DIY and Home Repair

[Courtney]

Yes, I definitely would coat it with something.

And bummer about Readymade. I didn't know that. And I'm a subscriber, dammit.

[SoulDischarge]

Coating is a given.

I'd really like to do some DIY projects around my mom's house. The place is completely falling apart and is hideous and dirty and gross. There's no money to fix it up properly, but I bet there's some things I could do to make it look nicer. Problem is not offending her because she's super sensitive about her house and messiness. But there's pieces of wall where the wallpaper is missing and the drywall is crumbling out onto the floor. My mom used to do collages all the time when she wasn't working and I suggested she do some on the wall but she just got pissed off. It would be fun to do some stuff like that on my own or with a friend though.

[Courtney]

Tippr.com is offering a 2-year subscription to Dwell Magazine for $18 right now.

[BROKENDOLL]

This is my Fred Sandfordcirca 1980's coffee table/cable reel. We'll call it the Cable Table for now. Originally I had applied my photos from my trip to Hawaii topped with a clear resin. Apparently, Pete's 2 year old granddaughter decided she should make me aware that some of the corners on the photos were lifting. She even took it upon herself to do her best at removing them, leaving shredded tropics all over the floor. (Adorable, I know.) Anyway, with all the craft crap I have piled up in the back room, and the ingenuity I have with a glue and staple gun, I took some black vinyl scrap that I had planned on covering the couch arms with, and instead did this:

We''ll have to see how it holds up to being used and having meals and laptops on it...not to mention the first hot ash that drops and burns the vinyl...I now wish I had maybe spent more time on the edges and been neater and not quicker with the staple gun. That's where the rope trim came in...it's covering my stray staples.And only lightly coated in a resin to seal it. I know I won't have to turn it upside down to rescue lighters and shit from the center hole anymore and glasses won't wobble because of the seams, but we'll see...

[BROKENDOLL]

Oh, and the glass shoe that looks like it has a urine sample in it, is really a flavored syrup that's meant to be mixed with Vodka for Martinis...I thought it was bubble bath, and really only wanted the empty shoe for some a vase.

[tessalasset]

I've been doing a lot of this this month. Deep cleaning/renovating the entire apartment pretty much. It's so fucking therapeutic.

[HowToDisappear]

Tippr.com is offering a 2-year subscription to Dwell Magazine for $18 right now.

Hah, I can't look at Dwell anymore without thinking of Unhappy Hipsters.

[chairmenmeow47]

i am making a mosaic try for my drinks. i no longer have a coffee table, but i have an ottoman and want to decorate a small tray for holding drinks. it's been kinda fun playing with designs; like a zen tile garden.

i've held off on gluing anything until i find a pattern i love. i'd like to get your feedback since i can't decide on my own. i bought tiles that match my couch. since my bathroom is a similar colour scheme, i'll prolly use the extra tiles in there on one of my white cabinet doors. let me know which ones you like. i am trying to avoid cutting tile as it kills my wrist, but i know i will have a to cut a few around the patterns.

my website is being retarded, so view everything on my site if it's not being retarded for you too.

http://www.ivy.aholic.us/gallery/v/ivy/album01/mosaic/

[marooko]

I like the two birds most. My only issue with bluebird1 is it seems it would leave a lot of uneven area, but I do think that is my favorite layout. Bluebird2 is also enjoyable and it users more tile, so less uneven space.

Now for what I hate; plumbing and installing dishwashers. Fuck that shit!!

[chairmenmeow47]

i may use the bluebird for my bathroom because it is also a larger size tile than the rest and would make it uneven. thanks roo, good luck on the plumbing and dishwasher installation!

[RageAgainstTheAoki]

Help, please?

So I live in a 1br apartment. There is a door in my apartment which leads to a short hallway. This hallway leads to my bedroom and bathroom. This door opens inward. As in, you turn the door handle and push the door, not pull it. The entire left hand wall of the hallway which the door leads to is made up of a large linen closet with several floor to ceiling shelves and cabinet doors. The center linen closet doors open down as opposed to left to right. Like this drawer shown here:



At 10:30 I heard a loud thud. I later figured out that it was one of those center doors of the linen closet falling open. The one that fell open is situated directly behind the main hallway door. As a result, the hallway door is jammed shut and can only open a couple of inches. I can barely get my hand thru the gap. I've tried using poles, broomsticks, swiffers, kitchen utensils, planks of wood, vacuum cleaner extensions... anything. Anything I can use to try and close that linen closet door so that I can reopen this main hallway door. nothing works because the gap in the door barely allows me to squeeze my hand through. I just can't get enough leverage. It doesn't help that the linen closet door that swung open is very heavy. Any thoughts on what I could try doing? If I can't get it to move by morning I'm going to, well, destroy the door with an electric chainsaw. I don't know what else I could do...

I can't...

• Take the hinges off the door and remove the door - it swings in/forward. The hinges are on the other side.
• Get into the bedroom or bathroom through a window and then open the door from the other side. I live on the third floor and my bedroom window is shut anyway.

Fuuuuuuuck!

[joppy-slow]

Help, please?

