Who knew that one of the most time consuming tasks in finishing the basement would be figuring out how to construct the walls. I agonized over the approach I would take, knowing that the wrong decision could cause me to tear down everything and start over. I hope my story here will help you make a good decision too.

The Walls I’m Working With
My house was built in 2005. We chose the particular lot we are on because it seemed like high ground with respect to other homes in the neighborhood. The walls are constructed of 12 courses of cement block which, despite my location, get saturated in different areas during heavy rains. I was shocked that a brand new basement could be so porous to water. I don’t get streams, but I would not say the basement is bone dry either. If we run a dehumidifier on high after a few days of dry weather the walls will dry out.

Last year I called EverDry in frustration, hoping that they could diagnose the water problem and propose a remedy. After the doom and gloom sales pitch of the dangers of deadly mold and crumbling foundations, their solution came out to a cool $17,000. It involved digging out around the outside of the foundation, trenching the interior perimeter of the basement and installing an industrial dehumidifier. This would guarantee dry block and also $17k less in my bank account. I decided to finish the walls without the massive expense, but the specter of water made my decision making far more stressful.

The Vapor Barrier Decision
The builder had originally planted the seed that putting a vapor barrier against the block walls (even if damp) leaving an airspace, and installing 2×4 studs would be a suitable way to finish the walls. I had a ton of questions about EXACTLY what to do though.

• What kind of plastic should I use?
• How far away from the walls should the studs be?
• Should I install fiberglass insulation between the studs?
• Do I need a pressure treated floor plate?
• The most nagging of all questions: Will the walls get wet on the inside if I use this approach?

To answer my questions I followed Google to this great forum entry on how to vapor barrier a basement. There were some differing opinions, but THE BEST resource was referenced; Building Science Corporation’s Basement Insulation Systems Guide. Hallelujah! This is the advice given to builders on how to insulate/finish a basement. It has detailed pictures of the effects of what my builder had suggested (putting up a plastic vapor barrier and insulation)…it retains water and mold. MY solution was found on page 13 of the guide which explains the use of extruded polystyrene insulation and furring strips.

The Dow Styrofoam Solution
With a solution in mind I went looking for where I could find this extruded polystyrene (EPS). Lowes saved the day again. I found 2″ thick EPS sheets in either 4×8′ or 2×8′ tongue and groove sheets. Then I wanted to know how to install the stuff. Lo and behold the Dow website has this very thorough Dow Styrofoam Wallmate XPS Installation Guide. It gave me the plan I needed to purchase the rest of my materials, which included 1×3 furring strips for every 2′ and plenty of Tapcon screws.

A Special Note on the Tapcon Screws
For my project thickness the right size Tapcon screw was the 1/4″ x 3 3/4″ HEX head Tapcon screws. First, they are the thick ones to prevent any chance of them snapping on me when I installed them. Secondly, you MUST use the hex head for ease of screwing it into concrete. Don’t even think of using a Phillips head or flat head. Finally, buy a LOT of them, and NOT at Lowes. Tapcon screws are insanely expensive there, and these big ones run out of stock. I probably used 6-8 boxes of 25 screws each to do my single room. Buy them online in bulk if you can.

The Right Mix of Tools and Technique
It took me a couple of nights to get into a rhythm of how to best install the stuff. Let’s start with tools because they mean the difference between extremely slow, and super efficient. You’ll need:

• Tape measure
• Drywall square
• Permanent marker
• Utility knife
• Spare 2×4′ board
• High power CORDED hammer drill for drilling concrete
• High quality masonry drill bit
• Another electric drill for drilling countersink
• Cordless drill/driver for installing Tapcon screws
• Hand ratchet for finishing off stubborn Tapcon screws
• Chop saw for cutting furring strips to length
• Level to ensure furring strips and styrofoam are plumb
• Ear protection
• Work gloves

A menagerie of Craftsman tools helped me efficiently install the insulation

Working from one corner of the room, you begin by cutting the styrofoam to the height of the block wall so that it fits underneath the floor joists. To cut the material I marked a line with a framing square and permanent marker, then scored the line with a utility knife. The final step was to break the styrofoam over a spare 2×4 as shown below.

