Save Money DIY Projects

Posted on by Tim Carter
pipe scaffolding next to old house

DIY Home Projects - You can rent pipe scaffolding like this with the aluminum platforms. It's safe and easy to erect. Copyright (C) 2022 Tim Carter

DIY Home Projects That Save Money

The volume of incoming DIY help requests via the Ask Tim page of my www.AsktheBuilder.com website is rising faster than the Fed can hike interest rates to tame the raging inflation. With the prices of bare necessities such as fuel and food taking larger bites out of your budget, there’s scant money leftover to hire contractors to do work for you, even if you can get them to return phone calls. You may be one that needs my help.

Because you can’t afford to hire a contractor, you may be one of the millions that’s made the decision to tackle a larger project yourself. I know it can be intimidating, but believe it or not it’s never been easier to do some larger projects than it is now. Years ago you couldn’t watch videos about how to do something. Now many manufacturers have excellent instructional videos that can give you the confidence you’ll be able to do the job just as good, or better, than some subcontractor sent to work on your most valuable asset - your home!

What Tools Work for DIY Projects?

Add to this the vast selection of tools you can rent to help you accomplish tasks that require you to be up in the air. Years ago man lifts didn’t even exist. Now you can get motorized lifts with giant articulating arms that allow you to safely paint that tall gable end on your home, or reach a difficult sidewall above a steep roof. Never before has it been easier and safer for you to do exterior work on your home.

For example, imagine you wanted to install gutter guards. I’ve tested many and discovered the best ones out there. You should go to my website and read my Gutter Guard Test Results column. Some companies charge astronomical prices to install these simple products. If a man lift can drive around your home, you might complete the job in less than a day. It’s possible to save well over $1,000, or more.

Two months ago a friend of mine rented one of these man lifts to do exterior painting. He’s okay with using ladders for work up about 15 feet in the air, but terrified to go up further. In just two weekends he not only got all the high painting work done, but he also used the lift to install a heavy light bar over his bocce ball court.

Pipe Scaffolding is Safe and Easy to Erect

An often overlooked tool you may not be aware of is simple pipe scaffolding. I have four sets of my own I’ve owned for forty years. Masons traditionally use this scaffolding and it’s strong, safe, and stable. Once you stack the pieces together, install the cross braces, set the aluminum platforms, and then the guard rails, it’s as if you’re standing on the ground. The scaffolding allows you to kick anxiety and fear to the curb while you diligently work 20 or 25 feet up in the air.

Here where I live in central New Hampshire, I can rent six sets of this scaffolding, including the aluminum work platforms, for just $300 per month. This would allow you to build one tower that would get the bottom of your feet 30 feet up in the air. It’s plenty of scaffolding to set around a ranch home so you can walk across the top of all six sets placed next to one another and travel almost 50 feet down one side of your home. Don’t underestimate what you can do with this strong steel pipe scaffolding.

Angel, a young woman who lives in upstate New York, is using this scaffolding to help her build a dormer on her home. I’ve been coaching her over the phone as she marches through this daunting project. She attempted to get contractors to bid the job, but none called her back. She’s got the three Ds: diligence, determination, and discipline and she’ll not only get the dormer done, she’ll save tens of thousands of dollars in the process.

Let’s say you want to install new vinyl siding on your home but you’ve never done the job before. What would you say if I told you it’s extremely easy to do it and modern trim pieces have made it even easier. Add to this the extensive amount of how-to videos you can watch for free online, many produced by the actual vinyl siding manufacturers.

There are some aspects of installing vinyl siding that do require some expertise, but the odds are your home might not have these challenges. I visited the Vinyl Siding Institute website and they have a huge section that shows you how to install vinyl siding including a marvelous free interactive installation manual. There are wonderful videos there too.

When you see how easy it is to install vinyl siding, I’m guessing you’ll get motivated just like Angel. Her dormer job is much much harder than just installing vinyl siding and she should be an inspiration for you.

