I was at a wedding not too long ago and the bride gave an interesting speach about her new husband. He fancied himself a real DIY type fix it guy but she told a different story. She explained how it usually ended up costing her more paying a real contractor to fix everything that he usually screwed up. I am a big fan of trying to fix things on my own but sometimes you have to give in to ... Read More

I am on a mission to get a few things fixed up around the house and I will blog later this week about what I am doing to save energy. I needed a thick piece of plywood 2.5 X 2.5 for a small project but they only sell sheets 4 x 4 for over $16. Kind of a waste because I have no other use for the extra wood. A shame to pay that much when I didn't really need it ... Read More

If you live in Canada time is ticking for your take advantage of your home renocation tax credit. If you did any renovations to your hosue between Feb. 27 of this year and before Feb. 1, 2010 of next year you can apply for a credit on your tax return. The stipulation is that your renovations must be over a thousand dollars in total and you can't go over ten thousand dollars. At the max you could be eligible for ... Read More

So tomorrow the plumber shows up to start my bathroom renovation. He gave me quote awhile back but I decided to start the gutting process myself. I broke the tile wall and took the plaster out over two Saturdays and took them to the dump. When we spoke last week he said he would do the quote over because I had one a fair bit of the work myself. You would be suprised how much money you can save ... Read More

Just how ugly is that window? I don't know if you can see it or not but there is an aluminum storm window on the other side of that ugly wooden frame. I have read that up to 35% of your heat loss can be through your old draughty windows. This old window was draughty for sure. My wife used to have a cold nose when she was sitting on the couch watching tv. Can you imagine how much ... Read More

My bathroom is hideous. I can't find another word to describe it. Hideous and it should have been renovated years ago. I am on my second quote in getting a new tub and facets, window, tiling and drywall. Here's a couple of tips for any of you thinking of getting work done. One, look at the prices of the material  you are buying online and compare that to what you are being charged. We were thinking about Kohler faucets so I got ... Read More