Category: Home Improvement

I just finished renovating an entire 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom apartment and totally remodeled the kitchen from a U layout to an L layout with an island. Here are some before and after pics and step-by-step pictures showing how I did it.

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Here’s how I renovated the apartment step by step:

Removed all doors

The doors were all beat up so I replaced them with new ones.

Removed fixtures

Replaced all outlets with Decora outlets

For the kitchen and bathroom, use 20 amp outlets, otherwise, use 15 amp outlets.

Removed HVAC registers and grills

All HVAC registers were beat up so I replaced them all.

Removed all baseboard

To remove the baseboard, first, cut the caulk using a utility knife. You can also use an oscillating tool.

Then, I like to use a mallet and a special tool that makes it easy to pry the baseboard away from the wall. It has a large surface area to minimize damaging the wall as you pry the baseboard off.

Most of the time, you can reuse the baseboard. But in this case, mine was so beat up that it wasn’t worth it. Plus, for a rental property, it’s better to install a tile baseboard.

Ran new wiring for a ceiling fan

First, I made holes in the wall and ceiling between studs and joists using a 4″ hole saw. I then inspected the area behind the wall and ceiling to ensure no obstacles were present. It there were obstacles, I could easily patch the holes using the circular cutout pieces.

I then ran yellow romex wiring. Yellow wiring can support 20 amps. I could have used a higher gauge (thinner, lower 15 amp-rated) wire since this is for a ceiling fan in a bedroom.

Where the ceiling fan would go, I cut a rectangular piece of drywall using a small reciprocating saw. I could have used a jigsaw as well. The cut was made in such a way so that I could reuse the piece to patch the ceiling when done.

After installing a ceiling fan bracket between joists, I pulled the wiring to the bracket.

I then wired up the switch…

…and patched the ceiling using the existing drywall.

For the circular holes, I patched them using the circular drywall cuts created when making the holes. I screwed a piece of furring strip behind each hole as pictured.

And then screwed the circular drywall cuts to the furring strip.

Demolished the bathroom vanity

The vanity top was made of cultured marble. I just broke it into small pieces using a sledge hammer.

I then cut up the wood vanity using a reciprocating saw and a demolition blade.

I removed the caulk on the wall using a oscillating tool following by an orbital sander.

Patched holes in the wall and replaced damaged drywall

In the kids’ bedroom, there were many holes in the wall. Some parts of the wall were patched very poorly. I decided to a large section of drywall. I tried using a drywall cutout tool but it was very noisy and it was hard to cut a straight line.

I ended up just using a reciprocating saw and oscillating tool to cut the drywall.

I screwed in the drywall using drywall screws.

I put mesh tape along the edges of each piece of drywall. This helped hold the drywall mud in place where there were large gaps.

For the drywall mud, I used premixed joint compound so I didn’t have to mess with mixing powdered drywall with water.

I then used an orbital sander to smoothen the mud. This produced a lot of dust, but that was okay because I was going to remove the carpet and paint the walls afterward.

Demolished the kitchen

To demolish the old kitchen cabinets, I first unscrewed and removed each cabinet door.

I hated the old kitchen layout. The half wall and ceiling cabinets made the dining and kitchen areas very small.

The ceiling cabinets can easily be removed by unscrewing them from the ceiling and wall.

I used the backyard to temporarily store all the construction debris.

I removed the heavy marble countertop by breaking it up into small pieces using a sledge hammer.

You should definitely wear a full face mask when doing this to prevent small objects hitting your eyes or face.

Just for fun, I used my 24V electric chainsaw to cut up the base cabinets.

After unscrewing some screws that fastened the base cabinets to the wall, I was able to pull out the cabinets.

To remove the pony wall, I drilled a bunch of 4″ holes in it so I could see if there was anything dangerous behind it.

I was then able to demolish it.

The 24V electric chainsaw was handy for quickly cutting some thick pieces of wood.

For safety, I hammered down any nails that were sticking out.

The wall was soggy because there was a small leak that was never detected. I had to cut out the soggy drywall so I could replace it.

Demolished old tile

To remove the old floor tile, I used a jackhammer with a chisel bit. Since there had been a leak in the kitchen, the tiles were easy to remove.

In the living room, however, it was a little harder to remove the tiles.

