Fall has arrived here in New Hampshire. We're not at peak color near my house, but it should happen this week. I took a few photos this morning because the sun finally peeked out from behind the clouds. It's been fairly gloomy the past four days. I'll get better photos soon!

Further down in this newsletter, you'll see a FLASH sale on Stain Solver and all of my digital download products. You'll have to hurry on both, because the sales are limited. I'm not making this up.

Tip of the Week - Painting Vinyl Siding

Vinyl siding expands and contracts significantly as the temperature goes up and down. Some people grow tired of the color of their house, and in the past it was nearly impossible to paint vinyl siding without it peeling.

Some of the major paint companies have risen to the challenge and have created paints that stick really well to vinyl siding and plastic trim. It's still wise to try to avoid darker colors as they absorb heat.

Remember that paint is just colored glue. If the bond between the paint and the vinyl siding breaks, the paint peels. You can see why the paint manufacturers had a significant challenge developing a paint that can stretch as much as the vinyl siding expands and then shrink back when the siding contracts as it get colder.

If you decide to paint your vinyl siding, you need to really clean it well. Stain Solver will help with that. Paint on overcast days when the temperatures are between 50 - 70F if at all possible.

Don't take the paint salesman's word that the paint will work. READ the label and make sure the paint is formulated for vinyl siding or plastic trim.

Start Your Own Handyman Business!

This Saturday I'm doing a LIVE 3-hour class that shows you how to start and run your own handyman business. This class is live in real time just like broadcast TV. You can ask me questions in a chat window as the class happens. It's easy. I have a friend of mine who I taught how to run a handyman business. Here are the facts:

He works the hours he wants to. He constantly has a backlog of work. He can take off any day he wants to. He cherry picks the most profitable jobs. He makes about six figures a year. I left out the most important part: He wakes up HAPPY each day because his work has very little stress.

There are only a FEW seats left in this class. Are you unhappy with your job? This class may invigorate you and get you to finally control your destiny. I have NO IDEA when I'm going to run this class live again. Go now and sign up. I'll see you in the classroom on Saturday October 6, 2012 at 1:00 pm ET.

AZEK Trim Molding

One of the last building materials I used on my shed was PVC trim. I chose it because I wanted the exterior of the shed to be nearly maintenance free. The siding is fiber cement, which will never rot, so I wanted a trim that had the same characteristics.

I chose to use AZEK trim for all sorts of reasons. You should just watch the video I taped to see it, and decide if you want to consider it on your next project. My guess is you will.

My Shed Video Series

If all goes well today, I'll be taping the last videos for my shed project. I underestimated the time it would take for me to do many things without a helper. The good news is that I'll soon be editing and releasing the videos. At the outset of the project, I thought there would be 100 videos showing you step-by-step what to do. Well, I underestimated that too. There's not going to be 100 videos. I think the number will be closer to 200. As I'm typing this, some of the stair-building videos are downloading into this computer I'm using. Just yesterday, I taped close to 25 videos showing just 'part' of the stair building process. You're not going to believe the detail in these stair-building videos.

If you purchased the videos, either through the Kickstarter website or here through this newsletter, realize that SOON you'll be getting access to the videos!

Fantastic Architect You Can Use!

I want to introduce you to Keith Carney. He's an architect that lives in Connecticut, but can draw plans for a project far from his home. How do I know this? Keith drew the plans for my shed project, and he did a magnificent job. One of the things I like about Keith is he has lots of hands-on experience in building and remodeling. That gives him a unique perspective grounded in the reality of what building materials work best and what their limitations are.

Keith's a licensed architect in these states: CO, CT, ID, NE, NM, NV, WY and KS. He can get a license in other states, as it's just a matter of filling out paperwork. But for many jobs around your house, you many not need a set of stamped drawings. You can hash that out with Keith.

Keith does both residential and commercial plans. Maybe you need something done at your place of business. Are you thinking of remodeling your basement, maybe remodeling your kitchen or bathroom? Keith can do the plans. Do you want to do a room addition? Keith can do it. Maybe you want a new home? Keith could be your guy. Reach out and contact him. I'm sure you're going to be very happy when you see examples of the detail in his plans. Believe me, details are everything when it comes to plans!

FLASH Stain Solver Sale

As soon as the shed videos are edited, I'm going to start paying much more attention to the Stain Solver business. What you're about to see is a peek at the future.

If you're aware of websites like Groupon, Amazon, Yugster, Woot, DealChicken, etc., they all tend to have flash sales. A flash sale is very limited in scope or the time of the sale. It's also a sale that happens with little or no warning. Those people paying attention reap huge savings by opening up email announcements.

For example, I subscribe to Woot alerts. An item may go on sale, but they only have 50 or 100 available at that price. You have to quickly open the emails when the arrive and take action if you want the deal.

