Archive for the ‘General Remodeling’ Category

It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the selection of tools at your hardware or home improvement store.  As a general rule, I rely on the old adage that you get what you pay for. That means, on a limited budget, I pay what I can for what I consider specialty tools and spend the most I can on standard tools that I use the most and hope will last the longest. A well-made, strong set of pliers can often spare me from tantrums and further damaging the stuff I set out to repair.

But the rub always seems to be how many, of what kind, and which quality of manufacture are appropriate for the most critical jobs around the home.  When assembling your home toolkit consider which jobs you’re currently capable of doing and which ones you plan on punting over to the professionals.

A Dizzying Array of Pliers

Considering that my hands can only grip and apply a limited about of force on home hardware, I desperately need a reliable set of pliers—in fact several sets.  My toolkit always has one-each of sturdy needle-nose, slip-joint, linesmen’s, and lock-joint pliers.

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There’s always a best choice set of pliers for the job at-hand.

Here’s what I have:

•    Channel-locks are okay for tightening or removing nuts, bolts, and screws IF you don’t have a matching, open-end wrench that fits perfectly. They’re angled perfectly for getting my elbow grease into the job.

•    Slip-joint pliers, the kind most people pick up at discount stores or garage sales, come in two sections held by a center axle that shifts from loose to tighter. They’re good for general use but, frankly, are terrible for gripping wire, or rounded pipe, or for getting a great hold on nuts and bolts.

•    Linesman’s pliers are indispensable pivoting pliers that work perfectly well for gripping, bending, and snipping wire.

•    Needle-nose pliers can save you from the loony bin when you have to get a purchase on a small or hard-to-reach piece of hardware.

While you’re shopping, you can also find cutting pliers, midget pliers, plumber’s pliers, crimpers and strippers, duckbill pliers, and parrot-nose pliers.

Confused? Consider buying a few of the pliers that serve the most-often uses where you have direct experience.  You may be amazed how much easier repairs can be when you have the right tools.

Let’s face it: money is tight today. If you’re looking to get the most bang for your home improvement dollar, think about making improvements that make your home more livable today and valuable if you plan to put it on the market when times improve.

If you have the budget or access to a reasonable loan, then a major project, such as window or siding replacement can bring lasting value. New fiber-cement or vinyl siding can bring as much as an 87 percent return. Replacing windows with energy efficient wood or vinyl sets can bring nearly an 80 percent return.

Major bathroom and kitchen remodeling efforts also can bring a strong return, but less so than siding and windows. Adding an outdoor wooden deck can boost home value by as much as $24,000 and bring in a sizable return on the cost of installing it.

Mid-scale Improvements that Work

Minor kitchen remodeling projects put an incremental burden on your budget, but still increase home value and utility. Perhaps you want to add kitchen counter laminate or fresh paint.

Minor kitchen remodels can net an 80 percent return on your investment—higher than a complete remodeling project can bring.  Or, consider remodeling an unfinished basement, a project that can bring more than 70 percent returns on your outlay.

Your region can also play a large part in determining ROI.  For example, minor kitchen remodeling projects brought great returns in the West, while the ROI winner in the South was fiber-cement siding. In the Midwest, homeowners fared best with minor kitchen and major bathroom remodeling projects.

Remember to get plenty of quotes from different contractors and see which ones offer the best discounts on materials.

Kitchen track lighting allows you to aim light where it’s needed most. Whether you want to spruce up a dark kitchen or target your lighting on critical work areas, custom or off-the-shelf track lighting can add functionality and warm up the aesthetics of the kitchen.

There are basic kits to get you going, as well as more expensive models. The best news is that most new kits are lightweight, easy to modify to your needs, and can cut energy bills when you install separate tracks and switches. Light only the fixtures you need, and dim the ones that you turn on only when people visit.

About Kitchen Track Lighting

The best thing about track lighting is its flexibility.  If you’re going to do the work yourself, be sure to stipulate a “set” when you buy the kit or you may not get all the necessary components.  These include:

•    Mounting heads
•    Elbows (if you’re adding tracks at 90-degrees)
•    Track
•    Mounting hardware

You also want to shop for fixtures that operate with the track kit, put out the kind of lighting you need, and look great in the kitchen.  Depending on the location of the electrical box for your existing ceiling light, you may not need any additional power source. If the light track is mounted on the surface of the ceiling, it installs easier than recessed lighting.

Because the track lighting sets are lightweight, you won’t need to attach them to joists. Some go into a hollow ceiling with molly bolts. Be sure your ceiling can handle the weight. Measure your distances carefully–especially if you’re installing track lighting under kitchen cabinets. The last thing you want is a swinging door to bash into your new fixtures.

Safety Tips

It’s a great idea to install the track lighting where you can use the existing wiring. Be sure to turn off the power source before working on any existing fixtures in the kitchen.  Once you’re sure there’s no current, you can remove the existing lighting. Before doing any drilling to install the lighting tracks, it’s a good idea to mark your chosen locations with tape.