Once a couple of pieces of styrofoam are dry-fit into place, you then cut a furring strip to cover the seem between them. Using a level I made sure that the furring strip was vertical, and had my trusty assistant hold it while I went for the hammer drill…

A Special Note on Hammer Drills and Bits
Not all hammer drills are made alike, and neither are masonry drill bits. Trust me. The first rig I used was my Craftsman 19.2V Cordless with the 3/16″ bit provided in the screw box by Tapcon. That was slow and painful. Then I thought I’d try my dad’s Black and Decker corded hammer drill from the 1980s thinking the electric power would help. Nope. I nearly burned out the drill. Check out the lean and grimace I’ve got trying to use that sorry rig.

So, I went to Kmart and bought a reasonably priced Craftsman corded hammer drill, and I went to Lowes and bought the toughest sounding 3/16″ masonry bit they had - the Bosch Blue Granite 6″ long Hammer drill bit. This combination cut through concrete like butta, and made this portion of the project take days not weeks!

Drilling and Screwing With Protection
I’m obliged to warn you that I used protection when hammer drilling and screwing. Muffs for the ears and gloves for the hands (padded for my pleasure). The sound reverbed throughout the basement and could have spread a WTD (Work Transmitted Disease). Without gloves, my hands would have developed some nasty sores. OK, enough with the stupid jokes…

1. I drilled into the concrete
2. I countersunk the hole
3. I drove in the Tapcon with the cordless drill and hex driver
4. I finished off the screw with a ratchet when needed

The end result is a securely fastened piece of Styrofoam insulation with Tapcon screws that are flush on the front so that drywall can be installed directly onto the furring strips without obstruction.

Closeup of furring strip with countersunk Tapcon screw

The insulated basement wall completed

This portion of the project took about 5 days, and the end result was actually really fulfilling. I could have very easily left the basement looking like this. It is now insulated, and the blue looks much better than block. Unfortunately I think there is some code that says you need to cover over the Styrofoamwith wall board for fire protection. Well…that and we can’t have Tricia’s clients working out in a half-finished room, now can we?

Next up…how I installed the electricity and painted the ceiling with a Wagner Power Painter.

My web activities have slowed to a crawl as we have begun yet another home improvement project in the Rzepkowski household. This time we are finishing an area of our basement to serve as a workout room for Tricia’s personal training business. My web marketing strategery caused an inflow of clients a few months before she may have been fully prepared, so here we are in the middle of the best part of summer locking ourselves “down in the hole” to prep some much needed home fitness space.

I’m going to post a series of entries outlining the project. I’ll try to write down as many notes-to-self as possible so that I don’t make the same mistakes again the next time I go to do some DIY home improvement. If you learn from any of the choices I make, awesome! If you want to comment on what an idiot I am, go for it! I’m way behind on documenting the steps I’ve already done so your advice will likely fall into the too little too late department. Without further ado, let’s get going…

What Are We Going to Do?
This whole thing started with a simple wife whimper, “Honey, I really need a wall between this one part of the basement and the other part so that all the kids’ junk isn’t in the way of my workout sessions.” I said, “OK, a simple stud wall with a door opening will be no problem. Let’s just put it up. So, I got the car keys and just as I was stepping out the door to go to Lowes I thought, “Gee, maybe I should measure a few things.” I brought my expert consultant to the basement and we literally moved furniture around for an hour trying to figure out how to configure the space.

Visio 2003 Beats the Back of a Napkin
After we tired ourselves out, we decided a floor plan was in order. I popped open Visio Professional 2003 on my computer and draw up a plan of the space and the big items we needed to fit. That way the heavy lifting would be done on the computer, not with our back. The plan you see is by no means an expert architectural blueprint. I misused and abused Visio because I didn’t want to spend the time to learn how to do it 100% right. I wanted to get building the friggin’ basement, not become a Visio Jedi Master. Nonetheless here were a few brief tips on how I made a simple drawing above out of Visio.

