Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2023 i Family Handyman

When I think about spring, what comes to mind is growth. New life. Rejuvenation. And projects. For me, this is the most motivating season to decide which projects to tackle both inside and outside my home. Every spring, my family tries to complete at least one project together. It’s not always easy to find the time with the chaos of everyday life: Work, school, sports and other commitments keep us plenty busy. But it’s important to us to prioritize one project, whether it be creating a simple birdhouse, staining our deck or building raised bed gardens. I value the time we spend creating things—and memories—together. Of course, projects aren’t just built in the spring. Last winter, we invited all of you to show us what you were creating through our…

When I think of deep relaxation, the sound of water immediately comes to mind: crashing ocean waves, the trickle of a nearby brook, a cascading waterfall, light rain—you get the idea. To bring this calming sound to your backyard, I’ve designed a sleek water feature using a simple box for a reservoir, a pump and basic plumbing parts to keep the water flowing. It can be disassembled easily and tucked away for winter or moved around your patio. I dressed mine up by using ipe hardwood and wrapping the reservoir with a sheet of copper. Using the ideas I share here, you can build a modified version to fit your favorite relaxation spot. WHAT IT TAKES TOOLS Table saw, circular saw, miter saw, jigsaw, 18-gauge nail gun, basic woodworking tools…

Iused to think hydroponic gardening was a complex science that was out of my reach. But it’s just PVC parts, a pump and some water. Building a hydroponic garden is faster and easier than preparing a soil garden bed. Plus, it produces faster-growing vegetables with a fraction of the water. We made a system compact enough to sit on a table in a small house or apartment, but still large enough for nightly salads. It can even be moved outdoors for the summer and inside for the winter. 1 CUT YOUR FENCE POSTS Cut the 6-ft. PVC fence post into two 36-in. pieces.Cut the ends as straight as possible so the end caps seal properly. Also cut two 21 ∕2-in. pieces of 1-in. Schedule 40 pipe. MEET THE EXPERTS KARUNA EBERL AND…

Riding a bike is great fun, but owning one requires regular maintenance. If you want to avoid running to the bike shop every time something comes up, you will need at least a basic understanding of bicycle maintenance. Joe Blegen hasn’t owned a car in 14 years, relying solely on two wheels for his daily commutes. We caught up with Joe in his classroom where he teaches high school students valuable lessons on bicycle maintenance. PRERIDE CHECKLIST, OR “ABC” Before every ride, go through the ABC checklist. A - Air. Check the air pressure in your tires and adjust as needed. Check with a handheld gauge or use the gauge on the floor pump. B-Brakes. With the bike tires on the ground, roll it forward and squeeze both brake levers—first…

facebook.com/thefamilyhandyman pinterest.com/family_handyman youtube.com/thefamilyhandyman instagram.com/familyhandyman tiktok.com/@familyhandyman MEET THEA ALVIN, STONEMASON When spring finally hits here in Minnesota, our thoughts turn to outdoor projects. Who better to inspire us than Thea Alvin, one of the world’s foremost dry-stacking stonemasons? She’s featured at familyhandyman.com in our series about the women who make up 11% of the construction workforce in the U.S. Alvin has been working as a stonemason for nearly 40 years, starting at 16 when she helped her father mix mortar and carry bricks. “Stone masonry as a career came as a result of loving being outside, of the challenge of the paradox of me doing it,” she says. Alvin has worked on chapels, walkways and water features. She rebuilt a 15th-century-style domed Trulli house in Southern Italy and crafted a cistern…

WHAT IT TAKES TOOLS Table saw, circular saw, jigsaw, cordless drill, basic carpentry tools MEET THE BUILDER PROJECT EDITOR JAY CORK MISSES HAVING A HOBBY FARM, BUT THIS VERTICAL GARDEN PROVIDES HIM WITH PLENTY OF VEGGIES—WITHOUT ALL THE COYOTES. I love having a vegetable garden, but since I moved to the city, my space is limited. This vertical garden—a simple, attractive design built with cedar boards—has a small footprint and vertical “acreage” that makes the most of my urban backyard. And I appreciate that I can garden with a lot less bending! CHOOSING WOOD Although pressuretreated lumber no longer contains arsenic, I still avoid using treated lumber where I’m growing food. Decay-resistant woods such as redwood and red cedar are two alternatives that look great and last for years. 1 MAKE…

Unless you have been living under a rock, you are bound to have come across one of the many reports outlining the toxic chemicals that are used in herbicides and their long-term effects on both human beings and the environment. As a result, environmentally friendly products with active ingredients such as vinegar, salt, soap and essential oils have gained popularity. As more earth-friendly weed killers hit the market every growing season, I wanted to chat with an expert about what they are and how they work. MEET THE EXPERT HEATHER JOHNSON IS THE LEAD HORTICULTURALIST AT BACHMAN’S FLORAL & GARDEN. CHOOSING THE RIGHT HERBICIDE Whatever the time of year or the conditions, you can use environmentally friendly ways to get rid of unwanted weeds or grass—from preemergent to post-emergent, selective…

