February 5, 2013 AsktheBuilder Newsletter & Tips

While this email is being sent to you, I'll be cruising the floor of the massive Las Vegas Convention Center.

I'm here on February 5 and 6th attending the World of Concrete show. To many that may be slightly less exciting than watching paint dry.

But in all seriousness, concrete is an amazing product, and there are so many allied products and tools there's enough for a massive show. When you think how much concrete is made each year, tens of millions of cubic yards, you can see why there's a need for an exposition.

If you're attending the show, I'd LOVE to meet you. To make it easy, I'm going to be at the BN Products booth on Tuesday morning. Just come to the North Hall and find booth N 2637. I'll stick around there until 11 am.

This company makes all kinds of great tools if you're working in and around concrete. One of them is the Cutting Edge Saw that can flush cut any number of materials.

I leave Las Vegas Wednesday afternoon, February 6th flying to Los Angeles.

Guess what I'm doing there? I'm taping a very cool video series that shows you how to Repair Wood Rot.

I'm going to show you how and you don't have to be a master carpenter! In fact, if you can fog a mirror, you'll be able to get pro results using the secret methods I plan to show in the videos!

Want to get that video series for just $2?

Then you better act really, really FAST because there's a limited number of people that can discover the secrets I'm going to share for that insane low price. When I say FAST, I mean CLICK NOW to get there. Be sure to click the photo at the top of the page to watch the video!!!

Yes, you guessed it, this is my third Kickstarter project! CLICK that link and discover the cool products I'll be using to repair the wood rot. You'll be blown away.

CLUE: I'm not replacing the rotted wood with wood. Can you guess what I'm using?

TIP OF THE WEEK - ELASTOMERIC CAULK

A few days ago, I installed my gorgeous Classic-Craft Therma-Tru Fiberglass Door that looks like it's solid mahogany. As you can see in the photo, I trimmed it with Fypon cellular PVC trim that simply will never rot.

What you can't see under the door is an amazing Jamsill flashing pan that ensures water will NEVER rot out the wood subfloor.

The white Fypon trim surrounding the door will be painted the dark green once the weather warms up. Yes, I have to paint that new piece of fiber cement siding under the door threshold too.

I cover how to install all of these things in my newest DIY video series - How To Install a New Front Door.

The written installation instructions that came with the Therma-Tru door and the Jamsill flashing say you MUST use an elastomeric caulk as part of the installation. Not too long ago that was a common word written on some caulk tubes.

Elastomeric refers to the long-term elasticity of a caulk. In other words, if a caulk is elastomeric, that means it can expand and contract a certain distance much like you'd pull on a rubber band XXXXX amount of times before it fails.

Caulks that are elastomeric are usually higher in quality and price. The trouble is, many of the caulk manufacturers took this word off the descriptive content on the caulk tubes!

When shopping, it's hard to determine what's elastomeric and what's not.

The best way is to look for writing on the tube that says the caulk meets or exceeds the ASTM C 920 standard.

I made a phone call last week to one of the top caulk manufacturers begging them to put the word elastomeric on the caulk tube again.

They said I was in a handful of people that had brought to their attention that door and window manufacturers were using the word elastomeric in their instructions.

Hopefully, the caulk manufacturers and the door and window manufacturers will start to communicate a little better with one another! That's the root cause of the issue.

MILWAUKEE SAW BLADES

Can you tell me what these saw blades are used to cut? The 6-inch ruler is in the photo for scale. The red and white divisions are centimeters!

In other words, those are small blades. Go to the Milwaukee Cutting page and see if you can't discover what these specialty blades are meant to cut.

I'll give you a clue: The materials they're designed to cut both begin with the letter D. You might argue with me that the one blade is meant to cut something that begins with the letter M, but I'd argue that it's a certain type of that product.

My best friend Richard sure wishes he had the one blade years ago! It would have saved him hours of time.

I tested both of these blades at the Milwaukee tool conference last year and they both were absolutely unbelievable. Real game changers.

BETHEPRO.COM

Last week, I told you about the BeThePro.com Pro Forums. That's the digital water cooler where the pros hangout chit chatting about topics that are near and dear to them.

One of the current topics that's really getting traction is the lack of young people who are entering the trades as a vocation, not just a job. When you think long term, this is not good as we need a constant flow of young and motivated people to repair, rebuild, remodel and build new things. Members are sharing their insights about this dilemma.

Another topic that never seems to quiet down is workshops. I built a dream shed last summer that I may go brag about. There are amazing photos in some of the articles about the latest and greatest workshops.

Tool tips are also popular. Remember that Bosch oscillating multi-tool (OMT) I reviewed last year? I used it again yesterday to cut a piece of fiber cement siding in half so it would fit in my truck. Check out what the pros say to see if you can discover a new use for your OMT!

GROUTING FLOOR TILE SECRETS!

Do you know someone, it could be you, that has cracked and crumbling floor tile grout?

I'll bet you don't know WHY that happened and how to prevent it.

If you want floor tile grout that wears like the granite ledge that's protruding out of the hill next to my driveway, then you MUST watch all the videos in my Grouting Floor Tile series.

ROCKWELL 16-VOLT DRILL AND DRIVER

Last week, I received a new Rockwell 16-volt cordless drill and impact driver. I've not had a chance to test them yet, but I did open them up, charged the batteries and gave each a spin.

Oh my are these some nice tools. If you're a woman, you're going to LOVE them. They're not heavy, the grip is just right for smaller hands, and they're both well balanced.

I intend to test these in the next month. Be sure to open all future newsletters for a full report.

LA MEETUP LAST CALL

Several people have responded and we're planning to do a leisurely meet up on Saturday afternoon February 9th in downtown Montrose, CA, at 2 pm.

I'd love to meet you, so please respond to this email and change the Subject Line to: LA Meet Up. It's important that I have your cell number in case there's a last-minute change of plans.

When I get your reply, I'll tell you exactly where we'll meet. The satellite image below pretty much tells you all you need to know. Can you smell that coffee now? Or are you a hot tea drinker? Either way, you'll be at the right place!