Entries from July 2009 ↓
July 31st, 2009 — Clean, Handy Man, Mold, Safety
Mold is a serious problem for many homes, especially those in humid climates. However, some areas of your home are going to be more likely to have mold, even if you live in the middle of a dry desert. Here are some tips on how to make sure that you don’t get mold, and [...]
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How to Install a Permanent Water Filter No matter where you live, there is a chance that you may be dealing with some contaminants in your water. Many of us have trace amounts of lead in our drinking water and this can be harmful to your health over time. It is a good idea to have your...... -
How to Drain Your Home's Water Pipes for Winter When winter comes around, the temperature drops and it gets to be time to bundle yourself up. Not all of your water pipes will get to enjoy the warmth of your home, so steps should be taken to ensure that the pipes do not get damaged by freezing water. If...... -
Tips for Fire Safety If you want to practice good fire safety, then you are going to need to have a plan in place. If your home or workshop should ever happen to catch fire, you are not going to have much time with which to escape. Smoke fumes are capable of incapacitating a...... -
Complete Guide to Bathrooms by Black and Decker Our bathrooms are used every day, and as such, they are usually one of the first places that trouble strikes. Whether you’ve ended up standing ankle deep in water at 3am, or you just want to find some ways to save money on plumbing costs, this is the ideal book...... -
7 Ways to Keep Your Workplace Safe Whenever you're fixing anything around your home, it's easy to let clutter take over and pretty soon, your workspace is not only crowded, but it's potentially unsafe. The key to doing things yourself the right way is safety. Let's go over some tips on how to keep your work area......
Continue reading → How to Handle Mold in Your Home
July 31st, 2009 — Handy Man, Project, Remove
There are easy tutorials that make DIY projects significantly easier. The following is a basic straight forward tutorial for removing caulk. If you are a first timer to the act of removing caulk from any surface, then this particular tutorial is going to help to steer you in the right direction. Just like with anything, [...]
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Understanding how Caulk Works Caulk is a material that is use4d as a filler for cracks and seams as well as other types of openings. Calk is used with buildings as well as other construction related projects that require for seams and other openings to be closed. What is caulk made out of? Caulk...... -
How to Remove Old Carpeting Whether you are ready to replace an old, stained carpet, or you want to completely redo your flooring, it is vital to make sure that you know how to properly remove carpet. By using the right techniques, you’ll be assured of saving not only time, but your floors will go...... -
How Energy Efficient Are Your Appliances? Given the world concern over energy efficiency, there are little steps that you can take to ensure that you are doing your part to minimize your energy use. The biggest source of energy drains in the home are your appliances, so it will improve things a lot to make sure...... -
Caulking a Bathtub in 5 Easy Steps Water can penetrate into your bathroom walls, causing expensive damage unless you take precautions to keep your bathtub properly caulked at all times. Here are the steps involved in the process: 1 - Examine the entire joint between the wall and the bathtub. Mold, mildew, caulk and soap scum should...... - 7 Ways to Keep Your Workplace Safe Whenever you're fixing anything around your home, it's easy to let clutter take over and pretty soon, your workspace is not only crowded, but it's potentially unsafe. The key to doing things yourself the right way is safety. Let's go over some tips on how to keep your work area......
Continue reading → Caulk Removal 101
July 31st, 2009 — Handy Man, House Value
Homeowners typically want to protect all that they own and this usually means purchasing an insurance policy for their home and valuables. However, this will not provide any assistance if something just stops working or if something in the home is damaged as a result of typical use.
In this vein, more homeowners are now seeking [...]
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How to Weatherproof Your Deck Adding a deck can be a great way to increase the overall value of your home, but taking care of it is a whole other matter. Unless you purchased pre-sealed wood, you are going to have to take the time to maintain your deck, or your investment will quickly go...... - The Official Rent-A-Husband Guide to a Safe, Problem-Free Home: Quick, Easy, and Effective Solutions for Do-It-Yourselfer Improvements and Repairs The company was founded by Kaile Warren Jr, who at the time had a car accident. It left him nearly homeless, sleeping on the couches of his friends whenever possible. It was at this low point that at he decided to start his rent a husband business. In 1996, a......
- Solar Power Your Home For Dummies By Rik DeGunther As energy prices keep going up, many homeowners are starting to investigate cheaper alternative energies that can be easily installed, and run on a daily basis. Whether you’re trying to cut costs, or you just want to go green, solar power is often the first choice of many homeowners. The......
