Jamey's Home Repair Journal

2008-02-09T09:42:00.000-05:00

Today: Carpet.

I have a cousin whose not-boyfriend is a carpet installer. The kid is pretty amazing...for her last apartment he sewed together a ton of remnants into a really cool runner carpet that snaked it's way through her whole apartment. He's a bright kid that went into the family business.
Last time I was out in California he said 2 things about carpet guys that have stuck with me and in all the years I've been doing home repair he's never once been proven wrong.
"Carpet is the EASIEST thing to do in home-improvement"
"Carpet guys are the dumbest ones in the home improvement business."

I won't go into how bad the carpet guys just screwed up at my friends house...ok, I will. They came out twice to measure her living room. They saw exactly what they were dealing with both times as far as the subfloor and the transition to the kitchen tile. Neither time did they mention a hint of any possible problems. Then they came out to put in the carpet. After they finished laying the carpet in the living room they said the subfloor and tile were too uneven for a transition strip and that they couldn't just do a clean edge because the tile guy (no, not me on that one) didn't leave them anything resembling a flat, straight edge to work with. They also showed up with a wooden transition strip but didn't install it saying, "We can't do a transition strip between carpet and tile." uh...ok...why did ya bring one with you then?
Why? Why did the guy who came out twice to measure then bring a transition strip he would later say he couldn't use where he brought it to go?
Why didn't he say something about the subfloor/tile/transition strip either of the 2 times he came out to measure the room?
Why wait until the carpet's down to say there's a problem with the subfloor?
Stupid stupid stupid!
I dunno the end result, or even if there is one yet...last time I was there he was calling and arguing with them. I didn't hear the response he got, but mostly he kept asking why they didn't tell them there'd be a problem when they could have easily fixed it, rather than waiting til the carpet was down.
And I don't know what the hell they were thinking with the strip of tackless that they put along the whole open side of the room (about 15 feet, where the transition strip to the tile shoulda gone)...but if you're barefoot you can feel the nails when you walk across it into the living room!!!
Is it just me? Or would common sense dictate using tacks in stead of tackless where people are going to be walking across it? You know...like most carpets are done at a doorway. Or they could have told them to put down a metal carpet tack edge before the tile went in so that dumbass would have had a straight line to work with and they would have solved all their problems before they were created.
In stead...they are now having the carpet pulled up so that the tile guy can come back to remove and replace all the tile along the edge of the room (removing and replacing individual tiles is WAY WAY harder than replacing a whole room and he's gotta do a load of 'em) and then they're going to re-lay the carpet. Last I heard was, the carpet place isn't charging them to come re-lay the carpet....so nice of them!

Ok...so the real reason I started writing about carpet was to talk about Stretching.
No, not the bendy over owie kind.
The kind that, if it's not done, voids the warranty on your carpet.
Apparently some new carpet doesn't need to be stretched, or so said the installer/salesman...BUT...

Before I ever installed my first carpet...I read the directions. For about a week I searched out everything I could find online, in stores and in the home repair books I have (and a few that friends have). I talked to a couple of installers. I watched at least a dozen carpet installation videos.
You know...I did my research.
Well...everything said you have to stretch a carpet when you put it in.
I've seen what happens when it's not done...those ripples (perverts!) and bulges that appear over time.
I've seen it time and time again.
And again.
At best I'd say carpet installers do the required stretching about 50% of the time (and that's being nice...I'm really thinking they don't do it 75-90% of the time)
I've never seen one do it in-person...and I've watched a lot of carpet go in. Even when I hired them here before i was a DIYer they didn't stretch anything and I've had to go back and re-cut carpets and put them in properly because they absolutely SUCKED!

So...What I'm saying here is....
If you have carpet put in you need to be there when it goes in.
And you need to make sure they stretch it.
Not talkin the knee-kicker here....s t r e t c h e r .

Make sure they walk in carrying one of these...

And that they are doing This:

Another Project Finished! :)

2006-11-22T19:58:00.000-05:00

Well, similar to where I left off last time, but the shovel is almost all the way in the hole this time. That's as deep as I need to go.

First I lined the hole with drainage fabric.
Then I filled in with about 6" of gravel at the bottom of the hole.

After cutting most of the bottom off the sump basin, I put it in the hole and added a few more inches of gravel to hold it down. I then filled in the sides of the hole with gravel and when I got about 4" from the top I folded the drainage fabric over the top of the gravel.

Next was putting the pump down in the hole and hooking up the 2" pvc drain lines to it.

The final step for today was filling in the top of the hole with concrete and putting the lid on the basin.

Good timing to finish it up, there's a NorEaster hitting pretty hard at the moment...supposed to get an inch of rain tonight! I will keep checking and see if I'm getting any water in the basin. Can't wait to get to see it working!

If it doesn't rain enough to make it pump tonight, I'll test it by filling the hole with water myself tomorrow. I didn't want to take a chance with the wet concrete tonight.

The Beginning of the End of the Never Ending Waterproofing Project

2006-11-18T22:25:00.000-05:00

Over the past 7 1/2 years I've done a lot of work repairing and waterproofing my basement. I fixed the cracks in the foundation and painted the walls with waterproofer on the inside and filled the cracks around the foundation on the outside.

Unfortunately, as you can see, I was still getting some water though the wall and floor.

So my next step is installing a sump pump relieve the hydrostatic pressure.
First that means making a hole in the floor to put the 'sump' liner into. I used an air-chisel to make a hole and dig out the dirt under the concrete. I drilled around the edge of the hole with a masonry bit and then used the air-chisel to cut a channel around the edge of the hole. I used a cold chisel and a sledge hammer to go the last couple of inches.

I used the sledge to break out the remaining concrete.

Some pretty big chunks. The concrete is about 7 inches thick.

This is as far as I got before my back told me to finally call it a day.

Tomorrow I'll dig the last foot of the hole and put in the liner, stone, and pump.

First Coat of Polyurethane

2006-10-07T09:02:00.000-05:00

Here are a few shots of the floor I just took. It dried pretty well overnight.

This one is with the flash

Same shot with just the natural light from the windows, no flash.

Also just the natural light...Looking in the door to the room.

It amazes me how well the polyurethane levels out and soaks in as it dries. It really seemed like the waxer was putting it on a little thick when I was applying it...But looking at it this morning it seems to be smooth and level with no puddles.

So the next step is to lightly sand this coat. When I did the living room floor I used the floor machine with a 100 grit screen for the poly sanding. Since I learn as I go along, this time I'll be using a 120 grit (or maybe even a 150) when I sand and I'll be doing it with my drywall pole sander (sanding by hand, not machine). The in-between poly sanding isn't like the previous floor sandings where I was removing the old finish and smoothing the floor, this one is just to help the next layer of polyurethane adhere to the one that's already on. So the hand sanding is better because it won't remove as much material as using the machine would. It will also make any sanding marks with the grain of the wood in stead of the swirls the big machine makes.

When I did the first floor, I actually broke the borrowed floor machine trying to sand the poly in-between coats (the plastic part that holds the screen on the machine cracked...Probably because the screen was sticking so much to the fresh poly). So this time I'll hand sand. Live and learn.

WoW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-10-06T19:34:00.000-05:00

After some debate today with a friend of mine with a MUCH better sense of design than I have...I decided to not stain this floor and to just go ahead with the polyurethane.
I shot these pix about 5 minutes after I finished.
Unlike most of the other pix, these are being taken at night (like 10 minutes ago) so the color is completely based on the flash.

Applying the polyurethane is pretty simple. You use something called a 'Waxer"
It's a wooden clamp thing that goes on the end of a broom handle that holds a lambs wool pad that you dip in the poly and 'paint' onto the floor.

To Sand or not to Sand

2006-10-04T15:35:00.000-05:00

I just finished up the first hand-sanding using a sanding screen and my drywall pole sander. This sanding is 120 grit. I also did a little with my hand held drywall sander where I wanted to use more pressure and work smaller areas than I can do with the pole sander.
At this point I'm debating how far I will actually go with the sanding. The last floor I did I never went over 100 grit. The bulletin boards on the minwax site recommend going up to 180 grit with the sanding. I don't think going any higher with the grits will help as far as any of the swirls from the big sander or with any of the other marks on the floor at this point...And as far as the overall look of the finish goes, I think the last floor I did where I stopped at the 100 grit and did no hand sanding, looks really good. I don't see it getting any better if I go up 2 more grits. And the 120 sanding was done by hand with the grain of the wood to smooth out any marks left from the machine sanding. 150 grit sanding wont remove marks left by the 20 grit sanding...Each subsequent grit will only remove the marks left by the previous grit. So any swirl marks left on the floor at this point would require back-tracking a few grits and working my way back up in that area.

I did an extra-good shop-vac job before I took these pix. Before I stain or poly I'm going to have to do the super-extra-good shop-vacing including vacuuming all of the walls in the room because they are completely covered with a thin layer of dust.
But...Here's the floor as it looks right now.

So at some point I need to figure out where the mentor's statement, "Enough is enough and enough is too much" comes into play and I should just move on to the stain. The house is almost 100 years old, the last sand and re-finish job was done poorly (there are major divots around the edges of the room from the last guy not doing a good job with a drum sander). So at some point I need to decide it's not going to get any better than it is now if I keep going and just move on to the next step. The anal retentive perfectionist in me has a hard time with this.

Help.

2006-10-04T09:05:00.000-05:00

Helpers do a much better job when you show them how to do something rather than just tell them what to do.

Philosophy

2006-09-28T22:33:00.000-05:00

When you are doing a job...especially if it's a re-doing...

It doesn't matter who made the mistake.
If the mistake is there when you are finished...
It's your mistake, you own it.

No More Machine, Time to go Old School

2006-09-27T13:14:00.000-05:00

I just finished up with the 100 grit sanding using my floor machine.
This is the last one I'll be able to do with the machine as they don't sell any higher grits for it. Well, at least not at the tool rental at the big box stores, I haven't checked the local flooring supplier yet, since they aren't quite so local...But I plan to get over there in the semi-near future.

So the rest of the sanding grits; 120, 150, and 180 will all have to be done using my drywall pole sander and sanding screens. I'll probably also go at least up to 120 with my random orbit palm sander (5") on the edges and anywhere I can still see any scratch marks left from the big sander, although I did work most of them out with the last piece of 100 grit using the random orbit sander before I did the final 100 grit with the big machine.

2006-09-22T18:51:00.000-05:00

This is probably the worst spot on the whole floor. I'm chipping out some of the splitting wood and sanding the rest down smooth.
Stuff like this adds character to the floor.

I believe this is after one of the 36 grit sandings...Might be the 60 grit.
I'm slowly working my way up through the grits. I did several passes with the 36, 3 passes with the 60 and two passes with the 80 grit so far.

This is all vacuumed up after the 80 grit sanding.
I also did the edges of the room with my belt sander with 80 grit until I broke the sander (got an extension cord stuck in it) and then my 5" random orbit palm sander with 100 grit paper on it (my last piece with the roughest grit I have for it).

The 80 grit is the highest I got at Home Depot for my big sander...Was the highest they had at the one I was at. I checked on my fotolog and saw that I went up to 100 grit with the machine last time. I found 100 grit screen at the Home Depot I went to last night (a different one) so I'll be doing one more sanding with the big machine this weekend (well, 2 more...I'll do 2 complete passes with it).

Unfortunately I did some reading on the Minwax message boards...And I need to go up to 180 grit (do 120 and 150 grit first) before I start to stain and poly. It also said I have to use my drywall pole sander with sanding screens for the higher grits and not the machine to minimize swirls on the floor. I'm going to do it this time because when I did my living room floor 2 years ago I got a lot of swirls in the finished product...The stain and poly really brought them out. Most people say they don't notice them...But when I look at the floor they are pretty much all I see.

The palm sander is doing a great job on the edges for me and also on any low spots in the room that still have remnants of the old finish on them still.

