I woke up with the rising sun on the morning of Thursday May 15, 1986 in a tent pitched on my homestead property. It was my first morning on the land, I was there by myself, and it was one of the most sharply depressing moments of my life. It was all I could do to stop myself from running away from the crazy venture I’d gotten myself into.
Continue ReadingHOME ENERGY EFFICIENCY: Four Ways to Make Your Home 2x More Efficient
While the energy efficiency of new homes and renovations has gone way up over the last few decades, most people don’t realize how much more gains are possible. Employ the renovation and new construction strategies you’ll find here and you’ll […]
Continue ReadingPATCHING WALLS: Course Teaches All the Tricks
The quickest way to change the look of your home is by changing the colours on your walls. Use these steps to ensure that your walls look like they were repaired and painted by professionals.
Continue ReadingVIDEO FEATURE: See Deck Stain Testing Program in Action
Back in the 1980s I did some exterior woodworking for a client. They were very pleased, at least at first. Eight months later I got the phone call. The finish was peeling and ugly. “How could you let this happen?”, […]
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OUTDOOR WOODWORKING TIPS: Real-World Tricks for Working With Posts, Beams & More
There are tricks that make a big difference to the visual success of outdoor woodworking projects, and that’s what you’ll get here. You’ll find them useful for almost every project involving big, exterior wood. Decks, docks, gazebos, swing sets, mailbox […]
Continue ReadingBEAT THE HEAT: Cooler Upstairs Bedrooms in Summer
Is the second story of your home too hot in summer, despite air conditioning that’s running full blast and making lower levels too cold? Click for a real-world solution that solves the problem once and for all.
Continue Reading7 YEAR PRODUCT REVIEW: Fabric Shelter Stands Test of Time
Steve Maxwell researched and installed fabric-covered shelters and shares the knowledge to help homeowners solve their outdoor storage problems.
Continue ReadingELLIE’S ADOPTION: Three Things That Surprised Us
UPDATED 13Jun2020 + video: Some of you may remember me telling you about our daughter, Ellie. We adopted her from South Africa in 2008. Click here to read if you missed it. She was 7 months old when we met her on […]
Continue ReadingCLASSIC BRICK: How to Design for Beauty
Over the last five years I’ve been trying to understand a kind of beauty I see from time to time. It has to do with old brick buildings and I think I have it figured out. The most impressive brick buildings […]
Continue ReadingGARDENING: Why You Need to Love Getting “Outdoor Tired”
As I was growing up in the suburban town of Richmond Hill, Canada in the 1970s, the municipal government in charge of the place did something brilliant. Or so it seemed. They bought a 100 acre farm just outside town, they […]
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