Installing Flooring: Use the Right Tools

Do yourself a favour:  get a rubber mallet.

They are  not very expensive and the mallet will make your DIY project to install under-flooring like in this picture or laminate flooring much faster, more precise, with less damage to the materials (including your fingers, knuckles and hands), and with far less cursing.  My wife will testify to that...

I believe it is worth the purchase even for a single flooring job.  Now that I have one there is always another DIY project where something needs a bit of persuading -- and nothing persuades like a rubber mallet!

Precisely because it is rubber, the mallet does not damage the material you are striking like a normal hammer would.  The rubber tends to give a more satisfyingly hardy 'strike' maybe because the striking surface has more real estate than a hammer.  There will be less glancing blows, less damage, and again less cursing.

My advice:  Get one!

Search Amazon.com for mallet
;-)

Installing a Basement Subfloor: another tip

Get yourself a pair of knee pads!

They will be a life safer!

If you are going to be installing a subfloor and/or a finish floor like the laminate we put in, you are going to be on your knees for a good part of the time. That will be hours! I estimate that the subfloor took us over 12 hours to do. It would have been a very painful 12 hours without the knee pads!

I am positive I would not be walking today if it was not for my knee pads...


Related Posts:

9 Tips for Installing Laminate Floor - Monday, January 12, 2009
4 Tips for Installing Basement Sub-Floor - Wednesday, January 28, 2009

;-)

8 Tips for Successful Soldering of Copper Plumbing

Soldering copper pipe is actually a simple and easy process, and can be error free if you follow so tried and true tips and trick:

1) Measure right
Be sure to measure the length of pipe needed to fit inside the joints whether it be elbows, t's, or other connectors.

2) Cut with a pipe cutter
Resist to urge to use a hack saw! Using the right pipe cutter will give a straight, clean, and burr-free cut. I like the small cutters as they are very versatile - they can be used in small spaces!

3) Clean the copper
The key to perfect solder joints is completely bare copper. Use a piece of emery paper or a cleaning tool and clean ALL the surfaces that will be soldered. This includes both the outside of the pipe and the inside of the connector piece.

Always do the finger check to make sure the area just cleaned has all the dirt removed.

4) Dry fit
Always, always dry fit your entire section of copper plumbing before soldering. This way you can find any mistakes in measuring. Plus you can plan the order of the joints to be soldered.

And last, but most important, mark the positions of the joints with a permanent marker - put a line on both parts - and long enough that subsequent steps won't obscure the mark. Often you have to take the assembly a part and solder it in sections, having it marked will make this process much easier.

5) Use a soldering flux
Soldering flux makes soldering copper a dream. It further cleans and prepares the surfaces to be soldered. The flux helps to literally suck the solder into the joint.

6) Protect the area
You are about to use a very hot flame to heat up the copper pipe, and unfortunately much of the surrounding area - studs, floor, wires, vapour barrier, etc... You simply must use a small sheet of metal to protect the surrounding area. Maybe the pros can do it without protection, but better safe than sorry.

7) Protect yourself
Things get hot when you solder, and you will if only absentmindedly reach out and want to hold a piece of copper that you just heated. The are all sorts of reasons to wear gloves - just do it. Eye protection is another big one. Melted solder can sputter - don't be dumb use eye protection!

8) Fire extinguisher
Accidents happen! Even with the best planning and protection a fire could start. Be sure to have a fire extinguisher within reach - not in the building - actually within a step or two of where you are soldering.

9) Heat evenly but focused
It is important to ensure the entire joint to be soldered gets to the right temperature. Often you will be soldering copper to brass fittings. Brass heats up much slower than copper so focus most of the flame on the brass parts.

But how do you know when it is hot enough. I am not a pro but I have notices that when the flame around the coper changes to a green colour I get the best joints. The instant it changes I remove the flame and touch the joint with the solder. The solder flows in to the joint perfectly every time!

