Walls
Crestview Doors recently started following us on Twitter and we checked out their work. Very impressive. We love the concept. Take your existing door and give it a mid-century modern twist with their Doorlite Kits.
They include instructions for this diy door modification and they have kits to fit almost every taste and style. We like the classic Newman for our bungalow but if we had a ranch house we'd outfit it with the Langston.
Why not take advantage of the available square footage in your basement and not just leave it as a storage room. By finishing out a basement or at least insulating it, you'll be able to enjoy more of your home as well as save energy.
One Project Closer went through the process of selecting basement insulation and they considered all of the major options including fiberglass, wet cellulose and spray foam.
They chose closed cell spray foam:
While closed cell spray foam is slightly more expensive than other methods, it offers high R-value with the best mold resistance. Given that we've invested thousands of dollars in radiant floor heating, we believe that the higher cost is justified and would recommend this method.
When building or remodeling a home the interior doors are often an afterthought but they shouldn't be. Cheap doors on a quality built home suck! But investing a limited budget into solid wood doors isn't always the smart choice.
We've followed this debate on Home Construction Improvement regarding hollow-core vs. solid wood interior doors and while there are some basic advantages and disadvantages to both.
Solid Wood Doors
+ Solid wood doors are great for sound dampening, insulating properties, damage resistance and value to potential buyers.
- Solid doors certainly have benefits but they also cost approximately 50% more, they are heavy and more prone to shrinkage and expansion due to temperature and moisture changes.
One of the easiest and cleanest ways to decorate a room is by hanging photos. Personal photos add warmth and personality to any room but are also perfect in trafficked areas such as hallways and stairwells.
But there are things to consider before you take hammer to nail, or you may damage your walls.
In other words, think about the following:
* Wall material -- Is it brick, drywall or cement? This dictates how to hang photos in your home.
* Weight of the picture or artwork -- If it's too heavy, it may come crashing down. If it's light, you won't need any special hardware, like toggles.
* Hardware on the picture frame -- Is there a wire, a bracket or neither?
We recently contributed to TimeOut New York's Home Design 2009 issue which hit newsstands today.
We're featured in the Steal This Idea section for creating a patina mirror just like you've seen on the walls of your favorite French bistro (We prefer Le Singe Vert over Schiller's any night).
Pick up a copy today!
We want to share one of our favorite new houseblogs, San Fran Vic. The homeowners have chronicled the ongoing restoration of their 1890's Victorian home in San Francisco.
They've done amazing work so far and we are particularly stricken by their staircase renovation which they've laid out in 7 blog posts. Not so much a renovation but more of a recreation as the banister was completely gone and in it's place was a dividing wall which needed to be demo'd before any work could begin. The finished product shown above looks great and we'll continue to check on on their work and so should you.
San Fran Vic
In Parts I and II of this series, we learned how to safely approach water damage and identify and stop the source. Now we will discuss preventing the spread of water damage and setting up effective drying systems for light water damage.
Step 4: Prevent Further Damage
Furnishings: Immediately relocate furnishings immersed in water or sitting on damp flooring. This is especially important for wood furnishings, or those that have a stain finish prone to bleeding. Nothing ruins carpet quicker than bleeding, wet furniture. Also, furnishings made from wood composite, like MDF, will swell quickly when exposed to water, and are impossible to dry to their original look and strength.
Wall Coverings: Once the furnishings is out of the way, inspect the walls. If water has wicked up the drywall or plaster, immediately remove baseboard and/or wainscoting or wall-coverings. Water gets trapped behind these items and creates a barrier to drying, not to mention a great spot for mold growth. (Speaking of mold, it begins to grow on porous surfaces after 48-72 hours of dampness. If you encounter mold, cease your demolition and hire an expert. This is especially critical if you have children, seniors or those with medical conditions in your home. Do not disturb the mold, as this releases spores into the air. More on this in a future post.) If no mold is encountered, I recommend leaving the drywall in place. It may be salvageable.
Flooring: Once furnishings are removed and wall-finishes are stripped to drywall, it is time to address the flooring. As a general rule, carpet and cushion (pad) damaged with Category I (see Part II of this series) water can be cleaned and salvaged. Carpet cushion damaged by Category II water needs to be disposed, but the carpet can be sanitized and salvaged. Flooring damaged by Category III water needs to be disposed of immediately and the slab or sub floor treated with an anti-microbial chemicals. Leave this to the experts. It takes proper training to safely remove flooring damaged to this extent.
My daughter loves throwing her pacifier around her room; not yet understanding that throwing her pacifier while in her crib makes said pacifier unavailable for the remainder of her nap. As a result, my wife and I hunt for pacifiers daily, finding them in all sorts of interesting locations. I secretly suspect pacifier-throwing is just my daughters clever way of watching us maneuver furniture and contort our bodies. "Perform for me, circus monkey", she thinks in her one-year-old head. And we do...
It was on one such pacifier recon missions that I noticed a slight bubble in the baseboard. That's odd, I thought. I felt the baseboard. It was a bit too soft. I pulled the crib out further. Uh-oh. No. It couldn't be. I just finished her room 6 months ago. Please, don't tell me. It... is... water... damage!
So what do you (or I) do when we find such a thing? This three-part series highlights steps to take when you notice water damage. Upon reading this series you will know how to safely identify and begin the remediation of water damage. Now, we all now restoration professionals that respond to such situations (or we should). But perhaps the damage is fairly minimal (at least at first glance), perhaps you are not really interested in forking over an emergency response charge or perhaps you are not the type to just sit by while your house is flooding. This series will increase your chance of effectively responding to water damage quickly and efficiently.
A reader is having trouble removing the original swinging door between their dining room and kitchen.
We have an old house that has a swinging door between the dining room and the kitchen. I want to take this door down but have not been able to figure out how to get it down. At some point in the past, sheet vinyl was put down in the kitchen and carpet in the dining room and I wonder if it might be covering some part of the door that would allow it to be taken down. There are no hinges, it appears that it is on "pin" at the top and some sort of metal plate/bracket at the bottom. We can not locate any screws anywhere, there just seems to be nothing to take apart. Any ideas?
Tin ceiling tiles are a great way to add a classic look to a room or with the right color paint modernize it.
Armstrong has some instructional videos for painting ceiling tiles to give them the tin look that you desire.
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November 6, 2009 | Comments ()
