DEAR TIM: My wife and I removed beadboard wainscoating in a house we just bought. In the process, we destroyed the wall. The beadboard was glued on and when it came down so did a thin coat of something. I think it's plaster. Why are there two different materials and why did the wall fall […]
DEAR TIM: Our house has a free-standing decorative brick wall with an iron gate. In various places, the bricks are crumbling. In some places, the entire face of the brick has come off. I do not have enough replacement bricks to replace the damaged bricks. Must I replace the bricks that are merely crumbling or […]
Dianna Morrow has a common problem. She's building a new home in Hardy, VA. Here's what she sent: "The waterproofing spray on my foundation was applied with lots of overspray above grade. The builder has tried grinding it off, painting over it and some other coating that cracked terribly. What options to cover/correct this do […]
Maryann Mosca had an unfortunate loss in her life and now she's trying to finish a stone job and needs to change the mortar color. She lives in Branchburg, NJ. Here's what she sent me: "Let me start by saying my husband was a carpenter and put on a 2nd floor and front porch on our […]
Klein NCVT-3 Voltage Pen Tester Review Tim Carter demonstrates the NCVT-3 voltage tester pen by Klein Tools.
The Santa Fe Advance 2 is a great dehumidifier. How do you judge such things? Easy. The first thing to look at is how much water will it remove from the air in a 24-hour period. The Advance 2 by Santa Fe is rated at 90 pints of water. If you remember your grade school […]
DEAR TIM: My new house is full of defects. The builder will not fix them. Fortunately, I was able to hold back lots of money and now he's suing me. I've never had to hire an attorney nor have I ever been involved in any litigation, much less one about construction defects. The defects are […]
Robyn has a house in my hometown of Cincinnati, OH. The corners of her concrete foundation are cracking off and she wants to know how to repair them. Here's her testimony: "The corners of my foundation are slowly falling off. I know I have foundation problems, but I want to put this big chunk back on […]
I was in Antigua in May of 2015 doing work as an expert witness on a civil construction case. The photos below show what I've come to realize are somewhat standard Antigua construction. From what I've seen driving around, there's a significant lower quality standard than what you'd see in certain parts of the USA. […]
Tommy Cummings is perplexed in Fife Lake, MI. Here's one of the shortest questions I've ever received. "I'm using 2x6 studs. How is the correct way to build my window headers?" Well here's my answer: Two Or More Methods Tommy, there's two parts to this answer, the method and the engineering solution. Different carpenters will do this […]
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