December 9, 2016 AsktheBuilder Newsletter

Posted on December 9, 2016 by Tim Carter

This is a quick Friday blast.

I'm in California and my body is still on East Coast time. I've been up for nearly an hour and a half and it's just 5:25 am here as I type this.

Yesterday, my youngest daughter Kelly and I went on an exciting canopy tour through giant redwood trees at the Mt. Hermon Adventure center very close to Santa Cruz, CA.

There are six zip lines that are part of the adventure. It was raining, cool and we were the only people out on the course. Our guides, Josh and April, were amazing and kept us safe the entire time.

Wait until you see me hang out over the edge of one of the platforms that are well over 100 feet in the air and I let go of the lanyards that are attached to the steel cable. GULP!

I HIGHLY recommend going here if you're within easy striking distance of Santa Cruz, CA. I'll have a FULL STORY for you when I get back to New Hampshire and can upload the Go Pro video we shot of the thrilling time up in the canopy!

Best Romance Novel EVER

Every Christmas I try to tell you about the best romance novel I'm aware of. It's perfect for small kids as it teaches them all about loyalty and love.

Do you have grandchildren? Do you have your own young kids?

Are you looking for a delightful Christmas gift idea for a young child?

Then get her or him the book I still have. My mom got this for me years ago, and everything in the book is relevant to what's going on in today's throw-away world!

What is this magical book?

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

The illustrations in this book are timeless.

CLICK HERE to order a hard-bound copy that will delight that young urchin for many years.

Electric Heat

I'm about to write a column on heating with electricity. This time of year, I get lots of questions about it.

First, using electricity at your home to create heat is 100 percent efficient - meaning all the electricity passing into the heater gets converted to heat. Nothing disappears up a chimney.

If your electric rates are high, it's costly.

If you are by yourself and you just want to be warm and you don't really care about the air temperature in a room, then a radiant electric heater is best.

But realize they can cause fires as the heating element gets quite hot.

I'll have more about this soon when I get back to New Hampshire.

Do you NEED a heating contractor to give you a FREE bid right now to keep your house warm? CLICK the graphic ad just to the right and under my daughter Meghan's photo above!

New Columns for You

Have you ever wondered why your house doesn't collapse when the wind blows?

CLICK HERE do discover WHY.

Is it SAFE to drink water from a gas line that's been converted to a water supply line?

CLICK HERE to see what I'd do. I've been a master plumber for over 35 years.

Okay, time to go. My oldest daughter Meghan is up and it's time to visit with her before Kelly and I head off to the Hearst Castle this afternoon!

I'll be back with lots of photos and other treats soon!

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com

Do It Right, Not Over!

Copper Gas Line Used for Water

Posted on December 7, 2016 by Tim Carter

Kathy bought a house in a suburb of St. Louis.

Here's what she sent me:

"I purchased a home and the previous resident used gas line to run water thru the house from the main line. Is this safe for water and does it leach any chemicals? Should I have my water tested?

We plan in the next three years to change all the plumbing lines, but I am worried about safety between now and when we do. Also if testing, is necessary who do you suggest?"

I might add that Kathy sent a photo of this strange circumstance.

The top pipe is a 3/4-inch copper water line. The one below it and brighter, is also copper. That must be the gas line Kathy is talking about. © 2016 Kathy H. but giving Tim Carter a perpetual free license to publish it.

I've been a master plumber for over 35 years and I don't see any issues at all. The gas line was copper and my guess is the previous owner wanted to save some money.

I happen to wonder what new gas line he installed!

If the water tastes fine and there's no odor, then all is well. Copper is an excellent material to use for water supply lines.

Reference: December 9, 2016 AsktheBuilder Newsletter.

Diagonal Bracing for Walls

Posted on December 6, 2016 by Tim Carter

DEAR TIM: Yesterday I stopped by my new house that’s under construction. I go there at the end of each day to take photos. I saw a strange board nailed across the wall studs that surely is a mistake. It ran at a diagonal from the bottom wall plate up the wall to one corner of the wall.

I don’t see how the builder is going to install drywall over this. What’s it for and is it important? I was tempted to remove it thinking that the carpenters made a mistake. Would you install this board as you build a new home? Dan V., Austin, TX

DEAR DAN: I want to congratulate you on checking on the progress of your new home each day. That’s a smart idea. By doing this, you can catch errors and omissions in the construction process. Taking photos, thousands of them, is also very smart. Even though you have no idea what you’re taking a photo of, still do it. These photos can be very handy down the road should someone need to look at how your home was put together.