In general, separating the tile from the floor was easy.

What was difficult was moving the broken tile outside because it was heavy.

I put the broken tile in bags out front.

I first tried removing the thinset mortar using a scraper attachment on my jackhammer. But, that proved slow and very tiring…

… so I rented a heavy duty jackhammer and cart. This was much easier but still a lot of work. Note to future self: don’t ever do this by yourself. Just pay someone to do it.

Painted the ceiling and walls

I used painter’s plastic to cover large areas like windows. It’s a very thin plastic.

I sprayed glue around the perimeter of the window.

And stuck the plastic to the wall.

I removed excess plastic by trimming it off with a utility knife. Make sure to use a new blade.

I could then just peel off the excess plastic.

I did the same to cover outlets and switches, although I alter realized it would’ve been easier to cover small areas using blue masking tape.

You can then trim the excess tape with a utility knife so when you’re done painting…

…you can just remove the tape.

To paint the walls and ceiling, I used the Graco Magnum X5 Airless Paint Sprayer. Setting it up and cleaning it up was a hassle, but once it was primed and ready to go, it worked very well and made painting very quick and easy with good, even results.

I first painted primer on the colored walls since the colors were dark. I painted two coats.

Try to move quickly to avoid runny paint.

Painting ceilings is easy with a paint sprayer like this.

Once the primer dried, I painted the whole apartment. A fresh coat of paint really does make a big difference by making the place look new and clean.

But spray paint particles can really get on your face and glasses.

Dirty walls suddenly look new again.

Painting ceilings would have really been hard without a paint sprayer.

Removed carpet

Using a utility knife, I cut the carpet in 2 or 3′ sections.

I then rolled it and the underlayment padding up and strapped it from unraveling using duct tape.

I then removed the tack strip along the perimeter since I was going to install tile over the concrete.

Husky contractor clean-up bags are great for disposing of construction debris.

Using an angle grinder, I trimmed any tacks/nails that were stuck in the concrete.

Here’s a close-up.

Replaced all multi-turn water valves with 1/4-turn ones

I hate multi-turn water valves. I paid a plumber to replace them with 1/4-turn valves.

Installed tile

I bought 12″x24″ large tiles.

I paid someone to install the tile. First, they removed the tile around the electric fireplace.

Then they put cement board around the firstplace as backing for the tile.

They scraped the floor to remove any uneven spots from thinset.

They mopped the floor to remove excess dust.

They mixed the thinset and troweled it on the floor before laying down the tile.

I later noticed they were using the wrong type of thinset so I had them use thinset for large format tile (LFT).

For some tile, they’d cut it using a manual tile cutter.

They used little red plastic things to ensure adjacent files were level with each other.

I chose a terracotta color for the fireplace surround tile.

They applied the grout.

Then wiped it off the tile itself.

And mopped off any excess grout.

Patched kitchen wall

Before installing the cabinets, I had to patch the wall where there had been a water leak. I marked the stud locations using a stud finder.

Using a level, I drew lines where the studs were.

Sometimes, I’d cut drywall using a jigsaw.

Other times, I’d cut it by first scoring it using a utility knife…

…snapping it…

…and scoring the other side.

It’s actually easier and creates a straight cut with no dust.

I had to screw in some 2x4s to existing studs so I’d have a frame to screw the drywall into.

I dry-fitted the cut drywall panels.

And occasionally I’d have to mark edges that didn’t fit…

…so I could trim them using a rasp.

I screwed the drywall into the studs using drywall screws such that the screw heads would be slightly recessed so they wouldn’t be seen after patching with drywall mud.

I added mesh tape along all seams/joints to hold drywall mud (joint compound).

Then I applied joint compound.

Rerouted kitchen exhaust

I had to cut open the ceiling and reroute the exhaust vent.

I removed the old rigid vent.

And installed a flexible vent.

The exhaust went was moved to the wall above where the range would be.

Installed IKEA kitchen cabinets

IKEA delivered the kitchen cabinets.

To install the wall cabinets, we had to fasten metal brackets to the wall, sometimes using drywall anchors. We also had to cut some of the brackets using an angle grinder.

IKEA cabinets come flat-packed and must be assembled.

