Posts

Sommai Damrongpanich/Shutterstock Less than 5% of the cars and light trucks operating on American roads today are powered by diesel engines. Contrast that to the rest of the world, especially Europe, where half or more of the passenger vehicles run on diesel. The discrepancy raises many questions. How a diesel engine works: What is the difference between diesel and gasoline engines? Diesel engines have existed since the late 19th century. Invented by Rudolf Diesel, who was born in France but pursued his career in Germany, diesel engines differ from gas engines mostly by the manner in which fuel combustion occurs....

Crepe myrtle, sometimes spelled crape myrtle, is a showy flowering bush or tree that thrives in warm climates. It does well in USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 7 through 10, and may survive winters in Zones 5 and 6. It flowers all summer, and offers abundant, bright-colored blossoms that range from white to deep purple. (Curiously, there are no orange, yellow or blue crepe myrtle flowers — although deep red, fuchsia and purple are absolute stunners....

Your rustic cabin getaway may be your second home in the summer months, but in the winter you might visit only occasionally or not at all. So you need to know how to winterize cabin plumbing when you aren’t there. Otherwise, when you return, you might find some nasty surprises. Ice can make pipes swell and burst, and if you haven’t turned off the water you may be faced with a minor flood....

This FH series introduces readers to a few of the women who make up 11 percent of the construction workforce in the U.S., spotlighting stories of their careers in the field. Know someone we should feature? Email us here. As the daughter of a stonemason, Schannon Yodice grew up with tools in hand, helping her dad on projects. Although she enjoyed it, when it came time to choose a career, she opted for college....

Last week, congressional representatives Jim Costa (D-Calif.) and Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) sent a letter to President Joe Biden and the Department of Justice requesting federal action to curb the rising cost of building materials, specifically record-high lumber prices. Lumber prices have been a major concern for the construction industry since July 2020 when COVID-19 slowed sawmill production in the U.S., driving lumber above $500 per 1,000 board feet for the first time since 2018....

Every winter, beginning around Thanksgiving, I look for flower buds on my Christmas Roses, a type of hellebore that blooms in the winter. Then in early spring I look for flowers on my Lenten Roses, another hellebore that blooms well before many perennials have even started to show new shoots. What Is a Hellebore? Hellebores are perennial flowers in the plant genus Helleborus. Most of the hellebores we grow in our gardens today originated in Europe and Turkey....

Elena Elisseeva/Shutterstock Here are two ways to grow flowers or vegetables in hard, rocky soil. The first is to dig out the top 12 in. of the old soil and replace it with a rich, fertile mix. But the better way is to build a raised planting bed. Here are its advantages: The raised bed is filled with a quality garden soil. The soil won’t become excessively compacted because you don’t walk on it....

Ariel Skelley/Getty Images Many home gardeners are extremely passionate about orchids. Exotic, delicate orchids delight plant-lovers with their fragile, intricate blooms, which in some varieties occur only once a year. There are more than 28,000 recognized species of orchids. The most common in the U.S. belong to the Phalaenopsis genus, also referred to as moth orchids, as well as the Cattleya genus. These are considered some of the easiest to grow and coax into gorgeous blooms....

Sponsored by Home Depot: This piece was created in partnership with Home Depot, home to Kidde fire safety products that can help you protect your home and family with fire alarms, carbon monoxide alarms and fire extinguishers. Now is the best time of year to upgrade your home to a hardwired smoke alarm and stock up on other fire safety and prevention essentials. Installing UL-certified smoke alarms in your home is a vital fire safety measure that may save lives....

Family Handyman Zip-Tie to the Rescue When my bathroom sink gets clogged, I don’t reach for chemicals as a bathroom sink cleaner. Instead, I use a long zip tie. I cut several notches on the zip-tie’s end. It’ll hook the hair clog, allowing you to pull it out. Problem solved. The size of the eye of the zip tie prevented me from inadvertently pushing the tie past the stopper. — Rick Holmen...

