Learning to install tile can save you hundreds of dollars, but doing this can be quite intimidating. My first thought was, “If I blow this, my wife will have a tile contractor in our home as soon as the project is declared a disaster.” I have nothing against hiring a professional when it is necessary, but only when it has been declared necessary. I spent some time reading and time watching videos about laying tile. I decided to write the steps out so I do not find myself mixing thin-set before I have even thought about the layout. I have broken the process of installing tile into five manageable steps which I hope will lead you toward a successful project.

Underlayment: Any loose nails or screws should be secured at this time as well as any loose boards or squeaks must be remedied now. The backer board is next to be installed using screws recommended by the manufacture. Any joints in the backer board should be filled with thin-set and covered with nylon joint tape made for this purpose. Properly installed backer board will give the tile a flat rigid surface to adhere to. Without this stable surface, the tile may crack or not lay level.

Layout: I start by finding the center of the room and snap a chalk line on that mark. I then snap a line perpendicular to the first line. From there I begin to dry fit tiles from the center line to the wall, it is likely that the last tile will result in a cut. This is where you will need to decide if a cut tile in that area is acceptable, if it is not then adjust the layout to what is appealing to your eye. Remember, any changes you make to one side will affect the other. Each room is different, so there is no one right answer. Just pick a layout that is the most appealing to the eye. Make reference marks for the first two courses so the tile can then be set back in those places.

Setting The Tile: Mix the thin-set according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Spread the thin-set with a notched trowel in small controlled areas and begin to set your tiles (from the known point on the floor which you marked earlier during the layout). Once you set a tile in place, give it a slight twist or tap to ensure the thin-set is in full contact with the tile. Do not forget to use spacers to maintain consistent grout joints between tiles.

Grouting: Mix the grout according to the instructions. Work the grout into the joints with a grout float. Once this has been accomplished, it is time to scrape the excess off the tile. This is done by pulling the float at a 45 degree angle to the joints while keeping the float at a 45 degree angle to the floor. If I were to pull the float in the direction of the joints, I would risk removing grout from that joint. Once the excess grout is removed, it is time to clean the tile with a sponge and plenty of clean water. It will be necessary to clean the tile at least a couple of times with the sponge and clean water. If a haze develops on the tile after cleaning, use a clean towel and buff the surface until haze is removed.

Sealing the Grout: This is a very important but easy part of the tile project. These sealers help protect the grout from stains and mildew. There are several types and brands of sealers on the market. Some can be applied the same day the tile was installed, they allow the grout to breathe as it cures. There are others that can not be applied until the grout is fully cured so it is very important to follow the directions from the manufacturer. Picking a sealer comes down to the conditions in which it will be used. If your tile is in the shower, then your grout sealer needs to be mildew resistant. However, if it is floor tile, stain resistance should be the priority.

Only reading about how to install tile was never enough for me. I found a great training resource that gave me the confidence to jump into a tile project. I think ceramic tile is a great improvement for your home, and I hope that this helps you on your way. Click here to read my other ramblings about installing tile.

Building a wood fence can be a fun and rewarding project. In addition to providing value to your home it increases your security and privacy. You’ll find it’s not a difficult job and I will show you the easy method of building your fence.

Materials Needed:

Treatment preservative

Concrete

4×4 posts 8 feet in length.

2×4 for railing in either 8 or 16 feet in length

1×6 or 1×8 fence boards (your preference)

3 1/2″ galvanized nails

2 1/2″ flat head galvanized nails

Hardware for gate (hinges and latch)

Before you get started you must first figure out your fence line. This will help you calculate the materials needed to build your fence. When determining your fence line the best thing to do is talk to your neighbors. If you’re in disagreement you can look for the property survey markers or if all else fails have your property surveyed. It’s best to keep the entire fence on your property. Once you know the fence line mark it with a string line. Using stakes hammered into the ground run the line 2 feet past each end of the fence line. Secure the string tightly to the stakes.

Next you need to treat your posts by following the manufacturers recommendations. I would suggest treatment at least 8 inches above ground level. You can also purchase posts that are pre-treated from your lumber store if you wish.

