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| Learn how to grow easy-to-grow-flowers for your garden by reading this guide. |
This article gives you some ideas about easy-to-grow perennial and annual flowers for your planters, pots, and flower beds. From Himalayan blue poppies to red valerian, this flower guide covers the entire rainbow colour spectrum. Find your favourites below!
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| A GFCI or RCD (Residual Current Device) will help prevent potentially dangerous “electrical leaks”. © Eugene Brennan |
A GFCI or “Ground-Fault Circuit Interrupter” is an electrical safety device that shuts off power when there’s an electrical “leak”, increasing your safety by helping to prevent dangerous electrical shocks. A GFCI can typically be plugged into a standard socket outlet.
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| Original unaltered image byrev, public domain via Pixabay.com |
An angle or hand grinder is a power tool regularly used by construction workers and contractors. However, it’s also an invaluable tool in the home workshop or around the house, with a multitude of uses for DIY and crafts.
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| © Eugene Brennan |
So you want to start doing maintenance in your first home to save money or you’re fed up taking time off from work and waiting for tradesmen who don’t turn up on time?
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| © Eugene Brennan |
Cordless tools are great and, unlike their corded counterparts, they have the obvious advantage of freedom from a power cord that can get in the way, become taut when manoeuvring the tool or end up being tripped over. Also you don’t have to be lugging extension leads around.
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| Laying edging kerbs is a simple DIY job with this guide! © Eugene Brennan |
Edging a lawn or driveway gives it a crisp, clean look and helps the eye to define the boundary between lawn or flower beds and the harder look of the concrete, stone or tarmac (asphalt) surface of your drive.
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| © Eugene Brennan |
Fixing stuff to walls is relatively easy, in fact I’ve been doing it since I was 13! My home-made wall plugs made from branches weren’t such a good idea though, and my first shelves fell of the wall when the plugs dried out! In fact, the method used to mount cabinets, brackets for shelves, coat hooks, etc., on a wall depends on the nature of the wall construction. In this guide, I cover some the various fixings available to attach items to different types of wall material, including timber studs, plasterboard (drywall) and masonry walls.
Various fixings are used depending on the structure of the surface you’ll be mounting on. If you’re fixing to timber or wooden studs under drywall, you just use screws, but for drywall itself or masonry, the fixing either holds onto the back of the drywall, or expands in the hole respectively. These are the fixings you’ll typically use:
Note: The name for the device used to attach items to walls differs between countries. In the US, the term “anchor” is more common, whereas in the UK, the term “fixing” is used. Also what’s called “plasterboard” in the UK is referred to as “drywall” in the US.
“Fixing” is the British term for “anchor” (US).
“Drywall” is the American term for “plasterboard” (UK).
If you are buying a stud detector, get one which detects metal.
Light items, such as small picture frames, wall clocks etc., can be screwed directly to timber panelling/boards if you don’t have drywall.
For items carrying heavy loads, a more secure method is to drive screws into the center of the wall studs. Heavier items such as cabinets and TV brackets need to be fixed to the wall studs with 10 or 11 gage (about 5mm diameter) screws. Modern LED TVs are quite light compared to CRT or plasma types, so you may get away with mounting the brackets directly onto boards or drywall.
Plasterboard (drywall) is nailed onto a hollow timber framework known as a stud wall or framing, built from 2 x 4s. (2 inch x 4 inch cross section timbers) or larger cross sectional area (CSA) timber. This is composed of vertical and horizontal sections called studs and noggings (blocking) respectively.
Studs are typically spaced 16″ (400mm) apart and can be found with an electronic stud detector or identifying where drywall sheets butt together at the centre of a stud. You can find a stud by tapping the wall and when you locate a point where the sound is less “hollow,” a stud is underneath.
If you are buying a stud detector, get one which detects metal (useful for finding plumbing and other services in the wall and/or power cables).
Once you have found a stud, mark its center, and screw your fixture onto the wall with wood screws. Plasterboard is generally 13 mm (1/2 inch) to 16 mm (5/8 inch) thick, so make sure you size the length of screws appropriately. i.e. allow for the thickness of the plasterboard and the fixture, with 40 mm (1 1/2 inch) of screw thread actually screwing into the stud.
