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May 14, 2012 Gripping Video About Dried Glue! A video about dried glue? Is this a joke? Not to woodworkers, because that dried glue is on — and then off — the bristles. This glue brush...

May 09, 2012 How Soft Do You Like Your Water? That's a personal question that affects most people; about 85 percent of us have a hard time with hard water. Some folks like laundry and shower w...

May 02, 2012 Cool Corner Plates for Drab Decks Eight screws! That's all it takes to turn a "wall flower" of a deck into a real looker. Dressing up a deck is so easy, thanks to Latitud...

April 30, 2012 Best Fix for a Fuddy-Duddy Door Cruise through almost any neighborhood, and it's plain to see that many homeowners are involved in an open-and-shut case of door neglect. They ign...

April 25, 2012 How to Cool a Hot Garden Party Mother's Day (May 13) often means celebrating with a garden party. Normally, outdoor events in May are cool-to-perfectly-pleasant affairs, but wit...

April 18, 2012 Tested: DIY Garage-Floor Coat Kit Coating a garage floor can be a hit-or-miss adventure, depending on the coating's quality. So it's impressive that the RockSolid Polyurea Grey...

April 16, 2012 Mix and Use Concrete Out of Pouch Concrete repairs can be such a production, and when the project is done, you often have a huge cow pie of mud left over. Hey, you always mix up more t...

April 11, 2012 Good Lookin' Landscape Lighting This landscape lighting makes a home look almost as pretty as a soft summer night. The i-lighting LED Landscape Lighting System adds beauty, safety an...

April 02, 2012 Trench Drain=No-Threshold Shower Have you ever considered re-designing your bathroom to a more modern style and for improved accessibility? Here's an easy way to get your feet wet...

March 28, 2012 How to Hide a Body on Your Deck No, we are not suggesting a life of crime (it never pays). We are suggesting — admittedly with a bit of hyperbole — this "hidden"...

March 26, 2012 Casement Cable=Kid-Safe Windows There are few nightmares worse than the vision of a child falling from an open window. Since spring is prime time for such things, parents and grandpa...

March 21, 2012 Debris Bag Saves Time and Steps This is one of those "no-big-deal-but-why-didn't-I-think-of-that?" lawn-and-garden products. This debris bag holds the weeds ...

March 19, 2012 Clean Brick in a Washing Machine? OK, you know it's a bad idea to toss a brick into a washing machine spinning full-tilt. But it's good video, and it raises the question: What ...

March 14, 2012 Lighting for When the Power's Out When the power went down, the thumbs went up on this product. That is, the Home Power Outage Lighting System ($99) was recommended by 98 percent of ou...

March 12, 2012 A $6,400 Toilet? A Bit Cheeky It's not that we don't like the Numi, Kohler's "most advanced toilet" (see video). Just the opposite. This stylish little throne...

February 29, 2012 Save 40,000 Gal. in Your Bathroom Really? Save that much water yearly in the bathroom? We're pretty sure our 21 product testers were suspicious about the Stealth System ($325). But...

February 22, 2012 Super-Silent Garage Door Opener "Is that the garage door opening?" With most garage door openers, is that even a question? They're too noisy! Not this Genie ...

February 08, 2012 3 Must-Haves for Aging DIYers Aging happens ... if you're lucky. DIYers, embrace your years because experience and well-earned wisdom come in handy with projects. Still, take i...

February 06, 2012 A New Screw ... Who Knew? Who knew? Well, now you do. From the moment we screwed around with this new screw, it was considered by our editorial crew to be a shoo-in for an awar...

February 01, 2012 Never Talk Dirty Again—We Swear! When we work on projects, everything around us takes a beating: our tools, clothes, hands and even our cell phones. Replacing a phone can be painfully...

January 18, 2012 A Toilet Gasket That Forgives When you're on your hands and knees in the bathroom, you deserve some forgiveness, right? Well, testers found that the Sani-Seal Toilet Gasket is incr...

