Your point about living with discomfort until it breaks is like skipping oil changes until the car dies.

Oh man, ABSOLUTELY. I used the cheap plastic ones on some outdoor lights. That squirrel looked me dead in the eye and gnawed right through it in like a minute. I upgraded to the heavy duty metal banding ties. He just bent them with his little HANDS. The war never ends.

I switched to a 5-minute epoxy for dovetail boxes and it cut clamping time by half. It sets fast but still gives a strong bond if you prep the surfaces right. A hair dryer on low heat from a few feet away can speed up the cure without risking the wood. Keeping your workspace around 70 degrees and dry makes a huge difference. Why let glue slow you down when a few tweaks can keep you on schedule? Just test on scrap first to be sure the joint holds up.

When I redid my bedroom ceiling last spring, I used a mix that was too thin and ended up with sag spots after a week. I mean, it was a huge pain to fix, so I get what you're saying. Idk, maybe it's just me, but I started adding like an extra cup of compound to a half bucket for overhead work. It still spreads fine if you keep your trowel damp, but it holds up way better. Honestly, letting each coat dry fully before adding more helps a lot too. I learned that the hard way after rushing once and seeing cracks form.

Oh I totally get that! I read an article last week about how apps keep adding stuff no one asks for and then the simple stuff breaks. It's like they're so busy trying to be fancy they forget why people use them in the first place. Your story about the sunset timer is the perfect example of that. Makes me want to go back to a plain old light switch sometimes!