D\'oh!-I-Y | Stories about our DIY home improvement projects

And Then There Were Rooms

Posted on May 6, 2015 by Stacey

The loft remodel continues to delight me on a daily basis. I love coming home from work and seeing What Happened Upstairs Today. Kev and I head up together, and we let the cats come along. They are not so much delighted as…

Inigo: cautious. Not sure that any of this is prudent or safe.

...and curious (moving so fast to check everything that she's hard to photograph).

Mayya: curious, and moving so fast to check everything that she’s hard to photograph!

If you visit us on Facebook, you’ve seen how the carpenters raised the collar ties and moved the knee walls out. SPACE!

Raised roof

Then they added the first layer of roof insulation. It’s rigid insulation installed under furring strips, which create a channel to keep the roof cold so no ice dams form. That’s the theory anyway — we’ll find out in a few months!

Looking into the bedroom

Insulation over the bathroom-elect

Then the room framing started in earnest. For the closet, we’re using the door we removed when we opened up the closet in our current bedroom.

Closet door

For the bathroom and the bedroom entrances, we are re-using doors that had been chucked into the attic years ago. Tuesday, they asked to see one of those doors, and then…

See what they did there?? EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! This simplifies the bathroom floor plan and gives us a POCKET DOOR. (UK: Kevin says “maybe a sliding door? Never ran into the concept there.” It does slide, though. I know because I tested the sliding about 400 times in rapid succession.)

Mid-slide

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Posted in American vs English, Construction, Walls & Floors, Windows & Doors | Tagged attic remodel, framing for bigger windows, loft remodel, pocket door framing, room framing | 8 Comments

Hops, Not Leaps

Posted on April 30, 2015 by Stacey

Ooh, they used nylon rope this time. It feels so smooth against my skin. Almost sensuous!

– Apu

Remember we were growing hops on the back of the garage?

Last summer: can you spot the overachiever?

Remember I said they would grow up any type of rope? And that I chose natural sisal rope?

Well.

Today

I don’t know if this was the result of being below grade or in the snow or eaten by the dang rabbits, but none of the ropes made it to spring attached to the ground. Kev ran to Menards and picked up something completely synthetic.

If you use polyester rope, you can keep the ends from unraveling by the judicious use of FIRE. Just singe cut ends, and they shrivel up. You can also bake a section before cutting through it to cauterize both ends at once. Just watch that you don’t burn through!

Anyway, got it done.

And not a moment too soon.

The nylon anchoring rope in the ground has fared just fine, so I have high hopes this might last longer than eight months. I’ll report back on what the hops think about it longer term.

Posted in D'oh!, Yard & Garden | Tagged growing hops, growing hops up a wall, kind of rope for hops, polyester rope for hops, training hops | Leave a comment

Just When You Think You Own All the Saws

Posted on April 28, 2015 by Stacey

Bart: I can’t find the safety goggles for the power saw.
Homer: If stuff starts flying, just turn your head!

One of the tasks we reserved on the loft project was the flooring. There is a hardwood floor up there (in fairly rough shape), but it only covers the area formerly bordered by the knee walls. Now that we are pushing the knee walls back about 18″, there’s a lot of subfloor showing. Plus, there’s a whole new area that never had any floor.

A plan would be useful, huh?

This is within the roof line, but much more bright and functional. The “reading room” will have a daybed and armchairs. The balcony area on the side of the stairs will have knee wall bookcases so we finally have a space for books.

Something like this, but strictly shelves (via).

We wanted a separate room for lounging other than the bedroom and living room. Putting in a bedroom wall also helps with houseguests. Our current bedroom will be Ben’s/main guest bedroom, and Ben’s current room will become the office (but can function as a bedroom). Extra guests can stay in the reading room. Plus, this will be a perfect nursery space for a future owner.

ANYWAY, the floor. The space between the original walls and the bumped-out walls is just subfloor.

