Frustration of failed DIY

**disneysteve** · 02-21-2016, 06:21 AM

Originally posted by tomhole View Post

What are your DIY fail stories?

Having been a homeowner for nearly 22 years now, I certainly have a few of those.

Our house has some weird metal sheeting behind the drywall on the exterior walls. More than once (you would think I'd learn), I've tried to hang something on the wall by first drilling a hole to mount a drywall anchor. The problem is I get through the drywall just fine but then hit the metal and can't go any farther, so I'm not able to sink the anchor far enough into the wall.

This has resulted in a couple of holes needing patching and a couple of things never getting hung as planned, like a swing arm light over my daughter's bed, for example.

I'll try to think of any other stories. I'm sure there are projects that didn't go as planned. I guess I've blocked them out of my memory.

**Like2Plan** · 02-21-2016, 12:34 PM

I came close when I was having problems getting my cracked iPhone screen replaced.. I thought--how hard can this be to replace the screen? There must be Youtube videos on this, et'c.

Lucky that I found a local shop that did the repair for me. I was interested in what it entailed, so the guy let me watch the whole repair. I found out that every thing in the iPhone had to be removed before he could get to the screen. Little, tiny screws (that I could barely see) held stuff into place.

But, I have to give you credit for trying to repair your iMac--even though it didn't work out. At least you tried--maybe next time the repair will go a little smoother.

**ua_guy** · 02-22-2016, 07:46 AM

The u-joints in our work truck needed replacement.

I did it without a hydraulic press and that was some grunt-labor getting the driveshaft out and hammering those joints out (and back in). It ended up being about a 5-6 hour job (first time doing it) with lots of lessons learned.

In the end, everything went back together beautifully and the truck's driveshaft is nice and tight (and safe) again, and wow it drives so much better. But for that kind of effort/angst I probably should have just dropped it off at the shop.

The whole endeavor only cost me $48...It took three u-joints, would have been two, except I had an issue getting one in and ended up doing that one over when I busted one of the caps.

**msomnipotent** · 02-22-2016, 12:30 PM

I have a feeling that I am going to be a frequent contributor to this thread. We just got several estimates for work we need done around the house, and everything came in a lot higher than expected. We are going to have to do a lot ourselves and we don't have experience. I am pricing out new shower doors right now. I can't decide if our first project will be re-tiling the kitchen back splash that they wanted $1,800 just for labor, or the shower, which they wanted over $500.

**cypher1** · 02-22-2016, 01:34 PM

Growing up a lot of mine started with building PCs, and then car repairs taking longer due to breaking a bolt, or something seizing, or additional damage while trying to remove a part. Same challenge applied to home for plumbing (cutting wrong/stripping threads, sweating pipes incorrectly), electrical work (half @$$ wiring/cabling, not following electrical codes), carpentry (not finding studs intially, wrong measurements, bad cuts, not leveling, not prepping enough for paint). You quickly learn what NOT to do.

Sh!t happens. But that's how you learn, gain experience,in order to gain more confidence and become a better problem solver. No matter how frustrating the project or problem is, wondering why I should have just paid someone else to deal with, ultimately it needs to get resolved. What I saved in labor (taking longer than a professional would), I gained in knowledge.

**QuarterMillionMan** · 02-22-2016, 04:53 PM

Installed 411 ring & pinion gears in a 1997 Ford Ranger. Never again. Cost me $1500 to get it done right by 4 Wheel Parts service. My repair worked for a few months then all kinds of noises came later.

**LivingAlmostLarge** · 02-27-2016, 04:59 PM

I have to say recently trying to figure out what was wrong with our cars. We don't seem to be car mechanically inclined.

**Weird Tolkienish Figure** · 03-02-2016, 02:02 AM

Originally posted by tomhole View Post

Been reading the DIY thread and thought I would start a counter thread. Not to diminish the value of DIY, but to share DIY gone wrong stories.

This year, my 2011 iMac needed a bigger internal HDD, so I logged onto YouTube and found many videos on how to replace it with a bigger one. I ordered the new HDD and a kit to help me replace it. Not a trivial task on an iMac, but I was confident. I got it all done and it was working like a champ except the cooling fan was running at full speed all the time. I had to tear the iMac down a second time and found that I forgot to connect something. Fixed that, but when I was putting it back together, I bent a connector on the main board. Tried to fix it. Tried to buy a new board. Tried to smash several items in the office in frustration. This all ended with a new iMac on the desk. That DIY cost me a lot.

What are your DIY fail stories?

Tom

Frustration just isn't worth it, IMO. DIY to me is about enjoying the challenge of something, solving a puzzle, learning something new, and getting exercise. From a purely monetary perspective, you can always make more money, but you'll never make time.

If I look at a DIY job and think "i'm in over my head" or "that looks like a major PITA" I'll punt and hire it out.

**ZachRosh23** · 03-06-2016, 01:24 AM

Originally posted by tomhole View Post

Been reading the DIY thread and thought I would start a counter thread. Not to diminish the value of DIY, but to share DIY gone wrong stories.

This year, my 2011 iMac needed a bigger internal HDD, so I logged onto YouTube and found many videos on how to replace it with a bigger one. I ordered the new HDD and a kit to help me replace it. Not a trivial task on an iMac, but I was confident. I got it all done and it was working like a champ except the cooling fan was running at full speed all the time. I had to tear the iMac down a second time and found that I forgot to connect something. Fixed that, but when I was putting it back together, I bent a connector on the main board. Tried to fix it. Tried to buy a new board. Tried to smash several items in the office in frustration. This all ended with a new iMac on the desk. That DIY cost me a lot.

What are your DIY fail stories?

Tom

Haha ive had something like this happen to me i broke my whole desktop pc just by trying to install a graphics card.

Frustration of failed DIY