Any fence builder knows you need strong posts for a strong fence, and that means backfilling the postholes with a dense, hard material other than dirt. While a lot can be said for well-draining gravel, the material of choice has long been concrete mix. It’s available in 50-lb. bags at any home center, and you usually need two bags per post. For a 100-ft. fence with 10 posts, that means lugging half a ton or more of concrete mix to the site, mixing it with water and shoveling it into the holes. If a lightweight alternative to concrete performed just as well, many fence builders would choose it just to save their backs. Fence postsetting foam offers promise, but is it just as good as concrete? We asked two experts…

Get our best tips and hints sent to your inbox. Sign up at familyhandyman.com/newsletter/ GOT A DIY QUESTION? Finding the answers is easy at familyhandyman.com. Click on the three bars at the top left of the page and then search your topic to get expert step-by-step help with your projects. GOT A HANDY HINT OR TIP FOR US? To share your idea with us, submit a copy of your original contribution, including photos and/or sketches, by email to: submissions@familyhandyman.com Or mail to: Family Handyman, 1610 N. Second St., Suite 102, Milwaukee, WI 53212 Please include your name, mailing address and email address if you have one, and indicate to which department you are submitting. We reserve the right to publish your submission in any appropriate department, or elsewhere. Contributions will not…

Deer are frequent diners in our yard, and they had nibbled overnight on a few of our new shrubs. I went to the garage and grabbed the Liquid Fence deer repellent. I gave the shrubs a quick spray, and while I was out, I sprayed other areas the deer like to munch on. After a few days, I noticed that some plants looked a bit worn. We’d had a drought earlier, but I was sure that was past. I kept watching, and the plants continued to decline. That’s when I realized I had grabbed Roundup instead of Liquid Fence. Even though I had labeled the sprayers, I was so used to grabbing the Liquid Fence sprayer that I forgot there were two. After two weeks, some plants were gone. A…

I rebuilt my backyard fence last summer and needed the posts closer together. This meant digging all new postholes. If I’d had only a few holes to dig, I’d have done them by hand, but I had to dig about 20. I didn’t have room to bring in a skid steer, but I did have Ryobi batteries from other yard tools I own, so I grabbed a Ryobi 8-in. 40-volt batterypowered auger. My expectations were low, so I was happily surprised when this auger bored into the dirt with the ease of a gas-powered machine. The auger will stop if you hit a large rock, but if you hit a rock with a gas-powered auger, you get flung like a rag doll—so I don’t mind the auger stopping in this…

I made this cord reel to easily roll up and store long extension cords using a 5-gal. bucket, plywood scraps, a 12-in. length of 4-in. PVC pipe and a furniture leg dolly. I cut two plywood discs to fit inside the bucket and two to fit inside the pipe. Glue the small discs in the center of each large disc. Slip on the pipe and secure it with a few screws. Attach the dolly to the bottom, set the reel in the bucket and cut a hole on the side. To reel in the cord, drive a lag screw in the top of the reel and let the drill do the work.…

In the late 1980s, I carved out space for my first vegetable garden from a 1-ft. wide strip of soil between my apartment patio and a fence. I did my best to squeeze some green beans and a few tomato plants into that little space. Today, with that same limited space, I can grow dozens of mini vegetable varieties. WHAT ARE MINI VEGETABLES? Mini vegetables, also referred to as dwarf or compact vegetables, are vegetable plants that are much smaller than their standard counterparts. According to Josh Kirschenbaum, PanAmerican Seed vegetable accounts manager, no parameters are set for what defines a dwarf vegetable, but they are notably smaller than a standard-size vegetable and can perform well in a container. Like full-size vegetable plants, dwarf or mini vegetable plants usually require…

Alice Medley loves to create works of art from the pebbles she collects. And she was generous enough to invite us into her garage workshop to show us how to make these beautiful pebble mosaic steppingstones. She uses a “dry-set” technique that makes it easy to change or adjust the pattern as you go without having to dig the stones out of wet mortar. Medley also shared the plans for an ingenious reusable wooden mold that she purchased from a North Woods carpenter. The initial investment for this project—about $80—covers the plywood, a bag of mortar, the pigment and the muriatic acid. That’s enough to make about seven or eight steppingstones. After that, each one will cost you less than a dollar. MEET THE EXPERT ALICE MEDLEY STARTED OUT USING…

The soffit by the garage had come loose, so I hooked up my nail gun to the air compressor, got on a stepladder and nailed the piece back up. While I was at it, I decided to caulk the joint as well. I put a new tube of caulk in my air-driven caulk gun, got on the ladder and placed the nozzle in the corner of the gable. I pulled the trigger. In about one microsecond the tube exploded and covered me, the garage, the shrubs and my car with caulk. I had forgotten to readjust the airpressure setting when I changed from my nail gun to the caulk gun, and I hit that tube of caulk with about 100 psi instead of what should have been about 20 psi.…