Handy-Man Corner

[Iowanian]

I'm tired of bad Chiefs news.....


I thought it would be a good idea for a thread on the Handy-Man.

Do you have any Home remedies, gadgets you've made, advice on car repair, home maint, sollutions to kill weeds in your yard, bugs in your garden?

Use Coke to clean your batteries? That type of stuff.
Home made floor dry?

[PastorMikH]

Originally Posted by Manila-Chief

Good job! You d man!!! It goes to show that most pastors are multi-talented ... (usually it's coz we a have to do it ourselves in order to survive.

Oh, with that nice fire place where will your big screen T.V. be placed. Hehehehehe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I probably will hold off on a true bigscreen until the addition gets buillt in a year or two. (I'll do most of the work on that myself).


Pastors tend to be multi-talented because we get lots of practice in remodeling/repairs with church property.

[Manila-Chief]

We're still making purchases for our new home ... I thought we had money in the bank and I could start looking to see what format I want to purchase ... but, read the thread about laser/SED format and just may wait for a year and get better price and format... besides ... it's not likely the Chiefs will do anything for a year or 2 anyway.

I hear that about the new addition ... sounds like a great project ... will add value and enjoyment to your home .... now, you could advertize in your church about a mission project to help this needy pastor build an addition to his home so he can do better ministry & assure the men they will not have to travel too far from home for this mission trip.

[PastorMikH]

Originally Posted by Manila-Chief

We're still making purchases for our new home ... I thought we had money in the bank and I could start looking to see what format I want to purchase ... but, read the thread about laser/SED format and just may wait for a year and get better price and format... besides ... it's not likely the Chiefs will do anything for a year or 2 anyway.

I hear that about the addition ... sounds like a great project ... now, you could advertize for a mission project to help this pastor build a needed addition to his home so he can do better ministry & assure the men the men they will not have to travel too far for this mission trip.

I was talking to the local tv repairman yesterday. I asked him his opinion on the big screens. He said he still prefers the picture tubes over projection/plasma/LCD/etc. He said they were tried and tested for 50 years and were solid. I'm leaning towards a 36" flat-tube HD right now but am kinda wanting to wait until taxes and house repair bills are paid first.

[Manila-Chief]

The only problem with a 36" tube HDTV is the size ... it would be huge. My wife will go more for a flat screen just because of the size.... :-) I usually have to talk her into those things ... then she likes/uses them more than I do.

[PastorMikH]

Originally Posted by Manila-Chief

The only problem with a 36" tube HDTV is the size ... it would be huge. My wife will go more for a flat screen just because of the size.... :-) I usually have to talk her into those things ... then she likes/uses them more than I do.

Best buy has one that is about the same depth as my 27" but the weight is listed at abou 200 pounds.

Originally Posted by PastorMikH

Thanks! (For the compliment as well as the tips you gave a few weeks back)

It's amazing how picky I've been. I've always been more of a rough-in worker who leaves the finish work to someone else. With this being our house, I've been much more picky on how things look.

Well, I don't recall giving you tips to drop in a border and lay tiles on the 45. I'd never recommend a newbie take on such a challenge. It looks like you did a really bang-up job. I'm incredibly impressed for a first-timer. I laid 12" ceramic on the 45 one of my first times and really struggled. I don't know what I'd have done if I had to border it too.

Congratulations on a floor that should last you the rest of your life.

[PastorMikH]

Originally Posted by Phobia

Well, I don't recall giving you tips to drop in a border and lay tiles on the 45. I'd never recommend a newbie take on such a challenge. It looks like you did a really bang-up job. I'm incredibly impressed for a first-timer. I laid 12" ceramic on the 45 one of my first times and really struggled. I don't know what I'd have done if I had to border it too.

Congratulations on a floor that should last you the rest of your life.

What gave me the idea of the border was the pic of your bathroom. When we had both tiles we liked and couldnt decide on which, I remembered your bathroom pic and went with it. The 45s came because it seems like everyone has them laid square and I wanted something different.

I read in a book about putting down a center line and working off if it instead of at the wall which really brought everything into balance. I don't think my floor guy had ever done that before (Like I said, he doesn't do much tile) 'cause he was putting tiles in my way and looking at me funny when he was trying to get the layout to balance. I had planned on a line in the center of the diningroom but it didn't even dawn on me to extend a centerline from the kitchen to the diningroom untill after the tile was already at the house waiting to go down.

