Ask Tim

[Tim]

Are you talking about wall paper on the walls?

 

[Mystic]

Are you talking about wall paper on the walls?

No, coving....ermmm...moulding? maybe thast the word I'm looking for?:unsure: That stuff that goes along and meets the ceiling and the walls so it looks all grand and pretty.:unsure:

 

[Zorak]

Why is their a big slab of cement at the bottom of my dishwasher.
I only ask because while moving it to a different spot today I dropped the bloody thing. On my foot, usually I wear leather boots, but today I was in summer get up. Sandals.

Is it some sort of cruel joke at my expense from Whirlpool dishwashers?!?!

 

[valley]

Before you get all beside yourself, know that this is not your typical ask a member thread.

I want to create a thread for anyone who needs help with anything to do with your home or apartment. If you have any how to questions, this is the place to ask. I have been in the business for 23 years and I thought I would share the knowledge.

If you want to know how to replace a window, unclog a drain, remodel a kitchen or even how to intelligently talk to professionals who you hire... It doesn't matter, post up your question.

I do ask that you keep the thread clean of chat for those who do have questions...

This isnt really a "how-to" question..its more of an advice request, if you wouldnt mind.

My husband has decided to put a wood stove in this winter to help combat the cost of fuel oil. (Both of us were raised using wood stoves so no worries on operating them safely here) What we cannot decide on is if its would be better to rip out out existing fireplace that is in our living room and put the wood stove there or if we should go all out and get an outdoor wood stove that hooks into the main duct of the furnace, allowing a forced air flow. Personally, I am pushing for the hookup directly to the duct...that way the wood mess can stay out on the porch and I dont have to deal with constant vacuuming or hauling wood inside. But hubby is worried that there wont be enough heat to heat the house the amount that we want (we want to heat primarily with wood during the day and with the furnace at night)

So..do you think the outdoor unit will force enough heat through the duct to heat all of our rooms (we have 9 room, 2 of them baths)

 

[Tim]

HI Tim,

I have a question for you.... over the weekend we put up coving in the living and inning room, but no matter how many times we measured or followed directions the corners were out terribly. So whats the best way or another way to get the corners tight and almost perfect rather then gappy and crappy, in the future should we do this again?

Needless to say they are up and the corners got patched and gooped so that a little paint will hide the mistakes...but OMG difficult! We opted to save money by not buying the corner pieces already done.

Now I understand what you are talking about... Crown Moulding!
Crown moulding is the hardest type of trim that a homeowner can do since it is put up at an angle. It typically angles 42 degrees from the wall to the ceiling. So you cannot just lay it flat while you cut it with a chop saw or mitre box. Now onto the tips...

Cutting proper angles: You need to cut the trim upside down. So the top of the trim (the part that touches the ceiling) is resting on the bed of the saw and the vertical part of the trim is resting on the backrest. Like this picture.


Here you can see him making an inside angle cut. The blade is set to half of the angle of the corner. So for a 90 degree inside corner you set it to 45 degrees. This is very tricky to get right. You can see in the picture that he has stop blocks set up so the trim will always sit the same in the chop saw. This is VERY important, because the more accurate you are in holding the trim square to the saw, the more accurate the cut. If you truely want perfect and tight joints, they need to be coped. This is where the first piece runs long into the corner and the next piece is coped (cut to the profile) of the other piece. But this is even a harder joint to get right without lots of practice. See the picture below of cutting a coped joint.


There are many other tips needed to get crown moulding perfect. But this should help for now. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

Why is their a big slab of cement at the bottom of my dishwasher.
I only ask because while moving it to a different spot today I dropped the bloody thing. On my foot, usually I wear leather boots, but today I was in summer get up. Sandals.

Is it some sort of cruel joke at my expense from Whirlpool dishwashers?!?!

They add this as counter weight to keep the unit from vibrating under operation. It helps absorb this vibration keeping the unit quiet.

This isnt really a "how-to" question..its more of an advice request, if you wouldnt mind.

My husband has decided to put a wood stove in this winter to help combat the cost of fuel oil. (Both of us were raised using wood stoves so no worries on operating them safely here) What we cannot decide on is if its would be better to rip out out existing fireplace that is in our living room and put the wood stove there or if we should go all out and get an outdoor wood stove that hooks into the main duct of the furnace, allowing a forced air flow. Personally, I am pushing for the hookup directly to the duct...that way the wood mess can stay out on the porch and I dont have to deal with constant vacuuming or hauling wood inside. But hubby is worried that there wont be enough heat to heat the house the amount that we want (we want to heat primarily with wood during the day and with the furnace at night)

So..do you think the outdoor unit will force enough heat through the duct to heat all of our rooms (we have 9 room, 2 of them baths)

Fireplace inserts are a quick and economical fix to drafty fireplaces, but the outdoor units are much more efficient. But you really need to talk to the experts who sell these units. They are the ones with the specifications on the units you might consider. It's worth a drive out to the "Fireplace store" to get yourself good info, even if you decide to buy elsewhere.

 

[valley]

Fireplace inserts are a quick and economical fix to drafty fireplaces, but the outdoor units are much more efficient. But you really need to talk to the experts who sell these units. They are the ones with the specifications on the units you might consider. It's worth a drive out to the "Fireplace store" to get yourself good info, even if you decide to buy elsewhere.

