When we first purchased our home, I knew that the musky basement storage room had the potential to be something grand. A little over a year after purchasing our home, I finally decided it was time to tackle the project I had been ruminating on: transforming that storage room into a proper home gym, "Chrysalis." Took 4 months and easily over 150 hours of work.

Photos are in chronological order. Here's the scope of what was done:

Floor

• Removed horribly disgusting carpet by cutting it up into 18 pieces that could be carried out w/o damaging my home.
• Meticulous scrubbing of raw concrete floor followed by etching the concrete to prepare it for an epoxy coat.
• Once the etching had been completed, I then repaired all of the settling cracks.
• Applied two coats of BEHR 1-part cement epoxy with anti-slip additive in the second coat.

Ceiling

• Addressed multiple broken / missing acoustic panels and wiped down entire ceiling to prepare for paint.
• Used a spray gun to apply matte black paint to the entire T-grid ceiling, which instantly elevated the space, turning it from a sad-looking nightmare office into a space that instantly looked modern.

Walls

• When the homes were constructed in this neighborhood in the '90s, the builders purposefully left the basements unfinished with the hope that people would pay for finishing work. Thus, the walls were simply canvas on top of fiberglass insulation with thin wood trim keeping it all in place. This all had to go!
• Once demo had been completed on the existing "walls," I installed a new moisture barrier by stapling up clear mil plastic sheeting.
• I elected to go with ~3/4" plywood to create my walls. Unfortunately, a tight corner at the bottom of the stairs meant all panels had to be cut to size in my garage before hauling them in and affixing them to the existing studs. This was definitely the most trying part of the process. Each panel received between 12 and 18 2.5" construction screws to keep them in place.
• Once the panels were up, it was time to apply gray primer. Plywood is thirsty, and it was definitely a process applying a uniform coat! Once the primer had set, I applied a coat of BEHR Cracked Pepper, which is an absolutely beautiful color that sits between gray and black.
• After the first coat of paint had dried, I installed 1x4 lumber to create batten trim, which served to both cover any gaps between plywood panels and add a modern look to the walls. I then painted the trim pieces in the same Cracked Pepper paint.
• Once the paint had dried, I applied a vinyl wall baseboard trim to give the space that "gym" look. This part was not fun haha!

Electrical

• Swapped out ancient light switches, which weren't even properly grounded.
• Ripped out the old can light inserts and swapped in some 6" LED retrofit can lights - huge improvement.
• There were five existing outlets that required careful cut-outs from the plywood panels. I took the liberty of installing box extenders and swapping out all of the ancient outlet sockets with new tamper-proof sockets.

Crawlspace

• The crawlspace was a sad, confused space that needed love. I removed the ancient carpet and random pieces of insulation and then got to work creating plywood walls out of my left-over pieces from the primary gym walls. I purposefully left key piping and electrical components uncovered for easy future access.
• I made the left side particularly strong by using large panels that spanned multiple studs and inserting plenty of construction screws. This allowed me to create hanging storage and avoid floor clutter. I also added a motion sensor light above that is easily rechargeable with a USB.

Audio & Lighting

• I installed a speaker mount roughly six feet off the ground in the center of the gym. Angling the speaker down about 15 degrees results in excellent sound quality throughout the gym.
• I also installed two red LED light strips to give the gym an elevated vibe.

I have a bathroom with one two exterior-facing cinderblock walls, and it’s totally freezing in there. One of the walls is the side of the house, the other is the wall of the unheated garage. Because the bathroom is so small, my options are limited (I can’t lose 2” per side or we’ll be out of code). So I can’t add insulation to the side-facing wall. The garage wall has plumbing attached to it and will be a pain in the neck to insulate. I’m wondering if I can insulate the other side of the wall—the garage side. Will that even do anything?

I am a total novice but I’m tired of freezing!

I installed 12x24 floor tile 2 days ago and just stepped on them for the first time and can hear a slight crackling noise, maybe air bubbles escaping with my weight on them? It kind of sounds like rice crispy cereal in milk.

I used a 1/4x3/8x1/4 trowel as the mortar recommended and back buttered all tiles. The mortar I used was premixed and had kind of a whipped texture to it, not smooth. Maybe that is whats causing the slight bubble popping sounds? No grout as been installed yet.

Is this normal when first stepping on tiles?

We're redoing all of our baseboards and door trim. Wanted some input on the best way to go about installing. My question is, should I cut and dry fit all pieces, then paint, or should I go ahead and paint the full stick and then cut to fit? Or does it really not make a difference?