I know it's taking me a long time to do this floor...And I have a long way to go. But I want to do this one as best I can, the perfectionist in me wants to see just how good I can do it...How good the final result can be. If it takes me too too long...I may just put carpet in the other bedrooms, it's much faster. And that way at least a potential buyer will see just how good they can look. Who knows though, I do have a lot more of the sanding stuff for the machine....So maybe in a month when I move stuff back into this room I'll go ahead and start on the next one.

Big Bolt Blues

2006-09-19T13:38:00.000-05:00

Well...I tried doubling up the blue pads...Didn't work, it didn't spin and they pulled right off the bottom of the machine.
So last night I cut out and glued another piece of 1/4" plywood onto the bottom of the Pad Driver.
So far so good today...I got 2 more rounds of sanding done on the whole room, both with the 36 grit sandpaper.
Next step is to move on to a higher grit...Which also means I'll be going from sandpaper to those mesh screens that cost twice as much as the sandpaper (6 times as much in this case because I got the sandpaper on clearance for $2 a piece).

I'm working it very meticulously so as to not leave any 'swirls' from the sander in the floor. I learned from the first floor I did that even the slightest marks left from the sanding will be made really obvious by the stain and polyurethane. But, as I learned when I took my first metalworking class in college...The first sanding is to get everything smooth and the sanding with subsequent grits is to remove the marks left by the previous sanding. So today's sanding with 36 grit sandpaper is mostly just to get out the marks that the 20 grit sanding left on the floor.
I think the next grit (the first screen) is a 60. I don't remember how high I go before I stain and poly, it's been a couple of years since I did the last floor. So I'll read the directions on the cans (of stain and poly) after I do the next grit.

Sanding

2006-09-18T09:35:00.000-05:00

With the water heater situation resolved I'm back to work re-finishing the floor.

A couple of stumbling blocks with the sander...The bolt I'm using to hold the pads and sandpaper on kept coming un-done because of the rotation of the sander. I tried for a couple of days to find a 'Left-Hand' threaded nut and bolt (one where the threads are reversed so it would tighten in stead of loosen as the sander spins) but was unable to find one. So I came up with my own solution, I drilled a small hole in the bolt and put a cotter pin through it and it's been holding the nut on perfectly. Unfortunately, the next little roadblock happened as I used the machine and the blue pad began to squish down some...As it did the end of the bolt began to come into contact with the floor - not good! So I ground it down a little with my dremel tool and put on a new pad. When I go to the next sandpaper grit I'm going to try doubling up the blue pads under the sandpaper to see if that adds enough height to solve the problem. My next step, if that doesn't work, will be cutting the bolt shorter and drilling a new cotter pin hole but I hope it doesn't come to that as it will make it a lot more difficult to screw on the nut.

But...As you can see here, I have been making some good progress on the floor even with all the problems.

The most difficult part of the sanding so far has been the removal of the old finish. Not sure exactly what it is, I'm assuming some type of varnish. The sander scrapes it off pretty well but it keeps making huge sticky chunks both on the sandpaper and on the floor. When the chunks get thick on the sandpaper it stops spinning as they 'glue' it down to the floor. I have to constantly stop the machine, flip it over and pick the chunks off because they also get so thick the sandpaper is riding on them and not contacting the floor.

These are the chunks when they stick to the floor:

And here they are after I chip them off of the sandpaper:

Overall though...I think it's going pretty well and I'm learning enough in the process that I think the subsequent floors (I have (at least) 4 more rooms to go after this one) will go a lot more smoothly (and faster).

The Rest of the Story

2006-09-16T21:45:00.000-05:00

Ok...So to review...
To get the old water heater out I had to cut the in and out water lines.

Once I put the pipe dope on the threads on top of the heater I put the connectors I made on. I made sure I cranked them down good and tight because once I made the solder connections there would be no more turning of the connectors.

One thing I thought was kinda weird...Was that I had to prop the new water heater up on bricks so it wouldn't be sitting on the basement floor. The old ones both have 'feet' on the bottom.

So here are the water lines all connected up. So now you can see that if I had done it all in-place, not only would the bottom joint have been really close to the heater and could have caused problems, but the next joint up would have had to have been soldered upside-down...Not impossible, but why make things harder when you don't have to?

So once the water lines were all together, I re-connected the gas line...Turned everything back on...And fired it up.

Half an hour after connecting it and turning it on I was enjoying a nice hot shower :)

Overall, not a bad little project. Nothing was very hard about it...And I got to play with my torch.

It Never Ends

2006-09-15T08:13:00.000-05:00

So while I was busying myself sanding the bedroom floor...My water heater decided to spring a leak. It wasn't raining out so I knew something was wrong when I went down and the basement floor was all wet.
This first picture is the 14 year old leaking water heater.
One thing to notice here is that the last plumber installed the tube for the pressure releif valve to spray down right onto the controls for the water heater. Putting aside for the moment that the directions explicitly say DON'T do this...Wouldn't you think common sense would have to kick in somewhere and just by looking at it indicate that this is a BAD idea?
And can someone tell me why they put that insulation pipe-wrap stuff on the cold water inlet lines?

Step one in replacing it was turning off the gas...Had to do this at the meter as the valve to this heater is missing the handle so I couldn't turn it all the way off (such a joy this house is).
Once the gas was off I shut the water supply and hooked up a hose to the drain on the tank and let the water drain out into my sump-pump hole. With the tank drained I disconnected the gas line and cut the water lines attached to the tank. With the tank empty and everything disconnected I could then remove the tank.

Then I got the new tank in place and soldered together the new connectors.

A closer look at the connectors for the water line. I did most of the soldering beforehand leaving only one connection that would need to be soldered with the lines in-place. As you can see on the connectors, if I had done it in-place, one of the solder joints would have had to be done with the solder flowing up. Although not impossible, it is a little more difficult to get solder to flow against gravity. So it was much easier to pre-solder the parts together leaving only one connection to be soldered in place where the solder would be flowing down into the joint.

Since the connections to the water lines screw onto the top of the tank I put a good amount of 'pipe-dope' on the threads atop the tank to make sure the connections don't leak. Some people use 'Teflon-tape' for this, I was taught the 'pipe-dope' method. I guess it's just a personal preference. But the guy that taught me was rather adamant about it...The first thing he does when he opens the box to a new plumbing fixture is throw the Teflon-tape in the trash.

Since I can only add 5 pictures at a time, this is all you'll get for now. Next update will have the rest of the insallation process.

Pad Driver

2006-09-14T05:46:00.000-05:00

Starting with the well used piece of 20 grit sandpaper...

Then the 'Pad Driver' I made for my floor machine...

And...all together now...

Overall it's been working pretty well. After some initial tweaking of the bolt that holds everything together (had to drill a hole in it and put a cotter pin through it because the machines rotation kept loosening the bolt, and then I had to grind the end of the bolt down a little because it started touching the floor), the main problem I am running into is the 'varnish' I'm sanding off turning into lumps of goo making the sandpaper stick to the floor...it stops it from spinning and sometimes even rips it off the bottom of the machine.

2006-09-13T14:29:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple more pix I couldn't get to post the other day.
Here's the floor machine doing it's thing.

So far it's working pretty well...I have over half of the floor sanded through the first grit (20)

Two stumbling blocks I have run into:
First...I needed a left hand (reversed) thread nut and bolt to hold the pad on so it won't loosen up as it spins. Couldn't find one anywhere so I drilled a hole in the bolt I used and put a small cotter pin in it...problem solved.
Unfortunately at this point I'm running into the problem of the bolt I used being too long and touching the floor. I'm going to try grinding a little of the end off and see if that works for me. My other option is adding a second blue pad to see if I can increase the height a little...I have another pad to try that with but I think it would cause more problems than it would solve. Another option is to add another layer of plywood (probably 1/4" Luann to the bottom of the pad holder I made...but that would mean waiting a day for the glue (Gorilla) to cure before I could get back to work. So I'm gonna go grind the bolt down a little and see if that does the trick.

It's Been a While

2006-09-11T13:29:00.000-05:00

Yup...been a while since I've posted here.

I've been busy working...just haven't been taking my camera with me to get pictures of the various jobs I've been doing.

However, today I am starting a new task here at home and I have my camera handy.

About a year ago I bought a, "Floor Machine" an all purpose buffer/polisher/sander.
Unfortunately, when I bought it it didn't come with a pad holder and the switch was broken so it wouldn't turn off as long as it was plugged in. For the past year I've been talking about fixing the machine and re-finishing the bedroom floors in my house. I borrowed a machine a couple of years ago and did the livingroom floor, not too difficult a process...just a lot of hard work and sweattin involved.

So about a week ago I finally started working on my machine. The first step was to make myself a pad holder...the part that attaches to the bottom of the machine and holds the sandpaper on. I saw one on Ebay that was $160 but knew I could make most of it myself. Fortunately for me the place that was selling the holder was also selling the 'clutch plates' the part that directly attaches to the machine...the only part I knew I couldn't make myself. So for $25 I got six of them and went to work on the rest.

That's the pad holder on the bottom of the machine.

Here's the new switch I put on. The old one worked when you held the handles in...that one was obsolete and irreplaceable so I ended up just getting a toggle switch I mounted by drilling a hole through the housing and bolting it on.

So now I'm off to sand.

Did I mention I only paid $20 for it? :o)

Listed!

2006-05-25T09:18:00.000-05:00

I finished the apartment...took the pictures and listed it on CraigsList!

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/apa/164482966.html

Still a little cleaning and painting to do on the stairs...but the apartment it's self is ready to go :)

Finishing Up

2006-05-24T11:33:00.000-05:00

I'm currently putting the finishing touches on the apartment.
At this point I have 2 new phone jacks in (I hope they work with the screwey wiring), the tub faucet fixed (didn't need the repair part as of yet...got it together and working but the parts are pretty messed up so it may not last long...may last 20 years, who knows), and there is primer on the wall and baseboard where the old phone line was stapled across the kitchen. In a few hours when the primer is dry I'll put on the final coats of paint and get the last of my stuff out of there. A little vacuuming and cleaning up and I'll be able to shoot the pictures to post with the online listings.

It Continues

2006-05-15T15:20:00.000-05:00

Bathroom Fixtures Done

Punch List Part Deux

2006-05-13T22:42:00.000-05:00

On Dec. 26th I made a list of what was left to be done
http://homerepairjournal.blogspot.com/2005/12/punch-list.html

So here's the list and where I'm at:

Thermostat (buy and install)Put the old one back, not doin it
Carpet (buy and install)Done!
doors (paint, clean, re-hang)Cleaned and re-hung. Didn't paint them. Replaced the closet door latches
Tub Faucet (Call Delta about the faucet not shutting off right)The cartridge was in backwards...I mighta messed it up, $40 for a new one
Paint Trim (topcoat bathroom, touch up elsewhere)Done
Stove (buy and install)Done
Access panel for Bathroom Plumbing (cut, paint, install)Done
Storm Windows in Hallway (find, clean, install)Done (1 has broken glass and 1 is missing)
Paint Lazy SusanFix UnderSink Shelf (new wood, better support, tile with leftover floor tiles(?))uh...yeah, right.
Doorbell (fix? replace?)Replaced
Puck Lights (Install in kitchen including mounting new wall switch)Done
Transition Strips ((between rooms), buy, install)Done
Re Caulk Bathroom (?)Some done, some still thinkin about it
Bathroom Fixtures (I still don't know where to put the TP holder)Need to buy a 'set screw' screwdriver so I can get them apart to hang them
Blinds (buy and install...I don't want to leave it up to someone else to pick and try to hang them)Done

Other than the couple of things in the bathroom...all that's really left is carrying all my tools and supplies down from the third floor to the basement and giving everything a quick final cleaning.
Should be able to wrap it up tomorrow.
Anybody want to rent an apartment? :o)

Carpets...aka Getting Laid

2006-05-10T08:23:00.000-05:00

I'm almost finished with the apartment finally.

