back of the drawer (honestly i was scared i’d ruin the whole thing), pushed the cable through, plugged everything inside and just kind of… arranged it until it looked less chaotic

closed the drawer and sat there for a second like wait… that’s it??

now i just throw my phone in the drawer when i need to charge it and shut it. no wires everywhere, no visual mess, nothing staring at me all day. it’s such a small thing but it feels weirdly satisfying every single time

it’s not perfect at all, if you open the drawer it still looks a bit chaotic inside 😭 but from the outside it looks clean and that’s honestly enough for me

didn’t expect something this random to make my space feel this much better but yeah… tiny DIY win i guess

Hi everyone! I need to make a wheel of fortune (prize wheel) out of simple materials (cardboard, a bearing, a bolt, etc. — nothing fancy), but it has to always stop on the same section. It doesn’t matter which exact section it is (which side it’s on, where it’s positioned, etc.). Could anyone suggest how to make that work? Maybe someone could even draw a simple blueprint or sketch? I’d really appreciate it.

P.S. I’m not planning to trick or scam anyone — it’s just a birthday gift for my friend.

So I bought a house about a year and half ago under the assumption no work was needed. Never had the pipes inspected because in this town it is required to be done before selling by the seller. Come to find out the prior home owner was shadier than slim shady and stingier than Mr krabs and found a way to get only half of the sewer line inspected before selling. It was the part that went from the house to the road in which he had just replaced with new pvc pipe. However we now know the pipe under the foundation is old terracotta that has many separations and bellies in the line. Due to this it needs replaced and can’t be done via trenchless repair. However my plumber just hit me with an outrageous number of $17k to do roughly 40ft worth of pipe. Clearly I’m not gonna go that route and have decided (against my wife’s complaining) I’m going to do this myself. I’ve priced out the tools, roughly most if not all of the materials and it’s less than $1000 for that. I’m looking for any advice before I move forward with this, anything I should know that could make this process easier such as do I really need a 16 inch concrete saw blade or could I go with a cheaper 12 inch and be fine. How should I go about placing the new pipe? I know it’s recommended to have 1/4 inch of fall every foot of pipe. Any advice is appreciated. Also so ai doesn’t flag this as breaking the rules, I live in PA where it is legal to do this myself, so long as I get a permit to do this which I intend to. And after reviewing what could go wrong it seems to be safe with the route I’m going of limiting concrete dust when I cut the concrete slab.

Hello all!

We just went under contract for a new build home. During the negotiation we asked about CAT6 drops and placements. Currently there is a drop in the main office and the living room.

We are interested in adding drops to the upstairs bedrooms for additional remote work spaces. The builders stated there is no negotiation room for adding low voltage (CAT6) outside of the original scope, even for additional cost.

Anything I can do during the build process to make the DIY easier? All thoughts are welcome.

I have a Black and Decker 18V drill and therefore logically it seems sensible, if I want to get other tools, to buy them from that series so I can buy them without a battery. I'm primarily thinking of an angle grinder but may be a jigsaw, sander and/or circular saw.

I just wondered if 18V is enough for most tools or whether it's a waste and I should just shell out for more powerful versions. They will only be for home DIY jobs.

tiles came with the house. someone came to redo the grout and 2 hours later it flaked off again. I took a closer look and the tiles are flexing. the tiles nearest to the walls are okay, its the several in a row in the middle.

whoever did these floors to flip the house really sucked.

I just bought a mirror that has sideways d rings. It's an egg-shaped mirror that I plan to hang horizontally. I am not hanging in studs and it isn't a very heavy mirror. I thought I could use 2-25lb claw hangers but with sideways d rings that won't work. If I rotate them vertically, the hangers will show. What's the easiest way to install this mirror?

General Feedback/Getting Started Q&A Thread

This thread is for questions that are typically not permitted elsewhere on /r/DIY. Topics can include where you can purchase a product, what a product is called, how to get started on a project, a project recommendation, questions about the design or aesthetics of your project or miscellaneous questions in between.

This is a judgement-free zone. We all had to start somewhere. Be civil.

A new thread gets created every week.

##/r/DIY has a Discord channel! Come hang out or use our "help requests" channel. Click here to join!

Click here to view previous Weekly Threads

The door was installed per instructions and leaves a half-inch gap all around the door. The magnetic latch it came with is pure garbage, and due to the gap, does not work. What kind of catch can I use that would allow the door to be opened and closed from inside and out?

