Cottage Life » DIY

Verandahs of the Thousand Islands

Cottage Life — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:20:33 +0000

Add style with classic cottage chairs

Meagan Hamel — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:57:27 +0000

Solve your mouse problems

Cottage Life — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 21:36:47 +0000

Now that spring is here, you may arrive at your cottage to find the remains of a winter-long rodent party. Learn what to do, plus how to prevent another mouse invasion in the future.

Here at Cottage Life we have a long history of sharing the great outdoors (and indoors) with our wily rodent foes. Here’s a compilation of our best mouse-proofing and trapping tips.

Techniques for aging wood

Raj Chaudhry — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 21:44:13 +0000

Go ahead—you can replace that bad board in your weathered grey boathouse, deck, or shed without the new one looking like an obvious fix. Try these time-tested techniques to “age” new wood. Before you commit, test a sample first. And, for a more even finish, sand the end grain and any extra-rough patches where colourants will collect.

A bait-and-slip tactic

Ray Ford — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 20:08:39 +0000

Fishing is for the birds at Glenn Armstrong’s Julian Lake place in the Kawarthas, thanks to a surplus rod that feeds chickadees and thwarts freeloading black squirrels and chipmunks. “I was trying to come up with a way to keep squirrels from getting at the feeder,” says Armstrong. A tent pole didn’t work, so Armstrong screwed a block of white birch to the deck railing and drilled a 1″ hole into it to hold the butt end of a fishing rod. Then, he jammed a 5′ rod (he says stiffer is better) into the mount and tied the feeder to its tip. Now the furry-tailed gymnasts offer more entertainment than the birds. “They try running up the rod, but they can’t get past the handle. They can’t hang on, since it gets smaller as it goes out,” says Armstrong. “A few try to jump off the railing and land on the feeder, but they fall off. Suckers.”

The buck stops here

Ray Ford — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:58:44 +0000

Sure, they’re lovely, but when deer start snacking on your cottage raspberry patch, you’re apt to wonder how berry-fed venison tastes. Instead, Mark Kreger decided on a more inventive approach: separating Bambi from the berries with a deer-proof dome. “I’ve had this PolyPipe lying around since I bought the cottage, and I thought I could do something with it,” the Kearney-area cottager says. Fed up with the marauders, Kreger measured a 13-foot-diameter circle around the berry patch and pounded six 2′ lengths of scrap PVC pipe into the ground to act as the pegs for the dome. Then he formed three arches by shoving the ends of three 22′-long pieces of 1!/2″ polypropylene pipe onto the PVC stakes. Using plastic-covered wire, Kreger tied the pipes together at the apex of the dome, and then draped commercial deer netting over the frame and secured it with more wire. By doubling over the netting where the two ends meet, Kreger made a flap-like entrance to the dome, wired to a six-foot 1×1. The berry patch has been a deer-free zone since the dome went up last July, and Kreger’s wife, Emmi Duffy, is hoping her horticultural efforts will begin to pay off. “She planted the raspberries three years ago, but they haven’t really got going because the deer keep eating off the tender shoots,” Kreger says. “Now we’re hoping that the plants can get established, and we can finally enjoy some berries.”

Hinge element

Wayne Lennox — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:40:41 +0000

Here’s a simple method that I use to cut a hinge mortise—a task that can be tricky to do the traditional, chisel-only way. Position the hinge leaf on the surface and score the outline with a sharp utility knife. Remove the hinge and deepen the cuts; if you’re working with softwood, the utility knife should do, but for hardwood, you will need to use a sharp 3/4″ or 1″ chisel, positioned with the bevel toward the waste side. Then, insert a 1/2″ straight bit in your router and set its depth to the thickness of the hinge leaf. Rout out most of the waste, leaving a little spare wood next to the scored edges—it’s better to use a chisel to square up the corners and remove the remaining waste. You should now have a perfect fit for your hinge.

Store of advice

Steve Maxwell — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:35:48 +0000

Rob Clark, owner of cottage-country hardware stores in Bracebridge and Huntsville: “Cottage owners are mostly do-it-yourself people, so we’re often asked for technical advice on all kinds of subjects here at the stores.” Clark has field-proven solutions for five issues that cottage owners often face.

Pump smarts
Water pumps can push water better than they pull it. That’s why submersible pumps are tops for new water systems. For many cottagers, a !/2-hp, 115-volt model is ideal for drawing water from the lake. Watch out, though: Most submersibles use 240 volts, and that voltage requires a $300 GFCI breaker to meet Code. Look for 120-volt pumps that connect into a regular $15 GFCI.

Ice-free docks
An agitator can keep docks and boathouse foundations ice-free, especially important with modern boathouses built on steel pilings. Ice movement can bend the steel and permanently weaken it. But you don’t need to leave the agitator on 24/7. I’d set a timer for a six-hour on-off cycle; in this area, that works just as well, and it saves electricity.

