Caulking and Cupboards:

So a week or so ago, while me and my wife were sick, we conjured up enough energy to putz away at the house. Though we were sick, I decided that it was time to finish the caulking in the bathroom and also that we could maybe try to get the handles on the kitchen cabinets. we were having issues/getting sick of grabbing the doors by the bottom and fighting the drawers open for things.
With the caulk, I found a trick that works ok if you are not confident in your abilities to caulk. What can be done is that you grab a roll of painters tape and then put the tape along the bottom edge of where you want the caulk, and the repeat the same with the top. Like this:

Then caulk at the best of your abilities, then either take a piece of cardboard, or one of those 2 dollar "perfect caulk" tools and make a smooth caulk line. I would not recommend using your finger, it is messy and it creates a concave fill and sometimes wipes out more caulk than you want out.  Make sure as well that the paint is dry.. or you will be like us and repaint part of your project.

Quick trick to putting on cabinent handles:

I took a piece of plywood and nailed on some 3/4" square board on both sides in an "L" shape and then we decided where we would want the handles for the cabinets and then measured in on the jig and drilled two holes for the handles. we used a 5/32 drill bit for this even though it required a 3/16 for the machine screws explanation later.  On this part... MEASURE MEASURE MEASURE... you do not want to get this wrong because it will be on all of the doors.

So after I test fitted a handle on the jig and it lined up perfectly on the holes, it was time for the real deal. I used a C-clamp Vise grip and set the jig in place... and a good note; use a piece of scrap plywood on the back to keep the backside of the cabinet from blowing out.  We took our time and they all drilled out nicely.

after that we fitted the handles.. the screws were tight because of the smaller hole.. Then if the handle didn't line up nicely, we took a 3/16 bit and drilled it out a bit so we had some play with the screws.. worked out great.  We have gotten enough done upstairs... that I decided to start on the basement!!

Coping with our Progress... he he

The past few weeks since Thanksgiving have been busy, but not so much in ways of working on the house. However, we were able to get some more things done. But as always the devil is in the details; sometimes there are far too many as well.

Our first big thing on the list was to get the crown molding up around the kitchen and dining room. This is not a task that is for the faint of heart or for those who have short fuses.  The part that makes it this way is the Coping; you are taking a saw that was created by the makers of the Ouija board and trying to create a contour that matches the trim piece that is already nailed up. Not to mention you are cutting a contour on a board that is at a 45 deg on a 45 deg angle….. see what I mean?

The keys are to take your time, do it with a friend (preferably someone who has seen you mad) and just to practice a couple of times. Oh and about 10% extra crown for when you screw up. The cuts will almost never fit snug, but you want them to fit reasonably; obviously the tighter the better.

Here are some photos of my guess guided cutting:

Also here is what happens when you work alone and without a clamp. This is not recommended doing as part of the process.

But after lots of work, and many wrong cuts, you end up with a final product!!! TA DA!

 

Now the only other thing to it is making the corners look good. What I did to fill the gaps was to use painters caulk, and we all know how fun caulk can be to clean. To get around that, I grabbed an old sponge and added hot water and some soap, I was able to caulk the corners of the molding and then take the sponge and smooth out any lines that may have developed and make it look like my coping was perfect!



Leftovers of Thanksgiving (Not Talking Turkey)

Happy Late Thanksgiving everyone!!!!

We as well as many others in the country got to go home and spend time with family and friends, it was a fun time. Also over the weekend we got to go Black Friday shopping. This was my first experience in about 7 years; It was a little crazy but not too bad, but it was a good opportunity to get some things for the house on sale prices. From what my inside source had to say about Lowes is that Black Friday is a really good day to buy appliances if needed.

After a barrage of phone calls and conversations that sound like “why haven’t you updated ur site thingy” we apologize to those of you gripping to hear what progress has happened on our home. After a week and a half of no updates surely something exciting has happened.  Well plenty has happened and I am not sure I can put it all into here without writing a novel.

Well, after we got moved into the house, things got a little more difficult. Word of the wise, get as far as you can before moving in, it makes things easier to clean and keep clean. Sheet-rocking alone makes a mess of dust if you don’t have a vacuum sucking it up. As all of you know, we had tidbits of things to finish in all areas, Wiring, Plumbing, hardware, Sheetrock. ETC.  Also outlets to be replaced and covers still need to be put on most switches in the house. As we have been living in it, we have been taking on unfinished tasks one by one to get them done. The best way we found to be able to get things done is to each time you have free time, pick 1 ONE 1 ONE 1 task and work on that, don’t make a list of things you want to do each night, just pick ONE and do it. We find that this is the way to do it and continue to click along down the list of leftovers.

Odds and ends:

Mystery light switch (a often seen sight in older re-rewired houses) If we knew what it was to we would use it....ha ha ha

The last of our sheet-rocking upstairs and the “I’m going to get to it”  hole that is still there

And the dishwasher that doesn’t JUST fit. Work in Progress

The basement… looming and waiting…. And no matter how many times I clean & organize… still a mess…..soon we will begin on that project. Only once upstairs is done, I don't want a house full of half projects.

More  Basement mess..& the Laundry room

As said before, the Basement Is just our holding cell for all of our excess materials. we do have plies organized as to where they will go, the bathroom (to be) has all of the bathroom things in it. and the laundry room has shelves... they are just sitting on the floor. 

Now that we are back we can hop back to it