Years ago, it was expensive to take lots of photos. Now it’s nearly free because storing the digital information in the cloud or on other memory media is so simple. I’d also recommend that you start taking video and talk about what you see as you have the camera aimed at something. Take closeup shots of critical elements like plumbing connections, structural supports and beams, etc.

Holy potato! I’m sure glad you didn’t remove that temporary diagonal wall brace. You could have caused a wall to collapse hurting or killing someone, including yourself. My suggestion is to never touch one thing on the job site when you go visit. Things are done by carpenters and other workers for a reason. Believe me, no one wants to do extra work so if you see something that looks unusual, it’s best to talk to the builder or job superintendent.

When a carpenter builds a wood-framed wall using regular lumber and nails, the wall may be able to support lots of weight on its own, but the wall is not stable unless it has some form of bracing.

What would you say if I told you that a house could collapse if a gust of wind hit it? My guess is you’d say that’s hogwash because you don’t regularly see houses flattened after each windstorm in your town. But a house could easily collapse without some form of diagonal bracing in walls.

Here’s an easy way to prove it. If you are so inclined, take a few 2x4s and build a simple wall that’s 4 feet tall. Nail the studs every 16 inches on center like a real wall. Stand the wall up, nail the bottom plate to the floor and then go to one end or the other of the wall.

I want you to start to push on the top plate of the wall at either end. You’ll discover it doesn’t take much effort at all to make the wall start to fold down on itself. The top wall plate will remain parallel with the bottom plate, but the wall studs will start to all tilt at once as the top plate travels to the ground with you pushing it forward.

Straighten the wall back up making all the studs plumb and then nail another stud on the face of the vertical wall studs that’s at a diagonal from one bottom corner of the wall to the upper corner of the wall at the opposite end.

Now try to push the top plate and see what happens. No matter how hard you push, the top plate will not budge. The diagonal brace you saw at your job site was a temporary brace to keep a wall from moving. When I built I’d do this on interior walls that connected with an exterior wall. This braced wall would help prevent the exterior wall from blowing over as the house is being built.

You probably noticed the exterior walls of your new home have wood sheathing on them. It’s probably oriented strand board (OSB) or it may be plywood in rare instances.

Just one sheet of this material at each corner of a wall will provide the same bracing as the single piece of wood you saw on the other wall so long as the OSB or plywood is fastened to the wall studs with the correct nails in a distinct nailing pattern. The nails must not be over driven into the OSB or plywood. It’s best if the head of the nail is flush with the wood.

Years ago, carpenters would put in the diagonal brace you saw by mortising it into the wall studs. This is very time consuming but it gave the walls enormous strength. Metal T-shaped diagonal bracing can be put in walls that accomplishes the same goal. The carpenters set their saw depth so it cuts a kerf in each wall stud to accommodate the metal brace. If you ever see one of these braces in a wall, never ever cut into it.

Pay attention to the way the exterior OSB sheathing is applied to your home. If you want to download a helpful guide showing you how it should be done, just go to the APA - Engineered Wood Association online library for lots of great information. Here’s the URL: http://www.apawood.org/resource-library

This popular column was featured in the January 14, 2014 AsktheBuilder Newsletter.

Column 1174

December 6, 2016 AsktheBuilder Newsletter

Posted on December 6, 2016 by Tim Carter

Last week you may remember I was off to Chicago for a quick insertion business trip. I flew there around noon last Thursday and was back at Midway airport the following day around 3:30 pm.

I had gone to my favorite big city to visit the True Value Hardware paint factory near Cary, IL.

HOLY POTATO!

I discovered that True Value Hardware is quite serious about making great paint and stains and they've been doing it for quite some time.

After Christmas, I'm going to share a paint with you that you'll not believe. I can tell you that I was so impressed with the test results that it made my head hurt.

Why did my head hurt? Simply because another national brand has beat on you and me for decades saying *they* have the best paint for your projects. You know when you hear something enough times, you tend to start to believe it.

When you see what I saw after the Christmas season ends, you're going to be shaken to the core. I'm convinced you're going to race to the closest True Value Hardware store to get this magic potion for your projects.

Yes, you can only get it at a True Value Hardware store!

But that's a good thing because for decades I've told you that I prefer to shop at small hardware stores rather than the behemoth box stores painted orange and blue.

