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My shop is a converted carport roofed with corrugated tin. 1/2 of it is close to 70 years old, the other half added about 50 years ago. It's well past time to replace. The sheets were originally installed with minimal laps, and most have now lifted due to **** in between, etc. There's no way...

Hey Gang, sorry this is pretty long, but its not a typical situation. I had to make a change to the old freestanding garage which uses a mini split. Early last fall, i began converting the building into a bakery for my wife, and the mini was installed by me. It worked fabulously until it got...

I'm renovating an old garage to create a bakery for my wife's business. One upcoming project is a mini split. She's going with one of the less expensive 12k units from Amazon due to price. Trouble is, I can't find a copy of the install instructions online, and from the reviews, they're pretty...

I’m guessing my garage was built around 1950 based on the materials used. There is a foundation wall, but somewhere along the way, some smarty installed sidewalks along the exterior at the same grade as the foundation wall. Now whenever there’s water around, it runs under the sill plate. It’s...

Trying to help out my folks and see if this faucet is repairable. I'm guessing it's a 2016 model year, can't find a brand name on it. Knowing the builder, I'm sure it's mid level"builder grade". If you can see, it is separating at the upper spout. It's really just a tube, as this has the pull...

I have a host of issues on this one... All could be easily remedied with time, money, space, and different city ordinances. lol. Starting up my one-man carpentry biz here shortly, and for the time being, I'm limited to the resources I currently own. I will need to arrive at the jobsite with...

We have a huge bank of old wood windows in our front room. They have of course been painted shut over the years. The glazing is getting really bad as well, we really want to save them, as they are period correct, and are really great looking. I have already gotten one lower to slide, and will...

You hear people talking about the good old days, and old school craftsmanship, and so on. Then you find stuff that really makes you wonder. Today I opened a wall in my home. This was once an exterior wall added during a remodel sometime in the 30s. Sometime in the in the early 80s, it was...

So, I learned yesterday that some jacksmile did a smash up job of building the basement staircase in my old house. During a remodel somewhere “back in the day”, they framed in the staircase between two rooms. On one side they attached the stringer to the rim joist of the adjacent room. Trouble...

I don’t have cracks, but large sections that need to be patched, leveled and skim coated. It’s an exterior foundation wall. As you can see, I’ve removed all the loose, spalling concrete. Still need to wire brush it and vacuum it, but I’m looking for the best product to resurface it with. Bonding...

So, I realize that with all fence posts, they need to be well below the frost line. Question is- If the concrete is below the frost line, does the POST need to go all the way to the bottom? Seems to me, it then becomes a function of the shear strength of the post. I will be using 3x3 tube...

Is this a common problem? It appears to be salt? It has totally crusted even the walls of the drain pipe in vertical sections, and has virtually closed shut two seperate traps in the line. This is over the course of only about 5 years. What do I need to adjust to prevent this? The softener...

Hey gang, I've finally got the time to schedule the city to come shut me down to replace my interior water main. I've decided and acquired the parts to install a whole house sediment filter and charcoal filter while I'm at it. I will not yet be able to get to replumbing the whole place, like I...

Had a bit of a scare today. My son was home alone and texted me saying that there was a big crack in the ceiling in one room. He then proceeds to tell me that he heard a load noise like "the house settling a lot". My wife was able to come home, and did a video call with me and walked the house...

I have a section of my foundation/crawlspace that seems to be completely sealed up. There is electrical and hvac running through it, but I cannot find an access. I’m hoping to find an inspection camera that I can poke in and look around. The typical mechanic versions ive used are great for close...

My water main is 1" galvi, and is very old. There is a gate valve that I have excellent access to in the basement. What I really need to do is replace an exterior faucet that is dripping, but the gate valve for it is already shot and wont close. I'm very scared that If I attempt to close that...

I have the opposite problem of most basement issues. NO moisture! I live in the desert, and the soil in our area gets very fine and powdery when it dries out. My house is 115 years old. It has a partial basement that just sort of extends on into the abyss of crawl space. The crawl space...

Wondering if anyone has any tips for getting a blackened patina on steel that will work well for large and/or intricate surfaces? We've tried the store bought solutions, and while they work, they become very labor intensive on large items, because they react so quickly that it winds up causing...

Our house has aluminum siding, which I hate, but can't afford to change for a while. Due to the way they install it with all the trim pieces around the windows, there is now no "trim" to paint... aesthetically speaking. We have a really boring, plain, dull looking house. White... endless...

Curious if I can build a bank of cabinets over/around my panel and meter base. I’ve seen it done with just a panel, but wondering if it’s ok with the meter base. It is a “Smart Meter” so nobody comes around to read it, but I’d obviously confirm that... I can make sure there is plenty of...