Make a big job a little easier with these cabinet-hanging tips

Ready-made cabinets are fairly inexpensive and an easy way to get the storage space you need without hiring a carpenter. After measuring and purchasing your cabinets, you need to install them in the space. This usually is a simple job, but some things need to be considered, and we have some tips that might make the job a little easier.

First of all, don't assume that your floors and walls are plumb and level. Check them at several points and have shims on hand to make sure the cabinets are set plumb and level, even if your room is not.

You may even want to snap a chalk line along the wall where the top of the cabinets should be and along the floor where the front should sit.

If your cabinets are unfinished, you might consider painting them before you install them. You can always go back with some touch-up paint to cover any marks you made during the installation. If the cabinets are pre-finished, make sure to work with clean hands and protect surfaces from damage while you work. If the doors are attached, you may want to remove them to make installing the cabinets easier. Mark each door to the cabinet it came off, just to be sure you get them back in the right place.

Set the cabinets in place and use shims behind or under the feet of the cabinets to level and plumb them. Use screws to attach them to the walls inside the back of the cabinets at the top, right through the shims. Get the screw started, and then recheck the plumb and level before driving it all the way in.

When installing more than one cabinet, use screws to attach each cabinet to the previously installed one.

Once the cabinets are installed, use a small saw to cut any exposed shims off. Then install the toe kick or cover trim to hide the spaces.

It's as easy as it sounds!

Chisel safety

Being called a chiseler is a bad thing. However, a chisel is a great tool when you need to trim a brick or chip off some concrete. It makes a tough job a little easier. A good sledgehammer is what you'll need to hit the chisel with, and that can mean trouble. If you were to miss the chisel and hit your hand, you could be in a heap of pain. It might work best to grab the chisel with vise grips and hold them as you hit the chisel. If you miss, you might have to replace the grips, but better them than your hand!

Clamps are the answer

When you are working on a project and need to cut several pieces of wood into the same size and shape, it can be hard to get them all exactly alike. Even with a pattern, each one might be slightly different. The best way to do it is to stack the wood together and cut all the pieces at the same time. Clamps will help you hold all the wood pieces tightly together so they don't slip while you are cutting them.

Super hints

• If you are looking for a strainer to take care of shop liquids but can't find one, try using a coffee filter. The average coffee filter will remove things like paint from thinner pretty well. And almost all of us have extra coffee filters around the house.

• If you are putting up a stud wall and want to get those studs at perfect 16-inch centers, make yourself a spacer from a two-by-four. Then you can place it along the sill butted up against one stud to brace the new stud against as you toe-nail it into place. It makes you look like a real pro!

• If you have to soak paintbrushes to remove the paint after a project, paint thinner usually works pretty well. But if you are out of thinner or just don't like the smell, try soaking them in vinegar. It really works well at removing the paint from the bristles, and even seems to soften them. Just rinse them out afterward and store them as usual.

• If you have noticed that the pressure in your water supply has diminished over time, especially the hot-water supply, it may be something as simple as mineral deposits clogging up the lines. It's not a very hard thing to fix once you know a little trick you can play with a dime. Send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the Daily Herald's address at the end of this column, and we will send you the written instructions. It's a very simple thing to do, and it might just solve your problems - at least your water-pressure problems.

Q. When I was making a repair to the kitchen, I had trouble cutting off the water supply outside the house. The L-shaped metal rod broke off. How do you fix this?

A. You will have to dig up the area around the valve. Once you expose the valve, you can remove the stub left behind and replace it with a new handle. Of course, you might check to see if there is another valve you can get to at the meter.

Q. My bathroom cabinet has a hinge that won't stay in any longer. The screw has come out, and the hole is now too large to keep it in. What can I do?

A. You could use a larger screw or remove the hinge, fill the hole with wood glue and allow it to set up before installing the screw and hinge again. If you need a filler with the glue, use wooden toothpicks.

Q. We live on a golf course, and balls hit our house every so often. I have a tear in one of my window screens, and I would like to know if there is a good way to patch it, or do I just need to replace it?

