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  • Showing only topics in ~life with the tag "renovation". Back to normal view / Search all groups
    1. Thoughts on wallpaper?

      Since buying my house nearly two years ago, I have been working on various home improvement tasks. One of the first things I did when I moved in was to re-paint the walls in certain rooms because...

      Since buying my house nearly two years ago, I have been working on various home improvement tasks. One of the first things I did when I moved in was to re-paint the walls in certain rooms because of ugly paint jobs from the past or visible damage that required me to fix cracks or other imperfections. The problem is that I don't really have an eye for color matching or designs so every room that I have painted, is just white. I want to make my home feel more cozy during the Michigan winters so I am thinking of getting some high-quality wallpaper to put up as opposed to painting. Especially because I did a complete remodel of my attic living space, replacing wood paneling with drywall, and I am soon approaching the beautification of the space.

      So I am conflicted because it seems like there is many prevailing thoughts in the American design psyche:

      1. Fuck wallpaper - this seems to be due to the difficulty of removing wallpapers from 60s to 80s, where the designs were also not very good and quality bad. I removed wallpaper when I moved into my home, and it really wasn't that bad. I did it all in a day, but I can relate to hating the patterns that former owners put up.

      2. Accent wall only - put wallpaper just on a single wall in a room. Would still need to color match this to paint and kind of seems like the worst of both worlds. However, wallpaper can be expensive if you go the premium route so this could save money.

      My wife is European, and while the attitudes towards wallpaper in various parts of the continent can vary, she is also very pro-wallpaper. She is thinking of doing whole room wallpapering.

      So what are your thoughts, experiences, and opinions? If you have experience in America doing it, what vendors and advice do you have?

      18 votes
    2. Repurposing an old central AC system

      So this is ultimately a very oddball situation. Some background: I live in a rancher in southern NJ. Fully electrified home. I had recently installed minisplits to replace some electric baseboard...

      So this is ultimately a very oddball situation. Some background:

      I live in a rancher in southern NJ. Fully electrified home.

      I had recently installed minisplits to replace some electric baseboard heaters, covering about 2/3 of my home. This was fortunate, as I believe my blower fan in my central AC unit blew out. The minisplits + 1 window unit have actually been cheaper to operate than the old AC unit, so now I have a vestiegal high-velocity central AC system in my attic.

      Namely, this means a lot of unused flexible, insulated ductwork and some ferro-fluids in my attic that should probably be blocked off and drained, respectively.

      I've been contemplating on how to possibly repurpose some of this stuff to fix one of the biggest blind spots in my home: ventilation and filtering

      My one bathroom exhaust fan vents directly into the attic, which is a moisture hell that needs solved.

      There's no other ductwork in my home, and pretty much the only time fresh air gets in the house is if we crack windows or open doors.

      So the theory is:

      I route the bathroom exhausts into the old air handler coils to help capture the moisture and drain it out, then have it mix with some outside air and recirculate it into the house again.

      Alternatively, routing some of the air between the attic/crawlspace/attached garage for preconditioning outside air as as well.

      Is this insanity, or a remotely plausible idea? I'm fairly handy, and since its sbeing made with vestigial bits in spare time labor cost is much less of an issue than parts.

      8 votes
    3. T20 bits and screws, what am I doing wrong?

      I am putting a new surface on my Deck. I am using Trex and 2.5" composite specific screws. These are small head screws with a T20 torx bit. [img]https://i.ibb.co/MchtXPx/20230628-175119.jpg[/img]...

      I am putting a new surface on my Deck. I am using Trex and 2.5" composite specific screws. These are small head screws with a T20 torx bit.

      [img]https://i.ibb.co/MchtXPx/20230628-175119.jpg[/img]

      I am 7.5 boards in out of 25 boards and I have destroyed 5 bits, 3 of them brand name impact rated bits. I am making sure to stay cammed in, and weight on top of the screw. I am lining the drill up with the angle of the screw. I am also predrilling every hole.

      I feel like I have to be doing something wrong. I just don't know what else to do.

      Edit - these are the exact screws I am using - https://www.homedepot.com/p/Grip-Rite-9-x-2-1-2-in-Brown-Star-Drive-Pan-Head-Coarse-Composite-Deck-Screw-10-lbs-Pack-N212CSB10BK/207193648

      16 votes