Tips & Techniques

Here’s a tip for matching caulking color to plastic laminates or other counter surfaces. While caulk is becoming available in more colors, they aren’t always the colors that I need.…

After sanding or sponging off a drywall-compound job, I shine a 500w halogen lamp at an acute angle to highlight any remaining defects. Then I touch up the spots with…

Prevent scuff marks on hardwood floors with this crafty trick using foam pipe insulation.

I came up with an idea that allowed me to recycle something old to solve a problem that I had with something new. As shown in the drawing, I modified…

This morning, I noticed that the water was backing up a bit in our shower, and I knew that once again, the time had come to extract the hairball from…

I have a standard dust collector (Grizzly G1029) with two bags, one on top and one on the bottom. Every time I went to empty the bags, I found myself…

For years, I more or less carefully took apart my lawn sprinkler’s backflow device every winter (usually during the first blizzard) and wrapped the entire bulky assembly in insulating wrap.…

Last winter, one section of our fence started leaning so badly that it had to be propped up with 2x4s on both sides. Come spring, when the ground finally thawed,…

By the time a gallon of paint or varnish has been around long enough to have been opened a half-dozen times and still not completely consumed, you can be sure…

If a deck rail spans more than 5 ft. or so, I think it’s important to support the bottom rail, using something that won’t rot. I’ve tried various approaches to…