Remodeling Articles

Article / Updated 06-21-2019

Every home improvement project requires a budget. Whether you're painting a bedroom or gutting and remodeling a kitchen, you need to come up with an accurate estimate of the project's cost so you can look at your current finances and make sure that you have enough money (or a way to get enough money) to pay for everything. Home improvement budgets can range from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands, depending on the size and scope of the project. Before you begin your estimate, you need to decide what you don't like in the area(s) you plan to remodel. What doesn't meet your family's needs and lifestyle? What additional things do you need to make the area more livable? What have you seen in other homes that may work for you? Answering these questions gives you insight into what you want and need and helps get your creative juices flowing. If your project involves major (or even minor) structural changes to your house, you need to involve an architect, a contractor, and possibly even an engineer. Any structural change can affect the integrity of your house, and it must meet local building codes to ensure that the house remains structurally safe to inhabit. You also need to engage inspectors from your city's various building departments — construction (building), plumbing, and electrical. Architects and most design and construction people don't create elaborate plans without being compensated. Even though you won't get several drawings or bids to compare, you should meet with at least two designers or architects to see whether they can give you a rough plan that meets your needs. You also need to determine whether your personalities are compatible. This factor is critical to a successful remodel. A visit to a local lumberyard or home center is a great way to begin pricing materials. A thorough materials list is invaluable here. Providing the store with a complete list enables them to do a take-off (an estimate of materials needed and their total costs). Give the list that you created to a couple of retailers to see which one gives you the best prices. Try to work with one person at each store. You don't want to explain your project to half a dozen people in the same store. With a couple of estimates in hand, do your homework. Don't pick a product or material simply because it has the lowest price. Make sure that the prices are for the same product or for products of equal quality. Check the brand, model, size, and so on to confirm that the products are comparable. If you're not sure about the differences between two brands, ask! Another good source of product information is the Internet. Most manufacturers have websites to provide consumers with product information and evaluations, even if only their own evaluation. Also consider checking consumer advocacy magazines like Consumer Reports to see whether they've tested the type(s) of products you're looking at. Their reports are very fair at evaluating and rating all types of products. Many remodeling projects involve opening, moving, or even removing an entire wall or part of a wall. For most people, this means hiring professional help, so remember to factor in labor costs. A good way to get an estimate is to consult your local home center. Most home stores offer installation as an option with the products they sell, so you should be able to get the price of the product with and without installation and then do the simple math. One area that too many people overlook is their own time. Your time is valuable to you, your family, and your friends. If the project's going to tie you up every weekend during the summer, but you could hire a professional to complete the job in a couple weeks, doing it yourself may not be worth it. You need to weigh the cost of hiring a professional versus what your time is worth to you.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-27-2016

A home improvement project that involves new flooring means using simple math to find the right amount of vinyl or carpet needed for the area you want to cover. If you are planning to paint or wallpaper, use easy formulas to determine how much paint or paper to purchase.

Step by Step / Updated 03-27-2016

Ceramic countertops are popular, and making and installing one is a manageable DIY project for most homeowners. You need straight-edged tiles and bull-nose tiles for your countertop. Bull-nose tiles come in two styles: a single rounded edge for use along a straight edge, and a double bull-nose (two adjacent rounded edges) for use on outside corners. Using a wet saw, you must cut them to length and miter them to fit inside and outside corners. The backsplash on a ceramic tile top can be installed over a separate particleboard core or directly on the wall. The top of the backsplash can end with a bull-nose tile or extend to the underside of wall cabinets. Here’s a quick look at the basic steps for building a ceramic tile countertop:

