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Hey all, it's been a while, but I'm back with a new question. Thanksgiving morning I installed (with the help of my retired-HVAC-instructor father-in-law) a new gas furnace in my house. Everything went fine, except for an errant screw through the A/C A-coil. Oops, that'll need a recharge! :o...

Howdy all. We really like the look of 1-inch (nominal) glass mosaic tiles. We have purchased several "sheets" (12 x 12 inch nominal) and will be putting them on the kitchen walls. I have purchased white thinset (premixed), and plan to use an unsanded white grout to finish. I have a few...

I'm in the market for a new 4.5" angle grinder. I've had cheapies, and I'm tired of them burning up. I'm considering a 10A DeWalt on Amazon for $90. Anyone have opinions on angle grinders? Thanks.

Howdy all! I have an attached 2-car garage that shares 1.5 walls with my house. Due to the large quantity of attached surface area, I think it's worth insulating the garage to keep it a few degrees warmer. The exterior walls are drywalled, but there is no insulation in them, nor in the ceiling...

My house stays relatively humid in the winter. Especially the basement. I've made great strides in sealing up the cracks, installing weather-tight windows and doors, and made sure vapor barriers and insulation is up to snuff in the attic. I have a 1-level house with a (mostly) finished...

So we're going to replace the vinyl sheet flooring in our entry hall. It's about 160 sq. feet total. We were originally thinking ceramic tile, but now we're contemplating using the foamy glueless vinyl sheet from Tarkett. We found a pattern we can live with (it has some relief to it, which...

So, while I've learned to do a lot of home repair and remodel on my own (and I think I've improved quite a bit over the years), I've never laid ceramic tile. That's not true, I did it once about 6 years ago, but it wasn't my house, and we used the wrong kind of grout (should have used sanded...

I bought a set of very heavy (1.75" thick doug fir) prairie-style french door slabs from a Craigslist seller. The glass is in really good shape, and none of the wood is rotten. However, there are at least 2 coats of oil paint on everything. The top coat is probably 20 years old, and the original...

I live in Wisconsin. My wife and I bought our house in early 2004. The listing (MLS) details included a finished square footage of 2200. This is a one-story home that had a "partially finished" basement. Above grade was 1300, below was 900. I've been doing lots of updates and fixes...

I have a 5-foot wide closet (door opening) in the front hall that has really cheap hollow bi-fold doors that drive us crazy. I'd really like to replace those with french-style (open from the center) solid doors. What hardware and planning will I need to do? There is enough room to swing the...

I need some new cordless drivers, and I am looking at the Makita Lithium line. Anyone have experience with these? I'm looking at this kit in particular: Amazon.com: Makita LXT405 18V LXT Lithium-Ion 4 Piece Combo Set: Home Improvement Thanks!

Hey y'all! My basement could really use a 1/2 bath. A toilet and a sink, that is. There is no provision in the slab for a regular waste drain. So I'm considering the "Saniflo" macerating toilet. I guess it uses a pump with a chopping mechanism that will grind "stuff" down small enough to...

Hello all, some of you may remember the trials I went through last winter to investigate and fix a problem with air/moisture where part of my basement ceiling is actually the underside of the top step to my front door. This step is mostly exposed to the elements, and is only partially...

Hey y'all! I'm currently in the midst of installing new Marvin Ultimate Replacement Casement windows into the gutted frames of my old double-hungs. The wood on the Marvins is a very light Ponderosa pine. All the new jamb extensions and casing will be semi-clear pine (few knots and some grain...

Hey all, we're getting new windows for our home. Well, 5 new windows anyway. I will be installing them myself, and they are frame-in-frame replacements. The current windows are wood double-hung units. I will gut them down the the bare frame and aluminum exterior cladding on the blind stops...

Hey all, I have a GE Profile refrigerator (model PDS22SFSBRSS) that needs some help. I noticed last Friday that it was running constantly, and taking a long time to cool down after the doors were opened (it has digital temp display). It ran constantly all weekend too. Last night I pulled it...

My one story ranch home has 2 bathrooms. They back up to each other with a wall separating them. They have identical sink plumbing (single-handle faucet) using 1/2" copper tubing and metal supply lines. When a sink valve is open, the noise created by the water in the pipes is very loud. It's...

Hey y'all. I have another project I'd like to start on this summer. Our house has an attached garage that shares 1.5 walls. Near the door connecting the hall with the garage is a small closet. We currently put our paper recycling in this closet, and our glass/metal/plastic bin just outside the...

My wife has this crazy idea that my new career should be as a home inspector. I gotta admit, it sounds like a good job (mostly). Any inspectors out there with a direct opinion? Worth it? Do you own your own business? I guess it's something I could "study" for in my spare time, take the exam...