Newsletter Music Happy Together

Posted on May 15, 2020 by Tim Carter

Newsletter Music Happy Together

Happy Together was featured in the May 17, 2020 AsktheBuilder.com newsletter. It's a touching love ballad released in 1967 by The Turtles. This song made an indelible impression on me just as I was beginning to appreciate the allure of perfume. The lyrics capture an interesting part of communications history seventeen years before cell phones were commercially available. Payphone calls cost a dime in 1967. CLICK or TAP HERE to read all past AsktheBuilder.com newsletters.

CLICK or TAP HERE to listen to all the music featured in past AsktheBuilder.com newsletters.

Stain Solver, the best and most powerful certified organic cleaner on Earth, is the sponsor of the Newsletter Music.

Show your support. Purchase a small sample size and behold its magic powers.

Stain Solver is MADE in the USA with USA ingredients that are food-grade quality. CLICK THE IMAGE to order some NOW.

May 14, 2020 AsktheBuilder Newsletter

Posted on May 14, 2020 by Tim Carter

ATTENTION! Will all new subscribers kindly move to the front of the greeting line.

Why? Don’t be silly, it should be so obvious.

Welcome! Be aware that I love, love, love listening to music when I create this missive. Allow me to probe your past liquid-courage experiences.

Have you ever been drinking beer at noon on a Tuesday at that bar across from the giant car wash? What song am I listening to now? CLICK or TAP HERE and be prepared to start dancing no matter where you are or what you’re wearing!

Are you one of my pals who's farther back in the greeting line? Please tell with one of our new subscribers about my column when you discovered how to keep basements and crawlspaces BONE DRY. Yep, it’s the same method I used to dry out my soggy backyard. CLICK or TAP HERE and see how my college degree in geology has paid off in spades!

The Second Autumn - Shades of Green

You may or may not know that I have the distinct pleasure of living in the Lakes Region of central New Hampshire. It’s quite rural and hundreds of thousands of people come to the Live Free or Die state to vacation each year because of its abundance of natural beauty.

Autumn is especially busy as many leaf peepers come from hundreds of miles away. New England, along with parts of Japan, is reported to have some of the most vivid fall colors on the planet. Here’s a photo I shot a few years ago on a peak-color day while target shooting on some land I own.
fall color new hampshire

What most tourists miss is the second autumn we have. It happens each May, two weeks or so before Memorial Day weekend.

The same trees that produce all the varied colors in the fall, sport vivid distinct different shades of green for about four days in the spring. I’ve tried to capture this shading difference several times, but just can’t seem to pull it off.

I’ll try one more time this year. I’m hoping my superb Canon EOS 50D digital camera with its superior light-collecting chip is sensitive enough to do the job.The different shades of lime green almost take your breath away. The leaves definitely put you in the mood for a mojito.

The Fun Quiz

A few weeks ago, on a whim, I decided to try to inject a little more happiness into your day. My simple one-question quiz is my tool of choice for this task. Is it working? Are you happier and do you exclaim, "Well, I'll be! I NEVER KNEW that! That was fun!"

Think about it. What do you have to lose by taking the quiz? Is thirty seconds worth a little more happiness?

Check out what a few fellow subscribers have to say:

Colette said, “I like stretching my mind.”

Robin responded, “Yes, they’re educational and interesting.”

Steve quipped, “It adds something interesting to my day.”

Today’s quiz is quite unusual. I’m pretty sure you’ll agree. Have you ever been here? How about at night? You better not be afraid of the dark is all I can say!

Creating these quizzes has been quite enlightening for me. I’m discovering astonishing new things and my trivia knowledge is climbing faster than a thermometer at Badwater Basin on a blistering July morning.

CLICK or TAP HERE if you feel your gray cells are in the superior range. Oh, are you already boasting that you can’t be easily fooled about those bewildering noises in the middle of nowhere? Actions speak louder than words.

Take the quiz and allow the happiness to ooze into your day like the honey that’s going to drizzle onto my scratch biscuits this morning.

CLICK or TAP HERE to see all the past Ask the Builder quizzes you missed.

