Plan Your Duct Work To Maximize Attic Space

By Todd Fratzel on Air Conditioning, Closets & Storage

Most houses built today use common trusses that don’t provide for attic space like older homes framed with traditional rafters. In a recent post, Creating Storage Room With Attic Trusses, I pointed out the benefit of using attic trusses to create inexpensive storage space. In order to take advantage of that newly gained space it’s…

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How to Tile Shower Ceilings

By Todd Fratzel on Bathrooms

Last week I was asked if I could explain how to install tile on an overhead surface (shower ceiling). Well I’ve done it once so I thought I’d share my experience installing marble tile on a shower ceiling. The first thing that I’d like to share is the importance of a proper substrate surface to…

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How "Green" is Bamboo Flooring?

By Todd Fratzel on Flooring

I’d like to share a post that I wrote the other day over at Today’s Green Construction. The post, Is Bamboo Flooring Green?, looks at the question of how environmentally friendly is the popular bamboo flooring that everyone seems to be buying lately. You might find it interesting to read about why I don’t think…

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SketchUp Is Really Great

By Todd Fratzel on Design

Recently I discovered the power and value of a free piece of software that blows my mind. If you’ve ever used any kind of drafting software like AutoCAD then you know that 3D modeling is something left for the experts. Furthermore the software needed to do 3D drafting is extremely expensive. Until now that is,…

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Basement Flooring Options

By Todd Fratzel on Flooring

Another reader question was my opinion on the best flooring options for basements. I’m not a flooring expert but I’ve seen my share of flooring options used for basements so heres my take on the topic. Basements present some flooring challenges that are unique with respect to home construction. Whether your basement is fairly new…

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How To Repair Hairline Cracks in Tile Grout Lines

By Todd Fratzel on Flooring

How To Repair Cracked Grout Anyone that’s installed ceramic tile knows that after time you may find narrow cracks in the grout lines. Typically this happens where two perpendicular faces come together. For example, where a tiled wall meets a tiled counter top or floor.We have this problem in or master bathroom in a few…

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Home Depot Coupon

By Todd Fratzel on Coupons

Save with Great Deals – Home Depot Online The Home Depot Online offers lots of great deals and savings. On this page you’ll find several Home Depot Coupon codes which provide some great savings. If you’ve got a large purchase coming up and it’s likely that the best deal is at The Home Depot then…

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How To Clean Vinyl Fence and Railing

By Todd Fratzel on Maintanence

Cleaning Vinyl Fence One of the few problems I’ve found with vinyl railings and fencing is how dirty it gets from the weather. After a season of rain, snow, ice and bird droppings these white vinyl railings great really dirty. You can’t tell from a distance but if you get up to it you won’t…

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