Eliminate Future Plumbing Problems

Posted on by Tim Carter

polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic piping

When you move into a new home, the last thing you might be expecting are problems of any type. After all, you did buy or build a new home. But problems do raise their ugly heads over time and some of the most troublesome seem to be plumbing hassles. Your builder and plumber can do a few things now that will minimize just about every imaginable plumbing problem.

PVC or Cast Iron Piping?

Let's first talk about drain lines. The material used by many builders and plumbers today is polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic piping. It is easy to work with, has a smooth interior surface that virtually eliminates clogs, but it is not a dense material. As such it can be noisy. Flush a second floor toilet and those on the first floor can often hear the water rushing down a wall or across a ceiling. If you request new easy-to-install cast iron drain lines that handle water, noise will not be a problem in the future.

PVC piping also expands dramatically as the temperature of the pipe increases. Drain water from a sink or tub and you might hear all sorts of snaps, pops and crackles in your walls as the pipes heat and expand and as they subsequently cool and contract. The noise comes from the piping rubbing up against wood framing members. Careful installation can minimize these contact points, but using cast iron piping eliminates the problem altogether.

bath tub pipes exposed wall

For some reason access panels behind tubs and showers have seemed to suffer the same fate as the mythical city of Atlantis. You rarely find these useful things in new homes. An access panel allows a plumber to gain quick access to all of the plumbing, both drainage and water supply lines, to almost all tubs and showers. Intelligent planning will hide these panels inside an adjacent bedroom or linen closet. These panels can save you hundreds of dollars in repair bills should a faucet have to be replaced in the future.

When should you buy replace faucet cartridges?

Be sure to buy replacement faucet cartridges for each faucet as soon as you move in. I prefer to place these in a ziplock plastic bag that is attached to the inside of all sink cabinets. Place them up and out of the way, but know that when and if a faucet starts to drip, you have the needed part on hand and ready to install. These parts are inexpensive and will rarely go bad when stored in their original packing material.

Does your water heater need an expansion tank?

Water heaters are often overlooked. Your local plumbing code may force the plumber to install an expansion tank with your water heater. These devices absorb the extra pressure and volume of water that occurs when cold water is heated. These tanks can extend the life of a water heater.

tank water heater expansion

Ask your builder or plumber to install a secondary anode rod in the cold water inlet. This relatively inexpensive anode rod can frequently double the life of the water heater. It is indeed a wise investment.

CLICK or TAP HERE to get FREE quotes from local plumbing companies that can install these plumbing features.

Ball Valves or Stem Valves?

Be sure each and every shut off valve in the house is a ball valve. These valves offer the least trouble over time and when they are needed they usually work. Traditional stem valves can be difficult or impossible to turn years down the road because of sediment buildup in the valve body. Ball valves rarely are harmed by sediment and furthermore their internal design allows full unimpeded flow of water through the valve.

Carefully plan the location of exterior hose bibs. All too often newer frost-proof hoses are installed low to the ground as they pass through the floor cavity to the outside wall. These hose bibs can be placed higher up on exterior walls if they are piped through an interior wall that intersects with an exterior wall. I would also have your plumber install an accessible ball valve on the branch water line that feeds each hose bib. In case of a future leak or problem, you can quickly shut down the water at this hose bib.

outdoor hose bib

If your main water line enters the basement through a foundation wall, be sure the plumber install an inexpensive boiler drain just past the house shut-off valve. This boiler drain is equipped with standard garden hose threads. By attaching a hose to the drain and extending the other end of the hose to a floor drain, you can quickly drain the entire water supply lines in the hose allowing you to work on them with ease. This simple boiler drain may come in very handy if a future extended power outage during the winter forces you to quickly drain all water to prevent burst pipes.

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Hire an Expert to Review House Plans

Posted on by Tim Carter

SamplePlan Shed Plans Tim's

Several days ago, Bob and Vicky, friends of my wife Kathy and mine, asked me if I would be kind enough to review the plans for their new custom home. Bob and Vicky had labored many hours perfecting the design. They wanted to hire me to make sure the best building practices, materials and methods were being specified. But once my wife and I started to look at the plans, we discovered there were other, more serious, flaws in the basic design of the home.

Over the years, I have built unique custom homes. Some have had very special floor plans and rooms that serve very special purposes. But my friend's plan had the most unusual layout. The house had two levels both of which had ground level access because of a sloped lot. This is a very good thing if you can work it into a plan.

When Bob and Vicky's home is constructed and you walk up onto the front porch and peer in the windows of the room just to the right of the door, you will see a washer and dryer. Yes, the laundry room is where you might typically find a living room, dining room or a front study. Vicky wanted the laundry room adjacent to the kitchen and this, in her opinion, apparently was the best place to put it.

What about room sizes?