That's part of the new strategy with Stain Solver. Subscribers to the Stain Solver newsletter are going to see these flash sales first. If you buy Stain Solver, you automatically get put on the newsletter list. I will announce sales here in this newsletter, but the Stain Solver subscribers get pick of the litter.

Here's the first flash sale: Beginning right now, there are just 100 50-pound buckets of Stain Solver on sale for 15% off. I know these are going to disappear fast, so you better go grab one now if you want one at the sale price. The sale price is ONLY available at the AsktheBuilder.com shopping cart. You need to CLICK HERE.

Digital Products Sale Too!

Moments ago, I received an email from Michaela who lives in Boston, MA. I was just down there last night! But I digress. Read about the horrible mess she's now in. It's too bad she didn't use my Room Addition Checklist. More on that after you read her email:

"I am currently 2/3 of the way completed in adding a second floor to my home. I have not liked any of the subs that my GC has hired, thus far, or even my GC for that matter! I have told him that I would like to get my own painter instead of using his - he doesn't have a painter he always goes with; he'll be picking whoever gives him the lowest price. The GC says this is fine with him as long as he still gets his cut of the profit. I agreed that that would be fine to be fair. I suggested a fair 10% of the allotted amount of $8000. The GC said his profit is $2000 - 25% of the amount budgeted! He claims that his personal profit was very small in the beginning of the project and that he is getting his money from the tail end. However, this does not seem right to me! Why should I pay him $2000 for doing absolutely nothing!? I have signed a contract with him that does say that $8000 is allotted for painting and that he would be responsible for getting the house painted. However, if I have taken this responsibility off his plate, does he have a right to demand a profit, especially one that is so high?"

Let's do an autopsy on this problem. Michaela is in trouble because she didn't have a precise breakdown of ALL job costs at the bidding stage. What's more, she didn't get it in writing at the BIDDING stage what the overhead and profit would be for the builder.

Guess what? My Contractor Hiring Guides - great tools to use when you are getting bids - require that the bidding contractors give you cost breakdowns AND state their profit and overhead. You MUST know this before you sign a contract so you don't get in a pickle like Michaela.

My hiring guides do more than ask for a detailed cost breakdown. To show you how good they are, I've put them on sale. Every digital product I sell at my shopping cart is on sale at 50% off for the next five days. This means eBooks, checklists, eGuides, etc. In other words, anything that's made from electrons is on sale. The promo code is: fall50

Last week I signed up to start taking CERT classes. CERT is an acronym for Community Emergency Response Team. The first class was last night. You have to take the classes to become a CERT volunteer. You don't have to commit to become a volunteer to take the free classes. Does that make sense?

Within the first 30 minutes of the class, I became acutely aware of how unprepared I am for a disaster of any kind in my community, and I was a Boy Scout! It became readily apparent that in a real emergency, my family and I would absolutely be on our own - and I'll bet the same is true about you.

Here's why. Within a 30 mile radius of where I live in central New Hampshire, there are probably only 75 full-time paid firefighters. There are probably no more than 100 police officers. Yes, there are quite a few more volunteer firefighters, but my guess is the total number is less than 500. But the population numbers in the tens of thousands of people in that same geographic area. In the summertime, the population dramatically swells as vacationers come into the area adding more stress to the fragile support system.

Now add up how many fire trucks there are. Not many. If there's a major disaster, the fire departments already have pre-plans completed, and will be charged with saving and dealing with the MOST valuable assets in the community. Guess what? Your house and my house are at the bottom of the list. Your house means much to you, but it is of little value to the community as a whole.

I urge you to sign up for the CERT classes in your area. You'll discover what you need to do to be prepared. You'll discover what you must know to SAVE yourselves while you wait for days or weeks for help from the pros. See the fantastic reading materials I walked away with last night in the photo above? That beige manual is over 1-inch thick and packed with fantastic information. Remember, you don't have to become a CERT volunteer, but I would highly recommend it after you take the classes. Your community NEEDS you.

Tip of the Week - Repairing Scratches in Hardwood or Laminate Flooring

Last week, Kathy and I were moving furniture from a self-storage locker we stopped using. It's a long story, but as we were bringing in a piece of furniture into my office, I stepped on a small block of plywood that was upside down. There were tiny finish nail heads sticking out of the plywood.

You guessed it. I scratched the laminate floor. Drat!

I was upset for being such a dunce - the plywood scrap should have NEVER been on the floor, but I quickly let that thought escape my head. Why? I knew I could go upstairs and grab my box of different colored shoe polishes and instantly disguise the scratch.

The trick to using shoe polish in a floor scratch is to always start with the lightest color first. If you have a dark hardwood floor and use a shoe polish color that matches the finished floor color, the scratch will almost always come out much, much darker. That looks just as bad as the original scratch!

