It's generally recommended to paint your house every 3-5 years to protect your siding, stucco, or shingles, as well as maintain a fresh looking exterior.
To prevent uneven drying from painting in direct sunlight, paint the north and west side of your home in the morning hours and switch to the south and east sides in the afternoon and evening.
The best time of year to paint your house is in the spring or fall when the temperatures are the most mild.
The DIY Network has launched a new video section called DIY Kits/DIY Basics. They are short video clips as well as printable instructions covering tips for home improvement, crafts, gardening, woodworking, and your automobile. They are still using the Windows Media player format as opposed to the new flash players but the videos load quickly and play seamlessly.
One of our favorite features in This Old House magazine is the 10 Uses For. Finding non-traditional ways to use typical household items is a goal of ours and in turn we consume and spend less. Here's a list of our favorites from the series.
10 Uses for Newspaper
10 Uses for Magnets
10 Uses for Plastic Milk Jugs
10 Uses for PVC
10 Uses for Steel Wool
Applying for building permits are often the bane of many general contractors and often times work that has already begun must stop until permits are secured and the work order is approved. This wastes time and money for the homeowner but procuring all of the necessary permits before construction helps to ease this process. Here's some advice for gaining permit approval quickly and with the least amount of hassle.
Popular Mechanics offers 7 Tips for Utilizing Wasted Space. You may think you have a storage problem but this article may offer some relief. We especially like the how-to article for building storage in a knee-wall.
Using safety goggles falls under the "ounce of prevention" lesson. Safety goggles are inexpensive and can be found at any hardware store, which means there is no excuse to not own one or two pairs. But it's also important to have the proper goggles for the job. Here are our favorites.
When painting a room, replacing flooring, or cleaning out a garage, there isn't always extra space in your home to store the furniture, appliances, or tools that usually occupy that space. Plus, bringing garage storage bins inside can be messy and storing furniture appliances outside is asking for trouble. PODS have been around since 1998 and they are a portable moving and storage solution. They are a great solution as temporary secure storage while you remodel or organize. The ground level entry also makes it much easier to move items into and with PODS you can have the entire POD picked up and stored off-site.
If you are looking for a cheaper solution then plastic tarps are the way to go. And if you've got access to palettes thats even better. Place the pallet on the ground then the tarp over that and then place your items on the tarp and then cover it with another tarp. This should protect your things from the weather but anything outside is typically not considered very secure.
Lawn burn is characterized by unsightly brown patches of grass and is typically caused by dog urine and over-fertilization.
Once your lawn is "burned" you'll have to replace the grass but there are measures you can take to prevent this from happening again. You may have to confine your dogs urination space and the easiest way to do this is to build a proper outdoor dog run. You should also take care in fertilizing your lawn and immediately cleanup any spilled fertilizer.
Improve your painting skills with these tips that will help you choose the right brush for the job and the correct brush stroke technique to use.
Brushes, Rollers, Pads and Specialty Tools [DoItYourself]
Secrets of Smooth Brushwork [This Old House]
Interior House Painting Rules [About.com]
Why House Paints Fail [Old House Web]
July 30, 2007 | Comments ()
