Small areas that need insulation; maybe around doors and windows when replacing them or between the joist and foundation facing towards the outside of the home. In most cases fiberglass insulation or a can of foam may get this job completed. Foam is hard to control and fiberglass insulation requires protective masks, gloves and clothing.
There is a new type of insulation being sold in smaller package that will make life easier. Recycled cotton and denim makes a great insulator. In fact this cotton insulation get an R 6 per in of thickness. You need no protective gear and it is so easy to apply this product... It is made by Duck brand and can find it at a lot of hardware stores.
General Tool company has offered specialty tools for years. From Stair gauges to contour gauges they seem to have those cool tools to help with our projects. A couple of their newest products recently introduce at the National Hardware show is a moisture meter and Thermal laser. The Thermal laser is a pistol type tool the shows air leakage that is occurring in your home. Just point a shoot around doors and windows or just on the wall to discover if there are temperature differences. General Tools newest moisture meter can receive readings form walls that are up to 4” thick. This is perfect if you a re looking for a leak behind a shower wall.. Any reading around 15% and up will indicate moisture present behind the wall.
A big area of waste of water in your home is still the toilet. Every flush is 1.6 gallons of water and it used to be 5 to 7 gallons of water but there is still a way to cut down on water usage when it comes to using the toilet. There are a number of new water savings valves but nothing as easy as the One2flush product.
A One2flush dual flush valve transforms any 1.6gpf toilet into a more efficient water-saving toilet.. You choose the amount of water needed to flush the accumulated wastes. 1.6 gallons for a full flush or less than 1.1 gallons for a partial flush.
You do not have to chance out the valve. You first remove the flapper and then install the One 2flush by simply tightening the screw that is a attached to a toggle bolt assembly. This product will regulate how far the new flapper opens and help you eliminate wasted water.
A great way to make the floors in your home more comfortable in the winter time is with radiant heat.It can be installed under ceramic tile, wood floors even carpeting.The problem is if the floor covering is already installed what are you to do? The isa product called speedy heat which is fiberglass matting about as thick as two credit cards with a heating wire running through it, just like an under floor covering radiant heat pad.The mat can be ordered to size and used under area rugs.The best part is it just plugs into the wall.It does not have to be hard wired it is movable and safe. See each plug in cord which is attached to the mat has a GFCI to protect from electrical shock. Use it in the bathroom, unplug it and put in under a throw rug in the kitchen.
Frozen pipes can mean broken pipes and trying to solder a pipe with a little dampness in it can be impossible.Or maybe you’re the person that just wants no part of making a plumbing connection on copper pipe with a torch.If that is the case here is the perfect plumbing part for you during your next project.It is called a shark bite fittings. Like all plumbing fittings they are made in couplings, elbows, and adapters and they work on all types of pipes from copper to pvc to pex.To install cut the pipe square and remove any burrs on the pipe pull back the sleeve on the shark Bite fittings and insert the tube. The connection is perfect and water tight. No glues, primers, flux, solder or torches.Little more expensive but a real time saver.
When purchasing a furnace for your home there several things to consider.The size of the furnace, efficiency, single or two stage and the type of blower motor. The type of blower motor is something you may not have considered.I recommend getting a variable speed blow motor and here is why.
Instead of two fan speeds, furnaces with variable speed motors have many fan speeds. This helps to heat your home evenly and efficiently and are great for homes with bad ductwork. These “smart fans” also have the capability to speed up as the filter gets dirty, and slow down when a clean one is put in it’s place. Their motors are also more reliable and cost a fraction of the electric bills to run (and this is great because this motor is also used during the summer so the savings are year-round). Variable speed furnaces also have superior humidity control year-round.
In the shower area you may have a towel bar.In older homes the brackets for the towel bar are mortared in place and in most cases the bar it self is porcelain.If you that bar ever gets broken you maybe perplexed on how to get a new bar into the brackets.In fact several people I know have tried to remove the brackets from the tile wall.There is no need to take that extreme position.Leave the brackets in place and head off to the hardware store to pick up a spring loaded towel rod.These will come in clear Lucite or brass or chrome.This towel rod works like the toilet paper roller. If you are looking for a solid bar you can find several sizes that can be cut down to size.The ends pull out of the bar and are spring loaded.
