Wires and Electrical for the Flat Screen

Saturday I finished the wiring behind the flat screen.  I replaced the standard outlet with one from Panamax that is recessed and has surge protection.  I also ran component and HDMI wires through the wall.

Wiring and Mount for TV

Cabling through wall to future cabinet

Finished TV install

Engineering Flooring Installation

The carpet in a large first floor closet needed to be replaced.  I was looking for a relatively inexpensive floor covering that would be durable and easy to clean.

I found an engineered hardwood that matched the color of the hardwood in the rest of the house for $1.89 square foot.  The closet is just over 60 square feet, so with waste I figured we needed about 70 square feet.  The hardwood is sold in packages of 30 square feet, so I needed to get 3 packages. I’ll use the left over in some of our other closets.  For some reason all the closets in the house have carpet in them regardless of what flooring is in the room.

In one evening I removed the old carpet.  This is pretty easy to do if you have new blade in your utility knife.  Just cut strips in widths that are easy to handle and roll it up.  A small pry bar is useful for taking out the carpet tack strips.   I found that just running the pry bar over  the staples from the padding removes most of them as well.

Before installing the wood I put down some red rosin paper.  Honestly, I’m not exactly sure it is necessary, but I’ve done it in previous installs and they all went well, so superstition wins out.  The flooring is 3/8 inch thick and can either be nailed down or glued down.  I’ve installed hardwood with flooring staples before, but never glue. 

I really wanted to avoid the glue if possible.  I’ve done some tiling and I know that no matter how hard you try, it gets all over.  I usually spend a fair bit of time on hardwood making sure all the seams are tight.   I couldn’t quite picture how the planks would stay in place on the glue while I tapped the rest of the floor in place.  I image you still need to face nail the starter strip to keep everything in place.

I installed the floor using just 1 1/4 inch brads.  I could have rented a stapler but it’s a small area and the flooring sales person said I could float the floor in a space this small, so I figure it wouldn’t do any harm. 

Steps I followed for this install:

1. Remove carpet, padding and tack strips.
2. Cut molding and door jamb as necessary to allow the flooring to slide under it.  Don’t worry about the baseboard, because you need to leave room for expansion and you will cover it with quarter round after.
3. Staple down red rosin paper.
4. Create your starter strip.  Leave a space between the baseboard and the starter strip ( for me this was 1/4 inch).  I set an adjustable square to the width of my flooring plus the space to ensure an even distance from the baseboard.  There will likely be some variation in baseboard and wall, but don’t sweat it as long as it is not wider than the quarter round.
5. Face nail (through the top of the board) the starter strip into place.  I try to place the nails close to the edge of the board so it will be covered by the trim.  Don’t go too close as you don’t want to split the board.  Any holes that show can be filled with color matched putty later.
6.  A couple of tips on layout.  If you have multiple boxes of flooring, pull from more than one box at a time.  There can be some natural color and grain variation and it looks better if it is mixed across the floor.  Also, try laying out a few rows in advance.   Use a mix of long and short strips and arrange your strips so that the end joints are offset by 3 to 6 inches.  Avoid repeating the same pattern of seams within 3 or 4 rows of each other.  If you have a helper to lay out in advance and figure out the seams, it will go much quicker.   Set aside any planks that are damaged or less visually appealing.  You can use these in less visible areas if needed.
7. Start installing!  I use a scrap piece of flooring as a hammer block to tightly align the seams.  The scrap block incurs all the damage while preserving the tongue on the installed pieces.   Once the piece is in place, nail it in.  You can rent a flooring stapler for this purpose.  It drives a staple at an angle through the tongue of the board.  For my install I carefully used an air powered brad nailer to shoot a brad at an angle through the tongue.
8. When you reach the end of a row, you will likely need to cut a piece to length.  When measuring, account for the space at the wall.  Remember to pay attention to which end you cut to make sure the tongue and grooves align.  I save the pieces I cut for potential starter pieces for the next row.  To get the end joints tight, I place a small pry bar against the end of the plank and the baseboard and push it into place.  Use gentle pressure or put a scrap of flooring on the baseboard so it isn’t damaged.
9. Work you way the the opposite wall.  When you get to the last row, you will likely need to rip the planks to width.  I use a table saw, but I suppose you could do it with a jig saw or circular saw.  I use a pry bar placed against scrap wood on the baseboard to fit the last rows of flooring into place.   The last row is face nailed just like the first row.
10. Install trim moldings.  I like to use quarter round, but shoe molding works as well. 

