Archives: Home Improvement

How To Install Cabinet Door Hardware Quickly and Accurately

By Todd Fratzel on Cabinetry, Power Tools

Cabinet Hardware Template In this post I’d like to share with you a great piece of advice on how to install cabinet door hardware quickly and accurately. Once you’ve spent thousands of dollars on new cabinets the last thing you want to do is ruin them by doing a bad job installing the hardware. Next…

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Cleaning Decks With Power Washers

By Todd Fratzel on Decks & Porches, Maintanence

Pressure Washing Decks Cleaning decks with pressure washers is a very easy home improvement project that doesn’t take much skill. The best part is you don’t have to own an expensive power washer to do the job. Almost all rental centers carry pressure washers. Today I rented a 3,100 psi gas powered pressure washer from…

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Take Photos During Construction To Document Hidden Utilities

By Todd Fratzel on Plumbing

Construction Photos – Document Plumbing and Electrical One of my biggest pieces of advice for anyone building a new home or under going an major renovation is to take as many photos as you can during construction to document hidden utilities. Every house contains hundreds if not thousands of feet of wire, piping and duct…

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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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