September 1, 2009 AsktheBuilder News And Tips

What’s in This Issue?

Chicago Trip Update
Repointing Mortar
Last Call for the Super Deck Sealer
I Need a Favor From You
Electrical Outlets on a New Tile Backsplash
The Pocket Door in Kathy’s Bath
Speech at Children’s Hospital
Ladies Only

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If you have a question for me, don't hit the Reply button just yet. Go immediately to my web site and type in the keywords about your problem into my Search engine. The search box is at the top of every page of my web site. You could have your answer in seconds if you do this! Please pay attention to all links you see at my web site. The exact products and services you often need are right in front of you, and you might be ignoring them.

Never forget that all past issues of my Newsletters can be found at my website.

I'm back in New Hampshire. The drive back with my son was fantastic, but no matter how you slice it, 15 hours door to door is exhausting. It's 887 miles if you take the shortcut through Vermont on State Route 9 that cuts across the southern part of the state leading you into Keene, NH. Let me warn you now if you go across Vermont Route 9. The line painting on that road is unacceptable. It's very dangerous, and I can't believe the VT DOT has allowed the white shoulder and double yellow line paint to fade as badly as it has. Driving that road at night over Hogback Mountain is an accident waiting to happen. I can only imagine how hard it is to do in a rain at night.

If you're a new subscriber, you're unaware that I shot myself three weeks ago with one of my nail guns. That injury is getting better, although I'm beginning to wonder if I didn't shoot that finish nail into the larger arm bone where it connects to my wrist. Three nights ago, I bumped my wrist onto the wooden arm of a chair at dinner and almost passed out from the sharp pain.

Bottom Line: Be careful around any power tool.

Chicago Trip Update

A few weeks ago, I was in Chicago for just over 26 hours on business. I was able to squeeze in two meetings with three great subscribers. The first night I shared some liquid refreshment with Robert Tingler and Tim Haeussler as we sat outdoors at an Irish Pub next to the Chicago River. We talked about all sorts of things, not the least of which was a neat set of saw horses that Tom has designed. Tom just told me that he's taking my advice and producing great plans for these tools. I hope to have them available for you late September. Wait until you see these sawhorses! Tim talked about his encounter with a faulty step ladder. His advice is to stay off ladders that have worn or broken parts.

The next morning I had breakfast with Hans Perlich. It was fantastic to hear about how he's recreated himself with a cool job of installing LED lights in commercial applications. The bottom line is that I really enjoy meeting subscribers like you. When I travel, I try my best to carve out small slices of time to meet you. There were several other Chicago residents who wanted to meet, but we couldn't match up schedules.

Repointing Mortar

If you have to tuck point mortar joints in a wall, chimney, a horizontal patio, etc. before the snow blows, you may be interested in a very handy tool. It's called the Quickpoint mortar gun. If you've ever used a caulk gun, then you'll understand this tool. It applies brick mortar into cracks faster than you can caulk a crack with a caulk gun - I mean MUCH faster. Tuckpointing the traditional way with a plasterer's hawk and pointing trowel is tedious. This Quickpoint tool is simply amazing. I had this tool in my own hands about a week ago and have never seen anything like it.

You can get the tool with or without an electric drill that powers the auger at the bottom of the hopper. I wish I would have had this tool years ago when I built all my brick patios. I had to use the clumsy mortar bag that's similar to what bakers use to decorate cakes.  You absolutely have to go to this page to see the tool and watch the videos down near the bottom of the page showing a real-time use of the tool. There's no fancy smoke and mirrors editing. You see the real speed of the Quickpoint. This tool gets two hammers up from me!

Last Call for the Super Deck Sealer

In the last newsletter, I mentioned the synthetic-resin deck sealer that has the nanotechnology sunscreen. You wouldn't believe the interest I got from that. Perhaps you were one who emailed me with questions. John Meredith, the president of Saver Systems, agreed to continue the promotion another few weeks telling me in an email, "...we'll make as much sealer as necessary to satisfy your subscribers."

You can't ask for more than that from a company, especially since the general public can't buy this product until next spring! If you're a new subscriber, I saw the actual test panel that showed virtually no color fade from extreme UV testing. But at the same time, all the other national-brand deck sealers failed the test. You can see the actual test photographs here and buy some of this magic sealer now.

