Clutter causes lots of wasted time and confusion. There have been studies made of the enormous amount of time people spend looking for things that are scattered about their offices and homes. All too often the problem can be traced to a lack of too little horizontal space.

Look at your desk at your office or in your home. Is it a mess? Do you have stacks of papers, folders, etc.? Simple wall shelves can alleviate this in many instances. At least the desk will be clear for awhile.

Closets are no different. For years all builders ever did (me included!) is install a simple pole and a plank in a closet. What a waste of space! How many boxes, sweaters, or balled up articles of clothing fall off those simple, singular shelves in a year? Item after item gets buried either on the floor or on that single shelf. Multi-tiered wire or wood shelving can quadruple the amount of usable horizontal storage space in less than one or two hours.

The wire shelving craze seems to have started about 15 years ago. It started small like many new, innovative products. However, this one grew steadily and quickly. It is a major industry now that had significant sales last year - say $585 million dollars! That is a chunk of change.

An Installation Primer

Installing wire shelving is not too hard. All you need to do is follow instructions and have access to several simple tools. A hand drill, screwdriver, hacksaw, tape measure and a level will usually allow you to complete all jobs.

The professional installers possess a very cool tool that could make your life simple. It is a large hole template that has holes punched in it at certain heights. They lay this template against the wall to give them the hole locations for different shelving arrangements. I have seen installers mark a closet out in less than three minutes. Oh well, don't bother making one unless you plan to do lots of shelving.

Wire shelving kits usually contain only a few different parts: the back clips, side wall brackets, support braces and poles, wall anchors and the shelving itself.

The wall anchors for most wire shelving are the expandable type. They are supposed to go in hollow wall cavities, not wall studs. The only hard part of the entire job is actually cutting the shelving to length. Since the wire is quite thin, it is easily accomplished with a regular hacksaw.

Each shelving kit or type has its own specific set of instructions. However, they all install basically the same. You drill holes at suggested heights for the back wall clips. These little clips allow you to connect the back edge of the wire shelf to the wall. The clips contain their own screws and are ideal if your house contains 1/2 or 5/8 inch drywall.

The side wall brackets are used to support the corners that are adjacent to the wall. Support braces are used to help hold up long lengths of shelving. For regular loads in closets you should count on installing one every three feet six inches. Shelves with heavy loads need one every two feet on center.

Often a storage system will have a shelf stop short of a wall. To support this end of the shelf hanging in mid-air, you need a support pole. All of these have pre-drilled holes or channels that allow you to easily attach special clips that support the shelf.

You begin the installation by drawing a level line at the height you want your shelves. Once you have located the positions for the back clips you drill the correct sized hole. Often a 1/4 inch hole is used. You insert the clips, tighten the screws and pop the shelf in place.

The shelf will swing down like a hinge. Using a level you can level the shelf easily while holding a side wall bracket in place with the turned down edge of the shelf. Quickly mark the two holes and drill. Before installing the bracket you must lift the shelf up and rotate it beyond its level position. If you install the bracket while the shelf is down, you will not be able to rotate the shelf into position.

This is basically all you have to do. It often takes far longer to get the tools out, mark the holes, clean up and put the tools away, than actually install the shelves. They really go together quickly.

Wood Systems

If you decide to go with the fiberboard melamine covered shelving systems, you had better possess some extra money and skills. These systems are pricey, heavy and require lots of talent to install correctly. Don't underestimate the difficulty of this task.

In reality, these systems resemble cabinet work. To get a fine fit and finish, you may have to do lots of shimming, adjusting, etc. The weight of the units empty is impressive. You must follow directions and use the correct screws to ensure a good job.

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Closet Organizers - Manufacturers

I just opened my phone book Yellow Pages and was pleasantly surprised. There, I quickly found 10 local companies that will come out and give a free estimate for maximizing the storage space in my closets! They were listed under "Closets - Designing, Organizing & Accessories". There is no doubt that all of the companies use the products produced by the manufacturers listed below.

