WNY Handyman

Squirrel!! 

We all remember the line from the movie “UP!”.  Ben, the dog, would see a squirrel and become alert.  I had the same experience yesterday while looking at a possible renovation / rehab project in the Village of Lancaster, NY.

I was sitting in front of the home taking a look from my vehicle when a small squirrel appeared in the window.  At first, I thought that it was on the outer sill.  As it turns out, it was inside the house having its way with the interior.  I decided to talk a walk around the property while waiting for the person who would be showing me the property and as I reached the back, I noticed a larger squirrel in the rear window.  I was able to take a picture of this squirrel (see the photo below) and couldn’t help but laugh when he noticed me, become startled and then tore half of the window curtain down while trying to climb away.

Squirrel in window

We did end up going into the house to have a look and we decided it would be best if we carried a snow brush with us.  We all know how much squirrels hate snow brushes.  Luckily, there was no incident inside.  Turns out, squirrels are pretty non-confrontational and I was able to view the property without trouble (I had my brush in hand, mind you).  I don’t recall much about the property since I was pre-occupied with my squirrel avoidance and preparedness to strike plans.

I get to chalk up another first in my search for properties to renovate.  Vermin ?

If you have a backsplash in your kitchen that you really don’t like, but don’t want to go to the trouble to do a major tile job, consider some of the peel and stick alternatives.  If you can do it for your floors, you can do it for your walls.  In addition to that, the price isn’t too bad for a real unique look.  I found some tile at Amazon for between $3.50 and $5.50 per square foot (click the image below for details).  The price depends on the color that you choose.  Oddly enough, copper was the least expensive option.

You could even go over an existing tile backsplash.  You will have to address any exposed ends in a unique way, but the look is completely new in just a few hours.

The idea behind this project came to my attention while at Home Depot. They carry a beautiful peel and stick tile product from Aspect Metal Tiles.  The tiles are 3″ x 6″, come in boxes of 8, and are available in 4 colors. The price is around $20 a box, so you can see how pricey this option might be with each box covering just 1 square foot.

Metal backsplash tile installation

You can find other options out there if you look hard enough, so if you are after something unique, you might want to give Ebay a try.  There are manufacturers who well direct such as www.stainlesssteeltile.com. This company seems to have the largest variety of designs and colors available.  The installation isn’t the peel and stick type, but it is still very simple with the use of a tube of construction adhesive.  The unique tile shapes provided make this a great source for a unique back splash look.

Good luck with your tile backsplash project.  A couple of hundred dollars and a few hours of your time can have your kitchen looking like a new, modern home.

Auction currently at $170. Ends at 7:30PM

I occasionally view listings at a local auction site (auctionsinternational.com) and came across an auction from CIL Asset Recovery. The location is nearby (Hamburg), so I decided to have a look at the items.

Turns out there is some great stuff including a Sjoberg workbench.  If you are a woodworker, you have probably seen the high end workbenches from Sjoberg, wanted one, and then looked at the price tag and walked away. They are pricey. A relatively simple looking bench can run over $1,000. However, they are precision pieces and are priced accordingly. The vise isn’t going to be out of alignment in a month like the $50 special that you might be using.

Sjobergs workbench auction

Click on the image to view the auction.  Hurry, this ends tonight at 7pm.

Here is the exact same bench at Amazon.com for $545. Even at $545, it is a good price, but for less than $200??!!

Do you have a very small bathroom and want to make efficient use of the space?  I do.

I have a bath that is 6′ x 5′.  Obviously, this is a very small space for a 3 fixture bathroom.  However, there are some great options to squeeze all of your fixtures into this space.   One of the issues that compounds my problem is the 32″ door that swings into the bathroom space (see image below).

Bathroom door swinging in

The current layout has worked for 60+ years, but the shower was on its last legs and needed to go.  The current shower was essentially a 30″ x 30″ tin can.  It was very likely a shower from an old ship or submarine.  At 30″ square, it isn’t too accommodating to most normal sized adults.  There is a lot of clanking from flying elbows when an average size person washes their hair.  The room was too small to get a good photo of the old shower, but I did include a shot of the shower with 2 sides ripped off.  As you can see by the condition, it was clearly time for this fixture to be sent to the scrap heap.   Read more…

A number of people ask what the best method to use to track expenses during  a flip.  There are many methods, some good, some bad, and some downright ugly.

The following lists a few methods with the most complex at the top.

1. Quickbooks
   Utilize Quickbooks, categorize every expenditure, create sales accounts, link credit card and bank account for spending. Provide your Quickbooks file to your accountant at tax time.
   Relative Degree of Difficulty: 10
   Cost: 6
   There is a learning curve to Quickbooks and if you want to do things properly, there will be a number of hours put in for the initial company, vendor, account, and category setups.  I peg the cost at a 6 out of 10 due to the cost of the software.  Done properly, your accountant will thank you.
2. Hire a book keeper/accountant to do the work for you. 
   Schedule a regular meeting time during the renovation. At that time you can have receipts recorded properly by your bookkeeper while keeping your work on the project.
   Relative Degree of Difficulty: 1
   Cost: 9
   The level of difficulty on your end is minimal. Keep every receipt, provide it to your bookkeeper during your scheduled meetings, and provide fast answers when questions should arise.  You will certainly be paying a decent buck for this service, but you will probably sleep better at night knowing that you are prepared and up to date. Read more…

My wife and I had a wonderful trip planned on our 15th anniversary.  We were going to head to IKEA and purchase materials (cabinets, countertop, portable island) for our cottage kitchen.  Since the closest IKEA is a few hours away, I called ahead to be sure the items were available. Boy, am I glad that I did.  As it happens, weather and tight inventory management by IKEA, resulted in ZERO stock for the 3 primary items that we were after.

Because of this, I decided that I should build the cabinets from scratch.  After all, I am a handyman with a leaning toward finish carpentry.  I have assembled enough RTA Kitchen Cabinets to have a better understanding about the various construction techniques than most.

The cabinets that we needed weren’t going to be installed in a traditional way. I am going to use wall cabinets as a base cabinet and customize a platform to bring the counter up to the standard 36″ height.  A 30″ wall cabinet combined with a 4″ base and a 1 1/2″ countertop would get us close to our desired height.

Since the IKEA cabinets are out of stock, I decided to build the base cabinets as a traditional base cabinet would be built and simply make the depth at 12″ instead of the traditional 24″ depth of a base cabinet.  To be honest, I wasn’t looking forward to making the factory built upper cabinets look proper as base cabinets. Building from scratch gives me the opportunity to play with the toe kick set back depth and my counter overhang so that the shallow cabinet doesn’t look like it wants to tip forward.

The reason we are using the shallow cabinets as the base is due to the fact that our cottage kitchen is only 6 feet across! (see picture)

Cottage Kitchen - Before

About 20 years ago, when a member of a handyman book club, I purchased a book that detailed the construction of your own cabinets.  Looks like I will be breaking out the book and finding some time this winter to build the cabinets.

I’ll post the after (or during) pictures when the time comes.

If you are looking to build your own cabinets, you might consider the following book (PS: We get a small commission from Amazon.com if you purchase the book)