Hi-Tech Appliance Repair and Service

This past weekend Mother Nature treated the Northeast to some delightful spring weather. Saturday and Sunday were spectacular, with Saturday one of those stunning clear days. We get fall in reverse up here.

Right now all the deciduous trees that are crimson, orange, yellow, etc. in the fall are various shades of green. The picture below does not do it justice. I should have taken the photo on Saturday when there was less haze. It's stunning to see in person.

Next weekend, I'll be volunteering for another worthy cause - The Seacoast Bike Tour. It's a two-day event put on by the Breathe New Hampshire organization. I'll be one of several ham radio operators providing communications between Portsmouth, NH and Ogunquit, ME.

We're needed all along the course in case bikers get hurt, need repairs or get lost. I'll be staying overnight in Ogunquit, ME, if you want to do a dinner meet up this Saturday. Email me and let me know. 73s to all you hams out there. W3ATB clear on your final.

100+ Step-by-Step Shed Building Videos

Would you like your own DIY dream shed? Of course you do! Would you like:

• to watch a FUNNY video of me including bloopers?
• to be part of the process creating 100 or more videos?
• to get some AsktheBuilder.com swag?
• to help me help thousands of other homeowners fulfill their shed-building dreams?

I thought so. Please click here, watch the video, read the product description and above all else pledge so we can reach the goal!

Take a SERIOUS LOOK at the $30 pledge. I doubt that you'll ever see me again give you an eBook that has tips, photos and multiple videos for only $1 each. When the finished eBooks are loaded to my shopping cart, they will be priced at $7 each. Only 300 people get the video series at this massive discount price. You'll regret not being one of those 300 people.

^ ^ ^ Go Back Up Now ^ ^ ^ Re-read the above paragraph. I'm not kidding. Read it three times if you have to.

If you have questions about this project, click Reply and ask me.

Quick Deck-Building Tips

Are you going to build a deck soon? Here are some important tips.

If you're going to attach the ledger board to the house, do it with through bolts not lag bolts. Through bolts have a washer and a nut on the one side. Lag bolts can and do fail all the time.

In case you attach the ledger board in direct contact with the house, be sure to install flashing over the top and partially down the face of the ledger so water can't get behind the board. The flashing needs to be behind the siding or trim above it.

Finally, do not install the decking tight to the house. Leave a 2-inch gap so water can flow readily to the ground below past the front of the ledger board. This gap will not be an issue because your feet are never ever that close to the wall. You can close up this gap making it about 1-inch where a doorway opens to the deck.

Your Newsletter Suggestions

You might be one of the subscribers that sends in very helpful suggestions each week. I read each one and appreciate them all. One suggestion that keeps coming up, but I've resisted implementing, is a simple button.

Connie finally convinced me to try it this past week when she emailed,

"Tim, you give us great information each week. I'd love to see special features in your newsletter, and some of your subscribers like me would like to give back since you give to us. I've emailed you several times suggesting you solicit donations, but you keep saying 'No'. Personally, I want more product and tool reviews. If you get enough donations each week, maybe you can use it to hire another writer or tool tester to help you."

DUH!!!! Connie's comment was one of those V-8 forehead slap moments. I strive to create a great newsletter, and I'd like to do more tool and product reviews, but I've just not had the resources. Most of all, I've resisted soliciting donations for all sorts of reasons.

Perhaps it's time to see if Connie is correct. Do you want more tool and product reviews or something else in the newsletter? I've got a young carpenter that's a great writer and wanting to work for me. If you contribute just a small amount of money each week or month, I could use it to give you more of what you want.

Nothing would make me happier growing the AsktheBuilder.com team to give you even BETTER information each week. Plus, I like being a job creator. We need more jobs right now!

If you decide to donate using the safe PayPal button below, be SURE to reply letting me know what you want me to do. I'll do my best to get this in motion.

Tool Reviews in the Queue

Connie's right, I sure want to do more tool reviews. In fact, I have two tools here now waiting for me to start testing. One is the RotoZip 5.5 amp RotoSaw. It's the Original Spiral Saw. Think of it as a hand-held tiny router that has special drill bits that have cutting edges on the SIDES of the bits.

Several days ago, I received two Ryobi ProTip Spray Painting tools. One is an 18-volt cordless tool and the other one is a corded tool. Both have great soft-sided carrying cases and lots of features. I just glanced at the reviews for this sprayer at Amazon.com, and unfortunately most of them are not 5 stars. We'll see what happens in my test.

What other tools do you want me to test? Is it a Milwaukee or Bosch power tool? I've been invited to their annual editors conferences that happen one month from this week. Tell me what you want me to look at.

Tip of the Week - Fast and Easy Flagstone Patio

Do you want to create a patio that's immune to the worst Mother Nature can dish out? Try as she may, she can't wear away flagstone quickly. Flagstone is a dense stone that usually has lots of quartz in it. Quartz is a primary mineral found in granite - need I say more?

Read this past column of mine to see how to create a patio in a day or two with a little help!

Concrete Pier Design

Are you building a deck or any other structure that needs a pier foundation? Would you like your concrete slab that's in a cold climate to be immune from frost heaving? If so, you need to read about how to properly build concrete piers that will not lift up out of the ground.

I'm using a plastic form like this for the concrete piers for my shed. You'll discover all about them in the recent column I wrote about this innovative product. This is a real time saver on the jobsite and it's perfect for you if you've never installed a concrete pier before.

If you try to do it the old way, you'll struggle for sure. This form makes it so easy. Read my concrete pier design column for all the sweet tips to help you get it done right!

How to Grout Ceramic Floor Tile

The first week of February, I uploaded How to Grout Ceramic Floor Tile to the Amazon Kindle store. I gave them a 90-day exclusive on it. Now I'm allowed to sell it from my own store as an Instant Download PDF file. It contains tips, photos and four step-by-step videos showing you how to grout ceramic floor tile.

If you're planning on installing ceramic floor tile, you really need this eBook. If you mess up the grout, you'll have a nightmare on your hands.

Cleaning Tip of the Week - Cleaning Patios

You may not own a pressure washer but need to clean a patio. Oxygen bleach does a great job, and it won't harm any plants nearby.

Yes, you want to use Stain Solver! Watch this video to see how it's done.

Sincerely,
Tim Carter

Get Involved!

Just click that link and get involved in helping to create the most authoritative set of DIY Shed Videos known to man! Help me so I can help you. It's that simple.

DEAR TIM: My house must be a magnet for algae. I have green algae on the shaded parts of my deck, it's on my patio and on my vinyl siding. Furthermore, I believe there's black mildew on my siding. Then there's the roof. I have black streaks of algae up there. How can I safely remove the algae from all these surfaces without harming me, my pets and my plants? I've heard I should use bleach, but something tells me that this is not the right approach. What would you do? Caroline B., Jackson, MS

DEAR CAROLINE: I have some algae issues at my own home. I have two decks, one on top of another. The lower deck has lots of shade which is a perfect place for algae to grow. I also have algae coating stone steps on my property. I work at keeping them clean because when wet, the algae-covered steps are like walking on wet ice. They are so slippery! You, I, and millions of others suffer from algae around our homes.

Oxygen bleach was used to remove the algae from the decking boards on the right. Photo Credit: Tim Carter

The good news is that it's not too hard to clean algae. The bad news is that there's no silver bullet to inhibit its growth on all surfaces.

The first thing you might find interesting is there's more than one type of bleach. For many years growing up, I thought bleach was bleach. My mom used to buy those white plastic bottles of smelly chlorine bleach for years to use in our laundry. She would save the bottles, rinse them out and then fill them with water in case the water main broke outside our house. It was a big joke around our home, but my mom always was prepared!

Much to my surprise I discovered, about seventeen years ago, there's at least one other bleach - oxygen bleach. It does many of the same things chlorine bleach does, but it's not toxic. Oxygen bleach is the preferred bleach to use on the exterior, and interior, of your home because it will not harm you, your pets or your plants.

Chlorine bleach, on the other hand, is highly toxic to plants, humans and animals. It's so powerful that it will remove the color from wood decking and it can discolor painted exterior surfaces much like it takes out the color from fabrics.

Oxygen bleach will not take the color out of your wood decking, your vinyl siding, your painted surfaces, or your roof. Typically, oxygen bleach is a powder you mix with water. You can easily find oxygen bleach online or at many stores. Once mixed with water, all you get is more water, oxygen ions that do the cleaning and some harmless organic soda ash. Not all oxygen bleaches are the same. Some are completely organic, while others contain fragrances, dyes, color crystals, and excessive fillers.

This past weekend, I mixed up some oxygen bleach to clean algae from my lower deck and from the deck railing. I simply dissolved the powder in warm water, poured it into a simple garden hand-pump sprayer and squirted it on the algae-coated surfaces. I allowed it to soak for about ten minutes, then used a scrub brush to remove the green algae. After rinsing with a garden hose, the surfaces looked brand new!

You can clean roofs with oxygen bleach, but it can be challenging. The biggest problem is that it's dangerous working up on a roof. The algae-covered roof, once wet with the oxygen bleach solution, can be very slippery. You need to make sure you do not fall from the roof.

It's imperative the roof surface, or any surface you're cleaning, does not dry out before you get to scrub it. You must keep the surface wet with the solution at all times. This is hard to do on a roof on a sunny day. It's best to clean roofs on overcast days when air and roof temperatures are cool.

You need to scrub the surface after the oxygen bleach solution soaks. Don't ever think that you can just spray on any magical cleaner and get perfectly clean surfaces. Marketers that make that claim are yanking on the heartstrings of your inner self that wants the easy way out. Don't believe the spray-and-rinse claims for a second.

Once you have the surfaces clean, you can inhibit the growth of algae if you coat the surfaces with a biocide. This is not easy, it can be expensive and it's a constant maintenance headache.

Copper, however, is a natural biocide as is zinc to a degree. If you have an exposed copper or zinc strip about 3 inches wide along the top of your roof, each time it rains tiny metal atoms are deposited on the roof. Algae will not grow in the presence of copper or zinc.

It's hard to get copper to coat siding, decking or patios. You can see why you'll just have to suck it up and do periodic cleaning to keep your home looking great.

You can watch two informative video showing how to use oxygen bleach to clean a roof. Just type "removing algae stains video" into the www.AsktheBuilder.com search engine.

I spent the end of last week discovering a way that you and I can start to collaborate on all sorts of exciting building and remodeling projects. I'm blazing a trail into uncharted territory using a new platform called Kickstarter.com.

What does all this mean to you? If everything goes as planned, you're going to be treated to some great video content that I've wanted to create for you for years, but simply didn't have the resources to do it.

The brilliant minds behind Kickstarter.com have solved that problem. As you can imagine, it's pretty exciting for me to be right at the brink of having some of my knowledge-sharing dreams come true.

I love doing videos about building and remodeling, but there's always that troublesome financial aspect. I have to pay the bills to create the content. Ugh. The free model of giving away this content that's been a hallmark of the Internet is simply no longer providing enough revenue to produce the videos. Many video producers like me are having to come up with imaginative ways to create the content you need.

In a few minutes, you're going to discover how we're going to work together to create this unbelievable video content. Thank you, Kickstarter.com!

Tip of the Week - Extra Storage Space

Is your house cluttered? Do you constantly bump into things in your garage when you open the door to get into or out of your car? You probably need a shed.

Most sheds are built with 8-foot-tall walls. You can increase the storage capacity of your new shed by a whopping 25 percent for next to nothing!!! How? Just use 10-foot wall studs instead of the standard 8-foot studs.

The amount of time to install the stud is the same. The cost difference is hardly anything. You just have to spend a little more for exterior siding and sheathing. But in return, you get lots of BONUS storage space for years to come!

Want to know more about building sheds? Wait till you see what I have for you just below.

Screen Printing T-Shirts

Do you know the ink science and fine points of screen-printing T-shirts? I need to know the best process that creates the longest lasting graphics. If you work in the industry or have great info to share, please reply to this email. Change the Subject Line to: T-Shirts Tim

Great Folding Closet Door Hardware

There's a good chance you've had issues with folding closet doors in the past. In almost all cases, the chattering, sticking and failure to stay closed can be traced to inferior hardware.

You can get easy-to-install folding hardware kits from LE Johnson that are perfect for remodeling or new construction. I can't begin to tell you how well LE Johnson door hardware is. I've used it on my jobs for years, and you can find it in all the homes I built for my family!

The "positive pivot locks" ensure the top pivots stay in the track. The pivots surface mount on top of the doors, so that's a huge time saver. The track the pivots glide in comes with a factory-applied wood finish. You can paint it too.

Everything mounts on the door jambs, nothing on the floor! That's a huge improvement and allows for a gorgeous carpeted look. The brackets allow for easy adjustment of doors that may be warped. LE Johnson's engineers have thought of everything!

You can't beat the lifetime guarantee. What more do you want to know? Oh, where to buy this sweet hardware kit? Easy! Just visit the LE Johnson website to buy the hardware.

LE Johnson paid me to provide this writeup. But understand that I only do this for products I'd use in my own home. I realize you want to know about the things I use too.

The Shed Project

Here's the exciting news. I'm building a wonderful shed starting the end of June, and I really want and *need* you to become part of the process. The Shed category at my website is one of the most popular ones each and every spring and summer. If you're like most, it's no wonder. There are so many things you can do or store in a shed.

The reason I'm building the shed is simple. I want to create for you, my readers and subscribers, the most authoritative and detailed DIY step-by-step videos of the shed building process. Right now I've already identified well over 100 videos that will be put into about 30 separate eBooks explaining each step of the building process.

When each eBook is loaded to my shopping cart, it will be priced at $7 each. You may only need to buy one or two to explain a step about the process. If you need all the eBooks, they will be deeply discounted when purchased as a set.

But I'm not trying to sell you shed eBooks. I'm trying to get your help to create them. However, If you do want to buy some, just wait till you see the enormous discount that 300 people are going to get. Oh my, each eBook in the series for just $1 each!

I've looked and looked online, and I can't find anything that contains the amount of detail I intend to show you in each video. I want to share my knowledge so you can build the shed you've always dreamed would magically appear in your backyard.

I've done hundreds of simple DIY videos over the years, but never have I attempted to tackle such a large video project all at once. The costs to do this from start to finish are staggering. The prices for materials, videographer, editors, etc. all add up quickly.

This is very similar to the process of making a television series or even a motion picture. Hours and hours of video will need to be shot and edited. This is completely different from the three or four 90-second videos like you normally see me do.

Just like a movie producer needs help from the big film studios in Hollywood, I need your help now to make this happen. If you decide to assist to make this video series a success, we'll start doing more of these projects together. Think about all the possibilities: remodel a real bathroom start to finish, remodel a kitchen so you discover all the things you need to know. I think you get the picture.

I already know what you're thinking because my buddy Chuck told me you'd be uttering, "What's in it for ME, Tim?" I get it, that's normal. Well, there's lots in it for you, but we'll get to that in a moment.

In the past few weeks, I've stumbled across a website called Kickstarter that makes it easy for you and I to work together on any number of new projects. I'm serious, if you want to work side-by-side with me for a day or two to discover secret building tips I've marinated for over 40 years, then you'll be able to do it.

If you'd rather just watch the shed project each day from the comfort of your own home while viewing it through a webcam, then you'll be able to do that.

If you want the exact plans, all the 100 or more step-by-step videos of the entire shed-building process as it happens, you'll be able to get that.

Here's how it works

Let's say you decide you want to help me make my dream come true - the creation of all these great videos for you. All you do is pledge, not give, some amount of money. You can pledge as little as $5, and you'll get something in return. The link to the project is just below.

You may be one of the thousands of subscribers over the years that have requested AsktheBuilder.com hats and T-shirts. Well, the day is here! There's going to be all kinds of swag including hats and T-shirts.

