Archive for the ‘DIY’ Category

Unique Bunk Bed Plans – Great Tips You Should Know Building a Bunk Bed DIY

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

You may be pondering if your children need their own bunk beds already. Your first concern is how you should find the best bunk bed plans using the choicest construction materials. Bunk bed plans flood the Internet, but you want to make sure that you are getting these plans from a reputable company to assure you of safe and comfortable for your kids.

At a glance, building bunk beds seems to be an easy task. But when you consider your children and their safety and wellbeing, you will realize that this is a very critical undertaking. With the children climbing, playing, horsing around, shaking and wiggling on those beds, choosing the appropriate plans and making sure that these plans would produce a structure that can withstand the pressure of children’s activities are a must.

Whether you choose the regular or the twin over full bunk bed plan, it is important that you choose a strong wood for your structure and see to it that all the specifications in the plans are strictly and religiously followed. The appropriate bed plans would specify in detail what screws, fixtures and other hardware to use in order to ensure the strength and durability.

You would also want to provide for the appropriate finish to suit your taste. The plans usually give various suggestions including the type of wood to be used. After choosing the type of wood to use, you then determine the finish that you want. If the wood grain appears to be good and attractive, you may want to enhance it with stain or varnish. But if your wood grain does not give prominence, then choosing to paint your bunk bed instead may be the better option. Paint finishes have the convenience of retouching portions chipped off through regular wear and tear.

A breakdown of specific tools needed for the whole construction process is usually included in the better plans available in the market. It is wise to build it with the instructions given, such as the use of electric screwdrivers in installing your screws, as the bed should be tightly held together to avoid structural failure through loosely secured screws, fixtures and other hardware. This is especially true when it experiences the rigors of use by your children. Securing the screws and other attachment hardware through the use of power tools is necessary to ensure the structural safety.

There are also options for creating storage space at the bottom when building your bunk beds. This is in lieu of a third sliding bed at the floor space of it. Good bunk bed plans offer this option and it is just a matter of closely following the instructions. Remember to stick closely with the construction instructions and do not deviate from it to ensure that you get the best results that you desire.

Forget about the junk plans that are costly and useless. Do you know you can actually get a variety of bunk bed plans in woodworking4home? Woodworking4home has prepared 14,000 high quality woodworking plans for home for you. You can download all these ready made plans in diy woodworking plans in no time!

Tags: ,
Posted in DIY | No Comments »

Woodworking and Carpentry – Tips to Download Great Woodworking Plans From Good Websites

Monday, March 1st, 2010

For a quality woodworking project, it is important to have good woodworking plans to help guide you through the intricate and elaborate process of creating fantastic wood works. A lot of woodworking enthusiasts are looking for ways on how to download great woodworking plans for whatever wood works they have in mind. It is a boon to actually have thousands of available woodworking plans and accurate blueprints at your disposal whenever you need them. With the introduction of the internet, there are now plenty of options when it comes to great woodworking plans and designs for any type of projects you have in mind.

The first thing you need to know is that carpentry kits and plans are now widely available on the internet through websites hosting downloadable carpentry kits and designs. From these various do-it-yourself websites, you will be able to find the perfect plan you need for your carpentry requirements. Their comprehensive database contains the most up to date compilation of excellent woodworking plans, which you can download from your computer and print out for your own usage. This particular type of online service allows woodworking enthusiasts and professional carpenters to have the most easy to use designs and plans without having to browse old carpentry magazines and brochures just to have a design to help guide them through their projects.

And, since the internet has plenty of websites, it is only important that you should be able to find the best website with the most comprehensive wood working plans. Honestly, it is not easy to find great resources on downloading first-rate plans that have been prepared by a highly skilled woodwork experts.

Expert woodworking sites usually offer an easy to browse design database, which they have arranged per category. Anytime you need a particular design, you can easily sift through their collections and download the one you like as easy as clicking your mouse. They provide an easy download method and you can also print the plans you like directly from your computer. If you like, you can request them for a DVD copy, which will be shipped to your address, depending on your agreement with the website owner.

Having a site to help you on your woodworking design requirements is a convenient way of starting and finishing a woodworking project without too much hassle, and without spending too much money on useless designs and plans that are not functional, as their creators claim they are.

Download more than 14000 woodworking plans from woodworking4home now! Woodworking4home has prepared 14,000 high quality woodworking plans for you. You can download all these ready made plans in diy woodworking plans as well!

Tags: ,
Posted in DIY | No Comments »

Make a Grand Entrance With Wood Spiral Staircase Kits

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

Do you love to entertain? If so, impress you guests with wooden spiral stairs in your home. Imagine hosting a dinner party and guests start to arrive to your home. You hear the doorbell and your spouse answers the door. You make a grand entrance walking down your beautiful all wood spiral stairs that you built using one of the spiral staircase kits.

