Protect Your Butts!
Recently I was asked to testify in a court case that involved a bit of a messy situation between a contractor and a client. In this particular situation, the contractor that was hired to do the work was confident that they were done with the project, less a minor punch list that would take a […]
How To Get Tape ( And Other Adhesives ) Off A Wall
Many of those who know me are aware that I am a bit of an early bird. So much so that my haircut each Saturday morning typically occurs around 5am or so. Sometimes a little later, sometimes a bit earlier, but on average, 5am would be a safe bet as to where to find me […]
Can You Paint Pressure Treated Wood?
There is no shortage of old wives’ tales in the field of home improvement. As in many other aspects of life, there is guidance and methods of suggested approach regarding different aspects of enhancing your home that not only couldn’t be further from correct, but also may unintentionally cause pain in the long run when […]
How To Clean Old Paint From Paint Brushes
A good paint brush has always been a decent investment. Yes, of course you can buy what we in the industry refer to as a “throw-away” brush, but unless the project you are doing is literally a ‘one-time’ event, there certainly is value in learning to maintain this seemingly small investment. If you want to […]
The Purpose Of An Astragal
Imagine a big door, like the one you use to enter a school or a store. Sometimes, these doors are extra big and have two parts that swing open in the middle. These are called ‘double doors’. Now, imagine that the two parts of the door meet in the middle. There’s a little space where […]
How To NOT Damage Your Gutters When Working In & Around Them
I am an admitted Obsessive Compulsive. Although there are varying degrees of ‘OCD’ (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), outside of the normal items that you may see related to this way of life with a quick Google search, there are certain things that attract my eye like a magnet which may not normally bother anyone else. As […]
What Is A Cupola?
Falling under the category of features on your home that people often call one thing when they actually mean another would be the ‘cupola’. Perhaps my biggest pet peeve with these types of items is when someone refers to a ‘downspout’ on their home as a ‘gutter’. In the same realm, I see the term […]
The Widow’s Walk
It was DEFINITELY NOT intended to be creepy. And I have no idea what makes my mind go to the dark side of things when I hear them being spoken of. But ever since I heard the term ‘Widow’s Walk’ years ago, my thoughts always have traveled to this vision of a ghostly figure of […]
Baker Staging
Unique names which are synonymous with the contracting trades are always fun things for me to delve into the origins of. ‘Baker Staging’ is no exception to this. Years ago, seemingly every time we utilized it, I attempted to piece together in my mind, why this particular type of apparatus was called ‘Baker Staging’. Have […]
Hitching Posts
Chances are you have passed by one numerous times over the course of your life. Most likely, you have never given much thought as to what it was (assuming you even noticed it!), nor have you ever needed to. However, if this were “back in the day”, prior to the advent of the automobile, this […]