I Need a Favor From You

Each issue of this newsletter, I try to share some of the best products and tips in an effort to save you time and money. For example, here's another money-saving tip as we all need to save money now! I want you to call your insurance agent who handles your homeowner's insurance. Confirm with this person that your policy is really a catastrophic loss instrument, not a policy to cover this and that - EVEN THOUGH YOU CAN BUY THE POLICY WITH A LOW DEDUCTIBLE. My feeling is that the deductible limits are teasers that lull you into thinking you can make claims that might be several thousand dollars. They are also, in my opinion, high-profit centers for the insurance companies.

The truth is that there are unwritten rules the insurance companies use that if you make X number of claims in Y time frame, you get cancelled. If you get cancelled, you have to get an insurance policy in the secondary market at a much higher annual premium. My experience has been that they don't tell you up-front *not* to use your policy - except for catastrophic losses.

To SAVE money, raise your deductible limit to the highest amount so you lower your premium. You only want to use your policy in the event of a major catastrophic loss. Don't believe me? Then ask your agent to put in WRITING exactly how many claims, and what the dollar amounts can be, that you can have in each calendar year BEFORE you get cancelled.

Here's what I would love from you if possible. I know you very likely have a mailing list. I get put on many friend's list where I see an email going out to 10, 20 or even 50 friends or coworkers. Is it possible for you to forward this newsletter to your own friends list, tell them why you like the newsletter and ask that they consider subscribing?

I ask this for a simple reason: Since I don't actively sell ads in this newsletter, I need constant growth in the subscriber base. As you can imagine, I can't send this newsletter out for free. I try to recapture that expense by sending traffic to my web site. The occasional Stain Solver sale promotions also help cover the cost.

If you can help me add new subscribers, I would greatly appreciate it.

Electrical Outlets on a New Tile Backsplash

Joann Lewis of Jacksonville, NC wrote to me:

"I have installed a tile backsplash with six outlets that I need to tile around. I was told they need to be pulled out so they sit on top on the tile. Can I do this myself, and how do I do it?"

Joann, you bet the outlets need to be brought out to the same plane as the surface of the wall tile. When you remove the cover plate from an outlet or switch, you normally see little square or round ears that touch the electrical box or the wallboard or plaster. The tile needs to be cut so that it extends under these ears. You simply unscrew the screws that hold the outlets to the box just enough that you can get the tile under the ears. After the tile mastic dries, tighten the screws.

The Pocket Door in Kathy's Bath

One of the tasks in my recent bathroom remodeling project was to install a new pocket door for Kathy's closet. You may think this in no big deal, but what if I told you that on one side of the pocket was an existing wall in the bedroom that I absolutely didn't want to demolish. I had access to the other side of this wall as part of the bathroom remodeling.

Using my pocket-door frame of choice, I was able to remove the wall studs in this wall and install the pocket-door frame with no harm to the drywall. I did have two small drywall screws to spackle over where the thin pocket-door stud connects to the top frame.

I tell you this story simply to let you know in certain situations you can install a pocket door in an existing wall with minimum disruption. When I showed the photo of the completed door to Meghan, my oldest daughter, after arriving back here in New Hampshire, she couldn't believe the closet door was a pocket door. She was well aware the door would have to slide into the wall behind Kathy's nightstand.  In about a month, I'll show you this door and the completed bathroom in a special video. I didn't have time to tape the video before I came back to New Hampshire.

Speech at Children's Hospital

I've been hired to give a speech about how doctors can utilize the Internet to help build their practices and connect better with their patients. This speech will happen the last week of September. I mention this so that you're aware I do public speaking on Internet topics as well as general motivation. If your company or group is looking for a speaker, just contact me and I can tell you if I'm available. I guarantee you that you'll discover some things about the Internet and email marketing that you'll simply not believe.

Ladies ONLY

I have two things I want to share here. Every now and then I wish I could be a woman. Ninety-nine percent of the time that feeling overwhelms me when I see how much closer the women's tee is to the hole on the golf course. The other times it happens when I see beautiful things that women wear. Yesterday, I was strolling around the Meredith, NH Fine Arts and Craft Fair and ran into a gold and silversmith, Thomas Kuhner. The jewelry he makes himself blew me away. The pierced earrings and necklaces were to die for. Gentlemen, if you're reading this, you better visit his web site and select something for your main flame. If you're a woman reading this, wait until you see some of the pierced earrings that are exact copies of flowers.

This is a perfect segue to a very funny related video. Each time I watch this video, I laugh out loud. You may have to watch it twice to get all the lines. It's hilarious.

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