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Closing Down a House for the Winter Whether you have a vacation home that will not be in use for the winter, or you will be gone from your home for an extended period of time this season, it is a good idea to properly close up your home for the winter. This is not difficult and...... -
How to Install a Window Air Conditioner the Right Way As summer approaches, those of us without central air are getting ready to go through the annual ritual of installing our window air conditioners. However, were you aware that a bad installation can actually raise your electricity costs and make it harder to say cool? Here are some tips to......
Continue reading → Benefits of Home Warranty Policies
July 30th, 2009 — Handy Man, Outside, Pest Control, Windows, Yard
Winter is just around the corner and this means getting your home ready. While this is mainly important for those that live in colder climates, many of these tips are useful even if you have a house in the desert. Getting your home ready for winter is actually quite easy and there are ways to [...]
Online Stores Related Posts - Review of Renovating Old Houses George Nash's book, Renovating Old Houses - Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes is a wonderful resource for those of us that are living in aging homes. If you're trying to recapture your home's fading glory or you just need some tips on how to easily fix common issues in......
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6 Tips for Getting Your Lawn Ready for Winter Even though you may be done with mowing for the year, that doesn’t mean that your lawn doesn’t need more attention before winter strikes. Whether you live in a warm climate or a cold one, by taking the time to take care of your lawn before winter comes, you can...... - Book Review: Insulate and Weatherize - Expert Advice from Start to Finish By Bruce Harley As energy costs continue to rise, many homeowners are starting to get serious about how much money they are wasting on home heating costs. In reality, if your home is poorly insulated, and you have not taken the steps to weatherize it properly, the fact is, your money is going......
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Keep Your Home Safe with a Maintenance Check List Every home has certain requirements, and a seasonal maintenance checklist can help you remember when you last did something, and when it needs to be done again. We all know to replace a light bulb when it burns out and to repair grout when it cracks. But those things that...... -
Install Interior Window Shutters to Cool Your House If you’re dealing with a lot of windows in your home and you are worried about keeping it cool inside, one of the best solutions is interior shutters. They will cost more than drapes, but they are easier to clean and much more permanent. The look of interior shutters can......
Continue reading → More on How to Winterize Your Home
July 30th, 2009 — Book Review, Repair
Black and Decker are known for the terrific DIY guides and this title is no exception. As the name suggests, you’re getting step by step photo instructions that make it easy for anyone to fix up their own home without having to be a professional handy person. You’ll get plenty of tips and ideas as [...]
Online Stores Related Posts - If I Had a Hammer: More Than 100 Easy Fixes and Weekend Projects by Andrea Ridout Andrea Ridout is a very well known expert on home repair who instructs millions on her radio show, Ask Andrea. She’s now distilled all of that wonderful knowledge into a home repair book that literally covers everything you could ever do to your house on your own, from A to......
- Dare to Repair By Julie Sussman This is a do-it yourself guide written mainly for women, but anyone that is interested in home repair can get a lot out of it. If you have ever wanted to tackle any kind of DIY project in your house this book is the definitive guide that can help you......
- Solar Power Your Home For Dummies By Rik DeGunther As energy prices keep going up, many homeowners are starting to investigate cheaper alternative energies that can be easily installed, and run on a daily basis. Whether you’re trying to cut costs, or you just want to go green, solar power is often the first choice of many homeowners. The......
- Review: Joey Green's Fix-It Magic: More than 1,971 Quick-and-Easy Household Solutions Using Labeled the Mad Scientist of Home Improvement, Joey Green has come out with another book where he lists of over 1900 easy household solutions using products you probably already have around the house. This tome is definitely a good one for the green movement, as you will be reusing products......
- Review: Welcome Home: A Home Improvement and Decorating Organizer by Christina Poggi and Nick Beilenson Welcome Home: A Home Improvement and Decorating Organizer is released as a three ring binder, with each of its many pages ready to store information about your home. Included are pages for placing contact information for your realtor, repair people, utilities, and other important contact information. It will also help......
Continue reading → Review of the Complete Photo Guide to Home Repair
July 29th, 2009 — Book Review, Trim, carpentry
Taunton is a well known DIY publisher and their latest book, Trim Carpentry and Built-Ins is the perfect read for any DIY’er or owner of an older home. You’ll find just about everything you could ever want to know about trim – how to make it, how to take care of it and how to [...]