Your Hose Bib

Are you frustrated with the hose bib on your home? I know I am and I’m a plumber! Now’s the time to vent and help others with the same complaints.

CLICK or TAP HERE and take a fast three-question short survey about your hose bib and all the things that are WRONG with it.

I hand you a magic wand in question three. Use it wisely!

Do you want to know the two different hose bibs I'm installing this spring at my home and at my daughter's new house? Rest assured it's not the plain vanilla one you see in the photo above. I'm going to share it with you on Sunday once I see your responses in the above survey. Please take the survey, you'll be glad you did.

STOP Mosquitoes!

Here in central New Hampshire, we have mosquitoes all summer long. They love to hang out in the shade around my lower deck. My house is next to lots of woods, where I’m certain they live and breed like bunnies.

I’ve tried all sorts of things in the past with not-so-great results:

sprays
UV lamps with fans
protective spells cast by my fellow NH wizards
photographs of my foes on pike poles placed around the perimeter of my property
blah blah blah

Just days ago, I positioned two tubes in trees at the edge of my open spaces. I think they hold great promise based on the reviews I read! One of my goals is to minimize the number of these pests so I can enjoy my deck and eat outside more often.

Did I mention that my hammock is on the lower deck?

This is the tube hanging on the south side of my lot where the pesky mosquitoes go to sleep in the woods.

CLICK or TAP HERE to discover what I deployed in the mosquito conflict. Let me know if you’ve used these tubes and what type of success you’ve experienced. Just leave a COMMENT at the bottom of this page.

Pebble Stone Shower Floor

What size are your feet? Be honest. My guess is they’re smallish as opposed to hobbit feet.

Have you ever had the soothing experience of taking a shower while standing on a floor that looks like this:

CLICK or TAP HERE to get a real feel for how wonderful a pebble stone floor is. You’ll also discover how easy it is to install one and keep it CLEAN.

That’s quite enough for a Thursday!

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
BEST CLEANER - www.StainSolver.com
Wave Bouncer - www.W3ATB.com

Do It Right, Not Over!

P.S. Do you live in an older home? I’m talking about something built before 1978. That may not seem old, but there’s a serious latent defect in almost all homes built before 1978.

I’m talking skull and crossbones hazard.
skull & crossbones

I’m talking about a serious nervous disorder hazard.

I’m talking male impotence hazard.

Do I have your ATTENTION YET?

CLICK or TAP HERE and be WARNED!

PLEASE PASS THIS LINK TO ANY AND ALL YOU KNOW who live in an older home.

Pebble Stone Shower Floor

Posted on May 12, 2020 by Tim Carter

Pebble Stone Shower Floor - It's Dreamy and Comfortable

DEAR TIM: What do you think about a pebble stone shower floor? I’ve seen these for a few years and wonder if I’d like it in my new shower? Are they durable? My smallish feet are sensitive when I walk on gravel and I wonder if I’ll be in pain when I’m in the shower. Are these floors hard to install? I’m also worried about all the grout to clean. There seems to be so much grout in these floors! Have you experienced these yourself and what would you do to keep the grout looking like new? Ruth H., Erie, PA

Does the Size of Feet Make a Difference?

Have you ever noticed how some people are so self-conscious about the size of their feet? Feet are such wonderful prizes from Mother Nature when you stop and think about them.

I can relate to Ruth’s issue of sensitivity. I seem to have really sensitive feet because when I walk across gravel, it feels like hundreds of needles sticking me in the feet. It’s important to realize that the gravel I’m talking about is rough and has sharp edges. A pebble stone shower floor produces the exact opposite feeling for me. When I stand on one, it feels like the bottom of my feet are getting a soothing massage.

CLICK or TAP HERE to get FREE BIDS from local tile setters who can install Pebble Floors.

Are Pebble Stone Floors Durable?

Let’s discuss durability. Some of the pebble stone floors are actual pebbles or small rounded stones! My college degree is in geology and most rocks are extremely durable, some can withstand erosion for millions of years. Think of the Grand Canyon!