January 09, 2012 When Snow and Ice Are Good Snow and ice are pretty (for a while) but they can get to be pretty rough on winter machinery and tools. Well, we found a $5.99 can that can help. It'...

January 04, 2012 Quick-Connect Pullout Faucet This kitchen faucet looks good — and, as a bonus, it makes you look good as a DIYer. The Hydrolock installation system of Moen's new Benton Pullout Ki...

January 03, 2012 3 Books for the Handy Person a These are good books for bad weather. Yes, when the weather outside is frightful, take the opportunity to delve into...

December 28, 2011 Right On: Rugged Steel Truck Box Ten of our toughest product testers took on this truck box — and lost. They tried to find flaws but couldn't; thus, the UWS ProGrade Steel Truck Box (...

December 27, 2011 Paint When Pink Turns White Normally, sealants don't do much to excite us. They seal; big deal. But Red Devil's ColorCure Pink2White multipurpose sealant is not your typical seal...

December 07, 2011 Clean It Like You Mean It You could define DIY as "making big messes in order to improve your home, auto and equipment." You learn to live with project messes, but then the pai...

December 05, 2011 Garage Door Opener Beats Caffeine We argue that this garage door opener is a better pick-me-up than caffeine, and we do so for three reasons: The Chamber...

November 28, 2011 1-Eyed Monster Frees Your Hands We admit that wearing a headlamp may look a little goofy (or make you look like a Cyclops), but it's often the best lighting solution when conditions ...

November 21, 2011 How to Gussy up Your Grab Bars Grab bars (AKA support bars) make a bathroom safer — and uglier. That is, they might look fine in a hospital but not in your bathroom, right? ...

November 17, 2011 Giveaway: 6 Award-Winning Prizes The 2011 HANDY Innovation Award winners are tickled pink about the honor. It's become a big deal in the DIY industry, so they want to brag it up a bit...

November 09, 2011 Have Heater, Will Travel Sure, you can dress to stay warm on the job site or in your unheated garage workshop this winter. With the right workwear, it's OK. But doesn't it fee...

October 31, 2011 Our 5 Funniest DIY T-Shirts Handy people have a huge sense of humor that can't be measured (get it?), and some of us wear our DIY funny bone on our T-shirts. We've taken the libe...

October 24, 2011 Keep Your Backyard Birds Safe Building a birdhouse is a "two-fer" because you get two joys for the price of one. The first is in using your tools and moxie to pull off the construc...

October 19, 2011 Crouch Without Singing Soprano When we first heard about the Duluth Trading Company's Flex Ballroom Jeans, we thought the work-apparel company was going soft. Whoever heard of weari...

October 17, 2011 Don't Let Wind Destroy Your Deck Furniture Don't you just hate it when the autumn wind blows and bangs your deck furniture into the railings or your siding? Or when it really roars and carries ...

October 10, 2011 Backyard Greenhouse? 12 Questions When the garden winds down at summer's end, you may wish that the veggies and flowers could persevere throughout the winter. What about building a bac...

October 06, 2011 Vote for HANDY Innovation Award Each year, HANDY Magazine editors do the DIY world a good deed by presenting the HANDY Innovation Awards. The editors earmark new tools and products t...

October 05, 2011 A New Toilet That Won't Overflow It's an all-too-familiar scene: Your toilet overflows ("Yikes!!!"), and you're tip-toeing through the rising tide of sludge. Well, we have good news! ...

October 03, 2011 If Jimmy Fallon Wore Workpants ... Jimmy Fallon wears suit pants, which work for his line of work. Fallon's guest for his late-night TV show (seen in this hilariously awkward video) is ...

September 26, 2011 Do a Dust Barrier in 5 Minutes Usually in remodeling, you gotta bash before you can build. Truth is, demo-ing walls is a blast, but if the dust is not contained, it makes a mighty m...

September 21, 2011 Manual Scraping? That's History It's like manual sanding versus power sanders, right? Once you flip the switch and enjoy the sander's ride to smooth surfaces, it's tough going back t...

