You’ve probably used wire nuts to splice electrical wires at home.
Though this works, the wires can become loose can cause a short circuit. Some electricians will wrap black electrical tape around the wire nuts but that’s messy and sticky.
You could use In-Sure wire connectors which claim to support both solid and stranded wires but removing wires can be very difficult.
A better solution is to use Wago LEVER-NUTS Splicing Connectors. These connectors support both stranded and solid wires at various gauges and they are simple to use. Just strip the wire, insert it, and clamp down on the lever. To remove wires, just open the clamps. Not sure why The Home Depot doesn’t carry these but they are available on Amazon.
And if you need a more permanent connection, these solder seal wire connectors are great. No crimping or soldering necessary. Just
So, last week I renovated one of my rental properties. This included replacing an old kitchen from 1995 with a new one. Here’s an overview of the process.
I just drew the measurements in Photoshop. Note that the picture below is what the cabinets looked like in 2008. The remodel was done in 2021 and the cabinets were is much worse condition then.
Cabinet prices can vary widely. Home Depot, for example, is expensive. HD Supply has cheap cabinets but they look cheap. IKEA’s cabinets are mid-priced but you have assemble them. Chinese stores have cheap cabinets that look expensive. They also come pre-assembled. But, you have to inspect each cabinet before installing them because their quality control isn’t very good.
There are base cabinets that sit on the floor and wall cabinets that are on the wall. Wall cabinets are always just cabinets with a swing out door. They are more expensive if the door has a glass window in it. Base cabinets can be regular cabinets or have drawers. If they are just cabinets, then you’d have a hard time reaching for items in the back of them. If they are drawers, then you can just slide out the drawers to access anything in them. Since drawers require more material and come with sliding mechanisms, they are more expensive then drawers.
I ended up just buying the cabinets from a Chinese store (warehouse) called Uni Tile & Marble.
I ended up choosing solid gray color cabinets. This is because the house is a rental house and tenants somehow ruin the surface of the cabinets, I can later just easily repaint the cabinets. This is what the cabinets look like in the showroom.
For the countertop, the one on display was off white with a random gray design.
It contrasted well with the gray cabinets and looked exotic but it was also more expensive than other countertops on offer. I decided to go with a cheaper countertop ($300 per 8 foot slab) but my tenant offered to pay the difference for the more expensive countertop so I ended up getting the more expensive one.
Quarts countertops are super heavy and require special handling and are not easy to cut. I ended up paying the store to transport and install the countertops. If you’re looking for a cheaper DIY option, you can just buy cheap laminate countertops at the Home Depot and use a simple jigsaw to cut out the sink hole.
For the sink, I prefer the large single basin type. Even though they’re available at Chinese stores, Chinese stores then to have outdated return policies with unreasonable restocking fees (25%) so for these types of items, I buy them at the Home Depot or Lowes.
For the faucet, I definitely prefer the type in the picture below. It makes it easier to spray and clean the entire sink or whatever else you are washing / cleaning.
I could have had the cabinets delivered for a ridiculous $200 fee but since I need to dispose of the old cabinets, I decided to rent a 10′ U-Haul box truck to both pick up the new cabinets and transport the old cabinets to the dump.
A 10′ box truck was big enough to lay all cabinets on the truck bed.
The house were the cabinets will be installed.
The old cabinets were original to the house from 1995. They were definitely low quality cabinets. They were just screwed into the wall. Some sections were large so I used a Milwaukee Monster sawzall to cut cabinets in half.
Since we had the truck for 24 hours, we loaded the old cabinets and other construction debris in it
and took it to the dump where I paid $138 to dump it all.
After removing the kitchen cabinets, the walls needed to be patched up and painted.
First, we enlarged some of the holes in the wall by cutting with an oscillating tool. The holes were shaped like rectangles where vertical edges would be along the center of studs. This would allow us to screw drywall nails through them into the studs. Cutting drywall was easy using a small, cordless reciprocating saw.
We then patched crevices with spackling paste.
After waiting for the spackling paste to dry, I then used an orbital sander to smoothen the wall surface.
I then sprayed wall texture to try to match the texture of the existing wall. This didn’t work well as the material was often clogging up. Next time, just use an air compressor with an actual texture sprayer gun.
I then painted the ceiling Swiss Coffee.
And painted the walls Roman Plaster.
I then touched up the corners where the two colors met. Semigloss paint was used to make cleaning easier.
After the paint dried, we marked where all the studs in the wall were using a stud finder and then marked level (horizontal) and plumb (vertical) points using a laser level.
Then, we connected the points and drew outlines for where the cabinets would go. Note that the distance between the countertop to the bottom of the wall cabinets should be 18 inches.
We then installed the wall cabinets first. To facilitate this, we screwed a 2×4 to the wall so we could sit the cabinets on it while we screw the cabinets into the wall. If a cabinet didn’t span 2 studs, we’d use drywall anchors.
If walls or floor are not level or flat, use shims.
To facilitate installing the cabinet handles perfectly, we bought a plastic template / jig. It did not work for drawers, though, so for drawers, we made our own jig.
