Are you new around these parts? Welcome pardner! The local sheriff doesn't take kindly to those that cause trouble. 🙂

If you're a local, then you know all the good stuff happens when you use the search engine at AsktheBuilder.com. CLICK HERE to see it and a dorky video of me.

I wanted to just share a disturbing trend I'm experiencing. I wonder if you're seeing it too.

Yesterday morning, I had a new subscriber yell at me at 5:30 am ET because he had to read a column to get the answer to his question.

He was so busy, or stressed out, or ???? that he vented on me because I didn't drop what I was doing and do exactly what he wanted.

It also happened two days ago when a woman asked me if I had a detailed video that would help her do a job. I simply said, "No." and then went on to explain why I didn't have the extremely long and costly video.

She answered back that I was rude.

I'm not looking for your sympathy or empathy. I'm just asking that we might consider being nicer to one another. Our culture seems to be going down the toilet and people seem to be less patient and more demanding.

This is not good in my opinion.

What's This?

Do you know what this is? If not, you should absolutely CLICK HERE. Wait until you see the FUNNY video of me at the page.

What Can the Bucket Do?

CLICK the photo.

Chris from Columbus, OH inspired me to revise THIS COLUMN. His house was built in the mid 1990s. Was yours? CLICK HERE to see why that's an issue.

What Are the Best Deck Piers in Life?

Yes, that's me in the hole. What is that crazy orange tube and WHY is it so important? Is that pre-bent reinforcing steel in the tube? Who cut and bent it? CLICK HERE for the answers and for a really funny video about how to avoid getting into the doghouse!

What Can Possibly Go Wrong Here?

Do you think you know everything there is to know about tubs like this?

What about vintage tubs - the clawfoot ones? You better CLICK HERE NOW and get up to speed before you have a $3,000 MISTAKE.

That's enough for a Friday.

I pulled a muscle in my left shoulder and the two middle fingers on my left hand are giving me trouble. The less I type the better.

I'll be back with more new and revised columns for you soon.

I also recorded a new product podcast yesterday about some revolutionary new IRWIN vise-grip pliers. You'll absolutely want to hear that. I hope to have it ready for you next week.

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
Certified Organic Cleaner Man - www.StainSolver.com
Morse Code Man - www.W3ATB.com

Do It Right, Not Over!

New subscriber? Welcome! This is a fairly odd issue. When I have RARE sales on my stuff, I send out a reminder email when the sale is hours away from ending. This is one of those days.

But hang in there, as this issue has some very cool stuff.

Notable subscriber of past time? Please tell the new subscribers that the last time I had a big sale at the shopping cart Henry Ford was playing patty-cake with this friend Pedro.

Two years ago, when I was writing my Roofing Ripoff book about the huge scam concerning your asphalt roof shingles I included a small part about a light bulb.

It's not just any light bulb mind you. My advisors said to take out that part of the book because it had nothing to do with shingles.

The point I was trying to make is that there are all sorts of products that have been made to last and last but ethics and money sometimes get in the way. I wish I would have left it in the book now. But that's water over the dam.

CLICK HERE to read the fascinating story about this light bulb that burns CONTINUOUSLY.

Be sure to pay attention to WHO bought the company.

LAST CALL for ATB Anniversary Sale

This is the LAST CALL for my sale.

You can get 25% off MANY, not all, items at my shopping cart.

You can't get a discount on Stain Solver, the copper strips that protect your shingles, stainless-steel flashings, and some of my DVDS. Anything made from atoms is pretty much exempt except for my helpful Linear French Drain Stream Video.

Here's what you should look at in the cart to take advantage of this sale:

Basic Structural Concepts eBook

Linear French Drain Streaming Video

I Draw Your Plumbing Plans

New House Cost Estimator

Sample Blueprints - What YOUR Plans should look like!

Roofing Ripoff book PDF version

There are MANY MORE products I could name, but I'd bore you. This is a RARE opportunity to SAVE BIG MONEY.

The promo code to use is:

25ATB

The sale ends in HOURS.

CLICK HERE to see all products.

Enlarge Opening in a Bearing Wall

Have you thought about the process of creating an opening in a wall?

Do you know where to start?

PLEASE GO WATCH the video of me in this new column. I'm talking about the video where you see me standing in a room with red walls.

That's quite enough for a Sunday morning. I'm wearing my spiffy American Flag bow tie today at church.

