Even if you aren’t sure you want to to put vinyl siding on your home, you’ve probably at least considered it. Why? For most homeowners, it means eliminating the hassle and expense of repainting their house every five years or so - or paying someone else to do it. Besides saving work, vinyl siding can save you money. Advantages of Vinyl Siding Vinyl has become the most popular choice in siding....
Top 4 Storage Benches Best Storage Capacity: Keter Westwood Resin Large Deck Box Best Medium Capacity: Keter Borneo Resin Deck Box Best Wood Bench: Tangkula Wooden Outdoor Storage Bench Best Movement: Keter Eden Storage Bench Best Storage Capacity: Keter Westwood Resin Large Deck Box In addition to its large storage capacity, this deck box has a high weight capacity of 660 pounds. This allows it to hold the weight of a few people in addition to the weight of your belongings....
How to Install DIY Closet Organization: Create additional shelving by mounting shelf racks to studs against the wall. The racks should come with mounting brackets designed to hold a shelf. If the studs are located in a less-than-ideal location, there are brackets designed to receive the mounting shelf racks. The brackets can be screwed to structure and the racks can slide in the bracket as necessary. The mounting shelf racks can also hold hook or basket attachments....
Can I Put a Wood Stove Insert in My Fireplace? Start by inspecting your fireplace to see if you will be able to install for a wood stove insert. Look for any potential damage and see where you may have to remove some pipes or parts of the fireplace to begin your installation. Project details Skill Cost Estimated Time In the video above, This Old House experts shows you what to do to prepare your fireplace, the process of fireplace insert installation and share tips along the way on venting, insulation, and electrical....
In all but the warmest locales, heating is the most basic requirement of a house. Building codes call for new houses to be able to maintain a temperature of at least 68°F at the coldest outside temperature expected in that climate zone. Every heating system requires an energy source. Furnaces and boilers usually burn natural gas that’s piped in from the street. In areas without city gas, propane gas is stored in a tank outside the house, located where it can be easily refilled by a local fuel dealer....
Ask This Old House plumbing and HVAC expert Richard Trethewey tests out a new dryer in our DIY Smarts series that uses a heat pump to dry the clothes. Learn how this new technology saves energy and huge costs on your electricity bill and how it compares to a conventional vented dryer. Are heat pump dryers worth it? Considering electric dryers are one of the biggest consumers of energy in the home, investing in a heat pump dryer is a smart move....
The barrel is essentially a sturdy wood shell built around a repurposed plastic garbage bin that serves as the reservoir. Made of rot-resistant lumber, the barrel goes together with easy lap and butt joints and some deck screws. Decorative exterior battens dress it up, and you can customize them and paint the barrel to fit any style of house or garden. Project details Skill Cost Estimated Time Follow along as This Old House contributor Christopher Beidel, owner of Pernt, a handmade-furniture company in Brooklyn, New York, leads you through the simple steps it takes to green up your garden....
Steps: 1. Tom shared a few different tips about screws and which ones he uses for what projects. Here are a few of his tips below: a. Wood screws have a coarse thread for driving into material. They shouldn’t be confused with bolts, which have machine threads and require a nut to secure them. b. Drywall screws should be used for drywall. They aren’t strong enough to handle other types of connections....
Steps for fixing a leaky hose spigot: Richard explains that in most circumstances, a leaky hose spigot will leak from one of two places: the bonnet, or the spout. Project details Skill Cost Estimated Time If the leak is at the bonnet: a. Start by tightening the bonnet with a wrench. b. If that doesn’t work, shut the water off and fully remove the shutoff and the bonnet. Check the washer underneath the bonnet....
Previous episode: S18 E1 | Next episode: S18 E3 In this episode: Mauro paints a baby’s nursery using zero VOC paint; Richard tests out a new dryer that uses a heat pump to dry the clothes; Tom and Kevin build a record player stand out of oak plywood. How to Paint a Nursery Mauro paints a baby’s nursery using zero VOC paint. Where to find it? Mauro painted the nursery using Natura Interior Paint by Benjamin Moore....
