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For more than 25 years, vinyl siding has been the most popular choice for exterior cladding on newly-built homes in the U.S. It’s attractive because it’s durable, affordable and nearly maintenance free. While other types of siding require painting, caulking and filling, vinyl siding only needs a quick scrub-down every year or two to stay looking great. Most folks attempt to do this with chemicals, soaps, power washers and any run-of-the-mill scrub brush they can find....

Some years ago, a fellow woodworker demonstrated how to make a band saw box. The procedure involved cutting out the center of a block of wood with a band saw, then gluing on a bottom and affixing the top on a pin. That way it could rotate to open and close the box, or make the top removable. To do this, you have to make a single cut through the side of the box and repair it with glue....

Spray foam insulation experts Bill Bilben and Ken Wells offer answers to commonly asked questions about spray foam, including how the right contractors get picked and what the cost benefits mean to homeowners and pros alike. Courtesy of Eric Gladson/Integrity Plus Insulation LLC How do I choose the right SPF contractor? Choosing the correct SPF contractor is important. Experience and knowledge is key. Typically, the local SPF mom and pop shop deliver the best quality and service....

When you choose the best grass for your climate, conditions and lifestyle, you greatly improve your chances of growing the lawn you’ve always wanted. A Brief Glossary of Grass Terms Cool-season grass: Grows best in Northern climates, higher elevations and other temperate regions where winters are cold and summers are mild. On This Page Warm-season grass: Grows best in Southern and Southwestern climates where ambient temperatures seldom, if ever, dip below freezing....

The Most Common Reasons Wipers Quit Working Windshield wipers that stop working are certainly frustrating, not to mention a safety concern. Knowing the most likely cause of the trouble is the first step toward a fix. With a basic understanding of how your wipers work, you can intelligently diagnose the problem. On This Page Note that we are looking at causes and solutions for electrical wiper failure, when the wiper arms won’t move back and forth across the windshield....

It’s hard to think of a raw material as useful and appealing as wood. Besides making boats, buildings and other structures, you can use it to fashion cabinets, chairs and all sorts of home furnishings, plus produce carvings, picture frames, inlays and other artistic pieces. Working with wood can be an enjoyable and fulfilling activity all by itself. Cutting, shaping and joining techniques have evolved over the years, especially since the advent of power tools....

Homeowners are spending more time at home and transforming their outdoor spaces with outdoor furniture. Consumers in the U.S. spent more than $15 billion on outdoor furniture in 2020, a figure that’s projected to grow through 2027, according to an industry trends report. Learn how to protect your outdoor furniture so you can enjoy it year after year. How To Protect Outdoor Furniture We talked to experts to get their tips and ideas for protecting your outdoor furniture against the elements and maintain it in even the harshest climates....

How does that song go? The ants go marching two by two? Check again: It’s more like 20,000. These tiny, mighty insects can do real damage if they’re carpenter ants, eating through the structure of your home. Then there are the ants that bite, and the ones that are just plain annoying. Because of their large numbers and teensy size, they can be hard to eradicate. But all hope is not lost....

Ventilation is important everywhere, even in the attic. Fans are one way to improve attic ventilation. They help homes stay cool in steamy summers, and even prevent ice dams in frigid winters. Here’s how to decide if an attic fan is right for your home. What Are Attic Fans? Exactly what the name suggests. An attic fan pushes out stale indoor air and brings in fresh outside air. It might not sound like much, but the simple act of circulating attic air can greatly affect home temperature and energy consumption....

YewLoon Lam/Shutterstock When cockroaches invade the home, businesses or any other human made structure, they can multiple quickly and take over, making it an unpleasant and unhealthy place to live. It’s important to know what to look for and the steps needed to eliminate an infestation. How Do Cockroaches Get in the House Where there are signs of a cockroach in the home such as droppings, unusual smells and egg shells, you most likely will find one or a few....