Fastening wall cabinets to the wall is easy because you can hang them on the bracket and adjust their position before finalizing where they’d go.

The base (floor) cabinets/drawers come with short plastic legs. This is good so that if the floor is wet, the wooden cabinets wouldn’t get wet.

I decided to run additional wiring to a new switch to control a new ceiling fan I planned to put in the kitchen.

We cut a hole in one of the wall cabinets where the exhaust vent would go.

All IKEA cabinet boxes are white. For end cabinets werhe a side will be exposed, we screwed a finished panel to the side.

We installed the over-the-range microwave.

And then attached the cabinet doors.

We screwed in the door handles and attached the kickboard.

Installed quartz kitchen countertop

For IKEA kitchen cabinets, I had to cut 3/4″ thick plywood to put on top of the base cabinets. For non-IKEA cabinets, you can use 1/2″ thick plywood.

I screwed the plywood in through the metal holes at the top of the cabinets.

I decided to buy a new range because the old was in very bad condition.

I bought the quartz countertop from Granite Expo and paid them to install it. In the picture below, they cut the quartz and sanded the edges.

Cutting quartz can produce a lot of dust.

The inside edges were also smoothened.

One guy cut a hole in the plywood for the sink. I decided to go with an undermount sink. The lip of the sink would sit on the plywood but below the countertop. The would ensure the sink would stay in place.

They also made a hole in the countertop for the sink. Like marble, quartz countertops are very heavy.

They put construction adhesive on the plywood before laying down the countertop.

The corner seam between the two adjacent countertop slabs was straight, not diagonal. Getting the two slabs to be perfectly level with each other was tricky. The guy screwed a screw up from under and through the plywood to push up areas of the countertop so it would be level with the adjacent slab. The other guy was applying silicone caulk around the inside edge of the sink.

One of the guys was smoothening and polishing one cut end of the backsplash.

They glued the backsplash to the wall.

They were nice enough to clean up after themselves.

Installed a new range

Unlike other appliances, I had to install the range plug by screwing it to specific terminals on the range.

I decided to replace the 220V outlet with a new one. I turned off the circuit breaker first.

Installed kitchen sink plumbing

I first secured the sink to the countertop by turning a large plastic piece. No special tools were required.

I then screwed the hot (left) and cold (right) water supply lines to the new 1/4-turn valves.

I made a bead of plumber’s putty…

…and put it around the sink hole…

…and then put the sink strainer on it. The plumber’s putty helps prevent leaks.

I then secured the sink strainer by screwing it to a complementary part underneath the sink.

The black PVC drain pipe stuck out too far so I cut it. After installing the garbage disposal, I applied PVC glue around the pipe…

…and inserted a threaded coupling to it.

I then connected the garbage disposal outlet to the drain inlet coming out of the wall. I hate fooling around with PVC so this time, I used flexible p-trap by SimpleDrain. It comes

It’s so much easier to install than PVC p-traps. Instead of screwing on flimsy PVC nuts, SimpleDrain uses an adjustable metal clamp.

This is what the old kitchen looked like.

And this is the new. One of the cabinets was missing when I took this photo. As you can see, remodeling the kitchen with a new layout really makes the kitchen feel bigger.

Replaced kitchen lights

I decided to replace the kitchen and dining room ceiling lights.

Installed bathroom vanity

I bought a gray vanity to match the gray kitchen cabinets. I had to assemble the vanity.

Without the countertop, it was lightweight.

It actually took a long time to assemble. After assembling the frame and installed the 2 doors, I had to assemble 4 drawers.

Once that was done, I could install the heavy countertop by first applying a bead of glue to the top perimeter of the vanity frame…

…and to the wall where the backsplash would go.

I like this countertop because the sink and backsplash are integrated making installation easier and minimizing leaks.

Repainted the ceiling and walls

So, I messed up. When I painted the ceiling and walls, I chose a color that looked good in a certain light but not in others. In the evening, and in soft white lighting (slightly yellow), the walls appeared to have a blueish hue to it. It made the rooms psychologically feel a bit cold and that drove me crazy. I decided to repaint the ceiling and walls. But, this time it was hard because I had to be careful not to get paint on the new tile and kitchen cabinets.