I’ll leave you with this. My father-in-law had a great saying that you should consider, “Success breeds success.” It simply means that your confidence builds as you tackle tougher and tougher projects achieving great results each time. If you have a garden shed, cover it with vinyl siding first. Once you complete that, you’ll say, “Heck, that wasn’t so bad. I’m sure I can do the house now with some of that pipe scaffolding!”

Please send me before and after photos of the tough project you completed.

Column 1466

White Fluffy Mold on Concrete

Posted on by Tim Carter
white fluffy mold on concrete

You're looking at salt, not mold. My finger is pointing to efflorescence on a concrete garage floor. These are harmless rock salt crystals not mold as many believe it to be. Copyright 2022 Tim Carter

White Fluffy Mold on Concrete - It's Salt

Not too many years ago I recorded a video in my garage as spring debuted. You can watch this video for free on right here on my website.

This video gets comments each and every week from folks like you. Most of the comments surprise me because the viewer is relieved to discover the fluffy white deposits on their concrete floors, brick walls, or basement walls is harmless salt, not deadly mold.

High School Chemistry - Salt Dissolves in Water

I routinely fall into the trap thinking that you might know all about efflorescence and the truth is many don’t understand it at all. I remember doing an experiment in high school chemistry class that demonstrated the mechanics of what causes this white powder to appear and how to get rid of it.

In my case, rock salt is used on the roads in central New Hampshire during ice and snow storms. The rock salt, once it comes into contact with the ice or snow, dissolves and turns the frozen precipitation into a salty liquid brine. This salt-water brine then drips off my car when I park it in my garage.

The brine soaks into the concrete floor. With the garage temperature close to freezing and there’s no wind in the garage, the evaporation of the water in the concrete happens very slowly. And each time I drive back into the garage, I add more liquid brine into the concrete.

Brine Comes to Surface and Poof!

When spring arrives with warmer temperatures, the brine starts to come to the surface of the concrete like the hosta shoots that peak up from the soil next to our front sidewalk. The first place the efflorescence appears is along the tiny hairline cracks where the salt brine entered the concrete with ease. Soon patches of fluffy white crystals surround the parking area of the car.

I can see why you might think these harmless salt deposits are some sort of scary mold. They do look strange and they can appear in a short amount of time. But you might make a big mistake trying to get rid of them.

How NOT to Get Rid of the Salt

You get out your hose and try to wash the deposits away. This just dissolves the salt again and allows it to soak back into the concrete to only appear again in a few days when the brine comes back to the surface of the concrete.

Best Way to Remove the Salt Deposits

The best way to get rid of efflorescence is to just brush the salt off the concrete or brick and blow it away. You may need to use a stiff scrub brush in some instances. Never use a steel wire brush as that will harm any masonry surface, including concrete.

The salt deposits can and do happen in places that don’t get snow and ice. Many soils and sand deposits contain the invisible salts that can create efflorescence. The salt can be an ingredient in concrete paving brick you may use for a patio. The salt can be part of the sand used to make brick mortar.

Salt on Retaining Walls

The salt can be in soil behind a retaining wall. In all these cases, when water enters the masonry surface, it dissolves the salt just like you might have done that day in your high school chemistry lab. Now you have the brine in the masonry. Wind and warmth pull this liquid to the surface where the water in the brine evaporates leaving the salt behind.

Hard Water Deposits

This is the exact same process with normal hard-water deposits you might see in your kitchen or bathroom. The salts are already dissolved in your drinking water. When this water gets on a dark countertop, or the bright metal finish of a faucet, you can see the white salts in a few hours after the water droplets evaporate.

You can often buff the surface with an old towel and remove them. If allowed to accumulate on a shower door, faucet, or counter, you can remove them with ease using a paper towel saturated with white vinegar. Vinegar is a mild acid and it can dissolve light amounts of hard-water deposits with ease if you’re patient.

Go here to see dramatic before and after photos of how vinegar removed thick hard-water deposits. SCROLL to the bottom of the page to see the photos of the tile around the fountain.

Don’t rub the deposits with the paper towel. Just drape the saturated towel over the area that has the deposits and walk away. Let the vinegar work on its own for a few hours. In almost all cases when you come back and rub the surface with the paper towel, rinse with clear water, and dry with a clean rag, the deposits will be gone.

