How to Install Kitchen Cabinets by Yourself

Your kitchen is as much a personal expression of your taste as it is a place to prepare and enjoy meals.But hanging on the market to select dramatic cabinets and bargain is really a nightmare.

Now buying ready-made cabinets makes this project that much easier. We have done all the hard work by providing you with modular cabinets that are usually pre-finished and ready for installation. In this tutorial we will cover the installation of the base cabinets. Check out our tutorial on installing hanging cabinets if your project includes hanging cabinets.

Find more of our kitchen cabinets ( base cabinets, wall cabinets, hanging cabinets, and kitchen pantry ).

Http://www.builderelements.com/kitchen-cabinets.aspx

1. Base cabinets, as well as hanging cabinets, must be anchored to the studs in the kitchen walls. For this reason, your first step is to determine where all the studs are in the walls. Use a stud finder or small drill bit to locate the studs. Once you find the first one, the others should be spaced 16" apart. Make sure you mark both edges of the stud.
2. After your base cabinets are installed, it is critical that they are level and exactly the same height from section to section, otherwise the countertop will not fit correctly and will not be level. To ensure this, you need to determine if your floor is level. If not, you need to find the highest point in the floor and shim up the cabinet sections to compensate. Using a long, straight 2" x 4", place a carpenter's level on top of it and move it along the floor next to the wall. Identify the highest point and mark it on the wall.
3. Measure the height of the new cabinets. Most likely this dimension is about 34" to 35". At the high point you determined in your floor, measure up the wall using this dimension. Mark this point. Using a carpenter's level, create a level line along the walls where you are installing the base cabinets.
4. Install the first cabinet section in a corner. Using wood shims, raise the cabinet to the reference line on the walls. Using a level, make sure the top of the cabinet is level in all directions - front-to-back and side-to-side.
5. Using 2-1/2" screws, screw the back ledger of the base cabinet into the studs in the wall. If you find gaps between the wall and the cabinet, slip a shim in the areas you are screwing to avoid pulling the cabinet towards the wall.
6. Using a chisel or utility knife, cut off any protruding shims.
7. Put the next cabinet in place. Again, you need to shim it into position and make sure it is level. Also, make sure the faces of the two cabinets are flush with each other. Using clamps, pull the two adjacent cabinet frames together. Using long screws, secure the cabinets together. Screw the second cabinet into the wall.
8. In some cases, you may need to install a filler strip in between a cabinet and a wall. Use the same technique you used to secure two cabinet sections together. Clamp the filler strip in place and use long screws to fasten it in place.
9. To cover up gaps between the cabinets and the floor, install a thin piece of molding that provide a more attractive appearance. You can also follow our tutorial on Installing Vinyl Cove Molding to hide this gap.
10. If you are installing a new countertop, you can usually buy a ready made counter the matches your tastes and the style of your new cabinets. Generally you can have your local home improvement retailer cut the countertop to length and cut the hole for your sink. Make sure your measurements are precise - you only get 1 chance to cut the hole for the sink! To install the countertop, place it on top of the cabinets. Secure it in place from inside the cabinets with screws that go through the corner brackets of each cabinet section.
11. If not installed already, the final step is to install the cabinet doors and the pulls (knobs and handles). Usually the holes are pre-drilled and ready to go.

Calculating Square Footage: What Homeowners Need to Know

 Importance of Proper Measuring Techniques

Inaccurate calculations or measurements are a huge contributor to project delays and headaches. It is also sometimes purposely misrepresented by some vendors in order to mark up the price of products. Being able to accurately calculate square footage, and defend your calculations informatively, is a must when buying finished coverings, in order to save time and money.


To start of this section we will first discuss how to draw a simple sketch of a room and calculate the floor area of that room for tile. Even with a basic square room there are issues that can affect how much product one would need to cover the floor, and can lead to inaccurate calculations, over spending, and/or costly project delays.


Sketch


A sketch is a drawing of an area that includes measurements in relation to the specific dimensions of the view. A sketch can be hand drawn or done with simple computer programs such as Microsoft paint. A sketch will allow the reader to better understand the measurements of a particular area and serve as reference to any specific points that will aid in accurate dimensioning. Many people will recognize a sketch as resembling a blue print or floor plan which is always used by builders or any other vendors who are involved in using or selling construction materials.


Our example sketch will be a square bathroom for tile installation on the floor. However as mentioned above, even in a perfectly square bathroom, there may be obstacles or variations that will correlate with how much tile we actually need to cover our floor. The following is a short list of ‘things to look out for’.

Looking for NEW members

Http://BuilderElements.com/ is looking for new members to sign up at

https://www.BuilderElements.com/register.aspx

Benefits of a Builder Elements' member is that it's completely FREE. 

We'll notify you with sales/promotions on all of our products like granite countertop, glass tiles, kitchen cabinet, vanity cabinets, sinks, etc. With these extra discount, we can further save you even more money with our already low and competitive prices on all of your construction material and interior design product needs.

SO SIGN-UP NOW!

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2009 is Coming to an End

Christmas has just passed and it was a blast. Our Christmas promotion has turned many deciding customers into members and will start saving them a whole lot of money with each order. End time of promotion is ending soon, but there's still time to sign up now; so sign up now! Don't rob yourself of a chance to save some good and hard-earned cash.


2010 is coming and here at BuilderElements.com, we're extremely excited for what is about to come. 2009 starts with our Builder Show, the biggest Builder Show, in Orlando. This will be a big opportunity for us to show the industry what we're capable of offering. Tune back in for more information about the show. Not only that, we'll be launching several new exciting campaign to get more builders, contractors, and architects become more involved as well as create better relationship between them and us. One of them is the Master of Tile idea from previous post. Stay tune for more information on them.