The new color I decided on was

• Hazelnut Cream 750C-2 (Eggshell) from Behr (Home Depot)
• This is equivalent to Lowe’s Valspar “Cream in my Coffee”.

This color is neutral and perfect.

I taped some masking paper to the top of the tile baseboard.

I covered the floor with a large drop cloth and covered the kitchen cabinets with large plastic and cardboard. Notice the difference in the ceiling color.

Preparation takes a long time but spray painting is quick and easy.

It’s hard not getting paint on yourself. My glasses and watch had many paint specks on them.

I then had to go back and paint some missed areas.

It’s always satisfying, though, to remove masking tape to reveal the finished product (as long as the masking tape doesn’t rip and can easily be pulled off).

I was too lazy to texture part of the wall above the backsplash. It’s not that noticeable though.

Installed new ceiling fans

Now that I was really done painting the walls and ceiling, I installed the ceiling fans in each bedroom.

Yay! It works 🙂

Cleaned the windows

To clean the windows, I first sprayed Sprayway foaming glass cleaner on them.

Then, I used a blade to scrape the entire surface to remove any dirt, paint overspray, etc.

Then, I wiped the windows using a microfiber cloth. Below are before and after pics.

Painted the garage walls

I had unpainted garage walls. The builder would just install drywall and patch holes but that’s it. I ended up painting the walls plain white (the color of primer).

I hate painting ceilings.

Having an extension pole allowed to reach high areas.

Resurfaced the garage floor

The garage floor was heavily discolored and looked dirty. There were all sorts of stains. To beautify it, I first sprayed water on it.

Then, I used a orbital floor polisher tool with a floor prep attachment. This attachment has a bunch of very coarse tabs like rough sandpaper. It etches the surface and scratches the hell out of it. The tool tends to want to move to the right all the time so you need to force it to stay put or go left. It’s way better than using chemicals like muriatic acid.

When I was done etching the garage floor, I pressure washed it and let it dry overnight.

The next day, I applied 1-part epoxy along the perimeter. The specific epoxy I used was Behr 1 gal. Slate Gray Self-Priming 1-Part Epoxy Satin Interior/Exterior Concrete and Garage Floor Paint. We’ll see how long it holds up. Another option was to use Behr Granite Grip but that’s a lot more work to apply.

This epoxy is like a primer. When you roll it on, it easily covers up any discoloratino. Two coats may be needed. It’s very satisfying to easily transform an ugly garage floor into one that looks brand new. Plus, painting a floor is much easier than painting a wall or ceiling. The color of the epoxy looks almost like untinted concrete.

When the epoxy dried, I installed a LED shop light with motion detection.

In one of the other garages (the triplex has 3 garages), I tried applying Behr Granite Grip. Not only is Granite Grip more expensive, I had to use a texture sprayer connected to an air compressor to get good results.

I then had to use a texture roller to even out the material. The results were good but not worth the time, effort and cost for a rental property.

Resurfaced the backyard concrete

The tenants I kicked out had a dog they never cleaned up after. There was dog shit everywhere. When they left, they removed the large pieces but the concrete was still discolored by dog shit that baked in the Stockton, California sun and permeated into the porous concrete. This was brand new concrete that I had put in the year before. Pressure washing with a high-PSI commercial pressure washer was inadequate. I decide to apply the same treatment I applied to the heavily stained garage floor. In this photo, I was etching (scratching) the surface.

I then pressure washed the concrete.

After the concrete dried, I applied epoxy to the joints using a wide paint brush.

And then I rolled on epoxy to the rest of the concrete.

Landscaped the dirt by the fence

When I had the concrete put in, I didn’t want it to go all the way to the fence for drainage purposes. But, if you leave dirt along the fence, you’ll end up with a jungle of weeds, which is exactly what happened. To fix this, I first took used my jack hammer to break up concrete from old fence posts.

I bought a PVC pond liner, which is 14.5-mil thick, and cut it a little longer than some 8-foot-long 2x4s.

I stapled the liner to the 2×4.

I made some holes in the 2×4 and hammered in some long galvanized stakes to hold the wood in place along the edge of the concrete. The pond liner covers some of the dirt. Along the fence, I stapled some pond liner that also covered some of the dirt. In between and overlapping the two pond liner pieces, I put cement board. This will prevent weeds from growing while still allowing water to drain.

