I don't think there's a thread for those of us who want to take care of do-it-yourself projects, but are idiots and need a little help getting steered in the right direction.  If you don't know what you're doing, like me, here's where to ask.  If you're smart and can give some advice that a Youtube video might not be able to help with, here where you can show off.

Im always in a cycle of endless projects.  Tomorrow the goal is to sand and then paint the bathroom I am putting in so of course I literally just came upstairs after doing some last minute mud touch ups. Otherwise my OCD as wouldnt be able to sleep because that one tape seam I just noticed is showing.

 

Anyway, I hate drywall.  Youtube is your friend (I lean on it heavily, but as I said before, watch multiple videos for the same job, because the techniques may differ, but the pitfalls are universal), and this might be my favorite video on how to mud all 4 joint types:

 

This one helped me the past week. Dude is good, but... with how bad I am at tapered joints, I may use a mesh tape going forward.  Because if i did, I would be sleeping right now instead of doing 1 am touch up work.

 

 

And speaking of tape..... never, never, never half ass the OG tape job and leave a bubble.  You will never hide that Fer no matter how many skim coats you do.

Found video of Paco when he seen this thread 

Next up for me is getting son and tile guy to patch the bathroom floor where it keeps leaking out the shower door since Mr Di never caulked it good and it’s also missing a piece of trim for a long time. I’ll be buying a caulk gun and will learn how to use it.  I can’t attempt cutting tile out though.  I asked mr Di once if he would teach me how to use a circular saw, and uh he said-No! 
 

I also would love to re finish the Ohio kitchens 1960 something porcelain sink. May not get to that though as also have to finish the beach cottage.  

@paco........ mesh tape is great at the true seams ( ya know where the rock is compressed tighter )....... other than that it will drive the OCD crazy since it is thicker than paper........ over the years I have learned that part of drywall I need to let others do since my OCD will never let me finish. 

Best of luck to you.  My best advice to everyone is.... if possible.... get yourself some one you can work with and work to each other's strengths. 

I like home improvement projects 

1 hour ago, Steve 17 said:

@paco........ mesh tape is great at the true seams ( ya know where the rock is compressed tighter )....... other than that it will drive the OCD crazy since it is thicker than paper........ over the years I have learned that part of drywall I need to let others do since my OCD will never let me finish. 

Best of luck to you.  My best advice to everyone is.... if possible.... get yourself some one you can work with and work to each other's strengths. 

When you mean true seams, you mean? :

 

 

If so, I think we are speaking the same language.

 

 

Today: Sanded all my joints, cleaned out all the dust on walls and floor, scrubbed the floor.  There is one joint that is still a bit wet, so waiting another hour or two to dry, then sanding, cleaning all over again.   

 

But once that's done I'm going to sneak in primer and painting the room.   Tomorrow grout.  After that, I can get schmoopies dad to come in and finish the plumbing  

5 hours ago, paco said:

When you mean true seams, you mean? :

 

 

If so, I think we are speaking the same language.

 

 

Today: Sanded all my joints, cleaned out all the dust on walls and floor, scrubbed the floor.  There is one joint that is still a bit wet, so waiting another hour or two to dry, then sanding, cleaning all over again.   

 

But once that's done I'm going to sneak in primer and painting the room.   Tomorrow grout.  After that, I can get schmoopies dad to come in and finish the plumbing  

Glad you understood........ BTW your hands are much fairer skinned than I would have guessed for a Paco. 

17 minutes ago, Steve 17 said:

Glad you understood........ BTW your hands are much fairer skinned than I would have guessed for a Paco. 

His family are from the highlands of puerto rico, like Ramirez in Highlander.🇵🇷🇵🇷

3 hours ago, Steve 17 said:

Glad you understood........ BTW your hands are much fairer skinned than I would have guessed for a Paco. 

You all saw my hands back when schmoopie and I were dating. Roughly 75% covered in hair

1 minute ago, paco said:

You all saw my hands back when schmoopie and I were dating. Roughly 75% covered in hair

I thought THAT was a clip. Not this recent one.

I approve of this thread! keep it alive

I wonder if @Brody can give any advice. 

