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How To Fix A Scratch on Hardwood Floors
2008-08-08 14:23:00
Today's post is an answer from a reader about how to easily repair a scratch on hardwood floors.If you actually live in your home then theres no way to avoid scratching hardwood floors. My wife reminds me daily that we have to live in our house not sit back and admire it. So, kids, pets, parties and life in general cause us to scratch and abuse our beautiful hardwood floors.I've found a very easy method for repairing (masking) those ugly scratches. This method is a temporary fix until the day when you refinish your hardwood floors. Go to the hardware store and buy a couple of Minwax Stain Markers in the two closest colors you can find. These markers have a stain and urethane mixture that you can apply to the scratch to help hide it from plain site.First you'll want to make sure the scratch is clean from dust and debris. Next shake the marker well to mix the stain and urethane well. Apply the stain liberally to the scratch. Now heres the important step: use a clean rag to remove a...
More About: Flooring , Scratch , Floors

Colonial Mantel with Slate Surround
2008-08-08 03:31:00
The first mantel that I ever built was a colonial style mantel with a slate surround and hearth. The photo shows the mantel and surround that I built in our first home. I really wish I kept photos of the fire place before this project so you could see the dramatic change.The previous fire place had a serious 70's look to it. The fire place surround and hearth were a dreadful looking off white architectural brick that looked like something from the Brady Bunch house. The brick went from floor to ceiling and the hearth was approximately the same size as the new one.I framed a surround around the upper portion of the brick chimney and covered it with drywall. Then I built the mantel as you see it in the photo. I used techniques similar to the ones I used when I built our latest custom mantel. All of the wood used was pine and poplar and I glued and biscuited all the joints.Once the mantel was done I applied slate tiles directly to the existing brick. I used thin set and tiled the surr...
More About: Surround , Slate

Plan Your Future Basement Bathroom Before You Build
2008-08-07 02:16:00
If you're getting ready to build a new home then you should be planning a future bathroom before you begin construction. Today more than ever people are building living space in their basements to increase the available living space and value of their home. Having a basement bathroom is a huge bonus for the functionality of finished basements.If you have even the slightest interest in a future basement bathroom then speak with your builder before construction begins. Whether you will build your home on a site with sewer or a septic system it's crucial to plan that bathroom ahead of time and rough in the plumbing. This is true even if you'll need to pump the sewage up in elevation if your basement is lower than the sewer lines.I suggest to all of our customers that they rough-in plumbing for a vanity, toilet and shower. The last thing you want to do is jack hammer out concrete in the future to install the drain lines. In the adjacent photo you can see the vanity waste and vents fo...
More About: Bathroom , Future , Build , Plan , Bathrooms

Reverse Privacy Lock Sets to Child Proof
2008-08-07 01:50:00
We have child proofed a couple of doors in our house by simply reversing the privacy lock sets. In particular we have used this method on the door leading to our basement stairs and the utility room in the basement. This is a really simple method to child proof doors without having bulky door knob protectors.As you can see in the photo I've taken a simple privacy lock set (like you'd use on a bathroom or bedroom) and reversed it. I've placed the push button lock in the stairwell to the basement. I really have no need to secure the basement side of the door because there are deadbolts lock sets on the basement exterior doors.We just keep one of the safety lock pins sitting on top of the door casing out of the kids reach. The safety pin comes with the door knob sets and it allows you to release the lock. Once the kids are old enough I'll probably reverse the lock set again so that the door secures from the living space side instead of the stairwell. We also used this method to sec...
More About: Sets , Privacy , Proof , Child , Lock

How To Use Swanson Speed Squares
2008-08-05 03:23:00
Do you know how to use a Swanson Speed Square? I'm sure you've seen a speed square before, most every carpenter you run into has one hanging from their tool belt. Learning how to use a speed square is a very valuable carpentry skill.Most people use speed squares as a perpendicular cross-cutting guide for circular saws. This simple square allows you to cut nice square cuts with a circular saw each time. But a speed square is much more useful than that!If you look closely at a speed square you'll see all kinds of numbered scales on it. There is a short scale on each of the both perpendicular faces that are handy for laying out wall plates and other tasks. However, the most useful scales are the ones used for cutting rafters. There are two scales, one for cutting common rafters and one for cutting hips and valleys.I'll show you a simple example of cutting a common rafter with the adjacent photo. Let's assume we're cutting rafters for a 6:12 pitch roof (6 being the rise and 12 bei...
More About: Tools

