Q&A / 

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 […]

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Author Note: The patio featured in this column was a rush job for my wife. I feel the best way to install a patio is to mortar brick to a 5-inch-thick steel-reinforced concrete slab. You can read about this method in my past columns: Concrete Patio with Brick My Mother-in-Law's Patio Before I was a […]

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Clay Paving Brick are the Best - Forget About Concrete Pavers If you read my column on a regular basis, then you know about two months ago I touched on the perils of using paving brick made from concrete. That column talked about how those bricks fade in color over time as the thin colored […]

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Why Concrete Pavers Suck - There are So Many Reasons It’s really important for businesses to introduce new products. Tens of thousands are introduced each year in the home improvement vertical. Once you’ve had enough trips around the sun, you can spot ones that have lots of sizzle but most likely won’t stand the test […]

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How to Plan the Perfect Patio - Go Big Just about fifty years ago I settled into my building career. My lovely wife and I purchased an FHA-repossessed house in Cincinnati, Ohio. I was twenty-two years old and a very wet-behind-the-ears builder. The hard dusty work was extremely rewarding and I recall talking to my […]

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Homemade Weed Killer - Goya Picante Hot Sauce I love testing things. I also hate chemical weed killers that have names it's nearly impossible to pronounce. My front sidewalk is immediately adjacent to my water well. I would never use regular weed killers on my lawn or the sidewalk for fear of poisoning my family […]

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How to Build a Brick Patio - Detailed How-To Instructions Go here to get the download how-to instructions to build a patio, sidewalk, or driveway using clay paving bricks.

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How to Build a Patio - Use Clay Paving Brick for Best Results There’s something soothing about brick patios and sidewalks if you ask me, my wife, and my dear mother-in-law who is no longer with us. I was introduced to the magic of brick paving before I married my wife. Back fifty years ago […]

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Patio Puddles DEAR TIM: I’ve got a problem I need you to solve. You see each time it rains I have a puddle develop on the outer edge of my circular patio. It’s older concrete and it appears the puddle is related to a crack that’s above a low retaining wall the patio rests on. […]

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Sunroom Leak Podcast 58 - Click to Listen: Tim Carter called Karen to try to solve her sunroom leak. She lives on the East Coast. Karen has water that leaks under the walls of her sunroom. Here are some photos to help you understand how difficult this problem is to solve: The sunroom leak happened […]

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