Wait a minute! It now makes sense why you're over there rubbing shoulders with Sal, Ky, Mona, Lin, Judy, Kristina, Byron, and well over 100 other new subscribers. You don't know what's in store and there's safety in numbers. Welcome and let's get started.

Here's your first Ask the Builder tip:

Remember, rubbing is racing!

But you, yes you, it's quite possible your first issue was #34. (I believe this is issue 1166.) We've come a long way, haven't we? I know, I know, it's time to share some sweet tips.

Happy Harmonium Music

How would you like to do a jig in your kitchen or living room next to the couch? I've got just what you need.

Please go to my Versions of Music of a Found Harmonium page and read how I just made a discovery last week.

Be sure you watch a few of the videos to hear the different versions of the song. Absolutely watch the top one in the stack as that's where I first heard the song.

Don't miss the stunning attractive tall ginger in the black dress wearing pearls in the fifth video down in the stack. Watching the last part of this particular video might convince you to start taking monkey squeeze-box accordion lessons. Who knows!

Surely you agree that professional women musicians look drop-dead gorgeous in black dresses. Even if you're not a professional woman musician, I'm sure you look beautiful in your black dress too!

The last video in the stack has got some great hand-held drum solos. Wow!

If that song doesn't put you in a good mood, I don't know that anything can!

Restoration Projects

Old Man Winter has plopped his you-know-what down here in New Hampshire. Yesterday it was a balmy -7 F as I was creating this newsletter for you.

This is a great time of year to roll up one's sleeves and do some indoor restoration projects. Here's one thing I'm tackling in a few days:

I'm holding a 50 or 60-year-old toy in my hand. It's a Matchbox Series 30 8-Wheel Crane. I bought it on ebay for $5.

A month ago, I acquired an identical one for my son as a Christmas gift. It's a very long story as to why this made a great gift. I knew he'd either frown or get a big smile when he opened it. Fortunately, he loved it. As I type this, the restored crane is on his desk where he can see it all day everyday.

Both cranes had seen better days and needed new paint. I did a pretty good job on my son's crane. That said, I need to do a better job of getting a perfect mach on the green paint this time.

Restoring my son's crane was so much fun I decided to get my own and add another 50, or more, years to its life. Maybe one of my grands will get it as it's passed down.

It's not too hard to custom-blend the oil paint to get the correct colors. I use a few fine artist's brushes to do the painting.

Lorene, one of my new friends from my LIVE streaming videos each M-F at 4 PM Eastern Time, told me to watch a few YouTube videos about restoring Matchbox toys. I found several about this actual crane and felt they ruined the cranes doing the restoration. Judge for yourself if you watch the videos.

I discovered you can buff the axles and mushroom caps with a Dremel tool and just repaint the toy carefully to get the same, or better, results as tearing the toy all apart. What's more, the other restorers had many hours in their projects and I did my son's restoration in less than an hour.

I'll share some great before and after photos possibly next week. You can let me know if you feel the toy looks new or almost new. I added two things to my son's crane and will do the same on mine. Let's see if you like them.

I'm also doing lots of restoration work for you on the AsktheBuilder.com website. I think you'll discover it will be easier to locate things, pages will be easier to read, information will be updated, and all-in-all the website will be more user-friendly. It's a months-long project and I should finish in time just before the black flies arrive.

Stop Stainless Steel Sink Noise

Frances visited my Ask Tim page and asked this question:

"Our stainless-steel sink seems to be be thin and rings like a bell! Very disappointed. Any advice or tips to strengthen it, or should we just replace it?"

What would you suggest she do?

Here's what I wrote back:

"I would get a few cans of Great Stuff spray foam and create a 1-inch-thick layer of FINISHED foam on the entire bottom and under-sides of the sink. The foam will strengthen the sink and really cut down on the vibration that's creating the ringing noise.