Delta Table Saw Mobile Base
2008-08-03 15:19:00
If you own a table saw you should buy yourself a mobile base for it. I purchased a Delta Table Saw Mobile Base several years ago and I can't imagine owning a table saw without it. There are numerous table saw mobile bases available on the market. Most of them are universal designs that allow you to use them with most table saw manufacturers.I own a Delta Contractor's Series Table Saw so I decided to purchase a Delta Table Saw Mobile Base to go with it. The mobile base allows you to sit the table saw directly onto the frame or mount a platform to support the table saw. I chose to build a wooden frame to support the saw so that it could also support my dust collection bag and keep sawdust from falling down around the wheels.As you can see in the photo I built a simple wood platform and attached it to the table saw mobile base. I installed wood cleats at the corners of the platform to keep the saw from moving.This particular Delta table saw mobile base has two roller style wheels in ...
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Sitemeter Crashed Websites Viewed with Internet Explorer
2008-08-03 01:50:00
Just a quick apology to any of my readers that couldn't open the blog yesterday or this morning when viewed on Internet Explorer . Sitemeter, a traffic monitoring tool that I use on my blogs had a serious "meltdown" yesterday. The long and short of it was if you tried to view the site in Internet Explorer then it crashed. The problem appears to have been solved for now. Again my apologies.
More About: Websites , Crashed

John Deere X300 Mulching Mower Works Great
2008-08-02 20:32:00
My John Deere X300 Mulching Mower works great! The other day someone left a comment on my previous post that I didn't publish because it was full of profanity. However, I wanted to respond to his comment with this post.He said something along the lines of this "The John Deere Mulching Mower is a piece of *&%#@@!" He went on to say that the mower leaves clumps of grass all over the place and it won't cut tall grass at all.First of all I highly doubt he was talking about a John Deere X300 mulching mower. Secondly I totally disagree with he assessment. I took this photo today shortly after I finished mowing the front lawn. The last month has been very rainy around here and perfect conditions for grass to grow like crazy! Today I cut off between 2 and 3 inches of grass. Does it look bad to you? My lawn looks like a PGA golf course! Not only does this mower cut great you can hardly see the grass clippings. I didn't rake, I didn't bag, thats exactly how the lawn looks after I cut...
More About: Great , Landscaping , Works

Cherry Floors Darken From Sun Light
2008-08-02 02:33:00
Our new home has Brazilian Cherry floors throughout the first floor. When we chose the Brazilian Cherry flooring a friend of ours warned us that cherry flooring will darken from sun light. If you use area rugs then you will notice the flooring under the carpet remains it's original color while the area of flooring exposed to sun light will darken over time.As you can see in the photo the Brazilian Cherry flooring under our area rug in the breakfast nook is much lighter than the floor that's exposed to direct sun light (I've pulled back the carpet in the photo so you can see the difference). This significant difference in the flooring color has happened in just under two years time.Ultraviolet light from the sun causes the tannins in the Brazilian Cherry floors to darken over time. Most Cherry floors, American, Black, and Brazilian will darken when exposed to ultraviolet light. This problem is most often seen when area or throw rugs are put down to cover the flooring for extended ...
More About: Flooring , Light , Floors

Radiant Tubing Into Concrete Slab Detail
2008-08-01 03:22:00
This post is an answer to a question a reader asked the other day. "How should I treat the radiant tubing into concrete slab detail?"It just so happens that I installed the radiant tubing in our new home so I've got a bit of experience with this detail. Installing radiant tubing in a concrete slab is fairly straight forward. The key is to lay out the loops so that each loop is approximately the same length. Each loops starts and ends at the same point (location of the header manifold).The easiest way I know how to deal with the location where the radiant tubing exits the concrete slab is shown in this photo. I used a 1 1/2" electrical conduit 90 degree sweeps for each pair of radiant tubing. The conduit sweeps help make sure you don't have a kind in the radiant tubing where it exits the concrete.To support the conduit sweeps and radiant tubing during the concrete pour I pounded two wood stakes into the sub-grade on either end of the sweeps. Then I screwed a scrap piece of wood bet...
More About: Foundations , Tubing , Concrete