We planned to remove the floor in the closet and bathroom and fill in the gap along the edge of the bedroom/reading room, and then add flooring in the bookcase area. After the old walls were removed, we realized that was a ton of patching. New thought: take it all up and refloor entirely, which would provide better wiring access in the meantime. I also had this fond idea that someone could re-use it.

Because more than anything, I want to be the Hardwood Flooring Fairy (via).

Then we priced flooring, and had another idea: remove the floor in the reading room and refloor. Leave the closet floor; remove it in the bathroom (to be tiled). THEN patch only in the closet and along one bedroom wall, and we’d still have some to give away.

Literally a floor plan

Which leads me to the saw. To take up the floor, we need to cut out the hardwood and pry it out. This is a one-time deal, so I looked on Craigslist and found a used toe-kick saw.

It allows you to get right up against a wall (or against cabinets under a toekick) to cut through flooring. We started busily removing the flooring in the former closet and discovered:

This is the right tool for the job.
It has a serious kickback (hurrah for safety guards).

Turns out, this is Bruce maple flooring.

It’s a full 3/4″ deep, but in thinner strips (1.5″). It’s gotten very dry up in the hot attic, and was installed weirdly–same direction as the subfloor planks, top nailed regularly with LARGE nails. It hates to come up and splinters something fierce.

Some of it cooperated.

We used a pry bar to gradually lever up each piece along its length. Regardless of whether we started from the tongue (nailed) or the other side, many pieces just were not playing.

Vampire preparedness

So, new new plan: continue removing floorboards in the “new floor” area. See how much is reusable. Attempt adding to the closet floor (where it hardly matters) and see if that’s achievable. If so and if we have enough left, patch in along the bedroom wall. If not, refloor the bedroom.

One section done

That’s the plan for the next quarter-hour anyway.

Posted in Construction, Salvage, Walls & Floors | Tagged cutting hardwood flooring, removing hardwood floor, salvaging hardwood flooring, toe-kick saw | 1 Comment

The Three Worst Kind of Craigslist Buyers (And How to Avoid Them)

Posted on April 23, 2015 by Stacey

And you, sir, are worse than Hitler.

– DMV Manager

We’ve been very active on Craigslist recently. We just picked up a Kohler sink for the bathroom-to-be, but mostly we’ve been selling. We do sell stuff on CL pretty often, but the process of clearing out the loft made us very active merchants.

I wish these guys would come buy some of our junk.

When you sell stuff on CL, it’s usually a good experience with friendly people. Sometimes, it’s a funny experience with slightly off-kilter people. More occasionally, though, you have an irritating experience with a clueless or actively rude person.

These folks fall into three main categories, sometimes overlapping. To combat them, I developed some coping techniques. Take a look and chime in if you have other ideas (or other Craigslister bad behavior categories).

1. Mr./Ms. No-Impulse-Control

This person emails, “Oh, I have to have it, can I pick it up tomorrow at noon? I will totally be there!!! Thank you!!!!!” and then they never show up. At least have the weenie-tiny cajones to text me and say, “Sorry, I can’t do it after all.” I mean, what’s the worst that happens? I text back, “Ok, thanks for letting me know”? I really hate sitting around waiting for Craigslist fantasists.

They should be forced to wear one of these (via).

How to Identify and Deal: These folks are the MOST EXCITED PEOPLE EVER. Make sure you get their phone number and always contact them using it. Otherwise, they may disappear behind the email relay. Be very specific (you need to be here by 7:00 because I have a back-up offer; you should bring help because it’s 87 pounds; there is a scratch on the back, would you like a picture?). Specifics cause fictional interest to evaporate. If not, at least you have a drop-dead time.

2. The Cheapskate

This person demands a price concession before seeing the item without any niceties. At least see the thing before negotiating! We price things cheaply to begin with, but are open to offers…once you are standing here with money.