One of the last steps has been installing the carpet.
Never done it before so it was learning as I go.
Probably one of the easiest things I've ever done.

Had to buy a 'carpet kicker (went through 3 cheap ones before spending the $85 on a good one (fucked the thing up anyway (bent the nails))) and rent a 'Power Stretcher'.
Also picked up a couple of special carpet knives.
I must say...having the right tools really aided in this job.
Even spending $150 on tools plus the carpet was only like $400 so I still saved around $1500 by doing it myself.

Anyway...I didn't take any in-progress pix...but here are a few shots of the finished job.

The Doors

2006-03-21T00:29:00.000-05:00

Today I was in New Jersey.
I went to help a friend of mine put in a new door on his garage. Not a garage door...A door on the garage.
The starting point of this post is a complaint.
The door he bought was a typical exterior door from Lowe's. The typical exterior door from Lowe's is made to open in. His wife (my bestest friend ever) suggested they get one that opens out so that when they eventually start parking their cars in the garage...well, you get the idea. Sounded like a good idea to me too. She's smart like that. So I said we could probably just reverse it but I'd come over and look. One look at the door and I realized I'm a dumbass because you can't just flip the door around (it would leak...All the weather-proofing around the door is made for the outside).
So it was back to Lowe's we went.
After waiting around ten minutes for the only person in the store who knew anything about doors got back from his lunch break we found out that to order the same door they have in stock for ~$120.00 (the one that swings in) it would cost ~$200 for one that will open out!
So it was across the street to Home Despot where we encountered the same situation (I think they were like $30-$40 higher even!). So it was off ten miles up the road to 84 Lumber where their basic door was only $88 and I think it still cost him almost $200 just to get the one that opens out. At least they said a week to ten days...Lowe's and Despot both said 2 weeks.

So what's my complaint?
Yup...you guessed it.
I think it's total B.S. that doors don't come made to open in either direction in stock and at the same price!!
Interior doors do. Bathtubs come with the drain on the left or the right at the same price. Most things in this arena do. It takes ten minutes to change a fridge from opening to the right to opening to the left.
It's just crap.

So he ordered the door and we went back to the house and rigged something up to be able to re-hang the old door in the much larger rough opening we made for the new door.
To be honest...at this point I'm really tempted to ask him if he can cancel the order (and get his deposit back) and we can:
A) Buy the $88 door at 84 lumber and I can disassemble, reverse, and re-assemble the frame
or
2) Buy a 'door slab' (door, no frame) and I'll build a frame from scratch

Carpet

2006-03-08T07:42:00.000-05:00

This week I'm trying to wrap up the apartment project.
I've been doing my first ever carpet installation. Overall carpet is pretty easy (especially when compared to some of the other stuff I've done).
I don't have any pix yet...will take some and do up another post.

Once I got the right size carpets (bought a remnant to try the first room...it wasn't as long as it said on the label so it didn't fit...took it back) the first major step is getting them up to the 3rd floor by myself. Turning the corner on the landing between the staircases is A PAIN! And then maneuvering the roll into the right room at the top of the stairs is nearly impossible (by myself) but I got the smallest of the 3 carpets (for the smallest room) upstairs yesterday.
Once the carpet was in the room it was fairly simple to un-roll it and lay it out on the floor.

Unfortunately this is where I ran into my next problem. I bought an 'economy carpet kicker' at Harbor Freight tools...and then did some research on kickers and realized that the one I got isn't meant for the type of carpet I'm installing. So I drove pretty far to another Harbor Freight that had their better model in-stock, returned the other one and got the good one. So yesterday when I started to 'kick' the carpet in place...the nail adjustment dial (you set the length of the nails depending on the type of carpet) popped off. I kept using it for a while with the nails all the way in but it wasn't gripping the carpet well enough to do what it's supposed to do (hook the carpet onto the tackless strip). And then this morning when I looked at the kicker loading it back in the box to return it...I noticed the metal plate behind the knee pad actually cracked in half! What a piece of crap!
So today I'm going to HF to return their piece of crap and going to Lowe's to buy the carpet kicker they sell for more than 4 times what I paid for the one at HF. I was looking at kickers online last night...the one at Lowe's is still the bottom end of the pro-kickers...but it should be WAY better than the one I broke.

The other thing I learned by looking up a bunch of websites describing carpet installation...is that I need to rent myself a "Carpet Stretcher" to finish the job.
Basically when you get the carpet hooked on in one corner with the kicker, you then place the butt end of the stretcher in that corner and pull (stretch) the carpet in the opposite direction and then use the kicker to attach that side to the nailer strip. using the stretch and kick technique you work the rest of the way around the room until the carpet is all stretched and attached to the tackless.

So today I'll be returning the bad kicker and buying the better one.
I'll be on vacation for the next week...so I'll have to wait until I get back for the day I rent a stretcher and get the carpets done. I'll get them in today though so they will have time to settle and acclimate...Will make for better stretching when I get back.

Structural Repairs

2006-02-25T10:49:00.000-05:00

These shots are from a house I've been working on in Doylestown, PA for about a year now.
The project grew and grew from the original rehab and rental idea to the homeowner (who has lived in the row-home next door for 15 years) deciding to build the place the way they want it to be and move into it.

At this point the place has been completely gutted and the new construction is taking place.

The house is at least 100 years old and wasn't built very well...the boards holding the place up were too thin so everything sagged. The new design calls for an 'open floorplan' on the first floor with no walls so the weight of the house will now be carried by these HUGE 'glue-lam' beams. The weight is carried on the posts that will enclose the basement door/steps.

Many of the floor joists had to be straightened and 'sistered' (a second board nailed to it along the length to add strength and stability.

Above the doors the weight is carried by a lentil and transferred to the basement with posts.

The builders that did the beams did a pretty lousy job. They cut the joists too short and had to add an extra board to reach the center beam along one side. Here at the end I don't know what they thought they were doing with the one joist not attached at all and the other just with a 2x4.

Here you can see more clearly where they cut them all too short...the last 3 or 4 inches being carried by the new boards into the joist hangers nailed to the main support beam.

Easy Vent Hood

2006-02-19T10:34:00.000-05:00

Yes, it’s been a while.
I’m still working on my place and now working on a couple of others as well.

One of the easiest tasks when updating a kitchen is replacing the vent hood.
All it is really is 4 screws and 3 wire connections (2 wire nuts and 1 ground screw).

First turn off the breaker, then remove the electric cover plate and disconnect the house wiring from the unit. Un-screw the 4 mounting screws from the old unit (they usually go up into the bottom of the cabinet) and remove the old hood.

Installing the new unit is the reverse process. Feed the wire from the wall through the hole in the new unit and then attach the 4 mounting screws. If the holes don’t line up with the ones from the old unit make sure you pre-drill the cabinets for the new screws or you’ll risk splitting the cabinet. Screw the ground wire down to the unit (using the green ground screw almost ALL new electrical items have) and connect the white and then black wires with wire nuts. Put on the new units electrical cover plate to hide the wiring and you’re ready to turn the power back on and test the unit.

Whupped

2005-12-27T16:15:00.000-05:00

I've spent most of the day today humping the trash down the stairs from the apartment.
If my guru the ex-Marine was here we'd be done already. He once told me that, "Running up and down the stairs is how you keep the job moving along" Well...screw that, I wear size 13/14 shoes and have enough trouble navigating stairs at normal speed...no way I'm gonna run up and down. Plus I guess I've gotten out of shape in the past couple of years since I worked for him because 4 or 5 trips up and down from the third floor seems to be about all I can handle without needing to sit down and take a break.
In the back of my mind I'm still weighing having the carpets cleaned and calling it a day on this project. We'll see what they look like when I get everything out of the rooms. I'd call a professional carpet cleaning place and ask them if they could get them back to looking half way descent and what that would cost me. I don't think it would be anywhere near as much as replacing the carpets even doing it myself and buying carpet that is around $.50 a square foot (I need about 600 square feet).
We'll see...there's still a lot of junk up there and a lot of tools and project leftovers that need to go down to the basement.
I'm thinking about keeping the windows.
They suck for an apartment but for a greenhouse or a garage/workshop at my next place they really might be worth hanging onto!
If Kevin shows up today (It's his day off and he often drops by on Tuesdays) he'll be greeted with the absolute joy of helping me clear the path (putting the windows and leftover sheets of greenboard drywall from the bathroom project (Jamey's" Home Repair Journal: Window to Wall 6) that is still laying in the stairwell down into the basement so that he can help me bring the old stove down and put it out on the curb (It's trash day tomorrow). We'll leave bringing the new stove up for Sunday (If he dares to return after that), his other day off and he drops in a lot then too. Besides...I haven't bought the new one yet.

Punch List

2005-12-26T08:59:00.000-05:00

So I was sitting and thinking over the weekend about what I have left to finish up. When a job is done or just about done the General Contractor will go around and make up what's called a, "Punch List" which is simply a thorough list of all the things that need to be finished or touched up as the job starts winding down.

Still left to do:

Thermostat (buy and install)
Carpet (buy and install)
doors (paint, clean, re-hang)
Tub Faucet (Call Delta about the faucet not shutting off right)
Paint Trim (topcoat bathroom, touch up elsewhere)
Stove (buy and install)
Access panel for Bathroom Plumbing (cut, paint, install)
Storm Windows in Hallway (find, clean, install)
Paint Lazy Susan
Fix UnderSink Shelf (new wood, better support, tile with leftover floor tiles(?))
Doorbell (fix? replace?)
Puck Lights (Install in kitchen including mounting new wall switch)
Transition Strips ((between rooms), buy, install)
Re Caulk Bathroom (?)
Bathroom Fixtures (I still don't know where to put the TP holder)
Blinds (buy and install...I don't want to leave it up to someone else to pick and try to hang them)

Also on my paper list but already crossed off are:
Vent Hood (buy and install)
Re-assemble Fridge...I had to take the doors and all of the hardware off to get it out of the kitchen to put down the new floor...it BARELY fit thru the door...getting it back in is the only thing I've gotten help doing so far on this entire project...I dragged it out on it's side but I wasn't going to drag it so I got my friend Kevin to help me carry it back in. I laid plywood down over the floor to protect it as I bring the appliances back in and such.

So that's pretty much the list. The only big thing left is the carpets. I've never done carpet before but I can't see paying how much they get for installation....seems ridiculous. Plus I have a cousin who lives with a carpet guy and he said it's the biggest ripoff in the home industry. So I went and looked at the "In Stock" carpet at Lowes and Home Despot...they range from around half a buck to about a buck a square foot. A quick look at the math and I need about 600 square feet of carpet. As my best friend Renee said, "I'm sure there will be a learning curve." Which means the first room I do will take me probably 3 times as long as the last room. With that said I still think it will only take me 3 days to do it all working by myself. Well...except for the day I go buy the carpet and carry it up to the third floor...I think that day I'll be needing some help. Same with carrying out the old stove and carrying the new one up there. That's the worst part about this all happening on a third floor...it's a bazillion trips up and down to get all the trash and extra supplies and tools I'm finished with out of the apartment and (except for the trash) down into the basement where it belongs. 3 or 4 trips and I'm wiped out and need to sit down for a little while and take a break.
Today I'm going to try to empty out a room or two so I can get going on tearing out and cutting up the old carpet. I may just pile some of the stuff out of the way for now so I can get going on the carpets and hopefully have some help carrying things down some other day.

Getting Laid...or...How to Put in a Vinyl Tile Floor

2005-12-21T16:40:00.000-05:00

The first step when laying a new floor is to measure the room from side to side and find the center point. From that point you start laying out the tiles towards the side of the room. By starting in the center of the room you will end up with the most even cuts at the edges of the floor and the straightest possible looking floor.
Once I laid the tiles out I decided to shift the patter two inches to the left so that there would be whole tiles along that wall and almost full half tiles on the other edge rather than having small cut pieces on both sides.