Since the microwave goes above the range, we installed that next. This required cutting holes in the cabinet above it for bolts and the vent.
We then cut plywood and screwed it to the base cabinets.
We then cut a hole in the plywood for the sink using a mini circular saw for the straight sides and a jig saw for the corners. Then we installed the faucet, soap dispenser, dishwasher air gap, and garbage disposer to the sink and then installed the sink. This was done before installing the countertop because the countertop would not be ready for another 2 weeks.
I just got a top mount sink that includes the faucet holes rather than an undermount sink. This simplified installation.
We then installed the crown molding. This was very tricky for a couple of reasons.
Fortunately for this project, we only needed 45 degree cuts. But, we messed up a few times at first and wasted some expensive molding. Here are some tips to cut crown molding easily and correctly each time.
Label the surface of the miter saw “TOP” to remind yourself that the top of the crown molding should be facing down and the bottom of the molding flat against the fence.
Find a way to secure 2 pieces of wood to the sides of the miter saw.
Place your crown molding against the fence and then screw a piece of plywood or wood board to the two pieces of wood on each side of the miter saw. This allow you to put the crown molding on the saw at the same angle every time ensuring perfect cuts.
For our particular case, we decided to secure the crown molding to thin plywood using small screws. We then lifted it and let it sit on top of the wall cabinets – no further screwing or nailing necessary.
We then cut the baseboard and trim molding to length and shot them into the cabinets using a finish nailer powered by an air compressor. The baseboard and molding were necessary to hide gaps between the cabinets and the floor and walls.
For the countertops, I decided to go with quartz instead of marble. Since it’s very heavy and tricky to cut and to smoothen the edges, I decided to just pay someone to install the countertops.
First, one of the 8 foot slabs was cut to go on each side of the range. I believe this was done using a diamond blade.
A thin strip of the excess material was cut to make a finished end. The strip was secured using a special epoxy glue.
The strip was then clamped down and the epoxy left to cure for a while.
The installer intentionally cut the slab and the thin strip to be longer than the final length so that after the strip was secured he could cut and trim the end where you see all the glue oozing out.
This resulted in a very clean joint. He then smoothened the end.
This is how the joint ended up looking (with some dust that would eventually be wiped off).
For the sink side, a hole was cut out.
To create rounded corners, the installer cut a bunch of lines at each corner.
And then using a flathead screwdriver, broke off the thin pieces.
And then used an angle grinder to grind away rough edges to create a smooth rounded corner.
They then glued the quartz countertop to the plywood.
And this is the end result.
Note that we also
This project was big enough that I ended up bringing most of my tools to the worksite.
If you have an electrical outlet or switch that isn’t working, here are some steps for debugging and fixing the issue. First of all, it’s important to understand the flow of electricity within a typical home.
The bare copper or green wire (ground) goes from each outlet to the circuit breaker panel and then to a rod stuck in the ground.
This toaster, which consumes up to 1200 W, can be used on a 15 A circuit because a 15 A circuit supports up to 1800 W of power. However, if two of these toasters were plugged in to the came 15 A circuit, then they’d both consume up to 1200 + 1200 = 2400 W which exceeds the power rating of the circuit. This would cause the circuit breaker associated with the circuit to trip and disconnect power to the circuit. Without the circuit breaker, the 15 A rated wiring would begin to melt due to the heat buildup and possibly catch on fire. If the circuit breaker turns off, you can toggle it back on.
In the picture above, the first outlet is a GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) outlet. It behaves like a circuit breaker. If the total power drawn through the outlet exceeds its rating, e.g. 15 A or 20 A, then the outlet would disconnect itself from the circuit thereby rendering the entire circuit without power because it is the first device in the circuit. If a GFCI outlet turns off, you can push a button on it to reset it.
Now that we understand basic home electricity, we can make a list of things to check for debugging a non-working outlet or switch or entire circuit.
Check all circuit breakers in the circuit breaker panel. If any are off, turn them on.
If the outlet is a GFCI outlet, it may have been turned off. Push the RESET button on it to turn it on.
Check neighboring outlets to see if they are working or not as they may be on the same circuit as the outlet that isn’t working. If the neighboring outlets are not working, see if any are GFCI outlets. If any are, then push the RESET button to turn them on. A GFCI outlet that is off will cause downstream devices (outlets, switches, etc) to also be off.
Using a voltage tester tool, test for the presence of voltage at each component (outlet, switch, circuit breaker). Some voltage testers will beep and/or show a red color when it detects voltage.
Try to determine which components (outlets, switches) are on a circuit and in what order.
Plug an outlet tester into the outlet to check whether the wires were installed correctly. For example, the outlet may have an open neutral meaning the white wire may be disconnected. Even if the black (hot) wire is connected, if the white (neutral) wire is disconnected, then the outlet, and all downstream outlets, won’t work. Using an outlet tester is the easiest way to test continuity in wires.