I’m not including the people who say, “I only have $20 to spend on this item, and I’m wondering if that would work for you? Thanks for considering it.” It’s all in the approach!

How to Identify and Deal: If they don’t just blurt the lower price during the first communication, they may start pointing out problems with the item to set up a later lowball. If you aren’t flexible, say that you are firm on the price in the post and repeat as necessary. If someone lowballs us, I counter and add something like “and we’ll help you load it.” If their email or text is outright rude, though, I just delete it.

3. The Time Lord

This person exists outside space and time and doesn’t understand your terrestrial “clocks.” Arranged to stop by at six, then annoyed your porch light is off at nine? That’s reasonable.

How to Identify and Deal: This person generally gives a wide time span rather than a specific time: “I’ll be there between 7 and 8:30” for instance. As with the make-believe buyers, I try to drown them in specifics. “We have limited availability this evening, so it would need to be no later than 7:30; otherwise, we have a back-up buyer.” Ask for a status report: “We need this thing gone tonight, so call me if you are going to be later than 7.” They won’t call, and you can move on.

While these techniques help weed out the jerks, they really work as general guidelines. In short:

delete rude responses.
always get a phone number.
be extremely specific.
set a drop-dead time.

Happy Craigslisting!

Posted in D'oh! | Tagged craigslist buyers, craigslist help, craigslist problems | Leave a comment

I Waited Over 300 Posts to Use This Quote

Posted on April 21, 2015 by Stacey

Demo is underway on the loft! OH, YES, the remodeling has begun!

The general plan is to increase floor space (by pushing out the knee walls), heighten the ceiling, add skylights and larger windows, put in a master suite (including bathroom and a walk-in closet), rewire the whole loft (and part of the rest of the house), re-roof and re-floor. Also, add central air conditioning to the whole building. So, you know, no biggie.

Before

During the Great Purge and Dejunking

Finally empty, except for…

…a load-bearing poster!

Demo Day 1: We’re lucky to have found a contractor who is cool with splitting up some of the tasks (we’re doing the electrical, flooring, tile, and finish work). At one point, I mentioned to Kev that we could handle the demo. Yes, we could have done that, but it would have taken us 14 years. This is one situation where it is so much more satisfying to have someone else do a job. For one thing, they really know how to get it done!

First thing they did was get rid of the poster, then saw horizontally through the wallboard.

Finally got a good look at the original insulation.

“It tucks in!”

End of day one: most of the wall board down.

At the end of the first day, we had to remove the live wiring now exposed by demo. I’ll cover that process when I talk knob-and-tube elimination. I very much enjoyed pulling that stuff out and capping it, and I’m looking forward to the larger-scale rewiring.

Demo Day 2: The remainder of the wallboard came down and all the old insulation was removed. We have a dumpster (UK: skip) of ginormous proportions in the side yard, and lumber delivery drivers arriving on the regular.

We keep the cats locked away from the area during the day (no one needs such a critical audience), but it’s fun to watch them explore after everyone’s gone home.

Inigo is uncertain whether any of this is prudent.

Inigo is sure none of this activity is prudent.

Framing reduced for access ahead of new framing. The carpenters kindly stacked up the reusable insulation for us (it's now stacked in our garage and one of the cars lives outside).

The carpenters kindly stacked up the reusable insulation. It’s now stacked in our garage. Count no man happy until he has a half a garage full of fiberglass insulation.

Demo Day 3: They started work on raising the collar ties so that we can have a higher ceiling. (If I can touch it while standing flat-footed, it’s too dang low.) After the carpenters left for the day, I moved all the insulation and vacuumed to reduce air gunk, both up there and in the house at large. (Lesson learned: a Dyson will not suck up a stray roofing nail.) With the insulation gone, we could really see the space, albeit by romantic work lights.

From the top of the stairs toward what used to be a carbuncle of a closet.