Beware Vinegar on Marble

Don’t use the vinegar on polished or burnished marble surfaces. Or, if you do, test it with a small drop applied with a cotton swab. Put one single drop of vinegar on the marble and come back in a few hours.

You want to see if the vinegar alters the polish of the marble. You may not realize it, but the marble has a very similar chemical makeup as the salt, Strong acids will etch marble. It’s just a matter if the low-grade vinegar acid will harm your marble.

Column 1465

Sewer Gas Dectector

Posted on by Tim Carter
p trap under vanity sink

Sewer Gas Detector | This is a p-trap although it’s a different design. This device, so long as it’s filled with water, stops sewer gas and vermin from entering your home. Copyright 2022 Tim Carter

Sewer Gas Detector - Read the Short Sewer Gas EBook First

Do you have the same problem I have with the passage of time? It’s hard to believe, but I’ve been a master plumber since 1981. I’ve always loved doing plumbing work because it’s a true three-dimensional puzzle.

You may not realize it but just after the US Civil War smart people finally connected disease and sickness to bacteria. All of a sudden it became quite apparent that it was a great idea to pipe body waste to remote parts of cities instead of throwing pans of it out second-story windows to splash on the street.

Plumbers all of a sudden became as respected as physicians because their skills working with pipes allowed people to stay healthy. This was true of both drain lines and the installation of potable water lines that provided fresh, clean, and sanitary water to millions of people.

To this day these facts are a primary driver why plumbers are well-paid. If you have a daughter, son, or grandchild that wants to have a rewarding career that provides significant income, point them to a trade school that teaches this craft.

It’s vital that plumbing drain pipes, as well as the vents that connect to them, be installed correctly so sewer gas never enters your home. Each week I solve sewer gas problems over the phone with homeowners just like you. In fact, yesterday I solved a vexing problem for a New Mexico homeowner just hours before he was expecting house guests.

Sewer gas can be found in septic tanks, city sewers, and the drain pipes in your home. It smells horrible. It’s caused by the decomposition of bodily waste and rotting food that you send down your drain pipes. It’s toxic and can cause severe illness if you’re exposed to enough of it for long periods of time.

Just two years ago a man hired me to come to his home to solve a sewer gas issue. His wife was seriously ill and no doctor could figure out the cause. Within minutes I connected her suffering to the leaking sewer gas. I found out that they had installed a new tile floor on top of an existing one in a powder room immediately adjacent to where his wife sat and watched TV.

After the new floor was installed, the tile setter or plumber didn’t put in an extra wax ring to account for the fact that the toilet now sat 1/2-inch higher than it did before the new floor was installed. Invisible sewer gas was leaking from the base of the toilet like smoke issuing from a raging wood-burning fireplace. As soon as two wax rings were installed on top of each other on the toilet flange and the toilet reset, the sewer gas stopped entering the home.

A year ago I decided to help homeowners like you solve sewer gas problems on your own. I decided to write a simple short book about sewer gas. It explains how your plumbing system works. I then ask you a series of questions that helps you narrow down why you’re having sewer gas issues. Within a few minutes you can normally figure it out on your own. If not, I can call you on the phone as I do with many many people each year.

Here are the basic things you need to know about your plumbing system and sewer gas. First, it’s vital the plumbing pipes in your home work like the blood vessels in your body. When all is well in your body, your blood stays inside the blood vessels. If you cut yourself or a vessel breaks under pressure, blood leaks out. The same is true for the pipes in your home. When all is well, the liquids, solids and sewer gas stay in the pipes.

But if a pipe cracks, has a hole drilled in it, or a trap under a fixture dries out, then sewer gas and vermin can enter your home. Dried-out p-traps under sinks, showers, and floor drains are the most common source of sewer gas.

Two years ago I did a phone consult with a man that owned a condo in a high-rise building in Monaco. He had a horrible sewer gas problem. It turns out the source of the leaking gas was in multiple other condo units above and below his unit!