Home Construction Improvement Traffic Milestone
2008-08-01 00:04:00
Today Home Construction Improvement hit a milestone with traffic. This month there were over 20,000 unique visitors to this site. I'd like to really thank all my regular readers for helping me continue to make this site what it is today. Thanks everyone!Tags: home improvement, home improvement blog
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French Doors with Built In Blinds
2008-07-30 21:08:00
French Doors with built in mini-blinds between the glass panels are great. Typically French Doors don't provide much privacy because of all the glass. If you wanted privacy with a French Door in the past you would have to install some type of blinds or a curtain attached to the door. You no longer have to settle for that option because you can now by most all French Doors with the blinds built in.When I designed our new home my wife was concerned about having French Doors in our breakfast nook. She was worried about privacy and shading from the afternoon sun. She has never been a huge fan of mini-blinds because she hates cleaning them. When I told her I could order the French Doors with the mini-blinds built into the insulated glass she was very interested in trying the product.I'm happy to say we've been very pleased with this feature. The blinds have two controls on the door, one to raise and lower the blinds and another to control the tilt of the blind blades. The great benef...
More About: Windows , French , Blinds

Furniture Style Bathroom Vanities
2008-07-29 18:44:00
One of the popular trends in bathrooms is using furniture style vanities. Using a piece of furniture as the vanity base can give your bathroom a unique and warm feel. You can use an existing piece of furniture or you can buy vanity pieces that look like they were furniture at one time.In the photo is the vanity we installed in our first floor half bathroom. The vanity is one of the stand alone vanities that you can purchase that appears to have been a piece of furniture at one point in time. The granite vanity top was paired with the lower furniture piece and sold as a pair. The store actually had several different granite tops to choose from and the whole set (excluding the faucets) cost around $700.This vanity has working doors to a lower storage area and two working drawers to store things in. The upper center drawer doesn't function so there is room for the drain pipe. When I installed the vanity I screwed it to the wall just like you would with a regular cabinet. This will kee...
More About: Bathroom , Furniture , Style

Sherwin Williams DeckScapes Clear Deck Sealer
2008-07-29 03:59:00
The other day I power washed the deck and farmers porch. Now I need to choose a sealer to protect the Cambara decking. When we built the house I used Penofin Penetrating Sealer to seal the cambara decking. Well I've been pretty unhappy with that sealer. I don't think it has held up well at all to the snow, ice, rain and sun that we get here in New England. A friend of mine has used this Sherwin Williams Deck Scapes sealer with some good luck so I'm going to give it a shot. The Sherwin Williams site recommends that I remove the old sealer with their Stain and Sealer remover (removes both latex and oil based sealers, Penofin is oil based) prior to applying the new sealer. The new sealer is a water based product which is nice (green too!). Hopefully I'll be able to do this in the next few weeks so stay tuned for an update post.Tags: home improvement, home improvement blog, Sherwin Williams DeckScapesSubscribers to Home Construction Improvement can download my free spreadsheets. You ...
More About: Clear

How To Install Cabinet Door Hardware Quickly and Accurately
2008-07-27 18:35:00
In the post I'd like to share with you a great piece of advice on how to install cabinet door hardware quickly and accurately. Once you've spent thousands of dollars on new cabinets the last thing you want to do is ruin them by doing a bad job installing the hardware. Next time you need to install cabinet door hardware try this tip and you'll be very happy with the results.In this example I show you how to install standard knob pulls on cabinet doors. This same method works just as well with handle type cabinet hardware. You'll just have to modify the template accordingly. The trick is to build yourself a simple wood template that makes it quick and easy to repeat the location of each piece of cabinet hardware.Build A Simple Wood TemplateBuilding wood templates is a great way to recreate something over and over again with speed and accuracy. Anytime I have a home improvement project that involves some type of repetitive task I stop and try to develop a template to make my life e...
More About: Hardware , Tools , Door , Cabinet