Read all the instructions to make sure you don’t overload the kit with fixtures. The manufacturer should include documentation.  Choosing fixtures and bulbs can present a financial challenge. Many new kits feature LED lights, while conventional halogen lights can cost more than other options.  Remember, don’t rely on incandescent bulbs–they’re being retired from the marketplace in the next few years.

If you’ve never sliced the top of your thumb cutting open the edge of a tube of caulk, you have greater dexterity than most part-time home handy workers. I grew up around ratchet-rod caulk guns and cursed a few. Today’s drip-free caulking guns operate by a spring-loaded pressure rod that works smoothly from the pressure of your finger.  A quick trip to the hardware or home improvement store can convince you that there’s a wider selection of caulks and guns than you’ve seen before.

You need the right caulk for your project-at-hand. Shop wisely and ask a clerk for help. Generally speaking, you’re probably looking for:

• Silicone Caulk: for a premium-grade, waterproofing job. Great for kitchens and baths
• Vinyl Latex Caulk: for a water-resistant, quick adhesive job in wet areas of the bath
• Butyl Rubber Caulk: for sealing outdoor gutter seams, storm doors, and windows

Caulking, Simplified

So you have the caulk in the gun and you’re ready. Hold on, turbo! Even the best-quality caulk may have trouble adhering to a dirty surface or crease filled with remnants of old caulk. It won’t adhere to soap, either, so clean the surface with plain, warm water.  To root out old caulk, you need anything from a sharp blade (for silicone) to a heat gun, screwdriver, or caulk softener (for latex or acrylic).

Cut the tip of the caulk cartridge at the business end of the gun to match the depth of your job. Use steady pressure on the trigger as you work the tip at a 45-degree angle to the area you’re filling. And here’s a tip you might otherwise overlook: always caulk a bathtub when it’s filled with water.  Otherwise the tub rides high and when it’s filled for the first time, the weight of water and bather can crack the new caulk.

It’s best to work at a careful, steady pace to get the caulk applied during a single repair. It can try your patience to match up your tracks and at the same time lay down a seamless, protective sealant.  Caulk, like other adhesives, cures as it sets.

If you’re caulking cracks in your exterior concrete, be sure to buy siliconized latex concrete caulk. Again, your success depends on how well you clean the cracks of debris and old patching compounds or sealants.

Years ago I was visiting a friend in Tokyo and was astonished that she took water from the tap for tea, and it was too hot to drink. This was way back in 1979. I was amazed that all the hot water for the home’s kitchen and bath came from a heat-on-demand water tank powered by natural gas. Later that year, I saw passive solar water heating systems on the roofs of homes just outside of Tel Aviv. Thirty years later I’ve yet to see these systesm in widespread adoption around the states.

Then you consider that tank-less, heat-on-demand systems are available—with models that just heat your teapot, while others power the shower—they’re still a ways off from popular use around the states.  You’ll probably remember (or still have) one of those tea elements for plugging in and using electrical power to heat coffee. That’s as far as most of us go.

The Savings?

You might save a hundred dollars a year in energy bills from an on-demand system. But if you’re considering buying an on-demand heater to cover all your hot water needs, be sure to consider the size of your family, the cost of installing a system, the tank capacity, and the amount of hot water you need every day. The Department of Energy says a majority of systems can generate 2-5 gallons a minute, depending on the fuel source. From your own experience you know that gas-fired heaters are quicker to raise your water to the right temperature than electric ones.

Tax Credits for Tank-less  Water Heaters

You can read up on the 2009-2010 tax credit at the Alliance to Save Energy website.  In essence, your potential credit for installing a tank-less unit for the credit depends on your finding a system that can heat the water to efficiency standards based on source (electric, gas, oil, propane). An acceptable energy factor may be hard to find. The credit may only be $300, but pennies saved by energy efficiency can add up.

According to the Department of Energy, the energy factor is determined by  fuel consumption and the speed of recovery,  and how much heat is lost in the cycle of briefly storing and pumping out the water. When shopping around, examine units for a high-number energy factor, meaning the most-efficient for home use.

Dedicating a tank-less heater to appliances, spas, or as a secondary power source can prove a wise choice if there’s no constant or huge demand.

Your thermostat, when working properly, runs on a transformer to set and adjust the amount of heat your furnace delivers to your home. Imagine how you might feel one cold winter morning when you adjust your thermostat and nothing happens! Brrr! There are simple ways to troubleshoot your problem, but ultimately you may have more on your hands than you can handle. Let’s look at some simple causes.

Your thermostat unit may have a short, a circuit may have blown or tripped a breaker, or a dusty thermostat unit may be blocked from reading the proper settings. At the heart of the thermostat is the bimetallic coil, a wound strip of metal that expands or contracts under the influence of temperatures. Wouldn’t you be lucky if all you needed to do to get the thermostat working again was to dust off the coil?

You need to eliminate some of the suspects, one-by-one, flipping back the breakers, replacing fuses, or checking your electrical connections.

