Build and Rebuild, Island style

The Blind Making the Blinds - Cutting Matchstick Blinds DIY

2015-05-28T10:22:00.002-04:00

My research said that you can cut matchstick type blinds with a miter saw so I did not hesitate to order a style that was not available in the exact size for my windows. Unfortunately, my first attempt was less than stellar so I regrouped and figured out how to do it right. Here's what worked for my half dozen roman blinds, purchased from a big box store online.

Cutting Matchstick Blinds DIY

This isn't rocket science - just a few simple rules for success. My failed attempt was due to the fact that that I had not re-rolled the blind - I cut it as it was bundled in the box. Unroll the blind completely then start at the bottom. The tighter it's rolled, the cleaner the cut. Painter's blue masking tape will leave no sticky residue behind, so it's the stuff to use (and re-use).

Measure, Mark and Tape

Trial and error proved that 3/4" less than the space between my side window trim gave the proper fit for easy raising and lowering of the blinds. I marked where I wanted the cut then put tape around the blind on both sides of the cut line. My chop saw blade has 80 teeth for fine cuts but my feeling is that what is most critical is swift, decisive cuts. With a tightly rolled blind, a good blade and a fast chop, the rest of my blinds, which needed cuts on both ends, came out looking factory sliced.

Header Cuts

Upper left photo above shows how using a hunk of the header from a section of cutoff blind makes it simple to mark the width and length of the cutout needed for the mounting bolts. A band saw made quick work of it for me but a jigsaw or coping saw could easily accomplish the same thing. Before taking the blinds up to their final homes, I slid the mounting brackets into the newly cut slots so that there would be no surprises once upstairs. One or two needed some tweeking.

The cost for custom cutting by the home store is significant. If you have a chop saw, the savings are easy pickings as this is a simple hack job.

Every Skeleton In It's Place - DIY Closet Organizer

2015-05-24T09:20:00.000-04:00

As my memory wanes, having things well organized and easy to find becomes essential to calm living. As soon as I got my wood-look tile laid, I cracked right at getting my closet organizers started so my skeletons would be sorted and stored properly. My clothes live in the hamper.

DIY Closet Organizer

I started by cheating.

Closet Design

I used the closet designer at easycloset.com to formulate my space. For this, the right half of my closet, I ended up with a 30" wide double hanging section, an 18" shelving unit, followed by a dress section that took up the final 14" of space. It's topped by a shelf so that the area above is used as well. This is a nifty (free) tool and I got pumped seeing how much I'd save by doing the work myself. I changed the depth of the shelving unit from their 14" to 18" so that the hangers would not stick out from it but remain centered in that 18" space. That's just me.

Plywood Prep - Rip, Prime & Paint

My closet walls are 5/8" plywood and the sides of the shelving unit are as well. It's what I have on hand, but 3/4" would be a good choice also. This design calls for ripping a pair of 18" wide lengths and an additional piece for the bottom, top and middle shelves. I primed with Zinsser 123 and painted with 2 coats of pre-VOC regs Behr Premium Plus semi-gloss (which I like more than I ever thought I would). The rest of my shelves were made from leftover Hardie Plank, Just as I had done in my linen closet, I wanted to use up stock on hand and create a shelf with a small gap for ventilation. Every little bit helps here in the tropics. The Hardie Plank is a mere 5/16" thick but very stiff and the 7 1/4" width gave me perfect air gaps when two boards were slid into the routed shelf channels.

Routing Shelf Channels

I made a jig to route the channels for the shelf boards - quick and easy. It's merely two pieces of 1x4, perfectly perpendicular, screwed firmly together to form an inverted "T" shape. The first cut through the jig, when it's clamped to a piece of scrap (upper left photo), leaves a channel in the horizontal piece that henceforth can be aligned with cut lines marked on the shelving unit sides (lower left photo). I clamped my two shelf sides together and drew all of these lines with a drywall square. I decided on two sizes of shelves - 7" apart for the lower half storing shoes and 10" for the upper half for clothes and such. At the very bottom was a 3 1/2 space for a toe kick trim piece. Lower right above shows how I wrapped a piece of sandpaper around a scrap of hardiplank to clean any rough edges

Routing Channels in Both Sides at Once

For all but the uppermost, the bottom and the middle channels, I used a 5/16" straight bit in my router, aligning my clamped down jig with my marked lines as I went. For the three spots that I mention that get the thicker 5/8" plywood supports, I merely moved the jig over 1/16" to make those channels a total of 5/8" wide after a second pass with the router. .

FAIL!

I had planned on two cross brace support/nailers (from leftover plywood) that were inset into the back of the side panels. I cut the notches with a jigsaw and then realized I flubbed the location on one side. I had to glue a patch in and just butt the cross piece on that side. These are attached to the sides with wood glue and screws (my habit is to drill pilot holes). I also added a third nailer so that I ended up with one at the top, bottom and middle. These not only stabilize the unit but secure it to studs that were marked on the rear closet wall.

Some Assembly Required

I assembled everything onsite. Easier for just me to take pieces upstairs than lug the entire unit. FIrst up, attaching the three cross braces, with pilot holes ready to go. Next, the three plywood shelves. The easiest way to drill the pilot holes for shelves that have a dado cut, is to drill the pilot holes from inside the dado channel. Then glue and screw with 1 1/4" fasteners. It's a fairly solid box now, ready to screw the cross braces into the studs and then start sliding in all the Hardie Shelves. I am always careful to wear a mask when cutting fiber cement Hardie materials (with their special saw blade) as the dust is caustic. A dab of hot glue keeps these from moving as I like the air channels in the middle and the back to remain consistent. Don't forget to nail in the toe kick trim piece at the very bottom. I had cut mine from leftover 1x4 to fit squarely between the side pieces and used my air nailer to tack it in.

Face Framing

Instead of building a proper face frame and attaching it, I tacked on trim with a finish nailer shooting 18 gauge 1 1/4" brads. I mean, it IS a closet.... I make my own trim from 1x4 and I had some pieces that were 1/2" thick by 1 1/2" wide, raring to go for this project. Measure, cut, glue & nail. I had already primed and painted, so yes, I had a few nail holes to fill down the line. No biggie.

Rods & Shelves

Using a hole saw and a paddle bit, I made my own rod holders AND PVC rods. Three rods total for this side, made as per the link, left me with a simple plywood shelf, supported on both ends by 1x1 cleats. One cleat got screwed into the side of the shelving unit, the other into the wall, where I had studs marked. A level comes in handy to get this looking right. A last piece of trim across the front edge of the plywood to hide the grains and I finally had a tolerable place for my skeletons to call home. Next project - doors to keep them all in....

I Can Barely Cope - Thoughts on Sawing Baseboard Trim

2015-05-12T08:52:00.000-04:00

Besides being an emotionally fragile female :p , coping baseboard trim with a profiled edge for inside corners is not as easy as it looks. Yeah, I watched a few YouTubes but later realized that the instructors used lightweight "whiteboard" as opposed to my denser southern yellow pine. They also seemed to have chosen much larger profiles than the tight curves in my baseboard (which I made myself)!

Coping Baseboard Trim

Yet, I persevered. More accurately, I practiced. Then I got better. I'll detail the process, but for me, the first few attempts were rather weak. Then, like riding a bike, the magic happened, so don't give up before it creeps into your saw.

Coping Tools

A coping saw with a medium coarse tooth is a must have. A wood rasp, above left, can help with final touch ups. Center photo above shows a chop saw set at a 45° angle. The same cut can be accomplished in a miter box with a hand saw. After the initial 45° cut, the bulk of the baseboard comes off. At first, I hand-sawed this long cut (made with a slight 5° bevel inward instead of a perfect 90° as usual). Above right shows how I made some relief cuts at a 90° to my cut so that the waste would fall away. Later, I got bold and made this long cut on my miter saw. MUCH better so save sawing power for the curves.

Coped

I strongly suggest a few practice runs. Grab some cutoff scraps and it will payoff. What worked best for me was to start at the far end of the trim (the top) and saw toward the middle. Cant the blade inward so that, again, you create a slight 5° backward bevel. Videos I watched had practitioners making more relief cuts as they went, but my routed profile was small enough that I did not need this step but once. Starting at the top edge worked better than the other way around. Skip the coffee and just use moderate pressure as you saw. Finesse, not muscle. Some folks mark the edge in pencil to increase it's definition. I did this at first but didn't think it helped so I dropped it later. Not only will the rasp help smooth out any spots that need a hair taken off, but if you have a round rasp, it can help remove material around the profile as well. A test fit will give you a good idea if this is necessary. Do I need to mention that your blade should be snug in the frame? And , um, sharp? No, because YOU are too!

InstaHot-NOT: Replacing a Fuse in the Bosch Aquastar Water Heater

2015-04-26T09:24:00.000-04:00

Surely one of the biggest design flaws ever is the placement of the fuses in Bosch's Insta-hot tankless water heater model 250SXO. After a voltage surge by our local power company damaged numerous appliances around my house, I found myself removing then dis-assembling this unit to merely replace a single fuse (thank you God!).

AquaStar 250SXO Fuse Removal

Getting from above left to above right took waaay too much time. The electronic control module, above center, must be completely removed! Although it would be possible to accomplish this while the unit was installed, because over a dozen wiring connections had to be marked and carefully disconnected, I chose to remove the unit and bench it.

The Disconnect...

Unplugging the power cord is followed by shutting off and disconnecting the propane connection. My unit was installed with ball valves to stopper the hot and cold water lines - a must for servicing, along with screw-type pipe unions.

Screw-Type PVC Unions

These unions make for easy removal and also annual descaling, a must for those that live in hard water locales.

Casing Removal

Four screws are all that need be removed to unhook the front and top metal panels. Two in the front, two on top. The front panel comes off by an upward then backward motion as it is hooked into a "gutter" in the top cover. With these removed, lifting the entire unit straight up off it's mounting bracket is a snap. It's not as heavy as it looks.

Marking Control Unit Wires

There are over a dozen wired connections from the black electronic control unit (which houses the two fuses) to the water heater's internal workings. Fortunately, these are all modular plug connections that come apart and go back together easily. Starting at "11 o'clock" and moving counterclockwise, I marked both ends in the best way I could for it's type. Large clips were easy to mark with letters of the alphabet on each corresponding side. Small wires got colored markers (above, lower left) and of course, taking digital pictures for backup always helps immensely. In no time I was ready to attack Big Black.

Unit Removal

Two screws at the tippytop, two on the left interior side freed the beast from the main frame. Just a few more screws to remove the control unit side cover and the bloody fuses were exposed at last. Did it really need to be this hard, Bosch?

I replaced the obviously blown fuse with one of the spares provided. Reversing the procedure was not a problem and all the plugs and clips fit back together perfectly. All screws hand tight. Back on the wall, metal guards screwed on, Water lines reconnected and valves turned, gas fitting smeared with new pipe dope and valve opened; power cord plugged in. Check, check, check For once in a rare while, she fired up on the first try! Woohoo. Most work to change a fuse, ever.

Under Pressure - Adding a Pressure Tank to a Jet Pump System

2015-04-17T09:23:00.003-04:00

Never ever, don't ever even think about putting a Harbor Freight water pump/pressure tank anywhere you may need to rely on it. The purchase (of two) of these dogs is proof positive that my ex lost his mind! I depend on rain catchment for all my water needs and a jet pump pressurized by an air bladder tank keeps my water pipes supplied with (filtered) wet stuff. I don't want to think about the time and trouble spent rebuilding and scavenging parts to try to keep these hunks of junk operating. I should have trashed them at the first sign of trouble and replaced 'em with brand names known for quality and reliability - my current Sta-rite jet pump and Well-Mate pressure tank. The fun is done when you have no running water so don't scrimp on these important parts.

New Quality VS. Old Garbage

I tried........I tried to make them keep working but recently the last pressure tank hit the junk pile and I bought a Pentair Well-mate fiberglass pressure tank. In addition, I finally added a sorely needed pressure relief valve - a bit of safety gear my ex and I fought about, but is clearly required as printed right on the pressure tank. If there is ever an unsafe pressure buildup in the pipes, due to, say, a failure of the pressure switch to cut the pump off, the valve will release pressure before the possibility of pipe joint failures inside the walls of the house (spewing water everywhere, shudder). My water tanks, pump and pressure tank (AKA accumulator tank) are all located outside where a failure there would be less catastrophic.

Add caption

Previous Configuration - Before New Tank

After Water Pressure Tank and Valve Addition

Let me briefly cover a few components and their purposes. Shutoff valves at the house end and tank end of the pumping system so that water escapes neither from the house pipes nor the tank when one must work on the components. A spigot, either off the pressure tank or, in my case (as I use it for a garden hose as well), after the filters. Having it after the filters allows you use it to depressurize the filter canisters when changing filter elements, but it's also necessary to drain the works for maintenance, such as occasionally adding air to the pressure tank bladder.

Pressure Relief Button Failure

Yes, most filter housings have pressure relief buttons. Many fail and need to be permanently sealed up. TWO pressure gauges, one before the filters and one after, to indicate when to change the filters or if a drop in pressure is due to clogged filters as opposed to a defective pressure tank bladder. When the pressure readings are the same, filters are good. When the the gauge near the pressure tank is high but the one after the filters is low, change your filters. Don't be fooled by appearance if you have clear housings!!

Next, a single check valve, mine is bronze, between the pump supply ( water tanks in this instance) and the pump keeps the water from siphoning out of your house pipes back into the tank!

Water Quality FIlters

Opinions abound on filtration systems and their effectiveness. I use a coarse mesh screen before the pump - after the pump, a 20 micron sediment filter followed by a charcoal odor filter, then complete the system with a UV treatment lamp after these two. I use a Brita filter pitcher for straight drinking water but cook with tap water. Never a problem in the belly, for me or visitors. And I don't buy water.

Plumbing in a "T" atop the pump allows a priming plug to be added for those occasions when the pump loses its prime and you need to add some water to get it going again.. My local hardware store has few fittings and I cringe when I see all the adaptors, but there ya have island life.

Screw-Type Unions

Screw-type unions make maintenance and repairs much easier. I wish I had done less of this on all the Harbour Freight junk before I tossed it all....

Constant Pressure Valves (CPV) And Manifolds

And so I'm finally getting around (almost) to the pressure tank part! Above are some internet pix of manifolds I WISH I could find here but are probably plumbing specialty house parts. These bronze beauties allow one to attach the pressure switch, pressure gauge, pressure relief valve and drain spigot all on one mission built manifold that screws into the pressure tank. My system includes a constant pressure valve, the red thingum (mine is far right). This keeps the pump running when one runs a sprinkler or takes a shower longer than for which the pressure tank will supply water. This keeps the pump from cycling on and off, filling the pressure tank, thus shortening it's life. This valve must be plumbed downstream from the pressure gauge in order to function properly. Notice above far left that there is a small section of reinforced hose between the manifold and the CPV. Hose can help absorb vibration and prevent cracking if you use PVC pipe for fittings, as I am forced to do. Copper and bronze piping are best, followed by galvanized, then grey schedule 80 PVC followed by regular pressure PVC and reinforced potable water hose. This hose can often be found at marine stores as well.

