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How To Build A Butcher Block Island Stretcher

If you’re hankering for a bit more elbow room to prepare meals, this rolling island lets you make the most of the floor plan you already have. The sturdy frame, made of sections of gas pipe, gives it an industrial flair, and the casters make it easy to move. Clamp a straightedge adjacent to the first line as a saw guide. Although we’re using standardized, precut pipe, expect some variation in threading among pieces. You will need to tighten and loosen pieces throughout the assembly process to adjust for length.Now back the vertical pipes out of their lower fittings, about halfway, until the top threads engage with the fittings above. Once the top rung is in place, thread in the short vertical pipes and flanges. You’ll need four flanges, eleven pieces of threaded pipe, four tee fittings, and two elbows. It’s critical that the horizontal tee fittings on both sides line up so that the stretcher and the shelf will be level. Set the tee fitting of the towel-bar side onto the threads of the stretcher. At the other end, mark the board where it extends past the rung.
Stitch And Stretch Countertop Crochet And Stretching | Duration 10 Minutes 35 Seconds Mark the bottom shelf board to fit between the rungs, and crosscut it to length. Use a section of pipe to get the right spacing for the shorter board. Set the pipe frame on top of it, and use your combination square to center and align the flanges at the corners. Drive flat-head screws through the flange holes into the butcher block. Measure and mark the piece with cutlines for the countertop and lower counter. Use a new 40-tooth carbide-tipped blade, and adjust its depth to ¼ inch more than the thickness of the wood. Reclamp the straightedge, tape the second line, and make the cut. Change to successively higher-grit discs, and sand until the cut is as smooth as the uncut surface. There should be 15 threaded pipe pieces of different lengths, nine tee fittings, and four flanges. The center tee is horizontal and the side tees are vertical. It’s a good idea to gently tighten pieces by hand as you work, keeping in mind that you’ll need to loosen some connections and tighten others to get matching lengths.

Stand it on your work surface and compare its width to that of the stretcher rung—they should be the same. Repeating this for each stage will give you a straight ladder. Don’t worry if some pieces seem slightly loose in their fittings—they won’t once the entire island comes together. Thread the fittings onto the second rung, then seat them onto the threads of the vertical pipes. As you work, keep both sides of the ladder the same height, and loop a belt around the rungs to hold them in place. Stand the towel-bar side next to the ladder side to compare it, and adjust the flanges, as shown, to make the heights match. Rotate the entire towel-bar side, as shown, to thread the fitting with the stretcher until the pieces are well seated and the sides are in proper alignment. Rest the top board in place on the stretcher rungs, one end aligned with the outside of the frame. Use a rafter square to guide your circular saw, as shown, to make the crosscut. Apply glue to the joint between the boards, and clamp the short board in place at your marks. Lay the lower butcher-block counter on a temporary work surface. Drive flat-head screws into all four holes on each flange to secure the countertop. Pour mineral oil on a clean, dry cloth and wipe it over the countertop and the cut edges.

Allow the oil to soak into the wood for an hour, then apply another coat.

Hampton Bay 10 Ft. Laminate Countertop With Left Miter In Golden Juparana by homedepot.com

Depot also sells a laminate countertop stretcher which will do the job. The miter cut was non-linear, resulting in a 1/32″ gap in the middle of the miter that narrowed to zero at the front and rear. With its built-in backsplash this countertop is a great way to incorporate a stylish functional touch. This mitered countertop features a built-in backsplash providing a virtually seamless look, no crevices where dirt and grime collect. The rest of the countertop was fine, but the quality of the fit at the miter is all-important, and in this case was poor.

Cabinets; A Question About Spacing For Countertops Stretchers and How To Attach by kregjig.ning.com

I assume the frontstretcher goes behind the top rail rather than sitting on top of it? Probably doesn’t sound like much of a deal, but for here it is! I need to get the countertop up another 3/4″ to get out of the way of my doors. I will add additional stretchers or spacers at the top; is that the recommended way? I was wondering about the spacing at top, but the use of a top rail seems like a good idea to add additional clearance without sacrificing cabinet space.

How To Cover Tile Countertops by stretcher.com

The downside is that the counters cannot be used for food prep, but using cutting boards or a portable counter would resolve that health issue. Chip out the broken tiles and surrounding grout, and then replace them with accent or contrasting tiles. If the color is slightly off, it may blend in if you have to replace more tiles. However, if your tile is a different color, you will need to look around to see if you can match the color. There you can buy samples of a large variety of different colors of paint. Using a toothpick, fill in the crack on the tile, and then using the brush, paint a thin layer of paint over the top of the tile. Use wood trim instead of special edging tiles, and do the work yourself. I used 12×12 tiles for the main part of the counter and 4×4 for the edges. It’s easy to replace one tile, and if you do a few here and there, you could do it with colors that would give it a fun, “confetti” kind of look. I would also strongly suggest that you regrout, if possible, and seal the grout with a good sealant. They have many stone styles that look and feel quite real (but don’t require sealing). We bought a 1977 house and it had some crazy bright-colored fruit on the tile backsplash. I know you are dealing with countertops, but this could be a quick fix for your problem until you can save the money required to replace it all. Don’t miss these 7 non-obvious ways to save on a kitchen remodel. They are cracked in places and chipped in others, and they basically look old and outdated. You can cut a heavy duty piece of linoleum or vinyl flooring to the size of the counter tops and glue down.I started with the smallest counter to see how the fit and look was. Try using flooring tiles instead of those specifically for countertops. My suggestion would be to watch at your local home center for inexpensive close-out tiles, and then replace them with colorful ones one by one. You could also just find closeout white field tile, which is pennies per tile, and replace them individually as needed. My solution in the end was just to buy a bleach pen and go over the grout regularly. Another relatively inexpensive alternative is to replace the counters with high-definition laminate.

