Do you have a hardwood floor or a laminate floor? I've got both in my home.
Have you seen those advertisements lately on TV about the wonderful sweepers that also steam your floor at the same time?
Well guess what? Steam and wood go together like oil and water or a square peg in a round hole.
The last thing you want to do is inject water vapor - that condenses into liquid water - into a wood floor or the wood-fiber core of a laminate floor.
Many homes have gorgeous wide openings between rooms. Kathy and I had that at our Queen Anne Victorian home in Cincinnati, OH, where our living room connected to our entrance hall. If you want privacy in one of the rooms, you have all sorts of options. Keep in mind that regular swing doors take up lots of room.
To not waste floor space, you can utilize great hardware from LE Johnson to quickly install folding doors that give you the needed privacy, but not eat up floor space. This is a great alternative if you're on a limited budget and can't afford all the work needed to install pocket doors to achieve the goal. What's more, you may not be able to install a pocket door in that location, much less dual pocket doors that meet in the center of the opening.
This folding door solution will work in any home no matter what the architectural style. You don't have to use flat slab doors as you see in this photo. You can use panel doors, doors with some glass, whatever suites your taste! Click here to discover more about the LE Johnson Folding Door hardware.
I've used LE Johnson door hardware in my homes for years, and when I build my next house for Kathy and me, you'll find it there because it works!
Here are two links to larger photos of the opening above showing the door open and closed.
Last week on Ash Wednesday, I was invited to a first-ever-for-me visit to a United Methodist church service. I was in Richmond, VA, staying with great friends. When I arranged the visit, we both forgot that it was Ash Wednesday. They politely asked me if I would go to church with them after supper. Without flinching, I said yes.
We went to the St. Matthews Church that was close to the home of my friends. The pastor, Rev. Gordon Pruitt, gave an amusing homily where he talked about capturing monkeys with a box and how he replaced the worn-out carpet in the parsonage with a new carpet.
He talked about how he had rolled up the heavy carpet and lugged it to the garage where it sat in the way as it was such a hassle to get it to the dump. The homily was about changing bad habits and his way to ignore the carpet.
It was all I could to contain myself - not knowing the protocol about raising one's hand at a Methodist service. Of course, I would never think of doing such a thing at a Catholic mass.
I wanted to tell Rev. Pruitt that all he had to do when he removed the carpet was to cut it up in place in the living room. He just had to flip over one edge of the carpet about 40 inches onto itself and the backing of the carpet would be right there.
The backing would be elevated off the floor and using a sharp razor knife he could easily have cut the carpet into manageable 3-foot strips that could be rolled up, secured with twine or duct tape and easily put in the trunk of a car to take to the dump or recycling facility.
Don't let this happen to you. Don't break your back trying to carry the entire carpet out of the house. Only take it out in one piece if you know the old rug can be cleaned and reused by someone else.
Accccckkkkkk! Boy oh boy, did my email last night create some bewilderment and discombobulation.
You may have gone to Amazon and saw my How to Grout Ceramic Floor Tile eBook was not free. You possibly got a crabby look on your face and then reported back to me.
Here's what happened. It's a matter of when the Free 48-Hour period begins. Oh boy, were my Australian and Japanese subscribers scratching their heads as Saturday started for them hours and hours ago. As I type this right now, it's just after 10 pm on Saturday in Japan!
Since Amazon is headquartered in California, I'm pretty certain they base everything on Pacific Time. That means if you lived in New York and went to Amazon just after midnight your time, a wave of tetchiness washed over you as the book was not free at that moment of time.
It is NOW!! Woo Hoo! I know because I just checked. So hurry and go get your FREE copy before Amazon starts charging again for the eBook. But wait! Read the next section.
Before you try to download the eBook, you need either a Kindle, a Kindle Fire (like I have) or the FREE software that can be installed on any number of devices, including your computer. Isn't that cool?
Yes, you can read this eBook of mine on a Mac, a PC, a Blackberry, an iPhone, an Android phone or tablet, an iPad, a Windows 7 phone, etc.
What's more, you can read all FUTURE eBooks of mine using the same free software. Click here to download the free software.
Once you've read the eBook, could you do me a huge favor? Would you please go back to the page where you saw the book and leave me a very nice review? I'd be very honored if you gave me 5 stars.
Tell your story. Did you like the fact the eBook had cool step-by-step videos? Did you like how concise it was and that it built immediate confidence? Just tell other future Amazon shoppers why you feel the book will help them do the job right, not over!