Pressure Tank Prep

Before installing the pressure tank, it needs to be filled with the correct amount of air pressure. That figure is 3 PSI below the lower cut-ON figure of your pressure switch. The pressure switch has an upper and lower limit, set at the factory (but adjustable) which determines at what pressure in your pipes the pump will switch on, when the pressure gets too low, and cut-off, when the water pressure is adequate. My jet pump came with a switch set to a range of 30 psi cut-on, 50 psi cut-off. Therefore, I filled my pressure tank to 3 PSI below the cut-on pressure of 30 PSI = 27 PSI. It MUST be BELOW the cut-on pressure of the switch in order for the switch to start the pump. Use a good tire gauge to get an accurate reading. It's not a bad idea to drain the tank (shut tank and house gate valves) twice a year and check the pressure with the tire gauge. Only check and add air when the tank has been emptied of water. These tanks have rubber bladders inside which can burst or develop leaks. Replacement bladders are available from reputable companies! OK, with the air pressure up to snuff, I added a screw-type union to the tank using teflon tape to ensure a leak-free joint. Four clockwise wraps, according to my furry pal, and all was well. I resisted the inclination to over tighten the plastic fitting and crack it (who, me?).

Out Island Pressure Manifold

Next it was time to stop obsessing over the gorgeous bronze manifold I don't have and make a franken-fold to solvent weld to the exiting one that will accommodate the pressure relief valve (at last!). Using regular and threaded PVC elbows, collar adaptors and T's, I carefully primed and glued it all together using PVC primer and cement as explained in the link provided.

Done

I attached the new manifold to the pressure tank using the screw-on union. It's not the prettiest rig in the hood, but when I opened my gate valves and plugged the pump back into the GFCI outlet (because, hey, we're dealing with water here), the system pressurized up to 50 psi on both gauges and then.......cut off! ;)

Plant One on Me - DIY Pallet Raised Bed Planter

2015-04-03T10:57:00.001-04:00

This is a bit of a seat of the pants outline as I advocate using pallet boards for the construction material. There several ways to disassemble pallets as that link will outline for you. Using a circular saw is the quickest, but results in rough edges that should be squared up on a chop saw, then made equal in length for this project. The length isn't really important. Most pallets will yield boards between 40 and 48 inches in length.

Pallet Wood Raised Bed Planter

I chose two wide boards for my planter's height - these are a little less than 6" wide. Skinny pallet boards are about 3" +. Keep in mind that it will take a fair bit of soil/peat/compost/perlite/vermiculite to fill this baby up. If you are a little light on these fixin's, one wide and one skinny board will work as well. If your bed is to be placed atop loose soil, you may even get away with a single wide board and save a few shekels on filler. Your choice. These are flexible in design. Shape as well. If you desire a square planter, identical to the one above, cut eight boards to the same lengths. Four long boards, four shorter, will give you a rectangle. (duh) The tricky bit here will be in ripping three boards (one wide board, two thin) down the center lengthwise. This is easiest on a table saw, but if you can draw a line with a metal straightedge and follow it with a jig saw (clamp that board down WELL on a workbench first), then you're phat.

Assembling Sides

The thin boards ripped in half are for the rim around the top edge, added last. The wide board, when ripped in half length-wise, creates the pieces that will fasten the two side pieces together at both ends, as shown above right. For four sides, you will need eight end pieces that are as long as two boards together. Because pallet board sizes can vary some, this will be a custom measurement for you, but around 11" for the one shown here. My boards were about 3/4" thick so 1 1/4" nails (stainless or galvanized are best) won't poke through two boards nailed together (OK, mine poked through a bit). NOW, notice in the photo above, lower left that the piece that nails your side boards together does NOT rest flush against the ends but juts out the thickness of your your boards. in this case, 3/4". This is how you will attach the sides to each other, using these overlaps. Drive four nails through the short attaching pieces - two per long board.

Attaching Sides

Above right illustrates how to place the trim nails which will attach the sides together. These were about 1 1/2" and I used four in each side piece. Soil mixes exert a bit of outward pressure, especially when wet, so fasten well. Carpenters' squares are a big help in keeping the box boxy and maintaining solid 90° angles in the corners. I'm short on long clamps to I used ratcheting straps to keep all four sides together and upright on my shop floor whilst I nailed. This made assembly a tad easier. I had spare blocks of wood propping them up while I was getting this all together.

Final Edge Trim

Although this top edge trim really isn't necessary, it does give the planter a nice finished look! I used a block planer to even out the top edges, then tacked the pieces that were ripped in half onto the top edges using finish nails. Some people like to line the inside with weed blocker to keep dirt from seeping out from between the boards, but I think if you take your time building it, you needn't bother. Cost of this project.....hmmmmm $ .50 in nails? Mine have arugula, summer squash, dill, peppers, cukes, tomatoes and beans perking away as I type (yup our growing season here is different).

Railing Against the 6 x 6 - Installing a Deck Railing

2015-03-25T11:26:00.000-04:00

A second story deck railing is a must, although I enjoyed the view without it. The time had come to ruin my sea vista for safety's sake and once again, a Big Orange mistake left me with four 6x6 ten footers waiting to help out. Although 4x4's are more the standard, the boon to my budget made up for the hassle that cutting them with "normal" shop tools involves.

DIY Deck Railing

Hacking the ten footers into four foot sections that would result in 42" code-height posts was accomplished with a circular saw. Ok, add in a sawzall to get that last 1/4" that the circular saw's blade couldn't touch. That was the story again and again as I cut notches and laps in these so that they would be supported on two planes as they were bolted to the deck.

The Kindest Cuts

I started off with a short test section to be certain that posts this heavy were well supported and my cuts were neat enough for a proper fit. ( I had to do a little clean up with a chisel where the cuts strayed). That may sound strange but when you have to "drive" a four foot piece of lumber from the "stern" through the bandsaw, it never hurts to take a trial run. To be sure that EVERY saw on the shop got to play, the chop saw sliced a decorative 45° off the tails. My darling niece joined me in this endeavor and delighted in learning to use all the equipment. Once again, young women frolicking in amongst power tools made happy sounds in the shop.

Drill Action

One of the biggest challenges was supporting four foot lengths while cutting and drilling. We stacked lumber scraps to keep the posts as stable as possible. A drilling template made from cardboard worked for both our 6x6's and the intermediary 4x4's. These holes then became drill guides to punch through the deck band board to receive the two 1/2" stainless steel bolts that secure the posts. As hard as I tried to eyeball the underside of the deck to make certain that I had enough clearance for the nut and washer on the other side, I did flub a couple. A chisel and mallet taken to the errant joist gave me the wiggle room that I needed to get the nut on at last.

Bolt Up

Although we did some tag-team saw and installation work, bolt-up is easier if you have a helper holding the 6x6 while the other drills. The closer the hole diameter is to bolt width, the more stable the post will be, but you'll have to mallet in the bolts. Jack Russell supervision is not necessary but never hurts. A box wrench coupled with a ratcheting socket rig will get you off your belly as quickly as possible. Awkward positions are part of the procedure

Finishing Touches

The rail atop the posts was leftover 2x6 boards, including some that had been a sled used to haul plywood up to the second story. Corners falling on posts were mitered and screwed with 3" stainless deck screws. Just for ease of use, I chose a laminate trimmer to route a roundover bead on both edges. Crown Staples shot from a pneumatic nailer attached each loop of authentic fish netting to the underside of the top rail. The 3/4" line that had been the safety line when working on the roof of the house during the build now became the "lower rail" which I weaved through the net and threaded through holes drilled in all the posts. A drilling template made from a pallet scrap ensured that the holes ended up in the same spot on all posts. Dragging out the hard wired "hole hawg" made drilling these monster holes a breeze. The battery drill was fine for the 4x4's but the big 'uns choked it. Being an island home, I was pleased with the netting's effect and that it blocked less of the view while providing the same kind of safety that lifelines on a boat provide. The last bit of island fun was some bamboo for the stair hand rail, lag screwed then lashed to silver buttonwood uprights. I'm working on collecting a new passel of floats, sponges and sea fans to hang in the net where it doesn't interfere with the sea view!

Yakity-Yak : DIY PVC Kayak Dolly

2015-03-14T12:25:00.001-04:00

In order to eat more fresh fish (ie, go fishing more often), I had to make using my kayak easier. Time to make a dolly for my 'yak. PVC pipe makes it happen on a skinny budget.

DIY PVC Kayak Dolly and Work Stand (Stand Tutorial to Come)

PVC (PolyVinylChloride) pipe is easy to cement together, although the correct term is "solvent weld" as the plastic actually gets melted together for a strong bond. PVC is inexpensive, waterproof, versatile and easy to make things with as we shall see! One can do more than merely plumb their household waterworks.

Workshop Elf

If you're lucky, you can find an eager young helper to lend a hand and lighten the mood as you assemble your dolly. I was just that fortunate as my favorite workshop elves were on hand to assist They had a blast slicing up 1 1/4" PVC pipe (try a sawzall, hack saw, bandsaw, etc, keeping the pipe clamped tight in a vice) into the following lengths

4 12" lengths
2 5" lengths
2 4" lengths
4 2" lengths

I Hit the hardware store for
5 1 1/4" T's
6 1 1/4" End Caps
1 Threaded Reducer 1 1/4 to 1" pipe
1 6" length of 1" pipe
1 threaded 1" male end
1 threaded 1 1/4 to 1" female reducer end
1 1" elbow
1 length of pipe insulation
PVC Cement

You will also need to scrounge a pair of wheels and an axle. An old golf club cart or hand truck are great sources of said same. My set had 4" wide wheels and a 22" axle.
Lastly, a ratcheting hold down (Harbour Freight or an auto parts shop) is a great idea to keep the kayak fast to the dolly. The purpose here is to create a flawless one person transport for your kayak, eh?

Dolly Assembly Diagram

The diagram above illustrates that the dolly is essentially an "H" with two "T's" on top. Oh, and a kickstand thingy that makes it a tad easier to keep 'er upright when you're sliding the 'yak onto the dolly. I started off by assembling the pair of "T' tops, using PVC cement to affix the pipe sections to the "T' fittings and then permanently attaching the end caps as well.

Dolly Trolley T's

I was fortunate enough to have some leftover hot water pipe insulation that I could use as cushioning for the "T's" that slide underneath the kayak's hull.

Self-Adhesive Strips and Cable Ties

Next up, two of the 2" pipe nubbins serve to allow one to add end caps to one end of each "T", adding extra reinforcement for the axle holes which get drilled in the next step. For this reason, it's important to certain that the pipe is seated fully into the end cap when cementing the pieces together. Ventilate well - no inhaling, any glueheads out there.

Drill Axle Holes

Mea Culpa here - my first pair of axle holes were drilled in the wrong orientation and the picture above is a botch job too. The axle holes DO get drilled through the end cap, in the same direction as the "T's" upright, but if you have a drill press, flip that pup around so it's more stable than the absurd setup above. Once the drill work is done (holes only a hair larger than the axles), cement the final 4" pieces, which joins the T-tops to these just drilled axle T's to make the big "T"s.

Measuring For Width

The last assembly chore should be done using the kayak itself to set the correct width for the crosspiece that links the the two T's to create the H. If your kayak is upside down, setting the T's in the kayaks keel channels will give an accurate measurement. My Ts are 12" apart at the outside and this accommodates 22" axle for 5" wide tires. The 5" cross pieces of PVC end up being less than snugged into the side T's to get the correct measurement - piece of cake!

Kickstand Configuration

The PVC "T" that fits into the cross piece will hold the kickstand. Orient the kickstand so it isn't at too much of a downward angle lest it snag whilst towing the kayak through grass and weedy stretches. 45° works. Yet, it's also removable for just such situations! I used a threaded female 1 1/4 to 1" adaptor glued into the base of the T and then glued a male threaded end on my 6" length of 1" pipe. When I completely screwed the pipe into the fitting, I glued the final "L" on the end with the open bit pointing towards the kayaks hull. Know what? Thats a lie! The piece of nasty brown 1" pipe I had lying around had an L attached to the end and I thought it was a good idea...... :o An end cap would work too!

Hold Downs

Almost done. On each side, a stainless screw and washer will affix ratcheting hold down straps to each side of the dolly. My straps had hooks at the ends which I cut off then seared the ends with a butane lighter. The finishing touch is sliding the wheels and axles through the assembly, using the final two pieces of pipe as spacers between the uprights and the wheels. I am shocked at how easy it is to portage my kayak with this simple rig. It works for both kayaks and is easier than carryier the beast.

DIY Paint Roller Splatter Guard - Thinking Outside the Big Box

2015-02-27T07:44:00.000-05:00

Ok, I probably go on way too much about how I'm hardware store deprived here on the island, but the truth is that I do relish the opportunity to use what functioning grey matter that I have left. I have tools, I have a workshop and when I have a need, I CANNOT run to Big Orange or Big Blue and fork over some Big Green to get what I need. Often I have to look around the shop and see if I can "see" my solution lying about amongst the scraps. When it came time to add a second coat of paint to the last few feet of roof soffit (which I had ignored for, well, too long) I just knew I didn't want to drag dropclothes all over the deck or worry about spattering the exterior walls either. Those paint rollers with the built in spatter catcher underneath are WONDERFUL but you won't find one here and my budget is stretched thin as it is. What I DID have was a plastic tube-like canister that a passel of zip ties arrived in ages ago - now empty and ready to help.

DIY Paint Splatter Guard

I wasn't certain that this set up would work but it was more than adequate. I used tin snips to trim the plastic canister to the same length as the paint roller frame - from the metal "L" to the end of the roller cover. The next two cuts sliced the canister almost in half. The center photo above shows where I started out, but I found that I needed to trim off more plastic to get it to roll easily in the paint tray. My end result had removed about 40% of the canister's circumference.

Splatter Guard Supports

The canister is lightweight so keeping it from flopping around was simply a matter of placing two squarish scraps of wood on either side of the metal roller frame and running three zip ( cable) ties through small holes drilled in pairs in the plastic to hold it all snugly together. Two more zip ties through the plastic, what would be the "bottom" of the canister, and the spatter guard was supported well enough to do it's job.

Muffin Liner Spatter Guard

One last note - cupcake or muffin liners also make decent drip/spatter guards for brushes that you intend to use for overhead work!

Carb-on Build-up - Rebuilding a Motorcycle Carburetor

2015-01-22T10:41:00.002-05:00

Installing my "new-brand" carburetor made starting and idling my bike an absolute dream. I had known that my jets were getting clogged, but like many things that happen gradually over time, one doesn't realise how bad it has become until the status quo is restored. With a properly functioning carburetor and a new battery, I flick the choke, press the starter button and my motorcycle instantly springs to life then idles away like a chattering monkey until I'm ready to put her in gear! Ah, you want that too? It takes little more than screwdrivers, MEK, spray carb cleaner, 600 or 1200 grit wet/dry sandpaper, cotton swabs, computer wire, a few Yamaha parts, and some patience.

Yamaha YBR 125 Carburetor Disassembly - Pilot Air Screw

If you hit the link in the first sentence, your carb is off the bike and on a workbench, tools and cleaners close at hand. Although commercial spray carb or break cleaner is great for blasting gunk out of crevices, it doesn't do much of a job on the brown varnish you encounter inside an aged carburetor. MEK, or methyl ethyl ketone, is a solvent that is definitely up to the task and will cut the time it takes to thoroughly clean your parts considerably. DON'T let it contact o-rings, though, and use metal cans to soak small parts as MEK will melt plastic!