Lengthwise

And towards one side of the eaves (by romantic work lights)

And “sideways” into an eave

One thing I love about this process (of many things — the professionalism of the crew, how fast the work is proceeding, the unimaginable HUGENESS of the dumpster) is seeing how the house was put together. The roof deck isn’t plywood, it’s made of full boards. The chimney is red brick where it shows above the roof, but inside here, it’s blonde; I’m guessing that’s a cheaper kind of brick used where it wouldn’t show. The wiring was very logically laid out, which made it super-easy to systematically cut it back. The exterior wall is wide shiplap, and there are blue chalk notes and measurements there and on many of the now-exposed surfaces.

I’m a serious geek about old-house stuff, so I can’t wait to investigate the progress each evening. The stripped-down loft is a huge improvement on the prior “finished” version, and the old wood even smells good — it’s sort of a shame to cover it up!

Posted in American vs English, Before & After, Construction, Walls & Floors | Tagged 1920s home construction, attic demolition, loft demolition, old house remodeling | 9 Comments

Micro-Scale Urban Salvage

Posted on April 16, 2015 by Stacey

The Burns bear, perhaps the most valuable widdle bear in the world, could be anywhere. It could be in your house. You could be looking at it right now. It could be right in front of your face as I’m saying this, waggling back and forth, perhaps being held up by a loved one.

– Kent Brockman

Before the big upstairs project started, we needed to clear out all our junk. I tend to be pretty annoyed by having to move items any distance at all, preferring to give them away rather than haul them any further. I’d be a rubbish Sherpa.

Wonder if they’d notice me ditch a few things before base camp? (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images/Getty)

But before everything kicked off, I did want to salvage a few things that I thought we could use later, mainly door and window parts. It turns out, I’d also be a rubbish salvage person because (a) I’m slow, and (b) I’m made slower by my need to comment on everything I recover.

“This little hatch door is earlier than the house–I bet they bought it used when they finished the attic. Wouldn’t it be a great headboard? The mortise lock looks like someone just took it off the shelf at the hardware store. I wonder if they got it at the old hardware store they tore down last year. What was the name of that place?”

Freezer bags and markers are your very good friends when you are trying to grab stuff like this. Whenever I just pile up screws as I remove them, I always lose one and later stand on it barefoot.

If you are tearing stuff out, the area must not have too many spectacular features (yet). Even so, there are usually good things to be had.

Good stuff to salvage:

Door hardware: Door hinges (and hinge pins!), knobs and mortise locks.
Window hardware: Sash lifts and locks (on older wooden windows). The paint slides right off!
Doors themselves: Ours are weird sizes that won’t work in the future upstairs; we’ll donate to the Restore. If you don’t have a use for the hinges separately, leave ’em on.
Switch and outlet plates: Reuseable or donate-able if not damaged. I already have about 20 spare plates from two swap-out projects, but I only found two undamaged to add to the count for the Restore.
Smoke and CO detectors: Reuse or donate (if still good) or dispose of appropriately.

Stuff to maybe salvage for donation or sale:

Distinctive wood trim: definitely grab if there’s a fair bit of it and it’s stained, maybe grab if it’s painted and in good shape or if you (or someone) might be willing to strip it. Old wide trim is hard to find; the trim up here is splintery, lead paint-caked, and nothing special.
Paneling and shelves: ditto.
Clothes rods/hooks: always useful.

Stuff to salvage carefully and/or after checking with the demo crew:

Light fixtures: Even completely outdated but working lights are welcomed at Habitat Restores. If you have old, original fixtures, you can take them out and restore or sell them (even if inoperable). Or take them out, box and label them as original and leave them in the basement or attic for the next owner.
Newer working switches and receptacles: As long as there is no sign of faults or scorching, reuse or donate.
Newer insulation: A couple of years ago, we went to Menards on Black Friday to buy insulation. It’s practically new! We suited up (including dust masks) and gathered that stuff up to re-deploy or give away.