If an open neutral exists, open the outlet and verify the white wire is installed correctly. If the outlet tester still reports an open neutral, then the white wire may be loose or disconnected on the other end, e.g. at the circuit breaker. If the white wire is connected at the circuit breaker, then it could be disconnected somewhere in between both end points, which could happen if a rat chewed on the wire. In that case, new wiring needs to be added.
If the outlet tester reports an open ground (ground wire not connected), then the outlet will still work but it’s not safe to use.
Use the outlet tester on ALL outlets in a circuit. A disconnect in one outlet can cause all downstream outlets to not work.
In order for an outlet to work, electricity must flow from the black wire into the outlet and out from the white wire thereby creating a loop. The outlet tester is one way to check for continuity. Another is by using a multimeter. A multimeter can also be used to trace wires through walls to see to find each end point.
If an outlet sort of works, e.g. a light connected to it is dim or flickers, it could be because there are too many devices drawing too much power to it or the voltage in the circuit is too low, e.g. 85 V instead of 120 V. To determine the actual voltage on the line, you can use a multimeter.
So, I was going to replace the old bamboo flooring in the living room and vinyl tiles on top of linoleum sheet flooring in the dining and kitchen areas of my rental with tile but since I hate dealing with mortar and cutting tile, I asked some contractors to do it. Apparently they all want thousands of dollars so I decided to instead install luxury vinyl planks which are easy enough to do myself (or with a helper). I decided to go with this particular brand and color:
Lifeproof Dusk Cherry 8.7 in. W x 47.6 in. L Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring
It’s exclusive to the Home Depot and it looks pretty nice. It costs $2.99 per square foot but it comes with the underlayment pre-attached which greatly simplifies installation.
These planks are waterproof and float on the subfloor. No glue or mortar is necessary. The planks click and lock into each other.
Following are some tips I came up with after following the instructions and realizing the instructions could be better.
Don’t try to do this by hand. Spend a little bit of money ($85) and rent a power floor scraper. You’ll save a ton of time and energy.
Notice how the top part of the blade sits underneath the black curved deflector. This was problematic because vinyl tiles that were getting stuck where those two parts meet making it difficult to move forward.
To fix this, I unscrewed the bolts and put the scraper blade above the deflector.
This tool is loud and heavy and can’t reach into tight spaces. For tight spaces, I bought a pneumatic floor scraper from Harbor Freight.
This tool requires a compressor that preferably has a large tank. I have a small 2.5 gallon compressor and this tool would work very well at high pressure for about 30 seconds before losing strength. I’d have to stop for another 20 seconds for the compressor tank to fill up before proceeding again with high pressure. To address this, you can buy or rent a large air compressor.
If you have a lot of tile to remove, you can rent a demolition hammer with the following scraper / breaker attachments.
The instructions say to use a utility knife to score planks on both sides and snapping them into two pieces. Though that works without producing any vinyl dust, doing this a lot can get tiring very quickly and is error prone. Instead, just buy a flooring saw like the SKIL 4-3/8-in 7-Amp Sliding Corded Miter Saw.
It’s lightweight and can do rip and cross cuts.
For clean cuts, place the plank face side down and underlayment side up.
If you need to cut irregular shapes or cuts that are difficult with a flooring saw, just use an angle grinder if the cuts don’t need to be perfect since they’ll be hidden underneath baseboard. I temporarily took off the blade guard so I could see where I was cutting.
You’re supposed to leave a 1/4 inch gap between the wall and the planks. At first I used the spacers that came with a flooring kit from Harbor Freight.
Though this kit is cheap, the spacers and the tapping block are no good. The red spacers keep falling out of place and the tapping block is made of rubber which helps protect the vinyl planks from damage but it makes it difficult to tap the planks together. Instead, by the following tapping block and spacers. Or, just buy the kit which comes with 2 other tools.
Pro Flooring Installation Kit for Vinyl, Laminate and Hardwood Flooring
The hammer doubles has a hard side for hitting the tapping black and a soft (mallet) side for hitting vinyl plank seams. Since I did not have this kit, I used a separate hammer and mallet.
Then, lay the plank down and tap down on the two long edges using a mallet.
Then, using a hammer, hit the tapping block so there’s no gap between the long edges of the plank.
Keep doing this until you get to the last plank in that row.
Repeat above steps for each row till you’re done.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Following are some popular water meters for residential use.
This meter has plastic threads and costs about $100.
Buy online – RC Worst
Buy online – QC Supply
This meter has metal threads and costs about $100.
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.
This smart water meter does not require plumbing as it is just attached or strapped around a compatible water meter. It costs $200.
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.
Your concrete driveway or garage floor will get ugly over time. There are many reasons for this such as
Fortunately, you can easily cover up the non-uniformity of colors with any one of the following products:
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.
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.
Here are the neutral colors we’ll be choosing.
Replace all outlets and switches with Dekora ones
(Roman Plaster PPU7-10U)
Behr / Home Depot
Spray walls and ceiling same color for simplicity. Or, spray ceiling Swiss Coffee.
Choose large 12”x24” tiles for fewer grout lines and quicker completion.
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.
$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
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
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.
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.
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.
