# anyone need help just ask!



## DoubleTap (Nov 15, 2007)

Although Im a water guy (alhambra) for the last 22 years. before that I was a supervisor in the home construction field. just remodeled my kitchen and layed 900sq' of 18" tiles on a diagonal. Built patio overhangs. redwood decks. replaced windows, sliding glass doors. etc... framing, sheet rock, mudding, texture. and installed a 12'X 24' doughboy pool. sunk into the ground 2 1/2' did all the diging and site grading. etc....


so if you need answers and if I can help I gladly will!


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## speedster123 (Oct 18, 2006)

how much is your hourly wage? :grin:

i noticed when porceline floor tile is being set on wonderboard, [screwed and glued] using thinset, the guys are spritzing the back of the tiles with a little water, and adding a little extra set on the tile, before placing them on the floor.. prepared with the 3/8 grooved thinset.

is this your method ..if not using mud?


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## DoubleTap (Nov 15, 2007)

FREE FOR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS! 

Depends on the brand of mud used. using a quality mud will eliminate that. I have also seen it a comon practice for those who mix up to much thinset that they can't get it down before the thinset starts setting up. I'd rather make up another batch of thinset. too much water will weaken the thinset, then come the following winter and your tiles are popping you know why.
I have "Back Buttered" the tiles for areas where spreading your thinset is tight. wonderboard is all so the same as Cement board. Often called one or the other depending on the contractor and geographical location. 

The fun part is laying tile on a concrete slab. goes quick if your concrete contractor did quality work. Any low spots must be filled in any slope greater than 1/4" go to home depot and pic up some SLC (self leveling compound). FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS ON THE LABEL TO THE "T" !. SLC is Fantastic to fix the errors made by that one eyed concrete guy. The last thing you want is your beautiful new tile waving back at you!

I'll have to get the digital camera out and snap some pics of my tile floor.and post them


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

Thinset has a high lime and portland content, wonderboard is cement board, the compination of the two has a tendencie to dry the thinset out before the tile is placed witch is a big no no that can lead to the tile breaking loose.

spritzing the tile can help but its better to not spread more than you can set in a short time. I also like a 3/8 grooved trowel but U shaped not V


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## DoubleTap (Nov 15, 2007)

1/4" U Grooved trowel is sufficent 90% of the time

V trowel = less bonding of tile 
U or 1/4" notched trowel Best Bond

that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it! LOL


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## teddyk (Nov 6, 2007)

hey DoubleTap, do you have an idea how much it would roughly cost to have someone re sheetrock a 9 x 6 bathroom... i know thats not diy but im just curious if you know,,, or know how much is the going rate for hanging drywall is... i know many people hate that term going rate because everyone charges different but in the ballpark is all i care for knowing really. 

also not diy but if you have someone put in hardwood floors and you had say carpet and your trim/baseboards was already in place do the installers have to remove the baseboard/trim to install the hardwood and then put it back, and what about where the room meets a door with all its trim (i guess that what you call it) or wood border/frame or do they not bother with that and use quarter round along all the edges?

hope i didnt butcher that question too badly...

ps keep in mind i dont know much of anything about this stuff... guess you could figure that though,, LOL

thanks,


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## DoubleTap (Nov 15, 2007)

alot of questions in one post. Might be better to repost in a thread of it's own, it'll be easier to find. I'll do my best to answer your multiple questions breaking them down one at a time. 

your question in green answer in bold

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hey DoubleTap, do you have an idea how much it would roughly cost to have someone re sheetrock a 9 x 6 bathroom... i know thats not diy but im just curious if you know,,, or know how much is the going rate for hanging drywall is... i know many people hate that term going rate because everyone charges different but in the ballpark is all i care for knowing really.