Here’s the upstairs all stripped down and ready for demo.

Terrible blinds left for shade — it gets hot up there on sunny days.

It’s all happening!

Posted in Salvage | Tagged demolition for remodeling, remodeling older house, salvaging house parts, saving old fixtures, what to save when remodeling | 2 Comments

Another Catastrophic Appliance Event

Posted on April 14, 2015 by Stacey

Ralph: I wanna be in the bake-off!
Wiggum: There, there, I think your grilled crayon sandwich was delicious.
Ralph: You only had a pretend bite.
Wiggum: No, I’m eating it, look!
Ralph: Can you taste the thumbtacks?
Wiggum: Ah, crap.

We have bad luck with ranges (UK: cookers). From the original broken range here to the one in London that tried to fall on anyone who walked by, it’s been a real thrill ride.

When we remodeled the kitchen, we chose a smooth-top electric range, even though we prefer to cook with gas. There are some real practical advantages to ceramic tops.

Our kitchen is small, and the flat surface extends the working space.
The best location for cooking was not the best location for venting.
We didn’t want to run a gas line.

The first range was fine — not a huge joy to cook on, but fine — until it went rogue and torched a lasagne. We scrambled for a replacement, picking the first vaguely acceptable option on sale.

GE JBS55 (now discontinued)

The good: it worked. The bad: it was not well-insulated, well-calibrated, or particularly speedy. What we really wanted was an induction range. It cooks like gas. It’s newer technology, safer, and more efficient.

Induction is also more expensive. Plus, they only come in stainless (except $5,000 Vikings). I like stainless, but we have white appliances, including the new dishwasher. I actually considered buying a reconditioned induction range and painting it, but appliance paint is not recommended for ovens. Eventually, companies will produce induction ranges in white, I thought, and then we will upgrade. And buy new pans.

When I think about the future, I always seem to think I will have lots of money and/or that my approach to spending money will have changed.

In the future, I always have lots of money, and my approach to spending it has changed.

Be careful underappreciating perfectly acceptable appliances — those vibes have real-life consequences! Our GE range was only five years old when it decided to start defaulting to ON. No flaming lasagnes this time — Kevin turned off the cooktop and it demurred. It blinked on and off randomly and hotter than normal. Fa-fa-fa-fa-fire hazard!!!

We had to flip the breaker to stop it — same as with the last range! Shouldn’t appliances default to OFF? Can anyone tell me why that’s impossible? I contacted GE, where a nice lady said she could set up a non-warranty repair. With a little research, we found that the cost means that repair is less prudent than replacement.

Remember when stoves used to last 30 years without service? This type of thing is turning me into one grouchy old lady.

1930 Electrochef (via)

In the absence of a white induction option, we decided to stick with the radiant top. With some research, we found a top-rated LG model on sale.

LG Electronics LRE3083

No beauty, but it does do this:

First thought it was black-lighted inside!

At first, I thought it was black-lighted inside!

On paper, it’s an advance on its predecessor:

Convection oven (UK: fan oven) — I miss our English fan oven (the one that didn’t fall over), so I’m excited about the upgrade.
Five cooktop elements, including one variable size with a “fast-boil” option.
Reviews say the technology has improved. It’s not gas or induction, but it’s more responsive and intuitive. I’m skeptical but slightly optimistic. Skeptimistic?

The LG was back-ordered to this week. But yesterday, we received a polite phone call saying delivery would be two weeks later. In the meantime, we’re using the microwave and an induction element we bought for making beer, with the one pan we have that works on it. IT’S NOT A GREAT PAN.

The dishwasher died late last year. Now the range. These things come in threes, so…I’m keeping my fingers crossed for the toaster or a blender rather than the fridge.

Posted in American vs English, D'oh!, Electrical, Kitchen | Tagged appliance replacement, LG range review, radiant range problems | Leave a comment

Number One

Posted on April 9, 2015 by Stacey

It’s toilet time for Tinytown.

