HandyMan-Ed

Bathroom Remodel

2010-10-08T18:06:00.000-07:00

This is how the bathroom looked before the makeover. It has served us for a long time and it is time to re-do it! I'm going to do everything myself, to save on expenses, except for the new granite top which I'll have done by Granite Fabricators.
When you go shopping for granite, you will quickly find out that these granite slab yards are only interested in selling you the whole slab! For a bathroom that would be way too much granite. So the secret is to find yards with remnants (yards with in-house fabricators have remnants), or find a fabricator that has remnants.

I have decided to start out slowly by re-doing the wall opposite to the vanities first. I already have bought the vanity cabinets and ordered some extra side panels which will be installed at the bottom for decoration. No need to remove the tile (I tried, it 's too much work and it tears the wall's gypsum board.), so I'm going to glue the paneling with construction glue to the tile. In the meantime I already have installed the panels on a plywood backing, so it is ready to be installed.

This is how I did it, with bracing against the old vanity cabinets, since they're goners anyway.

I forgot to photograph the making of this panel, but all I did was glue the three decorative panels on a plywood backing, nailed the trim on, and painted it.

Next is the installation of a second medicine cabinet. Yes, my wife wanted her own and also her own electrical outlet on her side! So I already have outlined where the hole will be made and I'm checking where the studs are that need to be cut. Make sure they are not weight bearing studs. The closet is on the other side of this wall, so I'm good.

After you find the stud you can now find and remove the nails on both sides of the wall with the help of a strong magnet. The ones I'm holding here I bought at a swap-meet one time, because they fascinated me? You throw them in the air and they make a funny noise. I know it sounds dumb, and it is... But here they are and they came in handy!

OK, the section to be removed is out exposing the stud. I'm going to use sections of 2x4's to frame the opening, so mark a cut line 1 1/2" below and above the opening at the stud.

I used a reciprocating saw to cut the stud out.

Well this is now ready to be plastered to cover-up all the screw holes.

What you see here is the old hole where the old medicine cabinet was located and it needs to be moved to the right
You can also see that the big wall mirror has been removed (disposed off at the Goodwill Store).
Two separate framed mirrors will take it's place with lights above them.

.Using the same procedure as explained before you're looking at the new compartment hole for the new medicine cabinet with the old one still not closed up.

It is all closed up now and plastered. When you plaster a wall you ruin the orange peel texture which is easily fixed with a spray can of 'Orange Peel' available in any hardware store.

Orange Peel texture is on and the wall can be painted now.

The new mirrors are hanging with the lights installed above them. All that needs to be done is run the electric wiring (hire an electrician if you are unfamiliar with electricity!) to the new lights from the old flood light (so dated!) which will be removed. Since my house has a flat roof with absolutely no access to the ceiling crawl space area (there is none), I had to cut a hole in the ceiling to access the electrical wiring. If cutting a big hole in the ceiling gives you goose bumps, be unafraid my friend, all can be fixed!

Here are the two ceiling pieces removed to gain access to the new lights. Make sure that the access hole is rectangular so that you can frame the hole with wood leftovers.

I installed a new panel for some reason that eludes me right now (you can use the removed one if possible) and had to popcorn texture it. You can buy this popcorn texture in a spray bottle (expensive) or in a container (cheap). I went the cheapo route of course and had to use my fingers like a mad eccentric artist trying to match the texture as much as I could.

There we go. It's done. I don't know why the picture shows up as pink but that is were the repair is.

If you ever have to paint the kick board next to the carpeting, use masking tape like shown. Push it down with your fingers and a spatula as deep as possible.

After having done the installation of mirrors, medicine cabinets etc. it's time to start ripping and tearing. My wife has suggested to only remove one sink first so that we at least have the use of the other sink to wash up. Good idea.

Used a circle saw with concrete cutting blade to cut the counter top in half. It went through it like it was butter

For people where electricity is a total mystery I would highly recommend that you hire an electrician to do the following. Remember electricity is dangerous and can be deadly!

I can now finally run the electric wiring for the two new outlets. What you do is locate and mark where the studs are and remove a piece of the gypsum as shown, making the hole big enough to run the wiring passed the studs. I used the spring wire from an old car window sunshade, you know the ones that are very tricky to fold up when you first use them, to run the wire. See the white wire in the picture.

Here is a closeup of the wire, which is the flat, indoor, three conductor (black, white, bare) copper type. Do not notch the studs, that will weaken the studs which is not good when they are weight bearing studs. Maybe I'm nitpicking, but there is plenty of room to plug the holes. Use 1/2" plastic cable staples to secure the wire.

