Sounds like conspiracy theory, doesn’t it. Don’t go all aluminum-foil hat on me now. No, it just struck me this morning as I was brain-storming for a new article to write.

See, Obama likes to compare himself not only to Honest Abe Lincoln, but also to FDR. So much to FDR that he’s sort of following his New Deal set of programs with his overblown stimulus package. For an academic, he has missed the point that socialism failed while the Reagan doctrine succeeded.

But since this isn’t a political blog, I won’t recount that history here. So let’s talk about Michelle Obama. I think it’s pretty cool that she’s doing that big organic victory garden on the south lawn of the White House.

And that’s where I see the connection between her and Eleanor R. The Michelle O.-Eleanor R. Victory Garden Connection. As the first lady during WWII, Eleanor established her own victory garden at the White House.

Those were hard times just as these are. And that garden concept was a rallying call for millions of other Americans to pull together and pull themselves up by their collective bootstraps.

I think Ms. Obama is symbolically doing the same thing. Pretty clever. And it’s a good possibility that she’s also establishing her First Lady agenda. Good chance that it will be good nutrition and charitable giving (part of her harvest goes to a local soup kitchen).

That second part might be a not-so-subtle bit of publicity to combat the rising ire over Barak slashing tax deductions for charitable contributions.

Be that as it may, it’s a win-win. How’s that for a conspiracy theory. Snopes-proof!

This is another interesting product brought to us by Serious Materials. They also make QuietRock which is soundproof, making it ideal for the home theater enthusiast.

I haven’t seen EcoRock yet. I’d like to try it but at about $18 per sheet, it’s too rich for me. Sounds good though; it’s made out of 80% “post-industrial waste products” so it’s green, green, green. It can also earn you 8 points towards LEED 2009 certification.

But then again, there’s the price thing…

Here’s the thing I’m not quite getting. They say it hangs and tapes and floats like drywall. But rather than being covered with paper, it’s got what they call a “coated glass mat”. I just don’t see drywall compound sticking real well. Could be wrong though.

Anything would be an improvement over that tainted Chinese drywall used in Florida not so long ago. When are we going to learn to stop buying junk from them. Toys, toothpaste, drywall, they’re out to get us, I tell you!

GFCI receptacles are required by electrical code in several areas of the home. Most notably in the kitchen and bathroom. Guess what? I need to install a couple.

They weren’t required on kitchen wiring circuits until 1987 even though the NEC (National Electrical Code) required in for outdoor landscape lighting as far back as 1973 (a very good year).

I do not like getting shocked. Shocking, isn’t it? I’m making some really bad jokes this Friday.

The last time I had a good solid shock was when I installed an oven. Unlike the advice I give readers of my home improvement articles, I did not test the wires before working on them. I had flipped the circuit breaker, but alas, it was the wrong one. Bad labeling. Bummer.

Need a handyman? Find local unbiased reviews on the best handymen. Try Angie’s List.

Anyway, GFCIs should be tested on a monthly basis. Just takes a minute and it might just save your life, or that of a loved one.

And with that, I leave you with a Friday joke.

Q. What’s brown and sounds like a bell?

A. Dung…

Lately I’ve been revisiting my fascination with woodworking joints. I was thinking about a book I gave my late step father years ago about Japanese woodworking and the incredible puzzle-like joinery they developed.

These incredible craftsmen even have specialized hand saws of an awesome quality that is just not found in the West.

I might have to look into that. For the moment though, I’m really only proficient with the easy ones - the dovetail, the half lap, the mortise and tenon joint.

Learning to make these joints is really not difficult, it’s all a matter of having the proper tools, a keen eye, and more pride in your work than, sadly, most non-craftsmen have nowadays. If I don’t have the proper tool, I’ll find a work-around or get it rather than botch up a project. And, when I have a minute or two, it’s not unusual for me to be found checking for Rockler Woodworking New Products.

After owning the right tools, the next most helpful things to own are clever woodworking shop jigs. In almost all cases, these are shop-made rather than purchased, although the materials are found at the same places that tools are.

That is just one more reason that no leftover chunk of oak, rock maple, poplar, or any other hardwood is truly scrap - you never know when you can use it to beef up a table saw fence or make a zero-tolerance insert for a commonly used dado stack.

What project should I be involved in right now rather than blabbering on here? Building an inset medicine cabinet for the bathroom. The one I removed when I began the bath remodel was obviously one from the big box store. What I found was that there is a stud and a water supply line in the wall there.