Metal shelf brackets usually have pre-drilled holes. Cabinets sometimes have flat pieces of metal at the back from which the cabinet can be screwed to the wall and “suspended”. If the back of a cabinet is fairly thick and not just thin hardboard, you can drive screws straight through from front to back and into the wall. If the back of a cabinet isn’t pre-drilled, drill holes the same diameter as the screws you are using and then screw the screws into the wall. Choose the length of the screw to cater for the combined thickness of the back of the cabinet and drywall.
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| Stud Wall Ahp378, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported via Wikimedia Commons |
For mounting to studs and plasterboard (also known as drywall), there are several options. You can use plastic wall plugs (see mounting on masonry walls below) directly pushed into the plaster. However, these are only suitable for very light loads (e.g., small mirrors, light picture frames and smoke alarms). The appropriate fixings for drywall are metal or plastic self-drive fixings (anchors), spring toggle anchors or hollow expansion anchors. For heavier loads, screw directly into the wall studs.
These are small metal or plastic fixings with a coarse outer thread and inner thread which takes a screw. These will either have a cutting edge and make their own hole in the plasterboard/drywall or you may have to drill a small pilot hole first. The pilot hole diameter may be marked on the fixing, but if not, drill a hole the diameter of the unthreaded core of the fixing in the plasterboard. Now drive the fixing into the plasterboard either using a special dedicated drive bit for a cordless drill or a normal screwdriver. Then attach whatever you are hanging on the the wall to the fixing using the screw provided. These are fine for mounting socket outlets, switches, light fittings on ceilings and other light loads.
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| Self-drive drywall anchors and drive bit for cordless drill. Metal versions are also available. The pilot hole size which needs to be drilled in the plasterboard (6mm), is marked on the fixing Smial, Free Art Licence via Wikimedia Commons |
Alternatively, you can use spring toggle fixings. You drill a hole for these, insert the fitting into the hole and two spring loaded arms open out at the back of the drywall giving anchorage. These provide better anchorage than self-drive anchors which could pull out of the drywall if the load is heavy. The disadvantage of these is that if the screw is removed, the toggle will fall down inside the wall. They also require a relatively large hole drilled in the drywall.
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| Spring toggle anchors Tenbergen, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported via Wikimedia Commons |
The hollow shell of these anchors expands as the screw is tightened, pushing against the back surface of the drywall. This gives good grip and the fixings are suitable for heavier loads such as TV brackets. They are available in plastic or metal versions.
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| Hollow expansion anchors Dmitry G, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported via Wikimedia Commons |
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| Hollow expansion anchor. |
Masonry includes concrete blocks, bricks, solid concrete wall, stone and aerated concrete blocks. Typical fixings include:
If a wall is solid construction you must use plastic screw anchors also known as wall plugs. These expand and grip the side of the hole when a screw is driven into them.
The hole is drilled to adequate depth, the wall plug inserted and the fixture screwed onto the wall with 8 or 10 gage (4mm or 5mm) diameter screws. 40 to 50 mm (1 1/2 to 2 inch) long screws are fine for most applications. Use thicker wall plugs and screws for heavier loads.
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| Typical wall plug/anchors for masonry walls. The required drill bit size in mm is indicated on the shank Bronzaclose, Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication via Wikimedia Commons |
To attach a bracket to a wall, first position it against the wall and mark the first hole with a pencil or nail. Don’t mark all the holes because if the drilled hole goes off course, or is a little to one side, the other holes will be out of alignment. Drill the hole with a suitable diameter masonry drill bit, rake or vacuum out the dust and insert the anchor into the hole. Place the bracket against the wall again and line up the center of the anchor in the wall with the hole in the bracket. Mark the next hole and drill it. Repeat for all the holes and finally attach the bracket with wood screws.
