171–180 of 305 posts
Great article. Amazing the publishers first blog post and front page of HN. Well done ;)
I am glad now that I spent the time to put it on github.io and not on some old server of mine that would have been hugged to death.
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That conduit would look terrible. Most people care about how their houses look. Decorative trunking exists: https://www.d-line-it.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/1240-x-... , I've used it, and it blends in well enough.
To be fair, it looks terrible to you (and to me), but there are plenty of people who have no issue with it. Just like there's people who get agida when there's things like toasters that sit out on the kitchen counter, but a lot of people think it's fine.
Meanwhile the wifi router I got from my provider maxes out at ~5 MB/s for local transfer between two devices…
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From what I've learned on YT, using quick drying mud and mixing it yourself (not using the premixed stuff in plastic containers), is the key to smooth finishes. Mostly because it hardens quickly and doesn't shrink. I used the 40m quick dry and it was quite easy to work with. You're right, feathering correctly... no sanding needed.
Sheetrock 45 is the way
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Here in Switzerland it's 10 CHF / square meter for white and 15-20 CHF / square meter for colour walls plus transport plus recycling plus material. I wouldn't call this cheap :-)
Surely you could save some money by doing the painting yourself? Is it all or nothing there? In the States drywall and paint are two separate crews.
This article is great overall, but there is some stuff you should do differently, if you're wanting to follow in the author's footsteps: 1. Just use UPC connectors everywhere unless you have really good reasons not to. 2. Use single mode fiber (SMF) everywhere, including internal wiring. SMF is infinitely scalable for future needs, multimode (MMF) is not. These days the cost differences for cabling and optics is negl…
Had a really good experience with FS.com. To the point that we even printed out a picture of their warehouse from google maps and wrote “thank you” on it before stapling it to the wall. They were the best support we received.
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I just redid my whole kitchen to the studs. You're making it out to be a bigger deal than it is. Now I'm onto a bedroom where I removed two whole walls that had been weirdly built to cut the room into a smaller room. This is going to require a bunch of repair work, all the way to the ceilings. Certainly, if you're looking for perfectly smooth walls, then you're never going to be happy regardless. My place is Santa Fe…
Sure, it’s easy when you have the wall texture that is designed to look like a bad drywall job. If you’re trying to match the wall type found in 90% of American homes, there’s a huge difference in efficiency and quality between a DIYer and a professional mudder. A good feathering job saves a ton of wasted sanding effort and drywall dust. When I ask GCs and tradespeople which job they would would never do themselves,…
I always end up green with envy that people seem to have pre-existing conduits in their walls for running new cables. There's no way, in my old house, of doing this without some invasive smashing in to walls.
I'm currently in the process of literally tearing down walls in my old house (built in the 40's). I used to fear smashing into walls. Once you do a bit of drywall and mud yourself, you realize it isn't that big of a deal. Everything I've learned has been off YT videos and there are some excellent channels with all of the professional tips and tricks. It isn't rocket science by a long shot.
Plaster walls on wood studs is a lot harder, and plaster over brick or concrete is impossible.
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I agree it isn't rocket science, but plastering if one of those things best left to professionals, much more so than plumbing or electrical for instance. They usually make near minimum wage, are just so much faster and produce a better result. I've started plastering a few of my walls and after wasting a couple days doing a few square meters ended up hiring a couple guys to do the rest of the house. There is just no…
I'm sorry, but it isn't that hard, really. Also, awkward to talk about how you pay someone a barely living wage as an excuse to not do it yourself.
Guess how much they make if you don’t pay them?
It’s better for everyone if someone who can make more money per hour uses that higher earning power to offload lower income tasks to people in those jobs.
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I agree it isn't rocket science, but plastering if one of those things best left to professionals, much more so than plumbing or electrical for instance. They usually make near minimum wage, are just so much faster and produce a better result. I've started plastering a few of my walls and after wasting a couple days doing a few square meters ended up hiring a couple guys to do the rest of the house. There is just no…
I'm sorry, but it isn't that hard, really. Also, awkward to talk about how you pay someone a barely living wage as an excuse to not do it yourself.