Soooo, I’m going to build it to take advantage of all the space in the wall, not just the space limited by the stud, like the previous owner did. So part of the cabinet will be more recessed than the other. Check out the pic to see the situation. You can also see the wall on which I used my homemade knockdown texture tool.

I guess I’d better get to it, eh?

Everyone seems to want granite kitchen countertops; they’re mighty trendy just now. But the rub is that unemployment has folks running scared and they just don’t want to drop the cash.

But plastic laminate (usually known by the brand name Formica) has really improved over the years and some of the patterns really resemble natural stone. Why not update those old countertops, or even a bathroom vanity with a Formica resurfacing?

This project can easily be done over a weekend for about $200 worth of materials in most cases. You can find a remodeling contractor through Angie’s List or do it yourself and save even more by doing away with the labor cost.

Tools? Not a terribly long list. You’ll need a router with a carbide bit. For cutting the plastic sheet, you can get away with a Skil saw.

My first experience with installing plastic laminate was when I built a receptionist’s desk at a chiropractor’s office. It was fairly labor intensive because it incorporated desk space, an elevated counter for patients to sign in, and a long attached credenza for files, printer, etc.

This is really a project where you have to proceed carefully; contact cement is serious stuff; no do-overs. The good thing is that you can do a professional looking job with no experience, so long as you’re handy.

Just buy high-quality material. I’d go for Formica or Wilsonart.

So, whatcha wainting for?

Way back when I was in junior college, I had possibly the premier physics professor around. Simply awesome.

He had a great sense of humor as well as a voluminous beard. OK, maybe the beard is neither here nor there, but the humor? How cool!

He had one of those decals on the wall that President Jimmy Carter (what a joke he was) sent out, reminding us to “conserve energy” by flipping the light switch when leaving the room. The prof delighted in pointing out that energy is going to be conserved whether we flipped the switch or not. Just a basic law of physics that Jimmy-Boy didn’t grok.

But there are some great ways to save energy usage, and here are some of my faves:

• Set the water heater temp to 130 degrees an put a blanket on that baby. Unless you’ve taken the time to install a tankless water heater, in which case you’re already golden.
• Set the fridge at 38 degrees and the freezer to 0. Fill the freezer with food or ice in milk cartons. Not goofy - a filled freezer is more efficient than an empty one. And don’t buy a Maytag; they’re junk.
• Turn off the energy vampires. You don’t need the TV for background noise, and if your cell phone charger isn’t charging it, pull the plug!

Right now, we’re right at that nice time of year where the air conditioner and the heater are off. I wish it would last. If you need a new, higher SEER AC to qualify for tax credits, find good quality Air Conditioning Estimates.

On a smaller remodeling project chances are that you’ll be working with one contractor or handyman. But in larger jobs you might end up hiring a general contractor.

General contractors are used quite often on commercial jobs and by subdivision developers. They make the entire construction project easy to manage because they pull permits, coordinate subcontractors, and handle all the payroll.

In short, they take the headache out of the work. Think of them as job babysitters.

But when you get a sour apple and they cash your check and fail to pay the subs, you might find yourself with a lap full of mechanics’ liens. This means you’ll have to pay them again to get them off your back. Ouch!

There are things you can do to avoid mechanics’ liens. Get a detailed contract and file a “Waiver and Release” form.

A lien against your property is serious doo-doo. It you have one on the books, you might not be able to sell your home until it’s satisfied. Not that you could do that in the current Obama real estate nightmare.

What’s that you say? It’s Bush’s fault? Nay, nay; Barak was the guy that opposed Fannie Mae reform and took their lobbiest money when McCain was pushing for it.

But that’s neither here nor there.

I’ve been in the situation of almost filing a lien myself while operating my construction company, Reliable Construction. But I didn’t. Instead I made a pest or myself to the general contractor until he paid me. It was more fun, I must confess.

No, I wasn’t really going to break his kneecaps. OK, not both of them

Asbestos is some bad stuff if you disturb it and happen to inhale the fibers. It can result in cancer, asbestosis, and mesothelioma.

Its use was banned in 1989 by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), so if your home is older than that, you might have it in popcorn ceilings, insulation, roofing materials (both shingles and felt), siding, and flooring tiles.

So yes, be very scared when dealing with this stuff. Be sure to get any of these materials tested by an accredited lab. If the results come back positive, you’ve got to have a professional asbestos abatement company remove it.

Be sure to wear a respirator when harvesting samples.