There are a couple of things we all need around the house; WD 40, duct tape and Krud Kutter. That’s right Krud Kutter!
This product is excellent for cleaning up spilled paint before it dries but it has many other uses.If you have white enamel baseboards you probably have scuff marks on them or vinly floor in the kitchen or a wood floor throughout the home more scuff marks.If this is the case get some Krud Kutter and apply to a cotton cloth and apply to the effected area.The scuff marks simply wipe away.Like a said a great product to have around the house.
If you are considering buying a garage door here are a few things to consider. Budget and design.Prices range from $500 up to $2500 on average.The design can be very important if a large area of the front of your home is the door. Insulation. Insulated doors can help with the overall energy efficiency of the home for garages that are attached to the home.If one or two of the primary living areas join the garage it is even more important. Maintenance. Steel doors require less maintenance then wood. Building code requirements.In many parts of the country there is a wind rating for doors. Type of material the door would be made of; Wood, aluminum, steel or the new type of composites. These can be a low maintenance alternative to a wood door.
The way we use color in our home creates and environment of calm, excitement, even restful.These color can be found in the fabric we choose or the paint colors we apply to the walls of our home.The world of color has undergone a makeover of late, too, with yellow and gray leading the way. Together, these colors add a level of calm to a room. The gray, a rather neutral color, works well as a base color on upholstered furniture, especially when used with another hot trend - espresso-stained wood. The yellow, best utilized in small bursts, adds excitement in the room.
Ground Control: Natural wood floors are also making a major comeback, and other types of types of natural flooring such as travertine, limestone and honed marbles are in high demand. I am seeing and using natural gemstones in flooring as well.
If you find yourself walking into a room or maybe a finished basement and there is a musty smell, you probably suspect there is moisture behind the wall but your not sure where.This is a problem that many homeowners face over time. Of course if there is moisture, there is a good chance that mold is also growing inside the wall cavity.For years the answer is to just tear the dry way off the studs and see what is going on behind the dry wall.Now a days there is another option… a moisture meter. This hand held tool cost less then $40 and has two probes on the front of the tool. Insert the tiny metal probes into the dry wall and it will give you a moisture measurement. Once you find where the problem is, you can tear off the drywall and fix the problem.You will save yourself a whole lot of work with this handy tool.
We have cleaned it, stripped it, sanded it, sealed it, painted it, and we still don’t like it.That’s right it the deck in the back of your house.So I bring another solution.A liquid amour resurface that is pre mixed and covers about 50 sq ft a gallon, plus in comes in 10 colors. Deck Restore is a coating and can be applied over wood surfaces to a new look finish. The coating is a ¼” thick and is rolled onto the surface.It fills cracks, exposed splinters and looks awesome after a dry time of couple of hours.This polymer is pre mixed and has proven to stay flexible for years when exposed to sun, cold, heat and Mother Nature at its worst. Deck Restore works on composites.Whey replace that old pressure treated wood …You can use Deck Restore.
Patios and sidewalks made of pavers make a great looking walkway. How you seal the pavers or the sand you use can make a difference in the success of the job.Sealers that are designed for pavers will create a sheen to the pavers and the sealer should also solidify the sand to eliminate ants from tunneling in the sand and prevent weeds from growing in the sand between the pavers.
PowerLoc sand can also be used in the installation of the pavers that will prevent these problems.This type of sand will also not track into the home. When installed dampen the PowerLoc sand with water and in becomes rigid and eliminates a lot of problems normally caused by paver sand.
If you have aluminum gutters then I am sure you have problems with them always being dirty.To clean them is a problem because many cleaners do not work and you have to get the ladder out and scrub the gutters down.I have the answer and a tool that will help you with this project.I recommend using Purple Power as the cleaning agent.Spray it on to the gutter and allow to sit. A gutter cleaning applicator called Marxoff will make this cleaning go very smoothly.It screws on to a broom handle or adjustable pole and the applicator is shaped like the gutter.From the ground just wipe the applicator across the gutter and wow it will do a great cleaning job. Check it out at www.Marxoff.com
If you have a leak in your roof or maybe a seam in the gutter is causing a drip I go t a product you should try it is properly named Leak Stopper.