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

A major kitchen remodel must be done in the right order for maximum efficiency. Time is money, and remodeling your kitchen in the right order will save you loads of it. Because of the time required to remodel a kitchen, it is best to understand the order to expect, regardless of whether you do the work yourself or you hire a pro. Tear out all of the old stuff and get rid of whatever is not going to be reused. The demolition process is one area that many homeowners can handle, and you save some money if you tackle this process yourself. After demolition, rough-in work can begin, which includes any framing, plumbing, or electrical changes. Don’t be in a rush to get beyond the rough-in stage until you’ve had the first inspection, called the rough-in inspection. Have all of the framing, plumbing, electrical, or other work inspected. If you’ve followed your codes, you should pass the inspection. If not, or if you didn’t understand the code clearly (many people make errors!), make the necessary changes and have the work reinspected and approved. After your kitchen passes inspection, finish the walls. In most cases, you’ll be hanging, taping, and finishing drywall. Don’t forget you need to prime the drywall, too; now’s a good time to prime it even though you won’t be painting for a while. (Priming drywall involves applying a coat of primer paint, which is like a thinned version of white paint. The primer seals the drywall’s facing paper.) Install doors and windows. You need these items installed and have the trim installed, too, so that you’ll work with “finished” dimensions from the edge of the door and window trim and not from the rough opening in the walls when installing the cabinets. Install cabinets. Hang the wall cabinets first and then install the base cabinets. You can hang the wall cabinets more easily when you’re not reaching over the base cabinets. Install countertops, the sink, and faucet. Install new appliances. Install new light fixtures, if they’re part of the plan. Finally, you can put down the new floor. Don’t install the floor, no matter what material you’re using, before you install the cabinets.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Install wall cabinets before you install base cabinets so you don't have to work above the base cabinets. The open area of the floor allows you, your helper, and your step ladder clear access. These steps describe installing framed cabinets. Frameless cabinets are installed in much the same manner except when connecting adjoining cabinets. To join frameless cabinets, use wood screws that are just shorter than the thickness of the two cabinet sides. It's time to install the first wall cabinet: Transfer stud locations from the wall to the inside of each cabinet before you lift it into place; and drill clearance holes for the mounting screws. Clearance holes, which are the same diameter as the screw, ensure that the cabinet will be drawn tight to the wall by the head of the screw. Measure carefully and measure twice. Drill the holes in the upper and lower hanging rails of the cabinets (the two horizontal pieces of lumber along the top and bottom of the back of the cabinet). Set the first wall cabinet on the ledger strip and 1/4-inch away from its reference line on the wall; secure the top and bottom of the cabinet to the wall with 3-inch-long #10 cabinet screws. Snug up the screws as you go, but don't tighten them completely. You'll go back later for a final tightening of all the screws after cabinets are aligned with each other, joined together with screws and plumbed. If you have a helper, have her hold the unit in place while you secure it with screws. If you're working alone, cut some lengths of lumber and make a V-shaped notch in one end. Use these pieces as braces by placing the notch against the bottom of the cabinet and wedging the lumber up to hold the cabinet in place. Put a rag or piece of cardboard over the cabinet where the notched lumber will go to protect the cabinet's finish. Position the second cabinet on the ledger and next to the installed cabinet. Attach it with screws as you did the first one. Join the two cabinets with two clamps, located about 1/4 of the distance from the top and bottom. Use wooden screw or short bar clamps with padded jaws that won't mar the cabinets. As you tighten the clamp, ensure that the face, top, and bottom of the two frames are all perfectly flush. Drill clearance holes through the face frame, countersinks so that the screwheads will be flush with or below the surface, and pilot holes in the adjoining cabinet. Locate the holes at the hinge positions so when the hinges are installed, the screwheads will be concealed. The easiest way to drill these holes is all at once, using an adjustable combination bit. Drive 2 1/4-inch drywall screws into each hole and remove the clamps. If the holes are not properly sized or if you overdrive the screws, they can easily snap off. Use the proper bits and adjust the clutch on your drill/driver to limit the torque. Install the remaining wall cabinets along this wall in the same manner and then remove the ledger. If the plan calls for a filler strip at a particular location, clamp it to the face frame and attach it as you would attach two cabinets together. Starting at the corner, plumb the cabinets using the reference line on the adjacent wall and a 2-foot level, and insert shims as required. Install shims behind the cabinet at the bottom or top as indicated until the cabinet is plumb and the proper distance from the reference line. Back out an installation screw, insert the shim until the cabinet is plumb and drive in the screw. When all cabinets are plumb, trim off the shims. Similarly complete the installation of cabinets first on adjoining walls and then other walls. Clamp the filler strip in place and drill 3/16-inch pilot holes through the cabinet face frame and filler strip, using a countersink bit to recess the screw head into the face frame. Secure the strip with 3-inch drywall screws. Reinstall the doors and check each one for smooth operation. Be careful when redriving the screws for the hinges. The screws are generally made from a fairly soft metal, which makes the heads easy to strip and the shafts easy to snap off.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

