Home Improvements Depot

How To Install Vinyl Gutters

Tom — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 10:13:37 +0000

Last year I replaced most of my home’s old aluminum rain gutters with vinyl rain gutters (some people call them “plastic gutters”). My previous seamless aluminum gutters were at the end of their life, falling off my house and bent beyond usefulness after years of being dented and dinged by ladders, falling branches and even [...]

Make Your Own Removable Wall Panel

Tom — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 16:19:27 +0000

Sometimes when you’re working on a home improvement project you need to throw away the rules and get a little creative. I recently had to do this when I was refinishing my basement and had to frame out a room while still allowing easy access to a drain clean out. I could have just slapped [...]

What To Do About Brown Grass

Tom — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 09:54:28 +0000

Okay, what is the photo on the right? Is it a photo from Africa’s Serengeti National Park? It is the remains of a foolish attempt to grow a lawn in the Arizona Desert? Maybe it’s a farm that specializes in growing hay? Sadly, it is none of those things. It is, unfortunately, my back yard. [...]

Free Home Improvement Ideas Book

Tom — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 10:01:28 +0000

It’s not often that you get a chance to download a free home improvement book, and it’s even more rare that the book actually comes from a county government office. Yet the Department of Community Revitalization of Henrico County, VA has created a free 140 home enhancement guide which you can download from their website. [...]

Using A Programmable Thermostat

Tom — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:19:16 +0000

One of the best and least expensive ways to lower your utility bills all year round is to replace the manual thermostat in your home with an electronic programmable thermostat. Installing a programmable thermostat is not a difficult home improvement project if you follow the directions for your model of thermostat closely. If you’re not [...]

Deciding When To Pay Someone To Complete A Home Improvement Project

Tom — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 01:40:58 +0000

As you may have guessed I rather enjoy working on my home and running out the hardware store every weekend to tackle new and different projects around my house. I like having a sense of accomplishment at the end of a long weekend and I like making my 50 year old house a little more [...]

How To Cut High Grass

Tom — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 10:13:12 +0000

There are a number of reasons that you could find yourself in a situation where you need to be cutting tall grass that has simply become too thick or too tall to cut or mow very easily. And though you really should strive to never cut your grass more than 1/3 of its full height, [...]

Troy-Bilt TriAction Lawn Mower Review

Tom — Mon, 10 May 2010 09:55:53 +0000

Troy-Bilt has always been a well-known brand when it comes to lawn mowers, but this year they’ve come out with a new line of lawn mowers that feature their new “TriAction Cutting System™” which is a collection of improvements designed to cut grass and mulch grass better than other mowers. The Troy-Bilt TB230: One of [...]

Letting Lawn Grass Go To Seed

Tom — Thu, 06 May 2010 10:35:23 +0000

There’s a long running debate in lawn and garden circles about whether you should ever let the grass in your lawn go to seed or whether you should always cut it before it gets to that point. To paraphrase Shakespeare, “To go to seed or not to go to seed?… That is the question!” My [...]

Mike Holmes on Homes

Tom — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 10:43:12 +0000

My favorite home improvement show on TV is now Holmes on Homes featuring the likable, knowledgeable and photogenic Canadian contractor and home expert Mike Holmes. The show Holmes on Homes has been playing in Canada for a couple years and could be found on cable in the United States here and there, but HGTV just [...]