An ADHD Handyman

Perhaps the most important tool a contractor brings to the table us the service agreement.   It is what determines exactly what work will be done, how or in what way it will be done, and when or how long for it to be done. As much as many people say they dislike reading through things like inclusions and exclusions, these are what protect both parties from accidents as well as predatory actions.  Because, yes, sometimes either of the parties will, if not intentionally, at least willfully,  take unfair advantage of the other. So things need to be spelled out.  No one likes to be ripped off.  No one wants to be sued.  With a clear understanding of exactly who's responsible for doing what, at each stage of the process, it makes it easier to plan, prepare,  and execute. Assumptions are the big project killer in interactions like these.  Someone assumes that the other one will deal with some particular.   Only to find that wasn't it. Eve...

 If you're unfamiliar with it, Home Depot Pro Trades is an online direct supplies and materials business,  owned and operated by Home Depot. It used to be "ebarnett".  They gave a bit of a convoluted background but it's still online supplies and materials for certain trades and businesses. I got connected to it via the Association of Certified Handyman Professionals that I'm a member of.  Being a professional handyman doing different projects for rental properties,  I find myself needing a wide range of products and I utterly despise in store shopping.  If I can ever avoid going into a store myself, I will. My own experience with Home Depot Pro Trades online has been hit and miss.  Some of the products and materials I use are to be found there.  Some of those are actually very well priced.  Some are competitive with brick and mortar stores.  Some, the brick and mortar beat easily. Some products I use regularly,  aren't available or ...

About Hot Glue and Hot Glue Guns When most people think of hot glue guns, their first thought is making crafts with kids and YouTubers making home decorations.  But there's a lot more to hot glue guns than most people realize. Hot glues have three "grades".  With cordless, battery powered glue guns, the discussion regarding Craft and Construction grade has changed. In Craft grade glue guns, the use cases are pretty focused on "craft" work.  The guns generally stay at the table.  The glue sticks used in them are relatively low level bonding or, not really permanent and use lower temperatures to melt the glue.  That's pretty most what most projects in those situations call for in terms of durability and operation.   Construction grade glue is used in a lot of construction, building, and repair work.  These guns and glues usually range from low bonding to near permanent and very strong bonding.  They are often used in finish carpentry, installer...

 There's a saying out there that tells us that there are 4 ways to fix something: The permanent fix The long term fix The short term fix The "Oh Shit" fix. The Permanent fix is one that will last forever or as long as the thing being fixed, whichever comes first.  There's no better or more "correct" way to fix something than that.  It's usually neither inexpensive nor simple. Usually.  There are always exceptions. The Long Term fix will get it handled for as long as it needs to be.  For example,  an elder neighbor once said, in their eighties regarding fixing their roof that they could have gotten 50 year shingles and rated materials to fix it, but they weren't going to be around that long so they got 25 year rated materials as they figured by then, it wouldn't be their problem. So, the problem was fixed for as long as they needed it to be, but not much longer.  The Short Term fix is fixing a problem in a way that gets things working, but we know...

 It's a jigsaw, no, it's a one handed reciprocating saw, it's... the Worx Axis combo saw.  I did the first review of this tool a few years ago when I first got it.  It's one of those Worx "innovations" that most people instantly write off as beng a junk novelty item.  I wanted to know if it was junk or if there actually was some practical use for it. On that note, a few years into owning and using it as a professional handyman,  I'll tell you what I've found. As a jigsaw, gotta be honest.  Not so much.  Really not. It's far too much vibration to be a useful jigsaw trying to follow curved lines with any precision.  As a one-handed reciprocating saw, I really like it.   Not only is it a really good one-handed recip saw, but if you keep the recip blade in it and convert it to jigsaw mode,  it's a damn handy pipe cutter.  What the jigsaw mode really does is allows you to have much better control on cuts where you push forward inste...

There are a lot of products you can get that will send along an anti-tipping kit to keep kids and pets safe from being squished or trapped behind or underneath. This usually involves a metal bracket or wire that connects to the back of the furniture and connects to the wall behind it. If I may suggest... IF, it is worth connecting an anti-tipping device to the furniture for safety,  it is equally worth ensuring that the part of the wall the bracket is connected to is connected to an actual wall stud and NOT just a wall anchor.   Similarly the same applies when wall or ceiling mounting tv's and monitors.  Yes, the mounting kits often include anchors, but more often than not, upon reading the instructions, you will find that they suggest to only mount into wall studs for safety and security reasons. A wall anchor with the right amount of force and velocity, can and will be pulled right out of a wall. 

