What kind of projects can you do around your house?

[JJ Husker]

I can now add appliance repairman to my repertoire.

 

We have a Whirlpool Duet steam dryer that quit working. Well, let me back up, for a couple weeks it was getting extremely hot (like burn your hands hot when removing clothes). It was wrinkling the clothes and doing a crap job....then it quit working altogether. So I did some searching online and found the common causes. Blown thermal fuse, bad thermistor, bad cycling thermostat, bad or shorted heating element, possible bad high limit thermal fuse. So I watched some YouTube videos (some helpful & some questionable advice). I ordered all the aforementioned parts from Amazon for about $80. Dragged the dryer out to my garage, lifted it about 3 feet off the ground cuz I don't crawl around on the floor like I used to anymore and tore the sucker apart. Accessing the components requires a lot of disassembly. I wouldn't say it was tough or required much technical expertise but it was fairly involved. Once I got to the components I replaced all of them even though the only one I tested that was bad was the thermal fuse. The thermistor was off a couple ohms from what it was supposed to be so it may have been bad. Anyway put it all back together, haul it back in the house and the SOB got super hot again and quite working after about 15 minutes.  Do some more research and find the only other possible component involved is the main control board. So I order that, $240ish, and a couple more thermal fuses because those blow whenever the temp exceeds 360 degrees (a safety to prevent things from catching fire). The control board arrived today so I replaced it and the thermal fuse (in place this time since I knew where everything was now). Working like a champ.

 

Figure I saved about $300-$400 on the service call and likely the additional cost of a complete new dryer because their price would've been at least $600-$700 to repair it and it wouldn't have been worth it at that point. 

[suh_fan93]

This thread is all sorts of impressive.  Wishing I had more of skills like all of you have mentioned doing.

 

 

[RedDenver]

I've been slowly acquiring woodworking tools and just got a good table saw. Also got a dial indicator to true the blade and will be setting it up this weekend.

 

Then I'll be building a kitchen pantry and replacing the cabinet doors and drawers. I'm pretty excited to get into woodworking beyond some rough carpentry.

[JJ Husker]

52 minutes ago, RedDenver said:

I've been slowly acquiring woodworking tools and just got a good table saw. Also got a dial indicator to true the blade and will be setting it up this weekend.

 

Then I'll be building a kitchen pantry and replacing the cabinet doors and drawers. I'm pretty excited to get into woodworking beyond some rough carpentry.

 

Good luck! I wish I had the patience and time for fine carpentry, cabinet building etc. My dad was very good at it and made some beautiful pieces but it is just not a skill I acquired.

[NUance]

 

I've been working on a little workshop for myself at my house.  This will allow me to get most of my tools out of the basement and free up a room in the house.  My house is 105 years old.  It has a detached garage—also 105 years old—measuring 9'x18' that is too small for a car.  The garage was built for a Model A sized car.   I've done several little "projects" so far to build out this workshop.  Here are five projects I've completed over the past couple months: 

 

Walk-in Door:  I knocked a door width hold in the brick wall and took out one bay of a three-bay window to put in a walk-in door.  This eliminates the hassle of lifting up the garage door to enter and exit the workshop.  

 

Hardwood Floor:  I had bunch of short floor plank scraps left over from a large (25'x65') hardwood floor I installed a couple years ago.  So I used a bunch of these scraps to install a hardwood floor in my little home workshop.  They're free!  I put 3/4" treated layer of OSB underneath, between the flooring planks and the concrete floor.  I'll put the third layer of polyurethane on the floor soon—maybe tonight.  (I put the 2nd layer on a couple weeks ago—but thought I better get a 3rd layer on before I start putting stuff in the room.) 

 

Motorcycle Turntable:  I installed a 27" diameter turntable in the center of the floor—level with the rest of the floor.  This way I can position the center stand of my Kawasaki 1100 on the turntable and turn the bike around in the shop.  The turntable is made from two pieces of 3/16" plate steel with spray silicone lubricant in between them.  With the bike sitting on its center stand, I can lift the front of it with two fingers of each hand and rotate it around.      

 

Shop Bench:  I spent a lot of time designing and building a shop bench.  It's sturdy as hell!  I just got done with it yesterday.  I installed it directly into the two remaining bay windows (south facing) so I'll have good light.  It extends into the room about a foot or so.  I used 3/4" plywood for the bench surface, and polyurethaned it to make it look sharp.  I covered the plywood edges with strips of oak from the flooring.  (I had a couple of long pieces left.)   I installed a vintage Chas. Parker 23X bench vise on the bench.  I have another vintage carpenter's vice that I'll install at some point at the other end of the bench.  