Tile manufacturers also make faux pebble stone shower floor tile by using the same clay and matte glazes they use to make durable tile. If you choose to use a porcelain pebble stone, you’ll have an extremely durable shower floor that can last for generations.

Are the Pebbles Easy to Install?

The pebble stone floors are not too terribly hard to install. In most cases, the stones come on sheets and the pattern is such that they interlock to create a random look. Cutting the pebbles is done with either a dry or wet-diamond saw. You can make marks with a pencil and use a 4-inch grinder with a dry diamond blade.

This is perhaps the easiest way to make cuts, however, it can be quite dusty. Wear a mask to prevent breathing the dust and use an old fan to blow the dust away from the grinder while cutting. This prevents dust from getting into the moving parts of the grinder’s electric motor.

What is the Best Adhesive?

I’d recommend setting the pebble stone into cement thinset adhesive as opposed to the organic mastics that look like margarine. Be sure to read any installation instructions that might be available from the manufacturer of the pebble stone. They’ll usually suggest the preferred adhesive.

What Grout Should Be Used?

The spaces between the pebbles are so large that you need to use sanded grout. Sanded grout is almost always just a blend of tinted Portland cement and fine silica sand. Silica sand is extremely hard and durable. It’s a very uniform color, often just translucent. The sand makes the grout very strong and it mimics larger stones that we put into concrete for sidewalks, patios, and driveways. The stones give the concrete its strength.

It’s imperative that you use the least amount of water possible when mixing and placing the grout in a pebble stone shower floor. Too much water will cause the grout to shrink and crack as it dries.

Ruth doesn’t have to worry too much about humidity because she lives in the Northeast. If you’re grouting a floor in the West or Southwest USA where humidity can be low, you might need to mist the pebbles and the thinset beneath them to add a bit of moisture so the grouting process is easier. If the humidity is low where you’re installing your floor, cover the floor as soon as you’re done grouting with plastic for 48 hours to slow down the evaporation of the water from the grout. This will help make it very strong.

How Do You Keep the Pebble Shower Floor Clean?

Keeping a pebble stone shower floor clean is somewhat easy, but many people don’t want to invest the time to do it. First and foremost, you need to scrub the floor at least once a week to get rid of body oil, soap and shampoo residue, and plain old dirt. These things are food for mold and mildew.

It’s imperative that the shower floor dries as quickly as possible after you shower. Water fuels mildew and mold growth. If you have a door to the shower, keep it open after you leave the bathroom. The same is true for a shower curtain. Shake off the curtain to remove as much water as possible and keep it retracted so air can get into the shower stall.

You may have to battle hard water stains. This is easy to do with white vinegar. If you see white spots starting to form, you need to get rid of these as soon as possible so you don’t have layer after layer of hard water deposits. White vinegar spritzed onto the tile will do a great job if you let it work for about 30 minutes then scrub and rinse. Yes, there may be a slight odor, but believe me, your pebble stone shower floor will look good for years!

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Spartan Mosquito Eradicator Review

Posted on May 12, 2020 by Tim Carter

Spartan Mosquito Eradicator | This is the tube hanging on the south side of my lot where the pesky mosquitoes go to sleep in the woods. Most will now sleep with the fish in the lake! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. CLICK or TAP HERE to have this system delivered to your house by a special courier.

Spartan Mosquito Eradicator Review - Deploy Early!

I just started testing the Spartan Mosquito Eradicator system. CLICK or TAP HERE NOW to order it before they sell out.

They could sell out because this thing is so easy to use.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If the mosquito season has yet to really kick in at your home, NOW IS THE TIME to get these installed!!! Getting a head start minimizes the number of pests you need to send back to bug Heaven.

Is it Easy to Install?

Yes, you just fill the tubes with lukewarm water, shake, and put on the special black caps with the supplied hanger. It takes seconds to do this.

Do You Need Ladders or Tools?

No, you don't need any tools or ladders. It's as easy as hanging a Christmas ornament on a tree branch.

Are the Instructions Easy to Understand?

Yes, if you can fog a mirror, you can understand the instructions. Look at them:

EASY!!! CLICK or TAP HERE to get this system.

