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Raising maple wood grain only requires that you follow a series of basic, easy to manage steps. Raise maple wood grain with help from a master precision craftsman in this free video clip.
Many homeowners, new or seasoned, feel as if they're one or two remodeling projects away from that tantalizing notion of their "dream home." Higher ceilings in one room, an open kitchen, an upgraded bathroom ... in the myopic mind's eye of the homeowner, it all seems so simple. But reality is often harsher: Even the most seemingly basic remodeling projects can be riddled with unforeseen costs and unexpected hang-ups that few prepare for, yet almost everyone encounters. Addressing them before the first hammer falls is the only way that you can ride out the remodel storm without breaking the bank.
Fiberglass mesh tape provides a strong bond for many construction and repair applications, include drywall and tile work. This tape is self-adhesive and designed to serve as a strong, lasting bond to aid in holding elements in place or for patching holes, cracks or other problems. For some jobs, adhesive, drywall mud or sealant can increase the difficulty of getting the tape off. Learning how to remove fiberglass mesh tape will help you remove the tape without damaging surfaces.
Onyx is a semiprecious, translucent stone that emits light through it. The stone comes in pastel colors, and can be recognized by the swirling patterns and bands on its surface. Backlighting an onyx slab creates a dramatic effect in the room, and gives you an opportunity to upgrade your regular countertops into colorful works of art. The countertops, however, require special care, as they tend to absorb liquids quickly and scratch easily. The slabs are fragile, and almost always have a fiberglass material on the back to hold the stone together. Many homeowners, therefore, avoid onyx countertops in their kitchens,…
You don't have to purchase a brand new tool chest for convenient, portable and affordable storage for your DIY projects. You need little more than an old dresser or other piece of furniture with drawers and a trip to your local home improvement store for a cheap and customized storage solution in just the size and color you want.
Galvanized skirting is a sheet-metal product with a shiny silver finish that has often been stamped to look like stone blocks. It is commonly sold in sheets 5 feet long and 28 inches wide for about $12 each, at the time of publication. Although its intended use is to cover the open area below a manufactured home or porch, its decorative surface makes it a creative, low-cost alternative to smaller tin ceiling panels, which can be double the cost.
A step ceiling is often built around the perimeter of a room to give an illusion of greater height. A step extends down from the main ceiling to a depth ranging from about 2 inches to a foot or more. Some step ceilings are used to conceal wiring for perimeter lighting. Some are painted or finished in colors or materials to contrast with the main ceiling, while other steps match the main ceiling. Specific designs and uses vary with the type and style of room and the homeowner's preference. Step ceilings can be framed during initial construction or added later.
One way to give a room an interesting look that keeps it from feeling like a plain box is by adding a contoured ceiling. A contoured ceiling may feature broad curves and dramatic angles, or simply unite the ceiling with the walls, eliminating sharp corners and angles where they meet. Contoured ceilings consist of plaster over a metal mesh surface, which provides structure and the curved forms that give the finished ceiling its shape. Wooden supports brace the metal mesh, transferring the weight of the plaster to structural ceiling joists and wall studs.
Daikon is a root vegetable native to Asia. Daikon can be cut into many different shapes, and it is often used to create decorative garnishes for plates and platters. Daikon comes in various shapes and sizes, but the most commonly used variety in the U.S. is the Japanese daikon. While you might think that you have to be a professional chef to create quality daikon decorations, with the proper preparation, anyone can do it.
Linear feet and square feet measure similar things, but in reality are very different. Find out about the difference between measuring linear feet and square feet with help from a high school math tutor in this free video clip.
A banister is perhaps the most distinctive part of the staircase that serves a decorative and functional purpose. It includes the handrail and the posts on either side. Whether through defect, wear or accidents, wooden banisters can break or become loose, requiring immediate attention to prevent the cracks from causing the structure to break into separate pieces. Although the banister is designed to withstand wear and tear, you may need to perform maintenance checks several times a year so it continues to provide safety to those ascending or descending the stairway.
Many workbenches come with an elaborate system of drawers, but if you're making your own or have opted for a more basic version, you can install your own in relatively little time. The shallowness and width of your drawer ultimately depends on its intended purpose and the workbench framing.
