Kitchens
Improving your kitchen will most often give you the highest resale value of any other project you may do.
Cabinets – Among the projects you may want to tackle in your kitchen is the replacement or re-facing of your cabinets.
If you do nothing else in your kitchen, adding new cabinets or sprucing up your old ones can brighten and modernize your kitchen and give it a whole new look.
Wooden cabinets lend a classy touch to your kitchen and they can be painted, stained or distressed to change the look of your kitchen.
Choose alder, hickory, rosewood, butternut, maple, pine, oak, ash, birch, elm, beech or chestnut, and even the pricey teak!
Because the kitchen is subject to humidity changes, you will want to consider the type of wood and material you use for your cabinets.
Solid wood will expand and contract with cold, heat and humidity, so doors may be hard to close, and warping may occur. Consider using a veneer or laminate to mitigate warping and changes from humidity and temperature.
If you are staining your cabinets, you need to decide whether you want to reveal the grain of the wood (which is an interesting look) so you can choose the appropriate type of stain:
Ø Choose a transparent or semi-transparent if you want to reveal the grain
Ø Choose an opaque stain if you want to hide the grain
Sinks – A sink can change the whole look of your kitchen. If you are tired of the boring options, you can go for a copper, brass, stainless or even brass sink. These new sinks are not as difficult to maintain as you might expect.
They are manufactured with polymer binders that allow for easy maintenance and keep your sink looking new for a long time!
You can order the sinks in round, square, and double basin shapes. Go to a local store or buy a home decorating magazine to assess your choices.
Countertops – If you are going to update your countertops, you will probably make one of the most common choices: a) solid countertops made of corian, slate or other stone, or b) tile.
You can purchase inexpensive, custom cut countertops in composite material and they are perfectly fine to use to update your kitchen to sell your home or just to give your kitchen a new look.
Slate, granite and other stone choices are more expensive. Corian and comparable materials come in somewhere in between in terms of price.
To purchase this type of countertop, you can either hire a professional who will measure the space you have to fill, order the counters and install them.
You can also take the measurements yourself and go to a large center to order the custom cut counters.
To take your measurements, first begin by measuring your installed cabinet tops. Add an overhang of 3/4" for the ‘drip edge’ on the front of the counter and any sides that are exposed.
The more expensive the material, the less you will want to risk taking your own measurements and attempting to do the installation yourself.
If you are going to choose tile for your countertop, you must ensure that your installation surface is solid and flat.
You can use any kind of solid, rigid surface (like plywood), but you may wish to purchase ‘underlayment’ that is specially designed for tile installation. Make sure the surface is clean and dry before you begin any tile installation.
If you are planning to use tile for your counter top, you will want to plan the layout so that you maximize the exposure of the uncut tiles and minimize the visibility of tile cuts.
Lay out the edge of your countertop first, since that is the most visible part of the installation.
Draw a line down the middle of the counter, perpendicular to the front edge of the counter. Use that centerline to plan your layout.
This will be the center grout line when you are finished with your layout. Be sure you include the grout line measurements in your total tile layout measurements.
Do not plan to cut files less than half their total width for the end of rows or the exposed edges of your countertop.
If your measurements result in smaller partial tiles at the edge, adjust your centerline by one-half the width of a full tile in both directions. This adjustment will place a full tile directly over the centerline.
For a front-to-back layout, you can lay the tiles along your center reference line from the front to the back of the counter.
Allow spacing for your grout lines. Try to keep your tile cuts in the back, and if these back tiles are smaller than half a tile in size, revise your layout so that your tile cuts are equal in the back row and in the first row behind the edge row.
Lay tiles along your reference line to the back of the countertop. Again, allow spacing for your grout lines.
Once have measured and planned your layout, you can begin to set the tiles. Do not mix more adhesive than you can use in a half an hour or the adhesive will dry out before it is used.
Set the edge tiles first. Apply adhesive along the front of the counter to accommodate the edge tile.
Apply adhesive to the back of the tile pieces as well. As you place each tile, give the tile a small twist to be sure all adhesive is making contact and that the
Home Web: YouTubeLose that funky smell with OdorzoutHere's an Earth-friendly product that does a great job of getting rid of odors.
tile is well set.