Many of the condo owners only stay in their units for a few months out of a year and while they’re gone water evaporates from the traps under all the fixtures and from the toilet bowls. Once the water seal in the traps is broken, the sewer gas wafts into the unit and then enters the tall plumbing shaft where all the pipes go down to the street. The sewer gas in the tall shaft was getting into the man’s condo.

I had him contact the condo maintenance manager. He used his master key and went into each vacant condo. He then ran water in all the fixtures and flushed all the toilets. Within hours the sewer gas problem in the entire high-rise building stopped.

Wind can also cause a problem. That plumbing pipe up on your roof works the exact opposite of chimneys at factories. Chimneys are designed to get rid of smoke from a fire or furnace. Plumbing vent pipes do the opposite. They supply fresh air down into the pipes in your home each time you run water in a sink, shower, or flush a toilet.

If you want to read the first chapters of my short sewer gas book for FREE, go here.

Column 1464

Know What Love Is Foreigner

Posted on by Tim Carter

Know What Love is by Foreigner

Lou Gramm does a great job on this song along with his wonderful live backup singers.

Check out the woman at 4:19. She's absolutely stunning.

Lyrics:

"I Want To Know What Love Is"

I gotta take a little time
A little time to think things over
I better read between the lines
In case I need it when I'm older

Now this mountain I must climb
Feels like a world upon my shoulders
Through the clouds I see love shine
It keeps me warm as life grows colder

In my life there's been heartache and pain
I don't know if I can face it again
Can't stop now, I've traveled so far
To change this lonely life

I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
I wanna feel what love is
I know you can show me

I'm gonna take a little time
A little time to look around me
I've got nowhere left to hide
It looks like love has finally found me

In my life there's been heartache and pain
I don't know if I can face it again
I can't stop now, I've traveled so far
To change this lonely life

I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
I wanna feel what love is
I know you can show me

I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
And I wanna feel, I want to feel what love is
And I know, I know you can show me

Let's talk about love
I wanna know what love is, the love that you feel inside
I want you to show me, and I'm feeling so much love
I wanna feel what love is, no, you just cannot hide
I know you can show me, yeah

I wanna know what love is, let's talk about love
I want you to show me, I wanna feel it too
I wanna feel what love is, I want to feel it too
And I know and I know, I know you can show me
Show me love is real, yeah
I wanna know what love is...

Dirty Laundry Don Henley

Posted on by Tim Carter

Dirty Laundry by Don Henley

This is an iconic song that rings true about our media that's lost its way.

The media used to be the Fourth Estate. Now only a few publications bear this sacred responsibility that's a byproduct of the First Amendment here in the USA.

But your local papers, TV stations, and radio news outlets still practice shoveling dirty laundry into your senses. There's an old saying in news, "If it BLEEDS it leads."

Window Washing Near Me

Posted on by Tim Carter
window washing near your home

Window Washing Near Me | Look at the before and after. You can get professional results in SECONDS yourself. Pro tips below.

Window Washing Near Me - DIY Because it's EASY

See that window above? See that fog on the left half of the sash? Unless you're paralyzed, you can get professional results in seconds.

I cleaned that right half of the window glass using exactly what pros use to clean skyscraper glass. What magic window washing solution do they use? You're going to be BLOWN AWAY because you have it at your kitchen sink.

Watch this short video to see what it is:

Cracked Stone

Posted on by Tim Carter

Cracked Stone

Small stones can be cracked with a sledgehammer. But what about solid bedrock that extends through the globe to China?

Well, you use a giant jackhammer when blasting is too expensive or there are other houses too close to the blasting site.

Part One of this two-part series is below the Cracked Stone video.

Corner Bookshelves Are Practical

Posted on by Tim Carter
corner bookshelves oak shelves

Corner Bookshelves | These corner bookshelves in a quaint Maine cabin are good looking and practical. Note the slight curvature of the corner shelves. Copyright 2022 Tim Carter

Corner Bookshelves Can be Cool

I’ve had enough trips around the sun such that I often find myself thinking of what might be inside future homes. For example, do you think that architects and builders from 100 years ago would have thought laundry chutes would go out of style? They might have thought placing washing machines on top of wood floors was the most foolhardy thing one could do.