It is a big advancement in roof patching and repair. This long lasting rubberized repair is specially formulated to penetrate deep into damaged areas and stop roof leaks instantly! The secret is Penetrex™, a unique penetrating oil that reaches deep into the crack and forms a complete seal. With the addition of liquid rubber, this flexible, high performance plastic cement provides a superior watertight bond that will stop problem leaks for good. Product formulated to be used year round. Leak stopper is ideal for a variety of roof surfaces including Shingles, Built-Up Roofs, SBS Modified Roofs, Metal Roofs and many other surfaces.You can trowel or brush it on which is great for lining gutters or in a caulking tube for shingle repair.
Basement closets can be come damp due to lack of air flow. A pantry over a crawl space will become so damp moisture can be found on the walls surface. This condition can create mold and mildew which can become a health issue.To solve this problem you might consider installing a golden rod dehumidifier.They are about and inch in diameter and come in 12” to 36” in length. How GoldenRod Works GoldenRod® heats to a surface temperature of less than 150°and circulates warm, dry air throughout an enclosure on a 24 hour basis. Expansion of the heated air forces the moist air outside through the vents or loose fitting doors leaving dry air inside. In runs 110 volt system with a maxuim power of 38 watts. The goldenrod should be mounted horizontally.
You have seen the ladder that pulls down to allow you to climb into your attic for storage, well got something safer and easier.It is called a Versa Lift.To install it a hole is cut into the ceiling and with a platform and cables this product works like a mini elevator go from the attic to the floor. A push button switch operates it, hard wired or wireless allows the platform to come out of the ceiling until it reaches the floor.It holds 200 lbs. of storage and then press the button and up in goes right into the attic.No climbing up the ladder and unloading products to the attic.Just stack the boxes on the platform and up it goes. The lifting platform stops when in reaches full up or full down. It comes in two sizes and runs about $1,200. Check it out called a Versa lift.
A lot of that live in homes that are 1961 and beyond have gypsum board or drywall on the walls. And of course in between the studs the area is hollow. It's only solid behind the studs. So there's different anchors to use to hang different items. This one here you're all familiar with, it's a plastic anchor, it's great for items that are five, ten pounds such as pictures, curtain rods. Very easy to use. Drill a hole about three-16ths of an inch and insert it. Now once you've inserted it, what's going to happen, is when you run the screw in that plastic expands, getting a nice taut fit. So that is how the plastic anchor works. Now if you have something a little heavier, you might want to think about using a molly bolt. And a moll bolt has a metal casing. You can buy them where you drive them right into the drywall, or you can drill again, on this one it's probably a quarter inch hole. Insert the molly bolt, tighten the screw and what happens is as you tighten the screw, you collapse the shield. And you can see what a great holding power a molly bolt has. They come in different thicknesses also, so if you have really thick drywall, they'll collapse at the right point, or if you have a hollow core door, it will collapse at a point. But the one I like best is the one they call a screw in type anchor. Now this is a plastic anchor. To install this, you simply take a screwdriver and you screw it in through the drywall. You can see the wide thread on that, just cutting through the drywall. Once that gets in place you can run a screw into it. As you see the backside, you can see how that threaded through with the wide grooves. And again very, very taut. I use that for hanging shelves or mirrors. So, when you get to the hardware store, you do have a choice of anchors and those are three of my favorites.
One trend we're seeing in homes these days, is people are putting in less and less carpet; family rooms, basements. They seem to be going in other areas, more of the hard-type flooring. For instance we're seeing a lot of ceramic tile being use, a lot of slate being used, a tremendous amount of hardwood flooring being used. But they have issues too. Ceramic can be a little chilly, you might think about a heating coil underneath. Wood of course requires maintenance. So a lot of folks are looking for something that looks like wood, looks like ceramic, but doesn't require the maintenance. I've found an excellent product. This is called Aviare Flooring. It comes in many, many different looks. Check it out at www.avairefloors.com
If you have a front load washer an odor may be driving you crazy. It seems the new washers do not discharge all of the water after they complete the cycle. When the door of the washer is left closed it produces a stagnate odor. In some older washers this is also an occasional problem because hard water, detergents and lime build up on the inside of the tub, pump and hoses. I found a product that will help eliminate the odor and clean the washer tub at the same time. Washer Magic is used once a month and will freshen and clean your washer
While your working on the washer don’t forget to change those hoses every couple of years. They are under pressure unless you turn off the water valve and who does that after each wash. If those hoses burst you got a problem.
