WNY Handyman

If you do any amount of improvement or renovation work, you will wonder how you got by without this tool. The Stanley Super Wonder Pry Bar is simply awesome!! If you use a regular pry bar, you will be amazed by the difference. There is a bend in the pry bar that works as a fulcrum so that you can gain leverage. It is hard to explain why this tool is so good, but read some of the reviews that you will find at Amazon. This $9 tool will save your knuckles, your work surface, and most importantly, your time.

The fastcap 3rd hand is a great tool. I can’t tell you how many times I have been able to use this item. If you work alone, I am sure that you have needed someone to “hold that other end”. You have probably also made your own braces out of a spare 2×4 (or two). The 3rd hand is great because it allows you to jack it up with a single hand. It is great for placing crown molding, or even drywall pieces. When hanging drwall alone you can use your regular t-brace (made from 2×4′s) and then snug the piece against the ceiling with your 3rd hand tool. This allows you to get your screws in nicely without worrying about your drywall shifting.

FastCap 3rd Hand

For about $40, this is a nice tool. You can find it at sites like Rockler or Coastal Tool. The price doesn’t vary too much from one retailer to the next, so check on the cost of shipping, handling, and sales tax.

If you have done any amount of tile work yourself, you have found that it probably makes more sense to buy a saw than to rent one. If you are going to use a rented saw, you better get the job done in 1 or 2 days. For a beginner, that might be difficult. If you go beyond a couple of days with a rental, the cost will probably come close to the amount you would pay to purchase an inexpensive saw.

When looking for a saw, I spent quite a bit of time at Amazon.com. There is a lot of feedback and detailed reviews about each saw. I didn’t buy it there, but it was terrific for researching the tile saw. I ended up purchasing a RECONDITIONED MK-370 TILE SAW WITH 7″ BLADE through a seller that I found on Ebay. I didn’t mind that it was reconditioned since it carries the full 1 year warranty from the manufacturer. I paid $169.00 for the saw. Shipping was $18.00. For a total of $187.00, I purchased a quality tile saw that would have cost $279.00 if purchased through Amazon.

It pays to shop around for your tools, especially the ones you are considering renting. If it is a single use tool and the job is going to take you a little while, but it and then sell it on Ebay when your improvement project is complete.

When working on any home improvement project, you should make a list of all of the work that needs to be accomplished to complete the project. Keep this list handy during the job. Add to it, cross of the jobs that are done, and continually reference it to stay on task.

It is very easy to veer from the list especially when the next task in line is a difficult or messy one. We all have a tendency to take the path of least resistance from time to time. I sometimes find myself doing a small project that can be done by any person with no home improvement skills at all.

These jobs are generally the punch list items that come at, or near, the end of a project. Obviously they have to get done, but if they don’t move the project along and it doesn’t take any level of skill to complete, you should really question the need for that project… at that time.

If your improvement, or handyman project, is at the stage that all of the jobs are the easy ones, well then congratulations, you are obviously near the end. However, if you are working on this job when there is a door to frame, sanding to be done, a ceiling to repair, etc… your resources are probably not being utilized properly.

Make your list, Stick to it.

I often wondered if we could get a nice wall texture by simply thinning out some joint compond and rolling it on like paint. The answer? Absolutely.

We had a room with some marred and uneven surfaces. We wanted to get a texture, but I didn’t want a typical sprayed or popcorn look. We was after something a little more subtle. All that we did was to mix up some joint compound in a consistency about the same as pancake batter (maybe a little thinner). We used a 1/2″ inch nap roller and rolled it on to the walls. It doesn’t take long at all to get the hang of it.

The look that we acheived was similar to a sanded paint, but a bit thicker. Kind of like the $50 paint kit by Ralph Lauren. The most difficult part (and it wasn’t that hard at all) was the areas near the ceiling and around any trim. We rolled as close as we could and filled the last inch by using a 4″ stiff bristle paint brush. It married in perfectly. To avoid having to be careful (who wants to be careful when painting?), we taped all of the trim edges and surfaces. This way we could go right up to it. We simply put some material on the brush and dabbed the surface with the brush helf vertically.

I would encourage anyone who wants to do this to plan on throwing your rollers away when done. The material starts to dry fairly quickly, so don’t mix more than you can use within about 20-30 minutes.

If you want to see photo’s, or have a question about the project, please leave a comment.

I was researching some kitchen cabinet options and figured that I would give a company that sells on Ebay a try. If you are doing a kitchen remodel or renovation yourself, the cabinetry will be one of your most expensive purchases. If you go into your Home Depot or Lowe’s, you could spend thousands on a 10′ x 10′ kitchen.

If you are looking to save some money, you might be tempted by the stock cabinets that they have. The stock products can end up looking good, but you will not have very many options in terms of finishes.

If you are considering a ‘knock-down’ cabinet (otherwise known as something you have to assemble), you should look beyond your local home center. Since these items are knock down, they can be easily shipped. Easy to ship means that there is probably someone selling online at a steep discount to what you would expect to pay.

Inexpensive Kitchen Cabinets

Most knock down cabinetry is made of ‘furniture grade’ particle board. Calling it furniture grade is kind of humorous. That might just be another way to say “It will fall apart with excessive use”. Knock down cabinetry is also referred to as ‘ready to assemble’ or RTA. The assembly was much easier than anticipated. Easier than putting together your typical piece of furniture.

When buying a cabinet that you will be assembling, be sure that the cabinet box is made of plywood. You don’t want something that will fall apart.

Another thing that you will find with some of the RTA cabinets is that they do not have face frames. The cabinet doors cover the entire carcass of the cabinet box. This is often referred to as ‘full reveal’. Full reveal cabinets look great, but if thy are only this way because there is no face frame, you lose stability with your cabinet. The face frame really adds a lot of stiffness to the box. Since the face frame is usually made of solid wood, you will have a nice frame for your cabinet door to hang from and for the cabinets to be joined to each other.

The Ebay seller that I used is kitchenyourway. They are based out of Texas and are importing their cabinets from China. I was very happy with the colors that they offered (only a couple but nice). The quality of the construction was nice. The assembly was simple. The one negative that I would have to mention is the quality of the finish. There are some imperfections that I wouldn’t put up with if these were at a higher price point.

The cabinets that I priced out were $1472.90. That included the price to ship our kitchen cabinets to NY. Since this retailer is based in Texas, there was no sales tax charged at the time of the purchase. To purchase a similar set of cabinets from a home center, the price would have been in excess of $2,200 (not counting the 8.25% NY sales tax). I feel that the quality is much greater in that it looks like a custom cabinet and is solid maple construction with a plywood carcass. The company generally ships within a few days.

It might be worth exploring this option if you are renovating a kitchen. Many of the companies in this business will sell you a low priced ‘sample’ cabinet to let you see the goods. The price for a 9″ base cabinet was around $50-$70 (including shipping) for the sample from the companies that I looked at.

Hope this helps. If you are in the Lancaster, NY area feel free to contact me if you want to take look at the cabinets in person. They are going into a renovation that will probably become a rental unit.

Bottom line is that there are many options when you get to the lower end of products with the local cabinet retailers or home centers. Do some searching. You should search on your favorite search engine for “rta kitchen cabinets”. Or, do the same search at Ebay. I think you will be pleased with the options available.

Another RTA cabinet seller that we have used is RTA Cabinet Store. They are located in Pennsylvania and offer a nice line up of RTA cabinets.   Since I am in NY state, the location helps to keep our freight cost low and allows for a very short lead time on our cabinet orders.