Archives: Home Improvement

How To Install Pocket Doors

By Todd Fratzel on Doors

Installing Pocket Doors Installing a pocket door isn’t very complicated. Pocket doors offer a great design solution for tight spaces that don’t have sufficient room for the door to swing open. Pocket doors also free up wall space where a door might otherwise swing open. We see the use of pocket doors more and more…

Continue reading »

Panasonic EY6432GQKW 15.6-Volt NiMH 1/2-Inch Cordless Drill/Driver Kit

By Todd Fratzel on Power Tools

Panasonic 1/2 Inch Cordless Drill The Panasonic EY6432GQKW 15.6-Volt NiMH 1/2-Inch Cordless Drill/Driver Kit is a really great cordless drill kit. We recently bought one of these drills for the crew at work and I’ve heard nothing but compliments. The Panasonic Cordless Drill Kit features: 15.6-volt Ni-MH 1/2-inch cordless drill/driver kit with keyless chuck Compact…

Continue reading »

What Size is Your Carbon Footprint?

By Todd Fratzel on Green Building

Lately I’ve been talking about solar power, alternative energy and figuring out how on earth we’re going to get away from oil. I thought it would be fun to use one of the free carbon footprint calculators to see what our household carbon footprint is. Obviously these are very approximate measures but it’s an easy…

Continue reading »

Connecting A Gutter Downspout to Foundation Drain

By Todd Fratzel on Landscaping

Gutter Drains – Connecting To Foundation Drains Rain gutters are one of the best defenses for protecting your home from water damage. However, the volume of water they collect can be very large and that water has to be dealt with properly or the gutters will only push the problem somewhere else. In this article…

Continue reading »

Our Home’s Energy Use Benchmark

By Todd Fratzel on Energy Conservation

Today I was doing some research on how much fuel we used to heat our home last year so that we can use that information to analyze the solar hot water design. We used 1,054 gallons of propane to cook, make domestic hot water and heat our home last year. I was curious if that…

Continue reading »

Ladder Safety

By Todd Fratzel on Power Tools, Safety

I drove by a house yesterday with some guys painting and it reminded me of how many people do unsafe things with ladders. I’m sure you’ve all seen this photo of the guy changing a light bulb using some scary scaffolding and a pickup truck. And I’m also sure that most of you have probably…

Continue reading »

Should We Go Solar?

By Todd Fratzel on Solar Power

I’ve been writing about alternative energy quite a bit lately and my interest in the subject goes deeper than blog posts. The fact is the thought of paying $3 to $5 per gallon of propane to heat our domestic water and our home is really wearing on me. I can’t help but wonder where the…

Continue reading »

How To Install Undermount Sinks

By Todd Fratzel on Plumbing

Installing Undermount Sinks Installing an undermount sink might seem like a complicated home improvement project. However, if you know a few tips that the pros use the project won’t be that difficult. Undermount sinks are typically installed under solid surface counter tops. The only difference between stone and acrylic counter tops is the way you…

Continue reading »

Copyright © 2009-2023 Front Steps Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Home Construction & Improvement™ is a Trademark of Front Steps Media, LLC.