Many of the rooms in the house were small. I have no trouble with small rooms and Bob and Vicky's current home is an older one with cozy rooms. But the dining room screamed at me. It was only 11 feet 7 inches wide and 15 feet 6 inches long.

Three out of the four walls had huge archways leading to other rooms. The remaining wall had a giant window centered on the wall. Not only was there no wall space to place buffets or china cabinets, but the narrow width would barely accommodate a 48-inch-wide table with chairs. To comfortably navigate around a table filled with guests whose chairs are not pulled in all of the way, a room needs to be a minimum of 12 feet wide.

My eyes were then drawn to a powder room on the lower level. This room was 6 feet by 6 feet. On one wall, Bob and Vicky had located a sink and toilet next to one another. I quickly determined there was plenty of room to put the toilet on the wall immediately opposite the door and lengthen the sink top to the full 6 foot dimension of the wall. This would allow the person standing at the sink to not feel so cramped.

Pocket door in hallway

Pocket doors will save space.

Should you consider pocket doors?

Because many of the rooms needed every square foot of usable space, I noted that 70 percent of the regular hinged doors needed to be converted to pocket doors that disappear into the wall when open. Modern pocket door frames and suspension systems provide generations of trouble-free service. Pocket doors allow you to make full use of floor space on all walls immediately adjacent to the door opening.

The house sported a fairly steep-pitched roof. The ceiling above the Great Room on the upper level was to be constructed with scissors trusses. These framing members allow a vaulted ceiling that has half the pitch of the actual roof. All of the remaining roof trusses were common ones that create a spider web of lumber and a vast area of unusable attic space.

Can using different attic trusses allow for extra room?

I made a quick note to install eight or ten attic trusses in place of some of the standard trusses. Attic trusses create an automatic bonus room when more than six are installed next to one another. The center of the truss contains a box that is 8 feet tall and perhaps 10 or more feet wide. The room's length is simply a function of how many trusses are built with this configuration.

attic truss design creating roof room

This is an attic space in a new home. Most builders would have used standard trusses and wasted all this space. (C) Copyright 2019 Tim Carter

How would you like me to build your new home? It's probably impossible for me to fit your job into my schedule, but I will gladly share hundreds of my tricks and building secrets with you and your builder. Check out my New House Specifications.

How do you size the garage?

The two-car attached garage was also a collection of oversights. One side of the garage formed the left front wall of the house. To provide an interesting staggered look, a partial offset was created that extend halfway down the garage wall. But when a car pulls into the garage and the passenger tries to open their door, they will discover they only have maybe 30 inches of space between the side of the car and the wall. This tight space is barely tolerable in a parking lot and I can only imagine the amount of long-term frustration it will create in a custom home.

The actual floor space in the garage available to store garbage cans, yard tools, mowers, bikes, etc. was next to nothing. I did not see any outdoor storage building on the site plan. Some zoning codes and subdivision rules prohibit or severely limit what one can do with these accessory structures.

Need help with your house plans? CLICK or TAP HERE to get FREE quotes from local Architects that can create or review your blueprints.

Kathy and I discovered at least 25 other mistakes that might cause future frustration. We presented all of our ideas to Bob and Vicky in a friendly manner and Bob was happy to get the input. Before you attend your ground-breaking ceremony be sure you have someone with experience look over your plans. The fee you will pay may prevent years of agony. It is best to do this in two phases: The first phase should occur as soon as the preliminary layout is established. The second phase should happen during the final plan review when detailed working drawings are commonly available.

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High Quality Drywall

Posted on by Tim Carter

drywall papered stack end view

I can't even imagine a volume builder's salesperson talking to you about options with respect to drywall. Even a custom builder might skip over the subject of drywall. A vast majority of consumers and builders consider it a commodity item. The truth be told, it is.

You have all sorts of possibilities when it comes to the walls in your new home. If you are a baby boomer moving into an empty-nester home, there is a great chance you grew up in a home that had real plaster. Plaster, when painted, looks identical to most drywall surfaces. Both are smooth and both accept paint or wallpaper very well.

What are the differences between plaster and drywall?

However, there are two major differences between plaster and drywall. Plaster is a product not much different than concrete. Once dry and cured, plaster can develop a compressive strength of more than 2,000 pounds per square inch. Drywall does not even come close to this number. Try to push a thumb or fingernail into the white coat of a plaster job and you will bend or crack your nail. Do the same in drywall and I guarantee you will make a mark in the tender face of the drywall surface.

Older homes built with plaster walls are typically more soundproof than those built today with the common one-half inch drywall surface on each face of a stud wall. The old plaster was heavier and denser and as such, required more sound energy to get it to vibrate.

Learn the secrets to great drywall installation in this Drywall / Plaster Installation Checklist. I offer a 100% Money Back Guarantee.

Can you still get a veneer-plaster finish?

