The first step is to try to determine what the stuff is that you want to strip: oil paint, latex paint, varnish, lacquer?.Then decide if you can work on all the surfaces horizontally, or if you will have to work on some vertically.Now start reading the labels of all the different strippers on the...
Marlowe from North York, Ontario has painted her doors, door knobs, and latches so well that nothing works any more -- the doors just won't stay shut.It is usually best to remove all the hardware before painting, or at least mask it -- but in this case she wanted to change the colour of the hardw...
Often door and window hardware has special brass or antique finishes on it. When you spill some latex paint on it and don't get it wiped up right away, or it has been painted over time and again, stripping off the paint can be touchy because if you are trying to restore it to its original condit...
Tom from Toronto has made 'door storage' by simply suspending old doors from the ceiling or the wall, as you can see in the first two photos above.Then there is the home made "free form" drawer that you thought was condemed when you put a sink in front of the drawer front. The bottom of the draw...
Most of you are aware that metal connectors are often used to hold things together in a house, much more than in the good old days. The most common one that most people can see in relatively new basements, even decks, is the joist hanger you see in the second photo. Rather than having to sit th...
If a 6x6 or 4x4 wants to twist, it will do so and you can do little to stop it. However you can decide which end will twist!Buried pillarsIf you bury the 6x6 into a concrete pillar, the bottom will be fixed and the top will move, perhaps before you get around to locking in the rest of the deck f...
Fastening to concrete or masonry? We've got three problems: choosing the right fastener, choosing the right tool and then doing it right. Here is some product information and trouble shooting tips.Power Actuated nailingExplosive shot nailling is the most common but the weakest of the serious ...
Our viewers have been recommending products of late. Here are three that my staff tested and I really liked.The Quiet Fill toilet valve from Korky does in fact fill a toilet differently. A regular toilet will fill with a full flow for a while then slowly the valve closes down and it gets noisie...
If you look carefully at the photo above you will see that I am holding a rather strange door latch. This thing is called Door Tite and it solves so many problems with exterior doors such as where you have to pull hard part of the year to be able to close the deadbolt with your key. It has a li...
After selling us knock down furniture for many years now, we can finally buy that special connecting hardware ourselves.There are two basic types: sunken nuts, and cams.The principle of a sunken nut, as you see in the first photo, is that you have a little cylinder that has a threaded hole throug...
