DIY Questions

fourcheeks4 asked:


My home is only 984, and I would like a porch. Estimating by the picture, how much would it cost?

http://norfolk.craigslist.org/rfs/408704012.html

hillel p asked:


Two options:
1) By yearly membership – and they get access to all the material
2) By problem – to sell the manual by specific problems

If your roof is in need of repair, then you may be considering a DIY roof repair project. Depending on the nature of the problem and how complex the repair process will be, you may be able to complete some or all of the work yourself. Before you decide to move ahead with a DIY roof repair project, however, make sure that you have all the facts and are prepared for everything that the job entails.

One of the first considerations in a DIY roof repair project is whether or not you are afraid of heights. If you are, a DIY roof repair project may not be the kind for you. If heights are not a concern, then it’s time to consider your level of expertise when it comes to repairing a roof. Have you repaired a roof with this type of problem before? If not, are you confident that you can complete this project correctly? When it comes to your roof, you will want to make sure that you have all of the information needed to complete the job.

Once you have considered all of the safety and experience aspects needed to complete a DIY roof repair project, the next step is to decide whether or not to proceed or to hire a contractor. If you plan to do the work yourself, you can find all of the supplies needed at a local home improvement store. Before beginning any project, including that which involves DIY roof repair, you will need a sturdy ladder, work gloves, a tool belt, quality shoes that provide good treading for climbing a ladder, protective eye wear, etc. A contractor, on the other hand, will provide all of the materials themselves so that you do not have to worry about supplying anything but the funds.

As for whether or not it is advisable to undertake a DIY roof repair project, that answer can be found by assessing the damage. Minor repairs, such as shingle replacement or repair, small leaks, etc. can be handled by most homeowners. For more extensive damage, such as that involving hail storms, hurricanes, tornadoes or other similar misfortune may be best handled by a licensed contractor who has extensive experience in these types of roof repair projects. At a minimum, many individuals prefer to have a contractor available for supervision. If this is your preference, hire a supervisor to work with you from the beginning as it will be much more economical to have someone with you from start to finish. This option will be more affordable than waiting until the project is complete, hiring a supervisor to check out your work and learning that you need to go back and redo a large portion of the DIY roof repair project.

By: Steven Briesemeister

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Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book
by Jeff Kinney
Amazon Price: $6.57
Customer Review: The Diary series of books are a favorite of my children and this one is a great variation of the series, making their own.

Very creative and a way to expand imagination and thought.

As noted in the title it is DYI and not ...

The Backyard Homestead: Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre!
Amazon Price: $12.89
Customer Review: This is a great book for someone just thinking about utilizing their land for food. It will motivate you, educate you on the basics of where to start, how to plan, what to expect and how to plan long term. It covers a great deal of material conside...

The Encyclopedia of Country Living
by Carla Emery
Amazon Price: $19.77
Customer Review: This is quite possibly the best reference book I have ever bought. It starts by giving you very detailed instructions on how to conduct research, get the proper surveys done, and, eventually, buy a home out in the country. It is very detailed and mak...

Watch Kitchen Renovations, Tuesdays at 4pm/3c. Thisvideo is part of Kitchen Renovations show . SHOW DESCRIPTION :If home is where the heart is, then the kitchen is a home’s soul. If you want to improve the look, style and function of your kitchen, but think the project is too complicated or expensive, diy’s Kitchen Renovations is for you. From a simple redo to a complete remodel, host Paul Ryan covers each step in the process. No matter what style you have in mind, Kitchen Renovations takes the mystery out of design and layout, flooring, cabinets, counter tops, faucets, sinks, appliances and more. We’ll inspire you to transform your own kitchen–and save thousands of dollars in the process!

By: DIYNetwork

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We recently bought an older home in need of ALOT of repairs/upgrades. One being the kitchen. To save money, I would like to try and paint our countertops instead of replacing. Is this possible? I have heard it done on some DIY shows, but have no idea of how to go about it. Anyone do this before? …. Any tips?
This is a temporary fix. There are just so many other things that require the $$ at this time and I only want to make the counter tops appealing until we can change out the entire kitchen.

By: squidsgirl97

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Basically we can set our to start warming but when we press start the light will flicker inside.. and the warming and motor do not start. Instead of throwing it away maybe it can be repaired….. a little DIY maybe.

Our kitchen light stopped working the other day and it turned out we only needed a new capacitor and the guy who was going to repair it told us some other little lie along with giving us a quote of £60.

After a little research and help from yahoo answers we didn’t make the mistake of letting him fix it and the next day went out and purchased a capacitor which cost only £1.25.

So with the microwave I’m sure there has to be some some little thing inside that needs replacing. I’m not too bad with my DIY so instead of paying for repairs I want to try myself 1st but have no idea where to start.

Help would be appreciated.

We are using some replacement microwave we bought for cheap but you have to set it so high in order for it to warm the food properly and even then the food doesn’t warm up properly in the middle lol.
It’s a panasonic microwave

By: SolidStateLogic

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Of all the home plumbing repairs you could tackle, the replacement of an old showerhead with a new one is probably the easiest. A shower plumbing project is a good starter project for a number of reasons. No special tools are required, the necessary parts are pretty close to one size fits all, and if you do make a mistake and have a leak, the only thing that gets wet is your shower/bathtub. This is the perfect project for the novice home repair handyman to start with and can usually be completed in well under an hour.

