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Basic DIY Tools & Supplies Every Homeowner Needs
As a follow-up to my previous post on home maintenance parts every homeowner should have in their house right now, I’ve put together this list of basic tools and supplies for any homeowner that wishes...
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How to Wire a Humidifier to an Ecobee Smart Thermostat
In my original review of my very first Ecobee Smart Thermostat, I described how I had wired my Ecobee’s equipment interface to my whole-house evaporative humidifier at the Utah house. Because my...
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Installing a Water Pressure Gauge and Hot Water Feed to a Whole House Humidifier
The climate in Utah is particularly arid, both in the summer and the winter, and so I had my builder install a Lennox whole-house humidifier as part of our HVAC system in the Utah house. It helps keep...
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Two Cheap and Easy Water Heater Money Saving Tips
As we wrap up our Holiday vacation here at the Utah house, I’ve been tinkering with some home improvement projects (part of how I relax on vacation really is by fixing stuff). So today, I did two...
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Creating a Sheet Metal Bracket to Keep a Furnace Filter In Place
So my buddy Greg Ellis hits me up on Skype this morning and asks if I have time to “take a walk”, which is how we like to meet and discuss business. We both like exercise, and it’s a great way to get...
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How to Replace Your Water Heater
I little over a year ago, I made my very first plumbing-related blog post: a report on how I learned I should flush my water heater to eliminate rust-colored water, and should replace its anode when...
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Product Review: Lutron Maestro 600 3-Way Occupancy Sensor Switch
If you’ve got kids, then you’ve probably noticed that they never have problems finding a switch to turn lights on. Yet mysteriously, they lack the ability to turn lights off. I’m convinced it’s just...
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Using Plasti Dip to Black Out my Grille Emblem
During a visit with family over 2012 Christmas holiday, my nephew Jake introduced me to the world of “Plasti-Dipping” car parts. Jake drives a white VW Jetta, and used a product called Performix Plasti...
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How to Fix a Whirlpool & KitchenAid W10219463 / 2307028 Control Board for $6
In 2007, I purchased a brand new, stainless steel, side-by-side KitchenAid refrigerator for the Utah house. It worked great for almost 7 years, until two months ago… when I noticed a small puddle of...
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Choosing the Right LED Bulbs
One of the reasons I enjoy doing DIY projects is because I love saving money. But not all DIY projects are created equal — and the least equal is replacing light bulbs. I hate replacing light bulbs. I...
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Fix Your Furnace If It’s Not Blowing Warm Air
You wake up in the morning, or come home from work, and you can instantly tell something is wrong. The house is cold. You can hear the furnace running, and you can even feel air coming out of the...
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Upgrade your Bath Tub Trim – Fast, Easy, and Cheap
Something had been bothering me at the Utah house for a few years, so I finally got around to doing something about it this week. Take a peek at the photo below and see if you can find it: Bathtub trim...
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How to Cheaply Fix a KitchenAid / Whirlpool Ice Maker by Just Replacing It
If you’ve got a KitchenAid (or Whirlpool, or Kenmore) fridge with an ice maker that’s not making ice, don’t call the repairman. This is a very easy (and relatively inexpensive) fix that you can totally...
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Leaking Toilet? Try the $25 Toilet Tune-Up
I’ll admit it — I titled this post to attract homeowners who are searching for how to fix a leaky toilet. But wouldn’t it be even better if you could prevent your toilet from leaking in the first...
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DIY: Fix a Ferrari Testarossa / 512 TR Hot Start Problem
The Ferrari Testarossa, along with its later 512 TR and F512M variants, are iconic cars of the 80s and 90s. Every kid my age wanted to be Sonny Crocket cruising around Miami in a white Testarossa. What...
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Air Conditioning Not Blowing Cold? Replace your Capacitor or Contactor
Summer 2015 in Seattle has been officially declared the hottest summer here on record (check my weather station’s 2015 max temps on my Weather Underground weather history graph for geeky details). For...
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A Cheap(er) Fix for Whirlpool / KitchenAid / Kenmore Refrigerator Inverter...
The most popular DIY post on my blog is, by far, How to Fix a Whirlpool & KitchenAid W10219463 / 2307028 Control Board for $6. As of this post, it’s received over 430 comments; the vast majority...
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DIY: Replacing the Fan on a Heat Pump
At 8:19 PM on December 30, 2015, I received the following text from Jim, our next-door neighbor at our cabin in East Wenatchee: Steve, we’re at the river and your heat pump fan just broke so fan is...
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Oil Change and Filter Parts for 2008 Cadillac Escalade
This is another of those posts that might only be for my own benefit, so that the next time I need to change the oil on my wife’s 2008 Cadillac Escalade, I can simply locate this post to remember what...
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You Should Test and Replace your GFCI Outlets More Often Than You Think
Even if you don’t understand the function of a GFCI outlet, or know what “GFCI” stands for, there’s a really good chance you’ve seen at least one (and probably a few) in your home. This is what a GFCI...
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