A transmission jack is designed to be used in a very specific way for maximum safety. Use a transmission jack with help from an expert in the automotive industry in this free video clip.
A washout is the result of water damage beneath a home’s foundation due to the removal of a significant amount of supportive soil. To fix a washout, the material beneath the home must be replaced to bring the foundation level once more. Since the house may already be sagging, the replacement material must be strong enough to fill the washed out void and push the house back to a level state. Slab jacking allows you to do this by pumping concrete slurry under the house. The slurry cures to a firmness that resists future erosion.
If you're switching to wood heat from gas or electric, you'll likely find that your home is lacking a chimney. Most new homes don't have chimneys, and even those that do are usually designed for fireplaces, not stoves. Wood stove chimneys are manufactured in short lengths that slide into each other, making assembly fairly simple. Provided you have the tools necessary to cut holes in your ceiling and roof, you can install your own stove chimney in a single afternoon.
Commonly seen in log cabins and barns, exposed-beam ceilings are now often found in homes and buildings. The beams create rural charm and architectural interest to the indoor space. If your ceilings are over 8 feet tall, you can easily create and install exposed wood beams for aesthetics. The common wood choices for these beams include pine and oak. Ensure the beams measure slightly longer than the ceiling when they arrive, so you can cut them to the required length.
When you're looking to create the impression of fine hardwood on a steel, fiberglass or composite flush door, you could employ the painstaking approach of using a fine artist's brush to apply every individual curve of wood grain by hand. While there are craftsman who use that technique, most professional painters produce highly realistic looking wood grain using a curved, ribbed applicator known as a graining tool. With a little practice, a do-it-yourselfer can achieve similar results as flush doors, having one smooth surface, are easier to work with than paneled doors.
Lowrider hydraulics use a very specific type of fluid during operation. Learn what kind of fluid lowrider hydraulics use with help from an expert in the automotive industry in this free video clip.
Since 1998 Lowes has offered its own brand of workbenches and tables under the brand name Kobalt. The workbenches come in various sizes with one to six drawers, depending on the particular model. Some are painted, while others have a heavy-duty stainless steel surface. Once you have your Kobalt workbench assembled and set up, take advantage of its features.
Craftsman refers to its drill bit sharpening jig as a drill grinding attachment. The jig is used in conjunction with a bench grinder to grind the correct angles on drill bits to be sharpened. The drill grinding attachment can be used to sharpen drill bits up to 3/4-inch in diameter or grind a new tip on a broken bit. The sharpening attachment can be used against the normal grinding edge of a grinder wheel. If you want to grind on the side of the wheel, a grinder wheel specifically designed for side grinding must be used.
A door can be hung in a hallway to section off one part of a house from another. This is particularly useful if the house is large and portions are closed off in discrete heating and air conditioning zones. By adding a hallway door an entire section can easily be closed allowing one part of the house to be warmer or colder than another. Doorways are also added for privacy and as buffers against sound in homes where the main living spaces are too close to bedroom areas. Adding a door is not difficult and with a pre-hung type of…
Brick can add warmth and texture to almost any wall, including a kitchen backsplash. Thinset is commonly used as tile adhesive, but it also works for certain brick installations, such as brick veneer. If your backsplash is large, mix small amounts of thinset at a time to prevent it from hardening before you can use it. Full-thickness bricks are not appropriate for a thinset application. If you desire full bricks instead of brick veneer, you will need a thick-set installation, which includes a moisture barrier, metal lathe and two layers of masonry mortar under the bricks.
Microwave cabinets, whether homemade or pre-made, essentially convert your countertop microwave oven to a built-in model. Hanging the oven on the wall frees up counter space for storage and utility. Microwave cabinets typically have two special features: They are ventilated to prevent the oven from overheating, and they have a hole in the bottom to pass the electrical cord. Hanging a dedicated microwave cabinet on the wall uses techniques similar to hanging any other wall-mounted cabinet. No special tools or advanced carpentry skills are required for this project.
Valve allows independent developers to create their own game modules from Valve games using the Source SDK engine that runs "Half-Life 2." Valve distributes the Hammer editor as part of the Source Software Development Kit, which allows you to create mods from the existing code. Before you can use Hammer, you need to configure it.