Cleaning Decks With Power Washers
2008-07-27 01:15:00
Cleaning decks with power washers is a very easy home improvement project that doesn't take much skill. The best part is you don't have to own an expensive power washer to do the job. Almost all rental centers carry power washers.Today I rented a 3,100 psi gas power washer from the local lumber yard. I have a very large farmers porch and a good size deck that I needed to clean. The deck was especially dirty from two years worth of weather. It seems as though we get a nice dark almost black colored soot all over the deck each year and I wanted to power wash off so I can seal the decks again this summer.Most power washers come with several different tips that chance the angle of the water spray. You can have a water jet that's almost a single narrow stream or you can have a very wide spray profile. You want to try different tips on a piece of scrap material so that you don't damage your deck. You can easily cut through wood with some of these pressure washers so it's important to...
More About: Power , Cleaning

Make Home Improvement A Family Affair
2008-07-26 04:56:00
Tomorrow my Dad is turning 60 and I'd like to say Happy Birthday Dad and also talk about a fun aspect of home improvement. My dad has always helped me out with all my major home improvement projects. Having your family work with you on home improvement projects is a great way to spend quality time together and save money!My Dad has helped us out on some really big projects. When we remodeled our first home he was there for all the major projects, kitchen, bathroom and basement. He's been a Carpenter for over 35 years so he's taught me most of what I know when it comes to home improvements.In this photo he's helping me set the first floor joists for our new home. My Dad, brothers and Father-in-law all helped us tremendously with the new house. We framed the walkout, and first floor deck, did most of the interior petitions, all the finish work including cabinetry, painting and hardwood floors. My family has always helped us out and it has certainly been a huge help and a great way...
More About: Family , Home , Make , Improvement , Home Improvement

Take Photos During Construction To Document Hidden Utilities
2008-07-25 02:29:00
One of my biggest pieces of advice for anyone building a new home or under going an major renovation is to take as many photos as you can during construction to document hidden utilities. Every house contains hundreds if not thousands of feet of wire, piping and duct work hidden beneath drywall, insulation and framing. It's extremely useful to have photos available of the exact locations of each of these utilities for future reference.I've included a couple of photos that I took during the construction of our new home. In the first picture you can see a mess of red, blue and white PEX pipes all running vertically from the basement to the 2nd floor in a 2x4 interior wall. The blue PEX pipes are domestic cold water home runs from the manifold in the utility room up to the two bathrooms on the second floor. The red PEX pipes are domestic hot water home runs serving the same function. There are also two white 1/2" PEX tubes that deliver and return the hot water for the baseboard heat ...
More About: Utilities , Photos , Construction , Document , Hidden

His and Her Bathroom Vanity Design
2008-07-24 02:56:00
His and her master bathroom vanities are very popular right now. When we remodeled our first home I came up with a master bathroom his and her vanity design that we liked so much we built it in the new house also. The picture shows the vanity design that I used in our first home.The his and her vanity design has two features that I'd like to focus on:Countertop Supported Cabinetry:Even though we installed recessed medicine cabinets I felt that we needed more storage space. So I came up with an idea that you sometimes see in kitchen designs. We installed a set of three drawers sitting directly on top of the granite counter along with a wall cabinet above the drawers. The drawer cabinet is only 12 inches deep to match the depth of a wall cabinet and leave counter space in front. This set up works great for us, we use the drawers to store tooth brushes, jewelry and other small items. The upper wall unit is great to store things we want out of our children's reach.Modified Sink Base C...
More About: Design , Bathroom , Vanity , Bathrooms

Vinyl Beadboard Soffit for Porch Ceilings
2008-07-23 01:49:00
Our new home has almost all vinyl products on the outside of it. We have vinyl windows, siding, trim, shutters, porch posts, railing, vented soffit, solid soffit and beadboard soffit. Vinyl siding products can actually look very good and be hard for a passer by to tell that it's not traditional siding. One of the products that we used in our new home was vinyl beadboard soffit for the farmers porch ceiling.There are several manufacturers of vinyl beadboard soffit material. The products range from a solid pvc beadboard to a light weight vinyl product like the one I used. This product installed the same was you'd install any type of vinyl soffit. The panels lock together on one side and you nail the other side.Vinyl Beadboard Soffit Benefits:Will never need scraping or painting.Can easily be washed with water and soap or a pressure washer.Won't crack, split, decay or get eaten by insects.Very easy to install with limited tools and skills.If you're going to build a new porch or rem...

