Recently I painted over the wood paneling in thedownstairs apartment of my new house. Sadly, no prospective tenantscared for "Brady Bunch chic" in my ad on Craigslist. I couldn'tafford to rip it out and start over with drywall, so I had tofigure out how to paint it.

While wall prep is always the most important part of a paintjob, that's doubly true for wood paneling. That's because thesurface has not only been treated with some kind of varnish or oilto seal the wood, but it probably hasn't been washed down sincewhenever it was or

My house has popcorn ceilings all throughout.This look must have been very appealing to someone living in the60ies, but it's not the look I want. I decided to do the work andupgrade to a modern flat ceiling.

After taking down the popcorn my task was to apply a skim coatacross the entire ceiling. Let's take a look at what'sinvolved.

What is a skim coat

A skim coat is a very thin layer of drywall joint compound thatcovers an entire ceiling or wall. It is smooth and hides allimperfections in the dry

The attic access in my home does not come with abuilt in attic ladder. It's located in a closet. Every time need towork in the attic, I have to empty the closet to protect itscontent from the lose insulation the attic, and carry a step ladderinto the room. Climbing into the attic is a bit of an athleticundertaking. Enough is enough. It's time to install an atticladder. Let's take a look at what it takes to get this done.

Proper sizing

Two measurements are important when installing an attic ladder.The ladder's width an

I recently decided to replace a couple ofclosets in my house with new, built-in units. The existing closetswere not very usable. Each had only one rod, a sagging shelf, andno drawer space whatsoever. The new units will ultimately have 2-3xthe storage space of the old closets, look much better, and makethe users very happy.

Little did I know when I started the project that designing agood closet is hard. A lot of considerations go into the design ofa usable closet. Let's examine what it takes to design a trulygreat closet.

Composite roof shingles are the most commonroofing material in the United States. They are economical, easy toinstall, and easy to repair. During the life of your roof you willmost likely have to replace one or two damaged shingles. Especiallycloser to the end of their life shingles are prone to tearing. Whata lot of people don't know is how easy it is to replace individualshingles. Instead of spending time and money on hiring a roofer,you can do the work yourself. Let's take a look at what'sinvolved.

Getting the materials

Poor attic ventilation can be the cause of manyproblems in your home. In my house poor ventilation caused theattic to get very hot in the summer. In the evening the heattrapped in the attic kept the rest of the house warm well into thenight. During the dog days of summer it was difficult to sleep. Tomake matters worse, the moisture trapped in the air caused mold togrow on the underside of the roof sheeting.

The proper fix for this problem would be to install proper ridgeventing (passive venting). Active venting (a motorized fan) i

The cheapest and fastest to install countertopis a laminated countertop. These countertops are a reasonablealternative to higher quality options like granite or tile. Maybeyou'd like something nicer in your kitchen, but in a laundry roomlaminate will often be a good option. Available at most homecenters, a laminate countertop can be installed in afternoon. Let'stake a look at what it takes.

Cutting to length

Pre-made countertops can be cut with a circular saw or a tracksaw. A high quality blade will leave no chip out.

One of the joys of doing things yourself istesting your limits. With every project completed your skills grow.What used to be out of reach becomes possible. Installing a kitchensink is one of these milestones. It does not require plumbingskills, but seems daunting enough most people never try. Let's takea look at what's involved.

Installing the hot and cold water valves

The project begins at the plumbing stubs below the sinklocation. There will be hot and cold water lines and a sewerconnection. The hot and cold water

Computers are omnipresent in life today. In manyhomes there is one in each bedroom. Even the kids have to have one.Every one of these machines makes noise. Not a lot, but it is stillnoticeable. The most effective way of eliminating the noise createdby a computer is to move it to a different room. In this article weare going to review what it takes to connect to a computer througha wall. If the wall is insulated, your PC experience will becompletely silent.

The system consist of a wall plate and cables. At the locationof the compu

A home requires constant maintenance. Everyhomeowner knows that. We all know that maintenance can getexpensive really quick, especially if you hire contractors to dothe work. Fortunately you can save big money by doing the simpletasks yourself. Let's take a look at the top three DIY skills everyhomeowner should learn.

Clearing a drain backup

Backups are a frequent occurrence in most homes. Most often theclog is located in the p-trap of the plumbing system, an easy spotto clear it from. The p-trap is design to be the weak s