When you're installing a new kitchen countertops, installing the sink means you're near the end. Most sinks come with a paper or cardboard template to help outline the area you're going to cut out. Quite often, the cardboard template is part of the shipping box for the sink. Use a utility knife to cut the template from the box. Just be careful not to cut yourself, and be sure to follow the line so that the template is as straight as possible. In some cases, the backsplash interferes with making the rear cut for a sink cutout. In that case, you must make the cut with the countertop upside down, so make the sink cutout after testing the fit but before joining any miter joints or attaching the countertop. You can order your countertops pre-cut, including a hole for the sink, but do so only if you know that all your measurements are absolutely, positively dead-on, with no chance of being off by even a little bit. If your sink doesn't come with a template, or if you bought a good-looking closeout-sale sink without a box, you can make your own by laying the sink on the countertop, making sure the sink is positioned evenly, and tracing around the edges with a pencil. To cut a hole for a sink, it's easiest to use a jigsaw, which allows for great control. Always, always, always use a new jigsaw blade. An old or dull blade can chip the laminate along the cutting line. Drill two starter holes in opposite corners just inside the cutting line. Use a 3/4-inch spade bit and drill through the laminate and substrate. Don't worry if the cut edge is rough. The rim of the sink will cover it. You're cutting into sections that you'll eventually cut out and toss (in the garbage, not just up in the air). Place the blade of the jigsaw in the starter hole and line up the blade exactly on the cutting line. If the backsplash interferes with the saw shoe and prevents making the cut, turn the countertop over to complete the cut from the underside. If you choose this method, make this cut first. Cut slowly along the line. Don't be in a rush — let the saw do the work. Again, don't worry about any little chips that may occur. The sink lip will cover them. To make a clean, safe cut, ask a helper to support the cutout area so that the piece doesn't drop and cause the saw blade to bind. Make sure your helper wears heavy gloves and eye protection.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

If your walls were straight and true, installing your countertop would be a little easier. But your walls are likely to be off. To ensure a perfect fit for your new countertop, you check your walls for square and then scribe the contours of your walls onto your countertop laminate. The best way to check whether a corner is square is to use the 3-4-5 method. It’s a simple geometric formula: Start in a 90-degree corner, measure out 3 feet, and mark that spot. From the same corner, measure out 4 feet in the opposite direction and mark that spot. Using a tape rule, measure the distance from the end marks of the 3- and 4-foot marks. If the walls are square, the distance between the marks will be 5 feet. If the corner where the countertops fit is out of square even by as little as 1/2 to 3/4 inch, you’re likely to damage the countertop by trying to make it fit. If you find that your walls aren’t close to square, hire a contractor to do the installation. To shape the edges of your countertop, you need to transfer the contour of the wall onto the countertop’s edge surface. Use a compass to scribe, or transfer, the wall’s contour onto the laminate. Set the countertop in place where you plan to install it. When installing any section of countertop, check that it’s level. Use a 2- or 4-foot level. If the countertop isn’t level, slide shims between the countertop and the support struts of the cabinet frame to level the countertop. The shims will remain in place and won’t move after you secure the countertop to the cabinets. Set your compass to fit the tip in the widest gap between the countertop and the wall. Move the compass along the wall to draw a pencil line on the countertop’s surface that matches the wall contour. Do so for both the backsplash and for any edge that’s against a wall. Remove the countertop and set it on a pair of sawhorses. Secure the countertop to the sawhorses with squeeze clamps. Place a rag or piece of cardboard between the clamp jaws and the countertop’s surface to protect the surface. Remove the excess countertop (up to the pencil line) with a belt sander and a coarse (60-grit) sanding belt. Hold the sander as shown. Avoid an upward cut, which might chip or lift the plastic laminate. A coarse belt works best because it removes laminate and the substrate quickly yet neatly. If you have a lot of excess countertop, say 1/8 inch or more, cut off most of it with a jigsaw and then use a belt sander to finish up to the pencil line. Reposition the countertop and check for any tight spots. Touch up any tight spots with the sander and recheck the fit again before cutting it to length. You want the countertop to fit, especially if you’re installing it during the humid summer months when the wall is fatter with humidity. If you’re installing the countertop in the drier winter months, leave a gap of about 1⁄16 inch along the wall to allow for movement due to changes in temperature and humidity. Fill the gap with a bead of silicone caulk as one of the final steps in the remodel.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

