If you’re planning on some home electrical DIY to do some electrical household wiring and you come to the right place. We will give you some electrical how to information in the following weeks.

To start with you must be aware of safety. Since no one will be there to check what you’re doing safety wise, play it safe and turn off the power to whatever you’re working on before you start working on it. You have either a circuit breaker panel or fuse box. Locate the circuit you want to break the flow of electricity to an easier switch off the circuit breaker or pull out the fuse. In case of the circuit breaker is also wise to put some tape over top of these which to prevent accidents.

Voltage tester is a must-have

The first tool I recommend owning would be a voltage tester, these are quite inexpensive in its basic form and can grow

in price in more sophisticated versions which you probably don’t need. This tool is good for identifying a live circuit. Knowing this helps you to identify if the wall plug works or not. Also this will help you identify if the wire to the switch or the wall plug works or not.

For twisting and manipulate wire in tight places

Wire nuts to connect electric wires

Another important tool is a screwdriver. A good quality screwdriver has a case hardenedand on it to retain grip for turning, also the handle and shaft should be guarded with insulation to protect against accidental shorting or shock.

You will need a utility knife. You will use this a lot cutting wires. You will need this to strip shielding off wires (the plastic cover on the wire).

Of course you will need needle nose pliers to hold the wire with and manipulate the wire, you’ll get better grip of the wires in tight places, you can remove the metal lockout discs in the power boxes in the even come with a built-in wire cutter. This new most fire should also have shielding on the grip.

Another very needed tool would be a wire stripper. The wire stripper after you’ve cut the wire to length can strip the insulation off to the bare wire. This is definitely a worthwhile investment, they are good.

Of course you will need some electrical tape, this is to insulate any exposed bare wire and also do over top of in conjunction with your wire nuts

You will need also wire nuts also known as Marretts or Marr connectors, they are made to fit different gauges of wires like: a small one/black color/16 to 22gauge, a medium-size one/orange/14 to 22gauge. There are a few more just consult the store to which wire size you have.

Today I’m going to talk about PVC pipe joint and fittings and generally plastic PVC pipe information and install.

PVC means (polyvinyl chloride). This PVC plumbing pipe is a standard type in the home plumbing industry. Gluing these pipes together can be a lot of fun.

Cutting and fitting PVC pipe is super easy and doing it yourself  Can bring down the cost plumbing significantly.

First of all cutting PVC pipe can be done easily using a fine tooth saw that you would use even on your woodworking projects. So there is no special saw for this. You can get a whole variety of PVC pipe diameter piping with a slew of preformed connectors and angles making it quite interesting to be able to figure out how it all altogether. This is almost like working with a puzzle you have to figure out where your twists will end up at, hopefully at the other end.

Most common fittings such as the one underneath your sink will fit with special PVC connectors with compression fittings. Here you won’t even need any glue to assemble the fittings. This of course is handy when you want to replace or remove something there. A lot of under the sink PVC fittings  are compression fittings and joints for easy assembly.

When you are fitting PVC pipe in permanent areas with permanent PVC pipe joints there is a sequence of gluing you have to do. You first paint on the purple primer on to this section where you will be gluing the PVC pipe to another one. The one end has a female and the other end should be a male end. The overlapping sections should both have this purple primer on them.

Now you can put the PVC cement over the purple primer. You get a little stick with a soft End on it, looks like a cotton ball, you dip this into the can of PVC cement and paint around the PVC pipe diameter three times making sure it’s well covered and totally on. So you go around and around three times. Don’t let the pipe dry, make sure the pipe is still wet when fitting it to the other pipe. Squeeze the two PVC pipes together and give it a slight twist ensuring a good joint then push and hold for a few seconds until the glue sets.

Sometimes you are going to have to be fitting PVC pipe to copper pipe, you will have to use something called a mission clamp. You will have to slide this rubber sleeve over the pipe, you should lubricate rubber sleeve with something like dishwasher detergent to enable it to slide easily without ruining the sleeve. Sometimes chemicals will ruin rubberized type components losing their elasticity properties and sealing properties. I piggyback the sleeve over both the plastic PVC pipe and a copper pipe. Then I tighten up the metal sleeve overtopped the rubber sleeve.

If you’re doing plumbing home repair and you’re wanting to know how to plumb, read this for starters.

Propane soldering kit with igniter

After you cut your pipe to the right length it’s time to join them. One typical joint connection would be a 90° bend in other words a copper elbow. Another joints would be a “T” joint where you splice into a water line tapping off from it. The there are the two most common joints.

