How to Plan the Perfect Patio - Go Big Just about fifty years ago I settled into my building career. My lovely wife and I purchased an FHA-repossessed house in Cincinnati, Ohio. I was twenty-two years old and a very wet-behind-the-ears builder. The hard dusty work was extremely rewarding and I recall talking to my […]
Pouring a Concrete Patio - Short Videos Showing How to Place Concrete Watch these 15-second videos to get a feel how to pour a concrete patio. Tim CarterTim built custom homes and did ultra-custom remodeling for 20+ years before launching his Ask the Builder media presence. He was selected as one of the Big 50 […]
Lithium Battery Fires - The Problem is Very Serious This might be the most important column I’ve written in my 30-year career as a syndicated columnist. There’s a very high probability you have lithium-ion batteries in your home. They are now as common as ants at a summer picnic. The issue is the batteries can […]
DIY PEX Water Lines - You Can Do It Are you finding it difficult to get people to work on your home within your budget? Each day visitors to my website share horror stories about out-of-control prices being charged by workers. Inflation is raging and the economic law of supply vs. demand is in play. […]
How to Build a Perfect Pergola - It Starts With Planning A few days ago I took my American Dirus dog for a walk in southern New Hampshire while my wife was shopping for plants with my son. Willow and I went to Benson Park, an old zoo in Hudson, NH that’s now a marvelous […]
Top Residential Building Mistakes - There are So Many! Each week I have the good fortune to speak on the phone with homeowners all across the USA who ask me to solve problems at their homes. Many of these homeowners like you are facing expensive repairs because of mistakes made by the home builder. Each […]
High Hardware Prices and Your Garage and Workshop I took over the grocery shopping duties to give my lovely wife a break. She did it for over forty years. Each week I continue to be astonished at the prices of ordinary food staples like bacon, eggs, bread, and milk. Do you suffer from the same […]
Sources of Sewer Gas - It's Easy to Find the Leaks Two months ago I received a desperation text from a young woman who’s the cantor at my church. All of a sudden she was smelling noxious sewer gas in her condominium. She had moved in just two months before and for weeks and weeks […]
Disaster Preparation - 3 Easy Things to Do Now You might think that everything is rainbows and unicorns at my house. I can see how you might think I don’t suffer from home improvement trials and tribulations. After all, what could possibly go wrong at my house? I’ll answer. All the same things that go […]
How To Stop Contractor Scams - True Stories This is a milestone column for me. It’s my 1500th weekly column. For weeks leading up to this day I’ve wanted to produce a column that will save you vast sums of money, prevent confrontations, sleepless nights, and arguments. My goal is to empower you with all […]
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