Riana from Huntsville Ontario is struggling with getting the miter cuts right for crown molding.
First rule, use a large miter box (purchased, rented or home made) that allows you to make simple 45 degree with the molding standing up in its regular position. Well, almost in its regular position....
There are over 2000 window manufacturers in Canada, and with all that competition, each one wants to make homeowners, renovators, and builders believe that their windows are easier to install than the other brand. This has led to a lot of very poorly built windows that are often difficult to ins...
The books say 32 inches, but there is no reason for that to be a hard and fast rule. However if you make it a lot smaller you will have the impression of being a giant Alice in a tiny Wonderland. If you make it a lot higher, it will dominate the wall.Wainscoting was originally created to protec...
There are times, especially when working with moulding, that you need to divide an angle in half. I learned how to do this with a compass in high school and since then I have fallen in love with the Angle Finder, an impressive little device that uses more geometry than my compass to measure exac...
Mark in Mississauga has a semi-circular staircase and he has to replace the floor moldings that will make a semi-circle. How to bend the moldings?Water or steam will allow most wood to bend, and is especially effective with oak.The Pipe SoakerOne simple rig is simply to take a large PVC drain pi...
Just a few math answers to common renovation questions.How far should steps go up (rise) and how wide should steps be (run)? The rise should not be less than 4 inches or you will stumble on it, nor more than 9 inches or it becomes a ladder. Then within those limits, the rise times the run should...
We received the tip that when you want to sand molding, you can make a custom sanding block by wrapping thin plastic wrap over the molding and then forming a block into the wood molding with epoxy auto body repair putty. When it hardens, remove the block, pull off the plastic and you have a pret...
No matter what you want to do with a router, you need some way to control and guide it. This is true even with free hand lettering. Notice in the first picture how I anchor my hands down to the wood so that either one of them is almost stationary while the other moves, or both are dragging alon...
Gord from Elliot Lake, Ontario asks: "What is the best way to fasten baseboards when you have metal studs and base plates?"Often workers will add a piece of wood into the floor track to allow for nailing of the floor boards. If you don't want to double up material like that, then you should use ...
When you are working on getting trim to fit tightly around a window, be sure to perfect the mitre corners first, and then cut the square length last. That way, if you have to adjust the mitre, you still have enough length to the wood to fit the other end.One way to assure a perfect fit is to rou...