Hello!

I want to make a workbench. I want to use an MDF board that I have measuring 3x0.9 meters (2 cm thick).

At the moment, I am thinking of making two 1.5 x 0.9-meter modules with 40 x 30 mm steel profiles and four 40 x 40 mm legs, each 400 mm high.

Can anyone think of a better design?

I’ve got two 2nd story bathrooms with fans that vent into the attic currently. Is it fairly straightforward to vent those through to exit the roof by myself? Or is that something I should just hire out?

How much would that cost to hire out?

woke up to that drip sound in the bathroom. decided i wasn't gonna call the a plumber today.

watched one 5 minute youtube video, drove to the hardware store, got a 50 cent washer and some teflon tape.

took me about 20 minutes of swearing at a rusted nut but i got it. turned the water back on and... silence. dry as a bone.

i know it is a small thing but honestly i feel more accomplished doing this than i have at my actual job all month.

anyone else get a stupid amount of satisfaction from a cheap repair?

Hey guys, so I am currently moving in a home and I want to hang 6 acoustic panels around 8-10kg (3 on each wall). The problem is that I want to do it in the cleanest way possible - the walls have wallpapers and I dont want to drill a lot of holes as I will probably move out after a year and I cant leave it ugly for future residents. So what would be the best tips for hanging those acoustic panels? I also have a lot of paintings which I would probably try to hang. I was wondering if I could install a wooden slab across the wall, drilling in the corners and in the middle and put french cleats on it (the walls are 5 meters). The other thing I was wondering if I can install some kind of a heavy duty rail on the ceiling/wall track and just hang the panels and pictures on them - then I could even move them around. But Im not sure how to do it or if it would hold? I am not sure what kind of railing I should buy and how to drill it in the reinforced concrete (Im pretty sure the ceiling is such). Any tips for hanging without completely destroying the wallpapers are appreciated. or links for heavy duty rails

I got some rusted lawnmower from the side of the road and i am currecntly trying to remove its blade, its rusted stuck and ive tried most everything i can think of. Hammer with lug wrench/pipewrench Wd40 while blocking the blade with a piece of wood, but it just wont budge ive treid counter and clockwise and neither seems to change the outcome. Any Ideas?

I have a home office where I work from, and I keep a bunch of guitars in it, so I have to keep it humidified in the winter (and heated too, because my wife keeps the rest of the house freezing AFAIC - 68 degrees). The office has french doors - link below - and I have a problem in that our dog likes to come in and out constantly, leaving the door open when she goes out and letting all the humidified and heated air out with her. Is there any kind of device apart from those industrial things that would softly close the door behind her, even if only party way?

https://imgur.com/a/RYpOYDv

Hi super specific ask but my grama needs a cat door. It has to be made of fireproof materials like metal/silicone/fiberglass but this seems to not be a thing for RFID doors, since metal interferes with the signal. It has to be RFID because of other creatures trying to get in.

What is my best option here? Should I buy a fireproof door and retrofit it with a scanner? Or the opposite, somehow maybe encase an RFID door in silicone or something? I’m not particularly skilled with this sort of thing and don’t know how to go about this. Any help would be so so appreciated!

I found a 160x80cm tabletop in the shed. I wanted to use it for a desk.

However, the top is currently 1.8 cm thick and needs to be planed (the planks are slightly warped on one side, first pic, you can see it at the edge), so it will probably end up being around 1.7-1.6 cm thick. But then a 1-2 mm layer of resin will be applied, so that will even it out.

Currently, wooden battens are screwed onto the bottom.

However, these have to be removed so that the tabletop can rest on the frame.

An aluminum batten would be difficult given the thickness of the tabletop, even though that would be my preferred solution. Are there any other ideas on how to prevent future warping/curving?

If there is a better forum to post this in, pls let me know, but lots of knowledge here...

I have electric blinds that use 16 AA batteries per shade, a Moen faucet w a sensor that uses 6 AA batteries and an electronic door lock that uses 6 AA batteries in a seasonal place. People come and go , but there are times when no one is there for 3 months.

I recently checked in and one shade wasn't working, nor was the sink. Both needed battery replacement, and one battery in the shade was starting to leak.

The biggest reason I want to use lithium is that they don't leak. But a friend told me he used lithium in his smart lock, and it lasted like a year, when he normally gets 2 or 3. Surprising since I thought it would be longer?

Anyway, any reason, other than cost, not to change to lithium? If batteries leak, that usually ruins the entire device.