– Bart Simpson

We bought a toilet.

Toto Rowan Dual Flush Toilet

It’s scheduled to ship in about two weeks, and then it will sit in the living room for hopefully not too long before it will get installed in our new…upstairs…bathroom??

The throne is the first purchase for the upstairs remodeling project, which looks like it might be about to happen after a misfire last year. The roof is overdue, and the roof project involves insulation, which means the old insulation needs to be pulled out, so the walls needs to be opened up…basically, no better time.

We’ll be doing some of this project ourselves (details to follow), but most of the heavy lifting will be done by professionals. Except for the heavy lifting involved in moving our pointless junk out of the loft.

If you are local to MSP, the Bridging furniture bank is a great place to take extra furniture, lamps, and rugs.

If you are in MSP, the Bridging furniture bank is a great place to take extra furniture, lamps, and rugs…

…and the Habitat Restore is the destination for extra house parts, cabinetry, lighting and hardware.

The guy at the Goodwill, he also knows my name.

I should be excited, but I’m feeling pretty apprehensive about the whole thing — not apprehensive enough to not do it, but edgy. This is not an atypical reaction for me to upheavals, even good ones. But you can’t open a magazine without reading incredibly enthused copy about how WONDERFUL it all is and just LOOK AT THE AFTER PHOTOS!!!!!

I just could not wait to have the house in pieces and to spend wads of cash on two-by-fours, joint compound and Xanax!

It’s enough to make a person doubt their completely valid concerns!

Obviously, magazines want to sell home renovation stuff (and Xanax), so it’s understandable that they aren’t going to dwell on the worrying and expense side of things (with this exception: “Oh, we splurged on [something weird] and it was SO worth it!”).

I’m not trying to sell you anything, so you can believe me when I tell you:

It’s ok to freak out a little bit about remodeling.

It’s a freak-outable event!

Of course, make sure you check a few basics off your list — reasonable budget, reputable contractor, workable timeline. But once you’ve controlled what you can control, you’re still facing quite a process. The excitement — and the fun — will be a part of it too. Eventually. At least that’s my working hypothesis.

Posted in Bathroom, Construction, Plumbing | Tagged clearing house for remodeling, freaking out about remodeling | 4 Comments

This is Permanent (As Far As We’re Concerned)

Posted on March 31, 2015 by Stacey

Homer: Don’t worry, honey, I found us a roofer last night, and you’ll never guess where!
Marge: Knockers on Route 98.
Homer: How did you know!?
Marge: I’m psychic.

Our friend Terry re-roofed his own house with long-lasting cedar shakes. Soon after, he came home and found his father-in-law spraying the roof (and adjacent windows and cars) with sealant. When Terry asked what (the hell) he was doing, he said, “This will make that roof last 50 years!” Terry responded, “What do I care? I don’t have 50 years!”

Cedar shake roof (via)

He never did get all the sealant off the windows.

2015 is the year we re-roof, and since even asphalt (or fiberglass or whatever-not-cedar) roofs are guaranteed for 30 years now, we need to pick something we can happily live with for the duration. I’m optimistic that we have more than 30 years to go, but in this house? Who knows.

Our roofer-elect uses GAF shingles, and will bring us samples to consider, but since the internet exists, it’s worth narrowing the choices in the meantime.

There are some givens for the equation. First, our house is white, and is likely to continue being white.

The conundrum, such as it is, is that the experts recommend gray or black roofs for white houses. The current roof is gray, but in the meantime, we’ve added a garden wall that is decidedly in the warm end of the spectrum.

Wow, look at the greenery — I am so ready for spring.

When you’re talking houses, should the collar match the cuffs? I don’t particularly like our current grey roof, but that’s partly because it’s all beat up. I’m interested in trying a warmer tone, but I would prefer to avoid that generic flat-brown color that was the default around town during the 1980s.