What Causes the Strange Noises in Death Valley National Park?

Posted on May 12, 2020 by Tim Carter

What Causes the Strange Noises in Death Valley National Park? - Remember, Just Guess

Don't ask Alexa or Siri for help. Trust the Force within you!

IMPORTANT NOTE: After clicking SUBMIT, scroll back at the top and click the VIEW SCORE button to see how you did!

Mountain view into valley

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Thank Stain Solver, the Quiz Sponsor, by purchasing a small sample size!

Stain Solver is MADE in the USA with USA ingredients that are food-grade quality. CLICK THE IMAGE to order some NOW.

Hose Bib Survey

Posted on May 12, 2020 by Tim Carter

Hose Bib Survey

I know you grumble when you use your hose bib. Now's the time to VENT.

Get those creative juices flowing because in question three you get to design the PERFECT hose bib!

hose bib

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Thank Stain Solver, the Survey Sponsor, by purchasing a small sample size!

Stain Solver is MADE in the USA with USA ingredients that are food-grade quality. CLICK THE IMAGE to order some NOW.

This survey was featured in Tim's May 14, 2020 Newsletter.

May 10, 2020 AsktheBuilder Newsletter

Posted on May 11, 2020 by Tim Carter

Do you like trying new things and meeting new people?? I do too! You’re a new subscriber, aren’t you? Don’t be bashful! You arrived at just the right time. Did you notice that this issue of the newsletter smells like piping hot biscuits made from scratch? Don’t believe me? Keep reading!

It’s important for you to know that I love listening to music while I create this newsletter for you. This week I was reminiscing, wondering if you’d let me pop fireworks on the 4th of July. CLICK or TAP HERE to listen to this fun short ballad.

I know, I know, you get so flustered when I greet our new family members first. You know I love you, right? Heck, there’s a good chance you’ve been a subscriber long enough that you remember when I got the entire solar-powered attic fan industry up in arms. They were SO ANGRY at me! Yeeeowza!

But by gosh, it’s my job to tell the truth, right? CLICK or TAP HERE to see why the manufacturers of the wimpy solar-fan were so upset.

The Fun Quiz

Several weeks ago on a whim, I started a new feature in the newsletter - the FUN one-question QUIZ.

Patty loved last Sunday’s quiz. She shared, “Your quiz brought back memories for me. When I was a kid my mother always told my sisters and me to get our bumbershoots when it was raining!!! Thanks for the walk down memory lane!!!”

So far, the quiz has had nothing to do with building or remodeling, but rest assured the day will soon come when I’ll test you on a few fun points about my craft.

The quiz is really gaining steam. This week it’s loosely tied to World War One. Over 1,100 Bostonians gave the ultimate sacrifice in that wretched conflict.

Several weeks after the armistice was declared, twenty-one people in Boston also met a tragic end. CLICK or TAP HERE to see if you know why. REMEMBER, do NOT research this! Don’t look it up or ask Siri or Alexa. Just TAKE the pop quiz and see how you do!

Oh, this is IMPORTANT: This quiz has a second non-required question. If you like the quizzes, please tell me why. Thanks!

CLICK OR TAP HERE to see the quizzes you’ve missed out on!

The Truth

The past few weeks, I’ve been having some online discussions about truth. This relates to you because you need the truth when talking with contractors.

How can you get to the truth? Sometimes you need to force the discussion.

Carla contacted me four days ago to discover how to extract the truth when she starts to talk with chimney-rebuilding contractors.

Carla hired me to write a set of chimney cap/crown specifications for her, including a color drawing. She can use this illustrated information to get tight bids and find an honest contractor who will tell her the truth.

You can purchase these specifications too if you want your chimney crown built the right way. Here's part of the drawing of the chimney crown.

You may not know this, but I’ve been an expert witness in home building and remodeling lawsuits for almost twenty years. The last case I worked on had me crawling over the roof of the Brazilian Ambassador’s home on the island of Antigua. Trust me, it was hot enough to fry the freshest Caribbean eggs on that roof!

What does working as an expert witness have to do with you getting the truth out of contractors? Allow me share some light on this.