Installing Screen for Home Theater

When I was planning out the home theater, I was really torn on what size screen to get.  I had several sales people tell me that for my room, I should not go any larger than 90 to 100 inches.

So when I ordered my projector I was all set to order a 90 inch screen.  I was talking with the salesman from Projector People and placing my order.  I started asking him some questions about the screens and he asked me how I decided on the size.  I told him about the input I had received and he gave me his recommendation – wait.

His advice was to put the projector up and see what size image looked good in the room.  He said he had never had anyone call him back and say they thought they got too big a screen, but he had a number of customers regret not going larger.  The Panasonic projector I bought lets you adjust the image size from about 40 to 200 inches.  And it’s bright enough that the image didn’t look half bad just projected on the wall.

After about a  month I bought an AccuScreen 119inch fixed frame screen for $399 from Projector People.  The price was fantastic -  I had expected to spend around $1,000.  The size is good and was pretty close to the size we had projected on the bare wall.

Installation wasn’t too bad.  The frame easily connects and is held in place with screws.  The screen tension mounts over frame.  This was the piece I was most nervous about, but it was really pretty easy to get tight and flat.

The screen hangs on brackets.  I spent a bit of time getting it level.  Finally I ended up using a laser level to get a straight line across wall.  This  shouldn’t be required, but my wall was bowed some and the ceiling line varied a bit from side to side.

Don’t use graphite to lube door hinges

Whoever was in charge of silencing squeaky hinges when our house was built must have had a ready supply of dry graphite.  Every door in the place was lubed with it.  If you love the look of fine black dust on your doors, hinges, moldings and floors then graphite is your product.  Otherwise, I would try to avoid it.

Once the graphite is on the hinges, it’s tough to get rid of.  My neighbor went so far as to replace all the hinges on all his doors.    Here’s my solution.   This takes a while, but be patient.  If you don’t get the graphite out, you’ll end up doing it again.  I’ve found that attacking one room at a time works pretty well and I usually try to do it before I paint the room.

Arm yourself with some rags, rubbing alcohol, q-tips and vinyl gloves.  A hammer and a nail set works well for removing the hinge pins.  I found it easiest to pour the rubbing alcohol into a disposable container to avoid contaminating the whole bottle.

Warning – if you rub latex paint repeatedly with a rag soaked with rubbing alcohol, it will remove some of the paint, so be prepared to do touch up.

Place a drop cloth or a newspaper below the hinges to catch any graphite dust.    Put on a pair of vinyl gloves and wet a rag with rubbing alcohol.    Wipe down the hinges with the rag and remove the hinge pins using the hammer and nail set.  Remove the door and clean the hinges and hinge pins with rubbing alcohol.   The q-tips work well for getting inside the hinges.

Once the hinges and pins are thoroughly clean, lubricate them.  I have found Liquid Wrench Lubricant to work well.  I wipe a small amount on all the metal parts that will touch and then put some on the pins before reinstalling.

Once everything is back together, use a dry cloth to remove any excess lubricant from the hinges.  Any graphite  remaining on the door or moldings can be removed with a rag and rubbing alcohol.

Weekend project update

On Saturday I volunteered at a Habitat for Humanity build.   Volunteering for Habitat is one of those things I’ve wanted to do for some time and I’m glad I did it.  About 20 people, including the new homeowner, spent the day painting doors and trim and installing closet organizers, door knobs, and towel racks.

If you’re looking for a way to use (or build) your DIY skills in service to others, I highly recommend spending a day at a Habitat build.    At the beginning of the day some training is provided for the task at hand, so beginners are welcome.

On Sunday I exchanged the defective ceiling fan that I wrote about last week.    Install was a snap since the instructions were fresh in my mind.   Everything went smoothly.  The fan looks nice and adds balance to the room.    I’ll post some pictures soon.

Ceiling fan in – and out

Decided to install the last ceiling fan in the basement yesterday. While unpacking it, it was clear that someone had installed and returned the fan. After looking over the pieces that would show, none of them were damaged, so I put it up.

Flicked the switch, nothing happened. Verified that I was getting power to the fan, but no fan and no light. So uninstalled and repackaged the fan. I’ll have to return it and try again. That’s how it goes with DIY sometimes…

Getting back in project mode

I haven’t done any projects or updated this blog in a while.  The basement reno was a full on year of every weekend and many evenings.  It came out great, but I burned out.  So for the last few months, no project work.  Went to the kids spring soccer games.  Watched lots of movies in the new home theater.  Hung out and did nothing.

