Category: Home Improvement - Page 5

Measuring Water Usage in a Multifamily Building

If you own a multifamily investment property which you are renting out to 2 or more tenants, you’ll probably be disappointed to find out that there’s only one water meter (provided by the city) to the entire building located underground under the sidewalk. Following are some scenarios on how water pipes reach each unit and how to possibly measure each unit’s water usage.

Separate cold water pipes

Even though there’s only one water meter under the sidewalk, it’s possible that the downstream water pipe after the meter branches into multiple pipes, one for each unit, thereby creating multiple cold water networks If this is the case, then you’re in luck and you can install a water meter, e.g. Badger Model 25 or Neptune T-10 at each branching water pipe.

Shared cold water pipes, separate hot water pipes

If the cold water pipes from the city’s water meter go to all units in a shared manner, then it would be very difficult to measure water usage by unit. However, if each unit has its own hot water pipes that are not shared with other units, which would be the case if each unit has its own hot water heater, then you can measure hot water usage by installing a water meter at the cold water inlet to or the hot water outlet from the water heater.

Billing each unit for water

Usually there will be one water bill for a multifamily property. Since there are multiple tenants, you’d need to fairly split the bill among them based on each unit’s water usage.

Based on headcount

If both hot and cold water are shared among all units, then one common method is to bill each unit proportionally based on headcount (number of occupants). If one unit has twice as many people living in it as another, then that unit would pay twice as much for water. Of course, headcount can change over time so this would need to be updated whenever there is a change.

Based on hot water usage

If cold water is shared but hot water is separate, then you can split the water bill proportionally based on hot water usage. This would be more accurate that going based on headcount.

Water meters

Following are some popular water meters for residential use.

Badger Model 25

This meter has plastic threads and costs about $100.

Buy online – RC Worst

Buy online – QC Supply

Neptune T-10

This meter has metal threads and costs about $100.

Buy online

Smart Water Meters

The water meters above are manual read meters. To measure water usage remotely and see usage over time, you can buy a smart water meter. One of the best ones is Flume 2.

Flume 2 Smart Home Water Monitor

This smart water meter does not require plumbing as it is just attached or strapped around a compatible water meter. It costs $200.

Buy online

The Flume water monitor just straps onto an inline water meter. It reads the magnetic field generated by your water meter, which the company says can detect any water usage all the way down to one one-hundredth of a gallon — i.e. a slowly dripping faucet.

Easily Renew Your Ugly Concrete Driveway or Garage Floor

Your concrete driveway or garage floor will get ugly over time. There are many reasons for this such as

oil or acid stains
natural discoloration
new, adjacent slabs of concrete that have a different shade of gray

Fortunately, you can easily cover up the non-uniformity of colors with any one of the following products:

Behr Granite Grip
Behr Concrete Dye

Cost to Remodel a House

Assuming you have 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom 1100 square foot investment property, following is a breakdown of costs to remodel it relatively cheaply and quickly using neutral colors.

Floor Plan

Using Live Home 3D, this is an example of a 3 bed, 2 bath, 2 car garage house. The kitchen is U-shaped. The bedrooms are almost all the same size. Two of the three bedrooms have walk-in closets. The laundry is central to the house. There is a small patio next to the kitchen and living room.

Colors

Here are the neutral colors we’ll be choosing.

Floor – beige or light gray
Wall – beige (Roman Plaster PPU7-10U) Behr / Home Depot
Ceiling – same as wall color for simplicity or Swiss Coffee
Baseboard – pure white
Kitchen cabinets – light gray
Kitchen appliances – stainless steel
Kitchen countertop – white
Bathroom vanity – light gray
Bathroom sink – white
Doors – pure white

Wall

Replace all outlets and switches with Dekora ones

(Roman Plaster PPU7-10U)
Behr / Home Depot

Ceiling

Spray walls and ceiling same color for simplicity. Or, spray ceiling Swiss Coffee.

Swiss Coffee

Floor

Choose large 12”x24” tiles for fewer grout lines and quicker completion.

Decorelle Galileo 11-Pack Gray 12-in x 22-in Glazed Ceramic Stone Look Wall Tile

99¢ /sq. Ft.

Kitchen

Get cabinets from IKEA. They deliver.
Average 10×10 kitchen

Insignia™ – 18.1 Cu. Ft. Top-Freezer Refrigerator – White

$500

Amana – 24″ Built-In Dishwasher – Stainless steel

$350

Amana 1.6 cu. ft. Over the Range Microwave in Stainless Steel

$200

IKEA 10×10 kitchen

~ $3500

Light gray cabinets with off white countertop

Go with a solid color so in case it gets damaged, it can easily be painted gray.

