Installing Baseboard Trim with Existing Carpet

By Mark J. Donovan

Question: I want to replace my baseboard trim in one of the rooms in my home, however I do not want to replace the existing carpet. I want to know if I can replace the baseboard trim without having to pull up the carpeting and have it re-stretched back into place after I install the new baseboard trim.

Answer: The carpet is held in place by carpet tack strips. The baseboard trim does not hold it in place. It is possible, however that when the baseboard trim was installed, it was installed prior to the carpet. Sometimes finish carpenters will install baseboard trim about a quarter inch off the floor if they know carpet is to be installed. This baseboard trim installation technique is mainly for aesthetics, however carpet installers use this gap to push any excess carpet material underneath the baseboard trim. The baseboard trim, again, is not holding the carpeting in place.

So you should be able to replace the old baseboard trim without having to lift the carpet. Simply use a nail punch to push the finish nails through the existing baseboard trim. Then remove the old trim from the walls. Next, pull out the old finished nails from the wall and your ready to install the new baseboard trim.

The new baseboard trim can sit flush onto the carpet edge and between the wall and the existing carpet tack strip. Readmore »»

No Water Coming out of Frost Free Outdoor Faucet

By Mark J. Donovan

Question - I have a frost free outdoor faucet that is not working. There is no water coming out of my outdoor faucet. I tried to turn it on this spring and no water comes out of it. We did have some frozen pipes this past winter for a few hours one day. Do you have any ideas on why it may not be working?

Answer: Frost free outdoor faucets can be a little tricky. There are faucet nuts and washers that can sometimes fail, or become loose, and can cause the faucet to leak. Sometimes outdoor faucets can be installed wrong, e.g. leaving the valve system in the pipe while sweating it into your plumbing system. This can lead to a failed outdoor faucet.

Regarding your question on the frost free outdoor faucet not working. Your situation sounds a little odd. If you had a frozen pipe situation then I would think the faucet may have a leak.

I only have a couple of thoughts on this situation:

First, make sure you do not have an internal shut off valve inside the home that provides water to the outdoor faucet. Frequently even frost free outdoor faucets have inside shutoff valves for added protection.

The second thought I have is that if the faucet was old and rusty, the handle may not actually be connected/engaged with the valve stem any longer. If this was the case you could turn the handle and the valve would remain closed. Readmore »»

How to Buy an Unfinshed Home

By Mark J. Donovan

Question: How to I go about finding an unfinshed home to buy?

Answer: I have purchased two homes in the past that were unfinished. The first was a spec home that the builder left the upstairs unfinished. This type of spec home was fairly common in the New Hampshire area back in the 1980s. Many builders offered these type of starter homes to consumers. Though unfinished they did qualify for occupancy permits and banks gave out mortgages for them. Typically in an unfinished home the downstairs is completely finished and there is a bedroom. The upstairs is shut off via a door at the top of the stairwell. The upstairs contains insulation in the floor, and depending upon what you negotiate, insulation and studding can be completed in the upstairs. Typically limited rough electrical wiring is also fed to the upstairs.

The second unfinished home I purchased I actually negotiated with a builder who was building a development to not complete the upstairs.

From a builder's perspective there is an advantage of building an unfinished home to a committed buyer versus building a spec home with no committed buyer. In today's housing market I would locate a builder and ask him about such an option. Sometimes builders are hesitant to build unfinished homes for a couple of reasons. First, buildable land is becoming increasingly scarce. Second because the buildable land is scarce the cost of it is high. Consequently many builders are hesitant to build an unfinished home because they want to maximize the amount of money they can make on a piece of property. However, with the state of the current housing market builders may be more willing to accept an offer to build an unfinished home.

So if you have interest in buying an unfinished home check with your local builders and town building inspector. Readmore »»

Laminate Flooring Installation

By Mark J. Donovan

I recently decided to update my kitchen flooring and decided upon laminate flooring. I elected to go with laminate flooring due to a number of factors. First laminate flooring installation is relatively easy to do. Due to the fact that laminate flooring is a floating floor it simply snaps, or interlocks, together. Yes, there is some preparation required before installing it, and a foam pad may need to be installed on the subfloor if it is not already attached to the underside of the laminate flooring pieces, but otherwise it is straight forward to install.

The second reason I went with a laminate flooring installation is that laminate flooring is an extremely durable product. It is almost impossible to scratch or ding, and in a kitchen where silverware, plates and pans occasionally get dropped I felt it was a much better alternative to vinyl, tile or wood.

There are two downsides to laminate flooring that are important to consider. Laminate flooring is constructed via a plastic type surface covering a print (e.g. wood, stone, etc), which is then backed by a wood product. With some brands of laminate flooring a pad is also attached to the back of the wood surface, eliminating the need for a separate pad to be installed on the subfloor first. Though small liquid spills are okay landing on the surface of the laminate flooring, it is important to wipe them up quickly. If liquid works its way in between the joints, and/or to the underside of the laminate flooring, it will swell and become damaged.

The other downside is the sound of laminate flooring when you walk on it. It has a hollow sound when you walk on it. This I believe is due to the fact that it is a floating floor. It does take some time, but after awhile you do get use to the sound.

As I mentioned earlier, laminate flooring installation is relatively easy to do, however it is important to make sure the subfloor is level and free from any lumps, bumps or warping. We also found it best to remove the kitchen cabinet toe boards and install the laminate flooring right up to the base of the cabinets. We then trimmed the toe boards and reinstalled them. Likewise, we chose to remove the original baseboard trim and replace it with new baseboard. The alternative is to install quarter-round onto the bottom of the baseboard trim to cover the edge of the laminate flooring.

