How to mount a light fixture

Installing a new light fixture is a great way to instantly change a boring light into a dazzling one.  Even though the bag of parts included with some fixtures may look daunting, the electrical connections are simple enough for even a beginner.


Required Tools for this Project

• 4-in-1 screwdriver
• Needle-nose pliers
• Voltage tester
• Stepladder
• Pliers
• Non-contact voltage tester
• Wire stripper/cutter

Step 1: Shut off power
For some fixtures you can simply shut the power off at the switch, but I recommend always shutting power off at the breaker. If you’re lucky, the breakers on your electrical panel will be labeled. If not it’s a bit of a guessing game, shutting off breakers and then using the voltage detector to make sure the area you’re going to be working in isn’t “hot.”

Step 2: Connect wires A standard box for a light fixture will have three wires, a white (neutral), black (current), and copper (ground.)

Note: If you ever find aluminum wiring your house don't attempt the job and hire a professional with a licence

How to Drywall framing Video

Below is a video of me explaining how to sheetrock a wall.

Redwood Planter Box

In this article I will show you how I made a redwood planter box. This project will be at a intermediate level and it will require some tools.

Material:

Redwood Fences Boards from the store

• Redwood fence boards
• glue, Tightbond III
• Brad nails
• Helmsman Spar Urethane 

Tools:

• Table Saw
• Miter Saw
• Air compressor 
• 18g Nailer
• 16g nailer
• Planer

The video below show how I made the planter box.

How to refinish Teak Furniture

Outdoor teak furniture is a stylish choice your patio or deck. Teak wood is not only pleasing to the eye; it is also strong and requires low maintenance.

This a photo of the finished product after the teak oil is applied

Step 1: Sanding

Sand the teakwood to remove the gray-colored surface grain. Use 100-grit sand paper or a foam sanding, block and sand in the direction of the wood grain. For large areas, you can use a handheld random orbital sander to reduce the labor necessary to remove the faded wood.

Step 2: Remove dust

Remove sanding dust by wiping the teakwood down with a tack cloth. If you're refinishing a small item, move it to a garage or somewhere out of the wind for the next step.

Step 3: Apply Teak Oil

Apply teak oil, clean wood. This products penetrate the surface grain for added protection from the elements. Brush on a thin coat with a natural bristle brush and let it soak in, or buff it with a soft buffing pad as directed on the product’s label. Additional thin coats of oil or sealer can offer more protection and enhance surface luster.

Note: I used Watco Teak oil

PVC pipe glueing

To ensure that the pipe will be fully seated in its fittings, measure the distance between the shoulders on the fittings at each end of the pipe.  Spread cement primer over the outside of the pipe and the inside of the fitting where they'll overlap. The primer softens and cleans the plastic. Assemble everything to make sure the pipe is the correct length. On fittings such as elbows, position is critical, so make a reference mark from the pipe onto the fitting. Apply the cement to the primed areas on the inside of the fitting and to the outside of the pipe.  Slide the pipe into the fitting until it bottoms out against the fitting's shoulder, then give it a ¼-inch turn to spread the glue and speed its cure. If you're attaching a fitting, push it in with the reference marks slightly out of register, and turn the fitting to align the marks. Hold for 30 seconds, then wipe up any excess cement with a dry rag.

Sweating Copper Pipe

Soldering copper water supply lines is not a difficult skill.  Even a rookie can learn to solder leak-proof joints in 15 minutes. The process is simple—if you follow a few basic guidelines. In this story and video I will show you how to solder copper quickly and easily. First cut your copper pipe to the desired length to fit your plumbing project using a pipe cutter. You can buy a pipe cutter and all of the supplies for this project in a hardware store or online.  Next once you have your pipe to your desired length use emory cloth or sandpaper to clean the copper pipe. You do this get rid of any of the tarnish on the copper pipe.  Apply a thin layer of lead-free soldering paste (flux) to the end of the pipe using a flux brush. The paste should cover about 1 inch of pipe. Insert the pipe into the fitting. Make sure the pipe is tight against the bottom of the fitting. Twist the fitting slightly to spread the flux.  Unwind around 8 inches of solder from the real, then proceed to heating the pipe up with a propane torch.  Once the pipe is hot touch the solder to it, there does not need to be direct contact from the torch for the solder to melt. Capillary action will draw the liquid solder into the joint. A properly soldered joint should show a thin bead of solder around the fitting.Wipe away the excess solder with a rag. The pipe will be hot, so be careful while handling it. After the pipe and fitting have cooled, turn on the water and check for leaks. If the joint leaks, take it apart and resolder it.