While in Cary, IL, I also got to eat my first-ever serving of Italian beef at Portillo's! Yummy!

You may not know this, but I'm a trained and certified train conductor. I rode the Metra train - the UP-NW line - out of downtown Chicago towards Cary.

What FUN! Here's a photo of the train I was on.

To handle the tens of thousands of commuters streaming in and out of Chicago each day at rush hour, perhaps five or six trains are spaced out on the 40-mile line at any given time. For all I know, it can be ten!

The train two ahead of us hit a car at the grade crossing in Mt. Prospect. No one was killed, but it brought train traffic on all three Union Pacific rail lines to a grinding halt.

I got off my train as it sat at the Cumberland stop. Friends of mine who were going to True Value with me picked me up and we drove to the hotel.

I didn't see one smiling face on that train. It's quite the opposite on the train where I've been a conductor. Smiles abound on my train! Click Here to see why.

FREE Contractor Hiring Tips

I created this new page on my website I'm going to link to from now on in each newsletter.

It's got five simple Hacks that allow you to make sure you don't get SCREWED when hiring any contractor.

Under the last hack are some links you can use to get FREE BIDS from several contractors at the same time.

Yes, you just fill out a form and magically you get FREE quotes. Try it and let me know how it works out for you!

CLICK HERE for the Hiring Hacks!

Heating With Firewood

Many, many people here in New Hampshire heat with firewood. We have billions of trees here and they grow like weeds in the sandy continental glacial soil.

I had the pleasure of using a few weeks ago the MOST POWERFUL log splitter I've ever put my hands on.

Oh my was it wonderful to use. It had a bunch of very cool features that SAVED MY BACK.

CLICK HERE to behold the machine that had 35-tons of log-CRUNCHING power!

Doghouse Commercial

Christmas is just weeks away. It's a magical time of year for many, but for you it could be stressful.

That's why you need to watch TWO VIDEOS to put you in a good mood.

NOTICE TO ALL MEN: It's REQUIRED you watch these videos before you buy ANYTHING.

CLICK HERE and be prepared to laugh - especially if you're a woman.

Get FREE BIDS

Yesterday I had a phone conversation with a widow here in New Hampshire. She's about to embark on several major remodeling projects in her home.

I shared with her the Contractor Hiring Tips I gave you just a few moments ago.

She needs a great remodeling contractor to make sure her bath remodel, kitchen redo, second-story garage finish and several other things happen without a hitch.

I told her about a new service I offer using Home Advisors.

She's about to get FREE QUOTES from architects to draw the needed plans, then she'll use my links to get FREE BIDS from contractors to do the work.

No matter what job you need done around your home, be it plumbing, siding, roofing, handyman work, etc. you can get FREE BIDS from now on.

In the RIGHT COLUMN of this newsletter, you'll see the two graphic ads. I'll also be including another banner ad in the copy of the newsletter.

TRY the FREE SERVICE and let me know how it goes for you. I want to hear about any positive experiences and if you have any problems let me know.

CLICK HERE now to get a FREE BID on any job.

Shopping at Amazon.com

This time of year you can REALLY HELP me. Each issue of this newsletter I try my best to help save you time and money.

If you shop at Amazon.com for Christmas gifts - or at any time of year for that matter - you can help support this newsletter by always going to Amazon using one of my affiliate links.

It doesn't make any difference what you buy there once you click one of my links. You don't have to buy home improvement things.

For example, CLICK HERE to see a bunch of cool power tools.

When you shop at Amazon using a link I provide, I get a tiny fraction of the profit they make. It does NOT cause your price to be higher.

I added a helpful giant ad at the BOTTOM of every column on my website to make it easy for you. The ad often has products in it that are related to the TOPIC of the column.

For example, if I write a review about power tools, you might see an ad like this at the bottom of the review:

Please consider using my affiliate links and I thank you in advance!

That's enough for today. I'm sure you're busy. I'm leaving for an eight-day trip with my youngest daughter so I'll have another newsletter for you soon, but maybe not until I get back!

Remember, take a deep breath this time of year and think about all you have to be thankful for.

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com

Do It Right, Not Over!

Doghouse Commercial

Posted on December 6, 2016 by Tim Carter

Doghouse Commercials

This is a video every man should watch - three times. I can tell you I made this mistake the second Christmas I was married to Kathy. I saw she didn't have a clothes hamper and I grew up with one. How could anyone survive without a clothes hamper I thought. What an IDIOT!

