Home Improvement

[Finance Dave]

And it helps to use an 80 tooth blade

If it’s a crosscut yes, if it’s a rip cut you won’t need it. I use a combo blade with the above and have no issues

 

[bbqcoder]

I’m planning to start a second shed soon. Need to order the supplies and I’m afraid to find out how much things have gone up since last summer. Originally I was going to do a saltbox shed but I vetoed the idea. Instead I’m going to make a variation of a shed that I built before. The difference is that the entrance will be in the front with two full sized windows. I also plan to make a small shed dormer on the front. Lastly I will use cedar shingles for the upper half of the siding.

This shed will be my gardening shed. My previous shed is more of a workshop shed.

I’m also finishing up some indoor painting. My next project will be to put some light switches in our living room since you have to go in blind to turn on a light. I haven’t decided whether to put some can lights in the ceiling or to have it control an outlet for a floor lamp.

If you have experience with can lights in your living room, do you like it better than floor lighting?

 

[Music Lover]

I'm a hobbyist woodworker and a handyman, and here is how you deal with that.


1) Set up the tablesaw fence to cut the 1/16" off. Install a zero clearance throat insert.

2) Set your blade height to about 1/64".

3) Apply painters tape to the edge you are going to cut.

4) Install a featherboard that applies pressure downward to your thin piece of plywood...or put a weight on top.

5)Place your piece on the saw good-side-down, and make the cut....basically this "scores" the material.

6) Raise the blade to where the gullets on the blade are just above the thickness of your material.

7) Make a second cut

DONE

I have done this hundreds of times with ZERO tear out.

Thanks. I'll remember that for next time.

 

[Music Lover]

A door story from yesterday:

Steel exterior door prices are ridiculous around here...$400 for basic no window pre-hung. So I found a used entry door on Marketplace for $150 but it had a couple dents. No problem, the drummer in one of my bands is an autobody guy and I'll get some autobody filler, patch it, paint, and good to go it. Of course the buy selling the door doesn't know this so I talked him down to $100.

I go there...it's a sketchy part of town and no one answers the door. So I leave and run a few errands. I get home 2 hours later to a message that he fell asleep, super apologetic, he'll give me the door for $80 for the inconvenience. I go back and the door is beaten to heck, the pic only showed one side that just had a couple small dents. It's useless. But the frame was perfectly new and intact. We haggled a bit and I bought the frame for $40.

Then I get home and look around and find a steel door only for $40. I message them and run and pick it up...non sketchy part of town

So now I have a brand new door frame and an excellent condition steel door all in for $80. I have to drill for the deadbolt and the hinges may not line up perfectly, but an hour or so of work and 2 hours running around saved me $300 or so.

 

[Finance Dave]

I’m planning to start a second shed soon. Need to order the supplies and I’m afraid to find out how much things have gone up since last summer. Originally I was going to do a saltbox shed but I vetoed the idea. Instead I’m going to make a variation of a shed that I built before. The difference is that the entrance will be in the front with two full sized windows. I also plan to make a small shed dormer on the front. Lastly I will use cedar shingles for the upper half of the siding.

This shed will be my gardening shed. My previous shed is more of a workshop shed.

I’m also finishing up some indoor painting. My next project will be to put some light switches in our living room since you have to go in blind to turn on a light. I haven’t decided whether to put some can lights in the ceiling or to have it control an outlet for a floor lamp.

If you have experience with can lights in your living room, do you like it better than floor lighting?

I prefer can lights. And they now make some flat LED ones you can use with a dimmer....you can install from below. Just make sure to get a color of light you want....measured in degrees Kelvin.

 

[1242Vintage]

Just finished the last job on our kitchen remodel! It was a complete gut and reconstruct job.

The last task was setting tile for the backsplash. Wife selected these awesome glass tiles that are very tough to cut and had to be extremely careful about scratching the coating on the back side.

The next job is to replace a deck. Not anxious to start a new project right now. Will get to it soon enough.

 

[Finance Dave]

Let's see a picture Vintage! I have never done glass tile, but they say you will see the mortar through them, so do you have to use special colored mortar or anything like that?

 

[1242Vintage]

I’ll have to figure out how to upload a picture. Very happy with the work and our choices of style, finishes and colors along the way.

These glass tiles have a colored coating on the back side so you don’t see the thin set behind them. Just have to be careful not to scratch the coating on the back, which is not easy. And the grout color is very close to the color of the tile.