Plan Your Duct Work To Maximize Attic Space
2008-07-22 01:53:00
Most houses built today use common trusses that don't provide for attic space like older homes framed with traditional rafters. In a recent post, Creating Storage Room With Attic Trusses, I pointed out the benefit of using attic trusses to create inexpensive storage space. In order to take advantage of that newly gained space it's important to plan your duct work installation with your HVAC contractor.As you can see in the photos we have a very large attic storage room. Our house is cooled with a high velocity Space Pak central air conditioning mini duct system. Most HVAC contractors would want to lay a central duct down the center of the house and pull the room branches directly off the trunk. I made it a point to discuss with the HVAC contractor the importance of maintaining our new storage rooms floor space. To achieve the space that I wanted he ran a main trunk around the perimeter of the finished space just inside the trusses as you can see. With this layout we were able to ke...
More About: Work , Plan

How to Tile Shower Ceilings
2008-07-20 21:55:00
Last week I was asked if I could explain how to install tile on an overhead surface (shower ceiling). Well I've done it once so I thought I'd share my experience installing marble tile on a shower ceiling.The first thing that I'd like to share is the importance of a proper substrate surface to install tile on for showers. If you're going to do a tiled shower then you need to take every step possible to prevent water from leaking out and damaging your home.For this project I used Durock underlayment. I made sure to screw the Durock to the framing as specified. Next I sealed all the joints with silicone caulk first. Then I used special tape made by Durock and thinset to seal all the joints.Once I was ready to install the marble tile I spent some time dry fitting the first coarse of tile to come up with a layout that we liked. Marble tile is fairly heavy so it's best to work from the bottom up so that the lower levels of tile can support the work as you go. I only recommend using ...
More About: Shower , Bathrooms

How "Green" is Bamboo Flooring?
2008-07-19 17:46:00
I'd like to share a post that I wrote the other day over at Today's Green Construction. The post, Is Bamboo Flooring Green?, looks at the question of how environmentally friendly is the popular bamboo flooring that everyone seems to be buying lately. You might find it interesting to read about why I don't think the product makes sense from a "green" point of view. Check out the article to read more about it!Tags: home improvement, home improvement blog, bamboo flooringSubscribers to Home Construction Improvement can download my free spreadsheets. You can download the Propane Vs Oil Fuel Calculator or the Stair Stringer Calculator for free. Also visit me at Today's Green Construction

Lawn Mowing Tips
2008-07-19 16:22:00
How you mow your lawn has a significant effect on the overall health and appearance of your lawn. Following a few basic lawn mowing tips is the best way to promote healthy great looking lawns.Mowing Tips When you mow make sure you don't remove any more than one third of the grass leaf during any one cutting. If a lawn gets too tall and you just have to cut it down a lot to get caught up, bite the bullet and break it down into several mowings with 3 or more days between cuttings.Never cut grass too short, this is particularly important for cool season grasses. Higher heights usually provide for a deeper root system, better appearance, and is less likely to have weeds invading, particularly crabgrass. I find this tip to be very effective in keeping my lawn from burning as well.Try to avoid mowing your lawn when the grass is wet. The grass leafs do not get cut off clean and actually tear. Also you...
More About: Landscaping

SketchUp Is Really Great
2008-07-19 02:19:00
Recently I discovered the power and value of a free piece of software that blows my mind. If you've ever used any kind of drafting software like AutoCAD then you know that 3D modeling is something left for the experts. Furthermore the software needed to do 3D drafting is extremely expensive. Until now that is, Google's SketchUp is is absolutely free and a really powerful 3D modeling program.I had heard about SketchUp recently but hadn't taken the time to learn about it. Then two weeks ago I met with an urban planner for a project we're working on and he showed us some 3D simulations that were produced using SketchUp and I was blown away.There are so many great features that I can't possibly discuss them all in this post. However, some of the highlights that I found amazing are:You can import many different file types to use as your base map. You can import AutoCAD drawing files, digital photos and many more.You can use Google Earth to import an aerial photo.There are thousands...
More About: Design , Great