I'd like to avoid using any locking hardware (eye and hook, barrel bolt) but I cant seem to find other options.

Thanks!

Hi all,

I just moved into a new house a few weeks ago (renting), and one bifold door is driving me nuts. There's like 6 bifold doors in this house and every other one is set uo correctly, except arguably the most useful and visible one.

The door is fixed on the right side. There's a metal bracket at the top, and a metal bracket at the bottom. It swings closed to the left, and there is a track-guiding piece with two springs atop the left side.

The door gets about 1, maybe even 1/2 an inch away from being closed flush, and stops. It's stuck on the wall.

I spent a good 45 minutes trying to figure out the issue myself before calling my landlord. He sent someone out to look at it, he fiddled with it for all of 5 minutes, shrugged and left. LL says unless I can fix it, it's good enough... it's not, very much not good enough. The closet the door is for is the perfect size to store my recycling and garbage bins, arguably the only place I can put them that makes sense (nobody wants to trudge up and down a flight of stairs every time they need to throw a wrapper away), and I am pulling my hair out trying to keep my dog out of the bins as is, I want them behind a functional door 😭

I've tried googling, I've tried asking AI, I've tried watching videos, I've tried asking the few handy people I know. Nobody can tell me how to make the door close. Presumably it closed just fine when it was installed, however many years ago. Like I mentioned - I'm pretty sure it's getting caught on the wall.

The only thing I can think of is the fixed pin needs to be shifted a little (towards the closer wall or towards the opposite wall, i don't know), but this is not possible. It is screwed through the track into the ceiling/frame/whatever (not wood, its made out of whatever the walls are made out of), and i even tried taking the track off to slide it either way but then the hole is covered. Which I realize means I could just drill a new hole, but I'd rather avoid that unless it 100% is the only fix.

There's no pin, absolutely 0 visible way to adjust this hardware. Yet ALL the other doors seem to close just fine!

Please help me. I'm going crazy over a dang door.

https://preview.redd.it/topxni5yl5tg1.jpg?width=966&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=205c629cc4ee278d8c91a08ce1e79299ebcae081

I have this plastic Brabantia Concrete Tube for the rotary line. What I would like to do is insert it in cement\concrete on the patio, but be able to take it out when needed. e.g. moving house, etc. I don't want to leave it encased in the cement\concrete and not be able to pull it out.

Hey, I don't know if this is the right sub, but feels like the most likely place for someone to perhaps have knowledge/experience of this. I'm staying in an AirBnb, and the host is this lovely old lady who's been super accommodating during a stressful situation, and she clearly takes her guests' comfort very seriously and personally. The room I'm in comes with its own bathroom and kitchenette, and because she loves antiques, the bathtub is enamel (I believe - it's old, and I think she said enamel). Over time, it's gotten stripes, and looks dirty when it's clean, so the last guest made a complaint, and she decided to get it redone, lending me use of another bathroom while it's being redone, saying we can't use mine for a day or two after the job is done.

Today, I woke up to the sound of what I now know was an exhaust fan running over and over again, several times. However, when I opened the door and walked past the bathroom, the smell was overwhelming, and only seconds of my door being opened meant also couldn't get rid of the smell in my room. I am neurodivergent and hypersensitive to these things, and I have asthma, so I might be paranoid, but this stuck in the air and I felt myself getting a bit of a headache and like my upper airways and mouth was drying out a bit (as if coated with something). I felt my chest get kinda heavy, too. I kinda opened the window and ran away to spend the day elsewhere, and on my way out, I asked the guy doing this (who was not wearing a mask) if it would be safe sleeping in the room next to it. He said it would, cause the fumes had been pushed out with a big fan, and this was just the smell. However, standing right next to the bathroom talking to him made it feel like my throat was closing up and the smell was so overwhelming, I just kinda had to run out of the house and it took a sec to feel like myself. I still have that "something's coating my mouth" feeling, and my asthma does not feel great, and it took until now to not feel a bit dazed (I still don't feel great). I feel the smell still sticks that area between my nose and mouth and I can't get rid of it.

if the smell is still there, is it safe to sleep in the room next to it when exhaust fans have been used? like, actually? I guess it could be anxiety, so please lmk

I am having this conversation with someone about getting an extension cord for her outdoor LED Christmas tree. She says that she cant find the right length. I mentioned to her why not use two extension cords put together? and she says, you mean you can do that? I said yes, you can do that!

