Tilted Home Improvement

In light of the fact that I purchased a home this past April and am in the midst of remodeling and redecorating, I figured we could use a thread to post all of your pertinent home improvement tips and projects, regardless of how big or small it may be.

While I'll have more to post later after I sort through some photos, I'll start with a quickie:

Perfect Caulk Lines

Unfortunately, the previous homeowners had this affinity towards this rich, warm, diarrhea brown color paint everywhere possible. Apparently they crossed that fine line between "neutral" and "let's see if we can find yesterday's corn" in terms of their color choices. Even more unfortunate was that they attended the Helen Keller School of Painting, the end result of which was a LOT of brown paint on the sides of all the white bathroom tile.

However, since most of the paint did not make it around the curved part of the tile, I was able to hide 99% of the damage with a good white caulk. Typically, one will lay a bead of caulk, moisten a finger, and run their finger along the length of the bead. If you're good, it will come out straight. If you went a bit heavy or are a bit of a newcomer, you will end up with either one wavy line, or two messy ones, as the excess will run towards the outer edge of your finger, resulting in a split line of caulk.

The trick to the perfect caulk line? Masking tape.

Figure out how wide you need your caulk line to spread, and using strips of masking tape, mask off a line on either side of the area to be caulked (or one side, if not two flat surfaces). Once in place, lay a bead of caulk. Moisten a finger tip, and using a fair bit of pressure, begin running your finger down the bead. The pressure serves two functions - one being to force the caulk into any crevices, and the other to push it as close to flush with the tape surface as possible near the tape edge. If you don't push hard enough, you will end up with a thick, uneven line where you peel off the tape.

Important tip - this isn't paint, so don't wait for the caulk to set! I wait for just the water on the surface to dry (where you wet with your finger) which is usually just a few minutes, and then peel the tape. What you end up with is a perfectly straight caulk line, and virtually no mess to clean up after the fact.

 

As an electrician, I suppose I could put trade specific knowledge, but as a home owner, I'd say for my first piece of advice is if you start a project, be prepared to finish it. I've worked on a few reno's myself through my career and thats the number one mistake people make, they get too excited that progress is being made that the want to start in other areas and then costs become too high or the motivation is gone rather quickly when the work starts.

 

Guilty as charged....

My best general tip is to not do it alone. Working with someone else makes it easier to maintain focus on the task, and also a sense of urgency as they are using their valuable time to help you.

 

In terms of perfect caulking lines, masking tape does work, but takes a lot of time. I now subscribe to the small multi-edged disposable tools for that... they squeegee off the excess caulk (if any), and leave behind a perfect little bead that looks very professional, even for someone like myself who has absolutely no manual skills. My favourite tip involves applying drywall, especially to ceilings or higher walls... rent a dry-wall lift. We recently did an 11'4" ceiling in less than a day with a lift that reaches only 11' high (you can stretch it a few inches it seems, lol). And it can be done with only 1 person, although having 2 makes it much easier.

 

You're a braver man than I! If there's anything in this world I hate, it's drywall, though I'd rather put up, mud, and sand fresh drywall than the 8 million patches I seem to have been stuck doing in this house.

 

We had a small cottage set on concrete posts that over time had begun to develop a definite lean, so we had to lift the cottage to replace the tubes. While we were doing that, we asked how much to put a full foundation (4 foot concrete, 4 foot knee-wall). It wasn't much more, so we decided to do that. Then, since it was a small, 24' x 28' building, we decided to add a 10' section to it to allow for stairs. So suddenly, we went from a 24' x 28', small 2-bedroom place to a 24' x 38', 2-storey one with almost 2000 sq ft, and a LOT of interior space to finish.

One thing I did learn is that General Contractors are worth their weight in gold, lol. Trying to get builders, electricians, plumbers, new septic system and well all done in a logical order is brutal when you're dealing with each of the contractors individually. But, it's a long-term project, and it's getting there.

 

Good caulk lines can be done several ways, as some have mentioned. Personally I am careful exactly how the tip of the tube gets cut. I cut it in such a way that when I lay a bead out, it pretty much needs nearly no touchup. However this takes time to develope said skill, and I have been doing this for many, many years. If anyone has any questions about specific projects or tips, I offer my knowledge and expertise. I have been a homeowner for 20 years, and have not only done several remodels on my own, but have helped numerous friends and family members with theirs. I'm sure I'm not the only one who could offer some advice and tips....

 

Pictures. Now.

 

Somehow, I've never heard of this stuff before, but after seeing it, and the stupidly low cost, I'm VERY interested in trying it for my master bath, which I want a wood floor look, but the convenience/moisture resistance of vinyl. With the cost of this stuff, I could do the entire bathroom for under $150, and not even have to remove the existing vinyl flooring. The videos I've seen online look ridiculously simple, and all the reviews positive. I'm going to head to Home Depot myself this afternoon and take a look.

 

i try and not use my finger to finish caulk lines. instead, i try and use ice cream sticks that have rounded ends dipped in dishwashing liquid. the stick gives you a nice concave finish, while the dishwashing liquid gives you a a smooth finish and irons out and joints. i suggest you test it somewhere first to get the hang of it, but it saves plenty of time because you dont have to use masking tape.
--- merged: Sep 24, 2011 9:58 PM ---

to add to this, renovating is a stressful exercise. dont do it if you with your spouse.

 

Went and looked at it tonight. The vinyl plank flooring has a nice look to it, and just a bit of surface texture to it. Adds a bit of realism to it without making it impossible to clean.

I'm going to do some measuring tomorrow and order everything I need to install the "barnwood" finish in the bathroom.

 

Whenever you're taping after dry-walling, do you mud under the tape, too, or just over it?

 

For the adhesive backed mesh type, just over. For corners/seams (paper tape), under and over it, unless you're using some variety of adhesive-backed stuff I don't know about.

 

Sweet, just what I needed to know. (it's just the paper stuff)

Thanks, Bear.

 

Yep, the mud is all that will make the paper adhere. It's advisable to do one side first, let it set, then do the other side, otherwise, the tape will want to shift and crease as you're running your knife/trowel over the other side.