1. Create a New Drawing by going to New > Building Plan > Floor Plan. This opens a ton of VERY helpful Visio shapes for creating walls, staircases, furniture, dimensions, etc
2. Set the Scale under Page Setup > Drawing Scale tab. Measure you long outside walls and fiddle with the scale so that the entire drawing will fit on 8.5 x 11. Trust me, you at least want to do the drawing to scale. This is extremely helpful!
3. Use the shapes in the Dimensioning - Architectural palette to show precise measurements on your drawing. These measurements allow you to measure on paper for everything from studs to wiring.

The left side of the drawing is what we are currently building. The rest (including the bathroom) are for a future phase. Learn about the tough decisions we made on insulating and waterproofing cement block walls in my next posting.

The year of the deck continued as we took advantage of more summer-like April weather to tackle the dreaded deck stain project. This came just a week after we completed our deck skirt to keep the critters out. We knew a year ago when we had our pressure treated deck built, that the time would come for sealing and staining it. After all, we saved 2/3rds of the cost of no maintenance Trex decking by having it built of wood. After a full year of aging, the wood has cured well enough to receive stain.

A friend of ours recommended our local Sherwin-Williams store for getting our supplies rather than Lowes or Home Depot. He said that the staff there could provide a lot more expertise about the right approach and products for a deck than the others. All I knew was that I wasn’t interested in sealing and staining the deck in 2 different steps. I wanted a product that would take care of business all at once.

Ask Sherwin-Williams
I had that commercial in my head as I went in to get a consultation. The professional behind the counter must have spent 35 minutes with me explaining all my options in deck stains. He explained that I actually did not need to clean my deck unlike most poor saps that are restoring some gray weather-worn disaster. I wanted to see the wood grain through the stain, so I knew I did not want a solid. The guy suggested an off-the shelf honey colored Deckscapes toner (I forget the exact color). There were many colors to choose from, but like regular paint, once a color is mixed you can’t return it. Then, he told me the best way to apply the stain - a 5 inch wide brush on an extension pole so I wouldn’t break my back. For the spindles and other hard to reach places, it was going to be good old-fashioned brush work and lots of it. Finally, he was able to estimate number of cans I would need to complete the deck and our playset - 5 gallons.

I brought the stain home and brushed it onto a test piece. We really didn’t like it. There was barely a discernable difference between the stained wood and that which was not. Tricia convinced me that if we were going to do all of this work that we had better notice the results. So, I wandered back to the store with a test piece in hand and a picture in my head of a much darker brown hue with a hint of red. I must have hemmed and hawed another 45 minutes about the color. I tested cedar which was way too orange. Finally I settled on DeckScapes Exterior Waterborne Semi-Transparent stain in a custom color - Riverwood. Once he mixed it, there was no turning back. I had almost $200 in stain on the table, and no place for it to go but on the deck, like it or not.

Railings are No Fun
We started first with the railings and spindles figuring that we would not want to be walking around on a drying deck surface trying to get at them. The stain had a knack for dripping, but we managed to get a good coat of it on without making too much of a mess.

Floorboards are Easier
Once we got to the floor, life got a little bit easier. My helpers applied stain with their smaller brushes, while I came in after them with the 5″ wide brush we affectionately called ‘The Beast’. Mason wielded the ‘mini-Beast’ (the 2.5″ brush) to help mommy and daddy for the first time with a big project. Anna stayed inside much of the day with her chicken pox.

Kris with ‘The Beast’ and Mason with the ‘Mini Beast’ staining the deck

We were putting the last touches on the first coat of stain in the darkness of day one. When we came out in the morning on day 2, we could see where the stain was uneven on the final few floorboards that we stained in twilight. I think it had as much to do with having painted ourselves into a corner (and switching techniques) as it did with the darkness. I made the call to put on a second coat on the floorboards only so that we had a nice even look to things. That only took about 3 extra hours to accomplish. We did not stain the deck skirt. We’ll likely wait until the fall so that the wood has time to cure. The deck looks awesome now. The stain will definitely give us a couple of good years of protection before we need to do it again.