Be aware this is not a charity project - I'm NOT asking for a donation. By pledging, you become part of this event. If you help fund this project, I give you something in return.

Here's how it works. I have to set a funding goal for the project, and that goal MUST be met within a certain amount of time - in this case 30 days from the day I make the project live on Kickstarter.com.

The payments for projects on Kickstarter.com are all handled by Amazon.com for safety and security. If you have an Amazon.com account or purchase from there regularly, it's EASY to pledge, cave-man simple in fact. Amazon does NOT charge your credit card when you pledge. They just hold onto the information and wait to hear if the project reaches its goal after 30 days.

If we don't reach the goal in 30 days, your pledge evaporates and you owe NOTHING. The project then doesn't happen, and we just move on.

Let me make that clear. If the project doesn't meet the funding goal, then your credit card does NOT get charged. This is a great built-in safety, as it ensures the project will succeed as it has enough money to pay the bills!

I'm confident you will want to help me to create all the videos so you can use them to build your dream shed.

I'm sure you're curious about how all this works. Please go to the Kickstarter FAQ page and poke around. That way when the project launch happens, you'll be totally up to speed. FEEL FREE TO send me questions. I'll absolutely answer them for you. Are you ready to go see the project? Click here to go to my shed project on Kickstarter.com!

Geothermal Heating and Air Conditioning - Do the MATH First!

I was reading a short article in the April 2012 edition of Remodeling magazine. A remodeler named John Tabor located in Rockville, Maryland, decided to put in geothermal heating and cooling in his house.

So as not to tear up his entire yard to install the piping, he went vertical, drilling three 450-foot-deep wells into solid rock. He should have had a clue living in *Rockville*. He could also have looked at a soil map or geologic map before he decided to do it this way to see what he was up against. But I digress, being a geologist.

Cutting to the chase, he spent $88,000 on the entire system. The article said he got a 30% Federal tax credit and some other county and state rebates. Let's say he was *lucky* and John got 50% of the project paid for by you and me with all the tax credits and rebates. That's what happens when you get tax credits. The rest of us taxpayers foot the bill.

For him to start to SAVE money, he first needs to PAY BACK the $44,000 plus any interest he's paying in financing costs. Once he does this, he FINALLY gets to say he's SAVING money.

Let's say, for sake of discussion, that his total heating and cooling bill in his mild Maryland climate is $2,000 a year. The article says John's heating and cooling bills have dropped 33 percent. That's swell!

You have to be careful in your savings calculations because fuel costs can go up and down and the weather and temperatures are not consistent. Last year was a pretty mild winter. It's very complex trying to calculate the real payback, trust me.

But using our crude math, this means each year John has $660 in savings to use to pay off the $44,000 plus interest. Let's not even take the interest into account.

In 67-years, he's able to pay off the $44,000! Yippeeeeee! Oh, he needs to pay off the interest too. All the math wizards are going to email me about inflation, present value, future value, etc. I get that. Let's just do some rough math here for sake of discussion. Keep in mind that it's entirely possible for fuel costs to drop as we develop more of our natural gas resources.

Suffice it to say, John is not going to be SAVING money for many years. Be sure you do the math to see when you actually will save money before you ever get talked into some fancy energy-saving project.

I've already received some email from subscribers that actually have received a payback, but realize every case is different.

Cleaning Tip of the Week - Dishwasher Detergent ALERT!

A few months back, I talked about how the manufacturers of dishwashing detergent changed their formulations. Well, I'm convinced there are now more problems.

Because the new formulation was not cleaning as well and consumers were complaining, I think the soap manufacturers have decided to solve the problem by adding more pumice or fine silica sand to the liquid and powdered soaps. This added material makes the soap much more abrasive.

Adding abrasive compounds to dishwashing machine detergents is nothing new. You need this grit to get dishes clean as just spraying soapy water on dishes inside your dishwasher will not get them clean.

Here at the Carter house, coffee mugs, measuring cups, etc. are showing accelerated and damaging wear to any printing on the glassware. The measuring cup in the photo used to have bright red markings. The blue mug used to have white and red printing on it.

If you have valuable china, mugs, plates, etc., you better start washing them by hand. I could be totally wrong, but all of this pain is being caused by government regulations. If this is the case and you know about them, share them, and I'll provide an update next week.

You can add my Stain Solver to your dishwasher if you want. It does a great job of not only cleaning and helping to sanitize your dishes, but it also DESTINKIFIES your dishwasher in case it has a moldy odor.

Sincerely,
Tim Carter

DEAR TIM: I've heard all kinds of things from friends about concrete foundation piers. To say the least, I'm confused. Some say you just dig a hole and fill it with concrete. Others say you need to be sure it's the right size and shape. Still others say you need to include steel in it. Can you tell me why one would use concrete piers and how you would install them? Are there any products that make it easy for a homeowner? Krista B., Wake Forest, NC

DEAR KRISTA: I'm sure you realize that you need to be careful about taking advice from well-intentioned friends. This is true even if one of them is in the construction industry. Each day I run into folks who have been building for decades using a particular method. It turns out, unfortunately, that they've been doing it wrong all those years.

Concrete piers are vertical structural elements that support the weight of a building or structure. I'm sure a structural engineer would give you a more accurate description, but for the layman, think of them as table legs. The legs of a table support all the weight of the table and things on the table. If the table legs are on a solid floor, the table doesn't sag or tilt.

PHOTO CAPTION: This colorful plastic concrete pier form comes complete with reinforcing steel. It's easy to assemble with no tools and put into place. Photo Credit: Tim Carter

The same is true for concrete foundation piers. The concrete piers act as the table legs. If they are designed correctly, and placed on solid ground or to a depth that the friction on the sides of the pier is greater than the load placed on the pier, the piers and the structure will not move. That's a good thing!

Some ground beneath houses or buildings is deep sediment where the bedrock can be hundreds of feet below the surface. In these cases, structural engineers rely on the friction between the poured concrete and the soil or sediment to create stability. For the average homeowner that's using a concrete pier to support a deck, room addition or even a home, this is not a big issue. If in doubt, just hire a structural engineer to assist in the design of the pier.

Most concrete piers used around the average home for a deck or other structure are usually no more than 24 or so inches in diameter at the base of the pier. As the pier rises up and out of the ground, it can reduce in size to as small as 10 inches in diameter. The bottom of the pier should always be below the frost line in the area.

If you're building in the northern hemisphere, piers on the north side of a building that might find themselves in the shade should probably go at least 6 or 8 inches deeper than the frost line. The frost can go deeper into the soil in ground that never receives direct warmth from the sun's rays in the winter months.

It's also very important, in my opinion, that the bottom of the pier be wider than the top. The wider base helps distribute the weight of the structure over more soil. This adds to the stability of the design.

A pier design that's wider at the bottom than the top also helps offset the force of the wind on the structure. The concrete pier acts like an anchor in a wall. It requires enormous upward force to pull a one-piece concrete pier out of the ground that has a wide base. If you use a proper hold-down anchor that's connected to the pier with a long anchor bolt embedded in the concrete, your shed, deck or structure should not blow over.

It used to be hard to create a concrete pier that had this shape. You had to first pour the wide bottom in one concrete pour, carefully place reinforcing steel in the base and wait a day. Then you had to install a heavy-duty cardboard tube that extended up towards the surface. You then filled this with concrete. Believe me, it was not easy.

But now you can purchase a plastic concrete pier form that has the correct shape, it comes with all the needed reinforcing steel pre-cut and pre-bent! The steel fits into slots and holes in the concrete form so the concrete flows around it perfectly. These forms are easy to snap together with no tools, and they're easy to level on compacted soil. You pour all the concrete in minutes saving at least one day in the building process.

You can purchase precast concrete piers for your project, but the trouble is they are heavy - I mean really heavy. You'll need a backhoe or small crane to put them into position. It's possible that you can devise a method to move them by hand or with a group of people, but don't count on it.

Don't underestimate the importance of the reinforcing steel in the concrete piers. It's often overlooked. Steel adds enormous strength to concrete. Be sure the soil under the pier is stable and compacted before you place the concrete pier form and pour the concrete.

You can watch two informative videos that show precast concrete deck piers and the innovative plastic deck pier form at www.AsktheBuilder.com. Just type "building a deck pier video" or "precast concrete deck pier video" into the AsktheBuilder.com search engine.

Happy Sunday, unless of course you're on the other side of the International Date Line!

If you're a new subscriber in the last five days, this is NOT a normal AsktheBuilder.com newsletter. The real newsletter comes out in two days.

Last Tuesday, I promised that I would let you know about the DIY Shed Building project this weekend.

As you can see in the photo, I made good progress! The shed is almost complete! It just needs the windows and doors installed.

Yes, I know I missed April Fools Day by six weeks. What you see here is a finished scale model of the shed you and I are going to build together.

The reason I'm building the shed is to create the most detailed set of step-by-step videos that will show you how you can build your own shed.

The video series is going to be the closest you can get to me actually coming to your house to help you. As much as I'd love to come to your house, and Maggie here in New Hampshire, I believe, wants me to help construct her shed, I just can't do that, unless I clone myself.

But the magic of video allows me to get pretty darned close! Tuesday this shed building event is going to launch. I need you to become part of this so we can get started. I've already got the building permit, I just need your help.

On Tuesday, I'll go into great detail as to why you need to be part of this process. It's not hard to understand at all why I need you, and it's going to be a boatload of fun!

In Tuesday's newsletter I'm going to also share some facts from a story I read in one of my trade magazines about geothermal heating and cooling. If you're thinking about doing that to *save money*, you absolutely do not want to miss it.

Sincerely,
Tim Carter

This past weekend was windy but wonderful here in New Hampshire. Both days were sunny and chilly because of the wind. I started a fire both days to take the chill out of the air. It's funny as I looked at the weather map, so many places down in the South had their air conditioners on!

This coming week I'm going to be donating a day's work to some friends, Gary and Julie, who suffered from flooding due to Tropical Storm Irene last fall. She blew right over my house, and places north and west of me in central New Hampshire suffered from very severe flooding.

Gary and Julie own Gilcrest Cottages, a nice little retro motel and some cute storybook cabins that make for a perfect vacation getaway because it's so close to the center of the White Mountains here in New Hampshire. If you want to get married on a whim, Julie is a Justice of the Peace and can do it right there on the banks of the Pemigewasset River!

My job is to pressure wash a large blacktop parking area that's still covered with silt from the flooding. I've learned over the years to make this task go faster, you need to scrape up as much of the mud first as you can with a shovel. Otherwise, you're just moving the same mud farther and farther down the drive.

Tip of the Week - Washing Windows

Spring cleaning is in full swing now for many. Washing windows could be on your list. There are quite a few myths out there about cleaning windows. Let's start this tip by going backwards. I'll tell you what professional window washers DON'T do. They do NOT:

• use old newspaper to clean and polish the glass
• use blue liquid from spray bottles
• use rolls and rolls of paper towels
• use ammonia

Remember, window-cleaning professionals avoid all of the methods above. If you want to see how easy it is to wash windows and get professional results, all you need to do is read this past column of mine:

Be SURE to watch the video that's inside the column at the website.

Technology Alert!

Google announced last week a new service called Google Drive where you can store files from your computer on Google machines.

But the tech world was not happy at all with the Terms of Service that you must agree to. Evidently the wording is sort of fuzzy, and from my nonlegal standpoint you basically are giving Google a license to use your content. No way. No way would I EVER do that!

That's all I'm going to say, since I'm not a lawyer. All I want you to know is that before you use this Google service, you BETTER make sure you understand what you're signing up for.

Recovering Heat from Waste Water

Think about all the hot water you and I send down the drain each day. Arrrrrggggghhhh!

Wouldn't it be nice to recover some or most of that heat before it went down the sewer or into your septic tank? You might be able to do just that with this device.

WARNING! : I have not tested this device, and I can't back any of the claims about saving money or payback periods. But it seems the technology would absolutely work and recover some heat.

In fact, I think it would work far better on a horizontal run of piping rather than a vertical stack. I'd love to see independent test data comparing the two methods. In a vertical stack lots of the hot water may never even touch the drain pipe.

Cleaning Tip of the Week - Algae on a Patio

Yesterday I got an email from a woman who lives down in Florida. Her condo development is amongst some mangrove trees. They need to clean off algae from the patio areas and some walls, but do not want to harm the mangroves. That's smart! She knew that using chlorine bleach would be a mistake as it's highly toxic to all vegetation.

I suggested that all she has to do is mix up some Stain Solver with warm water, stir till dissolved, apply it with a hand-pump garden sprayer, allow to soak for 10 minutes, then lightly scrub and rinse. Ta Da! Victory!

You can have clean concrete and brick with no harm to the mangroves when you use Stain Solver. The same is true with ANY vegetation around your patio, deck or sidewalks. Buy some now to clean up the algae and mildew on your outdoor siding, patios, garden walls, etc.

Smelly Plumbing Vent Pipe

Bryan Miller from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada emailed me about offensive odors wafting from his roof plumbing vent pipe. He and his family can't open their windows or sit on their patio it's so bad. This problem started after a new sewer pipe upgrade project was completed in front of his house.

My advice to Bryan was to relocate the plumbing vent stack where it exits the roof. For starters, I'd put it up as high as possible on the roof and make sure that the top of the vent pipe is higher than any other point on the roof. This allows the wind to carry the odor horizontally.

I'd make sure the new location where the pipe pops through the roof is as far downwind on the house as possible. Bryan was aware of the activated charcoal filters you can put on vent pipes. That could be very problematic for him in the wintertime as the filters can choke off with ice in a very short amount of time. He lives in a coooooooold part of Canada!

Be aware that roof shapes, surrounding trees, other nearby buildings can cause downdrafts at your home. By putting the vent stack up as high as possible, you at least can eliminate any invisible air eddies that are happening because of your roof design.

Major Price Reductions For . . .

You're a WINNER! Why? Because the price of Ebooks at Amazon.com and other electronic marketplaces has DROPPED, I've lowered the prices drastically on all my Ebooks and Contractor Hiring Guides at my store. Just $7 each for any one. What a deal! My Contractor Hiring Guides help you find the pro for ANY job around your house. Wait till you see all of them.

P.S. If you, or someone you know is looking to buy a house - not a new house - I have a great checklist they can use. My Whole House Inspection Checklist is for a rookie that doesn't know much about houses. It forces you to look at things to see if there is a glaring defect.

This is NOT meant to replace a professional inspector. It just helps you decide if the house might have too many issues. It's just $7. Here's a link to it.

I'm creating an Apartment Rental Inspection Checklist next week in case you're renting an apartment or you're doing it for a son or daughter going to college. The last thing you want is to be blamed for damage you didn't do!

The Shed Project

Oh my goodness, I sure received lots of replies last week about my upcoming shed project. You may have been one who wants in on this exciting project. There's no doubt about it - sheds are popular. I've known that for a long time.

Maggie, who lives not too far from me in Franklin, NH, wants me to build the shed, hook it to my truck and then tow it over to her house! Maggie, I've got a better idea. You come over here and help me so I can inject you with all my shed-building skills and magic! That way you can go back home and build the shed of your dreams.

Here's the deal. I'm going to put this shed project up on Kickstarter.com. Oh are we going to have some fun there. I hope to launch this on Kickstarter by this weekend. I'm building a scale model of the shed this afternoon so you can see exactly what we're doing.

The way Kickstarter works is that you pledge certain amounts of money, starting at $1, and then you get something in return. If the project does NOT meet its published goal, you pay nothing. So if you want the project to happen, you then try to get others you know to participate so we get to the goal. I know we can do this.

