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A day of cutting grass, pruning shrubs and pulling weeds can leave you with quite the pile of sticks and leaves. But how do you dispose of yard waste? Rather than dumping it in your regular trash bin, which may be unlawful depending on your location, try these six disposal methods for the scraps from your backyard. How to Dispose of Yard Waste Yourself: Haul It Many municipalities have yard waste collection sites or composting centers that accept organic materials from the public....

Whether exchanging tales around the fire pit or getting cozy indoors on a winter night, wood-burning fires are the ultimate ambiance setter. But using the wrong wood will choke up the scene quickly, and perhaps cause long-term damage to your home, health and nature. Consider hardwood vs. softwood, seasoning time and potential toxins. Not to worry. We’re not talking about splitting the atom here. Just avoid these kinds of firewood, and you’ll be the combustion superstar of chilly evenings....

Shouting “leave my flowers alone!” is usually my first response when I see thousands — okay, maybe hundreds — of aphids crawling all over the stems of a favorite flower. Aphids are soft-bodied insects with mouth parts they use to pierce leaves and stems, sucking the life out of plants. My second response after spotting aphids is checking for any ladybugs nearby. Ladybugs devour aphids. Some sources claim a ladybug will eat 50 aphids in one day....

You’ve successfully navigated your first years of college, found your tribe, and now you’re moving off campus. Congratulations! This is next-level adulting, and with it comes the need for a few more things to pack up and take back to school. With our college checklist in hand, you’ll be ready to go in no time. Make a Plan Start by creating a list of everything you need for your new housing arrangement....

Choose the best infloor heating system. We cover the pros and cons of electric systems and hot water (hydronic) systems for comfort and space heating. Electric are easier and usually cheaper to install. Hydronic are ideal if you already have a boiler. The Benefits of Infloor Heat Once you shed your fuzzy slippers and discover the comfort of warm floors, you’ll be sold. Heated floors, often called radiant floors or a radiant heat system, offer benefits beyond foot comfort....

Family Handyman Overview A DIY pond can become the best feature in your backyard, your favorite hangout, a project you’ll be proud of for years. But if you don’t plan for the maintenance up front, many ponds become just another source of chores and frustration. So we asked professional backyard pond builders and longtime pond owners for their best advice on avoiding problems and maintenance. Before you grab your shovel or buy a bucket of goldfish, check out what they had to say about building a small garden pond....

For many of us, decluttering during lockdown became a new kind of sport. With rare downtime and nowhere to go, we turned the focus inward to our neglected closets. But now that the country is opening up, how do we balance newfound sorting and purging skills against pre-pandemic urges — specifically, the ones that involve further cluttering our homes? Start by remembering that decluttering itself isn’t a clutter cure-all. These lessons from lockdown will help you more thoughtfully curate your home and your life, and teach you how to stop the constant need to declutter....

Anna_Kuzmina/Shutterstock Clearing your snow-filled driveway is a hassle, even more so when you don’t have a snowblower. However, with a few tricks you can get the driveway shoveled quickly and safely, meaning you’ll be back inside, relaxing in a matter of minutes. So grab your shovel, lace up your boots and put on those gloves. This is the best way to shovel your driveway this winter. Safety First Consider stretching before you step outside, as shoveling uses muscles that aren’t often used and stretching can help prevent injury....

Interior and exterior house paint might not seem like it’s changed drastically in the last 20 years or so. Ashley Kloehn, manager of Hirshfield’s Uptown, a long-established paint and coatings store in Minneapolis, Minnesota, confirms that’s the case. However, says Kloehn, subtle changes are making a significant difference for consumers. “The long-term performance they expect is far from where it was even 10 years ago,” he says. Incremental technological advances in paint chemistry have changed the way we paint....

This FH series introduces readers to a few of the women who make up 11 percent of the construction workforce in the United States, spotlighting stories of their careers in the field. Know someone we should feature? Email us here. Abby Meuser-Herr (AIA, CPHC) and Elizabeth Turner (AIA, CPHC) have big goals. They don’t just want their architectural firm to be successful. They want to create sustainable, equitable communities for all....

