Kitchen Cabinet Refacing Tips: What are the Different Cabinet Doors? (Infographic)

Kitchen Cabinet Refacing Tips: What are the Different Cabinet Doors? (Infographic)

          One of the most aspired projects that a homeowner wants for their house is renovating and refacing their kitchen. The kitchen is one of the most commonly used areas inside a house; it is only essential to renew or get rid of parts inside that occasionally does not keep the sanitation and prolongs the integral parts of some fixtures. One example of a portion of an installation that is easy to become frail is kitchen cabinet doors. Most of the time, cabinet doors are exposed to different levels of humidity inside the kitchen, and grease. It is not beneficial to only clean with towel and soap, because there are a lot of considerations to view when it comes to keeping the quality of cabinet doors.

    In this infographic, we will discuss a variety of kitchen cabinet doors designs to fit your kitchen interior and start a refacing project for your kitchen cabinets. One kind of cabinet doors that can meet your kitchen is flat panel cabinet doors; these particular cabinet doors are a perfect fit for minimalist kitchens because of its simple yet classy look, and also adapts with what kind of material that a homeowner can choose. Another is a louvered cabinet door; if you do not want to splurge on electric dish dryers, this particular type of kitchen cabinet door is for you. Louvered kitchen cabinets have angled horizontal slats wherein air can easily pass through, in this way, you can easily air-dry damp dishes and save a good steal of material than spending more from a dishwasher.

    It is vital that homeowners should be mindful of every fixtures and sanitation procedures when it comes to refacing their kitchen cabinets, to learn more, check out the infographic below created by KitchenCabinetRefacing.com.

Guest Contributor, Kitchen Cabinet Refacing

5 Practical Tips for Relocating a Small Family-Owned Business

5 Practical Tips for Relocating a Small Family-Owned Business

When you’re running a small family-sized business, every client counts, and the concept of “time equals money” becomes so close to you that there is not a second to lose during your busy week. Sure, it’s great fun, and it helps preserve personal relationships with clients that bigger brands just can’t create or uphold, but when it comes to finally relocating, things can get a bit messy.

Just imagine running a family-owned plumbing business and having to move all of those tools and delicate equipment you carefully stored in your current office to a completely new location across town. Now that’s a challenge, especially when trying to keep your clients at your side. With that in mind, here are the five relocation steps you should follow for a safe and quick small business move.

Set Up your New Office Beforehand

Whether you’re moving to a new house or to a new office or facility, the first thing you need to do is prepare the new space for you arrival. This doesn’t just mean you should tidy up or connect the utilities, this means picking up right where you left off without feeling it on your budget, and without your clients feeling it on their own skin.

This is why complete office preparation is so important. You can start by deciding where everything, down to the last screwdriver, is supposed to be in the new office. Make a mock-up of the new space and write down where everything is supposed to go – it will save you plenty of time when you arrive.

Make a Detailed Packing Plan

It should go without saying that you should have a sound packing plan when it comes to moving your entire operation, but let’s say it anyway. Relocating a business, no matter how small, can only be done efficiently if you know what you’re doing every step of the way. This means that you need a detailed packing plan that will take you from inception to completion without losing business, your stuff, or your employees.

Instead of packing everything on moving day, start the packing process early. You can pack your non-essential equipment first, and then move on to the essential tools as the moving day approaches. Be sure to consult your schedule to ensure you didn’t pack a crucial piece of equipment that you actually need.

Save Time and Money by Renting a Truck

Hire professional movers? Sure, that might be the first thing that pops in your head, but that might not be the best cost-effective solution to your predicament. The truth is that moving companies tend to be needlessly expensive, especially in the wake of the truck hire revolution and the benefits it brings: lower cost, saving precious time, and complete control. Therefore, opting for Budget truck rental service to relocate your operation quickly and without busting the proverbial bank is the best way to go. Simply load everything up and be on your way while your customers and clients are still sleeping and you’ll be up-and-running without losing a dime.

Sort and Pack your Tools

For a small family business such as a plumbing company or an electrician, the tools are worth more than anything, and therefore they require special handling and care during the relocation process. The first thing you should do, of course, is to sort all of your tools before packing them. Be sure to clean them as well, as there will be no time to do this in the new place.

Pack all of your hand tools into the toolbox and be sure to sort them into their corresponding sockets instead of just dumping everything in the main compartment. You can pack all of your power tools in labeled boxes, as these are sturdy enough to withstand the trip without special protection. Remember to drain all motorized tools of fuel before you pack them, because you never know what might light a disastrous spark.

Inform Everyone of your Move

Last, but definitely not least, everyone should be in the know when it comes to your relocation. Don’t wait until the last day to inform your clients that you’re moving, because chances are you’re going to spook them. If you spook them, they will start looking for the same service somewhere else. Be sure you inform all relevant people of your move several months in advance, especially if you’re running a business where people come to you. This way, everyone will know exactly what to expect, and how to continue doing business with you without wasting their time or money.

Relocating a small family business is not a walk in the park, no matter how small the business is. By following these steps, though, you will have no problem moving your company to a new location without putting pressure on your employees, customers, or your wallet.

 Guest Contributor,

About the author: Mike Johnston is a home improvement blogger and DIY enthusiast from Sydney. He is a regular writer at Smooth Decorator and contributor on several interior design, lifestyle, real estate and eco blogs. Mike’s goal is to create and share meaningful content that helps and inspires people.