Finally, I powered 3/4″ ginger rock to keep everything in place and for aesthetics.

Disposed of all construction debris at the dump

To get rid of all construction debris, I cut up some things into small pieces and put all small garbage in clean-up bags.

I rented a box truck from Home Depot, loaded garbage into a 4-wheel cart, and used it to move junk to the truck.

The process worked very well. Luckily there was a ramp.

At the dump, I threw everything off the edge of the platform like the toilet…

…and the old doors.

Periodically, a huge bulldozer would come and push all the garbage away.

I had to clean the truck to avoid a cleaning fee.

Dumping the many bags of broke tile was extremely tiring. I’ll make sure to pay someone to do that next time.

I paid about $150 to the dump to dispose of a truck-load full of garbage and around $50 for the truck rental.

Costco had this 12’x14′ gazebo on sale from $2099 to $1699 if you buy it in store.

The assembly instructions say you need 4 people to assemble it.

It turns out, I was able to assemble it with just 2 people by using the Rockwell RK9034 JawStand XP Work Support Stand.

Assembling the posts and beams was easy but time-consuming. It took one day.

The hard part was assembling the roof. Half a day was spent screwing in the aluminum roof panels. Another half was spent raising the roof up and fastening everything together. In the picture below, we used the Jawstand to hold a 2×4 piece of wood which supported the center peak of the roof. The Jawstand made it easy to adjust the height of the 2×4 since the angle of the roof had to constantly be adjusted to get all 4 roof panels to fit right.

Here’s the end result. Two days. Two people.

I hate seeing lots of cables everywhere. In this post, I will list various options for managing and hiding cables.

Cord Covers / Cable Raceways

These are useful for hiding cables in a paintable conduit. The cable cover can be made of plastic or metal. Some have an adhesive backing and some you can screw to a wall. They come in various sizes and lengths and include various connectors. These are great for when you can’t hide cables behind or underneath something.

Cable Ties

Cable ties are great for holding multiple cables together. Usually, once you pull to tighten the cable tie, you can’t release it.

If you need to release a cable tie, you can buy the releasable type.

Cable Tie Base Mount

Cable ties will bundle cables together, but oftentimes you’ll need to attach them to a wall or something. You can buy cable ties with a screw hole.

However, you may have a hard time finding these with releasable cable ties. In that case, you can buy the base mounts themselves and insert releasable cable ties in them, or just use a twistie tie.

Cable box

Oftentimes, you’ll have an ugly power strip with a bunch of cables going to it. You can hide this ugliness in a cable box.

Cable Clips

If you need to clip some cables in a removable way, cable clips with adhesive backing can help with that.

The article is based on this YouTube video. These instructions are similar for adding 120 V circuits as well.

When you open the panel door, verify that you have empty slots to put a one-pole (120 V) or two-pole (240V) circuit breaker. If you don’t, you may need to upgrade your panel to a larger one.

Unscrew the screws and remove the panel cover.

You will usually see two large cables coming into the box.

• One black wire = + 120
• Other black wire = – 120
• Voltage diff between the two = 240

The 2 black wires go into a main breaker.

In this example, the main breaker supports 125 amps, and the main breaker is located in the same panel as the circuit breakers.

The electricity then goes into the two left and right rails. Usually, you’ll have some 120 V / 15 A circuit breakers for general power, 120 V / 20 A circuit breakers for kitchen and bathroom power, and 240 V / 20 A double circuit breakers for an electric dryer.

Electricity flows from the rail through the circuit breaker through the wires.

Everything in the box is hot until you turn off the main breaker. Once you turn off the main breaker, only the 2 black wires and the terminals they are connected to are still hot.

In my home, the main breaker is located in a separate panel outside whereas my circuit breaker panel is in the garage. This is safer because once you turn off the main breaker outside, there are no hot / live wires in the circuit breaker panel.

Parts Needed

Halex 3/4 in. Non-Metallic (NM) Twin-Screw Clamp Connectors (5-Pack)

Southwire (By-the-Foot) 6/3 Stranded Romex SIMpull CU NM-B W/G Wire

The “6/3” identifier means this cable is 6 gauge and has 3 conductor wires and 1 ground wire for a total of 4 wires. The max amperage that this cable supports is 55 amps as indicated in the chart below.

