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Composite decks involve less maintenance than wood but are more expensive, which is why “treated wood is still king in decking,” says Jase DeBoer, senior manager for Deckorators in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. “The market is about 70 percent wood and 30 percent composites.” Still, composites have come on strong since Trex entered the deck market in 1996. When my son and I put a deck on his place a few years ago, there was no doubt we were going to build with composite, because of the low-maintenance....

Siding doesn’t just make your home more attractive. It can also strengthen its structure by acting as an outer skin, providing protection from the elements and impacting long-term house maintenance costs. It’s important to choose siding that combines pleasing aesthetics with durability and reasonable maintenance to add maximum value to your home. “With so many materials and profiles to choose from, deciding on exterior cladding for your home can be a challenge,” said Derby Building Products CEO Ralph Bruno....

Looking to fill up a blank wall in your home with something other than generic department store art? Here’s an idea. Take those planks you’ve got laying around in your garage and build this indoor wall planter. The planter is a great-looking shelf all on its own and filling it up with an assortment of greenery will turn what was once an empty wall into a thriving nursery using just a few HART Tools, found exclusively at Walmart....

Kathrin Ziegler/Getty images Because of the pandemic, more people are getting outside on bikes. As a result, bike sales have skyrocketed. So have wait times to get bikes repaired and tuned up. Some bike shops won’t even accept a repair if the bike wasn’t purchased there. Fortunately, there are some simple tune-ups you can do yourself. Check Your Tires “The first thing to check is the tires,” says Alfred Witmer, a service technician at Molehill Bikes in Dayton, Virginia....

Brought to you by I am an interior designer. I am not an engineer, I am not an electrician, and I am not a plumber. But I have to contend with wires, ducts, columns and pipes on a daily basis for my work. Since there are no such things as invisible ducts or pipes (they actually do make some wires invisible these days), I am always having to come up with ways to accommodate these items in the least intrusive manner possible....

Decluttering is on everyone’s mind this time of year. Organizing our homes, offices and garages relieves stress and makes us more productive. It’s time-consuming, though, and buying all those bins and canisters can be expensive. No wonder people get overwhelmed before they even start. Even if you’re an expert organizer, you probably have a few bins and boxes laying around. Sure, you could recycle them and start fresh every time you start a new project....

In the best case scenario, drywall knives get cleaned pretty much as soon as all of the mudding work is done. Drywall mud is (obviously) much easier to clean up before it dries and hardens. But sometimes life gets in the way and the perfect scenario just doesn’t happen. Don’t freak out if you end up with knives that are so coated in caked-on mud that they’ve become practically useless. Instead, take out your favorite drywall sander and get to work....

Whether they’re used on the door of a tool shed, a storage cubby, or even an old-school locker, padlocks have long offered a reliable and affordable security solution. Thanks to their simple design and strong hold, they’ve stood the test of time to help many people burglar-proof their homes and prevent their belongings from being stolen. But one mysterious feature has eluded the understanding of even the most dedicated users: those small holes located at the bottom....

A cooped-up winter fuels spring fever and that seasonal need to fill trunks and truck beds with seedlings, plants and dreams of a picture-perfect garden. But before you start digging in, pause and pay attention to your dirt. “As much as we get excited about flowers and vegetables, you have to take a step back,” says Erin Schanen, a Master Gardener volunteer, creator of The Impatient Gardener and Troy-Bilt’s garden expert....

Courtesy of Milwaukee Tool Over the last decade, Milwaukee Tool has made a tradition of hosting an annual event to reveal new tools and products they plan to release in the coming months. But when COVID-19 made in-person gatherings impractical and unsafe, the tool company had to find another way to announce new product lines. Enter Milwaukee Pipeline, a series of online events to showcase tools and gear Milwaukee has coming out for the rest of 2020 and into 2021....

According to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau, sales of newly built single-family homes dropped 5.9 percent from April to May. New home sales were reported at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 769,000 in May, falling more than 100,000 units short of expert forecasts. “While we remain optimistic about housing demand for the year as a whole, we may see a few more months of underwhelming sales,” Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wells Fargo in Charlotte, North Carolina, told Reuters....

While there are many home trends that come and go, the white marble home trend was so popular, we were almost convinced it would never fade. But as things start to level out for the popular white marble, it seems a new stone pattern is up-and-coming. Terrazzo—a mosaic-looking material with chips of other stones incorporated in it—is starting to flood the Internet and take over stores with rapid speed. Does this mean that white marble has finally seen the end?...

When I was maybe six years old, a group of us were playing in a neighbor boy’s garage, hammering nails into scrap wood. (Never mind that we were playing with hammers and nails with no adults around — it was the 1970s!) The boy would only let us hammer in the nails halfway, claiming that “girls aren’t good at it.” I protested, because my dad had already taught me how to hammer a nail all the way in....

Studies show that the average six-room home in the United States collects 40 lbs. of dust each year. Sounds impressively awful, right? But don’t confuse all that dust with dirt and bad housekeeping. It’s actually a combination of a lot of things. Telia/Shutterstock Small dust, larger than 10 microns, makes up more than 90 percent of the weight of common household dust. Really small dust, less than 10 microns (invisible), doesn’t weigh much, but includes 99 percent of all dust particles....

Getty Images (2) Having fleas and ticks in and around your home can be worrisome — especially for those of us with pets. Though fleas (photo on left, above) and ticks (photo on right) both feed on the blood of mammals, transmit diseases and sometimes cause painful allergic reactions, they’re actually very different. Fleas are tiny blood-sucking insects that infect wild animals (think raccoons and rodents) as well as domestic ones (mainly dogs and cats)....

The most common reason for that rapid clicking noise when your car fails to start is a dead battery. However, a single click could mean a malfunctioning starter motor, or something even more ominous. Here are the most frequent reasons why a starter clicks when you’re trying to start your car. Car Starting Basics Turning the ignition key or pushing the “Start” button sends battery power flowing through the ignition switch to the starter relay or starter solenoid and computer (ECM)....

Your bright, green grass of summer has long since faded to a brownish autumnal hue, and that can only mean one thing: Winter is on its way. And with that comes questions about winter lawn care maintenance needs. “Winters are different, depending on where you are located, obviously,” says Greg Lucas, a turf scientist for Lawnbright, a DIY lawn care subscription company. “But the science of grass remains the same....

You can clean all you want, but sometimes your home just looks, well, unkempt. Here are five quick tips from experts on how to tidy up a room and say so long to messiness. Leave Some Space Clutter can make an otherwise clean room look messy. Just because you have the space doesn’t mean you need to fill every nook and cranny. On This Page Home stagers at MHM Professional Staging recommend leaving space between furniture and fixtures....

I’ve downsized twice in my life. Once, after my son went off to college, I moved from a two-bedroom home into a beautiful yet boat-sized studio apartment. The second time was in 2012 when I packed my life into two admittedly large suitcases and one laptop bag and moved abroad. Downsizing often comes with natural life transitions. And with today’s cost-of-living crisis, soaring real estate prices and the rise in interest rates, more and more people are opting for a “less is more” lifestyle that may require some measure of downsizing....

If you ever encountered a cockroach in a home or restaurant, there is a good chance it was a German cockroach. Struggling in colder climates, this pest will seek out shelter and quickly infest their safe haven. What are German Cockroaches The German cockroach (Blattella germanica) is the most common species of cockroach worldwide, taking residence in people’s homes, restaurants, nursing homes and hotels. While initial thoughts assumed this roach is a native to Europe, its close relationship and looks to the Asian cockroach suggests its origins might be of southeast Asia....