Wear old clothes, old small clothes, or no clothes when doing this. Any foam that might drop down on you while you're on your back under the sink will ruin your clothes. WEAR GOGGLES and a shower cap.

Be sure to use the long straw nozzle to get the foam in the tight spots. Read the instructions on the cans so you know how much the foam will expand. Don't spray on too much for goodness sake!

Please let me know what happens. The foam will cost you less than $10. I can't wait to hear your success story."

Frances shared she was between 65-75 years of age, so I felt my no clothes suggestion was safe. She and I might be the same age and birthday suits for us old goats and goatesses are no big deal at this point. We've seen it all multiple times, right?

I've got some great stainless steel sink care tips here for you.

Get FREE Bids - Local Contractors

Get fast and free bids now from local contractors.

Digital Library Price Increase ^^^

Did you know there are over 110 products in my digital library? Most can ensure that you don't get taken to the cleaners by a contractor.

The price of my entire digital library goes up from $49.99 to $99.99 Sunday, January 23, 2022 at 6:01 PM. Act now.

Phone Consult Smelly Crawlspace

I did a 30-minute phone consult call with John two days ago. He lives in a 100-year-old home about ten miles east of the Golden Gate Bridge.

John and his family are bothered by a musty smell in the crawlspace under his home. He sent me great video and photos of the situation. These allowed me to give him solid advice as I discussed all his options.

I suggested he try a very inexpensive DIY method that I felt has a 99% chance of solving his problem. It involves using a high-performance vapor retarder.

You should read that column above if you have a similar issue or if you're about to pour a basement or garage concrete slab!

That's enough for a frigid Sunday. I know, I know, it might be 80 F where you are. Blah blah blah...

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
Hilton Hotels Uses - www.StainSolver.com
Morse Saves Lives - www.W3ATB.com

Newsletter Issue #1166 (I think...)

Do It Right, Not Over!

P.S. What do you know about whitewash? I'm talking the REAL whitewash, not the crap thinned-down paint some TV idiots claim is whitewash. I'll bet there are three things you didn't know.

V8 DUH Epiphany

If you subscribed after 5:00 AM this past Sunday, this won't make much sense. Bear with me, or is it bare? No, I'm going with the first one...

Are You One of These?

I know you might be. Those are the 6,020 people that read about my Christmas gift and actually visited this page of my shopping cart.

However, you decided NOT to take advantage of the offer. You may have walked away and backed out of the shopping cart for a host of reasons.

Please understand I'm trying DESPERATELY to SAVE YOU MONEY, TIME, and FRUSTRATION when dealing with contractors.

Part of my Christmas gift was my offer of allowing you to own my entire Digital Library for a tiny fraction of what it sells for full retail.

If you were to buy ALL of my digital products now in the cart separately, you'd spend OVER $1,250.00.

Do you understand that? I'm trying to SAVE YOU $1,200.00.

I know, you might be thinking, "Tim, I don't NEED all the products today. I'll just get them one at a time as I need them."

Do that and eventually you'll spend $200, $300, or who knows, maybe $700.00.

BUT over the past 18 days, I let you down. Big time.

That giant 6,020 number is SCREAMING that I failed to answer these two questions swirling around in your head:

"What's in it for ME, Tim? WHY should I purchase your ENTIRE digital library?"

Horror Stories

After looking at that 6,020 number for a few days, I had the V8-forehead-slap moment.

DUH!!!!!! I wasn't explaining to you how you WOULD, not could, LOSE HUGE MONEY if you weren't using the products.

I'll share a few reasons what's in it for you - WHY you should purchase my Digital Library before I RAISE the price:

Let's say you would like to build a new home, you hire an architect for about $15,000, or more, you get the plans, go out for bid and discover the house is $300,000 over your budget.

Now what do you do? Redraw the house for another $10,000? We know for a fact you just wasted $15,000. You could have avoided this LOSS if you had purchased my New Home Construction Estimator Tool.

