Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2023 i Family Handyman

Ranger Ready Repellent uses picaridin as its active ingredient. Picaridin is a safer yet equally effective alternative to the neurotoxin DEET. Picaridin can be safely applied directly to the skin and is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for adults (including pregnant women) and children at least 1-year old. A single application of Ranger Ready with 20% picaridin has been proven effective against a long list of pests—including mosquitoes, ticks, biting flies, chiggers, gnats and sand flies—for up to 12 hours. Another tick in the pro column: Picaridin is not a plasticizer like DEET, so it won’t break down elastic, leather, rubber, plastic, paint or vinyl on your clothing or outdoor gear. I tested it on a recent camping trip. The mosquitoes were horrendous. I was completely…

QUICK-CHANGE SOAP & RINSE To wash my car, I attach a twin shutoff wye (Y) to the hose, with a hose nozzle on one side and a lawn sprayer on the other. I put concentrated liquid auto soap in the lawn sprayer. This lets me apply soapy water for washing or clear water for rinsing at the turn of a lever. DONALD BROTHERS HOW TO FIX A HOLE SAW MISTAKE I cut eight holes in my ceiling to install can lights, but when I was done, I realized I had made 4-in. holes instead of 6-in. At first, I thought I would have to enlarge them all by hand. But instead, I stacked the 4-in. offcut discs onto my circle cutter to keep the blades from wandering and was able…

If you crave wood-fired pizza and the brick oven to make it in your own backyard, we have the plans for you. With advanced skills, attention to detail and a helper, you can build this brick pizza oven for a fraction of what it would cost to have a professional mason build it for you. And once you’ve mastered the skill of controlling the temperature, you can bake anything you’d normally make in a conventional oven. 1 DIG AND PREP THE PAD SITE Build a form for the concrete pad using 2x10s. Our pad is 8 in. thick, so we spread Class V gravel in the form, leaving 8 in. to the top of the form. Tamp down the base to compact it. Make sure your form is braced and sloped…

A FRESH TAKE Gardening season is underway, even here in the Midwest where we’re still keeping our snow shovels handy just in case. If you’re in the market for new ideas for what to grow in your backyard or on your deck or patio, hop over to familyhandyman.com. We have a lot blooming there! “15 Native Plants to Add to Your Yard” outlines all the benefits of adding native species to your yard. You can not only boost biodiversity and support wildlife but also enjoy plants that have adapted to local weather extremes and are easier to maintain. You’ll find plant recommendations for your region; shown here is orange butterfly milkweed, one recommended for the Southeast. There’s so much more—spring flowers, weed identification, tips for choosing lilies, even a guide…

I have been a fan of 23-gauge nailers since I got my first one over a decade ago. These ultra thin headless nails are just right for holding light trim or edging in place while the glue dries. They're inconspicuous and easily hidden without filler, even on unpainted surfaces. The Craftsman Cordless 23-Gauge Pin Nailer drives pins from ⅝ in. to 1⅜ in. long. It features a powerful 20-volt brushless motor and toolfree jam release. This nailer also has bright LED lights and a nonmarring tip. It comes with a few hundred 1-in. nails, a battery, a charger and an optional belt hook. Weighing less than 5 lbs., the nailer is comfortable to use. To test battery life, I shot nails into ½-in. MDF for well over an hour before…

Last fall I built this compact, four-person sauna with materials I picked up at a local home center. Using this modular design, I was able to easily construct the four walls, floor, roof and benches in my garage. Then I strapped the sections to a trailer and transported them to the site shown here. Our sauna is 5 ft. x 4 ft. x 7 ft. 8 in., but you can change the size to meet your needs. You can build it on site or take it to your cabin or other remote site for assembly. EASY TO TRANSPORT THEN REBUILD! 1 BUILD THE BASE Assemble the outer base frame (A and B) using pressure-treated 2x4s. Then measure the inside of the outer frame to get the dimensions for the inner…

Now that the weather’s warm, my family likes to head to our backyard patio for barbecues, games and quiet evenings alone with a book or tablet. As much as we love it, sometimes we just can’t stay out there in full sun. If you need to keep your patio shaded and comfortable too, here are the options. PERGOLAS Adding a pergola is a beautiful and permanent way to shade a deck or patio. Generally made of metal or wood, these structures add a visually pleasing and shade-giving framework to any outdoor space. Pergolas usually come as a prefabricated kit that has to be assembled. In addition, they need to be attached to a solid patio, deck or footing. They can be quite costly and in some municipalities would require a…

Whether you share your shop with cars and a lawn mower or you have your own dedicated woodworking space, you want to make the most of your time there. I’ve worked in some tight spaces as well as spacious shops, and I have enough tips, tricks and techniques to write a book. Here are just a few of my favorites. PORTABLE DUST CONTROL You can buy box fans with attached filters, like the one shown, or you can simply attach a filter to the back of an old box fan. Either way, having one of these portable dust-control devices on hand lets you keep it close to the dust. I also like to use mine as a downdraft table when I’m sanding! CHANGE BITS FAST I gained this habit when…

