Why does nobody warn you that a 20 minute shelf install turns into 6 hours

Ray Garcia · 2026-09-15T17:10:03.452568+00:00

So last Saturday I finally got around to putting up two simple floating shelves in my laundry room. I figured maybe an hour tops, and I even bragged to my wife about it over breakfast. First problem was the stud finder kept beeping at random spots on a wall that turned out to be old plaster over lath, not drywall like I assumed. I drilled one pilot hole and hit metal, then spent 40 minutes hunting for the actual studs with a tiny magnet. By the time I found them, I had 11 holes in the wall and a nasty crack running down to the baseboard. I ended up patching everything with spackle at 9pm, which meant the paint didn't dry until Sunday morning anyway. The shelves are up now and they look fine, but those 6 hours are gone forever. What is your worst "quick" project that turned into a whole day?

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Why does nobody warn you that a 20 minute shelf install turns into 6 hours | Builders Forum - Talk Freely