On 1/3/2021 at 12:11 AM, paco said:

Im always in a cycle of endless projects.  Tomorrow the goal is to sand and then paint the bathroom I am putting in so of course I literally just came upstairs after doing some last minute mud touch ups. Otherwise my OCD as wouldnt be able to sleep because that one tape seam I just noticed is showing.

 

Anyway, I hate drywall.  Youtube is your friend (I lean on it heavily, but as I said before, watch multiple videos for the same job, because the techniques may differ, but the pitfalls are universal), and this might be my favorite video on how to mud all 4 joint types:

 

This one helped me the past week. Dude is good, but... with how bad I am at tapered joints, I may use a mesh tape going forward.  Because if i did, I would be sleeping right now instead of doing 1 am touch up work.

 

 

And speaking of tape..... never, never, never half ass the OG tape job and leave a bubble.  You will never hide that Fer no matter how many skim coats you do.

If you do ever end up with a bubble, you can cut a half moon on one edge of the bubble, preferably perpendicular to the seam your taping, fold the tape back and glue it back down with mud or wood glue. Better to do it before a fill coat...

9 minutes ago, MidMoFo said:

If you do ever end up with a bubble, you can cut a half moon on one edge of the bubble, preferably perpendicular to the seam your taping, fold the tape back and glue it back down with mud or wood glue. Better to do it before a fill coat...

I had one..... just painted yesterday 

 

 

I ended up having to rush my bathroom and painted before I was ready.  While not horribe, I do see a lot of the mud work . If I had one or two more days I may have been able to hide it better.

Has anyone ever done electrical work?  I have a lot of 2-prong outlets in my house, possibly original to my 1960s house, and I want to replace them.  I am thinking it may require an electrician, since I don't know which amps or anything like that to get, and I don't know which outlets connect to each other to the circuit breaker and all.  If I've never done electrical work,  is replacing electrical outlets something not to try by myself?  Or is there anything so easy that any idiot like me can do it?

27 minutes ago, xzmattzx said:

Has anyone ever done electrical work?  I have a lot of 2-prong outlets in my house, possibly original to my 1960s house, and I want to replace them.  I am thinking it may require an electrician, since I don't know which amps or anything like that to get, and I don't know which outlets connect to each other to the circuit breaker and all.  If I've never done electrical work,  is replacing electrical outlets something not to try by myself?  Or is there anything so easy that any idiot like me can do it?

No. Specifically since you are unsure of breakers etc. Then since they are ungrounded outlets to start with and you wish to add grounded ones....... not something I would recommend you doing. 

You have a breaker panel ? That is good.  BUT the wiring ..... the type ( 60s houses had aluminum cable and that is bad stuff )and gauge is also important as to how much current is carried.

Get someone you know and trust that has the knowledge to look at the situation.... knowing your limitations and the house conditions..... you will then know if it is doable. 

Maybe my concern is unwarranted....... but better to be extremely safe than tragically sorry. 

Good luck to ya.

50 minutes ago, Steve 17 said:

No. Specifically since you are unsure of breakers etc. Then since they are ungrounded outlets to start with and you wish to add grounded ones....... not something I would recommend you doing. 

You have a breaker panel ? That is good.  BUT the wiring ..... the type ( 60s houses had aluminum cable and that is bad stuff )and gauge is also important as to how much current is carried.

Get someone you know and trust that has the knowledge to look at the situation.... knowing your limitations and the house conditions..... you will then know if it is doable. 

Maybe my concern is unwarranted....... but better to be extremely safe than tragically sorry. 

Good luck to ya.

Thanks.  I figured it may be way over my head, which may be a lot of projects in general, but I want to teach myself some of the most basic things.  I wasn't sure if replacing an electrical outlet is absurdly easy, or takes some actual knowledge.

I have some dumb questions  (and a comment)

 

8 hours ago, xzmattzx said:

Has anyone ever done electrical work?  I have a lot of 2-prong outlets in my house, possibly original to my 1960s house, and I want to replace them.  I am thinking it may require an electrician, since I don't know which amps or anything like that to get, 

I am assuming your breaker isn't properly labeled?  I'm asking because our condo at the beach is an older building but the breaker itself is labeled.

 

Also, have you tried removing an outlet and inspecting it?  Modern outlets should have that info but I don't know since they are old.