Dmitry Marchenko/Getty Images We all know how the air can get super dry during those cold, winter months. Dry air can affect everything from your skin, eyes, throat, hair, lips, even seasonal allergies and illnesses. Keeping a humidifier in your home is an easy way to solve the dry air issue at home. But what if you don’t have a humidifier at home? Well, you can just use your slow cooker, or commonly known by the brand name, Crock-Pot....

Summertime means many things: grilling, outdoor living, backyard socializing, etc. However, it also means mosquito season, when your backyard and patio areas can quickly turn from fun oasis to bug convention when the sun goes down. Prevention goes a long way toward keeping these flying pests away, but it’s impossible to be outdoors and avoid them entirely. In some cases, you might even be unknowingly attracting mosquitoes. Thankfully, there’s no shortage of products designed to help, from spray repellents to electronic devices to plants that keep mosquitoes away....

Floods are among the most dangerous and destructive natural disasters. In the U.S., floods cause more monetary damage than any other weather-related event — about $8 billion a year, according to the 2016 testimony of Michael Grimm, then FEMA’s assistant administrator for mitigation. That’s a scary number. And many folks don’t know what to do before the flood, let alone during or after. This guide will explain some of the most important actions people can take to minimize losses, protect their families and get back to normal when facing a flood....

So, you’ve invested in outdoor furniture. Great! But now winter is coming and you’re not sure what to do with it. “I’ve seen the damaging effects harsh weather can have on outdoor furniture if not protected, especially through the winter months,” says Paul Knapp, a landscape designer in Davenport, Iowa. “Brand-new furniture can look 10 years old in just one winter season. It’s not unusual to see metals rust, wicker unravel, wood split and plastics crack because they were unprotected....

Whether you have a new nursery plant or an old one in an overgrown container, repotting is a big part of being a plant parent. Learning when and how to repot ensures new plants start in the right environment and old plants continue to grow. Here’s what you need to know about when to repot houseplants, how to choose a new container and how to move the plant from one to the other....

When temperatures rise, there are few things as frustrating as a window or room air conditioner that suddenly stops cooling. If your window AC is not doing its job, here are some troubleshooting techniques to set things right. Identify the Problem We’re working on the assumption your window air conditioner is getting power, and it’s either blowing warm air or no air at all. If it’s not getting power, there’s a good chance the issue lies in the outlet or the circuit itself....

Shutterstock/ Chayantorn Tongmorn Outdoor Receptacles Outdoor receptacle outlets are required to be installed on both the front and back of a home in order to provide a safe place to plug in an extension cord. This discourages people from running extension cords through doorways (indoors to outdoors) and minimizes excessive lengths of extension cords. The basic rule is that a receptacle outlet needs to be installed where it is readily accessible from grade level, and not more than 6 ½ feet above grade level....

Dovetail joints may be the single most beautiful type of wood joinery. Known for interlocking sections that start narrow and fan out, dovetail joints are elegant and dramatic. Well-made dovetails can elevate a simple wooden box into a work of art, and the mysterious swell of their interlocking joints always impresses non-woodworkers. Mastering this joint will set your projects apart from the pack. What Is a Dovetail Joint? A dovetail joint is a series of overlapping, flared connectors that join two pieces of wood....

Although there are many motivations for window replacement, one of the most important is energy savings. Contemporary windows feature double- and triple-pane glass and thermally insulated frames, things that weren’t available when older homes were built and energy costs were lower. Because of the energy-saving benefit, window replacement can increase home value. Homelight estimates an 81 percent return on investment. And with energy prices unlikely to drop, upgrading your windows could save you money in the long run....

runzelkorn/Shutterstock Servicing disc brakes is actually fairly easy, even if you have little experience working on cars. Brakes require little in the way of special tools and equipment, and doing the work yourself can save you a substantial amount of money. For future reference, here’s the source of most disc brake problems. Start by placing chocks behind the wheels. (If you do need to begin replacing parts on the rear brakes, you don’t want to engage the emergency brake....