Continuing home project discussion for MidAtlantic, friends and lurkers. Here's part of my inexpensive 3-light powder room fixture.
Coming from:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1383930/#new
This message was edited Jan 26, 2015 8:35 PM
Pretty!
Yes, a good cleaning of sparkle dust will help, seq.
Oooo I want some of that sparkle dust!
haha, so funny, coleup! I thought you'd have had enough of Mother Nature's sparkle dust overnight.
Lol...sparkle dust!
I'm hoping Darcy will pitch in and help clean the spackle dust. Especially out of the carpet. I'm not really sure how to get it all out. Our vacuum isn't the best, just a low/mid level Eureka.
Oh I know - use your leaf blower! Blow it all into one corner, use a broom and dustpan to pick up as much as possible; repeat until it's gone.
Hehehe, OOPS, that was supposed to say spackle dust. When I typed spackle it just auto corrected to sparkle. I guess I need to proofread before hitting the send button.
Darned auto correct ;-P
Muddy, I don't know if using our leaf blower in the house would be the best idea. I think that would create a much larger mess with all that dust blowing around. I've been getting the worst up with our ash vac but our carpet is berber type so I'm sure the dust gets down in the fibers pretty deep.
all you can do, i think, is vacuum, going very slowly so there's lots of suction on the whole area. Maybe changing the bag and repeating.
Try it! It might not be as bad as you think.
P.S. Next time use drop cloths.
I think the leaf blower would be disastrous, sorry Muddy!
If we get a mild-ish day, then you could open a window and set up an exhaust fan while you sweep or vacuum.
Mark is forging ahead on the bathroom job. He hung the light. Then we realized maybe we should have changed the mounting to a several inches higher place due to lights that hang down. er, oops. We turned the arm so the lights shine up, not down, I think it looks ok. I might be soliciting opinions on that. Not too bad if we have to remount that higher.
Then he did the vinyl plank floor. Kind of a bee yotch, he reports, but he got it done ok. I have a bit of caulking to do and hide some cuts. I'm a better caulker than he is. Still need to do the last strip in the doorway, and the transition molding from that to the other floor, but that'll come last- ( hopefully not last as in three years later lol)
Josh, says that the vinyl plank floor can be hard to get the pieces together without bending the edges. So tell Mark that it's probably the material he was working with that was the problem.
Thanks Holly. Maybe I should have just gone ceramic. I had no idea the old linoleum would come off so easily, the old glue was thoroughly rotted out from moisture and it would have been easy to prep the floor. I thought the linoleum would be half stuck and thus in worst possible condition to deal with. Oh well, can't know how everything will go when you plan and try to get going.
Maybe there's somewhere we could rent a Kirby or something?
You can rent those carpet shampooers at grocery store for maybe $25. Maybe it's worth it to you to get Stanley Steemer to come. I do like the idea of washing that dust out of the carpet instead of it being there for the next ten-20 years. Carpet kinda grosses me out when I think of how it's a 'sink' for all the dust and crap.
HD probably rents shop vacs or some other kind of powerful vacuum.
We're almost done with our room renovation: hard wood floor is in, painting is almost done (I forgot one part of a closet door) and we've moved most of the furniture back in.
Unfortunately, the hardwood installer fried all of the outlets in that room yesterday by plugging in his saw so he could remove and replace one board I didn't like. We flipped all of the fuses off and on but that didn't work. I'm really glad I pay for Dominion Power's Electric Line Repair program; I'll call them tomorrow and they'll send someone to fix it for free!
That's lame Muddy, the hardwood guy should replace it.
Darcy was talking about shampooing the carpet too and I do think we should but my concern is not getting the dust out prior. I feel like if it's shampooed without properly getting the dust out, then the shampooer will just grind it all into the carpet and it will be there forever. Maybe not, I don't know, I've never used a shampooer.
The ones that steam or use water will put water in and then suck water and dirt out. The water and soap should loosen the dirt and let it all come out. I've used the grocery store rentals several times. I'm not saying they are the best, but it is really appalling how much brown water you can get from running it over my carpets.
Enjoy that hard wood Muddy! we're hoping to do some, when budget allows, and take up the carpet in our main area. For 25 yrs old, this Sears carpet was a good buy though. Its really held up, whereas the cheaper grade I chose for bedrooms has shown a bit of stretch/ wrinkle.
Hmm, sounds like it might be worth a try. I'll have to look into it and see how much cheaper it would be than Stanley Steemer.
Jeff--
Looked up rug shampooer rental on the JHD website. Only one came up.
There was no price given, as it depends on how long you rent it for.
You can call your local HD and ask for Rental.
http://www6.homedepot.com/tool-truck-rental/Carpet_Cleaner/95371/
Gita
Thanks G, I'll check it out :)
Wear a dust mask.
As you and Darcy may soon have little ones crawling on that carpet :
please vacuum several times slowly and carefully all surfaces in that room before any steam cleaning or shampooing as H2O and sparkle dust = spackle cement. Very slightly damp micro fiber towels or swiffer sweeper can be used on walls and ceilings, rinsing and changing water frequently.
I like and have used this tip :
"we removed popcorn and made drywall repairs in our master bedroom. there was an incredible amount of drywall dust in there and i dreaded the cleanup. after stirring up dust with a broom and dustpan and blowing it around with the shop vac, we got an idea. we went to lowes, got 36' of vacuum hose (cost ~$34, made for a pool vacuum), hooked it to our shop vac hose, hooked the shop vac to an extension cord and put it outside (through the window of the room we were cleaning). it worked perfectly - we checked and cleaned (regular) filter a few times during the process but WOW - cleanup was SO MUCH FASTER AND EASIER!"
http://www.doityourself.com/forum/walls-ceilings/247950-dreaded-drywall-dust-cleanup.html
That was an interesting tip Coleup, thanks!