This video was made by JC Penny and it was brilliant.

It was so popular that they made a sequel to it a few years later.

Here's the sequel:

These were featured in Tim's February 14, 2019 AsktheBuilder Emergency Alert Newsletter!!

Installing Ice and Water Shield

Posted on December 6, 2016 by Tim Carter

Bruce asked me the following question:

"When water and ice is installed, should it be adhesive backed and should it be on the bare sheathing?"

At first I was going to give my standard response, but I thought this would be an excellent teaching moment. I say this because each day I get many similar emails about what to do when installing all sorts of things.

Before I share the answer I gave Bruce, let's think this through. I can help with a story about my late father-in-law. He was a brilliant man.

Just after getting married, I used to hike with him on a large tract of land he owned. One day, we were talking about making decisions and then what happens when something goes wrong.

"Often the secondary reaction creates a problem much worse than the primary one." It took me a while to fully understand what he was trying to say, but I eventually got it.

How does this apply to Bruce's situation? First and foremost, there's more than one different type of ice and water shield product that you apply under roofing! The instructions for each one may be different.

The information you may discover out on the Internet is rife with errors and mistakes. Many home improvement columns are written by people that have never worked full time at a paying customer's home.

The Secondary Reaction

Here's how my father-in-law's advice applies to Bruce. Bruce did the right thing asking for help. He came to AsktheBuilder.com for advice thinking that he was dealing with an expert. He lucked out because I do know lots about ice and water shield and even have testified about it as an expert witness in a case in Antigua where the wrong type was used on the Brazilian ambassador's home. But I digress.

So the PRIMARY reaction Bruce would get would be my answer. If he had landed on the website of some person who's never installed ice and water shield, all bets are off as to the quality of the advice he'd get.

The SECONDARY reaction is what happens if the advice is wrong. In the case of Bruce, he could have a leak months or years later that causes thousands of dollars in damage. An additional reaction is that he could VOID the warranty of the product because he *trusted* the advice he got and acted on it in good faith.

Big Mistake

You never want to put a product warranty in jeopardy. This is why you must read product installation instructions and understand them even if a contractor is doing the work. You need to know the work is being done correctly.

Is this hard? You bet it is. Do most people want the Easy Button answer? Absolutely.

Here's the answer I gave Bruce. When you have a question about how to install something, there's only ONE PLACE you should get the answer.

The company that made the product. PERIOD.

NEVER EVER trust a contractor or some other person's answer as being the end all and be all. You may ask me or someone else and we give the correct answer, but we do NOT BACK THE PRODUCT WARRANTY.

Only the manufacturer backs the warranty.

The Best Ice and Water Shield

The best products are adhesive backed and come with a puncture-proof guarantee. In other words, the nails used to attach the roofing do not puncture the product. The best ice and water shield products come with a SBS co-polymer in them that makes them very sticky so they bond permanently to the wood roof sheathing once the sun heats them up.

Sealing Air Leaks in House

Posted on December 5, 2016 by Tim Carter

DEAR TIM: I’m going to build a new home and want to make sure I seal all air leaks in my new house. The new home is close to where I live and I have the time and inclination to do some work on it myself. My current home leaks air around doors, windows, at electrical outlets and numerous other places. What would you do if you were building a new home? Are there ways to retrofit my existing home to seal existing air leaks? What’s the issue and why do houses leak air so bad? Nick M., Lexington, MA

DEAR NICK: Congrats on your new home! How lucky you are to be close to the project and be able to get some of that fresh sawdust aroma into your lungs! Any and all work you do on the job will add to your overall satisfaction that you’ll feel once the home is done and you’re moving in.

Let’s talk about your existing home first and why it’s leaking air. Once you understand this, I believe you’ll know exactly what to do with your new home. The sad thing is it’s very simple to stop a vast majority of air leaks in the average home during the construction process. I feel it doesn’t happen because most workers don’t know how to do it or the builder just doesn’t care to do what’s needed.

Air leaks start right on top of the foundation. While most foundations and concrete slabs look perfectly flat, they’re not. When the carpenters install joists and wood-framed walls on top of the cast concrete, concrete block or slab foundations tiny gaps that you can slide one or two pieces of paper under add up to a vortex of air flowing into a home.

