Water Christmas Tree Away | It's so Very Easy! You can use a smartphone, a smart plug, a submersible fountain pump, and a little common sense to water your Christmas tree while you're away from your home. You can use this same method to water plants in window flower boxes if you can't be at […]
Ask The Builder · 62: Seal Asphalt Driveway DEAR TIM: I had a new asphalt driveway installed back in the fall. It’s gorgeous and I want to keep it looking that way. I was told not to seal it until the spring. Is that correct? Is it possible to put on too much sealer? I […]
DEAR TIM: Several weeks ago, I read your column in our paper and you talked about installing electrical wiring. I found that very interesting, but now I’m very curious about circuit breakers. What’s the primary purpose of circuit breakers? Are there different types of breakers? What do the numbers on the breakers mean? I’m deeply […]
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Aunt Margaret “Let’s go visit Aunt Margaret,” my Dad said. If I’d had a mirror in front of me, there’s no doubt my eyes and grin were wider than an airplane-hanger door. Margaret was my Dad’s older sister, and she lived with my Uncle Louie in a majestic old home in North Avondale, an original […]
Coast G10 Flashlight - Very Small But Very Handy! I had a chance to test out the Coast G10 LED that sports a cone-shaped inspection beam. I loved it! It's a perfect prize flashlight to give to someone for their purse or pocket. It's about the size of a jumbo Tootsie Roll, so that's not […]
Are you a new subscriber? Thanks for being here. It's my job to surprise you, as often as I can, with dandy home improvement tips and special prizes. A prize is just a gift and it can be something as simple as a past helpful column on my website. Are you a subscriber that remembers […]
DEAR TIM: I’m about to build a new home with both an attached garage and a separate free-standing three-bay garage. The house I grew up in had floor drains in the garage and they were wonderful. My builder has never heard of garage floor drains and insists on sloping the concrete floor so all liquids […]
Garage Floor Drain Ideas - Time Tested Technology The inspiration for this column came from unexpected comments about a brief mention of garage floor drains in my December 1, 2019 AsktheBuilder newsletter and my December 9, 2019 AsktheBuilder newsletter. The house I grew up in had a garage floor drain. The concrete floor was sloped […]
Coast EAL13 Lantern - It's Small But Handy For Sure I've had the opportunity over the years to test many flashlights and lanterns. I even own an official Amtrak lantern used by train crews. I was a conductor on a scenic train in New Hampshire for two summers and had to follow all the FRA […]
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