The next step is to re-measure everything and snap a chalk line across the room at the center point. My line is parallel to the exterior wall which tents to be the straightest wall in a house.
With the chalk line down the first tile is laid at the center point that we already measured and marked.

Part of the beauty of painting the floor with primer before I started (besides the fact that it's what the directions say to do for the best possible adhesion) was that it made it simple to ensure the floor was clean and smooth before I laid the tile in place because any imperfections in the sub-floor (especially bumps) will telegraph through...they will show on the surface of the new floor. So before I put each tile down I went over that spot with a spackle knife scraping off any specks of dirt that got stuck in the paint and then swept all the debris away. Besides sweeping I was constantly going around the room with my shopvac. "Sweep sweep. A thousand times sweep" Is what Dan (the guy that made me a carpenter) always used to say.

The tiles are laid one quadrant at a time working in a stair step pattern so that everything stays straight and even and there are no gaps between any of the tiles. All that means is you lay 1/4 of the room at a time working out from the center tile.
The tiles at the top of the photo are still there from my test layout and are not glued down. I did it again after I snapped the chalk line just to make sure I had it right and that my two inch move wasn't going to cause any problems elsewhere in the room (which it didn't).

As you can see I left myself with relatively few tiles to cut and for the most part they are half a tile or bigger (I think smaller pieces are more likely to come un-glued down the road).

The quadrant system is repeated until all 4 sections of the room have been completed.
Once it's all down the floor is supposed to be rolled with a floor roller. I don't have one. I could probably rent one. The other option they give you is to use a rolling pin. I tried, it was a pain in the ass and nearly impossible. I do have a "J-Roller" which is a small rubber roller mainly used for linoleum countertops and backsplashes but it worked pretty well for me, especially on the smaller tiles around the edges. I'm still thinking about getting a floor roller and cranking the heat up for a while and then giving the whole floor a good roll. It's not like I won't get more use out of the darn thing...I have 2 houses that I'm supposed to be doing paid work on just sitting out there waiting for me to finish this apartment and I now know more than ever that I need to re-do the kitchen and bathroom in the downstairs part of my house (Where I live) before I can move and either rent or sell this place.

Once the floor was done I put back the heater covers and 1/4 round trim and that's pretty much the end of the deal.
I bought some oak colored trim today to cut and put in around the cabinets but when I put it down to check it out I wasn't 100% sold on how it looked so I think I'll get a second opinion before I start cutting and nailing it. At this point I also have 2 4x8 sheets of luann plywood down on the floor to protect it while I move the appliances in and finish up the rest of the kitchen (yes Dan, I know...the floor should have been last 'In a perfect world').

Prepping the Floor

2005-12-20T10:17:00.000-05:00

Although I chose 'The Easiest" floor to install (vinyl self-stick tile) the prep work was pretty substantial.
The first step was to remove the heater covers and 1/4 round trim around the edges of the old floor. Next I shop-vaced the floor and then mop it with a really strong ammonia solution 4 times to get the 35 years of grease and crud off. I had to wear my gas mask the entire time and I had the windows open even though it was in the single digits outside that day.

Once I had the floor scrubbed down as clean as it was going to get my next step was to lay down an, "Embossing Leveler" over the entire floor. This is done so that the texture in the old floor doesn't "Telegraph" or show through the new floor as it gets walked on. The same product is also used around the edges where there were gaps around the edges of the old floor or where I cut away pieces of the old floor that were curling up and to fill any other holes such as gouges or cigarette burns in the old floor making a totally smooth surface for the new floor to stick to.
The darker section is the last one I applied and it hadn't dried yet when I took this picture.

After allowing the floor leveler to dry overnight the next step Armstrong recommends when prepping for a self-stick floor is to paint the entire floor with a good quality latex primer. I use Sherwin Williams paints because they tend to be a high quality product and the store is only a block from my house.
As with any other paint job I cut in the edges and then rolled the main field making extra sure the paint was smooth and even because any drips or imperfections would show through the same way the embossing would have had I not used the leveler.

I let the paint dry for about 4 hours (I asked the guy at the paint store and he said two but I like to stay on the safe side) before I started laying the new floor which I'll go over next time.

Power!

2005-12-19T16:29:00.001-05:00

One of the many mistakes I had to correct in the kitchen was the electric line for the stove. The last guy used a nice beefy wire but for some reason had it come in through the floor and it was then screwed directly to the back of the stove. The funny thing there is that the beefy wire is aluminum and it said in big print all over the back of the stove not to use aluminum wire, that a copper connection had to be made and the wires spliced.

Simple enough solution, the back wall had cracked and crumbled (I didn't make that hole) so all I had to do was make a small hole in the baseplate of the wall (the 2x4 that goes along the floor that the vertical wall joists are nailed to) to fit the wire in and cover it with a protective metal plate (so that you can't nail or screw into the wire). The second plate is just there to hold the broken pieces of lath together for the new plaster.

Here you can see the fresh plaster I applied. I used the mesh tape along the cracks that covered the entire length of the wall and put some down inside the hole as well. Then I mixed up a batch of 90 minute joint compound and filled the hole and covered the tape (and thus the cracks).

Once the plaster dried I sanded it smooth with the old wall, primed and painted. I would have done a second layer of spackle to really smooth out the area where the hole was (I was a little short with my first batch) but this will be behind the new stove so I went for the speedier solution. It looks fine...100% better than it did with the cracked crumbling wall that had probably been that way for 35 years since the kitchen was first put in.

Next...we get rid of this hideous floor!

Installing the Drawers

2005-12-16T14:20:00.000-05:00

Today's post will be short and to the point as I am 3/4 of the way through putting in the new kitchen floor and I'd like to get it done today.

So with the boxes all made (the ends were sanded smooth after the glue dried and I knocked down all the edges (which just means I went around all of the corners and sharp edges with a piece of sandpaper and rounded them over...you can actually cut yourself on a really clean wood edge, and I think they are less likely to splinter if you smooth them off a bit.)) it's time to put in the new drawers.

The new 'European style' drawer glides are pretty simple to install. There are 2 pieces on each side, one gets screwed to the bottom of the drawer and one gets mounted to the cabinet. One screw on the front is all you need to attach the glide

The back of the glide is easily attached to the cabinet using a 'Shoe' (not included but only a buck extra). You simply put the back end of the glide into the plastic shoe and then making sure the glide is straight and level you put a couple of screws in the back of the cabinet to hold the shoe in place. There are slotted holes on it so that you can make some adjustments once you get the screws in and then I put a few in the round holes to lock it in place.

As far as mounting the drawer, that's it...you're done. The glides should fit nicely together and the drawers should move in and out without catching (like they can on the little screws that hold the glides to the bottom of the drawer if they aren't in tight).

The final step is to mount the drawer fronts on the new boxes.
I hold the drawer front in place and poke through the holes using an awl (a screw or a nail will work) marking where I need to drill into the new box. A couple of small holes are drilled in the drawer and the screws hold the handle on and the drawer face in place.

Done.

(and you can clearly see why I'm replacing the kitchen floor)

Dovetails

2005-12-13T09:06:00.000-05:00

Today's entry will be the dovetailing process I went through building the new kitchen drawers.

What we're looking at here are the front and side of one of the drawers set up in my dovetail jig. I got the jig 6 months ago knowing this job was coming. It's another tool from Harbor Freight http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=34102 I got it on sale for $29...never buy anything from them that isn't on sale...because it will be soon and it's often half price or less.
Sitting next to the jig is my router with a 14 degree dovetail bit set at the proper depth for the wood thickness. It took several practice pieces (they are on the workbench in the picture too) to tweak the depth of the bit so that the cut pieces fit together perfectly. Well worth the time it takes to set up the jig (maybe half an hour and it was fresh out of the box) when doing 'production work' like I did...lots and lots of pieces that all need to be the same.

Here you can see that the back(or front) and side boards are set into the jig offset by the width of the board. The 'fingers' (the aluminum piece) in this case are the ones made for 1/2 inch thick wood. You can also see that it's the inside of the drawers facing out in the jig because the dado I cut (see yesterday's post) is visible.

With the pieces locked in place by the jig it's really simple to run the router along the 'fingers' of the jig. I had to buy a small collar for my router that is actually the part that makes contact with the jig.
The beauty of using the jig set up is that you get the exact same cut every time. Once you make the series of cuts you just un-clamp the pieces and put the next pair in the jig and cut them. I had 5 drawers to make so that's 20 pairs of dovetails I needed to cut. I wasn't keeping track but it probably took me about an hour, maybe two to get all of the dovetails routed out.

basically there are two parts to a dovetail joint, the "Pins" and the "Tails" When they are cut properly they will slip together creating a tight bond and a great deal of glue surface. When making a drawer logic dictates that the pins (the part that looks like a bunch of keystones sticking out on the end of the board) are on the sides and the tails are on the back and front of the drawer that way all of the stress from the drawers being opened and closed will pull against the pins and dovetail joints can't come apart that way.

In this picture the side piece is the vertical one and the back (or front) of the drawer is the horizontal piece. They are not fully assembled for demonstration purposes.

Here we are looking at the final step in the drawer building process, the "Glue Up."

After test fitting all of the pieces and making sure the 1/4 inch plywood drawer bottoms fit in the drawers are dis-assembled and the joints are glued, re-assembled and clamped. The extra pieces of wood under the clamps are called "Glue Blocks" and they are simply scrap pieces used so that the clamps don't dent the actual drawers when full clamping pressure is applied. They also help to spread the clamping pressure over a wider area.

For this project I used Gorilla Glue. It's a semi-new product that I really like. If you're using regular wood glue you coat both pieces with glue before clamping them together and then you wait until the glue dries. With Gorilla Glue you apply the glue to one of the pieces you are connecting (I glued the tails (the cut-in parts)) and simply wet the other piece before connecting and clamping. The Gorilla Glue chemically reacts with the water and expands (like spray foam) as it dries filling any gaps in the joint. Once it dries it is completely waterproof, unlike regular wood glue.

The last thing I'll mention here is that the drawer bottom is not glued in at all, it should 'float' in the dado allowing for seasonal expansion and contraction of the wood.

And that's it. Let the glue dry in the clamps for 3 or 4 hours and the drawers are finished and ready to be put in.

Yup...you guessed it...next post = how to put in new kitchen drawers.

Drawers

2005-12-12T08:38:00.000-05:00

Today's project begins in my workshop with a pile of wood and a couple of power tools.
One of the problems in this house is the poor quality of the kitchen drawers. While the cabinets are solid Oak and pretty well made...the 35 year old plastic drawers were just complete shit. I had the same crap in my kitchen and built new drawers several years ago while I was still a home-repair trainee. Basically all I'm building are a series of shallow boxes that will become the new kitchen drawers.

The first step (after buying all the materials) was to run all of the boards on my table saw a couple of times creating the dado that the drawer bottoms will sit in. This can be done with a straight bit and a router or a dado blade in the table saw...but either one of those options would have meant a lot of time setting up the tool and I don't even own a dado blade for my saw. So with the blade set at about 3/8 of an inch I set my rip fence at about half an inch from the blade and ran the boards across it length-wise. This left a cut in the wood about 1/8 inch wide and half way through the width of the board. I then moved the rip fence out 1/8 of an inch and made another pass along the boards. With another fence move and cut I had finished my dado. There is now a slot along the length of all of the drawer sides that the 1/4 inch plywood bottom will slip right into.

Once all of the boards had the slot for the bottom of the drawer it was time to switch to the other saw in this shot and begin cutting the boards to length.
Measure Twice Cut Once.
Words to live by.
I tend to measure 6 times and cut 3 or 4...but someday I hope to measure twice and cut once.