Your review will really help future Amazon shoppers make the right choice.
Be sure you sign up for the custom newsletter I'm doing just for you if you want to be part of my new Kindle family. In that special newsletter, I'm going to share with you the new eBooks I'm working on. What's more I'm going to be asking for your input as to what you want to see in the new eBooks.
I'm trying to write all the new books so they fit your exact needs. That's why I need your ideas and suggestions.
Thanks so much for your help and I really hope you enjoyed the free How to Grout Ceramic Floor Tile eBook.
This is NOT a normal newsletter in case you just subscribed in the past few days.
Watch for a real newsletter on Tuesday.
If Amazon does it's job, starting Saturday, March 10, 2012, you can get my new Kindle eBook How to Grout Ceramic Floor Tile for FREE.
But just for this weekend. That means the free giveaway ENDS on Sunday night, March 11, 2012 at midnight.
You don't have to own a Kindle eBook reader to see the book. You can download the Kindle Reader for your computer, tablet, smartphone, etc. or stone tablet. Just kidding about the stone tablet.
Here's the link to my eBook on Amazon.
Here's the link to get the FREE Kindle software so you can see the book in case you don't own a Kindle or Kindle Fire tablet.
I hope you like it! Feel free to email all your friends or just FORWARD this email to them. Let's teach many how to grout ceramic floor tile this weekend!
DEAR TIM: I’m going to buy a house and know little about them. The online description of one of the houses says it has radiant heat. What in the world is that? The house I grew up in had hot air that blasted out of ducts. Is radiant heat good? What are the pros and cons of radiant heating? Is it expensive to operate? Would you own a home with radiant heat? Is this a new form of heating that’s not been vetted? Lucy B., Goochville, VA
DEAR LUCY: Radiant heat is by no means new. It’s as old as our solar system. When you go outdoors on a sunny late-winter morning like today and feel the warmth of the sun when it’s invisible infrared rays hit you, that’s the oldest and most basic form of radiant heating. It’s time tested, and in my opinion, the best form of heating you can have.
Radiant heat uses invisible electromagnetic infrared waves to heat you. It doesn’t heat the air like happened in the house you grew up in. The objects that are in the direct pathway of the infrared rays absorb the energy immediately. Once they heat up, they radiate heat to other objects in the room. It’s a fascinating way to transfer heat very efficiently.
Radiant heat sources in a home can take many forms. A simple fire in a fireplace produces radiant heat as does a fireplace insert, a wood stove, portable electric heaters, electric quartz heaters, radiators connected to a central boiler, etc.
My own home has radiant heat and it’s luxurious. The finished basement of my home has radiant tubing that snakes through the concrete slab. The entire basement floor becomes a giant radiant panel that heats everyone and everything in the space. Walking in bare feet or laying on the floor is pure ecstasy. I have baseboard radiators in all the other rooms of the house.
There are many pros and few cons, in my opinion, when it comes to radiant heating. As for the pros, here are a few. It’s nearly silent, it’s clean, it’s comfortable, there are no ducts to clean, it’s efficient and requires minimal maintenance.
A major benefit in my opinion is the ability to zone your house. With a small amount of effort and some additional expense, you can have groups of rooms on their own zone. This allows you to have different zones different temperatures at different times. If you only use a few rooms in your home, you just can heat those rooms in that zone.
The only cons I can think of are it might be a little more expensive to install and some people find the baseboard radiators unsightly.
You don’t have to install wall or baseboard radiators. People choose them as that’s almost always the cheaper alternative. It’s possible to have a radiant heating system totally invisible with all the piping hidden in floors or ceilings.
The cost to operate a radiant heating system that uses a central boiler and one or more recirculating pumps can be minimal. Even with this in mind it’s a very hard question to answer because there are many types of radiant heating systems and each one might have a different fuel source.
One type of fuel may cost much more per BTU of heat produced than another. For example, you may live in an area where electricity is insanely cheap and the cost of propane is outrageous. But I may live in an area where fuel oil is the best buy per BTU. Always compare fuel prices based on BTU of heat output. This means calculate the dollar amount per fuel type per number of BTU's. For example, determine for each fuel type available to you what it costs for 10,000 BTU's of each type.
Keep in mind that your house may be much different than other houses in your neighborhood. The BTU heat loss of your house is a function of its size, insulation, window and door openings, compass direction it faces, etc. Each house has a distinct BTU heat loss per hour. To keep a house comfortable, you must replace the lost BTU's with new ones each hour.