 

[harley]

I've got a home repair job that's not worth pictures, but needs to be done. We have really nice cherry cabinets in our kitchen, as well as the bathrooms and living room. They've got the concealed hinges on them. There are also these little rubber buttons that keep the doors from slamming wood on wood. The house is 13 years old. For some reason last winter every one of those little buttons went soft and sticky. No reason I can determine, we've kept the house at the same temperature and everything for the past 8 years since we became snowbirds. I'm suspecting planned obsolescence. So now we have to tug on the cabinet doors to open them. It's a minor inconvenience. But I need to scrape all the sticky debris off the doors, rub them down with Goof Off or something, and put new buttons on. Lots of door and drawers, what a PITA.

In our new house we have the self closing hinges, which are nice. But when we get used to them we come back to the other house and slam the cabinet doors for awhile before we adjust. So I think I'm going to replace the hinges with the self closing types too.

I haven't told my wife my plans yet. She thinks this is the funniest meme she's ever seen:

 

[RobbieB]

Haha!

Yup, I go to my FIL's house and slam the cabinet doors.

Habits.

 

[ncbill]

I've got a home repair job that's not worth pictures, but needs to be done. We have really nice cherry cabinets in our kitchen, as well as the bathrooms and living room. They've got the concealed hinges on them. There are also these little rubber buttons that keep the doors from slamming wood on wood. The house is 13 years old. For some reason last winter every one of those little buttons went soft and sticky. No reason I can determine, we've kept the house at the same temperature and everything for the past 8 years since we became snowbirds. I'm suspecting planned obsolescence. So now we have to tug on the cabinet doors to open them. It's a minor inconvenience. But I need to scrape all the sticky debris off the doors, rub them down with Goof Off or something, and put new buttons on. Lots of door and drawers, what a PITA.

In our new house we have the self closing hinges, which are nice. But when we get used to them we come back to the other house and slam the cabinet doors for awhile before we adjust. So I think I'm going to replace the hinges with the self closing types too.

I haven't told my wife my plans yet. She thinks this is the funniest meme she's ever seen:

I've found the rubber tip disintegrates & turns into goo on door stoppers as well...but at least those are easy to replace if you catch them in time.

 

[Ronstar]

I've found the rubber tip disintegrates & turns into goo on door stoppers as well...but at least those are easy to replace if you catch them in time.

Sounds familiar. The center of my steering wheel on my 2001 corvette (where the horn is) turned gooie last year. I read that the surface of some rubber or vinyl things tend to do this with age.

 

[JoeWras]

The rubber membrane that forms the buttons for many remotes used to turn to goo. It seems like they have fixed this in more recent vintage remotes (last 10 years). I hope so!

 

[Out of Steam]

I prefer can lights. And they now make some flat LED ones you can use with a dimmer....you can install from below. Just make sure to get a color of light you want....measured in degrees Kelvin.

1. 2700 to 3000K is a color temperature similar to the warm yellow of incandescent lights.
2. Do those LED can lights have replaceable bulb elements? I'm not a believer in the last forever thing.

 

[harley]

1. 2700 to 3000K is a color temperature similar to the warm yellow of incandescent lights.
2. Do those LED can lights have replaceable bulb elements? I'm not a believer in the last forever thing.

No, you just replace the whole cover. The LEDs are inside it. It's really simple. It's not really even a can, just a short thing that looks like one. I've been replacing old can lights with the new LEDs. Definitely an improvement. The retrofit LEDs have a wire with a standard E26 end that screws into the socket where the old bulb went, then pop the cover on and you're done. I haven't installed any new ones hardwired, but I'm pretty sure replacing them (in a decade or so) will be pretty easy too.

 

[JoeWras]

No, you just replace the whole cover. The LEDs are inside it. It's really simple. It's not really even a can, just a short thing that looks like one. I've been replacing old can lights with the new LEDs. Definitely an improvement. The retrofit LEDs have a wire with a standard E26 end that screws into the socket where the old bulb went, then pop the cover on and you're done. I haven't installed any new ones hardwired, but I'm pretty sure replacing them (in a decade or so) will be pretty easy too.

They replace the baffle, trim ring and bulb all in one unit. Very easy. I installed these years ago (no failures yet) and my electric bill immediately went down $10 a month.

Here's a picture to harley's description.

 

[Boho]

There's still conduit with unused coax running in the wall through all the apartments in my building from the days of the old master antenna. They never repurposed it for cable TV or anything. They installed raceway in the public hallway for that. I intend to move the vertical section of the cable, currently running down the kitchen wall as shown, into the conduit. The photo to the right is a different section of wall, just to show how it will probably look after I somehow cut into the conduit near the ceiling. I'll pull out my apartment's section of the old coax from the master antenna and slip a low voltage ring on the cut conduit before feeding in the cable.

