June is National Pollinators Month and June 21-27 is designated as “National Pollinator Week.” Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S Department of the Interior, Pollinator Week is a great opportunity to encourage people to do more in their backyards to support pollinators. • Choose flowering plants for pollinators – butterflies, bees, […]
8 Security Tips to Keep in Mind When Building a Smart Home
8 Security Tips to Keep in Mind When Building a Smart Home Are you thinking about investing in smart home products for your home? These products can greatly increase the value of your home as well as the enjoyment of your family’s living space. With new prototypes being developed each day, within the next few […]
Deck Makeover Update….6 years later
The cleaning and staining of the deck was way past due (for probably 3-4 years). Six years ago I wrote this article (http://extremehowto.com/deck-makeover/) describing the details involved in the pressure-washing and staining of my deck. I wasn’t coaching youth sports anymore, and my kids were playing school ball. I foolishly thought that I would have […]
HomeFixated Displays Impeccable Taste in Magazines
I noticed that our friend Marc from HomeFixated.com — a very cool home-improvement and tool review blog — showed Extreme How-To some love with his post titled, “Six Magazines Every HomeFixated Homeowner Should Subscribe To.” Marc is a friend of the magazine, and we usually run into him at trade shows and press events. You […]
Tips & Tricks for Construction Adhesive
(photo courtesy Liquid Nails) Trim Work: When it comes to installing exterior molding and trim, a simple way to save time and money is to use a quality construction adhesive to fasten the work pieces. For both wood and expanded PVC products, using fewer metal fasteners in favor of a product such as Liquid Nails […]
Textbook Painting
How’s this for an interesting business model: Textbook Painting. No, the company doesn’t paint your textbook. It’s an entrepreneurial painting service that serves two purposes: job training plus house painting. To provide college students with hands-on work experience beyond books and classrooms, Textbook Painting offers selected students the opportunity to run their own painting business […]
EC330 Mini Saw – Nice Tool for Flooring Work
We recently demonstrated a variety of tile-cutting tools for an upcoming EHT article. Check out our October issue for coverage on everything from old standards like tile nippers to larger pro-grade wet saws. But the most head-turning tool we tested is the new EC330 Exakt Mini Saw, a compact multipurpose flooring tool with a 2″ […]
Sheen Tips (for Paint, not Charlie)
Winning. For DIY’ers, choosing the right paint sheen for the right application can be a confusing ordeal. To help clear things up, Debbie Zimmer, paint and color expert at the Paint Quality Institute, offers a few tips for your next project: Flat. Paints with flat sheen are most common. They offer several advantages: being non-reflective, […]
Prepare for the Zombie Apocalypse
“Be prepared.” That’s the Boy Scout motto, and wise words for DIY’ers in this era of face-eaters and doomsday-preppers. And, while we don’t generally blog about advertisements, the new artwork that the guys at Little Giant Ladders just sent to the EHT graphics department was so awesome (and instructive) that we made an exception. Be […]
A “Certified” Squeak-Free Floor?
Installing a squeak-free floor should be the goal of any professional flooring installer–and the hope of any homeowner. To accomplish this requires diligent floor prep, knowledge of the flooring materials and how they perform, proper installation techniques and the right fastening system. To help installers achieve the squeak-free results they strive for, Paslode offers the […]