Tricia staining the deck with the playset project looming in the background

After we completed the deck, we moved right into the playset. Because it was built of pressure treated 2 years ago, the wood was much more thirsty. This coupled with far more intricate surfaces to cover made the project last the rest of the day. When it was all over, we had a matching deck and playset that should last a lot longer now that they’ve been protected.

Winter has finally released its grip on Rochester, so we decided to attack an annoying outdoor project before we get to having any fun. Since building our deck last year, a variety of animals have found our deck to be the perfect place to hide out. We’ve provided refuge to a family of robins, a rabid possum, moles, mice, and bunnies. We decided to skirt the deck to take back our back yard from the wild kingdom. As a side benefit we thought a skirt would provide a more finished look. The rest of this entry will chronicle some of the decisions we made and steps we took to complete the project.

Our deck prior to building the skirt

Another angle shows the perfect haven for furry critters of all kinds

Day 1: The Shopping Trip
We took some measurements of the deck and made a quick napkin sketch to take to Lowes for some ideas. The maximum height of the deck from the top to the ground was around 32″. We headed first to the lumber department to check out lattice. We knew though that the holes would be big enough to allow mice, moles, and eager birds through it. This just wouldn’t do. When we costed out the number of board feet it would take to use deck boards instead we nearly had a heart attack.

Our epiphany came in the garden department where we found stacks of Dog-Ear Wood Fence Board. The wood is rough cut and intended for fences. The advantage of the material is how thin it is which would fit nicely under the overhang of the deck boards. At $1.69 for 6′ boards we figured we could get 2 slats per board. It would take about 70 boards to face the entire deck which would cost just under $120.

Fence boards and stones ready to be installed

Next we needed to figure out what to attach the slats to along the ground. I ended up with a very simple idea. We would stake 2×4’s horizontally into the ground. I purchased (6) 12′ 2×4’s for this purpose. To provide one more critter barrier I thought a bit of stone installed beneath the skirt might frustrate those trying to dig under the skirt. For this, we bought 20 bags of drainage rock.

I didn’t need to buy any screws because we had a ton of FastenMaster Deck screws from building the kids’ play set. These screws have square heads and will not corrode in the new kind of pressure treated wood.

Day 2: Figuring out the Technique
The first real day of construction took the longest because I needed to build the base plate into which we would fasten the bottom of the skirt. Using my chop saw, I first cut 18″ stakes to drive into the ground.

18″ stakes would hold the base plate

I used a plumb line to establish the face of the skirt and left 1.5″ of space behind the plumb line for the 2×4 to fit. After pounding the stakes in with a sledge hammer, I put stone underneath where the base plate would be attached. Then I attached the base plate to the stakes.

The base plate is installed along the ground.

With the base plate in place we were able to begin installing the skirting. We started under the stairs; working our way from the most complicated end to the least. Under the stairs we had to notch some boards to match the rise and run. The length of the skirt boards varied slightly as the distance between the top of the deck and the ground changed. We butt the boards against one another, knowing that as they dry they will shrink. At one point there looked to be a tilt to the boards left to right, so we began to use our level to ensure each board was true. By the end of the first night I had completed part of one side.

Days 3 and 4: Getting in a Rhythm to Finish the Job
The third day was a Saturday, so we could count on a full day of work. We set up our work site with an electric drill for pilot holes and a cordless drill to drive the screws. Tricia could bark the lengths of the boards to me for cutting while she was installing the boards. We made it through 2 sides of the project before we couldn’t bend over anymore.

Kris cutting deck skirt boards

Tricia installing deck skirt boards

Day 4 we rounded the last corner of the 20×25′ deck and installed the last board. To make absolutely sure that no animals would get through our fortress we plugged up any small holes between the skirt and the house with foaming insulation. Overall, we are very pleased with the project. It was straightforward, simple carpentry with very few challenges. The skirt makes the deck look clean and finished. We will give the wood a year to rest before we seal it.