More than a thousand years ago, tinted glass windows were reserved for the grandest cathedrals, mosques and palaces of Mesopotamia and Europe. Fifty years ago, high-tech window coatings were available only to scientists at space agencies like NASA. But today, window tints and films are an accessible option for us regular folks who want an easy and affordable retrofit for energy efficiency and privacy. Here’s what you need to know....

In the 1950s corporations embraced the chemical revolution, formulating many of the big brand-name cleaning products we still use today. Also around then a German immigrant named Emanuel Bronner, whose parents died in Nazi concentration camps, chose a different path. He gave away chemical-free soap to anyone willing to listen to his ideals of peace and unity. He innovated natural cleaners, and his brand — Dr. Bronner’s — became synonymous with Castile soap....

It’s a lot easier to become a house painter than almost anything else in the trades. Regulations and requirements vary widely from state-to-state. Some demand nothing more than a business license, and others up to two years experience and a passing grade on an exam. Even the exam itself varies, from painting-specific to one intended for general contractors. Next Insurance highlights the licensing requirements in all 50 states for painters, with links to state guidelines....

Many people hate negotiating the price of a new car and are willing to pay a bit more if they can avoid the stressful high-pressure sales tactics sometimes employed by dealers. But other people love the thrill of arm wrestling to get a rock-bottom price. Here are buying tips for both types of buyers. A. The ‘pay more, stress less’ method of negotiating car price: If you want the least stressful buying experience and are willing to pay about $200 more to avoid the worst part of the car-buying experience, here are two options:...

For those who call a small apartment or house home, a stacked washer and dryer is a space-saving miracle. It’s really not much of a choice when you’ve got a small carve-out in the hallway or a tiny closet serving as your laundry room. But you don’t have to be crunched for space to stack a washer and dryer. It’s an option even in the largest of laundry rooms. Besides all-in-one stacked machines called laundry centers, there are various stackable washing machine and dryer combinations, though you’ll likely need a kit to put one machine on top of the other....

Lightspruch/Getty Images Robot devices are supposed to be innovative, fun, time-saving products that make life easier. But just like humans, robots make mistakes. We scoured Reddit to dig up the funniest examples of times robots made life temporarily, hilariously miserable. Before you buy, this is what you need to know about robot vacuums. 1. A ‘Messy’ Clean Up One Reddit user uploaded an uncomfortably vivid image of just how gross robot fails can be....

If you live in a climate like mine in Minnesota, every year around this time my tire pressure sensor light illuminates the dashboard. That means digging out the air compressor and all the fittings, or making a quick jaunt down the street to the gas station for a tire top-off. For the holidays, my father-in-law and trusty golf partner, Bob, gave me the Ryobi One+ Battery-Operated Tire Inflator. I was eager to see what it’s all about....

Adding a Key-Holed Ruler to Your Bench You can mount a removable key-holed metal ruler on the front edge of your workbench, for both easy measuring on the workbench and for easy access for measuring and marking projects elsewhere. Simply drill keyholes (a larger hole with an overlapping smaller hole above it) in two locations along the ruler. After drilling the keyholes we sanded them smooth to get rid of the potentially dangerous sharp edges....

Photo courtesy of Greenworks Greenworks G-MAX 40V Self-Propelled Wheelbarrow The first time I used a gas-powered wheelbarrow, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. I was in heaven vibrating like mad with ringing ears, but at least my back wasn’t killing me. However, the Greenworks G-MAX 40V self-propelled wheelbarrow provides the best of both worlds—it gets your stuff where it needs to go, and does it quietly and painlessly. The dual 10-in....

Clean up used oil spills on the driveway or in the garage easily with a material that’s readily available in most home workshops: sawdust. Reach into those dust-collection bags on your orbital sander, miter saw and other power tools for a big scoop of sawdust. Sprinkle it over the oil and let it do its thing for about 20 minutes. Using a stiff broom, sweep the sawdust over the spill several times to soak up every last bit of liquid....