Can you imagine the shock on the face of an architect or builder from 125 years ago when you might say, “That built-in pantry you’re specifying is going to be ripped out of the house in 1990 during a kitchen remodel job.” They might think only a mooncalf would get rid of a piece of built-in furniture.

What about bookshelves? What’s the future of books made from atoms instead of electrons like you might read on your Kindle, iPad, or tablet? I’m sure there are statistics that might show a decline in the number of print books sold, but try to look out fifty or more years from now.

Are Real Books Going to Be Printed in the Future?

What the future holds for books shouldn’t be important to you if you have hundreds of books you want to display. I’m one of those people and want easy access to my books. Over the years my wife and I have collected hundreds, perhaps thousands, of books made from atoms.

Are Old Book Valuable?

It turns out many have become quite valuable as the vast majority of books go out of print. I have several books that currently sell for over $1,000 in online auctions. In these inflationary times, it’s a good idea to hold onto things that aren’t cash. Don’t give away your hard-bound books for goodness sake.

I Want Your Old Dictionaries

In fact, I’m on a mission now trying to collect old dictionaries. Being a professional writer I’m intrigued by how the definition of words can be different in dictionaries of the same age. The scary thing is that in this electronic world, people can change the meaning of words in online dictionaries and you might not even realize it’s happening. But I digress.

Wooden Bookshelves are Best

Wooden bookshelves seem to be the most popular ones. Several years ago I did a cross-country tour showing how to build in real time simple bookshelves on live morning television news shows. Yes, believe it or not I assembled in real time a 4-foot by 4-foot bookshelf made from 1x8 solid poplar with a nice plywood back panel for strength and stability in less than one hour on live TV. You can see a photo and read all the details about this here.

The point is you can create simple or ornate wall bookshelves with a few tools, patience, and a basic plan. The best place to start a bookshelf project is looking at hundreds of photos of them online. Once you’re inspired you’ll discover it’s a powerful motivator. You’ll discover it will be so much easier to get the job done after you can see what the finished product will look like.

Corner Bookshelves in Downeast Maine

Not too long ago I had the pleasure to marvel at corner bookshelves inside a quaint cabin my daughter purchased that sits on the shoreline of a lake on Mt. Desert Island in Maine.

These shelves sat on top of an oak corner desk. What caught my eye was how ornate they appeared at first glance but in reality they were very easy details to produce for a DIYr like you.

Oak Bookshelves

The choice of oak for the shelves was smart because it’s such a strong wood. You can span four or five feet and the shelves will not succumb to gravity over time. If you choose shelves made from sawdust and glue, you might notice in months a pronounced sag should you load the shelves with heavy books.

It really pays to inventory and organize your books early in the planning phase of your project. If there are certain books you want on the same shelf, you need to know what the tallest book is so you get your spacing right. Sometimes it make sense to lay tall books on their side so you don’t end up wasting valuable wall space.

Maximum Space for Books

That’s the biggest challenge when planning bookshelves. What has to be done so the maximum amount of wall space is taken up by books and there’s minimal air space above the books until the next shelf starts? Keep in mind you should have about an inch or inch and one-half of space above the top of books and the bottom of the next shelf above. This allows you to get your finger in on top of the book to tip it out so you can grasp it and pull it off the shelf.

Don’t spoil a bookshelf by attaching metal shelf standards on the vertical side boards. These screech low-quality in my opinion. You should be able to permanently mount the shelves to the side supports with adequate planning.

Decorative Bookshelf Screws

Screws that hold shelves in place can be disguised using caps or finishing washers. You can get these in brass to produce a very professional look. If you need other tips, consider reaching out to a local woodworker. Visit her/his shop and see if they might have a few tips. Better yet, take the photos of your space and your dream shelves with you.

You might be surprised at how low the cost might be for a woodworker to create what you want. They often have so much experience they can do in one hour what might take you four hours. They also have all the tools to produce the best results. Send me a photo of your finished bookshelves. I’d love to see what you end up with!

