Ahh, the things you learn on random, lazy Saturday mornings catching up on home improvement TV shows…
I know a lot about crafts. I do plenty of embossing, stenciling, and gluing to the point where I am confident that I know what I’m doing. As I do all of this DIY, I’m learning just how often that my crafting knowledge helps me in the home improvement arena. As of this weekend, I’ve learned something in the reverse thanks to this little tip from HGTV’s Income Property:
When gluing two items together and wanting to minimize air bubbles, use S-shaped glue lines.
Confused? Here is a visual explanation:
By creating an open-ended glue line, any air that gets trapped has a place to escape to. If you enclose the lines (i.e. running the glue all over the place or in large circles), there is a strong chance that any air that gets trapped in the middle will create a pocket that has nowhere to go.
Granted, this tip was for gluing two two-by-fours together to create a strong support for a load-bearing wall, but it’s a great tip for any gluing situation where air bubbles can ruin the entire look (or in the support’s case, function) of your project. Decoupage, anyone?
Has anyone out there found other helpful tips that transitioned from the DIY world to other parts of your life, or vice versa? Have you tried the above gluing applications to see a major difference in results? I’d love to hear about it.
That is the kind of tip I love. It's so simple, and it makes so much sense, but I never would have thought of that. Brilliant!
I've used the S pattern with construction adhesive at the advice of my best friend, who's a tool guy, and yes, it makes a HUGE difference.
I <3 Income Property