Owner: Helpful Advice For Home Construction Improvement URL:http://www.homeconstructionimprovement.com Join Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 16:58:27 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Home improvement blog with tips and advice on home improvement projects. The topics cover everything from painting to building a new custom home. Site statistics:Click here
Cutting Dados with a Router 2008-03-06 18:24:00 I'm getting ready to build some book shelves for the new basement storage room. To build the book shelves I'm going to need to cut dados in the side panels of the shelves. The easiest way to cut the dados is to use a router with a straight plunge cutting bit.I'm going to make 3/8" deep dados for the 3/4" shelves to fit tightly into the side panels. To do this I'll mark out the location of the shelves and clamp two straight edges to the plywood. The straight edges need to be spaced apart the width of the router base.Because 3/4" plywood isn't really 3/4" wide (it's actually 23/32") I'll use a 1/2" diameter router bit and set the two straight edges the width of the router base plus 7/32" apart. This will allow me to cut a 23/32" wide dado that is 3/8" of deep to accept the shelves.Once I get Read more:Cutting
, Router
Heating A Large Building 2008-03-05 06:54:00 Heating a large building can be a real challenge. We are building a 9,000 sf assisted living facility right now at work and I thought I'd share a picture of a really great heating system.This building is using two Buderus Logano G215 oil fired boilers. These boilers have a high efficiency - A F U E ’s Above 86% and put out between 134,000 to 768,000 BTU/Hr. The two Buderus boilers have been set up to work as a "team". One boiler will take the lead role for 8 hours while the second one will take up any slack. After 8 hours the two will reverse roles. This helps ensure that the two boilers both operate on a regular basis and both get used equally.For this particular building the boilers are making domestic hot water, providing hot water for two radiant zones and providing hot water for bas Read more:Building
, Heating
Water Alarm 2008-03-02 13:12:00 Recently I received an email from the folks at Water Alarm and they asked if I'd like to do a product review for their Water Alarm product. This little moisture sensor is a great idea.It has four small metal probes on the bottom that sense moisture and sound an alarm. What I like most about this product is it's small size and ease of use. This product is actually easier to use than a smoke detector. All you do is take it out of the package, place a 9 volt battery in it and set it on the floor.I tested the device by placing it on the basement floor and putting a couple of drops of water next to it. As soon as the metal sensor probes touch the water the alarm goes off. The alarm puts out 110 db of noise for 72 hours.The website states the product costs approximately $30 which is really not a
You Make My Day! 2008-02-26 18:36:00 Paul over at Homeowner's Blog is a really great guy that writes a blog I enjoy reading on a daily basis. He was kind enough today list my blog as one of his favorite blogs to read on a regular basis. Paul's blog is filled with really great information on his DIY projects around his house. Paul also has a wealth of knowledge about solar power and energy. When you get a chance I highly recommend checking out his blog. So it's only fit that I too share with you my list of top 5 blogs that I read on a very regular basis:1. Startup Addict Musings is written by a good friend of mine. Tod truly practices what he preaches on his site, after all he is the true definition of a Startup Addict! If you're at all interested in the startup world or you're a entrepreneur at heart then his site is a must r
Basement Storage Room Is Finished 2008-02-24 18:24:00 Today I finished our new storage room in the basement. This storage room was needed badly so we could organize all of our stuff that has been piling up in the basement. Two of the walls have these 24 inch deep shelves spaced approximately 30 inches apart.I still plan on building a large book case in this room to store all my wifes old teaching supplies and my engineering books. I'll do a series of posts on how to build a set of book shelves.If you're interested in learning more about insulating basement walls check out my previous posts, Finished Basement
Insulation - Step 1, Basement Insulation and Framing Update, and Basement Storage Room.Tags: home improvement, home improvement blog, basement storage room