The completed skirt provides a critter barrier and gives the deck a finished look

To call the finishing stage of the crown molding project all one day is a bit of a misnomer. The reality is that it took small parts of about 4 days to caulk and do the finishing touches, all adding up to about a day worth of effort. I went around the room sealing the gaps between the molding and the ceiling and the molding and the wall with DAP Alex Plus Caulk. It is a latex caulk that can be painted. I also needed to fill in each inside corner, and the outside corners so that there were no visible gaps between the pieces of wood.

Perhaps the most challenging part of the finish work were the 3 joints in the room where I had didn’t have enough molding length to span the entire wall. On those joints as well as every place I had nailed, I used DAP Fast N’ Final Spackle. I put many thin coats of spackle on the joints, then let it dry, sanded and applied it again so that it would in theory disappear. Well, after about 4 layers, I gave up trying to get them all perfectly smooth. In retrospect I wish I had made tighter joints to begin with, but we learn.

After all of the filling was complete I took out the trim paint and painted over the caulk and spackle. My last step was to take out the wall paint and touch up any spots on the wall where white caulk was too visible.

Finito
The best part of the project is that it is now done. The results are great. It looks like the crown molding has been there all along, and really provides some nice architectural detail for the room. The project wasn’t overly difficult. It just took patience and a tolerance for having the house and garage in disarray for about a week. The total bill for the project was probably about $250 which included molding, paint, screws, caulk, book, angle measuring tool, etc. It will probably be a bit before I do another room, as I want to let the memories of coping corners fade a bit, but I wouldn’t hesitate.

DIY Crown Molding Project: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4,5 | Day 6

Monday and Tuesday nights I finally made it to the actual installation of the crown molding. This was not before plenty of hand wringing over how I was actually going to cut the stuff. 7″ crown is too wide to be cut by a 10″ compound miter saw, or so I thought. I called friends and neighbors asking for ideas. One thought was to rent or buy a compound sliding miter saw. At $500 for the saw, I was going to rent for sure. Another friend said I could use a table saw. I was all set to do that until I realized there’s no way to make a cross cut with 12′ of molding hanging off one end. At last I called one more wood-working neighbor who suggested that I use my 10″ compound miter, but just complete the cuts with a hand saw. I had nothing to lose with this approach, as it cost me nothing to try it. It ended up working fine.

I also needed to figure out how to nail the molding. I could have used finishing nails pounded by hand, but that would have been a real pain. Especially since MDF molding needs pilot holes drilled before nailing through it. Instead I called up my in-laws from whom I’ve borrowed the magical pneumatic nailer before. I brought that home and loaded it up with 1.5″ nails and I was ready to go.

The first piece of molding went up without a hitch; because of course it had no angles or coping. It was great to finally see what the wall would look like finished off. Tricia and I had that momentary euphoria as if the project would take only 10 more minutes to complete. That wasn’t exactly what happened. I tried to cut my first inside corner angle at a 45 degree angle and 45 degree miter. I even coped the profile. When I put it in place it was the wrong angle. Ugh. So, I eyeballed the angle and went outside to make another cut, again coping the molding and again trying a dry fit. I had cut another wrong angle. I’m just not the sharpest tool in the shed, so it took me these 2 failures before it dawned on me to open the book that I bought and read the angle proper angle measurement. The third time was a charm. 2 hours into my installation I had the second piece installed.

My first coped corner, hooray!

What stopped me in my tracks on day 4 was the small angled wall. This wall had the only outside corners in the room. When I measure the angle of the corners they were 47 degrees. I looked up the angle in my trusty book only to find measurements that I could not do on my saw. So I tried doing half the angle. That wasn’t right. Then I sat down at the table with Tricia and did some Course III Trigonometry to try and figure out a logical angle. That wasn’t right. Finally, I went to bed defeated not knowing if I was going to ever get the proper angle, or if I would have to buy more crown so that I could continue to create useless angled triangle bits of wood.