10) Go Lead Free
With all the new products on the market there is no reason to use ANY solder with lead in it. This includes the solder flux or paste. I found some old solder in my tool box that had lead - resisted the urge to use it and off to the hazard waste depot it went!

Don't be afraid..
There is no mystic about soldering copper plumbing. Start with a few small joints, get your wings and then you will be soldering like a pro...

My Workshop is a Mess

My workshop in the basement of the Cottage is a mess! Actually an organized mess...

As I mentioned in a previous post I have been slowly moving my tools into the Cottage itself from the shed which has been their home during the early part of the construction. Now that the cottage is completely enclosed and secure, Leaving them in the cottage makes them more readily available.

At the end of each weekend we do collect all the tools throughout the cottage an 'store' them in the workroom. Maybe not in any organized fashion but at least we know where they are.

Having the tools in the cottage has been a godsend. Now lots of time is saved because:

• they are already in the Cottage, no going up an out to the shed.
• breakdown is simpler as the workshop is closer than the sled.
• many times the tools do not move that far - for instance the air compressor and tank doesn't move we just plug it in, turn it on, grab the air nailer and then go to the location we need the nailer.

In a week or so, once the electrical has completed his work we can move the work table against the wall and then start to get more organized in the workshop.

Can you tell I am looking forward to having my workshop setup?

Installing Vinyl Siding: The Tools You Need!

There are a lot of tools you could get. Some very specialized for installing siding. This is what we used:

1. Hammer: My favorite hammer is a framing hammer but I found it to be a bit awkward to use for nailing the siding. It was too long and heavy. You need to have a light hand when nailing siding - as will be revealed in a later post. So a standard 16 ounce hammer is just fine. Everyone in the team needs a hammer.
   
2. Circular saw with fine tooth blade: When you are doing a massive amount of siding having a faster way to cut siding is imperative. Cutting all the siding by using tin snips will make you hands very powerful but take forever... The way to do this is to install a fine toothed blade, like that for plywood, in the reverse direction in a circular saw. Why reverse? Because it cuts a smooth edge through the siding.
   
3. Tin Snips: The circular saw will not cut everything. Much of the fine work and cutting of the trim pieces has to be done by hand. I found that tin snips provide the most versatile cutting tool and a nice smooth cut edge on the siding.
   
4. Tape Measure (and Pencil): You will be doing lots of measuring and marking for cutting. Everyone in the working party should have a pencil and a tape measure. Sharing one will just slow you down.
   
5. Work Table(s): Just about every piece of siding, fascia and trim material comes in 12-foot lengths. Measuring and cutting this material is a real pain unless you have a flat surface at waist height to do it on. I found that those portable work tables that have an adjustable opening in the table were great for supporting both sides of the siding material when cutting them with a circular saw. I used 2 such tables - a third would have been a bit more helpful.
   
6. Level: This is a key tool right at the first when you are installing the starter strip. Once the starter strip is level and nailed in the level waits for the next wall.
   
7. Nail Pouch: Having something to hold a couple hundred roofing nails (that's what you nail the siding on with) plus holding the tin snips, measuring tape and pencil is obvious...
   
8. Safety Glasses: You should always use safety glasses when sawing and nailing. I actually have safety sun glasses - and they stay on my head (and over my eyes) all day long.
   
9. Ladder: There will always be a need for a ladder - even if you have scaffolding.
   
10. Scaffolding: We have covered this ground already - scaffolding is critical for safety and rapid installation.

The specialized siding tools. I found that I just did not need them. In fact I did not purchase them. The possible exception is the siding removal tool. While not critical having this tool would have made removing a siding board much easier - we were able to struggle along without it. The issue is that once a piece of siding is locked in to the one below it getting it unlocked in order to remove it is a bit difficult - but doable with a bit of elbow grease.

4 Tips for Installing Vinyl Siding

The siding is almost completed!

This past weekend we almost completed the siding and the soffet.

It was wickedly hot, way over 30 degrees C, and almost no clouds in the sky. With the humidity it was sweltering working under the sun. At times I was worried about sun stroke for my son and myself, as we were feeling woozy a few times.