First hint...don't go by the old drawers.
Measure the opening in the cabinet for each drawer and then measure the depth of the cabinet. Take an inch off of each of your measurements and you have the lengths you need to cut for your drawer pieces.
Measure Twice Cut Once.

Depending on how many pieces you are making you can either measure each on individually and cut it or if you are using a mitre saw you can lock it in place and put a 'stop block' next to it at the right measurement and then you just need to butt your board up against the stop and make your cut...that way all of your pieces will be exactly the same. I wasn't making enough pieces for that so I just measured them and cut them individually.

When I built my first set of drawers a few years ago for my kitchen, I used 'box joints' and nails to put them together. A crappy connection that is essentially fit tab a into slot b, glue and nail it together. They are functional but ugly with minimal glue surface (most of the time it's the glue and not the nails that hold furniture together...generally the nails are there to 'clamp' the piece until the glue dries)
For this set I decided to go a little more traditional for the joinery so we are going to explore the "half-blind dovetail" in my next post.

Everything...Even the Kitchen Sink

2005-12-05T17:58:00.000-05:00

I didn't take any process pictures, I was too busy running around trying to get everything I needed for this job and get it all in and done. But I got it done and here's the new kitchen sink.

Here's what the new works underneath look like:

And Here's the finished product up top:

The process began on Saturday when I shut the water in the house and went up to the third floor to start removing the old sink. Because of how the last guy soldered everything in...My only choice really was to cut the whole mess out and start over.
The removal of the old didn't take me very long...Cut the supply lines where they came out of the wall...Disconnect the crumbling drain lines and pry the old sink out of the hole (note to self...Don't hit the sink with a hammer and chip the enamel because you'll find out as soon as you do that the 70's avocado has become strangely retro-popular and you probably could got a fortune if you sold the sink to another restorer.

So once the old sink was out it was time to make new connection pieces and put them together with nice new shutoff valves (the 33 year old shutoff valves under the sink were completely frozen in place. More often than not when you turn an old valve it's going to develop an instant leak, so as in this case, it's best to just replace everything and begin anew.

The 2 most important parts of soldering copper (or brass) pipe together are making sure the parts are totally clean and that they have been covered with flux where the solder needs to go.
There are many tools on the market for cleaning the parts, brushes, mesh, sandpaper are just a few. It's as easy as rubbing the end of a piece of copper pipe with sandpaper but if you don't do it your solder will be less likely to hold and you'll end up with leaks in your plumbing.
The Flux is applied to both parts before fitting them together to be soldered. The simple answer is that the flux makes the solder flow into the joint. Try heating up some pipe without fluxing it and tell me if the solder sits on top or sucks into the joint like it's supposed to.

Along with the solder connections there are no less than 8 screw-tight connections that needed to be made under the sink. To ensure those don't leak there are 2 choices out there, one is Teflon Pipe Thread Tape and the other is called Pipe Dope. Although I've used it before, Dan's training was to throw away the Teflon Tape that comes with a lot of plumbing stuff and to use Pipe Dope on all of the screw in connections. You can see the pipe dope in the pictures, it's the blue stuff on the threads. You coat the male threads with it and then make the screw connection. It's just another layer of protection against leaks.

Make all of the connections on the sink before putting it in place. Including putting in the strainer basket. For that one, put a bead of Plumbers Putty around the underside of the strainer where it meets the sink on the inside and then use the rubber gasket that it comes with on the underside of the sink where the cup and the nut attach. Tighten the nut down until the Plumbers Putty squeezes out around the edge of the strainer until the strainer is tight against the bottom of the sink.

Next, put a bead of plumbers putty around the lip of the sink where it sits on the countertop and set the sink in place. Using the clips that came with the sink, tighten the sink down to the countertop from below. As you tighten the screws on the clips the Plumbers Putty should squeeze out along the edge of the sink where it meets the countertop. When it's totally tightened down you can use a scraper to go along the edge of the sink and remove the excess Putty. You can also remove the squeeze-out from underneath the sink if you so desire. I did because it was almost a full can of Plumbers Putty that I recovered to use again on the next project.

After the sink is set in place you can make all of the screw in connections for the supply and drain lines and you're ready to test it out.
When you first turn the water back on after shutting it and draining the system, remove the aerator part of the faucet (the tip with the screen) before you turn the water back on for the first time. I have a whole house water filter on my water main...But I still remove the end of the faucet because when you first turn the water back on after draining the system there tends to be all manner of rust and dirt that come rushing out as the system re-fills with water. You remove the end of the faucet so all that junk just goes down the drain and doesn't plug up those little holes and screen in the end of the faucet assembly. Once the water runs clear you can shut the faucet and re-attach the aerator.

The final step is to fill the sink with water and let it sit there for a while. After about an hour you should be able to check underneath and make sure there are no leaks.
Then you remove the strainer basket and let the water drain out making sure your drain lines don't leak.

And that's it...You have a new sink.
(well...I do :) )

Procrastination.

2005-12-04T11:06:00.000-05:00

One of the things I’ve been dealing a lot with as I go through this project is a certain degree of self doubt. It makes me constantly have to struggle to make myself begin each project. I debate whether or not I can do it...if I need to do it...how much am I willing to do...can I afford this...

Yesterday is a perfect example of what I’m talking about.

I’ve known since this whole project began that the kitchen sink was going to have to be replaced, it’s that 70’s green (with matching stove, vent hood, and floor) but the water here is terrible for all sorts of minerals that stain and leave huge deposits on things (you should see some of the Stalactites hanging from the shutoff valves in my basement) and the old faucet was a leaker so the sink was beyond cleaning and salvaging. For 6 months I’ve known it was coming and with the bathroom pretty much done I’ve started working on the kitchen. There were a few days this week I could have taken the sink out but didn’t. Yesterday after 3:00 when the house was empty and I could shut the water off was supposed to be my window of opportunity. But I sat around and procrastinated until almost 8:00 before finally getting up the gumption to just go shut the water and do it. It’s almost like I put my brain on auto-pilot once I make the decision and stand up to get started, that way I guess I shut off the Doubting Thomas voice (along with the rest) and just get rolling. Especially on a project like this because once you get started you really can’t stop until it’s done (gotta finish the plumbing before the water can be turned back on).
So with my brain shut off I went to the basement and turned off the water and headed upstairs. It took me until about 12:30 last night to get everything soldered together and pressure tested (turn the water back on and check for leaks) I actually did a little extra and made the small pieces to connect all the fittings I need together and soldered everything in place. The only solder connection left is the trap adapter I’m going to put on the drain line so that the next guy will have an easier time replacing things down the road. The chrome P-Trap that was in there was so brittle I could barely get a grip on it to pull it out (when I heated the solder holding it into the wall pipe) because it kept crumbling in my hand. With a trap adapter on the end of the pipe coming out of the wall you just have to un-screw the nut and you can remove the trap and replace it without ever having to light a torch.

Next thing I’ve been trying to find a way to not have to do is replace the countertop and backsplash. I’ll probably go up today and remove the countertop. It’s sooooo faded and there’s a piece broken off one of the corners...I could glue it back and you’d barely notice...but that’s one of those things where Dan is right...All New. With the amount of time I’ll be putting in here when all is said and done...why leave an ugly 30 year old counter top when I’m doing a new sink, new appliances and a new floor?
I went to the store yesterday morning to buy all the supplies I need to make a new countertop and do the backsplash...but I couldn’t bring myself to make the final decision to go for it so I left with nothing. I’m still debating even now...I just kinda had myself talked into leaving the countertops again. Ugh.

One of My FAVORITE Toys! :o)

2005-12-02T08:51:00.000-05:00

As seen in something like 165 episodes of the New Yankee Workshop...

Yup...me and Norm Abram have the same mitre saw!!

I found that out a couple of years ago after I bought it at Zern's (a semi-local flea-market I LOVE going to) for sixty bucks.

I looked it up online when I got home (googled the model #) and the first listing that came up was some crazy fan site where they have a count of how many times Norm uses what tool on the show.

Apparently this was the first mitre saw with a laser guide, it sold for around $600 and had a ten year production run because it was so popular (I think it was the only laser saw on the market for the first six or seven years they made them)

Besides all that...I also ended up on the Porter Cable website and I just can't say enough good stuff about them. I couldn't find the product manual on their site so I sent them an email and told them I just picked up the saw at a flea market and asked about the manual because the laser guide was a little out of alignment. I don't remember if I got an email response...but about a week later I got a package in the mail from them with copies of all of the original paperwork on the saw and a nice letter from them. Pretty cool considering they knew up front that they didn't make any money off my purchase of their tool.

And no...I still haven't fixed the laser...I've just gotten used to where it's off :o

Toys

2005-12-01T08:21:00.000-05:00

One of the new toys ...uh... I mean ... um.... tools that made the painting of the apartment a fun task.

The Wagner Power Roller.

Turns out it’s REALLY cool!

I read a ton of reviews before I bought one and came to a simple conclusion. The people who didn’t like it seemed to expect this thing to turn them from total bozos into professional house painters with the flick of a switch.

That it will not do.

What it will do is make it so you never have to stop and go back to your roller pan to put paint on the roller. In fact, you don’t have to stop at all. What I found is that if you know the difference between, "Rolling On" and, "Rolling Out" painting with this thing will be an absolute DREAM!

It’s pretty simple, you push the button to start the pump and roll on your typical 3 or 4 foot section of wall then push the button again to stop the pump and go back over the same area to roll out the paint you just applied. What I found works best is to turn the pump back on again about a foot and a half before you get back to where you want to roll more paint on the wall.
That’s the way I figured out that seemed to go the fastest for me. And man lemmie tell ya, did it go FAST! I rolled the paint on the entire apartment...

That’s; Living room, 2 bedrooms, kitchen, upstairs hallway, 2 flights of stairs and the landing in-between ...in 2 days! 1 day for all the ceilings and cutting in and spot priming...probably not even a whole day, more like an afternoon since I did it the day I bought the thing and I know I didn’t get home from the store until noon. And 1 day to paint all of the walls including all the cutting in and last minute fixing and spot priming and such.

Some of the reviews I read complained about it being too much of a pain to clean out. Personally, I don’t throw away things like roller covers or pan liners after every time I use them so I spend some time cleaning up my tools anyway. And the actual machine cleans it’s self while you rinse off the other parts so I don’t see what the big deal is. Plus they have this little gizmo for a few bucks that hooks onto your faucet (or hose) and washes the roller pad out better and faster than anything I have ever used to clean a pad. And if you still insist on throwing them out after one use in stead of cleaning them...go ahead, they are only like two dollars more than the same quality of a regular roller pad and you can still go watch tv for 5 minutes while the machine pumps a bucket of water into the sink which is all it takes to clean it.

So would I pull it out for a small job...probably not. For a whole room...probably. For anything more than that...you betchya!!! It easily saved me at least two days of painting on that place.

So I may have a weakness for tools...but jebus do they make some coolass tools that just save oodles of time on a job as well as making it easier and more fun. Not to mention way less of a pain in the back!

I've got that Sinking feeling once again

2005-11-28T11:03:00.000-05:00

Here's the business end of the new pedestal sink.
The old sink was similar but was just a wall-hanger, no pedestal. I thought the pedestal sink would be a better idea because it would hide all of the pipes and stuff because as you can see in some of the other pictures on older posts, all of the plumbing comes up from the floor. That was the first problem with what I bought...the 'Pedestal in a Box' comes with plumbing parts made to go into the wall, not the floor. So the supply lines it came with were too short and I had to get new ones, and it came with a 'P-Trap' and I needed an 'S-Trap' for my setup. (Lets not even talk about the fact that it also came with a faucet and I bought one like 5 months ago when I was trying to, "Have all of the pieces of the puzzle before you begin" as Dan always says).