When you lay the second tile be sure you leave enough space for grout and that the space between each tile is the same.
Now work in sections to set the rest of the tiles. Spread adhesive evenly on the countertop using the straight edge of a trowel.
Try to keep your layout lines visible so you can use them to keep the line of your tiles straight as you progress.
When you apply and scrape out excess adhesive, try to keep your trowel at a consistent height and angle so that the adhesive height is consistent.
If your tile did not come with spacing lugs, use plastic spacers to keep the tiles an equal distance apart. After you set a section of tile, clean up any mortar that has squeezed up between the set tiles, using a putty knife or a pencil.
Sponge off any adhesive that you see on the surface of the tile. If the adhesive dries on the tile it is very difficult to remove! Remove plastic spacers before they dry in the adhesive.
When you have all your tiles in place, you can ensure that they are the same height but using a two by four or other piece of level wood.
Place the wood on the tile sections and lightly tap it with a hammer so that all tiles are even underneath the wood. Do this across the entire field of tiles to ensure a level tile set.
After you set all the full tiles you will then measure, cut and set the edge tiles at the back and around the sink if appropriate.
Because these are not full tiles, you will want to cut and test them all in place before you lay them in adhesive. Be sure they fit and that you don’t have to make any other cuts to get the pieces aligned.
Make rounded cuts around the sink with tile nippers. Don’t be concerned about ragged edges here because the lip of the sink will cover these edges.
When you are laying edge tiles, you cannot use a trowel to lay the adhesive. In that case, you will simply put adhesive on the back of each tile and lay it in place. Be sure each piece is laid in place with good contact to the underlayment.
Leave the tile to set overnight, or in damp weather, a bit longer. Then grout the tile with sanded or unsanded grout. Sanded grout is used for 1/16” or larger joints, and unsanded grout is used for joints that are less than 1/16 of an inch.
Choose your grout color carefully to match your tile but stay away from really light colored grout in areas where you get a lot of foot traffic (if you are laying tile on the floor), or in areas where you expect the tile to endure a lot of abuse (cutting surfaces on the counter, etc).
Lighter color grout will quickly discolor and you will be unhappy with the results. You can use a contrasting color to lend emphasis to your tile layout or make the look more interesting.
Test your grout color in a small area first to be sure you know what it will look like when matched with your tile.
Grout all the joints in the tile field, except those that you need to allow for expansion near fixtures, near walls or in corners.
You will seal these expansion joints with caulking later. These areas would be along fixtures, between the countertop and the walls, or joints in corners in between walls. These will be sealed with caulk later.
Once the joints are sealed with grout, scrape the excess off the tile surface.
Clean the surface with a damp sponge and clean water and keep wiping the tiles until they are clean.
Rinse the sponge often so that it is clean.
Once the tile is clean, make one last pass with the sponge along the lines of the layout to smooth the grout lines.
Do not be concerned if a slight haze forms on the tiles after you clean them. You can usually wipe this clean GENTLY with a sponge or soft cloth.
Do not scrub or push the tiles, because the group joints are still soft and the tiles may move.
After the grout dries for a few days, you can caulk the expansion joints in the corners and in other areas. Use a caulk that matches your grout!
You can also apply caulk to joints you think may crack because of movement. Look for these areas between floor tiles and a cabinet, a wall, and on inside room corners or any place where wall tile or floor tile meet.
Fill the joints and smooth the caulk with a damp rag, a sponge or your finger. Caulk around faucets, sinks or plumbing valves.
Let the caulk dry for a few weeks, and then you can seal your tile and/or the grout joints (whichever is recommended by the tile manufacturer).
Sealing your grout and/or tiles will make the tile field more water resistant, and keep dirt from gathering in the joints.
Most manufacturers suggest you wait a couple of weeks before doing this so the grout has a chance to thoroughly set.
Be sure you use a sealer that is recommended by the manufacturer of the tile. Read the instructions carefully before you begin sealing your grout or tile.
When you are laying tile on a floor, or tiling walls in kitchens, bathrooms or other rooms, the process you will use will be the same.
If you are using accent tiles, be sure you lay out your tiles so that your accent tiles are appropriately placed for maximum effect. These tiles are usually more expensive than regular tiles and you will want to get the most for your money!
Here are some more home improvement articles...