MEK for Carb Cleaning

MEK is available at hardware stores in quarts but if you do any PVC work you may have some PVC primer on your shelf, which is MEK and acetone, both strong solvents adept at removing carb varnish. Use nitrile gloves and glasses, use caution, and get ventilated because this is serious stuff. (Note that the "purple" primer I show above had actually lost it's purple dye color over time. PVC primer, in small containers, is available in "clear" also)

Cat 5 Cable Cleanout Wire

Many of the parts are brass - very soft metal, so a gentle touch goes far to keep from deforming them. Although some swear by guitar strings for cleaning carb orifices, my preference is to take a piece of old Cat5 computer cable, untwist it down to a single strand and strip a piece to bare copper. It's very slender and soft and will delicately unclog the openings in jets and other tiny holes.

Diagram 2005 YBR 125 Carburetor

The purpose of the carburetor is to combine gasoline with air and force that atomized mixture into the engine cylinder for combustion.

The only parts I was able to obtain new were the idle-controlling pilot jet (though my old one cleaned up well with the computer wire and 1200 grit sandpaper),the terminus of the main jet assembly, the main engine interface O-ring (could have been re-used) and the main jet O-ring, which was badly worn. One diagram shown above depicts replacement of the gasket between upper and lower halves but I re-used mine and re-surfaced the metal parts themselves. There were a couple of other small O-rings that I had to re-use, sad to say, but fortunately, they were all in good nick.

Pilot Air Screw and Pilot Jet

The pilot air screw comes complete with spring and washer that are dying to become lost so drop them in a cup. Take pix with your cell phone if that helps. The air screw needs to be cleaned but the jet can be cleaned or replaced. It will need the full treatment with bare wire and fine sandpaper as well as MEK (soak then wipe well first) and blasts from spray cleaner to restore it to full functionality. These are all removed with ease using screwdrivers. Even a girl can do it.... ;)

Main Jet Assembly

What I refer to as the "main jet assembly" holds the long slender needle that lives in the throttle body valve. It's the fattest screw in the carb, shown above. As you can see, the O-ring is a goner but I had a replacement. I gave it an MEK bath (WITHOUT the O-ring, which the MEK would damage), ran wire through all the holes then finished the cleaning on fine grit sandpaper, laid flat on a piece of plywood. Then a carb cleaner spray. Later, when I had finished cleaning the carb body and I began reassembly, I left the old main jet on to screw the main assembly back into the carb body to I didnt damage the new jet.. More on that in a bit.

Floats, Needle and Seat

For removing the float pin, which holds the black plastic floats in place, a toothpick handily pushes the brass pin out so that you can remove floats and needle from the carb body, Needle itself is shown in photo above, lower left. Fortunately, mine was in good condition - no pitting. Finally, remove the screw and clip that retains the needle valve seat then remove it for a good cleaning, being mindful that o-ring is delicate.

Choke Assembly

There's always something that has to fight you and for this project, it was the choke lever screw. PB Blaster didn't budge it and, yes, I stripped it out. Had to file it square so that I could use vice grips to unscrew it and it STILL fought me every single turn. Such is life by the sea. After I won that battle, all other bits unscrewed with ease, but I AM happy that I had photos to remind me that the detente clip faced upward. By the time I was back re-assembling this apparatus, my mind had fogged and I was happy to have my pix to refer back to as even the service manual does not clearly show how this part, above right, should face. Love digital photography....

Clean And Polish

With all the bits off the upper and lower carb body, it's safe to use the spray cleaner and the MEK in conjunction with Q-tips to get all the gunk out of all the nooks and crannies. Pop in a movie and get cleaning. Don't forget the soft copper wire. Some folks spray air as well, if a compressor is available or you happen to have a can of compressed air for cleaner computer keyboards, etc. I set the carb over a jar when using the spray cleaner so that I can collect the cleaner and reuse it. Also, the bottom right photo show a piece of 1200 grit sandpaper that will help me put a nick free surface on both sides of the carb body mating surfaces for a tight fit. Also in that photo is the fuel drain screw, removed from it's home at the bottom of the carb bowl. Because you read my post about removing/installing a carb, you know that loosening this allows you to drain the fuel from the float bowl.

Replacement Parts

Above shows the parts I was able to get as replacements, as I mentioned. I would have been happier to get the gasket between the top and bottom, just as a matter of course, as well as all o-rings. So it goes. Re-assembly is a snap, noting that I elected to install the main needle jet assembly using the "old" main jet to screw it in, removed the main jet. then screwed the new one in. The pilot jet air screw gets threaded all the way in, then backed out one and one-half turns. If care has been taken when removing the floats and needle-and-seat, no adjustments will be needed there. Everything goes back together as it came apart.

Re-assembly

This is one of those very satisfying jobs that makes you always wonder WHY you put it off for so long. It's not hard and it doesn't take that long. And do you really want to ride around knowing that the inside of your carburetor looks like this??

Filthy, Dirty Motorcycle Carburetor

No, you don't!

High Carb Diet - Installing a New Carburetor on a Motorcycle

2015-01-14T11:28:00.000-05:00

My island budget is heavily dependent on my beloved Yamaha YBR 125 motorcycle. Gasoline is $5 a gallon here so riding this petrol-sipping baby saves me a small fortune while keeping me out in the fresh island air. When idling becomes throttle dependant, and no adjustment of the throttle stop screw helps, one knows it's time for a rebuild. Now, I found, after hours of internet research, a complete rebuild kit for twice the price of a new carburetor. Although the carb was in the UK, I ordered it and a dear friend, who works for Yamaha US, was able to procure the few parts available stateside for a reasonable clean and rebuild. I made the decision to buy a new carb as this one had been left for 18 months, filled with gas, when I had an unexpected hiatus from the island due to illness. I knew not what I'd find in there (yeah, I did, a big. ugly mess). A later post will cover the clean and rebuild, now lets install a new carburetor. But first.....

Carb Cleaning - Before And After

Oh, but to get there, start by...

Fuel Drain Screw

Had I known I would be gone for an extended period, I would have, while the bike was running, turned the fuel petcock to the OFF position and let the bike run until it stalled out. Then, using a small phillips screwdriver, drained any remaining fuel from the carb by opening the drain shown above. Some folks like to spray fogging oil (purchased at marine stores) into the cylinders or pour a

teaspoon of motor oil into the spark plug hole when they store an engine. Just a note.... For this procedure, just drain the fuel into a cup.

Installing a New Cycle Carburetor - Getting Started

I had removed my battery whilst waiting for a new one to arrive on the mailboat (along with a new rear tire) but merely unscrewing the black ground and cable tying it temporarily out of the way would suffice. Next, be certain, be doubly certain, that the fuel petcock is in the OFF position. If you don't know what this is, sell the bike.... It's then safe to remove the large fuel line from the port side (left side as one sits astride the bike). Channel locks pinch the hose clamp so that it can be slid off the carb nipple and the fuel line can be gently wiggled free. Inspect the fuel line for a nasty looking end and snip of a 1/2" to get to better rubber, if necessary. This carb had two smaller air hoses, one on each side, neither with clamps, that simply pulled off. At this juncture, a phillips head screwdriver will remove screw holding the starboard (right) cover which protects the airfilter connection to the carb (pic lower right).

Air Filter Connection and Extraneous Air Hose

The photo above shows the hose clamp connection to the air filter but also the final air vent hose (next to the throttle stop screw) - one that didn't exist on the new carburetor.

Removing Throttle Valve

There's nothing too complex about removing the throttle valve, just be advised that the gasket in the cap and the washer under the long valve itself want to run away and hide. Don't let them!! Unscrew the cap from the carb body, compress the spring and pop the throttle cable out from it's seat in the bottom of the cylindrical throttle valve. Start dropping parts in a cup to keep them together. Slide the cap completely off of the throttle cable, if it hasn't slid off on it's own already!

Carb Bolts

A double wrench maneuver will remove these metric bolts and nuts, freeing the old carburetor. Mine had mistakenly received a smattering of ATV on its gasket, so I had to thwack it gently with a rubber mallet for final removal. It may still have a few drops of gasoline in it, despite one's best efforts. Be cautious, it IS flammable.

A Tale of Two Carbs

On the outside, not so bad.

Resurfacing Mating Interface

A razor scraper wasn't able to remove the gasket in a single piece due to the errant ATV, but some brake cleaner removed the remainder (I was out of carb cleaner - same stuff). Wrapping a piece of 1200 grit sandpaper (although 600 grit would be sufficient) around a scrap of tile, I gently polished the burrs and scratches out of the mating surface on the engine interface.

Honed and Polished

The new carb's mating surface also left a little to be desired so I slapped a larger piece of 1200 grit paper on a slab a very flat melamine (glass is a good choice also) and went roundy-roundy gently to polish out the scratches and imperfections so that not a whit of atomized fuel will escape on it's way to the engine. The improvement was glaring so I popped the o-ring back in and stood back to smile at the mirror finish.

Cutting a Gasket

My eBay "complete gasket kit" didn't include this carb gasket so I snagged a piece of gasket material from my stash (available at most auto stores), grabbed scissors and exacto knife and cut one up in short order. A daub of white grease on the bolt holes and o-ring makes an impression on the material that gives you an outline for cutting. Tracing around the outside of the carb itself is kindergarten stuff! I used punches for the bolt holes but a steady hand with a sharp exacto or box cutters would be sufficient. Surprisingly, my Yamaha service manual (downloaded for free off the Net) was clear that the appropriate coating for this gasket was white lithium grease. In actual fact, using ATV sealants is mostly useless because they will breakdown in the presence of gasoline.

Re-Install

Bolts on both sides refasten the carb to the engine and that trusty Phillip's will re-tighten the airfilter clamp on the intake side.

Throttle Valve Re-Install

Attaching the throttle cable to the throttle valve cylinder is a tad tricky. The cap is unscrewed and the old cable threads through the top of the cap (where that pesky ring gasket lives). The center photo above is a bit deceptive. It show HOW the barrel at the end of the throttle cable slips into the slot in the throttle valve, BUT in the real install, one must compress the spring and run the cable down the center of the spring before seating the barrel in the throttle valve. Once this is accomplished, this assembly slides back into the top of the carb, keeping the slot that you can see in that center photo above facing to the side with the tiny metal nipple sticking out. Slide your finger into the carb body so that you can feel where this is. If these don't line up, the throttle valve won't slide all the way down properly.

ALl the Way Down

This may take a bit of jiggling. but when the slot hits the nipple and the valve slides all the way down, there is no doubt. Screw the cap back on on turn the throttle cable half a turn to attach the adjuster to the carb assembly. Don't over tighten or excess throttle will make adjusting the carb idle difficult.

Hosed

I took four hoses off, but only three went back on! Push-on drain hose at the bottom, then the two hoses on the left side. The fuel hose gets its clip slid down over the carb inlet, but the air vent hose next to it is just push on.

Throttle Valve Screw

A mark on the throttle valve screw, shown above, which is found on the right side of the carb, led me to believe that it would be ready to rock out of the box, but I still had to adjust it. Optimum idling RPMs are 1400 -1500 so I fiddled a bit over a couple of days and now my Yammie runs like it's someone else's bike! What a difference. Next post - rebuilding and cleaning a carb!

A Post About Posts - Setting 4x4's in Concrete

2015-01-08T09:54:00.002-05:00

Embedding a post into the ground, anchored in concrete, is fairly straightforward, but a little vigilance will help ensure that it stays put for years to come! I had to replace the simple tree trunk that served as my ersatz gate post with the real thing.

Post Hole Diggers

Although smaller shovels, held perpendicular can be effective, true post hole diggers result in a deep. yet small diameter hole. Less concrete will be necessary to fill the void. Two feet deep will offer ample support for an average height wooden 4x4. It goes without saying that pressure treated lumber is the choice for outdoor applications. It will resist rot and insect attack.

Supporting Characters

I haven't found an effective way to get the last vestiges of dirt out of the hole without resorting to using a cupped hand.... After that, I throw in a two handsful of gravel. At times, I have painted the end grain (bottom) of the post with roofing tar, but I happen to be out of it at the moment. This helps keep moisture from wicking into the bottom of the post, the area most prone to rot. Some folks wrap their post in roofing felt, but I'm not a fan, as long as PT lumber is used, as it should be.

I grabbed three scrap boards, 1x4, roughly 4 feet long (old pallet boards), and eyeballed a 45° cut off one end of each, using a circular saw, above, center. These were my three supports, as shown in the photo above, far right. I used a few rocks, above left, to steady my post as a four foot level helped me guide the post upright as I screwed in the three side support boards.

On the Level, Both Ways

Two screws from each board into the post will keep it upright while the concrete sets over the first 7 days.

Mixing Concrete

Stateside it may be easy enough to grab a bag of premixed concrete, here I mix up my own using a 1-3-3 formula of portland cement to sand to 3/4" rock (upper left). Using a gallon plant pot as my measure, I found that this batch also took close to a gallon of water to create the stiff mix for my post. The enemy of concrete is too much water in the mix. But first, I added my dry ingredients together and mixed them thoroughly before getting close to them with the wet stuff. Then little by little, I added water until everything was well coated - moist, not soupy.

Getting Air Bubbles Out

Once you shovel the mixed concrete gently into the hole, all around the post, take a piece of rebar and gently poke all around the hole to settle the mix into the gap and work the air bubbles out. If space allows, tamp down the top of the concrete with a flat trowel. Now for the counter-intuitive part. For the first week, keep the concrete covered with wet burlap or, mist and cover with plastic (I just used plastic bags here). This slows the cure, increasing the strength. After one week, the three support legs can be safely removed. Keep in mind that the concrete will still be considered "green" for another three weeks, not reaching full strength until 28 days. Surprisingly, it WILL still get harder as time goes by. Amazing stuff!

How to Hide a Circuit Box - It Hinges on Hinges

2014-12-31T09:44:00.000-05:00

What to do when there is an unsightly circuit breaker panel in plain sight? Although main panels are normally in a basement or garage, it's not unusual to find a subpanel somewhere you wish it wasn't - say a kitchen or foyer. The easiest way to hide it but keep it readily accessible is to cover it with a framed photo, painting, or in this case, a mirror, that is affixed to the wall will hinges and a magnet.

How to Hide a Circuit Breaker Panel

The magnet can be hot-glued to the rear of your picture and only needs to line up with the metal in the panel to be effective. I happened to have one I removed from a cabinet door.

Hinged Mirror

I made certain that my pair of hinges were large enough to support the weight of my mirror and the screws were appropriately sized. In actual fact, I replaced the screws that came with my hinges with longer ones as my mirror was a tad heavy for those supplied. A few quick knuckle raps on the wall verified that the studs to which the circuit box were affixed were on the right side of the box. Taps on the left of the panel sounded hollow, taps on the right sounded solid - meaning solid wood was behind the wall, suitable for anchoring the hinges. If no studs are available for where the hinges need to be placed, plastic wall anchors are a suitable alternative.

Hidden In Plain Sight

I attached my hinges to the mirror first, then opened them to 90° so that I could mark the hole positions on the wall. I drilled pilot holes as I was installing this solo and they just always make every screw job go easier. Once the screws were in the walls, the job was done. I love my mirror, a Christmas present from a dear friend, and I am ever so happy that although my breakers are hidden, I can access them in seconds.

Replacing A Moen 1225 Kitchen Faucet Cartridge - Let's Tap That!

2014-12-20T08:55:00.000-05:00

If you're a tad handy, family members sometimes call on you to tackle a repair or two. My brother's dripping sink was an easy fix. Moen makes diverter valves for kitchen faucets, tubs and showers that all use their cartridge #1225 and changing one out is fairly straightforward. In addition, no specialized tools are required - just screwdrivers, pliers or channel locks and an adjustable wrench. Big Box stores sell the replacement cartridge and a tube of plumber's grease helps to ensure easy installs and a leak free fit. This repair is too easy to ever call a plumber for and will come up on every homeowner's to do list sooner or later.