How to Frame/Built a wall

In this article I will teach you how to build a wooden wall out of 2" by 4".  I will be building a small wall that I can uses as a representation of my work.  The the will in include a window and I will explained how to to build that.

First is to select the wood you are going to use, there is treated and untreated wood, 95% of a home is built with untreated wood and places that touch the ground or the concrete slab are required to have treated wood because the treated wood has a chemical that helps the wood from rotting and falling apart. In treated wood they are literally forcing the chemicals in to the wood under pressure, so when the wood starts to dry it can turn in to weird shapes and can come unusable so it is important to only buy what you are going to us because the wood will become unusable within weeks of  buying it.  This does not happen as bad on wood that is not treated but you still want to use it soon after you buy it. Below is a photo of a piece of warped treated wood.

There are only a few things that you need to have to build a wall from the store.  Primarily it is going to be nails but there are going to be a few thing you are going to have to buy that are tools if you don't have them already. Below is a list of tools that I think are required and some tools the I will mark with an * that is not need but will speed up the process if you are doing a big project

1. A Hammer
2. Carpentry pencil
3. Framing square
4. Tape Measure (+16ft)
5. Circular Saw
6. Chalk line
7. Level
8. Eye Protection
9. Plum bob
10. Handsaw
11. 16d common nails (3.5 inch and 2.5)
12. Work gloves
13. 2"4" by 8 feet
14. Miter Saw*
15. Air compressor*
16. Framing Nailer*

The wall height in many homes is 8 feet; lumber yards sell dimensional lumber cut 92-1/2-inches long. These boards are “studs” and, when nailed to a bottom and a top plate, you will have a wall that is 8 feet high after drywall is hung.  Mark the top and bottom plates where the studs will go. An effective technique for doing this is to layer one over the other exactly where the floor plate will rest. Make the marks on 16-inch centers but, instead of measuring from the edge of the wall.  Separate the two plates and lay the studs in between, just as they will fit in the finished wall. You will assemble it on the floor before lifting the entire unit in one piece. Nail the studs into place from the outside of the plates, using two or three nails at the end of each. Once the wall is framed the on the ground take you tape measure from each opposing (diagonal) corners and take down the measurement, it will be the same number if the is square, if the numbers do not match up then you can move the top or bottom plate until the the numbers a re the same then you can put up bracing and then lift the wall.  Even small walls can be heavy because they are green wood and it still usually has a fair amount of water in them, so get a friend to help you lift the wall. The next step will be to hang the drywall but that will be in a coming blog post.

Note: I Have also made this whole blog post in to a video which can be seen below

Blog Pitch

Fixing bender board and adding Tan Bark

I the front of my house there is a planter around a tree, it has not been looking good recently, so I am going to fix that.  Below is a photo of the original planter and as you can see currently.

The first step of the project is to remove the old 1 inch thick bender board. It will eventually be replaced by 1/2 inch thick bender board, we are basically making a semi circle and the 1 inch board is to thick that is why it broke, the radius is too tight for the board to make that is why I switched over to the 1/2 inch board because it can handle the tight radius of the semi circle. Once you have it taken out you can move it to the side and move on with the project.

The second step is to remove any routs that are in that are in the path.  This saw is not really meant to be used in the garden but I did not have a curved garden blade. Also if you are replacing the old bender board then you should be able to just lay it down in the old path and put new stakes down.  After you have it where you generally want it, you can nail it to the front board and then place a stake in the center of the curve and then move out ward to secure the whole curve.  The stakes can be made of anything and you don't have to buy them, I make mine out of some treated wood that is designs not to rot, redwood is also a good alternative. If you make your own you should make the angles between 10-20 degrees.

Now the new board is added and the project is complete, the only thing left to scoop any exes dirt from around the project and moisten the dirt with some water. Now it takes about 3 cubic feet of tan bark to cover the semi circle.  You do not need to buy a dump truck full of tan bark if you are just doing a small project but if you are going any projects bigger than 20 cubic feet of material it makes more sense to go a landscape yard and rent a truck because it is usually much more cost effective.