The good news is that plaster surfaces are still available in residential construction. Veneer-coat plaster is spread out and finished over large sheets of drywall. This drywall is very similar to regular drywall but it is covered with a special blue paper. This paper contains additives that inhibit the water in the wet plaster from damaging the drywall's inner gypsum core. Yes, it costs more to have a veneer-plaster finish. But if you intend to stay in your new home for a long time, it may be well worth the investment.

If you can't afford plaster, you or your builder should call your local drywall distribution business. You will be shocked to discover there are different types of drywall available. Some institutional and commercial drywalls have characteristics that make them act like plaster. These special drywalls might be in order in certain rooms that you suspect might get more abuse than others.

CLICK or TAP HERE to get FREE quotes from local companies that can install or repair your drywall projects.

Will thicker drywall take more abuse from the kids?

Ultra-tough drywalls might be a great idea in a small child's room where toy trucks and planes routinely crash into the wall. Maybe your husband is like me and regularly starts mass rumbles with the kids during which bodies playfully roll into walls.

Another option may be to install a thicker drywall. The most common drywall used in new homes is one-half inch thick. Your builder can just as easily order 5/8 inch thick drywall. It is slightly more difficult to hang because of its weight, but once hung and screwed to the studs, all other things are equal. This thicker drywall will take a little more abuse than one-half inch thick drywall. Your builder will have to order custom door and window jambs if you decide to go this route.

You can also have your drywall finisher apply very unique acrylic plaster compounds over regular drywall. The actual style and texture of the finish is only limited by your imagination and the skill level of the finisher. Old brooms, ragged sponges, random trowel strokes, etc. can be combined to create a unique distressed look in several rooms. If these walls and ceilings are then painted with a colored base coat of paint and then coated with a complimentary color of glaze, the look is breathtaking.

Talk to your builder and give some thought to how those flat wall and ceiling surfaces in your new home can be upgraded to provide you with benefits you may have overlooked. I can assure you my next new home will have veneer coat plaster. Since my kids will be too old to rumble, I will not have to worry about damaging the wall - or separating a shoulder. On second thought, I may have to worry about my grandkids!

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Choose the Right Garbage Disposal

Posted on by Tim Carter
Garbage Disposal

Choose the Right Garbage Disposal

People who are in the market to build a new home often spend weekends touring model homes. A typical model home has been professionally decorated and furnished. In fact, some contain down-sized furniture that make rooms appear larger than they actually are. But that is not the purpose of this column. The flashy and attractive decorating schemes often prove to be distracting when it comes to some of the functional aspects of a new home. For example, when was the last time you opened up a kitchen sink base cabinet to inspect the size and type of garbage disposer?

Are you guilty of garbage disposer disdain?

Many people are guilty of garbage disposer disdain. After all, think of the horrible job relegated to the lowly disposer. It grinds up garbage. Many people look at the gaping black hole in their kitchen sink and wonder what lurks in that forbidding cavern. To make matters worse, many homeowners have never been trained how to properly operate garbage disposers.

Are all garbage disposals the same?

The first thing you should realize is that disposers come in all different sizes with many different features. The strainer basket you see in the bottom of the sink is perhaps the only thing disposers have in common. The actual disposer connects to the strainer underneath the sink. During your next model home tour, open up the sink base cabinet and take a peek. You might be surprised by what you see.

garbage disposer disposal

What size motor should you get?

Many builders install a low-cost builder grade disposer that has a 1/3 horsepower motor. The disposer works and works well, but it is not one meant to last for many years. Deluxe disposers come equipped with 1 horsepower motors and stainless steel inner components. Stainless steel is a perfect choice when it comes to plumbing drain equipment as it will never rust. Some of these disposers are equipped with an auto-reverse function that dislodges jams and extends the life of the motor by preventing armature overheating.

There are many disposers in between the entry level 1/3 horsepower model and the deluxe stainless steel model that is rocket propelled. If you plan to build in the country and your drain lines will connect to a septic tank, you can purchase a special disposer that squirts an enzyme solution into the disposer to help break down the waste in the septic tank.

What does a disposer do when turned on?

In my opinion, people have problems with disposers because they don't understand what happens during and after the disposer is being used. When you insert garbage into the disposer and turn it on, the motor begins to grind up the waste. The grinding action is aided by running water into the disposer as it operates. The disposer creates a slug of sludge in your disposer and the drain lines and the running water starts to transport this sludge into the drain lines.

When should you turn off the water?

Most people listen to the sound of the motor to tell them when the waste has been completely ground up. The pitch of the spinning motor tends to increase as the garbage is ground up. All too often people will turn off the switch to the disposer and then immediately turn off the running water in the sink. This is not a good thing to do. Some of the sludge the disposer created moments before may still be in the drain line leading from the disposer to the fixture trap beneath the sink.

