Plumbing Drains and Vents Tutorial Yesterday we had a plumbing emergency in my own home. The main drain pipe under the basement floor got clogged with toilet paper. The culprit is a newer low-flush toilet in a basement bathroom. I’ve been a master plumber since 1981 and I used my flexible drain-cleaning snake to clear […]
How to Avoid Construction Delays and Arguments - It's So Easy Just before writing this column, I did a phone coaching call with a man who lives in northwest Ohio. He wanted me to tell him if it was possible to build a room addition to his son’s home. The dealbreaker was the addition had […]
Homeowner Insurance Nightmare Catch 22 Do you have homeowners insurance? How much do you know about your policy, or should I say contract? When was the last time you read your policy cover-to-cover? If you’re like me, you purchased a policy sight unseen assuming that you and your possessions are protected in case of a […]
Stop Giving Contractors Money Upfront I’ve set an ambitious goal for this column. It’s my hope it will save collectively at least 100 million dollars. If you and every other reader follow the advice I’m about to share, we can make sure your money will not disappear through the hands of a dishonest contractor like […]
Algae, Mold, and Mildew Removal and Prevention - Remove Water & Food Days ago Jerry stopped by my www.AsktheBuilder.com website. He reads my column each week in his local paper and was perplexed by algae growth on the exterior of his home. Jerry hales from Chesterton, Indiana, the gateway to the massive sand dunes at […]
Repair Front Porch - Mosaic Tile and Concrete Base In the past week, Don asked me for advice. He lives in the extreme northeast corner of North Carolina just 15 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. His front porch stoop is in very bad shape. Back in 1949 when the house was built, the tile setter […]
Elliot Moore Smart House Colony Scam On September 16, 2023 at 1:18 AM in the morning, I received an email from Elliot Moore. Elliot claims he is a writer/photographer for a website called SmartHouseColony. He put forth an allegation that I had stolen one of his photographs which you see on this page of my […]
Three Season Room Problems - There Can Be Many Not too long ago Philip reached out to me. I’ve mentioned in past columns that each week I solve countless problems for homeowners just like you. For me, it’s similar to putting together a jigsaw puzzle or playing the board game of Clue. You present me […]
How to Minimize Exterior Wood Maintenance One of the things I enjoy most about writing my column is communicating with readers just like you. As often happens, a reader will visit my www.AsktheBuilder.com website and use the form on the Ask Tim page to get help. Not too long ago Bob did this. He lives […]
How to Prevent Cost Overruns on Your Projects You have a county coroner who performs autopsies on some who have been sent back to Heaven. I do autopsies too each week. Many of them. You may have been one of the many homeowners who have reached out to me asking for me to throw you […]
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