Do-It-Yourself Video - Handy Kitchen Fix-It Tips

Irwin Weiner ASID - When I saw this reader-submitted video of a woman who takes charge of the power tools in her home and goes to work building and remodeling her kitchen, I had to lie down. Way too much energy! But watch today's featured video from The Family Handyman, and you definitely will get some great DIY or professional remodeling ideas for how to turn your kitchen into a more usable, handy, functional space.

Click on these links for 10 Tips for a Happy Kitchen Remodel and 4 Weekend Kitchen Upgrades - and for our Design2Share readers, I know it's been awhile since the last installment of my own kitchen remodeling videos - but I promise to put them up soon. (And the good news is that the remodeling and settling in is almost complete.)

 
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DIY Alert - 3 Products to Help Repair Cracked Walls

Irwin Weiner ASID - I confess to the guilty pleasure of enjoying a do-it-yourself read now and then, and one of my DIY go-to guides is The Family Handyman. FH is loaded with great projects and what-works-for-me tips from their readers. I was recently impressed with their article on simplifying wall repair. Here are a few of their products and tips.

Good-Bye Cracks - imagine a spray can that works miracles on cracked walls, particularly those walls that keep getting hairline cracks! Try spraying it on both wide and hairline cracks, although it's primarily recommended for the little guys. Clean the loose material out of all cracks, filling them with joint compound. Then spray on two or three coats of G-BC (make sure you're spraying on a nice, even coat as this isn't a surface you can sand). When completely dry, prime and paint it.

Step Saver Stress Crack Tape - the directions say that you just stick this tape over the crack and you can paint over it, but experts advise that you skim over it with some joint compound so that you don't see the edges of the tape repair area.

Wall Liner - when your walls are so badly cracked that you don't know where to start and how to finish ... and you don't want to install new drywall ... many homeowners use heavy-duty wall liner; this extra-thick paintable wallpaper functions like a huge patch over the cracks. Look for the best solution for your wall texture as you can find rolls at home supply centers that are textured, patterned, and smooth. (You can also use wall liner to cover cinderblock and other wall surfaces so you have a completely different look when you're done.)

Now back to The Family Handyman; you might want to follow their advice on How to Repair a Drywall Crack - click on the link for an easy step-by-step guide.

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Irwin's Kitchen Remodeling: the Demolish-and-Wait Phase

Irwin Weiner ASID - The ground has now frozen hard and is sometimes getting dusted with snow outside our country house in rural Pennsylvania. We're now approaching Week 6 on the project, and demolition has been completed on the walls and floors of our kitchen, back entry area (which has served as our laundry room and catch-all storage area with large old-fashioned potato bins), and a small powder room. Our contractor and his son and step-son banged and pried and pulled and hauled away at surfaces to take off the new and bring it down to the bare bones.

It's exciting to see the layers of old brick veneer taken off the kitchen wall, discover old boarded-up windows, and see the rough electrical and rough plumbing put into and through the walls. In these two videos, you'll see the progress we've made.

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Irwin's Kitchen Remodeling: Scope of Work

Irwin Weiner ASID - We're a bit behind in catching up our readers on the progress of our home remodeling project in rural Pennsylvania. We really miss our kitchen, and the novelty is fast wearing off of having to eat out all the time on the weekends when we're in our weekend house. Part of our Weekend Therapy is to plan a meal and cook something spur of the moment, so we'll be happy when it's all over. In this video, I'll take you through our emptied kitchen, laundry room, and powder room and describe the scope of work - and next week I'll show you two videos with substantial progress made on the project. Whenever homeowners begin an extensive remodeling or renovation project, however, always plan for the process to take longer than you expect. In our case, this is holding true and we expect to be without a kitchen through the months of January and February and sometime into March. It's the nature of the beast, even though every contractor we interviewed told us the job would take only 6 weeks. 

 

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