Let's say you're like my ham radio buddy Aleda. She got a bid of $19,702 for her tiny house in New Hampshire. The handwritten bid was on a crap piece of paper with an incomplete description of what the roofer MIGHT do.

Had she handed my sleek Roofing Checklist to all the roofers, she would have gotten back bids around $4,000.

Jim Richardson of Woodstock, NY used my Roofing Checklist and had this to say:

"Morning, Tim. Just wanted to share my opinion with you. I purchased your Roofing Checklist Bid Sheet. I have to say you knocked the ball out of the park. I found the pro right away and got a fair price. Thank you for an excellent job, my gain."

I could go on and on and on giving an example of how EACH of the 112+ products in my Digital Library will PREVENT FINANCIAL DISASTER.

You can get ALL 112+ of them for just $49.99!

It's INSANE.

Over the past two weeks when you went to the shopping cart, did you bother to scroll down this page to LOOK AT ALL THE PRODUCTS in the library? Did you see how no less than TWENTY, or more, of them are in your future?

My gut says you didn't. DO IT NOW for goodness sake!!!

Lose Even MORE Money - OUCH!

Here's the rub, you're about to lose even MORE money by shrugging your shoulders and not investing in this offer that's about to disappear.

Currently you can purchase my entire Digital Library for $49.99.

However, that price VAPORIZES on Sunday, January 23, 2022 at 6:01 PM.

At 6:01 PM, the prices goes UP to $99.99. That's another $50 you're about to lose.

Stop procrastinating. ORDER NOW.

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com

Kathie Comment - Digital Library

The $29.99 price for FIXED-INCOME folks goes away FOREVER in ONE HOUR.

At 6:01 PM Eastern Time on January 16, 2022, the lowest you can purchase it for will be $49.99.

Kathie wrote to me:

"You are truly priceless, Tim---as is your advice. Thank you for this very generous offer. I am sure we will thank you many times over as we continue to tackle "issues" in the 44-year-old home that we built ourselves."

CLICK or TAP HERE to order it now.

Thanks.

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com

P.S. I should get Kathie and my Kathy on the phone. For all the obvious reasons. (fingernail-buffing soft noise... :-> )

The $29.99 price for FIXED-INCOME folks goes away FOREVER in six hours.

At 6:01 PM Eastern Time on January 16, 2022, the lowest you can purchase it for will be $49.99.

CLICK or TAP HERE to order it now.

Thanks.

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com

Newsletter #1165 (I think...)

My my my. I'm so glad you're here. This might be your first issue. This one is pretty standard, although I've added a few subtle changes.

You, though, might have started our friendship back with issue #874. It doesn't matter. That's a sentence I've been using quite a bit lately on my LIVE video streams! More on that just below.

California Civil Attorney

Are you a CA attorney that specializes in civil lawsuits? I'd like to write a column and need some help. Please reach out to me. Thanks!

Ice In!

Lake (Loch) Winnisquam froze over sometime early Wednesday morning under the cover of darkness. It's epic ice. It's clear as glass and just as smooth. I went down to the lake today and drilled it to see how thick it was. Can you guess? The answer is in a photograph you can see in a moment.

I'm not a big fan of going out on ice. It's one of my phobias. As always, I just ventured out to where I know the water is 30 inches deep. If I were to crash through, I'd discover what penguins feel like when they take a bath.

CLICK or TAP HERE to watch four short videos of me going down to check it out within HOURS of it freezing over on Wednesday morning. I was really curious as to how thick the ice was after just ten, or so, hours of transforming from liquid water to solid ice.

This is the first time I went down to the lake just after the ice formed. Normally, I'd go down a week or two later.

I also uploaded to that album the photos I shot when I went down just hours ago.

It's a damn shame that a monster snow storm will hit here on Sunday night and cover the ice with a foot of snow. When the ice stays uncovered and is SMOOTH like this, the ice sail-boaters show up. I've only seen it happen one winter in the past thirteen. The ice sailboats streak across the ice like jet airplanes!

