DIY Network

Interior Finish Work: Installation and Challenges From "Be Your Own Contractor" episode DBYC-111

In this segment of DIY's Be Your Own Contractor, the do-it-yourselfers talk about installation of finish-work and some of the challenges they faced along the way.

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• Fred Samuels was one of the most independent of all the do-it-yourselfers in this series. Not only did Fred install most of the interior wood in the finishing stages of his home (figure A) but, like one of our other contractors Al Sain, he did it with lumber that was cut and milled on his own property. Fred arranged to have a lumber-mill band saw brought to his property (figure B) to cut trees that had to be felled cut into lumber.

  Figure A

  Figure B

  
  
• The finish work that Fred took on himself included hand-routed trim, white-pine wall-paneling and stairs that are a composite of white oak, read oak and maple (figures C and D).

  Figure C

  Figure D

  
  

  Figure E

• John Spracklen and Betty King installed their own crown molding, one of the most distinctive interior features at their custom-built home in Olmstead, Kentucky (figure E).
  
  
• John had never done this type of work before and had to learn such skills as hand-cutting joints with a coping saw. Despite Betty's fear of heights, the couple climbed atop scaffolding to work together installing crown molding around the perimeters of the 16-foot ceilings in their library (figures F and G).

  Figure F

  Figure G

  
  
• For his home in Williamsburg, Virginia, avid DIY'er Michael Buchtel (figure H and I) assessed his own skill levels with respect to trim work and, with subtle encouragement from his wife, opted to hire a subcontractor to do the work on their interior stairs. Michael emphasizes that finish work like these stairs is a finished product that every visitor in your home will see. If detail work is not your forte, he advises hiring the pros.

  Figure H

  Figure I

  
  
• For Michael, that decision produced an unexpected challenge. After his subcontractor decided that he had underbid the job, he ultimately refused to finish the work he had started. Finding another subcontractor who would complete the stairs (figure J and K) ultimately cost more than the original estimates. Michael understandably now recommends getting several referrals before hiring a subcontractor for this type of work in order to ensure that you find someone who is reputable.

  Figure J

  Figure K

  
  
• One distinctive finishing touch installed by one of our contractors is the stone fireplace in the California home of Skip Weahunt (figures L and M). Though it looks impressive, building the fireplace was actually not overly complicated, and ended up being a family group-project with Skip, his wife and their children all pitching in.

  Figure L

  Figure M