One angle took me 2 hours to figure out

Tuesday evening I had a conversation with another friend, who in no uncertain terms, told me to eyeball the damn thing and stop calculating it. He was right. I kept nipping away at the angle until I had something close enough. The rest of the install was straight forward until I got to the very last piece. This is where I had one coped end to do, and the other was a joint that I had to get just right. This piece took me about 10 trips in and out of the house to the saw.

And with that, the cutting, coping and nailing was complete. It was just in time for me to reset the room for our small group meeting on Wednesday. The only thing left to do now is lots of tedious caulking and touch up painting. When that is done I’ll summarize the project in one final post.

DIY Crown Molding Project: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4,5 | Day 6

I’m not sure if going in and out from the garage cutting molding did it, or if my raging cold is from my kids bringing it home from school. Either way, I haven’t had the energy to keep up with my project progress until now. Day 3 was five days ago, but alas it seem like just yesterday…

I started by using a pencil to mark lines on the ceiling at a 4″ distance from the wall. I also made 5″ marks on the ceiling and the wall to mark where the outside edges of where the crown would eventually be. I made the measuring easier by cutting 4″ and 5″ blocks of wood as measuring guides.

Thank goodness it was a Saturday, because I really needed my trusty assistant for the next part of the project. We started on one side of the room with my flaky stud finder marking joists on the ceiling where we could screw the backer boards in. Then I drilled pilot holes into the wood while we held the board to the ceiling and drove 3″ screws in with a power cordless drill-screwdriver. This was a slowly choreographed maneuver where Tricia and I were juggling 2 drills, some screws, the wood, etc. on step ladders. Each piece of backer board was carefully measured, then I went out to the garage to cut it and back inside to install it.

When we made the turn onto a wall where no ceiling joists were available we got into a rhythm. We brought a big board inside and drilled all the holes on the ground. Next we drilled and screwed one end to keep the board on the ceiling. I then drilled all the ceiling holes for the rest of the board to mark where we might (or might not) need anchors. Then we took down the board, and I poked Buildex EZ Ancors into every hole. If it hit a stud, no anchor, otherwise I screwed the anchor in. No need for the stud finder.

My trusty assistant happily holds the wood

There is one angled wall in the living room that caused me fits and starts. It definitely took some extra time to figure out the angles needed to miter the corners.

Funky angled wall in the living room

Apart from the fact that I needed Tricia to head to the store for another box of anchors (now trip #3 to a store for this project), this phase was relatively painless, and the last backer board was going in before dinner.

We also painted the molding pieces so that we could get down to the fun of actually putting it up. We decided to paint inside the house so there would be an appropriate temperature for drying and a long lasting finish. We put all the pieces on saw horses to make it easier to paint the edges and prevent our backs from breaking.

The molding gets painted semi gloss Atrium White

Coming up next, I’ll review the install of the molding itself which adds hours of indecision to this ’simple’ project.

DIY Crown Molding Project: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4,5 | Day 6

Tuesday a snow storm was rolling through Rochester on one of the coldest days of the year, so it seemed the perfect time to clear out the garage and set up my molding shop. No, I don’t keep space in the basement for this sort of thing. Garage shop = displaced cars in any weather.

The book said that I’d need backer boards on the ceiling to support the molding. Apparently it is “convenient” to rip 2×4’s at an angle so that you get twice the backer board for the least money. So I got out all of my tools, focusing the majority of my attention on Ye Olde Table Saw, an early 80’s Craftsman cast-steel behemoth that my father-in-law let me have. This saw weighs 100 pounds for sure, and with no wheels is like…

Kris moving his table saw.

Setting up the saw is a treat. The rip fence has to be attached to the table then positioned by measuring the distance from the blade. Next I had to raise the blade and then set it at a 45 degree angle, using super-human strength to turn the adjustment knobs that are frozen in place. I decided to run a little test board through first and flipped the makeshift on-off switch (a power strip lashed to the leg with some zip ties). The electric motor revved and the blade spun 2 or 3 times. Next I heard the electric motor-not-working noise before I heard a pop in the power strip. Reset the power strip, try again. Pop again… Alright I must not have enough juice to run the saw from the power strip, I’ll just direct connect the saw to the wall outlet. Bink! I heard a not-so-good noise, and the motor quit.