Many of the closet storage organization systems are just coated wire shelving. I have several such systems in my own home. My closet and Kathy's closet both contain wire shelving. Some of the systems are the more expensive melamine covered fiberboard systems. Several of the manufacturers below make both the wire shelving and the fiberboard systems. I urge you to check out the product literature of all of these companies. The literature contains some dramatic and helpful color photographs that will help you visualize the storage possibilities in your own home.

One of the major producers of closet storage systems happens to be based in Cincinnati. It is the Schulte Corporation. Over the years they installed many storage systems in the new homes I built. They offer both of the systems described above. I am quite certain that one of the companies below will quickly solve your clutter problems!

You can often purchase some prepackaged wire shelving systems at the local home centers. I did that years ago for certain remodeling jobs I completed. It is not hard to install wire shelving. It takes minimal tools. If you have a large area or are "tool handicapped", you may want to call in a local company to install your shelving.

• California Closet Co.
  
• Closet Maid
  
• Knape & Vogt Mfg.
  
• Rubbermaid Closet
  
• Lundia Shelving & Storage
  
• Rev-a-Shelf
  
• Schulte Corporation
  
• Space-Metrics
  
• Vanguard Plastics
  
• White Home Products
  

Closet Storage Illustrations

The following illustrations should help you visualize the possibilities within your own home. You can mix and match shelving types, styles and orientations. The photos are courtesy of the Schulte Corporation. They have been in the storage solution business for 20+ years.

 

 

 

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Special Underground Tornado - Storm Shelters

While doing my radio show back in May or June of 1999, I was made aware that a septic tank manufacturer in Kansas City, Missouri, also makes an underground concrete tornado shelter! It is basically a modified design of a standard septic tank, although it comes with stairs or a ladder to allow you easy access.

Evidently, it can be installed in one day with minimal disturbance to your property. There are also fiberglass models available from other manufacturers in the Midwest. If you want to learn more about tornadoes and some of these special shelters, visit a very cool website called Tornado Project.

For information and a plan for constructing an interior, above ground hurricane / tornado shelter, visit and read this column.

Companion Articles:   Metal Connectors Minimize Wind / Storm Damage, Interior Hurricane - Tornado Shelter, Fight Hurricane & Tornado Storms with Metal Connectors, Tornado & High Wind Damage

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Dust Collection Equipment - Air Filtration and Filters

Building, remodeling, woodworking, cleaning, etc. create lots of dust. The collection and management of that dust can be made easier if you have the right tools and filters to capture the offensive material.

Wet dry vacuum filters have really improved in the past 5 years. They collect smaller particles of dust - I mean small - such as 5 microns or so. The air filtration devices do a similar great job.

Filter Types

Almost all of the wet dry vacuums allow you to use two different filters. The standard filter is often a pleated paper single stage filter. These work just fine for everyday cleaning chores.

If you want to pick up fine drywall dust, or fine sawdust, you should switch over to a two stage fine dust filter. These are inter-changeable on most units.

Most of the filters are re-usable. If you follow instructions and clean them regularly, you can use them over and over again.

Secondary / Portable Air Filtration

I have a very cool portable air filtration device that I can take from room to room while I work. It is a new product that just became available 6 months ago. The tool resembles a torpedo heater on steroids. It draws air in one end and passes it over two filters before allowing it to gently flow from the other end.

The device only weighs 10 pounds and filters 200 cubic feet of air per minute. This allows it to completely filter the air in a 12 x 12 room every 6 minutes.

You can use it as a stationary filter as well. It is equipped to hang from a ceiling should you wish to permanently mount it in a workshop, basement or a garage. The filter device is made by the Ridgid Tool Company.