How to chose Lumber at the store

This will be a article about how to select wood for your projects. For most of my wood purchase I go to my local home depot, but note not all boards are the same so you are going to have to put some time in to select good boards. First I would start by

getting a cart, I would stay away from the typical grocery store cart and go more a flat or racked cart because you can fit a lot more wood on them and you can control them much easier, you can see it to the left.  Next I would walk over to the wood you plan on buying, note if you plan on buying S4S lumber witch stands for surfaced on all four sides, all of what I am about to say will not apply for choosing the lumber.  S4S can be more pricey and some time come in only come in certain withes and lengths, so you might be forced to mill it yourself. Now back to selecting your wood, You are going to want to move the cart parallel to the pile of wood so then it will be easier to move the wood from the pile to the cart.  Now it comes down to selecting the boards, you are going to pay the same price for a nice piece of redwood or a piece of white growth board, an example of a growth board is the top white board in the pile.

As you can see from looking at the side of the pile of lumber there are pieces of redwood that are red in color and pieces that are white but you are going to pay the same price for the boards, so it is important to buy the red color boards because they have all of the nice quality for outdoor boards. They try to sell the white growth boards but they are just the outer layer of the tree and it does not whether as well as the natural redwood.

Next is price, there are many different types of wood based on the different quality of board. There are rough sawn boards that are direct from the saw mill and are usually wet, witch means it was recently milled up. They will also sell surfaced wood that has either been sanded or planed to have at least one finished side. The most expensive of them all is S4S lumbers because the finish all of the sides of the lumber it is usually used in fine woodworking and that is about.

Loading to your car, make sure before you buy any lumber that your car can handle the amount of wood you plan on buying.  For example I know that my SUV fits 8 foot long boards, so I know not buy any thing longer than 8 feet because it is a hassle to go back and return wood that you cant fit in your car. If you drive a small car and you are going to buy a lot of wood you can rent the home depot truck to move a lot of material, It is also really handy if you have to buy plywood or OSB because it can fit a who sheet in the bed of the truck.

If you are not going to uses the wood in the days after you purchase it then you should put the wood on a flat surface to dry. The wood is still wet and as the water evaporates the board will form to what ever it is left to, this is why it is important that you leave it on a flat supported surface.

Sources for Blog

For this blog I will be sourcing my knowledge from the website "This Old House" and my myself. TOH is a very reliable source and that they have story's on everything under the sun. Besides have a great website, the quickest way for me to understand how to learn something is threw video or demonstration and TOH has a wonderful YouTube channel that parallels the website in there story. In the videos the people in the photo below are the hosts and they all have different trades. From the left is the landscaper, then one over is the master plumber, one over is the general contractor, next over is the host of the show and always to the right is the master carpenter.  They all do different segments on the show and they are all very respectable in there trades.

                        I also use the you the house improvements YouTube channel to learn more basic general construction.  The host is a general contractor in Canada and he is knowledgeable for many constructions topics like rough carpentry, drywall, electrical, building and many other topic. I used his video series to build a 8" by 12" shed on my property. If you have any simple and general DIY projects he probably has a video on the topic. He makes it very capable to learn from his videos and I highly recommend him.

My plan is to have a collection of story's and videos that teach a wide range of skills on lots of different topics of construction. There are a few projects that I have in mind but I will also be playing it by year because the is always things being broke in my house and I am the fix it man. So I will be taking you on the adventure and hopefully it will be interesting. Like I said be for I learn from seeing/ watching, so most of the post will have accompanying vlogs to make the story more in depth.

*Please attempt any DIY project with your own discretion

Intentions of the blog

My name is Trevor, in the coming weeks I will be posting story on simple DIY projects from building sheds to putting up crown molding.  You will be able to learn a lot in each instructional story. I have always been pretty interested in construction and I would call my self a DIY'er, I have a pretty vast knowledge about general home project,  I am the fix it man in my house and neighborhood.  I have done many projects and some of them include building a 8",12" shed by my self to building and maintaining walls in my house, I also have built raised decks and many other projects.   Most of my projects involve wood, besides my passion for DIY project I also enjoy woodworking witch is a more finer aspect of construction. I am looking forward to share my knowledge that I have gained threw out my life to make people aware of how simple some projects our to

Here is a photo of when I partially repainted my house complete

Here is a photo of one of the raised deck that I've built in the past,
it was still in the building phase in this photo.  Now it is used for a kids playhouse

This is the shed that I built, this photo was taken when I put the rafters on, the shed is an 8 x 12 foot