One way to minimize chipping when cutting melamine with a circular saw is to turn it over so that the good side is down, as that side will chip the least. On the top side, where the saw blade comes up through the panel, score your cut line deeply with a knife first and then cut just barely away ...
A viewer asked the question, can I replace the plastic surface on my kitchen counter?If there are curves and bends, like a round front edge or a continuous splashback, either forget it, or cut off the curves. With home workshop equipment you won't manage to mold the new plastic laminate to th...
Revised November 2, 2004Should electrical outlets be installed with the ground pin up or down?There is a lot of debate and few regulations on this question.The first time I got asked this question, it came from Newfoundland. You can see my answer to that question by searching for ""Outlets"" in...
We had to go to the Dimplex factory in Toronto to find out how they make a smoke-and-mirrors fireplace look really really like a real wood fire. It is quite amazing. The flames are a rotisserie of aluminum foil reflecting lights up and off a mirror.The bricks on the back of the fireplace are ac...
A Home Depot customer asked how to put an old cast iron bathtub over a terracotta tile floor, without cracking the tiles.My suggestion was to carefully plan the position of the tub so that she could put wooden tiles in the place of the four tiles where the feet land. The wood may dent with the we...
Paul Ferro has made a business of making new things look old, and he shows us how in his ARCANE shop in Toronto..It was interesting to see how he made a finish appear worn with the years. He applied the finish, let it dry, and then carefully sanded it down where normal use would wear it off, lik...
Ron from Uxbridge, Ontario suggests putting a golf "T" in the end of a caulking tube to close it off between uses.I had never tried that before so I gave it a rough testing. When the hole in the tube was small enough to be able to force the T into place, it worked quite nicely. If the hole wa...
One viewer suggested using spray lubricant on screws to get them to go into wood more easily, even without a pilot hole.It does work, but be aware that a spray liquid lubricant will stain the wood and prevent any good finish where the lubricant has squeezed off of the screw. There are other wa...
Pros do most nailing, tacking, or stapling of upholstery to furniture frames with pneumatic guns. For the do-it-yourselfer, regular staplers will often not be able to drive the staples in far enough, especially in hardwood frames. Lifting the rear of your stapler off the wood and pushing down v...
Lorraine Morgan loves gingerbread trim, but can't afford it -- so she makes her own. Once she found the pattern book, she perfected a technique of blowing up the pattern in a photocopy machine, tracing it onto both sides of the board, and then cutting and sanding the trim. One nice thing ab...