This seemed to be on all the houses when I was a kid (via).

With all that in mind, here are some of the GAF options that might work (all images are GAF’s):

GAF’s Timberline HD Weathered Wood

Sort of gray, sort of brown.

And on a house. It’s not a warm tone, despite being in the brown category.

GAF’s Timberline HD Barkwood

Sort of dark brown.

And on a house. That roof is actually made of chocolate. Too dark for us, I think.

GAF’s Timberline Natural Shadow Shakewood

Sort of tan.

I don’t think this is a real house.

Or! Or…there’s the mix of all colours that requires no single choice to actually be made.

GAF’s American Harvest in Golden Harvest

What (neutral) color ISN’T it?

I suspect GAF might have developed this option especially for all the indecisive customers. Theoretically, a mix of colors should end up looking more organic. Maybe? Or might the overall effect just look either (a) completely twee or (b) like a 8-bit video game screen?

There are other color blends, but “Golden Harvest” is the one that most appeals to me. The color, anyway, if not the ridiculous name.

Here's what it looks like on a fictional house.

Here’s what it looks like on a house.

Some of the other American Harvest options. With Golden Harvest, these are the colors in this line for this area; in other parts of the continent, the choices will be different.

Some other GAF American Harvest options. With Golden Harvest, these are the colors for houses in the north; elsewhere, the choices will vary (for some reason).

Maybe I’ve gone off the wrong direction and should be sticking with gray? Maybe I should ask the Kev’s opinion. And yours — what do you think?

Posted in Repair & Maintenance, Siding & Roof | Tagged brown roof on white house, coordinating hardscaping and roof color, gaf shingle choices, roofing color | 6 Comments

Undenting the Sideboard

Posted on March 19, 2015 by Stacey

That’s a bit of a whoo-hoo indeed.

– Homer Simpson

The sideboard veneer fix is done and revealed, but I also wanted to share how I got a dent out of the top. This particular dent occurred when I dropped the mirror on the front edge.

Two views of the mirror dent

I did not expect to have any luck with the problem, so I am charged up over how easy it really was.

There are many tutorials out there about using water and a hot iron to pop dents. Here’s a good video showing the basic technique:

Basically, you dribble some water on the dent, let it soak in, and then use a hot iron to fluff up the compressed wood fibers. For our buffet, though, there’s so much long-term wax build-up that I was concerned about causing white iron-shaped marks on the finish. I didn’t want to use a heat source that I couldn’t observe in process.

Most of the tutorials were for unfinished wood. To get the water past the existing finish, I poked four or five pinholes into the dent.

To keep the water on the edge, I used masking tape as a dam, then dribbled water into the dent. I left it for a little while to penetrate into the holes.

I was concerned about water damage, so I kept mopping it up to check and then dripping new water on the spot. It was probably underwater for 10 minutes all told. I removed the tape and wiped off the water, then used a hair dryer on high aimed right at the dent.

It didn’t take long — the heat and water plumped up the spot quickly. The process dulled the existing finish slightly, but the Restor-a-Finish and wax brought it right back (as well as filling in the pin pricks). I can feel the dent if I run my finger over it, but it is vastly improved.

I am a born skeptic, and I really did not think this would work. But paint me green and call me a pickle — it did!

Posted in Before & After, Furniture, Repair & Maintenance | Tagged getting dent out of finished furniture, removing dent from wooden furniture, removing dent in wood, removing dent in wood without using an iron | 3 Comments

D'oh!-I-Y

And Then There Were Rooms

Hops, Not Leaps

Just When You Think You Own All the Saws

The Three Worst Kind of Craigslist Buyers (And How to Avoid Them)

I Waited Over 300 Posts to Use This Quote

Micro-Scale Urban Salvage

Another Catastrophic Appliance Event

Number One

This is Permanent (As Far As We’re Concerned)

Undenting the Sideboard

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