Quick Column Summary: Garage sided with no sheathing material How to stop water from entering No easy fixes Remove siding and add sheathing, tar paper or house wrap Judy Saulle, who lives in a cedar-sided house in Earlysville, VA, has an interesting problem with her house. "Our garage does not have any sheathing just cedar […]
Quick Column Summary: Installing rigid foam on house House wrap on top of foam Link to house wrap information Shane lives in Burien, WA. He's wondering about putting rigid foam on his house. He's also not sure about house wrap. "Can I put rigid foam on the exterior of my house and does the house […]
Quick Column Summary: Soundproofing windows High quality storm windows might help Sound leaks into any air gap in your home Link to sound control information Arlene Vargus, who lives on a race track street in Lynn, MA has a problem. "I live on a noisy street and want to soundproof my three double-hung windows. Would […]
Quick Column Summary: Painting tiles to hide grout lines Grout lines may not fill thick enough Easier to replace tile with drywall Stefania, who lives in the wonderful city of Johannesburg, Africa, has a fascinating question: "Hi there! I would like to paint over my bathroom tiles, however I don't want to see the lines […]
Quick Column Summary: How to remove adhesive/thinset from brick fireplace Try adhesive removers Thinset must be chiseled off Danielle Torkensen is a new homeowner in Bloomington, California. She inherited a mess where the previous homeowner, well let her tell you: "I am a recent new homeowner & the previous owners messed up our brick fireplace. […]
Quick Column Summary: OSB roof boards swelling Pull off or cover over OSB OSB can swell and still be good Question builder on delays Steve, who's having a house built in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has a questionable builder. I see big trouble brewing. "We are having a home built and OSB boards were used for […]
Quick Column Summary: Needs a snowblower that can handle ice See the Biggs and Stratton snowblower video Try an electric start Try self propelled Fee Dombrowski, who lives in somewhat mild Bethesda, MD near our nation's capital, needs a snowblower. "Given another El Nino year, I'm trying to beat the snow blower buying frenzy. Any […]
Quick Column Summary: Is dust in house coming from ductwork What is creating the dust Most dust gets in through air cracks near doors/windows Denis has a dusty house in California's Central Valley. He lives in Merced, CA. That's a clue by the way. Here's what Denis sent me: "Hey Tim, I have the dustiest […]
Quick Column Summary: Screwing cabinets to concrete wall Attach wood 2x4s to concrete Attach cabinets to 2x4s Video link James Toth, who has his hammer out in Bridgeport, CT, is itching to install wood cabinets on a poured concrete wall. Here's what he wrote after watching the video below. Be sure to read MY REPLY […]
Quick Column Summary: Need spray painting tips Start with a great sprayer Use top quality paint Practice using the sprayer first DEAR TIM: I've got quite a bit of painting to do both inside and outside my home. I watched a neighbor use an airless paint sprayer and he made a mess of things. It […]
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