About to start a kitchen cabinet installation.
Anyone here big fans of the T-Jaks, 3rd Hands, etc. for doing that kind of work alone?
I’ve set the bottoms and then just used a box which was ok but a little unwieldy and not very microadjustable.
MikeVB
Performance improvements for the prized homes of an influential developer who wanted us all to be able to own one.
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Dig into cutting-edge approaches and decades of proven solutions with total access to our experts and tradespeople.
Start Free Trial NowGet instant access to the latest developments in green building, research, and reports from the field.
Start Free Trial Now
Replies
I work alone, and I'm a big fan of using a cleat to set uppers first (after the full-height cab's, of course). Few tiny holes to fill when you're done, so its not perfect for every situation. Shim shingles for micro-adjusting, if needed. I've seen the jacks used, they're pretty basic and ought to be a good option also.
I am a converted from homemade jack to the Little Hands. I also set the bases first, thinking they dictate the layout more than the uppers and working alone, figured also it is easier. If you have the time, take a look here:
http://quittintime.infopop.cc/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=tools&Number=8241&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Where's the best place to purchase Little Hands?
Isn't there some saying about little hands means a little ??????????????????
MikeVB
Don't know nothin about your history.......
But, If I was buying those cab jacks, I'd go to http://www.fastcap.com/ and ask for Erin. Mention I sent you..........
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
I've seen those in their catalog. You sure make them look handy. They ought to give you a commission.....
Steve, they sent me a t-shirt and a hat and some goods they donated and we auctioned off at Quittintime. I did a couple of tool reviews and did not think.........what's it gonna get me. This company has some good things available and what you don't hear often enough, good people that man the operation. This is no big conglomerate, a small company with ambitious, helpful and darn nice folks that try to help us out.
Never wanted a commision.............but I'm a sucker for t-shirts and nice hats.
If ever you do biz with them, tell erin where you heard it.
Looking to expand my wardrobe.............Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
I was joking about the commission thing. It's always nice to hear positive things about a company.
BTW, I've been in Cleveland since 1991, but grew up in Toledo's Old West End neighborhood (emphasis on the "hood"). I lived there from 1966 until 1991.
Do you do work all over the Toledo area?
- Steve
steve-o, from cleve myself. Came to BG to school, never left. Built our home in Maumee. Work Wood / Lucas county.
Remember, this yrs fest is here in Maumee.Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Calvin,
Thanks for the heads up on the fest. When is it going to be?
- Steve
Take a look in the fest folder:
http://forums.taunton.com/n/mb/list.asp?webtag=tp-breaktime&ctx=256&cacheTag=x47-24
Highlight BT Fest, Joycefest, and lastly, Breakfest.
Check it out, a chance to meet a bunch of folks.
August 12 13 14Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
I have the Jacks and little hands, you should be able to buy both from McFeelys. The Jack is great for leveling the base units, after they are set, I use the little hands to set the uppers. If I could only teach them to use the laser level, I'd only be needed to lift the cabinets in place.
I probably average 12 to 15 kitchens a year, alone. I agree with Huck. I use a cleat screwed to the wall. With the popularity of crown moldings and the lack of something to attach them to on most cabinets, I often will do the necessary backers and moldings before installing. This usually means lifting several cabinets at once. I always remove all doors and shelving first. I can't imagine trying to balance a run of cabinets on a stick, then trying to reach over and jack it, I only have two hands. The cleat is straight and level, I've already marked and drilled the cabinets for the studs or blocking. I just toss my battery drill and a few screws in the cabinet, lift them on the cleat and zip a screw in.
The new toys I like are the Jorgensen cabinet claws. They are great for aligning fronts and screwing them together. I always do the uppers first, I don't have to reach over base cabinets or worry about dropping something on them. I've looked at the different poles but can't bring myself to buy a fancy stick when an ordinary one will work as well. With crown in a room, also alone, I just place a nail slightly above the line on the far end temporarily. The other new tools I have are a couple of the aluminum platforms I found at HD for around $36. They are the perfect height for me in most homes, folks over six foot two may find them too high.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
Thanks for the insights! I just did a KraftMaid hickory cabinet install with NO face above the doors at all. Not even a sixteenth of an inch. This was my first cabinet job in awhile, and I was used to having some meat above the door-line. I added some blocks for crown (after the uppers were installed), but now wish I had run continuous backing, because there was a hairline of light that had to be carefully caulked. I'll have to check the Cabinet Claws out. Do you ever use those little pincher clamps on crown molding? I struggle with those 1" offsets, getting everything tight. So what are the "platforms"? This hickory is so tight-grained and brittle that nailing was tough. I couldn't put any nails in the miters of the light molding, it just split, even with pin-nails. Finally ran a strip of doug fir under the cabinet, and back-nailed into the light molding through the strip. And once I finish with the last 2 uppers I'm waiting for, I have to go back and counter-sink all the nails in the crown, as a lot of them were standing proud, I guess I should have cranked the pressure up a bit more to compensate.
