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Why Rent?
Tips & Projects
Tips for Your Home Renovation Projects in St. Thomas
Select a category to learn more:
Need more room or a new patio?
Do you offer lawn and garden equipment?
Need more room or a new patio?
If your family is growing and you want to expand by adding a new room or your goal is to increase your family's outdoor activities with a new patio, check with us first. For your room addition we can help you from the ground up with trenchers, mini-backhoes, electric tools, nailers, and much more. For your patio and room addition foundation, we can provide masonry saws, concrete breakers, plate compactors, concrete mixers, power trowels, floats, and other finishing equipment for a professional foundation and patio.
Lawn and Garden Equipment
Now that you have a beautiful clean home in your plans, you will also want a beautiful lawn and maybe even a garden. You may have an old tree that needs to be removed, hedges that need trimming and a lawn that needs a face lift. We can help by providing chain saws, stump removers, log splitters, hedge trimmers, power rakes, mowers, edgers, lawn spreaders, aerators and much more.
If your lawn mower needs repairs or breaks down before you have finished mowing your lawn, we can help you at our rental center. There are many lawn projects that require one-a-year applications. Why buy the necessary equipment when you can rent it for a day or two and get the job done quickly and economically without the need for maintenance, repair and storage?
Before you tackle your new lawn projects, check with us. We can discuss your project and help you select the right equipment to give you the beautiful lawn you desire. Gardening is fun, especially at harvest time. Fresh vegetables are a delight to you, your family and guests during the summer and throughout the year.
Rent a tiller and have a garden full of vegetables and flowers without the hassles of equipment ownership. Want to keep your children and pets in while keeping unwanted visitors out? We can help you here, too, by showing you the rental way to dig post holes and to install a fence.
Wallpaper Removal
Whether you plan to put new wallpaper in your room or to paint, proper surface preparation is the first step in any redecorating job and your best insurance that a professional result will be obtained. A wallpaper steamer is a steam plate connected to a boiler. The steam plate is perforated to permit steam to escape and yet, light enough to hold against the wall with one hand. A few experimental tries will show you how long to hold it against the wall to loosen the paper. Keep a window open while the machine is in operation and remember: you are working with steam that can burn so exercise caution.
We will instruct you in the proper use of the wallpaper steamer and will demonstrate the proper procedures to insure your safety, the safety of the equipment and how to obtain the best results. Some tips.... If the wallpaper has been painted or is vinyl coated, you need to score the surface with a perforator so the steam can get through to loosen the paste.
Spread a drop cloth for complete floor protection as scraps of wallpaper are almost as hard to get off the floor as they were to get off the wall. Begin removing at the bottom right hand corner of a wall (left hand corner if you are left-handed.) Slide the pan upwards, peeling the loosened paper as you go using a wide scrapper. If you begin digging into the wall it means you are sliding the pan too fast. Slow down and let the steam do the work. When you reach the ceiling, begin again at the bottom, always working towards the ceiling.
Do the ceiling last and since steam rises, the ceiling paper will almost loosen itself. Because of escaping steam plan on loosening the paper in the entire room as you can't plan on loosening just one wall or one section. You can even clean the walls by holding the steam pan a short distance away from the surface to let steam condense on the wall. Take the pan away and mop the surface with a large cellulose sponge to remove paste and paper crumbs faster and easier.
If your carpets are in need of a thorough cleaning, save time and effort by renting a carpet cleaner. We can make your carpet cleaning much easier with the extraction method of cleaning. The hot water extraction method is a thorough method of restoring your carpet to its original beauty and lustre. A special cleaning solution is injected, under high pressure, deep into the carpet to break up and emulsify embedded soil.