Building and design duo—and husband and wife—Jerry and Sandy Effren designed the Farmhouse for first-floor living, with convenience and accessibility in mind. They also carved out a few special personal spaces. Masterful ease What makes a first-floor master first-rate? Building in a buffer from the rest of the household. In our Farmhouse, that means two handsome character-oak pocket doors that slide back to reveal a sitting room separating the bedroom and bath from the busy hallway....
Best Single-Faced Stone: Naniwa Abrasive Mfg Grit Stone Key Features 3,000 grit Stand and flattening stone included 1.98 ounces What Customers Are Saying Customers liked how easy to use this sharpening stone was, stating that it sharpened their knives quickly. However, some customers thought that it was overpriced given the quality of the materials that it was made with. Best Sharpening Stone Comparison Naniwa Abrasive Mfg Grit Stone $82 $105 22% off Prices taken at time of publishing....
This article appeared in the Spring 2021 issue of This Old House Magazine. Click here to learn how to subscribe. Watch this project from start-to-finish in all-new episodes of This Old House starting the first week of April on PBS. Check your local listings. In some ways, the July 4th celebration in 2019 was a quiet one in Dorchester, a big, vibrant neighborhood less than 10 miles south of downtown Boston....
Home technology expert Ross Tretheway discusses the new age of home heat pumps in a Future House feature. Ross takes us through the four different types: water to water, water to air, air to air, and air to water. He details how those systems work and how they pull warmth from the ground. Ross talks to his father, plumbing and heating expert Richard Tretheway, about how heat pumps have evolved....
Rare in warmer regions, basements are nearly universal in the north. Why? Because the ground freezes in the north. When water in the ground freezes, it expands by about 9%. If that water is under the house footings, that expansion can cracks and heave concrete. The colder the climate you’re in, the deeper down the ground freezes. In climate zone 5, which extends from New York across the middle of the country, the frost depth is 3 feet of more....
Too Tight It’s a common layout in an old-house bath, with all three plumbed conveniences arrayed in a row against one wall. But the 44-square-foot “master” in Graig and Debora Cameron’s 1926 Cape Cod–style home in Cranford, NJ, had one extra that enabled an impressive transformation: It had a linen closet tucked behind the door. Shown: The toilet was jammed into a tight spot between the tub and a melamine vanity with a composite sink top....
A home security system can protect your home while you’re away on a trip or asleep at night. Whether you choose DIY or professional monitoring, you can rest easy knowing that your home is under surveillance. Many of the systems even offer perks like smart home integration and two-way talk. There are a lot of home security systems on the market in Omaha, but they aren’t all the same in terms of coverage and cost....
In this video, Scott Caron, master electrician for Ask This Old House, helps a homeowner put in an exhaust fan to rid her kitchen of smelly cooking odors. Project details Skill Cost Estimated Time Steps to Installing an Exhaust in the Wall Use a stud finder to locate studs and find an empty bay to install the fan. Or drill a hole and use fish tape to find the structure. Using a pencil, trace an outline of the circular exhaust housing....
Enhance the nighttime curb appeal of your home—and add a measure of safety and security—with low-voltage landscape lighting. These exterior-grade fixtures are typically placed along walkways and driveways, but they’re also ideal for illuminating steps, trees, stonewalls, fences, and other prominent landscape features. And because the system operates on only 12 volts of electricity, it’s completely safe for do-it-yourself installation. Project details Skill Cost Estimated Time At the stately 1930s-something home shown here, we installed 12 Intermatic fixtures in three different areas....
In this video, lead paint abatement specialist Ron Peik shows the safe, proper way to dispose of lead paint. Project details Skill Cost Estimated Time Steps for Removing Lead Paint Use a paint scraper to remove the paint from the outside corners of baseboard. Collect the lead-paint dust using a special HEPA vacuum. Install new drywall over walls that contain lead. Remove doors and mantelpieces and bring to a commercial refinisher who has a dip tank for chemically stripping off the old paint....
