DIY Life

My husband has a freakishly organized tool box. I tease him that it's because he spends all his time in front of the computer instead of working around the house, but the truth is, he just likes to keep things tidy so that he can easily find the tool he's looking for. Part of me admires him -- you know, the part that's not too busy teasing him!

Whether you're cleaning out an old overstuffed tool bag, setting up house for the first time, or putting together some dorm room necessities, you'll want to include these 11 must-have tools. Including the essentials, like a hammer, level, pliers, and screwdrivers, Dustin claims that these tools will get you through basic household repairs and simple projects.

People must feel passionately about their tools, because the comments bring out some heated discussions about the validity of these recommendations, and argue for tools that didn't make the cut. I wouldn't add any tools to the list, but I think every family toolbox needs the the ever-important duct tape, crazy glue, and some other useful odds and ends like zap-straps and string.

What are your household handyman must haves?

Summer vacation keeps rolling along. How long until your kids go back to school? Are they spending too much time lounging on the couch? Here are a bunch of summer projects to trick your kids away from their air-conditioned sanctuary and out into the great outdoors of, er, your backyard.

Okay, okay. So the backyard is not the great outdoors. True. But the main thing is to get the kiddos out in the fresh air, learning about nature, and learning about the noble pursuit of maintaining a garden.

Getting their hands dirty
1. Ask them to help with the weeding. Pay them a small amount of pocket money for their time.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Robert Bosch Tool Corp., has announced a voluntary recall of about 9,700 Bosch Hammer Drills, model number 1191VSR, due to the fact that a risk of injury is posed to consumers if the hammer drill continues to operate after the trigger has been released.

Manufactured in Malaysia and sold at Menards and other hardware retailers and industrial distributors from July 2007 through April 2008 for about $100, the recalled hammer drill is blue and has "BOSCH" printed on its side. Only drills with a serial number that begins with a "7" are included in the recall. Please see the CPSC press release for more information.

Consumers are advised to stop using the recalled drill and contact Robert Bosch Tool Corp at (877) 472-0007, or visit www.boschtools.com to schedule a free repair.

Sunday is Father's Day and, yes, despite what your dad (or spouse) says, he probably does want a gift. Time to shop!

First piece of advice: skip the big box stores unless you're utterly desperate. Check out their websites and you'll see what I mean. Lowes has a pretty good Father's Day gift-finder page. You can search products based on the type of dad you have. (Lawn dads, wood-working dads, etc.) However, it's hardly inspiring stuff. Example: their suggestion for the dad who has everything? A gift card.

The Home Depot does a little better with its online gift center, but the suggestions are uniformly dull... or just plain stupid. I mean, do you know anyone who would buy dad a $699 pressure washer for Father's Day? Oh, but it's not just Home Depot and Lowes pitching dumb Father's Day gift ideas. Amazon: come on!

I love my bead board! I cannot imagine making jewelry without it. If you haven't invested -- and I use the term loosely, as bead boards are cheap! -- in a bead board yet, go for it. It will bring the ease of jewelry-making to a whole new level for you.

What features do I love about my bead board?

• The flocked surface keeps the beads from rolling around too much.
• I can create multi-strand necklaces due to the different grooves on the bead board.
• Being able to make more than one bracelet at a time is a lifesaver, because as I am looking for beads to make one bracelet, I usually come up with another idea or two on the way. The five slots on the bracelet section lets me lay out the patterns for all of the ideas that inspire me. This is especially helpful when I am making gifts of my jewelry. It also works well for multi-strand bracelets.
• There are enough separated sections for me to keep some beads at my fingertips, so when I know a pattern and want to lay out the whole necklace or bracelet before stringing, I can have the beads handy.
• Those same sections allow me to lay out all of the components for earrings, clasps for necklaces and bracelets, and any crimping beads I may need.
• Because the grooves are marked with measurements, I always know how long my necklaces and bracelets will be. This is important if you are trying to make your jewelry a standard length, or if you are making a custom fitting piece.

The bead board is an important tool if you are making jewelry as a hobbyist or as a professional. It will make everything easier.

