Outdoor Entertaining - Home Improvement – Today's Homeowner

We help Frank and Suzanne Hicks create a picture-perfect outdoor entertaining space, including a paver base pathway leading to a picnic spot under a shady oak tree.

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Fuji Spray Q4 Giveaway!

Big thank you for Fuji Spray for sponsoring this post. This is a giveaway for the Q4 Platinum Spray System with Bottom Feed Spray Gun. It opens July 16th and will run until July 30th with the winner being announced on July 31st. This giveaway is open to everybody in the US and Canada only, Click below to enter. Good luck!

 

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Review of the Bosch Speed Clean Dust Extracting SDS Bit

Today we are going to take a closer look at the Bosch Speed Clean – Dust Extractor SDS Bit. Bosch has been setting the standard over the years for quality hammer drills and masonry bits as well as many other commercial quality tools.

The Speed Clean bit does as it the name implies and basically cleans the hole of dust and debris as the drill removes material. Extracting the dust is achieved with the help of a shop-vac. As you can see, there is a port for a vacuum attachment that leads directly to the bit.

Interested in owning one of these dust extracting masonry bits? Check them out at The Home Depot by clicking here.

If you lean in a little closer on the bit, you can see that the bit is hollow in the center. This open cavity center leads down to two extraction ports at the tip of the bit . The ports are nested between the carbide cutting teeth.

As the teeth remove material, the extraction ports inhale the dusty material and eject it out through the vacuum attachment and into your shop vac. Why is this important? If you’ve ever set concrete anchors into an existing slab or wall you already know the answer to this question.

Either way, here’s the skinny: Conventional masonry bits all demand a pretty predictable routine; run the bit in with a hammer drill, pull the bit out, vacuum the hole, repeat until you’ve reached your target depth, vacuum the hole again, then install your fastener according to manufacturer specs. This bit allows you stay in the hole until the job is done by providing a constant path for dust escape.

For many commercial jobs these days OSHA compliance is a huge priority. In the case the silica regulations, the Bosch Speed Clean sets itself out with these dust extracting bits. Aside from helping with OSHA compliance, the dust sucking bit is also a great technology to help keep the operators lungs from becoming effected by airborne dust due to drilling.

Out here in the woods, OSHA is far removed from my job sites.  However, I had to test this technology to gage just how well this bit actually works.  I drilled a 1/2″ diameter hole in a piece of lime stone while actively vacuuming the dust from the bit.  I was pretty blown away.  Conventionally dust tends to “mound up” around the drill hole with standard masonry bits. This drill bit did not.  I was able to drill a 1/2″ diameter hole through about 2″ of lime stone and effectively removed all of the dust the bit generated.

These bits come from the brand you’ve already come to know and love in the arena of commercial hammer drills and SDS bits. If you are interested in saving time on each anchor hole, keeping you workspace and lungs clean from dust contamination, and investing in a long lasting carbide bit, then consider the Speed Clean line up of SDS bits from Bosch.

This review is sponsored by The Home Depot through their ProSpective campaign. 

 

 

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Review of Milwaukee Ax Sawzall Blade with Carbide Teeth.

Today we are going to take a look at another type of demo saw blade: The AX SAWZALL Blade with Carbide Teeth made by Milwaukee.  This is a sponsored post in support of The Home Depot ProSpective Campaign. You probably already know that Milwaukee introduced the Sawzall in 1951 and has since expanded their line to include all kinds of quality tools and accessories. This saw blade is no exception to their record and is a great choice to not only keep around the house but also for serious contractor level demo work.

The new Ax Sawzall blade features carbide tipped teeth that are no match for nail embedded wood or hard fasteners. The material I cut with this wood contained some heavy duty staples which the blade had no problem going through. If your sawzall is battery operated then this is definitely the blade for you. The blades 5 TPI cutting edge delivers up to 30x more blade life when compared to bi-metal blades which results in about 25% more battery life.

The benefit of having the carbide tip cutting teeth boils down to hardness. The carbide cutting teeth are harder than nearly any nail or fastener you are going to encounter in the field. This translates into a cutting tooth that will not be greatly affected by plowing through nails and other foreign matter inside of wood.

Not only does this blade work well as a good demo type blade, but they also make for great pruning blades as well. I realize this may not be the intent for the design but I have recently had to use this blade to cut some pretty dedicated tree roots and the teeth did not appear to dull at all and my cordless sawzall even hung in there longer than usual.

Lastly, I noticed that when using this blade it was much more stable than some other blades I’ve used in the past. Additionally, this blade has been through all kinds of hell around my place and it has not “blued” due to over heating either. All and all this blade is a great buy through The Home Depot at just over eleven bucks after taxes and will make a great demo blade for you. If your interested, you can find here on The Home Depot’s website.

This review is sponsored by The Home Depot through their ProSpective campaign. 

 

 

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Reviving our Exterior Front Entrance

It’s time to add some excitement to the front entrance!  You may recall from our exterior plans that we were debating on whether or not to build a covered porch or just update what we currently have.

Well, after drafting and reviewing the plans for a covered porch, we decided to rule out this idea for now. It’s an ambitious task and with a busy summer schedule, we didn’t want to push it and potentially exhaust ourselves trying to get it done.

For now, we will be updating our existing entrance, which consists of reviving the surrounding wood molding and updating the front door with a few DIY’s.

The molding around the front door is still in good shape, minus the rotted plinth blocks at the bottom. The plan is to replace the damaged areas and update the pediment style (the triangular piece at the top) for a more up-to-date linear look.

We originally thought the pediment was two separate pieces, which could easily be taken down. Once we started to remove it, everything above the door was in fact one piece of wood.

We went back and forth about removing the whole thing but in the end, the hubby just used a reciprocating saw to cut directly across the wood (without touching the brick) to dismantle the piece. I wanted to keep that beautiful trim work on the header!

To replace the triangular pediment, we created a new rectangular piece using 1/2″ plywood and decorated it with various trim.

The old plinth blocks were cut out completely and replaced by three pieces of stacked 1″x 8″ wood and finished off with shoe molding. Don’t mind the black stuff, it’s just coloured wood filler.  Since we were priming and painting the trim white, I knew it wouldn’t show through.

We used the same PARA Paint and primer from our garage door frame and added these house numbers for a decorative touch.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to finish the front door but ignore the mismatching door for one second and visualize a white frame with mirrored sidelites and a black front door.

Can you see it?!

It’s going to be one heck of a transformation once I’m done with it.

We also updated our light fixtures by the front and along side our GARAGA garage doors. Keeping in line with the transitional style, I’m so excited about these outdoor wall lanterns I found from Wayfair. These heavy duty 20.5″ x 7″ exterior lights make such a profound statement. The clear glass and chandelier lights look amazing at night.

I know you guys are probably waiting to see this exterior makeover already. I’m even anxious to just get it done!! I promise the end is near!

Till next week

 

Disclosure: Thank you to Wayfair Canada for providing our exterior with some awesome light fixtures. All views, opinion and of course, creativity are truly my own.  

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Pavestone Outdoor Kitchen Time Lapse - Home Improvement – Today's Homeowner

Create an outdoor kitchen, complete with a grill, side burner and fridge, with the SplitRock system from Pavestone. Watch this time-lapse video to see it all come together.

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Pavestone Fire Pit Time Lapse - Home Improvement – Today's Homeowner

This fire pit from Pavestone is built using the SplitRock system. Watch the time-lapse video to see the project step-by-step.

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