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Handy people, doing handy things. [DIY/Repair]
Thanks to the internet, anyone can be a handy man these days. Even me.
Do you know what a dryer heating assembly is? Me neither! But I just replaced the one on our dryer thanks to youtube and some handy appliance repair websites. All it took was a little research, a $20 part, and asking my wife politely if I could borrow her tool set. Provided I don't accidentally burn the house down, that was much cheaper than calling a service man out or buying a new dryer (my wife's suggestion). Plus I learned stuff!
So, now I feel like a manly man, and want to discuss repairing things and general DIY-iness.
What have you fixed at your house lately? Where do you go when you don't know HOW to fix something? Has anything surprised you by being much easier (or tougher) than you expected to fix?
Get those hands dirty, SE++.
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I've done a lot of the kitchen remodel for our condo these last couple of months. We had the new quartz counters professionally installed, but I got to install the new sink and faucet, as well as reinstall the garbage disposal and plumbing. Then I installed a glass tile backsplash on two sides. All that's left now is to sand down and refinish all of the cabinets, plus put in new hinges and handles.
Edit - I got all my info from the Internet and asking loads of questions from specialists at Home Depot and Lowes.
XBox LIVE: Bogestrom | Destiny
PSN: Bogestrom
does that count
Honestly, car maintenance is one of those areas where it feels like everyone should know how to do the basics. Especially us guys. Especially, especially us guys who had "car guys" for fathers. And yet, I never learned most of it.
It wasn't until last summer that I learned how to check my damn air filter.
he sanded our kitchen table
he put all this .. stuff near our fireplace to protect and organize the wires
he is constantly fixing and improving things
Highfiving your wife
every time I have to deal with a fucking phillips I tear myself in half in rage
She has all of our tools that aren't specifically computer related. Circular saw, cordless drill, anything that is loud and makes a mess basically.
I think it would be cool to get into that one day, but we'd need a garage first (at the very least, he has his own workshop detached from the house).
steam | Dokkan: 868846562
Absolutely! Computers are the one thing that I'm truly handy with, and they are easily one of the most important things in my house. So building and repairing them should definitely count towards being handy.
after helping them pick out the correct replacement part at a Lowe's (a metal, corrosion-resistant flush arm) and installing it, the gf's mom considered me with a little bit of awe.
nothing like impressing your significant other's parents.
steam | Dokkan: 868846562
That said it is useful.
Once we move I'm going to build a custom gaming table. To use by myself.
Anywho. Checking in as a manly man here with many scars and fracture lines to prove it.
Since we bought a house, I've been doing stuff--replacing light fixtures, painting, and stuff. It's exciting. I want to get into some huge stuff like pulling down drywall, remodeling shit.
EDIT: My wife reminded me after I told her about this thread that I just got a subscription to This Old House magazine.
A flood alarm for your basement, from a hacked up smoke detector
A Bluetooth-based automatic doorbell (with custom rings for each person)
A MP3 player you can wave your hand over in the air to change volume and pause/next track (as mentioned in a different thread)
A serial interface into an old garage door opener
Those music synched Christmas lights that were all the rage a couple years back
We have had grand plans to launch a space balloon the past couple years, but real life keeps interfering. We'll get it off the ground here soon! Also I am building a DIY sous vide controller this spring.
bad pictures, but mostly good table i built.
I want to attach it to my front door on the deadbolt. Then, I would have it scan my local network for my phone's static IP, maybe a ping test every 2 minutes or something. Once it picks it up, I want the door to unlock automatically. While it is seeing my phone, I would probably change the ping test to scan every 15-20 minutes. If it doesn't see the phone, then it locks back up.
I'm not sure how well this will work, but its just an idea.
Of course I would lock/unlock my door manually still, but it would be pretty neat.
Scrubbed some blood out of the floor
Washed out of the trunk of my car
Dug a hole out in the woods
Let's see, what else...
What happens at night
I lock both of my deadbolts like a normal person.
zip ties?
bundle the ones that are in common areas, like monitor/keyboard/mouse etc.
Seems to be working
That's uhh, kind of handy, right?
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
Yea, I can definitely tie up the slack on a lot of the wires (and probably should), but there isn't much bundling to be done because so few of the wires are running in the same direction. Honestly, that is probably my big problem with it: there is too much stuff on my desk to easily organize.
Also making it so it wont try to lock the door when it is already locked, or vice versa.
It's a pretty good resource!
And I recently built a bunch of very tall shelving units in an autoparts warehouse.
That's it. That's all I have ever done in my life.
I would use a combination of a band saw and hand carving with a knife/chisel to form a key