Phooey!

Not a Good Look On You

Over the past two weeks, I've been giving away eight free items worth over $110.00. The top one is my Roofing Ripoff expose' book.

By the way, if you're on a TIGHT FIXED BUDGET you can get my entire digital library for just $29.99. Seriously, that price is just for people who no longer are earning a living.

Rick took advantage of this offer and wrote to me:

"Tim Thank you oh so very much for offering this bundle for us older folks. I retired just over a year ago and I'm finding it's not as easy as I anticipated. So, your offer sure makes obtaining knowledge a whole lot easier."

That low insane price vaporizes in 13 hours at 6:01 PM Eastern time today January 16, 2022. After that, you'll pay $49.99.

What I'm about to share is a teaching moment. It's NOT an attempt to belittle or shame anyone. The only way I know how to do it is to share what happened.

The 60+ newspapers across the great fruited plain that publish my weekly column are promoting this free giveaway. Three days ago, I received an angry email from a woman. Here's what she wrote:

"Ok Tim,
I followed your instructions to get your free pdf copy of your ebook. Had to sign up for your newsletter first. Ok, but never saw this free pdf or any of the other things you were offering for the new year to help out consumers. Just a 40% deal. Nice Tim, really nice. Never thought you would be a bait and switch kind of guy. Also your website is so full of adds and gimmicks to buy things, it really is kind of horrible. Thanks for nothing really."

Here was my reply:

Dear Named Withheld by Tim Carter,

"I hate to tell you this, but I'm reasonably sure you didn't follow the instructions. You most likely typed in the URL wrong failing to put in the all-important go. before askthebuilder.com in the URL published by your paper.

Had you done that, you would have arrived at the following page and NEVER seen the 40% offer regular people see who stumble on my website by accident.

Tell me, does this page look familiar?

Newspaper Readers Free Digital Files Giveaway

Once you filled out the form and then clicked the Confirmation link in your email you would have been taken to this page as were thousands of others over the past few days:

Thank You Newspaper Reader Free Digital Files

And you can clearly see the link to the free download.

So, tell me, am I the evil bait-and-switch guy or did you do something wrong?"

I have a feeling this woman was having a bad day, might have lots of stress in her life, or ?????.

BOTTOM LINE: Please don't lash out at people like this. She could have written:

"Dear Tim,

Thanks for your offer of the free PDF files. I may have done something wrong because I don't see the link to them. Instead I saw an offer for 40% off. Can I still get the free files? If so, how?

Thanks, Polite Woman"

BTW, the woman never responded to me offering up an apology. When you make a mistake and it's brought to your attention, apologize. This is what used to be taught in schools.

But what do I know????? I used to each lunch sitting on overturned empty drywall mud buckets for 20+ years...

What You've Been Missing

It's a shame you've not been tuning into my LIVE video streams each M-F at 4 PM Eastern Time on my YouTube channel.

Here's what Will, Steve, Shannon, Lorene, Andrew, Jack, Nala, Jason, and a bunch of others discovered during my wide-ranging discussions in just the past few days:

• my hat size
• my top three phobias
• photos of our two great cats
• a favorite liquid-refreshment of mine
• a possible AsktheBuilder parachute drop
• a spring golf outing with a LIVE streaming fan
• a recent food craving

The point is, the LIVE streams are NOT some long-winded boring LECTURE about a home improvement topic! I bloviate about a bunch of things that have NOTHING to do with home improvement.

It's TONS of fun!

You get to send me chat messages during the stream. Your comments and questions chart the course of what we talk about!

WE GO to Town!

This past week it's been very cold in NH. A week ago on Monday morning, it was a bone-chilling -6F. My giant F-250 Super Duty Ford truck sat unused and lonely for about five days during this bitter-cold spell.