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Restoring Built-Ins If your home is from the arts and crafts era, or if you have built-ins that are looking a little worn, restoring them is not as difficult as you may think. Built-ins are incredibly useful but they are often overlooked by many home owners. Here are some great tips to...... - Big Book of Home How To By Better Homes and Gardens When it comes to dealing with the authority on home improvement, you can’t much better than Better Homes and Gardens. For decades they have been helping and inspiring home owners throughout the world. Let’s see if their latest book is worth the money and if it can help you with......
- Caring For Your Old House By Judith Kitchen We loved the subtitle of this book, Respectful Rehabilitation, and this convinced us to give the book a try. There are more than enough wreckovating books out there, and for those that are interested in maintaining the charm of older homes, a book like this is a rare find indeed.......
- Review of Ty's Tricks by Ty Pennington Since tomorrow is July 4th, I've decided to take it off. There will be no blog post tomorrow which is why the book review is today instead of Friday. Have a great weekend everyone! If you're into do it yourself television, you've undoubtedly heard of Ty Pennington. He's been on......
- Review of the Complete Photo Guide to Home Repair Black and Decker are known for the terrific DIY guides and this title is no exception. As the name suggests, you’re getting step by step photo instructions that make it easy for anyone to fix up their own home without having to be a professional handy person. You’ll get......
Continue reading → Review of Trim Carpentry and Built-Ins
July 29th, 2009 — Drywall, Handy Man
Drywall is used as a modern building material that is available in large panels such as 4 feet by 8 feet. The standard drywall panel has a gypsum core which has been sandwiched between two faces of heavy paper. These heavy paper faces are commonly constructed from recycled paper products. One of the faces is [...]
Online Stores Related Posts - The Official Rent-A-Husband Guide to a Safe, Problem-Free Home: Quick, Easy, and Effective Solutions for Do-It-Yourselfer Improvements and Repairs The company was founded by Kaile Warren Jr, who at the time had a car accident. It left him nearly homeless, sleeping on the couches of his friends whenever possible. It was at this low point that at he decided to start his rent a husband business. In 1996, a......
- Hello world! The url, blog, theme, and plugins appear to all be working... So Hello world! Welcome to my handy man blog... I will be writing about how to do (build, install, customize, demolish) absolutely anything using eco friendly energy efficient materials and techniques when appropriate around the house/office… Plumbing, Electrical, Carpentry,......
- Review: The Old House Handbook: The Essential Guide to Care and Repair by Roger Hunt, Marianne Suhr This tome is the authoritative guide to looking after an old home. These can include such houses as a medieval cottage, an urban terrace from the eighteenth century, or a Victorian development. This book builds upon the thoughts and works of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, approaching......
- Review: Green Design: A Healthy Home Handbook by Alan Berman This latest book by author and architect Alan Berman is written with environmental sustainability in mind. In his book, Berman describes various ways to make the reader's home a more environmentally friendly place to live. The book is teeming with diagrams, simple charts and photographs, enabling users at any level......
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Drill Types Whether you are working on a production floor or just around your own house, drills can help to provide a variety of different assistance in creating and repairing different projects. Drills are one of the power tools that is used the most, and there are a number of different drill......
Continue reading → Drywall Guide 101
July 29th, 2009 — Handy Man, Outside, Yard
A fence around the outside of your home can act as a barrier for pets, but it can also dramatically increase the value of your home. There are many new options for fencing that are currently available and you might be surprised to find out just how economical they are. Let’s take a look at [...]
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10 Most Common Mistakes of DIY'ers Every year, thousand of homeowners pick up their tools and go to work on their homes. Unfortunately, many are not prepared for the projects they are facing and they may end up causing more damage. Here are the top ten mistakes that DIY'ers make when fixing or renovating their home....... -
Guide to Repairing a Gate There are a number of different reasons why you might find yourself needing to repair a gate. Troubleshooting what is actually going on with the gate is typically going to let you know what needs to be done in order to repair the problem. If you have a sagging gate,...... -
Easy Ways to Increase The Value of Your Home As the housing market continues to struggle, many homeowners are looking into ways to increase the value of their homes. However, a common issue that keeps these homeowners from making improvement is the lack of availability on home improvement loans, and a lack of available funding. Luckily, there are many...... -
Remodel or Refresh? If you are thinking about completely remodeling your home, but your budget is pretty small, you may want to think about refreshing it instead. There are some definite benefits to both types of home renewal, but there are some downsides as well. Let’s take a closer look at both types...... -
3 Simple Ways to Improve Your Home There are a wide variety of different things that you can do to improve your home. There are probably dozens of small steps that could be taken today to enrich the quality of your home. Here are three simple ways to improve your home, which can be accomplished in as......