If you like the look of ceramic tile and a lot of us do, how about a ceramic tile that can be installed directing over wood, concrete, tile, vinyl even the old asbestos tile with out removing it first.No need to install cement board or glue because it is free floating.Install on a basement floor and not worry about cracking or moisture penetrating the tile.Sound pretty good?It is called Avaire interlocking floating floor.Only 9/16” of inch thick so that is helpful. It will save you money: no sub floor, glue and quick installation by your flooring installer.It simply clicks together and the grout is solid and elastomeric.No cracking and cleaning the grout.Check with your flooring dealer Avaire interlocking floating floors.
Construction adhesive is used a lot in building and remodeling. Of course, when you go to the hardware store you're going to find all different types of construction adhesives. Just like you do with caulkings, there's construction adhesives that are for wood, concrete, for sub floors, styrofoam panels. So be very, very careful that you get the right kind of construction adhesive. But the one thing kind of universal is when you use construction adhesive, you put lines on the back of let's say, ceramic tile. You don't mast it all the way across, just lines, you don't want those lines to join up. And then you press against the material, and then pull it apart. And then you wait 15 minutes. You don't necessarily have to do that with one type. This one here, Power Grab construction adhesive, again lines on the back of the tile, but it can just go on immediately. There is no sticking it on and waiting 15 minutes. Now this guy here, this is a universal construction adhesive. This is very, very neat. It can be used on almost any type of material. It can even be applied when material is wet. It's paintable, it's flexible, it's UV resistant. This truly is not only the universal, it's the ultimate.
Have you ever had the problem of rust on the carpet?That’s right probably cleaned the carpeting and put the furniture back in place too soon and the metal tip under the chair leg created a little rust that is now on the carpet. First off the next time you clean your carpets put a little wax paper under the legs to prevent this from being a problem.I have recommended Iron Out for rust stains on numerous items and it will work on carpet.Iron Out is a crystal that can be mixed with water and then the solution can be applied to the carpet.I would recommend dabbing a cotton cloth onto the solution soaked carpet.After several applications the rust will disappear. When removing a stain from material apply on an out of the way place to make sure no damage or fading takes place.
It's that time of year when ants invade our homes. There's the big black carpenter ants that are living in decaying, wet wood. Or whether it's the sweet ants that want into your home, they want to find water and food. Our process to eliminate them starts on the outside of your home. If you have mulch, I'd like you to get a spade, go out and just kind of pull the mulch away from the home. And you don't have to pull it away far, just about six inches or so. If you have an ant problem, you'll probably see ants down in the soil or down in the mulch themselves. So take a look at the foundation, make sure there are no cracks if there are, get some caulking and go ahead and fill those up. That's how they're entering your home. Now the first thing you want to do in our ant defense is creating a barrier. Terro Ant Dust is great for that. It is a dust, it is a barrier dust that works up to six to eight months. All you need to do is sprinkle it around the foundation itself, that creates a wonderful barrier. Now, for the ants that have already gotten into your home, there's also a very wonderful l product. This is very safe too, even if you have pets or small children. This is Terro ant bait. It's a combination of a sweetener and of course a liquid. You just tear off the tab, put it against the baseboard. The ants take it back to the colony. And that's where the queen is, that's what we've got to eliminate. So, pull the mulch away, dust it, get some bait on the inside. No more ants.
We finally got some cool weather, and that means every field mouse is going to be looking at your home for a place to winter over. When you go to the hardware store you're going to find all kinds of things to take care of mice, from sonic alarms that put out a high pitched sound that's supposed to scare away the mice, to different types of poison for mice and rats. Kind of stay away from that because once they ingest this, they look for water. I know the water is supposed to be on the outside of your home, but if they don't make it you're going to have another problem, it's going to smell kind of bad. Also there's glue traps, there's everything you need to get rid of a mouse, but I have to tell you the best is the good old mouse trap. You just put it up against the baseboard, that's where mice run. Little piece of cheese or some peanut butter and you got him. So how can you even prevent the mice from entering your home. Couple things you might want to look at, any gaps in the foundation or around doors. That can be taken care very easily with an expandable foam. Another area I want you to take a look at is the area at the bottom of the garage door. Most garage doors have a piece of weather stripping, a piece of rubber like this that goes from the door to the concrete floor. If you have one, make sure it's nice and smooth along the concrete, make sure it's aligned, if not, you can replace it, keeping the mice out in the cold.