Rust never sleeps, they say. The longer you leave exposed, rusting pipes untreated in your yard...well, you are ruining your pipes as they are eaten away by the elements. Rusty pipes, such as those leading to a gas meter, also make a house look a bit shabby and unloved. Let's take a look at how to deal with rusty pipes on your home's exterior. Spring is the perfect time to tackle this project!

Step 1. Select your paint
Go with a good brand like Rust-Oleum. By the way, Rust-Oleum has a fabulous website with lots of helpful advice for beginners. The company even has a special section on best products for really rusty surfaces. I recommend you check it out before heading to the paint store.

You will want to use an oil-based enamel paint. Oil-based paints are sticky and are not water-soluble. This makes application and cleanup a little tougher, but it's so worth it because oil-based paints are made to last. You have a choice between brush-on paint or spray paint. Personally, I prefer the traditional brush-on kind. On the other hand, spray paints mean no messy brushes to clean up when you're done!

Pegboard can be a lifesaver in a workshop, sewing room, or the garage. Sometimes, though, it can be difficult to retrieve a favorite tool because the hanger wants to come out of the pegboard along with the tool. While using pegboard can keep a workspace neat and tidy, sometimes reinforcement is needed to keep your tools from elongating the holes.

Popular Mechanics has a great article teaching us how to make our own custom pegboard tool hangers, using aluminum and steel from the hardware store, a hacksaw, a drill and a pair of pliers. Cut, bend, and shape the aluminum or steel, screw it to the wall, and hang up your tools.

With these custom pegboard tool hangers, we really have no more excuses to let our precious tools clutter up our workspace. Not only are the tool hangers perfect for a man's workshop, I think they are also perfect for a sewing/crafting room pegboard too.

via: Curbly

I live north of Atlanta, Georgia where it tends to get a bit hot and humid from June through September.

My home has a number of temperature-stabilizing facets to it, the best one being that I have high-efficiency windows with argon-filled, low-e, dual paned glazing. Right now, in fact, I have the windows partly open, and even with an outside temperature of about 88 degrees, it's a very comfortable 71 degrees inside.

But ... there's no airflow through my home office (lucky me, to be able to work from my home, however.) Although I have ceiling fans in four other locations, in- and outside of my home, I have been slow (lazy?) to put one in the office; that ended today. Let's take a reasonably detailed look at how to install a ceiling fan. (Kudos to Kelly Smith for his nice article on this same subject.)

Follow the sequence of the gallery to get a good idea of how simple it is to hang one of these babies.

Mother's Day invariably means an avalanche of mundane gift ideas for mom. If your mom is into gardening big-time, why not get something she can use and/or enjoy year-round--unlike, say, that $60 bunch of flowers or (yawn) potted herb garden you were about to order. Read on for ten gifts that real gardening moms would love to receive this Mother's Day!

Oh and by the way: all of the following gift ideas are available on the Web, which is cool because it means you don't have to schlep to the mall or your local blue- or orange-hued home and garden superstore. The down side: prices do not include tax or shipping. But, hey, if you can avoid a trip to the mall on Saturday it's worth it, right?

1. Japanese hand shears, $25-$48
Renowned for their beauty and durability are these Japanese hand tools. The secret? They are constructed from carbon steel (as opposed to stainless steel). Elegant rolled steel handles give them an unusual and distinctive appearance. In order to prevent rusting, these tools must always be dried after use and oiled occasionally. Aficionados swear it's worth the effort.

Now that the weather is improving we've got a window of opportunity. That two month or so period between the cold and the absolutely scorching is the right time to get that serious landscaping done. And like any other DIY endeavor, the key is having your tools in tip-top shape.

What's on your plate for adding a little curb appeal to your property? Putting in a pond? Adding a new flower bed? Putting in a new patio? Whatever your aspirations, you'll be wise to inventory your tools. More than likely, some will need maintenance and some will need to be replaced.

Start with the basics
The tool most used (hopefully not abused) is the lawnmower. At a minimum you'll need to:

• Sharpen the blade.
• Change the oil; go with a synthetic and you'll only have to do it once a year.
• Clean or replace the air filter.
• Clean or replace the spark plug.
• Check for frayed or broken cables.
  