Here's the problem. Once it's live on Kickstarter.com, the entire world can participate in the project. Some aspects of the project have limited availability. For example, I'm doing actual workshops here where you can come and learn how to do one part of the job in person, just like Maggie!

If you want to be part of this, you'll have to act QUICKLY. There's no way for me to just give you access to Kickstarter.com BEFORE the rest of the world sees this.

I'll be sending you a special announcement the moment this project is LIVE on Kickstarter.com. Please watch for this. Pay close attention to your email beginning on Friday. I don't want you to miss out on some parts of this project.

If this is successful, guess what? We're going to start doing a bunch of other projects. Wouldn't you love to be part of a bathroom or kitchen remodeling project? We can do it if we all work together.

Sincerely,
Tim Carter

Beaker remodeled this bathroom wall. PHOTO CREDIT: Beaker

Beaker from Canada helped remodel a bathroom wall using advise from the AsktheBuilder site. Here is her story.

"Thanks for the advice on tiles. I did an accent wall for my best friend's sister. I hung the Ikea mirror and light fixture. The glass tiles ... came out great. Took your advice on letting the adhesive and grout setup before doing the finishing touches. You're the best. Thanks, Tim."

- Breaker, Toronto, Canada

DEAR TIM: I'm going to build a home on a wooded lot that I own. To save money, some friends and I intend to do all the clearing ourselves. What's should I know about lot clearing? Do you think this is a good thing for me to do? What are the biggest challenges and how might you best prepare for them? The estimates I got for this task took my breath away, so I'm trying to save money. Randy C., Moultonboro, NH

DEAR RANDY: I understand your desire to save money. With the economy sputtering along it makes sense to be as frugal as possible. As crazy as this sounds, I wonder if it might not be worth the time to get a few more estimates. Many contractors are not too busy, and you could get some really competitive prices. I'd exhaust that avenue first before I'd do anything else.

If you do decide to go get more estimates, be sure that each contractor is bidding the same thing. This means you must write out a very accurate job description that says exactly what you want done. You must specify what happens with the trees, the branches, the stumps, and any large rocks that might be in the way. You need to describe exactly what the lot will look like, using photos if possible from other cleared lots, when the job is finished.

Be aware that you could have a substantial amount of money in the trees on the land and not be the wiser. It would not be the first time a naive land owner was taken advantage of by a contractor that cut down valuable timber. I know of land owners who paid to have high-priced timber cut down and carted away, and then the contractor makes additional money selling the logs to a timber mill!

If you think you have valuable timber on your land, then you need to call in lumber brokers to get quotes on the value of the timber. Once again, you need to be very careful and have them mark exactly what trees are the money trees and how many of each there are.

Let's say none of this works out, and you and your buddies become weekend lumberjacks. The first thing I want you to know is this is very dangerous work, it's hard, and if you're not used to it, it will wear you out faster than running up the Mt. Washington Auto Road.

Here's a short list of the equipment you'll need to make a dent in this project. You'll need several powerful chainsaws with 18-inch blades, all the safety equipment for each saw operator (chaps, helmet, visor, heavy gloves, etc.), a timberjack tool that will allow you to lift logs to cut them, chains, a tractor, possibly an excavator, etc.

Tool rental businesses should be able to rent you all the mechanical equipment you need, but you'll have to be trained on how to operate them. Be aware that these machines are extremely dangerous, and if you don't know how to make them stable in wet, slippery or sloped ground, be extremely careful.

As for a plan of attack, you should think about the best way to access the building area so you put the driveway or road in the right spot. Think about drainage and ensuring the road is slightly elevated so it doesn't wash out.

You should go in and cut the smaller trees out of the way first so you have room to work when you have to bring down the larger trees. Think about what you're going to do with all of the slash. Slash is all of the tree material that's not taken away to a lumber or pulp mill. You generally have to burn it, grind it up or pile it on the lot so it naturally decomposes. If you decide to burn it, be sure to find out what the laws are about this. You'll undoubtedly need a permit to burn slash.

If you're going to turn the trees into your own firewood, you can either cut the logs up into links as you work, or stack the long logs off to the side to cut up later. Be sure you stack the logs at least 20 feet away from where a foundation wall might be. You have to make sure you give the builder room to work. The last thing you want to do is move giant logs twice.

Stump removal is an art. If you want to do it quickly you'll need large heavy equipment. It can be done with a bulldozer, but you must plan ahead. If you use a bulldozer to remove stumps, you need to leave about 3 or 4 feet of the tree sticking up out of the ground. The bulldozer raises its blade and leverages the stump out of the ground. It can't do this if you cut off the tree close to the ground.

If you have access to a large tracked excavator machine, the bucket on the arm can be removed and in its place a large single-toothed blade can be installed. This monster claw looks like that of a raptor and within seconds an experienced operator can make three swipes and the stump is out of the ground. It's both an impressive and terrifying thing to watch thinking of the raw power those machines possess.

You can watch an informative video that shows how to remove stumps with rental equipment at www.AsktheBuilder.com. Just type "stump removal video" into the AsktheBuilder.com search engine.

I'm pretty excited. Yesterday I picked up the building permit for a new large shed I'm building here at my house. This is not going to be just any shed. It's going to have special new concrete piers, 10-foot-high walls for lots of storage, an attic, skylights, sun tubes and sun tunnels, a turbine vent, a regular staircase to the attic, a ramp to drive tractors up into the shed, an overhead door, a regular door, interior shelving, etc.

Each and every step of the building process will be documented along the way with who-knows-how-many videos and photos. I estimate there will be no less than 100 videos that come out of this process. If you were to watch every video, you should be able to build a similar shed just like mine knowing what to do each step of the way.

The videos, photos and text will all be put in short documents that you can consume in just minutes. They'll become part of a new category I'm debuting today here in the newsletter: AsktheBuilder Answers. You'll read more about that below.

I'm also turning this shed enterprise into a fun event where you can become part of the project if you want. I intend to even put up a webcam. You'll have the option to gain access to the live camera feed over the Internet. You'll also have an opportunity to become a partial underwriter of the shed project. That will get you all sorts of goodies. I'll be announcing that next week. If the response is positive, then you and I might be doing all sorts of cool projects together as the year progresses!

Tip of the Week - Patching Spalled Concrete

This past winter was really pretty mild for most parts of the USA. You may have some concrete where the top surface has come off revealing the ugly stone core of the concrete.

You can repair this pretty easily with either a patch of cement stucco, or you can do a thin overlay over the entire surface to make it look like you've poured a brand new slab.

There is a secret step you must do to ensure the new stucco or thin concrete bonds to the old concrete. Discover that magic by reading this short past column at the AsktheBuilder website!

Cool Tee Shirts - I Mean Keep-You-Cool Tee Shirts

Last week I began testing some newer technology tee shirts designed for hot weather. We did have a few warm days last week here in New Hampshire, and they were a dream to wear. They are so soft, much softer than cotton.

Last year I switched from wearing 100-percent cotton tee shirts to ones that are 100-percent polyester or a blend of cotton and polyester. I have to tell you that I'm now a huge fan of the polyester or polyester/cotton blends.

This fabric technology does keep me cooler, and when they get wet, they sure seem to dry faster. What's more, the CoolMax tee shirts I tested last week from Duluth Trading Company also have built-in sun-blocking technology with a SPF of 40+.

I love the longer tail as well. If you tuck in your tee shirt, the longer tail keeps you from sharing too much information when you bend over, if you know what I mean.

These shirts come for both women and men. The folks at Duluth Trading Company told me there's a limited supply of these CoolMax tee shirts, so don't put it off if you want to try one.

I don't get a penny from Duluth Trading Company for this write up. I just tested the tee shirts and wanted to let you know what I thought. I'm not a paid shill for them.

Fun Video - Steam Whistle of the Steamboat Natchez

I made a quick trip to New Orleans this past weekend. It's a long story as to why I was there, but I did see lots of the French Quarter, and on Sunday morning I shot this video of the steamboat Natchez paddle-wheeler pulling away from the dock. Each time she does that, she tells everyone at river's edge that she's leaving. Listen for yourself. Turn your speakers UP!

Oh, and I had way too many beignets at the Café Du Monde. One more serving and I'd been in a diabetic coma for sure. If you live in NOLA, I'm sorry but there was absolutely no time for me to schedule a meet up. Next time I'm there, I promise we'll do one.

Another Update on the Washing Machine Valves

Celia S. wrote to me last week after I briefly mentioned the Watts Automatic Shut-Off valve. Please keep in mind I did not test this valve, I just did a quick web search for auto shut-off valves. What I failed to mention was a great point brought up by Celia:

"The Watts valve got bad reviews on Amazon. Even the guy with the good review had a terrible experience with this product, and later updated his review."

Excellent advice Celia! Be sure you take the time to read reviews on Amazon about all products before you buy. Throw out the best and always the worst review and look at the others. Remember, there are always haters and competitors that leave bad reviews. If you see lots and lots of bad reviews, that's a warning flag indeed.

Do You Need a New Roof? Maybe Not!

Installing a new asphalt shingle roof on your home can be expensive. But, do you *really* need a new roof, or can it just be repaired buying you time and saving you money right now?

You may be stunned to discover that you can get by with repairs. An unscrupulous roofer may try to take advantage of you telling you that you need a new roof, when a repair could be all that's required to keep you and your possessions dry.

I created a short document titled, Do I Need a New Roof, that has three videos in it that help show you examples of asphalt shingle roofs that may or may not need to be replaced. This document will give you the confidence you need to make an informed decision. At just under $3, you can't go wrong! Please buy a copy now and tell me what you think.

If you want this document on your Kindle Fire or your iPad that has the Kindle software on it, click here.

This document is part of a new series of electronic products that I'm starting to create. It's called the AsktheBuilder Answers series. They're short, they're to the point and they answer very specific questions. My goal is to create hundreds of these answers about different aspects of projects. I know you frequently get to a fork in the road at times on a project and just need to be pointed in the right direction.

Here's a link to the other AsktheBuilder Answers I've completed.

Many, many more documents are being developed. I hope to have one up about How to Prevent Gravel Drive Washouts completed tomorrow. Later in the week, I hope to be working on - Crown Molding in 60 Minutes - or Less! Oh my gosh, wait till you see the videos in that one!

Video of the Week - French Cleats

Have you ever wondered how to hang a heavy item in such a way that you can just lift up on it and it comes off the wall? The best part is when the object is on the wall, there's virtually no way it can fall or tilt forward by using a method I discovered years ago. Watch this video to see how to improve your home improvement skills and magic! Oui Oui!!

Cleaning Tip of the Week - Horrible Grease-Covered Oven Racks

New oven racks are often nice shiny chrome. Caustic oven cleaners can dull this chrome. What if I told you that you can soak the oven racks in a special solution and a few hours later the caked-on grease comes off with mild rubbing using a Dobie pad? The best part is this special solution is just Stain Solver and water!

I place our oven racks in our utility sink and fill it with about five gallons of hot water. Then I add in one cup (8 oz) of Stain Solver. I let the racks soak for about three hours before I scrub and rinse. You can see a side-by-side photo of my oven rack right here.

Do you need more proof that Stain Solver is the miracle cleaner? Here's an email that Sal sent me last week:

"It really does work on beige floor grout. Stain Solver even removes black hair dye after it was dry!"

Sal carefully and wisely avoided the topic of who was using the hair dye!

Q & A of the Week - Chimney Top Construction Tips

DEAR TIM: My chimney needs some tender loving care. I had a few contractors come to assess the repairs, but none of them made me feel very comfortable. They all talked about how my chimney top, some called it a crown, was in bad shape. What they disagreed on was the method to repair it. Each contractor has a different solution. If you were going to repair or rebuild the top of your chimney, what would you do? Wanda M., Gig Harbor, WA

DEAR WANDA: I sympathize with you. The reason you're getting back all the different types of quotes for the work is because you let each contractor drive the bus. If you want really great quotes, you have to ......

Need to read the rest of this column? Click here.

Sincerely,
Tim Carter

After 15 years, a shower that was starting to leak, and a carpeted master bath, it was time to upgrade the bathroom.

After selecting natural stone floor, shower, and wall tile, custom built cabinetry, and challenging our granite guy to fabricate a top to our existing tub, the pressure was on to build it right.

The granite and glass were done by the pros. Floor tile, plumbing, raising and moving the tub, shower demolition, new shower pan, shower wall and floor tile, fixture installation, and all else was done by the homeowner ... crazy to take on this project with two small children, and a wife who was not raised in a do-it-yourself environment.

Bring it on!

Paul Majcher

All photos submitted by Paul Majcher.

If you want to submit pictures and the story behind your project, CLICK HERE to go to the Before & After Submission Page.

DEAR TIM: My chimney needs some tender loving care. I had a few contractors come to assess the repairs, but none of them made me feel very comfortable. They all talked about how my chimney top, some called it a crown, was in bad shape. What they disagreed on was the method to repair it. Each contractor has a different solution. If you were going to repair or rebuild the top of your chimney, what would you do? Wanda M., Gig Harbor, WA

DEAR WANDA: I sympathize with you. The reason you're getting back all the different types of quotes for the work is because you let each contractor drive the bus. If you want really great quotes, you have to provide the contractors with exactly what you want done. The trouble is you don't know what you don't know.

The crown or top of your chimney is one of the most important elements of the chimney. The best analogy I can offer is to compare it to the roof of your home. Your roof is designed to keep the inside of your house dry. The top or crown of a chimney is supposed to keep the chimney dry.

Water that seeps into a chimney can cause all sorts of damage, especially if the chimney is exposed to cold weather. The water that soaks into the masonry can and does freeze. Water expands as it freezes, and this pressure works to break the bonds of all the mortar used to construct the chimney.

Many bricklayers build chimney crowns the wrong way. I've seen hundreds of chimney tops that are just made from the same mortar used to lay the brick or stone. In almost every cases I've seen no overhang, no reinforcing steel in the top and no flashing under the crown. It's very rare when you come across a chimney crown built the right way.

For starters, a chimney crown needs an overhang. Most roofs on houses overhang the outside wall. The reason for this is to minimize water flowing down the sides of the house. You don't want water flowing off the top of the chimney down the sides of the chimney. Granted, chimneys, by their very nature, are much more exposed to wind-blown rain than a house. But you might as well minimize the water if possible.

The chimney crown should be made using real concrete, not the mortar mix used for the brick or stone. The mortar mix rarely has any stones in it. The stones in concrete are what really give it its strength.

If the chimney has clay flue liners, the crown or top concrete material should never touch the flue liners. The flue liners get hot from the wood fires, furnaces, boilers, water heaters, etc. below, and they expand. This expansion can crack the top or crown.

The contractor needs to wrap the flue liners in thin foam about three-eighths of an inch thick to isolate the flue liners from the concrete mix. Once the crown is hard, they cut away some of the foam and caulk the gap with special masonry caulk.

Reinforcing steel or mesh needs to be placed in the concrete mix to help prevent large cracks from forming. The top of the crown needs to be sloped so it sheds water.

A groove needs to be made in the underside of the crown overhang all the way around the crown. This groove is a drip edge that stops water from rolling down the sides of the chimney. It should be at least one-quarter inch wide and at least three-eighths inch deep.

Last but not least a flashing should be placed on top of all the brick masonry that separates the chimney top or crown from the masonry used to build the chimney. This flashing is the last line of defense should water make it through the chimney crown.

The flashing can be made from asphaltic-rubberized membranes or metal that is soldered to make one solid piece. The flashing should extend past the face of the chimney on all four sides and be turned down at a 45-degree angle so water that runs off drips out past the face of the chimney.

The concrete used to make the chimney crown or top needs to be cured properly to gain maximum strength. This means it should be covered tightly with plastic for three or four days after it's poured. The mason can also spray on a clear curing compound should he not want to put on the plastic.