Thanks for the quick answer. :thumbup I know for sure that we dont want to go with a different fireplace insert. They are great to look at but not a good source of any real heat beyond the room it is in. I hope we make up our minds soon...there are so many to choose from! :eek

 

[Tim]

Thanks for the quick answer. :thumbup I know for sure that we dont want to go with a different fireplace insert. They are great to look at but not a good source of any real heat beyond the room it is in. I hope we make up our minds soon...there are so many to choose from! :eek

You can get fireplace inserts with blowers in them so they will transfer most of the heat to the room and not up the chimney. It's like putting a wood burning stove inside your existing firebox.

 

[Mystic]

Now I understand what you are talking about... Crown Moulding!
Crown moulding is the hardest type of trim that a homeowner can do since it is put up at an angle. It typically angles 42 degrees from the wall to the ceiling. So you cannot just lay it flat while you cut it with a chop saw or mitre box. Now onto the tips...

Cutting proper angles: You need to cut the trim upside down. So the top of the trim (the part that touches the ceiling) is resting on the bed of the saw and the vertical part of the trim is resting on the backrest. Like this picture.


Here you can see him making an inside angle cut. The blade is set to half of the angle of the corner. So for a 90 degree inside corner you set it to 45 degrees. This is very tricky to get right. You can see in the picture that he has stop blocks set up so the trim will always sit the same in the chop saw. This is VERY important, because the more accurate you are in holding the trim square to the saw, the more accurate the cut. If you truely want perfect and tight joints, they need to be coped. This is where the first piece runs long into the corner and the next piece is coped (cut to the profile) of the other piece. But this is even a harder joint to get right without lots of practice. See the picture below of cutting a coped joint.


There are many other tips needed to get crown moulding perfect. But this should help for now. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

Thanks Tim, I've printed it out for my files as we'll ahve another go in the kitchen, I think.:thumbup:nod:

 

[Tim]

Thanks Tim, I've printed it out for my files as we'll ahve another go in the kitchen, I think.:thumbup:nod:

Let me know when it gets to that time... like I said, there are a lot of other tips for putting up crown moulding.

 

[Tim]

You definitely need a miter saw to do that as illustrated in Tim's picture--its viry difficult to do crown molding without it--you can do baseboard with a miter box but crown is difficult because its 3 dimensional. In fact, you shouldn't try crown molding unless you are very handy with tools and projects.

It's funny you say that. I did a job at a mall once where they had 22" urethane crown mouldings that I had to install in the main corridors. The only way I was able to cut it was to make a large miter box and use a hand saw. It actually worked out quite well... I guess the moral of the story, there is a time and a place for everything.

<Take a look at this custom box... it is very similar to the one I needed to make at my job.>

The old wodden miter boxes are what I learned on. It gives you a good feel for cutting the crown mouldings at the right angle. As long as you have a good box and sharp saw, it should look as good as if you did it with a miter saw. I have always liked hand tools over power tools... I just never have the time on jobs to do it that way.

 

[HottyToddyChick]

I really want to mount my microwave under the cabinets over my sink to give me more counter space since I have almost none. How do I do that?

 

[Fox Mulder]

I really want to mount my microwave...

...:eek

 

[Fox Mulder]

I really want to mount my microwave under the cabinets over my sink to give me more counter space since I have almost none. How do I do that?

What model microwave do you have? There are ones designed for this purpose and come with mounting bracets. You're best bet is to find a Microwave that fits and is designed to be mounted.

 

[HottyToddyChick]

It's a GE. Itty bitty -ish thing. I live in an apartment and have NO counter space and just wanted to free some up. I'd say it takes up about half my space. I found some brackets online for over $300, and if I could just make a shelf for it, that'd be so much better.

This is what it looks like. The site says it's 1.1 cu. ft.

 

[Fox Mulder]

It's a GE. Itty bitty -ish thing. I live in an apartment and have NO counter space and just wanted to free some up. I'd say it takes up about half my space. I found some brackets online for over $300, and if I could just make a shelf for it, that'd be so much better.

This is what it looks like. The site says it's 1.1 cu. ft.

\

Is your boyfriend handy, Hotty? I could rig up something really easily. Just tell him either he does it or no more Noogies!!!

 

[Fox Mulder]

Post a picture of the space you want to put it in.

 

[Panic]

For some reason my shower drains slowly. Like there's a little puddle of water around the drain during my shower! It does eventually drain in a minute or two but why isn't the water just going down the drain?

Should I try Liquid Plumber or Drano?

 

[HottyToddyChick]

He is very handy, let me snap a picture and post it. I'll just go ahead and take a pic of my microwave too.

 

[HottyToddyChick]

The mic is 18 inches wide, 11 inches tall, 12.5 inches deep.

The space is 33 inches across, 15 inches from bottom of overhead cabinets to bottom of regular cabinets and 12 inches deep.

 

[HottyToddyChick]

For some reason my shower drains slowly. Like there's a little puddle of water around the drain during my shower! It does eventually drain in a minute or two but why isn't the water just going down the drain?

Should I try Liquid Plumber or Drano?

It's probably a hair clog. Your best bet is to take the plug out, undo a wire hanger, and fish out the nasty hair ball. Works like a charm...