DIY Life

Looking for deals on DIY-related gear?

If you're staying home this 4th of July weekend, it's a good time to work on the house and yard. Let's visit the big boys of home improvement supplies: check out July 4th deals from Lowe's here, and The Home Depot here. Neck-and-neck as always, both stores are offering 10% off major appliances ($397 and up) and deals on carpet installation.

Lowe's is offering gift cards in return for purchases, too, starting at a $10 card for purchases from $99 to $199 and going up to $100 cards for purchases of $600 or more. Nice to get something in return for all that spending, huh? Oh, and Lowe's is also offering 10% discounts this weekend for military personnel and their immediate families.

You will need: a canvas drop cloth, upholstery fabric for the appliqué designs, and some other decorative fabric for the trim. You will also need a few sewing essentials: fusible web, iron, sewing machine, and scissors. Interested? Check out the step-by-step instructions here.

I have to admit the finished product looks amazing, atlhough I don't think it would work well in high-traffic areas of the house. A piece of non-slip foam backing underneath would be a must for safety's sake.

For more rug-related advice, check out Debbie's post on rug flipping.

Summer is here, and about this time, you should be sending the kids off to summer camp. That means free time to get the house spruced up without little tykes underfoot. That doesn't mean lazing around on a hammock all summer, though; it really means getting out the paint brush.

If your stairs are looking beat up from constant foot thrashings, you can give them a makeover by painting a stair runner in vibrant colors that will be sure to have the kids tiptoeing around for a time. Domino says this is a project that will take you a few days, so it would be great to get started on the project this weekend, so you have extra time to let the paint dry between coats.

Over on AOL Decorating, the readers thought this was a huge waste of time, but I disagree. I think that the stairs look much more modern and cheerful with the red and white paint, instead of the drab, dreary wood. I also think that the paint is much safer than a carpet runner. My favorite color is green, so of course I would pick Hunter Green instead of red. What colors would you pick for your painted stair runner?

Every time I move a piece of furniture, my carpet is left with indentations that I am not sure how to remove, especially if it happens to be a large piece of furniture. I try to fluff the carpet, but combing the area with my fingers or vacuuming doesn't always help.

When it comes time to move my heavy entertainment center, I will be left with a carpet indent that will have me shaking my head wondering how to fix it. Combing the carpet with my fingers sure won't work for that enormous piece of wood, but I bet using a steam iron or ice would work to remove the carpet dents.

The Frugal Life posted a question from Debbie, who asked how to remove carpet indents. The responses to her question varied, but the majority of answers were to (A) either use an ice cube on the dent, (B) wet a towel and use a steam iron to "iron" out the indents, or (C) use a blow dryer and a comb or brush to make the carpet appear new again.

I have tried the comb and brush method, and it doesn't work all that well for me. Using a hot iron with a wet towel makes the most sense to me, so I'll have to give that one a try. I will try the ice cube method too, but only on small indents. I don't want to be stuck with a gigantic indent in my carpet when I move that monstrous entertainment center, so feel free to leave a comment and tell me your best method for removing carpet indentations.

via: Craft

The key part of basement remodeling happens before you ever even touch a tool. I'm talking about design, of course. What you intend to use your basement for will move your design ideas in the right direction. A great method is to brainstorm with your spouse and kids with notebook and pencil in hand.

Plan, plan, and plan some more

Throw out the ideas willy-nilly and discuss them. You'll be surprised at what you find! Once you've got all your "wants" nailed down, take a look at your budget and identify your "needs." There's bound to be some chaff there somewhere.

Are you going to use the basement as a home office? Then plan on Internet, phone, and fax connections. Will it be a game room, family room, or something along that line? You'll probably want to install plumbing for a wet bar as well as cable or satellite TV connections.

One of the first things you need to assure yourself of is whether your entire basement space, walls and floors, are properly sealed against moisture. This is the perfect time to take care of it -- before it can become a problem.

Perpetual Remodeling Syndrome (PRS) is brought to you every Thursday by Kelly Smith, who is hopelessly afflicted with this home-altering ailment. Remodeling can be a never-ending and contagious illness, so read on, at your own risk. Don't say we didn't warn you.

For the past few years I've been involved in what I have come to call PRS (Perpetual Remodel Syndrome). Ahh, the joys of home ownership. Since I do enjoy doing home improvement, I feel it's a blessing that my subdivision has no home owner's association. I know the argument; it keeps the standards up. But at least here, there's only one tacky house out of a few hundred.

That being said, today's topic is laying interior ceramic tile floors. Laying tile on a porch or patio has its own considerations.

Tools for the Project

• Wet saw
• Scraper
• Notched trowel
• Tile spacers
• Electric drill
• Ribbon mixer
• Utility knife
• Claw hammer
• Small pry bar
• Knee pads (Trust me!)
• Chalk line
• Tape Measure
• Rubber mallet
• Grout float and sponge
  

Preparing the Sub-floor

We wanted ceramic tile in the living room but wanted to keep the carpet until the kid could navigate without falling down. I found that the easiest way to remove the carpet was to pull it off the tack strips, cut it into 5' wide strips, roll them up, and use plastic tape to secure them. Then, I did the same with the padding. Next, use the claw hammer and pry bar to take up the tack strip. If there are any drywall compound splatters on the slab from the initial construction, scrape them up.

Now, to get the slab clean, don't sweep; the dust that has sifted through the carpet is very fine and will go airborne. Use a shop-vac. Eyeball the slab carefully. Minor imperfections are alright but if you have major ones, skim them with thinset.

Do Your Tile Layout

Find the center of the room in both directions and snap chalk lines. Visualize this; the chalk lines will look like a big plus sign with the intersection being in the exact center of the room. These are your "control lines." Be sure that your control lines are perpendicular. Use the 3-4-5 method and adjust as needed.