Take a very tiny amount of shoe polish on a cotton swab. Just touch up a very small part of the scratch to see how it looks. Get up and stand back from the scratch to really see what it looks like.

If you have a really deep scratch, guess what? You can call a furniture repair wizard. These magicians have a small case that contains an alcohol lamp and different lacquer sticks. Within minutes, they can fill the scratch and completely disguise it. You don't have to refinish an entire floor if you have just one or two scratches.

Stain Solver Success Story

As you might imagine, we get fantastic testimonials each day about my Stain Solver oxygen bleach. Here's one from Lee Wright.

Lee lives in greater Boston. I met him about three weeks ago when I had to speak to the Boston SEO Meetup group. To make a long story short, Lee purchased some Stain Solver. He sent dramatic before and after photos. Read what he sent me yesterday:

"Dear Tim,

It worked. Thanks for your help.

And it got the spaghetti sauce out of a nearby comforter, too.

The difference in the color of the carpet is primarily daylight versus incandescent light and flash. And as it turned out, while there was quite a mess when I first spilled the spaghetti – with sauce I'd just made using tomatoes from our garden! – we worked pretty hard to get as much up as possible, so by the time we got to the Stain Solver, the spots, while still clearly noticeable, were much lighter. We also took your advice and cleaned the entire carpet.

The comforter, on the other hand, got no attention until we washed it with Stain Solver a couple of days later."

Stain Solver is indeed a miracle cleaner. There are hundreds of things you can use it on around your home. Recently it was certified to be completely organic.

This is but one reason Carolyn and her Mommy Co-op up here in New Hampshire purchased SIX huge cases of Stain Solver about two weeks ago!

Kickstarter Shed Video Update

If you purchased the series of videos about building the shed, they're getting close to completion! The job has taken longer than anticipated for a number of reasons. The good news for you is that I'm going to over deliver.

Originally, I promised you 100 videos of the shed-building process. I've surpassed that. Right now I'm taping the step-by-step videos of building the stairs from the shed floor to the attic. Just that series of videos will number about 20! Wait till you see the step-by-step videos of how to build the winders that are part of the steps. You'll be blown away.

Bottom Line: Please be patient. I'll have the videos for you very soon. The shed is days away from substantial completion!

Starting and Running Your Handyman Business

I've created the outline for the LIVE online workshop that explains how you can get started running your own Handyman business. Based on the survey results from last week, I can see it works best to have the classes on a Saturday.

There are only 12 seats in the class. The best part about attending the class live is that you get to ask me questions LIVE just like in a real classroom environment.

I'll be taping the entire class, and if you're not one of the lucky 12 who get signed up first, you'll be able to purchase access to all the materials after the class is finished.

The class will be produced by PowHow.com. They have a fantastic interface for this live streaming video teaching system. It's highly recommended that you have high-speed Internet access and a connected video camera to your computer if you want me to see you. You don't have to have a video camera to attend the class. I don't have to be able to see you in the classroom for you to participate.

Go to the AsktheBuilder page at PowHow.com to see the syllabus. If you want to attend this class, you better sign up NOW. It will sell out quickly. The cost for the videos after the workshop is over will be priced more than the live class.

Be SURE to sign up for the 3-Hour Workshop, not the individual one-hour classes. Those will be offered at a later date.

Fall is coming in like a lion. Last night was rainy and very windy. The shed's all weather tight, so that's not an issue. The week started out with Jason, from Overhead Door Options here in Meredith, NH, doing a professional install of the 6-foot-wide overhead door on the shed.

I had a Liftmaster opener put in that has the latest MyQ technology. I'm able to control the door from anywhere in the world using my phone. I'll do a video this week to show you this fantastic technology that's being integrated into many products like thermostats, alarm systems, lighting, basically anything that has an on/off switch.

Pay attention when you buy anything electronic from now on. Look to see if the product sports this technology that allows you to control things from your smartphone. You'll be amazed at what you can do.

Why Your Roof Doesn't Collapse

Have you ever wondered why your roof doesn't come crashing down on top of you? Think about all the weight up there with shingles and snow if you live where it's cold.

Watch this video I taped as I was building the shed. Leave a comment once you watch it. Tell me in a comment if you discovered anything new!

Handyman and Other Online Classes

Next week, here in the newsletter, you'll be able to sign up for the Starting and Running Your Handyman Business class - it's actually going to be three classes because there's so much to cover. Watch for that announcement, as there is LIMITED classroom space.

I'm going to start offering many other classes this fall and winter, but I need your input. Can you take this three-question survey and tell me:

• What online classes would you like to see me do?
• What day would be best for you?
• What is the best time for you to attend the class?