Shop Dust Collection

The Ridgid Tool company has also decided to help you control dust that is generated by workshop tools. You can get clear 2 inch diameter PVC tubing, angle fitting gate valves, couplings, etc. that allow you to connect multiple tools to the piping system. The end of the system connects directly to a shop-vac. When you operate a tool, you simply turn on the shop vac, open the gate valve at the tool and get to work. The dust created is quickly sucked through the tubing into the vacuum. The clear piping allows you to identify potential clogs before they happen.

Related Articles:   Wet / Dry Vacuums Have Grown Up,  Wet Dry Vacuum Comparison,  Wet Dry Vacuum - Your Household Workhorse,  Keep Wet Dry Vacuum Filter Clean

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Long Life & Filters

You can extend the life of a high quality wet dry vacuum almost indefinitely if you keep the filter clean and in place when you are picking up dry materials. Dust that gets into the motor or the air impeller is like high speed sandpaper. It simply destroys the motor. Since the motor is the only real moving part, you can see why it is important to protect it.

The best way to protect your vacuum is to always have a new, spare filter on hand. You should also clean the filter after each use. This may not be an extensive cleaning, but one where you get rid of lots of large paper particles or caked on dust. If you own an air compressor, remember to blow air backwards through the filter to clean it. If you blow air through the dirty side, you simply drive fine dust particles deeper into the filter media.

Warranties

I attended an editor's conference hosted by Emerson Tool Company. They presented to the group a new line of Ridgid wet dry vacuums and some air filtration devices.

The tools and products were first class, but what got my attention was the Ridgid lifetime warranty. A warranty is only as good as the company that stands behind it. Well, I have bought and used Ridgid plumbing tools for years, and know that Ridgid is part of a huge, financially sound international corporation.

Wet dry vacuums can take some abuse and it makes sense to purchase one with as strong a warranty as possible. This is purely a common sense issue. Look at features, accessories, the long power cords, and attachments when you buy, but also take a look at who will help you five years from now when you start to smell the ozone from the burning electric motor armature.

Related Articles:   Wet / Dry Vacuums Have Grown Up,  Wet Dry Vacuum Comparison,  Wet Dry Vacuum - Your Household Workhorse,  Filters - Dust Collection - Air Filtration

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Construction creates lots of dust. In fact, I was always amazed at how much dust is created by building and remodeling. Scientists for years have blamed the greenhouse global warming on the use of fossil fuels. Personally, I think all of us builders and remodelers are partially responsible.

Very Handy

Wet dry vacuums are really handy. They are much more rugged than a traditional vacuum cleaner and can go more places. I consider them the 4x4 vehicles of the vacuum product line. The newest models put to shame the first generation models. Today you can get ones that pump water they collect, do double duty using a detachable blower motor head, inflate any conceivable item with nifty attachments, and much, much more.

Perhaps the best innovation is the sound reduction you will find with most vacuums. They still create noise, but not as much as before. Certain models offer optional mufflers.

Click here to watch a video on two types of wet dry shop vacuums.

You will also like the tough, new plastic canisters or tanks. The days of rust are gone forever. The plastic bodies also make some of the units lighter. The particular model I own is so light weight that when I adjust the blower output muffler a certain direction, the vacuum moves itself across the room!

The Horsepower Issue

When the column ran in all of the papers, I got several e-mails and calls to my radio show about the bogus horsepower ratings of the vacuum motors. There is a simple way to calculate horsepower when you know the amount of watts a motor consumes - or so I am told. If you divide the watts by 746 it gives you the horsepower. A typical 15 amp circuit in a house allows 1,800 watts to travel through it before tripping. This means that a motor operating at 1,800 watts can produce 2.41 horsepower. A 20 amp circuit allows 2,400 watts to pass by. This equates to 3.21 horsepower. The callers and e-mailers wanted to know how the manufacturers could claim, 4, 5 and 6 + horsepower ratings.

Well, they use a term peak horsepower. Evidently peak horsepower is calculated at 2.5 to 3.0 times the actual horsepower figure. It is a theoretical horsepower limit of what a motor is capable of doing with no restrictions in an ideal working environment.