If you want low heating costs, you need to make sure your BTU heat loss is low and the efficiency of the heating device is very high. High efficiency means that almost all of the heat produced when burning the fuel remains in your home instead of going up a chimney. Modern boilers are in the 90+ percent efficiency range.
Radiant heat can be installed in an existing home, but it can be very expensive. It’s probably best to use wall radiators that deliver exceptional results.
In new construction, a heating contractor can install the plastic piping that delivers hot water to each of the rooms in little time. The wise homeowner plans ahead so that the rooms that are not used that often are put on the same zone. Rooms that are frequently used at the same time are put on just one zone so that fuel usage is minimal.
You can watch a very fascinating radiant heat video that shows new radiant heat transfer plates. Just follow this link radiant heat transfer plate video.
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Hi, I'm Tim Carter and it's a nice winter morning here in New Hampshire. It's not too cold today, but I wanted to show you a really nice tool. It is a portable propane heater. It is nice and compact.
It is electric powered with its own battery built-in and the battery is rechargeable, using the furnished power cord. Once the battery is fully charged, it will run for eight hours. That's a nice long time. And with standard size propane tank, the fuel will last 12-hours. Combined you can produce a lot of heat.
How much heat does it produce? 35,000 BTUs. What will that heat? An insulated, enclosed room about 800 square feet.
Before you operate this heater, be sure to read and understand all the safety instructions and warnings that come with the heater. It is very important. Why? First when the heater is on, inside the chamber is a considerable flame. So don't place the heater close to something that could catch on fire. For example, a cloth tarp or sheet of plastic or any other flammable object. Think about gas cans or any flumes.
Secondly, inside the propane tank is a hydrocarbon. If the heater is operating correctly, it should produce very little or no carbon monoxide. But is something does go wrong, the heater will start producing carbon monoxide. So you don't want to use this in an enclosed space. Proper ventilation is required.
To fire this heater up, connect the fuel line with regulator (provided) to the heater and the propane tank. The brass fitting has reverse threads. So use a smooth-jawed wrench and turn it counterclockwise to tighten. Next, turn on the fan. Once it is running, just press the starter button.
Two things - be sure the valve on the propane tank is on. Second, you may have to hold the button down for a few seconds while the fuel is ignited. There you have it, a nice little portable heater. All you need to carry is the propane tank and the heater and you can have heat anyway. No power cord is needed.
This motorized impact driver is a unique tool that allows you to drive hundreds of screws with little effort. Photo Credit: Tim Carter
DEAR TIM: I'm crazy about power tools and in the past few years I've really been enamored with the impact drivers. I don't own one, but really want one. Have you used these tools? Are they really that much different than a power drill? What can you use them for? They look like a drill and seem to have the same controls, so I wonder if it's really worth buying one. I've got a birthday around the corner and my wife is looking for ideas. What should I tell her? Andy S., Palo Alto, CA
DEAR ANDY: Tell your wife to get out the credit card or grab some sweet moola from under the mattress and get one! Oh boy are you going to be happy on your birthday. I can clearly remember the first time I used a cordless impact driver tool to drive some 3-inch screws into wood without a pilot hole. WOW! I'm serious, I was absolutely blown away with the performance of the tool.
Impact drivers have been around for years, and if you look at the name of the tool, it should solicit some interest. I say this because of the word "impact". Hand-powered impact drivers are still available today and work by combining the downward force provided by a hammer blow with the simultaneous twisting motion of the tool.
These combined forces can really tighten a screw or bolt or loosen stubborn ones. Although the powered impact driver I own is called an impact driver, the only downward force it gets is from me if I push down on the tool as it's being used. That force is nowhere near as powerful as that given by a hammer strike.
But all that aside, the powered cordless impact drivers are time and money savers. They also save your wrist, hand and fingers from repetitive motions that can lead to physical injury or fatigue that can contribute to injury.
The powered impact drivers differ greatly from the standard power drill that you have in your workshop. If you've ever driven a four-wheel drive vehicle that has three different transfer case settings, or even a regular standard transmission that has a very low first gear, you can start to appreciate how an impact driver differs from a regular drill.
An powered impact driver has different internal gears that deliver much greater torque or power to the tip of the tool as it turns than you get from a standard power drill. Imagine putting a four-wheel drive vehicle in 4W-drive low and giving the vehicle gas. This gearing allows the power from the engine to be concentrated to move a heavy load slowly or go up a steep hill with virtually no effort.
