April 28, 2011 AsktheBuilder Tips And Newsletter
What's in This Newsletter?
Latest News
Bucket Ape Tool Review
AsktheBuilder on Facebook
Rusting Gutters
Helping You
Washington DC Meet-up
Stain Solver Sweepstakes
Latest Columns
Boring, But Necessary Stuff
Latest News
Spring is really trying hard to come to New Hampshire. The Friday before Easter it was 58 F and pretty sunny. That's tee shirt weather up here, especially after you've been buried under snow for three months.
Then last Saturday morning, I awake to wet snow falling. By the time it was over, two inches were on the ground. It looked like December. Easter Sunday, by 1 p.m., the ground was clear of that white covering! Crazy weather indeed.
Yesterday, we put the wood panels on the dock that lowers into the water like a drawbridge. That's how I suggest to Mother Nature, "Okay, it's time for summer!"
Tool Review - Bucket Ape
When I offer tool and product reviews here in the newsletter, I almost always have tested the product to ensure it does what it says. Here's an example of a time I've not done this. The reason why is the tool is so caveman simple, I already know it's going to work. And work WELL.
Have you ever grouted ceramic tile? Let's say a large floor. You then know that part of the job is emptying out the water bucket countless times in a vain effort to keep the rinse water clean. The cloudy water in the grout bucket is part of the reason there is always a grout haze on the tile.
Imagine if each time you rinsed your sponge in the bucket there was NO GROUT in it. How is that possible you ask? Easy. The Bucket Ape allows you to transform a five-gallon bucket into a crystal clear rinsing station right where you're grouting.
A water hose feeds water to the bucket and a threaded drain fitting at the bottom side of the bucket connects to a second hose that pipes the water outdoors. DUH! As the water flows into the bucket, you get to rinse your sponge completely clean each time. It's a tile setter's dream tool. But wait, it gets better. Do you have a septic system like I do?
This tool is PERFECT for cleaning paint brushes and rollers for anyone, like me, on a septic system. You don't want to ever put latex paint into a septic system or a leach field. I so wish I had this great tool this winter while I was painting the kitchen.
The inventor has set up a special page at his website where you can get a discount. You can buy the entire kit or just the parts to make your own Bucket Ape. If you have scrap hoses around and a bucket, all you need is the Bucket Ape tray and the special fitting for the drain hose.
If you do buy from this link, I do get a very tiny commission on each sale. I only do this with products I really believe in.
AsktheBuilder on Facebook
Do you use Facebook? Here's some of the stuff we discussed in the past few days at the AsktheBuilder.com Facebook Fan Page:
http://www.facebook.com/askthebuilder
- I posted another mystery photo that you had to guess what it was.
- Luke commented about my past column on Tankless Water Heaters
- I helped James cut his patio blocks.
- I shared how I got a grease stain out of a new marble top.
- and MUCH more.
Become a fan and you'll get the free tips every time you login to your Facebook page!
Rusting Gutters
Lloyd Adams from Memphis, TN wrote to me:
"My wife and I built our house 22 years ago. The roof is good for awhile longer, but my galvanized gutters are rusting and leaking causing obvious problems. The gutter replacement job is more pressing, but I hate to install new gutters only to have them damaged when the roofers do their thing in a couple of years. Is this a needless worry, or should I go ahead and have the roof work done a bit early to spare potential damage to the gutters?"
Lloyd, I'm wondering if it's possible to salvage the gutters. If the rusting is not too bad such that the metal is paper thin, I'd use a special rust primer paint formulated to stick well to rust and then add a second coat of finish paint on the insides of the gutters.
Be sure to clean them well with soap and water to get all the dirt out before you paint. Once the paint is dry and cured, that can take two weeks, I'd coat all the soldered seams with the special sealant that's used on aluminum gutter joints. That will stick well on top of the paint. I love the sealant made by Alcoa.
Helping You
I need help from you once again so that I can do a better job of making your life easier. Here are some facts:
Tens of thousands of people come to AsktheBuilder.com each day. No doubt each and everyone has a problem. They sure as heck aren't coming to randomly surf my website.
I have thousands of pages of information at my AsktheBuilder.com website. So much information, that it's HARD for you to quickly find the tens of thousands of answers that are there.
If you're like most I talk with, your life is getting more complicated each day. You don't have the time or patience to look through all my content to get to the answers you need.
I get many emails each day with people asking pretty simple questions, but they want the Staples Office Supply store EASY button. If you're one of these people, you just want the quick answer. Right? I don't blame you one bit.
Here's an example. Carol B., from Cincinnati, OH, contacted me several days ago. She had a new concrete slab poured and it developed a crack. She was getting conflicting information about why it happened, who's fault it was and most importantly, WHAT could be done now to fix it.
All of that information was at my website. I've written extensively about it. But Carol was too busy, frustrated, or didn't have the patience to sift through my stuff to find out what to do. I understand that. Lately, I've been in the same mood and have little patience when faced with dilemmas.
After thinking about Carol's situation and knowing the answer was there for her, I had an epiphany.
What if Carol had seen at my Ask Tim page this announcement:
Do you have a problem? One of my 3-Minute Answer Guides could Solve Your Problem Right Now!
You click through and discover there's an Instant Download guide that you can read in 3 minutes or less. The document covers the causes of the problem, how it could have been prevented and the best part - SOLUTIONS to the problem that work.
What do you think about this? Would you like simple documents like this?
Would you take this SHORT survey to help me flush out this idea?
There is a place in the survey where you can tell me WHAT quick guides you want to see.
Washington DC Meet-up
It looks like I'll be in Washington DC again on May 24th with about three hours to kill late afternoon. If you're interested in meeting again and chit chatting, let me know.
Stain Solver Sweepstakes (Now over!)
We're having a new sweepstakes for Stain Solver! Go here for the details.
You could WIN a lot of Stain Solver. Better go look at this.
Latest Columns
Here are some columns I've loaded to the website. I really NEED your help.
When you read a column, note the SHARE button at the top near the headline. Could you do me a huge FAVOR and Share the column if you're on Facebook or Twitter? It will really help me if you do this.
Also, note at the BOTTOM of every column, you can comment to your Facebook friends if you discovered something in the column. That also helps me spread the good word to all that AsktheBuilder.com exists!
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Disclaimers and Other Stuff
I do product reviews frequently. Please read my Disclosure Policy to understand the relationship between me and the companies that make the products or offer the services I review.
PERIODIC OFFERS: This is a free newsletter filled with thousands of dollars of advice for your use and pleasure. From time to time I do offer you some of my products to help offset the time and resources I put into this newsletter. I hope that you consider this when you see me make you an offer.
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If you have a question for me, don't hit the Reply button just yet. Go immediately to my web site and type in the keywords about your problem into my Search engine. The search box is at the top of every page of my web site. You could have your answer in seconds if you do this! Please pay attention to all links you see at my web site. The exact products and services you often need are right in front of you, and you might be ignoring them.