Author Archives: Mike

Miter Cuts With Circular Saw

I’ve been putting off buying a miter saw for years, mainly because I don’t want to spend the money, but also because I don’t want to have to store something that I only use once or twice a year.  As a result, I have been forced to find creative ways to make angle cuts.  If the wood I’m working with is less than 2 inches wide, I typically just use a coping saw and go slowly.  However, the project I’m working on right now involves 4″ boards (I’m making a frame for a bathroom mirror).

The picture below shows a helpful handyman hack I stumbled upon recently.  The carpenter’s square I use to mark 45 degree angles has a notch nearly 1.5 inches away from the edge of the line I want to cut.  I start by marking that line with a pencil.

Next, I clamp a straight piece of wood along the line just marked.  However, I need to move it 1/8 of an inch away from the line, because the guide on my circular saw is slightly different from the distance marked with the carpenter’s square.  I learned this distance through trial and error and I’m sure not all circular saws are created equal.

The next step: make the cut.  I use tape along the line to make it as clean as possible.

This process takes considerably longer than simply using a miter saw, but it saves me a few hundred dollars and the need to store another bulky tool.  Thanks for reading and check back for another post about putting this mirror frame together.

First Attempt at Wainscoting

I call this my first attempt at wainscoting, but to be honest, I should really call it my first attempt at making faux wood paneling that lines the lower part of a wall, because I didn’t learn about the word “wainscoting” until we had finished and I sat down to write this blog post.  Sara saw this project done on another blog a couple of years ago and thought it could help give texture to this wall in the first bathroom we renovated:

It’s been two years since we renovated this bathroom.  We re-tiled the shower and floor, upgraded to a quartz vanity top and painted the walls with the Behr color Seagull Gray in a satin finish. The project also involved removing a mirror cabinet on the wall opposite the vanity, which after finishing the project, left that wall feeling very empty.

Rather than installing paneling across the entire bottom half of the wall, I wanted to try a simpler approach: strips of pine trim.  I bought two 8 foot lengths and 5 pieces that were 4 feet in length.  I used primer before painting in a semi-gloss ultra white.  The primer helps keep pine sap from seeping through the paint later on.

Before I could nail the trim to the wall, I first needed to do a little more drywall work.  When I remodeled this bathroom, I replaced the drywall where the recessed mirror/cabinet used to be using the same 1/2″ concrete backer board I used behind the tiles in the shower.  However, the drywall in the rest of the bathroom is 5/8″.  This 1/8″ difference is quite noticeable on the finished wall, and would be even more evident with the wainscoting.

Photo from 2015 renovation shows hole for old mirror/cabinet. Drywall was replaced a couple of feet out from the tub with 1/2″ concrete backer board.

A few thick coats of drywall mud did the trick.  Flat surface!

I used a trim nail gun to put the wood in place.  The vertical pieces are just under 4′ in length.

I used moulding caulk to fill in the nail holes and also around the edges of the wood.  A quick sanding with fine-grit sandpaper, before painting the whole bottom half of the wall with ultra-white semi-gloss paint.  (3 coats did the trick)

The finishing touch:  3 hooks mounted using drywall anchors.

Finally, the before and after:

Oh yeah, we also replaced the door knob.