Filter Fabric for French Drain - Don't Waste Your Money! Filter fabric for french drains is not required. It's a myth. Websites and YouTube channels promote it with reckless abandon. Here's why it's a waste of money. Water drainage is misunderstood by many a homeowner, builder, YouTube personality, and building inspector if my incoming email […]
DIY Drywall Secrets That Make You a Pro I’ve been helping my son finish the basement in his three-year-old home sharing DIY drywall secrets. We can only work on Saturdays, some Fridays, and any paid-time-off days he can burn up. It’s been a lifelong dream of mine to help my kids work on their homes. […]
Virtual General Contractor - Will Work for Food & Money Were you 100 percent satisfied with all of the work done on your last large project? I’m talking about near perfection. If you did an autopsy on all the problems, errors, delays, etc. on the big job, what do you think would be the top […]
Iron Pipe Handrail Disaster - DIY Inexperience Creates Danger Several weeks ago I shared a story about a young woman with you. She attends our church, and my wife and I are friends with her. A week ago she reached out to me with a new problem. She was attempting to install a new iron […]
Oldest Home Improvement Channel on YouTube - Ask the Builder Ask the Builder was the first home improvement channel on YouTube. Ask the Builder was part of Google Video before Google purchased YouTube. Tim Carter is the founder of Ask the Builder, one of the first home improvement websites on the Internet. The Ask the […]
Rusted Joist Hangers are Dangerous One of my newsletter subscribers, Robert, does handyman work on the weekends for friends and other homeowners. Eleven years ago, he wanted to learn how to frame a large shed including common roof framing. He volunteered to help me build my 16x24-foot two-story shed. We’ve been fast friends ever since […]
Repair Concrete Cracks - Many Bad Options Several days ago I had a texting exchange with a very smart single woman who attends my church. She reached out to me the day before with a photo of water inside her garage and another showing a crack in the garage foundation wall near the water puddle. […]
Clean Inside of a Toilet Tank - Two Ways, One is Best Ed subscribes to my free weekly newsletter. He lives in western North Carolina as does his son. His son’s house was not flooded by a portion of the trillions of gallons of water Hurricane Helene unleashed on the interior of the Southeastern USA. […]
Concrete Patching Compound - Sand and Cement is Best Every seven weeks I sit in my barber’s chair and say to Mikayla, “Take no prisoners. Cut each and every one of them.” She giggles to humor me. I have to step up from the asphalt parking lot to a concrete sidewalk to get to the […]