When you are inserting one of these joints on to the end of the pipe or pipes there are some very simple basic steps you have to do before you join the pipes and the joints by soldering. You need a very few simple tools and a couple of practice runs to be able to perform good solid solder joints.

In the plumbing section of the store asked the clerk for some sandpaper (This stuff is called plumbers Emery cloth) use for scoring the pipe and removing any surface dirt or oxidization. after you have sanded the pipe on the outside and the joint on the inside wipe clean the sanded surfaces with a clean rag and apply some soldering flux. This stuff is almost something like grease but it’s not it helps the soldering to work. It helps to solder flow evenly over everything and helps the bond between  solder and the pipe. Sometimes if you can’t get your finger and sandpaper inside the pipe try using it  a round wire brush to agitate the surface. Now that you have all your pipes and fittings prepared and fluxed. Put all your bits and pieces together the way you want to be and get ready for soldering.

The copper pipe is  heated with a torch, this is when you sweat copper to melt the solder. I use a propane torch with a igniting trigger on it. This saves you lots of gas when you are not using the torch because if you’re doing something as torches burning your wasting gas. Furthermore it might be even unsafe having the torch flame open wiki for an accident. A normal propane torch kits set up consists of, at torch, a propane cylinder, and an igniter to make a spark. Something the same as you use on your barbecue. Now that you have lit your torch look at your flame and adjusted to a sharp blue flame, there should be a positively identifiable inner blue cone in your flame indicating you have a proper flame set up.

Heating up copper pipe called "sweating"

Now you pass this flame over top and around the joint anywhere from 10 to 20 seconds on the average. Now heat both the  fitting and the pipe to the correct temperature when you place the tip of your solder on the joint it should start melting  the solder immediately and since you cleaned the joints properly with the sandpaper and put the flux on, the solder should run around the entire joint almost like magic. Though sometimes you have to play with it and feed more solder it to the joint applying a little more heat but not directly onto the solder, don’t try melting the solder onto a cold pipe. It’s the pipe that has to melt the solder. It doesn’t take a whole role of solder to join the pipe it takes a very small amount if done properly.

When you learned this very well along with a few other plumbing know-how’s you can  say to yourself you  have greatly reduce the cost plumbing down to  the cost of materials and your time.

If you’re planning to do some fixtures plumbing and you want to know how to plumb one of the things that you have to know is ways of cutting pipe. Unless you have a very recent home most probably you are still using either copper or iron pipes.

If you’re planning to cut a section of pipe and you have a vice preferably on a bench, place the pipe into the vice and secure it. Measure the length of pipe you need and mark it. The number one method of cutting pipe that I use is a heavy duty pipe cutter. You place it on the pipe and the lineup the cutting wheel with the mark. Then with the tightening handle rotated one time, and spin the cutter around once or twice. Once you’ve established the groove that you are sure of then rotate the tightening handle one revolution and then rotate the cutter around the pipe, then again tighten the Cutter one more revolution and spin pipe Cutter again one more time and keep doing this until the pipe cuts through. And separates cleanly.

Another way to cut pipe is a hack saw, I saw blade should be around 18 to 24 teeth per inch. Mind you this is a lot harder work than using a heavy-duty pipe cutter. Start slowly at your marked line going back and forth creating your groove and once your groove has started deepening then you can start cutting more vigorously until you get close to the bottom of the cut were you slow down again in your strokes leaving it nice cut edge.

Another way of cutting pipe if one is available to you as a cordless portable bandsaw. This one will cut very quickly and not tire you out.

And finally another way is using metal cutoff saw this is also very quick and it’s just like cutting wood on a miter saw. This one though makes a bad smell and leaves floating particles of dust in the air that make me you cough if you’re doing lots of this type of cutting

Hopefully this will help you out on how to plumb fixtures plumbing projects.

Paint quality plays an important role  in your interior wall painting project. There is a large difference between a regular latex wall paint and a top line paint. There are some additives which don’t even exist in the cheaper latex paint. And there are some extra and better additives added to the more expensive wall paints. These additives are for, better coverage, more high hiding qualities, better sealing qualities, and better leveling qualities which means that you will have less orange peel effect in your paint job.

Better coverage means do you’ll have to use less paint per square foot. Also better paint coverage eases the amount of labor painting the wall. And finally since you are painting the wall less you will be using less paint. This in itself is a large savings.