If you’re mounting shelf brackets, hold the second bracket against the wall and either rest the shelf on the two brackets and level with a spirit level or if the span is short you can just rest the level on the two brackets without the shelf. Mark the top hole in the second bracket, drill the hole for the screw fitting and then mark and drill the remaining holes as described above. Finally, screw the bracket to the wall.
To use wall plugs (rawplugs), drill the recommended size hole with a hammer action power drill and masonry drill bit and use the proper screw size. The fixing expands as the screw is driven home and grips the side of the hole. People sometimes generically refer to wall plugs as “Rawlplugs” because the wall plug was invented by John Joseph Rawlings, the founder of the Rawlplug company.
Wall plugs normally have the drill diameter marked on them and possibly also the max diameter screw that can be used.
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| Screw sizes and the bit size for the hole are sometimes marked on the wall plugs. © Eugene Brennan |
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| Masonry drill bit Emrys2, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported via Wikimedia Commons |
If you need to mount heavy loads on masonry walls, there are a couple of options. You can use expansion bolts (wedge anchors) and these are available in a variety of configurations. The most basic type shown in the photos below has a bolt which screws into an outer sleeve. A suitably sized hole is drilled in a wall (the diameter is usually printed on the anchor) and the expansion part of the fixing is inserted in the hole. The bolt is passed through the fixture being attached to the wall and the bolt tightened with a wrench. The fixing expands and securely grips the side of the hole. You can get these fixings with a hook or eye at the end for attaching cables and ropes etc (e.g., a clothes line). Another type has a nut rather than a bolt head at the end.
Important! Expansion fittings shouldn’t be excessively tightened to avoid cracking concrete. They should also be kept in a minimum distance from the edge of concrete or solid blocks. A crack in this case could cause a section to break off and the bolt to lose its grip on the masonry.
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| Expansion bolt (Wedge anchor) © Eugene Brennan |
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| When the bolt is tightened, the sleeve expands and grips the side of the hole © Eugene Brennan |
For fixing timber frames to concrete or brick walls, you have two options: frame fixings or express anchors.
Lengths of timber, stud walls or any other type of thick material can be fixed to masonry with frame fixings. These are like a long wall plug. An 8mm to 10mm hole is first drilled through timber and masonry behind it and the fixing tapped home until the edge is flush with the timber. Then the screw is either screwed or hammered into the plastic sleeve. You can also use these fixings for attaching things to masonry walls, after the walls have been insulated with composite drywall/insulation boards, e.g., radiators. Choose an appropriate length so that the part of the fixing that expands is within the masonry.
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| Frame fixing |
Express anchors represent another option for attaching timber beams, fence posts, door frames etc to walls. These fixings are hollow with a slot in the side and slightly larger than the hole which is drilled for them. When hammered into a hole, they squeeze tight and wedge firmly into position. They can also be used for joining timber as they provide the advantage of a screw, resisting being pulled out, and the convenience of a nail. The disadvantage of course is that unlike a frame fixing, they are permanent and can’t be easily removed.
Note! Neither frame fixings nor express anchors are recommended for fixing into cavity blocks. In any case, they should be at least 4 inches (100mm) in from the edges of blocks and spaced no closer than 4 inches to prevent cracking of the masonry.
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| Express nail anchor © Eugene Brennan |
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| Express anchors can be used for attaching timbers to walls © Eugene Brennan |
For brick or stud walls, I generally use Spax wood screws or similar. These type of screws have a tip which drills through timber as the screw is driven, making for easier driving. A Philips head allows you to drive the screw with a cordless drill.
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| Spax wood screws © Eugene Brennan |
Spax wood screws or similar with a Philips head have a special tip that makes drilling easier.
Spring toggle anchors provide the most anchorage when it comes to drywall/plasterboard.
Hollow expansion anchors are suitable for heavy loads, such as TVs.
Heavy items should be mounted to a stud, if possible. If you are not mounting on a stud, use a toggle anchor. The size of the toggle depends on the weight of the piece and the thickness of the wall. If you are mounting a heavy item on a masonry wall, use an expansion bolt (anchor wedge).
