Get the kids involved with age appropriate—safe—home improvement activity. Even if they don’t thank you now, they’ll thank you later.
Today’s Tip: Deck and Fence Stain
May 16, 2012 By
When applying stain to a deck or fence’s vertical surfaces, start from the bottom and work up. This prevents runs and streaks. And, use a high quality brush.
Deck: Your Two Cents
April 30, 2012 By
Request for Two Cents on Deck Building via FixitUp Facebook Friend: I’m building a deck soon. Give me your $.02 on materials for railings, decking, framing? Two Cents Hopefully this is worth at least two cents (or two cold ones when I’m done.) : Design and Budget We like to start with a design that [...]
Installing Deck Boards: Rings Up Or Down
November 21, 2011 By 6 Comments
Question: I am building a deck. I have heard that some carpenters install the deck boards with the bark side of the deck board facing up. I want to build this right. What’s your take? Answer: My take is this: good question. There has been conversation about this amongst deck builders for years. And the [...]
Craftsman Experience – Highlights of How to Build a Deck
September 14, 2011 By 5 Comments
Mark and Theresa visit the Craftsman Experience in Chicago to show how to build a deck. This video covers the highlights of the build. Click here to see the full video.
Craftsman Experience – How to Build a Deck, Part II
August 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Mark and Theresa visited the Craftsman Experience in downtown Chicago to teach everyone how to build a deck. When you’re building a deck, safety is key. Mark and Theresa cover all the bases so that you can build yourself a solid party deck.
Real Wood Decking
July 2, 2011 By 1 Comment
Maybe it’s because one of the most formative periods of my home improvement life was building swim-floats and docks in Cape Cod’s salt water bays and rivers using pressure treated Southern Pine 2×6 that I like the stuff as a decking material. After all, we dumped it in the ocean year after year and it [...]
Customizable Deck Plans
June 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment
In all my years as a home improvement professional, the project that brings the biggest smiles — and requests to work along side me during the project — are decks. Equal parts rough framing, fine finish, and strong-back-weak-mind (sorta’) site work, decks boil down to fun — both building them and barbequing on them. What no one wanted [...]
Decks and Home Inspections
April 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Question: I’m considering purchasing a home. I know it has an older deck and that deck codes have changed (I watched your video). I’m concerned about the deck. Can you see any issues from the attached photo? Answer: You’re right. Deck codes have have both changed and improved. The last code re-write took place in [...]
Pressure Treated Privacy Screen
March 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment
For most of my career I’ve built in what I would call “thickly settled” neighborhoods. In other words, not many back-forty type lots for me to bounce around it. Instead, I’ve only got a little room to make a big impression. And since homeowners love their privacy when it comes to deck projects and backyard [...]
