Carport And Garage Pros And Cons

I need something to keep my cars in. I just bought a house, and unfortunately it came without any storage buildings - no two car garage, no carport, not even a carport cover. I don't regret buying the house, since we got a good deal. At the time we bought, I even said we are saving enough money to build a nice garage with the money we saved off our original budget. However, I am trying to decide if a carport will be sufficient, which will save us even more money.

Time is a bit of an issue in our decision. We definitely want to get our car storage up and completed before it starts snowing, which gives us about two months to build. That is more than enough time to put up a carport, but if we decide on a garage, then it will be cutting it close.

The first and most important decision to make is whether the new structure will be a carport or a garage. I can see the pros and cons with types of vehicle shelter. When it comes down to it we are deciding whether the structure will be with walls and a door or without walls and a door. My wife is leaning towards having a garage while I am content with a carport.

No matter what, a carport is going to be cheaper, easier and faster to build. Building a closed carport will add a bit of time and cost, and might be a good compromise. Adding a structure to the property is going to raise my property taxes, and a garage will cost more in taxes. Perhaps not a significant amount per month, but in the grand scheme, it may be significant by the time we want to retire and we could have put that money into rrsps. One more pro for a carport in my opinion is the simplicity of it, meaning we probably won't pack it full of junk and clutter like we might do with a garage.

There are definite pros to having a garage though. The complete weather protection is a big item, it would be much nicer for loading and unloading the car in the winter. Also it is more secure - a lot harder for anyone to access the cars. Extra storage (although I dread junk) is also a benefit, and perhaps the extra (secure) storage that a garage would allow would warrant the larger building, maintenance and tax expenses. The last point my wife suggested is having a garage would cut down on heat loss as we enter and exit the house from the garage door in the winter time.

We know we need to get something up to keep the snow off the cars this winter and time is running out. Either a garage or a carport would serve the basic need for weather protection (for us and the cars), the only thing left before we start constructing one or the other is to decide whether the extra benefits of a garage are worth the extra time and money.

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September 30 2009 | Home Improvement | No Comments »

How Do I Maintain The Edge On My Woodworking Tools

Any woodworker would know that he is only as good as his tools. It is important therefore to keep them in pristine and in good condition.

Keeping the woodworking tools sharp does not only make for precision work it reduces the possibility of accidents as well. This means that you are going to have to invest in some tools just to do the job of keeping the others sharpened. The problem is how do you know which ones to buy for what tool. What you are going to need will also be determined as to the type of woodworking you do. Each specialized area has its own tool requirements. For example, if you do woodcarving or construct wood furniture then your needs will be different.

There are some tools that you can hand sharpen but there are others that will require power sharpeners. You will need to learn about each one of your tools then determine what will be needed to sharpen them.

One thing you are going to learn is that power equipment designed for sharpening tools do not necessarily do a better job they are just able to do the same job much faster. For tools that have been neglected the power sharpening tools work great at removing any build up debris on the cutting components. Most often, these cutting edges are gouged and this really is where you will need the power sharpening equipment to do an effective job.

One of the most popular pieces of equipment for sharpening is the grinders. It must be noted that the shop grinders are not for using on woodworking tools in their original state. They need some modifications done to them first. You will need to remove the original wheel that comes on the shop grinder and replace it with one of the wheels that is designed specifically for sharpening wood working tools. The original blade that came on your grinder is designed for sharpening items such as the blades of your lawnmower or for grinding in general.

Another part that also needs to be changed is the tool rest. You will find the tool rest that comes on the grinder difficult to adjust because it?s so small. This makes it most difficult for any type of control of your grinding. Doing your grinding up grades won?t be difficult to do because they are readily available on the market.

Once you have purchased your grinder and completed the necessary changes to it then you will be ready to start getting your woodworking tools back in shape where they can do a great job just like they were designed to do. Often novices to woodworking tools will blame the inferior job they are doing on the quality of the tool not realizing it?s because of a dull blade. Then there are some that will attempt to just change the blade instead of sharpening the one they have.

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July 13 2009 | Woodworking | No Comments »