A much better plumbing practice is to let the water in the sink run for at least 15 seconds after you turn off the disposer. This allows an additional 16 to 32 ounces of water to flow into and out of the disposer to help push the sludge towards the city sewer or the septic tank.

When is the best time to use the garbage disposal?

The best thing to do is to time the use of the disposer just before you fill the sink with water to clean pots and pans. If you are able to fill the sink with water, even just half-full, and quickly pull the sink stopper out so the water rushes into the disposer all at once, you will get a flush similar to what happens when you trip the flush handle on a toilet.

This vast amount of water rushing into the disposer does several things. It fills the disposer with water and helps to flush the sides of the machine. The drain line leaving the disposer is also filled completely with rushing water. This moving water scours the sides of the drain pipe removing any of the sludge that was created moments earlier.

Disposers can provide years of trouble-free service if you just buy the right one and use a little common sense when operating it. Always try to create a mental picture of what the garbage looks like when you flip the switch. On second thought, don't do that!

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Check for Crowns in Lumber

Posted on by Tim Carter
lumber crown

The crown of a piece of dimensional rough lumber is the upward arching curvature you see when you look down its narrowest dimensional edge.

 

If you visit your new home construction site, and overhear parts of a conversation among the carpenters, you just might hear them discuss crowns. Your first inclination might be that one or more of them are members of a royal family. If that mental image doesn't connect, you might think one of the crew has some expensive dental work in their immediate future. But my guess is they were talking about the lumber with which they are working.

Traditional lumber floor joists and wall studs are rarely perfectly straight. Most of us wish they were straight so that walls and floors would be in the same plane. This would make the installation of both floor and wall cabinets a breeze. In fact, just about every finish material applied to a wall, floor or ceiling benefits when the framing members are in the same plane.

What is the crown of a piece of lumber?

The crown of a piece of dimensional rough lumber is the upward arching curvature you see when you look down its narrowest dimensional edge. To see the crown of a common 2 by wall stud or floor joist, you drop one end of the board on the ground and pick up the other end. Rotate the piece of lumber so that the 1.5 inch wide surface is pointing to the sky. As you orient your eye, so that you are looking down this finished edge towards the ground, you will almost always see some amount of curvature. It is possible to have a piece of lumber that is perfectly straight or one with very little curvature, but they are few and far between.

How do you install lumber with a crown?

As carpenters build a floor or a wall, it is important that they pay attention to crowns. You want the curvature or crowns of all pieces of lumber in a wall or a floor to point the same direction. In the case of floors, you absolutely want the crowns of the joists to point to the sky after the joists are nailed in place. When walls are framed on the ground or a subfloor, carpenters often do the same thing. When the wall is tilted into position, the wall may have a very slight hump in it as the crowns face out instead of inward.

What is the maximum acceptable crown?

Some lumber may have excessive crowns. In my opinion, a 16 foot long floor joist should have no more than a one-half inch crown. You measure the amount of crown by snapping a chalk line from the two ends of the floor joist along the wide flat face of the lumber. The chalk line, when stretched tightly, represents a perfectly straight line between the two top ends of the joist. The lumber that exists above the chalk line is the crowned aspect of the lumber. Use a tape measure to determine the extent of the crown.

Crowns can create an issue if a severely crowned floor joist is installed next to one that has no or very little crown. As you walk across a floor, that has been framed in this manner, you often can feel the actual hump in the floor. Professional carpenters will always check each joist or wall stud for the amount of crown and mark them. The lumber that has severe crowns can be cut into shorter lengths and used for blocking or short structural header beams above doors and windows.

What are alternatives to lumber that is crowned?

There are other products your builder can use to eliminate crown problems. Engineered floor trusses and engineered I joists can be used. The floor trusses are made in a similar fashion to roof trusses. These are often made at the factory with a crown built into the floor truss, but once the floor is covered and furniture put into the room, the trusses are meant to flatten out to a large degree. The good news is that each separate floor truss has the exact amount of crown built into it so humps are a thing of the past. Wood I-joists are made with no built-in crown. Floors built with them are as flat as a tabletop.

If you want perfectly straight walls, your builder can order engineered lumber wall studs or use steel studs in critical locations. Straight walls are a must in bathrooms where tile will be installed and any wall that will accept cabinets and countertops. The framing carpenters can easily incorporate wood blocking between the steel studs. Many specifications require that a screw penetrate 1.5 inches into solid lumber in order to deliver a sufficient amount of holding power. The wood blocking meets this specification.

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Wallpapers

Posted on by Tim Carter

Farmcrest wallpaper

 

Wallpapers

 

Can you remember the last time you walked into a home that really put your head on a swivel? I mean a house where every room seemed to have a look and feel all its own. I would be willing to wager a pint of the finest mocha chip ice cream that one or more of those rooms had wallpaper on the walls. The more model homes I tour, the more I realize builders and decorators sometimes forget the ambiance and flavor wallpaper can add to otherwise flat and painted walls.