September 19, 2011 $9.95 Handles for Hauling Leaves We don't go hog-wild about leaf-hauling/loading devices that are often way overpriced. We watch our pennies and for our lawn, a rake and an old sheet ...

September 12, 2011 This Light Bulb Turns Us On We hate it when light bulbs are sleepier than we are in the morning. While we like the green side of compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL), we drum ou...

September 08, 2011 You (We) Love This Portable Bench DIYers, put this on your bucket list. Not only did the Handy Bucket Builder wow our product testers with a 92 percent approval rating, it also got a t...

September 07, 2011 Set Your Butt Down on This That's the thing about gardening, right? We love it but it's a pain in the butt, back and knees as we're forced to sit, squat, stoop and kneel just to...

August 29, 2011 The Garage-Door Windows? Not Real Even though those garage-door windows pictured aren't really real, we really like them because they increase curb appeal — without the hassle of repla...

August 25, 2011 Giveaway! 3 DIY-Tailgating Prizes A typical DIYer day: Projects Projects Projects (Who says DIYers can't have fun?) ...

August 22, 2011 Trailer Morphs Into Storage Unit You want to be a hero in your house? Find storage. Indeed, your stock will be higher than any action figure in green tights if you can somehow find or...

August 18, 2011 Easily Installed Deck Lighting Got a drill/driver, a 7/16-in. bit and a hammer? Then you can install the I-Lighting Outdoor Lighting System. The kit — ra...

August 17, 2011 Socks That Can Help a Hangover Doesn't happen often, but there are "mornings after" when getting outta bed and dressing can be a real chore. Well, we've found some socks that can he...

August 15, 2011 21-Gallon Garden Water Bag—Wow! Watering is wonderful for your plants but (groan) it takes time, especially if you have a flower bed or community garden plot that's too far from a wa...

August 11, 2011 Disarm Your Killer Garden Hose We hate it when this happens: With all this heat, we're watering, watering, watering, which means we're moving the hose. A lot. Unfortunately, it also...

August 03, 2011 120 Testers Like This Light—Lots We thought our product testers would yawn about this emergency light. After all, there are lots of these lights on the market. Nope. Our 120 testers b...

July 25, 2011 One Can Can Impress All Painters DIYers tend to take the word "finish" literally. After working long and hard to build the project, it's time to finish with a coat of paint or polyure...

July 20, 2011 Key-Fob Convenience at Your Door Television without remote control? Inconceivable! Car doors that open only with a key? Thoroughly un-modern! Yes, we do lo...

July 13, 2011 Stain and Waterproofer in One Our product testers were defanged with this test. C'mon, a name brand, work-saving wood stain and waterproofer all in one? What's not to like? ...

July 11, 2011 Work, Hearing Protection, Music Quiz question: If you don't wear hearing protection when you're young and working on the job or in the shop, do you know which word you'll use most of...

July 07, 2011 Unload Your Pickup in 30 Seconds We try to avoid things that get us cranky, but not in this case. No siree Bob! This crank device helps us — or, more accurately, we help it — unload o...

July 06, 2011 Green Thumb Plant-Care Sensor Normally, we wouldn't consider a little plastic flower doohickey that plugs into a computer to be an essential gardening tool. But now we're not so su...

July 05, 2011 Spade Aids to Ease Shoveling Pain If you've ever handled a spade, shovel, pitchfork or just about any tool with a long handle, you're really going to dig these two handy, affordable to...

June 27, 2011 A Toilet Seat That's a Turn-on In a bathroom filled with fabulous fixtures, attractive tile and a glamorous granite vanity top, isn't it a missed opportunity when your toilet seat i...

June 20, 2011 Voice Smoke Alarm Beats Beeping When it comes to safety, it's time to give your kids a voice. According to First Alert, recent studies show that in an eme...

June 17, 2011 Giveaway: a John Deere Mower What we like about our June Giveaway is that it really hits home. This John Deer JS46 self-propelled walk-behind mower is the right product at just th...

June 16, 2011 Raised Garden-Greenhouse Combo Helps the back, helps the budget (grow your own) and helps with storage space. What's not to like about this 3-in-1 gardening helper, the new Plant In...