Sequoia, you might check out the prices for steam cleaner and think about buying one; it might be worth it in the long run if you find a great sale. They are nice to have around, especially if/when you have pets. Some are the size and shape of a regular vacuum cleaner.
I didn't make the floor installer cover the electric repair cost because I had signed a form a few days earlier saying I was happy with the job. Then, I noticed that one board was much darker than the board next to it and I decided that would bug me every time I looked at it, so he made a special trip back to replace it. In addition, the outlets in that room have given us problems before. An electrician is coming tomorrow and it will cost me zero dollars!
Oh well that's good to hear. Glad you can get them fixed for free.
Things are going pretty slow in the stairwell. I did get all the corners taped and half the ceiling started. I can only work for a short time over head. Once I get to the walls it should be much faster. I did the ceiling with a roller, worked really good and fast but so hard on the arms pushing and pulling the Spackle around the ceiling. Probably be a couple of days before I get back up there but I expect the next time I will have the ceiling finished. Here are a few pic's of my work station and what I have gotten done. The work looks rough as we are making textured walls so I wasn't too worried about smoothing out the edges and the finished part ofl the ceiling is splotchy looking but it won't be once the Spackle is all dried, not to mention painted.
Although slow going it is getting done.
Not to mention the spackle falling down on me, my hair, body and once even my mouth. Yuck!
Not to mention the spackle falling down on me, my hair, body and once even my mouth. Yuck!
Wow Holly! You're lucky you are doing textured walls or you'd have a sanding nightmare on your hands, especially in such a small space. I'm excited to see what it looks like when you're done though.
Yes, Ric has spent a whole lot of time sanding and finishing and I started the back room that way. There were huge holes in the walls back there and two different thickness of drywall. But I wanted to practice my drywall skills so I did most of the room smooth coat and painted it with kills. Didn't look too bad considering what I started with but in the end I decided that it would look better textured. In this case the lower wall was already textured, now I need to try and match the existing texture or come up with a different plan.
Sounds good for sure! The texture will hide any boo boos.
What a massive undertaking! You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din Holly
Who knew there was a Drywall School?
http://www.drywallschool.com/
And a whole page on how to do various textures...and pics of each with instructions
http://www.drywallschool.com/textures.htm
Thanks Coleup I will check them out I have watched some of the u-tube videos on dry-walling to see if I could pick up a few tips. The ones I watched didn't really tell me anything I didn't know but they sure make it look a lot easier than what I can do. I am really looking forward on watching the one that shows textures. I have a small arsenal of tricks for that too but am always looking for a few more.
I'm learning good stuff from his Ask A Pro section, so check that part out, too. J
As I said before, Shop Vac has a bag designed for drywall dust.
http://www.shopvac.com/shopvac-accessories/Departments/Drywall-Dust.aspx
If you use this bag and the attachment that Coleup (I think) posted you have very little dust to deal with. A poly drop cloth taped to the wall just above the baseboard also collects much of the dust.
Using a drywall sponge to wipe the walls and ceiling will also get any residue.
A handy economical 5-8 gallon Shop Vac should only cost about $50. You should be able to buy replacement filters, dust bags, and a Hepa filter bag combo for it. They are so useful. I used ours with a Hepa in the house before we bought our Rainbow because of Holly's asthma. I also used it as a wet vac to suck the muck from the pond. Sears is a good place to start because they usually have all the accessories on hand, even though you don't need much other than the basic vac to start.
So Jeff, got any birthday $s left?
This message was edited Jan 30, 2015 3:12 PM
WELLLLLL----
Signed up to have 6 of my windows replaced as well as the front door and the
basement door. "Chandler Remodeling" will be doing the job.
They have impeccable ratings and NO complaints in all the 17 years
they have existed. Will do the rest of the windows as money permits.
The most wonderful, nice young man came and we spent 3 hours talking,
sharing lives and opinions and--OH, Yeah! --talking about windows and doors...
They had some great discounts going right now so there were substantial savings.
I am telling you all this as, when these are all replaced, there will be a bunch of ALL WOOD
windows and 2 ALL WOOD doors (with glass) available for anyone that wants to use
them for building Cold Frames or anything else in their gardens. All the windows also have
METAL screens in them.
Food for thought! ????? Gita
It took the electrician well over an hour to find out why we had no power in some outlets...a wire in one wall switch had become loose, so I can't blame the floor installer. It's possible that the vibrations from his power saw somehow jiggled it loose, but it would have come loose eventually anyway.
Muddy, we recently had to rewire a wall switch in our 40 yr old house, just age- houses have creaky 'joints' too apparently lol
Funny- when I watched several toilet install videos, they all also looked easier than real life...
Mark is charging onward with the sink and faucets. I got the newer style wide set faucet so it assembles a little differently than what he's done before.
True...our house is 47 years old. I'm surprised we haven't had more electrical problems.
My husband once tried to save money by installing a toilet, and the flange and something else broke. We had to call a plumber and pay for the install as well as repair.
Part of it was that the flange had disintegrated, as I recall.
Haha Ric! Darcy is paying for most of the paint and spackle supplies. This is her 'little project', I'm just doing most of the work. Good thing too so I can save my $$ for the garden :)
