From the editors of Tool Box Buzz, Home Construction Improvement and A Concord Carpenter
Volume 57
This time of the season is always super busy in the construction industry. Guys are hustling to make sure buildings are weathered in by winter and if other projects are finishing up, winter work is being lined up. Maybe you're thinking about starting up your own interior project in the next few months.
Some great projects to tackle in
the colder months can be individual room remodels. Kitchens, bathrooms, mudrooms, laundry rooms, family rooms, any room really. This newsletter is full of articles related to planning out some of these rooms. If you don't see an article related to the project you're planning, head over to either Concord
Carpenter or HCI and do a search. We have tons of articles on remodeling from planning to execution.
All of us here at Tool Box Buzz are extremely busy this month too. Not only are we busting our butts on the jobsite every day (that's my jobsite above) but there are two
media events next week. Stihl, the premier outdoor power equipment brand has a 2-day event in the US and Festool has a multi-day event in Germany. By this time next week, our social media feeds will be filled with tools from these events. Stay tuned to Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter!
In the meantime be sure to check out our latest video every Friday called Tools On Tap!
If you're thinking about remodeling a bathroom in the near future whether it is for your own home or for a client, you should strongly consider a heated tile floor. It may sound like an item reserved only for new luxury homes but it is an item for every bathroom. It adds a lot of comfort and resale value with much less cost than you would think.
Let me tell you a little story. About 4 years
ago, I was remodeling the main floor bathroom in our home. We were pregnant with our first child so we were trying to do it a little on the cheaper side. Keep the cast iron tub and the locations of all the plumbing but redo all of the floor and wall coverings and upgrade the fixtures. My wife and I went back and forth about adding a floor warming system. She thought it was an expensive and unnecessary upgrade. This went on for about a week until I could pull together the exact number of what the
upgrade would cost us. The cost of the mat, the thermostat/controller, and thinset/SLC. When she saw the numbers she conceded that it wasn't very much money but she still thought it was an unnecessary upgrade. Needless to say her tune changed when I finished the bathroom a week later and she experienced that warm toes feeling on a cold morning.
Rob has a great article that goes through all the benefits of installing electric floor heat in your own
project.
Kitchen backsplashes can be as simple as a 6 inch high piece of your countertop and as complex as an intricate tile design. Installing a backsplash is a DIY project that most people can do with a little planning and elbow grease. We recently installed a tile backsplash in our kitchen and the following information will help you understand how do it yourself and save money.
Winters can be really long and cold up in the northern US and well, all of Canada. You may not have a lot of motivation to take on a huge remodeling project and just want to do a couple "honey-dos" here and there. One of mine this last winter was to trace, mark, and map all of the low voltage cables in our home. It was a huge mess between the coax and cat5 cables. The Southwire M300P made quick work of it and
it was very reasonably priced for what it does.
Here is our full review of the tool and also how we tackled the rats nest of low voltage cables.
