Flagstone Versus Concrete For A Patio

Q: Would flagstone be cheaper than a cement slab if doing a 10x20 patio?

A: A 10 x 20 patio in concrete 6" thick is 100 cu.ft of concrete or aprox. 4 cu. yds at 4" thick it is aprox. 3 cu. yds. Depending on where you are you will pay between $125 and $175 per cu. yd. Then you need material to make a form, and wire mesh to help prevent the concrete from cracking. You still have to prepare a good base for the concrete and you will need some tools such as a float to finish the concrete properly.

Flagstone requires a sand base properly compacted. Some people like to mortar the joints. Quality flagstone will cost about $5 to $10 a square foot, depending on the thickness and where you are located. But the installation is easier and you can do it at your own pace.

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Vinyl Siding

Q: I wood like to replace the wood siding on my home and I am considering using vinyl. Is it difficult to install?

A: Vinyl siding is a relatively easy project, but usually needs two people, because of the length of the material.

Corners are handled by different moldings, as are eves and soffits.

The trick to a good installation is planning and making sure that the starter pieces are truly level!

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Parque Floor Disaster!

Q: We bought this house last year and it has nice clean carpet when we moved in. To make a long story short we got screwed. Turns out after the stains started coming up a few months later that whoever lived here before us just let their animals pee and poop wherever they wanted. We have children and have allergies so we are in a bind. We have been pulling up the carpets as we can. The two kids rooms we put down plywood flooring and stained it and used polyurethane on it. It looks good for the kid’s rooms but can't do that in the rest of the house as it scratches easily, etc. We went through the options since we have to do this ourselves and on not much extra money and came up with the parquet as the cheapest, easiest way to replace the carpet we have pulled up. Then my husband did the entryway with the parquet. It looked beautiful for a week or two but now the part along the wall is buckling and we can't figure out where we went wrong. We still have a living room, den and bedroom to do so we really want to know what we did wrong so we don't do it again in the other rooms. Can anyone give me any advice? What my husband did is put adhesive down first and then the parquet.

A: One of the most common errors with hardwood (which is what parquet is) is not to let it acclimatize to the room its being placed in. This requires 48 to 72 hours. The boxes need to be opened so that the air in the room can get around the wood. Most warehouses are very dry, the wood will suck moisture from the air in your home and expand and when it expands, if it has nowhere to go it buckles. Another error is to place the parquet tight against the wall, there should be 3/8” to ½” gap between the edge of the parquet and the wall (for expansion).

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Installing Interior Doors‏

Q: We have an old house that has dormers in the attic. We've just recently finished making these dormers into actual bedrooms for the two teens. However, there are eaves which we intend to make into closets. The "door" openings were already there and can't be made into a normal height. We know nothing about doors so we got a carpenter in to estimate and he said to cut normal interior doors to fit properly will be in the neighborhood of $200 per door.

That's seems ridiculously steep to me. Any experience with this stuff? This carpenter told us that you can't "just buy an interior door and cut it any size you want". Why not?

A: Interior doors are hollow and only have an 1.5" to 3" piece of solid wood at the top and bottom. $200 sounds high to me, just to cut the door. If the $200 includes the door, building a doorframe, moldings and trim, and supplying the door hardware (hinges), including a reasonable quality door knob, then it is a fair price.

A hollow door can be cut and a new piece of wood inserted into the top hollow.

As an alternative you might consider using bi-fold doors that come in shorter heights and a variety of widths.

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Laminate Flooring Questions

Q. A couple of laminate flooring questions.

1. I installed laminate in our living room and since then the stick-on tiles in the dining room are peeling up on the edges. I've decided to put down laminate floor in that room as well. I have a reducer molding between the living room and dining room. I'm going to have to replace it with a T molding and will have to remove it before starting the dining room for spacing. How do I remove it? Jig saw?

2. I'm also installing laminate in our master bathroom. Is it necessary to glue the glueless click planks because of moisture?

A. 1. Without actually seeing the installation a saber saw is probably your best bet. Although a circular saw set at the right height is easier to maintain a straight line.

2. DO NOT glue the glueless planks - they need freedom to expand and contract. Glue them and you will have no end of buckling problems. I am not sure I understand the part about "moisture" in the master bedroom. If you have a moisture problem in your home, you should fix the problem rather than trying to remodel around the problem.