Now it's simply a matter of measuring back to find your border tiles (taking the grout line spacing into consideration). Once you have the border tile size, snap chalk lines so you'll know where to start laying tile. The lines will be parallel to the control lines so the borders might vary in size a bit as you go down the wall. Don't do all four sides of the room; you only need two walls (intersecting in the corner you'll be starting out of). Leave an exit; don't be like the guy that painted himself into a corner!

Mix the Mortar and Lay the Tile

I used mortar on my floor but there are other adhesives out there as well. Your choice. Spread the mortar or adhesive with the trowel evenly and begin laying the tile using the spacers. I like to lay about two rows of four full tiles on one chalk line and then cut and lay the borders. Then I do the same for the other line. Seat each tile by lightly rapping it with a rubber mallet.

Remember to spread the mortar slightly beyond where the tile will lay so there's no void. Voids cause tiles to crack at some time in your future, drawing displeasure from your spousal unit and casting a shadow of doubt over your impressive DIY skills. Don't go there.

All done? Clean up your tools and have an adult beverage of your choice.

Time to Grout!

Grouting is the fun part. I let the mortar dry for twenty four hours first. Mix the grout using the ribbon mixer again. I know you can buy it premixed, but that's cost-prohibitive for all but the smallest of projects. Start grouting where you started laying the tile if that worked well for you. Arm yourself with the sponge in a bucket of water.

First scoop some grout onto the float and work it in between the tiles (removing the spacers as you go). Then grab your sponge, wring it out, and start wiping the grout off the tile surface with a light touch, and forming the concave shape typical to grout lines. As the tiles dry off, you'll see a glaze on them. Don't worry about that now; you'll wipe it off with cheesecloth later.

Finally, after a day or so after the grout's dry, come back and apply a high-quality grout sealer. Other than nailing up the baseboard, your work here is done. As before, clean up your tools and enjoy an adult beverage. You've earned it!



Additional resources:
Laying a vinyl tile floor (This Old House)
Tile setting tools (The Tile Doctor)
Installing hardwood floor (Hometips)
Laying floor tile (Hammerzone)

I was searching for ways to get peanut butter out of carpet and found these instructions claiming that peanut butter can actually be just the thing you need to get gum out of your carpet. I was just as shocked as you, but reading through the reasoning it sounds like a great solution.

Scrape off as much gum as you can, then rub on some creamy peanut butter. The peanut butter will take the stick out of the gum. It should wipe away easily. Reading trough the instructions I thought "that's great, but what about my original problem of having peanut butter in the carpet?" Well, it turns out that isn't quite the problem I imagined it to be. A simple, homemade solution will wash way the peanut butter and your carpet will be as stunning as it started (or in our house, will only have the stains that existed before the gum and peanut butter).

The old saying - measure twice, cut once - is a lesson most DIY'ers learned the hard way, and if you're like me, learned more than once. We're replacing some old carpeting on our stairs and upstairs landing. I did some quick measurements this morning, and we headed out to look at carpet. Arriving at the store, the sales-person had all sorts of questions about what dimensions of roll we needed. I didn't have the answers handy. This highlighted my inability to do simple math quickly in my head, but also my sloppy measurement and incomplete information which could have caused a big mistake and an even bigger expense.

I thought I'd share with all of you two of the things I learned about getting accurate flooring measurements when determining what size of carpet you need.

Ah, mini-putt-putt. The summer fun game. Kids love it. Adults love it. You don't have to be athletic to play. Interested? The site Modern Mechanics (motto: "yesterday's tomorrow, today) has posted an old Popular Mechanics article from 1950 on how to build your own basement mini-golf course. In addition to full, written instructions, there are illustrations of how the finished 18-hole course should look and how to construct each piece. Basically, the course is made from plywood and finished with carpet, which is tacked on. Some sections -- those where smoothly curving surfaces are required -- are made from sheet metal. The whole plan is split into a series of greens, which can be used alone (for practice or when space is limited) or together (for those with large basements). When not in use, the pieces can be stacked together for storage. Winter putt-putt, anyone?

Thanksgiving is behind us and Christmas preparations are under way. We'll bring out old boxes of decorations and add some new stylish pieces. It doesn't matter how good your decorating taste is, if you're trying to hide wood panel walls and '70s linoleum, your house can only look so good. What better motivation for some household updates than your parents coming to town. Surely they will wonder why you haven't fixed that tear in the wallpaper from last year?

These updates don't have to take from your Christmas fund, there are four easy ways to update the look of your home and stay on a tight budget. I'll provide two important tips after the break.

Green flooring reduces damage to the environment and avoids the toxins that other flooring might expose you to. Building green is increasing in popularity and DIY'ers are among the pioneers in this area.

Here are 6 earth friendly flooring materials. The article Green Floors: Six materials to have underfoot outlines these flooring materials and offers important facts to consider when choosing a flooring product.

We know that drinking tea has great health benefits. Now your tea bags can be used for alternative healing and other creative problem solving uses. I knew that tea could freshen tired eyes or ease a sunburn, but I had no idea that it could stop bleeding and pain after losing a tooth or even serve as an effective furniture polish. You'll find more interesting tips in these 15 wonderful uses for tea.

A reader comments that a green tea bag can clean stubborn stains off a white board. Here are a few other uses I was able to dig up. What inventive ways have you used tea bags. Share your tips in the comments.

It seems to come up a lot that people aren't quite sure how to properly dispose of certain materials. While ideally, we're using less, some consumption is inevitable and the correct disposal of these things is environmentally crucial.

I've collected a list of things that don't belong in landfills, or regular municipal recycling programs and found the right place for them. I'm sure these answers vary from one community to another, so feel free to jump in with your own answers in the comments.