Home improvement television shows can be very glamorous, but they tend to leave out all of the important details. Many mistakes and headaches are left in the editing suite and never make it to the finished cut you see on your television set. Add to this the fact that many of the talents on the shows have little or no real construction background and you can see why the shows are not realistic. The source of the problem is simply money.
Bamboo flooring is a wonderful hard surface that resembles traditional oak hardwood flooring. People like bamboo hardwood flooring because bamboo floors have a light grain and are very durable. Bamboo flooring installation is not that easy. You need to be an experienced carpenter as much of it installs just like traditional tongue and groove hardwood flooring.
A brick house can resist damage from wind storms. Brick is simply much more durable than wood, vinyl or other sidings. Cement stucco, concrete block and stone houses also perform well in wind storms.
Roof framing is not a job for a rookie carpenter. Hip roof framing and roof rafter framing are very challenging. To succeed, you must know how to use a framing square. Accurate cuts are vital and the walls upon which the rafters rest must be square and level. If not, the rafter cuts will give you migrane headaches.
Wall framing requires moderate carpentry skills. Exterior framing is often more difficult than framing interior walls. Framing 2x4 interior walls that are non-load bearing are the easiest walls to construct. Accurate measurements are a must as well as walls that are perfectly square.
Wine room humidity and temperatures must be maintained for wine to age correctly. It is important to have a vapor barrier to trap the water vapor in the wine room so it does not migrate to other parts of the house. This is especially true if one or more walls of the storage room are exterior walls of the house.
Adding a second water heater anode rod will often double the life of a common water heater. The additional anode rod takes the place of the plastic dip tube that is found inside the cold water inlet of the heater.
Screw extractors allow you to back out screws whose heads are stripped. These simple and effective devices can be found at large national retail stores that have a hardware department. The extractors have special hardened steel heads with reverse cutting bits. Once inserted into a regular drill they cut into and grab the head of the screw as you rotate the drill in reverse.
Floors that bounce up and down when you walk across them are annoying. The floor may be structurally sound and built within code limits. In almost all cases, the floor can be fixed so that it is solid and does not bounce.
Removing foundation tar is not easy. It can also be dangerous. Do not use solvents like gasoline, paint thinner or mineral spirits because of the extreme fire danger.
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