With the sun frying our brains the work just took longer. Anyway... I am not complaining. This weather is much better than the constant rain this summer. At least we were able to work!

I had done a bit of siding in a previous building project, but we learned much about installing siding, fascia and soffet in this much bigger and more sophisticated building project. I'll share it with you over the next few posts. But first a few key points:

1. Get scaffolding - it will make the work go faster and much safer. The key is to get enough scaffolding so that you can do an entire wall from end to end in one go. Using a ladder to extend the reach horizontally is simply a pain.
   
2. Get the right tools - more on that coming but included in the set of tools you need are a skill saw, two kinds of 'scissors', measuring tools, a level, a hammer and a siding remover tool.
   
3. Get the right siding accessories: There is a huge number of various accessories for holding, securing, and covering the siding. It is important to use the right accessory in the right place. There are different accessories for the top, sides and bottom of the siding. There are different methods for installing around windows. And that is just for the siding. There is a whole other set of accessories for installing both fascia and soffet. We will explore these over the next few posts.
4. Plan Way in Advance: There is an important order in putting up the siding that starts as far back as ordering the windows. yes! even before you have picked out the colour of the siding you could be building into the design of the windows an important element for installing siding. Stay tuned for more in latter posts.

Project Status:
In the above picture you can see all the siding, fascia and soffet is now complete on the east and south sides of the cottage. There is a bit uncompleted just under the porch because we needed to install plywood as the ceiling which I had not yet received. [That is part of the planning tip... understand what you need and when you will needed it - of course in this case it wouldn't have mattered as we changed our minds on how to handle this area.]

The other two sides are about 90% complete - the siding is installed but not the fascia and soffet.

Spray Foam, Petroleum Jelly and Nozzles

The use of the petroleum jelly is critical. Without it the gun would rapidly become non-functional. Illustrated here is a used nozzle with the spray foam curing in it. The tube contains about 4 squirts of petroleum jelly.

Building Smart - order is Important!

With good planning it was easy to reach spots like the main floor walls or even the roof without having to use ladders or even scaffolding.

Here the completed deck substructure covered with some spare pieces of plywood served as a ready-made scaffold. This allowed us to move around quicker and to use stepladders rather than extension ladders or scaffolding.

Where getting even higher was necessary, just adding one layer of scaffold was all that was needed.

I'll never use another extention ladder again!

I have come to appreciate a new ladder, "World's Greatest Multi-Use Ladder", which I purchased at Costco. You can find a great review of the ladder at www.inspectorsjournal.com. It isn't a 'Little Giant' but it is very close! and at less than half the price ($139.99) it fits the bill!

I have found that the "World's Greatest Multi-Use Ladder" is vastly superior to the standard extension ladder in the following ways:

• It is less awkward to move and setup
• It is much more stable on just about any kind of ground conditions. This is particularly comforting to me as I am not a big fan of heights so having a more stable platform just makes the job go quicker
  
• It is great on sloped work site - like the side of the hill that the "Cottage on the Edge" rests. The step ladder mode an have different lengths of 'ladder for each side of the step ladder. In such a configuration the ladder is very stable and much easier to level and secure.
  
• I can work on a larger area without having to move the ladder. For instance, when putting up the 50-inch joists for the deck, the double-sided nature of the ladder in step ladder mode means I can get to both ends of the joist without having to move the ladder. Not having to constantly move the ladder saves time - big time!
• Furthermore, two people can work on the ladder in step ladder mode, which is really a time saver, for instance, when installing the joists I mentioned above. Each person can be working in one end of the joist.
  

This ladder converts without tools to: 4 positions as a step ladder, 8 heights as an extension ladder, 6 positions as a stairway ladder, 3 heights as a scaffold, and 3 heights as a wall ladder. Great for use on stairs.

Shooting Nails into Concrete

How do you secure wood to concrete?

