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Does your home contain contaminated Chinese Drywall? This testing advice from the New York Times can help a homeowner determine if he or she is one of the thousands in over 30 states with the poisonous plasterboard.
Some ways to tell if you have Chinese Drywall in your home:
– Sulfuric smell. (Also a sign that you have descended into the less-favorable Afterworld. It’s best to inspect for fire, brimstone and the tortured souls of the eternally damned to eliminate this possibility)
If you have an unfinished basement, a garage or a storage shed, you can store much more in it if you have shelves. Built-in shelves are great, but if you’re renting or want the flexibility to rearrange the shelving units, you might want to make some free-standing shelves. Here’s a simple method for building some inexpensive storage shelves — and you can build them without power tools.
Professional furniture restorers and hobbyists alike all have one thing in common — the desire to pluck a piece of furniture off the side of the road and restore it to its former glory. And what’s not to like? Not only are you saving something from a landfill, but you’re breathing life into something that’s long been forgotten. All the former owner knows is that the legs of the table are busted, the surface is marred by water rings and it doesn’t sit evenly on the floor. What’s more, it’s taking up valuable space where that new Ikea dining table should go. But what many might see as a space-consuming relic from days gone by, furniture restorers see as a possibility.
Times change. When Dad was a young dude, toolboxes were heavy on handsaws and block planes. But in this age of reliable, inexpensive power tools and modular building materials, it’s time to rethink the traditional toolbox. So here are our picks. You can rent or borrow specialized tools that you’ll use only once, but the tools below are must-haves for the modern household.
How would you like to be able to control one or more light fixtures from three or more switch locations? It is done with a 4-way switch. This video will show you how to install a four way switch in your home.
1. Build a clothesline
Next to your refrigerator, your dryer is likely the biggest energy-guzzling appliance in your house. And while we wouldn’t ask you to store your food in a vintage icebox, an old-fashioned clothesline is actually a pretty good idea. (If that sounds too retro, think of it as a “solar dryer” instead.)
You can buy a pulley kit like the one pictured here at the hardware store. Or you can order the components online. But it’s easy to make a traditional clothesline yourself, using 4×4 or 6×6 pressure-treated posts for the uprights and 2×8s for the cross arms (which don’t need to be pressure-treated). Simply notch the posts to receive the cross arms, set them in concrete, and run the lines on eye hooks between them. A 4- or 5-foot cross arm should give you enough room for five lengths of line, nicely spaced.
Lumber: $42
Hardware: $10
100 feet of line + 100 wood clothespins: $17
Total: $69
Some people think that a few squeaks in a floor give a home character, to others squeaks are a major pain in the neck. If you agree with the folks who think floors just shouldn’t make any noises, you may be in luck. As long as you have access to the underside of that squeaky floor, you can probably fix your squeak. Unfortunately however, if you have finished ceilings below your squeaky floor, your chances of being able to fix it without taking on a major project are hit and miss.
A new tile backsplash can quickly and beautifully update the look of kitchen countertops. And, if you have never done this job before, you may be happy to learn that it is a relatively easy do-it-yourself project. Because a backsplash does not need to be as impervious to moisture as a kitchen countertop, and does not receive the same level of wear and tear, the tiles can be adhered to the wall with mastic, which is much easier to use than mortar, the typical adhesive for countertop tile. This article explains how to do it.
The goal of every painter is to paint neatly and quickly. This can be challenging. My neighbor recently spent an entire week painting his bedroom, and ended up with nearly as much paint on himself as on the walls and ceiling. And in the end, believe or not, his wife decided she didn’t like the color. He’s now spending most of his time outside working on the lawn. Fortunately, there are dozens of tricks, shortcuts and trade secrets devoted to painting, many more than for any other home-improvement activity. Listed below are my five favorite painting tips, gleaned from years of personal painting experience and by watching pros on many job sites. Try one or all of the following techniques and I’m sure you’ll end up with a paint job nice enough to show off to the neighbors.
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