Measure your post holes 8 feet apart. I wouldn’t recommend any further apart as through time your fence may sag or lean. Dig the holes about 28 inches deep. Make sure all posts are of equal distance apart. It’s now time to prepare your concrete for setting the posts. Mix your concrete with 1 part cement, 2 parts sand and 3 parts gravel. Add water and mix to a thick consistency but at the same time wet enough to pour all the way around the posts. Fill each hole 6 inches deep. Now it’s time to place the posts in every hole. Use a level to make sure each post is plumb and barely touching the string. Finish filling each hole to about 2 inches below ground level. Double check each post making sure it’s plumb.

After the posts have set it’s time to add the railings. Make sure to set the bottom rail 8 inches above ground and be careful to have both ends the same height from the ground. Fasten the top rails by measuring from the bottom rail up to the desired position. Finally attach the middle rail central between the bottom and top rails.

Before you nail the boards to the railings you might want to consider staining or painting them first as it is easier than doing this after they’ve been fastened. If you decide to go this route you should also stain or paint the posts and rails prior to attaching the boards. Using a spacer to maintain equal gaps you can begin nailing the boards to the rails, using 2 of the 2 1/2 inch nails hammered on each rail. Use a level to make sure the boards are vertically plumb.

Now that your fence is up you probably want a gate. First you need to determine the size of the gate. I would recommend a gate no less than 3 feet wide. You should build a frame with the 2×4’s overlapping and attach a middle rail for durability and strength. To allow room for the hinges and latch make sure the gate frame is built allowing 1 inch narrower between the gate posts. Next attach the fence boards and finally install the hinges and latch.

That’s all there is to it. Now it’s time to take a break and enjoy the beautiful fence you’ve just built.

Jerry Holt is a writer for the website Do It Yourself Today. Please go to http://www.diytoday.net for do it yourself home improvement and fencing tips and advice.

Basement waterproofing is one of the things that you can do yourself. Not only is DIY basement waterproofing something that you can do to a new home, this is something that should be done to an older home as needed. There are several different systems available that you can use to waterproof your basement. These include installing a system of plastic chambers to channel the water to the drainage system, or installing a self priming pump to remove any detected water. One of the easiest ways of do it yourself basement waterproofing includes sealing the concrete with a painted on water-proofer.

When sealing concrete the first thing you need to do is make sure that you have a clean smooth surface. Any rough areas and any cracks in the concrete need to be taken care of. You can do this by simply knocking off any of the larger globs of concrete that are sticking out from the wall with a hammer, and then smoothing the rest of it off with some heavy duty sandpaper. You don’t need a perfectly smooth wall; you just want to have a fairly smooth surface to work with. If you’re going to use the concrete surface as your wall and are not covering it with any other substance besides paint you want it to be fairly smooth.

Any cracks that you have in your concrete you will need to repair. Do this by knocking off any loose concrete and getting down to the good concrete. Anything that’s loose within the crack needs to be removed. Once the crack is clear of any debris flush it out with water and allow it to dry. Once all the cracks have dried they can be filled. There are a couple of different substances you can use to fill the crack. Injecting it with a fast setting hydraulic cement compound is the best solution.

Once you have your surface as smooth as you want and the cracks repaired, you can simply paint concrete water proofer onto the surface and allow it to dry. This is the easiest form of basement waterproofing and the least reliable. If you are going to use drywall or any other substance that covers the basement wall completely, you’re likely not going to want to use this method of waterproofing. This is only for a quick fix or a method that you plan on being able to monitor continuously.

If you want to put walls over top of the concrete then you need to put a waterproofing system in place that can go along the floor and allow water to travel in its own chamber to the drainage system. This will keep the water that will inevitably push towards your basement in an area that is controlled so that water damage can be prevented. There are many different brands of systems that you can use, and all come with directions specific to that brand.

If basement waterproofing is not done, you will most likely have water damage within the first 6 to 8 months of building the basement. Finding the right solution for your specific needs is as easy as deciding how much work you want to put into waterproofing and how frequently you want to update your basement waterproofing system.

Visit us for more information on waterproofing basement tips and waterproofing basement materials.

