An ADHD Handyman

 As a professional handyman, it often comes up that I'm asked to provide hauling service of some kind. The most common request being trash hauling.  Pretty much all of my residential customers are rental properties,  both long term and short-term.  So there are occasions where a long term rental moves out and leaves a lot of trash.  The property owner can get a good cleaning company but that might leave an unusually large amount of trash bags not able to fit into bins or qualify for street trash pickup.  Also fairly often, a short-term rental like an airbnb guest might rent a property over a holiday or seasonal event and leave a lot of trash behind.  A good guest will at least try to bag it and put it out.  Some don't and leave it up to the cleaners.  Either way, once again we have a lot of trash that weekly pickup often won't take. That or it's way too much before regular pickup and there's another guest coming in before that.  It happe...

 I've reviewed some other FastCap 3rd Hand products here.  The various adaptors and accessories for the 3rd Hand extendable pole system they offer can make your current basic use poles much more usable in various other projects. First, the "pipe holder" adapter is an item I looked for when I was trying to hold up some pipes, wires, and rods while I fastened brackets and hangers for them in place.   The 3" square feet that come with the 3rd Hand poles is too flat to be useful with round or easy to roll or slide objects. FastCap offers a pipe holder adaptors and a "panel" adapter as well.  I don't personally yet need a panel holder so I only bought a pipe holder adapter for each pole. The 3rd Hand poles have "articulating" ball connectors at each end to be able to swap various types of feet and holders.  But, it's much too small to fit the pipe holder adapter onto. Now, on the FastCap website for the adaptors,  it does say that it requires a...

 If you get into any level of woodworking or building/making/fixing, you will inevitably run into the argument of whether pocket hole construction is Good or Evil. Yes, there are people who seem to take it that far. I was making pocket holes before there were jigs and special bits and special screws to do it.  Way back when I worked in the cabinet department in a factory.  And the only time we used pocket holes was in building face frames for the cabinets. The reasons for using pocket holes back then was for 2 reasons. 1. So the fasteners can't be seen from the front or edges. 2. Pocket hole/screw fastening is stronger than basic butt joint connections And that's it. As to the first reason, whether it's cabinet faces or frames or anything that is meant to "look good", the one thing no one wants to see is nails or screws in visible areas. It's just plain ugly.  It's one of the basic reason face frames are made to begin with.  To hide or disguise the inner w...

 Not being much of a fan of pitting tools against other brands, I prefer to test them against the job expectations they generally are up against. I'm order to do that, we have to have realistic expectations of what a given tool is intended to do. For instance, for what I refer to as an "installer drill", has a double chuck (or more likely, collets) to have a drill bit and a driver bit chucked in at the same time. Ready to change immediately without having to change out a whole tool. These drills are especially useful when mounting things.  Drill the hole, drive the screw, all with the same tool.  Very handy, especially in tricky situations like when working on a ladder or when you have to use one hand to keep things from moving out of place. In my most common situations,  I use my installer drill, a Worx Nitro Switchdriver,  to mount heavy items like tv's and storage units to walls, into the wall studs.  I also install smaller items like smoke alarms, secur...

 To boil the discussion down to its most basic points, we need to know "who" is doing what.  The obvious answer is that "You" are doing whatever it is. The next question is, "Who is doing it otherwise?" And the answer is usually, particularly in the argumentative side is, paid professionals, or rather, people who get paid to do work and have, usually, some demonstrated skill, knowledge,  and experience doing it. That's not always the case though.  But to hear the arguments, the DIY just can not be as "good" as the professional.   Which is ridiculous bullshit, but it is the common argument.  Any so called professional doing the work they usually do in their job, in their own home, without being paid to do so, is "DIYing". Many people who are not in a particular profession but hold themselves to professional standards,  can achieve entirely equal results if they take the time to learn, practice, and actually apply those standards. BUT...

 One of the services I provide for rental property owners and managers, particularly those that are remote, is inspections of those rental properties.   Inspections are often conducted in  four different circumstances;  1. Move in 2. Annually 3. Incidental (accidents storm damage, etc...) 4. Move out I use a general checklist with lots of room for notes when I conduct these inspections.   They include use notations or shorthand codes to indicate if and the nature of issues or concerns at various locations on/in the property.  But an inspection isn't just following a checklist.  It's also making judgment on issues and conditions as they are observed to make sure the responsibility is noted for the appropriate party.  That being the renter or the property owner.  It's unfortunate to have to say that sometimes,  one party or the other, or even both, will try to blame or lay responsibility for an issue incorrectly on the other part...

 Small wood repairs happen.  Like this door closer for the front storm door when it was accidentally torn out of the door jamb when the folks were moving in. Someone tried to use the old golf tees hack, but all the fibers around the holes were loose and broken.  No Bueno. So, clean out all the damaged wood in the hole so that it's all solid wood left inside.  Then, mix up a batch of tried and true Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty and fill the gap to just a hair over flush. This wood putty is said not to shrink, and I can't say I've personally ever seen it happen, BUT... I figure it's better to give just a touch more and sand it down than to have to apply more Putty because it was too low.  Then the project is delayed because that second application has to set before it can be worked.  Again... No Bueno. Give it a light sanding to flush,  then drill the pilot holes.  WALLA PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICHES! You have a properly and securely installed door clos...

 OK.  I am firmly in the camp of you don't have to trash others, even if you think what they're saying or doing is wrong.  I stand by that. I will say though, there's room for putting good information out into the world even when maybe not-so-good information seems prevalent.   This is one of those cases. If you follow any of a LOT of so called "diy" accounts or channels online, you will inevitably find someone advising us to fill the holes in door hinges with wooden golf tees, or toothpicks, or matchsticks, any many other similar such things to "fix" said holes if they are stripped or not holding in some way correctly.  Now, yeah... you "can" use wood golf tees to fill in those holes then put screws back into those holes again. I'm not so sure this isn't one of those "just because you can, doesn't mean you should" situations.  In fact, I'll go so far as to say, I really hope you don't do that. Structurally speakin...

 I got a pair of FastCap "Third Hand" telescoping poles about a year ago. Primarily to mount my laser level on.  The telescoping poles are really good and I like them a lot.  They are handy for more than just supporting a laser level but that's my primary use. Because they work by standing up between a floor and a ceiling, they are limited by height.  The ones I have are limited to about a 11 or 12 foot space.  Any ceiling taller than that, a lot of vaulted ceilings,  I can't use the pole to mount the laser level.  I also have the FastCap laser level mount device designed specifically for use on their telescoping poles.  Very nice device to have. But, if it's a taller ceiling,  none of that matters.  I've tried other tripod stands but they don't work well enough or at all for me.  They either are very shaky or not strong enough to support a sturdy pole.  But, FastCap sells a tripod specifically for their telescoping poles....

Some of my favorite tools to use aren't power tools.  Many of my favorites are support tools.  Everything from portable worktables to sawhorses, toolboxes, and yes, ladder leveling tools. The Mogseek Ladder Leveler Up till now, I've always made my own leveling blocks out of scrapwood as I needed to.  Measure the steps or incline or whatever and make a quick and dirty shim or block that I could use to keep the ladder where I needed it. Finally, I broke down and purchased a ladder level tool.  As a professional handyman,  I often have to install light fixtures, hang wall art, mount alarms and sensors, etc... over open stairways.  With a multi-ladder, I can often adapt it to fit onto stairs to work parallel to a wall.  But when it comes to working directly leaning against a stairwell wall, that's a bit more dicey. Well, 325lbs load, it's sturdy After looking over some different brands and types, I decided to go with the Mogseek brand ladder leveling suppo...