Work Outside Rain or Shine with a Canopy

With the spring rains coming, I new that I would need to get some weather protection or I would start getting rained out and my project would get off schedule. Nobody wants rain delays so I started looking into getting a small roof over my head, a.k.a. a canopy.

I was surprised to find so many offered. Most of them are called tents or 'wedding canopies' because they are most often used for outdoor parties. I just wanted a place to set up some tools so that I could still work, unless it was really storming.

I settled on the 10 x 10 Smart Shade canopy from Swiss Gear. They are the same folks that make Swiss Army Knives and their stuff is usually higher quality so I went for it.

I wasn't disappointed.

One day last week I needed to finish some trim and a light rain was forecasted all day. Time to give it a try! There was a break in the weather and I got it set up all by myself fairly quickly, probably less than 15 minutes. It would be easier with two people, but I was able to do it by going around and moving the legs out a little at a time. It didn't take long and I had a roof to keep me dry. It also came with a nice case that even has a couple wheels on it too.

I'm completely pleased with the purchase and thought I'd share in case you were considering one as well. I must admit that at first I felt like I was taping a TV show because they are always working under tents like this... :)

BTW- I'm also planning to use this as the summer starts heating up. I know I won't mind a little shade to keep me working with a smile.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

My Review of Milwaukee Heavy-Duty 33 Pocket/3 Piece Tool Belt

Originally submitted at Hardware Sales Inc.

Milwaukee's Heavy-Duty 33 Pocket/3 Piece Tool Belt is made from water-resistant 600 Denier Ripstop Polyester Material. The Tool Belt features 33 total pockets of various sizes and shapes, large flat bottom pouches, builder's square pockets in each large pouch and a cell phone or 2-way radio...

Milwaukee 49-17-0190 Heavy-Duty 33 Pocket/3 Piece Tool Belt

The perfect tool belt for me

By CarpentryGuy from Nashville, TN on 2/27/2010

5out of 5

Pros: Holding Capacity, Comfortable Fit, Versatile, Durable

Best Uses: Multi-Purpose

Describe Yourself: Professional

I'm a contractor and I handle a wide range of projects from framing to tilework. I wanted a tool belt that had some pouches, but also had lots of pockets to organize my tools. My last tool belt had just a couple big compartments and my tools were always getting lost in the bottom.

I was pleased when I got the Millwaukee belt because of the number of pockets and how they were organized. I also love the two 'bottomless' pockets which will hold my small flatbar and my drywall saw. It's also easy to remove one of the pouches from the belt if you don't need all of your tools for a particular project and want a lighter load.

I'm completely happy with this tool belt, and the price made it a no-brainer.

(legalese)

Prepare the Door Jambs for Tile

One of the marks of a professional tile job is how the door jambs look when you're done. The idea is to not leave any raw edges of tile showing. These should be covered with trim of some kind, unless it's up against a threshold or cabinet. Let's talk about how I handle the tile around the door, which can be a tricky spot.

To make the cuts to the door jamb or casing, I use one of my new favorite tools, a Rockwell Sonicrafter. It has a small blade that oscillates back-and-forth allowing you to make plunge cuts into wood that would be otherwise impossible, or at least, barely possible.

I used to attempt these cuts with a reciprocal saw which is crazy at best. It's hard to control and I would normally end up replacing all the casing after the damage I made...

The Sonicrafter comes to the rescue. It's nearly identical to the Fein Multimaster, but costs much less. I considered the Fein, but for the amount of use that I give it, I think the Rockwell tool will suit me fine. So far I'm thrilled with it and I'm sure I'll think of many more uses for it as time goes on.

Anyway, for this project, I laid the blade over a scrap of the 1/2" Hardibacker and a piece of tile and used this height to guide my cut. Adding to this the width of the blade, this will usually be exactly the right height to allow me to slide the tile in underneath later.

This picture shows how it looks after I've laid the tile. The marble threshold butts up to the inside of the door jamb, while the tile slides under the casing back to the wall. Any exposed edges will get covered up by the baseboard and shoe moulding.

For most bathrooms, I like to use a marble threshold (also called a sanitary sill) at the doorway. This should be placed directly under the door, but it's typically wider than the door. I prefer to notch the door jambs and slide it forward until it's flush with the door jamb on the inside.

If you don't do this, you'll have a small place in the corner that won't get covered by the door casing where you'll have a tricky cut or a very small piece of tile to deal with as you can see in this picture.