 There are videos and posts everywhere that want to tell you about things you should have in "beginner" toolkits for woodworking,  automotive, and other career and hobby specialties. But if you own a home or intend to be helpful to someone else around their home, then tool considerations shouldn't be so limited.  Also, houses don't give a good goddamn about what experience level you might be.  These are things that need to be done and you'll need to figure it out. Now, if you didn't grow up getting "Hey you'd" into helping with house repair projects by a relative, you can look for a home repair book by "This Old House", or even some tool companies (I like the Black and Decker home repair series) to get an idea on how to go about these things. But, I digress...  Here is the list: A tape measure that has BOTH imperial and metric markings or one of each.  (Nowadays,  so many things are made overseas and are made using metric measurements. ...

 The Craftsman brand used to be the standard with professionals and DIYers alike.   Then Sears sold the brand... sad day indeed. After the sale, Craftsman tools quality bottomed out.  They appeared to no longer build the tools to the standards people had come to expect.  Total opposite,  in fact. After awhile, Stanley Black & Decker, the company that purchased the Craftsman brand, decided to try to reclaim some of it's prior glory and restore it as a "D Market" brand.  That is, aimed at the use cases that the typical DIYer and homeowner doing maintenance would get good use from. Since then, the development of brushless motors for battery powered tools has given a bit of extra boost toward the "C Market" as well and the Craftsman brand has taken advantage of that in it's "RP" (Runtime & Performance) line of brushless tools. One of those tools that most easily crosses those C and D Market lines is the oscillating multi-tool.   It's vers...

This may be an unpopular take, but one of the most overused and over-rated tasks a maker, builder, or fixer can ever possibly do is sanding.   There came a time, I think it was in the 80's,  when sanding absolutely everything became a thing. There specific reasons for sanding. To reduce coarse surfaces and prevent splintering is a well known one.  To prep surfaces for repair by creating a "roughed" area that is much better for bonding with adhesives, is another good one.  Prepping for finishing a surface such as paint, stain, etc... is yet a third good reason for sanding.   And to be honest, there's really not many more good reasons for sanding where cutting isn't actually a better solution.  In fact, sanding had somehow come to take the place of planing,  chiseling, and scraping when it ought not. One reason, in my opinion, is that many people never learned how to keep blades sharp and/or are just afraid of blades and cutting tools.  Le...

 Battery powered tools offer, obviously,  a variety of batteries ranging in power availability and output. Both of which relate to size as the output goes up.  These are measured, almost universally, in Amp Hours. Amp hours doesn't actually or necessarily relate to how long the battery will last.  I mean, it does, but how the tool gets used will cause that to change.  Generally speaking, a 2AH battery will put out 2 Amps over an hour.  That's all good and we'll if the tool is consistently and constantly putting out specifically that amount of power. Tools however, especially those that offer variable speeds and torque or power settings, will change how many amps are actually being output at any given time depending on use.  You can have a 5AH battery only last 15 minutes because the tool is actually putting out 3 or 4 times the power output. So, be aware that the battery isn't necessarily a "bad" battery if it only lasts a short time.  You have to...

 I'm always looking for better ways to communicate, as I review tools, how good a tool is relative to the target market it's aimed at.  For example, Milwaukee and Dewalt as opposed to, say... Stanley or Craftsman.  Up till now, I've tried to refer to them as industrial,  commercial,  home, and such to try to give each a more fair shake instead of disparaging them just because of who might be buying and using them. I think though, I've changed my thinking on it and instead am looking at them as "A Market", "B Market", "C Market" etc... So, "A Market" would be the industrial base that has the heaviest and most intensive use of tools.  These aren't necessarily the same as commercial use like general contractors and builders (also the largest grouping of "brand fan boys, interestingly enough).   No, "A Market" doesn't have to be pretty or flashy or even boastworthy.  They need to be durable, have high endurance,...