Our laminate floor has really dressed up our kitchen, and hopefully it will provide us with many more years of service compared to our previous vinyl floor. Readmore »»

How to Fix a Kitchen Cabinet Spice Rack

By Mark J. Donovan

Well for the second time in as many years I fixed the kitchen cabinet spice rack in my home. This time I fixed it for good!

As usual we paid an arm and a leg to have so-called professional kitchen cabinet installers hang the kitchen cabinets in our home several years ago. As is fairly typical with remodeling contractors, the work was sub-par, and in particular the installation of the spice rack. To begin with the spice rack was installed too low in the kitchen cabinet. Second, the spice rack itself was racked, meaning it was not a perfect rectangle. The weight of it caused it to sag on the outside edge furthest from the hinges. Consequently the spice rack rubbed up along the bottom inside of the kitchen cabinet.

A couple of years ago, I adjusted the spice rack by loosening the hinges and sliding the rack upwards. The holes for the screws were slotted to allow for this type of adjustment. However, even with the slotted holes it was insufficient to significantly raise the spice rack.

So today I chose to remove the spice rack altogether and re mount the hinges another ¼ inch higher. I also squared up the spice rack using a very small thin strip of wood (actually a 2” length of a new paint stick). While holding the outside corner of the spice rack up, I screwed and glued this small piece of wood to the back upper corner of the spice rack. By doing this I was able to keep the spice rack square. I also made sure the screws were of such a length that they did not penetrate all the way through the spice rack paneling.

So with the strip of wood installed, and the spice rack itself reinstalled in the kitchen cabinet, my kitchen cabinet spice rack now works properly and does not rub along the bottom of the kitchen cabinet. Readmore »»

My Freeze Alarm Prevented Frozen Pipes

By Mark J. Donovan

This past Saturday morning at 5:30am I heard what I thought were chimes ringing. I wasn’t sure where they were coming from, however I knew we had some outside the home and figured it was them that were ringing. Anyways, I got up at 6:00am and decided to do a little work on my website HomeAdditionPlus.com. A few minutes later I heard the sound of my wife’s cell phone ringing.

After rummaging through her purse I found the cell phone and answered it. It turned out our Freeze Alarm was calling us from our Lake Home to tell us we had a temperature alarm situation.

Immediately I considered the possibility that we ran out of oil at the lake house and that the furnace had shut down. I confirmed this fact after finding the last bill we received from the oil supply company was 3 months ago.

I promptly called the oil company to make an emergency refill. My wife and I then jumped into the car and raced north. We arrived at the lake home to find the tank full and a bill on our door. However to get the furnace running again I needed to bleed off the air in the oil pipe first.

After getting the furnace running again, my wife and I discussed what would have happened if we had not had the freeze alarm call us. She had been planning to order oil in the following week, however by running out of oil, the furnace would not have restarted on its own. If the freeze alarm had not called us we would have been oblivious to the loss of heat in the home and we would have had frozen pipes. The FA-D2 Freeze Alarm saved us a small fortune in water damage and cracked pipes. Readmore »»

Building a Crown Molding Shelf

Instructions on Building a Crown Molding Shelf

By Mark J. Donovan

If you have some scrap crown molding lying around your workshop, you might want to consider putting it to good use by building a crown molding shelf. A decorative crown molding shelf is ideal for displaying various collections of knickknacks or even small trophies. Not only is a crown molding shelf a beautiful accent piece to a room, it is also very inexpensive and easy to build.

Required Materials for Building a Crown Molding Shelf

To build a crown molding shelf all you need is a few feet of crown molding and a piece of 1-by material, such as 1”x3” or 1”x4”, depending upon the style and size of crown molding you are using to build the crown molding shelf. A little wood glue is also helpful.

Required Tools for Building a Crown Molding Shelf

To build a crown molding shelf you need a miter saw, and preferably a finish nail gun, although a hammer and finish nails will also work.

Building a Crown Molding Shelf

To build a crown molding shelf use your miter saw to cut a length of crown molding stock the desired length of the shelf. The ends should be cut at a 45o angle. Note that when cutting crown molding it is important to position it on the miter saw upside down so that when it is hung on the wall it will sit properly.

Next, cut a couple of side rails out of the crown molding stock. The length of the crown molding side rails is determined by how far out the crown molding shelf will penetrate outwards from the wall. Again, a miter saw should be used to cut 45o angles on the edges of the side rails to form the 90o corners associated with the front piece of the crown molding shelf. The back ends should be square cut to the desired depth of the crown molding shelf.

Once the three crown moulding pieces have been cut, glue and nail them together.

Next, cut a section of 1-by stock to fill in the top gap of the crown molding shelf. You may want to use a table saw to create an angled groove along the top of the piece of the 1-by material if you want to display plates on the crown molding shelf.

Now fasten the 1-by material to the inside area of the crown molding shelf frame, again using glue and nails.

After the glue has dried, sand, prime and paint the crown molding shelf.

To hang the crown molding shelf on the wall, it is best to use a small block of wood that you fasten to the wall, and into wall studs. The crown molding shelf can then rest on top of it, with the block of wood sitting inside the crown molding shelf cavity and flush up underneath the flat shelf piece. You can then use a few nails to fasten the crown molding shelf to the block of wood.

For information on installing wood crown molding see HomeAdditionPlus.com’s “Installing Crown Molding Ebook”. Readmore »»