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 be acknowledged or returned. RIGHTS By submitting material to us, you grant Home…

When I remodeled my third-floor home office, I splurged on a new memory-foam beanbag chair, which came packaged in a highly compressed cube. No one was around to help, so I proceeded to carry it by myself up two flights of stairs and a narrow spiral staircase. The box wasn’t big, but it was heavy—maybe 75 lbs.—and hard to get a good grip on. After the first flight of stairs, I ditched the box so I could hold on to the shrink-wrapped bundle. Bad idea. After a couple of steps, I snagged the plastic on a piece of rough railing, and I knew I was in trouble when the foam started to expand. By the time I hit the spiral staircase, the beanbag had expanded so much that it sagged…

PORTABLE FIRE PIT The Blue Sky Ridge is a 15-lb. portable steel fire pit. It stands about 16 in. tall and 12½ in. wide with an 11½-in. wide burn chamber. It’s a dual-fuel device, so it can burn standard firewood, wood pellets or a mixture of both. The low-sheen, solid black design is modern and sleek. The Blue Sky Ridge sets up and breaks down in seconds. With pellets and some firewood, you’ll have a raging fire in minutes. The Blue Sky website says the Ridge can handle fires up to 1,900 degrees. If you build a strong fire, you’ll be able to feel the heat a couple of yards away. Smokeless fire pits work by pulling outside air into the bottom of the burn chamber. The heated air…

I thought I was diligent about applying sunscreen, but after a dermatologist visit, I’ve learned I don’t reapply nearly as much as I should. So I started buying some UV-protective clothing. This Dickies Temp-iQ Cooling Performance Long Sleeve Sun Shirt is made of 60% polyester and 40% cotton. It features a built-up raglan neckline paired with UPF 40+ sun protection. The advanced Temp-iQ intelligent cooling fabric effectively controls your core body temperature while wicking away moisture, keeping you cool and dry. It features a comfortable hood and anchor thumbholes to provide extra coverage for your head and hands. The shirt comes in five colors, with sizes from small to 4XL. After doing some research, I learned that the UV protection wears down over time. Though one of these shirts won’t have…

Cornhole is fun to play and a great game to include all ages. And frankly, I’m a fan of anything that encourages us all to set down our phones and do something real outdoors with family and friends. With that in mind, I designed this cornhole set to be easy to build and easy to tote. MAKE THE SKIRT 1 CUT THE SKIRT BOARDS Gang-cut the skirt ends and skirt sides from 1x4 select pine boards. This will ensure they’re the exact same length. 2 CUT THE HANDLE SLOTS Cut a handle slot in two of the skirt sides, one for each board. Mark the center lengthwise, and mark a line 1½ in. from the bottom. Measure out 2½ in. from both sides of center and, using a 1-in. Forstner…

Whether it’s summer or winter, you don’t need to go to a resort to enjoy a relaxing soak in an outdoor hot tub. For a relatively small price, you can build this hot tub in your own backyard and take a dip whenever the mood strikes. Fill the tub with a garden hose, light a fire to heat the water, hop in and relax! THE TUB I chose this Rubbermaid stock tank for a few reasons. First, it’s deeper than the metal tanks I saw. Second, the plastic itself is a more comfortable temperature in hot or cold weather than metal. Third, its rounded top edges have a larger radius than the edges of metal tanks, so they're more comfortable to rest your arms on. Lastly, you'll find it more…

An overhead garage door is the largest moving object in the typical home, and as such, it merits regular maintenance. It gets heavy use, has a lot of moving parts and is expensive to replace. The typical price range for a 16 x 7-ft. garage door is $1,000 to $5,000. Here’s how to prolong your garage door’s life and keep it running smoothly. 1. TEST THE AUTO REVERSE This safety feature forces the garage door to quickly reverse if it detects an obstacle, like a car, animal or child. It’s activated by a pressure sensor or photocells on each side of the door. Test your auto reverse monthly by placing a 1½-in. block on the floor under the door. The door should reverse within two seconds after striking the block.…

All winter long, whenever it snowed, our next-door neighbor Ron came out with his snowblower and cleared off our 225-ft. driveway. He even did it at night! So when spring arrived and his grass had reached an unprecedented height and was almost ready to drop its seed, I thought I’d return his kindness and surprise him by mowing his yard while he was at work. Several other neighbors stopped by to encourage me as I gamely pushed the mower through the knee-high grass. Ron, returning home from work, came running across the yard with tears in his eyes. Turns out he’d been waiting for the grass to reseed itself.…