The thicker the anchor, the more weight it can hold. A thick toggle anchor can hold up to 50 pounds. Hollow expansion anchors can hold up to 100 pounds.
This article is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge. Content is for informational or entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for personal counsel or professional advice in business, financial, legal, or technical matters.
Power and hand tools can be dangerous. Read and understand all manuals before use and take reasonable precautions including wearing personal protection equipment (PPE) to prevent against injury.
© 2011 Eugene Brennan
lucille12 on April 05, 2015:
The right hangers can certainly help in organizing your home and eliminating the piles that lay around the home.
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| © Eugene Brennan |
The epic saga of the two year construction of a garden shed…
Have you ever wanted to build your own garden shed? I always have and attempted my first one when I was about 10 years old, but abandoned the project because of lack of materials, skills and tools! Eventually, 40 years later, I got around to building a proper garden tool shed.
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| Petrol and electric corded trimmers © Eugene Brennan |
This garden power tool has many names depending on where you live in the world, but one thing is sure — it certainly beats a hedge shears for trimming and edging! Like most power tools nowadays, string trimmers are available in petrol, electric corded and rechargeable battery cordless versions.
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| © Eugene Brennan |
Motor oil is an essential requirement of all engines. It has several functions, including lubrication of metal parts in contact (reducing friction), cooling, keeping surfaces clean, sealing and corrosion inhibition.
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| © Eugene Brennan |
Like any other faucet (also known as a tap), a spigot has an internal washer which seals and cuts off flow when the spigot is turned off. Eventually after thousands of on/off cycles, this washer wears away, and the result is a dripping spigot.
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| AI image generated by Bing Image Creator |
This guide helps you identify the 25 most common weeds that you’ll encounter in your yard, flower beds or lawn. Some are annuals and others are perennials—many are easy to eradicate, others more difficult to eliminate.
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| © Eugene Brennan |
In this guide I’m going to make a nesting box suitable for European robins, although it can be sized down a little to make it suitable for finches, wrens or similar small songbirds. You can make a birdhouse like this from any waste timber (lumber) that comes to hand such as cladding, fascia or soffit, skirting board (baseboard), palette timber or ply.
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| © Eugene Brennan |
Basic plumbing isn’t rocket science. If you are reasonably adept at DIY, understand the basics, and take care when putting it all together, it’s not too difficult. This is a comprehensive and easy-to-understand guide to pipe types, plumbing fittings, thread sizes, with instructions for how to use fittings to connect copper, PVC, and PEX pipes.
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| Learn how to use a concrete mixer to get consistent, high-quality results every time. Original image, pre-text overlay, Antranias, public domain via Pixabay.com. |
In my other guide on mixing concrete by hand, we discovered that it’s feasible to mix concrete with just a shovel. This is fine for small amounts of concrete. However, a mixer thoroughly mixes the materials, lessening the chances of weak spots in the final result. If you’re going to be laying floors or pavements or casting gate pillars or walls, a cement mixer is pretty much essential if you want to get the job done reasonably quickly.
I go into more detail in my other article, but let’s cover the basics here:
Varying the proportion of cement, sand, and stone controls the strength of concrete and the force it can withstand without failing. “C” types are used to specify the strength of concrete. These recipes specify the proportion of materials (by volume) which will produce concrete that can have a certain strength.
The drier concrete is, the stronger it is. Ideally, it must only be wet enough so that it’s workable.
The quantity of water needed should be 0.4 to 0.6 times the weight of cement. For a 25kg (4 stone approx) bag, if we take a figure of 0.5, this works out at:
25 x 0.50 = 12.5 kg of water
Now since 1 kg of water has a volume of 1 litre, this equates to 12.5 litres of water for 25 kg of cement.
12.5 litres is nearly 2 3/4 imperial (UK) gallons or 3.3 US gallons.
Loose cement has a density of about 1.5 kg/litre. That’s 1.5 times the density of water. So if we have 1 bucket of cement, it takes 1.5 buckets of water to weigh the same amount, and again, taking a figure of 0.5, we need 0.5 x 1.5 = 0.75 or 3/4 buckets of water per bucket of cement.
