Mark’s blog

Old House Wiring

If you have an old house, you know this refers to the wiring that’s probably coursing current to your lights and plugs. The knobs are…

New Bathroom, Old Space

This big blog on building bathrooms is coming to you from the floor of The Remodeling Show where I am delivering several demonstrations on (can…

Bathroom Remodeling

Here’s an elemental truth about bathroom remodeling: Pound for pound, ounce for ounce, and brick for figurative brick bathrooms rank at the top of the…

Add Some Style to Your Tile

I love tile. Sure, my zeitgeist is wood, but tile tells a house’s story in a verse much different from its leafy cousin. It has…

Finding the right Claw-Foot Tub

Vita in Florida writes (My replies are in italics. I can also speak in italics, but only at parties🙂 Mark, Just the man I want…

The Square Foot

Is it just me or are you giving a lot of bids to prospective customers who are simply shopping price, or, as the car-cliche goes,…

Look Out Below

So here’s one from the “While-You’re-Here-Could-You-Just…” Department. I get hired to build things, but I’m often asked to do other stuff. In this case, it…

Prepare Your Feet for a Hard Days Work

In a switch from our usual tool reviews, two of our residential construction aces take a look at a couple of the new TimberlandPRO work…

The Beauty of Imperfect Old Houses

By any other standard the door to my son’s room is broken. Not only is one of the five horizontal raised panels in the century…

Are Decent Plumbers Disappearing

I think plumbing, like real estate sales, is one of those businesses where 10% of the people do 90% of the work. And right now…

How to Deal With Debris

“Make a decision and the rest will follow,” goes a phrase I read once, attributed to an ancient Chinese proverb. And what follows when you…

Writing for Realtors

“Tough times make tough people.” I read that in a great book about the World Series of Poker called The Biggest Game in Town by…