Related Articles:   Wet / Dry Vacuums Have Grown Up,  Wet Dry Vacuum Comparison,  Keep Wet Dry Vacuum Filter Clean,  Filters - Dust Collection - Air Filtration

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Wet Dry Vacuum Comparison Guide

If you are getting ready to purchase a wet-dry vacuum, this comparison may help you. Your final decision may be based upon the size of the unit, accessories included and price. For the most part, wet-dry vacuums are fairly simple . They have minimal moving parts. The electric motor and air impeller represent the primary mechanical components. Yes, I know the caster type wheels move as well, but they are simple moving parts.

To the best of my knowledge, there are really only two major players in the wet-dry vacuum business. They are Ridgid Tool Company and Shop-Vac. There are three other companies, Clarke Industries, Dayton Electric Manufacturing Co., and Fein Power Tools. My guess is that they will be a surprise to you as they were to me. I have never seen one of these vacs. Here is how you can contact each company for literature:

• Clarke Industries
  800-253-0367
• Dayton Electric Mfg Co.
  847-647-0124
• Fein Power Tools
  800-441-9878
• Ridgid Tool Company
  888-4-RIDGID
• Shop-Vac
  717-326-0502

Click here to watch a video on two types of wet dry shop vacuums.

Related Articles:   Wet / Dry Vacuums Have Grown Up,  Wet Dry Vacuum - Your Household Workhorse,  Keep Wet Dry Vacuum Filter Clean,  Filters - Dust Collection - Air Filtration

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Fight Hurricane & Tornado Storms - Tie Your Home Down

Several nights ago, I was watching TV. There was a show on about natural disasters. One segment showed some incredible video of close-up shots of tornadoes. This one video showed all sorts of debris swirling around the vortex. The narrator made a special point, and replayed the video to show, that some of the black spots that were floating in the air were three and four thousand pound cars and trucks. When they slowed down the video, it was clear as a bell that cars and trucks were about to drop from the sky like bombs!

Think Sailboats

Do you know what an average sailboat weighs? I would guesstimate about 2,000 pounds. Once in the water, imagine how much drag is on the hull from the water. After the sail is in place and set correctly, a sailboat can really motor through the water. Crank up the wind speed about ten times and imagine what kind of force is pushing and pulling against the average house during a tornado or hurricane. I can tell you that it is enormous.

Uplift Forces

Wind storms look for the weak links in your home's armor. The first place they go is the garage door, windows, doors, and roof overhangs. If the wind blasts down a garage door, it is now pushing against the walls and the ceiling of the garage. It is this force that blasts apart the structure, not inward pressure from the storm. The same is true for your house. Once exterior windows have been shattered, the wind works from the inside out. This is why window shutters in hurricane areas are helpful in not only keeping debris from breaking glass, but they help to keep your house in one piece.

Continuous Connection Path

I have never seen a concrete house slab or foundation lifted from the ground during video footage of tornado or hurricane damage. I imagine, it possibly has happened in rare cases. For the most part, if you can connect the roof rafters back down to the foundation or slab, you have a good chance of weathering most storms. You can achieve this by using simplistic metal framing connectors and some high quality nails. They are available at most lumber yards and home centers. They may not stock all of the connectors, but you can have them ordered with little or no problem.

Installing Connectors

If you are getting ready to build a new home, you should really give the high wind connectors a serious look. They are not difficult to install and require minimal effort and time. The least experienced person on the crew can install them with about 10 minutes worth of training.

In fact, many of the connectors can be installed by you if the builder will let you do it on your own. You simply have to install them at the right time before other tradespeople get in your way.

Not 100% Foolproof

The high wind connectors can't guarantee your total safety. What they can do is provide you with valuable time to get to a basement, tornado shelter or even a bathtub. The most powerful tornadoes that deliver direct hits on houses will overcome the framing connectors. Houses on edges of big storms and those hit by weaker storms will fare well with these swell inventions!

