Home Improvement

Installing A Skylight

Putting in a skylight is a big job, but it comes with a big reward – it’s hard not to appreciate the effect it can hav...
Making The Front Porch Railings

After getting the craftsman style tapered columns finished, the railing could be made to finish off the porch. Before I could do t...
Making Rafter Tails And A Pergola

Both of these projects are purely decorative, but are key to how I want this house to look. Early on, I decided that the craftsman...
Making And Installing Plywood Flooring

When it came time to replace the worn out carpet on the second floor of my house, I explored my options. My first choice was hardw...
Laying A Pine Floor

Winter is winding down and I have started on some around-the-house projects that need to be finished so that I can sell this house...
Installing The Ceramic Tile Tub Surround – My Old House

The new washroom has to be fully functional before I can start demolition on the old one, and that means it has to have a working ...
Making Window Trim – My Old House

In order to make the new washroom fully functional, I’ll have to get the ceramic tile installed around the new bathtub. Sinc...
Installing And Finishing Plywood Flooring

This is my third time using plywood for a finished floor and I thought I would go into more detail this time than I did before. Fi...
My Big Kitchen Renovation

It wasn’t long after buying this house in 2005 that I began renovations on various parts of it. The kitchen was at the top o...
How To Make A Handrail

With just a few small details left to wrap up in my house renovation, the largest of these was to put a railing on the stairway th...
How To Make a Sump Pit

by Don Heisz So, it’s been raining. Pretty much every day, some rain falls. It’s been a far wetter year than any I hav...
Installing Decorative Glass In Cabinet Doors

One of the things that needed attention in my house when I bought it was the dated, worn out kitchen. Shortly after moving in, I s...
Complete Bathroom Renovation

This is a project that had been ongoing for more than a year. Having just finished it, I thought I would show some of the more unc...
Refacing Basement Stairs

I have to be honest: at this point in my never ending home renovations, I’m not putting out my best work. I just want to get...
Building A Garden Shed

Well, I’ll call it that, anyway. For now, it’s a temporary place for about half of my woodworking tools and supplies &...
Replacing Roof Shingles On A Garage

My new shop is a detached garage that was built nearly twenty years ago – I know this because the lumber stamp on the OSB us...
Attaching Wood To Concrete The Cheap Way

Cheap, but reliable. And fast. It’s also easy to do, easy as driving a nail. This is an old trick that I learned from my tim...
Making An Up/Down Light

After I completed the new ceiling in the shop, I found that the area around the miter saw station was a bit dimmer than I’d ...
The Stair Jig

Here’s a vintage carpentry trick and a handy tool to make if you are redoing a flight of stairs: a stair jig. Easy to make f...