Category: Home Improvement

Creating House Floor Plans in 2D and 3D

If you need to only create 2d house floor plans, I personally have found Lucidchart to be easy to learn and intuitive to use.

If you need to create 3d house floor plans, I have found Live Home 3D to offer the best features for the price. At $10 (on sale), you can easily create 2d and 3d home plans. You download and install the program which allows for faster 3d rendering. My typical workflow to design a house is as follows:

1. Create a room by clicking the Room button

2. Draw a room (2d) by dragging the shape of a rectangle

3. Pick a door style

Continue reading Creating House Floor Plans in 2D and 3D

Easily Tighten a Rope Without a Knot

When you need to tighten a rope to hold something in place, e.g. a tent, cargo in a pickup truck, a leaning tree, bed sheets, etc, you might think you’ll need to tie a knot. Not only is it difficult to tie a knot without losing tension in the rope, it’s a hassle and often difficult untying the knot. Ratchet straps are easier to use but are overkill for non-heavy duty situations. A simpler solution is to use a figure 9.

Here, I used a figure 9 to hold a leaning tree in place.

You can purchase Figure 9s at REI. One brand is Nite-ize but there’s also generic ones on Amazon for less.

This are two ways to tighten a rope using a Figure 9.

How to Finish Wood With a Protective Coat

I recently worked on a project to replace my stair’s handrails. I bought the unfinished handrails at Home Depot and then stained them easily as follows.

Applying Wood Stain

  1. Using a brush, applied one coat of Minwax Pre-stain Conditioner
  2. Using a brush, applied one coat Minwax Stain (Gunstock color). While the stain was wet, I wiped it with a paper towel to prevent some areas to be thicker or darker than others. Though wiping with a towel lightens the stain, it is an important step. To achieve darker stains, just repeat the staining and wiping process.

Note: Applying anything wet, e.g. stain, to wood will cause the grain to rise resulting in bumps. If, after the first coat of stain, you notice bumpiness, then sand it down with 220 grit sandpaper until the bumps are gone and then restain the wood. This first coat following by the sanding process serves as a sort of “primer” to prepare the surface.

The tricky part was getting the protective finish coat on. I wanted a shiny, smooth, glossy handrail. After trying different products and processes, here’s my advice.

Lacquer vs Polyurethane

Lacquer is sticky and seemingly more toxic. My eyes felt weird even though none of it gone in them. A bit of lacquer got on my hands and cleaning my hands were a hassle and temporarily messed up my skin. The fumes were so strong I could smell some of it in other rooms of my house. Cleaning the brush used to apply the lacquer was impossible so it had to be thrown away.

Polyurethane is also toxic but the water based kind is easy to clean by simply rinsing with water and it doesn’t smell as much. I was able to easily rinse my brush so I could reuse it for additional coats.

Conclusion: Don’t even bother with lacquer. Just stick with polyurethane.

Continue reading How to Finish Wood With a Protective Coat

How to Enlarge a Hole in a Wall

The other day I was drilling a hole in a wall to run a 3-prong extension cord through. I thought a 1 inch spade bit would do to create 1 inch diameter hole. Unfortunately, the plug end of the cord was still too big to fit through the hole. I couldn’t enlarge the hole using a hole saw bit

because that requires some material for the center shaft to bite in to. 

Continue reading How to Enlarge a Hole in a Wall

Battery Charger / Power Supply (Voltage, Amperage) Requirements for Phones, Laptops, Etc

When looking to buy a battery charger or power adapter for a device such as a phone or laptop, you may be unsure whether the one you buy will be sufficient or even blow up your device. Here are basic guidelines to keep in mind.