I always get lots of compliments about it. Here it is before I tie it.

I should have some great revised columns for you this coming week.

Watch for your next issue.

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
Certified Organic Man - www.StainSolver.com
Radio Operator - www.W3ATB.com

Do It Right, Not Over!

Several hours ago I sent out my newsletter and told you about this amazing FREE offer to get a jigsaw blade.

I've been inundated with emails and complaints about how the form at the Lenox website is not working.

There might be ten, or more, reasons why the Lenox website form is borked. No one knows why but the Lenox webmistress/master.

One of the reasons might be that you, yes you, overloaded their server because so many AsktheBuilder subscribers went to the page at once. You could have been the straw that broke the server's back! 😉

I do appreciate you telling me about your frustration.

However, I'm sure you realize I don't own the Lenox website and had nothing to do with the programming that supports the FREE OFFER page.

When you experience difficulties like this when I send you to some other website, you've got a few choices:

1. Accept the frustration and come back the next day to see if they have it fixed.
2. Keep hitting REFRESH on your browser and hope for the best.
3. Forget about the FREE OFFER and watch a funny video on YouTube to lower your blood pressure.

Speaking of funny videos on YouTube, here's one of me. WAIT FOR IT AT THE END!

CLICK HERE to watch it.
chain saw test

New subscriber? You just missed the big party a few days ago. CLICK HERE to see what it was all about!

Distinguished database subscriber? Offer a cannoli or shrimp to our new friends! Be sure to tell each new subscriber about the Ask the Builder podcasts! Don't forget to mention they're FREE!

Ten days ago, I was out West with one of my closest friends, Dan. Dan and I met about fourteen years ago. We were both part of a secret Internet entrepreneur mastermind group that I helped get off the ground.

My college degree is in geology and most of the western USA is a paradise for geologists because you can see the rocks. Dan and I went hiking for four days in southern Utah, and then we played nine-holes of golf at a fantastic small course in Mesquite, NV - Coyote Willows.

Kathy, my wife, loves it when I go away. She's not a big fan of traveling and since I work at home (for the past twenty-five years I might add!) she gets a vacation from me when I travel. It's a win-win for both of us.

I'm back with my shoulder against the millstone and working to revise more and more of my past columns. I did one yesterday morning that I feel you'll really love. It's got two of my hand-drawn illustrations in it. I used to do drawings like that sitting at customers' dining room tables.

Get Your Free Jigsaw Blade NOW!

A couple of issues back I mentioned that you can get a FREE new Lenox jigsaw blade. These are revolutionary and it's RARE that a manufacturer makes this offer to the general public.

The offer is only good for people that live in the USA.

CLICK HERE to get your FREE Lenox blade. Be SURE to watch the three videos on that page showing the blades in a REAL TEST and a tour of the factory where the blades are made.

Drainage Issues at Your Home

Do you have water drainage issues at your home? Look at this:

You may not have standing water as you see in the above photo, but how about water leaking into your basement or crawlspace?

Do you have a SOGGY yard?

You can STOP THIS WATER. It's best to stop it outside before it gets to your home.

CLICK HERE to see how to do it. There is a great video in the column for you to watch.

I just revised this column and you'll see at the bottom a link to my Linear French Drain Streaming Video. It's a professionally produced video and shows you all you need to know to stop water from entering your home. You can also use my linear french drain to dry out your SOGGY yard.

For the next four days you can get 25% off that video using the following promo code:

25ATB

That's a fantastic deal and it's going to go away in just a few days.

P.S. That promo code works for 99.78345 percent of the items in my shopping cart. You should really consider getting the PDF Basic Structural Concepts eBook.

The Ask Tim Page

I get the most fascinating questions each week. You may be one that's asked me a question.

CLICK HERE to submit a question.

Overnight, I got a great question from Mike. He wanted to know the best wall anchor to use on exterior walls. He knew that a metal anchor could cause condensation in a cold climate.

I pointed Mike to this column and told him to CLICK the photo at the top of the column to see my favorite plastic wall anchor that really works well.

You should do the same.

Revised Columns

Here are some revised columns did for you the past few days:

Deck Piers - You've Got Choices!

Stay Cool! Get the RIGHT AC Unit!

Cut Ceramic Tile - But Porcelain????

That's enough for a Friday.

Meghan is moving back to the East Coast tomorrow! Big weekend here at the Carter house.