Maybe I'll put a proper termination cap on the old antenna coax that goes to the apartment above, maybe I won't. I'll probably try pulling it out first.

Then I can remove that box at the bottom of the wall in the kitchen. It's opposite the living room jack.

Edit: I just ordered a 40 inch wide work platform because I remember almost tipping my ladder sideways when cutting the hole shown a few years ago. I'll probably use a jigsaw.

 

[Freedom56]

We just finished painting 18 doors and trims in our home this week. We also replaced old knobs with brushed nickel levers and door hinges that were painted over with brushed nickel door hinges. The doors really look good now. We also repainted two doors leading to the garage and from the garage outside and changed the locks to and hinges to brush nickel. We saved a bundle by buying everything we needed (except the paint) on Amazon and Ebay versus paying 3 to 4 times more at Home Depot.

 

[Finance Dave]

Have you ever had issues pouring paint out of a can, and the can gets paint in the little groove around the lid and makes a mess? Try this...


Apply painters tape in a "vee" pattern



Pour the paint


Remove the tape, and Voila!


I sprayed 150 linear feet of trim for a handyman job I'm doing this week

 

[JoeWras]

Have you ever had issues pouring paint out of a can, and the can gets paint in the little groove around the lid and makes a mess? Try this...


Apply painters tape in a "vee" pattern

I am printing off a picture of your trick and taping it to my paint cabinet (otherwise, I'll forget). This is super cool and a great idea that I will surely be using!!!

I've used special lids, and even a plastic piece that slips in the lip, but these all require cleaning and careful handling. The tape hack is so simple.

 

[Kroeran]

Great hack. I use these can lids

http://Shur-Line 2000576 Quart Store and Pour Paint Can Lid https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01B68Z144/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_4ZX25JJS8B61QWHT2YM7

 

[Finance Dave]

I've got a home repair job that's not worth pictures, but needs to be done. We have really nice cherry cabinets in our kitchen, as well as the bathrooms and living room. They've got the concealed hinges on them. There are also these little rubber buttons that keep the doors from slamming wood on wood. The house is 13 years old. For some reason last winter every one of those little buttons went soft and sticky. No reason I can determine, we've kept the house at the same temperature and everything for the past 8 years since we became snowbirds. I'm suspecting planned obsolescence. So now we have to tug on the cabinet doors to open them. It's a minor inconvenience. But I need to scrape all the sticky debris off the doors, rub them down with Goof Off or something, and put new buttons on. Lots of door and drawers, what a PITA.

In our new house we have the self closing hinges, which are nice. But when we get used to them we come back to the other house and slam the cabinet doors for awhile before we adjust. So I think I'm going to replace the hinges with the self closing types too.

I haven't told my wife my plans yet. She thinks this is the funniest meme she's ever seen:

Harley, sorry I’m late on this but try these...

https://www.amazon.com/HushBumps-Ultra-Quiet-Specialized-Operation-Required/dp/B072FT6LXS


I use them and they are much quieter than other types.

 

[Bamaman]

They replace the baffle, trim ring and bulb all in one unit. Very easy. I installed these years ago (no failures yet) and my electric bill immediately went down $10 a month.

Here's a picture to harley's description.

My grandson's bedroom is upstairs above my kitchen. And every time he and his buddy start roughhousing, those canned lights start popping loose--hanging by the wires.

The cans in my kitchen are large in diameter, and I've been unable to find any light inserts to fit without those spring loaded wires holding them up.

 

[Aerides]

They replace the baffle, trim ring and bulb all in one unit. Very easy. I installed these years ago (no failures yet) and my electric bill immediately went down $10 a month.

We put these in our kitchen as the older cans were showing their age (the white turns yellow over time from the bulb heat). We had previously been using LED bulbs, which alone made a big difference, including a reduction in the heat output.

It's basically about 2-3 times the effort of replacing just a bulb. And they look nicer, it's a clean flush look. And if I have to replace these in 7 years? nbd.

 

[JoeWras]

My grandson's bedroom is upstairs above my kitchen. And every time he and his buddy start roughhousing, those canned lights start popping loose--hanging by the wires.

The cans in my kitchen are large in diameter, and I've been unable to find any light inserts to fit without those spring loaded wires holding them up.

Sounds like you got a fancy size. I have the very common Halo 6 inch "old work" cans. Every trim baffle and ring I've thrown at it through the years works perfectly. You might have 8" cans. There are a lot less choices of trim for those, and the springs have to span more distance. You could also have a 6" version of a brand that doesn't have good grab points, or the grab points are damaged. It is very easy to damage the grab points in many cans. Once they are either broken off or pressed down, you have a headache on your hands.