Adding a closet to your home can turn a den into a bedroom. It can also add value to your home by creating additional storage space. An additional closet may make it easier to store and care for your items. The time you put in to such a project will be worth the effort. You may need a helper when you install the frames for the closet.
A corner closet is one of the easiest closets to add to your home, since it uses two existing walls as part of the design. An additional closet will provide more storage space for your home, and can increase a home’s value. It can also turn a large office or den into a space that would work as a bedroom. This design is for a fully finished room. Building a closet is not a difficult project and most homeowner’s should be able to tackle it.
A kitchen remodeling project often includes updating your kitchen cabinets, and you may want to add overhead cabinets. Hanging overhead cabinets is a job that you can do yourself and save money. You do not need the help of a professional cabinet maker to successfully complete the job. Hang your own overhead cabinets with a little time and a few basic tools.
A failing closet-rod support can cause significant issues in your closet, resulting in freshly laundered and pressed garments falling to the floor. The problem probably isn't the rod holder. Rod holders are typically non-mechanical pieces of durable hardware that rarely fail. The most likely problem is poor installation. Closet-rod hardware requires secure installation to framing studs. If the rod was installed on a hollow portion of drywall, vertical and lateral forces cause it to fall.
Getting your gate to swing freely over uneven ground can be accomplished in several ways. You can either modify or reposition the gate or even-out the ground in the gate's swing radius. If the gate's lower rail is too low, you will have to remove the gate, then reposition and reinstall it. If only the gate's infill pickets must be repositioned, they can be removed and installed higher on the frame. A third option is to dig out roots, rocks or mounds of soil that prevent the gate from swinging freely.
Drill bits vary in size, giving a craftsman the ability to make holes ranging from pin size to several inches across. Like any other cutting tool, they eventually wear down and become dull. Whether they are sharpened professionally or done at home, a key element to the job is the grinder speed.
Wood houses tend to sag over time as the floor joists lose strength over wide spans and soil settles. You can bring the level of the center of a house back up into place with the use of floor jacks designed just for this purpose. Since adjusting a house affects not just the floor, but the supported ceilings and walls, this process works best when you attempt to lift the floor very slowly. Otherwise, you risk adding unsightly cracks to your project.
Concrete is an extremely hard surface and because of this, special concrete anchors must be used when you're either attaching something to concrete or hanging an object from it. Concrete anchors come in a variety of styles, such as wedge, strike or split drive anchors. When removing anchors, you'll need to remove the head of the anchor while in most cases leaving the rest of the anchor in the concrete to prevent severely damaging it.
The corners of a picture frame may pull apart over time. You can reassemble them by nailing the mitered edges with a brad, to create a stronger joint than one relying only on glue.
Drills are power tools that use bits, which are sharp spiral-shaped rods, to pierce wood, metal or other surfaces and make holes in them. Rather than throw away drill bits once they have become dull, many people use drill bit sharpener stands, like the Pit Bull Drill Bit Sharpener Stand, to resharpen their bits. Mount the Pit Bull sharpening stand to a solid work bench or table before using it. It takes approximately 20 minutes to set up and use the Pit Bull.
Using a 1/4-inch jack for stereo out requires the correct connection cable and plug configuration. Many stereo sound mixers, equalizers, sound modification devices and some musical instruments use stereo 1/4-inch jacks for stereo output to stereo amplification and recording equipment. Stereo jacks are wired to accept standard mono 1/4-inch jacks, but will only emit a mono output. Stereo jacks and plugs are TRS (tip, ring, sleeve), with the tip carrying the left stereo signal, the ring for the right stereo signal and the sleeve for the negative common ground.
A carousel spice rack works just like a lazy Susan: It turns on a bearing to allow easy access to the spices or goods around its edges. While many spice racks have shelves or wire to hold up the spice containers, a simple lazy Susan works just as well and has a simpler construction. By modifying the design of the lazy Susan a little, you'll keep the spice containers from falling off the turntable when you spin it.
When you need to either service or change out a faucet, you must first open the faucet up by removing the water control handle. All water control handles are anchored to the faucet with a small screw, called a set screw, which you must remove before attempting to remove the handle. Depending on the faucet, some have set screws that require a Phillips screwdriver for removal, while others have a screw that requires an Allen wrench to remove the screw.