Safest Table Saw In The World 2008-02-23 20:51:00 Anyone that has ever used a table saw knows it's the most dangerous tool you have. One wrong move, one lapse in concentration and you could easily remove a finger or two. I recently saw this saw demonstrated and I couldn't believe my eyes. Check out this short video and you'll see what I mean! I hope one day that all table saws come equipped with this feature as a standard. Read more:Table
, World
Baby Girl Nursery With Chair Rail 2008-02-23 15:15:00 The new nursery is finally all finished and ready for the arrival of our daughter. My darling wife has done a great job decorating the room with a lady bug theme. As you can see we installed a chair rail (see the links below for information on how to install a chair rail) and painted the room a light shade of green and pink. We had the baby furniture from when our son was born, it's a very nice set of cherry furniture that has worked very well for us.The nursery project included the following posts:How To Install Closet Wire ShelvesChair
RailFinal Chair Rail SelectionHow To Install Chair Rail Part IHow To Install Chair Rail Part IIHow To Install Chair Rail Part IIIPainting Chair RailPainting Nursery
Painting Nursery Is FinishedTags: home improvement, home improvement blog, baby girl nurse
Using Infrared Camera To Identify Radiant Heat Location 2008-02-23 06:36:00 Yesterday I had the pleasure of seeing how infrared cameras can be used to locate radiant heat tubing in a concrete slab. These infrared cameras are amazing to say the least. At work we are building a large assisted living facility and we have radiant heat in the slab. We need to drill in some concrete anchors and I wanted to locate the radiant tubes so we don't drill through them. I hired a local home inspector that uses infrared cameras to identify insulation, moisture and radiant heat problems in homes. He was able to show me almost exactly where each tube was. I highly recommend hiring someone like this next time you're trying to solve any kind of moisture or heat issue. Check out the sample photo and how clear the tube locations are. The only thing I would warn against is making sure Read more:Camera
, Infrared
, Location
, Radiant
Creating Storage Room with Attic Trusses 2008-02-20 17:54:00 An inexpensive way to create additional storage space in your new home is to use attic trusses instead of conventional "common trusses". Most modern homes that are built today use a common truss that doesn't really leave any usable space for storage. Older homes were framed using rafters and collar ties leaving significant attic space. Trusses are much more cost effective today and their use is considered the standard today.One way to get the best of both worlds is to specify an attic truss. Trusses can be designed to produce an open attic as shown in the picture. We specified attic trusses and ended up with a storage area in the attic that is approximately 48' long by 18' wide. As you can see we put a layer of plywood down to create a very nice storage room. Typically this type of upgra Read more:Attic
, Creating
Basement Storage Room 2008-02-19 18:59:00 The basement storage room project is coming along nicely. I recently wrote a couple of posts, Finished Basement
- Step 1 Insulation and Basement Framing and Insulation Update, about how to properly insulate a concrete foundation wall in a basement. Now that the walls are insulated I've started finishing off our new storage room. I've decided to put 1/4" luan on the walls and ceiling in this room to keep the costs and labor to a minimum. Plus the room really is only for storage so it's not like it needs to be super nice. One MAJOR disclaimer though is about using the luan in this application. The fiberglass insulation is kraft faced and it really should be protected against fire with drywall. However, seeing this is a storage room and I have no real source of fire I'm willing to take the ri
Worse Winter In Memory 2008-02-13 12:37:00 This winter has been unbelievable. In December NH broke a snowfall record dating back to 1876! Today it's snowing again and it seems as though winter will never end. It surely makes me chuckle every time I hear the term global warming...come on folks...the snow is up to our eaves here! Read more:Memory
Basement Insulation and Framing Update 2008-02-12 18:38:00 I've started insulating the basement walls in the new storage room. I'm attaching 1" extruded polystyrene foam insulation board by DOW. I used a special Styrofoam adhesive to adhere the foam board to the concrete. The foam board I am using comes with a tongue and grove so installation is pretty easy. Just cut the boards to length, apply some adhesive and press it against the wall.After I installed all of the polystyrene foam insulation I sealed all of the joints with Tyvek tape. Tyvek tape is a really strong tape that will stay adhered to the foam board and it keeps out moisture. Concrete holds a tremendous amount of moisture so creating a moisture barrier is essential.Once all the insulation was in place I started framing up 2x4 walls. I'm going to place the walls directly in front of the Read more:Basement