After you’ve scribed, trimmed, test fitted, and applied any end caps to the countertops, and the glue has set at any mitered corners, you can begin the job of securing your countertops to the base cabinets. Follow these steps to attach it: Don’t start securing the countertop to the cabinets until the mitered joint has dried. Allow the glue to dry for at least four hours, or overnight if the weather is humid. It’s better to wait a little longer than to rush the job and have the seam break because the glue hasn’t set up. If the seam does break, you need to remove the old glue — a very difficult task — and start over. Position the countertop pieces on the cabinets. Apply a bead of silicone caulk or construction adhesive along the top edge of all the cabinet parts that support the countertop. Tip up a straight countertop to apply the adhesive. Insert shims under a mitered countertop rather than trying to tip it up — doing so is easier and is less likely to break the glue joint. The caulk or adhesive will hold all the parts in place after it dries. Lower the countertop back into place or remove the shims. Place pressure sticks every 12 to 18 inches to help the adhesive bond the countertop to the cabinets at the back edge and apply clamps to the front edge. Be sure to place pressure sticks along the back corners (where the corner blocks are located) to get the countertop down tight. Seal any gap between the backsplash and the wall or along the edges and the wall with a clear silicone acrylic caulk. Reinstall the cabinet doors, put the drawers back in place, and go have a beer. If you’re going to paint the walls and you want to paint the clear caulk, make sure the label says that it can be painted! Most silicone acrylic caulk is paintable, whereas regular silicone caulk isn’t.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