  • INPUT VOLTAGE TO CHARGER
    The input voltage from the outlet to the charger should match or be very close. In the US, this is 110 volts. Unless you are buying a charger in a foreign country where the voltage is different, e.g. 220 V, this should not be a problem.
  • OUTPUT VOLTAGE FROM CHARGER
    Like the input voltage, the output voltage of your charger should match or be very close to that of the device you are plugging it in to. The input voltage requirements of a device can usually be found on the device itself. At the bottom of my Lenovo Yoga 910 laptop, it says “Input 20 V, 2.25 A”. Therefore, this particular device needs a charger that outputs 20 V.
  • OUTPUT AMPERAGE FROM CHARGER
    The output amps from the charger should be equal to or greater than the input amp requirements of the device you plug it in to. My Lenovo Yoga laptop has an amp input requirement of 2.25 A.

    • A charger with lower amps may charge a device but slower. Or, it may not charge it at all and the power supply may just turn off as it would not be able to adequately supply the load (laptop).
    • A charger with higher amps may charge a device faster than it would with a charger with amps equal to the value specified for the device. A device will not blow up if the chargers amp output exceeds the amp value specified for the device. The device will just accept however many amps it can handle.
  • POWER
    Power (wattage) is calculated as V (Voltage) x I (amperage). P = V*I. Therefore, for my Lenovo laptop, the minimum power requirements to power it is 20 V * 2.25 A = 45 W (watts). Therefore, it can take any charger that puts out 45 W or more as long as the output voltage is 20 V.
Conclusion:
  • Input and output voltages should always match
  • Power supply amperage should be equal to or greater than the amps required by the load

Kitchen Remodel Project

  1. Preparation and Dust Management
    Covered floors with plastic. Put up plastic walls.
  2. Demolition
    Removed existing kitchen cabinets, wall, popcorn ceiling
  3. Wall Removal
    Removed a load-bearing wall by building two temporary walls, and installing a 10’ long 6”x12” special engineered wood beam and two 4”x6” posts. This opens the kitchen up to the dining room.
  4. Custom-Built Pony (Short) Wall
    Created two short walls by a post where a kitchen island was to be located.
  5. Plumbing
    Moved a copper sink drain and a cast iron toilet drain. Replaced outdated parts (copper and cast iron) with ABS. Small soffits were created as necessary. A hole was dug in the cement foundation to cut a cast iron drain pipe. The pipe was cut and capped off and the hole was refilled with cement.
  6. Electrical
    Since I removed a wall, I moved all wiring, outlets and switches to the short pony wall and rerouted some wiring between ceiling joists.
  7. Lighting
    The old light box with fluorescent tubes were replaced with 4 recessed lights.
  8. Popcorn Ceiling Removal
    The outdated popcorn ceiling was removed and retextured with an orange peel finish.
  9. Painting
    Walls and ceiling were repainted.
  10. Kitchen Floor
    The old vinyl sheet floor was removed and replaced with durable ceramic tile.
  11. New Cabinets
    I installed new kitchen cabinets
  12. New Countertops
    I installed quartz countertops
  13. Backsplash
    I installed a backsplash
  14. Debris Disposal
    I hauled all construction debris away for dumping at the San Leandro / Davis St. Transfer (Dump) Station.
Continue reading Kitchen Remodel Project

Sound Insulation in Residential Walls

There will always come a time when you wish the noise outside your room in your home could go away and that the sound that you are making, e.g. from playing music to watching a movie, could not be heard by people in other rooms. There is a unit of measure called STC (Sound Transmission Control) that indicates how much of a sound can penetrate a wall. According to Wikipedia, here are common levels.

STC What can be heard
25 Normal speech can be understood quite easily and distinctly through wall
30 Loud speech can be understood fairly well, normal speech heard but not understood
35 Loud speech audible but not intelligible
40 Onset of “privacy”
42 Loud speech audible as a murmur
45 Loud speech not audible; 90% of statistical population not annoyed
50 Very loud sounds such as musical instruments or a stereo can be faintly heard; 99% of population not annoyed.
60+ Good soundproofing; most sounds do not disturb neighbouring residents.

and here are different STC values by partition (wall) type.