It seems to me like the clay gets really thin near the attachment points (the metal plate hanger and the two screws at the bottom). The old sink attached pretty much the same but I think it was much thicker where the weight is being carried, it didn't have a pedestal though. Lets just say that with the whole room pitched to one side and the 100 year old wall...the lining up of everything so that the sinks weight is being carried by the pedestal AND the wall was extremely difficult. I ended up with a little gap between them when I screwed it tight to the wall. I figured this was probably kindof a good thing though since the 'Toilet in a Box' made a point about porcelain cracking when it contacts other porcelain telling the installer not to crank the tank down to the bowl too tightly so I felt the gap filled with my adhesive caulk to act as both glue and gasket would be the best way to go anyway. So I filled the gap with Phenoseal...and worked it back up and in as it sagged down for a few days while the thicker spots cured. I also ended up with a gap at the top of the sink because of the wall which took a few rounds of caulk to seal up.
Overall it looks pretty good and everything works. I hope it lasts.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall...

2005-11-25T14:16:00.000-05:00

One of the last projects in the bathroom was putting up the new vanity. I decided to go with one that I think is a little nicer than what was in there before.
Unfortunately...I didn't think it all the way through before I put it in and hooked it up.
The first problem is that this one is taller than the other one was which unfortunately meant the electrical box I put in the wall where the old wires had just been hanging out of the wall was now too low. Fortunately I left myself enough wire so that I could run it out of the box and up the wall to the top of the cabinet where the wires for the lights are.
The next problem became apparent when I turned the power back on. The old cabinet had a switch for it's lights, this one does not. And naturally when I re-did the wiring in the bathroom I made it so that the outlet and vanity were always hot and not controlled by the main switch. I had already put my second GFI outlet in the wall there because the first one was cheap junk and it burned out so I bought a better one when I was at Lowe's.
So I went to my local electric supply house and talked to them about switch possibilities and worked my way up from one that was a dollar to one that was $13 to what I ended up with which is the GFI/switch combo you see here for $26. I was pissed that it was that much but when I looked at them at the big stores they were only $23 so I went from feeling ripped off to being happy that I supported my local little guy and not the big national chain stores on that one.

So now it's all hooked up and done and it looks pretty darn good.

Sinking (the) Dormer

2005-11-17T16:16:00.000-05:00

I don't think I mentioned it before...but as this is a third floor apartment in a 100 year old house one of the little oddities is that the sink and toilet end of the bathroom are actually built into a dormer.

I guess the previous owners who are the ones that converted the third floor into an apartment thought two windows was a bit too much for such a small bathroom so they enclosed one (poorly) inside a wall and put in a vinyl replacement for the other in 1973. As you saw in yesterdays post it's a really stupid design because the toilet sits right in the window. What I would have liked to have done what with tearing it all out and re-building it (the Wall-to-Window posts from September) would have been to put in a half height but double-width window at the top of the wall...but unfortunately the outside of the house is stucco (probably also done in '73) and I wasn't going to start messing with breaking out and replacing the stucco 3 stories above the sidewalk. Not to mention trying to match colors with 30+ year old stucco which I did a LOUSY job of when I was patching down at ground level.

Anyway...Here's the pedestal sink and the heater is all put back together and attached to the new window sill and support structure I built. I used Cedar thinking it's in a bathroom and that's what the rest of the house is made of...went to a small lumber yard and got hosed, cost me $45 for 2 pieces of Cedar like 1"x6"6'

I don't like pedestal sinks anymore. Maybe I don't get the concept...maybe I need to put in a few more. But it seems to me like it is very hard to get everything lined up right so all the weight is where it should be. I still don't get what's really carrying the weight of the sink...or what will happen if it gets leaned on heavily. The clay seems thin where the 2 bolts and even the hanger plate attach the sink to the wall...and the base isn't a great support with the floor (the house) not being level but the sink is level on the wall. There is a heavy bead of caulk between the sink and the pedestal and another one between the pedestal and the floor. I figure my caulk is an adhesive so once it dries everything will be glued together nicely and it should hold up for a long time. What I'm saying also is that it took a lot more caulk than I think it should have. No matter how much I played with the alignment (a good hour or maybe even 2 before I attached everything) there was just no way to get it so that the back of the sink would be flat against the wall and the bottom would rest flat on the pedestal with the pedestal flat on the floor.

So...maybe it's just me...but I didn't like the whole concept of the pedestal sink and I don't think I will be putting one in again (unless I have to)

Today I went to 84 Lumber and got the wood to make new kitchen drawers. Forgot the plywood, picked that up at Home Despot...had to go there because the 84 didn't have the new drawer glides I'll need. But I'll tell that whole story when I start with those pix (when I start the project).

In The Shitter

2005-11-16T23:42:00.000-05:00

After the last 'before' picture I thought this one seemed quite appropriate to do as the first 'after' shot of the bathroom. Those last pictures were taken at the beginning of June. This one was taken about an hour ago.

I still have a pretty long list of things I need to do in there, but if I stopped right now it's done enough to be a perfectly good bathroom for many years to come.

The only thing in this entire picture (the only thing in the room) that isn't new is the baseboard heater coil (which now has it's cover back on). Other than that...everything you can see and in most cases a few layers underneath is brand new and I put it all in on my own.
This is the largest undertaking I've tackled by myself. It's been one hell of a learning experience. Way different from being the Hundred Dollar a Day Guy or working hourly on someone elses job.

And just to avoid the mystery...yes.
The first thing I did once I got the toilet connected up was sit there for ten minutes and take it for a GOOD test run!! ;o)

Before...

2005-11-15T09:54:00.000-05:00

I was looking around and I found a bunch of 'before pictures' of the bathroom that I'm working on so I figured I'd just put them up today. I don't have time to write much, today's task is shutting off the water to the house and putting all the shutoffs on in the bathroom. This should be the last of the torch plumbing in the bathroom. Hopefully the last time I'll have to turn the water off and drain the system throughout the house, it's a pain in the butt.

Here's pretty much what I walked into in the bathroom when the girl that lived up there for the past 5 years moved out. The dropped ceiling was painted in place which was the only thing keeping the fibreglass pannels from falling down because they were holding so much of the crumbling plaster falling off above them. The walls were mostly wrecked and covered with so many layers of paint and wall-paper they were pretty much hopeless. The floor tile was so bad the edge of it fell off when I went to put up the new walls.

The old sink and the previous tenants lovely paint job. There was some tape and a few actual bandaids covering a crack on the underside of the sink.

The old tub and stuff. I put in the crappy shower liner after she broke the soap dish off the wall and didn't tell me. The only reason I found out was because my bathroom is below this one and my ceiling started leaking weird stuff for a few days before partially caving in over my shower.

This was her brilliant way of keeping the windows shut.

And this is what most of the old windows looked like when I went up there after she moved out.

Finishing Up

2005-11-10T08:24:00.000-05:00

Once the shims are all cut down I like to put a bead of caulk all the way around the window between the vinyl and wood frames. Just another layer to 'insulate' against the elements. The only caulk I ever really use is called Phenoseal. I'll put up a picture of the tube and talk about it in a future post. It's a vinyl adhesive caulk and like the label says it, "Does it All"

After the caulk around the window dried overnight I put back the stops that I talked about removing to get the window out, they are the first piece of wood you see here next to the vinyl frame. While I had them off I used a paint stripper to remove most of the layers of paint and old caulk from the stops. Once they were cleaned and sanded I put a coat of primer on them and let that dry. I numbered the pieces when I took them off so for the most part they went back where they came from. The only piece that didn't was a replacement piece from the top of one of the windows that looked funny because it wasn't the right size so I replaced that with the one I got out of the hidden window http://homerepairjournal.blogspot.com/2005/09/window-to-wall-2.html .
Once the stops were nailed in I filled the nail holes with putty and ran a bead of caulk along both edges (window and wall) of the stops. A coat of primer over everything sealed it all up and finished the job. All that's left now is a couple of finish coats when I go around and paint all the trim.

Shims

2005-11-09T09:59:00.000-05:00

Once all of the screws have been driven into the frame it's rather simple to remove the extra length of the shims. All you do is cut the shim with a razor knife as close to the vinyl window frame as you can without cutting it. Once you cut the shim you just snap it towards the cut and it will snap off level with the vinyl frame.

The same procedure is used for any shimming job. Doors, for example, are shimmed the same way.

One of the most important things, and I mentioned it in the previous post, is measuring everything to make sure you have it in square. Minor adjustments can be made with the screws and shims.

The easiest way to check for square is to measure from corner to corner. In the case of a window or door they are simple rectangles so the diagonal corner to corner measurements should be the same. If they are not the same, you no longer have a rectangle you have a parallelogram. Bad. Doors and windows don't look or work right if their frames are not square. Maybe most people would never notice...but if the side of a door I put in was rubbing the frame at the top and had more than a 1/4 inch gap at the bottom it would drive me nuts and I'd think about it every time I ever looked at the door.
So make sure everything's square.
You can use a carpenters square (a big metal L) to check as well...but measuring the diagonals corner to corner is easy.

New Windows

2005-11-08T17:44:00.000-05:00

I'm sure somewhere if I look I have a picture that shows the old (brown) windows. Maybe you can see one in a previous post, I'm not sure.
They were all messed up. A couple had broken glass...
The last tenant had screws thru a couple of the frames to hold them shut because the mechanisms were broken.
So I went out and spent a thousand bucks on windows.
Replacing them is fairly simple.
Pop the old one out...caulk...pop the new one in...shim it...and put the screws in.
That's where we're at here.

Ok...pop the old one out is one of the more time consuming parts of the job.
First you need to take a utility knife and cut the caulk all the way around the window and along the front of the stop. The 'stop' is the first wooden piece in the frame, one side touches the window the other side touches the frame.
Once you cut thru the caulk you will then have to remove the stops. Work them out carefully so that you don't break them or mar the rest of the window frame.
Cut any caulk holding the window in at this point.
Remove the (6) screws holding the (replacement) window frame to the wooden frame.
That's it...the window should then pop right out (pull on it from the top and tilt in)
The procedure is pretty much the same when doing original sash-type windows. You just remove the glass and the wooden strip in the middle that separates them, bash the metal wheel for the sash cord into the wall, and you're at the same point I am here.

Once the old window has been removed, clean away any caulk or loose paint around the frame.
Lay a bead of caulk along the outside stop (the piece on the outside that sticks out of the frame that the window rests on).

Carefully put the bottom of the new window into the opening and tilt the window into place. I guess this is where a helper would be good...but since I was doing it alone I drove a temporary screw in thru one of the mounting holes. With the window in place I cut my shims and put them in behind the screw holes in the frame. Be careful to not block the adjustment screw in the middle of the frame with the shim for the mounting screw right next to it. Drive the screws they supply thru the window frame, thru the shim and into the wall. Make sure the window is square as you tighten down the 6 mounting screws.

I bought Pella windows and I have a design complaint.
The top mounting hole is right where the metal wheel is on an old sash frame. I don't know a single contractor that doesn't just hammer the wheel flat so I'd say they should move their mounting hole an inch or two so it gets good purchase in the wooden frame. Needless to say, I made my own hole where the screw would hit wood.

Onions, Ogres, and Tile...

2005-11-04T09:46:00.000-05:00

Ok...so what do Onions, Ogres, and Tile have in common?

Layers Donkey. They all have layers!