Companion Articles:   Metal Connectors Minimize Wind / Storm Damage, Interior Hurricane - Tornado Shelter, Hurricane & Tornado Storms with Metal Connectors, Underground Tornado Storm Shelter, Tornado & High Wind Damage

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Above Ground Tornado Shelter | You can use giant precast concrete blocks like this to make an above ground tornado shelter.

Above Ground Tornado Shelter

A tornado shelter is a good thing to have if you live in many USA states. If you look at photographs and video of extreme damage caused by strong tornados, you know you that preventing serious injury or death is a matter of luck if you try to shelter inside a normal home. Large tornados can pick up semi-trailers and smash them against you or your home. Swirling 2x4s become giant arrows that can pass right through your body. Watch this short video

There are two types of tornado shelters:

• above ground tornado shelter
• underground tornado shelter

There are pros and cons to each one. Let's compare each one.

Sheltering Above Ground

Pros:

• less expensive to build in some instances
• easier and faster to get into at the last minute

Cons:

• must be extremely strong to survive a direct hit from an F4 or F5 tornado
• requires placement on a concrete slab

In Ground Tornado Shelter

Pros:

• much safer even if door is swept away
• pre-built concrete or fiberglass units can be set in one day

Cons:

• Dangerous to get into if the tornado is upon you
• Subject to ground-water infiltration
• Possibility of being trapped if debris covers the door

Garage Tornado Shelter

A garage can be a great place to locate a tornado shelter because most garages have concrete floors. Your shelter is going to be made using concrete block for the walls and it will have a concrete roof. This kind of weight requires the shelter to have a concrete floor.

Tornado Shelter Cost

A tornado shelter is going to cost you thousands of dollars. There are kits that can be bolted together that cost just under $10,000 in 2022. Inflation is raging at this time and the cost will just go up.

DIY Tornado Shelter

If you have skills and can lay concrete block, you can build your own tornado shelter using concrete block, and concrete. These materials are cheap and you might only have to spend $1,000, or less, to have a substantial shelter. It all depends on the size you choose to build. Building tips are below.

If you are in the planning stages of building a new home, you can incorporate a safe place to hide from tornadoes and hurricanes if you are willing to part with about 40-60 square feet of floor space and about $9,500. If you are the slightest bit handy, you can get the cost down to less than $1,000 (2022 figures). A custom tornado shelter can run well over $25,000 if you want lots of creature comforts and two or three alternative escape exits from the shelter.

Tornado Shelter Underground

Dreadful tornados can blow against your house for as little as 20 seconds (a fast moving tornado) or they can last for minutes (a creeping hurricane). In either case, a family of five people can huddle in a 4-foot by 8-foot shelter for this time period with an acceptable degree of comfort. If you feel you need more room, then plan for it now. The shelter can be a below-ground tornado shelter in a basement.

Above Ground Tornado Shelter Failure

The biggest thing you need to worry about is how you'll get out of the shelter once the storm has passed. It's possible the door to the shelter can be damaged making it inoperable. Some pre-built shelters have alternate escape panels you might be able to open and crawl out of.

Tornados are Giant Blenders

Watch several videos of tornados that were shot at close-up range and you can see they resemble giant food blenders. But instead of chunks of ice cubes, bananas, and strawberries that will become a smoothie, a tornado lifts up 6,000-pound trucks and cars, entire roofs, and starts to swirl these round and round at 100+ mph. Imagine a Ford Super Duty F-250 4x4 truck crashing against your above-ground tornado shelter at 150 mph. Do you now understand why you need to have a substantial shelter and a way to get out if the door is damage?

