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Architecture : Home & Garden
How to Set up to Paint Gable Ends That Are Steep
Painting the exterior of a home requires the right equipment, the right paints, the proper application techniques and constant attention to safety. Each home environment is unique, and when combined with surrounding landscaping, a painter must pay special attention to how he sets up ladders and sca
How to Glue Linoleum to Plexiglas
Linoleum is a floor covering created entirely out of renewable materials such as linseed oil, pine rosin, and wood flour. Linoleum usually requires specific adhesives to adhere it to different materials. Plexiglas is also picky about its adhesives. Your options are limited when it comes to adhering
How to Remodel a Galley Style Kitchen
Galley kitchens typically can be found in apartments, condos, townhouses and smaller homes. In a galley kitchen two counters run parallel to each other with appliances spaced along them. One of the great advantages of a galley kitchen is that a cook can turn from one counter to the other without wal
Kinds of Rattan
The rattan palm is a jungle vine, harvested primarily in Africa, Asia and Australia. It is quite durable, seldom warps, and can grow as thick as 3 inches in diameter. Its properties make it ideal for furniture and other household objects. More recently in 2010, scientists have discovered that rattan
How to Sand a Floor
Sanding your own floor is much cheaper than hiring a professional to do it, although it is a lot of work. You can rent large and edge sanders from many rental outlets and hardware stores at decent rates for the weekend, or cheaper mid-week deals. The equipment will always come with complete instruct
How to Fix Decomposed Wood
You can recognize decomposed wood by a flaky, fibrous appearance. It feels like paper and you can easily scratch it with a fingernail. When wood gets to this point, it needs help. You can reinforce it by applying resin glue that penetrates into the fibers of the wood where it hardens. You can then s
How to Install a Parquet Floor
Despite its often-intricate patterns, parquet flooring is easy to put down, rivaling laminate floors for ease of installation. The important part of this project is planning and measuring to ensure the pattern looks good. Most do-ity-yourselfers can tile an average-size room with parquet flooring in
Buying Raw Lumber
Many do-it-yourself projects such as fence building, deck building and interior remodeling require purchasing raw lumber. When setting out to buy raw lumber, take the time to examine the lumber. Placing a phone order for delivery to the job site without seeing the lumber first may cause more trouble
How to Attach to a Cinder Block
A cinder block is a building material made of concrete and coal cinders that is typically hollow. Cinder blocks are a cost effective and sturdy building material used for residential and commercial construction. Cinder blocks are stacked and overlapped to form exterior and load bearing walls. It may
Pole Building Construction Techniques
Pole building construction is the art of creating structures discovered during the ancient civilization. This construction method is simple yet proved to be sturdy because poles are deep seated in the ground and extended all the way to the top of the structure supporting the roof. Structures constru
Drop Ceiling Installation Instructions
Drop ceilings are the perfect answer for finishing basements, renovations or lowering high ceilings in older homes. This type of ceiling is superior to dry wall for noise reduction and allowing access to duct work and wiring that requires maintenance or updating. In a basement, drop ceilings are eas
How to Remove Old Kitchen Floor Tiles
At some point, you might decide that it's time to give your kitchen a bit of a face lift. You can accomplish this by a total renovation, or you might decide to do something a little simpler, such as removing your old kitchen floor tiles and replacing them with something new. While the process of rem
How to Color White Grout
White grout is not always the best choice for a ceramic tile application. White gets dirty quickly, creates a stark contrast with some tile colors, and is particularly impractical in high traffic areas. Products created to stain grout work well on white grout. Most grout stains can be used for inter
How to Remove Mold From a Plaster Ceiling
Mold in your home can trigger allergies and other respiratory problems. It can even cause very serious illness, in the case of mycotoxins, warns the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Even small amounts of mold, such as a corner of a plaster ceiling, indicate a moisture problem. This moisture c
Problems With Residential Steel Buildings
Steel has only recently become more commonly used in residential construction. But because lumber has dominated residential construction for years, there is a lack of professionals in the field that know about and can work with steel. There are fewer carpenters, architects, material suppliers and fr
How to Measure a Wrought-Iron Door
Installing a wrought-iron door not only adds security to your home but elegance as well. The wrought iron door supplier needs the exact dimensions of your existing door to custom build the wrought iron door to fit. The do-it-yourselfer can measure and supply any required templates to the wrought-iro
How to Build Closet Shelves
A closet can be a cluttered mess or a well-organized storage space, depending on how you approach it. If your closet lacks organization, you may want to take advantage of unused wall space by installing shelves. Shelving is available in all shapes and sizes, and finding the shelves that best fit you
How Thick Should Subfloor Underlayment Be?
A properly installed floor requires properly installing your underlayment first.Parquet floor image by Einar Bog from Fotolia.comFor a Subfloor in Good ConditionBefore installing most types of flooring, you must first install some type of underlayment on top of the existing subfloor. If...
How to Care for a Wood Laminate
If you have wood laminate floors or countertops, you know that they are popular because of their genuine beauty and affordability. Due to the durability and simple maintenance, laminate is a welcome addition within any household. As with any type of flooring or countertop surface, you want to take
Travertine vs. Marble
Natural stone materials for tile and countertops are becoming more frequently used as homeowners desire a product with an unusual look and feel. Stone like marble and travertine has texture, variation and color that cannot be completely reproduced by manmade materials. When deciding what type of nat