STC Partition type
27 Single pane glass window (typical value) (Dual pane glass window range is 26-32)
33 Single layer of 1/2″ drywall on each side, wood studs, no insulation (typical interior wall)
39 Single layer of 1/2″ drywall on each side, wood studs, fiberglass insulation
44 4″ Hollow CMU (Concrete Masonry Unit)
45 Double layer of 1/2″ drywall on each side, wood studs, batt insulation in wall
46 Single layer of 1/2″ drywall, glued to 6″ lightweight concrete block wall, painted both sides
46 6″ Hollow CMU (Concrete Masonry Unit)
48 8″ Hollow CMU (Concrete Masonry Unit)
50 10″ Hollow CMU (Concrete Masonry Unit)
52 8″ Hollow CMU (Concrete Masonry Unit) with 2″ Z-Bars and 1/2″ Drywall on each side
54 Single layer of 1/2″ drywall, glued to 8″ dense concrete block wall, painted both sides
54 8″ Hollow CMU (Concrete Masonry Unit) with 1 1/2″ Wood Furring, 1 1/2″ Fiberglass Insulation and 1/2″ Drywall on each side
55 Double layer of 1/2″ drywall on each side, on staggered wood stud wall, batt insulation in wall
59 Double layer of 1/2″ drywall on each side, on wood stud wall, resilient channels on one side, batt insulation
63 Double layer of 1/2″ drywall on each side, on double wood/metal stud walls (spaced 1″ apart), double batt insulation
64 8″ Hollow CMU (Concrete Masonry Unit) with 3″ Steel Studs, Fiberglass Insulation and 1/2″ Drywall on each side
72 8″ concrete block wall, painted, with 1/2″ drywall on independent steel stud walls, each side, insulation in cavities

Note that a typical interior wall has an STC value of 33.

Some options for increasing the STC value in your walls:

  • National Gypsum makes a board called “SoundBreak XP Retrofit” which you place over your existing standard drywall. This increased the STC value from 33 to 36.
  • Adding fiberglass insulation in your wall increase the STC value from 33 to 39.
  • Adding another layer of 1/2″ drywall to your existing 1/2″ drywall and adding batt (pre-cut fiberglass) insulation between the studs will increase the STC value from 33 to 45.
  • For doors, try placing a soundproof curtain in front of it along with a door gasket / sweep and automatic door bottom or a draft stopper

 

Home Improvement Tool Tips

Cutting curves in ceramic tile, plywood, and plexiglass / acrylic

Cutting straight lines in ceramic tile is easy with a tile saw. But cutting curves, e.g. for toilet drains, can be tricky. Diamond hole saws are expensive. Instead, use a rotary tool (e.g. Dremel) with either a tile cutting bit or a tile cutting wheel.  Or, use a jig saw with a carbide grit blade. You can also cut wood and plexiglass using the appropriate bits as well.

Drilling a hole in ceramic tile

Drilling a hole in ceramic or porcelain tile can’t be done with a regular twist drill bit. Use a diamond or carbide-tipped masonry bit. To keep the bit from slipping off the glossy surface, put masking tape on the surface.

Cutting drywall

Cutting drywall can be done manually with a drywall saw but you can also use a power tool. Though oscillating tools and reciprocating saws can do the job, they won’t give a fine cut. Instead, use a rotary tool with a drywall bit.

Trimming drywall

If you cut drywall that is slightly too large to fit an opening, instead of trying to trim it with a utility knife or saw, use a rasp plane.

Measuring long distances by yourself

Put a nail into one end of the distance you want to measure. Put the end of the measuring tape into that nail to keep the measuring tape end in place. Pull the measuring tape end into the nail and pull.

Drawing circles

Put a nail into the material at the center of your desired circle. Hook the end of a tape measure into the nail. Hold a pencil against the tape measure at a distance equal to the radius of your desired circle. Rotate the measuring tape to draw a circle.

 

 

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