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I spent time today smoothing the walls in the upstairs bathroom. After much consultation and several sander belts, we determined that the best way to get the wall prepped for painting was to apply a thin coat of wallboard joint compound over all the imperfections.
It worked like a charm. Really, the coat is so thin as to not really be a problem in terms of making thick or thin spots as you go across the wall. It's just enough to fill in where the sander wouldn't get all the old tile cement off, or where the walls had some serious gouges after the tiles came down.
Now, we've got a wall that can be painted and/or papered over once I do just a little bit of surface sanding.
Fortunately, my wonderful in-laws gave me an early birthday present -- my very own B&D "mouse" sander. It's a little hand-held orbital vibrating sander. Nice for light jobs where you don't want to risk gouging.
So...next up, Dana gets to make a final decision on colors.
Um...she already bought the paint and wallpaper, but something tells me that stuff might go into storage... Hmm...
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
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I have 2 home repair jobs that I'm thinking of doing myself. But I need to research both first so I don't mess up.
First is the pipe that drains the washer. It's about a 2" diameter pipe, maybe 2 1/2", and it goes down about 3 feet then makes a U bend as all drains do. On the upward leg of the U bend, though, suddenly the pipe changes to about a 5" diameter, for about the height of an oil filter, then goes via another 2" diameter pipe into the main drain. The top of this 5" diameter thing was soldered on and it came off after 30 years. There's nothing inside but pipe and that buildup junk that gets inside pipes.
When I replace it, should I use another 5" diameter section? In other words, did that section have some purpose? Or did they just pick it at random? The builders did some crazy bad stuff on this house, the electricians and bricklayers and so on, so my tendency is to believe they just didn't have another pipe of the right length, so they just stuck that one on there, and all I need to do is use 2" pipe throughout. However, I don't want to find out to my dismay later that it was important for some reason or other. So in the meantime my washer is draining into a nearby utility sink. But I need to fix it. Anybody know anything about plumbing?
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The other job I need to do is on my roof. There's a spot where the roof eaves hang over the deck by about 4 feet. The gutter in one place along that eave got hit by a falling limb and bent down a bit, causing water to pool there. This made the plywood of the roof rot at that spot.
I need to replace that particular area and redo the roofing above it. The rest of the roof is fine. It's just been replaces a few years ago. I am not sure how to patch a roof, though. It seems like they start at the bottom and work toward the top. How do you tuck a row of tiles up underneath a row above when only replacing a small section? So I hesitate to do that one too. I've talked to different people about having it done and it seems nobody wants to take on the job. Either it's too small or they only do the tile part and not the plywood and joists beneath, or they only do the carpentry and not the roofing part. So I figured it would be easier to do it myself. But I want to do it right. Does anyone know the best way to research jobs like this to learn the best approach?
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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Home repair is cool cause it gives you the ability to stretch your knowledge of common technology. I love doing jobs like this myself, maybe hiring a helper if I need one. But I like to do them well. Maybe I should hire myself out as a helper to plumbers, sheet rockers, roofers, bricklayers, carpenters, painters, etc. to learn the best techniques. That would be cool! (Practice on someone else's house and not my own.) Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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DIY home repair is the fine art of learning when to call a professional and making do until you can afford one. Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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That would be cool! (Practice on someone else's house and not my own.) 
