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“Maintaining the garden takes about 60 hours a week—but I love it!” —Joyce Hannaford, Natick, Massachusetts Try reaching Joyce Hannaford in peak growing season and you may get nowhere. “I don’t take my phone with me anymore,” she says of her forays outside. “The last time, I left it in Zone 12—luckily before the sprinklers kicked on.” Wondering where that growing zone is on the map? Turns out Joyce has subdivided her own third-of-an-acre yard into a dozen irrigation zones fed by an automated system hooked up to a 150-foot-deep well....

If you love to garden, nothing feeds your plants better than compost from your very own backyard, and its price (free!) is impossible to beat. But the pile itself isn’t exactly an eye-catching feature. Project details Skill Cost Estimated Time Though you can buy a compost bin made from budget-friendly plastic or even chicken wire, a wood bin, typically made of rot-resistant cedar, will conceal those yard clippings and kitchen leftovers without sticking out like a sore thumb on your landscape....

This story originally appeared in the Winter 2021 Issue of This Old House Magazine. Click here to learn how to subscribe. Lincoln and Megan Pasquina took a bold path when they decided to add on to their antique Cape in Concord, MA. Working with architect Andrew Sidford, they settled on a design for their addition that merges modern style with the house’s traditional form. At the heart of the new plan is a high-ceilinged, open family room with a view onto the backyard....

Have you recently cleaned a stain off your mattress? Most of you will probably respond with a resounding “no,” simply because it may not have ever occurred to you that you would have to, much less the right way to go about it. What happens with most stains is that people do the best they can to remove them from the top surface of the mattress. But deeply penetrating stains, especially those from bodily fluids, call for a process that’s a bit more intense....

Maintaining a sound roof literally tops the list of crucial home repairs: It keeps you and your family warm and dry, along with everything in your house. A new roof is a pricey proposition. These simple repairs can keep your existing roof sound for years to come. How Often Should You Replace Your Roof Shingles? Any damage or signs of wear call for immediate action to keep water from seeping under the shingles and rotting the wood sheathing beneath....

Any space, big or small, is fit to house the home gym essentials. Indeed, even if you’re a ways away from finishing a basement that’s ventilated, dry, and level enough for an expansive home gym, there’s plenty of nimble, compact equipment on the market. For example, essential home gym items like resistance bands and adjustable dumbbells — especially if you build up your home gym space’s vertical storage — usurp little to no square footage....

Top 5 Coffee Mugs Best For Camping: YETI Rambler Stainless Steel Vacuum-Insulated Mug Best Handle: Hydro Flask Coffee Travel Mug Best Design: Contigo AUTOSEAL West Loop Stainless Steel Travel Mug Best Smart Mug: Ember Temperature Control Smart Mug Best Glass Mug: JoyJolt Serene Double-Walled Glass Coffee Mug Best For Camping: YETI Rambler Stainless Steel Vacuum-Insulated Mug This mug is made from durable 18/8 stainless steel that’s resistant to dents and scratches....

Most Coverage: Ortho Bed Bug, Flea, and Tick Killer This spray targets bed bugs, fleas, and ticks where they’re hiding around your home. You can apply it around bed frames, along baseboards, and in other affected areas to kill these pests on contact. Key Features Comes in a one-gallon jug with a spray wand Kills bed bugs, fleas, and ticks Uses synthetic chemicals What Customers Are Saying Positive reviews said that this spray was easy to apply, worked quickly, and killed bed bugs effectively....

While many people look at vinegar as a nice addition to a homemade salad dressing, this common and inexpensive item can prove to be very useful throughout your home. From cleaning hardware to personal care, here are 10 ways to use and make vinegar your best friend. Household Uses for Vinegar 1. Peel off wallpaper Using a sponge or spray bottle, saturate wallpaper with a solution of equal parts vinegar and water....

Four-Season Sunroom “The back of this house is all about entertaining, and the sunroom provides a connection from indoors to outdoors,” says architect Christina Carlson. With windowed walls and skylights overhead, the bright, inviting space connects to the main living area through sliding patio doors. A vaulted V-groove ceiling, stained tongue-and-groove poplar walls, and wood-look PVC flooring give the room a breezy porch feel. The nearly floor-to-ceiling windows’ innovative system of sliding glass panels and retractable screens at top and bottom preserves views while channeling fresh air, and makes the room comfortable spring through fall....