Top line paints also hide the underlying color much better, because they break up into finer droplets leaving less space between the droplets to expose the underlying surface. Also what this does is it allows the paint to lay flatter on the wall giving the paint job a deeper look not having so much orange peel effect and roller marks left on the wall.

Interior wall painting basically is easier done with good quality top line paints such as “Benjamin Moore” designer series paints.

I also can say little bit more about this on my other house painters blog site.

One of the most common DIY plumbing repairs are, unclogging a drain. The very first thing you should look at when you’re drain is not working is to look at your p trap this is the pipe underneath your sink sort of looks like a “j” or a  ”u” this is to prevent sewage smells backing up into your sink and an odor being created because there is no water blocking the smell from coming through from the sewer pipe. Rubbish could develop in this “u” trap blocking the water from going through.

Gets clogged with debris

The first thing I would try to do is use a plunger, the plunger usually forces a lot of water through in a big and quick volume forcing the clog to dislodge itself. Another idea would be put some chemicals down your drain,  or to try a small plumbing snake.And if all else fails is to remove this piece of curved pipe cleaning it out and putting it back in. (quick note: make sure you put a green bowl under first to catch the clogged water).

Another problem is a clogged or dirty aerator on the end of your tap

Faucet aerator

. This is a little knob looking affair that changes your water is coming out of the tap to a mixture of air and water in other words creating a series of droplets of water instead of one solid stream of water. When the water is not coming out anymore  in a smooth sort of a bubbly stream and not too straight , it’s time to take it apart and cleaned it. It probably have to build up of debris on the inside filter. A simple fix to this is to unscrew this aerator head watching the way you’re taking apart so we can put back together exactly the same way. This device is made out of a few pieces so we can take them all part inspect them and pick out the things that are lodged in the small openings of the filter you might need something like a steel dental pick to take some of these small pieces out. This same kind of problem also occurs with your shower head.

If you own your home and sometimes need to do your DIY plumbing yourself you are probably going to need a certain amount of good tools. If one day you need to do some kitchen sink plumbing, possibly you have a leaky faucet repair to do. You’re going to need a certain amount of tools to take care of the repair or replacement. Most probably you already have some of these tools in your toolbox, things like a hammer, a drill and some screwdrivers. And you will probably need a flashlight to look around underneath your sink inside your covert. Some of the basic tools that you will need is a hack saw and a toilet plunger, and some have a bowl to catch the excess dripping of water.

Another handy tool that you might need and it’s good to have on hand would be a pipe wrench. The pipe wrenches for holding large pipes. The way it works is as your trying to turn the pipe the job clamp harder harder down on the pipe as jobs are being forced to close from the action and force of the twist. I usually used to pipe wrenches one for the pipe and one for the fitting. Pipe wrenches are not the same as channel lock pliers, they create much more force for turning. The channel lock pliers you have to squeeze harder harder to catch traction on the pipe while the pipe wrench the more pressure you put on the pipe wrench the tighter on the pipe allowing you to exert more effort in the turning of the pipe not squeezing the pipe.

Another tool which is quite handy as a basin wrench this handy little tool lets you get into tight places to turn nuts that you normally couldn’t get at with any other tool. The head of the basin wrench swivels perpendicular to the shaft that you’re twisting. This shaft is long enough to allow you to get into most places.

An adjustable wrench this thing is used on nuts or surfaces that have two flat parallel surfaces that you can clamp on and turn.

And of course finally you will need a propane torch. I usually use the one that turns off automatically when you let go of the trigger and turns on when you click to trigger. This is also very nice safety feature because no one likes an open flame just in case something happens.

You are also going to need Teflon tape, this is used to seal threaded joints to make it watertight. You wrap the Teflon tape on the pipe a few turns and when you go to put the female portion of the pipe it will squeeze the Teflon to seal the threads.

If you are doing any kind of DIY home plumbing repair that involves running water such as around faucets or toilets or anything that involves the top with water behind it safe to use the first issue. Make sure you know where to turn off your main water source before you start doing any repairs

plumbing torch sweating pipe

Also keep safety in mind because if you are going to have to use any open flames from a propane torch to “sweat” pipes. You are most probably want to be close to some kind of wood that might catch fire. Also if you are unfamiliar with the propane torch make sure you read the instructions before using it.

If you’re doing any plumbing repairs involving electricity make sure that whatever it is the power has been turned off to it for safety reasons. Working with water and electricity at the same time be very dangerous.