So I live in a 1br apartment. There is a door in my apartment which leads to a short hallway. This hallway leads to my bedroom and bathroom. This door opens inward. As in, you turn the door handle and push the door, not pull it. The entire left hand wall of the hallway which the door leads to is made up of a large linen closet with several floor to ceiling shelves and cabinet doors. The center linen closet doors open down as opposed to left to right. Like this drawer shown here:



At 10:30 I heard a loud thud. I later figured out that it was one of those center doors of the linen closet falling open. The one that fell open is situated directly behind the main hallway door. As a result, the hallway door is jammed shut and can only open a couple of inches. I can barely get my hand thru the gap. I've tried using poles, broomsticks, swiffers, kitchen utensils, planks of wood, vacuum cleaner extensions... anything. Anything I can use to try and close that linen closet door so that I can reopen this main hallway door. nothing works because the gap in the door barely allows me to squeeze my hand through. I just can't get enough leverage. It doesn't help that the linen closet door that swung open is very heavy. Any thoughts on what I could try doing? If I can't get it to move by morning I'm going to, well, destroy the door with an electric chainsaw. I don't know what else I could do...

I can't...

• Take the hinges off the door and remove the door - it swings in/forward. The hinges are on the other side.
• Get into the bedroom or bathroom through a window and then open the door from the other side. I live on the third floor and my bedroom window is shut anyway.

Fuuuuuuuck!

Can you remove the main hallway door knob - which would give you more leverage for trying to get something to close the linen door? Have you tried rope / hangers ? This must really suck... I've had drawers do this, but never a blocked door.

[RageAgainstTheAoki]

The doorknob is not screwed into place. It's completely flush with the door. I tried hangers and ropes but none of that worked. I think I'm effed. Chainsaw it is.

[joppy-slow]

The doorknob is not screwed into place. It's completely flush with the door. I tried hangers and ropes but none of that worked. I think I'm effed. Chainsaw it is.

You have absolutely no crawl spaces any where?
This is what I would try to do (if I had access to the hinges - much cheaper to replace than a door)... Borrow a jig saw / reciprocating saw and cut the metal hinges off...

[joppy-slow]

I'm looking at my door right now and realize that if it opens inwards the hinges will not be accessible... you may have to break that mofo down.. unless you can somehow borrow a ladder and wedge your window open.. good luck

[SoulDischarge]

You need to figure out a way to make something strong and sturdy yet thin and long (like a piece of pipe, although bending metal would be difficult, or two thin sturdy pieces of board nailed together or something) into a V or U shape, at the perfect angle. Then put the pointing side upward into the crack and pivot it so it lifts up the closet door.

[RageAgainstTheAoki]

Negative on crawl space and the bedroom window is a slotted window; I don't think even Twiggy could climb through one of the slots.

Yeah, it's not gonna work. By opening the door that tiny crack to allow my hand and some kind of flat object to fit through, I'm pushing the hallway door all the way against the open linen closet door. I can't believe I'm going to chainsaw this door in the morning. What a fucking way to start the week.

[SoulDischarge]

The point of the V or U shaped tool is so that you don't have to fit your hand through. You grasp one end of it, it curves around the door and pushes the closet door up. I'll MS Paint a diagram.

[SoulDischarge]

So obviously the green line is the door and the blue box is the closet door. The red thing is your tool. You'd slip it in the crack so that the apex is pointing towards the ceiling, then you'd pivot it upward with the apex right against the door. You just have to find something sturdy enough that it could lift the closet door, thin enough to fit through the crack, long enough to reach the closet door, and that you'd be able to bend. Maybe like a heavy plastic mop handle or something.

[marooko]

I'm guessing you don't room with Lassie so you can't send her for help....?

Really curious how this turned out.

[Courtney]

Damn that sucks. I want an update.

[casey]

Me too! Sorry, Rage...that sucks! What a weird design flaw in your apartment.

[Courtney]

I would say this is the kind of issue that would be a legitimate reason to call a building manager or landlord and ask him or her to handle it while you are out at work.

[marooko]

Except from the sound of it, he may be stuck in his room.

Apparently out of.

[RageAgainstTheAoki]

OMG. I did it. Woodchips and sawdust everywhere. Glad I decided to get the safety goggles. Pics later. Back to work now. No longer peeing into a vase sitting on my balcony. God bless indoor plumbing!

[casey]

I really wanted to know how you were using the bathroom, so thanks for answering my question before I asked it. I thought maybe you were just, like, going outside and pissing on the street or something.

[menikmati]

You probably could have just borrowed a saw-zal with a metal cutting blade and slid the blade in near the hinges and cut them off, saving the door, which you could have later rehung with new hinges attached.

[marooko]

HAHAHAHAHA! Feel free to leave out the pee vase when posting pics.

[RageAgainstTheAoki]

I would say this is the kind of issue that would be a legitimate reason to call a building manager or landlord and ask him or her to handle it while you are out at work.

Yes, unfortunately, my landlord is on his honeymoon in South East Asia. Not that he really would have been able to do anything. I love my landlord, but he's like a 30-something Woody Allen.

You probably could have just borrowed a saw-zal with a metal cutting blade and slid the blade in near the hinges and cut them off, saving the door, which you could have later rehung with new hinges attached.

I thought about doing this very thing. Unfortunately, the crack in the door would not open wide enough to allow even the thinnest of saws/blades through without totally destroying the wood anyway. You couldn't even see the hinges through the crack.



Sorry for the shit web cam photos. I think I left my camera on a work trip last week. What you can't tell from these grainy photos is that there were woodchips/saw dust EVERYWHERE. Took me nearly an hour to sweep it all up. Have to admit, this was actually kind of fun. It was like the Koreatown Chainsaw Massacre. But instead of LeatherFace, you got a mild mannered South Asian marketing manager.

[joppy-slow]

hey rage, post a picture of the thingy that was not allowing your door to open. I'm just curious. I bet your neighbors were like wtf.lolz