Check exactly what connectors and valves you need before settling in under the sink and starting to cut pipes.Purchase a "speedway wrench? -- they don't cost much and make working under sinks much less of a headache. These are special long right angle wrenches that get to that collar nut way u...
Yes. In fact it is a very good system that provides one of the hardest floor finishes available, without having to sand the old finish. But there are important details that shouldn?t be missed and some limitations that you must pay attention to.If the floor is damaged and needs wood filler, ...
The construction industry uses a lot of power nailers today. Most of these are pneumatic simply because driving a nail in with a single blow requires a tremendous amount of power. A hammer delivers much less power, which means hitting the nail many times to get the same job done. But power...
Elizabeth from Windsor, Ontario wants to bend some plexiglass. How does she do it? With heat. The pros have special heat cables and knives to deliver just the right heat at the right spot for slow bends, or sharp 90 degree or even 180 degree bends.For amateur work where you don't want to spend...
Crown molding is traditionally cut at a straight 45 degree miter with the molding sitting upright in the miter box. The only trick here is to realize that the saw bed is the ceiling, and the saw fence is the wall, so your molding is sitting upside down in the box. That was fine when we used...
One of our viewers had removed a stair rail and the absent newel post left an ugly hole in the hardwood floor at the bottom of the stairs. How to patch it gracefully?You will probably never get an exact match with a small patch. So I recommend cutting out a full board in front of the steps, a...
Bending electrical conduit can be a difficult job if you don't have a professional conduit bender. The problem is that it tends to just collapse. Heating it will certainly help, but it still flattens out or kinks.Alfonz from Vernon B.C. has a real nifty technique. He fills the conduit with san...
We watched some pros installing sheet vinyl flooring.First make sure that there are no cracks between boards in the sub-floor or they will show through the vinyl eventually. Do not fill the cracks with any kind of plaster product, it will break up under the vinyl and create bumps. Use a ceme...
We followed Jerry Cloemenzi?s use of special tools during the professional installation of real plaster crown moldings.Of note: he used a framing hammer to punch holes in the drywall right where his plaster was going to glue the molding to the wall. That gave him great toothing into the wall....
Rob Cosman, out of New Brunswick and representing American Craftsman Publications, came in to share with us some of the tricks to making the strongest corner joint in woodworking, the dovetail -- and making them by hand.He had some nifty layout tips for making wide tails and narrow pins, but ...