Grouting the tile and caulking around the threshold complete the job and hopefully leave the homeowner with a top-notch finished product.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Building a Wall of Doors

To enclose our utility area and create a separate closet for our new room that used to be a garage I needed to build a wall. Much of the wall would be doors to access the closets. Framing is an exciting phase of the project because it seems to go so fast compared to other parts of the project. Before we get ahead of ourselves let's think this through.

In the end of the closet is the service panel with all the circuit breakers for the entire house. By codes, this needs at least 30" of clearance to the sides and 36" in front of it. I also need to make sure that the washer/dryer fit in the closet with wiggle room. I decided to make the interior of the closet 34" deep to satisfy these criteria.

Next, I needed to place the doors. I wanted a normal 30" 6-panel door on the end to access the service panel and a small mud sink. Next, I planned for a 60" opening with bi-fold doors that would hide the laundry appliances. The interior of the laundry/sink/service panel closet will be open inside with no dividers. Because of all the wiring and plumbing in that area I'm not changing this wall. Just enclosing the area.

Beside the laundry will be a small closet to add storage to this room enabling the room to function as a bedroom if someone wanted use it for that. With doors so close together I also had to think ahead about how the trim would be installed. I'll be using 2 1/4" casing and I didn't want the trim from adjacent doors to get in the way of each other.

Once I had the wall designed on paper, I started by laying it out on the floor using chalk lines to show where the floor plates will go. I marked the doorway rough openings, leaving room for doorjambs, which add approx. 2" to the width of a door. For these 30" doors I'm making the rough opening 32". This allows for 1 1/2" of door jambs (2 pieces at 3/4" each) and then 1/2" of space to shim and make sure I can get it level.

The bottom plates will be treated 2x4 as required by codes because they are resting on the cement slab. I spread a little liquid nails underneath and then secured the bottom plates to the cement using a Ramset. This is a 'powder actuated' tool that literally shoots the nail through the lumber into the concrete using small caliber loads. I have the most basic single-use model that is triggered by me hitting the top with a hammer. If you have to use it a lot, they make various models up to the .27 caliber semi-automatic. (Check them out here.)

Anyway, the Ramset is a great alternative to some type of masonry nail or even using Tapcon screws with a hammer drill. I was using 2 1/2" fasteners that were meant for use in treated lumber.

You might note that the header above each door is only a flat 2x4. Since this is a NON-loadbearing wall, this is all that's needed. Of course, if it was supporting a load above it, we'd need something more substantial.

Things are starting to take shape. Next, let's build some steps to get into the room.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com /

Tricks to Cutting Hardibacker Cementboard

Before laying the flooring at my Inglewood kitchen project, I wanted to lay 1/2" Hardibacker. This will not only give me a solid, smooth surface to tile over, but the old tile floor had 1/2" cementboard (also called CBU) so the door jambs are cut to accommodate this already.

The Hardibacker goes down over a layer of thinset mortar nailed with roofing nails. (Hint: get a roofing nailer to really speed this up.) The process is quite similar to laying any subfloor, but cementboard can be frustrating to cut.

It takes forever to score it with a utility knife and the blade will dull very quickly. A circular saw will churn up clouds of toxic silica dust everywhere and again, dull the blade almost immediately.

Here are two ways to cut it without loosing your temper:

1. Buy a 'cementboard scoring tool'. (Below Left) They're usually in the tile department next to where they sell wet saws. With this you can score and snap the Hardibacker similarly to how you cut drywall. It just takes a few more swipes to dig in before it snaps. It won't give you a very clean break, so you might want to measure about 1/8th short to compensate for this.

2. Get an abrasive jig saw blade meant for cutting cementboard. If you can find one for this exact purpose, you can use one designed for cutting ceramic tile like I did. (Below Right) I was able to make it through my entire kitchen project before this blade wore out.

I like to score and snap any cuts that I can and use the jig saw for notches and cutting out electrical boxes, etc. This process worked well for me and I was able to stay calm in the process.

By the way, if you have to make a lot of cuts you can also buy a circular saw blade meant to cut cement board. Check the reviews on Amazon, because it sounds like some of them wear out very fast, which is not cool when you just paid $50+ for the blade.

Remember to use the respirator whenever you're cutting this stuff, especially if you're indoors. The manufacturer recommends only using power tools like a jigsaw outside. That's probably good advice because the clouds of dust will attack your lungs.

Happy cutting,

Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Tool Review- Porter Cable Roofing Nailer

Every time I'm doing some type of roof repair, I think about how grateful I am for my roofing gun. Of course, nearly any gun would be better than hammering, but I think I made a good choice with the Porter Cable RN175A.

One of the best things about having a roofing nailer is that you can put nails in with just one hand. Your other hand is free to hold the shingle, or the ladder. This could make some very precarious positions a lot safer.