*I have been out of the field for years and honestly have no Idea what the "going rate" is. If your not "DIY" your best bet is to get 3 estimates from reputable contractors and go with the lowest bid. Be sure to do your home work and ask the contractor for references. Don't be afraid to call upon the references he/she provides and ask them are they happy with the work performed. Would they use them again etc... Also make sure they are "Licensed/Bonded" this helps protect you in the unlikely event they screw something up. *

also not diy but if you have someone put in hardwood floors and you had say carpet and your trim/baseboards was already in place do the installers have to remove the baseboard/trim to install the hardwood

* Not always, depends on what finsihed look your looking for. If you want the new hardwood to flow upto and under your base boards then yes it will have to be removed (good time to update your baseboards to the 6" Baseboards that are going into all the new homes, Looks Fantastic!.) However if you do not want to remove the baseboards the installer can lay the hardwood upto a 1/4" away from them and top it off with a 1/2" quarter round piece to trim it out. Reson for the 1/4" gap between the baseboard and hardwood is to allow for expansion of the wood.*

what about where the room meets a door

* there will be a transition piece that covers the "transition" to the flooring beyond the door*

or do they not bother with that and use quarter round along all the edges?

* depends i've seen it both ways. Yes normaly it would be finished off with some quarter round trim. *



Hope that helps!:wavey:


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## teddyk (Nov 6, 2007)

Thanks for the great answers, DoubleTap. That makes good sense to me. 

Your right, those taller base boards do look better... mine are I guess 3 or 4 inches in height. I want to get some solid wood, not sure what variety, I'm guessing you could refinish that stuff many times and it would still be very thick. 

Hey I noticed in the bathroom when I was removing the wallpaper there is different color drywall around the tub. I'm guessing that is moisture resistant drywall or something to that effect? I believe it was green in color.


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## DoubleTap (Nov 15, 2007)

Are you going with a natural wood for baseboards, Staining & finishing them? or are you going to paint them? if your going to paint them save yourself some $$ and go with MDF baseboards. no need for real wood if your going to paint them. MDF is usualy 1/4 the price of wood.

Here is further explination on the MDF Baseboard. 
http://www.burtonmoldings.com/baseboard-mdf-molding.aspx


the "green" drywall is moisture resistant. This is used in areas such as showers & Bath tubs. the regular drywall will fall apart if it gets wet regularly.


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## teddyk (Nov 6, 2007)

yeah, im going to paint them if I go that route. thanks, I didn't realize they used mdf for such things. the baseboards I have now are real wood.


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## speedster123 (Oct 18, 2006)

> hey DoubleTap, do you have an idea how much it would roughly cost to have someone re sheetrock a 9 x 6 bathroom


if the shower body is old, or you arent happy with it, replace it before the rock and tile go on.


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

Hi There Doubletap .. got a woodworking problem for you .. if you have time ..
I've made these frames for pet cage sliding doors out of what I suspect is pine .. I've sanded down , filled in some gaps and re-sanded and I am now stuck wondering whether I should varnish or wax OR whether I should apply some protective later or treatment before continuing.
The cage is for my daughter's iguana .. so it's going to be fairly hot and moist inside. It'll have plastic windows and she wants it to be as free as possible of any chemical substances that might affect the iguana's health .. so most of any stuff that goes into it should be organic in a healthy sense .. 

My question is .. what should I do to treat the wood to avoid rot either through the fact that the wood is effectively dead or that the environment is hot & humid ?
Any ideas ? Suggestions?
btw the cage is going to 90cm * 90 cm at the base and 180cm tall. The doors are 47cm * 169cm but only using thin pine of 44mm * 18mm with a strip in the centre for strengthening and support.


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## DoubleTap (Nov 15, 2007)

Hello Done Fishing,

After a bit of research it seems that pine is toxic to reptiles. And can cause splinters by the iguana scratching on it. You also want to avoid any kind of wood sealer or preservative. These cemicals will have an adverse effect on your iguana. After talking to a few friends and reading some info oniline, I would recommend building the iguanas cage out of plexi-glass with a non toxic caulk to hold the seams together. Or as most have suggested buy one premaid.

I know that's not the answer you wanted to hear, after all of your hard work constructing what I'm sure is a very fine "cage". However along with you and your Daughter my main concern would be the health of her Iguana.


