Milwaukee Mag Drill Review

By Todd Fratzel on Power Tools, Product Reviews

Magnetic Drill Press Working with steel construction often requires specialized tools such as a magnetic drill press. Right now at work our crew is building a very large steel building and today the guys needed to drill several holes in the “red” iron (structural steel beams). In fact, several of the holes needed to be…

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Upcoming Bench Dog Router Table Review

By Todd Fratzel on Product Reviews

Bench Dog ProMax Router Table A few weeks ago I wrote about wanting to add a router table extension wing to my table saw. Well I’m happy to say that the fine folks at Bench Dog Tools have agreed to send me the ProMax Cast Iron Router Table to use and review for all of…

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Paslode Nails

By Todd Fratzel on Power Tools

Buying Paslode Nails Paslode nail guns all require special nails made by Paslode. I’ve created links to some of the popular size nails below. They are all links to buy the nails from Amazon. I think you’ll find that these are the lowest prices available and most of them are eligible for FREE shipping! Framing…

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How To Remove Ground Frost Before Mother Nature

By Todd Fratzel on Foundations

Deep Ground Frost Here in New England it’s not uncommon to find frost over 4 feet in the ground after a long cold winter. Before building a foundation all of the frost has to be removed from the sub-grade. You can let mother nature do the work and wait weeks or even months for the…

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Air Quality of Outdoor Wood-Fired Boilers

By Todd Fratzel on Air Conditioning

Outdoor Wood-Fired Boilers Outdoor wood-fired boilers have become extremely popular around here in the last few years. Last year when oil hit record prices I started seeing these outdoor units pop up everywhere I drove. Unfortunately they haven’t been completely welcomed by annoyed abutters and neighbors. The problem with these outdoor boilers is SMOKE! First…

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Raised Bed Vegetable Gardens

By Todd Fratzel on Gardening

Raised Bed Gardens We are planning on finally planting a garden this year at our new house. This year will be our 3rd full summer so we really want to get some vegetables going as we miss having our own garden. We had a medium size vegetable garden at our first home and we grew…

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Must Have Metal Stud Framing Tools

By Todd Fratzel on Framing, Power Tools

Metal Stud Framing At work we are getting ready to start framing some office space for a commercial project with metal studs. I thought it might be useful to discuss some of the must have tools required for metal stud framing. Metal stud framing has gained significant popularity in the building trade and is used…

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Neighbor Disputes | Right-Of-Ways

By Todd Fratzel on Design

Property Right-Of-Ways A friend of mine is going through a dispute with a neighbor about a right-of-way and I thought it was worth sharing. Many pieces of property have legal right-of-ways that grant access to pieces of property for many reasons. Furthermore, many property owners arean’t always aware of the right-of-ways and the significance of…

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