While I was a Councilman in Amberley Village, Ohio, I had the good fortune to work with Louis Katz, a prominent attorney in Cincinnati. One day Lou and I were talking about an issue and he said, “A half-truth is a whole lie.”

Have you ever thought about that? If you have kids, then you might know a thing or two about half-truths!

I’ve given sworn testimony in countless depositions. A deposition is a fact-finding meeting where the attorney for the opposing side asks you questions under oath. I’ve also sat in the witness chair in the courtroom. In both instances, you’re sworn in because your testimony can make all the difference in the dispute.

Even if you’ve never testified under oath, you’ve surely seen it done in a TV show or movie. Here’s the familiar oath you take: “I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help me God.”

Why is the whole truth important? Without all the truth, a judge or jury can’t make the right decision! The same is true for you. You can’t make the correct decision about work around your home or some other issue if you don't have the whole truth.

Just like I often like a whole plate of something - - including pecan pie - - you should strive to get the whole truth before making an important decision.

You deserve the whole truth from the contractor you’re about to hire. The best way to get to the whole truth is by understanding exactly how to do the job the right way.

Joe’s Free-Standing Tree House ERRORS

Last week, I had to help Joe make sure his 9-year-old son wouldn’t get seriously hurt in a tree-house collapse.

CLICK or TAP HERE to listen to how I helped keep Joe’s son out of the hospital. I think you’re going to love the videos and drawings you’ll see.

Tim Bakes from Scratch - FIRST TIME!

How many times have you heard me talk about the importance of following instructions? Lots of times, like every few weeks!

Have you been fearful of tackling a DIY project at your home for the first time ever? Perhaps the instructions are intimidating.

Believe me, I understand as I’ve done everything possible for decades to avoid baking like my grandfather used to do in his own bakery in Cincinnati, Ohio.

That long string of avoidance and endless excuses ended yesterday.

CLICK or TAP HERE to read an interesting story about me taking my own advice to follow instructions and create the scratch biscuits in the above photo!

If you bake from scratch on a regular basis, I can’t wait to read your comments! Just enter them at the bottom of the column. For goodness sake, please be gentle! Imagine what I might say about your first attempt at taping drywall!

That’s enough for Mother’s Day. If you’re a mom, my hat’s off to you. I hope you have a grand day and that you get lots of fine prizes from your kids.

I miss my own mom and wish I could make her fresh biscuits today!

Yes, Mom, you won! The lima beans dissolved in my mouth as we glared at each other across the kitchen table all those years ago. But you were so frustrated you got up and left before you realized they ended up in my belly. Maybe we’ll have lima beans for dinner one night in Heaven! But before that, we’ll have a vodka and ginger ale cocktail!

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
BEST CLEANER in the WORLD - www.StainSolver.com
Skunk Waves - www.W3ATB.com

Do It Right, Not Over!

P.S. What do you think of these wood shakes?

Are you sure they’re wood? Maybe not! CLICK or TAP HERE if you want to see what’s going to be on the next house I build for myself.

Newsletter Music All I Want To Do Is Have Some Fun

Posted on May 10, 2020 by Tim Carter

Newsletter Music All I Want To Do Is Have Some Fun

All I Want To Do Is Have Some Fun was featured in the May 14, 2020 AsktheBuilder.com newsletter. It's an upbeat song by Sheryl Crow about life in LA. CLICK or TAP HERE to read all past AsktheBuilder.com newsletters.

CLICK or TAP HERE to listen to all the music featured in past AsktheBuilder.com newsletters.

Stain Solver, the best and most powerful certified organic cleaner on Earth, is the sponsor of the Newsletter Music.

Show your support. Purchase a small sample size and behold its magic powers.

Stain Solver is MADE in the USA with USA ingredients that are food-grade quality. CLICK THE IMAGE to order some NOW.

Following Instructions Activity

Posted on May 8, 2020 by Tim Carter

Following Instructions Activity | Here's the finished product. They might not look great, but to a blind taste testing judge at a fair, I might get a blue ribbon!

