September 5, 2012 AsktheBuilder Newsletter & Tips

It might be summer just about all the time where you live. You could be in south Florida, Tucson, Phoenix, or just east of San Diego. Yes, I'm leaving out all the international places like Singapore where several subscribers live and stay warm year round.

But for many here in the USA, as soon as the football season starts, that's Mother Nature turning on the yellow light announcing that winter is just around the corner.

This means you need to start to batten down the hatches and get any outdoor work done soon. This is especially true if you only can work on projects on the weekends. You can't count on that many great days before the weather turns. Keep that in mind.

Oh, and I think this is the Contest and Save Money AsktheBuilder.com newsletter. Wait till you see below all the money and loot you can win in different contests!

Toughest Work Pants Contest

I have no idea how many pairs of work pants I've consumed over the years. How about you? I wish I had a photo of the pants of mine that caught on fire one day. That's a story!

Duluth Trading Company, I've used their products for years, is sponsoring a really unique contest to promote their tougher-than-nails Fire Hose pants. If you know a fireman, he'll tell you the fabric used to make fire hoses is TOUGH. Imagine what it has to endure!

This contest is open to men and women because Duluth Trading makes products for both genders!

Do you have a well-worn pair of work pants? Did they save you one day? Do you have the world record for longest lasting work pants? No matter who made the pants, and believe me Duluth Trading doesn't care, they want you to tell your story about how you have the most incredible work pants. You could win free Fire Hose pants and possibly some sweet cash.

In the past year I've started to test and wear the Fire Hose work pants made by Duluth Trading Company. The last two times I was wearing them on top of Mt. Washington. The tough fabric, comfortable fit and the multitude of pockets, slots, for my gear were perfect.

I'm a huge fan of these work pants and I know you will be too. I'm really looking forward to my new pair of fleece-lined ones for this upcoming winter here in New Hampshire.

Go now to Duluth Trading Company's Facebook page, read the current entries and enter the contest. HURRY as it ends quite soon! You really need to go here and read some of the incredible stories about work pants. Can you guess who I voted for?

If you don't want to enter the contest, but want to know more about the neat Fire Hose pants and other great products I'm now using I urge you to go to the Duluth Trading website. They have an enormous amount of great gear, clothes, etc.

I've been told that you can get FREE SHIPPING with your order by just entering the code word ELPSASK during the checkout process. This is a sweet deal and I urge you to take advantage of it.

NOTE: CLICK HERE to read an update on the above Duluth Special.

Product I'll *Not* Use Again! - DAP SIDE Winder Caulk

Last week I had to caulk a few places on my shed where my fiber cement siding touched up against trim boards. I was at the local lumber yard and walked over to the massive DAP caulk display. There in front of me were tubes of SIDE Winder caulk - it clearly said it was for caulking fiber cement siding and windows. Just what I needed. SCORE!

I read the label and it said it was paintable. Good. That means it's water washable, right? Hah! Wrongo.

I started using the caulk and noticed it was sticky like pure silicone caulk. Hmmmmm, that's odd.

Prior to caulking I got my bucket of water and my favorite tile-grout sponge out so I was ready to tool the caulk joints.

I ran the sponge over the caulk and it didn't work like it normally does. Well, that's really odd I thought.

It turns out this caulk is not water friendly. Puzzled by what was happening, I removed the tube from the gun and read the fine print on the label. (I can hear you women now, "Oh, you read the label AFTER you get in trouble, Tim. Typical man.") The instructions said it would clean up with soap and water, but I couldn't get my sponge clean using soap and water.

The next day when the caulk dried, it looked great and I'm sure it will perform well. But if you decide to use it, be aware you better be an expert at caulking. There's no margin for error when it comes to smearing.

9-Volt Battery Fire Hazard

Each week I get a newsletter from our local town government. This part of the newsletter I thought was very fitting to share with you:

In July, a fire broke out in a kitchen "junk" drawer which the resident stated she had just cleaned and organized. The fire produced smoke throughout the first floor of the home. In the drawer were spare keys, a cigarette lighter, paper clips, eyeglass cleaner, and some batteries in a baggie along with everything else that you find in a "junk" drawer.

The local fire department determined the cause of the fire to be from a 9-volt battery stored in the same baggie with other batteries. The 9-volt battery rubbed against another battery and ignited the fire. In the homeowner's words, "We were fortunate not to have been away for the weekend!"

A 9-volt battery is a fire hazard because the positive and negative posts are on top, right next to one another. If the ends come in contact with anything metal such as aluminum foil, steel wool, paperclip, other batteries, etc., this will cause the battery to heat up and ignite a fire.

To store, keep in original packaging or keep ends covered. For disposal, make sure the positive and negative posts are safely wrapped in electrical tape.

Online Handyman Class - Just Around the Corner!

The past few newsletters I've told you about the online class I'm conducting that covers starting and operating a Handyman business. The outline is almost complete. Watch for news on this class VERY soon.

Why should you consider attending this class? Read this article I just saw in USA Today. I'm not really surprised by this. Years ago, I nudged a good friend of mine into the Handyman business, and he makes this kind of money.

You Need Tires to Get Home Improvement Supplies, Right?

A close friend of mine, Chuck Eglinton, is an expert at many things, one of them being how to get great deals when shopping online.

I follow Chuck on Facebook. The other day he promoted a website called TireRack.com. Chuck says that you can buy from them and they will ship the tires to a local affiliated dealer who does the install. The bottom line is you can save money.

A follow-up comment from another person indicated that they just take in a printout of the best price from TireRack.com, and the local tire dealers will match or beat it. Either way, you can save precious moola that you can use to improve your home!

Write a Catchy Slogan and Win $1000, $500 or $250

If you've got a creative mind, you might be one of three people that can win three gift cards. If you come up with the best new slogan for ECOBUST, you win $1,000. The second-place winner gets $500, and the third-place winner gets $250. That's not bad for about five minutes of work.

All you have to do is go to EcoBust.com and follow the instructions. ECOBUST is a product that allows you to break up concrete and rocks without using TNT or heavy jackhammers.

Wall Control Sale

If you've been a subscriber to this newsletter for some time, you know that I had the good fortune years ago to discover, what I feel, is the best pegboard known to man. It's called Wall Control.

I ran into the inventor at his tiny booth in the basement of the monster National Hardware Show many years ago. When the show was in Chicago, the basement was the place to visit if you wanted to see the new up and coming products from the inventors. Why? It's simple. They often can't afford the prime show real estate and have limited budgets.

All you need to know is you can get some great kits on sale right now at Wall Control. I use this product in my own home and love it.

The kits they have on sale right now only work with all the Wall Control hangers and accessories. Wall Control has panels that have both the slots AND traditional holes for old-fashioned pegboard hanger accessories. Just be aware of what you're getting.

To see everything that Wall Control has, be sure to click the navigation links at the top of this page.

Fantastic DIY Gutter Guard Coming SOON!

Oh, do I have some news for you! I've been waiting for years for this product to be available!

Over ten years ago I started testing all sorts of gutter guards. I had hundreds of feet of gutters at my home and needed relief. Early in my testing of just about every gutter guard, I discovered most failed in the spring.

They all did well in the fall to keep big leaves from gutters, but many designs failed in the spring and summer when tiny pieces of trees, seeds, blossoms, needles, etc. rained down on roofs.

It's a long story, but I finally discovered the Holy Grail of gutter guards. Now this company has a DIY product and it should be available to you in 30 days or less.

Just HANG IN THERE. Don't reply to me asking what it is. I'll have a website for you that you can order from the moment they're ready! Please be patient and be sure to open all upcoming issues of this newsletter.