June 15, 2011 Precise Cuts in Drywall, Plywood Simple-and-effective building products make us smile, and this one has us simply beaming. The Mark-n-Cut Transfer Sheets are a godsend to folks instal...

June 13, 2011 Pretty Pot, Ugly Deck Ring—Fixed You've worked your butt off building a beautiful deck, porch or patio, and you want to make it even more beautiful with pots overflowing with colorful...

June 08, 2011 More Mower, More Garage Space You've gone cordless with many of your favorite power tools, so maybe it's time to consider a cordless mower. No gas smells or spills. No tendinitis f...

June 06, 2011 Work Light You Can Bend and Fold It can get creepy changing a tire on a dark and stormy night. Same with working in tight crawlspaces full of cobwebs and critters. About the best way ...

June 01, 2011 Start-to-Finish Project Updates Besides recording their projects for posterity (ah, vanity), our testers gave this cool Timelapse ProjectCam an impressive 98 percent approval rating....

May 25, 2011 Video: Finally, a Mower That's Fast, Fun and Sized Right Live in the burbs? Is your lawn too big to mow with a walk-behind but not expansive enough to justify an SUV-size tractor? Hop on the WeedEater Smart ...

May 20, 2011 Giveaway: Win a Thrill Grill! We're calling this our Thrill Grill for two reasons: Think of the thrill it would be to win our Stok Quattro Grill Swee...

May 18, 2011 Double-Hung Gets a "10" We found out that our testers do windows. The testers found out that installing Simonton's Double Hung Replacement Windows was a breeze. They gave a p...

May 16, 2011 Portable, Pumps 200 Gal./Charge Flooded laundry room? Overflowing toilet? Swamped kayak? To bail you out, we found something far better than a bucket or a coffee can. It's called Aqu...

May 02, 2011 Free Deck-Designing Software It's almost a DIYer's rite of passage — to build a deck in springtime. A new deck is a dandy way to: Celebrate great weather Connect with famil...

April 25, 2011 Generator Runs on Most Any Fuel DIYers often work at remote job sites and need "juice" to power corded tools. If we're not doing projects (it happens), we need power when we camp, fi...

April 21, 2011 Yes, Personalized Garage Signs! You're the go-to guy or gal for all things handy. If you're not lending tools to friends, you're toiling at your table saw in the garage, wrenching on...

April 20, 2011 Take a Dim View With This Product All winter, we whine about not enough light. Skylights and solar tube products help brighten a room and our spirits, but sometimes they help too much ...

April 04, 2011 Power — the Strong, Silent Type Storm season looms, so it's prudent to become pals with a portable generator. It doesn't need to be a loud, overweight, fume-spewing beast. Indeed, we...

March 31, 2011 Too Cold to Compost? Nope Composting is almost synonymous to smugness. Seriously, don't you just feel so dang "eco" — and prudent when you consider the cost of compost — as you...

March 30, 2011 Do You Like Your Peephole? Probably not. In fact, most of us have peephole problems that we're rather peeved about. Why? A typical door peephole c...

March 28, 2011 Do Chainsaw Champs Do Diamonds? Spring is springing, which means springing to action with our outdoor cleanup jobs. We're up to the task of trimming trees damaged by seasonal storms,...

March 14, 2011 Free Home-Design Software Are you painfully paired with piles of paper and a pencil when making project drawings? You're not alone. Many who try computer-assisted design softwa...

March 10, 2011 Kick-Butt Weather Protection We think it's a good fit for a company that makes waterproof boots to also make a stylish, kick-butt rain jacket. The company, Magnum Boots, is known ...

January 26, 2011 Dull Blades? Not With This Utility Knife DIYers and home-improvement geeks always look for better ways to accomplish a project — and we want the perfect tool for any job. Trades profess...

January 03, 2011 Giveaway Lineup—Need Your Vote! What a holiday hoot to start the tool giveaways in December! It felt good to call the winners, who were thrilled. In the interest of not killing the t...

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