Is it normal for people to not realize that you can add two (3 prong outdoor heavy duty) extension cords together to add to the length? (this is for temporary use!) 📏👷

Does anyone see any issue or problem in doing this if it is done in a mannor that meets all other safety requirements? ⚡👍

Hey everyone. I built a bed frame out of untreated wood for indoor use. I live in an apartment so I can’t break out a sander or do anything that creates a ton of dust. I want to protect the wood from pests and termites and also make it look decent over time.

I have Timbor on hand and I am planning to add small feet to keep the frame off the floor. My main concern is that I know water based Timbor will raise the grain and make the wood rough, and I also know bare Timbor can leave white residue.

I am trying to decide between three approaches and would love to hear what you all think.

Option 1: Skip everything for now. Use the bed as is with bare untreated wood. Put my mattress on it and figure out pest treatment and finish later when I have access to better tools or a workspace.

Option 2: Apply two coats of Timbor now for pest protection. After it dries, wipe down the white residue with a damp cloth and lightly knock down the raised grain with a hand sanding sponge (220 grit). Use the bed like that for now and add a proper finish later when I can.

Option 3: Apply two coats of Timbor, do the damp wipe and light hand scuff, then go further and apply a few thin coats of wipe on poly or hardwax oil on top to seal everything in and give it a smooth finished look. All done by hand, no power tools.

For those who have worked with Timbor or finished raw wood in a small space, which route would you go? Is option 2 good enough to live with for a while or is it worth going all the way to option 3 now? Any product recommendations for apartment friendly finishing would be great too.

Thanks in advance.

so i’ve had this ugly little corner in my backyard forever. like, dirt, dead leaves, a broken chair that was falling apart… basically just a sad forgotten spot. i always looked at it and thought “ugh, someday i’ll do something” but never did

then last weekend i just… got fed up with it. grabbed some scrap wood from the garage, a couple of old cushions that nobody used, some nails and a hammer, and just started. no plan, no measuring, just “let’s see what happens”

honestly, it was a complete mess at first. wood pieces didn’t fit, cushions kept sliding off, i hit my thumb more times than i can count, and my dog kept stealing my hammer. i was like okay maybe this was a bad idea, but then i kept going anyway

a few hours later i had this tiny little nook. it’s not perfect, it’s crooked in places, but it’s cozy and somehow actually works. i put a cushion on the chair, added a little blanket, and now i want to sit there with a book or just stare at the sky. it actually makes me happy

it’s not fancy, it’s not Instagram-ready, but i made it happen with random junk i had lying around. and that somehow feels really satisfying

I successfully bleached some white shirts to make them whiter. I now want to bleach a shirt that I have used fabric paint on, I was going to say fuck it and just do it but I wanted to see if anyone else had tried and what happened? Like if the bleach (maybe it's chlorine in english??) completely whipes the paint, or if it just lightens it, or if it barely does anything?

It's a white shirt with text in white fabric paint. I put it in the bleach (chlorine??) for abnout 4-5 hours on the other shirts, thats the plan

Moved into a house last year and had a blocked inspection chamber i had to clear which resulted in a really shit time. Since clearing it it has already started building up again. Basically the toilets waste seems to come down the soil stack to fast and over shoot the gully then splatter on the other side, Tissue and waste builds up and over time blocks it again. Looking for any advice on a solution. Help me stop shit hitting the fan wall. P.S sorry for picture Number 2

https://preview.redd.it/x59r6lzxpltg1.jpg?width=739&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a9a322c1eb4cf7cd540739a626643c89f75f5ad0

https://preview.redd.it/rcxay7sypltg1.jpg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a46dac1074bae2959ed0f78dccef43a921e62806

So I need to make a base for an 8x 12.5 Lifetime resin shed. I can barely afford the plastic shed, let alone a concrete slab. I am a terrible carpenter and am wondering why I couldn't use four treated 4x4x 8s on each of three sheets of plywood (plus one more for the extra bit) instead of making a complicated frame with joists 16" on center. I built something like this for my generator shed and it seems to be holding up ok. What am I missing?

Would it be possible to make a Murphy bed that folds down from the wall, then has a trundle bed that pulls out from under that? Could function as a desk or look like a cabinet when it’s closed

I haven’t seen anything online that fits that description!