Amana – 4.8 Cu. Ft. Freestanding Electric Range – Stainless steel

$450

Kohler Verse Drop-in Stainless Steel 33 in. 4-Hole Single Bowl Kitchen Sink

$200

Single hole, Single handle

Single Hole Single-Handle Kitchen Faucet in Brushed Nickel

$50

GAGALIFE Built in Sink Soap Dispenser or Lotion Dispenser for Kitchen Sink, Chrome ABS Pump Head, with 13 Ounce Large PET Soap Bottle

$18

Bathroom

Glacier Bay 1-Piece 1.1 GPF/1.6 GPF High Efficiency Dual Flush Elongated All-in-One Toilet in White

$150

Glacier Bay Everdean 30.5 in. W x 19 in. D x 34 in. H Vanity in Pearl Gray with Cultured Marble Vanity Top in White with White Sink

$230

Go with a solid color so in case it gets damaged, it can easily be painted gray.

Buy at Marshalls, Ross, TJ Maxx for less

Delta Modern Single Hole Single-Handle Bathroom Faucet in Chrome

$80

Hampton Bay 4-Light Chrome Raceway Vanity Light

$20

Laundry

Amana 3.5 cu. ft. White Top Load Washing Machine

$450

Amana 6.5 cu. ft. 240-Volt White Electric Vented Dryer with Wrinkle Prevent Option

$450

Landscaping

3/4″ Ginger rock

By at a rockery and have delivered

Italian Cypress Trees

$40 / tree at Costco (only available in Spring)

$100 / tree at a nursery

Garage Floor and Driveway

5 Gal. Tan Granite Grip Decorative Flat Interior/Exterior Concrete Floor Coating

$224

Whole House Renovation Plan

Turn on water, gas and electricity
Use laser measure to measure each room
Use Live Home 3D to draw floor plan
Print multiple copies of floor plan and staple to wall
Demolition – Day 1 – 2
1. Wear coveralls / protective clothing
2. Lay down large tarp in driveway to make debris cleanup easier
3. Demolish kitchen using Bosch jackhammer, monster sawzall and pry bar
1. Remove both bathroom toilets and and vanities
1. Remove all flooring.
2. Rent floor surface prep tool to smoothen floor. Include the garage floor.
3. Remove all outlets and switch covers
4. Remove all interior door knobs, if necessary
5. Put all debris in driveway
6. Vacuum all dust using cyclone filter to minimize filter clogs and simplify disposal
Drywall – Day 3
1. Add drywall where necessary
2. Patch holes in walls where necessary
3. Texture walls where necessary
Paint – Day 4
1. If reusing baseboard, label each baseboard with a number and label corresponding wall in the floorplan with the same number
2. Remove baseboard and put on floor and cover with plastic
3. For each area that needs to be covered, e.g. outlets, ceiling lights, registers, vents, etc, cut painter’s plastic to size
4. Spray glue around the area that needs to be cover and stick plastic to it
5. Wear coveralls / protective clothing
6. Use air sprayer to spray paint on walls and ceilings.
7. If necessary, spray paint doors white
Floor and Wall Fixtures – Day 5 – Day 9
1. Pay someone to install tile flooring on all floors
2. While floor tiles are being installed, do following
  1. Replace outlets, switches and plates with Dekora ones
  2. Install bathroom lights
  3. Install bathroom towel hangers
  4. Replace all door knobs, if necessary
  5. Paint baseboard
Kitchen – Day 10 – Day 13
1. Pay someone to install IKEA kitchen
2. Install kitchen appliances
3. Pay someone to install quartz countertop
Bathrooms – Day 13
1. Install toilets
2. Install vanity
3. Install vanity faucet
Landscaping – Day 14 – 18
1. Remove trees
2. Rent mini skid steer to remove 3 inches of dirt
3. Rent excavator to dig holes for Cypress trees
4. Plants Cypress trees
5. Lay down weed fabric
6. Lay down cement board
7. Pour and level Ginger rocks
Debris removal – Day 19
1. Rent dumpster
2. Transfer all debris from driveway to dumpster for haulaway
Fence, garage floor, driveway, and exterior cement walkways – Day 20 – Day 21
1. Pressure wash the garage floor, driveway and fence
2. Spray tan Granite Grip using air compressor
3. Paint fence

Cost Breakdown

Using a spreadsheet, create a cost breakdown like below.

Based on this, we can estimate that including labor and other items, the total cost for a whole house renovation would be around $20K.

