Tips & Techniques

I often remodel or add on to older wood-clapboard houses. When I’m faced with unsightly holes in the walls, such as the dryer vent pictured here, I offer to conceal…

Most electrical codes permit fishing a length of flexible conduit into a finished wall, but the problem always has been how to connect the connector easily to an old work…

When precut studs aren't available, frame a taller wall and reduce drywall waste in the process.

Everybody agrees that back-priming wood siding improves the durability of the exterior-surface finish and the longevity of the wood. But I’ve seen siding installers ignore this important step because it…

Cutting vinyl soffit and siding material can be done quickly and accurately with a saw guide, and the jobs I work on usually have a commercially available guide on site.…

I’ve cut a lot of stair stringers out of 2x stock over the years, and experience has taught me to be careful when cutting out the triangular pieces that create…

Click here to enlarge the illustration above. Our company frequently builds timber-frame houses and garden structures with decorative cuts on the ends of the timbers. These timbers are at least…

I needed to dig a number of 4-ft.-deep holes for a row of posts. Fortunately, the soil was pretty soft, and I had a clamshell post-hole digger to get each…

A glass mirror had been glued to a wall with a special type of mastic. The mastic had several days to cure, and the mirror wasn’t going anywhere. Unfortunately, the…

Adding a new electrical outlet, switch, cable-TV jack, or computer-network wiring is pretty simple in single-story homes. You have attack points from the basement and/or the attic to route wires…