Peroxide is a bit of a wonder cleaner which no one uses. Best carpet stain remover I've ever used.
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The Home Improvement Q&A Thread
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Peroxide is a bit of a wonder cleaner which no one uses. Best carpet stain remover I've ever used.
Just finished flooring the family room, got another 500 sq to go.
I ended up pulling up about 1/3 of the room at first because I was having issues with gapping and not being as straight as I needed it. Managed to save most of the boards luckily. Still a pain in the ass.
I ended up pulling up about 1/3 of the room at first because I was having issues with gapping and not being as straight as I needed it. Managed to save most of the boards luckily. Still a pain in the ass.
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Gapping...is this tradional wood floor or manufactured wood floor? If the former, what is the sub floor made of although it appears to me to be manufactured.
That flooring never goes in as easy as they claim. You really have to smack them in hard for a flush fit.
Nice that you took the time to remove the baseboards. Unlike so many builders who fudge it with quarter round.
This traditional wood floor they’re three-quarter inch by 5 inch solid oak. The subfloor is like plywood but it’s another material that they pieced together so it’s actually cheaper made lesser quality which isn’t really helping either. The wood manufacture also kind a messed up with some smaller pieces being like a millimeter wider throwing off the next row and so forth. So I actually ended up having to cut the group side down a millimeter in order to get flush with the next board in the row. It just took me the second time around to figure out how to get it flush in the row to not throw off the next row.
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I’m not looking forward to putting up new baseboards and I’m not very good at making sure everything lined up properly so I’m gonna have to use three-quarter inch baseboards probably with a quarter round on top of that just to make sure it covers properly.
Measure twice, cut once. Hopefully you have a miter saw and protractor. Some of those walls have tough angles for the baseboard.
I guess it's too late now. I try get the floor boards an 1/8th inch from the drywall. Better yet if it slips under the drywall. I'll slide it under with a 1/4 inch gap from the bottom plate. Then the baseboards will cover it all. It's a bit of a pain working the pull bar under the drywall. But it is worth it.
Prime and paint the baseboards before installing them. Then all you have to do is some touch up painting rather than trying to paint the whole baseboard without getting anything on your new floor.
When caulking have water and a cloth ready. Then you'll hopefully have clean seams with the drywall, baseboards and other joints without repainting the edge. I've switched to pre-caulking the boards before installing. As I get less issues with the seams cracking later. A brad nailer is will worth it. As it's so much faster than using finish nails and a punch.
It sounds like chipboard, which as I recall should not be used as an underlayment for wood floors because of exactly the issue you describe, gaps developing between the strips of wood because it won’t hold up. Plywood was required, the last time I looked into it.
Wow I never knew this thread existed before.
I basically fell into DIYing when we couldn’t find reliable electricians (read: at least doesn’t turn up and ask what the third wire is for).
Anyway - there’s a loose tile that has one edge under a sliding glass door.
I’ve got a leftover bag of tile adhesive powder from a job some builders did here a while ago (I -so far- draw the line at laying bricks or anything but basic concreting). My plan is to try to lift the tile out (it moves vertically about the thickness of the tile itself on the side away from the door), ensure there’s nothing crazy in the concrete floor below it, and then attempt to re-lay it using the tile adhesive.
Am I missing any thing? Is there a simpler method to fix this? Any gotchas about trying to re-lay a tile?
![C78197E5-DF3E-4FE6-BA47-9DD1F226C594.jpeg]( "C78197E5-DF3E-4FE6-BA47-9DD1F226C594.jpeg")
I basically fell into DIYing when we couldn’t find reliable electricians (read: at least doesn’t turn up and ask what the third wire is for).
Anyway - there’s a loose tile that has one edge under a sliding glass door.
I’ve got a leftover bag of tile adhesive powder from a job some builders did here a while ago (I -so far- draw the line at laying bricks or anything but basic concreting). My plan is to try to lift the tile out (it moves vertically about the thickness of the tile itself on the side away from the door), ensure there’s nothing crazy in the concrete floor below it, and then attempt to re-lay it using the tile adhesive.
Am I missing any thing? Is there a simpler method to fix this? Any gotchas about trying to re-lay a tile?
Maybe.
There was definitely a spare, then someone (No, not me) decided it would make a good flat surface for the bottom of a concrete pour into a used car tire, and I haven’t checked how that process has affected either side.
still, better than the stack of leftover/spare roof tiles that got appropriated (Again, not me) to use for making steps in the garden (not even as risers - as the treads, with no risers, essentially just tiles laid onto “steps” cut into the soil) and, predictably, broke and are now useless.
Just remove it carefully. Thoroughly remove all the old mortar and grout. You'll need a chisel and grout saw. Basically you don't want any bumps making laying difficult or dust making adhesion difficult.
Lay the tile with pressure and a slight twisting motion. Remove any excess adhesive from the surface. Let it set. Saw out adhesive from the grout line until it's a bit below the surface. Apply new grout. Clean the surface again. Seal the grout.
Besides breaking the tile. The other risk is popping up more tiles when removing the old mortar. So work slowly with the chisel and saw down the old grout.
I prefer a tile mortar you mix to a prepared adhesive.
The new grout won't match the old perfectly.
Based on the amount it moves, and previous history with the tiling in this house (an entire wall of tiles in the kitchen had to be re-done by the builders after they just started peeling), I'm somewhat expecting it's not held in place by anything besides the weight of the door on one end (the picture above is what it looks like "normally". Applying pressure will push it back down level with the others with almost no effort). However I'll keep this in mind, thanks.