Install a Keyed Fence Gate Lock

Fence gate locks are usually simple locks that can only be opened from one side. There are times, however, when you wish you could just open the gate from outside instead of opening the main door to your house and then walking all the way to open the gate from the inside. One popular two-sided gate lock is YardLock. It’s a keyless gate lock that costs $55 on Amazon.

Another option is to install a traditional keyed deadbolt lock. You can also get one that allows rekeying the lock so that you can use the same key as you have for your main door like this one from Kwikset which costs $35.

To prevent water from getting into the lock and to make it difficult for intruders from reaching over the fence to unlock the door, you can install a weatherproof 2 gang outdoor outlet cover like this one for $18.

Of course, you’d also need to drill 3 holes for the lock and the bolt like you would for a traditional door. Here’s an example of an attempt at this approach. The photos below show how the lock looks from the outside. For weather protection, I just cover the lock a piece of fence wood attached to a door hinge. Instead of a fancy knob, I just screwed a metal clamp into it.

The photos below show how the lock looks from the inside.

It’s not as elegant of a solution as the Yardlock although it can be made to look elegant. It does have the advantage of being more secure than the Yardlock.

Remove Rust and Paint Easily Using a Polycarbide Abrasive Wheel

You’re probably thinking you should buy some chemicals to remove rust or even soak rusty items in Coca Cola, if they’ll fit in your container. These methods only partially work and take forever. Instead, just pick up a polycarbide abrasive wheel at Harbor Freight ($5) and attach it to an angle grinder ($15 at Harbor Freight) and get rid of dust with ease. You might be able to use it to clean your barbecue grill grates.

It’s also good for removing paint.

Prevent weeds from growing anywhere in your yard

As I’ve said before, weeds are notorious for finding ways of growing through weed fabric and along yard edges.

Middle of yard

To combat weeds from popping up in the middle of your landscape, lay cement board everywhere. Cement board is porous so water can still drain through it. For the areas between the cement boards, weeds will grow. To prevent this from happening, cut pond liner and place it where the cement board gaps are. Pond liner is very strong, UV-resistant, and almost impossible to tear. Traditional weed fabric may be marketed with the claim that it can prevent weeds but it can’t. Weeds still manage to come through. Plus, if you use weed fabric along edges where it’s exposed, it can degrade and easily tear as shown in the picture below.

Now I have to replace that weed fabric with pond liner like I did along a different fence.

Edges of yard

For edges, you can screw pressure-treated 2x4s to the cement edges using special screws and a drill bit for concrete. Just make sure to drill using the hammer drill mode.

If there is no room to drill a screw into the concrete, e.g. if the edge is near a fence, then you can drill 1/2-inch holes in the 2×4 using a 1/2″ spade bit and drive 12-inch long, 3/8-inch galvanized nails through the holes into the ground.

Cut some pond liner and staple it to the 2x4s. Don’t use traditional weed fabric. It will eventually fail and rip and weeds will come through it.

Hammer the large nails through the 2x4s and the pond liner into the ground along the edge of the concrete as shown below.

Allow some of the pond liner to extend beyond the end of the 2×4 so the next 2×4’s pond liner will overlap the first one and prevent weeds from growing in between the 2x4s.

Since 2x4s may not be perfectly straight, you can push them against the concrete edge using a clamp.

If the other side is a wood fence, you can simply staple some pond liner to the fence. In the picture below, the space between the concrete and the fence was narrow. I left a gap between the pond liner for drainage.

Easily cut cement board using a reciprocating saw. You can also use a utility knife or the WEN Electric Fiber Cement and Siding Shear, Variable Speed (3670).

In this case, I placed the cement board over the gaps between the pond liner to prevent weeds from growing along the gap.

You can then put rocks like I did pictured below.

There will still be a small gap between the concrete edge and the 2x4s. Fill that cap with concrete control joint sealant. I like Sikaflex Self-Leveling Sealant. Learn more.

For the rocks, I used ¾-inch ginger rocks / Sonoma gold rocks.

Interior and Exterior Wood Stains

Following is a comparison of exterior wood stains on expensive redwood and cheap douglas fir.

Exterior Stains and Sealers

Olympic WaterGuard Sequoia Red Transparent Wood Stain and Sealer
BEHR Premium Clear Transparent Waterproofing Exterior Wood Finish
Varathane Clear Gloss Oil-Based Exterior Spar Urethane

For the redwood, I didn’t want to change the color of the wood so I went with a transparent solution. However, I did want to accentuate the natural color and the grain. I also wanted a glossy look. Of all the sealers tested, the Varathane sealer looked the best to me. It also looked good on Douglas fir (cheap construction wood) as it also brought out the grain lines.