I haven't found the spring clips to be of much use. The non-marring tips don't hold on prefinished material and the points can make a mess and slip. The power is too much for a delicate miter. I'm using electrical tape and glued corner blocks behind the miter.I've stopped using nails on crowns, switched to construction adhesive or hot melt PUR. Hickory likes to split, especially small pieces. I did a kitchen display showroom a while back, one hickory unit had six pieces to make the crown detail.I sometimes use a 22 1/2° corner that returns to a 45°. I use a piece of whatever is on hand for a backer where a hole would show. Pictures below. Dang, I'm not having any luck resizing from the scanner, sorry about that if your on dial up.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
What is the "Hotmelt PUR" exactly?
I've been thinking about getting a good grade of hot glue gun to use on interior and exterior trim.
Is that something that would work for that?
PUR is a hot melt urethane prepolymer. Like the polyurethane glues it reacts with moisture in the air. It is also a bit like Gorilla glue in that it expands and foams but not as bad. Many of the woodworking catalogs sell the HiPurformer system. There is a cordless gun and some adhesive cartridges. They come in 30, 60 and 75 second set times. It is waterproof. You have to be fast and neat. You can just use spot dabs or a line. Tool Crib.com has them for $99, cartridges go about $8.Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
Was thinking I'd order some of these screws to hang the cabinets.
http://www.mcfeelys.com/subcat.asp?subcat=20.1.1.5
All the suppliers here locally look at me funny when I've asked about cabinet hanging screws. Then they say, "just use deck screws."
Not sure which screws would be best for joining the face frames. The cabinets are the white thermofoil or melamine - not solid wood stiles as I've worked on in the past.
I see they've got some special cabinet "joining" screws on the site, but it sounds like they're for "joinery," and I wasn't sure if that was the way to go through the faces or not. The lady on the phone at McFeely's really didn't seem to understand my question.
Any suggestions.
MikeVB
P.S. Before I order these things and have them overnighted, do you think I could buy them at "The Woodworking Shows" that's going to be in Hotlanta starting tomorrow? I was gonna drive up and look around anyhow.
Mike, I use screw like those (tho not square drive) and they're great. Looks much more professional than a friggin deck screw.
On occasion I have been known to use a sheetrock screw (yeah, yeah, shear strength, blah blah) with a finishing washer. That looks pretty slick too.
For joining face frames, I just use sheetrock screws. I think the ones you're talking about are probably Conformat? Those are good for putting boxes together, but not for face frames.
Are you saying the face frames on the cabinets you're working with are made out of particleboard? Haven't seen that before. Be careful!
Hammer
Totally agree....I've always used 2x4 cleats, when working alone or even with someone. Keeps the cabs totally lined up as well as holding them up. One screw into the back and it stays good enough to do any shimming....then finish screwing. I use a DRYWALL screw....lol....then remove it and use the right screws. The drywall screw goes in easily.Just finished installing a whole lotta cabs in my kitchen.
PLAIN & FANCY....beutiful cab but the company succkss..Too many wrong things. One wrong wall hanger...wrong side panel edges that encase my Subzero...forgot to send me the 2" filler piece....wrong color hinges on all the cabs....don't ask...the installation was cake compared to dealing with them....I highly DONT recommend them even though they make a beautiful cab.Tuesday all my counter tops come....soapstone, that'' I'll be fabricating...all the cuts, two sinks, drain board cuts faucets edges etc etc....I'm feeling a lil' shakey....lolBe well
####N
D
YThe secret of Zen in two words is, "Not always so"!
When we meet, we say, Namaste'..it means..
I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides,
I honor the place in you of love, of light, of truth, of peace.
I honor the place within you where if you are in that place in you
and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us.
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Hammer, forget the cabinet claws, tell me about the scoffold ladder.
How tall how long and who makes it.
Thanks, Darren.
I think mine are by Warner, light duty, 12" x 40" x 21" tall. They are in the ladder Dept. at HD for around $36.
Bauer makes a FoldnCarry platform, non-slip plywood top, 23" x 60" x 21" tall, heavy duty 500# $140
Warner also makes a drywall bench with adjustable height 10" x 48" x 19-31" tall, there are extension legs that can be added to give 41-48" tall, $189 ext. legs $99Just happened to have a new Tool Crib.com catalog in front of me. I think Biljax makes some too. Mine are fine if a crew isn't banging them around roughly, they wouldn't last long getting tossed.Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
I saw them, and almost got 'em; then I thought of our electrician and our plumber (both of them are HEFTY).Men come of age at sixty,
Women at fifteen.
James Stephens
Hammer, I agree with the cleats, but the only problem is those ^*&^&#@@!~ 27" deep or so 36" inch wide boxes over the reefer...Those things eat my lunch!!
I use a cleat and the Third Hand jacks. I like to step back and eyeball everything before drilling and setting the screws.
I got mine from Marathon Tools (Mar-tool on ebay) drop them an email if they don't have any listed...nice folks! Get a pair of the ex-wide bases. If you work alone, you'll find a ton of uses for the jacks.
The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man.
- Fyodor Dostoyevski
for installimg the first cabinet, i always use 2 scraps 1x2 or what ever screwed vertically to the studs so that the top of the scrap is at 54 inches and i screw it to the wall below thw the countertop height
caulking is not a piece of trim
When I remodeled my old house I worked alone and put up a pretty heavy cabinet. I used a cleat to hold it in place, but getting it up to the cleat was a problem. I had the counter under it already, so lifted the cabinet onto that, then lifted it up in increments onto stacks of boxes and books--lift one end and shove something under, lift the other, etc..