Well, I had popped a breaker. The same breaker onto which all of the basement electricity is connected, and therefore the entire Internet network for the house. So, I spent 20 minutes getting the Internet back up, and trying to figure out where I could get enough power to run the saw. I ended up finding a 20amp breaker to the mudroom off the garage. I ran an extension cord into the bathroom and finally got the saw to turn on. I’m now an hour into the project, and I have yet to cut even one board.

I’m ripping 12′ boards. I remember the horror stories from shop class where the teacher told us of a piece of wood hurling through the abdomen of a student because their saw bound while ripping. With this image in mind I took great care to set up supports on both side of the saw to set up the rip. There’s no safety cover on this widow-maker either, so I grabbed my guide stick. The first cut made it about half way down the board before the saw started to bind. I decided then to cut that part off and start the remaining 6ft from a fresh end. The rest of the rip went fine and I had my first lengths of wood 2 hours into the project.

The first backer board rip complete

Three feet into the second rip I could see a knot on the wood, but this novice had no idea what effect that would have. I figured I could take it real slow and power right through it. Nuh uh…the blade started to smoke, and then all of the sudden I saw a pulley rolling across the floor; then a high pitched whine; then another pulley rolling across the floor. Finally I was able to reach the kill switch to find out what had just happened. Basically the pulley holding the belt to the motor, the belt itself and the pulley holding the belt to the saw blade all fell apart under the pressure. I was left with a spinning electric motor screaming at me to shut it off. After a half-hour of monkeying around, I figured out that the saw was made to fall apart like this. I was able to screw the pulleys back on and reset the belt.

The first of 3 table saw explosions before I gave up

Here’s where my brain just exhibits no common sense. I figured it must have been a fluke that the saw exploded and went right about trying to cut through the knot again - same result. I was left with a pile of pulleys and belts for another 15 minute assembly job. This time I cut out the knot. 2 inches into the clean part of the wood, and the saw exploded again. That was ahem… IT for me.

With my patience wearing thin and the four letter words on the tip of my tongue I pulled out the circular saw. I clamped the last 2 boards to the table saw and went foot by foot with a saw the cut the wood like it was butter. Here’s some footage of the triumph, shot and narrated by my trusty assistant.

In the next installment of this gripping reality series, I’ll show you how we actually got to installing the wood in the room. Lest you feel that my projects are riddled with difficulty throughout every step, you’ll find that our Saturday labor was efficient and without incident. Pinch Me

DIY Crown Molding Project: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4,5 | Day 6

Monday was the kick-off of a “small” DIY project around the House of Zip. Since we are getting a tax refund this year we thought it would be ok for us to “splurge” on gold plating the house a little bit. Heck, it’s the time of year when there’s nothing better to do than be inside anyways. So I decided to put up crown molding in our living room. I’m psyched to be able to blog about the project. As you’ll see as you go on this journey with me, DIY projects in my world always cost twice as much, take twice as long, take twice as many trips to Lowe’s as a competent handy-man would need. The joy of it for me is doing something other than sit in front of the computer, which is what I do all day long. Wait a minute; I’m sitting here in front of my computer writing about the project that’s supposed to get me away from the computer. Hmph.

So, I embarked on this project first with a little trip to Lowes.com, since that is my closest Home Center. A quick search on crown molding revealed a fine looking book with a URL on the cover, compoundmiter.com. I went to the site and learned about what scares me the most about this project - the weird angles in the room. Never fear, it seems that there is a handy little angle gauge out there that will measure them for me and tell me how to cut the molding.

Next I sketched the entire room on sheet of paper, taking measurements of the length of each wall. I know from past experience that most crown comes in 12′ lengths so I estimated that I’d need 6 lengths for the entire room. 8pm…kids are in bed; off to Lowe’s I went….