Beware the Fouled Heat Anticipator

If you open your thermostat, you’ll most likely find a disc connected by a thin wire to the bimetallic coil. When the heat anticipator is adjusted properly, it heats the coil to room temperature so that your furnace won’t keep bursting on and off with minute changes in heat or cold. If it operates too often, it can harm your thermostat or heating unit.

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Make sure that the thermostat box has been mounted on the level. A crooked unit can affect the workings of the coil and heat anticipator.

In most units, the anticipator is connected over a scale printed on the circular disc. By moving the tab to and fro over the temperature settings, you just might free a stuck heat anticipator.

The disc on the anticipator usually has the word “longer” etched or printed on it. For a unit that turns on and off too frequently or fails to reach the temperature set on the thermostat, you should adjust the anticipator arm toward the word “longer” and give it a few hours to see if it solves your dilemma. By using the correct anticipator setting, you conserve energy, by using pre-heated air already in the furnace system to fill your home before additional heat is generated.

If that doesn’t work, you may have to call in an HVAC contractor to snoop out the cause.

There’s a wrench to fit every home-improvement nut. It’s an old joke, but true enough. Tools, sadly, are pricey if you’re after quality. Most contractors I know build up their tool collection over a period of years. They pack their trucks with the essential items, and carry indispensable tools in their belt.  As the adage goes, you need the tool the matches the job.

If you’re just putting together your tool set, look for used tools online or sales at home improvement stores. The exact tools you need vary by the jobs you intend to perform on your own. If you get in over your head, you can do more damage than it costs to call in a professional.

Essential Tools for Home Repair or Renovation

Experts at Popular Mechanics say a sledgehammer is the most-important tool, followed by a center punch, putty knife, adjustable wrench, socket wrench set, metal file, combination square, and combination wrench. I think you might survive without the sledgehammer if you’re doing home repair work on your own.

You can find this initial group of tools reasonably priced and put them together in short order. The power tools, of course, cost more and require stands, power cords and supply, and workshop space. Some of us are lucky enough to inherit tools from our parents or relatives, or have them around for myriad quick fixes around the house.

The second tier of tools, says Popular Mechanics, consists of a bow saw, jigsaw, coping saw, side-cutting pliers, crosscut saw, snips, roundhouse shovel, needle-nose pliers, and a cordless drill. The trio of indispensable tools for plumbing repairs include a pipe wrench, pliers of all sizes and adjustable models, and an adjustable and crescent wrench.

Squaring Away Your Repair Tools

Organizing your repair tools so they are there when you need them can be a project unto itself.  If you plan on doing work off property, you might want a toolbox for your truck.  In the garage, you can thrive with a well organized peg boards and hooks, shelves, and storage cabinets. Put each family of tools together in their own shelf, slot, or see-through plastic container.

While you’re building up your toolbox, consider whether you have duplicates and which tools are in need of oiling, repair, or replacements.  Relying on someone else for your tools can be tricky. Many home carpenters and fix-it enthusiasts are protective of their tools.

During repairs, you may want to strap on a tool belt with the leather pouches arranged intuitively with nails, hammer, screwdrivers, bolts, tape, and measuring tape in easy reach.

It doesn’t matter whether your fireplace is used for aesthetics or heating the house, every fall is a great time to have a chimney inspection and cleaning if it needs it. If you’re changing the amount of use, the kind of fuel you burn, or your home heating venting, be sure to include a chimney inspection. A chimney fire, no matter the time of year, can be terrifying and catastrophic.

Put your chimney inspection high on your list of winter must-dos. Even if a chimney fire is short-lived, the heat can damage your mortar, wall materials, tiles, and outer masonry.  That’s lasting damage.

Have you put a wood stove back into operation for the winter? Have a professional come in to inspect venting and creosote buildup. The Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA) warns that you only use seasoned heating wood in your home this winter.

When You Need Chimney Service

The CSIA recommends that you consider three levels of service depending on your existing conditions:

• When an inspector or contractor takes a walk-around your home, ensuring the chimney and flue are in optimal operating condition and free of obstructions.
• When you change the fuel, the lining, flue, or if your home has lived through a heavy storm, fire, or seismic event.
• Chimney components that require taking the system apart are damaged and need inspection and repair.

If your home matches any of these potentially risky conditions—or if you recently acquired the property—you should seek an inspection from a professional.

How to Evaluate a Chimney Contractor

The National Chimney Sweep Guild recommends annual or semi-annual inspections to prevent carbon monoxide poisonings or chimney fires.  Ask potential chimney contractors for references and check out their history in your community.

Ask for free bids on the contractor’s letterhead.  If your potential contractors are licensed, they should not be skittish about showing a license as well as proof of insurance against worker injury or property damage.

Talk to neighbors about references and find out if the work was done on time and to their complete satisfaction. Local and state better business bureaus and consumer protection agencies usually have a black list of contractors who have been sued or have ongoing complaints.

Last, the U.S. Fire Administration reminds all homeowners and renters to keep items that are not considered fuel out of your fireplace. That includes cardboard boxes and flammable liquids. And use a fire screen at all times. If you do have a fire, get everyone out of the house safely and call emergency.