 

 

8 hours ago, xzmattzx said:

 and I don't know which outlets connect to each other to the circuit breaker and all.  

This may be tedious, but you can, one by one, test this out.  And you are right to be cautious.  I once assumed all of a set of outlets were on the same circuit, then....

 

 

8 hours ago, xzmattzx said:

 If I've never done electrical work,  is replacing electrical outlets something not to try by myself?  Or is there anything so easy that any idiot like me can do it?

IMO, this can be a do it yourself type job even with no experience.  Back when I was living in Denver I had zero experience and was able to figure out how replace an outlet with one that had USB chargers built in.  That may have been my first "home improvement" job ever  

 

Assuming you can figure out the amps, you should be good. Just get a multimeter (they are cheap and decent ones will tell you the amps), take it slow and double check the power is off.

 

 

8 hours ago, xzmattzx said:

Has anyone ever done electrical work?  I have a lot of 2-prong outlets in my house, possibly original to my 1960s house, and I want to replace them.

Finally, are they malfunctioning or is this just for aesthetics?  

18 minutes ago, paco said:

Finally, are they malfunctioning or is this just for aesthetics?  

replace because there's a powerstrip going in there at some point. 

9 hours ago, xzmattzx said:

Has anyone ever done electrical work?  I have a lot of 2-prong outlets in my house, possibly original to my 1960s house, and I want to replace them.  I am thinking it may require an electrician, since I don't know which amps or anything like that to get, and I don't know which outlets connect to each other to the circuit breaker and all.  If I've never done electrical work,  is replacing electrical outlets something not to try by myself?  Or is there anything so easy that any idiot like me can do it?

Go buy one of these. 

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-Tools-Non-Contact-Voltage-Tester-NCVT-1SEN/100661787

If nothing else, it's a good thing to have. Then find an outlet near the breaker box. Shut off a breaker and test the outlet to see if it's still got. Once you find the right breaker and shut it off, take the outlet out and see if the wires are in labeled connections. It'll probably be by different colored screws. The new outlet should be colored the same way, so just make sure you hook the wires up the same way.

I'm assuming you just want to be able to plug a 3 pronged plug in, in that case I wouldn't worry about trying to hook a ground wire up. Unless it's a grounded box and easy. 

11 minutes ago, BFit said:

 

I'm assuming you just want to be able to plug a 3 pronged plug in, in that case I wouldn't worry about trying to hook a ground wire up. Unless it's a grounded box and easy. 

I was assuming he was going 2 prong to 2 prong.  

 

If that's the case, wouldn't he need to run a ground from the box\elsewhere?  I've never done a 2 prong to 3 prong replace.

13 minutes ago, paco said:

I was assuming he was going 2 prong to 2 prong.  

 

If that's the case, wouldn't he need to run a ground from the box\elsewhere?  I've never done a 2 prong to 3 prong replace.

If you're worried about it truly being a grounded, then yea. But if he just wants to plug a 3 pronged plug in, it's not gunna hurt anything. It's the same thing, at that point, as using a ground lift adapter

10 hours ago, xzmattzx said:

Has anyone ever done electrical work?  I have a lot of 2-prong outlets in my house, possibly original to my 1960s house, and I want to replace them.  I am thinking it may require an electrician, since I don't know which amps or anything like that to get, and I don't know which outlets connect to each other to the circuit breaker and all.  If I've never done electrical work,  is replacing electrical outlets something not to try by myself?  Or is there anything so easy that any idiot like me can do it?

What kind of box do you have?  I am assuming if a breaker panel and not an old fuse box then it was upgraded at some point and would therefore be grounded and you would be OK to continue as Bfit posted.  After you buy the tester of course.

13 hours ago, xzmattzx said:

Has anyone ever done electrical work?  I have a lot of 2-prong outlets in my house, possibly original to my 1960s house, and I want to replace them.  I am thinking it may require an electrician, since I don't know which amps or anything like that to get, and I don't know which outlets connect to each other to the circuit breaker and all.  If I've never done electrical work,  is replacing electrical outlets something not to try by myself?  Or is there anything so easy that any idiot like me can do it?

Electrical is the one household task I stay away from. play it safe and consult with an electrician (maybe you have a neighbor or friend in the field?)