Following Instructions Activity - A Builder Builds Biscuits

For decades, I've suggested to do-it-yourselfers that following instructions is vital to success. All too often when I do an autopsy on a project that has crashed and burned, it's evident that someone didn't follow instructions. Often they took a shortcut or felt they knew a better way than the manufacturer of the product.

Today I was forced to do something I'd never ever done before and it was imperative I follow instructions to the letter. Thank goodness it was a fun activity.

Hungry for Biscuits

Early this morning, I was texting back and forth with Mary Gene, the editor of my Adventures & Advice book series. Once the business part of the discussion was finished, I made a brief mention of how I had this craving for fresh, hot biscuits.

There was a pause in the conversation and the next thing I saw on my screen was a link to an online recipe.

These were biscuits I had to make from scratch. Never in my 67 years had I made any baked thing from scratch.

"Be sure you use COLD butter when mixing," Mary Gene emphasized.

I thought to myself, "Well, that seems to be too much work. I'll just melt some and pour it in the mix." There I was not following instructions and ready to go off the rails early in the process.

Fortunately, this grave error didn't happen because I texted back my brilliant idea about melting the butter.

"NO! The butter must be COLD." Mary Gene sent back.

Okay, okay, I'll use cold butter for goodness sake.

Mary Gene also said I could use knives to blend the butter if I didn't have the special tool shown in the recipe. I hadn't looked yet at the recipe and felt confident that I'd be able to find what I needed.

That's the magic mixing tool. It was hidden in a drawer in my kitchen.

Jeepers! Too Complicated!

Once in the kitchen, I looked at the recipe on my smartphone and grimaced. The author of the webpage had all this superfluous text before you got to the recipe and at first blush, it appeared to be way too complex.

"Why were we out of Bisquick?" I mumbled. It's just so easy to use that!

I looked over at the box of Grape Nuts cereal on the counter and exhaled, "Huhh, I can't have BBs again." Mary Gene introduced me to that comparison months ago because those crunchy small nuggets are like eating hard metal BBs if you don't allow at least 8 ounces of whole milk to work on them to soften them up.

I knew I had to dig in to make the biscuits because Mary Gene would ridicule me forever. When in similar situations, the sign over my high school football locker room appears in my head. It said, "Winners never quit. Quitters never win."

I was determined to win the biscuit game. It was time to follow instructions.

My Grandfather's Ghost

I also had a brief image of my grandfather. I never met him, but he owned a bakery with my grandmother in Cincinnati, Ohio just before the Great Depression. Here's a photo of it. Look at the case full of delicious fresh baked goods. There's no way I could let him down.

What a bakery it must have been!

It was time to focus and make it happen. After all, how hard could it be?

I took the time to read the instructions in the recipe. There was a note that the goal was to blend the butter pads so they became small butter balls in the dough. The recipe said to cut the butter up and put it back into the refrigerator until you were ready to blend it into the dry ingredients.

"Huh, I've got a better idea. Why not just cut the butter up now into small 1/4-inch cubes, separate them and then put it back in the refrigerator to get cold?"

Here are my butter cubes.

The recipe didn't say I couldn't do this, so being a brave new baker boy, I took a chance. My grandfather, no doubt, was smiling up in Heaven.

Splitting the Recipe

When I saw the recipe called for three cups of flour, I thought, "No way. That's way too much." I made an executive decision to split the recipe in half. How hard could that be? After all, I didn't go to summer school for math, but I did for Latin. Fortunately, the instructions were in English.

I was now in the zone. The flour, baking powder, salt, sugar were all blended and it was time for the butter. I slid it into the mixing bowl and started to use the correct weird tool. I then added the milk and single egg and stirred.

Here's the blended dough. You can see the butter cubes.

Perfection! The dough looked just like what Bisquick looked liked mixed up.

Baked Deliciousness

I dusted the marble island top with flour, put the dough ball on, dusted it with more flour, and used my hands to flatten it out to about 3/4-inch thick.

I found a biscuit cutter, cut the rounds, recombined the remaining dough, and seconds later ten biscuits were going into the oven.