I'm going to try to do the live classes at a time that's most convenient for you if at all possible. I know you might work, we're in different time zones, and you could have other commitments, but I'm going to do my best to do the class live for you.

Here's the best part. I'll be recording all the classes. If you sign up and can't make it for some reason, NO PROBLEM. You can watch the recording at a later date. The only advantage to watching the class as it happens is you can ask me questions as the class happens. You can't do that if you're watching a recording.

Near Dryer Disaster

Last Saturday, I was working one of the last public service ham radio events of the season. It was a 10K run in gorgeous Jackson, NH. During the race, I got an email from Julie. I met Julie and her rambunctious and cheerful daughter Eliza back this past summer when I was working another ham radio event - the New England Forest Rally. Julie was a crowd marshal in charge of making sure spectators stayed in the safe zones so speeding rally cars would not hit them.

Julie just moved into a home and was having a nightmare getting her washer and dryer into a very tight closet. She asked if there was anyway I could come to the rescue. She sent a photo of the dryer vent pipe she started to take apart and it was CLOGGED solid with lint.

The previous homeowner had used the correct smooth pipe, the run from the dryer to the exterior wall was only 13 feet, and there was only one 90-degree bend. But even still, the pipe was totally clogged. Julie told me that she had used the old dryer when she moved in and it took forever to dry some thin sheets.

Slow or extended drying times are your first clue that the dryer vent pipe could be clogged or partially clogged. This is a real fire danger.

NOTE To Architects: Don't ever design something that you haven't installed yourself in the field. I would pay any architect to come to Julie's house and install the washer and dryer by her/himself. In fact, I'd love to tape a video of you doing it. The only way we got everything connected was because of Eliza the Wonder Woman! She was tiny enough to squeeze behind the dryer as it was lifted up on top of the washing machine.

You can see her smiling just before I got her to crawl up on top of the dryer so I could extract her from the tiny closet. She did a fantastic job connecting the electric cord and the dryer vent pipe. Julie may rent her out if you need her!

Milwaukee Router Video Review

I tested a fantastic router about a week ago. I think you'll like the video review. It's a heavy duty Milwaukee router and I sure did like it! After you watch the video, I have a convenient link there to buy the router at the best possible price! Go watch the video now.

Poor Quality Search Results

Lately I've been getting many emails about why my past columns are not showing up in Google searches. Have you noticed that really good quality content is getting harder to find on Google?

I've tried to be coy about this for the past eighteen months, but Google punished AsktheBuilder.com and thousands of other websites back in February of 2011. It's a very long story, but I've lost about 80% of my traffic. You can imagine the impact on my revenue.

I discovered a website that's got quite a bit of information on it about how Google is manipulating search results. I attended a quick one-day mini conference in Washington, DC, last Thursday, and was shocked at the data, numbers and stories I heard. You can watch three videos at this website, including one I taped for the mini conference.

I urge you to go to the FairSearch.org website and watch the three videos. You'll see them on the home page. I guarantee you that you'll have a very different opinion of Google and what's really going on after you listen to the experts in the two videos.

Wait until you hear Patrick Lynch, the former Attorney General from Rhode Island tell his story! Susan Athey, who teaches Economics at the Stanford Business School, will rivet you to your monitor. All of the experts had amazing facts and stories to share.

Fall Checklist

Several subscribers, you may be one, have asked me to do a Fall Checklist. Well here's one I cobbled together quickly. This checklist applies to all, but especially people who live where it gets cold.

1. Remove hoses from hose bibs. Failure to do this could result in burst water pipes in the spring. You'll NOT know about the leak until next spring. To make matters worse, you'll be outside washing your car when hundreds of gallons of water are flooding the inside of your house.
2. If you heat your home or water with oil, be sure the nozzle in the burner is clean.
3. Get your wood-burning fireplace and chimney ready for burning wood. Get them inspected!
4. Paint any bare wood outside that's exposed to the weather.
5. Clean your gutters after the last leaves have fallen.
6. Don't cover your AC unit. It's not necessary.
7. Stockpile all supplies to keep you alive in case of extended power outages.
8. Replace the air filter on your furnace - seriously, do I need to remind you of that? You must do that regularly!
9. Start your snowblower BEFORE you need it. Make sure it's running well now. Buy extra shear pins.
10. Caulk any obvious air leaks. Air leakage is a major energy suck on your pocketbook.
11. Get warm clothes together, hooded sweatshirts, fleeces, wool socks, etc. Wear these around the house so you can LOWER your thermostat temperature to save money on fuel.

I'm sure there are many other things, but that should get you pretty prepared.

Power Tools are DANGEROUS

A young woman was very lucky she didn't get killed in shop class. Read what happened to her and her hair.

When you work around any power tools, you have to make sure clothes and hair CAN'T come in contact with moving parts. You could get seriously hurt like this poor woman.