When I got there, I first searched out a book. I’ve done crown molding blindly before without a nice book to guide me. When I redid my basement in Chicago, I squinted at some grainy internet pics. This time it’s a pretty book for me. I looked at the compoundmiter.com book, but ended up with the Ultimate Guide to Crown Molding. I chose it because it has great photography and lists a lot of advanced crown projects with 2 3 and 4 pieces layered, that I was always curious about.

Next, I went off to find that magical angle gauge. No luck in the tool department. So, I went to look at the crown thinking perhaps there would be tools by the moldings. No tools there either, but there was a knowledgeable guy there who led me back to the tool department to look at the $60 digital badass that can measure an angle to the micrometer and do all the miter-math for me, or the lowly yellow plastic itty-bitty one for $5 that I would actually have to make calculations from. Normally I’d buy the expensive tool because of the ready-made excuse. Not this time. I bought the cheapy, figuring I might measure an angle 3 or 4 times in my life.

Finally, I went back to pick out the crown. I definitely wanted something even more dramatic than the standard 3-4″ crown that I’ve installed before. The ceilings in the living room are really tall, so I know that they can handle something bigger. But all I could find was the small stuff. Helpful hardware guy told me to turn around and behold the mother of all crown - the 7″ wide MDF primed. Now, that’s some molding, and relatively inexpensive compared to all the dentil plastic Greek Revival junk that was also there. I hemmed and hawed for an eternity trying to figure out whether I should back the crown or not. Should I buy screws, nails, what else. “The time is now 9:59 pm and your neighborhood Lowe’s store would like you to get the heck out of here.” I took that as my cue to hurry up and grab my six crown boards and 3 12′ 2×4 backer boards. I bought the book, the cheapy gauge too. Final tally: 1 trip to Lowe’s $216.25.

Tomorrow I’ll write about my initial battle with the backer boards. It took me all of Tuesday night to rip 3 stinking 12′ boards at an angle. My epic losing battle with the table saw. More to come…

DIY Crown Molding Project: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4,5 | Day 6

Last night our one and a half year old garbage disposal (I now know that it is officially called a ‘disposer’) broke down. Yes, that’s right…new house, new appliances and they still break down as if the place were 70 years old. Tricia noticed that the sink was filling with water, yet when the disposer was turned on it would empty. I pulled the trap because I thought perhaps it was plugged. Nope. Clean as a whistle. Then I ran the water with a bucket under the disposer outlet. It was a trickle. Upon turning the disposer on, the sink would empty. I was stumped. Next, I Googled Garbage Disposal troubleshooting and found this terrific video at Expert Village.

Helpful, but it turns out the disposal wasn’t jammed because the motor worked and the rotor turned. Finally we thought perhaps we could just clean it by running ice and rock salt through it. It was satisfying, but it still didn’t solve the problem. So, rather than belabor the problem any longer I consulted the directions on the disposable Whirpool GC2000XE 1/2 HP Garbage Disposer with 1 year limited warranty, and found no further assistance.

I went to the closest home improvement store we have - Lowes and spent way too much ($200) on a high-end 3/4 HP Insinkerator Evolution Essential model with a 6 yr warranty. When I came home I tore apart the old disposer a bit to find ground up metal parts from the grinding mechanism. Knowing for sure that I had to install the new one, I took 30 short minutes to power through the install. From taking the electric out of the old unit, installing the new sink flange, attaching the electric to the new unit, and hooking up the drain pipes again, it was an easy replacement. Now my wife has the pleasure of using a much quieter unit that I hopefully will not have to replace in a year.

—Update 3/4/2007—
I thought it was odd when I was installing the disposal that I didn’t have to pop anything out of where the dishwasher drains into. This morning I found out I was right. After washing a full load of dishes overnight I heard the dreaded call of the wife from downstairs as I brushed my teeth. “Honey we HAVE a problem.” The dishwasher was filled with foul water. I knew the culprit right away. So, I reviewed the directions for the disposal. Come to find out I had skipped steps 15 and 16 that were on a ‘hidden’ page; the ones that explained how to unplug the diswasher drain hole. I popped out the plug, and now we have a functioning dishwasher and disposal again.