Comments on: Win a Craftsman Cordless Drill!

By: Sharon Broome

Sharon Broome — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:48:39 +0000

My husband built our house from the ground up. I mean he cut the trees off of our property(when you could do that) had that sawed into lumber with a neighbors sawmill. Let the lumber air dry for a year. He then along with my Dad starting building our home which took almost 4 years. My Dad layed the brick. He could only work Saturdays because he worked full time. My husband would work his full time job and come home , eat supper, and take our 4 year old daughter over to help him hold studs while he nailed for a few hours at night. So my husband is always doing projects and the drill would come in handy. He built our home 30 years ago. He is now retired and we are working on a garage apartment for anyone in the family who might need a place to stay due to illness or elderly parents etc. Maybe just a guest house.

By: Leslie

Leslie — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 06:32:55 +0000

Need to install some pvc sprinkler line? Save yourself the trouble of digging trenches. Use a hammer drill with a wide spade blade. I like to use a cordless model. Set it to hammer only, not rotate. Now push it into the ground the desired depth, then lean it back and forth before pulling it out. You are making a trench cavity under the surface. Move over a few inches, just the width of your spade and do it again and again until your hidden ditch is complete. You will be able to push the pvc into the grove in the ground, no mess, no fill dirt. Just stomp around and it almost disappears.

By: Kari

Kari — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:17:15 +0000

Hey! I need a drill! My most frugal home improvement project happens every time I try to install any bracket on my walls that uses screws. I actually use a nail and hammer to get the hole started, then I use a screwdriver to drive in the screw. I get huge blisters from doing this, and sometimes I just give up, so then the bracket isn’t installed properly. This works just until someone tries to open curtains or dust shelves… thank goodness I live alone! : )

By: Pete

Pete — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:43:22 +0000

My entry is now up at my site: Click Here

By: Courtney

Courtney — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:48:39 +0000

Our dumbest move on home improvement was when we decided to “save” $2K and rip up our old kitchen tile floor so it could be replaced with hardwood. The prior owner didn’t properly prep the subflooring and so the morter cracked and broke with every step. It was a total eyesore and health hazard. We ended up having to pry most pieces up with a crowbar, I got cut with a sharp tile, needed stitches and eventually got an infection from it (fine now!), we rented a sander and still had to put in a new subfloor. What a waste of time and money!

By: fred@opc

fred@opc — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 02:17:30 +0000

My entry is up @ One Project Closer (scroll to the bottom of the wrap-up). Hopefully some other folks will head your way from my site.

By: Funny about Money

Funny about Money — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:33:55 +0000

Oh, this is hilarious! Frightening, but hilarious.

Your yard is lovely–that playhouse in the trees!! So excellent. I’m forwarding your post to my son, who will either be inspired to landscape or scared out of the backyard.

Funny recently posted on “My Most Cost-Effective Renovations” (which I guess is frugalist, eh?). But between now and the 15th I’ll post something new & let you know about it.

So many wacky stories, so little time to write them up….

By: Cindi

Cindi — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:19:49 +0000

Hello! Our family had lived in a 90 year old home that we renovated over the years. My husband literally scraped every layer of paint on the outside of the house for 2 years. At night, he would use scaffolding with a light to scrape. He finally got down the the bare wood. We ended up earning a
“Historic Preservation Award” from the city. It was very rewarding. Anyway, our two sons were getting tired of living in an “old” house, so we built a new one and they love it here. There was really no place for them to go with their friends here, though! My husband had refinished the other house’s basement, even though it had low ceilings! Well, lo and behold, he took on entirely by himself (yes, he does have a full-time day job), this large basement. Starting with a lot of drywalling and ceiling tile, he did it step by step. It is fabulous! We could actually live down there if we had to. There is a game room, entertainment room. kitchenette, bathroom and game closets. Please enter my husband in your drawing. He love tools. Thank you very much! Cindi

By: Kyle

Kyle — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 21:29:32 +0000

Perky, great story! At least you can laugh about it now, or is that your husband STILL laughing that I hear….your entered.

Rachael, got your email, great post as well. It has been my experience that painting can be one of the cheaper home improvement projects but also one of the most frustrating at times. Your entered too! Good luck.

By: Rachael Montgomery

Rachael Montgomery — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:18:38 +0000

Great contest…thanks!

By: Perky

Perky — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:14:05 +0000

Wow — where to start? My stupidist is probably the time I wanted to paint the inside of my closet, so I put the big ladder in the closet. Oh yeah — we have sliding doors on the closet and I didn’t want to take them off, so there wasn’t much room. You know what’s coming, right? I started to tip the ladder, the paint started to fall, I tried to catch it, which only made it worse and the ladder, paint and me all went tumbling to the floor of the closet! What a mess that was! I was covered in paint and so was the floor and the ladder. I had to yell to my husband to help and then he couldn’t stop laughing. He reminds of this heartwarming story often!

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:56:09 +0000

Great contest, Kyle! I’d enter except for 2 things: 1) I already have a drill and 2) If I didn’t, me plus 1 drill would be a very dangerous thing. I am sooo unhandy. Heh.

Good luck with the contest, though!

By: betty rood

betty rood — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:24:59 +0000

Got ya blogged with my easter story..i’m emailing you…

HAPPY EASTER AARON!!!!

By: Kyle

Kyle — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:54:48 +0000

@ Aaron, I feel your pain. Our dirt was so full of clay and rock that I can dig a hole, fill it up with water and it will take days for that water to penetrated the soil.

@ remodelingthislife, from clicking around your blog, I can tell you are a huge do-it-yourselfer! That is fantastic! Looking forward to your entry!

By: remodelingthislife

remodelingthislife — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:11:36 +0000

I have to pick just one?! I’ll see if I can come up with a project I haven’t blogged about yet. Your lawn looks fantastic!