Are you wallpaper-selection challenged?

Wallpaper is available in so many patterns and styles that you are sure to find something that really gets you excited. But some people, such as myself, are wallpaper-selection challenged. I look at patterns in wallpaper books and think some are too busy or the pattern is far too big. Fortunately, my lovely wife Kathy has the gift and talent to pick papers that are not only gorgeous, but the scale of the print and pattern is perfect for the room.

Take for example our entrance hall. I built a Queen Anne Victorian style home and Kathy found a large print paper that matches the time period to a tee. The actual pattern is so large, it didn't even fit on the sample page of the pattern book. But the wallpaper manufacturer had a large photograph of a finished room within the book to show what the pattern looked like on the wall. I would have never picked the pattern. But on the wall, the print is simply breathtaking. Guests who come into our home for the first time are always complimenting this wallpaper. When was the last time you got a compliment on your painted walls?

If you feel you can't make a great choice for your own home, ask for help. Many wallpaper stores have employees who have vast amounts of experience selecting papers. Some even have photo galleries of completed jobs in your area. If they don't have the photos, the professional wallpaper hangers who install the paper almost always carry with them a photo album of premiere papers and jobs they have completed.

CLICK or TAP HERE to get FREE quotes from local companies that will hang your wallpaper for you.

Will hanging wallpaper ruin your walls?

All too often people back away from wallpaper because they feel it will ruin the walls or will be impossible to strip or modify at a later date. This is all true if the proper preparation steps are ignored by the builder and installer. The single-most important step to follow when installing wallpaper is to paint the walls with a special primer-sealer before the paper is installed.

Many wallpapers have strong adhesives applied at the factory. These adhesives can actually penetrate cheap wall paint and grab onto the paper surface of the drywall. The special primer-sealers made for wallpaper do not allow this to happen. Failure to apply the special primer sealer causes thousands of people to suffer each year when they strip wallpaper from walls that were not sealed correctly. As the people strip the wallpaper, large pieces of the drywall facing paper also come off. The special primer-sealers are affordable and can be applied as the base coat to a wall before regular paint is applied. Be sure to do this in all rooms you think might get wallpapered in the future. If you want to wait and apply the sealer the day before you wallpaper, that is fine.

A vast majority of wallpapers come pre-pasted from the factory. The instructions often outline ways to dip the paper in a container of water to activate the paste. I have found that brushing on a clear wallpaper paste activator is a far better method. The activators ensure that wallpaper paste stays on the wallpaper instead of being left behind in the dipping container. I have also discovered that the activators, when used in conjunction with the special primer-sealers, increase the amount of time you can move and adjust the wallpaper once it is applied to the wall.

To make sure your wallpaper is as smooth as a piece of glass once applied to the wall, be sure your builder scrapes down the walls to remove any small pieces of debris that got stuck in the paint or primer-sealer. To ensure the wallpaper is bubble-free, book the wallpaper. Booking paper simply means to fold the paper so the back of the paper touches up against itself. Let the paper sit for five or ten minutes before applying it to the wall. This waiting period allows the paper to expand. If you apply the paper to the wall before it expands, bubbles can and do form under the paper as it grows on the wall.

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Bricks

Posted on by Tim Carter
gold brick in a brick wall

You can clearly see the gold brick.  Photo credit: Threasa Brown

Brick is a popular building material for many reasons. If you purchase a high quality one and it is installed correctly on your new home, it rarely, if ever, requires any maintenance. The multi-color earth tones of brick add vast amounts of character to many architectural styles. Brick's dense composition helps to protect the inside of your home from the unwanted noises of everyday life that often overflow from the city and suburbs and into your private part of the planet.

How do you properly install bricks?

But what is involved in making sure the brick is installed correctly? The building code speaks to this question, in some respect, but if you want great results your builder and bricklayer have to spend more time and effort than the code requires.

It is impossible to cover all of the important bricklaying steps in sufficient detail in this short column. Entire books and countless technical booklets have been published describing the process from start to finish. But suffice it to say, there are some basic things that must be done to insure the brick performs well and the inside of your home stays dry.

Are brick homes waterproof?

Brick homes are by no means waterproof. The industry has known this for years. Water can and does seep through the mortar joints where the mortar touches the brick. Water can actually pass through certain brick or ones with cracks in them. Water infiltration is worst during storms where wind and rain pound one or more exposures of your home. The force of the wind actually pushes water deeper and deeper into the wall until it appears on the back of the brick and runs down inside the wall cavity.