, Update
Finished Basement - Step 1 Insulation 2008-02-12 12:23:00 I'm preparing to "finish" one of the rooms in the basement. The room is actually going to be a storage room so I use the term "finish" with a grain of salt. I plan on building some shelves to store some of our "junk" that has accumulated in the portion of the basement that will one day become a family room. The storage room will be approximately 12'x14' and it's in the front corner of the house that has full 8' high concrete walls. Before I build any shelves I want to build two walls in front of the concrete walls and insulate them.Insulating the concrete walls will drastically improve the overall energy efficiency of the house. In my opinion the best way to insulate a foundation wall is the following:1. Apply an extruded polystyrene foam insulation board (I happen to use "blue board" that Read more:Basement
How To Install A Split Jamb Pre-Hung Door 2008-02-10 18:37:00 Hanging a split jamb pre-hung door is a very easy home improvement project. We ordered all the doors for our new house at the same time, including the basement ones. The basement doors have been sitting in the basement in the original packaging for over a year now. So I decided it's time to get the basement organized, so today I hung a couple of the doors in the basement.As you can see the doors in our new home are all 6 panel colonialist textured hollow core doors. We ordered them all with 2 1/2" primed colonial casing. When you buy a split jamb pre-hung door you need to know what type of casing you'll be using. As you can see in the second photo the front and back casings are attached to the two halfs of the jamb (hence the split portion of the jamb).The first step is to take apart the f
GO PATRIOTS!! 2008-02-03 09:42:00 There will be no home improvements done today....today is all about one thing (two actually as I'll explain). Today is a great day to be a New England Patriots fan. I've spent many years watching them lose game after game. The last seven years have been a great time to watch them and if we can pull out a win today it will be very special. Today is also a great day because my latest niece has joined us! She was born last night around 3:30 am, 5 weeks pre-mature but doing well. My brother is a football coach so having his daughter born on super bowl Sunday is a pretty special treat.
Schluter-DITRA Tile Underlayment 2008-02-02 07:19:00 I tiled our bathroom and mudroom in the new house. One of the issues I needed to figure out was the transition between the 3/8" thick engineered wood floor and the adjacent rooms with tile. Traditionally I would have installed 1/4" cement board under the tile. Then the adjacent wood floor would have needed a thin layer of wood underlayment to match up with the tile floor thickness. After talking to my cousin (he sells and installs flooring) he suggested that I try using the Schluter-DITRA underlayment under the tile floors.Schluter-DITRA is polyethylene membrane with a grid structure of square cavities, each cut back in a dovetail configuration, and an anchoring fleece laminated to its underside. The biggest advantage to this product is it's ability to act as an "uncoupling" layer. The mem
Solar Hot Water 2008-01-30 14:35:00 The rising cost of fuel has left me wanting/wishing to install some type of solar power or solar hot water collectors. If you're at all interested in solar power then you really should stop by and check out Homeowner's Blog. Paul writes a really great blog about his home and also his experience with solar collectors. He's also started a solar business and I think he does a great job explaining how this stuff works. Check out his post about the solar hot water system he installed this summer. The great thing about his site is the detailed information he provides about the system he has installed. He shows you diagrams and photos of the whole system. Check it out sometime, I think you'll be quite surprised. Read more:Solar
Painting The Nursery Is Finished 2008-01-27 17:25:00 I finally finished painting the nursery this morning. As you can see the lower half of the wall is a light shade of green and the upper half is a light shade of pink. I wasn't sure how it would look when we picked the colors but I must say I think it turned out very nice.Adding the chair rail really helped break up the room and add a really nice accent. At first I thought the chair rail that I chose was going to be a little too big for the room. But now that everything is painted I've decided that the proportions worked out well.The only thing left to do now in the nursery is to hang up some art work. In less than two months our newest family member will arrive and I'm sure we'll have some long nights in the nursery trying to sooth her back to sleep!Tags: Home Improvement, Home Improvement Read more:Nursery