If you’re building a new home, don’t forget to use a foam sill sealer that sits on top of the foundation and under the treated wood sill plate.© 2016 Tim Carter

These leaks can be stopped with a simple piece of foam that fits under any wood that contacts the foundation. If your existing home is lacking this vital piece of sealant, you’ll have to do your best to caulk any gaps you can see in a crawlspace or basement. For slab homes, you can often caulk or use expanding foam along the bottom of baseboard trim.

Wood joist systems that sit on top of the wood sill plate can leak air because the wood framing is not perfectly straight. These gaps need to be caulked.

Leaks around doors and windows, depending upon the age of your existing home, can be traced to any number of gaps. On very old frame homes that have sliding windows that go up and down there are giant cavities where the iron window weights go up and down. These leak air through the window rope pulleys and other gaps in the frame.

Caulking all gaps between the window and door frames, window and door trim and siding usually minimizes these leaks. You’ll stop air leaks around windows and doors on your new home by using newer membrane tapes that are applied over the nailing fin that’s an integral part of almost every new door and window frame.

Be sure the gaps between all door and window frames are sealed with special expanding foam meant for windows and doors. You do this after the doors and windows are installed and working properly. Using the wrong foam can cause doors and window frames to bulge!

Years ago the joints between individual pieces of wall sheathing were never sealed. That gap can also allow air into the wall cavities. Today you’ll be able to use the special flashing and air-sealant tapes to cover all the horizontal and vertical seams in your exterior wall sheathing. It’s impossible to fix these errors on old homes unless a major remodeling job calls for removing all existing siding thus exposing the old sheathing.

Once you have all the exterior sheathing seams taped and have all the nailing fins on the windows and doors sealed to the sheathing, you’ve pretty much made the exterior of the house immune from air leaks with respect to the walls. Now it’s time to pay attention to the attic.

Electricians and plumbers almost always drill holes through the top plates of walls to put cables and pipes up into an attic. These holes must be sealed. You can caulk around cables and pipes or use foam.

Be sure you check with your building inspector as some codes call for a special sealing material that’s fireproof. Hot gases from fires love to find these holes in basements and walls and use them as chimneys to transfer the fire to attics by drafting.

Sealing these gaps around the cables and pipes will stop just about all the air from leaking through electrical outlets and switches. But to stop all of it you need to caulk any and all holes where cables enter electrical boxes. It’s also a great idea to caulk around the gap between the drywall and the electrical box after the drywall is installed.

Existing house wall outlet leaks can be minimized by using foam gaskets under outlet and switch cover plates. I’d also caulk the gap between the drywall and the electrical box in an existing home. Be sure to vacuum any dust around this gap before applying the caulk.

The issue with air leaks through all these places is that no one specific location leaks lots of air. It’s the cumulative total amount of air passing inside that’s the issue.

Be sure you install a fresh-air intake vent to satisfy the air needs for your fuel-burning appliances, exhaust fans and a central vacuum cleaner that exhausts to the outdoors. You don’t want any backdrafting issues that might bring carbon monoxide into your super-tight home!

Column 1173

Rubi Diamond Viper 10 Inch Diamond Blade Review

Posted on December 5, 2016 by Tim Carter

I had the chance to test the Rubi Diamond Viper 10 Inch Diamond Blade several weeks ago.

It performed beyond my expectations.

If you've ever used a wet saw to cut ceramic tile, then you know it's not a big deal for most diamond wet-saw blades to cut a standard tile.

After all, most ceramic tile is just clay that's been fired in a kiln to become hard. The issue is that there are materials that are much harder than fired clay.

But before we get into that, I feel you need to know a little bit about tool reviews.

Here's the Rubi Viper blade. It can cut through just about anything you can think of. (C) Copyright 2016 Tim Carter

Know Your Reviewer

I hope you do realize that many of the current tool reviewers out there, and I'm talking late 2016, are individuals who have never worked on a real paying-customer job site, never have worked in construction as a full-time job, and most definitely do not have decades of real field experience.

Always be sure to visit the About Us page on a tool review website and look at the qualifications of the person writing the review before you put much faith in their opinion of the tool.

Some reviewers write a review without even using the tool. They open it up and take some photos or shoot a video in their workshop. I take the tool and USE IT to see how it performs. But I digress!

My Test

I've used wet diamond saw blades for over thirty-five years. The first diamond wet saw I had was a crude tool with a 5-inch blade.