 

Wood stove:  The garage had a half chimney extending halfway down with back wall from the ceiling with a port to feed a pot belly stove duct into.  I bought a Fisher Mama Bear wood stove from a friend.  Damned thing weighs around 400 lbs.!  Rather than having the wood stove sit directly over the hardwood floor, I left a 3'x4' bare concrete space in the floor where I didn't put hardwood flooring planks.  I laid some large profile, thin bricks in this "hole" in the flooring so it'll be the same level as the flooring.  The bricks sit loosely on the concrete floor, and the Mama Bear sits on the bricks.     

 

Once I get the 3rd coat of poly on the floor I'll start moving tools in:  radial arm saw, bandsaw, mig welder, anvil, drill press, router table, etc.  I'm also going to build a small (very small) "room" attached to the outside of the workshop to house my air compressor.  It's just too damn loud to have inside the workshop.   I'll run an air-line through brick wall so I can have air in the shop—without the noise of the compressor.  

 

Edit:  Just laid down the 3rd coat of polyurethane on the back half this morning.  I had to move all the stuff I have in the room already to the front half to finish the floor coating (pic below).  

[knapplc]

I tried installing a sliding glass door, but I put that project on hold and now I'm selling the one I bought.

 

Some assembly required.

 

[BigRedBuster]

Just had granite counter tops put in.  So, I did all the demo work for them and the back splash.  I had to redo all the plumbing for the sink.  Drains for kitchen sinks are a pain the a$$ to get all the pipes to line up properly and, no matter what I do, something always leaks.  Also, no matter what, the first time, I always get the cold and hot water lines on the wrong hook up and have to redo. Then, I had to replace all the drywall from tearing out the old back splash.  Two types of home project work I do not enjoy.  Drywall and plumbing.  The plumbing was done the day after my second Covid shot.  So, I felt like crap doing it which made it even less enjoyable.  

Now, the back splash tile is the project for this weekend.

[JJ Husker]

10 hours ago, BigRedBuster said:

Just had granite counter tops put in.  So, I did all the demo work for them and the back splash.  I had to redo all the plumbing for the sink.  Drains for kitchen sinks are a pain the a$$ to get all the pipes to line up properly and, no matter what I do, something always leaks.  Also, no matter what, the first time, I always get the cold and hot water lines on the wrong hook up and have to redo. Then, I had to replace all the drywall from tearing out the old back splash.  Two types of home project work I do not enjoy.  Drywall and plumbing.  The plumbing was done the day after my second Covid shot.  So, I felt like crap doing it which made it even less enjoyable.  

Now, the back splash tile is the project for this weekend.

That's funny because plumbing and drywall are two things I don't mind doing at all. Of course I worked as a plumber years ago so it's kind of second nature. Good luck with the tile project.

[teachercd]

Soooo...everyone of you is my Dad and I am 15 years old again, thanks for making me feel like crap!

[JJ Husker]

2 hours ago, teachercd said:

Soooo...everyone of you is my Dad and I am 15 years old again, thanks for making me feel like crap!

 

Quit yer b!^@hing and get your room cleaned up or so help me....

[GSG]

2 hours ago, teachercd said:

Soooo...everyone of you is my Dad and I am 15 years old again, thanks for making me feel like crap!

 

I hear you! I've installed some new light fixtures and more minor stuff like that, but nothing major. One of my issues is that my only helper really does not like to do that kind of stuff.

[teachercd]

26 minutes ago, GSG said:

 

I hear you! I've installed some new light fixtures and more minor stuff like that, but nothing major. One of my issues is that my only helper really does not like to do that kind of stuff.

I tool my vents off and spray painted them!

[Moiraine]

I had a clog in my sink drain today and was able to unscrew the cap on a drano bottle dump it down the drain and cleared that clog right up. 

[teachercd]

42 minutes ago, Moiraine said:

I had a clog in my sink drain today and was able to unscrew the cap on a drano bottle dump it down the drain and cleared that clog right up. 

Drano???

 

Must be nice having that kind of money!

 

I had to purchase some "Unclogo" the other day.

[skers83]

I mowed my lawn and when I was done rolled my own. Did both without any help.