The big V8 engine was damn cold. The oil was probably the consistency of dehydrated maple syrup.

On Thursday, it was time to go to town to run a bunch of errands. I opened the creaking cold door, jumped onto the block-of-ice seat, turned the key and then: (slow) RRR RRR rrr rr r (rapid clicking noise)

Darn it! (I actually said something else. :-O )

CLICK or TAP HERE to read the rest of the short saga.

I GUARANTEE you'll laugh out loud.

That's enough for a Sunday.

Remember, mind your manners. Don't lash out at people.

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
Hilton Hotels is BUYING! - www.StainSolver.com
Morse-Muff Time - www.W3ATB.com

Do It Right, Not Over!

P.S. How much heat is your home LOSING? It's easy to calculate!! CLICK or TAP HERE to discover how.

Special Announcement - Last Call

This is REALLY FAST. If you subscribed after 4 AM this past Sunday, this is not going to make sense. Hang in there with me.

This message to you is what I call at the Ask the Builder world headquarters a Shot-Across-the-Bow email alert.

This coming Sunday, January 16, 2022, at 6:01 PM Eastern Time the low price of $29.99 for my entire Digital Library is going to disappear forever.

CLICK or TAP HERE and you'll see something unusual. SCROLL DOWN to see the huge list of topics in my digital library.

You'll see FIVE different prices for the same product! The prices range from $29.99 up to $149.99.

As crazy as this sounds, I allow you to decide what to pay. Your clicking one of the radio buttons tells me what YOU think my stuff is worth to you.

Here's what's in store moving forward beyond this Sunday.

On Sunday January 23rd, the $49.99 price will vaporize.

On Sunday January 30th, the $99.99 price will vaporize.

And so on and so forth until the price stays at $149.99 or I RAISE the price.

It's important to realize the retail price of the entire digital library, should you buy each one right now separately in the shopping cart, would be about $1,450.00.

So even at $149.99 it's a tremendous bargain.

BOTTOM LINE: If you feel my entire library is only worth $29.99 to you, you better act on it in the next five days.

CLICK or TAP HERE now to get it before I never let you have it again for that price.

I'm serious. You'll never ever again see it for that price. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Peace out. (in my best Kip voice)

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com

P.S. I will send out two LAST CALL reminders on Sunday in case you're a chronic procrastinator. But under NO CIRCUMSTANCES will I honor the current $29.99 price after 6:01 PM this coming Sunday. Peace out a second time. 🙂

Issue #1164 (I think)

You could be one of the hundreds of new subscribers in the past seven days. If I was a betting man, or had access to my newsletter subscription software :-> , I'd say you probably hail from Chicagoland and read my column each week in the Chicago Tribune.

Chicago is my favorite big city. I used to love walking up and down Michigan Avenue marveling at the stunning architecture and size of the older buildings. Welcome and get ready for some powerhouse newsletters in the near future!

One thing I'm working on right now is the announcement I just saw about GAF's new solar panel roof shingles. In fact, I'm devoting my LIVE video stream tomorrow (01-10-2022) to this very topic. I now LIVE stream each M-F at 4 PM Eastern Time on my YouTube channel.

On Monday, I'm going to share during the LIVE stream a laundry list of questions I'm putting forth to GAF. You need to know these because they're the same questions you should be asking your roofer!!!! BTW, you don't need a YouTube account to watch my LIVE stream each day.

Assuming you're not a new subscriber, you might be one that's been with me since 1996 and still have deep in your email records issue #1. Good for you, because I don't have it!

Forest for the Trees

I'm sure you've heard that old idiom, "You can't see the forest for the trees."

Boy, that sure describes me! I was so focused putting together your gifts over the past weeks, investing countless hours with my nose inches from the grindstone, that I didn't look up and out into the forest.