Final Review After 95% Completion Of Diy Carpet Install Using Stretcher Roberts Power Lok 10254 | Duration 9 Minutes 57 Seconds You will probably need a notched trowel or two, a grout float, and drill to stir the grout and a tile saw (can easily be rented). If you use a color-matched grout, and leave very thin grout lines (easier cleaning), you will have the look of granite countertops for a lot less. You really have to make sure the tile and grout are very, very clean. We then chose good quality semi-gloss kitchen paint and finished with that. Our friends still remark how good it looks and that they are surprised it turned out so nice! We were proud of ourselves for only spending this when it could have cost us hundreds of dollars for new tiles and all the prep that goes along with that project.

Stretchers Versus Full Tops by woodweb.com

It happens when an item in a top drawer catches on the back side of the top stretcher. It is not a professional sight to be in a client’s kitchen with your feet against the toe kick pulling with all of your might until the screws holding the front on give way. I have done hundreds of jobs and have thousands of base cabinets out in the world. We add a divider to the garbage/recycle cab, so items in the drawer above are protected from rotting garbage. Out of thousands of drawer bases, it’s only been a problem on three occasions. I wonder if once you remove that obstacle it would be replaced by another.This also means on install you can shim the uppers off the lowers and stand on the lowers in a pinch if needed. I guess in that case the drawer back was weaker than the drawer front screws. If you are using ordinary birch/maple ply or melamine, there would really not be a reason to use stretchers. As a guy who has slung them around for nine years, is there anything worse than a full depth 24″ (let alone 30″ for base) fridge cabinet or a lazy suzan base, with nowhere to grip or get a handle? Then add in extra time for cutting different size parts and it’s not worth it to me. When you’re cutting thousands of parts, a few pennies here and there add up. Do you inset your backs or are they nailed to the outside? Yes, you can remove doors/drawers, but isn’t the whole idea in the first place to use the easiest/fastest way possible? I sometimes use just one on the top of a cabinet and lift from the back side while tilting back to keep the doors and drawers closed or in pairs with one or two people. We don’t wrap ours completely – just a band around the top and the bottom to hold the face cover on. Finally, there is no way to adjust the case after the nailer is screwed. If there was enough force to move the cabinets, it would almost certainly tear out a flimsy nailer. It is a lot faster and easier than reaching through a stretchered top and handling a drill inside the cabinet. Cabinets in other countries are not falling over due to a lack of nailer/screws. This is the second client to call in the last several years, and this problem has occurred in my own kitchen as well. It can make opening the drawer impossible without ripping off the drawer front. In reality, your answer lies in the description of the problem. That, and the customers who chose to use a plastic cutlery insert instead of paying the price for an integrated cutlery insert. I am assuming you charged for this service call, right?

Choosing Granite That Looks Like Marble | Duration 2 Minutes 29 Seconds We find it faster to treat the top and bottom of the cabinet the same to streamline the process. One was that the back of a drawer was busted clean off from an item being stuck up against the stretcher and the customer forcing the drawer open. Getting it off the bench, on the truck, in the house – even you high-tech guys with conveyors still have to manually take them off and on the truck and in the house. As has been stated already, the savings in material using stretchers is so minimal it’s not worth doing. I think where you see a savings using stretchers is when you get into mass production. For really heavy cabinets (lots of big drawers) we pull out the drawers. I don’t think having handles is a good enough reason to use stretchers. We use dollies and carts so the lifting is limited to stairs, lowering off the truck, and shuffling on the site. I can’t lift or move – but my arms are only so long and there is no hand hold without the stretchers. Screwing into the wall makes it very difficult to get a perfect installation, as the walls are never straight enough. Also tightening the screws into the nailers usually twists the case or rocks it back, making the job more difficult. If we use a bracket, it is attached to the wall first, then after all the cabinets are straight and aligned, we screw it into the top of the case. The countertop will conceal the bracket even if there is no splash. Neither are refrigerators, buffet cabinets and other similar cabinetry.

Cutting Laminate Countertop by stretcher.com

That’s always easier said than done, considering moving the countertop can entail disconnecting the sink plumbing and disconnecting whatever fasteners hold the countertop in place. The cut can be made using two saws… a circular saw and a jig saw. Apply a few additional strips of tape on the countertop where the saw base will travel. If you don’t have a rip fence or for some reason it won’t work in your situation (usually when the cut is too far from the edge of the material), rig up a guide for your saw using a piece of straight wood or even a metal ruler such as a carpenter’s square. Unlike the auto ads, thinner is better in saw blades because the saw is not working as hard. The cut can be finished with an electric jig saw using either a special laminate cutting blade or just a fine tooth metal cutting blade.It is important to position the sander so that the belt is traveling downward (pressing the laminate against the substrate). If the laminate is well-glued, you have a good chance of success. This should visually eliminate any minor chipping that may have occurred and also eliminate the razor-sharp edge that laminates can sometimes have when cut. It is up to the reader to determine if advice is safe and suitable for their own situation. It is just quite a bit easier if you can move the countertop away from the wall. Since some are glued and screwed down, moving a countertop can be a really challenging project. The circular saw will make most of the cut and the jig saw will finish up close to the wall. This will protect the surface and also help prevent chipping. Since you don’t have a way to clamp it down on both ends, clamp one end of your guide to the overhanging edge of the countertop and tape the other end in place with duct tape. Set the saw blade depth so it just cuts through the thickest part of the countertop by about 1/8 of an inch. Then use a 220 grit sandpaper on a sanding block and run it along the cut edge of the laminate on a 45 degree angle, smoothing and slightly rounding it. Once those home improvements are done, why not take some time to improve your finances? All advice should be weighed against your own abilities and circumstances and applied accordingly.