Here’s another look at the Varathane oil-based stain on redwood and douglas fir. Of course, the vibrancy of the color will differ in different lighting.

For interior wood, I find that the Minwax oil-based stain in the Gunstock color produces nice red results with clear grain lines followed by triple-thick glossy polyurethane.

As you can see in the photo below, water doesn’t penetrate the wood because the sealer adds a protective layer on it.

How to Install 4 Posts Square and Plumb (like for a pergola)

This weekend I built the frame of a pergola. The posts are 6x6x10 Redwood posts and they’re heavy. We had the posts go 15″ in the ground but before pouring cement, we wanted to make sure the posts were level and plumb.

To hold the posts in place while we measured, we filled buckets with dirt and temporarily secured each posts to them using either screws or clamps.

Once the posts were held in place, we installed the headers on top. This would hold the posts in place and, theoretically, help ensure the posts are plumb.

We then measured for level and plumb using straight levels and post levels.

We also measured the distance between posts to ensure corresponding sides were the same length. We could have also measure the two diagonal distances but we didn’t. We measured using a laser measure and a tape measure. Unfortunately, these can give inaccurate readings if, for example, the laser or tape measure isn’t perfectly level when taking measurements.

Despite measuring using levels and checking distances, we still found some posts were not lined up perfectly with other posts.

To make measurements easier, stick a nail near the top and bottom of each post at the same vertical position.

Then, hook the end of your tape measure to the nail head and pull to measure the distance to the corresponding nail on other posts.

Another, albeit extreme, way to ensure all posts are plumb and positioned perfectly is to use scrap 2x4s to temporarily secure all sides at the top and bottom. If you don’t have any 2x4s, you can use 2x3s. They are cheap at the Home Depot. If your 2x4s are not long enough, you can join / splice them together using metal plates or scrap plywood.

Again, you can temporarily secure the 2x4s to the posts with either screws or clamps. By securing these 2x4s around the top and bottom of the posts, and ensuring they are level, there’s no way the posts could end up being offset from each other or not plumb.

Make a rectangular hole in cement with clean edges

I wanted to build a pergola in my backyard. The patio is a cement slab. I could fasten post bases to it for the posts but I felt that that wasn’t as safe as having the posts sit 1.5′ in the ground. The control lines of the cement slab are just bricks with mortar. I figured I could just remove 3 bricks and dig to 1.5′ for each post hole. The concern was to not crack neighboring bricks and cement. Here’s how I managed to make rectangular holes with clean edges.

Drill

First, I drilled into a brick until I reached the dirt. This gave me an idea of how deep the slab was.

It wasn’t too deep.

Cut

I then used a cordless angle grinder with a diamond blade to score the perimeter of my desired hole. This was especially important so as to not crack the brick next to the hole.

You could also use a circular saw with a diamond blade.

Demolish

I used a jack hammer to demolish the bricks.

I have the XtremepowerUS 2200Watt Heavy Duty Electric Demolition Jack Hammer Concrete Breaker which I got on Amazon.

It easily broke up the bricks into nice big chucks.

Below the brick was a layer of cement.

I broke that up, too, with the jackhammer.

The next layer was dirt.

I dug into the dirt using the Bosch Bulldog Extreme jack hammer and a heavy duty drill with an auger drill bit.

Result: nice clean hole. I’ll have to put back two bricks for each hole but that’s easy.

How To Prevent Weeds From Growing Under and Around Weed Fabric

Weeds are a nuisance. The grow quickly, often can penetrate thin layers of weed fabric, and definitely can pop up along perimeters where weed fabric meets a cement patio, for example. After losing a battle with weeds, I decided to take somewhat extreme but necessary measure to never have to deal with weeds again.

1. Remove dirt

If you don’t remove enough dirt, then your mulch will not be deep and if the top of the mulch is level with the surrounding area – in my case, cement patio – then the mulch will easily spill over and make a mess. I decided to remove 5 inches of dirt. This was a lot of work so I rented a heavy duty hydraulic tiller, a mini excavator and a mini skid steer.

2. Secure weed fabric to perimeter

Weeds will most definitely grow along the perimeter of your mulch area. For my mulch area, there’s a fence on three sides and a cement patio on one side.

For the fence sides, the weed fabric will be stapled to bottom 2×4 horizontal fence rail. Then, a fence board will be screwed horizontally over the 2×4 rail thereby sandwiching the weed fabric.