50 Amp 2-Pole Circuit Breaker

Find the right kind that fits your circuit breaker box. My breaker box brand is Challenger. From the time when Challenger went out of business in the 90s, they were bought by different companies until Eaton/Cutler-Hammer finally got a hold of them. So, in my case, I can buy Eaton BR/C breakers.

The amperage of the circuit breaker must be less than or equal to the max amperage of the cable connected to it to prevent the cable from melting and causing a fire.

2-Gang 4 in. Square New Work Electrical Wall Box

Buy a deep box to accommodate the depth of the receptacle and have space for the 4 wires.

Legrand Pass & Seymour 50 Amp 125/250-Volt NEMA 14-50R Flush Mount Range/Dryer/EV Charger Power Outlet

The outlet will go in the middle of the electrical box.

Leviton White 2-Gang Single Outlet Wall Plate (1-Pack)

Decide where you want the new cable to come into the breaker box and punch out a hole at that location.

You can use a hammer to push the cable clamp into the hole you just made.

If you will run your cable behind the wall, make a hole in each stud using a ¾” spade bit for the cable to go through.

If you will run your cable on the wall, you can run it through metallic or non-metallic PVC rigid electrical conduit.

JM eagle 3/4 in. x 10 ft. PVC Schedule 40 Conduit

You can also buy flexible conduit like this one.

Southwire 3/4 in. x 6 ft. Ultratite Liquidtight Flexible Non-Metallic PVC Conduit Whip

You can then connect the cable to a surface-mount NEMA 14-50R power outlet.

Leviton 50 Amp Single Surface Mounted Single Outlet, Black

or make your own surface-mount outlet using

4 in. 30.3 cu. in. Metallic Square Box

When you knock out a hole, make sure you knock out a 3/4″ center hole in one of the sides, not a smaller 1/2″ hole. If you accidentally knock out a 1/2″ hole, you can seal it with one of these:

Halex 1/2 in. Knock-Out Seals (4-Pack)

4 in. Square Box Cover for 30 or 50 Amp Receptacle

Note: The cable is very thick and difficult to bend. Using the Leviton outlet is MUCH easier than making your own outlet because with the Leviton, you don’t need to bend the cable at all.

Run the cable through the stud and into the breaker box.

The cable can be hard to cut. If you can’t cut it with scissors or snips, you can use an angle grinder.

For ease of work, feed the thick wire into the electrical box before attaching box to stud.

Strip the wires in the cable. First, slit the exterior jacket / sheathing lengthwise using a sharp utility knife. Then, use a wire stripper to cut just the sheathing layer using the flat blade part. You can’t use the various round blades because the cable is too thick.

Attach the wires to the outlet.

• The red and black (hot) wires are interchangeable and connect to the gold screw terminals.
• The white (neutral) wire goes to the silver screw terminal.
• The bare copper (ground) wire goes to the white screw terminal.

Screw the outlet to the box.

Strip the wires on the other end of the cable. Make sure the main circuit breaker is off.

1. Connect the white (neutral) wire to the neutral bar.
2. Connect the bare copper (ground) wire to the ground bar.
3. Connect the two red and black (hot) wires to the 240V circuit breaker.
4. Insert the circuit breaker.
5. Turn on the main breaker and then turn on the new 240 V circuit breaker.
6. Test voltage
7. Hot (red) to hot (black) should be about 240 V.

• Hot (red) to neutral should be about 120 V.
• Hot (black) to neutral should also be about 120 V.

Do the same voltage test at the receptacle.

Here’s how mine came out.

It would have been more expensive and a hassle to put the outlet by the garage door, so I just put it next to the circuit breaker panel. I’ll just use an extension cord to reach the garage door.

You can buy this EV charger cable on Amazon for $330.

Morec EV Charger 32 Amp NEMA14-50 SAE J1772 ev Charging Cable Level 2 Portable Electric Vehicle Charger 220V-240V 26ft (7.9M), Compatible with Most Electric Vehicle Cars

One of my fence posts on a rental property was leaning over due to the previous owner not securing it correctly in the ground. To make matters worse, I use the fence post to secure a ratchet strap attached to one of 4 corners of a sun shade. Since I didn’t feel like redoing the fence post, and since the back of my property is empty, government land beside a slough, I decided to just pull the fence post back into position using a ratchet strap. It was quick and easy and worked perfectly.