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Storm Door Installation

Q. I need to put up a storm door. Can anyone tell me how hard this is to do? It looks pretty easy just looking at it. But I seen a man across the street a while back ago putting one up and he sure had a hard time. It took him 2 or 3 days to get it right. So I am wondering if it is as easy as it looks.

A. Size and the square of your doorframe is the key!

If you purchase a storm door that is the right size and your doorframe is square, it shouldn't be more than a couple of hour project.

As a note, most storm doors have the hinge attached to the door in a manner that requires that you screw the hinge into place while balancing the door. It is really a 2 person project, one to hold the door in position while the other screws the hinge to the door frame.

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Drafts From Recessed Light Fixtures

Q. I have a recessed light in the kitchen - last winter there was a draft coming through the house and going out or in that area the electrical working of the light is into the crawl space of the attic - yes I can get up there but not if to toss a woolen blanket over the whole thing or just pile insulation on top of it some sort of gray metal box

I was told I cannot cover up that area because when the light is on - the heat needs to be able to escape. Any suggestions?

A. Recessed lights have to be rated "IC" by UL labs if you want to put insulation around them. If they are not rated "IC" you could have start a fire by placing insulation around them.

Your choice is to replace the current fixture with an IC rated fixture, if the one you currently have is not IC rated.

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Bathtub Installation

Q: I need some advice, I have a small bathroom that needs repairs. The shower tile is coming up among other things. I have decided to renovate the whole bathroom. My question is this, which would be easier to install a clawfoot style tub or a drop in tub? I have 4 feet 8 inches width and about 40 inches in depth. I have experience in tiling, plumbing and electrical work.

A: Both style tubs require the same basic effort - possibly a little more with a drop in as you have to build a frame. However, if the clawfoot tub is going to be in the middle of the space it means that the plumbing - hot and cold water - will be seen running to the faucet. Hence, in my opinion, you have to use chrome or nickel plated water piping and your pipe sweating abilities should be perfect.

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Bathtub Installation

Q: I need some advice, I have a small bathroom that needs repairs. The shower tile is coming up among other things. I have decided to renovate the whole bathroom. My question is this, which would be easier to install a clawfoot style tub or a drop in tub? I have 4 feet 8 inches width and about 40 inches in depth. I have experience in tiling, plumbing and electrical work.

A: Both style tubs require the same basic effort - possibly a little more with a drop in as you have to build a frame. However, if the clawfoot tub is going to be in the middle of the space it means that the plumbing - hot and cold water - will be seen running to the faucet. Hence, in my opinion, you have to use chrome or nickel plated water piping and your pipe sweating abilities should be perfect.

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Crown Molding Installation

Q: I watched a couple of DIY shows where they installed crown molding. It looked like it would not be too difficult but in both shows they mentioned that crown molding is a little tedious to do. How tedious would it be? I have a small, simple home & I thought that a little, simple crown molding would dress it up a lot.

Any suggestions?

A: It is a somewhat tedious because corners in a home are not true 90 degrees. So the tedious part is generally getting the corners to fit nicely. Depending on what type of trim you are planning it can be relatively easy or
more complex. If you are painting the crown molding, then you can repair gaps in joints using a wood filler or DAP product and no one will ever see them. If you want a stained wood, getting the joints to fit properly becomes much more critical to the finished appearance.

If you take your time, measure twice, you should be able to produce a respectable finish. Personally I think crown molding is worth the effort!

Laminate Flooring - Buckling Problem

Yesterday I saw a laminate floor that had buckled. The laminate flooring had been installed for about 6 months and was a medium quality product. The homeowners did the installation themselves, after getting verbal instructions from a sales person at a big box retailer.

They admitted that they had felt comfortable in doing the project themselves and had only skimmed the manufacturers installation instruction sheet. The room size was approximately 11’ x 17’.

To my knowledge, there are only 2 reasons for a laminate floor to buckle:

• The laminate flooring was not allowed to acclimatize itself to the room before installation. (Warehouses and big box retail stores are exceptionally dry facilities).

• There was no expansion space allowed between the flooring and the wall.

On questioning the homeowners, they said that the material was in their home for more than a week before they installed it and that they had left a 3/8’ gap all around the room. Both of these should have been adequate to prevent buckling.

Quarter round had been placed around the room to hide the gap between flooring and the walls. I removed a piece of quarter round and immediately discovered the problem. The homeowners had nailed the quarter round to the floor, through the laminate, rather than to the wall, thus locking the floor into place and not allowing the flooring to expand and contract under the quarter round.

Simple mistake and one that was relatively easy to correct.

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