For the cement patio side, I wrapped weed fabric 3 times over a long piece of PVC moulding and screwed it into the cement using concrete anchor screws.

The concrete screws / anchors I used was Tapcon 3/16 in. x 1-1/4 in. Phillips-Flat-Head Concrete Anchors (225-Pack).

The PVC moulding I used was PVC moulding (5534 5/32 in. x 1-1/8 in. x 8 ft. PVC White Lattice Moulding). Unlike wood, PVC is inorganic so it won’t break down over time.

I first folded the edge of the weed fabric over the PVC moulding and stapled the two together over a piece of scrap wood (soft corkboard is better since it’s easier to remove staples from it). Then I flipped the moulding over and hammered the staple ends down to secure the staple in place.

After doing that along the 8′ length of the PVC moulding, I wrapped the weed fabric twice over the moulding and stapled it again to further secure it to the moulding.

Then I predrilled holes in the moulding every 1 foot.

Then, using the special drill bits that came with the screws, I drilled holes in the cement through the predrilled holes in the moulding. When doing this, I used the hammer drill setting with high torque. Then I screwed the anchors through stainless steel washers.

The weed fabric is now secure and flush against the concrete.

Now, there’s no way any weeds could sneak their way up along this edge.

Note about drill/drive options

The drill I use is the Ridgid 18-Volt Lithium-Ion Cordless Brushless 1/2 in. Compact Hammer Drill. As you can see in the picture below, the

Drilling in hard materials such as brick, concrete, etc.
use carbide-tipped bits and select hammer mode and use LO (1) speed
Drilling in materials with hard, brittle surfaces such as tile, etc.
use carbide-tipped bits and select drilling mode
Drilling in soft materials such as wood, etc.
use twist drills bits, hole saws, etc. and select drilling mode
Driving screws
choose speed (LO – 1 or HI – 2), adjust torque ring, select driving mode

Torque Ring

When driving screws, increase or decrease the torque to help prevent the possibility of damaging screw heads, threads, workpiece, etc. In general, torque intensity should correspond to the screw diameter. If the torque is too high or the screws too small, the screws may be damaged or broken.
The torque is greater when the torque adjustment ring is set on a higher setting. The torque is less when the torque adjustment ring is set on a lower setting.

NOTE: The torque adjustment ring only functions in drive mode.

When drilling or driving into a hard material, attach the auxiliary handle for more leverage.

Update:

Instead of using a regular drill with the hammer drill mode, use a heavy duty hammer drill like the Bosch Bulldog Xtreme. It’s takes an SDS plus drill bit which are available in 5/32 shaft diameters for 3/16″ screws.

This makes drill holes in concrete super easy. But, don’t drill in brick. Brick is too soft and screws will be loose.

Tapcon 5/32 in. x 7 in. Steel SDS Carbide Masonry Drill Bit

Update Aug 17, 2021

The PVC moulding is good in that it is waterproof but it is flexible which means weeds could slip their way behind it unless you use many, many screws fasten it to concrete. Therefore, I decided to use pressure-treated 2×4 wood which is rigid and only requires 3 or 5 screws per 8 foot length. If you use 2×4 wood, then I found the best screw to use is Tapcon 1/4″ thick x 3-3/4″ long screws with 1/4″ washers. Driving these screws in with washers really pull and secure the wood against the concrete edge. Another option is to use Steelworks 1-1/2-in x 4-ft Interior/Exterior Mill Finished Aluminum Solid bar but they are $7 per 4 ft length.

3. Overlap weed fabric by 50%

Lay down weed fabric overlapping each strip by 50%. Use landscape staples to secure fabric to ground.

When picking weed fabric, I find this matrix grid style to be good. Unlike the one pictured above, which I got at Costco, the one pictured below doesn’t have fine hairs that stick to things like mulch.

Vigoro 4 ft. x 50 ft. Matrix Grid Landscape Fabric

4. Place cement boards on top of weed fabric

Cement boards are non-organic so they will not break down. I know this is extreme but it’s better than having to pull weeds every month or two. I used the thinnest and lightest cement board. To allow for water drainage, I placed each cement board a few inches apart. Since the cement board is heavy, there’s no need to secure it to the ground.

5. Add rubber mulch

I don’t want to have to keep adding mulch every year or two and I don’t want the color of the mulch to fade away so I chose to use rubber mulch.

Update Jan 25, 2022

So, the cement board worked to prevent weed growth but the weed fabric was mostly useless. Just use weed fabric along edges and everywhere else, overlap cement board.