Once all the work is complete, it's a great idea to apply a silane-siloxane clear penetrating water repellent on the sides of the chimney as well as the chimney crown. This sealant will really help keep wind-driven rain from getting into the chimney.

You can watch an informative video that shows how to find a professional to repair a chimney at www.AsktheBuilder.com. Just type "chimney repair checklist" into the AsktheBuilder.com search engine.

Hi, I'm Tim Carter and I want to talk a little about loop vents. What a loop vent is a plumbing vent and drain system that would be used in a kitchen island, or where a typical plumbing fixture isn't up against a wall so that the vent can't be run to the roof.

In those cases, you have to install a loop vent. The important part of the loop vent is the way it works and gets connected back to the plumbing system and how it gets air. You need to understand that, as the is the trouble. But you can install a loop vent like this that will meet code and work perfectly.

Some plumbers will tell you to forgot loop vents and just install a mechanical vent. However, any thing mechanical will eventually malfunction. That is a problem. A loop vent system uses gravity, physics and Mother Nature to work. So it won't malfunction.

If you want to know more about loop vents, click here to go to my AsktheBuilder.com Store. You know how that works. I am going to give you some information and in return you have to give me something back in the purchase price of the AsktheBuilder Answer How to Make a Plumbing Loop Vent document.

This document will provide you with plumbing diagrams of a loop vent, a FULL video showing you the entire loop vent setup and text describing the science as to how a loop vent works.

It was an epic day at the Boston Marathon. If you're a new subscriber, I'm a ham radio operator. Approximately 117 other ham operators, and I, worked the race providing mission-critical communications behind the scenes. It was record heat with a searing temperature of 87 F. Based on what I saw in an article on USA Today, yesterday was one degree hotter than in 2004.

The situation was so serious that the race organizers told anyone that was registered this year, they don't have to race. They can just come back next year. The organizers were terrified of mass casualties from runners that were not prepared for the heat.

Runners were dropping from exhaustion like leaves from a tree on a windy autumn day. I was the ham operator at First Aid Station 12 located at 1400 Commonwealth Avenue, in Newton, MA, at mile 18.3. My job was to shadow the station supervisor and call in for ambulances and provide him with any other information.

My next public service ham radio event is the NH Seacoast Bike Ride in May. It's a two-day event on May 19-20, 2012. My call sign, if you're a ham, is W3ATB.

Tip of the Week - Two 16d Sinker Nails Equals ...

If you're trying to anchor a treated 2x4 to a concrete floor, or say a treated 2x2 to a concrete wall for a shelf cleat, you don't need expensive anchors.

You can just use two 16d sinker nails and a hammer. You need to drill a 1/4-inch hole in the wood and into the concrete first.

Then you drive both nails side by side at the same time into the hole. Use nice, firm and square hammer strokes so you don't bend the nails.

You'll be stunned how well this works. If done properly and you have strong concrete, you'll need a crowbar to get the wood off the concrete!

Here's a video showing you how to do it.

Bathroom Remodeling Questions

Are you thinking of remodeling your bathroom, because you can't move? You're not alone.

I'm going to try to demystify the project so you can save lots of money. I can't begin to tell you the number of bathrooms I've remodeled. The last job was at my Cincinnati, OH house. Oh my, when I redid our master bathroom three years ago, it was a monster job. Every plumbing fixture was relocated to a totally different spot! I added a window. I relocated a closet and installed a sweet pocket door.

Please reply to this email with a list of questions you want answered so you can tackle your bathroom remodeling project with minimal help. I'm looking for very specific questions.

Try to avoid asking broad questions like this:

• How do I install ceramic tile?

Instead, you might ask the parts of a process you don't understand:

• What kind of glue is used to install ceramic tile?
• What should the consistency of the wall grout be like?
• Where do I install blocking for wall fixtures?
• Where does the fan exhaust to?

You can ask as many questions as you like. I'll have the answers available soon!

Hail Damage

This past weekend, more people died in the mid-section of the USA because of severe weather. Springtime provides all the necessary ingredients for weather conditions that produce massive thunderstorms that create hail and tornadoes.

The AsktheBuilder.com team created a new page at the website with some dramatic photos of hail damage to a tile roof in Nichols Hill, Oklahoma. DaVinci Roofscapes was kind enough to provide the photos for this page.

DaVinci Roofscapes manufactures a polymer roofing product that looks like real slate or shakes. It's pretty safe to say hail isn't going to break a DaVinci polymer product.

Lonnie, a subscriber from southern Colorado, contacted me about his asphalt shingle he had put on his house from Malarkey Roofing. It was a shingle that has the Class 4 Impact classification, the highest rating possible.

I have had GAF shingles on all my homes, and they have a Class 4 shingle as well. It's their Timberline ArmorShield II. Most of the major asphalt shingle manufacturers have a Class 4 shingle.

If you're getting ready to install a new roof in a part of the nation that regularly gets large hail, you might want to look into a tough roofing material that can take a beating from Mother Nature.

Burst Washing Machine Hoses Follow Up

Randall Perry, a subscriber, took notice of last week's mention about the burst washing machine hoses. Several other subscribers also contacted me. Many thanks to you!

He wanted me to mention that you could go one step further and install a special valve that automatically shuts off the water supply to the washing machine.

Good catch Randall! Thanks for bringing that up. There are any number of devices that will prevent flooding. Here's just one from WATTS.

Use any search engine and just type: washing machine auto shut-off valve

Before and After - Ground-Level Deck

Mike Rignola is an avid DIYer. I'd hire him in a New York minute if I needed help. Take a look at the superb ground-level deck he built so he could watch fish.

I'd LOVE to feature your Before and After photos. Submit them by clicking here.

New Feature - Cleaning Tip of the Week

Last week, I offered up a cleaning tip to Kathy C. in Pensacola, FL. She needed to know how to remove oak tree blossom stains from her white Honda Acura. I was flooded with requests from subscribers to start offering a tip each week. So be it! In case you missed it, here are the Before and After shots of Kathy's car.

Here's this week's cleaning tip. Are you spring cleaning ceramic tile floor grout? Most people get a migraine headache over the thought of that chore! It's easy! Just mix up some of my Stain Solver Oxygen Bleach with warm water, pour it on the grout lines, let it sit for 15 minutes, and lightly scrub, rinse and you're good to go. A five-pound pail of Stain Solver will be plenty to clean the floors in the average house.

Stain Solver in Your Store!

You could be one of my great customers that want Stain Solver to be put in your local hardware store. I can do it with your help! Let's start up here in the Northeast where I have a connection to a local chain. If you help me get it on the shelves in this chain, then we can march quickly across the nation!

If you live in these states: NY, MA, CT, RI, VT, NH or ME, I need your help now. PLEASE reply to this email and change the Subject Line to: Stain Solver in my Store

Then just tell me quickly why you want Stain Solver in your local hardware store.

Video of the Week - Urethane Paint Video

Watch this video and I'll give you a crash course on the glues in paint. The WeatherBeater ULTRA paint in this video was made by Sherwin Williams. Sears no longer carries paint, but Sherwin Williams makes Duration which is a urethane-resin paint.

Sincerely,
Tim Carter

Hi, I'm Tim Carter and I want to show you some concrete paver patio stones. You're going to like this.

Check out this patio. This patio is still under-construction. These pavers are earth-tone in color and looks like random stones set into the patio. However, these stones are part of a pattern. Some of the stones have a groove in them so it appears that it is two - four separate stones once installed.

These combination stones have a hole in the center bottom. Why? Once installed you can see the stones that are in the grooves between the stones. The hole in the bottom allows water to drain off into the ground. In the winter, this will keep the concrete stones from busting.

The stones also have lugs on the sides. These lugs are spacing lugs. This allows you to lay the pavers next to each other and maintain the proper spacing.

One other thing, at the edges of the patio, you should install a retention strip. This will keep the stones on the outside of the patio from moving out of position.

Crushed gravel was placed under the pavers before the patio stones were laid. About 4-inches of gravel as placed and compacted for the patio base. It must be angular gravel with some sand in it so that the gravel locks in tightly. On top of this is some medium to coarse sand that is leveled off, then the patio stones are set into the sand. You need to use a plate compacter to run over the stones and drive them down into the sand.

Be beware that the color of the stones might lose some of its color pigment. The finish will dull down over the years.

DEAR TIM: This year a precast concrete paver patio is in my future. I'd like to know any tips you can share about this project. How much dirt do I need to remove? Do the pavers just go on the dirt? How do the pavers stay in place? What can I do to ensure the color of the pavers stays as good looking as the day they're installed? What else can you tell me about the colorized concrete pavers? Christina M., Southington, CT

DEAR CHRISTINA: I can't begin to tell you how many good times I've had with my family on my patios. I say patios, because at my last home, we had two. My wife's favorite was a smaller one nestled under a large maple tree that allowed her to look out across a 30-inch-tall serpentine brick wall I had built. Countless shade plants were at the base and on top of this wall that helped decorate the patio.

I say all this because there's so much you can get out of an outdoor patio if you plan ahead and really visualize what things might look like if you add some other features to the project. At the house before the one I'm describing, I had built a similar patio that had a smaller straight wall with a tiny waterfall and pond. The cascading water sound was so peaceful that I used to fall asleep on a recliner in that magical oasis. Those were the days!

Let's talk about the digging. You'll only need to take out about 5 inches of soil for the patio. That's the total thickness of the concrete paver stone, the bedding sand the stones rest in and the crushed gravel base beneath the sand.

I highly recommend that the finished top surface of the patio is at least 1 inch higher than any surrounding soil or ground. You really want water to flow off the patio and never pond on it. In fact, you want to design the patio so that it has a very slight slope to it so that it does drain. My last large patio had about 2 inches of fall on it across 20 feet. When you sat or walked on that patio, you would swear it was dead level.

Let's talk just for a moment about your different choices. I know you're looking at precast colorized concrete pavers for your patio. You can use traditional clay paving brick as well as other natural stones. Highly uniform clay paving brick can be installed in the same manner as the precast concrete paving brick, but natural stone would require much more labor to get the random pieces to fit nicely, unless you were using high-grade granite cobblestones.

The individual paver stones stay in place because of friction with the bedding sand and the fact that they are in contact with the other stones that make up the patio. At the edge of the patio, it's a good idea to install metal or plastic retention material so the stones at the edge don't wander into the grass or garden.

The color of your precast concrete paver patio stones is going to change over time. They look fantastic when they're installed because the cement paste that coats the sand and gravel in the mix contains the colored earthtone pigments. But Mother Nature and any foot traffic you apply to the stones will wear off the top layer of colored pigment from the top of each stone. This happens slowly, and you really don't notice it.

But over a few years, you'll start to notice the dull color of the stones and sand that was used to make each stone. Save one or two of the original pavers in your garage and take them out on your patio in five years. That's when you'll really see the difference.

If you use traditional clay paving brick or a natural stone product, you'll not ever have a color fade issue. Clay bricks have the same color throughout the product. The same is true for granite, flagstone, slate or other natural stone that's used for patios.

One thing I do love about the concrete paver stones is how they interlock and how they can be removed, if necessary, to do repairs to the patio, sidewalk or driveway. It's not too hard to remove one or two stones to gain access to the soil beneath the surface.

What's more, if one or more of the pavers gets cracked or damaged by a stain, you can remove it and replace it. If the surrounding stones are faded, you'll need to age the new paver to match what's around it.

Another benefit of the interlocking pavers is they are DIY friendly. If you're going to install a square or rectangular patio, you may not need to cut one stone! You'll have the patio installed in hours if it's small or you have lots of help. Believe it or not, it's possible to have a completed patio from start to finish in one day.

You can watch an informative video that shows a concrete paver patio and individual paver stones at www.AsktheBuilder.com. Just type “paver patio tips video” into the AsktheBuilder.com search engine.

Back in 2010, a hailstorm of epic proportions pummeled the roof of Dean Imel's house in Nichols Hill, Oklahoma. Dean exclaimed,

"This was the worst hail storm I'd ever seen," says Imel, who lives in Nichols Hills, Oklahoma. "The ground was completely dry, yet the force of the hail penetrated almost four inches into the soil. Our roof looked like someone had taken a Rototiller to it … the devastation was massive."

While there's no close up photo of the roof before the storm, You can imagine it from the picture taken at the back of the house where the pool is. You can see it would have been a great tile roof.

Look at the size of the hailstones.

Dean decided to never have a problem again. That's why he went for DaVinci Roofscapes® that's made from a polymer. It'll last for decades, looks like real slate and can stand the abuse of hail.

All photos supplied by Dean Imel.

If you want to submit pictures and the story behind your project, CLICK HERE to go to the Before & After Submission Page.

Last week, I had the pleasure of working on the land Kathy and I bought here in New Hampshire about six years ago. My friend Peter let me use his Kubota excavator for two days. An excavator is a machine that has tracks, a small bulldozer blade and the all-powerful toothed bucket that digs ditches.

It's a perfect machine for clawing rocks out of the ground. Here's a secret most people don't know. You can rent tiny versions of these machines to dig small holes and trenches at your own home. This could come in handy planting a large tree or some other project that requires lots of digging.

Here's a link to a very tiny one. Imagine how this could save your back on a job around your home!

The one I was operating was more like this one. It was bigger than this machine, had an enclosed cab and did have the thumb so you could grab onto the rocks.

The point is, just imagine what you can pick up with these great machines: large tree trunks, stumps, granite curbing, rocks, etc.

Just before Christmas last year, I hired a man to come in and clear out all the brush on the sides of the driveway. Hundreds of gorgeous rounded boulders were lying about, and some were partially buried. They ranged in size from a cantaloupe to a large riding lawn mower. The largest rock I dug out and moved was egg-shaped and measured 5 feet by 3 feet. It was a monster.

I moved the rocks to the tree line and used them to build some rustic rock walls. Some of the walls were actually on the property line, but most look like random walls stacked long-ago by one of the original land owners to create a pasture. This summer I've decided to go back for a week and dig out thousands more of these great rocks.

Just under the surface are thousands and thousands of these *eggs* that were tumbled smooth by the motion of the last continental glacier that covered New Hampshire just 12,000 years ago. Heck, it covered all of New England, much of the Midwest and extended all the way back to the North Pole.

These egg-shaped rocks are a prized commodity up here. Wall builders and landscapers covet the rounded boulders. Most of the rounded rocks have long since been used up. The boulders and rocks you do see being used now are angular and have a stark unweathered appearance.

Suffice it to say I had a great time up there working for two days - just me, the machine, diesel fumes and blue sky.

Here are some photos I took on Easter Sunday morning of the work I accomplished. I decided to go back to the land to see if the Easter Bunny had transformed any of the rocks into dark chocolate. Sadly, I was disappointed. These photos may inspire you to build a simple rock wall in your yard. It's not hard to do.

This week I'll be programming some frequencies into my ham radios. Why? I'm one of the 200 or so ham radio operators providing critical communications for the Boston Marathon on April 16th. That will be one long day. I'll probably have next week's newsletter out a day late so I can give you a full report on any action I witnessed at the marathon.

Annual Deck Cleaning Tip

Let's say you want to just clean your deck each spring, and the sealer on the deck is still in good shape. What should you do?

It's easy. Just try regular liquid dish soap and water. I'd mop it on, or apply the soapy solution with a hand pump sprayer. Scrub lightly, and rinse with water. You should be good to go.

Don't use my Stain Solver on your deck if the sealer appears to the naked eye to be in good shape. There's a very good chance some of the top layer of the sealer is sun damaged and barely holding on. My powerful oxygen bleach will remove the sealer creating a blotchy appearance, whereas regular dish soap won't budge the sun-damaged pigmented sealer.