When I installed the sheathing on the walls I placed them so that about a foot of the concrete foundation was also covered. Now ordinary nails just don't do concrete so I needed another solution to secure the sheathing material to the concrete.

I used a tool called the the 'Power Hammer' made by Remington - Yes the rifle people, to literally shoot nails through the sheathing and into the concrete. This power hammer drives special concrete nails ranging from 1 to 2.5 inched in length using a .22 caliber, necked down, crimped, low velocity power loads.

The nail is placed at the end of the barrel and the power load is loaded in the other end. The Power Hammer is held on the spot the nail is to go and a hammer is used bang the other end, thus triggering the power load to fire.

It is very important to use the right length of nail and power load combination. The power loads come in 4 strengths. I used 1.5 or 2 inch nails with the highest power load, a number 4 which were colour-coded yellow.

It took a bit of trial and error to get the right combination. In the above picture you can see two power nails. The left one didn't quite go all the way into the concrete - I believe the power load was not high enough. The one on the right is perfect - I you can see where the nail is is the plastic sleeve that holds the nail in the barrel.

A Little Oil Goes a Long Way...

In my previous post I revealed my disappointment with the air nailer I purchased from Princess Auto. Turns out the reason the nails were not advancing automagically is because the coating on the nails is scrapping off with each nail shot and gumming up the inside of the nail slide.

I little oil and presto the nailer works find!

Lesson Learned: Purchase a Professional Air Nailer

While I an very happy with every other tool I have so far purchased at Princess Auto, I am not very happy with my purchase of the 3.5 inch framing nailer, or shall I say the two have purchased.

I purchased the first one well over a year ago on sale at Princess Auto in anticipation for the cottage construction project this year. That one lasted two weeks or shall I say it lasted 4 days - two days on two consecutive weekends. First, while it punched in the 3.5 inch nails quite nicely, it simply would not take the smaller 2.5 inch nails with out jamming. Furthermore, the nailer slowly self-destructed as the plastic guides shattered and fell out of the nail guide - fortunately even without the guides the nailer kept functioning.

Finally it gave up the ghost and blew a seal.

Fortunately one of my sons had not yet began his trip up to the cottage for the weekend. (ASIDE: I have taken of Fridays from work to go up early to prepare and start work, while he follows up on Friday evening after work) A quick call on the cell phone and he made a swing by Princess Auto to pick up a new nailer.

You might say I am a gluten for punishment, but the model of nailer he purchased was a newer one - one that seems to had the deficiencies fixed. And it did have all the deficiencies of the first one remedied - but now it had a new one. The spring in the nail guide doesn't seem to push the nail with enough force, so the automatic nature of the nailer just became a single shooter...

In spite of the one shot nature the nailer works and we continue with it.

Lesson Learned:
The Princess Auto railers are roughly one-third to one quarter the price of the professional models. I have purchased two so not much savings - lots of frustration. Next time i will go professional and pay the bucks!

"Have Air, Can Build..."

Or I could have said "have gun, can build", but I need the air to power the gun, the air nailer to be specific.

The air compressor I have is a bit small for serious framing. It is a 11 HP 5 gallon compressor, but I discovered that it has difficulty keeping up with the rapid fire of the nailing gun. After about 5-6 nails, of the 3.5 inch variety, the pump starts up to refill the built in tank (5 gallon).

Having the nail driven in for me sure saves on hammer elbow, but having to pause ever so while to allow the pressure in the tank to catch up becomes a bit tiresome.

I remedied this problem by adding in series, between the compressor and the nailer, a second air tank which holds about 25 gallon.

As it turns out this combination works pretty well. I can now keep going at a fairly good pace. Remember I am not a professional builder so just not quite a quite as the pros.

Still If I had to do it again I would shell out for a more appropriate sized compressor. In this picture you can see all four key components of the framing nailer system I have. Moving from left to right:

• The framing nailer (its's blue)
• The generator
• The compressor (in front of the generator),and
  
• The supplementary air tank.

The blue stuff is the air hose.