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Often times we are working within a budget on remodeling projects or home repairs.
DIY tile reglazing became the answer after a bit of t crossing and i dotting. So in order to get the best bang for our buck, the shower that needed a leak fixed in the wall will get partially rehabbed and then reglazed.
The first task @ hand was to exposed the dripping shower valve and 
replace with a new single handle mix version by Delta, then raising the shower head higher for less bending while bathing.
But, before we could start setting tile, we had to install a shower valve, lathe the shower wall and scratch and brown coat the type-s mortar base per exact waterproofing and tile adhesion.
The bathroom tile my clients choose for this was bought @ Home Depot and came in 8×8 boxes of 32 count. Smooth faced ceramic bathroom tile that matched the existing 1/8 spaced tile pattern. Thin set tile adhesive with literally no adjustments , because of our exact substrate float, made this bathroom tile remodel project very simple.
Any avid DIY’er can do any home improvement project with the right tools and steps. A comprehensive diy tiling job that can be thoroughly enjoyed for many years too come!
This approach to creating counter space is growing daily and will give identical appearance as some of the other more expensive counter top options. Using concrete on top of cabinetry or even a pass through shelve, can certainly change the look in any room or office. Outside of the concrete color or veining techniques, the mixing and pouring is essentially identical.
Here in this concrete counter form image with reinforced steel or rebar, 
we have used 4″ lag screws to anchor the #3 rebar, staggered every 24″O.C. The counter or shelve here is formed to 2″ in depth and 12″ wide with the length being 10′ long between the two end points of the adjacent walls. Because it sits atop a 2×4 framed wall, it will cantilever 2″ to the kitchen area and roughly 6″ pass the other side of the same wall into the living room.
The image to the right here shows the importance of protecting the wood framing beneath with flashing paper to act as a moisture barrier and future dry-rotting adherent. The small spacers under our #3 rebar allows the new aggregate pour to completely surround the reinforcement steel for optimum strength.
- plywood or melamine, plus screws to build the mold
- bagged counter-top mix (or “scratch” mix below)
- dyes or pigment if you’re coloring your counter-top
- grinder / polisher with water feed (can be rented)
- diamond polishing discs of various grit
- concrete mixer- concrete vibrating tool (can be rented)- dusts masks
…… Now DIY your own Concrete Counter-Top over almost any applicable surface!
Mortgage Rates Hit New Lows in Two Weekly Surveys
Mortgage rates dropped again this week, setting new records in two weekly surveys, the result of investor flight from European investments. The Freddie Mac weekly survey put the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) at 4.84% with a 0.7 origination point for the week ending May 20, down from last week’s average of 4.93%. A year ago, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.82%. The 25-year-old Bankrate.com weekly survey of large banks and thrifts put the average rate for a 30-year FRM at 4.96% with a 0.5 origination point, the lowest in the history of the survey.
Despite the end of the Federal Reserve mortgage-backed securities (MBS) purchase program, mortgage rates are at their lowest point all year. As Europe responds to the Greek debt crisis, the euro is plummeting compared to the dollar. Investors are turning to American investments that, for the moment, seem safer. However, some argue that debt levels in the US are also as risky as in Europe. “People rush to us for ‘safety,’ although we’re Greece — we just haven’t gotten there yet,” Anthony Sanders, distinguished professor of real estate finance at George Mason University, told Bankrate.com. Sanders added US interest rates will rise once European and Chinese economies recover. Freddie said the 15-year FRM averaged 4.24% with an average 0.7 point, down from last week’s average of 4.3% and a year ago, when the average was 4.5%. Freddie said the five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.91% with a 0.6 point, down from last week’s average
of 3.95% and a year ago, when it averaged 4.79%. It’s the lowest average rate for the product since October 2004, when it averaged 3.96%.
Is it a better time now more than yesterday to get that bathroom remodel done, YES YES YES emphatically yes is your answer……
Perhaps you are 1 in the mix of this poor economic downward spiral, finding yourself in the midst of the “what is it I’m doing about my families future”. We’ll your not alone out there because many of us have lost our security of full time employment as well as maybe our long term financial stability with all the cut backs involved today’s slowdown with world wide production. Pundants have put the spin on this over and over, and all indicators show through 2010 it will continue to lag. Sorry for the slap in the face by the hand of reality, get over it and off your asses folks, opportunities never fail to exist in any market!
Time is a wasting, so DIY your own way out and thrive. Getting an education about financial literacy isn’t having to spend the next 4 years at college. Investors know about OPM, and you do not have to be well off for being able to change your life. In fact you wont have to do any beer bongs either, what you will have to do is show up and be accountable, whether it’s installing a new front door for a rental property, or saving $2500 in income tax you are taking the first steps into the new rich’s lifestyle of “let’s reinvent our thoughts” and produce that dream today. I can attest to, remodeling a bathroom with marble floors. I can also show you how to purchase a multi-family dwelling with a IRA. Pull your heads out of the sand kids, lets help all that’s not afraid to succeed in this life!
