Rehabber’s Rehab

Rehabbing is expensive.  Its more expensive than you think.  So the constant question is where can we get what we want at the cheapest price?  This post will only concern products and I’ll save service recommendations for another post.

Ultimately you always want to get value, because our experience is that you can certainly get a piece of junk for a little amount of money, but then you are left with junk.  So there is always a trade-off.

One stop shopping is so key in remodeling, you’ll be doing a project and you’ll need a dozen different things, plus you’ll remember all those other things you need for other projects.  So why not go where they will have everything, these stores include HOBO, Home Depot, Lowes, and Menards.

But do not shirk the local hardware store.  First, they are often within five minutes of your home.  Secondly, they may look small, but they will surprise you in how much they pack in an organized manner that will be a great relief when you’ve walked a mile from one end of a box store to another looking for two things that seem like they are related. (more…)

Project of this weekend was dressing up the windows we had installed last weekend.  We ordered the windows in wood unpainted or stained so we could do it our selves and make sure the stain matched the rest of the house.

First step was taping off the window edges, during which I have perfected my taping technique to a perfect art.  We are talking edges that meet perfectly in the corner with no gaps in-between.  This is opposed to my usual modus operandi of ripping of hundreds of tiny bits off to have the tape meet and overlap exactly in the corners, and ending up with messy pieces that fall off and are stuck everywhere.  The trick, I found, is to lay the tape  along the edge and up to the corner.  Then placing a putty knife in the corner cutting it into an oblique angle, you can rip the tape along the edge.  You should rip from the corner inward.

The weather is unseasonably warm right now, so we knew this was a project we needed to get done as soon as possible.  We removed the windows from the frames, and stained them to match all of the trim.  It was a bit of a rush job since the windows needed to be put back in before we went to bed, so the stain didn’t get to set as long as it should before we applied the polyurethane, but it worked out.

Taking the tape off, we started out using cotton rounds and alcohol to remove the left behind tape gunk, but then I switched to nail polish remover (acetone), which worked quicker with a lot less elbow grease.

There was one mishap taking one of the double hungs out and the catch on the tension cord that lets the window go up and down was broken.  No word yet on if there is a warranty or replacement part.  We are completely bummed because they are brand new and it is the one in our bedroom.

Either way they are looking really great and add a lot of character to the house.

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This weekend I finally finished the first in the great door reclaimation project, our bedroom door, which I’ve been working on since the Martin’s were here last.  All the doors are now down but the most important one (the bathroom of course).  All I can say is that doors are a lot bigger than the trim I’ve been stripping so far, and that there is a lot more of them than you think there is.  And they have two sides.  Ugh.  Far more time consuming than my previous projects.

Although it is just the two of us, in our house we are so close to your neighbors that you need the privacy a door can give you.  Especially since we have no blinds up since we’ve taken down all of the trim that you could hang them on.  We have one spot in our bedroom that you can stand in to get dressed in without being in the line of sight of either of our neighbors, and we’ve definitely gotten tired of sneaking around in our own house.

I started by removing all the hardware from the door and throwing it in a bucket, screws and all, since I didn’t want to lose any of it.  Then it was time to bring out the trusty ole’ heat gun and to strip the paint off the flat outside and inside portion of the panels on the side of the door that faced into the bedroom.  I got this done in about two sittings (or hunchings). The edges of the panels took considerably longer.  I couldn’t really go at it with the metal scraper because it was too easy to dig into and gouge the door.  I finally found a use for all those chemical strippers on this part of the door, and they worked pretty well at getting a bulk of the paint off.  I still can’t stand the smell and it is much messier compared to the heat gun, but seems to be quicker and less damaging to the door.  After getting most of the paint off with the chemical strippers, I went over it scraping with a small screw driver the spots of paint that were still left, and using the Dremmel in some places. (more…)

About a month ago I found an awsome salad bowl at a garage sale for $1 that looked just like one a friend had that I had long admired.  It was a little rough looking, a couple of stains and scratched up, it wasn’t bad looking, and I figured those could easily be sanded out.  As with most things that you buy with the intention of making it a project, the salad bowl has now sat in the basement for 2 months waiting for me to get around to refinishing it.

The friend whose salad bowl I originally envied has since broken hers, and has been desperately looking for another one like it since.  It’s her birthday today, so I am going to refinish the bowl and give it to her.  Although I am giving up the best salad bowl ever, for very little money and 20 minutes of effort I know I am giving her a gift she will absolutely love, and will have no idea I didn’t buy it new.

How to refinish a wooden salad bowl:

1. Sanding. The bowl is a little nicked up and has some spots on it, so with a medium grade sanding block (Love these.  So much easier to hold that just plain sand paper), sand with the wood grain to get the scratches and stains off.  Then sand again with fine grain sand paper.
2. Clean off the sawdust. With a slightly damp rag, clean the sawdust off the bowl.  By wetting it, you will also see if there are any spots you missed or that might need to be sanded more.  This will also begin to open the wood’s pores. Repeat step one and then do step two again.
3. Rub with mineral oil. Rub the bowl with mineral oil.  Some people use olive oil, but it is believed food based oil will go rancid over time.  Best to stick with odorless mineral oil that you can buy at any drug store.
4. Heat the oven to 150. Turn on oven to 150 degrees and then turned it off.  Place the bowl in the oven and allow to cool.  The heat will open the pores and allow the mineral oil to be absorbed.  As the bowl cools, the pores will close sealing the bowl.  Wipe off excess oil when you’re done
5. Admire.

Caring for your wooden salad bowls is the same as with a new cutting board, apply oil once a day for a week, once a week for a month, and then about once a month as long as you own it. Wipe the oil down well immediately after applying, every time.

Don’t stain or polyurethane your salad bowl.  If you want something a little heartier than just oil, Behlan’s makes a finish listed as food safe called ‘Salad bowl finish’.

I have two words for you: Heat Gun.

I fell in love with this device about 5 seconds after using it when the paint began to bubble and peel off immediately.  My previous experiences working with chemical strippers left me frustrated and with unattractive results. 

Perhaps they are more effective if you are not attempting to remove 10 layers of paint at once. After a couple of hours of layering on the stripper, waiting for it to work, scraping off some of the paint and then repeating this process again and again, only to be left with wood that looked uneven and splotchy, I was considering giving up and giving in and just paint it all.  I decided to try another chemical that is supposed to remove 7 layers of paint (right up my alley) and be stronger than the others.  I would say it was even less effective than the others.

I thought I’d give it one last try with the heat gun, and after about 5 minutes of fiddling with it to get the hang of it, I was removing paint in long strips leaving a clean board behind. So, here is my how to strip paint with the heat gun: (more…)