Entrance canopies offer an easy, inexpensive method to shade your entryway and protect it from inclement weather. Prefabricated entrance canopies typically mount to exterior walls via mounting brackets and long metal bars that resemble ledger boards. To safely secure the brackets and bars to the exterior wall, you must locate the wall's studs and anchor the hardware's screws into solid framing material, such as wall studs or the door's header beam.
An action wrench is a tool used to clamp around the action of a rifle, when removing the barrel. Making an action wrench can be done by hand, if you have the proper tools and materials. Fabricating the action wrench requires steel or metal, and a drill press. The fabrication of your own action wrench is a project that can be completed in just a few hours.
A backsplash serves an important purpose other than simply improving the appearance of a kitchen. It also protects the wall surface from water damage and stains. However, for proper protection to occur, the crack between the backsplash and the counter requires sealing with caulk. While caulk guns speed the process of caulking the backsplash, they are not required. You can create a professional appearance using nothing more than the caulk and your finger.
Antique doors aren't just functional, they add a touch of interest to any decor. Depending on the type of wood it's made out of, an antique door can weigh up to 50 pounds. Because a door is a relatively heavy object to suspend from a ceiling, locating ceiling joists is imperative. Otherwise, you could end up with large holes in your ceiling plaster.
The Altman Z-Score is a way of measuring the fiscal fitness of a company. Five financial statistics are entered into an equation, and the resulting score tells you how likely that business is to go bankrupt within the next two years. Scores above 3.00 indicate the company is safe, scores between 2.70 and 2.99 mean this company is in some trouble and should make changes, scores between 1.80 and 2.70 indicate a good chance of bankruptcy and scores below 1.80 indicate a very high chance.
The glides on each drawer of a toolbox can wear down and break with extended usage. Damaged glides can cause a drawer to become difficult to move and get stuck. Replacing the glides is not a difficult task if you have the correct replacement parts for your toolbox. In some cases, the glides on a toolbox might allow for non-standard replacements to work, but this is not a common design with all models. Getting the correct replacement drawer glides for your toolbox model is the only way to ensure the replacements function properly.
Jewelers use rivets to hold metal jewelry pieces together. Rivets are created by hammering metal wire through drilled holes in the jewelry pieces until the wire is firmly held in place. A jewelry riveting hammer is one type of hammer that's used to create rivets. It consists of a fine-tip end and a displacement end. Both ends are used to tap the wire and create rivets. Before using a jewelry riveting hammer, however, you must drill holes in the metal pieces to prepare them for the wire.
File shelves offer a place to store personal or business files without the need for a filing cabinet. This can help save space in a small home office or other area where you need to quickly access files. You can customize file shelves to fit the height and width of your wall, as well as to accommodate the volume of files you need to store. Hanging file shelves requires only basic supplies and carpentry tools.
Stud finders work by either magnetic or electronic means. Their purpose is to locate metal or support frames inside walls. Exterior stucco walls are almost invariably built over a metal mesh, which confuses most stud finders. For this reason, the short answer is "no." Without special equipment, a stud finder will almost always fail to work through an exterior stucco wall. However, you still have some options to find those studs.
Wood graining can provide a decorative finish in places where none exists. The process of wood graining simply involves providing a faux finish to a surface to make it appear to be wood, when in fact it is metal or some other type of surface. Metal wood graining can be used to apply a wood finish to metal doors or garage doors to give them a decorative appeal.
Hardwall hangers are plastic hooks with metal pins on top that penetrate through the surface of the wall. They typically support objects no heavier than 20 pounds, and the objects must exert a downward pull only and not away from the wall. The hangers are suitable for use on concrete, plaster, brick or hardwood wall surfaces. Installing the plastic hardware hooks requires only positioning them properly and then hammering the metal spikes into the wall.
Whether you're installing a new banister rail or have noticed your current one is getting a bit rickety, proper nailing is essential for a secure hold that will last for years. Usually, nailing is only required while securing the baluster -- the vertical rail -- the top handrail and the bottom base.
Interior railings are not only aesthetically pleasing, they serve an important safety function as well. If you lose your balance and slip on the stairs, the railing may be all that prevents you from falling. As a result, it's vital that the railing be strong enough to support someone's weight if it's grabbed in an emergency. Strengthening your interior rails helps ensure they won't give out when you need them most.