The first step is to decide what type of shower head you want to replace. While most shower fixtures connect to a standard size pipe thread, you must make sure you have enough clearance for your new showerhead. If the stem (the portion of the pipe from the wall to the existing shower head) is short or close to the ceiling you will want to check before purchasing a large fixture.

The Tools You Need – For this project, you will need a wrench or pliers and some teflon tape. Depending upon the age of your existing fixture, you may also need to have a pipe wrench on hand as well. You may also want to have something available protect your fixture from the jaws of the wrench or pliers (a folded rag or piece of rubber from an inner tube work well)

Remove the Old Showerhead – If you have an older unit you probably have some rust, oxidation, or lime buildup that may make removal difficult. If the fixture does not readily unscrew, use two sets of pliers/wrenches (with the jaws of each protected as indicated above), one set on the stem and the other on the fixture. Apply equal pressure to both sides to until the showerhead starts to move. Be careful not to apply too much force as you do not want to break either the stem or existing showerhead. Once the shower head starts to turn you should be able to remove it by hand.

Clean and prepare the stem pipe – A little preparation here could save you quite a bit of time later if you decide to replace the showerhead again. Clean the threads of the stem of any rust or lime and apply teflon tape to the threads. This will help the new showerhead install easily, provide a good seal, and make it easier in the future if you ever have to replace the shower head again.

Install the New Shower – If you selected a simple replacement showerhead all that remains to be done is to screw the new fixture onto the prepared pipe stem. Make sure not to over-tighten when you are installing this – hand tight plus a quarter or half turn is probably all you need. If you have purchased a more sophisticated fixture like a shower massage wand you may have a few pieces to install. Make sure that you apply teflon tape to all threaded connections (unless otherwise specified by the manufacturer) to ensure a good seal.

Test It – Before putting your tools away and jumping in the shower take a few minutes to make sure the job is done. Turn on the water and check each of the connections for leaks. If you find any, usually they will be fixed by tightening the connection another quarter or half turn. If this does not address the problem you may need to check for a missing or worn washer.

By: Ray Breitenbach

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So here’s my issues:
We did a self DIY on our kitchen backsplash and 3 out of 4 walls turned out well. However the final wall the grout dried to fast to work with and now we have too much grout and a gouge on the bottom where it meets the countertop.

What can you do to: 1) remove excess DRY grout that has been sealed 2) change the color of the grout from a silver to a light beige or brown 3) will using selphuric acid hurt my granite countertops if we use it to try and strip the grout down with it?

By: another therapist

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Guide to DIY Lawn Care

Many people think that lawn care can only be handle properly by the professional service providers, maybe you are one of them. Let’s say that you can handled your garden and lawn like a professional if you are aware of some basic factors.

DIY lawn care is easy as long as you are willing to invest some time in researching and learning those basic steps on lawn caring.

DIY Lawn Care Tips First tip: mowing. Be sure that you mow your lawn regularly, and also leave the lawn clippings on your lawn after mowing, notice that clippings provides a high source of slow-release nitrogen totally natural and chemicals free, other recommendations on mowing is to do it when grass is dry and never mow too short. thus grass may deplete the nutrients of soil when is mowed more than necessary.

Watering

Watering play the main roll in maintenance of your lawn. and watering must be according to the soil type, the grass type and the needs of certain season or climates. The best advice on catering your lawn is never water after rainfall. Keep a good drainage on your lawn and this will avoid pests and fungi, in addition make sure to distribute the water across the lawn evenly, remember excessive watering is as bad as lack of water.

Fertilizing

Crucial point of keeping your lawn healthy and beautiful, your first step is to analyze soil. Learn what type is and adjust the fertilizer to your soil needs, maybe it is advisable to use organic or natural fertilizer. Over fertilizing can be harmful to your grass and make so called fertilizer burn for that reason compost is the best available fertilizer for organic lawn care . It add organic matter and nutrients without damaging the environment and your health.

Aeration

Vital for your grass good health is the proper aearation: compact soil may deprive grass for the feeding that needs, preventing water and nutrients come to the roots and the result: poor and weak grass, so if you decide aerate your lawn, do it when you notice it is particularly hard, compact and thatch is accumulating too much.

Good raking in fall will prevent grass to cover with dead leave and organic material that pollute the soil and aid to development of grass illness and insects, notice that many pests come from the lack of good maintenance, specially mold, they find a favorable climate to grow in a uncleaned area. Clean, free of weed, dead leave and other organic material is vital to prevent insect infestation or other incidents that can be very harmful to your lawn.

About Tools For DIY Lawn Care

Basic about tools and their proper maintenance will facilitate your work, your tools must be clean, free of rust or dirt, sharp and keep on a dry place, they are important to lawn caring and if you don’t take the adequate measure they can ruin the whole work. Use the right tools for you, take your time search what kind your need according to your lawn size and conditions, you can start from basic tools like rake, spades and shear and reach to the most sophisticated lawnmower. Taking the above rules in mind, you can keep your lawn as a professional may do, without consuming too much time and money, maybe with the help of used landscaping equipment, and you will proud of showing your work to friends and relatives

By: Andrew Caxton

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Ok. Here’s the issue. I had to tile around a window in the bathroom, including the window sill. This window is inside the bathtub/shower stall. Can I put some sort of white plastic trim around the edges of the window so it looks neat and tidy? I would like to have 45 degree angles at the corners too so it looks seamless. This is a DIY job, so of course, there was a tile that was not cut perfectly straight so now I would like to add plastic trim all the way around the window to make it look straight. Can you give me a name of the product or is it just some sort of generic trim you can buy at the hardware store.

By: summer_phlox

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