Okay, guys. You’ve got a basement downstairs that you’re using for storage, old Christmas decorations, or stuff from your high school days. Wouldn’t you like to walk downstairs and be in your very own bar?

Imagine it, the ‘bang’ of the cue ball driving the 8 ball in the corner pocket, the ‘tsk’ of a fresh beer being opened, the sound of the fans going nuts on television at Monday night’s big game. Wow. Are you drooling yet? Why not convert that useless basement into a great bar room all your own?

With this great basement bar idea, there are a few things you will have to do before you start living it up. Well, you need a bar. You can go hog wild and make one yourself. If you’re great with the hammer, go for it.

If you’re much better with the remote control, why not let a professional build you a custom bar? Or, for this basement bar idea, purchase a pre-made bar and get the guys at the store you bought it from to help you install it.

Most places will do it for free, or if you promise them a cold beer when the bar is complete! You’ll want to run right out and grab some really cool bar stools for your new bar. You can get the kind with a back, or the ones that have no back, whatever you prefer.

Once you have your bar installed, you’ll want to consider a few other options to make this basement bar idea a reality. You may want to place a restroom down there. Who wants to walk all the way to the bathroom upstairs? Not, us, that’s who.

Usually, water and plumbing lines run straight through the basement, so installing a john there is easier than anywhere else in the house. Again, you can get some professionals to do the job for you, or do it yourself.

There are some really cool things you can put in your bar to make it just like an authentic bar room. You can purchase a jukebox. You’re already seeing it over in the corner, aren’t you?

These bad boys can run from $600.00 to $4000.00 depending on what kind of guy you are. You know, the I’ll just take the small one type or the ‘You got anything bigger?’ type. This is a great addition to your basement bar idea.

Another really great thing you can do is adding a pool table. What great bar doesn’t have a pool table? Most of these come complete with a few sticks, a rack for your sticks that is wall mountable, the balls, and installation and felting. The guys will usually come right out, set it up for you, make sure it’s level, take care of the felt, and show you how to maintain it.

Here are a few other things that will make your basement bar idea really great.

- A beer cooler. This is just the thing to keep your beer ice cold.

- A microwave. Come on, a guy’s got to eat!

- A video poker machine. Yeah!

- A killer sound system. Men are even better at pool when they have their favorite song blasting out of the speakers.

- A sofa or futon. This is for if the music’s too loud and you get banished. I’m just kidding, but a sofa is great for just lounging around.

So, get started today so you can be soaking up the good life soon.

Providing energy to your home in the form of solar powered electricity may be the way to go in the near future. Indeed, in states where sunlight is abundant many new family homes are coming with solar panels pre-installed. There are many grants, rebates and tax incentives in California and Florida, for example, to encourage the use of solar power to provide lighting in the home along with many other everyday appliances that use electricity. This article will discuss the 3 ways you can set up solar powered electricity system.

It may be a bit of a culture shock setting up a solar powered system in your home because most people take the supply of electricity for granted. The grid is in most homes in residential areas of most cities and this has been the source of electricity that people are used to.

The ultimate goal of setting up a solar powered system in your home is to free yourself from the grid. With this freedom will come savings on all your electricity bills. If this is not already an expensive monthly outgoing for you, it will be in the future. Fossil fuels will become harder to obtain in the future and the cost to create electricity with them will increase. This cost will be passed onto the consumer that accesses their electricity from the grid.

Thus the approach to take in freeing yourself from the grid is to wean yourself off it slowly.

The first way to set up a solar powered electricity system is to allow the utility companies that supply your electricity to set up your solar power system. This is commonly known as a grid connected system.

Solar panels are installed on your roof or some sunny part of the property that connect to an inverter that converts DC current to AC current. This connects to the standard electricity panel that records your electricity usage. In the case of the electricity that your solar panels generate, the meter will credit you (i.e. The usage reading will go down). This is balanced against your usage of electricity through the grid. Thus at the end of the month your monthly bill will be grid usage – solar electricity created. This will be a substantial saving depending on how many solar panels you have.