A. Sometimes you can sew up a tear with thin-gauge wire if your screens are wire, and monofilament line if they are made of plastic. If you don't think that will look right, you might be able to switch that screen, after patching it, with one from another place on your house that is less obvious. If you are a real perfectionist, then you probably should replace the screen.

Q. Our attic access is a pull-down stairway that seems to let in a lot of heat. What's the best way to seal that up?

A. Weatherstrip the access panel. There are several add-on insulation kits made for such pull-down stairs. One that works very well is called the Attic Tent. Check your home center or the Internet for these products.

Reader tips

• I had a magnetic paper-clip holder in my office and, after cleaning out my office, decided I didn't need it anymore. I was going to throw it away but decided it might be perfect for my workshop. It holds a good supply of brads, and the magnet on the top holds the brads where they are easy to get to but won't fall off. I may even buy some more to hold some other hardware items.

• I have a couple of magnetized screwdrivers and think they are super handy. I wish I had more. Then I found a super way to magnetize a screwdriver. All you have to do is rub a magnet over an unmagnetized screwdriver a few times. Move it in one direction only, down the shaft. After several passes, you'll have your very own magnetized screwdriver. It's really easy and works pretty well.

• I was chopping some cabbage for coleslaw, and the cutting board slid and I nearly lost a finger. After I got home from the emergency room, my husband saw the problem and fixed it for me: He glued rubber washers to the bottom of the cutting board. Now it doesn't slide around on the counter like it used to. I just wish he had thought of that before my accident. But better late than never, right?

• Last winter, I had too many plants for my sun room and had to put them all over the floor. But last weekend I bought a couple of inexpensive shower-curtain rods. I am going to hang these up in front of both windows to create a really long rack to hang lots of the plants from. I think it will really make the room look nice, and the plants should benefit from the extra sunlight.

• Siphoning something can be really unpleasant. And it never seems to be something tasty, like a milkshake - in fact, usually it's gas or dirty water. When it was time to drain my pond, I found an easy way to do it. First I put the end of the hose into the water and then filled the rest of the tube up with water from the garden hose. After the hose was full, I took the end of the hose and laid it down at the end of our driveway, which was downhill from the pond. The water started draining right away and didn't stop until the whole pond was empty. That was painless.

Shop talk

• Bosch's new PS30 Drill Driver uses a 12-volt Max Litheon battery for its new Drill/Driver. It's super small and offers a -inch three-jawed chuck. It's designed to accommodate almost any need the average DIY-er could have, including drilling, screwdriving, cutting and socket fastening. You get 220 inch-pounds of torque for plenty of power. You have a two-speed drive train, and it delivers 2.2 times the speed of any other drill/driver in its class at full speed. Weighing only 2.4 pounds, it's easy to use for long periods of time with great control and maneuverability. It even has a built-in LED light for seeing in dark areas where you might have to work. For more information on this and other Bosch products, visit the company's Web site at www.boschtools.com or call (877) BOSCH-99. The new PS30 2-Speed Drill Driver is available at your hardware store or home center.

• Until now, if you needed hot water outdoors for cleaning or for filling a kids' pool, you had to fill up a pot indoors and carry it outside. Now Moen has developed an outdoor faucet that delivers both cold and hot water outdoors. The faucet looks like a standard outdoor faucet that comes out from the wall of the house, but inside the house, the faucet opens up to accept both cold and hot supply lines. The installation instructions are fairly easy to follow. You must have a hot-water supply line available for the hookup, so if the faucet isn't near a hot-water line, you will have to add that as well. The handle controls the mix of hot and cold water and the flow, all from one single handle. It is even designed to prevent scalding. For further information, you can see it online at www.moen.com or call (800) 289-6636. Check your local home center or hardware store to purchase one or two for your home use.

• Write to Al and Kelly Carrell in care of the Daily Herald, P.O. Box 280, Arlington Heights, IL 60006 or visit the Carrell's Web site at www.thesuperhandyman.com.

© 2008, Cowles Syndicate Inc.