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Home improvement and renovation tips

Give your basement floor a "tiled" look

If you like the idea of a tile floor, nothing beats the real thing for warmth, beauty and texture. But here's a low-budget alternative which gives the impression of a tile floor in a lot less time.If your basement concrete floor is sound, reasonably smooth and warm, you can simply paint on the tiles.Choose a ...

Radiant heating for floors (Part 2)

Last time, we introduced you to radiant heating, a good way to warm up those tile floors. If you're putting in a new floor, now's the time to install the heating.Remember to put a layer of insulation under the heating tubes/cables, to stop heat from escaping downward.For both electric and hot water systems, an inch ...

Radiant heating for floors

Ceramic tiles are great, but as they've become more popular over the years, people are noticing one unwelcome characteristic. On a chilly winter morning, they can have you hopping... with cold feet.So what do you do?Well, you could simply put a small area rug wherever the floor is cold. Or you can try some other ...

Choose the right wood floor materials

Installing wood floors used to be simple. Well, not simple exactly, but at least there was only one way to go. Now, pre-finished flooring opens up new options to the do-it-yourselfer.Here are some of the characteristics of pre-finished flooring and unfinished.Pre-finished floorboards make your job much faster (a one- to two-day installation for most rooms) ...

Trunk o' Tips – fast refinishes and dimmer switch magic

You know there's a beautiful hardwood floor hiding under that unsightly finish. How do you bring it to life? Before you rent the floor sander and start attacking it, try this.Pour rubbing alcohol over a small area, and rub it with medium steel wool. If the dull finish is just old wax and grime, this ...

Fix those scary squeaks and creaks in floors (Part 2)

Still have squeaks? Try these tips.For one or two squeaking boards, toe-nail them into the subfloor (or floor joists) with finishing nails, then set and fill with wood filler. This can be almost invisible.For a more extensive problem, screws are the best bet. Countersink them, and fill the holes with wood plugs. With wider-planked floors, ...

Fix those scary squeaks and creaks in floors

Sometimes, squeaking floors are symptoms of structural weakness: cracked or sagging headers or joists; rotting posts, beams or joists; joists weakened by plumbing notches; missing or non-existent blocking or bridging between joists; and so on. While you can eliminate the squeak without fixing the cause, it's a good idea to check out the extent of ...

Ceramic tiles… can you do it?

If you'd like to decorate your floor with ceramic tiles, you have a bunch of decisions ahead of you: color, style, types and designs. But first, you need to decide whether you'll do it yourself.Laying ceramic tile is painstaking... one of those jobs that requires lots of boring, detailed work before you see any results. ...