One of the most valuable tidbits (I can't remember who said it) was laying out the entire floor before doing any morter work. It made for some extra work, but I didn't have any surprises either.

One thing I learned along the way that really sped marking for cuts up was I laid out the lines on the floor for the border and the tiles coming into the border with 1/4 inch difference for the grout line. Then, when I was laying out the tile, I would let several cross the lines, then grab my 4' level and run a mark down 4-5 at a time to cut down. Before I started doing that (on the first day) I was measuring each tile and had to cut several twice.


All in all, I really enjoyed the tilework. Perhaps the job is good enough that I can get some side jobs laying it for other people - the good tile-setters are getting 6-7$ a ft to lay it out here (Labor only). An odd job once in a while would make a nice boost to the bank account.

[Rooster]

Nice work Mike! The angles you were working with would have made me pull my hair out. Great Job!!

[Mojo Rising]

Anyone have experience with refrigerators? My automatic ice maker went out. It needs to be replaced. It looks like you just unscrew and detach the old one and screw in the new one. Also have to attach the power and water lines.

I was quoted $250 to replace it. I am thinking I can find the replacement part and replace it myself for much less. I am not that handy.

Anyone have experience with this?

Yeah - icemaker is cake. I can't believe you've been quoted $250. Oh - you're in California, aren't you? It would go for about $75 in KC.

Originally Posted by PastorMikH

All in all, I really enjoyed the tilework. Perhaps the job is good enough that I can get some side jobs laying it for other people - the good tile-setters are getting 6-7$ a ft to lay it out here (Labor only). An odd job once in a while would make a nice boost to the bank account.

Obviously you have a knack for it and take some pride in your work. That's half the battle right there. Now that you have some experience and confidence you'll cut your install time in half. It really looks spectacular. One thing I would caution against is being tempted to use quickset. I've kicked myself every time I tried to use that stuff unless it was in a small bathroom.

$6-7 is good money. You can parlay that into $30-40 an hour if you get really good. Plus it's even more if you have to put down any underlayment or do any complicated removal of existing floor covering.

I'd definitely use you (though not at $6-7 sqft - heh).

[PastorMikH]

Originally Posted by Phobia

Obviously you have a knack for it and take some pride in your work. That's half the battle right there. Now that you have some experience and confidence you'll cut your install time in half. It really looks spectacular. One thing I would caution against is being tempted to use quickset. I've kicked myself every time I tried to use that stuff unless it was in a small bathroom.

$6-7 is good money. You can parlay that into $30-40 an hour if you get really good. Plus it's even more if you have to put down any underlayment or do any complicated removal of existing floor covering.

I'd definitely use you (though not at $6-7 sqft - heh).

I've done a lot of different handywork. Helped a guy in our last church build a $250K-$300K house. Learned a lot there. I've done a little of everything so I wasn't intimidated by the tile to say the least. There are things in building I would hire out, but it would be because I don't like doing it, not because I can't.

I doubt I could do just one thing over and over, the repetition gets to me. I like a variety of work and I like to see accomplishment.

[NewChief]

Originally Posted by PastorMikH

There are things in building I would hire out, but it would be because I don't like doing it, not because I can't.

I doubt I could do just one thing over and over, the repetition gets to me. I like a variety of work and I like to see accomplishment.

You've just summed up perfectly what attracts me to flipping houses. Not to mention, I'd love to make crappy homes into cool homes that the residents would actually enjoy.

[Mojo Rising]

Originally Posted by Phobia

Yeah - icemaker is cake. I can't believe you've been quoted $250. Oh - you're in California, aren't you? It would go for about $75 in KC.

I found a replacement complete set icemaker for $125 online. Or just the motor/controller for $78.

I think I'm going to order the motor/controller for $78. It only has 4 screws on and I don't have to mess with any of the power or harness fittings.

If I have to replace the whole unit...is it as easy as connecting the power and attaching it to the the freezer?

[PastorMikH]

Note:

When installing a garbage disposal, MAKE SURE you take out the drain plug before hooking the dishwasher up!!!




One of the things in our contract on the house was getting the disposal fixed. They put in a new one instead. The dishwasher didn't want to drain. After a bit of trouble shooting, I stick a screw driver into the drain outlet on the disposal and whoever installed it failed to drill out the drain line for a dishwasher. Drilled out the drain hole and it works fine.