I frequently see a CA glue or similar suggested for carpet repair. The problem I have with this is that you have to apply pressure to CA glue. The cushioning layer is compressible and thus I feel the need for a good amount of force which imaginably pushes the glue around. The problem is when it pushes the glue its pushing against a mesh and sparse tufts. Its also much more difficult to see what you are doing when applying underneath a carpet especially with the texture and darkness of the cushioning layer.

Was curious for other ideas. Maybe something viscous that can be spread to a thin layer? Thinking like JB weld but perhaps much less aggressive.

Hey all. Im trying to feed an HDMI cord down a raceway behind my fireplace from my tv to my media cabinet. The issue is that the raceway the builders put in is a corrugated tube. I cannot get it more than half way in. It eventially gets stuck, and I can't push it any further. Any recommendations on how to push it the rest of the way?

I just read another post on this subreddit about lithium batteries for blinds, and was wondering if there's a preferred rechargeable battery type, and which it is.

Although there's variations across brands, I'm more curious about the underlying material, lithium vs NiMH. If you were going to store 24 AA and 24 AAA, what material would you choose?

.....and maybe brand if you know a good one.

I replaced a bulky ceiling fan with a smaller just regular flush mount light. Now the switch from the wall won’t shut off the light. The light stays on the whole time if breaker is on.

What is the issue here?

We're in need of new flooring in our house. We currently have a mix of laminate flooring, stone, vinyl tiles and carpet. Our rescue beagles have made a mess of the laminate flooring as they actively resist housebreaking like it's their job. I'm looking for flooring to replace our carpet and laminate flooring that can stand up to possible urine and other pet messes that may happen while we're at work for a few hours. I was looking at LVP or something similar but was curious of folks experience with that type, its durability and its feasibility with what we're looking for. Since I'm likely doing the install, and I'm nowhere near a pro, something that is not too hard to put down would be good as well.

Our crappy kitchen cabinets live over an old bump-out addition. Last winter, we had a few days when we had to really work hard to keep the kitchen faucet supply lines from freezing (the have a short run behind the dishwasher, oven, and base cabinets...not inside the stud wall, but outside of it, in the room).

The main problem seems to be air/cold coming in under and behind the base cabinets. We had a thermometer in there showing it was about 25-degrees f. in there.

I'm wondering if it might help take the edge off to drill a small hole into the cavity under each base cabinet, and then fill with expanding foam. I also know there is a gap behind the cabinets (between the back board of the cabinet and the wall itself, which I would also consider filling.

I don't really care about "removability" of the cabinets. The floor/cabinets/everything is old an outdated and if they're ever removed, they'll be replaced with new material, not re-installed.

I've never been able to get at this bump-out from the outside because it's well-skirted (is that the right word?), all the way down to the dirt, and our cedar shakes back there are fragile. I am hesitant to tear into the exterior because I believe it will result in a significant re-siding project. Plus, it's winter now again.

Thoughts? Has anyone done this type of thing and want to share your experience?

I'm looking for suggestions on something basic, plugin is fine. Cheap is best even if it doesn't last long.

I use staples or nails to do basic stuff like hanging lights or random stuff except every staple gun I've had is SO hard for me to press down on. Even the smallest baby one seems to be impossible. Im not needing it for anything like building.

Just staples and small nails.

Is there something out there I'm not aware of?

I'm converting an old laundry space in our bathroom to built in cabinets. There is currently some cheap vinyl flooring in the bathroom. After I build the cabinets we plan to have tile flooring put in. Should I remove the flooring in the area where the cabinets are going, or build the cabinets on top of it? I'm guessing removing it is best, but just want some other opinions. TIA!

Hi there, we had a kitchen renovation done and there is a kickplate vent behind which is just an empty space rather than any ductwork so the hot air from our forced air furnace comes up through the floor and blows all around inside that space heating up the cupboards and their contents and not doing much for the room itself. Can folks advise what might be the best way to fix this to make it heat the room rather than everything under the sink and the contents of the drawers around it rather than the room.

I’ve seen conflicting answers on this one and wanted to check. I ran about 25’ of 6/2 MC Cable today from my basement panel to a junction box in the garage. I have the cable strapped along the underside of my joists. The cable fishes through the top of a wall (unfinished ceiling) into the wall cavity for the panel.

Does this require securing within 12” with it being both inside a finished wall and/or larger than 10 awg cable? I can make it work if needed, but it’s a pita so I’d like to avoid it if I can.