10 Plumbing & Maintenance Tools You Should Always Have At Home

10 Plumbing & Maintenance Tools You Should Always Have At Home

Hiring a plumber isn’t always the thing that you may be wishing to do for a variety of reasons.

You may be living in a secluded location without quick access to such services. Or you may be in an emergency situation where mere minutes could be decisive.

Besides, some plumbing jobs are relatively simple and actually don’t require a professional necessarily.

In either case, you would probably want to have some plumbing & maintenance tools on hand for such cases. Even if you won’t really be doing plumbing jobs yourself, you should have a couple of basic tools just in case.

So without further ado, let’s see what the 10 basic plumbing and maintenance tools you should be having in your toolbox are.

Toilet Plunger

Toilet plungers are essential for any household. In fact, you may want to have two plungers instead of one: one flange and one cup plunger. Even if you don’t run into a clog issue that frequently, you should have them just in case.

Flange plungers are suitable for clearing toilet clogs because they have an additional soft rubber coming from the cup. And the cup plunger is a tool that would be useful for clearing clogs in sinks, tubs, or other flat-surface drains.

Basin Wrench

A staple in any plumber’s toolbox, the basin wrench can come in handy in basically any plumbing task.

It is a self-tightening wrench designed to fit into narrow spaces, so you could easily tighten or loosen fittings with a basin wrench in hard-to-reach corners where other types of wrenches just wouldn’t be able to fit into.

And you wouldn’t need to break through any walls to reach those areas!

Pipe Wrench

Pipe wrenches nowadays aren’t being used as widely as they once used to, but they still are necessary plumbing tools.

A pipe wrench is used to tighten and loosen fittings and nuts. In fact, you would probably need to have two pipe wrenches: one to hold the fitting and the other to actually loosen or tighten it with.

You could use just one pipe wrench to adjust the fittings, but you would put stress on the installation. If you are dealing with delicate piping, then using only one pipe wrench could end badly.

Adjustable Wrench

Adjustable wrenches are used on compression fittings, supply lines, and generally all the plumbing parts that have hex-shaped nuts. In addition, an adjustable wrench could be used if you don’t want to scratch any finish off of the installation.

When choosing an adjustable wrench, you would want to get one that has a firm jaw setting. If an adjustable wrench doesn’t have one, it just won’t work properly. And if it slips, you may damage your installation.

In addition, make sure to get both 6- and 10-inch adjustable wrenches.

Auger & Snake

Plumbing auger and snake are actually two separate plumbing tools, but since they are often used in tandem, we figured to list them as one.

The auger-and-snake tandem is used for clearing drain clogs that simply don’t yield to a regular plunger. Most commonly, auger and snake are used for dealing with toilet clogs.

Both are designed to easily move through the toilet drain to catch the potential clogs and pull them out. The difference between the two is that a snake is a much more flexible plumbing tool.

Hacksaw

A hacksaw would allow you to cut through metal and plastic pipes, hardware, screws, nuts, and whatnot. This is a tool that could come in handy if you can’t really deal with the problem by just tightening or replacing a couple of fittings.

A typical hacksaw is quite bulky and is thereby unsuitable for use in tight areas. You could, however, remove the blade, wrap it in a piece of cloth on one end, and then slip the blade in the tight area. Or, you could just go for a more compact hacksaw to deal with hard-to-reach areas.

Make sure to keep some extra blades in your toolbox just in case. Besides, when dealing with tough cuts, make sure that the blade is tense.

Tongue-and-Groove Pliers

Tongue-and-groove pliers are used to grab, hold, tighten, loosen, or pull something. In fact, some plumbers use these instead of a pipe wrench, probably because they prefer them to pipe wrenches thanks to their compactness and convenience.

Just like pipe wrenches, tongue-and-groove pliers work best in a pair when you hold the fitting with one plier and loosen or tighten it with the other. You would thereby want to have two, though one would still be sufficient for many plumbing jobs.

Tubing Cutter

A tubing cutter is another tool to cut piping with. It is generally more convenient than a hacksaw since it allows you to do quick cuts. Besides, tubing cutter does the cutting much cleaner.

However, whether you need a hacksaw or a tubing cutter will depend on the metal, so you would probably want to have both in your toolbox. Tubing cutters are most commonly used to cut copper or plastic piping.

There are also mini tubing cutters available on the market, so consider to get one as well for reaching tight corners.

Thread Seal Tape

Commonly referred to as PTFE tape or plumber’s tape, thread seal tape is used to sealing pipe threads. Aside from that, the tape works as a thread lubricant and as a deformable filler. Because of that, a joint wrapped in thread sealed tape doesn’t become hard to tighten.

Thread seal tape is inexpensive, so make sure to have a couple of rolls in your toolbox.

Metal File

A metal file is used to smoothen the edges of cut metal pipes, as well as to remove burrs. For jobs where you use a hacksaw, a metal file may be a necessity.

There are various file sizes available on the market, but you don’t have to get every single one of them. Generally, having a rat-tail file and a half-round file in your toolbox would be sufficient for the majority of plumbing jobs.

Of course, there are hundreds of other tools you can get for your home. We tried to stick to the basics to keep you safe when the time comes.

Guest Contributor, Morgan Antoinette