DIY Life

When I was a kid, my dad would routinely get out his pruning tools and ruthlessly cut back our lovely wisteria. This would always upset me greatly because the vine was so very beautiful when it bloomed in Spring. Would it ever come back and flower again? Yes, it always did. Always.

What I understand now is that wisteria is one tough and relentless vine once established. The form of wisteria I'm talking about is Chinese wisteria (Wisteria sinesis), which actually belongs to the pea family. This big, sprawling deciduous vine has fast-growing branches that twine up and around anything it can get a hold on.

Wisteria was introduced to the US from China by gardening enthusiasts back in the early 1800s. If those folks were around today to see what they had wrought they'd probably say, "oops." That's because W. sinesis has become an invasive pest, wrapping it's vine-y arms around roadsides and woods up and down the east coast. As it spreads, wisteria chokes out native shrubs and trees with ease, and is known to climb as high as 65-feet. That's one powerful vine!

Stud finders are one of the best, but most unappreciated tools in a DIYer's toolbox. The real benefit of them is that they can find studs in your wall for hanging pictures, shelves, or light sconces.

This is a great step forward from the old method of rapping the skin off your knuckles, and then when you think you found a stud, drive in a finish nail to be sure.

The first generation of stud finders used magnets to detect drywall screws or nails. The next generation relied on checking the density in the wall (this is the kind I use since I use it quite often). The newer ones use radar technology to work their magic. How cool is that?

But if you're not going to use one often, make your own for just a few bucks. All you need is some mono-filament fishing line, a magnet, and a dab of hot glue or piece of tape. Just glue a length of mono to the magnet. Then, holding the end of the string, move it horizontally across the wall (and maybe a bit up and down) and the magnet will alert on a screw. Check out this magnet stud finder video.

The only caution is to make sure you found a stud, not a metal pipe or conduit. Just check up and down to be sure you intermittently find "positives." A pipe won't be discontinuous. Check horizontally as well, just for good measure.