In last week's issue, #1163 (I think...), I shared how you could get for free all of the following:

• My Roofing Ripoff expose' eBook where I reveal how you can make shingles LAST for 40 or 50 years!
• My Linear French Drain 90-minute streaming video - No more WET BASEMENTS, crawlspaces, or soggy yards!
• My Bath Remodeling Checklist and Contractor Hiring Guide
• My Water Heater Replacement Checklist and Plumber Hiring Guide
• My Concrete Sidewalk, Driveway, Patio Specifications, and Drawing
• My Kitchen Remodeling Checklist and Contractor Hiring Guide
• My Chimney Crown Repair Specifications - 99.99% of masons do it WRONG!!!
• My Roofing Replacement Checklist and Contractor Hiring Guide - An amazing 3-page PDF file

While you might be one that did take advantage and downloaded all the free goodies, an astonishing number just shrugged their shoulders and went about their daily business. There are probably twenty, or more, valid reasons for not picking up your gifts.

One of them could have been the timing. You may have been exhausted from the Christmas mayhem. I get it. It's a tough time of year.

Here's your second chance to get over $110.00 of my digital files that you see above at no cost.

CLICK or TAP HERE to get your gifts. But don't shrug it off this time.

When you click that link, you're going to discover a second gift for you. A gift worth well over $1,000.00. That's not a typo.

Ed reached out to me last Tuesday asking me if was a trick. He was hesitant to CLICK the link saying:

"Your offer is TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. I'm afraid your stuff is filled with malware, spyware, and other bad jujumagumbo."

No, Ed, there's no bad stuff in my products. It's SAFE to download everything.

What's the second gift? You can now, for a very short time, get my ENTIRE digital library of over 112 products for as low as $29.99 if you're on a very tight FIXED INCOME. CLICK or TAP HERE to see how.

Trust me, this opportunity is going to disappear.

Modulating Boilers - True Savings

Two years ago, I installed an amazing Noritz modulating boiler in my daughter's new home. Understand this boiler not only heats her home, but it also is a tankless water heater. She and her family can take a hot shower for as long as there's water in the well and propane feeding the boiler.

What's more, the boiler is about the size of a piece of luggage you might check on an airplane. Much smaller than conventional boilers. Here it is:

Modulating boilers are wonderful for many reasons. That said, my favorite one is:

The burner only produces enough flame to satisfy the DEMAND at that moment. In other words, it works like a typical burner on your stove. You can set that burner on your stove to HIGH or all the way down to simmer.

When a modulating boiler is running with a LOW flame to satisfy just one zone requiring heat, even thought it's a high-efficiency appliance, far less fuel is going up the chimney.

It's important to realize these boilers are not that expensive. I just priced the one I put in my daughter's home days ago. You can buy it now for $2,600 and change online at supplyhouse.com.

Go get one or two before inflation raises the price to $3,000.00. CLICK or TAP HERE to see more photos and to read my story about how EASY it is to install a modulating boiler the size of a piece of checked luggage.

Relaxing Maine Wildlife Video

Things were so busy during Christmas I believe I failed to share a wonderful video created by Paul Cyr who lives in Presque Isle, Maine. His brother is a subscriber to this newsletter.

CLICK or TAP HERE and get ready to smile. If this is a repeat mention, it's worth watching a second time.

Install a NEW Concrete Foundation

Is your house's foundation falling apart? You can have a new foundation installed as is being done in the photo below. Look at this:

CLICK or TAP HERE to see other stunning photographs of just how the house is supported and HOW IT'S ACCOMPLISHED.

That's quite enough for a Sunday in cold January. Well, not cold for my fellow parishioners Paul and Rita. They're on the beach in Aruba!

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
Certified Organic Cleaner - www.StainSolver.com
Ham Radio Tales - www.W3ATB.com

Do It Right, Not Over!

P.S. You'd do well to get your FREE copy of my Roofing Ripoff book. Look:

CLICK or TAP HERE to get it NOW.

This FREE offer is GOING TO EXPIRE for goodness sake!!!