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## DoubleTap (Nov 15, 2007)

click the link below for more info. Check "Retiles r us" post about 4 posts down very informative! 

http://au.answers.yahoo.com/answers2/frontend.php/question?qid=20071104203754AAyfOi7


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

Thanks a bunch for the advice .. it never occurred to me that I might be building an organic death chamber .. not to mention that my daughter will not be happy after the investment in time and money (& waiting months for me to slowly build all this up ..) I just figured it as a woodworking exercise using natures own ..
better go see what I can do with the rest of the stuff we bought ...:laugh:


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## Wozer (Oct 3, 2004)

MDF.....bleh....

its cheap (in more ways than one) and a nasty product to work with...if its budget alone that sways you, then by all means use the stuff....but I've found it to be a very fragile product for baseboard application...the outside corners get torn up very easily...if its being used for crown then that problem doesn't exist (per se) but it surely makes running crown a 2 man job a lot of times (I can do it alone, but I've put up over 50,000 pieces of the stuff and have a tad of experience)...the one good thing about MDF is that its pretty much flaw free and paints up very nicely usually....

considering its nature, avoid using it in a wet area (even if you take the time to prime all sides of the piece) as it will usually just fall apart when exposed to any amount of water....


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## qtukcue2001 (Jan 20, 2008)

Hi DoubleTap!


Yes. I want to put up into my ceiling two hanging screws big enough to hold the wheel of a bike. I've got two bikes so I'll be hanging them side by side. The walls and ceiling of my apartment are sheet rock and I know that can't hold squat. And I don't want to hang them on the wall it's not attractive to me. I've been told I need to use the beams in the walls but I don't or have the foggiest idea where a beam might be in my case the ceiling. So how do I find the beams in the ceiling? I want to hang these bikes closer to the corner of the room you know cause a room usually has four corners so that is where I'd like to hang my bikes. Hope you can help me. I'll be glad when I can free up floor space and rearrange things much easier. I already know where I'll get my hanging screws and I've seen the size. But if you have better advice on a simple gadget to hang my bikes I'd like to hear it. Don't want to use any huge gadgets to hang bikes would like to keep it simple but of course strong. Thanks for offering your expertise. 


qtukcue2001


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## Wozer (Oct 3, 2004)

assuming you do have joists/trusses up there you can either buy a stud finder and locate them, or tap around with your knuckles to find them..I advise the stud finder as even for a pro with good ears its hard to find them without using a punch to drive holes up there to make sure you get it right (and 'right' would be dead center in the structural member)...if the tape/float job is marginal you can probably look up there with good lighting and get a damn good idea of where they lie....

pre-drill holes for the threads of the hooks to make sure you don't start splitting any wood....make the bit size at least a 32nd smaller than the body of the hook (that would be the area inside of the threads)...I'd be tempted to go a 16th or 3/32 to make sure I got good solid bite with the threads...


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## qtukcue2001 (Jan 20, 2008)

Hi Wozer! 


Thank you! What do you mean by tape/float job? If I think I might have an inkling of what you are saying I won't be able to use a strong light to see up through ceiling. The paint and whatever else is used to smooth ceilings appears to be to thick to me. I will find and use a stud finder if I can but for now I will knock around for sound difference (something there vs. something not there) but as you said one does not want to be drilling at the wrong part of a joist/truss. Is that the same thing as a beam? Well,
thanks again Wozer. If I have any more questions I'll just come to the experts because that I am not.


qtukcue2001


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

Technically a joist or truss is not the same as a beam but for you purpose it will work fine to hang a bike.

A joist or truss is 1 1/2 inches thick so to mount your hook you must find the exact center. This is hard to do with tapping, if you cannot get a stud finder and you are good at patching 3 small holes in drywall then tap till you locate or get close to the joist. Then use a 4 penny finish nail to find the center, this should result in 3 small holes witch can be filled with "one time spackle compound" and touched up with paint


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## qtukcue2001 (Jan 20, 2008)

Thanks Doby 


This info. will help all the more. Thanks.


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