I loved to help my dad when I was a kid. When I became a teenager, I still loved to help, and by then, he was happy for any help he could get. He would ask for a certain tool, screw or nail, and I would deftly reach for the right one. Safety was his biggest concern, and now that I am a parent, I fully understand why he aged prematurely.

Safety in the workshop is the number one priority of every parent. Buying kids plastic tools to play with only keeps them entertained for a very short length of time. Plug in the real power drill, and a child forgets all about his plastic hammer.

This Old House has a fantastic article on workshop safety for our kids. When we teach by example, our kids are sure to follow. Always wear safety glasses so that kids understand that eye protection is a number one priority. Keep dangerous tools out of kids' reach, so they will understand that they could get seriously hurt if they use it when unsupervised. Dressing appropriately for the job, and supervising your child when they are using a dangerous tool will give them the confidence they need to use the tool correctly.

The article is full of advice and safety measures to keep our youngsters safe when working around dangerous tools. My oldest daughter loved to help us when we built something, and she always wanted to be right there. As you can see in the picture, she didn't quite understand yet, but was always willing to learn.

As promised, this is the third in a five-part series on retaining walls and their construction. We've already talked about natural stone and pressure-treated timber walls, so on to one of my favorites, engineered walls -- oh yeah! Engineered walls are cast concrete blocks that are gravity-stacked and assembled kind of like a puzzle. I like this kind of wall because it is the strongest wall of the types I've enumerated. It is not as architecturally flexible as a stone wall, for example, but it will solve a bunch of grade change problems that the others may not. It should be noted that the majority of engineered wall work is for commercial applications, but small walls certainly have their place in a residential site.

Take a look at the gallery, so you see what some of the options are, and we'll continue.

I had recent occasion to work on a 100 year old cabin. It required major construction to make it habitable; one of the projects that fell to me was the repair of three areas of the hardwood floors that the termites had taken a liking to. They had attacked parts of the floors in two different rooms and to different effect; as for the repairs, one site had convenient access and was easy to fix, one had inconvenient access and required replacement of a number of short pieces, and the last site had a hole clean through the floor about 8" in diameter! (Look right.) I'll go through the process -- it was not difficult, but some time-consuming -- so you can see the easy way to do this repair.

Take a look at the gallery to familiarize yourself with the procedure and we'll begin.

I've given you some hints on cutting batt insulation and cement backer board, so let's move on to sheet rock (or dry wall), the staple of many home wall coverings. It's made of gypsum, has various qualities (e. g. mold resistance, flexible rigidity) and is manufactured in various sizes and thicknesses, the most common being 1/2" x 4' x 8'. On a vertical surface, it goes up pretty quickly and is fairly easily installed by two folks, and with some increased exertion, by one.

I want to show you how to hang sheet rock overhead. It requires tools similar to those needed for cutting backer board plus two very important extra items -- an extra pair of hands (preferably attached to an extra person) and a sheet rock lift. If you can hang sheet rock overhead, you can easily handle vertical surfaces, save a tool rental, and allow your significant other to do something other than muck about with gyp board.

Check out the gallery to get a feel for the process, then read on.

Back in the days before mass-produced imports, being a DIY'er sometimes meant making your own tools. My dad belongs to that generation, as do some of the men in my husband's family. Relatively few people have the gear or know-how required to do that these days. Sad, huh?

To revisit that self-sufficient era, head to Frank Campbell's A Woodworker's Bench Notes. In addition to all sorts of carpentry instructions, wood-working plans, and generally handy tips, this great little site also has a page dedicated to the site creator's dad, Hugh Campbell. Here you can view photos of some Campbell-creations, along with explanatory notes. Included are photos of a jig saw, a drill press, and a power hack saw -- all of them home-made in the 1940s and 50s. Guess what? They are all still working today.

There's also a newspaper clipping from 1946 attesting to Campbell's status as a local inventor. It tells how Campbell dealt with the problem of transportation around his farm after a particularly heavy snowfall by building a caterpillar snow toboggan. Other impressive inventions included a "garden tractor" that incorporated old car parts, and a swathing machine, the frame of which was constructed from an old truck.