A great year is coming to an end, but we see an even greater year in the near horizon. We wish all our existing customers/members and soon-to-be members a happy new year.

Posted by: http://www.builderelements.com/

How to get through a Tough Slowing Housing Market

How to get through a Tough Slowing Housing Market—your Cost-Saving Solution as a Home Builder, General Contractor, Hotel Builder, Real estate developer…

Innovative supply chain and putting everything on the internet are the competitive edge of reducing costs while maintain the high integrity of quality at http://www.BuilderElements.com/. This Santa Clara Silicon Valley based firm has a lot to offer to building and construction industry with targeting customers of Home Builders, Hotel builders, architect, designers and contractors….

In a tough housing market due to the sub-prime mortgage crisis, as a professional in the building materials industry, cutting costs is the best way to get through the difficult time. The money you save is the money you earn…

BuilderElements.com shows all the pricing, specifications, product photos on the website, so it can be simple & easy for you to make buying decisions…also, BuilderElements.com can customize products as per your specifications or your samples…if you like something you’ve seen somewhere else but are intimidated by the high pricing, BuilderElements.com certainly can help…

More styles, more options and choices of building and home improvement materials:

Here at http://www.BuilderElements.com/ , we are all about giving you more choices, more options, so you can expand your business practices. It’s very common that you need to call companies to get their quote, and you’ll get hassle with salesman, trying to pressure you into a buy. BuilderElements.com provides you with pictures, specifications, prices, and a huge variety of products for you to choose from. With those features, you can always take a look at our website on your own time, be it during work, after work, and there will be no salesman to hassle you, and no wait time for a quote. When you have an item in interest or a question in mind, you can contact our exceptional customer service, and your question will be answered in a timely manner.

http://www.BuilderElements.com/ is the online affiliate of Home Elements, Inc, which is manufacturers for kitchen cabinet, vanity cabinets, glass sinks, ceramic sinks, granite and marble countertop and tiles, glass mosaic tiles, porcelain and ceramics tiles, and masonry clay bricks.

Prestigious Factories including the big brand from Euro:

In addition to what we make ourselves, we have selective factories who we worked side by side for big residential and commercial projects in China and Euro for the past 20 years. Some factories like Diricks Fencing Company, is the biggest French manufacturer of Fence products; Lafarge, it is the biggest European manufacturer of Roofing tiles, and building materials. Therefore, all these factories were screened and selected. BuilderElements.com further certified these products using US standards to make sure that they are complied with US building code and quality standard.

Some Link to kitchen cabinets:

http://www.builderelements.com//kitchen-cabinets.aspx

Link to our countertop of granite and marble:

http://www.builderelements.com/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=59&cat=Granite+Countertops&sop=US+Pallets

For distributor/reseller/wholesale/importer buyer like you, BuilderElements.com provides you the following benefits you can not get from other factories or suppliers:

1. Trust, service, pricing…we have all you expect…The direct and ultimate access to direct buy from factories while dealing with a California incorporated company with full compliance of US regulations and laws on business practices, product quality as well as due diligence on responsibility on follow up of any possible issues should it occurs. In other words, you get the same level of customer service and quality expectation in US while getting the a factory pricing, in fact, a lot of our customers who are importers and distributors and used to buy “directly” from China turn to us after trying our products and services.

Inevitably, if you “directly” source from China, you might have a lot of issues and hassle to deal with. Hence, when you do it “directly”, you usually still go through some buying agent or trading company. Just a simple question, if someone in China took your money away or run away when quality issues occur, what can you do about them?

BuilderElements.com is the BBB accredited business member, having good track record of being a building materials supplier for Costco.com for 2 years and big customer base in US and Canada, a Trustpass member at Alibaba.com.

2. BuilderElements.com allows our customers to order multiple products under different categories. We consolidate the multiple products into one shipment to deliver to your appointed address. This is ideal for distributors and resellers, since most likely that you customers in your region will be happy to see you have the one-stop shopping convenience. You simply can sell more to them and make them keep coming back.

3． In addition to high quality, extremely competitive prices, http://www.BuilderElements.com/wing and specifications are provided by you. This is a service not available for most of your current building materials suppliers. Our turn around time for samples will be fast, for example, for glass tile, we have the record of only 5 business days to make a custom sample. But that depends on specific request, we will quote the time when we receive the requirement and spec from you.

4. BuilderElements.com also provides OEM/private label services for distributors/dealers/home centers per your packaging and brand with a minimum quantity requirement. Please contact us for details.

Although our price is competitive, that should not be the only reason for you to choose us…BuilderElements.com is goal is to brig high quality building materials, home improvement and decorative materials to building industry with extremely affordable prices…

We’re not here to pressure you into a sale, or trying to convince you that our products are the best. In the profession that you are in, I’m sure you’re incredibly smart and will realize a good deal when you see one. So you can be the judge for yourself. No pressure, No hassle, Just CHOICES. All we ask is that you check our website out with an open mind, and if you think you can save with us or if you think your architecture projects will be more successful with the products we offer, give us a call, and that’s all it takes for you to get the right product you want.

Please contact me for any questions.

Toll free: 1-408-426-4207

www.BuilderElements.com

Or email at sales@BuilderElements.com

Interesting Ideas Here

Here at BuilderElements.com, we're all about new ideas to get our customers, as well as all of the general public, to get involved. Well, recently we came up with an idea that will target mostly architects, builders, but also anyone with a creative mind.

Basically, we'll be launching a project that will ask everyone that's interested to create a tile design of your own. We have tiles readily available on our website for you to check out and get some ideas.