Since we know water gets in the hidden wall cavity, your builder must make sure it never contacts anything made from wood. This water is the necessary missing ingredient that can trigger mold growth and wood rot. The first step is to make sure the house has a water barrier installed that shields the wood framing and sheathing components from water contact. Windows and doors that penetrate these membranes must be flashed so that water can't get behind them.

metal flashing

Metal Flashing

 

Additional flashings that integrate into the brick must be installed under the first course of brick that sits on top of the foundation. This continuous flashing must extend up the wall of the home and behind the water barrier that keeps the water off the wood framing. Where this flashing wraps around outside and inside corners, it must be fitted, trimmed and sealed so that water can't leak past it at these critical locations. This same flashing material must be used below and above each window and door of the entire house. The flashings need to project out past the face of the brick approximately 3/8 inch so that water can drip off and drop to the ground. Weep holes should be spaced no greater than two feet apart at any location where flashing is placed under a course of brick.

Sand and Brick Mortar Close Up of brick

Brick Mortar

 

A task as simple as adding mortar for the next course of brick is very critical. The bricklayer must not apply too much mortar. When the brick is placed into position, mortar oozes out around the base of the brick. The bricklayer can easily capture and remove the excess mortar on the front side of the wall. But it is impossible to get the mortar that droops down in the void space between the back of the brick and the frame wall. If this mortar falls off and drops into the void space, it can begin to collect and block the weep holes that allow water to escape from behind the brick wall.

CLICK or TAP HERE to get FREE quotes from local companies that will install or repair your brick work.

This excess mortar can also touch the frame wall part of your home and create a bridge. Bridging is bad because it can create a transfer spot where water jumps from the back of the brick to the frame wall of your home.

Another important aspect is the simple tooling of the mortar joint. Different mortar joint styles exhibit vastly different waterproofing characteristics. The most waterproof joint is the common concave joint that looks like a person rubbed their thumb over the wet mortar. Specify this tooling style on your new home.

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Door Hardware

Posted on by Tim Carter
kitchen pantry door close up

This is new door hardware that looks like old. The latch is mortised into the door. You lock it with a skeleton key!

There are countless decisions a person has to make when they decide to throw a skin into the Build a New House game. Paint colors, carpet, tile, cabinets, appliances, trim, wallpaper, etc. The list goes on and on. But unfortunately, some builders don't offer choices, or limited ones at best, when it comes to door hardware. By door hardware, I mean both the door knobs / locksets and the hinges for the door.

The house I grew up in was built in the 1930's. The door knobs were clear crystal and the actual hardware was a full mortise mechanism that used a skeleton key to lock and unlock the doors. This hardware still functions perfectly in that home. You can buy door hardware that will last generations or you can buy some that lasts for several months or years. You should be given the choice to choose hardware that can add value to your home as it ages.

What are the differences in styles of door hardware?

There are vast differences in quality and styles when it comes to door hardware. For some production builders, hardware is a place where they can save large sums of money in an effort to keep their sales price low to lure you into their model home. The problem is, this low-cost and low-quality hardware can cause you headaches not too long after your warranty expires.

Visit a home center and I guarantee that you will find a door knob set for under ten dollars. In fact, you can find them on sale for less than seven dollars. The surface looks shiny and the device will open and latch a door, but for how long? These pieces of hardware are made in foreign countries and are considered a commodity item.door lockset

There are different levels of quality and a higher cost associated with each level when it comes to door hardware. The next level is one where you can get a door knob set for approximately $20. These locksets and door knob sets are just a slight improvement over the lowest cost item. They work, but don't expect more than three to five years of service from these hardware sets.

If you start to budget $40 to $50 per door for hardware, you start to get a respectable mechanical device that will be trouble-free for many years. Both traditional round knobs and lever handles are available in this price range.

The next level starts between $70 - $80 per door. Now you are beginning to enter the upper levels of the door hardware atmosphere. Buying a door knob set in this category is like flying first class in a B-777 from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia, where the $7 sale lockset is a raft with a cloth sail.

Need help with your door hardware? CLICK or TAP HERE to get FREE quotes from local companies that can install your new door hardware.

You can buy even more expensive and higher quality door hardware. As crazy as it sounds, you can spend $150 per door and go as high as $2,000 per door for custom hand-cast designs made by European craftsmen.

What about door hinges?

Don't overlook door hinges. All too often pre-hung interior doors come with commodity machine-stamped hinges. Often these are brass-plated steel. These hinges do work, but they are not well-engineered. There are higher quality stamped hinges that are solid brass. Accent kits can be added so the hinge pins have a traditional ball look or a Victorian finial. I happen to have theses highly-polished solid brass hinges with the finials in my own home.

The best interior door hinges are ones that are extruded. This is a more costly manufacturing process, but the precision of the final product is magnificent. These hinges will provide years of trouble-free performance.

You don't have to be a lottery winner to be able to afford decent door hardware. I urge you to visit a true hardware store that just sells locksets and hinges to get a real feel of what kind of quality and style can be had for a given price range. You may be surprised to discover that door knob styles and finishes exist that you have never seen. What's more, they may be within your budget. Be sure to make this very important trip.