Some plumbing situations require using “pvc” piping. This is quite a bit easier to work with than copper piping. But this also has some concerns for safety. You are using chemicals to join the pipes. Read the instructions on the adhesive to know what you’re working with. Be careful not to get this on your eyes or your skin and avoid prolonged inhalation of the glue.

pvc adhesive for joining pipes

One more thing, I know this doesn’t sound like a big deal but if for example lifting something heavy the wrong way can ruin your day.

Watch your back

So if there’s something there that you’re unsure of for picking up and lifting it might be a good idea to have help of some kind or someone. Obviously for taking out a hot water tank because you had hot water heater leak and you replaced it.

Are your closets cluttered? Are you a closet organizer or a  dis-organizer.

does your closet look like this?

Cannot tell you a one of a closet organizer systems that I use. We’re not talking money here we are talking about taking some effort. First of all you have to establish the purpose of the closet and how you want to utilize it to make it fit your needs.
Once you’ve established the purpose and a reason that you need the closet and realize which items have to be in the closet to suit the purpose. And everything else that’s in there that doesn’t suit the purpose to another location or closet. If this closet isn’t every day cloths closet and you are dressing from it daily and let’s say for example it’s summertime, then obviously it comes to mind that all your winter clothes should either be put to the back of the closet or far side of the closet or even removed to a remote location if you have lots of clothes or a small closet. There are ways of storing clothes that are being used in storage bags or suitcases or movable hanger racks. Of course this all depends on how much space you have and how much money you have.
Getting back to your main clothes closet that you are intending to use daily and want to keep organized I can give you some practical examples and habits to keep it neat and efficient.
In the first two weeks, be observant and keep track of what garments you pull out and put back in most frequently. Observe if you go by color, or style or wherever we for you to pick these clothes. Once you’ve established which clothes you’re probably going to wear most often should go to the most convenient spot on your rack. Unless you know for sure beforehand this is probably the only way that you’re going to be sure all of your clothing arrangement. And of course every time you take the clothing out and put it back in and asked to be removed and replaced with caring neatness. This not only saves the clothes from wrinkles and creases but also putting it back nicely and neatly will also save space on the rack.
Clothes that are being replaced or bought new because of one reason or another when placed in the closet should replace the garment that you’re replacing.
If you are using drawers in your closet and these doors are just simply one big open space obviously as you know things get jumbled up and lost in a drawer full of a variety of different objects. It’s best to divide it up into squares possibly something like a old soda crate if you don’t have a drawer at all. Or you can purchase a drawer divider at some specialty stores like IKEA.

When stocking shelves it makes sense to place the heaviest clothing articles to the bottom of the pile. This will keep it from being top-heavy tipping one way or another.

To get the most out of your hanging space and you have a normal height Closet you might consider installing two horizontal clothes rods for hanging. And if you still have some space you can allocate one rod full height to hold pants and a travel organizer bag if you have one.

Once you set up your organized closet and you believe everything is going to work well, the biggest trick for this to work well and efficiently is to put clothes back the same way you took them out you went to the trouble of tidying it up make it all nice and neat and it wouldn’t take long for it to get disorganized again. So the trick is take a moment or two to need to be removed to clothing. And then when you are putting it back again take a moment to neatly place it back in. If you’ve gone to all the trouble of setting up a nice organized closet then it’s worth the small bit of care every time you use the closet.

carefully reorganized closets

Kitchen Backsplash Ideas

One of the biggest ideas for renewing the way a kitchen looks is installing some backsplash tiles. This one thing alone were really snazzy up your kitchen. And very economical compared to many other things for your kitchen. It’s a very cheap kitchen dress-up.
Important thing to know about  backsplash is they protect your walls, they’re easy to clean and protect your walls against  nicks and scratches.
In this video demonstrating putting up mirrored glass backsplashes you also have to take care to ensure that your wall is obsolete perfectly flat, and you put on consistent amounts of glue on the wall making sure that the glue thickness is not more or less than the adjacent areas. And you place the tiles evenly on insuring the mirror is perfectly positioned flush with the rest.

This video will show you the basics in installing a mashed screen tile onto the backsplash. Possibly the only difference here that you should consider is probably a professional installer will use the expensive stainless steel trowels for laying on your wall glue you might consider just using those yellow plastic ones. They also come with various teeth dimensions. Just read the instructions on how deep the wall glue should be with the particular type of mashed backsplash you’re installing.