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
Certified Organic Man - www.StainSolver.com
Morse Code Man - www.W3ATB.com

Do It Right, Not Over!

New subscriber? Well, you picked a pretty special issue as your first one!

Distinguished subscriber of old? Pop the corks, pull the tabs, or unscrew the caps. Party time!

25th Ask the Builder Anniversary

It all started twenty-five years ago on a dark Saturday morning. I was waiting outside at the curb for my newspaper carrier. He must have thought I was nuts when he handed me the paper through his car window.

I wanted to see my first Ask the Builder column in print. I was alone and everyone else was asleep at the house as I came inside and opened the paper.

Can you believe it's been twenty-five years? Wow!

CLICK HERE to read a special column I wrote about this special day.

Connections - How it All Started

Here's how Ask the Builder was born. It's important to realize I had always wanted to write a book about how homeowners got the shaft from some builders.

This frustration bubbled to the surface frequently for me. I'd give a quote for a job and often I was the high bidder. I'd explain to homeowners my number was right and that the other bidders might be putting in artificially low allowance numbers or they might be cutting corners.

Sometimes homeowners believed me and sometimes they didn't.

One Saturday in the late fall of 1992, I was in Dayton, OH, with my wife, son and oldest daughter Meghan. She was participating in an Irish dancing fesh or contest.

I was sitting in a folding metal chair and two chairs over was another dad. Somehow we got to talking and he found out I was a builder and remodeling contractor. I'll never forget his name, Biff Roberts.

"Tell me, do you use nail guns?"

"Oh yeah. I LOVE them. They save so much time and increase productivity!"

"Which one(s) do you use?"

"Are you kidding me? There's only one nail gun to use, Senco."

It turns out he was the head of marketing for Senco. Not too long after, he nominated me to Remodeling magazine as one of the Big 50, a huge award and honor. I had NO IDEA this was in the works.

In May of 1993, I got a phone call from Remodeling magazine telling me I was selected as one of the Big 50. I thought it was a prank call from Sister Susan who ran an orphanage in Jamaica. That's a long story for another day.

It was no prank. Several months later Kathy, my wife if you're a new subscriber, said, "You should take your book idea and write a syndicated newspaper column."

I saw a vision when she said it, went into my office and proceed to write three columns. The following Monday morning I walked into the newsroom of the Cincinnati Enquirer and found the home editor, Ann Haas.

She loved the columns and said she wanted to buy them and start running me each week. She also encouraged me to sell the column to other papers.

I took her advice and by the end of 1993 I had self-syndicated Ask the Builder into about 30 newspapers. Eventually about 120 papers across the USA were running the column.

It still runs today in about 60 USA papers.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Big Party Promo Code

To help celebrate, Kathy and I decided to have a very big sale on all of the electronic products and consult services at the shopping cart.

Use the following promo code to get a RARE 25% off just about everything at my shopping cart. The sale ends in one week.

25ATB

If you're a seasoned subscriber you know the last time I've had a sale on just about anything in my shopping cart was eons ago.

Now's the time to grab things of all sorts that will help you save time and money and help you find the right contractor.

Do yourself a FAVOR and browse through my cart. You'll be stunned by what you'll find!

How about the Structural Basics Handbook?

How about my PDF copy of my Roofing Ripoff book?

Is water leaking into your basement or crawlspace? You can get my Linear French Drain Stream Video for 25% off!

How about a rocking set of plans for a deluxe shed? Yep, I've got them.

CLICK HERE and start browsing.

The promo code will not work on the Stain Solver you see, most of the other DVDs and maybe one or two other items.

But believe me, it will work on about 98% of what's in the cart.

Concrete Cracks - Why and How to Prevent Them

I just revised this column this morning. I GUARANTEE you'll discover something new that will save you lots of anguish. CLICK HERE to save money.

This is a concrete shrinkage crack. The concrete touched the lighter gray foundation the day it was poured. Over a period of months, even up to a year or more, the concrete slab shrinks in size. Copyright 2018 Tim Carter

That's enough for today.

Thanks for hanging with me for twenty-five years. If you've got an Ask the Builder story to share, or I've helped you in any way, PLEASE share it in a comment at the bottom of the anniversary column page. CLICK HERE.

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
Magic Cleaner Man - www.StainSolver.com
Radio Man - www.W3ATB.com

Do It Right, Not Over!

New subscriber? Welcome! You get some FREE stuff this issue! WOOT!