Chances are you've got these little guys all over the house and you don't pay much attention to them. What they are, they're the water valve that brings water to the sink, to the vanity, to the toilet. Of course, the only time you have to fuss with this valve is when you have a leak, because you're going to have to shut off the water here to work on the valve on top. Here's where the problem comes in, in most cases. You probably haven't turned that valve on or off for ten to fifteen years. A little maintenance tip, not that you're going to do it or anything, to go ahead, around the house, just tighten and loosen, tighten and loosen, make sure they're free flowing, maybe put a little liquid wrench on them. But most people aren't going to do that, and neither do I. So, if you have a leak, you're going to have to shut this off and there's probably a good deal of corrosion around that valve.Step one is I would get a product like a Liquid Wrench. This is a penetrating oil that can be sprayed right underneath the handle into the bonnet, which is going to take a couple of hours to work, but but it'll really penetrate and possibly loosen this up. Where people get in trouble is they get a pump pliers on there and they bend the stem. Here's a very cool tool that I've found. This is designed to loosen that handle of that valve. You can see that it just kind of fits over like a socket It gives you good, even pressure and a lot of torque.
This past week, I visited the headquarters for duct tape and found out it is now a very fashionable product.It seems duct tape is no longer silver or black or white but almost every color is represented.In factI, came home with a roll of plaid duct tape and tie dyed duct tape.Seems kids in schools have found 1,000’s of uses for duct tape.I must admit I use duct tape on a lot of my home projects.
If you're tired of cold showers every morning, I've got a device that's going to solve that problem. It's right there. Now let's just think about it. We've got the water heater on one side of the house, the shower is way on the other side of the house. All the hot water sits in the pipe overnight, you wake up, it's cold. You've got to run all of that cold water out of the line before you get hot water.So, this little device, it goes on the hot water side, directly above the water heater. You can set it, it's a pump. You can set it for when you want it to turn on, when you want it to turn off, several times a day if you'd like. Underneath the vanity, or the faucet that's the furthest away from the water heater is this little mixing valve. And what this valve does, is you take the supply lines, you run it in one end of the valve and then up to the faucet, the other end of the valve up to the faucet. And when this pump turns on, say at five o'clock in the morning, it pushes all the water that's in the hot water line back into the cold water line and back into the water heater, replacing it with hot water. When you wake up in the morning, you get a nice hot shower.Now this whole arrangement runs about 300 dollars if you install it yourself, a plumber about 500 bucks. So you might want to check it out, very, very nice.
Hardwood flooring has become very popular in homes today, and nowadays we're seeing more exotic woods like mahoganys and walnuts. Also we're seeing large planks that are becoming very popular. But the one thing I wanted to talk about is hardwood versus engineered flooring. This is a typical hardwood floor. It's usually glued and nailed in place, usually on a wood sub-floor, something along those lines. But an engineered floor, this can actually be used in a basement. A lot of people building rec rooms and basements want to know if you can put a hardwood floor in, and you certainly can. It's an engineered floor. Now there is some limitations. Number one, you want to have less than a seven percent moisture content in the slab itself. And you can get an actual water meter that you sit on the floor that tells you that. This is actually glued directly to the slab. So you can have that wood floor, even in a basement.
I have been asked many times if you can use linseed oil to protect exterior wood. Usually they state that their father used it all the time on fencing.Of course linseed oil works as a preservative inwood and concrete and is found in many paints and coatings but with today’s technology there are better products to use. Here are a few of the limitations found in plain linseedoil.
Sometimes linseed oil can take forever to dry... or stays sticky or doesn't dry at all!!
No UV (ultraviolet) light resistance... UV causes more damage to exposed wood than any other factor, destroying wood fibers and setting it up for attack by mildew, fungus, and insects.
Linseed oil is mildew food....