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Stop Roof Leaks with Flashings

Posted on by Tim Carter
roof flashing

Roof Leak Flashings - A vast majority of all roof leaks are at flashings. This is a base flashing where a lower roof ends against a second-story wall.

Roof Leak Flashings - Yep, That's Where You Look First.

You undoubtedly expect many things when you move into a new home. Fresh paint, trouble-free plumbing, new fixtures and a dry environment are surely high on the list. But you might be surprised how many new homes develop roof leaks in a very short amount of time. Unless you have nerves of steel and a tall ladder, I doubt you'll have the chance to get up and inspect your roof during the walk-through inspection. You might simply hope the roof is okay.

How Can I Inspect My Roof?

It is possible to inspect the roof. You can hire an independent roofer or a certified whole-house inspector to check out things you can't easily see. This individual should have the equipment and the experience to quickly see if the roof and all of its components are installed correctly.

CLICK or TAP HERE to get FREE quotes from local roofers that can inspect your roof and stop leaks.

What is a roof flashing?

A roof flashing is a material that connects your roofing materials to something that's not your roof. Here are examples of things that are not a roof, but have flashings around them or next to them:

  • plumbing vent pipes
  • chimneys
  • exhaust vents from a furnace
  • skylights
  • dormers
  • second-story sidewalls
  • valleys
  • etc.

What Does a Flashing Look Like?

Watch this video to see the most common flashing there is. Every house has one of these and some houses have more than one:

What Material is Used to Make Flashings?

Flashing material can be made from many things including tin, copper, galvanized steel, lead, aluminum and even rubber. The most common place a homeowner sees flashing is at a plumbing vent pipe. A chimney poking through a roof always has a flashing around it. Skylights always are surrounded by flashings.

Do You Have More Information About Flashings?

Yes. CLICK or TAP HERE to discover more about metal roof flashings.

What is a Counterflashing?

A counterflashing is a secondary material that overlaps a lower flashing that's weaved into the roofing material. You'll find these counterflashings around chimneys and skylights in almost all cases.

Frequently you will see triangular pieces of metal that are actually mortared into the chimney. These are just one part of a complex set of metal pieces that weave into the roofing materials and the masonry chimney to form a watertight connection.

Are Flashings Found Where a Roof Butts Up Against a Wall?

Another common flashing location is anywhere a roof butts up next to a wall. For example, your new home might have a single-story garage connected to a two-story house. Look closely where the shingles touch the house and you should see flashings. If the house has some sort of wood or vinyl siding, these siding materials will lap over the metal flashings. This method of construction produces leak-free performance as well.

CLICK or TAP HERE to get FREE quotes from local roofers that can inspect your roof and stop leaks.

Are Plumbing Vent Flashings Simple?

Plumbing vent pipes also have a simple flashing that slides down over the pipe that sticks up through the roof. Be sure to watch the video above showing how to install a plumbing vent-pipe flashing.

Typically newer flashings of this type are equipped with a special silicone-rubber collar that fits tightly around the circular plumbing vent pipe. This flashing lays over the shingles below the lower half of the flashing and the upper half of the flashing is covered by the roofing shingles above the flashing.

Do Skylights Come With Flashing Kits?

Yes, certain skylights have factory-built flashing kits that are superb when installed according to manufacturers' instructions. Velux was the leader in this area beginning back in the 1970s. In my opinion, Velux skylights come with the best flashings and you'll never have a leak if you follow their installation instructions.

They will keep out the worst driving rain and keep any room leak free. These factory-built flashings require no soldering or caulk to provide years of leak-free performance. I have five of them on my own home and have installed hundreds of others.

What Do You Use To Make Your Own Flashings?

I prefer to use flashing materials that can be soldered easily. Tin-coated steel and copper meet this requirement. Tin-coated steel used to be available in different weights: 20 and 40-pound. The 40-pound tin has more tin coating on the pieces of steel.

However, stringent and oppressive environmental requirements have all but eliminated sources of tin-coated steel in the USA. This is a tragic loss as I feel there's very little solid evidence that the lead is as big an issue as it's made out to be. I'm not trusting of the science behind these restrictions. The old cynic in me thinks that some group or politicians are profiting from these harsh restrictions for a time-tested material used on roofs for centuries.

Understand that the led in the flashings since is not exposed to the atmosphere because all tin flashings are painted. What's more, lead is a natural element found in nature on its own.

Is Copper a Great Flashing Material?

Yes, copper is perhaps the best flashing material. It doesn't require painting, it's easy to bend and form, and it's extremely easy to solder. Copper flashings can last up to 100 years.

You can purchase very thin copper that will protect your asphalt shingles from deteriorating. CLICK or TAP HERE to purchase this thin copper.

