Handy-Man Corner

[Iowanian]

I'm tired of bad Chiefs news.....


I thought it would be a good idea for a thread on the Handy-Man.

Do you have any Home remedies, gadgets you've made, advice on car repair, home maint, sollutions to kill weeds in your yard, bugs in your garden?

Use Coke to clean your batteries? That type of stuff.
Home made floor dry?

[Iowanian]

Last night in 2 hrs, myself and 3 other guys constructed 32 bluebird houses that will be used in a charity fund raiser.

I have redone the seat, and have 70% of the work completed on the refurbishing of an old, small rocking chair that was old when I had it as a toddler. I need to get it completed for kidowanian.

before and after pics coming soon.

[Iowanian]

Originally Posted by bogie

Where are you located Pastor? My Dad has a huge old barn that's been down for years. I don't know how much of the wood is salvageable, but I'm sure some is.

If it has beams with wooden pegs, I want dibs.....they're not worth anything, so I'll just take them off your hands to get them out of your way....

['Hamas' Jenkins]

For those of you with a lot of A/V equipment in tight enclosures, here is a recommendation:

Buy a cheap AT (not ATX) computer power supply off of eBay. Look up a diagram online of the wiring scheme. Strip and solder together the two wires you need in order to "start it up" so to speak.

Buy a good 120 mm fan off of New Egg with a low decibel output, and place it either directly on top of your A/V receiver, or in the back of your enclosure to act as an exhaust.

Built in cooling unit for about 20-30 bucks.

[bogie]

Originally Posted by Iowanian

If it has beams with wooden pegs, I want dibs.....they're not worth anything, so I'll just take them off your hands to get them out of your way....

I will investigate this further. The barn was probably built in the early 1900's.

[Dave Lane]

I installed a new dishwasher after 25 years with the old one. I'm happy about it!

Dave

[PastorMikH]

Originally Posted by bogie

Where are you located Pastor? My Dad has a huge old barn that's been down for years. I don't know how much of the wood is salvageable, but I'm sure some is.

Western Oklahoma.

[PastorMikH]

Here's a question...


What can you use to get old latex paint off of woodwork without ruining the finish on the woodwork? Whoever has painted our house in the past was pretty sloppy in spots.

Originally Posted by PastorMikH

Here's a question...


What can you use to get old latex paint off of woodwork without ruining the finish on the woodwork? Whoever has painted our house in the past was pretty sloppy in spots.

I'd try a razor blade or exacto knife.

[plbrdude]

Originally Posted by PastorMikH

Here's a question...


What can you use to get old latex paint off of woodwork without ruining the finish on the woodwork? Whoever has painted our house in the past was pretty sloppy in spots.

maybe some "goof off" or "dad's drip strip"

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by PastorMikH

Here's a question...


What can you use to get old latex paint off of woodwork without ruining the finish on the woodwork? Whoever has painted our house in the past was pretty sloppy in spots.

What kind of woodwork?
If it's molding, you can always remove it, strip it chemically, sand it and refinish it for optimum results.
I mean, even if you get the latex off without splotches, it'd seem like you'd have lost your urethane gloss/satin finish coat in the process.

[plbrdude]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

What kind of woodwork?
If it's molding, you can always remove it, strip it chemically, sand it and refinish it for optimum results.

that sounds like real work there

[PastorMikH]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

What kind of woodwork?
If it's molding, you can always remove it, strip it chemically, sand it and refinish it for optimum results.
I mean, even if you get the latex off without splotches, it'd seem like you'd have lost your urethane gloss/satin finish coat in the process.

I'd probably either live with it or paint it before I get that carried away.

[PastorMikH]

BTW, tile update: Ended up going with 13"x13" porcelin tiles. The pattern looks like limestone. There is a floor guy in our church that sells them that let me have them at his cost so I picked the best he sold. I've got close to 400 ft2 for about $750 (Including frieght). Plan on going with a light tile on the main floor with a darker shade of the same style as a border. Light tile will be in a 45 degree layout so I'll be doing a bit more cutting than normal but I think it will look better in the long run.

Got the carpet up and the floor scraped last night. (Whew!) Waiting on the shipment of morter and grout to start. (They are tied up due to the weather).

[NewChief]

Originally Posted by PastorMikH

Here's a question...


What can you use to get old latex paint off of woodwork without ruining the finish on the woodwork? Whoever has painted our house in the past was pretty sloppy in spots.

Depending on the finish on the woodwork, you might try a warm, wet washcloth. If it's latex, not oil, it may come off. You also might try a putty knife or something like that to carefully scrape it off without screwing up the finish. Finally, I'm with Baby Lee: It's not that much work to take off trim, sand, and refinish (depending on the size of the area).

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by PastorMikH

Here's a question...


What can you use to get old latex paint off of woodwork without ruining the finish on the woodwork? Whoever has painted our house in the past was pretty sloppy in spots.

Believe it or not, I've found that windex works good to soften it up to where you can gingerly scrape it off with the aforementioned putty knife.

In more extreme cases I've slid a putty knife under door trim and popped it about 1/8" away from the wall, sanded the edge, and then just put a little bit of stain & varnish back on it. Then just pop it back flush with the wall when it dries.