Linseed oil does not harden sufficiently to offer enough resistance to abrasion to be a suitable deck floor preservative... at least by today's standards.
Difficult to remove from wood... Multiple coats of linseed oil are gummy and difficult to remove
You know, sometimes just taking a walk around the hardware store you'll find some really neat items for your home. And a couple of items I found just recently. Number one is this switch plate. I think this is really neat. It's got a thermometer actually on the top. Runs on a small battery. And the reason I think this is nice to have is you can just replace the switch plates, maybe in a couple of upstairs bedrooms, maybe downstairs, and you can actually see just how even the temperature is throughout the home. Maybe you need to make some adjustments, like better ventilation in the attic to cool off those upstairs bedrooms. So, this is a cool thing to have. This I think is imperative to have, if you have humidity issues, mainly in the wintertime. Too high humidity and the windows are sweating. A lot of times you can correct that problem by just turning on the bathroom fan, not just when you're showering, but 30 minutes after you're done showering. And this is a timer switch. And you can just replace the toggle switch that controls the fan in the bathroom and actually set the timer for 30 minutes after the shower, removing all the humidity, and hopefully solving that humidity problem that you have inside the home. So, next time you're in the hardware store, just take a little time and look around. You may find that one item you can't live without.
You may have seen this hook before, it's called a command adhesive hook. They come in different sizes, and up until now were just made of plastic. The reason why people would want to use a command adhesive hook is basically you wouldn't have to drill into the wall. There's these little pads that are double stick adhesive, it sticks onto the back of the hook and then onto the wall. To break the adhesion, in a year or two when you want to remove it, pull this tab, and that breaks the adhesion, and it doesn't do any damage to the wall. Well there's been a little bit of change, they've stepped them up a little bit. Command adhesive hooks are now made of metal. They come in different sizes and also different finishes. What I have here is a medium size, this is a nickel finish. And if you're the type of person that doesn't want to drill into the drywall or screw into the studs, this is ideal. Actually works the same way with the double stick pad and breaks away when you want to remove it, without any damage to the wall. This is ideal. This holds up to three pounds, so you figure out the use.
If this is the year that you decide to build a deck or maybe refurbish your deck, I recommend that you take a look at some of the composite woods. Now these are very, very color stable, you've got a nice grain in them. And you never need to stain, you never need to paint them. You simply need to keep them clean. Hose them off. One of the newest trends in composite woods, is the darker colors. This is a South American mahogany. You see the different tones, and the exotic wood species are becoming very popular. But the one thing that's new in decks, probably as important as the invention of the deck screw, as you take a look at this mock-up deck, you'll notice there are no screw holes. There are no nails showing. And that is because of Fiberon. They've come up with this type of fastener that actually fits into the groove part of the decking board itself then is screwed to the joist. And what this does is it keeps all the nail and screw heads from the top surface of the deck, puts it in between the boards, and it also creates perfect conformity in terms of the spacing of the boards. So you might think about the composite wood, they're about twice as expensive as pressure treated wood, but well worth the cost in the years ahead.
There just seems to be more and more options when in comes to flooring material.Garage flooring is a PVC interlocking tile that is slip and oil resistant.You can dress up the garage floor and not worry about a coating or paint peeling from the floor.How about foam floor tiles for the basement play area or a kid’s bedroom.These are easy to clean and protect children from dangerous falls.I have found ceramic tile that is interlocking. Guaranteed to have accurate spacing for the grout and are super easy to install.Speaking of flooring that is interlocking don’t forget Dri Core the interlocking subfloor panels that elevate the new floor of the cement slab.
Ceramic and porcelain tile is being used more and more in today's homes and we're even finding it even on basement floors, kitchens and bathrooms. Of course installing porcelain or ceramic tile, it's a project. We've got the cement board, you've got the grouting, spacers and you spend a lot time on your knees. This is a new, very unique product. This is called Snap Stone. No grouting, no cement board. It just requires a level floor. This is a floating ceramic tile floor. As you can see, these little tabs on the ends, literally snap together, creating your entire floor. Where the grout would go, they have a specific grout, and what it is, it's an elastomeric grout, you can trowel it in or it's pre-formed where you can just snap it in. No cement board needed because the backing is actually on the back of the porcelain tile. So again, a level floor. This is a project I know you can tackle.
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