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. […]
Patio Deck Sizing Secrets Are you planning a new deck or patio soon? There’s a very good chance you’re going to make it too small. I know this based on the thousands of complaints I’ve received over the years from homeowners just like you. Most people don’t have the ability to look at a plan […]
Best Stair Layout - It's All About Human Stride You probably give little thought to why the stairs in your home are built the way they are. I’m talking about how high you need to lift your foot to get up to the next step and how deep the flat tread is when your foot […]
Building Code Tips - Code Officials Should Consider Doing More to Help Homeowners I’m helping my son on the weekends finish the basement in his 3-year-old house. He’s adding 1,300 square feet of finished living space. We met with the local building inspector a few days ago. Dawn gave us the thumbs up on the […]
Best Exterior Nails and Screws are Double Hot-Dipped Galvanized or Stainless Steel I was blessed by God to learn my craft of building and remodeling in Cincinnati, Ohio. The first few years of my career had me working on houses that were close to 100 years old. I have no recollection of seeing rusty roofing […]
House Settlement Debunked - Lumber Shrinkage Often, the Culprit Roy subscribes to my free newsletter and reached out to me about a month ago for one of my phone consult calls. He needed help engineering a drainage system around his house to stop water from infiltrating his basement. I offer a house-drainage design service. I […]
Nail Guns Save Time & Money - Use Them Wisely Are you a serious DIYr? If so, you know that the quality and type of tools you use will not only determine when the project gets done, but they’ll also play a major part in quality level of the job. In my opinion, one of […]
How to Avoid Arguments With Contractors How many times have you hired contractors in your life? My guess is quite a few. If you had to rate each experience much like you might a meal how many 5-star ratings would you have doled out? While I’m not a betting man, I’d say fewer than five […]
How to Add a Bathroom You may or may not know this, but I’ve been a master plumber for nearly four decades. I used to do all the plumbing in all the houses I built and in the remodeling jobs that had a plumbing component. I want to let you know if you’re thinking of […]
How to Protect Exterior Wood A week ago, my lovely wife and our 2-year-old American Dirus dog were on Mt. Desert Island in Downeast Maine. We rented a tiny cottage just 12 feet from the shoreline of Bass Harbor. If you’re not familiar with this part of the USA, I can assure you it’s a […]
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