, Painting
Painting The Nursery 2008-01-26 15:38:00 The baby is due in just over 7 weeks so it's time for me to kick things into over drive with the nursery. Last week I finished building the chair rail so today I started painting the nursery. The walls will have two colors, below the chair rail will be a light green and above will be a light shade of pink (yes it's a girl!). The green paint was already on the wall from when we built the house. The other night I finished painting the chair rail so today I started priming the walls. Since the upper portion of the wall is already a light green I decided to apply a primer before adding the light pink. I used PrepRite 200 Latex Primer by Sherwin-Williams. The primer will allow the pink paint to cover better and look like the sample color. One of the most important things to consider when painti Read more:Nursery
, Painting
Painting The Chair Rail 2008-01-22 19:12:00 Tonight I started painting the chair rail. I like to use Sherwin Williams Semi-Gloss paint. One tip that I learned from a painter years ago really applies to painting this chair rail. When ever you paint trim work, casing, crown molding, chair rails, etc, it's best to paint the trim work first. When you paint the trim work it's ok to let the paint overlap onto the adjacent wall. What this does is it applies a nice coat of semi-gloss paint at the junction between the trim work and wall. When you paint the wall and cut in the wall color it's much easier to run a steady stroke of paint along the freshly painted wall. Next time you paint trim work try it out! My plan is to get the chair rail finished this week after work so this weekend I can paint the walls. Tags: home improvement, home impro Read more:Chair
, Painting
How To Install A Chair Rail - Part III 2008-01-21 19:10:00 Part III of these posts on installing a chair rail involves finishing up the bed molding and filling/caulking all the holes in preparation for painting. You can see my previous two posts on how to install a chair rail at How To Install A Chair
Rail - Part I and How To Install A Chair Rail - Part II.And As you can see from the two photos there are interesting details that come up when the chair rail reaches window and door casings. I've chosen to "return" the top rail over the edge of the window and door casing approximately 1/2". I've also put a small radius on that corner to prevent any sharp edges that might hurt someone.The other detail you can see is the returns that I put on the bed moldings. As I said in the previous posts the bed molding is installed just like crown molding. I've us
Converting U Values To R Values 2008-01-15 18:04:00 Most people are familiar with the term "R Value" when it comes to insulation. Some people are also familiar with the term "U Value" when it comes to windows. However, most people have no idea how the two term relate to each other. You can convert U Values
to R Values pretty easily.R values rate how much heat loss the material resists from passing through it, U-values rate how much heat the component allows to pass through it. R values rate one single material while U values measure entire components. For example R values measure how much heat loss passes through fiberglass insulation while U values rate how much heat can pass through a window component (glass, air, vinyl sash). Typical insulation might have an R value of 19 while a window might have a U value of 0.35.Converting a U value o
How To Install A Chair Rail - Part II 2008-01-10 18:47:00 Part II of How To Install A Chair
Rail covers installing the top rail and the lower bed moulding between the back rail and top rail. I discussed installing the back rail in How To Install A Chair Rail - Part I For the second part of this task we needed to create at top rail. I used a 1x2 piece of finger-jointed, primed pine for the top rail. I decided to soften the top front edge of the top rail by putting a quarter round profile on it. I used my router with a 3/8" round over bit to create the profile. I decided to leave the bottom edge square to create a nice strong shadow line.The top rail is nailed to the top of the back rail with finish nails. The corners are fit together with miter cuts. No wall is perfectly straight so when you install the top rail you'll definitely notice and small
How To Install A Chair Rail - Part I 2008-01-06 13:10:00 In this series of posts I'll be explaining how to install a chair rail. The design for the chair rail we are using is covered in Final Chair