Glass and Metal Countertops

Were you one of the winners of the Mega-Millions lottery last week? Did a rich aunt just go back to Heaven leaving you the cash she couldn't take with her? Are you a hedge fund manager? Or, do you love looking at really cool building products that are often way out of your financial reach? I'm like that. There are so many things I'd like to have but just can't afford them.

If you like window or monitor shopping as we now call it, then check out the metal, wood and glass countertops that Craft Art has. You better have a napkin or a bib handy. You may end up drooling.

Stain Solver Sale Ends at MIDNIGHT

Just as I thought, the Stain Solver Sale is going down in company history as a monster success. The annual spring sale ends tonight, April 10, 2012, at midnight Eastern Standard Time.

A few of the sizes have sold out and are on backorder. We FULLY expect to ship out all orders by April 19th at the latest. We appreciate your patience!

You better order now if you want some at the sale price. If you want my new Deck Cleaning and Sealing Your Deck eBook at the same time, you want to order the Stain Solver from my AsktheBuilder.com cart.

Stain Solver cleans just about anything. Kathy C., from Pensacola, FL, used it to clean off offensive organic oak blossom stains from her pride and joy. Go read about it.

Tip of the Week - Change Your Washing Machine Hoses

Do you have black rubber hoses that feed water to your washing machine? Is your washing machine in some finished space? If so, these rubber hoses WILL burst one day. I urge you to install hoses that are wrapped in stainless-steel fabric. This metallic covering helps to prevent blowouts.

Millions of dollars of damage happen each year from washing machine hoses that burst. Every month I get at least one email from a subscriber talking about an accident.

Imagine the nightmare if you were gone all day when water started flowing in your absence? I know, you feel you're safe because you turn off the water supply to the machine when it's not in use. Remember, the hoses can burst while you're at home doing laundry and in another room where you can't hear the mini Niagara Falls.

Would You Review My Cleaning and Sealing Your Deck eBook?

Last week I launched my latest eBook, Cleaning and Sealing Your Deck. Perhaps you were one who purchased it. If you liked the content in the eBook, would you be willing to help me?

Could you please go to the page on Amazon.com and leave a positive review? You can leave a review at Amazon even if you purchased it at my shopping cart. It would be sincerely appreciated.

The Mac Virus ALERT Email

You may be one of my subscribers that got freaked out last week when I sent out the blast about the Mac virus. That's one of the benefits of being on my list. I try to watch your back, as you get this newsletter electronically. That means I want your computer healthy. I happen to have good friends who have their ears to the ground and get early warnings of viruses.

I got all sorts of replies, some frantic, most thanking me for being helpful, but the one from Ron B. made me laugh out loud. Ron obviously has a great sense of humor. Here's what he said about my ALERT: "You beat the Drudge Report on getting the news out. Clinton could have used Stain Solver!" Thanks, Ron B.

Here's what I'd like to share about that alert. I send those out as a public service. I'm not Ask the Mac or PC Guy. Nor am I AsktheGeekSquad. I'm AsktheBuilder. That means I can't offer any hand holding when it comes to your computer. All I do is tell you there could be a problem, and try to point you in the right direction should you need help.

I tried, in my blog post, to give you a place to go if you had issues. That's the best I can offer. Please understand that when I do these alerts in the future, it's in the spirit of me trying to help you, not frustrate you.

Video of the Week - Plumbing Vent Pipes 101

You may not know this, but I'm a master plumber. I love doing plumbing work. Many people are unaware of the importance of plumbing vent pipes and what purpose they serve. Watch this video to discover something new!

Q & A of the Week - Poured Concrete vs. Concrete Block Foundation Walls

DEAR TIM: What is the difference between concrete block and poured concrete foundation walls? Which one is better? The lot I am going to build upon has a seasonably high water table. Which of the wall systems would insure a dry basement? Diane J., Redwood Falls, MN

DEAR DIANE: I think it might have been easier to answer a question such as: Is a glorious sunrise more beautiful than a magnificent sunset? The truth of the matter is that both building materials - concrete block and poured concrete - can yield superior foundation walls so long as they are.....

Click here to read how to build strong foundation walls!

Sincerely,
Tim Carter

DEAR TIM: The house I grew up in had a lamp post out by the street. I'd like to install one and wonder if it's too hard to do. What are my options when it comes to lamp posts, and how are they set into the ground? Will I need an electrician to provide power to the light post, or is that a DIY job? What happens if the electric cable has to pass under a finished driveway? What other things do I need to be worried about? Shawn D. Akron, OH

DEAR SHAWN: It's really funny, but I grew up in the city and lamp posts in front yards were pretty rare. I never gave it much thought until I moved to a rural area and realized how dark it is at night when you don't have all those municipal streetlights flooding the streets and driveway entrances with light. I've got a lamp post here at my house in the country, and it's a welcome sight driving down my pitch-black road on a cloudy night!

Here's a lamp post pole doing double duty with an attached mailbox. Photo Credit: Tim Carter

The degree of difficulty with respect to installing the actual post depends on the post you'll be using. If you decide to get a solid granite lamp post like I have, you'll need several friends or a small crane to install it. However, if you purchase a common steel or aluminum tube lamp post, it'll be a solo job that you can accomplish with little effort.

As with any digging, that chore can be easy or tough depending on the soil conditions where you live. If your soil is a modest clay, you might have no issues slicing through it if it's moist. A sandy soil is dreamy to dig as it offers little resistance. But you may be cursed with rocky soil, and have all sorts of issues with large rocks at your post location.

Perhaps the biggest issue, and hardest job, is digging the trench from the house to the lamp post if you want a conventional 120-volt power supply that you control from the house. The added benefit if you decide to provide power like this, is that you can have a handy power outlet at the base of the lamp post. This can be very convenient if, for some reason, you need electricity out by the post for something other than a light.

If you don't want to go to all the trouble to run a power line to the post, solar-powered lamp post lights are the way to go. This will be your least expensive option, and if you have friendly soil, you could have a working lamp post up in less than 30 minutes.

If you're not familiar with the National Electric Code, and all the nuances of working with electricity, I suggest you hire an electrician. You may be able to save money by doing the required trenching and drilling of holes to get the electric cable from the switch location to the lamp post. Be sure you're crystal clear on where the trench goes and how deep it must be.

Before you ever put a spade or shovel into the ground for this project be sure to call 811 or go to call811.com or callbeforeyoudig.com to have all underground utilities marked for you. It can take up to three days for a worker to come out and mark where danger lurks.

Digging on your own land or out in the public right of way near the street without knowing where buried utilities are can be expensive and deadly if you make a mistake. What's more, understand that the markings on the ground can be off just a little bit. Always dig slowly and carefully within 2 feet of any painted mark on the soil.

If you need to get a cable under a driveway or a sidewalk, there are any number of ways to do this. Once again, clay and sandy soils can be your friend here while rocky soils will give you fits.

Years ago when I was a young builder, the backhoe operator I used had a clever device he had made. It was a 14-foot long steel tube that had a flared cone tip much like a missile.

He would dig a trench perpendicular to the driveway or sidewalk deep enough so as to not be too close to the underside of the pavement. The tube would be placed in the trench and he would use the backhoe's powerful hydraulics to push the tube through the soil like a needle going through fabric. A simple hole on the other side of the driveway revealed the tip of the tube. The hole that was created was 6 inches in diameter which was plenty to insert a PVC conduit.

You can create your own tunnel under a driveway or sidewalk using a PVC pipe that has one end cut at a 45-degree angle much like the tip of a hypodermic needle. I prefer to use a smaller diameter 2-inch PVC pipe for this job. You use this in the same way as my backhoe operator, but you tap the square end of PVC pipe gently with a sledgehammer so it penetrates the soil about 3 inches.

The sharp end of the PVC pipe cuts into the soil as it's tapped by the hammer. Rotate the pipe to cut the soil. Pull the pipe out of the soil and remove the soil plug from inside the pipe. Repeat this operation until you've created a nice round tunnel under the sidewalk or driveway. This method has never failed me in the nice Midwest clay soils!

You can watch an informative video that shows a video on how to creatively tunnel under a sidewalk or a driveway at www.AsktheBuilder.com. Just click this link "underground wire tunnel video" or type that phrase into the AsktheBuilder.com search engine.

Hey Tim,

This was my weekend project before Easter. Building a deck for my shed next to my waterfalls/pond. It took me about 3 1/2 days to complete it by myself.

It is made out of pressure treated lumber 5/4 deck planks, and the framing is 2x6's. I used 12', 16', and 20' deck planks so I wouldn't have any but seams. It has some crazy angles to it, but you have to do what you have to do to make it work.

Now instead of sitting on a rock to watch my fish , I can sit in a chair.

Thanks for looking.

Mike Rignola

All photos by Mike Rignola.

If you want to submit pictures and the story behind your project, CLICK HERE to go to the Before & After Submission Page.

If you have an Apple or Mac computer, READ this NOW. If you don't, you can just delete this message.

I'm really lucky to be part of a very exclusive and secret group of Internet entrepreneurs. In the group are some very savvy computer users and Apple and Mac experts.

I just got an alert from one member, and he said I could share it.

There's a nasty Trojan virus injection that has infected many Mac computers.

Fortunately, it's EASY to see if your machine is infected.

I created step-by-step instructions showing you what to do at my personal blog.

I hope all is well with your machine.

I'll be reaching out to you with a newsletter next Tuesday. I just got a really cool IRWIN level today that I'll be reviewing for you. There's other news too about glass countertops. 

Hi, I'm Tim Carter and have you ever wondered how stones get affixed to walls, such as a fireplace surround? How did the stone mason get those to stick and stay on the wall?

One thing they didn't do was to use that liquid-nail stuff in a tube. What really happened is the mason mixed up some sand and Portland cement and then stuck the stones to the wall. But if he was really good, he put in some hydrated-lime.

This stone wall is inside the house and it's not subject to much weather. But many places have a stone wall on the outside, where it's stuck to a masonry wall or you want to stick it to a wood frame house that has a stucco finish.

Do you know what? If you want to do that and want it to stand the test of time, you need to mix up a real, special mixture of Portland cement, sand and lime. And there is another special trick.

If you want to know more about that and exactly how to do it, click here or on the image to find out how. If you want to put stone on a wall, all you have to do is mix up sand, Portland cement, lime and water.

Yesterday, I had lunch with a great couple, Mike and Kathy, who live in Cincinnati, OH. They were up here in New Hampshire looking at land and houses. They're thinking of moving up here.

Fortunately, they had some really good weather, and they saw at least one house that is of great interest to them. They wondered about the snow, wildlife and a few other things, including the much-maligned black flies. Well, they deserve all that malignity as far as I'm concerned.

I suggested to Mike and Kathy that they construct a free-standing, screened-in porch in the backyard of the house. I did this years ago for a client who had magnificent plantings in her yard.

The screened-in structure was only away from the house about 15 feet, so it was not a journey to get to it. But the effect of sitting in this space surrounded by plants, flowers and other things was magical. Keep that in mind if a screened-in porch is in your future.

Stain Solver Sale!

If you're a long-time subscriber to this newsletter, you know that spring means Stain Solver. If you're a new subscriber, Stain Solver is, perhaps, the most powerful and the purest oxygen bleach made completely in the USA, with USA ingredients. I know for a fact that many other oxygen-bleach products have raw materials sourced in China: Land of the Tainted Dog Food, Lead Paint in Toys, etc.

Most people who purchase Stain Solver during the annual spring sale use it to clean decks, wood and vinyl fences and boat docks. But there are hundreds of other uses for the product. If it's water washable, you can almost always clean it with Stain Solver.

Just today, I was on the phone with Kathy in Pensacola, FL. She wanted to know if she could use it to clean red spots that were on her 2002 Honda car. The spots were caused by trees in her yard. I said absolutely yes, so long as she followed some special instructions that I had emailed her.

The sale is only going to last for one week. We'll have the sale end on Tuesday, April 10, 2012, at midnight Eastern Standard Time. We're extending the sale because Easter is this coming Sunday.

Here's what you need to know. I fully expect to sell out. We did sell out of all inventory during the New Year sale in January, of all months! So I'm terrified the demand will be so strong we'll sell out again.

We stocked up the warehouse AND we have a huge manufacturing run starting next Monday. But even then, I expect to sell out of certain sizes.

If you need your Stain Solver soon, then I BEG you to order now. Not tomorrow, not this weekend, and most certainly not next week when I remind you. If you order NOW, I'm almost positive you'll have it shipped immediately.

The sale is 10% off the two small sizes (SS02, SS05) and 15% off the three bigger sizes (SS09, SS18, SS50). Of course, we now offer Stain Solver with Free Shipping to the lower 48. That's a significant savings on the bigger sizes.

Cleaning and Sealing Your Deck eBook

The AsktheBuilder team burned the midnight oil to get another thing ready for the Spring Stain Solver Sale - my latest eBook.

My guess is you feel you know everything about this topic, after all, how hard is it to clean and seal a deck? Well, you can make a boatload of mistakes.

Too many people come to me each year asking for help after they've ruined their decks while cleaning them. Many more are frustrated because the expensive sealer they applied peeled. Others wonder why their deck turns gray in such a short time.

I cover all of this and much, much more. Before I wrote this book, I did some research. I could not find any other book like it - no authoritative book about the process of cleaning and sealing. I did find a small chapter about the topic in another book, however, no book that was devoted entirely to the topic.

Wait till you see everything that's in the eBook. One of the best parts, in my opinion, is Chapter 10 - Homeowner Questions. These are real questions. Some are unbelievable. Wait till you see them. I guarantee you that you will discover at least one new thing about deck cleaning and sealing. I know for a fact I'll debunk at least one myth.

One of the best parts is that buying the eBook gives you secret access to a massive test I'm starting in a month. In May of this year, I'm beginning a side-by-side test of many brands of deck sealers on both cedar and treated lumber. Tests like this are done all the time by the manufacturers of the sealers, but they NEVER give the public access to the results.

You can buy this eBook at two places:

• AsktheBuilder.com shopping cart
• Amazon.com (link is below)

Go here to purchase the new eBook from my cart. It's only $4.

You get a 20% discount over the price of the eBook at the Amazon Kindle store for this next week if you buy it from my cart. My version is a standard PDF file that everyone can usually open on their computer.

If you purchase this eBook from me, and I truly hope you do, would you do me a favor? If you feel it's worthy of a great review, can you go to Amazon.com and leave one for me? It will really help me sell the ebook to the world. Thank you so much. Here's the link to it on Amazon.com.

Crown Molding in 60 Minutes or Less!

Back in 1999, I published my first eBook. It was everything you wanted to know about crown molding. It sold really well, but now it's time to update it with new photos and really shrink the size of the book. Why, you ask?

I discovered that 90-percent of the buyers just wanted to discover how to put the molding up in a regular room with inside corners and maybe an outside corner. So that's all this new book is going to cover. Nothing more.

I will discuss using a compound cut miter saw, I'll discuss using a coping saw, and then I'll tell you how I cut crown molding perfectly every time NOT using these two tools.

Would you help me? What are your questions about crown molding with regards to just standard inside and outside cuts?

Please don't ask questions about vaulted ceilings, crown on cabinets, crown going up staircases, etc. I cover all that in my existing eBook. Here's my existing Crown Molding eBook that covers just about every situation. But don't buy it if you want the new one.

Please reply to this email and if you would change the Subject Line to: Crown Molding, that would be great. Just ask me anything you want about regular inside and outside corners, nailing questions, splices, caulking, uneven ceilings, etc. Thanks in advance!

Video of the Week - Blacktop Crack Repair

Last week, I got countless emails thanking me for my Tip of the Week. It was about disguising a blacktop crack repair. Would you like to watch a video of me doing it? I thought so! Enjoy!