I seem to go in cycles, where I do project after project, then get just totally fed up with it.  It isn’t fun anymore.  It makes me tense and angry.  I resent the work instead of enjoying it.   So I just stop.  Usually after swearing I’m never going to do that again.

Then after some time, I start thinking about some project I’d like to try.  Some small improvement to the house, maybe learning a new skill.  Pretty soon I have a pretty good list of things I would like to tackle.  Then I take one on and finish it.  It’s fun again and in the end I take pride in the improvement.

So for the last week or two I’ve started to get the project list going again.   This weekend I spent a couple hours on projects.  First up was replacing some quarter round molding in front of the deck doors.  After that I decided to break out the power washer.   I cleaned the porch, steps and sidewalk on the front of the house and the patio out back.  Looks great!  You don’t realize how dingy something has become until you clean it up a bit.

So what’s next on the project list?  There’s still a handful of things in the basement to finish up: some trim under the bar, a ceiling fan to install, staining the fireplace surround, and eventually some shelves for storage in my workshop.  Painting the master bath needs to fit in there somewhere – probably sooner than later based on the gentle hints from my wife.

Those darn miniature Christmas lights!

Last week the family decided to surprise me by getting the holiday decorating kicked off.  So in addition to setting out cheery Christmas decorations inside, my daughter strung miniature Christmas lights around the deck.  This is something we have been doing together for years now and has become one of our traditions.

Normally I check the lights before putting them up.  But since I wasn’t there to help, this step got skipped.  Unfortunately, of six strings, only about half of three of them were working.   She was pretty disappointed.

For the last couple of years, I’ve given up on trying to fix light strings.  They’re pretty inexpensive, so when they don’t work, I toss and replace them.   Given that I didn’t really want to take all the lights down, I bought a LightKeeper Pro based on a recommendation from a co- worker.

I was pretty skeptical, but I found one on Amazon marketplace and ordered it on Saturday.  It arrived Monday (great delivery time) and I tried it out.  You just plug the light string into the tool and pull the trigger a few times.    Darned if it didn’t fix three quarters of the lights  on the first shot!

I did have to replace two strings that had some kind of a short in them.   In addition to the quick fix feature, the LightKeeper tool has a bulb and fuse tester and a voltage continuity tester.  It really worked great.  I’m not big on gimmicky tools, but I can highly recommend this one.  Check out http://lightkeeperpro.com.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.  It feels like one of the last holidays that hasn’t been taken over by mega-commercialization, though it could be easily argued that holiday shopping on black Friday has encroached on Thanksgiving.

In some respects it has been a trying year.  Turbulence has been ever present in my work environment, on the political stage, and in the financial markets.  It is pretty easy with the 24/7 onslaught of “information” to feel like everything is crashing down.    So hurray for Thanksgiving, it’s a great time to look at all the things we have to be grateful for.

So here’s what I’m thankful for this year.  For the priviledge of living in the Unites States of America.  For a safe place to live.  For food to eat.  For a job.  For health and health care.  For the warmth of a loving family.  Simple things, things that I sometimes complain about or don’t appreciate fully.  Things that are too easily taken for granted.  But not today.  Today I’m counting my blessings.  Happy Thanksgiving.

Weekend Recap

Saturday was soccer day for our family.  My daughter had a tournament in the afternoon and then another game in the evening on the field of local professional soccer team, under the lights.  The weather was cold, windy and wet all day.  Regardless, the game on the pro field under the lights was pretty cool.  The girls had a riot.  A bad head cold has ensued today – poor kid.

After a day in the cold wet weather I was really looking forward to sleeping in.  At 7:20am I was awakened by a call from the Sears delivery team.  In 45 minutes they would arrive with the new refrigerator.   We groggily crawled out of bed, emptied the old fridge and cleaned everything up.

The delivery team was great.  The old black fridge made its way to the basement and the new stainless one settled into the upstairs kitchen.  The doors on the new fridge needed to be removed to get in the front door so the process took a little longer than expected.  But good results – No damage, everything working as it should.

I built the base for the cabinets on either side of the fireplace.  I primed the cabinet over the breaker boxes, but it still needs paint.  No paint around the fireplace surround either.  Both rooms have  been cleared for carpet.  Looks like the plans for the weekend were a bit ambitious.

Tomorrow is carpet day.  Should be picture worthy.