Rail Selection. Installing a chair rail is an intermediate level DIY project.The basic tools you'll need are:1. Level2. Stud Finder3. Tape Measure4. Miter Saw5. Table Saw6. Finish Nailer or Finish Nails and Hammer7. Caulking GunI purchased 1x8 finger-jointed primed pine to cut the back and top rails out of. I ripped the material down on the table saw. The first step in the project was to rip down the 2-1/2" wide back rails and the 2" wide top rails. I decided to place the chair rail 36" above the floor. So I went around the room and marked a line at 35-1/4" (top of back rail) above the floor.Then I went around the room and measured the length of all t
DESMAN Associates 2008-03-12 09:01:00 DESMAN Associates
is a leading national specialist in transportation improvements and the planning, design and construction administration of functionally efficient, attractive and cost effective parking facilities. They are parking consultants with offices in New York, Chicago, Washington DC, Boston, Cleveland, Hartford and Las Vegas.Founded in 1973, DESMAN Associates is a national specialist in the planning and design of parking and transportation improvements and the restoration of parking facilities, plazas and building envelopes. They have excelled as one of the leading planners and designers of functionally efficient, attractive and cost effective parking solutions. DESMAN Associates offers a complete scope of services in the planning, design, financing methods and operational techni
Building A Sky Bridge 2008-03-12 08:39:00 In my previous career I designed highway and railroad bridges. Now that I run a construction company I've finally gone back to my roots a bit recently when we starting building a sky bridge connector between two buildings. The bridge serves as a heated enclosed connector between an existing and new building.The bridge is supported by two wide flange steel beams that are supported by steel tube columns. The remaining framing is all conventional wood that we bolted to the steel beams.As you can see one of the more challenging parts of the bridge is the sloped profile of the floor system. The new building is approximately 18 inches lower than the existing structure. To make up the difference in elevation we sloped the floor. At each end of the bridge there is a 5 ft level area followed by a s Read more:Building
OSHA 10 Hour Safety Compliance Training 2008-03-11 18:22:00 PureSafety
offers online OSHA 10 hour safety courses for Construction and General Industry. I've personally taken the classroom version of the 10 Hour Construction course and I think the ability to take the class online is a huge benefit for companies. The reason I think that is you have six months to complete the course. That way you can have your employees take the course when it's convenient. If you have a bad weather day or a light work load that week you can get online and work on the course. After completing the OSHA 10 classes offered by PureSafety each student who successfully completes either program earns 1.0 IACET-approved CEUs and receives a 10-hour completion card. The site offers a great Demo Center that will allow you to see exactly how the program works. I really think this Read more:Compliance
, Training
Router Dado Guide 2008-03-10 07:16:00 I've been searching for an easy to build, cheap router dado guide. What I found is a very simple router dado guide that I can build for making the dado's in the book shelves I'm going go make for the basement storage room.As you can see this router dado guide is really simple. I'm going to make the jig out of 3/4" MDO plywood scrap that I have from a previous project. The most important step here is to ensure that the guide is build as square as possible. I'll screw and glue the bottom rail to the two side guides as shown. The upper rail will have 1/4" x 1-1/2" slots so that I can adjust the width of the dado's I cut. This router dado guide will be set up to use on standard 12" wide book shelves. The guide is simple enough that if I need a different width I can make another one quickly.Onc Read more:Guide
, Router
Daylight Savings Time - Smoke Detectors 2008-03-09 11:11:00 Just a friendly reminder that you should change all your batteries in the smoke detectors twice a year. Since today is the first day of DaylightSavings
Time then it's a good time to change those batteries. Even if you have electric interconnected smoke detectors you still need to replace the back-up batteries. I'm glad to see Daylight Savings
Time since it should mean spring is getting closer. After the winter we've had here in New Hampshire the warmer weather will be a very welcome sight! Read more:Daylight Savings Time
, Smoke
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