Thanks, didn't even know that was a thing.
Right - it is a powder, but it says in English (no idea what the Thai says) "tile adhesive", and it looks pretty much exactly like Portland cement to my eye, so it sounds like it is just tile mortar and the translation isn't quite right.
Thanks for the detailed steps/tips, much appreciated. I've still got a new shed to wire and a bunch of external lights to reconnect, but once I've picked up that grout saw I'll give it a go and report back!
Sounds good to me. You’ll have to gouge out the old adhesive which can be a pain depending on the tools you have. A wide chisel and a hammer will work, but a rotary hammer with a chisel bit would make quick work if it, avoid digging holes in the concrete.
Use care removing the one piece if there are no spares, and not damaging adjoining tiles. You can measure how high the tiles sit above the concrete to gage how much adhesive and use a 1/4-1/2” notch trowel to spread the adhesive on the concrete, but it’s also recommended to back butter the tile itself with a thin coat of adhesive, to get a good bond. The concern is applying too much or not enough.
The notched trowel application gives you the abilty to adjust the height of the tile so it matches the other tiles. If there is too much and you press down you may fill the space between the tile with adhesive as it squirts out from under the tile. You’d want to scoop out enough in the space between the tiles, so you can apply grout in the space. And do you have matching grout?
Now I am guessing, but does the old grout line still exist between the loose tile and the tiles surrounding it? I suppose if it is difficult to find a matching grout and that grout line still exists, you might be able to get away with just slipping the loose tile back in after adhesive is applied, but that would not be preferred because it might get messy or you might notice a gap between the tile and the existing grout, and if adhesive squirts out, you’ll end up smearing it on the existing grout which maybe noticeable.
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I figured I'd use the cold chisel for that, but I'll have to see how much there is first I guess.
Right.. gotta goldilocks it.
I seriously doubt that. I believe there is some leftover grout in a bag next to the aforementioned tile adhesive/mortar, but quite honestly so long as it's not bright pink (pretty sure it's white) I doubt I'm going to care. With the quality of the original builders workmanship on this place, I would bet you a months salary you'd have given up pointing out small inconsistencies and defects before you noticed the colour of the grout, even if I had you stand on the tile in question.
Thanks for the tips though!
Topic: Termite Protection
I live in termite country. I've had Terminix for about 10 years. On year one, they injected the soil around the foundation with a chemical that they claim stops termites and does not degrade for about 10 years. Well, it's been 10 years, and every year I watch their examination which is to walk around the house and look for vertical dirt tunnels on the side of the concrete foundation.
This year, my annual payment to Terminix is due, which includes repairs if infested, not covered by home owners insurance and I'm debating if this is worth it. If I can manage spraying the foundation of my home on a semi annual basis and if that is effective?
Thoughts?
I live in termite country. I've had Terminix for about 10 years. On year one, they injected the soil around the foundation with a chemical that they claim stops termites and does not degrade for about 10 years. Well, it's been 10 years, and every year I watch their examination which is to walk around the house and look for vertical dirt tunnels on the side of the concrete foundation.
This year, my annual payment to Terminix is due, which includes repairs if infested, not covered by home owners insurance and I'm debating if this is worth it. If I can manage spraying the foundation of my home on a semi annual basis and if that is effective?
Thoughts?
Sure it's doable to do bait stations yourself and spray yourself. I've not heard of the spraying. They just use bait stations in the ground (Arrow). While I do a lot of DIY. I've decided not to do this myself. Given the damage termites can do. Plus a pro will probably spot a termite infestation earlier.
Now regular pest control maintenance. While I still use them. I also supplement it with my own sprayer and the same chemical they use. As it rains a lot and the giant native roaches are driven in by the rain. I could likely do without them. But they also take care of stuff like yellow jacket nests for no additional charge. Which I'd rather not tackle.
In my old rental the carport was just a concrete floor. I’m not sure quite why you’d need more than that if it’s a solid slab, but I recently had a pretty decent result with a clear coat acrylic on concrete rendered block walls in a new shed/workshop we had built.
The concrete slab in my garage is in a very poor state. I’d love to get it coated and level. But I think that’s a summer job.
Is this a concerted living space?
Tile is a pain. It's heavy and laboreous to install. The floor has to be perfectly smooth. Plus if you ever want to remove it from concrete. You'll be hating life.
I went with floating linoleum interlocking floorboards which look like wood. They're nearly impervious. Pretty cheap. Easy to install and remove. They look good when done. That's what is suggest to use in a coverted garage.
Oh maybe I misunderstood? I thought op was talking about something to still park a car on?
I don't know that's why I was asking. My mother in law had her outdoor carport (i.e. essentially just an extension of the house roof with no walls, over a concrete foundation) tiled, and the local district tiled some of the raised traffic islands in a car park at the local park, so I've somewhat lost any sense of what's normal for where people tile things and why.
There are several local outfits I trust much MUCH more than Terminex. It’s notorious for charging and doing nothing and have been accused many times of up charging and over selling those who don’t know better.
The house we bought was covered by them and they had literally done nothing for the widow living here. Zilch. Even though she’d been paying for years. I asked them about it and said they ONLY inspect. They treat only after infestation is found.
With Terminex, I got a soil treatment that cost almost $1000 up front. Now is this a scam or real? One thing Terminex has going for it is a warranty and will repair damage no cost. The annual fee this year is $330. If there is someone who will do it better at a more reasonable price, I’m interested.
I checked with my home insurance and they specifically don’t cover damage/infestations by rodents, insects or birds.