Here you see one of the new outlets. Make sure that the proper breaker is in off by plugging a lamp into the outlet you plan to tie into and notice when the light goes off when you flip the outlet breakers. Make sure both outlets (top, bottom) are not powered. The outlets in your bathroom have to be GFIC protected due to the close proximity of water. Now is the time, with the breaker off, to find the first ac outlet in the string that is dead, which is usually the one located closer to the breaker box. In my case it was located in the garage. That is were I installed the GFIC outlet. Now every outlet in the string, including the new ones, are now protected.
The white wire hooks up to the wide prongs, black to the narrow prongs and the bare wire to the green screw. Remember if you have no power afterward, check your GFIC to see if it tripped

Alright, the moment of truth has arrived! I'm installing the vanities and I must admit, never done this before!
But there is always a first time. Just do it and use common sense.
I have decided to install the vanities 1/2" up off the floor for two reasons:
Your should know where the highest point of the floor is (remember I haven't remove the other sink yet), because most floors are uneven.

And last, I'll install some decorative footings on the carpet at the end that need room due to the thickness of the carpet. So I killed two birds with one stone!

The wall also was slightly slanted and the studs to which you attach the cabinets were lined up at the most impossible areas of the vanities. So again killing two birds with one stone so to speak, I used a plank, attached to the studs, to which I will attach the vanities. Make sure by using levels that the plank is perfectly level. Everything has to be meticulously level in three axises. Do this by attaching the back first to the (level) plank, then shim the bottom so the remaining axises (back to front and sideways) are level. Use c-clamps to help you install the next cabinet.

You have to attach the cabinets to each other as you go; level the cabinet, clamp it lightly to the previous one, readjust for level with the shims ans clamp it tight. Now screw the cabinets together.

Now I'm finally done! It was fun and a learning experience. A lot of time you have to stop and think things out. Search the internet for answers, use Yankee ingenuity and plain common sense.

Ordered the granite top and below is a picture how the granite installers make a template first so the top will fit.

They use thin slats of wood that they glue together with a glue gun.

Well. here is the finished bathroom. The granite installers installed the top counter yesterday and also drilled the holes for the faucets, and today I installed the faucets, sinks and all the plumbing that goes with it. The counter-top edge is beveled and the back-splashes have a half bull-nose trim. We saved a lot by doing it our self.

We love our new bathroom! I hope this project inspires you to give it a try yourself! Remember make the colors you choose coordinate, also contrasting shades are important. Don't pick wild colors, you tire of them real quick.When you adhere to those rules everything will fall into place...

Till my next project. Let me know what you think.
Take care.

Kitchen Remodel

2010-09-27T16:03:00.000-07:00

This is a view of my kitchen before the remodel. It was getting very dated, but it had served us well over the years. All the time that I was working on my outdoor kitchen/bar project my wife Dorothea was very patiently watching and helping me with my 'Man Project', and when that was done she told me in no uncertain terms that it was her turn now!
"I want my kitchen redone..."

So we went shopping and found out that the best way to go about it was to order the cabinets and have it installed. I would do all the tear-down, electrical, patching up and preparation of the walls. In other words when the cabinet installers would come everything would be ready to go.

I decided to start out by removing the peninsula and the overhead cupboard above it. It was a lot of work especially the counter-top, which weighed a ton! It was constructed of a thick layer of mortar with wire mash embedded. Well after I finally got rid of the counter-top we decided that some of the cabinets would be good for storage and a work bench in the garage (another project...)!

So all the cabinets had to be removed with minimal damage for re-use. I also quickly realized that we had to re-tile and re-carpet the house also, since the new replacements would of course not fit exactly in in the old locations.

Removing the simulated bricks from the walls was so destructive on the wall boards that it was easier to just replace the wall boards. This also would make it easier to reach the wiring. Notice the plastic sheeting on the right to block the dust as much as possible.

All is removed now including the old floor tiles.

Here are the old cabinets temporarily stored in the garage. What a mess!

My neighbor Juan is helping me put the wall boards up.

The kitchen cabinet installers (two young men) came and went in less than a day!! I was impressed. Shows you what experience can do! I thought, wow this would have taking me days if not a whole week.

We chose cherry-wood colored cabinets made from Alder wood, because cherry-wood is expensive and Alder is an excellent alternative.

The installers installed the cabinets with enough room for the floor tiles by using shims.

Let me jump ahead in time and show you a picture of the old kitchen cabinets installed in my garage. The cabinet on the left with the red vise was the peninsula were I destroyed the counter top. But the plywood top comes in handy as a workbench.

