Stop Giving Contractors Money Upfront I’ve set an ambitious goal for this column. It’s my hope it will save collectively at least 100 million dollars. If you and every other reader follow the advice I’m about to share, we can make sure your money will not disappear through the hands of a dishonest contractor like […]
Algae, Mold, and Mildew Removal and Prevention - Remove Water & Food Days ago Jerry stopped by my www.AsktheBuilder.com website. He reads my column each week in his local paper and was perplexed by algae growth on the exterior of his home. Jerry hales from Chesterton, Indiana, the gateway to the massive sand dunes at […]
Repair Front Porch - Mosaic Tile and Concrete Base In the past week, Don asked me for advice. He lives in the extreme northeast corner of North Carolina just 15 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. His front porch stoop is in very bad shape. Back in 1949 when the house was built, the tile setter […]
Elliot Moore Smart House Colony Scam On September 16, 2023 at 1:18 AM in the morning, I received an email from Elliot Moore. Elliot claims he is a writer/photographer for a website called SmartHouseColony. He put forth an allegation that I had stolen one of his photographs which you see on this page of my […]
Three Season Room Problems - There Can Be Many Not too long ago Philip reached out to me. I’ve mentioned in past columns that each week I solve countless problems for homeowners just like you. For me, it’s similar to putting together a jigsaw puzzle or playing the board game of Clue. You present me […]
How to Minimize Exterior Wood Maintenance One of the things I enjoy most about writing my column is communicating with readers just like you. As often happens, a reader will visit my www.AsktheBuilder.com website and use the form on the Ask Tim page to get help. Not too long ago Bob did this. He lives […]
How to Prevent Cost Overruns on Your Projects You have a county coroner who performs autopsies on some who have been sent back to Heaven. I do autopsies too each week. Many of them. You may have been one of the many homeowners who have reached out to me asking for me to throw you […]
DIY Dangers - You Can Cause Structural Collapse I live in rural central New Hampshire. It’s the Live Free or Die state. I believe in that motto to a very large degree but I’m also interested in making sure innocent people don’t get hurt or killed should a building or deck collapse. Just a few […]
How to Make Your Asphalt Shingles Last 50 Years Eight years ago I was in the middle of a roof replacement project on my own home. My thirty-year warranted asphalt shingles looked like they were fifty years old. They were curled, large patches of felt paper with no granules were showing, and each time it […]
How Much Do You Know About Sandpaper? I’m thankful to have had enough trips around the sun that my adult children are finally calling me asking for advice about their projects. I hope you’re blessed to experience this transfer of knowledge. First things first, it’s a real treat to help them avoid mistakes followed closely […]
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