The wonderful thing about the spiral stairs is that they comes in a kit and you can put it together yourself. The spiral staircase kits make it very simple for you to put a touch of sophistication in your home. Each kit is made only of wood, no veneer is allowed.

If you have country decor in your home you can choose a kit to match your home’s style. If you have a contemporary home you have many choices of spiral staircase kits to choose from as well. Match up the best kit to your contemporary home decor. Your personal flare is always welcome when choosing your kit.

Once you have descended from your gorgeous stairway, you can greet your guests and enjoy conversation along with beverages. Your guests can admire your staircase from across the room. You can share with your guests that the added ambiance was not very expensive. Also, that the kits are so simple to do, that they, too, can have a beautiful spiral stairway in their home as well.

You can share with your guests that the company you chose to order your stairway kit from has been in business for over forty years. The stairs are built to last for an endless amount of time. Your guests can choose to order their very own spiral staircase kit made of wood. Only the highest quality of wood is used to ensure your satisfaction and to preserve the beauty of the stairs.

An exceptional peace of mind for you and/or your guests is that the spiral stairway is assembled in the factory to ensure that when they are shipped to you, they will easily come together. Before the kit is shipped to you and/or your guests, the stairway is disassembled for easier shipping.

If someone has their own design of a spiral staircase, he or she may customize the kit to fit their desires. When you choose a company make sure that the customer service is phenomenal and you will be given any help needed to make your dreams come true with regard to a spiral staircase. Enjoy a one-of-a-kind spiral stairway that you know you created.

If you love your spiral stairway indoors, you can easily add a spiral stairway onto your deck outdoors as well. The wood is very durable and weatherproof. You have a choice of different sized kits for your backyard deck. Your home will make a grand statement when people come over for a picnic or perhaps a pool party.

If both or either of these wooden spiral staircase kits sound like something you would like to add to your home and increase your home value, you can easily figure out the cost of the kit you are interested in.

Richard Wood is an author for StairPak a manufacturer of spiral staircase kits. For more information visit their website to find out more about a custom designed spiral staircase kit for your home.

Tags:
Posted in DIY | No Comments »

Drywall Plastering – A Great New Method

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

Drywall Plastering is often replaced with other forms of traditional plastering because it is labor intensive and expensive as well. The old fashioned plaster on wood needs three coats of plaster and it may not be within the skill of many people to do it, and needs professionals most of the time to do even the repair work.

In many new homes today drywall plastering is undoubtedly the favorite wall covering material. It costs relatively less and performs well in most applications. It is also easy to install and the finished look is also good, especially after it is painted properly.

There is paperless DP as well. Since there is no paper surface the drywall is covered with fiberglass. The positive features of the fiberglass surface are water-resistance and reduction in the spread of mold.

The material used to patch the plaster for the holes is special. It is not too difficult to patch plaster walls, but it depends on the size of the holes to be patched. However, it is recommended not to use drywall joint compound as patching material.

There are various types of tools for this kind of plastering, and they have different levels of quality. If you are interested in doing a lot of drywall jobs, it is worth investing in some tools like an assortment of joint knives, stilts, a taping banjo or some other special tools.

Drywall plastering is used to finish interior walls. But you have to be careful to choose the right type of plastering for the right location, as there are different types. For wet locations there is a special type of plastering which is moisture-resistant. If you use regular drywall in such locations, it can fall apart.

Sometimes even if the plastering is done correctly, it gets cracks. In such cases the joint compound may hold too much water and then crack when it dries up. Or, due to some movement of the walls cracks could develop.

But actually DP also requires skill. It appears to be quite easy, but it needs to be practiced a couple of years, before it can get a perfect look. There are DIY’s tools available in the market. Try and avoid the two common mistakes made. Never work with lumpy joint compound and you have to live with the idea that you cannot become a perfectionist in DP after having applied only a second coat.

Drywall finishing techniques can help you to get a professional finish. They are not as simple as they seem to be on TV or in the DIY’s manual. You must get enough practice working with joint compound and drywall taping. Actually it needs a lot of hand-eye co-ordination as well.

There are some common problems linked with drywall plastering and these are blisters on the plastering, and the tape also tends to fall off at places. The blisters happen normally when there isn’t enough joint compound between the tape and the drywall surface. Here again your hand-eye co-ordination is necessary. Besides that the mixing of the joint compound is important, because it should have the right consistency. And you should also have the right tools to prevent the blisters.

Read more about the hottest plastering topics right now by visiting http://www.learnhowtoplaster.com. The internets leading plastering forum for plasterers. Check out the site right away and ask all the questions you like! Lots of info available.

Tags:
Posted in DIY | No Comments »

How to Build a Trebuchet

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

Okay, so you want build your first trebuchet. This site will have tips and tricks of the trade. Okay, let’s get to business.