Tip of the Week - High-Performance House Paint

Are you going to be painting the outside of your house this spring? Do you want to use a house paint that really lasts and lasts? You want one that contains as much urethane resin as possible.

I've been using urethane house paints for over ten years and the results are spectacular. Sherwin Williams has made one called Duration for years. You may be able to discover other brands with urethane. Be sure the surface is squeaky clean before you apply the paint. Read the label!

Thanks For the Replies!

Last week I asked you to Reply to the Newsletter Email. You know the old saying, be careful what you ask for! Oh my, you were most generous and I was flooded with replies, most of them humbling. Thanks so much for your kind words.

But, and you knew this was coming, right? There's always that self-centered person or two that has to speak up. I thought you'd enjoy the one response I decided to share:

"Hey, send me some new interior designs which are not familiar to the market."

My reply was, "Sure, do you want me to come over and repaint your house while I'm at it?"

Remember, you can always reply to this newsletter and comment, say Hi or complain. Depending on my workload, I may or may not be able to respond.

Yelp!

Do you use Yelp? It's a great website that helps you discover the best and worst businesses of just about any type near you. I use it all the time.

It's great when you're out of town - say on business or vacation - and you need to locate a restaurant, a specialty store, a great motel, etc. I'm sure there are other websites like this. I have the Yelp app on my smartphone so I can have the functionality with me all the time.

I added a review of my own last week for a great small business here in New Hampshire. Read it and tell me what you think.

Q & A of the Week - Flagstone Patio on Crushed Stone

DEAR TIM: I intend to install a flagstone patio in the very near future and have been told I can place it on compacted crushed limestone that contains screenings. What are screenings and will this method work? The person giving the advice said the crushed limestone beneath the flagstones would eventually harden like concrete. What steps should I take to install the limestone in this fashion? I want to know if this will work as I don't want to have to tear everything out and start over. Tim G., Geneva, IL

DEAR TIM: Flagstone is one of the most popular patio materials I know of. The reasons are many. It is extremely durable, it looks magnificent and is naturally slip-resistant. It is also heavy so I can see why you only want to install each ......

Click Here to continue to read this flagstone column.

DEAR TIM: I’m bound and determined to remove a wall between my kitchen and dining room to make the space more open. My husband says it can’t be done saying there are too many things in the wall, and that it could be a bearing wall. I’m frustrated. Money is not an object as I recently came into a sizeable inheritance. What are the real obstacles when removing a wall, and is it possible to achieve my goal of an open space? Can you share any tips to help me? Beth G., Charleston, SC

DEAR BETH: I’m sorry for your loss, but happy for your gain. The good news is that you can have that open space you desire. The cost to get there is directly related to how complex the job turns out to be. Believe it or not, this job could be as low as a 2 on the AsktheBuilder.com difficulty scale, or it could pin the meter at a 10. You often don’t know until you do some detective work.

Let’s start by describing some of the things that are hidden behind the drywall, plaster or paneling that’s covering your walls. For starters, there’s a very high likelihood you have electric cables in the wall. Very few walls have no electric cabling in them. These cables are not hard to relocate.

You could have cable TV cables, doorbell wires, heating ducts, cold-air return ducts, radiant heating pipes, steam pipes, plumbing drain or water supply lines, central vacuum piping, clothes dryer exhaust piping, pluming vent pipes, support columns, huge beams, etc., inside of the walls. That’s a partial list of challenges.

The good news is that almost all of these can be relocated, but there’s always an expense involved. Some things are much harder to move and relocate than others. Massive beams and support columns hidden in a bearing wall can be logistical and engineering nightmares. Rerouting a large plumbing drain line in a wall can be a daunting project for a plumber.

The first thing I’d do is to contact a seasoned remodeling contractor, builder, or carpenter. They often know how buildings are constructed and can easily spot clues that tell you what’s in the wall in question. This discovery expedition is much easier if your home has an attic, basement or crawl space that allows you to see both the top and bottom of the wall in question.

For example, if you have access to the top and bottom of the wall, you may clearly see plumbing drain lines exiting the floor or plumbing vent pipes exiting the top of the wall in the attic. You may clearly see heating pipes or ducts that penetrate the bottom of the wall in the basement or crawlspace.

Hidden beams and support columns are tougher to spot. In the last house I built, there was a wall between our family room and breakfast room that had a door way and a pass through opening. You’d think that would be easy to remove that wall. The truth be told, there was a massive support column in that wall, and the roof load on top of it would have been very difficult, if not impossible, to relocate.

My situation is very rare, and for most houses you can almost always open up the wall in question. You may have to install a small corner vertical chase or fatten up a nearby wall to handle the things that will need to be relocated, but almost always it’s possible.

If you can’t get a contractor to come out, you may be able to rent a great tool that can help you. I have a wonderful digital viewer that allows you to poke a small hole in a wall and insert a small flexible shaft that has a camera attached to it. On the tool’s screen, I can see what the camera is seeing inside the wall. The tip of the tool has a LED light to illuminate the dark cavity.

Using this tool and making numerous small holes that can be patched, you can quickly see electric cables, plumbing pipes, ducts, etc., inside the wall. However, this camera will not be able to easily tell you if you’re looking at structural columns and beams. It’s smart to use one of these diagnostic camera tools to see what you’re up against.

When you do go to remove the wall, understand that if the house was built prior to 1967 there’s a good chance you’ll be dealing with lead paint. Unfortunately, the EPA enacted insane regulations in the recent past that stipulate harsh penalties to contractors that don’t follow the safety measures.

These regulations have added thousands of dollars to the average cost of doing simple demolition in houses. While there is a risk with lead paint dust, there are measures that can be taken to deal with this dust that are less expensive than what the EPA mandates.

What’s more, you may find it very hard to even find a contractor that’s willing to do the job because of the regulations. Many contractors have decided, after consulting with their liability insurance companies and their attorneys, that it’s not worth it to bid on jobs like this. The EPA regulations had an unintended consequence of creating a horrible lopsided supply and demand situation. Fewer contractors to do demolition work means much higher costs. Thanks so much, Uncle Sam.

You can watch an informative video that shows a video on wall removal right here. Just type “wall removal video” into the AsktheBuilder.com search engine.

Time again to refinish the old deck (35 years) in preparation for a family gathering. Used Stain Solver to clean up everything and Defy (Saver Systems) to finish it up.

Good for another four years!

John Cervenak

Photo Credit: John Cervenak

If you want to submit pictures and the story behind your project, CLICK HERE to go to the Before & After Submission Page.

I rebuilt my cedar deck and made the mistake of using a Big Box store's Premium Semi Transparent Stain. Looked great the first season, but after a single winter, it began peeling. I attempted to save it by touching it up but after winter #2. The finish was beyond saving, and I had to bite the bullet and sand it off. I used Sikens to refinish and it came out great.

Moral of the story - use a real oil stain, not a film type product.

Jack Miller

Photo Credit: Jack Miller

If you want to submit pictures and the story behind your project, CLICK HERE to go to the Before & After Submission Page.

"Hi Tim,

We live in sunny St. Petersburg, FL. Of course, that means our docks take a beating 24-7-365. My Before Photo is from the roof of our house just prior to some renovations, thus the wood and trusses in the photo. Following the renovation, I was able to focus on the dock.

I applied Stain Solver oxygen bleach per your instructions and was amazed at the results. Guess I shouldn't have been but it was far beyond my expectations given that the dock had not been touched in three years (that I know of, could have been longer as we just purchased). A During Photo shows the results.

I then ordered Defy's Extreme light walnut colored stain. It was shipped for free form Jacksonville - great job by Duval Paints. (No local vendor available.) I applied two coats within the twenty minute window and I think the results speak for themselves. I still have to do the edges and will be replacing the railing but so far so good. Stain Solver and Defy, your two recommendations, did the job. Looking forward to seeing how Defy stands up to the extreme conditions.

All the best."

Tim Connolly

If you want to submit pictures and the story behind your project, CLICK HERE to go to the Before & After Submission Page.

"I was looking at some of your videos and saw you had one on garden ponds, I would like to show you the one I built for my back yard.

The pond is 3' deep x 14' wide x 12' long with a 6' waterfalls. I did all the digging myself. I had help setting the liner, but I put all the rocks in myself.

I built this last summer, and at this time I have four Kio fish, one butterfly Kio, and some different gold fish. It's a great thing when you in the back yard listen to the waterfalls. Oh yes, the birds love it too! They think it is a big bird bath. Thanks for looking."

Mike Rignola

If you want to submit pictures and the story behind your project, CLICK HERE to go to the Before & After Submission Page.

"My Very Basic Decks.

Both decks are made out of pressure treated lumber, I purchased the spindles and made my own handrails. The upper deck is 12' x 14' and lower level is 12' x 19'. I added the gazebo last summer to keep the sun away from my sliding glass door.

The stain I used was Olympic Maximum penetrating oil formula toner, and the color is Redwood Naturaltone with the white stained handrails. We spend a lot of time on this deck watching the birds and listen to my fish pond waterfalls."

Mike Rignola

If you want to submit pictures and the story behind your project, CLICK HERE to go to the Before & After Submission Page.

What's in this Issue?

Another week has blown by. The unseasonable very warm weather is now history, and we're back to very normal early spring cool temperatures here in New Hampshire. In fact, tonight it's going to be downright cold. 23 F is the predicted low as I type this.

Ice out on the lake happened last Thursday. It was magical to watch it all disappear in a matter of hours. By the end of the day, I had dropped my dock back into the water. That's the official start of summer as far as I'm concerned.

I sent in a soil sample to the State of NH Co-operative Service late last week. Kathy and I are putting in a vegetable garden in a new spot in our yard. We figured we'd let the soil scientists help us succeed by telling us what needs to be done with the soil. I know it needs amendments. It's got great drainage. I've got some great plans for this garden.

Deck Cleaning and Sealing eBook

I've finished writing my latest eBook about deck cleaning and sealing, but now I'm in the process of completely reformatting it. I should have it ready for you next week, just in time for the annual Spring Stain Solver Sale. Pay attention to next week's newsletter for the sale news.

You may be a past customer that's purchased Stain Solver to clean your deck, patio, house siding, or any other outdoor thing you own. It's the cleaner of choice for thousands. It's great to use to clean any deck, be it wood, composite or totally synthetic.

I need one last favor from you concerning the eBook. Your questions last week were absolutely amazing. Wait till you see all the questions and my answers. Oh my gosh, wait till you see the fantastic questions. Many I would have never thought to include.

But here's what I want to know now. Could you please share with me what deck sealer you have had the best luck with, the worst luck with, and how long, on average, before the sealer you've used fails?

Please take the quick survey here:

AsktheBuilder.com Deck Sealer Success Survey

I'll be sharing all this data in the eBook so you can see who's having the best success and with what product.

Finally, do you have any stunning photos of your deck? If you happen to have Before and After photos, that would be fantastic.

Would you like to show it off? Do you want your deck photos in the eBook? I can't promise it, but if you want to let others see the magnificent deck you have, you can submit the photo(s) here. If I use your photo(s) in the eBook, you'll get a copy of the eBook at no cost and I'll send you a 4-pound container of Stain Solver to use on any cleaning project at your home.

Decorate with Doors

Have you given thought to doing some interior remodeling this spring? Are you tired of the bland doors you have between rooms? Are you aware that you can get some stunning doors that hide away in a pocket or slide on a wall-mounted rail that allow you to stop futzing with the swinging-door blues?

LE Johnson has been, for years, the hardware I've used to create the pocket doors in my past homes and many of the houses I built and remodeled. Some people shy away from pocket doors because they feel they're problematic. I never had an issue with any LE Johnson door at my house or on my jobs. The last thing you want is a problem with a pocket door. I've never had a problem with LE Johnson.

Imagine a new door or doors in your house that have decorative glass in some or all of the panels. The look is absolutely a show stopper. You'll feel better about your home and your friends and neighbors will be green with envy.

If you're planning to build a new home or do a room addition, absolutely plan to install space-saving pocket doors. They're easy to install, and they glide like the door is floating on air. Want more information about these great doors? Spend plenty of time at the LE Johnson website.

Tool Review - Coast Rapid Response 3.00 Pocket Knife

I received a pocket knife to review last week. Looking at it through the clear rigid plastic packaging, I was anxious to test this attractive knife.

You'll see why when you see its photo. I think you'll love my review, if not, I want to know why.

Actually, you can HELP me once again. You're able to leave comments at the bottom of all my columns and reviews. Tell me what you think of the review in a comment. It's easy to do!

Don't forget to use the social media button widget at the top left of the page. Clicking those buttons helps spread the word about AsktheBuilder. Believe me - I really need your help doing that.

Invisible Websites

Have you ever stumbled upon a website, a nice looking one that looks professional, and then discover the information at the site may be bogus? Or there's a hidden agenda?

While doing research for my Cleaning and Sealing Your Deck eBook, I came across any number of websites that make you wonder about the quality of the information at the website.

When you click the About Us link on these sites, you typically get wording like this:

"Welcome to XXXXXXXX website. This site is a compilation of the best expert advice for your xxxxxxx projects. Whether you need to know about how to blah blah blah blah blah, this site is a resource for do-it-yourselfers looking for home improvement advice. Check back often for updates and new articles."

There's no mention of who's creating the content at the website, no names, no nothing. Yet they say it's "expert advice". Are you serious? How can they make that claim? How can you validate the claim if you don't know who wrote it and their level of experience?

This is what I'm fighting each day online.

Here's how you can help. When you visit a website to get information about a topic, STOP reading what you went there for and go find the About Us page. Click and read that first.

If you don't discover anything about the person, the expertise they have, number of years of hands-on experience in the field, awards they've received, etc., then I suggest you have no way to gauge if the information you're about to rely on is really expert advice.

Of course, it's even worse in forums and advice you glean from social media posts. How do you know the expert level of people in those situations?

I'm on a crusade now to try to educate consumers just like you to not pay any attention to sites like this and to spread the word to your friends to avoid them. These sites are making it increasingly difficult for AsktheBuilder.com and other great websites to survive.

Tip of the Week - Disguising Blacktop Crack Repairs

You may be getting ready to seal your blacktop drive this spring. If you have cracks in the drive, you may be using a special caulk for the purpose.

If you want to do a better job of disguising the crack, just caulk about a foot of the crack and press down in the caulk some of the small loose stones that erode from your driveway. Be sure the stones are clean, dry and dust free.

You can also sprinkle some dry coarse sand onto the top of the caulk. Tap it down to embed it in the caulk with a paint stick or wood shim. Adding the stone and sand makes the repair more durable and it helps to match the crack with the drive.

REPLY to this Newsletter

You can help me in another way. If you like this newsletter, I want you to just click Reply and send me a High 5, a Thank You, or any other salutation.

I may not be able to respond due to my workload, but your reply sends all kinds of good vibrations through the Internet and it helps me in more ways than you'll ever know. Thanks in advance if you can do this.

Cell Phone Do-Not-Call List

If you don't want telemarketers to call your cell phone, you need to call this number and get your cell phone number added to the Do-Not-Call List. 888-382-1222

Video of the Week - Replacing an Asphalt Shingle

Do you have a damaged roofing shingle or two on your roof? Can you get up there safely? Do you want to try to tackle the job yourself to save some sweet moola?

Watch this video.

Q & A of the Week - Flagstone Patios

DEAR TIM: I want to dress up the look of our existing concrete patio. Is it possible to install flagstone or similar material directly over the concrete? What do you use to adhere the flagstone to the concrete? Can I enlarge the patio without fear of future cracking where old meets new? Kathy D., Batavia, IL

DEAR KATHY: Wow! What a gorgeous patio you will have. Flagstone can be installed directly on concrete. In fact, it is the only way I would do it if you desire an easy to maintain surface and one that stays flat for the entire time you intend to use it. Your biggest challenge will be ....