I thought the tile deserved another look that goes more into the actual process.
From top to bottom what you are looking at is:
Cement Board
Thinset
Tile
Shims
Tub

The first step was putting up the new cement board walls around the tub. The old bathroom had plywood walls and I learned exactly why one of those old addagages in the business is, "Never use plywood in a bathroom!" At some point I'll backtrack the project here and show you the moldy plywood and rotted plaster that I tore out before I started. This project essentially began 2 years ago when the ceiling in my bathroom (below this one) caved in because the tennant had knocked the sopap dish off the wall and didn't tell me. The whole bathroom pretty much had been made of plywood. The problem with plywood is that it soaks up water like a sponge. So the wall and floor underlayment that the tile was glued to was expanding and contracting and growing mold ...Not good. Was going on here for 33 years before I got to it. So the new technology is to use this "Cement Board" product under the tile. It wont soak up the water and it doesn't expand and contract. When I was taught to put cement board in we did it using roofing nails. Every 4 inches on a floor and all along the studs for walls. Although I bought a couple of big boxes of roofing nails when I bought the cement board with the old boss one afternoon...I went back on my own and bought a box of the special screws they make for screwing down cement board. I ended up going back for a second box of them before all was said and done. And still probably used 2 pounds of the roofing nails.

After the cement board in the photo is the "Thinset Mortar" which is another cement based product that acts as the glue between the tile and the cement board. The old tile was litterally glued to the plywood using Mastic which is more of a plastic type glue than cement. I think the cement based product is less likely to be eaten by mold than the glue stuff was.

At the bottom the tile is resting on shims and not directly on the tub. That bottom area will be filled in with grout later. The cement board sits inside the tub lip but not directly on the tub either. As per the directions, the bottom 1/4 inch below the cement board was filled with caulk and allowed to cure before the tile was applied.

Wall Tile

2005-11-03T10:00:00.000-05:00

Once the floor was finished it was time to cover it up and start on the wall tile. I did the tub surround over a two day period. With something like 700 total tiles and the two flights of stairs in each direction to get to the wet-saw I decided to split the job in half.
The first day I did what you can (almost) see here, the larger tub wall. Mostly that one was a whole lot of field tiles and bending, not a whole lot of trips down to the saw. The only cut tiles were along the top and the edge you can't see in the photo.
On the first day I also put in the bull-nose tile you can see to the right of the tub. I used a 6x2 bullnose to run up the wall so that I wouldn't have to worry about lining up horizontal joints with the field tiles and also because there was pretty much exactly 2 inches of wall there next to the tub so they went right in. I did these on the first day so that they would be nice and straight and solid when I went back in the next day to do the field tiles.
There's also a huge dropcloth in the tub here to help prevent any chips or scratches if I drop a tile or have grit on my shoe or something when I'm working. It's a good idea to take the dropcloth out and shake it clean every day and shop-vac out the tub.
That's another "Carterism" as we who know the man that trained me call the things he says over and over again. In this case I'm referring to,
Sweep sweep...a thousand times sweep!
When we were working on a job in someone's home...we would completely clean the jobsite every night and stack all of our tools and stuff somewhere out of the way. It's a great way to work.
On this project, since it's an empty apartment in a house I own...I haven't really cleaned up once since I started. The fact that I'm planning on replacing almost every carpet and floor in the place probably has something to do with that...but I really should go thru and clean the heck outa the place just to keep the dust down now that it's getting colder out and I won't have the windows wide open 24/7 anymore.

The Housebuilder's Bible

2005-11-01T22:46:00.000-05:00

The Housebuilder's Bible Blog

A cool site I haven't had much time to read yet.

Grout

2005-11-01T08:16:00.000-05:00

Grouting the tile is a pretty simple process.

After you let the tile 'set-up' overnight, wait for the cement used to glue them down to harden, the next step is to mix up another kind of cement (grout) to go in-between the tiles.
Yes...I know...Everybody already knows that. Yes...I've had too much coffee this morning and I'm typing faster than I'm thinking.
Anyway...
Grouting is simple. You put a blob of grout down on the floor and work it in using a tool called a 'Float.' It's there next to the bucket. Just a smooth rubber plate with a handle that you use to squish the grout down in-between the tiles.
Now here's where the guy that taught me this stuff and the directions on the bag differ. The directions say to wait 15-45 minutes and come back with a sponge to clean off the excess. My guru does the sponge wiping right after putting the grout in and then 15 minutes or so later when it hazes over going back with a towel and buffing off the haze.
Which one is right I think depends on the application to a certain extent...But I think I'm leaning more towards the directions than the training. The one thing I have learned since I've been out on my own is that there are a lot of things I was taught that were things to make a job go faster and not necessarily better.
We'll have to re-visit this topic after I do a few more tile jobs and really start to see which way is best.

The one thing I will say though is be sure what level you want your grout to be at on the tile and make it consistent throughout for the most professional looking job.

Time For Tile

2005-10-31T08:52:00.000-05:00

Once I got the tub in, it was time to start tiling the floor.
I first bought a $20 (on sale at Harbor Freight Tools www.harborfreight.com) tile cutter...The kind that scores and then cracks the tile. If you look in the middle of the tile pile you'll see some rather odd shapes cut out of the small tile I ended up choosing for the floor. Even though the tile cutter has a circle cutting attachment I still ended up going to Lowes and buying a Wet Saw. Good thing I did! The cheap tile cutter was totally lame. I couldn't get it to cut a straight line on these small tiles or even on the bigger ones for the tub and not only wasn't the line straight it wasn't clean, it left a much more jagged edge than the Wet Saw. So, once again...The lesson I guess I'm still working on learning is don't buy the el-cheapo tools when it's something you need to have do a quality job.
The only thing that sucked about the wet saw is that it was down (and then back up) the 2 flights of stairs to the third floor because you can't use a wet-saw indoors because of the spray so I had it set-up out back.
But when you're doing tile there is nothing like a Wet Saw and a good blade to cut out the myriad of shapes you need to do a typical tile job. In this case I had to go around the sink pipes and the 'Closet Flange' which is where the toilet attaches to the floor as well as various corner cut-outs.

One thing I want to mention here is the vertical blueish stripe on the cement board starting at the drain pipe. It's the remnants of a piece of painters tape I put down when I first laid the cement board over the sub-floor to mark where the drain pipe was because of how close to the surface it is. That way when I was screwing and nailing the cement board down I would know to not put any screws or nails in where they might puncture the plumbing lines.

Tub's In

2005-10-27T07:45:00.000-05:00

I know I'm starting WAY into the process here but I'm already past this and trying to catch up.

So here I have the bathtub in and hooked up finally.

I'm not sure if I ever gave the full description of what's going on with this current project...

The gist of it is that I am re-habing a small apartment.
The big old house was built about 100 years ago and the third floor of the place was turned into a rental apartment in 1973. There was a girl living up there for the past 5 years that moved out this summer and she not only left the place a mess...but she actually did some serious damage on her way out (rolled a dresser down the 2 flights of stairs leaving HUGE holes in the walls).
I started by painting the entire place, figured I'd do that and then carpets and be ready to rent it again. Well...as things so often go....everything I touched became a can of worms and I ended up having to do some major repairs.
The bathroom had to be torn out down to the stud-walls and sub-floor with all of the plumbing and electrical and everything replaced. The extra bonus was the window to wall project that began my posting on this blog, that too is part of the bathroom.
Anyway...after months of work putting up new walls and a new ceiling and new cement board for the floor and running new wiring and painting the room 4 times (2 primer and 2 top-coat) I finally got the bathtub put in. It was fairly simple. I ran a stringer along the wall...which just means I screwed a 2x4 to the wall that the side of the tub sits on. I put in a enameled steel tub. I don't like the idea of plastic or fiberglass for a tub. I really would have liked to have left the cast iron tub that was there, it surely would have out-lasted the new steel one...but it was an ugly yellow so I decided it had to go. Besides, I had to put in new walls around it and a new floor under it because the old tub walls had leaked and let everything get moldy and rotten.
The plumbing fixtures were already hooked up...I like to do all the torch work when the walls are totally gone so I have as much room as possible. The measurements are pretty simple...I like to leave at least 1 full tile above the tub before you get to the tub spout and then the faucet installation directions will tell you how much above the spout it needs to be (9" in this case).
The drain lines had to be replaced because the new floor and wall moved everything just enough that the really nice old brass stuff wouldn't fit anymore. I ended up using PVC. One tip from the pro...throw away the teflon tape they give you. If the PVC leaks when you put it together you can use some Pipe Dope on the threads where it leaked and try it again. I had to use some on this project. It's just a good safety barrier to leaky pipes. But the teflon tape is apparently crappola.
One of the most important steps is to test your work. Fill the tub with water and let it sit there for at least a few hours, over-fill it at first to make sure the overflow works. Check everything for leaks and also make sure the 'stop' is set right so that it will hold the water in the tub for a bath. Check for leaks again as you let the full tub of water out down the drain. Adjusting the stop right so it will hold the water right for a bath but still let it drain out fast is a pain in the butt and is quite time consuming to get it just right.

Always Take Time For Safety

2005-10-26T08:19:00.000-05:00

Todays lesson will be short and sweet.
Always wear Safety Glasses.
ALWAYS!

The XPN All About The Music Blog

2005-09-26T14:24:00.000-05:00

The XPN All About The Music Blog

Cheap Crap

2005-09-20T10:54:00.000-05:00

Out with the old.

I got this a few years ago at costco for probably about 30 bucks. When I showed it to my neighbor he said, Yeah, my wife bought me that same pussy set for christmas last year.
Well...some parts of it are cool...the hole saw, for example, has worked quite well over the years.But mostly it really sucks. Almost every time I have used one of the smaller drill bits I have broken it (probably why they give you ten of each) and unless I’m drilling into soft wood they break before they even make the hole. Don’t even think about drilling into metal with them.The screw tips (screwdriver bits for screwguns) have all broken the first time out of the box as well.

So...this was a good lesson on you get what you pay for when it comes to tools and stuff. Yes it was cheap...but for the most part, it’s cheap crap. I’m sure that an a few more years the case will be in the trash and the few surviving bits and stuff will just be in my toolbox.In my defense...I bought this when I was a rookie carpenter having just recently started working for Dan and at that time when I bought stuff like this or circular saw blades or whatever I was working with the idea that I would buy the cheaper stuff in more varieties as I learned what I like I would replace those tools with the good stuff. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Like, for example my ten dollar pack of circular saw blades that I bought back then too. It has about half a dozen high speed steel blades in various tooth patterns for different purposes. “Great” I thought...”I’ll use these and decide which one I like and then buy that one in a good carbide tipped blade.” Well...I tried a couple of them out. The cheap crap blades tended to get hot and the teeth dulled making the blade hotter and so on. I don’t even think I got 5 or 10 cuts out of them before they were so dull I was afraid they would set the wood on fire rather than cut it. So I finally switched (on this project actually) to the multi-purpose carbide tipped blade that game with the darn saw in the first place and I haven’t looked back since. It’ll probably be years before I even have to get that blade sharpened...or just get a new one for ten bucks.

So what’s the lesson here?
Avoid cheap tools.
They break.
They wear out.
And they make the job harder to do before they go.

That’s why my tools now tend to be Yellow and Black :o)

BlueBoard?

2005-09-16T14:05:00.000-05:00

One of the more difficult parts of the bathroom job because of all the angles. The wall with the outlet box is actually the only place in the whole bathroom where you can stillsee the original wall from before I started. Although I did mend all the cracks with tape and spackle as well as taping all of the corners where it meets the other walls and ceiling, I then gave the whole wall a “Skim Coat” which is a thin layer of plaster covering the entire wall to smooth everything back out. It was actually the first time I have ever done a skim coat on an old wall like this...I think it worked out rather well. In fact I’m beginning to wonder if I shouldn’t be doing the modern version of Plaster and Lath walls which is now done by putting up, “Blue Board” (yet another type of sheetrock (or DryWall)) and then covering it with a layer of plaster. I saw it on the Carlisle House season of This Old House and it looked great when they were done. What I found doing this skim coat was that, with far less layering than I normally do over tape (see earlier pix for that discussion), I was able to get an overall smooth layer of plaster on the wall that required a minimal amount of sanding before it was ready to paint. And with so much of the wall generally being covered when working up to a 12inch spackle knife over all of the screw holes and in the corners, I think it might just be easier to cover the whole thing in one shot. With that said, on T.O.H. the guy that owned the platering company said it takes about a year for a new guy to get good enough at it that they start making money on him. Now I will never say I’m fast at this stuff...but I will say I have over 30 years of experience using my hands to manipulate clay and other materials and that I have done enough spackle work recently that I had enough control with the big knife to, as I said, cover the entire wall and leave myself very minimal sanding to do after.

