A friend of ours contacted us about a problem they just realized they had. After moving into their home about 2 years ago they had time to look up their plot map on their county website and saw that their neighbor’s detached garage is actually on their property about 10 feet. The garage is near but not at the street and they live in a small city so parking is an issue and in …
How To Know When You Are Asking Too Much From Your Contractor
Buyer Resources, HowTos
This is a How To that might not make everyone on Angry’s List happy but it is something that really should be talked about. When you are dealing with a professional contractor you should expect that they perform their work accurately and with high quality but there are times when tiny little things end up turning a project into a nightmare for a contractor and the home owner that hired them.
Consider this that any …
How To What To Do If The Kitchen Sink Won’t Drain
Plumbing
A friend of ours asks about a kitchen sink that had been draining slowly for some time and now it is very clogged. It seems that they tried removing the p-trap under the sink already and found that it was free of obstructions. They then replaced the p-trap to find that the sink is now so clogged that they need to plunge it to get water to move.
In this case they did the right …
How To Quick Guide For Staining Decks
Decks & Sheds, Paint
If you have a wood deck then it is important that you maintain its finish and keep it clean between stainings to extend the life of the materials and reduce costly repairs. Eventually you will need to replace boards on your deck from deterioration but with proper cleaning and staining you can expect 15 to 25 years from your deck.
Cleaning Your Deck Before You Stain It
As you can imagine its always important that you …
How To Save Your Recorded Television Files For Later Viewing
Television
Whether you just cut the cord and you are on an Antenna or if you are still on Cable and you want to create an archive of shows for later watching there are some good, better and best ways to create your archive and play it back on your devices.
For Cable subscribers you will have to get a device that can use a CableCard. It is a credit card sized card that your cable …
How To Tell If You Have A Bad Engine Head Gasket
Automotive, Engines
A major problem on many vehicles is a bad head gasket and sometimes simple replacement of the gasket will cure the problem completely but other times you will need to have your block or head resurfaced by a machine shop. Before you get into a costly situation that can leave you without your car for many days or sometimes weeks depending on how bad it is you want to make sure that the head …
How To Tell If Your Fuel Pump Is Bad And Needs To Be Replaced
Automotive, Engines
On older classic cars the fuel pump was part of the engine and cars that had carburetors had a fuel bowl that would hold enough gas to get your car started and allow the fuel pump to start pumping gas to your engine. Today most cars even carburetored engines have an electric fuel pump that sends fuel to the engine but all fuel injected vehicles have them and its probably likely that your car …
How To Find A Leak In Your Roof To Determine If It Can Be Repaired Without A Total Re-Shingle
Roofing
Winter and Spring Rains are often a time where leaks show up from our roofs and a friend is asking if they can repair the roof or if they will have to replace it. So far they haven’t found the leak so lets go through what you should do if you have a leak in your roof and it is showing up as water coming through your drywall ceiling.
It can be a pretty scary …
How To Grow Vegetables Indoors During The Winter
Homesteading, Vegetables
If you are someone that likes to garden or if you would just like to have a small supply of freshly grown vegetables for your table there are a few plants that do well enough indoors during the winter that they are worth giving a try.
If you are a seasoned gardener then you may already be set up to grow your seedlings for transplanting in the spring. Cold Weather plants seem to do the …
How To Find The Best Land For Your Homestead
Home Buying Guides, Homesteading
A lot of people are considering homesteading as a primary lifestyle and if you are thinking about it yourself then one of the first things you have to decide on is the land you will purchase to build your home.
Finding land can be difficult but it is not impossible and even finding a good piece of land that you can afford is something most of us can do.
For many people the ability to build …
How To Make Better Use Of A Bricked In Garage Window
Concrete, Doors & Windows, Framing
A friend is asking about a garage window on the side of their home that has been partly bricked in by the previous owner. It seems that previously it was fitted with a double hung window but now there is a pattern of brick that has been placed to offer ventilation and some light. Additionally it seems that on the interior the previous owner had ended up covering the window with plywood.
The first consideration …
How To Deal With Knob And Tube Wiring In Your Home
Electrical & Lighting
It is 2018 as I am writing this and I still get an unimaginable number of people requesting help with Knob and Tube wiring in their homes. I find this totally unacceptable because this type of electrical wiring has not been installed in homes since the 1950’s at the latest but normal installs ended as far back as the 1930’s. This is basically technology from the 1800’s that was only used in later years …