Author Archives: Tim Carter
Painting Vinyl Shutters
Painting vinyl or plastic shutters is easy. Clean the shutters with soap and water and use a very sticky paint that has urethane in it. Do not paint in direct sun and try to do it on a day when the temperature is in the 60-75F range.
Home Inspections Gone Wrong
Home inspections are a powerful tool to help you buy a home in great shape. But some professional home inspections are not that professional. Not all home inspectors are trained properly and some certifications that are on the business card of the inspector are worthless.
Install a Garage Door
Installing a garage door is not as hard as it seems. There are many parts and you must follow instructions for your garage door installation, but it can be done in as little as three hours. Larger garage doors are harder than smaller doors. Special DIY spring kits are available that make it easy to achieve professional results.
Home Improvement Television
Home improvement television shows can be very glamorous, but they tend to leave out all of the important details. Many mistakes and headaches are left in the editing suite and never make it to the finished cut you see on your television set. Add to this the fact that many of the talents on the shows have little or no real construction background and you can see why the shows are not realistic. The source of the problem is simply money.
Bamboo Flooring
Bamboo flooring is a wonderful hard surface that resembles traditional oak hardwood flooring. People like bamboo hardwood flooring because bamboo floors have a light grain and are very durable. Bamboo flooring installation is not that easy. You need to be an experienced carpenter as much of it installs just like traditional tongue and groove hardwood flooring.
Brick House
A brick house can resist damage from wind storms. Brick is simply much more durable than wood, vinyl or other sidings. Cement stucco, concrete block and stone houses also perform well in wind storms.
Roof Framing Basics
Roof framing is not a job for a rookie carpenter. Hip roof framing and roof rafter framing are very challenging. To succeed, you must know how to use a framing square. Accurate cuts are vital and the walls upon which the rafters rest must be square and level. If not, the rafter cuts will give you migrane headaches.
Wall Framing Basics
Wall framing requires moderate carpentry skills. Exterior framing is often more difficult than framing interior walls. Framing 2x4 interior walls that are non-load bearing are the easiest walls to construct. Accurate measurements are a must as well as walls that are perfectly square.
Vapor Barriers in Wine Rooms
Wine room humidity and temperatures must be maintained for wine to age correctly. It is important to have a vapor barrier to trap the water vapor in the wine room so it does not migrate to other parts of the house. This is especially true if one or more walls of the storage room are exterior walls of the house.