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Category Archives: Do It Yourself Projects
Finishing drywall
Finishing drywall refers to taping and filling the seams between adjacent sheets. It’s a 3-coat process. Allow each coat to dry overnight. The 1st coat, or bedding, is about 6″ wide and holds a strip of paper or fiberglass tape over the seams. The joint tape helps prevent cracks. Inside corners, including those at the ceiling, are reinforced with the same tape you use on seams between sheets. Outside corners, because of the beating they get, are reinforced with a metal right angle called a bead. The 2nd coat is about 8″ wide and fills the imperfections of the 1st coat. The third is the smooth finish coat, about 12 inches wide. The finish coat is either sanded or smoothed with a damp sponge. Use the sponge if you can. If you sand make sure you wear a dust mask. Continue reading
Installing a suspended ceiling
To put in a level ceiling you first need to draw a level line around the room marking where you will install the wall angles. The surest solution is to rent a tripod laser and follow the manufacturer’s instructions. If you’d rather not spend the rental money, count on spending more time doing layout. Continue reading
Posted in Do It Yourself Projects
Tagged 3 feet, chalk line, foot intervals, hacksaw, installing a suspended ceiling, joists, money count, s line, square grid, tin snips
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Setting Ceramic Tile – Laying Ceramic Tile
Ceramic tile is the most durable flooring you can install. It’s low-maintenance, stands up well to water, Installation, however, is labour-intensive. Even if you don’t have to install backerboard (not necessary on a slab floor or patio), there’s mixing mortar, setting tile, applying grout, and sealing the tile. Read all directions carefully, then read all the directions that come with grouts and mortars. Mix them carefully and follow your layout lines precisely. Continue reading
Framing a Partition Wall On The Floor
Make one room feel like two. First, lay out the bottom plate of the new wall, and then cut 2×4 top and soleplates to length. Measure the distance between the floor and the ceiling, or the joists, and use the layout marks to see how many studs you’ll need. Lay the soleplate on edge along the floor line, and the top plate on edge with the layout marks facing the soleplate. Once all studs have been attached to the soleplates, raise the wall and position the plates on the floor and ceiling lines. Continue reading
Posted in Do It Yourself Projects
Tagged accuracy, bottom plate, floor joists, installing tile, partition wall, plumb bob, soleplate, square corners, stud, studs
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Drywall cutting and screwing
Get straight cuts and great dimples. Score the face paper with a utility knife, using a drywall T square as a guide. Bend the panel away from the scored line until it breaks. Cut through the back paper to separate the pieces. Hang sheets with screws instead of nails. Drive the screw deep enough to create a dimple without breaking the face paper. Then fill the dimple with joint compound. You may need a drywall gun to drive drywall screws. For smaller jobs, use a drill with a dimpler bit. Continue reading
Posted in Do It Yourself Projects
Tagged dimple, drywall screws, face paper, gypsum, nails, score, screw, straight cuts, t square, utility knife
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Installing loose-fill insulation
Short of tearing off the walls, blow-in, loose-fill insulation is the only way to insulate a house built before the days of adequate insulation. You can buy fiberglass or cellulose loose-fill. Put the insulation in a blower located outside the house and stretch a hose to the area you’re insulating. The hose usually has a switch that lets you turn the machine on and off from wherever you’re working. Have a helper working outside to refill the blower with insulation. Continue reading
Installing Backerboard – Cutting backerboard
To avoid cracking, tile needs a stable bed such as backerboard. The bed begins with a lather of wet mortar applied to the floor. The backerboard is set in the mortar while it’s still wet, then screwed to the subfloor. Any gaps between sheets of backerboard and the floor are taped and mortared. Once this has dried, a layer of mortar is set on top of the backerboard and the tiles are set in it. Use only backerboard tape on the joints. Backerboard screws are also a must. Continue reading
Attaching new walls to existing joists
Redefine every room in your home. Mark the location of the new wall on the ceiling. Make wall plates by cutting two 2x4s to the wall length, and then outline stud locations. Make sure lines are parallel to the wall. Determine the soleplate position by hanging a plumb bob from the edge of the top plate. Then anchor the soleplate to the floor. Position the stud against the wall, align it with the soleplate, and nail it in place. Fasten the other stud and then attach studs to the soleplate. Continue reading
Installing Carpet Tile
There are two advantages to carpet tiles: First you don’t need to master the art of stretch-in installation. The downside: Because the tiles are glued down, there’s no pad underneath. Like vinyl and ceramic tiles, you lay out carpet tiles by finding the center of the room, Once you’ve found the center, peel-and-stick installation starts by laying a square in it, and then working out toward the walls, Mastic installation also start in the center, but is done one quadrant at a time because it makes glue application easier. Carpet tile is like other tiles: you can create countless patterns. Take a look at the manufacturer’s brochures to see what textures and colors are available. Continue reading
Wiring in unfinished framing
Running cable through bare framing members is far easier than fishing it through a wall finished with drywall or plaster and lath. If the existing wall surface is flawed or if you also are installing plumbing in a remodeling job, it usually saves work to tear off all the drywall. Start anew rather than living with a roomful of small wall patches. Before you start, contact your municipal building department. Continue reading