Pro Tips for Paint Brushes and Rollers
April 20, 2008
Get the Most from Your Paint Brushes and Rollers
More from EHT:
Get the Most from Your Paint Brushes and Rollers
I’ll give you fair warning—woodworking lathes are addictive. Although they appear daunting to first-time users, lathes are fun and can be used to create
Priming a surface before applying paint ensures a truer paint color and reduces the number of top coats.
Q: I just built an 8-by-10-foot shed and sheathed it with 1/2-inch CD. I’m going to side it with vinyl. Do I need to put
The EHT staff stays immersed in home-improvement news every day, and still, there are so many new products and materials hitting the market each year
Q: There is a white powder-like substance on the brick of our new backyard patio. How can I remove this? A: That white substance is
The Gutter Spatula “I thought I’d share with your readers this little brainstorm I had while cleaning my gutters last weekend … I’ve discovered the
Q: I moved into a house with old aluminum siding. Can I paint it? A: As with any painting project, begin by prepping the surface.
Q: Help! I have loose siding panels (vinyl) from hurricane damage. How can I repair this? A: Vinyl siding panels interlock at their top and
Q: Our rear deck is a little too bouncy. Is there any way to stabilize this without a complete rebuild? A: A “bouncy” deck is
Q: My wife wants an in-ground water fountain in the front yard, and I have no experience installing one. Is this even a DIY project
Q: We recently installed a new roof, with new fiberglass insulation and two new wind turbines. Would I save money during the winter if I
Q: Is there a way to fix a loose metal handrail without replacing the whole thing? A: A wobbly metal rail is a common problem
Q: I have some ugly oil stains on the driveway from the car. Can you give me some tips on how to remove them? A:
Q: Several years ago I had vinyl siding installed on my house and under the eaves. No eave vents were installed and I’d like to
Extreme How-To Explores the various systems and benefits of radiant heat.
Q: I’m about to pour a new sidewalk. How long should I let the new concrete cure before walking on it? A: Generally speaking, concrete
Q: Two doors in my house have lousy hinges. The screws have stripped out of the casing and now the doors swing crooked. I have
Q: I tiled the kids’ bathroom and mixed my grout in the tub. The tub itself is made of fiberglass. I now have small dark
Improving sound and performance with a Magnaflow cat-back exhaust system.
Q: One of the burners on my oven range died. Should I replace it, or can it be fixed? A: If the burner is scorched
Q: Can you tell me how to re-glue a seam in a vinyl floor? I’d hate to call a handyman if it’s something simple that I
Q: I have a crack in the drywall of the living room ceiling. When it gets cold, the crack widens. When it’s warm, the crack
Q: I have a heat pump question. How much water should be coming out of my A/C unit? It is an 8-year-old system, and it
Q: I need to cut a piece of cement board into a 30-inch circle. What’s the best way to cut this material? A: You
Q: I have an old house that has lath and plaster walls. When taking off some wallpaper, a lot of plaster came off. Can I
Q: I’d like to install a glass block window in a bathroom. Is this a DIY project? A: Glass blocks can be used in
Q: The finish is worn on our bathtub and instead of ripping up the bathroom and replacing it, I was wondering if there are products
Q: I want new flooring in the dining room and I’m trying to decide between carpet and wood. I’m on a concrete slab and it’s
Beefing Up the Backdoor Against Break-ins
Q: Our upstairs hardwood floor squeaks in a few places. I can’t access the joists because of the finished ceiling of the first floor. Can
Q: Our shower won’t spray water the way it used to. Can I repair this or do I have to replace the head? A: For
Q: I’m considering replacing my old water heater with a tankless version. Are these things all they’re cracked up to be? A: Tankless water heaters
Q: I’m having a terrible time trying to remove melted candle wax from the carpet. Any advice? A: First, carefully scrape any loose wax
Q: Is there a quick fix for a squeaky door hinge? A: Here’s one method that sometimes works: petroleum jelly. Start by loosening the
Q: I’m about to wallpaper a bedroom but dread the mess of soaking the pre-pasted paper. Is there any way around this? A: The soaking
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Boost your curb appeal and add value to your home.
Q: Our upstairs hardwood floor squeaks in a few places. I can’t access the joists because of the finished ceiling of the first floor. Can
Tips and Tools to Get the Job Done Right
Push-starting our ’74 Super Beetle wasn’t that big of a deal (unless you ask my lovely young bride, who once had to interrupt her
Replace old windows to reduce energy costs and add value to your home.