Column 1463

Inflation and Home Improvement

Posted on by Tim Carter
roof dormer davinci roofscapes inflation

You could build a dormer like this with some inspiration and over-the-phone help. Angel’s doing one, so can you. Copyright 2022 Tim Carter

Inflation and Home Improvement 2022 - STOP Printing Money!

I can call you on the phone and coach you through a DIY project.

It’s my intention for this column to inspire you as dark financial storm clouds form on the horizon. I feel you’ll enjoy the stories I’m about to share where readers like you have saved tens of thousands of dollars. By the end of the column
it’s my hope you’ll feel empowered so you might decide to tackle a big job yourself.

Over the past few months I’ve been alarmed at the stratospheric rise in food prices. I’ve seen the same thing happen with prices for everything, including gasoline, and of course building materials. The prices contractors charge, if you can even get them to bid your job, can take your breath away. That’s a perfect segue to Zoe.

Zoe the DIY Plumber in NM

Zoe is a young woman who lives in rural New Mexico. She decided over a year ago to build her own home but couldn’t get local plumbers to give her the time of day much less a bid. She discovered me while searching on YouTube and found out I had been a master plumber since 1981.

She also discovered, much to her surprise, that I did phone coaching calls and also drew plumbing riser and isometric drawings. You need these drawings almost everywhere to pull a plumbing permit. She had me draw hers and then ordered up a phone call. Within a month she and I were on the phone two more times.

Zoe texted me one day, “Tim, I just got my below-rough inspection done. Passed with flying colors. Inspector said it was the best DIY job he’d ever seen in his 30 years. Thanks.” Suffice it to say, Zoe was thrilled and went on to finish all the plumbing in the house with my help saving herself probably $20,000.00.

Angel in Upstate New York - Carpentry

Last fall Angel reached out to me. It was a similar story. Somehow she found out I did phone coaching calls. She lives in upstate New York and couldn’t get local contractors to give her quotes on building a large dormer. She wanted to transform unused attic space into a playroom for her kids.

The purpose of the first call was for me to interview her to see if I felt she had the mental and physical skills to even tackle a project like this. I determined she absolutely could do it.

I then had her email me all her questions and we did two other phone calls to answer them. After these calls, Angel had all she needed to get started. I estimate she’ll save about $35,000.00 doing this dormer by herself. I reminded her that elephants are best eaten one bite at a time.

Greg in New Hampshire

A week later Greg reached out to me. Greg lives about an hour away from me and five years ago he hired me to come look at his failing roof. Greg said, “Tim, I see in your newsletter you’re doing lots of phone coaching calls. You should figure out a way to record and transcribe the calls so people don’t have to take notes. Some people need to read what you say, not listen to complex instructions.”

Within a few days I had discovered a way to do very accurate transcriptions of recorded calls. I could instantly see how this could help you save lots of money.

Just last week I did a fascinating call with Jean in Spokane, WA. She had a bunch of projects to do and needed help sorting them out. She wanted to know what projects were most important and which ones should be done first as she had to budget for things to be done over a period of years. Money was a major concern to her as it is to just about everyone, including myself!

In less than 30 minutes I was able to give her all the advice she needed and save her at the very least $10,000.00. She wrote to me the next day, "All I can say is WOW. To have you share your expert knowledge in such an approachable way was fantastic. My one call with you covered a multitude of projects. We have only owned our home for a little over a year and we needed to prioritize what projects to tackle first.

You helped me organize and prioritize each repair. You talked me through what easy fixes my husband and I could tackle ourselves and which ones we would need an expert's help. You also offered to talk us through learning to tackle some of the repairs ourselves.

You suggested brands and shopping sources for some of the items that we might need. You also suggested videos and articles on your website that could assist us. 

This one call saved us countless hours and thousands of dollars. In today's expensive world, your advice is simply priceless.  We will keep you in our contact list forever. We are grateful that you exist and that you so graciously share your gift.”

If you need to eat an elephant at your house, maybe I can help set the table. I’d love to help you save huge money and get things done at your home. It would put a grin on my face to get a text from you.

Column 1461