If you don’t feel like redoing a leaning fence post or need a temporary fix, here’s what you can do.

Materials

• 1.5-in x 36-in #12 Steel Rebar Pins
• 1.25 in. Ratchet Tie Down with S-Hook
• 3/8 in. x 4 in. Zinc-Plated Eye Bolt with Nut
• 1-1/2 in. Stainless Wire Ring Anchor Point
• 6″ long 2×4

The steel stakes are actually designed for concrete forms.

Instructions

1. Using a sledge hammer, hammer the steel stake into the ground
2. Screw the piece of 2×4 into the steel stake
3. Drill a hole through the 2×4 and secure the eye bolt to it

4. Screw the anchor point to the fence post
5. Use the ratchet strap as shown in the picture above to pull the fence post so that it’s straight

Let’s say you want to install a bath exhaust fan in a bathroom that doesn’t have one. You’ll need to cut the wall or ceiling where the fan will go and you’ll also likely need to make holes in the wall or ceiling to run electrical wiring.

In the photo above, you can see that I made two types of openings:

• Circular opening
• Square opening

Making a Circular Opening

For the circular opening, I just used a hole saw attached to a drill. The benefit of this is it creates a clean, perfectly circular hole and you can reuse the cut drywall later to patch the hole. This type of hole can be made anywhere – it doesn’t need to be near or over a stud or joist.

Patching a Circular Opening

To patch a circular opening, I use a 1″x3″ piece of furring strip wood.

Partially drill a long screw in the middle of a piece of furring strip that is about 3 inches longer than the diameter of the hole. Insert the wood into the hole as pictured below. Then, drill 2 screws while pulling the long center screw so that the wood doesn’t move around. Now you’ve created a backing for the drywall to be screwed into.

Remove the center screw and screw the drywall into the wood.

Making a Square Opening

For the square opening, I like to use a reciprocating saw – specifically, the Milwaukee 12V mini cordless saw because it’s small and lightweight. Use a stud finder to find the studs or joists and draw an outline of the square you want to make such that the square (or rectangle) goes to each stud or joist. Then, try to make a clean rectangular cut so that you can reuse the drywall.

UPDATE: With a reciprocating saw, you may accidentally cut some wires. An easier and safer way is to use a jigsaw with a shortened blade. Insert a blade into your jigsaw, extend the stroke as far as possible, mark 1/2″ or 5/8″ from the jigsaw shoe (bottom part), then, using a bolt cutter, cut to shorten the blade. Now, you can use your jigsaw to safely and easily cut drywall.

Patching a Square Opening

To patch a square opening, I use a 2×4 piece of wood to fur out the studs or joists to create a backing for the drywall will be screwed into. Pre-drive the screws into the wood a little bit and then clamp the wood to the joists to make fastening the wood piece easier. The 2×4 should be longer than the opening so you can position it such that the cut drywall will be level with the existing drywall when you go put it back in.

When you put the cut piece of drywall in the opening, if the four edges are not level with the four edges of the existing drywall, then you either must

• reposition the 2×4
• shim the 2×4 with something like cardboard shims

For example, in the picture below, I folded the shims 3 times for a 3-layer thick shim.

If the edges aren’t level, the results will be very bad and you will have a hard time creating an imperceivable patch.

If you must eyeball the position of a 2×4, drill pilot holes first. If you don’t, the 2×4 would likely move a little when screwing a screw into it.

I recently had to rebuild a bunch of fences on a new rental property. As you may already know, the hardest part is digging the holes and building the frame. This article explains step by step how to quickly and correctly build a fence frame.

1. Run string from one end of new fence to the other end near the ground

In order for the fence to be straight, we need to make a straight line from both ends. Since we haven’t dug holes yet, we put the string near the ground so we can mark where we want the holes for the fence posts to go.

Nylon Mason’s line is thin and can easily break. Instead, you can use paracord.

2. Mark post hole locations

Depending on the existence of neighboring fences, we may or may not need posts at the ends. Mark where the post holes will go. Each fence panel between posts will be 8′ long. For marking the locations, you can use a wood stake, metal stake, flag stake, or spray paint. I prefer using flag stakes.