We used to have a wet-bar next to the kitchen (on the left) and we hardly ever used the sink, so the installers fabricated this dry-bar in it's place that matched the kitchen cabinets.

As you can see the granite people have installed the counter tops and installed the sink (black concrete sink, just to be different). Also drilled the holes for the faucet, which I installed later on. We didn't want a back-splash because at a later time I'll install a tiled back-splash.

There was some granite left over I was told by the granite outfit we bought it from and they offered us a freebie if we left the edge simple! So here it is a matching patio coffee table top standing just outside the kitchen.

I have started on tiling the floor and I'm standing here thinking why in heavens name did I chose such a complicated lay-out! As you notice I never removed the tarry glue from the floor so that the thin-set would stick. I tried and it would be a lot of hard work, besides the nasty chemicals I would have to use. So I started to experiment with different materials available in the store and finally found a mastic paste (I can't remember the name; sorry) that worked real good. A hammer was needed to remove the trial tile!

With the tile pattern I was using I needed to know the middle on two opposite sides of each tile, so that is what my wife is doing here, marking the tiles.

Holy Moly, it starting to look good!!

Still have a lot of tiling to do... Remember I told you about doing the whole house, to make everything match. (Trust Me, I know what I'm doing...)

Lo and behold, I found a picture of the mysterious paste I forgot the name off. I still can't read it, but it might help if you are interested.

Tiling is done thank goodness and I've started to remove that outdated fluorescent light in the kitchen. The plan is to replace them with five flood lights and leave it open, no cover.

Inside all textured and painted white for maximum reflection. Also put trimming on to give it a finished look.

There it is folks, all done except for the back-splash. Wife is happy; I'm happy; life is good...
I'm gonna have a beer now. Till my next project.

Patio Cover

2008-06-09T08:12:00.000-07:00

It has been about a year now since I built the outdoor bar and it has been a pain trying to provide some shade when using it...Also I didn't like the bar getting wet during the rainy season. So the next logical thing to do is a patio cover, which will take care of both those problems. The patio cover will stand on five 6x6 posts, which will be topped with 6x8 crossbeams. Yes folks, we are talking heavy-duty stuff. They weigh a ton! I know, you wonder why not use the lighter wood like 4x4's, 4x8 etc... Well because I'm crazy, that's all. No all-kidding aside, I wanted the new patio cover, which by the way adjoins my old existing patio, to match. My house came with these big beams on the back patio. Besides, big beams just look better.

All the 6x6 posts will sit on concrete piers for two reasons. One, it will keep them from staying wet causing wood rot. Two, it is easier to drill a hole for the wedge anchor bolts (1/2x7 to secure the posts) into a pier, than trying to drill those anchor holes into the existing slab.
Have a person on your left or right tell you if you are holding the drill perpendicular to the pier when making the hole in the center of the block.
Mortar the piers into their correct positions and let the mortar cure for at least two days. Make sure the piers will sit level when done.
Here I’m ready to drill a ½ inch wide hole into the bottom center of the post. The hole will mate with the pier’s anchor bolt. Notice the square clamped to the post for visual reference for the person on my left who corrects me if I’m holding the drill at an angle other than 90 degrees.

The first post is up on its pier and held into a vertical position with temporary bracing.
When you have to cut a pole so that it is at the same height as another pole, use a line level in the middle of a string strung between the poles. My wife is telling me which way to adjust the string by watching the bubble of the line level.

Three poles are up and it is now time to put those heavy 6x8x16 beams on top of the poles. It is essential to temporary nail a ‘stop’ on top of the poles so that the beam want fall off of the other side when you try to maneuver the beam on top of the poles. Use two tall ladders as shown and a smaller one to ‘walk’ the beam up the ladder. A second person has to push one of the tall ladders towards you, as you get higher. Also use your biggest muscles in you body, your legs, to lift the beam up higher and higher.

My neighbor Juan was a real help installing these heavy beams as you can see. I used long lag screws to secure one end of this beam to the house and at both poles. A real good tool to have when installing these long lag screws is an electric lug nut driver.

I know, I’m breaking every safety rule in the book standing on that ladder like that, but all went well. Notice the long drill bits I’m using for the lag screw holes. You can see that temporary stop I was talking about still on the top of the pole. The nice thing about the lag screw method is that you don’t see those ugly metal bracings you so often see being used on patios covers.
That green stuff you see is to prevent wood rot and termites and the brown spot is the countersink hole (2 inches deep), which I filled up with left over grout! I had to make the countersinks that deep because I could not find a lag screw long enough to go through all 8 inches of the beam and still have plenty of thread left to secure the two beams together.

