r/askcarpenters

Posted without finishing the title, sorry 🫠
*I originally posted in Carpentry sub, but it was removed because apparently I should’ve posted here instead: https://www.reddit.com/r/Carpentry/s/zTsEfLW2Yf*

We had a tight deadline to get some final renovations completed for our home and baby’s nursery room, and I hired out a company to install a new solid wood poplar door for our nursery room. Mr. Handyman of Huntington and Smithtown sent someone with 20 years of carpentry experience out and charged us $640 to install the new jamb and door. The final result is not what I expected for $640, especially compared to the two doors my husband (a novice to carpentry) had already installed himself (see the last 2 pictures).

The moment I saw the resulting work I called the company, but they didn’t even look at the pictures, spoke over us repeatedly, and insisted they’d only come out to “fix” this with wood filler and paint or would refund us only $80.

Aside from the way the door cuts look - and how our solid wood door now looks when the carpenter knew we planned to just poly and keep it unpainted - is there anything structural about the way the hinges have been cut that we should be aware of? Since the company is refusing to amicably resolve this, is there any advice for how we could navigate this?

This house is only 2 yrs old. What’s causing this in your opinion and is it an easy fix or will I have to rip it all down?

My basement. Just noticed a crack in the joists. My wifes father recommended raising the jacks a bit and putting in a 6x6 instead of a 4×4. Can i just sister the main joist? And do you think my house is going to fall down? Built in 1975. Way up north in maine.

My husband and I have come by a lovely mid-century teak extendable dining table by McIntosh (similar to G Plan). But in a perfectly foreseeable turn of events we can’t get it through the front door: it’s 75.5cm high, while the narrowest point in our entryway (the doorframe) is 72cm. I was advised to trust the process, but it’s a definite no-go.

It’s a 100yo+ mid terraced house with no alternative entry points, so it’s this doorway (not in anyway removable) or nothing. How can we get this sucker inside and back together again?

I think we’ve ruled out the non-destructive options:

* Removing the tabletop: already done, as you can see. Bought us 1.5-2cm and some manoeuvrability (not enough)
* Removing the legs: legs are solid wood, stapled + glued either side of the apron
* Disassembling the apron: apron appears to be 4 pieces of bent ply, with the seams enclosed by the legs

Here is what else we’ve considered:

* Chopping off the legs (near the top, to maximise the glued surface) and re-joining with dowels + glue. We could also attach a flat metal bracket / mending plate, or sister another bit of wood, inside each leg to brace the joins?
* Cutting the apron in half on the long sides of the table (so the whole table is split into two) then either a mending plate or sistering another bit of wood inside to re-join the two halves
* Cutting the apron as above, then running two rails lengthwise attached to the legs (instead of attempting to restore the integrity of the apron as a support)
* Shaving 3-4cm off the legs is a nonstarter as we're both tall

What is going to give us the best chance of success here? Anything other options we are missing?

I can post some close ups of the leg and apron joins in comments if that helps. Thank you!

Plastic wood was used to build up the joint (2nd photo = repaired joint) which was then sculpted with sandpaper. Recutting the pieces would have been more ideal/appropriate, but that would require reordering more. The build-up strip is still exposed but painted now. Batten molding can’t really be used underneath because the exposed strip narrows as you move back from the mitre toward the wall.

My mom sent me a message this morning letting me know that one of the decorative columns blew down during a wind storm.

As far as I can tell, they’re not really load bearing, as we have had to put shims under them because they could move around. These were made in the late 70s, so I’m sure that installation directly on concrete isn’t recommended.

I was considering cutting out the rotted area and rebuilding that portion. I was hoping for some suggestions on connecting it back to the ground and blocking support.

I’m a homeowner that’s familiar with woodworking, so opinions on whether this is truly something I could tackle, or whether we should get a pro out here.

Deck was improperly attached to house for decades - rotten siding, rotten sheathing and some rot on the sill beam. Got that all fixed up and it's time to sheath and replace the siding. We are in Canada.

Questions:

1. There was some combination of insulation in these wall cavities - batting, blown in cellulose and vermiculite. A bunch was lost to the wall being opened up but we don't have much space to access. What should we put in before closing this up? We get high heat and humidity in summer and very cold temperatures in the winter.

2. You can see in the last photo the depth of sheathing where the rotten sections were cut out - 2 boards each almost 1". What materials should we use to build this out to match that depth?

3. Seems to be some combination of tattered building paper from throughout the years. Do we add this on this small section and if so what do we do with the top seam?

4. We do tend to get the occasional mouse in the basement when the temperatures drop for winter. Any tips related to keeping these guys out welcome. We do plan on repointing the foundation along here after and not sure what to do with the small gaps between foundation and sill beam.

Thanks for any and all feedback. Old houses are.....fun.

1939 home, top floor with a flat roof. This is non exterior wall. I believe i have a good idea on how to frame it properly without losing structural integrity.

However I am not entirely sure how approach the angled and the horizontal inserts between the studs. any suggestions on if i can move these up or down, do they all need to be lined up, or is staggered okay? How would you approach this?

Installed a new window that does recess into the wall as the original did, I’m left with this big gap between the window and the slab on all four sides.

Any advice would help

This was part of a pottery barn desk that keeps two pieces of the desk together. I cannot for the life of me figure out what this is called or where to purchase it

Hi guys! I’m doing a little project and hit a roadblock- I’d like to swap the door panel with this panel I built around a cat door, and then maybe hide the joint with a little molding to match the original panel.

Am I on the right track here?

How would you go about cutting the panel out in a way that makes this possible?

Thanks very much for your help!

[effacé]

So, stupid homeowner mistake: we didn't specify to the contractor that we wanted smooth posts. While we were out of town, he installed these treated pine posts, and he went ahead and primed and painted them too (and yeah, I'm wondering if they had acclimated enough, but that's another problem for another day). When I saw them and asked him to smooth them out, he said sanding is risky and that they'll never really be smooth, but he's willing to try if we ask him to. He seemed reeeeeally hesitant, though, so I'm trying to make sure I'm not asking him to do something we'll regret.

I've done a fair amount of internet research on this and have read several Reddit posts that don't fully answer my questions. Mostly, the other Reddit posts on this topic are a debate between people saying "don't sand treated wood" and then other people saying "no, it's fine, they don't use arsenic anymore (but still wear a mask)." I also understand that wood filler doesn't really adhere properly to treated wood and will pop off over time.

We really dislike the super rough texture of these posts. So, what's the best way to salvage the situation? Ripping them out and replacing them is not an option, unfortunately.

1. Do we attempt sanding? My other (hare-brained, know-nothing) idea would be to buy some smooth, thin boards and just wrap each post in them so that they don't increase the size of the posts too much but provide a smooth surface. I'm not sure if those boards would need to be treated or not, or if it's even possible to obtain such material (would need to be 8' long to avoid seams).

2. What's the best way to deal with the jagged edges? Is there any type of wood filler that might at least hang around for ~5 years or so, and then we just accept that we have to have them redone every so often?

Thanks so much. Feeling very stupid over here and hoping someone has some encouraging ideas/guidance.

The sides are 1 1/4 inch thick and because it’s all heavy teak wood I am wondering what the best way to add these sides would be. I just don’t know if dowels and glue are enough.

Howdy Carpenters, I’m trying to figure out what this siding material is. I was told by some people that it might be rough sawn cedar.

Whatever it is, it’s totally rotted through and needs to be replaced.

Can anyone recommend a suitable replacement material type? Im also considering just putting in siding to match the rest of the house.

Thanks for your help!