A powered impact driver employs this same mechanical advantage when it works. It needs to concentrate the power of the motor on the head of the fastener and deliver power not speed. A drill is geared just the opposite. Drills tend to spin much faster meaning they don't have great power at low revolutions per minute.
I've used my powered impact driver in so many ways. It will drive hundreds and hundreds of decking screws and not complain. You can use it very effectively when screwing cabinets to a wall. It works to remove uncompromising and uncooperative screws and bolts.
I love to use my cordless impact driver in tight spots. The design of the tool I have is compact and lightweight. It comes with a great LED light that illuminates the place where the tool tip contacts the fastener. This is just perfect for working inside a dark cabinet or up in a joist cavity where you'd struggle to aim a flashlight.
After you get your new cordless impact driver, it's going to become one of your favorite power tools very quickly. Your screwdriver and nutdriver hand tools will soon start to gather dust as you discover how the impact driver does such a magnificent job of installing and removing screws and other fasteners.
I've had a screwgun for years that I favored to drive screws. It's a tool that was primarily designed for the drywall industry as just about any sheetrock hanger has one. They are like a sports car as they drive screws so fast you just can't believe it. Fortunately, the screwgun is equipped with an adjustable clutch so you don't drive a screw too deeply.
But my impact driver tool has caused me to pretty much ignore my screwgun. The impact driver is more like a heavy-duty pickup truck as it can do a great job doing many things. But like new trucks, it's got a soft side to it so it doesn't act like a bully.
You can watch assorted drill videos demonstrating drills and other power tools. Just click here ->"drill video"
Related Column: Impact Driver Uses
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DEAR TIM: I’m getting ready to build a large room addition that needs a beam to support the floor joists. I’ve been told that a wood beam will work, but I’ve always seen steel I-beams in other houses. Is it possible for wood to do the job? What are some of the pros and cons of wood I beams vs. steel? If you were building, would you use wood or steel? I don’t want to make a mistake on such a critical structural element. Peter L., White Plains, NY
DEAR PETER: Oh gosh, there’s no easy answer for you. The long and short of it is both wood and steel can make fabulous load carrying beams. I’ve used both materials for decades in all sorts of situations. In fact, you may not realize this, but you can mix the two making a hybrid beam of wood and steel.
You can see two different types of wood I beams in this photo. The large beam at the top is supporting smaller wood I joists or beams. Photo Credit: Tim Carter
First let me tell you that I’m not a structural engineer, but I’ve worked with many and installed the beams they’ve designed. The good news is both wood and steel can be used to carry tremendous concentrated loads.
In the last house I built, I had two wood beams in one wall that supported tons and tons of weight. In the basement of the same house, I had large steel I-beams that spanned nearly 16 feet supporting enormous loads as well. The use of steel allowed me to create wide-open spaces with minimal support columns.
That’s one advantage of steel over wood when you’re working with materials that are roughly the same size. Steel is so much stronger than wood pound for pound.
What’s fascinating is to see the evolution of engineered wood beams over the past forty years. Laminated beams, microlams, etc. are very common now, but I clearly remember when they were brand new to the block. It’s not uncommon to find laminated beams on an ordinary residential home in today’s marketplace.
Go back in time and look at old barn’s and other buildings built using the post and beam method and you’ll see wood beams made from one solid piece of timber. Perhaps the strongest wood beams made this way are Douglas Fir. There may be a stronger wood, but I’m not aware of it.
Today, lumber mills make beams like they make plywood. They basically use layers of solid wood that are glued together to make incredibly strong structural engineered timbers.
Keep in mind there are few cons to either of the materials. I say this because you can usually have an engineer come up with a wood beam that can replace a steel one. It’s all a matter of cost and the finished dimensions of the material.
If you want to think of worst-case scenarios, think about the things that attack and weaken the beams. Water can rust steel and rot wood. You can paint the steel beams with a metal primer and finish coat of paint to build water resistance. You can also have steel beams galvanized. Wood beams can be treated with borate chemicals to minimize wood rot and prevent infestation by wood-destroying insects that can’t harm steel.
If you want to fasten something to a steel beam, it’s a little bit of a challenge. You can easily nail into a wood beam or drill through it properly to install a bolt.
Fire is a danger to both materials. You can wrap a wood beam with fire-resistant drywall to protect it and commercial fire protectants can be sprayed on steel I-beams. You can also wrap a steel beam with the special drywall to buy time in a fire. Heat from a fire can weaken a steel beam turning it into soft taffy.