OK, the main frame for the patio cover is all done and nicely painted. That is my grand son, Alex who calls me opa. My wife, oma, really spoils him.

The next step was to install a ridge beam (2x8) for the rafters. On the rafters I will install the lattice planks using 2x3’s laying flat and spaced 1-½ inches apart for shade. I decided to notch the rafters where they attach to the crossbeams. It’s real tricky to figure out the correct angle of this notch and it would be hard for me to explain this, but ones you got one made you can use it as a template for the other rafters. One of the pictures shows how to pre-drill the four holes for the screws or nails if that’s what you like to use.
Holy macaroni, it’s starting to look good already!

Well the lattice is installed and I have started to put the western decoration up as I said I would during the bar building phase. On one of the pictures you can see the clear corrugated paneling I installed on top of the lattice to keep the bar from getting wet when it rains. There are two types of plastic corrugated paneling that I know of. One is made from PVC and therefore cheaper and the other type is made from polycarbonate. This polycarbonate paneling is much durable, fire resistant and does not turn yellow with age. I picked the latter.

The following pictures are an update to this posting made on 12-6-2010. I decided to add a patio slab in the side yard to have more room. The coffee table I picked up at a Goodwill Store for 25 dollars! Using some spar varnish made it rain and sun proof. I had the rod iron fence installed between the two poles by the bar previously and it always bothered me because of the limited space. This is a much better layout.

An added benefit of the expansion was the possibility of a dartboard area. A bar is not a bar without a dartboard!

If you look carefully you can see a saddle up-high (20 bucks at the swap-meet.) Also added decorative metal pictures of the old west days available in any tourist shops. So I believe everything is now done.....maybe?

I hope you enjoyed my latest project as much as I do and please don’t hesitate to leave some comments and tell me what you think…
Thanks for stopping by partner…You-all take care now, ya hear.

Outdoor Bar Cabinet Doors

2007-08-25T08:19:00.001-07:00

Using 1/2'', outdoor plywood, I've cut out the door panel to fit inside the opening. Grooving the plywood to simulate planking, fits in with the western theme of the bar. I intend to make the doors look like tiny barn doors! Just use your circle saw to make the grooves following the pencil marks by hand. Imperfection here will make it look better...
I bought weather strips (seals) for doors that came with the grooved wood planks into which the seal fits. Make sure you install them with enough recess to make the door fit flush with the outside surface.
Painted the strips, to get them ready for the seals.
Seals are on.
There you go, all done! I'm going to seal them with the left over teak seal to keep them from turning grey.

Till my next project.

Ed

Outdoor Bar/BBQ Island

2007-07-29T15:08:00.001-07:00

Here, I have poured the foundation on the existing patio slab. It was a bit tricky, because the patio slopes for drainage, and the Bar foundation has to be perfectly level. The way I solved that was by using screws at the corners of the 2x4 forms and then adjust those screws until the form is level. You wind up with gaps at the bottom of the forms which are then closed off by nailing thin slats( like bender board) on the inside of the forms with finishing nails. Start at the highest part of the patio, and do a section at a time.
The pressure treated frame you see bolted down to the foundation slab will serve as the anchor point for the bar. Here is a handy tip. Before the concrete cures make holes in the concrete for the anchor bolts, slightly under sized, so that it is easy to drill when you install the anchor bolts.

I have designed this bar around a Jenn-Air natural gas BBQ. I did not want the BBQ grill build into the bar, like you so often see, because who in their right mind would enjoy sitting at a bar near a smoking grill! To designd the layout I played around with cardboard cutouts on a scale of 1/16" per foot.

The first side panel is up, nailed to the anchor framing

I've started to put the counter top on.

This is where the refrigerator and sink (laying at the bottom) will go. I had a hard time finding a sink small enough for just washing your hands, (no doing dishes, etc) until I had a 'Eureka, I've got it!' moment. I bought it at a camping supply store. The compartment where the sink is laying is where the plumbing, electricity and drainage pipes will come in.

I took the wheels off of the BBQ unit, poured level footings and mounted the BBQ unit on it. you can see that it sits higher off the slab on the left side due to the slope of the slab.

Here is my lovely wife trying out the new addition in the making.
We finally could not stand it and had to try it out with my kids! From left to right, me, oldest son David, my mother, our daughter-in-law Armilyn, David's wife and finally,our youngest forever partying youngest son Tason.

As you can see, I've started to cover the plywood with tile 1/4" cement board. You need to cut it with a diamond impregnated blade for your circle saw. Take care to hold your breath while you make your cuts! It's real dusty and breathing in all that cement dust is not good.