With every bathroom comes a place to see yourself in the mirror, but only when the lighting is done correctly. As bathroom fixtures
can create ambiance as well as good down lighting washing across our faces, it is here to note that some of these are located either too high on the wall or too far behind us above, so it makes a darkened shadow at the viewing mirror as you approach it.
As some up lighting bathroom fixtures may bring high style and design, unfortunately they wont assist much for accuracy while putting on make up, not all baths have a well lit window aiding us. If remodeling the relocation of electrical boxes is fairly simple, but if just changing the light fixture in the previous spot, then the challenge is to select the one that best suites your needs, like a bar light with 4 or more bulbs that will flood down instead of up.
The typical tile shower has 4 walls, with one being the door to enter and exit. But the floor or tile shower pan is the biggest component of any here because of the shower water pummeling downward and into the drain. 
If this area has not been properly assembled your tiled shower will always cause you headaches, and water damage.
Hot mopping the tile flooring area of a shower is quite simply executing the fine art of water proofing, essentially it’s a way of hot tarring an interior space to force liquid out and into the waste line of plumbing. Many roofs are fabricated the same exact way, in fact a 30lb felt roofing paper was applied and commonly used on the west coast just a few years ago. Today the products used are more in the rubber family and rolled up the sides 18″ for further insurance. A type-S mortar then floated over the hot mopped floor to push water into the drain. The tile showered walls are not affected the same because of the lateral surface. Tile is not impervious, so any moisture that will get beyond the tile surface in the pan, cannot harm anything period due to the hot mop below.
Today’s bathroom fixtures certainly are not what a lot of our grandparents had in their home, with ever changing lifestyles today plumbing has been keeping right up. Pedestal sinks for instance may have been around for a while and still today bring that traditional feel, you might like a corner pedestal sink. With so many of us DIY home improvers in today’s market the plumbing fixture’s can be installed with ease.
The parts can be purchased in a kit form with instructions and fittings made for absolutely no soldering or sweating pipe, and a bit of imagination your dream bathroom turns to a special reality in a long weekend. Matching pairs of bathroom fixtures are on display for all to pick and choose from. Styles, colors and finishes can be had at most of the bigger home improvement centers. Ask with the belief that you will receive and you will receive!
On how to install a tile floor base detail, to make the area waterproof and sexy. Remove existing base boards and cut the drywall 1″ below the tile base of choice. Your new tile base detail will cover the cut line of drywall and eliminate any drywall repairs. By incorporating flashing paper in order to seal, cut the building paper so it folds into the existing tile floor and rides up the wall to the bottom of the drywall, staple the paper to the framing studs and bottom plate.
For a float base built out 1/4″ below the face of the finish drywall surface, fasten diamond metal lathe over the paper and at every stud. This aides in the float strength and gives a nice even flat surface to thin set the tiles to. Perhaps allowing an even grout line at the top but the grout will loosen and crack because of the drywall. The solution here for a premium job, grout manufacture’s also make matching tube of grout for caulking guns that will expand and contract. Look for those tubes in the same isles you get the other tile products, and DIY a tile base detail for years to come.
This will be a how to install ceramic tile base in a bathroom. DIY a ceramic tile base board, creating a true water proof pan in the bathroom floor. 
This simple diy home improvement blasts out loud I can DIY. It’s just another approach but, brings a real sense of practicality. Removing a standard wood base and implementing a sealed system around the edge of a floor that has the propensity to flooding and water damage. A tiled base is not hard to do, and it can be a compliment to an existing ceramic tile floor, colorful and vibrant or earthy and textured. Either way it’s a long term solution with virtually no future maintenance.
The faucet is it’s common name and comes with all new drain components complete, this includes the drain assembly in which you’ll find the pop-up parts for your home plumbing repair.
The ball and rod that when installed correctly allows for the opening and closing of your drain, to hold water for various usage. In the image shown here, the winged nut when tightened just right seals the lower back end of the drain and gives you the option of lifting the lever up or down from the faucet location on top of and in the upper middle back of the faucet. This lever has another piece of material with adjustable holes for placement in which the balled rod goes through and pivots the drain plug up or down, or open or closed.
Now when we grab the lever for our choice of open or closed we can feel the tightness of the winged nut. Most of these have a fine line between tight enough to not leak and too tight because the friction on the ball (pivot point) is creating too much pressure and inadvertently causing your fingers to much work to open or close the drain, and subsequently premature wear and tear.