I know, I could have taken it to the edge! I'm a rookie, after all.

Victory!

I removed the golden-brown discs from the oven just in time, let them cool, and then cut one in half.

I drizzled on some honey and bit into it. OMG, it was slightly crunchy - I liked that! - and it was delicious.

It was by far the best biscuit I'd ever eaten.

The moral of this story is to listen to your editor, and follow instructions if you want success and the best biscuits in the world!

Vinyl Siding Comparison

Posted on May 8, 2020 by Tim Carter

Vinyl Siding Comparison - You Can Get the True Wood Look

DEAR TIM: I’m going to be building a new home and I have to make a decision about the siding. I can afford wood shakes and love the look, but I am concerned about long-term maintenance. Vinyl siding seems to have so many advantages, but it just doesn’t look like wood to me. How would you go about making this decision if you were me? What are all the things I should consider? Would you install vinyl siding on your own home? Margo S., Nashville, TN

How many times have you been conflicted like Margo when trying to choose between two or three building materials? It could be laminate floor vs. real hardwood. Or you might struggle between treated lumber vs. composite decking. So many products try to mimic the look and feel of wood because manufacturers know we humans have a very deep connection to real wood.

How Do You Compare Vinyl Siding to Wood?

My advice to Margo is pretty straightforward, but it takes a little work and honesty. I feel the best way to solve these issues is to do a pros and cons checklist on a sheet of paper. When you write down an honest comparison this way, you can see the facts in front of your eyes. All too often if you do this in your mind, one positive or negative thought may shanghai the decision.

CLICK or TAP HERE to get FREE QUOTES from local vinyl siding companies that can install the siding in the videos below.

What's Good About Wood?

Let’s you and I help Margo down this path. Here are a few positive attributes about real wood siding. It’s the real deal. Wood is a slightly better insulator than vinyl. Wood shakes have a rich legacy of protecting structures in harsh environments. I’m sure you can fill in a few more things you feel are a benefit.

What's Bad About Wood?

Now, let’s look at the flip side of wood. If you want the wood to last and look great - this is subjective! - then you need to maintain it. Some love the weathered look of wood shakes and do no maintenance. Shakes require expert installation and the use of high-quality nails, preferably stainless steel. High-quality shakes can be expensive.

What's Good About Vinyl?

That said, let’s consider traditional vinyl siding that comes in bigger pieces. You can get any number of designs that mimic wood shakes. Vinyl requires no maintenance unless you live in an urban area where it may require periodic washing to remove dirt and diesel truck exhaust soot. This siding installs so fast that an experienced crew can side an entire house in just a few days. Some smaller houses they might do in less than two days.

What's Bad About Vinyl?

The only negatives I can come up with when it comes to traditional vinyl siding, even the lower-cost shake imitators, is they just don’t look like real wood up close. You can short circuit this issue to a degree if you use a special window, door, and corner trim that has a built-in J channel that hides the open end of the vinyl siding. This trim really looks like traditional painted wood trim and gets rid of the traditional bulky J-channel that makes most wince.

Yes, I'd Install Vinyl Shakes

Margo knows how to put me on the spot! Would I install vinyl on my home? The answer is an unequivocal “Yes”. As with many many building products, vinyl siding is far enough down the development timeline that many of the bugs have been worked out. I would choose the shake vinyl siding I saw two years ago.

Years ago, I would have answered “No” for a number of reasons. I had more energy back then and I was not in love with the look of vinyl. But now, I’m older and I have the same concerns about maintenance. You should be concerned about maintenance too. The primary reason I feel is the steadily declining trend of finding excellent tradespeople that will do the work for you.

Here’s a fact. There are great craftsmen and craftswomen in the residential construction industry. These individuals get up each day to feed their passion and treat what they do as a vocation, not just a job. However, each day there are fewer of these much-needed individuals. It’s easy to come to this conclusion if you read the scads of frightening requests for help I get each week on my AsktheBuilder.com website.

My advice to you is to lobby your public school system and do what you can to bring back vocational schools. We need to begin to foster that desire to build things well in young adults before they succumb to perfume and gasoline fumes.

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