Can Closet Lights Start Fires? Closet lights that don’t have an enclosure around them pose a fire and safety risk in the home. Under normal circumstances, a 60-watt light bulb will not get hotter than 175 degrees Fahrenheit. In a tight, enclosed space, though, it could reach close to between 290-500 degrees, a temperature high enough to make things burn and catch fire. A light bulb like this needs to be moved farther away from the PVC pipe or replaced with a LED or CFL bulb, which works at much cooler temperatures....

The holidays are officially here! Folks are lighting up every space of their homes, from colorful outdoor holiday light displays to cheerfully illuminated Christmas trees. When digging into a new set of Christmas lights, it’s not unusual to find a random red-tipped lightbulb inside the box, wrapped in cellophane alongside a spare bulb. Often, the red-tipped lightbulb gets ignored or discarded, or people tend to think it’s meant for when a bulb goes out on a strand....

The coronavirus pandemic made the year 2020 a tough one for travelers. Instead of checking into hotel rooms, many chose to rent a recreational vehicle and take the room along with them. “RV dealers across the country could not get new RVs fast enough to fill the need,” says Mark J. Polk, who runs the website RV Education 101. “Used RV sales figures were through the roof, and RV rental companies reported all-time highest rental figures in 2020....

We don’t like to wait. That’s why we buy single-serving coffee makers and microwave bacon. It’s why there seems to be a fast-food restaurant and a drive-thru window on just about every corner. We’re an impatient lot. And that’s why we have sod, because many of us prefer a ready-made lawn to one that needs time and nurturing. Note: What follows reflects recommendations for Northern lawns (north of Interstate 70) when installing cultured sod with cool-season grasses such as Kentucky bluegrass and tall fescue....

JorgeOrtiz_1976k/Shutterstock Silverfish may not be harmful to your health, but they can chew through your favorite things. And besides, an infestation of the pest is just gross! One of the places they like to infiltrate is underneath sinks. Because they’re often found here, as well as around drains in sinks and bathtubs, or around floor grates, many have concluded that silverfish come into the home via wastewater in sewage pipes. However, this is a misconception, as they don’t travel in water but rather crawl along the outside of plumbing pipes in search of food in the deposits that form under air extraction vents and drains....

Whenever I complain about the rabbits eating my green beans, someone is likely to tell me they were there first. Yes, that’s true, but I still don’t want them in my garden. They love to eat my green bean seedlings, along with many other plants in my garden. Fortunately, there are many humane ways to keep rabbits out of your yard. Some methods, such as building a fence, can be expensive, but there are budget-friendly options that work for some gardeners....

Shutterstock/ Sergey_R According to Forbes, Japan-based conglomerate SoftBank is in talks to become a lead investor in EquipmentShare, a tech company that is best described as “AirBnB for construction equipment.” Essentially, EquipmentShare is a platform that allows contractors to rent construction equipment and rent out equipment they own while also tracking data related to the equipment’s performance and maintenance. In 2017 TechCrunch reported that EquipmentShare had raised $26 million in a Series B round of funding....

Some stories about our homes seem believable at first. When investigated, however, they crumble like ancient plaster. As anyone familiar with the term “urban legend” knows, these stories are captivating nonetheless. Writer Mary Miley Theobald, the author of “Death By Petticoat: American History Myths Debunked,” understands the allure. “Myths in general are more fun than fact,” Theobald said. “They can be funny, sexy, scary. They’re memorable in a number of different ways....

With something as complex and expensive as a home, it’s easy to fall into denial when things begin to fail. Most homeowners have a limited budget for repairs and refurbishments, and can’t instantly take action on every little crack or squeak. It’s called choosing your battles. So sometimes we disregard or rationalize some early hints that there’s trouble afoot. And that can lead to real problems. Here’s a look at some of the lies we tell ourselves, and what action to take instead....

Baseboard heaters offer a powerful, versatile and quiet solution for zoned or supplemental heat. Because they lack moving parts, baseboard heaters require little maintenance and can remain functional for decades. Unfortunately, conventional electric baseboard heaters are not energy efficient. That’s where hydronic baseboard heaters come in. They offer all the advantages of conventional baseboard heaters with considerably more energy efficiency. Read on to learn about hydronic baseboard heaters and how to choose the best one for your home heating needs....