After you have hung your wall cabinets and installed the corner base cabinet, you can finish your cabinet installation. Finishing the base cabinet runs is less strenuous than hanging the wall cabinets because the cabinets rest on the floor and don't need to be supported while you secure them to the wall. However, it's still a good idea to have someone nearby to help make adjustments. Before you install your sink-base cabinet, you may need to make cutouts for the plumbing pipes if the cabinet has a back. Measure from the side of the adjacent cabinet to the center of each plumbing supply or pipe (drain line and water supply lines). Transfer those measurements to the back of the cabinet and use a hole saw or jigsaw to cut out openings for your plumbing pipes to fit through. Make sure that the measurements are accurate — you'll make an expensive mistake if you have to replace the sink base cabinet. Remember the old rule: "Measure twice, cut once." If you do happen to screw up big-time, you can cut a piece of 1/8-inch-thick Masonite plywood/paneling, adhere it to the messed-up panel and cut new holes. No one will know that you goofed! Follow these steps to finish the base cabinet run: Place the second cabinet in position and check it for plumb and level. If shims are needed, gently tap them into place with a hammer. Don't trust your eye to check for level. Just because the two cabinets are flush along the top edge doesn't mean that they're both level and plumb. Check it and adjust as necessary. You may need to place shims under the front or exposed side of the cabinet and between the back of the cabinet and the wall. Join the two cabinets with two clamps, located about 1/4 of the distance from the top and bottom. Use wooden screw or short bar clamps with padded jaws that won't mar the cabinets. As you tighten the clamp, ensure that the face, top, and bottom of the two frames are all perfectly flush. Install the remaining cabinets and any required filler strips the same way, attaching each one to the previously installed cabinet. Complete the installation of each cabinet and then check all installed cabinets for level, plumb, and alignment before moving on to the next cabinet. If your new cabinets include a separate pantry unit, install it the same way you installed the first cabinet of either the wall or base run: Make sure that it's level and plumb and that it aligns properly with horizontal and plumb reference lines before you secure it to the wall with 3-inch drywall screws. After the cabinets are secured, score and break off all protruding portions of shims. You may find that you have a gap along an end panel and the wall or along the floor where shims may have been needed. Use a decorative trim molding to cover it. To cover the gap at the floor along the area called the toe-kick, install a strip of matching hardwood or vinyl base molding, which can be cut with a utility knife and is adhered with special mastic. Don't reinstall the doors and drawers on the base cabinets until after you've installed the countertop. They are safer out of the way, and you need to have access to the underside of the countertop to secure it to the cabinets.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Getting in and out of a shower isn’t always easy, even when you’re fit and able. If you have a sore knee or a sprained ankle, you may find it nearly impossible to maneuver safely without a secure handle. For safe entry and exit, install a vertical grab bar inside your shower 18 to 24 inches from the shower head end. If you’re installing a grab bar for someone with an injury or disability, have that person help you find the best location. Inside a bathtub enclosure, position a grab bar horizontally, approximately 36 inches from the bottom of the tub, so that a bather can use the bar to help raise himself from a seated position. For stepping into and out of a tub, consider installing a vertical bar at the tub edge as a convenient handhold. Don’t be tempted to use any old towel bar. Get the best quality grab bar you can afford and install it either with a blind fastening system or with blocking in the wall. Do not rely on wall anchors. You can use a new blind fastener, the WingIts system, directly on wallboard without an attachment to structural support. The anchors flare out behind the wall to hold firmly. You should install the fastener on a sound wall made of 5/8-inch-thick wallboard or tile over plaster, cement board, or 1/2-inch wallboard. The system exceeds all building code and ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) specifications. The directions that follow are for installing a grab bar on a tile shower wall. Gather these tools to install a grab bar with a WingIts grab bar system: Electric drill with 1/8-inch masonry bit and 1 1/4-inch carbide-tipped hole saw Felt-tipped pen Measuring tape Rubber mallet or hammer Rubbing alcohol Screwdriver Locate the 1 1/4-inch mounting holes so that the center of the grab bar fastener slides into the holes. Measure from the inside of one bar flange to the outside of the other to find the center-to-center distance or the distance the 1 1/4-inch mounting holes should be spaced apart. After making sure that the wall surface is clean, mark the location of the mounting holes with a felt-tipped pen. Use a masonry bit to drill a 1/8-inch pilot hole through the surround, whether it be tile or another material, at each mark. Hold the grab bar, with fasteners attached, to the wall to check that the pilot holes line up with the centers of the fasteners. To cut holes in tile use a 1 1/4-inch diamond-tipped hole saw to enlarge the pilot holes. Diamond saws are very pricy for one-time use. Although you can use a less expensive carbide hole saw for plastic surrounds and some soft tiles, it may not cut through a hard tile. In lieu of using a holes saw in hard tile, you can drill a series of very closely spaced holes at the perimeter with a carbide masonry bit and use a cold chisel to carefully chip out the waste. A hammer-drill, which adds a high-speed hammering action to the turning drill bit, makes that job go very quickly. If you hit a wall stud while drilling a hole, you can mount the grab bar directly to the wall stud with 2 1/2-inch-long #12 stainless steel screws rather than the fastener. Use a screwdriver to back the bolt out of the fastener until the end of it is flush with the nut at the opposite end of the fitting. Temporarily install the fasteners to the ends of the grab bar with the stainless steel screws provided. Wipe the wall surface around these holes with rubbing alcohol so that the tape sticks to it. Remove the paper that covers the adhesive on the faceplate. Insert the fasteners into the holes in the wall while they’re attached to the grab bar. Press the grab bar tightly toward the wall for a moment so that the fasteners can adhere to the wall in the correct position. Remove the grab bar from the fasteners and use a screwdriver to firmly and quickly punch the head of the bolt toward the faceplate. You can also hit the screw gently but firmly with a rubber mallet or hammer. Simultaneously pull on the bolt and tighten it by hand. Use a screwdriver to tighten the bolt very tight. Attach the grab bar to the fasteners with the stainless steel screws.