Concrete shouldn’t be excessively wet after mixing and should have a minimum slump. A shovelful deposited on the ground should self-support itself without spreading out (slumping). Concrete that is too dry is unworkable and also won’t have sufficient water for the chemical reaction with cement to progress properly and the concrete to cure, therefore reducing its ultimate strength.
Too much water is also detrimental to the final strength because as excess water that doesn’t combine with cement evaporates, it leaves behind micropores which are tiny air cavities. The concrete is effectively a sponge.
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| A barrel is more convenient than a hose because buckets can be filled quicker. © Eugene Brennan |
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| Stone and sand can be wet, so using a separate bucket for cement keeps it dry and stops cement sticking to the sides. © Eugene Brennan |
Warning
Always read the safety information on bags of cement.
A cement mixer allows you to mix concrete quickly, and you can produce a wheelbarrow of it in about 10 minutes. Here are some tips to get the best results.
Water added to concrete isn’t just for making it plastic and workable so it can be formed into slabs and other shapes. Water or H2O combines with cement in a chemical reaction and actually becomes part of the concrete for all eternity (well not quite, but as long as the concrete is in existence!).
Any excess water evaporates over a period of weeks. Since water is necessary for this chemical reaction, it’s essential that it is retained until concrete cures or hardens over days to weeks. So once you lay concrete, cover it with plastic to stop it from drying. This is important in hot weather and/or when windy. Water can be added onto the surface in subsequent days to keep it wet while curing.
Cold weather is defined as when the average temperature is less than 41 F (5 C) and also less than 50 F (10 C) for 12 hours in a 24-hour period. During cold weather, concrete should be protected with blankets, bubble wrap or other suitable insulation. This traps the heat of the chemical reaction and stops the concrete from freezing.
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| Concrete is a cheap, strong material that can be used for making lots of things like gate pillars and pavements. © Eugene Brennan - From the Article "How to Build a Concrete Gate Pier" |
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| A newly concreted slab at the back of my house. © Eugene Brennan |
Cement bags should be kept up off the ground so moisture doesn’t soak into them. You can use a palette or place the bags on boards spanned between wood offcuts or bricks. Unused, unopened bags of cement can be sealed into plastic bags (use heavy rubble bags instead of trash bags, which can puncture) to lengthen its shelf life, but apparently, it still deteriorates if bags are airtight. It’s recommended that it should be used within 6 months.
Use cement within three months of the manufacture date printed on the bag. After this it often becomes lumpy where it’s in contact with the inside of the bag.
This article is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge. Content is for informational or entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for personal counsel or professional advice in business, financial, legal, or technical matters.
Power and hand tools can be dangerous. Read and understand all manuals before use and take reasonable precautions including wearing personal protection equipment (PPE) to prevent against injury.
© 2020 Eugene Brennan
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| © Eugene Brennan |
A cement mixer does a great job at mixing concrete, thoroughly blending the materials to give a consistent result. However it’s also possible to mix concrete by hand without a mixer with a little care and some effort.
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| © Eugene Brennan |
Air tools, as the name suggests, are tools powered by compressed air, unlike conventional power tools which are either powered by a 120/240-volt mains supply, battery or petrol. This article outlines the basics of how they work, what tools are available, and how to use them with an air compressor.
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| © Eugene Brennan |
Did you know that plants can be cloned? Yes you can make duplicate plants for your garden by taking cuttings. The new plant will have identical properties to the original plant and you can repeat this process lots of times.
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| © Eugene Brennan |
You can buy “ready-made” plants in a store, but it can be much more fun and a lot less expensive to grow them yourself from seed! The magical journey of a plant from a tiny seed to adulthood is fascinating for both adults and children alike!
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| AI image generated by Bing Image Creator |
When drilling any material, the correct bit is essential so that holes can be bored quickly and with ease. If you’re a newbie at DIY, this article explains how to go about choosing the right drill bit for the job when boring through various materials such as steel, aluminum and other metals, masonry, plastics, wood, glass, and tiles.