I don't do large scale roofing, mainly smaller repairs, etc. Today, for example, I was installing roofing on a porch I rebuilt because the old one was sagging so much. (See these posts: day1, day2) Having the nailer made the job go so much faster!

As far as features, the Porter Cable seems to compete very well with the other top brands. I haven't had problems with misfiring or nails not going in far enough. This happens once in a while, probably because I've hit another nail below, but it's definitely not a widespread problem.

It does seem to spit out the last nail every time, so you'll waste one nail per coil. And it doesn't have a lockout feature to keep you from firing blanks. (Something that should be a standard feature on any gun.)

One cool feature is that you can change from bump fire to single fire. With bump fire the gun shoots when you depress the tip with the trigger pulled. This is great when you're laying lots of shingles and you get in a groove. Single fire will shoot one nail each time you pull the trigger with the nose depressed. This is better when you need to be more accurate or working in tight quarters.

It feels very solidly built, too. Parts of it are plastic, but overall it doesn't feel cheap. It gets a lot of wear laying on the roof and it seems to take it well.

As far as price, this gun was $50-75 cheaper than other top brands like the Millwaukee or Bostich ones. I bought mine refurbished and saved even more. Today was my third major roofing job using it, and it also comes in handy for securing cementboard underlayment for tile floors. For the type of work I do, this gun is a great fit.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Get a Ladder Stabilizer Before Climbing

I thought I'd highlight a tool that is super-helpful when I'm working from my ladder in any precarious positions- a ladder stabilizer.

The stabilizer is just a horizontal cross piece that attaches to the top of my extension ladder using brackets and wing bolts. It's fairly easy to take on or off.

There are couple huge benefits to using one of these. First, of course, is that it 'stabilizes' the ladder making it less likely to move on you. It really does help the ladder feel more solid and increases my confidence so I can work faster from it.

Secondly, it allows the weight of the ladder to rest on the shingles where the stabilizer is, rather than on the gutters, where leaning the ladder on the gutter might damage them.

Finally, I'd say that with the stabilizer I can reach a wider area around the ladder, meaning I have to move it less. This was certainly true at my recent roof repair (see this post) where I was working along an eave from the ladder. I can be more certain that the ladder won't spin on me if I'm leaning more to one side to get a nail out or paint some trim.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Drywall Scaffold Comes in Handy

I spent some lengthy hours finishing drywall over the past week and was really glad to have a tool called a drywall scaffold on hand. My dad actually bought me one when I was doing the East Nashville Bungalow project and it got tons of use.

The drywall scaffold is great because you can reach a much greater area without coming down (your knees will thank you!). It's very sturdy, yet it folds up into something that would fit into a closet and out of the way.

The rails are great for clipping a work light to, or holding your drywall tape. In addition, it's makes a great work bench sometimes as well as a place to stack rows of painted trim while they dry.

Most of all it's great for whenever you've got much drywall work to do. You can buy one for around $100, and I'd say it's very worth it. Even better if you can find someone else to buy it for you!

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Painting Cabinets with an Airless Paint Sprayer

We're adding another kitchen to our home for our apartment conversion project. Kitchen cabinets can be pricey, but for our purposes we just needed the most simple and basic (and inexpensive) cabinets I could find

After a little digging, I had a friend tell me about some decent cabinets that they had purchased from Southeastern Salvage. The cabinets were made out of plywood with oak fronts and came unfinished in many standard sizes. This was perfect for our purposes and kept us within our budget.

I've given them a coat of dark brown paint and they look great. To paint them, I borrowed an airless paint sprayer. (Airless just means that it uses electric power rather than compressed air.) The sprayer was the Wagner Wide Shot Pro 2400.

I started by painted some vanity drawers and had no problems. I cleaned the gun and took a break to get the kitchen cabinets ready. Later, as I started painting the cabinet doors, the sprayer started 'spitting' large globs of paint. This was not cool! I cleaned it several times, and replaced the 'atomizer' in the nozzle and it still wouldn't work.

That was yesterday, this morning I finally got it to work. Here's the secret:

1. Thin the paint. I had been advised that this paint wouldn't need to be thinned, but they were incorrect. For the Behr latex paint I was using, I added around 6 ounces of water and 6 ounces of Flo-trol to a nearly full gallon of paint. You may want to start by adding less and increase the amount as needed to get an even spray.

2. Watch how you hold the sprayer. My biggest problems came when I was painting cabinet doors that were laying flat on some saw horses. When I pointed the spray gun down toward them, it was sucking air instead of getting the paint from the reservoir. It's really best to just aim the gun straight ahead and position the item to be painted so that this will work.