Q: Help! When I had my back turned, my three-year-old grandson found a loose loop of carpet and gave it a yank. Now I have
Q: Several spots in our plumbing system began to leak over the last year, so we had to replace some of the galvanized pipe. Last
Q: We plan to lay a new kitchen floor in our lake house. We purchased peel-and-stick tile, hoping we can lay them right over the
Q: I’d like to add an arched entryway between the living room and kitchen. Can you tell me how to bend drywall for the arch?
Q: My neighbor has a faux finish in her family room that she calls “stippling.” It gives the walls a nice textured look. Her walls
Q: I’m planning to do my own roofing job. Is it possible to do one side of the roof at a time, finish one part
Q: When I turn on my air conditioner I smell a very bad odor, like sulfur or rotten eggs. The smell only lasts about 10
Q: I always hear about the importance of insulating the attic, but rarely hear much talk about insulation between the floor joists of crawlspaces? Is
Q: I had a mahogany deck installed last year and the boards were put too close together, resulting in puddling when it rains or snows.
Q: What product do you recommend for regular cleaning of hardwood floors? A: Many pros swear by using nothing more than a mixture
Q: A few months ago, I hired a contractor to install laminate tongue-and-groove flooring over concrete. It was installed with glue. Now I hear pops
Q: Help! My three-year-old son flushed a bar of soap down the toilet. I’ve tried using a plunger plus a lot of Drano, and it
Q: We just had our fireplace cleaned and the cracks sealed, but still sometimes have a backdraft problem where the smoke doesn’t go up. There’s
Phil Smith of Decatur, Indiana, submitted the following helpful home tip to the EHT staff: “While refinishing my basement, I was putting the final touches
Q: When hanging drywall, do you place the bottom of the sheets on the subfloor or are they raised up to allow for expansion? A:
Q: Is textured paint easier to use than creating texture with joint compound? A: Using pre-textured paint can be easier because it saves you the
Q: I was interested in becoming a residential contractor, and I thought Extreme How-To may have some information on pointing me in the right direction.
Q: When you’re laying sheathing on the roof, which way does it need to go, vertical or horizontal? We have it going horizontal and have
Q: I’m interested in buying a framing nail gun and wondered what the pros and cons were for Clipped-Head vs. Round-Head. I’ll be framing a
Phil Smith of Decatur, Indiana, submitted the following helpful home tip to the EHT staff: While refinishing my basement, I was putting the final
Q: How to Build a Header for a Door? A: A header is doubled 2-by material above the door to distribute the weight of the
Q: Hi, I’m 12 years old and I need to get a stripped screw out of my electric guitar. The needle-nose pliers won’t grip it
Q: I would like to cover a block wall of my home to look like an old adobe. Do I need to cover the brick
Q: Any advice on installing crown molding solo? I’m remodeling my house but I live alone and don’t usually have an extra pair of hands
Q: I recently finished adding a deck to my house. I’ve noticed part of my handrail is warping. I used treated wood, 2-by-4 and spindles
Q: Can I install plastic laminate over a countertop that’s already covered with existing laminate material? A: Yes, but the existing surface must be even
Q: Is it possible to paint vinyl siding? Or do I have to replace the siding if I want a new color? A: Fortunately, several
Q: I can do a decent job at taping and mudding the flat seams of drywall, but still have a little trouble at the inside
Q: My home has about 6 inches of fiberglass insulation in the attic, and I’m planning to add more. Should I use faced insulation? A:
Q: For a countertop, what are the advantages/disadvantages of 2-centimeter granite versus 3-centimeter granite? The 2-centimeter is cheaper, but I know you usually get what
Q: A thunderstorm blew a few shingles off my roof. The roof is about 12 years old. I would like to replace the missing shingles
Q: I’m remodeling my kitchen, which will feature white cabinets, white crown molding and white baseboard trim throughout. For a sink backsplash, I thought the
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Using the proper glue for specific jobs is important; using the proper technique with specific glues is just as important.
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Armstrong-Clark’s deck and siding wood stain has nondrying conditioning oils that separate from the drying side of the formula. These oils penetrate deep into the deck or siding wood fiber where the wood’s natural oils used to be. This process rejuvenates the wood. The drying oils stay at the surface, lock in the conditioning oils […]
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