I get a lot of questions from loyal readers about removing popcorn ceilings. Subdivision tract home builders loved using this stuff since it covered up shabby drywall finishing. Sadly, most homeowners today don’t know about the danger they might be getting into. Have this stuff checked, folks!

I know that I got into asbestos when I was an acoustic ceiling mechanic working for Laser Acoustics. We used to remodel a lot of older schools, and they had a lot of pipes covered in asbestos insulation.

But, and here’s the caveat, it can only affect you if you disturb the fibers. Hopefully, I escaped with my hide. (And lungs.)
Back when I was a apprentice, there was a foreman on one job that was in his mid-fifties (which would put him in his eighties now). He recounted his younger days as a millwright when he used to cut sheets of asbestos on a tablesaw. Every day. With no respirator.

He got tested yearly for asbestosis and mesothelioma. It was like waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Folks, don’t take any chances with this stuff. Avoid it just like you avoid sanding paint with lead in it. We’re making progress in using safer materials in the construction and remodeling industry, but unfortunately, we’re still on middle ground. Bad stuff is out there.

Homeowners insurance. Shoestrings. Toilet paper. What do these things have in common? We buy them and promptly forget about them. Until we need them, that is; and that’s when we find out if they are adequate.

Unlike toilet paper, you should update homeowners insurance coverage on an annual basis and/or after significant home improvements. In most cases, your insurance provider should be glad to help you figure out what the replacement price tag for your home is.

My insurance company is State Farm and they’re very helpful. In fact, they just sent me a letter on this topic which prompted this post.

This is what you have to consider: replacement; not what the state or county says the property is worth when they send you that inflated estimate of home value for tax purposes. It’s also not the same as market value, which is what you realistically could sell it for.

If you hire a building contractor to remodel a kitchen, obviously the replacement cost of your home will go up. But what if you make no improvements throughout the year? Most folks assume that the status quo remains static but they would be wrong!

Why, you ask demurely? Because material and labor costs rise.

Improvements Affecting Insurance Payouts

Just a sampling of home improvements to consider -

• Installing hardwood or laminate flooring
• Upgrading to energy-efficient krypton or Argon filled windows with a Low-e coating
• Bathroom or kitchen remodel
• Remodeling your basement
• Siding replacement with Hardiplank fiber cement siding
• Replace your central air conditioner with one with a higher SEER rating

There are more, of course, but this gives you an idea. The more money you pour into the homestead, the more reason you have to update your insurance policy.

As you know, I write a lot about the innovations in green building practices. Of course, the whole sustainable materials industry covers much more than home building and commercial construction. And a lot of it has a dark side.


Most of this downside is not obvious when trying to discern it through the dense fog of climate change hype. Same as it ever was. Look at what the status of asbestos is now. But when it was first beginning to be exploited for its fire-retardant and insulating properties, it was touted as the “miracle mineral.”

And it was, in a sense. As a fire-retardant in firefighter’s suits, how many firemen’s lives has it saved? And by virtue of being able to get closer to the hot spots, how many potential fire victims did it save?

And how many race car drivers evaded a fiery death after spinning out of control? And certainly, our collective carbon footprint was greatly reduced by using asbestos insulation.

But in hindsight, what do we have? Mesothelioma lawsuits, lives spoiled by cancer, and the sad propagation of the number of exploitative class-action tort lawyers. Carrion in a three-piece suit, IMHO.

What does all this have to do with today’s green movement? Consider the compact fluorescent bulb. My house is full of them and they are even mandated to be phased in according to current energy policy in the US. I’m saving a lot of money on my utility bills. They’ve paid for themselves long ago.

But were they rushed to market prematurely before the implications were considered?

Environmentalists laud them as the greatest thing since the Big Mac, and that may be true from an energy efficiency standpoint. But these same environmentalists made nor urged any provision for any proper disposal in a realistic way.

Throwing them in the trash puts deadly mercury into landfills which makes its way into the water table, which makes its way to… you guessed it; YOU, and the crops and livestock you eat. Pay attention PETA and Vegans International.

Sure, they could go to a collection point in your city, but are you really going to make a special trip across town in your carbon-emitting car every time a bulb burns out? Of course not. It would be a wash, carbon-wise.

And how about solar power panels? They reduce the need for fossil fuels, but producing them creates silicon tetrachloride, which is highly toxic. Anybody know where that stuff’s going? Neither do I.

All I’m saying is that we should have learned something from the gargantuan asbestos-abatement industry we have now. That’s a lot of “today” fuel intensive effort to balance out “yesterday’s” energy savings.

Just a thought. Have a nice green day.