3. Clean the gun really well after each use. To clean the paint sprayer, you have to take the pieces apart and clean them individually. After taking the nozzle off, don't forget that the next piece comes off as well to reveal the piston inside. All of this should be cleaned up so that no paint can dry and become a nuisance for you. After you've done that, run some clean water through the gun to make sure the nozzles and all the parts are free

For jobs like painting cabinets, fences, louvered doors and more, you might consider trying out a paint sprayer. This Wagner model has some good and bad reviews online, but it worked great for me, once I got it setup right and thinned my paint. It takes a few minutes to clean and can have some hassles, but it will greatly cut down on how long it takes to paint these tricky items.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Camera Phone is Handy When Wiring

This week I was reinstalling a ceiling fan for a client after repairing some drywall. When I took the fan down I noticed that there were several electrical connections and I didn't want to forget how to hook it up.

Then I remembered that I was armed with a camera phone.

For years, I never really used my phone to take pictures, but lately I've discovered how handy it is to always have a camera around. I took a quick picture of the wires before disconnecting them and stored it in my phone for later. When it was time to remount it I could reference that photo to remember how it was done.

Thankfully, it worked the first time.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Check Out the IKEA Kitchen Designer.

We're adding a kitchen as part of our apartment conversion project. We're not going high-end with the finishes, but I did want a way to visualize how the kitchen would look when we're finished and figure out what size of cabinets we need to buy. The IKEA Home Planner application is great for this.


To use their planning software you have to first download it from their website here. Once you have it on your computer, you can start a new design by inputting the dimensions of the room. Then, you can start filling the room with nearly any of IKEA's kitchen products.

Of course, the drawback is that it will only use items that are sold by IKEA, but I was able to use stock sizes to put together a quick rendering of what our kitchen will look like. After you've selected the items in the 2D "Furnish" view which gives you an overhead look at the room, you can hit "3D View" to see the image of how your kitchen will look.

The photo above is about what it will look like when we're finished. Pretty simple, right? -And, it's all free.

-Peter

BTW- I just noticed that they also have planning software for other rooms, which means all of your free time just disappeared...

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Drywall Lift Makes Ceilings a Cinch!

Hanging ceiling drywall used to be a real pain. Even with a helper, it can be difficult to hold the panels in place and fasten them using the ol' noggin or some homemade 2x4 "T-braces". Let me tell you a simpler way. It's called a drywall panel lift.

I forget where I first saw one of these, but several years ago I rented one from Home Depot to do some ceiling drywall and was amazed. It made the job go so much faster- not to mention, easier to accurately position the drywall in the right place. With the old fashioned way, it took a lot of adjustments to get those t-braces in just the right spot.

The panel lift is actually fairly simple to operate. Once you have it assembled just cut your piece and lay it on top. Crank up the stand and position it where you want it. Once it's in place, tighten it a little more and the fasten it with screws.

I can do ceiling drywall by myself now and it goes quickly. All for under $30 for a 4 hour rental, just a little more for 24 hours. That's money well spent when you think of all the headaches that you'll save.

(pun intended- hope you got it... :)

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Use a Studfinder to Nail with Confidence

If you haven't added a studfinder to your toolbag, now is the time. The days of putting eight holes in the drywall before you locate the stud are over.

There are numerous occasions when a studfinder is invaluable. For instance, the other day I was installing crown moulding in a finished room. With the studfinder I was able to locate a place to nail so that the crown doesn't sag later like it did at the house from this post.


It's also helpful when hanging heavy objects or installing a bookshelf or even a baby gate that you want to hold when the kids are climbing over it. :)

Basically, you just press a button the studfinder and slide it across the wall. When it finds a stud it lights up and even has a beep to alert you. As you can see in the picture, they are so easy to use so that even my 4-year-old could go around the house finding studs.

I've got a Zircon StudSensor SL, which is a fairly baisc model that sells for around $15 at Home Depot. There are some that get quite fancy and also find live wires within the wall and other hidden items.

Next time you want to hang a heavy mirror or bookshelf that won't give you the drop, make sure you find the studs first.

-Peter

http://www.carpentryguy.com/

Caulking Basics

Today I was helping some homeowners in the Courtside subdivision in Brentwood. They have their home on the market and wanted to take care of some trim joints that need re-caulked after a few years of humidity and possibly some settling. They had beautiful crown moulding throughout the entire home, but most of it looked like this:

I thought I'd cover some of the basics of how I handle caulking. First, it helps so much to have a great caulk gun. The last time I bought one I splurged and bought the heavy duty one. Boy, am I glad that I did!