Keep in mind you can create a hybrid beam using a steel flitch plate that’s sandwiched between two regular pieces of wood framing material. The flat steel plate usually has staggered holes punched in it and you bolt the wood and steel together to create a super-strong beam that might carry a load 4 or 5 times greater than what the wood have done in the same space.
Homeowners or DIY'rs that are not familiar with working with beams often underestimate the weight of the beam and the importance of the support columns. Lifting a beam is often the work of two or three people and the combined weight of the workers and the beam can collapse ordinary step ladders resulting in serious injuries. The columns that support the beams must be rated to hold the weight and they must be connected properly to the beams.
What’s more, you need solid bearing from the bottom of the column to the earth. This pathway can be two or more stories in a house and over a hundred stories in a commercial building. At some point, the weight of the beams and the weight on the beam must be transferred to solid ground.
You can watch a wood beam video and read past columns about different structural issues. Just type “wood beam video” into the AsktheBuilder.com search engine.
Column 924
DEAR TIM: I need to glue pieces of wood together and have never done it. It’s in my best interest to get this right the first time, so can you share some tips with me? I have both interior projects to do and some where the wood will be outdoors. I realize there are different glues to use, but am more concerned with technique. Surely you’ve glued lots of things together besides wood and had great success. Help me please. Sheri P., Arlington, VA
DEAR SHERI: You came to the right place. I’ve glued many things together over the years using all sorts of products. What I’ve discovered is that most of them deliver fantastic results if you just use them according to the directions and add some common sense along the way.
Both wood surfaces need to be clean and at room temperature for great results. Clamping is a must. Photo Credit: Tim Carter
You absolutely need to match the glue to the project as some glues are not formulated to withstand exposure to water once they’ve dried and cured. Other glue products are absolutely waterproof. This claim can almost always be found on the label of the product. If you don’t see any wording on a glue label stating that it’s waterproof, assume that it’s not.
If you want great results when gluing two pieces of wood, or anything for that matter, together, it helps to think on a micro scale. Imagine what’s happening where the glue is interacting with the wood, glass, plastic or metal.
Without getting into complicated chemistry or physics, realize the glue is trying to act like a burr or briar that might attach to your clothes as you walk through the woods. Dried glue has a structure that has miniature hooks, barbs, etc. that try to latch on to the surface upon which it’s spread.
This means the surface should be free of all dust, dirt, oil, etc. and it helps if the surface is somewhat rough. The roughness creates more surface area for the glue to grab onto and it creates more places for the tiny hooks and barbs to attach themselves.
Temperature is also a consideration. Most glues you’ll find at stores have a water base and should be used at temperatures that range from 50 - 90 F. Just read the label once again to see if there’s a preferred temperature range.
The common yellow glues that are water-based work as the water evaporates or soaks into the wood. As the water leaves, what’s left behind is the actual glue that does the work. Think of the water as a delivery vehicle.
Some other glues have a totally different chemistry and require the surface to be wet or there be significant humidity in the air for the glue to react and bond. Once again, read the label and do what the manufacturer says with respect to wetting the surfaces slightly.
Perhaps the most common mistake made when using wood glues is the failure to clamp or apply pressure to the objects being glued. There are numerous ways to achieve this goal.
You can use hand clamps, pipe clamps, weight, screws, nails, etc. The object is to do whatever is necessary to squeeze the pieces of wood together for as long as the instructions say to apply the pressure. Clamping time can be as short as 30 minutes or an hour.
I can tell you from past experience the longer you clamp things, the better the job will turn out. I don’t mean clamp things for days, but extending the clamping time by 50 to 100 percent of the time mentioned on the label is not a bad idea. Remember, the clamping time was probably set assuming the objects being glued are just around 70 F in temperature and that’s what the air temperature is where the clamping is happening.
If it’s colder than that, you absolutely need to extend the clamping and curing time to get maximum holding power.
Think about what’s being glued. The end grain of wood pieces will readily soak up glue. If you’re gluing end grain, spread some glue onto the end of the piece and move it around with your finger or a stick. Wait about two minutes to see if the glue soaks in.
If it does, add some additional glue before you clamp the pieces together to ensure there will be enough left at the joint to do the job. I’ve seen my own work fail because all the glue soaked into the end grain not leaving enough behind for a proper bond.
You can watch a wood glue video and read past columns about different wood. Just type “wood glue video” into the AsktheBuilder.com search engine.
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