The next progression is to add a battery back up system to your solar powered system. The system is still connected to the grid but the battery can store power. This power can be used if there is a power cut or outage. Of course there are a few more components to this system. Apart from the battery units, there is also a charge controller that redirects the DC current to the grid when the batteries are fully charged. This system also requires more work from you, the owner of the system. You will have to maintain the batteries and set them up in a secure place away from children.

The final step is independence from the grid. This is known as a stand alone solar power system. As you become aware of the amount of electricity that is consumed in your home, the amount of electricity that each solar panel produces and how to operate and maintain the various components of the system then you can start fine tuning your system. The system will be free of the grid but will have a back up system, in the form of a generator or maybe some other form of renewable energy, like wind power or hydro power.

Thus you will be able to light your home and provide electricity for all your regular appliances without the utility bills dropping through your letterbox each month.

When you decide to build your own wine rack, you can either select ready-made wine rack plans, or choose to design and build your own wine rack. Either way, the entire process can be both fun and bewildering. On one hand, you want to build a wine rack that really suits your own needs. On the other hand, you can’t help being swamped by the immense design possibilities.

To cut down on confusion when browsing through wine rack plans to build your own wine rack, carefully consider the exact or likely items to be stored, and the space that the finished wine rack will occupy. When going through your wine rack plans, note the dimensions such as wine bottles, wine cases and wine glasses to be stored.

In many cases when you build your own wine rack, you can’t be exactly sure what your finished wine rack will hold. In that case, it would be wise to choose a wine rack plan that builds in as much flexibility as possible, or at least some form of flexibility. incorporating drawers and cabinets of different dimensions.

Drawers provide great storage because they’ll hold so many different items while keeping them clean and accessible, but out of sight. Cabinets are easy to build and can be used to display your collections if you don’t install doors.

Designing To Fit A Particular Space

If you design and build your own wine rack to suit a particular space, you’ll want to fit the space visually. When you work on your wine rack plans, be careful not to span the entire space available. Do leave a bit of room on either side and above to create a visual frame of sorts. Often, you may want to match existing cabinetry, such as a wine cabinet cabinetry, such as building a wine cabinet to serve as a dedicated base cabinet that matches the style of your kitchen or living room.

When you build your own wine rack, you can sometimes borrow design elements from a nearby piece of furniture, such as a particular edging profile or door frame treatment. As part of your wine rack plan, you can personalize your wine rack further by “signing” it with your own custom wood pulls or faux finish.

Allowing for Future Expansion

Don’t forget to plan ahead, especially if you have more than one wine collector in the family! You may think you’ll never buy more than 48 bottles of wine at a single shot when you first build your own wine rack. Uh huh. In any case, incorporate some extra (preferably a lot more) space from the start. And preferably whether you choose from ready-made wine rack plans or come up with your own wine rack plans, choose a design that still looks great as you add more units.

How to Dress Up Your Wine Rack

Do you know that when you build your own wine rack, you can make it look really expensive and classy? You can dress up your wine rack relatively inexpensively by using veneer. In case you didn’t know, wood veneer is real wood!

Veneer is a thin slice of wood cut from a log with a slicing, peeling, or sawing machine. It is used on plywood, fine furniture, and laminated shapes for decorative and architectural purposes. Before a log is cut into veneer, it is often steamed or soaked in a bath of very hot water.

This “cooking” process softens the log so that veneers can be sliced without tearing and splitting. After the veneer is sliced, it’s pressed flat between heated platens and bundled into stacks in the same order that it was removed from the log.

Veneer opens a whole new world of woodworking to even the most experienced craftsperson. With an exotic veneer, simple wine rack projects can be turned into works of art. In fact, a highly figured veneer can often be the qualifying characteristic that makes one wine rack project stand well above the rest.

Veneer gives you a unique opportunity to work with some of the most beautiful and exotic woods in the world without having to dip into your retirement account. Wood veneer has several distinct advantages over solid lumber that can’t be overlooked. For example, veneering allows you to match an exposed back panel to its case wood without having to buy an entire piece of expensive hardwood plywood. It is these advantages that have brought the art of veneering into most professional cabinet and furniture shops.

The good news is that with the right tools, veneering is relatively easy and it’s now becoming a mainstream technique used by weekend warriors to turn even the most mundane wine rack projects into heirloom quality masterpieces.