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June 18, 2011

New stairs for the old house

Filed under: photos,pictures,repair,Uncategorized — Tags: , , , — admin @ 12:39 pm

New stairs for the old house

New stairs for the old house


Our old house (100 years old this year -stay tuned for the birthday party!) in Kitsilano needed some new entrance stairs. Some of the old stairs were loose and rotted, and the underlying “stringers” of the framework were badly rotted. I’m surprised after looking at them that no one broke through. So, I built some new stairs. It was a big job to tear the old ones apart but the new construction was OK. The biggest job was cutting custom stringers. I used more stringers than the original design, which seemed a bit flimsy, and added a central support pillar. Here’s a photo of the new construction, nearly done. (more…)

June 16, 2011

Don't wash your paintbrushes!

Used paintbrush, still wet from use.

Used paintbrush, still wet from use.

If you do a lot of painting and staining around your home like I do, you’ve probably gone through quite a few paintbrushes and may have tried to clean them after use with various nasty solvents or water. Here’s a simple tip to avoid using those solvents entirely, while keeping the brushes ready for next use. Just seal the used, still-wet brushes in plastic bags. I tend to use old bagel or bread bags since they are about the right size. Make sure the bag is airtight. Just flatten the bag to remove excess air, and knot or secure the bag opening once the brush is in, then store it. With this trick, I’ve found I can keep brushes ready-to-use for many months. This pretty much limits you to using the brush with one paint color or stain, but brushes themselves are pretty cheap. A fairly obvious tip and surely not a new idea, but given the benefits of reduced solvent use, and even time saved, this is probably worth posting.

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