During the cold winter months, we rely on our heating systems to keep our homes warm and safe. But that hot air has a way of extracting moisture from the air, causing heated spaces to feel dry and uncomfortable. Cracked skin, stuffy noses, and headaches can result, and house plants, woodwork, and furniture can suffer. While store-bought humidifiers will rectify the issue, they’re expensive and drive up energy consumption. Give these DIY humidifier ideas a shot instead....

In this video, This Old House general contractor Tom Silva shows how to cut crown molding inside corners using plastic clips and caulking to finish. Project details Skill Cost Estimated Time But first, here are a couple of common questions we’d like to answer about this project: How do you handle corners on crown molding? Use a layout square to check and see if your corners are equidistant. If they’re not at a perfect 90 degree angle, use an angle finding tool (aka bisecting adjustable square) to find the exact degrees (see next question)....

The Best Way to Clean Windows Ideally, windows should be washed twice a year, but it’s a task most people don’t look forward to. Part of what makes DIY window cleaning such a chore is that homeowners insist on doing it with wadded-up paper towels or newspaper, spray cleaner, and a ton of elbow grease. Project details Skill Cost Estimated Time “All that rubbing isn’t a good idea,” says Brent Weingard, owner of Expert Window Cleaners in New York City....

“We’d like to install cabinet doors with concealed hinges. How do we do that?” —Jeffrey Odenwald, Chesapeake, Va. Project details Skill Cost Estimated Time Cabinetmaker Steve Roca replies: Whether you’re hanging new doors, as I’m doing here for a hallway cabinet, or swapping out old hinges, concealed or European hinges are a dream to install. Unlike the butt or knife hinges often used in kitchen cabinets, they can be adjusted along three axes with the turn of a screwdriver, so you can easily fine-tune the door’s fit....

In this video, Tom Silva explains how to identify load-bearing walls and how to remove them. Project details Skill Cost Estimated Time What is a Load-Bearing Wall? Load-bearing walls are an issue for many renovators today, as more homeowners are opting for an open concept layout instead of individual rooms. Unfortunately, these walls can’t be ripped out haphazardly as load-bearing walls play a vital role in the structure of a house....

In this video, This Old House plumbing and heating contractor Richard Trethewey explains how to replace a water heater. Project details Skill Cost Estimated Time Steps for replacing a water heater Turn off cold-water pipe leading into the water heater. Shut off the gas supply to the heater. Drain water from the heater using a garden hose. Use a tubing cutter to sever the cold- and hot-water pipes connected to the heater....

Do you want warm lighting or cool tones? What will you be using the light for? Reading? General illumination? Ambiance? Are you looking for a cool, vintage aesthetic, or will any ol’ light bulb do? We’ll answer those questions and more in this guide to light bulbs. Light Bulb Basics: Wattage and Lumens Two things to consider when choosing a light bulb are watts and lumens. A light bulb’s wattage measures how much energy it uses....

There is lawn furniture, and then there is what you might call landscape furniture—custom seating built right into the terrain. Done right, it can create a little oasis in your yard or even on your deck. Take, for instance, this bench with planters for piers. Project details Skill Cost Estimated Time Senior technical editor Mark Powers made the entire installation from rot- and weather-resistant cedar lumber using lap joinery, a sturdy construction method meant to keep the planter walls from bowing against pressure from roots, should you decide to plant trees....

Previous episode: S18 E10 | Next episode: S18 E12 In this episode: Kevin O’Connor builds a hexagon planter with maker Jenn Largesse, who demonstrates how to take advantage of the bevel cut feature on a miter saw; Jenn Nawada travels to Brooklyn to revive a stoop that has been taken over by weeds; the team shares more Home Inspection Nightmares; Mark explains what to understand when buying a home with a wood burning fireplace; Heath installs an electric fireplace insert into an unconventional opening with zero clearance....

Best Two-Part Sealer: TotalBoat Concrete Coating This epoxy resin provides a high-gloss, heat-resistant finish. Though it has a complicated two-part application process with separate resin and hardener, it’s versatile because it works on concrete, wood, stone, ceramic, metal, and other surfaces. Key Features Has an epoxy-based formula Comes in a one-gallon quantity Has a two-part application process Covers up to 12.8 square feet What Customers Are Saying Customers were surprised at how thick this concrete sealer was, as this helped it better protect their surfaces....