I made this discovery when writing my Roofing Ripoff expose' book.

roofing ripoff cover

This is the cover of my Roofing Ripoff book. CLICK on THE IMAGE NOW TO ORDER IT.

Can I Use Aluminum for Flashing Material?

You can use aluminum for certain flashings. It's a great material for step flashings that weave into shingles.

The biggest issue is that aluminum can't be soldered. Some incompetent roofers will CAULK aluminum flashing, but this is a mistake. Caulk is NOT a flashing material.

Can I Use Aluminum Against Brick or Stone?

No. Never use aluminum in contact with brick or stone.

Be sure your builder does not use aluminum flashing material in contact with any masonry walls or chimneys. The alkaline chemicals in the masonry can corrode the aluminum over time. Aluminum is also very difficult to solder or weld. Beware of roofers or builders who install aluminum and then caulk corners to make a leak-resistant joint. There are no caulks that will provide the same trouble-free performance as solder.

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Handy Tools for Your New House

Posted on by Tim Carter
Assortment of Hand tools

Handy Tools for Your New House

If you are buying or building a new home to get a respite from repair or other projects around the house, you are dreaming. I am quite sure within the first 30 days you may find yourself doing any number of things that transform a new house into a comfortable home that fits like a glove. If you are interested, I will share a few of my secret tools that are tucked away in my toolbelt. More than once these special tools have saved both time and money - two very valuable commodities in this day and age.

Tools for Carpentry

When I am involved in either rough carpentry or even finish carpentry jobs, you can bet you will find my wood rasp in use any number of times during the day. This rasp looks like a fingernail file on massive doses of steroids. Wood rasps are made using hardened steel. Mine is eight inches long and one inch wide. It has two cutting surfaces on each side - coarse cutting teeth and fine cutting grooves. One surface is flat and the other is slightly convex.

wood rasp

This wood rasp is a 4-way, half round, half flat file. Click the image to purchase this item.

A rasp comes in very handy when you want to remove splinters from a saw cut or quickly ease (create a slight round profile) a sharp edge. I frequently use it to trim away wood on the cut edge of a miter joint on woodwork. Removal of this wood allows mitered trim to fit perfectly on wall surfaces that are not in the same plane. You may need to trim a small amount of wood away on a shelf that is not fitting well into that slightly out-of-square corner. There are hundreds of things you can use a rasp for.

Magnetic Pickup Tool

magnetic pickup tool

Click the image to purchase this item.

Can you remember the last time you assembled anything? If you are like me, a screw, nut or bolt gets dropped and is sucked by a mystical force into the closest furnace duct, crack or crevice. It can even be a small screw that drops inside an appliance. My telescopic magnetic pick-up tool saves the day each time this happens to me. When not in use, the tool shaft collapses just like a common radio antenna. If you don't have this tool, you should get one immediately.

basic tools home repair

These are just a few of the basic tools you’ll need to do home repairs around your home. Photo Credit: Tim Carter

Mini Tubing Cutter

If you are an ambitious do-it-yourselfer, you may jump feet first into adding water supply lines to a new sink, maybe a forgotten hose bib or even an ice-maker supply line. Plumbers often install water supply lines close to floor joists. A standard tubing cutter can't always be rotated a full turn in these tight spaces, but my miniature tubing cutter can! This little tool is only one and one quarter inches square and cuts both one-half and three-quarter inch copper tubing with ease. The best part is they are affordable.

mini copper tubing cutter

Here's the magical tool. It's the absolute BEST mini tubing cutter I've ever used. Click on the image to purchase this mini cutter. (C) Copyright Tim Carter

Do you like to use drywall screws to assemble pieces of wood? I do as screws seem to hold so much better over time than a standard uncoated nail. You can get nails that have glue or ribbed shafts that hold well, but often there is no substitute for a screw. Screws look best when the heads are flush with the finish surface or slightly countersunk. I have a set of special Phillips head screw bits that are also countersink hole creators. The bits actually have cutting edges on the sides of the four tip blades. The steel is hardened and makes perfect countersink holes each time. Without this hole, you can snap the screw shaft or worse yet, strip the wood by over-driving the screw.

The Plumb Bob

I saved the best for last. My four-inch long brass plumb bob has its own private compartment in my toolbelt. I have all sorts of levels, laser levels and even transits that can create level and plumb lines. These are great tools, but accidents can cause them to get out of adjustment. The last time I checked, Mother Nature's gravity is perfectly aligned.

Lazer Plumb Bob logo

Click on the image to get your own Plumb Bob.

A plumb bob can be used to create perfectly plumb lines for any number of jobs. If you create a right triangle from the plumb line, you get a perfectly level line. Who would think a simple piece of metal could produce such precision?

If you don't have these tools, you may start to accumulate them. There is no doubt in my mind that you will smile each time you use each one. Those who view your technique and results will think you are a genius.

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