Enough is enough and enough is too much!

2005-09-14T08:12:00.000-05:00

As I sat down to write this I remembered something Dan always used to say,
“Enough is enough and enough is too much!”

With that in mind...over the past 2 days I finally decided I had enough of spackling and sanding and finally started laying on some primer. At first I only painted the wall behind the tub (on the left in the picture) so that when I did the first coat on the whole bathroom, that wall would have 2 coats and be done. My thought process there is that now I can put in the tub and get the cement board up on the walls around it and in case I nick a wall or need to fill in a gap or something I’ll be able to do that before doing a second coat of primer and the topcoats.

Product-wise I read the recommendations on the Killz brand primer can and was surprised that for a bathroom they didn’t recommend using their oil based primer. But I did what it said and bought the ‘Premium’ type. The gallon can would have been just enough to do a coat on the whole bathroom but I ended up running out a little short because of my brainiac plan on the wall behind the tub that’s actually going to be completely covered (except below the tubline). Fortunately I still had half a can of ‘Killz2’ up there as well that is also water-based and also recommended for use in bathrooms so I used that to do the last little bit. I think there may even be enough left in that can to do the entire second coat...Second coats use WAY less paint because the fresh drywall and plaster really suck it up and there will be one less wall as well (the one behind the tub has 2 coats and is ready to be covered with cement board and tile).

Window to Wall 7

2005-09-06T11:15:00.000-05:00

Woo Hoo Spackle!

Ok...so here’s pretty much where we’re at now. With the greenboard up I went ahead and started putting on the layers of spackle pretty much following the Dan method which works quite well if you go through all the steps several of which are visible here.

Essentially the process consists of applying 3 layers of spackle and then sanding it smooth.

First...I can not say enough about using a joint compound (spackle) that you have to mix from a powder rather than using what comes in the pails. If you know the difference between drying and curing you know pretty much all you need to know. Let me just say this for a bathroom application like I am doing here...The plaster (joint compound, spackle) that comes in a powder that you mix with water undergoes a chemical reaction wherein the plaster hardens (cures). The joint compound that comes pre-mixed in pails it gets hard as the water evaporates out of it (dries). The difference is this...if you take a blob of each type (mix vs. pre-mixed) and let them harden and then toss the hard chunks into a pail of water... the powdered mix type plaster chunk will sink to the bottom like a rock and sit there until you take it out of the pail (note...this is why you never wash anything with plaster on it in a sink or anywhere that the plaster will get into the plumbing because it will settle and harden in the pipe and be there permanently eventually filling the pipe). The hardened chunk from the pre-mixed type of joint compound, on the other hand, will soak up the water turning back into a workable mix or just disintegrating in the pail if you leave it there a while. This is why you can ‘sand’ the pre-mix stuff with a wet sponge the next day after it has dried. Ok...so lets get back to the bathroom, do you see why the pre-mix stuff would be a bad choice? Right...because when the bathroom gets all hot and steamy and the walls start to sweat, like bathroom walls do, what’s going to be happening in the spackle? It’s going to be soaking up that water and becoming pliable again. Over time it will sag and crack and just turn into a mess. The mix type plaster? Well...you can go back and look at that chunk of it still sitting in the bucket of water that now has a thin layer across the bottom where the pre-mix chunk completely disintegrated. What I’m saying is, the water will have no affect on the cured plaster (spackle) which is why I think it’s the way to go anywhere, but especially in a bathroom where water is an issue.

Ok...so back to the 3 coat process. To begin with I like to use SheetRock brand joint compound and it comes in 2 types, a regular and a lightweight version. The regular one resists cracking and is made for filling bigger holes and gaps whereas the lightweight one is meant more for the outer layers and filling smaller gaps because it is sandable. So the first batch I mix up is the heavier type of joint compound that I will go ahead and fill all of the gaps and holes between pieces of drywall as well as laying in a good amount along the joint between sheets. This first layer is done with a 6 inch “tapers knife” which you also use to press the joint tape into the first layer of spackle you just applied as you smooth out that first layer. I was taught to put the next layer on right over the tape at this point to expedite the whole process. I don’t like to do it that way, I prefer the slower but more reliable method of letting the tape layer set and then going back with the 6” knife and another batch of heavy joint compound and applying the first layer over the tape.
The key to all of this is “feathering the edge” which just means going back along the edges of the wet plaster with the knife pressed down on the outside corner so that the blade flexes towards the inside corner that is raised off the wall thus smoothing the outlying edge of the plaster down to the wallboard.

The other thing I should mention about the mix-type plasters is that they are made to cure within a specific time frame and are sold generally with the number of minutes that takes on the label. For example, I like the 90 minute joint compound (both light and heavyweight) that is made to cure in 90 minutes. The key is to look at the chart on the back of the bag though and see what the ‘working time’ is for whatever type you are using. That’s a good guide for how long it will take before the chemical reaction that hardens the plaster begins and it becomes un-workable. I think I have pretty close to an hour to work with the 90 minute ones, whereas they make a 20 minute variety (that Dan the Marine that trained me likes) that you only have 8 minutes to slap up on the wall before it gets too hard to use. He likes that one because by the time you clean the pail and your tools and mix up another batch the last layer is ready to be covered up. I can’t work that fast so I go for the longer timespan ones. I don’t mind having to go get a snack and being able to catch my breath in-between layers...so it takes a little longer, oh well.

At this point you don’t want to waste your time sanding, you can just take your 6” knife and knock down any high spots, lumps or ridges in the first layer.

For the second layer I switch to the lightweight joint compound and a 10 inch spackle knife. Working out from every corner, across every row of screws and along the joints between sheets of drywall I just lay on a generous amount of joint compound, clean the knife and then go back over the thick layer thinning and smoothing it in one fell swoop. If need be, go back and feather the edges again the same way as before, it actually becomes easier as the knives get larger. When this layer is ready you can go back and knock down any high spots again with a knife.
I like to use at 12 inch knife for my final layer which is still the lightweight setting-type joint compound. After this layer sets up is when you want to go back with a drywall sander and smooth everything out. And here is where one of the most important Dan lessons comes into play, “The illusion of smooth is more important than smooth.” Don’t worry about trying to get the entire wall perfectly smooth...just try to get rid of all the bumps, holes and ridges and you’ll be amazed at how smooth it looks.

Ok...so the picture. You can see a few of the steps going on here. In the corner and the first row (of screws) to the right of that you can see the spackle is a bit darker, this is the heavier joint compound that was applied with a 6” knife. Right next to the window the spackle is a bit lighter indicating the light weight mix and it’s also a bit wider, I probably did the 10” knife layer over there.

Window to Wall 6

2005-09-05T15:08:00.000-05:00

GreenBoard!

This is the step where the window really became a wall. With the studs behind it to screw to and the insulation in place...it was time to hang the sheetrock. In this case I used, “WaterCheck” or “GreenBoard” which is drywall made for use in bathrooms or other wet areas.

When I did my first bathroom on my own several years ago while still working for Dan (The Home Depot Installer that taught me everything about home repair) I did a lot of reading about where to use and not use GreenBoard. One of the main things I remember is that you should apparently not use it on ceilings because it slips off the screws eventually. I don’t remember exactly what it said on the manufacturers website...but the gist I came away with is that you don’t use it on the ceiling and when you use it on a bathroom wall you put in about twice as many screws as you think you should to hold it in place. I actually added a whole bunch of screws to the vertical sections after I took this picture going for about a four inch gap between screws anywhere I had something to screw into.

One thing I tried to do with the drywall was make sure I spanned the corner at the top of the window as much as I could with the main sheet as this tends to be an area where houses crack down the road and I wanted to give it as little opportunity to crack there as possible. I chose to put my gap on the next stud over so that I could screw both sheets of wallboard to the stud where they meet.

Window to Wall 5

2005-09-04T09:51:00.000-05:00

Once the new studs were in place the next step was to staple on the insulation. A few smaller pieces stuffed into the little gaps and we're ready to start putting up the greenboard (drywall).

The part of this that amazed me...was how quickly it all went together once I finally stopped agonizing over the decision of what to do here...and just started cutting and clearing and building.

It actually brings together a couple of the Dan lessons.

First, he says, "Have all the pieces of the puzzle before you start" I certainly didn't do this. I think he's just saying have a plan. When I started I thought I was doing a lot less than I'm ending up having to do. It would have gone a lot quicker had I known how far I was going right off the bat because then everything would have happened in the right order right away...and there wouldn't be building and then tearing out for more building (like my first attempt at fixing this where I was going to put it back pretty much the way it was).

Second...he always talked about people who stand with their hands on their hips shaking their heads. I honestly probably spent more time standing like that staring at the wall wondering what I was going to do about it...than it took me to tear out what was there and put in the new.

Decisions...not my forté

Window to Wall 4

2005-09-03T08:29:00.000-05:00

Once I had everything cleared out down to the framing it was pretty simple to cut a couple of studs and screw them in place (making sure they are plumb (straight up and down) in both directions). This whole operation (the window and most of the bathroom) is happening in a dormer...so it's not like any of this is carrying major weight or anything...but it's still nice to have some structure in there and not just and old window and it's flimsy frame. Plus now I will have something solid back there to screw the drywall to.

Window to Wall 3

2005-09-02T13:09:00.000-05:00

So the first actual step in replacing the window with a wall (lets not talk about my feeble attemt to put it back together without really fixing anything) was to remove all of the junk that the last carpenter did to cover it up...remove what I did when I thought I was covering it back up...and then remove the old hidden window and it's frame and everything else in there down to the old studs and whatever mess that is that the stucco guys put on 32 years ago.

So what you see here is the remianing window (soon to be replaced with a brand new one) and an open cavity where there has been a window (albeit covered up for the past 32 years) for almost 100 years.

So just as an introduction to me and the way I do things...

People tend to call me anal retentive. Whatever. I just think if you are going to take the time to do something...you should take the time to do it right...and if it's something you will be doing more than once...be observant of what is actually happening so that you can do it a little better every time until you are doing it right every time (or almost every time...everybody makes mistakes).

So with that said...if you see something I am doing and you know a better way to do it (either easier or will last longer or whatever) Please tell me! Learning new things is my favorite thing in life.

Hmmm...maybe I need to make that my description for this blog...or my profile or something.

Window to Wall 2

2005-09-02T08:59:00.000-05:00

In this pic you can see that my curiosity got the best of me and I tore off the drywall revealing an old window hidden behind it. So apparently the windows were a pair but when they had the house stuccoed in 1973 and the 3rd floor made into a separate apartment they covered up one of the windows in what became the bathroom.
At first I was just going to cover it back up the way they did...but then Dan, the guy that made me a home repair professional, said to me, "In a perfect world you'd take all that (the window frame) out and put a couple of studs in there...but you and I don't live in a perfect world." Well...that's his funny way of saying what I should do but if I wanted to do it half assed I didn't have to do. I don't like half assed. I apparently live in a perfect world...So the next few postings will be the process of turning this window into a wall.

Window to Wall 1

2005-09-02T08:34:00.000-05:00

The first project I'll work through here will be the one I just finished which was turning a window into a wall...and doing a better job of it than the last guy did.

In this picture I have already removed the wallpaper on the funny section of wall in the bathroom, the part I'm talking about is where you can see the brown paper from the drywall. There is a window off to the right, the window trim, and then a weird section of wall that sticks out down to the floor where the heater is attached to it. The window had a really weird sill that stuck out to the heater as well, about 3 ½ inches from the wall.