Be Prepared
Suspended dirt is instantly extracted by a power vacuum along with up to 90% of the injected moisture. The carpet will dry and be ready for use in a short time. Some Tips for Extraction Method....Be prepared, obtain a household pail or bucket, remove as much furniture as possible, pin up drapes and curtains, cover bottom of legs of all furniture with aluminum foil or waxed paper to prevent rusting. Thoroughly dry-vacuum all carpets and pre-treat all excessively soiled areas with pre-spotter before you begin.
Use the hottest tap water available and an adequate amount of de-foamer to prevent over-sudsing on previously shampooed carpets. Use overlapping strokes to remove maximum amount of moisture. For excessively soiled areas, repeat cleaning method in opposite direction to avoid streaking. Be sure to drain waste tank prior to refilling solution tank.
Do not use conventional detergents or shampoos. Our staff will assist you in the use of the carpet shampooer and can provide you with all the cleaning supplies that will give your carpets a like-new appearance. For other do-it-yourself flooring projects, you can see us for tile strippers, knee kickers, tile cutters, carpet steamers and other quality tools. If you don't see what you are looking for, just ask our staff for assistance.
Floor Sanding
Why not uncover that hard wood floor and make it brand new again with floor sanding? Refinishing a wood floor in your home is not a job to take too lightly. It requires planning, preparation, a strong back, and time. How much time depends on whether you are merely applying a new finish, completely sanding and refinishing or preparing rough flooring. Be prepared to put the room out of service for a time and remove all furniture.
If starting from square one, be sure you plan ahead so that you do not have rental equipment sitting idle while you are preparing for the project. We can help you with planning and the selection of the right equipment and accessories to give your floor a show-house appearance. Our trained staff will give you complete operating instructions as part of our service.
Top Tips for a Beautifully Finished Floor
Before the floors are sanded, these five steps should be observed:
- Wear clean, soft-soled shoes
- Remove all furniture, pictures, shades, etc. from the room
- Fasten loose boards, replace broken boards, countersink nail heads where needed
- Remove base shoe mouldings. This makes it possible to sand close to the wall. Be careful not to break mouldings
- Open all windows; close doors of adjoining rooms
There are three phases of sanding: Rough sanding; preparatory sanding and finish sanding. For rough sanding use coarse sandpaper such as #24 or #40 grit. Be sure dust bag is securely attached to dust pipe on the sander. Lower drum gently at the start and raise smoothly at the end of each path. Raise and lower the sander drum while moving – never at a standstill. Pass the sander slowly over the floor going with the grain of the wood.
Start at one wall and move straight to the opposite wall. Then, walking backwards, pass the sander back along the same path. Each complete pass (forth and back) should overlap previous pass by 3 inches. Never stop forward or reverse motion of machine while the drum is in contact with the floor. Empty the dust bag often for best vacuuming results. Use an edger to sand borders, closets and stairs. Start near corner by baseboard, working outward to blend with edges of board areas.
Eliminate Rough Finish
Roll edger parallel with wall doing about an 18" section at a time. In preparatory sanding, use medium sandpaper such as #60 or #80 grit. The purpose of this operation is to eliminate roughness caused by the coarse sandpaper used to remove the old finish. Sand in the same way as the first passes and where possible work away from outlets rather than toward them.
Hang the cord over your shoulder to keep path clear and to prevent damage to the cord. Again, use the edger to sand the borders, closets and stairs. All traces of old coatings should now be gone. Use fine sandpaper such as #100 grit to finish and give a perfectly smooth surface. Though the floor may appear smooth enough after the second sanding, this fine sanding is absolutely essential – so don't skip it!
Getting a Mirror Finish
Sand the floors in the same manner as the first two passes. Use the edger with the same grade sandpaper as the sander. Examine the floor for any marks left and smooth out. Clean-up is very important. Sweep up and vacuum all sanding dust and use a tack cloth to pick up tiny dust particles. Apply finish according to the manufacturer’s directions. Remember to clean up the residue (vacuum and tack cloth) each time before applying finish. We can help you by providing the right floor equipment, instructions, and accessories to give you a sparkling refinished floor.