Archives: Home Improvement

Building Concrete Footings For A New House

By Todd Fratzel on Foundations

As you probably know I’m documenting the construction of a new house with the Total House Construction Series – Foundation to Finish. This series will follow the construction of a new home with lots of energy efficient design features. Yesterday the concrete footings were built that will eventually hold up the concrete foundation walls and…

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Radon In Your Home

By Todd Fratzel on Safety

Radon gas is a dangerous contaminant that affects indoor air quality. Radon is a colorless, odorless, naturally occurring, radioactive noble gas that is formed from the decay of radium. Radon is the invisible, radioactive atomic gas that results from radioactive decay of some forms of uranium that may be found in rock formations beneath buildings…

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Home Improvement Lead Paint Safety

By Todd Fratzel on Painting and Finishing, Safety

Chances are very good that if you enjoy doing home improvement projects you’ve probably been exposed to lead paint at one time or another. Most homes built before 1978 contain some amounts of lead based paints. Homes built prior to 1950 contained paints with even higher levels of lead. That is why lead paint safety…

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Initial Site Work For House Building Lot

By Todd Fratzel on Foundations

Site work has begun on the new house that we’re building and I’m following here with the Total House Construction Series – Foundation to Finish. The site work for this house building lot consists of: Excavation for house foundation Installation of driveway Installation of waterline and electrical service conduits Construction of on-site septic system Installation…

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Replacing Plastic Toilet Seat Hinge Bolts

By Todd Fratzel on Plumbing, Product Reviews

Yesterday I wrote about the Defective Plastic SoftClose Toilet Seat Bolts on our Toto toilet. Below you can see a photo of the plastic bolts after I removed them from the toilet. The head of the bolts totally deteriorated and fell apart causing the toilet seat to become loose. I was wondering all day today…

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Replacement Windows

By Todd Fratzel on Energy Conservation, Windows

Home replacement windows are an excellent way to make your home more energy efficient. With today’s rising heating costs it makes sense to evaluate the need to replace your old drafty windows. Replacement windows can be purchased to fit any opening and match most any house style. Before ordering replacement windows you should consider some…

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Defective Plastic SoftClose Toilet Seat Bolts

By Todd Fratzel on Plumbing, Product Reviews

That’s not a dirty toilet in the photo! Those bits and pieces are from the plastic toilet seat bolts that have disintegrated! This is an expensive Toto toilet that I happen to like very well. However, I’m less than thrilled with this defect that has occurred less than two years since we bought it. Toto…

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TileJax Tile Spacers

By Todd Fratzel on Flooring

Anyone that’s installed ceramic tile before knows that spacing the tile is a crucial element in a beautiful finished project. Traditionally most people either set the tiles by eye (left for the pros) or you buy these little rubber “X” shaped spacers (see photo below). Today I came across this new type of tile spacer…

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