Click Here to read all about Kathy's challenges and how I suggest she do this job.

DEAR TIM: I've been trying to convince my husband to build a small garden pond that has a waterfall for me. He claims it's too hard and talks about all the challenges. What does it take to build one? Do you need to rent expensive equipment? Do you need special skills? Can you point me in the right direction, as I think I'll just surprise him and show him he's not dealing with a pushover. Vicki B. Nashville, TN

DEAR VICKI: It's hard for me to answer a few of your questions because I'd need to know the soil conditions at your home. But let's assume that you've got a clay soil that has few rocks in it. I'll also assume that there's no hardpan or other hard layer close to the surface. If you have nice soil that's not too hard to dig, you can do this. The biggest reason you'll succeed is you have the right attitude.

As crazy as this sounds, you just need one or two shovels, and maybe a wheelbarrow. If your land is pretty flat where you want the pond, then you don't even need the wheelbarrow as the dirt you dig to make the hole for the pond will be used to build the hill that will form your waterfall.

I prefer to use a round point shovel to do the major part of the digging. This shovel has two curved edges that meet at a point at the tip of the shovel. This shape is perfect for cutting into moist soil. I use a flat garden spade with a flat edge for trimming and creating platforms within the pond.

If you're lucky enough to have a somewhat sandy clay soil, they seem to dig easier if they're damp. Some clay soils get very sticky when they're too wet, and the clay sticks to the shovel. You'll have to experiment to see what are the best soil moisture conditions to dig. If you need to add water, just turn the sprinkler on to water the soil to get it right.

Many garden ponds are about 18-24 inches deep at the deepest part. The depth of the pond is dependent upon what you're going to have in it. If you want water lilies and other aquatic plants, you need to plan the pond so the plants are at the proper depth.

Some ponds have shelves or flat ledges on the sides as you shape them. These shelves can have shallow plants on them and are great places to place decorative rocks that you can see through the water. I'd spend some time drawing out what you want and thinking about how much water you want over the features in the pond before you start to dig.

Frogs and other creatures that will find the pond love to hang out in and about rocks that are in the pond. You need to plan for this so you don't make the pond too small. The pond may look big when you dig it, but as you fill it with stone and rocks, all of a sudden there's little room for water!

The best liner I feel for a small garden pond is black commercial rubber roofing material. It comes in giant rolls and you can often get a nice piece of scrap roofing left over from a roll for a decent price. Call several commercial roofers and see who can supply you with what you need. Find out the biggest piece you can get so you can line the pond with one continuous piece. You want to avoid seaming the rubber at all costs.

I like to make a dirt curb that's at least 5 inches high around the pond. You lap the rubber roofing over this curb and extend the rubber at least a foot into the yard around. Place rocks on the top of the curb to hide the rubber and hold it in place. This curb stops surface water from flooding into the pond in periods of heavy rain.

The most challenging aspect of the pond is creating the waterfall. You can make a stone cliff of sorts to create the elevation needed for the fall. I like to use a 1-inch inner diameter black rubber hose to connect the submersible pump that's hidden by rocks in the pond up to the outlet at the top of the waterfall.

I recommend that you use another piece of rubber roofing material to help you construct the waterfall structure. This secondary piece of rubber drops down into the pond and you hide it with rocks.

The purpose of this is to catch any water that leaks or runs down the rocks. If you don't do this, water from the pond can soak into the surrounding soil and effectively drain your pond.

The electric power that feeds the pump must be protected by a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) outlet to prevent outdoor shock hazards. If you don't know how to install one of these outlets correctly and safely, by all means hire a professional electrician for this part of the project.

You can watch an informative video that shows a garden pond with a waterfall and how to build one. Just click here “garden pond video”.

Hi, I'm Tim Carter and I want to show you a garden pond or a fish pond with a waterfall. I want to show you the basic construction. I just cleaned this one out and because the water level is not filled up all the way, you can easily see the construction.

This pond has a waterfall at one end. The water level is down about halfway and is about a foot deep now. This pond has a few different levels. Notice the flat area just under the rocks on the right. There is an additional ledge on the other side of the pond.

The pond liner is a sheet of commercial rubber roofing. The pond was dug out and shaped the way the owner wanted. Then the rubber liner was laid over the pond and up and over the sides of the pond.  This keeps the water from running in behind the liner.

The water level will come up another 16" to reach the normal depth. Under a large piece of slate in the bottom of the pond is the pump that circulates water to the waterfall. The black water hose is visible since the water level is down, but once the pond is full, the hose will be hidden from view.  The hose travels up the other side of the pond and flows out onto a flat piece of slate to create the waterfall.

This pond receives a fresh supply of water from the downspout. So every time it rains, the water flows into the pond. So that is the basic tour of how this pond was constructed. Not too complicated.

The pocket knife industry has always been strong and new models come out all the time. I’m convinced this is because a knife is such a personal item. Each person is drawn to certain things about a knife.

My first impression of the Coast Rapid Response 3.00 pocket knife, while it was still in the impenetrable stiff plastic packaging, was that it looked good. I had to use my trusty SOG Flash 2 pocket knife to free the trapped Coast knife from its clear bondage.

Here are the tech specs on the knife:

• Blade length: 3.00 in.
• Overall length open: 7.00 in.
• Weight: 3.70 oz.
• Blade material: High-carbon stainless steel
• Partial Serrated Blade edge
• Handle material: Fiberglass-filled textured nylon
• Ambidextrous Thumb stud on each face of the blade
• Full Stainless Steel frame
• Ambidextrous pocket clip
• Roller-Cam technology spring opens knife

These knives are built so that you can open them with one hand. Such was not the case with this bad boy. Try as I might to open the knife with the thumb studs, I couldn’t. It simply hurt my thumb too much.

The other issue with the knife is the spring lock that holds the knife in the open position. This needs to be moved sideways so you can close the blade. Once again, it was very difficult to push down on this lever to produce enough friction to move it sideways.

The knife comes with a safety switch that allows you to lock it so the blade doesn’t open. I feel it's superfluous as the blade takes a lot of persuasion to go from the closed to the open position.

Although it’s a very handsome knife, I give it 2 hammers out of 5.

This new Coast knife is going to be a decoration on my desk as my SOG Flash 2 will be in my pocket until such time as Coast issues an upgrade model fixing all the problems. My guess is it will be called the Rapid Response 3.10.

Joyce DiSanto did a complete facelift on her home. Her house remodeling included a complete exterior remodeling, a metal roof, concrete roof, stucco, stone, window pop-outs and solar panels.

If you want to submit pictures and the story behind your project, CLICK HERE to go to the Before & After Submission Page.

"Really no before pictures, because there wasn't anything there but grass. This is my shed that I built by myself and without a plan, I just went for it as I was building the shed. I wanted something different than the prefabs or buying one from a shed company.

Take a look and let me know what you think."

Mike Rignola

If you want to submit pictures and the story behind your project, CLICK HERE to go to the Before & After Submission Page.

The above pictures are from Trudy whose town was hit during the recent storms. I have requested that she provides After pictures once these buildings are repaired. But for now, we only have the Before images.

"Hi Tim,

Here is a start of some hail damage pictures. These pictures are of my nephew's garage. The one with the tarp is his double-wide trailer. Probably a good third of our town has this much damage. We live about a mile from him.

I kept nagging my husband to look for damage on our house, but he said we wouldn't have enough to turn in to insurance.

I finally got the contractor and adjuster both here. We are getting a new roof on our house, house garage and separate back garage. All new gutters and downspouts both places. An upstairs window. The vinyl under the gutters and down a little of the side of the house (fascia and soffit).

Our back garage has vinyl siding, and it has to have a new back and two lights replaced. My gazing ball and solar light were damaged, as well as crawlspace vent covers, etc. But if you drove by, you would think we had no damage.

Oh, we have a one and ½ story and the sides of the dormers are being replaced as they are vinyl.

It knocked out many windshields and/or back windows. My son's girlfriend's car had $8,500 damage. My sister-in-law's van was totaled."

Trudy Bledsoe

If you want to submit pictures and the story behind your project, CLICK HERE to go to the Before & After Submission Page.

What's in this issue?

Oh do I have spring fever! As I write this, it's a bluebird day - not a cloud in the sky, the temperature is climbing to 75 F, and the snow is almost gone. If you stand in the sun, it's almost so hot you can't have on a long-sleeved shirt. It's great weather to take a walk.

I was working just a few days ago on the lumber takeoff for a large shed / mini barn I'm going to build as soon as the weather breaks. This project is going to spawn quite a few new eBooks, all of which will have numerous videos in them.

My plan is that each eBook will just showcase, in great detail, each aspect of building the structure. You can purchase a la carte just what you need to know.

Friendly Reminder

In this newsletter, you'll see several links back to my website. When you're there, I ask you to do one thing for me. Please help me by clicking the Social Media button in the upper left corner of every page you visit.

Senco F-18 Nail Gun Review

I posted my first tool review at the website. Tool Reviews is a primary navigation category, and I'm quite sure it's going to be very popular.

Have you ever used a nail gun? If not, you may want to after you read this review.

Before and After

The new AsktheBuilder.com website design launched last week. One of the primary navigation buttons at the top of every page is Before & After.

I encourage you to share some nice photos of any projects that you want others to see. With the wicked Spring weather just around the corner, it could be before photos of your house or property followed by after photos of storm damage. Trudy sent me some hail damage photos taken near her home that were frightening.

You submit your photos and story using this form at the website.

Where's My Answer Tim???

Each time I send a newsletter out, I get at least one curt reply from a subscriber. They're all the same.

The person wants to know, "Why haven't you answered MY question?"

Well, let's do the electronic autopsy now.

Are you positive your question made it to me? Did you check your Spam folder for my reply? Is it possible you somehow accidentally deleted it? Is it possible that your ISP or mail handler failed to deliver my answer to you?

I take pride in answering incoming questions. It's done primarily by Ellen. She's worked for me for, gosh, what is it Ellen, sixteen years? Ellen is my Numero Uno Customer Service rep, and she deals with all the incoming questions. Those she can't answer she sends to me. Ellen answers most questions within days of receiving them.

To the best of my knowledge, I'm the *only* home improvement website that answers real questions. Most of my peers don't have a Contact Form where you can ask a question.

Bottom Line: Please don't be so quick to blame me if you don't get an answer. The trouble could be in your set. :->>>

Please be aware I have a product that allows you and I to talk on the phone if you have an urgent problem where a mistake could cost you hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of dollars. You can invoke my 15-Minute Phone Consult.

Phone Fraud

I saw this story at the USA Today website about caller ID fraud. It's not directly related to home improvement, but a thief could steal the money you were going to spend on tools or a new kitchen.

Tip of the Week - Fence Cleaning

"Hi Tim, I was reading up on Stain Solver for cleaning my wooden fence. Is scrubbing with a brush mandatory? It's a pretty good amount of fencing (corner lot) and the thought of scrubbing (vs. power washing) gives me pause. I agree that pressure washing (unless very careful) can be terribly damaging. I used one on my last home's fence, and wood was FLYING everywhere. Regards," Chris.

Here's the thing about cleaning. Let's say you hang your dirty clothes on an outdoor clothes line and then spray them with a great solution of soap and water. I mean spray them for an hour or two using a hand pump sprayer, then rinse them and allow them to air dry.

Will they be clean? Of course not, it's the mechanical agitation of the clothes being tumbled or moved by the machine agitator that cleans them. The soap just helps lift and transport the dirt away.

The same is true with washing a car. You've used a spray cleaner at one of those self-clean car washes, but there's always a thin film of dirt left.

You have to mechanically agitate the fence to deep clean it. Just get a helper. Switch tasks. One person is in the lead with the hand pump sprayer applying my Stain Solver making sure it doesn't evaporate. The second person follows behind with a scrub brush on a pole. The scrubber is also responsible for rinsing the fence.

It's not hard. Just switch jobs every fifteen minutes. Work on an overcast day if possible. On a sunny or windy day, the Stain Solver solution may evaporate too quickly.

Stain Solver Sale

Since Chris mentioned it, and my new Deck Cleaning and Sealing eBook will be complete very soon, I want to tell you the annual Spring Stain Solver Sale is just around the corner. It's going to happen the first two weeks of April, so be opening each newsletter to make sure you do not miss it.

Video of the Week - Control Joint Video

Are you going to be pouring new concrete soon? It could be a driveway, patio, sidewalk, even a basement floor. You must understand what happens to concrete as it transforms from the plastic state to the solid state. Massive internal tension forces actively try to rip it apart. Watch this video to get a feeling of what you have to do to prevent jagged random cracks.

Blog Post - Future of FREE High-Quality Content

I promised you a blog post about what I feel the future holds for free high-quality content on the Internet.

I'm deep in the bowels of the Internet on a daily basis as my business depends on it. This causes me to have a drastically different view of things than you probably have.

Suffice it to say I see a huge change ahead. Read this blog post and please comment at the bottom of it. Tell me how you really feel and keep in mind how the content business operated BEFORE the Internet existed as you now know it.

Q & A of the Week - Roof Flashing Leaks

DEAR TIM: My house was recently re-shingled. However, leaks are present near a chimney and where a lower roof meets a second story wall. I was able to get up on the roof and look around. The metal work around the chimney and along the wall was not replaced. It is old and rusty. However, I discovered fresh silicone caulk in and around this metal work. Was the caulk installed incorrectly? J. W.

DEAR J. W.: YES! The caulk was installed incorrectly. It should have never been used in the first place! Caulk is not a substitute for roof metal work or flashing. Roofing shingles are a fantastic product. Many of them are...

Click Here to continue to read about Roof Flashing Leaks.

Don't forget - Do it Right, not Over,
Tim Carter

Keith Mealy of Cincinnati offers his shed door latch solution.

"I have what I think is a more elegant solution. Two screws and a 6" piece of 1x2.

The latch sits under the edge of the gambrel roof along the side of the shed. When the door is fully opened, it latches. When it's time to close the door, grab the top of the door and flick the latch up with your thumb."

Keith Mealy

Joy Davis, who lives in Iowa, tackled this closet remodeling project.

"I was going to reorganize a wall in my entry closet but the more I thought about it the more I decided to do.

So I ended up painting all the walls, pulling up the linoleum in the front part of the closet and taking up the carpet in the back closet (the back closet was the original entry closet but we added another closet on the front of it years ago), building new shelves and putting in a regular closet pole instead of just hooks.

I put new shelves in a little cubby on the right (which had been a big jumbled pile and you could never find anything).

I am a very rank amateur at building so I used plastic totes for drawers in the cubby. Also I bought some plastic CD/DVD holders in which to store nail and screw boxes.

I added hooks and hangers for brooms and such to get them off the floor. And some wire baskets, by the door, to organize and store hats and gloves. I got them at Wal-Mart. They were called stackable baskets and were for fruit and such. I hung them on cup hooks, so they are removable. It had been a real mess before, using the old box on the floor to store the hats and gloves. Everything was always spilling out. I also added a lower set of hooks for grandchildren's coats.

In the process of cleaning the closet for the remodel, I found some linoleum tiles that I forgot I had. There was enough to do the entire closet!

I spent less than $80 on the project. I used reclaimed boards and leftover boards where I could and I either painted or re-stained them. Unfortunately, I took my before picture after I had cleaned and started on the project instead of when it was a total mess where you could hardly walk through it."

Joy Davis

If you want to submit pictures and the story behind your project, CLICK HERE to go to the Before & After Submission Page.

David Ellis of Illinois asked "how do you figure the length of the ridge board in a hip roof garage?"

David, the ridge board for a common hip roof is easy to calculate. You measure the length and width of the structure to and from the actual building line.