Replacing a Moen Cartridge - Getting Started

Oh, if you forget to go underneath the sink and turn off BOTH the hot and cold water supply valves, life will take a turn for the wet and soggy. After turning the valves all the way to the right, DO check the faucet to be certain that the valves are working properly and are indeed OFF. I say this as I recently had to replace two valves that had become clogged with mineral deposits and no longer shut completely. Center picture above depicts the sticker that hides the opening for removing the single handle on this particular model. I used the blade of a box opener for removal and put it in a safe place for later re-placement. A phillips head screw, photo far left, held the handle in place.

Clean Up

The down side to this procedure is seeing all the mung and crud that has accumulated around the apparatus that is delivering your drinking water but now is the time to clean it all up. Vinegar, dish soap, a green scrubbie and a tooth brush made quick work of the job for me. What a difference!

Retaining Nut and Clip

What joy putting an adjustable wrench on that now sparkling retaining nut! A quick counterclockwise turn or four and it was off. It reveals a retaining clip, U shaped, that is pulled straight out, so that the cartridge can be pulled upward.

Pulling a Moen #1225 Cartridge

Above left shows the white adapter, provided with the new cartridge, that sits on top of the cartridge and allows one to easily turn the cartridge with an adjustable wrench or a pipe wrench. A few twists back and forth will break the cartridge free so that it can be kinda sorta easily pulled straight up with pliers or channel locks. Mine broke free on the first yank. Not bad for a girl....

Cartridge Prep

Rubber and it's synthetic counterparts seal up myriad components, moving and stationary, but they have a shelf life. They, swell, they distort, they wear out. Although hard to discern from the photo, when I had the old and new cartridges side-by-side, it was easy to see that the old one was ready to be put out to pasture.I smeared the new one with grease then pulled the stem all the way out, so that upon installation, air would easily purge through the stem, making for an easier install.

Seating New Cartridge

Before pushing downward, note that the photo above, far left, shows the proper alignment of the clear plastic "ears" at the top of the piece. They will fit in the open space of the brass faucet collar below. The white plastic wrench thingum is handy for pushing the cartridge completely "home". Watch your shirt, purging air and water may surprise. Replacing the brass U clip is simple when the cartridge is aligned properly - jiggling the white plastic adjuster as you push can help if it fights back at all. Once clipped in, the retaining nut, above right, can be reinstalled. Keep in mind that if you find hot and cold reversed upon completion, go back to this step (retaining nut off) and turn the brass stem 180° to correct the issue.

Final Steps

Once the retaining nut is tight, slide the handle back on and be sure that it is seated all the way down before dropping in the phillips screw and making the final turns. Before replacing the sticker, turn the water valves back on and test for proper temperature positioning. I had to do the disassembly dance to reverse hot and cold, but then I had clean water to wash up with!

Installing Kitchen Appliances DIY - It's a Gas, Gas, Gas...

2014-12-16T11:52:00.002-05:00

There are times that DIY is not my first choice, but gets foisted upon me by a fate or an unscrupulous company. A bait and switch "quote" for installing my mom's natural gas kitchen appliances left me up a creek without a paddle so I used my own two hands along with a few tools and the proper materials! This was one of those instances where the fear factor is always high for me, but the skill level required is not nearly as precipitous. Just like working with electricity, knowledge, basic skills and a healthy measure of caution can get one through successfully.

Installing Gas Kitchen Appliances DIY

Both the range and the wall oven required the addition of shut off valves (mom's place is 45 years old, but why they hadn't been added already was beyond me). In addition, the appliances that I removed had their supply lines in vastly different locations than the new ones. You can find this out by reading the installation instructions online before the appliances arrive. The wall oven simply required a new cutout in the "floor" of the opening, and the range needed a foreshortened supply pipe. Both machines had been connected with hard pipe but these new connections would terminate using flex hose (CSST or corrugated stainless steel tubing), approved for carrying natural gas. Rules one, two and three are that ALL materials must be approved for use with LP (propane) or Natural Gas. Check your local codes as well. Some may require only galvanized hard pipe, for example. Shutoff valves should have yellow handles or specifically say they meet the code requirements for carrying gas, not water.

Gas Meter in OFF Position

In speaking with my brother, owner of four gas supplied rental houses, he hadn't a clue of how to shut off the supply of gas to a house in case of emergency, i.e., a leak that can't be traced to a specific appliance that could be shut off singly. It's a straightforward operation that be performed with an adjustable wrench or channel locks. When the valve "ear" is parallel to the pipe coming up from from the ground, it's in the "open" position. Shown above, running perpendicular to the direction of the pipe flow, is the closed position. It's a simple 45° turn. Turning the gas off was the first step in installing shutoff valves for the new range and wall oven. It also meant that later, I would have to re-light the pilot on the water heater (simple instructions on the outside of the appliance - turn knob, press button, turn knob back). The furnace took care of itself - no pilot, pure piezo (an electrically charged crystal) start. The "bait and switch" company put on the 12 " nipple as well as the shut off valve (first photo, upper left) that I supplied and were dispatched after delivering a price three times what was quoted.

Wall Oven Gas Line Access Hole

I miss my workshop. Yet, there is always more than one way to skin a cat! Appliance supplied instructions are very specific about where access holes can be located so I measured and marked a rectangle sized area according to their guidelines. The four corner holes I drilled were large enough to allow the blade of the keyhole saw to get a good start to saw out the area and I opted for a slightly smaller opening than specified, knowing my gas line would not be subjected to any sharp bends by doing so. I went ahead and covered a piece of aluminum pie plate with 3M spray adhesive (love this stuff) to cover the old hole and reduce heat leakage to the storage below.

Natural Gas Fittings

The Teflon or PFTE tape used specifically for gas fittings is yellow and check pipe dope for gas use compatibility as well. Gas fittings must have zero leaks and I use both yellow tape and pipe dope. Opinions abound, this one is mine. I make certain that the last two threads are bare, especially of tape, so no material will get down the pipe and clog a tiny gas orifice. I take extra care, more so than when using white tape with water pipe, when cutting my teflon tape for this reason. Some will say that flare fittings, those tapered ones like above top right and again lower left, should have dope only or nothing at all. The tapered part should definitely be clean, but sometimes soft brass fittings, like the one in the shutoff valve, can have a nick in the thread. I go twice around with tape, then a thin, but even coating of pipe dope for flare fittings. For regular threads, four wraps of tape and a bit more dope. By using the two, the fittings slide together easily and seal up well. Using two wrenches, one to hold the existing fitting stationary and the other to tighten the new one, helps to ensure that everything remains tight. A little planning is necessary to be certain that nothing that is already "inline" gets loosened in the installation process! The nipples and adapters will be fitted on the stationary supply pipe first and the flex hose last as it's couplings swivel on the hose. If you were to put your adapters into your flex hose ends and then tried to attach it to your stationary supply pipe, you's have nothing to turn on your last connection.

Wall oven Install

I made the mistake of thinking that as Home Depot said they haul away one's old appliance, that they would remove it from the wall as well, Wrong! Be forewarned, they will not remove or install a wall oven, but it's easy enough, with two bodies. Removal involved six screws and a tiny bit of muscle, installing the new one also six screws, in the side trim. It slides out, slides in. The fitting on the appliance's built-in regulator required an adaptor, shown above in last two pix. It is accessed through the broiler compartment by simply lifting out the bottom plate. This adaptor came with several others in the CSST flex hose appliance connector kit - regular male on one end, flare on the other. Tape and dope. These kits contain several fittings and 3 or 4 feet of hose. 1/2 ID" is fine for the BTU's a range requires. Most gas pipe is 1/2" ID (interior diameter, nominal, not exact - kinda like lumber!) but supply lines can be 3/4" and eyes open for 5/8" fittings, too. FIT = female threaded end, MIT is male threaded end. Same-same FPT, MPT. Oh, lets confuse the layman!

Wall Oven Connector

Using a big-girl flashlight and double wrenches, I tightened in the adaptor to the oven's regulator (the mass of fittings on the broiler floor, above left), then, the final connection, the flex hose to the adaptor. Each got the appropriate amount of yellow teflon tape and pipe dope for the type of fitting - less for flare fittings, more for straight male ends. My kit came with a packet of leak test solution, so I spread it on each and every connection, then went back to my yellow valve handle and turned it parallel to the gas pipe - the on position. I set the oven to the "broil" function. Got an error code indicating that my Maytag is a lemon - came with a bad oven temperature sensor. And it's taken three weeks (due to postponements) to get it replaced. Home Depot for appliance purchases? Never again. Maytag? Their service department said 10 days to even come look at it.... No more Maytags for me!

Range Anti-Tip Bracket

Better luck with the GE range! First up, it's anti-tip bracket. Never used one before, but installation was straightforward. I angled my drill bit for the pilot holes so that they would hit the wall's bottom plate - a solid 2x4 to anchor the screws. This bracket secures a rear leg so that if one were to lean on the oven's open door, the appliance won't fall over, causing injury and possible ripping out the gas line (admittedly, a long shot, but why not use it?)

Range Supply Pipes

The range supply line involved going from the old upper right to the new lower left AND reducing 3/4" black iron supply pipe to 1/2" pipe, which is easier to fit to the couplings and hoses that are standard for kitchen appliances of average size. Photo above, lower right shows a cutoff valve that is accessible from above and below (crawl space) - riding the line, admittedly, but I wanted to be able to turn the gas off without pulling the range out from the wall! An ample wadge of fiberglass insulation keeps drafts out.

Pipe Reducer and Nipples

A nipple is a section of pipe that is threaded on both ends, with a thin center strip to grip with a wrench. A reducer, shown above lower left, effectively changes the size of pipe in use. I needed two nipples - one to attach the reducer to the existing 3/4" threaded "elbow" in the crawl space and the smaller one to join it to my cutoff valve. Again, I used 4 wraps of yellow teflon tape, two threads back from the end, and a thin coating of pipe dope then tightened fully until I had a leak-free bond.

Gas Cutoff Valve with FPT Fittings

The cutoff valve for this setup was different than the Female fitting/ Male flare type fitting that was used for the wall oven. Above shows a Female-Female valve that will accept the final 10" piece of black iron pipe that protrudes from the crawl space a full four inches above the finished floor in the kitchen. (That's a LOT of F's, frankly!)

CSST Flex Hose Connection

The flex hose, as before, requires those tapered flare fittings so both the pipe extension and the stove itself required adaptors supplied with the kit. The Universal adaptor, for the pipe, actually has internal threads (female), as well as external (male) on the same end, for just such a fitting. Tape and dope per fitting style, two wrenches to keep things stationary. A pair of vice grips came in handy for clamping down into the pipe extension when tightening up it's adaptor (above, top left). Once again, I slathered each and every fitting with leak detector, turned on the main gas valve at the meter, then my yellow valve for the appliance. No bubbles - no leaks. Dish soap mixed with a bit of water, frothed up a bit with fingers, can also be used as long as the detergent is bleach free - just check the label. Now we're cooking with gas!

DIY Oil Change - Bucking the Trend

2014-11-30T15:10:00.002-05:00

I hesitated to write this entry until I just heard that Michelin surveys show 58% of teens don't know how to add oil to their cars, much less change it! But why bother in this day and age of the $35 oil change? Indeed, why? Why learn about the machine that ferries you and your loved ones around town on a regular basis? Yes, it's specialization that has enabled us to carry around little mini computers in our pockets, replete with with aps for every imaginable need or desire of modern life. Yet getting a look under your car and then giving it's life's blood, it's lubricant, an optic, are simple things that can help keep you in tune with your car's condition as well as bolster your confidence in general in your ability to tackle other issues that crop up in your vehicle. I recently saved myself hundreds because I managed to fix an overheating problem that turned out to simply be a clogged heater core hose. Just having the confidence to jump in and get greasy is half the battle.

Oil Change Kit

I grew up hearing that one should change the oil every 3 months or 3000 miles. It's a hotly debated point and I recommend checking your auto's owner manual and sticking with the manufacturer's recommendation to preserve your warranty. If you are out of warranty, how you drive and the age of your car can influence some people's opinion on those figures. I'd love to say that I am an oil change stickler, but I try to be a little more honest than that. Yet I regularly enough buy a gallon and a quart of oil per vehicle (again, reference your manual for exact capacity amounts), a new filter (check the manual or eyeball your current filter), then grab my special filter wrench, oil pan,funnel, plastic sheeting and a wrench to fit my oil pan's drain plug nut. Rags are a good idea. Latex gloves are smart too. What viscosity of oil to use? Again, check your owner's manual and pay attention to the season and the appropriate temperature range. Because I live where it's warm all year long, I always choose an oil with higher viscosity - SAE 15-40 or SAE 20-50. Warm oil will empty out of the engine more completely, so drive around the block a couple of times to heat up that black gold. Not too much because you will be wrangling around the engine to get the filter off.

Removing the Oil Pan drain Plug

I am in the habit of spreading a piece of throw-away plastic under the car - old shower curtain, plastic painting drop cloth, slit garbage bag - dealer's choice. There WILL be mess. Raise the hood and remove the oil fill cap in the engine compartment. This allows for more complete drainage. Next is matching a wrench to the plug in the oil pan opening from which the oil will drain. I'm now on my back, under the car just behind the front axle. Cardboard or a yoga mat can offer a little relief if you like but this operation doesn't take too long. Yet, it can turn you into a chocolate, greasy mess so wearing one's Sunday Best ain't the best idear here, The oil pan is obviously container-like with a bolt head in the bottom or the end (my pix show two different cars I worked on). Another one of my yard sale finds is an collection pan than also stores used oil to be recycled around the workshop for various other tasks or the occasional beach bonfire. Truth is that any old tub that offers a lip so that you can later decant your oil into containers with lids (like milk or water jugs) will work fine. An old standby is engine coolant gallon jugs with the side cut out then used horizontally as such. Use, decant, then toss. Once the plug is removed from the oil pan, let it drain completely before removing the oil filter.

Changing Filters

One of my favorite all-around tools is the lowly strap wrench. It can be used in lieu of a dedicated oil filter wrench, and both are shown above left. Filters can be in perplexing locations and check out the photo below for a tough fit! That's when a strap wrench can be a better choice.

Oil Filter Wrenching

I make sure that I move my used oil drip pan under the filter before I remove it so that it can catch any overspill upon loosening. At this point, the engine will be done drip, drip, dripping so the all-important replacement of the oil pan drain plug rises to the top of the list. Don't over tighten! After removal, my specialized pan has a shelf to hold the filter as it finishes draining, but I have also put it back it it's box, then into plastic bags for proper disposal later. Then, a drop of oil from the bottle on a fingertip, spread around the gasket of the new filter will create a tight seal against the engine block. Snugged up with the strap or filter wrench, it will be ready to clean a fresh batch of "earl" for miles to come, This is also a great time to scan about for any obvious problems that might present themselves to even rookie auto DIYers.

Volvo Exhaust Gas Canister

My linings and rubber boots looked good, I noticed no other cracks or breaks but I noticed that an exhaust canister had come adrift and needed to be zip-tied back into position before it went bouncing down the road.

Fresh Oil!

With the drain plug back in and a new filter on, it's time to add some virgin oil to the motor. Four to five quarts depending on the number of cylinders and overall size of the engine determine the ultimate capacity. After a gallon went in this four cylinder, I started the engine and let it run for a few minutes to let the filter soak up it fill. I checked the dipstick, little more oil went in then...