Continue reading → How to Pick the Best Fencing
July 28th, 2009 — Ceramic, Clean, Handy Man, Sink, stainless steel
Our sinks are subjected to constant abuse and even with the most careful cleaning, stains can occur over time. The most common stains are due to hard water and they can be difficult to remove. However, there are a few easy tips that you can use to get rid of these stains for good.
Ceramic
One of [...]
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Fixing a Leaky Faucet At best, a leaking faucet is more than capable of being annoying. At worst, a leaking faucet is capable of being extremely wasteful. The sound of water as it continuously drips into a sink can be completely maddening over time. Luckily, the fix required for repairing a leaky faucet is...... -
How to Make Old Appliances Look New If you’re stuck with some aging appliances and replacing them isn’t in your budget, there are a few tricks that you can use to give them a facelift and make them more energy efficient, on the cheap. For this article, we’re going to focus on refreshing your refrigerator and dishwasher,...... - How to Remove Old Carpeting Whether you are ready to replace an old, stained carpet, or you want to completely redo your flooring, it is vital to make sure that you know how to properly remove carpet. By using the right techniques, you’ll be assured of saving not only time, but your floors will go......
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Mailbox Rust Removal Guide When your outdoor mailbox is exposed, it can react with the elements in the atmosphere, causing a process that is known as oxidation, and that is responsible for the formation of rust on a variety of different types of metal surfaces. Mailboxes tend to be particularly vulnerable when they are...... -
How to Remove Toilet Stains Toilet stains are unattractive and can strike any toilet, especially in a hard water area. Just the water sitting in the bowl can cause these rust-like toilet stains that may make you want to replace your toilet. Fortunately, there are ways to clean those stains and avoid having to replace......
Continue reading → How to Get Rid of Unsightly Sink Stains
July 28th, 2009 — Book Review, Project, Renovate
George Nash’s book, Renovating Old Houses – Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes is a wonderful resource for those of us that are living in aging homes. If you’re trying to recapture your home’s fading glory or you just need some tips on how to easily fix common issues in older homes, this is a [...]
Online Stores Related Posts - Ortho’s Home Repair Problem Solver By Robert J. Beckstrom, Jeff Beneke, Matt Phair, Naomi Wise Ever sat up half the night worried about what the heck was making that noise? Need quick help in figuring out what is wrong with your home? This book from Ortho isn’t the newest one on the market, but that doesn’t make it any less important. In fact, if you......
- The Official Rent-A-Husband Guide to a Safe, Problem-Free Home: Quick, Easy, and Effective Solutions for Do-It-Yourselfer Improvements and Repairs The company was founded by Kaile Warren Jr, who at the time had a car accident. It left him nearly homeless, sleeping on the couches of his friends whenever possible. It was at this low point that at he decided to start his rent a husband business. In 1996, a......
- Book Review: Insulate and Weatherize - Expert Advice from Start to Finish By Bruce Harley As energy costs continue to rise, many homeowners are starting to get serious about how much money they are wasting on home heating costs. In reality, if your home is poorly insulated, and you have not taken the steps to weatherize it properly, the fact is, your money is going......
- Review of the Complete Photo Guide to Home Repair Black and Decker are known for the terrific DIY guides and this title is no exception. As the name suggests, you’re getting step by step photo instructions that make it easy for anyone to fix up their own home without having to be a professional handy person. You’ll get......
- Book Review: What Your Contractor Can't Tell You: The Essential Guide to Building and Renovating by Amy Johnston Why do so many home improvement projects end in disaster? According to Amy Johnson, the author of What Your Contractor Can't Tell You, it's due to the fact that homeowners simply don't have access to the right tools, knowledge and planning abilities that the pro's do. Her basic premise is......
Continue reading → Review of Renovating Old Houses