Should you be your own general contractor?
2008-06-09 01:22:00
Should you be your own general contractor next time you do a major construction project around the house? Will being your own general contractor save you money? Will being your own general contractor save you time? Will being your own general contractor get you the best products for less money?These are questions I hear from home owners all the time. Those are questions I asked myself years ago when my wife and I bought our first home while I was still working as a consulting engineer. In fact, I tried out that role when we completely renovated our 1950's ranch. Today I manage a large division of a construction company that provides both general contracting services and full design build construction management services. This short informational post will give you my thoughts on those questions.Should you be your own general contractor?This is a hard question to answer in my opinion. I'm writing this post today because last night my wife and I were watching the TV show Flip This ...
More About: General , Contractor , General Contractor

Boil Drinking Water Order
2008-06-07 20:13:00
Yesterday our town issued a "boil order notice" because the town drinking water supply tested positive for contamination with fecal coliform or E. coli bacteria. According to town officials:Fecal coliforms and E. coli are bacteria whose presence indicates that the water may be contaminated with human or animal wastes. Microbes in these wastes can cause diarrhea, cramps, nausea, headaches, or other symptoms. They may pose a special health risk for infants, young children, some of the elderly, and people with severely compromised immune systems.The symptoms above are not caused only by organisms in drinking water. If you experience any of these symptoms and they persist, you may want to seek medical advice. People at increased risk should seek advice about drinking water from their health care providers.It is also important to note that Escherichia Coli (e-coli) is a specific species (subgroup) within the coliform family. They originate only in the intestines of animals and humans. Li...
More About: Water , Drinking , Order

Our Perennial Flower Garden
2008-06-05 21:14:00
We created a large perennial flower garden in our front yard when we built the new house. Over the last two summers we've been slowly adding plants to the garden. This summer we also added a concrete bird bath which our son finds rather amusing.This summer we also added a few petunias to add some color. Finally things are starting to blossom and give us some nice flowers to look at. My wife is a big fan of purple and pink flowers so most of the flowers we've planted are that color. I've managed to get a couple of yellow and white things in because I want to see lots of different things.In addition to the flowers we've also planted a few strawberry plants, some chives and rosemary. The great thing about planting perennials is not having to plant these year after year. I hate the idea of buying a bunch of plants that are going to die off. I'm sure in a few years this garden will be full of great plants and really be self-sustained.Tags: home improvement, home improvement blog, pe...
More About: Garden , Landscaping , Flower

Hydroseeding Lawn Update
2008-06-05 20:58:00
Two weeks ago we had a small area in our lawn hydro seeded. Finally today when I checked on it I see that the seed has germinated and the grass is about 2 inches tall. I've been a bit disappointed in how fast the seed started but the reality is the weather has been awful. The last two weeks has been hot and dry around here which is opposite of what you need for good grass growing.It's been so dry around here our back yard grass looks like it typically does in the heat of August so I really should be glad this seed even came up. I'm looking forward to seeing how this grass grows over the next year or so compared to the grass we planted by hand. I'm also curious to see how well this grass roots into the sub-grade because I didn't really prepare it as well as I wanted to. I'll post another update in a few weeks to let you know how our new hydro seeded grass is coming along.Tags: home improvement, home improvement blog, hydroseeding
More About: Landscaping , Update

Lawn Core Aeration
2008-06-05 16:42:00
What is Lawn Aeration?Aerating a lawn is a simple process of removing small cores of soil and grass to allow air, water and nutrients into the root zone. Another way of aerating a lawn is to use a spike aerator that punches spikes into the lawn to make small holes. However, this method isn't considered as effective as core aerating.What are the Benefits of Aerating Your Lawn?The biggest benefit to aerating your lawn is allow sufficient oxygen to reach the grass roots. Heavy soil compaction severely reduces the pore space around grass roots which limits the amount of oxygen in that region. Roots require oxygen to grow and absorb water and nutrients. Core aeration benefits lawns by:Increasing the activity of soil microorganisms that decompose thatchEnhancing water infiltration from rainfall and irrigationImproving root growthIncreasing water, oxygen and nutrient movement in the root zoneHelping to prevent run off of fertilizers and pesticidesHow do you determine if your lawn needs ae...
More About: Landscaping