3. Dig fence post holes

Post type

Normally, people use 8′ long 4×4 pressure-treated wood for fence posts. If you do that, then the horizontal 2x4s (rails) will have to be toenailed into it or secured using metal brackets.

Either way, that’s a lot of work, especially if you later decide to make adjustments. Also, the wood can rot,weaken, and become warped over time. For these reasons, I just spend the extra money and buy steel fence posts.

The Postmaster 1-3/4 in. x 3-1/2 in. x 7-1/2 ft. Galvanized Steel Fence Post is $30 at Home Depot. These posts have holes along them for securing the rails.

Post hole diameter

The post hole diameter should be about 3 times the width of the post. Since the steel posts are 3.5″ wide, then the hole should be about 10.5″ in diameter.

Post hole depth

The post hole depth should be 1/3 to 1/2 the post height above the ground. Since we want our fence to be the standard 6′ tall, and the steel posts are 7.5′ long, we’ll make our holes 2.5′ deep.

Top of fence

The height of the fence post and the top rail above ground will be 5′. Therefore, the top one foot of the 6′ tall vertical fence boards will be above the top rail. The problem with this is the top one-foot portion of the fence boards can warp.

To fix this, you can screw a horizontal piece of wood (2×3 or 2×4) at or near the top of the fence boards on the side where the fence rails are.

Soak the ground

Before digging holes, you’ll want to soak the ground, preferably overnight. This will make it much easier come time to dig. The deeper you dig, the harder the soil. You can dig a small hole first using a hand digger.

Or, preferably, you can just use a jackhammer with a spade bit.

Digging tool

To dig holes, the easiest and cleanest way is to use a gas-powered earth auger. You can rent one from the Home Depot ($55 for 4 hours). You can choose from a variety of auger bit diameters. Choose a 10″ or 12″ diameter auger bit.

When you are digging, if you can’t dig any deeper, then stop and pour water into the hole and let the water drain. You can then dig again.

You may run into roots and rocks while digging with the auger. In this case, you’ll need to cut the roots using a reciprocating saw or break up the rocks using a jack hammer.

4. Tie a string to both end posts

Now that you have 2.5′-deep holes, you can insert the steel posts at each end. Tie string or paracord from one end post to the other both near the bottom and top of each post. The purpose is to adjust the middle posts to be aligned with the end posts. Later on, when concrete is poured into the middle post holes, the middle posts should touch the string.

In the photo below, there are a total of 3 posts and 2 string lines connected to each end post.

5. Plumb and brace the posts

Adjust the position of each post using a fence post level and check for plumb.

To hold the posts in place, if the surrounding ground is dirt, brace them using stakes. I prefer hitting a 2′ long steel stake straight into the ground and then screwing a piece of wood horizontally between the steel stake and the post. The steel stakes are pre-drilled. There should be two braces perpendicular to each other to hold the post plumb.

6. Mix and pour concrete

Buy fence post concrete.

Pour half the bag of concrete in a 5-gallon bucket, add water, and mix using a special mixer for concrete.

The mixer I use is a 2-gear mixer shown below. The first / low gear is for mixing concrete. It has high torque and low speed which is what you want. If you use a high-speed mixer, the concrete mix gets everywhere, creates a mess, and can crack the bucket. I find this particular mixer to be perfect for mixing concrete.

The consistency of the mix should be watery but not too watery. You should be able to pour the concrete mix straight out of the bucket. If you can’t pour the concrete mix, then you need to add water.

7. Add concrete to the middle posts

Now that the 2 end posts are done, add concrete to the middle posts. If you haven’t braced the middle posts, that’s fine. Once you add some concrete, you can position the posts while the concrete is still wet. Make sure the middle posts touch the top and bottom string lines to ensure a straight fence.

8. Add horizontal fence rails between posts

Once the posts are secure and the concrete is dry, measure how high you want the horizontal rails to be. Then, add clamps to the posts. The clamps will hold the rails in place before you’ve had a chance to screw them to the posts. Secure a level to the top fence rail

9. Cut posts

Cut the top portion of each post using a reciprocating saw with metal blade.

10. Screw rails into the fence posts