Filled with Amber Goodness

New oil is amber, like maple syrup. It may go dark after a while, especially if your motor runs hot. If it turns creamy, foamy golden yellow, uh-oh. That may mean water in the oil caused by a cracked block. It definitely bears investigating!

Here in the Bahamas, an oil change costs over $100 so I was pleased with my efforts and happy to spend time taking care of my vehicles. I topped off the other fluids and checked the tires - simple things. Along the lines of "a stitch in time saves nine", the simple acts of regular car checks give me the opportunity to sometimes catch a small problem before it becomes a big one and be just a hair more self -sufficient.

As a note, most service stations will take used oil for repurposing if you have no desire to keep it!

How to Use a Tile Wet Saw - Tips for Those Wet Behind The Ears

2014-11-18T12:32:00.000-05:00

A tile saw is actually more of a grinder than a saw. The diamond encrusted continuous edge blade slowly removes material from a tile and therefore takes a wee bit of practice to use effectively and minimize wasting expensive stock. Furthermore, ceramic and porcelain tile shards are very efficient flesh rippers so proper focus and a good understanding of how this machine works is only prudent. I had fully expected my 18" QEP 60010 to behave like the many saws I own and am intimately familiar with - it didn't. So I regrouped and went back to the drawing board.

Sharpening Tile Saw Blade

Job prep is always the key to success and using sharp blades is at the top of my list. I had a badly chipped grinding stone that I used to expose a layer of fresh diamonds on the tile saw blade by making several cuts through the stone. I understand that a cinder block or brick will work also.

Truing a Tile Saw - Motor Nuts and Rail Nuts

A test cut on a chipped tile showed that the cut was not a perfect right angle and some adjustment would need to be made to true the saw. First, I adjusted the table by loosening the sliding rail nuts one at a time, checking for a 90° angle with a long carpenters square (not the little one shown) then retightening. Quite simple. Once the table is square, make certain that the motor/blade is also true and adjust using the two motor nut mounts. This is also where one can micro adjust the inch scale on the saw table's measurement rail. As this is the time to adjust all things tile saw, the blade depth should extend 1/4" deeper than the tile. My saw has a black knurled knob on the left side which makes this adjustment tool free, but beware - as soon as it's loose, the whole heavy beast FALLS!

Tile Saw Table Extension

I needed a few more inches on my saw bed to deal with floppy mosaic tiles. As the table had threaded holes to accept bolts, it was easy enough to add a piece of pine with two holes drilled all the way through for the 1/4' diameter cap headed lag bolts. I had marked the hole position with lipstick and pressed the pine against the table. Holes courtesy of the drill press. It then needed a groove in the center where the saw blade travels through, accomplish with ease on the band saw.

Tile Saw Remote Water Pump

Now this water pump has a valve which controls water volume. Anyone who is familiar with valves knows that when the "handle" is perpendicular to the hose or pipe that the valve controls, it's OFF. Not so with this unit. Counterintuitive. When the valve handle is parallel to the water tube, normally the ON position, you will get exactly, not a drop of water. As for placement? The pump plugs into the tile saw motor and is designed to sit in the plastic water catchment tray to just keep recycling the same supply of water over and over. This has it's benefits as you don't need to dump dirty ceramic dust-filled water regularly, but I immediately saw it shortening the pump life. Having loads if fine material build up inside the pump would then be inevitable, yes? I grabbed three buckets. The water supply bucket needs to bet set on top of one bucket for height, due to the length of the power cord and the supply tube. Bucket two holds the pump and always fresh clean water, while the third bucket sits anxiously under the tray's drain plug waiting for the moment when you must drain the yucky, filthy water that would otherwise be going through your pump! More work? Yes. Longer pump life? Yes.

Safety Gear & Pump in Original Position

Above shows the pump as the manufacturer would have it sit in the tray. You can see the tray plug in the murky water, just behind the black pump body. My yard sale buy didn't have one so that's a Home Depot buy. I would not skip the safety gear whilst using this rig. It's not so much the blade that damages but these slivers and shards which are like glass and getting slung willy nilly BY the blade. That doesn't mean you can ignore the blade. I generally am wary of using gloves near spinning things, lest they snag, a real concern, so FOCUS here is a good idea. Reread that last sentence. The gloves I chose were snug and thick enough to protect me from "broken glass" while ALSO being waterproof! OY!

Tile Saw Blade Change

After cutting a floor's worth of THICK porcelain mosaic tile (not this blade's first rodeo, either), I decided to try out a brand new Dewalt Extender blade I had for the wall and listello tiles. I'm like Horshack on "Welcome Back Kotter", "ooh, ooh, ooh! A new tile saw blade! ooh!". The multi wrench supplied with the saw, shown above, is good for flinging at feral cats and that's about it. I used a decent socket wrench and pressed the blade lock button on the opposite side after lifting back the blade guard. Many saw blade arbor nuts are reverse threaded - not "lefty loosey" but "left tighty". This is so the counter-clockwise movement of the spinning blade doesn't loosen the nut and well, lets not think about that! SO, discovering WHICH WAY a saw blade's nut loosen's take's a gentle touch and sometimes a drop of Liquid Wrench or PB Blaster. This one was threaded normally. Not the safest configuration so I made certain to tighten it securely - lock button pressed, wrench torqued HARD! If you look at the photo above, you may notice that I wrote the size of the arbor nut wrench and "normal thread" on the blade guard with a Sharpie in order to save myself a few minutes during the next blade change. DO take a sec to double check that the rotation direction for this blade is aligned correctly. With no teeth to guide you, the arrow printed on the blade itself is the only indication. Again, new saw, new rules!

Tile Saw Straight Cuts

Photos on the left, above, show the fence used to align the sheet or single tile. It can also be set to make 45° cuts. On this saw, the water pump/saw blade combo toggle is on the front of of the blade motor. On occasion, I had to pinch the water pump tubing if the water didn't start to flow against the blade immediately. The valve previously mentioned also controls flow rate as "full bore" is not a requirement and I dialed down my water pump a bit. Although I had plastic on the floor, the mess wasn't outrageous. Water on the tile does mean that cut marks need to be made with something that wont wash off - grease pencil worked best though pencil wasn't too bad in a pinch when my grease pencil was in hiding....
In a word - push the tile through slowly. The reality, like so much of working with tools, is that one develops a "feel" for what the motor is comfortable handling. When I pushed a tile through too quickly, the 2 HP motor bogged down! As long as I let it grind away slowly, all was well. I used five different types of tile for this job and each had a different feed rate through the saw. Patience is not my strong suit - it lives deep within my closet and I had to button it on tightly to use this saw.

The Kindest Cuts

A sturdy pair of vice grips provided a measure of safety when making cuts on small mosaic pieces (upper right) and also when rounding a corner using the flat diamond edge on the side. A piece of tire inner tube (upper right) can be a good scratch protector if one's vice grips are inclined to mar a tile's finish. Check out lower left for a simple shop-built miter sled, when held firmly going through the blade. Above lower right is an examples of one way to smooth a rough edge or take off a hair extra material, using the side of the blade.

Diagonal Cuts

The cut above right was made freehand, although the 45° on the left used the fence.. The sheets of mosaic tiles were by far the most challenging, but I have to say that after a bit of practice I experienced little spoilage, especially once I started cutting wall tiles. To read about my experience tiling with the latest in stain and mildew resistant grouts, keep reading!

Using Bostik Urethane Grout in Tiled Showers - It's Not just for Beowulf Anymore!

2014-11-08T15:25:00.001-05:00

Urethane grout promises to solve many problems that can plague tile installations, especially in showers. It is mold and mildew resistant, less prone to staining and slightly flexible so also less susceptible to cracking. As it comes premixed, the color is consistent and not affected by the users' variations in the addition of water and admixes. An added benefit is that the installer can pop the lid back on the container for awhile, mid installation, and NOT lose mixed product, as one would with cementitious or epoxy grouts. When I read about all these plusses, especially those that made it so suitable to the tropics, I decided that the extra $$ it costs made it worth trying. Some online research led me to believe that the learning curve to install it was not daunting so I would like to share my experience. I won't masquerade as someone who has deep tile background, either. I've fixed some bad tile jobs so, like many things in my house, I knew what I wanted to avoid! A crappy grout job was high on my list.
Oh, but I have start by, er, tiling the Shluter Kerdi fabric that has created my water proof shower in the first place. Let me begin with the mosaic tile floor.

Bostick Urethane Grout for Mosaic Floor Tile

Sheets of porcelain 2" mosaic tile, spaced 1/16" apart, seemed the perfect choice for the floor of the shower. Smaller tiles are the standard for floors because of the required slope toward the drain. A large tile would create voids underneath which would eventually crack under the weight of any human traffic. Mosaic-type tiles readily conform to the pre-slope that one creates when packing a shower pan.

Story Pole Tile Mark Up

I used the story pole method for my tile layout. Working with a small area like this makes this technique feasible and very effective. Cutting scraps of ~1x1 trim to the length of each wall that were to be tiled, I marked the dead center and labeled them. These were also used later when tiling the walls. When I placed full sheets of the mosaic tiles down on the floor to plan my layout, I simply slid the poles back and forth until I had the optimum cut, with as close to a complete tile as possible at each end of the row. An almost complete tile is more pleasing to the eye than a sliver and sometimes requires "throwing out" a whole tile to achieve this at both ends. I found my cuts, (above center is a corner sheet) marked them with a grease pencil and took the sheet to the tile saw.

Mosaic Tile on the Tile Saw

A piece of plywood made it easier to transport the mesh-backed tiles from my marking area to the workshop, which housed the slightly messy "wet" tile saw. Although I was able to add a few inches to the front of the saw's table to support the flimsy sheets, the best I could do for the floppy sides was use a piece of vinyl flashing to prop it up somewhat. Cutting the sheets of mosaic tile required no more than a little extra time and patience. Oh, and more towels to quickly dry the moisture off the back before the glue dissolved due to the saw's stream of water. They went right into the sun to finish drying as well. Where I DID end up with a loose tile, a hot glue gun averted disaster. The subtleties of finessing the table saw will be another post.

Mosaic Tile Shower Floor

Shluter Kerdi fabric shower installations require the use of unmodified thinset to adhere tile to this substrate. This is a topic of some debate for porcelain installations, but that is what the manufacturer states and that is what I used with my porcelain tile. I dry fit the entire floor and numbered each sheet "just in case". I gathered buckets,water, sponges, rags, gloves, 1/4" x 1/4" square notch trowel, hard rubber float for tamping, margin trowels, knee pads, mixer and drop cloths. I mixed my thinset and let it slake to 10 minutes, praying to the tile gods to help me not botch this.....(as is my custom). I lifted the first row (farthest from the curb) back to expose the kerdi floor. Trowel the thinset on, comb it out, lay the tile and tamp on it with the float (skip the bad joke). Pull one back to check for 100% thinset coverage. CHECK! Sigh of relief. The sponge and margin trowel took care of the tiny bit of thinset squeeze out. I kept the sponge dry so as not to add any moisture to the thinset and weaken it.

Row Two and Kerdi Grate

Row Two was perpendicular as I was working my way out of the shower, capice? And row three took me into the Kerdi grate, which shot my blood pressure skyward again (unnecessarily). Getting the outer rows in first also helped me maintain proper slope inward toward the drain, using a level. I might admit to putting a dash more thinset under the corner of the corner tiles too, to be certain that they they stood nice and proud and no water would pool there. As for the Kerdi grate, it gets back-buttered like a tile and the floor divot receives a healthy layer of combed thinset before receiving the adjustment collar ring. After the surrounding tile is set, it's a simple operation to push it down flush with it's surrounding ceramics. A scant few tiles needed to be set one at a time, below center.

Tile Touch Ups

The only difficulty I had throughout the setting portion was dealing with thinset squeeze-out in the tiny 1/8" gaps. I resorted to using the 2" wide metal scraper/spatula, which cleared the muck out well in conjunction with clean, well wrung sponges. What I missed needed to be scraped then vacuumed 24 hours later. The grout "saw" was the most efficient of the tools I had on hand for dried thinset.

Bostik TruColor Neverseal Urethane Grout Prep

Did someone mention urethane grout? Ok, what I bought in the Bahamas was called BostikTruColor. I believe in the States it's called Bostik Neverseal. Hard to be certain as Bostik bought out StarQuartz (yes, its made with quartz in the matrix) and has been trying to settle on a name! Now, to summarize the downside - it sets up quickly, it can leave a residue, it takes longer to install (because of the residue) and its expensive. And for the shower? Seven days before it can get wet!! Would I use it again? Maybe. I think it has its place - showers and kitchen counters - problem prone areas. I don't think I'd do a large floor with it. Yet, my job went well. A MUST is a hard rubber epoxy float (I have one margin trowel size, which was a godsend) and microfiber clothes. The usual suspects include a standard margin trowel to keep stirring the milky liquid back into the grout, buckets, sponges and clean water and knee pads!

Applying Urethane Grout

Step one involves slightly pre-wetting the tiles. This reduces adhesion to the tile faces and gives 'em one last clean up. After mixing the liquid back into the grout, I scooped out maybe two trowels full of grout - enough for a 3'x3' area for my tiny grout joints. Tipping my big hard rubber float or my tiny margin trowel sized version to the requisite 45 degress, I had to work hard to pack my thin crevices with grout. It's nice and creamy and I sure did NOT miss mixing up dusty old cement stuff. Now as soon as the lines were packed, the tile was scraped clean and the remaining grout was placed back in the cpved Trucolor bucket. As long as the lid id on, the grout will not cure. But the stuff between the tiles? It's hardening fast! I went right back will a VERY well wrung out sponge for my first wipe down. Easy does it. I followed up immediately with a oh so slightly moist microfiber cloth that showed me the sponge did NOT get it all. Rinse, wring, repeat.

NeverSeal Grout in Action

It is nice to work with and I did like the fact that it didn't stain my fingers. Drips go back in the bucket.

Grouting Split Face Tile

Phase two of my project found me scratching my chin over how to grout the lovely rough hewn split face listello that my generous neighbor at Harbor Breeze Villas gave me as the leftovers from his build. I read, I jumped on forums, I asked Elves. I went my own way. I put (wait for the gasps) Thompsons Water Seal on the listellos (thats all I thought I had for sealer) then used the urethane grout to turn each segment into a stiff tile instead of a floppy sheet. (photo lower left). It worked like a charm! Very little grout stuck in the crannies, the listello was easy to install and grout together the few remaining joints. My anxiety, as usual, was for naught.

TruColor Grout Residue

Where I ran into difficulties was with two of the four different types of tiles I used. These were prone to have the TruColor leave a residue that came off with some vinegar and elbow grease, but I found myself doing very small sections indeed to try to minimize this disturbing issue. Using the microfiber towel and also a white scrubbie helped, but it seemed different tiles reacted in different ways or perhaps it just didn't show as much on some tile finishes. This dilemma slowed me down, to be sure. I'm still excited about the properties of the grout, but for me, I wonder about the time investment required to eliminate the haze issue. The website mentions a product called Blaze, which I can't get here, but I DID get it all cleaned up and I DO love the look of my finished shower!

Stain and Mildew Resistant Grout For ME!

Polished Concrete with Recycled Glass - Breaking The Mold

2014-10-31T15:17:00.001-04:00

I needed three slabs to complete my shower. Normally, these would be cut from granite or marble or perhaps pieced together with tile. The window sill, the curb top and the knee wall cap were yet to be done. I had purchased a wet polisher on eBay and thought this would be a good opportunity to attempt some test pieces made out of polished concrete. Slabs fabricated with recycled glass as the aggregate, instead of stone, had caught my eye on the web and I wanted to try my hand. New tools to play with!!! YAY! Too chicken to start with anything larger, I started collecting bottles and set up a solar powered glass tumbler to make the glass workable. Life is never boring with a decent workshop!