Tornado Shelter Building Tips

Solid Walls and Ceiling

Tornadoes and hurricanes lift debris into the air and transport it at great speeds. A seemingly harmless 2x4 can become a missile. Cars, brick, concrete block can all be easily lifted into the air and carried for significant distances. To protect against impact of heavy objects like this, your shelter needs to be solid. Hollow concrete block simply won't do. What's more, the block walls need to be steel reinforced. An 8 inch concrete block structure that has steel bars in the cores at 16 inches on center and has all of the cores filled with a pea gravel mix of concrete is incredibly strong. Top this off with a 4 inch thick poured concrete roof that is also steel reinforced and you have a great place to hide from storms.

Pin Things Together

You need to secure the concrete block walls to the concrete floor/slab and the roof of the shelter needs to be tied to the walls. You do this by inserting steel rods in the wet concrete. The rods in the floor slab need to extend up about 2 feet and be placed so they hit the centers of the block cores. This takes some precise layout work. The steel for the roof needs to be placed into the wet pea gravel concrete that fills the top courses of the concrete block walls.

A Sliding Door

The door to the shelter needs to slide. A hinged door can be sucked off its hinges. The best door would be one that has a solid barn door track and fits into a pocket built into the block. It needs to have a restraining bracket at the bottom corners of the door as well. This keeps the door from blowing in or out due to extreme wind pressures. The door can be made from two sheets of 3/4 inch plywood screwed together and covered with minimum 14 gauge metal sheeting. It doesn't have to look pretty. This door and how it stays in place during the storm is critical. If you can't figure it out, then ask an experienced carpenter to assist you with this job.

The Roof

The inside height of the entire structure needs to only be 7 +/- feet tall. This allows the overall height to easily fit under roof trusses that are placed on standard height walls. This is the hardest part of the job as you will need to lift about 15 five gallon buckets of concrete up onto the temporary form that supports the roof!

For information on a special underground tornado - storm shelter, visit and read this column.

Companion Articles:   Metal Connectors Minimize Wind / Storm Damage, Fight Hurricane & Tornado Storms with Metal Connectors, Underground Tornado Storm Shelter, Tornado & High Wind Damage

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Strengthen Your Home Against Tornado and High Winds - Wind Resistant Framing Connectors

Certain nails driven into framing lumber are no match for high winds. This is especially true for nails driven into the end grain of wood studs. End grain can be found at the top or bottom of a stud where it touches the top or bottom plate of a wall. Structural engineers and your own experience will tell you that a nail has virtually no holding power when driven into end grain because the nail is parallel with the tube-like structure of the lumber. Autopsies performed on destroyed houses show time and again that roofs and floors blow off houses because the top plate detaches from the studs.

Imagine a handful of drinking straws bunched next to one another. That is what a piece of lumber looks like under a microscope. When the tree grows, these straws run up and down the tree trunk. They are the transportation routes that the sap uses to travel between the roots and the leaves.

Drive a nail sideways through the tubes and you have a different story. There is great holding power. Metal framing connectors are used to take advantage of this fact. They bypass the end grain of lumber at every opportunity. The following illustrations are just a few of the many connectors you can use to strengthen your home against high wind destruction. The illustrations were taken from a wonderful color catalog you must get. It is available for free from the Simpson Strong-Tie Company, Inc. Call them and ask for: High Wind-Resistant Construction Connectors. Pay attention to the back cover of the catalog. It tells you exactly why you need to use these connectors in more than one place.

The framing connectors are made by Simpson and another company called USP Lumber Connectors. You can call them and ask for their full line catalog. One final word. Don't try to guess what connectors to use and how many. Pay a structural engineer to do this for you. There is a very good chance that if you hire the engineer, take photos as the connectors are installed and then forward this information to your insurance company. They may reduce your insurance premiums. If this happens, you may actually make money over the long run!

Companion Articles:   Metal Connectors Minimize Wind / Storm Damage, Interior Hurricane - Tornado Shelter, Fight Hurricane & Tornado Storms with Metal Connectors, Underground Tornado Storm Shelter

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