Exterior Caulking Is a Good Idea

Exterior caulking is good both in hot weather and cold. Weatherstripping your doors is a great idea. It will stop breezes, bugs and other outside nuisances from entering your house. You might venture outside and take a look at what you can do there as well. You should also take along a tube of caulking.

Toilet Fixes For a Poor Flush

A poor toilet flush can cause the entire household to use a different toilet. Let’s face it, only the rare few want to be blamed for stopping up a toilet. There are a couple of things to look for. Maybe you have a partial blockage, or maybe there isn’t enough water going down the bowl to clear it.
A partial blockage is frustrating because you don’t know if

Whole House HEPA Air Cleaners and Filtration Systems for Allergy Relief

Everyone has a physical tolerance level for airborne chemicals and particulates. Some people have a higher tolerance than others for dirty air, but it affects everyone. Children whose respiratory system is still developing are at greater risk of asthma or allergies if they are exposed to many airborne contaminants.

What Are The Benefits of Radiant Heating?

You maybe be considering radiant heat to install into your existing or your new home but don’t quite understand the advantages or the differences between heating applications? Well we would like to inform you of the benefits and the comparisons to other heating applications available.

What is the best Glue Trick ?

Sometimes, you have a situation where you can't nail or screw easily because of vibration or movement, the fragility of the objects you are working with, aesthetic considerations, or tight working conditions that make clamping impossible.
The trick I have found to be helpful... THE FAMOUS ONE... is to use a combination of adhesives with different setting characteristics.

Goop Adhesive And Sealant Replaces Dog As Handyman's Best Friend!!

Naming something GOOP is risky at best... because there are lots of goops out there... for example there's GOOP, the hand cleaning, shoe cleaning, clothes cleaning product. And, of course, these's always "generic" goop... what the heck is that goop on the wall? Or in the back of the refrigerator? Or in your kid's closet?

Using Construction Adhesive... Constructively!

Constructive uses for construction adhesives.
Construction adhesive refers to a broad range of similar products used to bond common materials used in the construction, renovation and finishing of homes. Of course, if you have shopped in a hardware store you know that some companies have adhesives they have named "construction adhesive".

Cyanoacrylate "Instant Dry" Adhesives

Cyanoacrylate adhesives, a.k.a. "Super Glue" (Oh... and how do I get my stuck fingers apart?)
Cyanoacrylate adhesives came into public awareness in the sixties as "SuperGlue... one drop holds a ton!" How do they work? I have read a number of articles on the science behind the product, but the only important thing to know is this...

Contact Adhesive Is Unlike Any Other Glue

Contact adhesive... a glue with a mission
Contact adhesive... also fondly known as "contact cement"... is a special adhesive for a special purpose. When spread on a surface, it dries by the quick evaporation of a flammable solvent. Like other adhesives, it sticks things together. But it has a unique characteristic no other adhesive shares. For a period of time after it appears to be completely dry

How to caulk or recaulk a bathtub or shower enclosure?

Don't ignore loose caulk!
In a nutshell, caulk is used in a tub or shower enclosure to keep water from creeping up, under or around the tiles at joints between tile and the tub or shower pan, or on joints where walls meet. Leaky caulk is not to be ignored! I have often seen tiled bathrooms where the two or three bottom rows of tiles

The Household Caulk used as an Adhesive

Caulks can be used as glues... sometimes
Household caulks, including silicone, acrylic latex and polyurethane, definitely qualify as waterproof glues. They are very flexible, which makes them good for holding materials that may experience limited movement or bending... the same quality that makes them excellent for sealing joints and seams in showers, around windows, etc.

With all those other great glues, why should I bother having wood glue in my workshop?

Good question! You would think that with the chemical marvels described above a water-based wood glue would have gone the way of the dinosaur. You couldn't be more wrong. In its own element... that favorite of termites cellulosis dinnerosis (a.k.a. wood)... good ol' wood glue... is as strong or stronger than those other fancy-schmancy adhesives.

Auto Body Filler Is For More Than Cars

A winner for a variety of wood gluing and other repairs!
Auto body filler is an excellent wood filler and adhesive. It sets up quickly, has great adhesive properties. Unlike many softer fillers, it not only fills voids but can be cut and routed as cleanly as the original wood.
Auto body filler is a time-saver too! It can be applied, sanded and painted within an hour...

Epoxy Adhesives For Strength and Durability

What's the scoop on epoxy? Consumer epoxy adhesives are two-part plastic resin glues. The two parts... resin and hardener... chemically react when mixed and produce a strong adhesive bond to virtually any clean surface. They generally have a long shelf life since they don't set in the tube (unless you leave the cap off).

Duct Tape... Uses and Abuses

I was, at one point in my career, a duct tape addict. I would lash together lumber, repair hammers, fix my trusty wooden tool box... ad infinitum. Then, in my travels through thousands of homes, I came to see the weakness in duct tape as some repairs done with it days, weeks or months before began to fail. The weakness in duct tape's armor is due to three factors...

Using Hot Melt Adhesive

Hot melt adhesive... when to use it and when not
I have grown fond of hot melt adhesive. Fast setting is its most noble attribute. However, it is not an especially strong adhesive and is intended to be applied somewhat thickly. This makes it generally unsuitable for quality finish woodworking.
I have seen inexpensive cabinets literally fall apart because they were assembled with hot melt.

The Sticky Issue of Adhesives, Glues and Tapes

Give me a good glue and I'll rule the world!

Well, maybe I'm exaggerating just a little bit, but without modern adhesives, much of what we take for granted today would not stay together. Special glues hold our cars, our countertops, our furniture and our computers together.
Adhesives allow thin things made of different materials to be bonded together in ways that are impossible with mechanical fasteners.

Heated Driveways: Who, What, Where, When Why and How

What are heated driveways?
The obvious answer is, “a driveway that is heated,” but what actually heats the driveway? The best driveway heating systems are radiant heating systems, similar to indoor floor heating systems. There are both electric and hydronic radiant heating systems that can be used to heat outdoor surfaces.

Selecting A Radiant Heating System:Hydronic Hot Water vs. Electric Heating

If you are looking to warm your floors with a radiant heat system, and have typed “radiant heat system” into a search engine, you might find yourself scratching your head at this point. There are dozens of products available to purchase, and there are even more companies telling you that their product is the best.

Acrylic Plastic Sheets or Plexiglas: Uses, Handling and Cutting

From hockey rink barriers to fish tanks... from shatterproof glass replacements to skylights... acrylic plastic sheets have countless uses around the home. Here are some tips to make the most of this marvelous product! This article (with slight modification) courtesy of San Diego Plastics. Full credits at the end of this article. (Please note that plexiglas, often misspelled "plexiglass", is a trade name for acrylic plastic. They are exactly the same thing!)