My first experience watching a wet diamond saw blade came in college about forty-four years ago when I saw one being used in the geology department at the University of Cincinnati. A professor was cutting a rock sample in half. I was stunned a saw blade could cut a rock. Prior to this I had only seen saw blades cut wood.

I decided to cut different types of tile, a piece of thin granite and a full-sized granite rock. Yes, a real rock.

You can see the test in action watching this video:

These photos tell you just about all you need to know about the Rubi 10-inch Viper Diamond Saw Blade. For more information about technical specifications and FAQs, visit the Rubi blade website.

The Viper blade has a unique weave pattern that you don't see on all blades. It undoubtedly assists in keeping the diamond-encrusted metal surfaces cooler. Heat is the enemy of diamond wet-saw blades. (C) Copyright 2016 Tim Carter

These holes also help reduce head buildup in the blade. (C) Copyright 2016 Tim Carter

I'll be most interested in what your results are when you use this blade. Be sure to tell all in the comments below. (C) Copyright 2016 Tim Carter

The blade fits most common saw arbors. (C) Copyright 2016 Tim Carter

Rotational blade speed is very important. If you spin blades too fast, they can shatter. The last thing you need is metal shrapnel flying around the workshop or job site! Do NOT exceed the maximum RPMs - EVER! (C) Copyright 2016 Tim Carter

Contractor Hiring Guide

Posted on December 2, 2016 by Tim Carter

Do you want to avoid getting SCREWED when hiring a contractor?

Use the following SECRET tips below.

Hack #1 Write out exactly what you want done and what you expect to be done on a piece of paper. Give this to each of the contractors who comes to give you a bid. Don't assume the contractor will do what you think he should do.

Get FREE bids below.

Hack#2 Make as many product selections as possible before the contractors come to give bids. Allowances created by contractors for products can be low. Unethical contractors put LOW allowances in their bids as a trick to keep their bid prices low.

Hack#3 Be sure the contractor can prove he's got years of experience, at least ten, and can prove he knows what he's doing. Make him give you a copy of his Certificate of Insurance.

Hack #4 Do NOT pay any money in advance unless your job requires SPECIAL ORDER materials. Contractors don't pay their help in advance, they don't pay for regular materials in advance, so why should you pay them in advance? Only pay for work done that's satisfactory. Do NOT pay the last 15% of the job until ALL WORK is complete and to your satisfaction. No excuses ever.

Hack #5 Be sure you put everything the contractor says he'll do in the written contract. NEVER trust the spoken word. A professional contractor will NOT be offended if you ask her/him to put something in writing.

CLICK ANY LINK BELOW TO GET FREE FAST BIDS

CLICK HERE for any Handyman work. FREE & FAST BIDS from LOCAL handymen!

Basement Remodel	Bath Remodel	Electric Work
Furnace Repair/Install	Hardwood Flooring	Heat Pump
House Painting	Insulation	Kitchen Remodeling
Garage Remodeling	Patio Enclosure	Plumbing Work
Roofing / Asphalt	Room Addition	Sunroom Addition
Vinyl Siding	Window Replacement	DECK Work

This column was SO GOOD that I shared with the 31,000 subscribers who read my December 6, 2016 AsktheBuilder Newsletter.

Mentioned in my past March 13, 2011 Newsletter.

November 30, 2016 AsktheBuilder Newsletter

Posted on November 30, 2016 by Tim Carter

This is going to be fairly short. I've got LOTS of new videos, some tool reviews, and a few new columns for you.

I'm headed to Chicago tomorrow for a super fast in-and-out business trip. Unfortunately, there's zero time for a meet up.

It will be an episode of planes, trains and automobiles for me.

I fly from NH to Midway (MDW), get on the Orange Line from Midway to the Loop, walk to the Tribune Tower to meet with my syndicate editor and managing editor, walk with my editor up to Wood Alley, go from there to Union Station to get the train out to Crystal Lake near Cary and then drive to dinner and the hotel. Whew!

All of that before 7 pm.

COOL Technology Gift Idea

Do you watch any of the Marvel TV series? It's all about superheroes.

Kathy and I are really enjoying DareDevil. Look into it.

If you could have a super power, what would it be?

Mine would be X-ray vision. It's so helpful when digging, doing demolition work, or planning remodeling work. Imagine being able to really see what's behind concrete, drywall or plaster!

You can do it with the WalabotDIY!!!

I tested the WalabotDIY at my own home. I put it to a tough test.