MyFixitUpLife home improvement
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It’s easy to love your wood pergola, deck, playset, or outdoor space when the sun is shining and it’s all board shorts, cookouts, and kids kicking around in the grass. But it’s extreme weather that tests a wood’s mettle. That’s why we prefer cedar for our outdoor projects. And Western Red Cedar’s proven, natural ability [...]
Kitchens are notorious for having multiple layers of flooring one right on the of the other. This can impact new work, especially adding new flooring to the kitchen. To find out how many layers of flooring you have—and how thick they are—remove an HVAC register. With this removed you can see all the layers [...]
Back-prime/seal any cedar siding you install (you can buy it pre-primed) and prime/seal the end-grains where you cut it during installation. Also, cedar should be hand nailed to prevent over drives.
Who hasn’t seen the metal rake gag? The absent minded cartoon character steps on the upright tines and: SMASH. I’m not sure it’s possible, but a rake (or shovel) lying on the ground is 5 lineal feet of something you—or whomever you’re working with—can trip over. That IS possible. And likely. Neat and un-injured [...]
If it’s been a while since you’ve checked your table or miter saw for accuracy and square, it pays to set a side a few minutes to double check and adjust fences and blades as needed.
When installing drywall or framing a partition wall perpendicular to an outside wall, say while refinishing a basement, it is often the case there is no stud to nail to. There are a number of solutions to this problem, but the one I like best in most cases is what I learned as a “chicken [...]
Dust is an ever-present reality of many remodeling projects and controlling it is key, especially when there may be lead paint present. One of my favorite dust-controlling products is one we make ourselves—think site-made screen door. A 1×4 frame with 1/2-inch OSB gussets and .6 mil plastic sheeting (instead of a screen), this door holds [...]
When framing new walls while refinishing a basement—especially in an old house—it is important to place studs directly under the existing floor joists above (when practical and possible,) even if they are not spaced 16 inches on center. The reason for this is that it maximizes the “chase” between stud bay and joist bay which [...]
Trying to get a credit card reader to register a worn magnetic strip on a credit card at the check out line can be a fiasco. And you know it’s time to spend fifteen minutes getting a new card when when the cashier wraps your card in a plastic grocery bag to try and make [...]
Round-topped openings—typically just called an “arch”—come in two main styles: a “segmented arch” and an ellipse. A segmented arch, like this one from the Washington, DC Brewmaster’s Castle built in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, is a segment of a big circle: if you projected the lines of the arch around it would make a circle. [...]
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