Distinguished subscriber of record? You get FREE stuff too! How convenient!

This past Thursday at 12:20 am I walked through the door of my house after a grueling day of travel from Las Vegas. I had been out West for eight days hiking in Utah with a buddy.

My two-leg flight transformed into a four-leg flight zigzagging across the South and Midwest finally getting me back to the Northeast!

We hiked at the following places:

Zion National Park
Cedar Breaks National Monument
Kodachrome State Park
Snow Canyon State Park

It was a little toasty at all of them except for Cedar Breaks. That national monument is at 10,500 feet in elevation so it was in the mid 60s.

CLICK the above park names to see some of my best photos from each of these treasures. If you decide to go, my advice is to visit each place when the daytime high temperature is in the mid 70s, not 98 F like it was in Snow Canyon!

FREE Lenox Blade For You

A week before I left for my trip, I was a guest at the Lenox Saw Blade factory in Springfield, MA. What a delight it was to see how saw blades are made!

The Lenox people were showing off two new jigsaw blades, one for cutting wood and the other for cutting metal.

They did two side-by-side tests of the new blades against the top performing Bosch blade.

I taped a video of each test as well as a video of the parts of the factory I was allowed to show you. Most of the factory is OFF LIMITS to photography and video as the machines and processes are top secret.

Lenox surprised us at the end of the tour by offering you a FREE BLADE of your choice. I've never had a company do this before as it means sending out tens of thousands of blades!!!

The offer EXPIRES soon you need to ACT NOW.

I urge you to get one. The offer is only for one blade per household. This means if you want BOTH blades you need to get creative and have a neighbor, a relative, a co-worker, or friend fill out the form so you can get both blades.

The metal blade has a slight curve to it that enhances the cutting speed. WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE THE VIDEOS!!!

CLICK HERE for the link to the FREE BLADES, the three videos AND my story about the factory tour.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have friends or anyone you know who wants one of these free blades, SHARE THE FOLLOWING URL. Send all you know to the page at my website with the LINK to the Lenox page as well as the three videos. Here's the actual URL:

Lenox Saw Blade Factory Tour

You can share the above ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ URL on your social media accounts, your personal email list, etc. I want to show Lenox that I can create a buzz, so SHARE this URL far and wide:

Lenox Saw Blade Factory Tour

BIG Announcement on Tuesday

I've got a huge announcement on Tuesday. You'll NOT WANT to miss this, so watch for a fast newsletter on Tuesday.

It's really big news and I've got a special offer for you to help celebrate the announcement!

Smoking Fireplaces

Does your fireplace smoke? Do you want to know WHY it smokes?

Are you building a new home with a fireplace and want it to function perfectly? Are you adding a room addition with a masonry fireplace?

CLICK HERE to read a column I revised yesterday that shares how you PREVENT smoking fireplaces.

The physics of fire, heated air, cold air in chimneys, etc. is complex. You can't just lay some brick and stone and hope it all works out.

When you get to the column, you'll discover a handy table that gives you the all-important DIMENSIONS of the fireplace opening, the size of the firebox, the size of the flue, the smoke chamber, the height of the chimney, etc.

It's important to realize that you can mix and match chimney height and flue liners!!

CLICK HERE so there's no smoke in your home!

P.S. Don't let your mason use regular mortar in between the special high-temperature firebrick! It should be fire clay. I've got a link in the above column that allows you to buy this special powder you mix with water to the consistency of gravy.

New Podcasts For You!

I've got three new podcasts for you. One is about some cool new levels, another is about a dangerous concrete porch stoop, and the final one is about how to STOP paint odor, or any odor on a wall or ceiling.

You can listen to the podcasts for FREE. It's just old-fashioned radio, but you can listen when you want to.

There are helpful PHOTOS at all of the following links that allow you to see what I was talking about.

Click the following links:

New Cool Levels Podcast

Replace Concrete Porch Stoop Podcast

Paint Odor Blocker Podcast

If you have smoke odor, cat urine, or any other ODOR on your walls and ceilings, you absolutely want to listen to the Paint Odor Blocker podcast!

CLICK HERE to see/listen to all my past podcasts.

That's enough for a Sunday morning.

Remember, WATCH for the announcement on Tuesday! You don't want to miss it.

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
Clean Stuff Man - www.StainSolver.com
Radio Waves - www.W3ATB.com

Do It Right, Not Over!