Polished Concrete with Glass Aggregate

The (roughly) three steps involved in this project were making the molds, mixing concrete and filling them, then polishing and finishing the slabs. I want to babble a bit about concrete to start. Folks get serious about their mixes and you can even buy premixed "concrete countertop" bagged mixes (though NOT here in the Bahamas, hahahahahaha). Um, overkill, I think, and also folks trying to sell their wares, but to each..... I have watched plenty plenty concrete and mortar being mixed and the problem arises from the fact that its an art, not a science, and the inherent moisture present in ALL the ingredients (and the AIR that day) can make exact measurement impossible! I did my best and tried not to stress about it. There are SO many opinions out there about WHAT is THE perfect formula, THE perfect types of materials to use, in a way I felt fortunate that on my island, my choices were limited and I just made due with what I had available! In the end, my mix was

2 parts sand
1 part smoothed glass (various sizes)
1 part portland cement type 2
water to create proper slump for THAT day's humidity (just like baking bread)
(the water included 4 oz. powdered dye to vary the color of the finished product)
1 oz Lanco latex admix

Still, one can buy Sakrete's mix at big boxes or Buddy Rhodes', Cheng has workshops at Big Orange so there are options galore for stateside types. What these give you is a mix with the highest compressive strength (for those huge slabs), around 5000 psi, and often they include glass fibers for reinforcement. Every little bit helps, I suppose, but do you really need it all? A nifty resource for all things concrete is The Concrete Network but there is no shortage of info on the web about making slabs using this method and many variations.

Template Making

I have an excess of roofing felt which is perfect for making templates. Cardboard or 3x5 index cards work also but the roll of 2" tar paper was stiff yet still workable. One of the advantages of crafting concrete slabs is being able to create very custom shapes, such as the curb shown above left. My window sill also had "horns" on the ends that covered grout lines for a more finished look. Only the knee wall cap was a a perfect rectangle. Taping together strips of the felt with packing tape gave me perfect replicas of the size of the slab that I wanted to create. I marked each with a crayon so that I could keep track of the TOP as the concrete molds are made upside down.

Mold Making

I traced the template on some scrap 5/8" plywood then cut the mold bottoms on the table saw and band saw. I ripped several lengths of plywood to a width of 2 1/8" for the sides of the mold. This gives me finished slabs that are 1 1/2" thick, compensating for the 5/8" base of the mold. The heights should be exact as you will screed along the sides, leveling off the concrete. I took these long lengths and set about cutting the sides to whatever lengths I needed for each mold. They didn't need to be flush at the outside edges, shown above lower right, as this is a mold that just uses the interior angles. I had a few mitre cuts to make for my curb piece and had to think about where I was going to screw the pieces together before I cut everything up.

Tape and Caulk

Now most folks use melamine coated MDF instead of plywood for their molds because the coating provides a smooth surface. I didn't have any nor did I have a supplier, nor did I feel inclined to spend the $$$. Especially as I was going to use a wet grinder to expose the aggregate anyway, which would smooth any lines. So, I used some vinyl flashing stuck on with spray adhesive for two of my bases and then packing tape for the sides (and the third base). The primary purpose of this smoother surface will be to help release the concrete from the mold after it has reached its initial 3 day cure. I have seen concrete guys use old motor oil on their wooden concrete forms, but, um, EW! No! So I taped, then I clamped and screwed, drilling pilot holes first. All inside edges were sealed with caulk. I didn't have pure silicone, as recommended, so I used the white siliconized latex I had and it worked fine. I just didn't feel like spending the $$ on black silicone. BTW, I like rubbing alcohol on my fingers for smoothing caulk. Cheaper than denatured and I had some here. I hate rushing out to buy stuff when I have "close enuff" items on hand. Everything I had read said count your screws and write the number on the mold, then fill the phillips heads with caulk so they don't get concrete in them. I did. Waste of time, but maybe for larger projects, it's prudent.

Recycled Glass Aggregate Topping

I coated what would be the top of the slabs or what was the bottom of my molds, with spray adhesive and sprinkled in a layer of tumbled glass so that I would have the most stunning visual effect imaginable!! This was in addition to the glass I mixed into my concrete. The truth is that I ground alot of it away because my mix was too stiff. Beginners blunder. One of the worst mistakes you can make with concrete is adding too much water, so I am overly cautious there and I paid for it. Not dearly, but this glass was not thoroughly surrounded and well embedded enough by the overly dry mix. Oh poo!
I digress. I had also sprinkled on a little extra pigment which I hoped would look like veining. Didn't like it. Most of that got ground out anyway.

Lathe Reinforcement

Metal lath, hardware cloth or chicken wire all would have been suitable but lath got the nod. I used my templates to mark my pattern and cut a healthy half inch inside that mark, but still could have gone smaller. I was careful when I filled the mold halfway, pressed the lath in placed and then gently placed the remainder of the concrete in the mold. Yet, I saw a piece of it when I was grinding.

Mixing Prep

It's never a bad idea to run your portland cement through a easy to make sieve to remove any lumps, as shown upper left. I have a second, made with metal lath, that I used for grading the glass aggregate. The rules for concrete are that the aggregate should be able to pass through the metal reinforcement you choose AND also be no more than 1/3 the thickness of your slab. In this case, a 1 1/2" slab, so all pieces should be 1/2" or smaller and slip through my lath sieve. No concrete police showed up (they never do in the Bahamas - I LOVE it here!). I mixed in some gold toned powdered dye to the water. It made the grey portland look GREEN at first, but a nice sand color in the end. I can definitely see springing for white portland if tinted concrete is the goal. The grey just wanted to stay grey. This mix took a ton of water and, as I mentioned, was still too dry. An ounce of latex admixture, mixed into the water as well, helps everything stick together and (gulp) not crack, as concrete is wont to do.

Packed Forms

I mixed all of my dry ingredients together thoroughly before I added in the liquids. This batch was too small for the electric mixer, even a hoe. A 5 gallon bucket and a trowel got me there and I packed my forms gently but firmly with gloved hands. Concrete, lath, concrete. Next I found a scrap board to screed the tops. Its a simple sawing motion used to level off the form. Some peeps like to use their palm sanders to vibrate the air bubbles out of the concrete, but I chose the more aggressive sawzall because I am impatient. Honestly, there were a few bubbles, not a ton. I filled a spray bottle with water, spritzed the tops of the filled forms then covered them all with plastic. This is critical. For the next three days, keeping the concrete moist by spritzing and covering will greatly impact the success in preventing cracks by slowing the cure rate in this important phase. Wet burlap has been a traditional covering, but spritzing and keeping it all covered will accomplish the same thing with a bit more effort. My burlap stash is a bit thin these days.

Modern Terrazo

Unmolding the slabs went off flawlessly. My anxiety over the small protruding horns on the window sill piece was unfounded - they didn't break. I stapled some waterproof wrap around my Secco wet polisher to keep any stray water or slurry out of the motor. Yes, the machine comes with a GFCI built in and I plugged it into an additional GFCI outlet for double protection. Those circuits protect ME, not the machine that I paid good $$ for on eBay. And there was water everywhere! This is an outdoor job, done with plastic to catch any erant bits of glass, smooth though it may be. During our drought summer, I kinda stressed over the amount of water I was using and vowed I'd come up with a water-recirculating rig when I do this next.

Secco Grinder

The diamond cup is used first, but it ripped some of the glass out so I went easy with it - light touch, arcing back and forth. My dry concrete mix contributed to this issue, I'm certain. The Secco is a variable speed polisher and I started off with low RPMs. The diamond cup did a stellar job of "bullnosing", or rounding over the edges. After the cup, I swapped out to the velcro pad holder using the supplied wrenches and moved through six of the seven pads that came with my set. 50 through 1500 was sufficient so I didn't bother with the 3000 grit. As the grit increases. the rpm speed does as well. I was very happy with the sheen that resulted, the slick look of the glass and the sand after it had a thorough polishing. The machine held up well and was ever so easy to use for a first-timer. I never thought it was getting too hot, which surprised me, as one spends some time at this endeavor! Any disappointments were due to my flubs caused by the concrete mismix.

Grout Slurry

My last gaff on this go-round involved using some unsanded grout as the basis for the slurry to fill my pinholes and gaps. I used my latex admix stirred into the water to help it stick. I can't be certain, but the hunter green grout turned blue! I applied the thin, runny mix with a flexible plastic scraper and forced it into every nook and cranny with a rubber squeegee. After an overnight dry, it was back to the polisher for the last three grits to bring it back to the high sheen it had previously sported. One last remaining divot was filled with some two part epoxy mixed with a touch of tint. Good plan, wrong shade of tint.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

Fate smiled on me in the form of some penetrating lithium based sealer that I had ordered from Direct Colors with stuff for another project . Despite the last photo above, it dried to a lovely satin finish and water beads up on it nicely. I believe it's just the thing for a shower. I applied it from an old spray bottle, several thin layers until it was coated evenly. Although my overall end results were less than perfect, I learned a lot and look forward to my next effort.

Window Sill with tiny "Horns"

As a footnote, installing these was as easy as any piece of tile.

Photo Bombed Again

Apply thinset, backbutter the slab, submit to your furry supervisor for inspection and nestle into position. Make certain that it is NOT level and is angled towards the shower's center. There, Bob's your Uncle!

DIY Faux Venetian Wall Finish - Getting Plastered

2014-10-26T09:42:00.001-04:00

"You can't always get what you want....." but sometimes fate intervenes. you have to get creative and yes, you get just what you need.

Joint Compound Faux Venetian Plaster

I wanted cypress planked walls. V grooved and pickled. Classic and practical in the tropics as cypress naturally will stand up to our high humidity and our bloody termites.

From Sheathing to Plaster

Instead I got a typical island story. Big Orange sent me too much sheathing and realized it was financially impractical to ship it back from the Bahamas. I became the recipient of a FREE wall covering that would increase the shear strength of my house, here in the hurricane belt!! But.....not so pretty! This plywood's surface, as it was rated for exterior sheathing, was anything but smooth and cosmetically pleasing. Oh, the sanding! I used Mirka's Abranet sanding product because of it's longer life (and lower dust generating properties when used with a dust bag) and settled in on my deck, to sand away (and work on my tan!) before I primed . With almost 1600 sq. ft to sand, first 80 grit, then 120, I was glad to be using the "longer life, less dust" product. Yes, I was going to add a textured surface, but my thought was by sanding that I'd reduce the amount of primer I would apply as sanding reduces the surface area. That's my rationale and I'm stickin' to it! Paint costs are exorbitant here in the Bahamas. I run on mangoes and oatmeal.

Prep Arsenal

After woman-handling the sanded 4'x8' sheets of plywood into place and screwing 'em into the studs, leaving gaps for expansion, I grabbed roller and brush. Two very important coats of water based primer for starters. (I had a time gap before I got around to my next step, as I trimmed my openings) FibaTape® self-adhesive joint tape not only bridged my 10 penny nail sized gaps between the boards, but also on any knot-hole indentations that required filling. Smearing gaps with joint compound works most efficiently, for me, when I add a bit of Zinsser primer and "whip" the stuff together with a paint beater chucked into a heavy duty drill. Thusly, all gaps and knots were filled and allowed to dry thoroughly before being reprimed with Zinsser 123.

Trim Protection

As I nailed the trim around the windows and doors, I had covered the wall-ward edges in "saran wrap"-like plastic to protect it from any stray plaster. Electrical switch and receptacle plates required removal then wrapping as well. This is a messy operation. A piece or two of trim that I forgot, I covered with blue painter's tape. The floors needed ample protection as did my hands. The joint compound tends to dry out skin so I recommend gloves. And the reality is that joint compound is a mix containing gypsum , a form of lime, nothing that you want to be in contact with for extended periods. One of the major differences between this technique is that true Venetian plaster, also lime-based, contains marble dust. Yet, its the layering and the use of the steel trowel that "burnishes" the finish that also creates this distinctive "old world" look.

Faux Plaster Base Coat

To make the base coat, I used a one gallon bucket for mixing and working from, rather than the 5 gallon behemoths I purchased. A wide, flat ice cream scoop simplified moving the joint compound sludge from the five gallon bucket to fill my small container - about 2/3rds full. A scant splash of bleach went into both buckets to keep the product mold free here in the tropics. For my purposes, an old bleach container cut in two created a paint scoop out of the upper portion that I used throughout this endeavor. It held about a cup of the Behr paint that colored and thinned the mud. One heavy cup or so for that 2/3rds full 1 gallon container gave me a workable consistency - not too thick, not too runny. It wasn't a hard and fast formula and I didn't worry about perfect consistency too much as a bit of color variation just adds character to the finished product. Also, I just so happened to be happy with the shade that this proportion gave me for a base. Although the "cheap paint" that I used to thin and color the three different plasters came very close to being just the shades I wanted, I did add some of my universal paint tints to one of the layers to get exactly the tone that I was looking for. The joint compound lightens the color of the paint used by several shades - as if going down a couple of bars on the scale of a paint chip array. Universal paint tints can be purchased online or at paint stores, individually or as sets. I use mine regularly for all sorts of projects.

Base Coat Tools

I quickly nailed together a "guard", shown above, to keep the plaster off of where I will later nail the baseboard trim after I tile the floor. Affixing an actual piece of the wood trim I'll later use on top of a 1" scrap board that's close to the thickness of the tile job I'll install down the road. A few screws driven up through the bottom, boom, done. A steel, straight edged float functioned as a hawk at the beginning. With it turned upside down, it was easier to use a plastic scraper to transfer the mud from the bucket and distribute around the float. Then I held it sideways and with the lower edge angled against the wall (like a hinge), I pressed inward and then swung it in an arc to smear the "plaster" against the wall. No stress, just do it. I kept the base coat thin and didn't waste too much plaster creating texture with this layer as there were three more to come, although this was the only "full" 100% coverage layer, as will become clear.

Second Layer

The rose highlights came from some horrid lipstick red paint mixed into the joint compound and smeared on the wall with a flexible plastic scraper. It was kinda scary looking, middle picture above, but after the next two layers, just a hint shows through - perfect! The application was very random and the texture added was not significant - subtle at best. I gave the base coat a solid two days of drying time before adding this highlight. It was oh-so-muggy summertime here, which surely didnt help, but this stuff doesn't dry quickly and the downside of this project is the amount of time that the room was a shambles......

Gold Layer Three

Layer three was a gold tone that covered significantly more wall space than the previous pink. It also covered a good portion of the pink. The top photo above shows that I probably created almost 80% coverage with this layer, again using a flexible plastic spreader. More drying time, tic-toc, tic-toc.

Final Layer

For the fourth and final layer, I went back to the first color of plaster that I used for my base coat. Instead of the flexible plastic spatula, I reverted to the steel trowel, but coated it sparingly with the plaster mix before applying another 80% coverage coating. This is easy. There is enough texture on the wall that 80% gets covered and 20% shows through. You get to see your rose and gold highlights and that texturing that seems like your walls have been there since Pompeii's last stand (like Pompeii was ever in the Bahamas, eh?). I did go back with my flexible plastic scraper an do a little touch up in spots where I felt I saw too much rose or gold. When I finally stripped off the plastic covering the door and window trim (get ready for a serious mess), I couldn't have been happier!