The building line is the point from which you start to calculate the run of your common rafters to the centerline of the roof.

I also assume you'll be using a 2x material for the ridge board.

Subtract the shorter wall length from the longer wall length< and add 1.5 inches for the length of the ridge beam or board.

Example: Let's say I'm building a shed that measures 10 feet by 16 feet. These are the measurements of the walls once covered with my sheathing and create the actual rectangle of the roof line.

16' - 10' = 6 feet

6 feet plus 1.5 inches = 73.5 inches for the ridge board

You have to add the 1.5 inches because that accounts for the king rafters that connect to each end of the ridge board just like the common rafters that touch the sides of the ridge board.

Tim Carter

DEAR TIM: This year I'm going to build a room addition because moving to a bigger home is just out of the question. I've never done rough framing for a subfloor and wonder all about the floor joists. I've got countless questions about them, and wonder if you can offer a quick tutorial on the top things one should know about selecting and installing wood floor joists. My guess is that you've handled quite a few and can shed some light on how I can have floors in my room addition that perform really well. Bob S., Rochester, NY

DEAR BOB: Something tells me that entire books have been written on the subject of floor joists. It's going to be impossible for me, in this tiny space, to give the topic the attention it truly deserves.

I think the best place to start is to understand that each floor joist is actually a beam in and of itself. A beam is a structural member that spans an opening and is supported at each end. When you place any number of these beams parallel with one another and then cover them with some other surface, you end up with a floor that you can walk on.

Any structural engineer will tell you that each specific beam, or floor joist, can only support a certain amount of weight based on its composition, size, its overall length between the points where each end rests, the spacing between each floor joist, etc.

It gets even more complex. There are scientific span tables that are referenced in the building code that tell you the minimum standards that the floor joist in your room addition must meet. These span tables tell you the maximum span a floor joist can achieve depending on the anticipated load on the joist.

Not all floor joist lumber has the same strength and even wood of the same species, but of a different grade, will have different strength characteristics. And you thought this was going to be easy.

Your building inspector will hopefully assist you in conjunction with the manager of your local lumber yard in picking the correct material for your job. Be aware that lumber yards have a far greater inventory of floor joists than the home centers or big box stores. Absolutely visit a real lumber yard to get some advice on strong and affordable floor joist lumber.

The common spacing between floor joists is 16 inches on center. Look inside old homes or warehouses and you'll often see funny cross bracing between the floor joists. This is often referred to as bridging. These pieces of lumber help to transfer the load of one joist to the joists on either side of it.

If you decide to install bridging, be sure the pieces don't touch one another. This can lead to floor squeaks as the bridging rubs against one another when someone walks above on the floor. The building code in your area may not require you to install bridging.

When you go to install a floor joist, you need to pay attention to its crown. Have you ever looked at large bridges from a distance? Almost every bridge has a hump in it with the center of the bridge being higher than the ends of the bridge. This is a crown. You need to make sure the hump in each floor joist is pointing to the sky.

Joists that have severe crowns need to be set aside or some of the crown needs to be trimmed off so the floor remains fairly flat once covered with plywood or oriented strand board. If you purchase engineered floor joists that resemble steel I-beams, these have no crown in them.

Floor joists are usually set on top of a special piece of lumber on top of a foundation. This plate needs to last a long time and isolate the floor joists from damage.

Wood destroying insects and wood fungi can destroy the wood in houses. The insects frequently start feasting on wood that's in direct contact with the masonry foundations. It's a building code requirement to use treated lumber where wood contacts masonry.

This treated lumber resists wood rot as it's immune to damage from moisture. Termites and carpenter ants find the chemicals in the wood none to tasty and often decide to find other more palatable wood. The first piece of lumber commonly attached to the top of a house foundation is often called a sill plate. This treated lumber is bolted to the foundation and the floor joists typically rest on it.

You can watch an informative video that shows a treated lumber sill plate and how it rests on a foundation at www.AsktheBulider.com. Just type “sill plate video” into the AsktheBuilder.com search engine.

 "Hi Tim,

Every year, I have about 1000 sq. ft. of deck to clean and maintain. Pine needles are my largest problem. The only tool I have found to work is a variable set square that has a handle part and a blade that can folded back into the handle or locked at any angle. I just use it set straight as a scrapper that I can run down the decking gaps.

On the issue of gaps that are two narrow, mostly because the deck was set down badly, what would you think of my running a power saw down the gap? Of course I'd have to ensure the blade depth did not cut into any of the cross beams.

The deck is in good condition considering it is about 25 years old now. The surface is 2x6 pressure treated. I've been contemplating widening the narrow gaps for a few years now, but am wondering if that would damage the pressure treating. Am I right in thinking that the chemicals from pressure treatment are long gone?

Thank you,"

Alan Peck

Alan,

You can absolutely widen the gap with a circular saw. Set the depth just 1/16th inch more than the thickness of the deck boards.

Your challenge will be to cut in the center of the groove. If you take your time, you should do fine.

Cutting the boards will not affect the chemical composition at all. I'd venture to say the boards still have quite a bit of chemical treatment in them.

Tim Carter

Subscriber Terry Hretsina forwarded his tip of keeping the shed doors open when going in and out.

"Hi Tim,

Being a subscriber, I thought I would pass this little helpful hint to you in case some of your subscribers are looking for ways to keep a shed door open for a short time.

What I did is put a piece of 2x6 (cut a short length) and screwed a hinge on the door frame and on the piece of wood.

Picture 1: When I open the door wide, I flip the piece of wood inside the space of the shed door and then snug the door gently so it stays. If there is no wind, it stays open.

Picture 2: For you to go in and out of the shed. If you want to keep it open, you can always attach a 'hasp and staple' type of hatch to the wood or just use a 'hatch and staple' latch by itself."

Terry

I’ve installed tens of thousands of finish nails in my career, many by hand, but most using finish nailers. The first finish nailer I used was a pneumatic Senco nail gun that I purchased back in the late 1980’s. I still wish I had that tool, as it would have been a great photo for this review to show it up against the stylish and radical F-18 nailer from Senco that I just finished testing.

The bottom line is they both performed flawlessly, albeit the new F-18 has only been used in a testing environment, not on a rough and tumble job site. But if it’s made anything like my old Senco gun, it’s going to perform like a champ in a new house job or a remodeling environment.

Out of the box, you get the F-18 tool, one 18-volt lithium-ion battery, the battery charger and the handsome soft-sided carrying case. The soft case has some very nice external pockets to carry boxes of nails or other supplies. It also sported a handy zippered pocket.

Here’s the magic of this nailer. In the past, you would need a compressor and hoses to operate a nail gun. Decades ago, Paslode freed us from this spaghetti, but you had to buy small canisters of propane to power their guns. Senco, and other manufacturers, are now using electricity and compressed air to drive nails. It’s caveman simple when you think about it.

The Senco website lists these top selling features that should get your attention:

• Patented Reflex-Shot design
• Robust aluminum drive cylinder
• Rugged aluminum magazine
• Eco-Friendly energy - 18v Li-ion battery
• Selectable drive switch
• Nose mounted LED light
• Adjustable & reversible belt hook
• Thumbwheel depth of drive Innovative
• EZ-Clear feature
• Includes case and charger 2-year limited warranty

Here’s what I liked about the tool:

• Aggressive design that exudes power and strength
• Comfortable grip
• Lightweight
• No compressor
• No hoses
• No gas cartridges
• Dry-fire prevention sensor
• Sequential or Contact Firing Mode
• Power Meter on the Battery

Here’s what had me scratching my head wondering what the engineers and tool designers were thinking:

Why doesn’t the nose-mounted LED light shine exactly where the nose of the tool will be placed? Come on Senco, I can see how to put two more LEDs one on each of the sides of the sloping nose to get light right where I need it.

Why is it so noisy? And my hearing is shot after all these years.

Why are the detents on the mode switch so subtle? They need to be more aggressive.

Why, for goodness sake, doesn’t the tool come with a starter kit with an assortment of nails for instant productivity? Gift buyers won’t necessarily know to get nails when they buy the gun.

Why is the gearing on the depth-of-drive-adjustment so fine? It takes lots of turns to get the nail to go deeper into the wood.

The bottom line is that this is a great finish nailer. It’s going to do lots of work for you and without any downtime if it’s like my old gun. I’d be proud to show it off and use it at one of my job sites.

My rating for this tool is 4 hammers out of a possible 5.

Before remodeling

Working on the Tunnel

Matt Glewwe and his wife converted an unused, uninsulated attic space into bedrooms for the children. Matt included a special feature for the kids.

"Tim,

Not sure if you are still looking for photos, but if you are, here are a few shots (before, during and after) of a project my wife and I did on our 1939 Cape Cod in St. Paul, MN.

Beyond the knee wall on our 1-1/2 story house, there was just uninsulated and unfinished space that had been used for storage. When we were expecting our first child, we thought these spaces would be fantastic as little rooms for kids to sleep in, play in or just spend time in. We now have four children and they all love these little rooms.

We insulated, sheet-rocked, put in lights and added a small window. There were actually two rooms like this (one on each end of the house) and then there is a tighter spot that connected the two rooms. My wife wanted to just cover it up, but I insisted that we create a tunnel between the two rooms. This is the highlight for our children as well as their friends when they come over to play!

I am sure that actual material cost was less than $500, but there was quite a bit of time invested in doing all of our own labor, including sheet-rocking and mudding spaces that most people would not want to go into!

My wife and I both have Master Degrees in Architecture, from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. We own a small residential design firm, and would love it if you could link to our website if you use this project on your website. Could you please let us know if you use this?

www.gsqrd.com

Thank you,"

Matt Glewwe

Well, Matt, I used your photos and the project looks great. Had to be fun working on the tunnel!!

If you want to submit pictures and the story behind your project, CLICK HERE to go to the Before & After Submission Page.

This is NOT a normal newsletter if you just subscribed in the past few days.

A real newsletter is coming out on Tuesday, but I had two things to share this weekend.

Happy St. Patrick's Day by the way!

New Website Design

How do you like the new website design at AsktheBuilder.com? We've been working very hard on it for months. Tell me if you think it's faster.

You do know that you can adjust the size of the type you see on your monitor by adjusting the Preferences in your browser software, right? I often get complaints about that. You can make the type font bigger or smaller at your end within seconds by navigating to where you adjust the font size.

If you need to find an answer to your question(s), ALWAYS use the search engine box that's now at the bottom of your screen. It floats along with you as you scroll down the page. We're making it more prominent today.

I'm also loading a new Welcome video that will be in the upper right corner of each page. That should help educate visitors on how to best use the website.

See the social media tool in the upper left of each page? I would *really* appreciate it if you would use this heavily. Please Like each page you're on Facebook assuming you find the information on that page helpful.

Do the same with the Twitter button. Use the Share button to email the page to yourself, a friend or someone else. If you're a Google Plus person, click that button on each page you're at assuming you feel that page is useful to others. That's what it's all about. I'm trying to help you with great free information, and I'd appreciate it if you would help me in return. You do just that by clicking those buttons each time you're at the site.

I'm going to explain why clicking these buttons on each page is so vitally important in a blog post on Tuesday. There's big search engine change in the wind, and I absolutely need your help now.

The Tool Review section is empty right now, but you'll see the first review up on Tuesday. I started testing the Senco Lithium-Ion F-18 Finish Nailer yesterday. Early Line: WOW! You'll not want to miss that review.

If you work for a PR firm that represents a tool manufacturer, or work for the actual manufacturer, you'll want to start sending me tools to review.

They can be hand tools or power tools. Send any tool that's of great quality and people can buy now. You have to fill out the form at this page to do it.

Deck Cleaning and Sealing eBook

About ten days ago, I did an overview from 45,000 feet on deck cleaning and sealing. That's the altitude private jets travel. I discovered that fact from a friend last fall. They fly higher than commercial aircraft because the air is thinner up there and the private jets can go faster. Isn't that amazing? I never knew that. But I digress.

I got SO MANY questions from subscribers like you after that feature in the March 6th newsletter, that I decided the topic is worthy of a book.

I'm soliciting questions from you right now. Please send me your burning questions about deck cleaning and sealing ASAP.

Please do not ask questions about Building a Deck. That's going to be a future eBook.

I'm just looking for questions about cleaning, sealing and minor repairs you have to make before you clean and seal. You can ask questions about regular care or things you feel might harm a deck. Or maybe it's about snow and ice.

I already have all the normal ones like:

• What's the best sealer?
• What's the best cleaner?
• How do I remove tough stains?
• Ventilation questions
• etc.

Please list each of your questions on a separate line in your reply. Please change the Subject Line to: Deck Questions.

Finally, I've been searching for a deck flossing tool. I can't seem to find it. This is a tool that would remove organic debris from between tightly spaced decking boards.

Do you know of such a tool? Yes, I realize you can blast away at this with a pressure washer, but that can damage wood surfaces.

I'm looking for some sort of thin metal tool that can be put in the groove.

Joel Williams responded to my request for Before and After pictures. He provided this story and the related photos for the winner of the Ugliest Bathroom Contest. Here is his email. Click on any of the image below for a higher resolution view.

"Tim:

In a recent newsletter you requested before and after images of bathroom remodels.

Attached are some additions to your website from a winner of America’s Ugliest Bathroom contest, by American Standard Brands.

As the contest winner, homeowner Darlene Wetzel received $10,000 in new plumbing products and fixtures to upgrade her family’s eyesore to what she calls, “right out of a magazine.”

Contractor Shane McGarvey (Campbell, NY) helped Wetzel design a multipurpose bathroom for her family that included a stacked washer and dryer and laundry folding table.  The goal was to create a bathroom with very clean lines that was both modern and welcoming.  Wetzel, who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis, opted for a walk-in bathtub, “that would be easy for me to use when I wasn't feeling well.”  She says she is now able to enjoy relaxing heated baths and appreciates muscle therapy offered by the whirlpool jets.  McGarvey added a pocket door to free up space and allow for wheelchair accessibility.

Wetzel also fell in love with the warmth of the dark vanity and the clean lines of the white sink/top.  In particular, she appreciates the vanity’s storage drawers that put daily essentials right at her fingertips but allow her to tuck them away to maintain her “right out of a magazine bathroom.”

Tim, as I mentioned, we’ve included several before and after images for your consideration.  Like me, I’m sure your viewers would be interested in seeing this transformation from ugly duckling to magazine style.  Come to think of it, I could use a similar transformation….

This hasn't been published anywhere; thought you might be able to use it.

Thanks,"

Joel Williams

If you want to submit your pictures and the story behind your project, CLICK HERE to go to the Before & After Submission Page.

After reading my Tip of the Week on shutting off the water main, Don of Kitty Hawk, NC, provided this tip on your electric service.

"While you are showing those concerned how to shut off the water - how about also showing them how to shut off the power?

After a near disaster, I labeled our breaker box - just in case I am not close-by.

Regards,"

Don

How many times have you received a reminder about fire drills in your home? Have you disregarded those? Shame on you. We talked about that all the time when my kids were small. They knew if there was a fire in our home exactly what they were supposed to do.

But what about a simple thing like a water leak? You may know where your water shut off valve is, but does everyone in the family? Does everyone know how to turn or operate the valve? Is it blocked by all kinds of stuff in a closet or is it in the basement? Does the valve even work? When was the last time it was exercised? Oh, you didn't know you have to exercise a valve?

Do you turn off your water if you're leaving your home for an extended time? Why not? Do you already have a great relationship with a plumber if you need one in a hurry? Why not? The list of questions is endless.

This is just another reason why I beg you to open each newsletter and read it. I'm trying to help you save thousands of dollars with all the information I'm sharing. You must know how to turn off your water FAST in case of a major leak.