Safe water
Never install a UV water purifier without adequate filters in place—suspended sediment shades microbes from the disinfecting UV rays. Coarse and fine filters remove sediment, and then a charcoal filter clears unwanted odours and improves the taste.

Better paint
There’s no shortcut to paint prep. You have to scrape and sand and get tired. Before you do, test old paint for lead. If you’ve got it, don’t sand; use paint stripper to avoid creating dust, then bring the goo to a toxic waste disposal facility.

Barbecue basics
I could make more money selling cheap barbecues, because they need to be replaced every few years. The acidic environment around the burners rots cheap stainless steel, and it’s hard to get good spare parts for those foreign-made barbecues too. Trust me, paying more up front lowers your annual costs. And your burgers taste better to boot.

How to tune into free TV

Paul Lewis — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:18:23 +0000

Tired of a monthly satellite bill, just for weekend TV at the cottage? As television stations make the switch to digital over-the-air (OTA) broadcasts, you can probably receive at least a few signals with a simple, inexpensive antenna. There’s no charge for the service, it’s completely legal, the picture quality is as good as cable or satellite, and it’s just enough TV to watch the news or a game, but not so much that the kids are glued to it.

Which channels can I pick up?
TV Fool (tvfool.com) will map the distance to nearby towers, and the direction and strength of signals. You’ll need this to choose the right antenna. It’s not an exact science: With any antenna, obstacles such as trees and changes in elevation can interfere with reception, although—bonus—a lake helps you receive signals.

What kind of antenna do I need?
They can be eyesores, but outdoor antennas work best: Most cottages are too far from transmission towers for attic or TV-top antennas. If there’s an old TV antenna on the roof, it’s worth a try to see what you’ll pick up. For new antennas, retailers such as Save and Replay (saveandreplay.com) have an almost overwhelming selection, but range and radius are the most important features. Using the data from TV Fool, pick an antenna with a range to match the distance to the broadcast towers. Talk to the folks selling OTA equipment—they likely have customers in your area, so can offer recommendations. For instance, a $60 antenna with a 50-km range may get you a handful of stations, but a larger, $200 antenna with a 160-km range may significantly improve your results.

How do I position the antenna?
Mount the antenna as high as you can and use a compass to aim it at the tower whose signals you’re trying to receive. Once you’ve connected the antenna to the TV with coax-ial cable, adjust the antenna’s angle, or even relocate it, to get the best reception.

All in, expect to pay no more than a few hundred dollars for the setup—not bad, considering it’s a one-time cost, with no ongoing fees.

Will I need a new TV?
Most TVs made in the past few years have an astc (a.k.a. hdtv) tuner that can receive digital signals over the air. Check your TV’s manual; if you’ve lost it, search online by model number. Older sets need a digital-to-analog converter, about $100. Also, a weak signal or a long coaxial cable between the TV and antenna may need an amplifier to boost the signal.

Ventilated plumbing

Michel Roy — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:09:27 +0000

DIY plumber

Sometimes it’s not that water can’t get out, but that air can’t get in. Imagine turning a full bottle upside down to empty it—the liquid “glugs” out in fits and starts for just the same reason. Tilt the bottle over slowly to let air in and the liquid exits smoothly.

Why vent?

Properly vented plumbing lets air into the drains so that fluids flow well and traps aren’t sucked dry by the vacuum action of rushing wastewater. Vent pipes also let fetid, dangerous sewer gases out. The pipes link the drainage system to the stubby little pipe—part of the waste stack— that sticks up through your roof. An obstructed vent is not overly common, but cottage vent pipes can be clogged by snow or vegetation, as well as animals and their nests or food caches.

The gurgle test

It can be tricky to diagnose a blocked vent. A drain that’s sluggish even after you’ve snaked it, or one that gurgles when you pull the plug, hints at vent problems: The system is struggling to admit air via the fixture rather than the vent. Another sign is smelly sewer gas escaping the drain—without a working vent, water running down the pipes can siphon the trap dry. Sometimes you can spot a blockage by peering down the pipe from the roof (bring a flashlight).

Tackling blocks

You can snake the vent from above with a manual or drill-powered snake. Pros may use an electric snake, but I don’t recommend lugging a heavy and awkward power unit to your roof. If you don’t have a plumbing snake that’s long enough, you can try feeding in a cold, stiff garden hose to flush or push the blockage down. Before you turn on the hose, station a helper inside, ready to yell if water starts backing up out of a fixture. Rigging a narrow extension onto a shop vac hose may let you suck out the problem, bit by bit. In any case, pushing a blockage down into your drains is not nearly as desirable as pulling one up and out.

Tip: To keep a food cache or leaves out of the vent, you can cap it with a cylinder of chicken wire. But if snow then gathers on the cap and affects air circulation, condensation can freeze in the pipe and block it. In that case, remove the cap as part of your closing-up chores.