This plaster can also be coated with wax or laquer but I've opted to skip that. I can see that there is zero washability on this wall, but the mottled finish should allow many stains to blend in. To coat 600 sq ft I used almost two 5 gallon pails of joint compound, and almost two gallons of base coat paint, a quart of the gold and a not even a pint of the red.

For my living room walls I have started doing just a two tone treatment with a light base coat and darker gold highlights burnished in with the steel trowel. NNNNice!

edit: The living room turned out well but I used a different method to achieve the three color finish.

Faux Plaster Version Two

I put three colors of the joint compound/paint mix on the steel trowel (see above) and then did the blending on the wall as I smeared the mix in a variety of swirling motions. I was happy with the results and although it wasn't as complex as the bedroom finish, it was quicker and will lend itself to mounting shelves more readily.

Woodcraft Craft - Router Class Review

2014-10-21T13:02:00.000-04:00

Back in the bosom of civilisation, I took advantage of the availability of woodshop classes for the masses. A nearby Woodcraft Store offered a daylong course in router technique and I quickly signed up. Although I have run a few board feet through my shop-built router table, I wanted to become more comfortable using a router freehand. When I built my hallway shelving unit, I cut dados on my table saw when they would have been created easier with a jig and a router run across my longer shelving boards. So the day I dumped pocketsfull of money at Woodcraft on bits, tools and hardware, I left whistling with smug excitement in anticipation of furthering my skills in the woodworking craft.

Woodcraft Router Class Review

This Fall Sunday, the six of us, the class size limit, gathered at 10 am at the store, ready to hang together until 5 pm. Our instructor was Michael Harris, furniture maker and restoration specialist for the many period pieces so prevalent in our historic surroundings here in the Greater Nation's Capitol area. I was the only dudette, welcomed warmly by all and felt comfortable throughout the day in the class. I recommend that women do not hesitate to jump right in and enjoy themselves and hope that they will find the same supportive atmosphere as I experienced.

Hands-On Router Play

Four brought their own routers, two of us used the Porter Cable models that "teach" brought. Seeing a variety of tools and hearing their features explained and evaluated was worthwhile especially in the case of the "plunge" feature, which has intrigued me. The opportunity to ask a veteran, as opposed to merely reading an article about routers, was enlightening, especially when half a dozen models were available to fondle, thanks to the largesse of my fellow students, a congenial bunch, to be sure!

Cutting Boards and Jig

It was the "hands on" that we all were chomping at the "bit" to dive into, and our project for the day was a cutting board made from closed cell, hard sugar maple. We started with a discussion of properties of wood, lumber costs and availability. The jig above right enabled us to cut the " juice groove" using a router freehand with a carbide edged core box bit. A healthy discussion about bit types and their uses ensued. And unlike staring at a wall of bits in a store, we got to play with a cornucopia of cutters and and ask questions, even really dumb ones, about shaft sizes (yes, size DOES matter!!). This constant Q&A, built upon one another's input as well, was invigorating and enlightening. My classmates, like myself, had a smattering of experience but were anxious to get better. We were all eager and supportive and I have to say that the camaraderie of the class was one of the high points of my experience. The group was diverse in age, skill level, ethnic background, economic status, gender - about as well rounded as it gets! That's the broad appeal of working with wood (and power tools....).

Fun with Power Tools

A few of us pulled out phones and iPads to pass around "baby pictures" of items we'd crafted in our home workshops. To our delight, our instructor critiqued our endeavors and gave us some tips to improve upon our future projects. I'd recommend to anyone taking a class to bring photos as well.

Top Notch Router Round Table

We used a hand full of different bits to finish our edges. Thumbnail roundover, chamfer, and ogee bits. Again, there is an enlightening difference between looking at a bit or a picture of one, and seeing what it does to wood first hand! The low point of the class was using this incredible router that one can raise and lower from above, with just a few turns of a crank. No sitting in a pile of sawdust on the floor every time you need to adjust or change a bit! It was $oooooo $weeeet! Mr. Harris gave us some time tested tips for getting better results without tearout or chatter that can often plague router table operations. Although there is no substitute for practice and experience, watching a master do it the right way can save, oh, how many board feet? Many, many woodworkers profess to be contentedly self taught, but I had several eureka moments as our guide shared his decades of knowledge with us hungry rookies.

Mineral Oil and Wax, Post Sanding

As this is my review of the course, my only complaint is that I didn't get to spend more time practicing a wider variety of techniques. A router is a powerful tool capable of many tasks. Our instructor spent an adequate amount of time discussing the importance of maintaining a 10 digit finger count and was safety conscious throughout the course. I believe that was the Achilles heel of the class. He was forced to keep a keen eye on whoever was operating any machinery, which took all of his attention, but slowed the class. If I could be so bold as to make a recommendation, it would be to furnish the instructors with "safety aids" who could eyeball students while they worked, as the teacher aided others setting up their tools. Perhaps we'd all have gotten some more hands-on time if that were case.

In conclusion, although I can never really get enough time with my hands wrapped around tools, I learned a fair bit and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Yes, most of all, I had a fun day! If I lived back in the States, I would most definitely join a woodworking club as the companionship of fellow woodworkers was a beneficial exchange of information in a pleasant atmosphere that I could see enjoying on a regular basis. So, learning new things in a friendly environment? Two thumbs up!

Cement Mixer Sea Glass Aggregate, Solar Powered, of Course!

2014-09-30T06:35:00.000-04:00

Let me be honest, my endeavours didn't produce the lovely frosted, perfectly smooth specimens that one finds at the beach. After watching a few online "Tubes" my initial skepticism vanished and I set about configuring a solar-powered cement mixer tumbler to produce recycled glass aggregate that I could use in the polished concrete lintels and curb cap to finish my shower.

Cement Mixer Sea Glass?

The information available to the masses, on the internet for free, is a modern miracle, but perhaps not all of it is what it purports to be. Then again, my efforts didn't duplicate exactly the gent referenced above in that I used common beach sand and he used tumblers' carborundum grit in his mixer. Regardless, I was able to produce a glass that I could handle safely and use as aggregate for my polished concrete. As this was my goal, and not producing a jewelry grade glass, I wasn't thoroughly disappointed.

Moving Solar Panels

The project started with gently lowering one of the one-day-to-be roof-mounted solar panels from it's ceiling storage rack. They are heavy, expensive and fragile so caution is the order of the day when handling them. I had to build a ramp, with crossbeams tacked to the long ramp legs as stops, to gently slide this 200 watt beast down to ground level. Hinges at the tops of the ramp legs made this rig happen so I left them in place for the future.

Setting the Solar Panel Angle

No one had to tell me that I was going to need to run my cement mixer for hours at a time for several days. I had a rock tumbler as a kid but, frankly, didn't have the patience for the hobby at that age! I'm aware that anyone attempting this is not likely to have a solar panel lying around to power their little project, but my knowledge of how pricey electricity is here in the Bahamas meant that going to the extra effort to set this up was time well spent. We pay through the nose for power in this island nation. Yesterday, I finally ordered my battery bank so that I can set up my entire solar system in the coming months. Stay tuned for more blogs re solar! Above, I used a roof pitch clinometer to get he proper angle for the panel. Summer pitch is latitude minus 10° and in winter one adds the 10° to your latitude. A compromise is to use your latitude... No clinometer? There are phone and iPad aps!

Wired for Sun

As my outdoor wiring connections were temporary but still needed to be watertight, I used "coax tape", far left, which is like black putty. It can be formed around connections and pinched to a perfect weathertight seal, yet pulled away later then reused. Great stuff (from electrical supply houses) especially for, um, coax connections or anything else that may not be permanent. Above middle is a photo of my charge controller, where the panel connects to the battery. Far right is a shot of another rig, identical to what I used for this project (which I neglected to photograph) which includes a deep cycle marine battery, the charge controller and the all-important inverter. The charge controller makes sure that the solar panel supplies the battery with the correct amount of voltage for its current state of charge, making certain not to overcharge it and cause an explosion. Some include Low Voltage Disconnects to ensure that the battery is never drawn down past a certain voltage, which shortens a batteries life - a VERY useful property in a controller. The red gadget here, the inverter, is a yard sale cheapie, not my house inverter. An inverter transforms the voltage of the battery, in this case, 12 volts, and turns it into 120Volts that can be used by household appliances. The model above has receptacle in the end and I plugged the cement mixer into it.

Love the Sound of Breaking Glass

Ok, well. I collected all the bottles from the underbrush when walking the dogs a couple of nights (yeah, it was THAT bad). I had a metal plate and a metal tamper. Put the plate in a box and placed a few bags over the ends to contain any flying glass. SMASH! Meh.... The resulting pieces were too big.

I DO Have a Hammer..

Above is a grits bag. Grits is a national food here. The Bahamian version of french fries - "you want grits wid dat?" The bag was made of a thick woven poly cloth and I put the bottles inside, donned gloves and glasses and smashed away with a cheesy grin on my face This worked much better. I've read that old jean can contain glass bottles fairly well, but didn't have a chance to try it. This bag lasted through a good four dozen bottles.

Loaded and Ready

After the joy of bottle smashing, I loaded up the cement mixer with the glass, added a few shovels-full of beach sand. a handful of small rocks and then poured in a couple of gallons of water. My charge controller told me that the battery was topped up so I hit the switch and the mixer commenced to wake the dead for miles around. I tacked up some insulation in the form of foil-coated bubble wrap in an attempt to spare my neighbours a bit of racket from the machinery. A piece of tyvek bungeed across the mixer's mouth helped silence the beast as well. And so I mixed and I smoothed until the sun couldn't keep up with the motor on the mixer. After a few hours my old and tired battery gave out. This was fine by me because I didn't want to burn out the motor on my low-grade mixer. Letting it cool down for awhile seemed prudent. So it proceeded thusly for the following three days. Sun came up to charge my battery, big noise and lots of tumbling, bit of a break and motor cool down, recharge and repeat. As this was a summertime project, I guess the mixer ran 'bout six hours a day for three days. Smoothed edges, yes, but no real frosting of the glass.

Sift and Rinse

Although the glass was smooth and easy to handle, when it came time to sift and rinse, a large tub underneath helped contained any spilled pieces. Metal lath worked well as a screen. My surprise find was that the the leftover sand was filled with lovely flecks of multicolored glass. I saved it for use in my concrete lintels and it did indeed lend an extra measure of color to my finished product. So, this project yielded me both the aggregate in the form of the glass AND the sand for the concrete.

Lintel Love

Most of the glass was spread across the top surface of the glass for maximum exposure in these pieces. Th final product was quite striking and I was pleased that it was made from trash and powered by the sun! Keep an eye open for the polished concrete tutorial, coming soon.

DIY Wooden Door Mat - A Grating Problem Solved

2014-09-23T21:57:00.000-04:00

Remember "Eldon" from the sitcom "Murphy Brown"? He took forever to paint dear Murph's abode. I can relate. I don't move quickly and often have to fabricate interim solutions while I'm building the house.

The Beginning - The End - The Middle

Although the delay in tiling my shower had more to do with poverty than procrastination, in between the time I created my waterproof shower then bedded the mosaic floor tiles, I needed something to stand on that would protect the expensive Kerdi fabric I had installed.

DIY Wooden Door Mat

A "grate" solution came to mind that cost me nothing and can later be pressed into service as a welcome mat. It looks pretty "salty" too as it's similar to grates one find in a sailboat's cockpit. It was made from a pair of 2 1/2 foot long scraps of 5/4 x 6" pressure treated decking that I crosscut on the table saw with a dado blade stack (a router table would work also) then ripped into strips. I did use wood glue to assemble it and brushed on some deck preservative as it's first tour of duty would be in the shower, before it went to live outside. Here's how it came to life.

Grate Jig

I set up my dado stack on the table saw to cut a notch half the (actual) depth of my 5/4 decking scraps, which was 1/2". The dado blades are set for the same width as well, for symmetry. The notch is actually set a tad deeper than 1/2". Here's why. Dado blades want to LIFT your wood up off the saw table while you're cutting and therefore the lumber often has to be run through twice (no!) to get the complete depth hogged out. For this project, accuracy is important, the full depth (and then some) is better than not enough (though some folks run the finished product through a planer). So, to make the jig that will provide a consistent pattern requires a sliding mitre gauge, a sacrificial piece of decent 1x and another bit of scrap that has been ripped square to the exact size of the intended notches to be cut out of the lumber. In my case, this scrap "guide stick" was 1/2" x 1/2". The mitre gauge had holes so that I could run a pair of short screws through from the back and affix my 1x sacrificial fence, leaving about 4" protruding off to the right (long enough to go through my dado stack). On went the table saw and I pushed the fence through to make the first cut. This is the notch that will hold the guide stick, the 1/2"x 1/2" square scrap that will keep the boards lined up when you make your cuts. Machine off, screws backed out of mitre gauge to move the fence over to the right 1/2". Measure twice then replace the screws in the mitre gauge. That's it, the jig is up! (hahahahaharrrrggg) It's done! For me, the difficult part of this project was fighting the dado blades.

Dado After Dado Cut

I made my mat with just two boards (though it's not a full grate), both cut at the same time, stacked against the mitre gauge fence. First cut was made with their edges resting against the guide stick. After that, each subsequent notch will be moved to the right and laid over the stick, which holds it in place, spaced perfectly for the next cut. The only difficulty is in keeping your boards DOWN tight against the table, as mentioned previously. Here one balances safety against precision. I made certain that my hand was still a good distance away from the flesh-ripping dado blades while pushing down on the boards, keeping them from riding skywards which would make the notch depth inconsistent. I will admit, this got tedious...... I did my best to get a full cut on the first pass and avoid the dreaded, sloppy second run through!

Strip Rip

Time to switch blades on the table saw and add back the table saw splitter for safety. Blade tip - wipe your 40 tooth blade with WD40 before you start ripping your strips. If you are using a nice dense Southern Yellow Pine pressure treated material, like here, this will keep some of the pitch build up off your blade. Me? I also try to behave and clean my dado blades before I put them away. Carb or brake cleaner works well for gummy pine.

My setting for strip width was 1/2". I cut, then I test fit. My reality is that I cut them a bit skinny. Too fat and they won't fit in the notches, THE END. Purist boat buiders may scoff at using glue, but I am not a purist and this ain't no boat so phhhhffftttt, I cut 'em thin!

Evolution of a Mat

Now, I fully intended to create a complete crosshatch pattern, BUT, here's what happened. I made this test, above. It looked OK! I figured, two more pieces for looks and stability and I'm done. Lazy Lashes wins again and beside, better drainage without the extra pieces (another reason to cut your notches a scosche deep). DIY rules because there are fewer rules!

Saw or Chisel Ends Flush

I used two verticals at each end and one dead center. These went completely from top horizontal strip to bottom. I had two more that were offset and did not go completely from top to bottom but still added stability. All were tapped into place with a rawhide mallet for a complete dry fit. Some notches needed a little chisel cleanup. I also used the chisel to take off one set of ends that hung long (bottom left) but in the end decided that a hand saw did a better job.

Trimming Ends

On one side of the mat, the strips were aligned perfectly but the other needed to be trimmed on the table saw to match. I used the mitre guide and a sacrificial board as a fence at the rear to eliminate any tear out on the back end and provide even support across the mat.

Test Fit

All cut and the last two pieces test fit.

