Remodeling & Home Repairs

In plumbing terms, a "trap" is a curved piece of tubing that will always hold a little water to keep sewer gases from coming through into the house. They are wonderful things. However there is one trap that should be avoided: the S-Trap.With an S-Trap, the piping turns up, but then goes back down...

In my experience, I'd say that the most common problems that come up in home inspections relate to water entry, whether from a leaky roof, or through the foundation. One of the culprits, downspouts, are notorious for giving homeowners problems, yet they are so easy to fix! Here's the problem: dow...

It's always fun to do projects that really transform a room. In this bathroom project, we put new tile on the floor and replaced the vinyl base with stained baseboard. The tiles are stock from Lowe's. We mixed two shades into a checkerboard pattern. The two shades are called "Mocha" and "Hazelnut...

I was just cruising the Internet and found a challenging game on the Fine Homebuilding website called "The Inspector". They've doctored up a photo and challenged readers to click on the code or safety violations. Play the game here. I tend to 'play' this game in my head whenever I walk through a ...

I'm not a sports nut, but I have caught a couple of the recent NBA finals games.  I've been quite impressed with Kobe Bryant- not so much his athletic ability, which is undeniable, but especially his work ethic and leadership skills. At last night's game against the Orlando Magic, Kobe was one of...

In getting ready to sell their home, some clients wanted me to remove an old air conditioner and patch the hole. It was quite unsightly and hadn't worked for years. It was a straightforward project, but I can understand how things like this get put off. (I have stuff like that around my house too...

I enjoy variety in life. Today it was evident as I left my nail guns behind and grabbed some mulch to renovate the landscaping for a client who is about to list his home for sale.This older Inglewood home has some charming qualities to it and had at one time had some decent landscaping. My job wa...

If you've been following my blog at all you may notice an abrupt change in topic.  I've successfully made the transition from Realtor to Home Improvement Contractor. Instead of discussing the best ways to market your home, I may be talking about how to tackle those repairs that are keeping it fro...