For one, the handle is solid so it will never bend from use. There's nothing more annoying than a cheap bent handle on a caulk gun! :) It also has a clipper to take off the end of the spout as well as a little 'poker' to break the seal with. No more searching through the nail pouch for something else to break that seal.

Basic Steps to a Good Caulk:

1. Make sure you have the right caulk for the job. It amazes me how many types there are, but they are designed for a specific purpose and it's best to use them accordingly.

2. In addition to the caulk gun, I take a roll of paper towels, an old cardboard box, and my index finger.

3. For trim caulking, I trim off less than 1/4" of the spout. Any more, and you'll likely have way too much to deal with.

4. Use the least amount of pressure on the handle to get the caulk you need out. If you over-squeeze too much will come out again. The key is to stay in control of the caulk... Run it along the joint.

5. Use your finger to smooth the caulk into the joint and remove the excess. Wipe your finger often with paper towels to keep it relatively clean. This is key to not making a mess. Plan to use lots of paper towels. For tight spots like inside corners of crown moulding, I take some fresh paper towel to get the excess out and make the joint look sharp.

6. Use the cardboard box to deposit the used paper towels or to set the gun down. This is mainly important if you're in a finished space like I was today. You don't want to accidentally leave a pile of caulk on the carpet.

BIG TIP OF THE DAY: After you apply your bead of caulk, quickly hit the 'switch' to release the pressure on the caulk tube. This is the secret to stopping the caulk from coming out when you don't want it to. Before I figured this one out, I'd waste more caulk than I would use. Now that you know the secret, I guess you're in the caulking club.

There's really not much to it. Like anything else, take it easy and watch where you point that gun.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Painter's All-In-One Tool

After yesterday's post about carefully removing trim, I thought it would be appropriate to highlight another tool that I always have with me, a painter's all-in-one.

It looks like a fancy putty knife, which is actually a fairly accurate description. It has a stronger blade than a typical putty knife, though the blade is thin and sharp. I like that the butt end of it is reinforced so I can hammer on it without hurting the handle.

At the store, these are often called things like painter's 5-in-one, etc. I think that mine actually said it was a 14-in-one or something ridiculous like that. You can get a 7-in-1 on Amazon here for under $6.

Anyway, in addition to loosening trim it's great for:

1. Scraping old caulk off of trim for reuse

2. Scraping off peeling paint

3. Applying leverage to trim to make tight joints (like crown moulding)

4. Pulling some nails

5. Sharp curve can cut linoleum and rigid insulation (see this post)

6. Anything you would use a putty knife for- glazing, applying wood filler

7. Opening windows

8. Bottle Opener

9. Lots more, be creative here

Get your own, I'm hanging on to mine!

-Peter

http://www.carpentryguy.com/

A Better Tool for Cutting Rigid Insulation

I just noticed a video on the Fine Homebuilding site highlighting the use of a sharpened putty knife to cut rigid insulation. The author, Charles Miller, says that it was the best tool for the job that he’s ever found. It might work, but I’ve got a BETTER idea.

For the studio project I’ve been working on, we installed tons of very dense insulation. Much of it was mineral wool that was quite rigid. I discovered fairly early on that the best way to cut it was with my linoleum knife.

A linoleum knife is one of the tools you buy when you’re installing linoleum and the rest of the time it’s in the toolbox and never used. The large curved blade is extremely sharp and comes to a point so it’s fairly dangerous just to have around. However, it made cutting this insulation a piece of cake.

We used 1” and 2” thick pieces, which the knife handled in one swipe!

I’m not a fan of handling insulation any more than I have to, so having an easy way to cut it really made this part of the project more bearable.

I may have to keep this knife handy. Who knows what other uses I’ll come up with?!

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Copying Angles- Johnson Sliding T-Bevel

For the studio project I’ve been writing about, I picked up a Johnson Sliding T-Bevel. It’s a simple tool that you can buy on Amazon for a couple bucks plus shipping. (Or, at Home Depot for around $7) Simple, yet indispensable when you need to cut trim at an angle to perfectly fit.

Basically you just place the movable blade on the angle that you are copying and tighten the wing nut. From there you can set your miter saw to match and make sure that your cut piece will fit just right.

It's also small enough that it easily fits in my tool pouch and is there when I need it.

I’m not sure how I lived for so long without this tool. However, at some point I may upgrade to a similar version that also has gauge to tell me precisely what the angle is. That would be helpful quite often as well.

Having the right tools really makes the difference sometimes!

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com