It's party time again! We invited some good friends, my TWA carpoolers and ex colleagues when I still worked for the airlines. We are all retired now. From left to right looking at the camera, my wife, Joan Weitzel and Ron Roslawsky. We are all 'Sparkies' meaning that we worked on the avionics systems for TWA and later American Airlines when TWA got bought.
That's my neighbor Gloria on the left and Larry Kinney and Joan looking at the camera.
These lovely ladies are Kathleen Waldron with hat and Chriss Roslawsky.
Party is over, now back to work. I'm installing the 'elbow rests' made from teak. I decided to use wood instead of tile so you wont burn your self when the sun is shining. Teak is kind of expensive but it will last in the weather. It normally turns grey, but if you treat it with teak oil, it will retain it present color.
I bolted and glued the wood to the counter top. Use TiteBond III, which is a waterproof wood glue, but it bonds just fine to the cement board. Actually, I found later on that bolting the elbow rest to the counter was not needed, that's how strong the bond is!
It finally was time to put the tile on. Decide on what tile pattern you want to use, experiment. Make a centerline length wise and experiment by laying the tiles in different patterns . Find the center point of the center line and lay your tiles out from that point to the left and right without using mortar, just a 'dry run' first. When you use a tile cutting machine as shown, always cut the tiles with the bottom side up! Why you ask, because at the end of the cut it will always break off no matter how careful you are and if you have the tile glazed side up it will chip the glaze at the end of the cut.

Use Thin Set Mortar to secure the tile and plastic spacers so they are all space uniformly.

Just cleaning the grout gaps before grouting.
Instead of using regular stucco, which I find hard to work with on the cement board covering, I used thin set mortar. It sticks real easy and you can make it rough looking or smooth, what ever you want.
There it is, I wanted the most contrast between the bartender work top and the bar counter tops by using different colors and tile patterns.
The shelfing is colored blue for two reasons: I had paint left from my Garden Shed project and I wanted a light color so I can detect any critters especially spiders in the nooks and crannies.
The back side is finished except for the doors which I will do at a later time. I would have to make the doors seal real good so that they are bug proof, so I'm still massaging that in my head! From left to right you can see the trash bin area, a large storage area for tall items, a deep one shelf compartment and a two shelf compartment for glasses, china.
This decoration goes with the eventual theme of this Bar, which is a western theme. What you see now is just the beginning. there will be western decoration on the side of the bar ( a silhouette of a longhorn bull skull), branding symbols, horse shoes , the works!

Till my next project. Feel free to leave a comment.

Ed

Garden Storage Shed

2007-07-28T08:04:00.001-07:00

After leveling the dirt roughly lay the foundation (pressure treated 4x4's) and make sure that they are absolutely level. By the way, I downloaded plans from the internet by Googling the demensions I wanted and the word 'Garden Shed Plans'. I got my plans from L&R Designs LLC for a 6x12 feet shed in 2005. Check with your local city codes to make sure you are legal with the location, the height and depending on the size, if you need a permit.
Make sure you 'paint' the bottom side of the flooring (3/4" CDX plywood) with wood preservative to prevent termites and wood rot.

Here the back-wall had been fabricated first and then erected in place, because of the proximity of the wall. I decided to use cement based panels for siding to make make the shed more resistant to the elements. That's me with my son Tason who helped me raise the back and side walls which were surprisingly heavy!

Here I have framed the outside wall in place since there was no access limiting yard wall in the way. The window we picked up used at a place were they sell surplus building material.

The 'Hardi Panel' siding is on and it starts looking like a shed already!

To my great surprise I discovered that I did not picture document the construction phase of the roof! So here is the next best thing... Yep, pictures of the roof so you can see how it is constructed.

The plan called out for a 2x8 Ridge Beam, but I used a 2x4 as you can see. The rafters are nailed to the Ridge Beam with four nails, two on each side. So as you can see I did not follow the plans recommendations of using special hangers and hurricane clips etc... For my needs and where I live this is strong enough

This is one of the 2x4 pieces between the rafters called Soffit Caps. It closes the gap between the roofing and the top of the side walls.

Yours truly just installed the work table by the window, supported by iron tubing at the bottom.

My wife, Dorothea, happy with the new shed. Note the shelving for the big stuff, and how all the garden tools are hung on nails at the left wall.

My mother finally came out of the house to inspect and see if all that hammering noise she listened to was worth it.

I guess that smile means it passed inspection! I'm doing final adjustment to the door, which we also picked up cheap at a building surplus store.

Well, that's it folks. I hope you enjoyed watching the progress on how the shed was build as much as I enjoyed building it!