The first question you will need to ask yourself is whether you want to build a “historically accurate” traction trebuchet, or it’s simpler and easier to design and build cousin, the counterweight trebuchet.

If you’re building a trebuchet for the sole purpose of your high school physics teacher’s amusement, then you should probably consider one of the counterweight variety. If, on the other hand, you are building a trebuchet for fun or self education, the traction trebuchet may be something to seriously consider. (Keep in mind that at least three-fourths of the “free” plans on the web are of the counterweight flavor.)

Once you have determined your design plan, you probably want to decide on a suitable size. If your looking to launch bowling balls the length of a football field, you will want a much larger trebuchet than if your intending to launch eggs at incoming traffic. Which, of course, is a BAD thing to do. (Based on personal experience most drivers won’t enjoy chipping dried egg off their windshield.) Another point of interest is whether or not to buy premade trebuchet kits or design plans for your trebuchet. If you are just a beginner, kits are excellent to use. Plans also will help you out immensely if you are just a beginner.

Now, the next step is construction of your trebuchet. For most people, I would suggest using 1″x2″ pine for all of the pieces. But, if your going to be building a 10ft tall trebuchet, stretch for the 2×4’s. Once you have completed your trebuchet structure-wise, you will need to construct a sling and if used, a suitable counterweight. I prefer cutting up any kind of old cloth and attaching both ends to lengths of string.

Suitable counterweights can be anything from a box/bottle full of lead shot, to a sock full of rocks, or a dumbbell weight. After you have all of that stuff sorted out, you should attach the trigger mechanism and release pin. There are plans and pictures of these on most sites, but the only advice I can give you is that the release pin is the trickiest part of constructing a trebuchet. It should be angled so that the sling releases the projectile at an angle of somewhere around 45 degrees.

Final word: Building a trebuchet can be lots of fun and be a great learning experience. (Or sometimes an unbelievable chore for those unlucky physics students such as myself). Construct your trebuchet with quality and take care to add support where needed and it will last you a long time.

Some links:

Great website dedicated to building trebuchets: How to Build a Trebuchet

Whether your building a trebuchet for your a physics project, or for the fun of it, your sure to find something here.

Tags:
Posted in DIY | No Comments »

Plastering Wall – An Easy Job When You Know How

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

In order to plaster a wall all you need are the right tools, material and the instructions. It is actually quite a simple task and before you know, the holes in your plaster will be gone. Normally a three-coat application of plaster is necessary to rebuild a wall. There is a certain finesse when applying the plaster. It should support the surface and bear its weight load without cracking. The surface should then become smooth and hard and the finished surface should then be suitable for papering or painting.

At first two coarse or rough coats are applied to start with the three-coat plaster system. These coats are a mixture of lime or gypsum, aggregate, fiber and water and they make up the base of the wall. The most common aggregate used in rough-coat plaster is sand.
Lime comes from limestone or ground oyster shells. Gypsum is often replaced for lime, because it has a much faster drying time.

The first coat is known as the scratch coat because it is scratched with a comb to make the surface rough. The brown coat is the second coat and is applied just directly to the scratch coat. The sand lends the rough texture to the coat.

The final coat is the traditional lime finish coat, which is a fine mix concocted by the plasterer. The lime putty is prepared. On the mixing board the plasterer creates a circle of putty, banked up like a swimming pool. The plasterer pours water into the circle and sprinkles the water with plaster.

The plasterer waits till the lime and plaster mix transforms itself. When the slaked lime stops giving off heat, the mix is ready to be mixed with the putty. And this lime putty is the last coat of plaster. It gives the wall a hard and shiny finish coat. Some plasterers have a spray bottle and keep the plaster wet as they work to smoothen it to give it the finishing touches.

Plastering a wall depends not only on the lime putty that is applied on it but also the surface on which it is applied. The degree of adhesion and the quality of the plaster job depends a lot on it. Hence the brick surface needs to be treated before the plastering of the wall is started. And so each job of plastering a wall is unique. Basically there are two main types of plasters – the cement based plaster and the gypsum based one. For outdoor work the cement based plaster is used. For indoors the gypsum based plasters are used. It is used outside it could be attacked by the damp and the wall may crumble.

Let us look at the common gypsum plasters. They are browning, bonding and metal lathing plasters. The modern ready-made plaster is already mixed with perlite, vermiculite and several other additives. They help to make the wall fire-resistant and improve insulation.

Only good clean water needs to be added to the plaster before using it. When a wall is plastered and it has a differing absorption, the best thing is to use a bonding sealer to key the surfaces to be plastered. This ensures a smooth and clean finish to the plastered wall.

Read more about the hottest plastering topics right now by visiting http://www.learnhowtoplaster.com. The internet’s leading plastering forum for plasterers. Check out the site right away and ask all the questions you like! Lots of info available.

Tags:
Posted in DIY | No Comments »