Glue Up and Weighted Down

I admit that many of the joints weren't perfectly snug so I felt that using wood glue was a safe bet, but there were many little crannies to slather Titebond into as my insurance policy! I often use an acid brush and it was the perfect size for this job. There's nothing like a deep cycle marine battery to slam some weight on top of your caul boards, which help distribute those lead pigs evenly.

Finish With Finish

Deck stain in the incarnation of "OneTime Wood" sealer was my choice to add some protection to this piece, which is destined to spend its life in the wet. This particular finish requires UV light to cure so the mat languished for a day in the sun, soaking up some rays.

Silicone Caulk Pads

Only my closest friends know that my middle name is .......overkill. When I came across a tube of cured silicone caulk, I cut it up into discs to use for just such occasions. A little extra protection, screwed into the bottom of the mat after I wallowed out a divot with an exacto knife. Yes, I know, but there aren't any therapists here.......

BONUS PROJECT!!!

DIY Chisel Holders

Any extra pieces can be pressed into service as tool holders in your chest drawers!!!

TRIPLE BONUS!!
This jig can also be used to cut box joints, aka finger joints. Keep it!

DIY Wall Unit - All Booked Up

2014-09-12T14:25:00.000-04:00

My email contained a monthly post from a woodworking mag that started off by proclaiming, "Well, we've all mastered the built-in wall unit/bookshelf....." After I finished cleaning up the coffee I'd spewed across the table, I hit the "unsubscribe" button. I'm happy with my results, but I'm not ready to call myself a master of this project genre. I forthwith share my experience in the hopes that your learning curve is not as steep as mine.

DIY Wall Unit Bookshelves

It's my belief that of the many benefits of DIY, two are the ability to create something that is totally different than what you can buy at Ikea (like there IS one in the Bahamas anyway) and the joy of advancing your woodworking skills by trying new techniques, even if that means a blem or two in your work. I proclaim that adds character, yes? My stuff has HEAPS of character!! I had made some run of the mill bookshelves previously, but I decided these would have shelves of differing sizes, with each back wall painted a different color. The bottom doors are bypass sliders, eschewing the need for hinges. It all started at the breakfast table, paper and pencil. Learning SketchUp is on my ToDo list, but I drag my iPad around as I work, as it's camera is invaluable, and there is no SketchUp ap available yet. Boo.

My Diagrams and JRT Fatbelly Photobomb

The lower section is divided in half vertically, and covered by doors. It stands about 35" off the floor, close to standard counter height. Depth 11 1/4", which is what I could fit in that space. Works for over-sized books, as well. The upper section is divided in thirds. I realized right off the bat that it would be more structurally sound to have all the verticals line up, top to bottom, so that the weight was evenly distributed. I decided to throw caution to the wind as I have no intention of filling these entirely with heavy books. Niknaks will share the spaces so I'm hoping I'll be OK. Aesthetics won, even though this resides in a short, hidden hallway. That said, I've noticed that now that the unit is fully loaded, there's a little sagging in the horizontal member that spans the top of the lower section, . Frankly, that could be because I used 5/8" plywood instead of 3/4" as one normally would for shelving units. Why I do dat, you ask?

Plywood Stash, Post 18 Month Hiatus

Ah yes, the plywood stash given to me by Big Orange. It was shipped by mistake and it would cost them more to freight it back to the US than it was worth. It's sheathing stock, not some lovely birch, but waste not, want not. Oh, the extra work turning these pigs ears into usable stock!

Prep for Walls and Base Frame

The walls were the same tedious non-furniture grade plywood. I sanded, I sanded more, I primed with Zinsser 123 then filled imperfections with joint compound thinned with primer, using flexible steel scrapers. I tried to scrape the thinned compound level with the surface to minimize further sanding. One more light sand and a wipe down with a barely moist microfiber cloth. Mustn't waste resources.

The actual building starting with making the box frame for the lower unit from 2x4's. It's a "ladder" shape that is 3"-4" shorter in depth than the wall unit, so that when you add a trim board later to the front for this "toe kick" space, you'll be left with around a 3" toe kick. As this isn't a work space that I'd be standing in front of for extended times, the dimensions aren't critical. So, two long pieces, front and back, then spacers (the ladder rungs) in between. I nailed mine together with 10 penny ringshanks, checked for level, then toenailed them to the subfloor. If this had been a kitchen workspace, I'd have ripped 2x6's and added extra height to compensate for the tile that will come later. That way my toekick would end up being a comfortable 3 1/2" height for standing. No need for my hallway shelves.

Attaching Shelves

Shelves can be supported by cleats, such as I used when I built my linen closet, but I wanted a more finished look for this unit. I used adjustable shelf pins set up with a homemade jig for the shelves in the section covered by doors and decided on a combination of pocket holes and dados for the upper shelves. I had to use pocket holes to attach the shelf boards to the existing wall planks. I have a Kreg jig which makes quick work of this operation. A dado slot, backed up by wood glue and a finish nail or two can carry more weight than the screws used in pocket holes can bear, so its my first choice when heavy loads come to play. Once the attachment method was determined, I got to work calculating approximate lengths for the shelf boards so that I could begin cutting. Dado slot depth should be 1/3 the thickness of the receiving board.

Rip Then Crosscut Shelves

PVC is helpful as a cheap roller substitute. It doesn't show in the middle photo above, but a short length of 1/2" pipe was tucked under the end opposite the saw blade to keep the plank a rollin'. Honestly, the table saw sled was still unwieldy and a circular saw with a guide jig would have been easier to handle.

Dado Cuts on the Router Table

Fortunately, for my first dado cuts, I had a 3/4" straight cut router bit that would cut a slot wider than the 5/8" sliding bypass doors. These were for the two long horizontals (one top, one bottom) that span the entire width of the unit, defining the lower section with the sliding doors. After the buildup of primer and paint, with some varnish and wax, there will still be plenty of sliding room in the tracks. The top board, which has the "better" face upwards and the dados on the bottom, I cut slightly deeper. When the doors are put in place, they are slid UP into this track, swung into position, then lowered lowered into the bottom groove. A bit of extra space at the top makes this operation easier.In between the two tracks remains 3/16" which has held up fine.

"X" Dado

The next dado made a cut perpendicular to the door tracks, for the the center divider board. This meant protecting the thin wooden strip between the tracks. I had to move over to the table saw and set up my dado stack for an exact fit. Measuring and test fitting was time well spent. Hot glue and a few layers of wood shims filled the track and thankfully kept the wooden divider strip intact. I was surprised how tough it was chipping the shims back out of the track slot. Note to self - less hot glue next time!

Edge-banding Plywood

The beauty of building with plywood is in it's stability - resistant to cupping, twisting, cracking and the like because it's composed of alternating plies that have their grains running in opposite directions. The downside is nasty looking edges, so I got to try my hand at solid wood edge-banding. I planed down some Southern Yellow Pine trim to the same thickness as my ply then ripped thin 1/8" strips on the bandsaw. Using another board as a "caul" to apply even pressure along the entire length of this thin strip, clamps held it all in place until the wood glue dried. I applied glue to both edges, and also on my hands, shirt, workbench, floor, ceiling, car, driveway, etc..... :) Ahh glue ups! It took only a quick pass or two with a smoothing planer for it to look like it had been there it's whole life! It wasn't as bad as I had made it out to be in my head and I like the look more than the iron-on stuff I've seen. Note above that these adjustable shelves are 10" deep so as to clear the doors.

Multi-Color Cubbies

My chosen paint scheme dictated that I should to pre-paint the back and side walls before installing the shelves. I wanted multi-color back panels, shown above. In most instances, its easiest to assemble, then prime and paint, but I did all my painting beforehand.

Dado Paint Clean-Up

In some ways, pre-painting can be easier. I was able to use rollers in instances where I would normally be doing tedious cut-ins with a brush. I was left with some extra paint removal and clean-up in those areas that get glued later - the dado connections. I should have taped them off. A chisel, a small plane and some sandpaper took care of it. Lesson learned (I hope). I used paint that I had bought at a yard sale locally (I've mentioned previously that paint carries an 80% duty and it's outrageously expensive here). It's Behr Premium Plus semi-gloss,which I would normally avoid, but when it cures (not dries), folks, its impresses. Now, this paint is old, so maybe it's a pre-VOC changes formulation, but its a solid coating after a month. Fortunately, I can wait before I load this baby up. Caulk comes a bit later, then a touch up.

Pocket Holes Attach Top Board

The central divider for the bottom section slid into dados smeared with wood glue, top and bottom, but the top board attached to the side walls with pocket holes. three at each end. I angled some scrap boards to keep it steady while my levels told me I was on the mark and ready to screw it home.

Adjustable Shelves

I quickly make a shelf pin jig to guide the drilling of 105 holes that gives me the latitude to move these shelves. Will never happen, but...... The final step was chucking up a piece of tapered dowel in my drill and jamming on sandpaper to get the fuzzies off the holes. Insert into hole, pull drill trigger. Mr. Clean (Ms. Clean).

Mask & Paint

Love my universal paint tints. They are just like what the folks at the paint store use and I can mix up small quantities of colors to do projects like this. Step one (after grabbing my plans) was to take up pencil and 4 foot drywall square to mark the shelf positions. I drew a line threw the center of where the shelves would end up. With a box cutter in hand, I reduced my 3/4" blue painters tape to 3/8" by slicing it down the middle of the roll. As the the plywood is 5/8", 3/8" thickness provides some wiggle room when the tape gets laid on top of the pencil mark (did I mention it's $12 a roll here? ).

Screw, Glue 'N' Nail

The two main vertical dividers in the upper section were installed first. Most horizontal shelves required pocket holes on the end against a stationary wall (3 screws per) and got glued and nailed into a dado slot on the other end. I was able to clamp most of them until the glue set, but using finish nails, this was overkill. Assembly went quickly from this point, though one or two shelves need a trim on the table saw for a perfect fit.

Face Framing

As mentioned previously, the edges of plywood require a cosmetic covering. Creating a one piece face-frame can add stability to a shelving unit, but i couldn't see myself getting them ALL perfectly level on ALL of the various shelves so I opted to nail gun then on one-by-one. So what. Report me to FineWoodworking. Normally I would use stock that is (actual) 3/4 x 1 1/2" but I went with 3/8. On many strips I routed a thumbnail roundover edge, which meant I had to cope the joint, as in the center photo above. Bandsaw and round rasp were all that were required on this pine. Adjusting the nailgun for a flush drive is an art I've yet to perfect, so I fill the holes with a mixture of joint compound, sawdust and matching paint.

DIY Trim

I pushed a couple pieces of 1x6 cypress over a beading bit on the router table then hogged out a rabbet on the backside of one. The two pieces are side and top trim. The side rabbet created a seamless transition to the shelves. The other edge ended up in a cap shape to wrap the corner.

Ready For Caulk

For the door "handles", a Dremel tool wallowed out enough of an inset for me to glue on a disk of Lignum Vitae (national tree of the Bahamas) that I sanded and oiled. This tree fell during Hurricane Irene. It protrudes just enough to grab, but doesn't catch on the door that slides past. Regular latex caulk made everything look seamless. But first I had to make some pocket hole plugs to fill up those holes, although they were located in the most obscure location possible. One last paint touch up and then my activity - watching paint dry!

Curing

The cure for the common bookshelf.

DIY Auto Body Work - Body Beautiful

2014-08-16T23:13:00.000-04:00

It's criminal how quickly a spot of rust turns into a bloomin' hole when you live near the ocean. Hmmmm, no sympathy? Well, swift inaction on my part left me with some auto bodywork to do if I didn't want rain inside my car. A bottle of Ospho, a can of Bondo, along with some spray primer, are regular weapons in the battle against oxidation.

DIY Auto Body Repair

Although using an angle grinder was on the days agenda, no rust repair would be complete, in my book, without first converting that hideous, insidious iron oxide (our enemy, rust) to an inert, friendlier form, iron phosphate.

Ospho - Phosphoric acid +

I would be lost without Ospho® when dealing with rust issues. Like many rust treatments, its an acid. Unlike most rust treatment you can buy anymore, it actually works! You won't find it at a Big Box, but try a local hardware store or a paint shop. I get mine at West Marine. Brush the loose dirt and scale off with a wire brush ( I use ONLY brass or stainless wires - others can actually leave rust) . My go-to applicator is a foam brush and I decant a small amount of Ospho into a metal tuna can (its acid, so no plastic or foam!!). Gloves are a good idea if you tend to have cuts on your hands like I do. Eye protection? Check! It's water thin- watch for drips and runs. Just paint it on and let it dry overnight. It turns the rust black. . I "painted" both sides of my hole after I wire brushed it. (The inside merely got a rough sanding with some 80 grit emery cloth before the Ospho.) Next day, wipe off any white powder with a rag.

Grind Off Rust

If you have an angle grinder, It's always best to lose the thin, flimsy metal that has been eaten to a weakened state. I had a diamond blade on my grinder so I took the body down to solid, stiff metal.

FibaTape Mesh

In order to support the epoxy body putty (Bondo), one needs a support matrix that will resist the chemicals in the epoxy /filler mixture. I used fiberglass mesh tape for cement board joints made by FibaTabe. It's thick, self adhesive and alkalai resistant. One layer inside, one outside.

Tape, Mix and Smear

Two inch blue painter's tape surrounding the FibaTape, with just a scant 1/8" border between, was burnished down tight with the handle of a screwdriver. I'm not a fan of mixing Bondo because the mixing proportions are very inexact. "An 1 1/2" line for a golf ball sized glob" Pift! I much prefer two part epoxy mixes that are given in parts. such as, " 3 parts filler to 1 part hardener". That way, one can choose a container, something as simple as plastic spoons, and mix to proper proportions. There, rant over. Once mixed, I had a old scrap of flexible plastic that worked well as a scraper/spreader to apply the Bondo and smooth it over the taped of area. Not too much force and as I am in the tropics, I worked quickly because the heat and humidity shortens the pot life (working time) of the putty. Getting the Bondo thick enough, but not too thick, and slightly tapered down at the edges, takes practice. When you know that your material will harden in minutes, THE PRESSURE CAN GET TO YOU! :o Better too thick than too thin.

Shaving Body Putty

Too thick can be fixed by removing material. Here's what I learned long ago about Bondo (never ask a lady how many decades ago!). DON'T let it set up completely before you start shaping it or you will spend waaaay too much time on this step. Depending on the heat/humidity level, you may just need to take a coffee break before you resume. See how it feels. My favorite tool to start with resembles a handheld cheese grater, made by Stanley. It coarsely shaves off the excess putty. Again, thicker in the middle, tappering down at the edges. A rasp works as well, The tape stays on at first for a bit of extra protection.

Sanding

Again, keep at it before the Bondo gets rock hard. I go through 60 grit, 100, then 150, followed by a soft brush. Denatured alcohol is a fortune here and acetone is overkill so I use 91% rubbing alcohol for my final wipe down. It's clean and dries quickly, almost ready for primer.

After Sanding and Before

Blue painter's tape again surrounds the patch, with a good 1/4" border around the the Bondo'd area. Lacking newspaper or a brown paper bag, I used roofing felt to help contain any overspray. A favored method is to cut a hole, slightly larger than the patch, in the bottom of a box, place the box against the car and use it for overspray containment. Alas, no box this time.

Prime Primer

I love spraying good quality primer. Light coats go on effortlessly and can be followed up with another then another in short order. I do my best to pick a day with little wind and a moderate temperature. No matter how many times I've used a particular product, I good read of the label ensures proper wait times. This primer is sandable and 220 grit will do for now.

Finito

Next trip stateside, a pot of maroon touch up paint will be on my purchase list!