Photo: csmonitor.com

If you are riding out the storm in a single-family home, make sure you have a plan for the worst-case scenario. A blown-out window or garage door opening can create a serious hazard for the entire house. Changing air pressures can literally take the roof off a home.

Sandy’s wind speeds don’t seem to compare with those of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, but the size and strength suggest it may rank among the worst US storms. Take steps now to secure doors and windows and tape large expanses of glass, particularly picture windows and patio doors. Keep window treatments closed and identify a safe room where the family can huddle in the event of a blow-out.

If your house becomes uninhabitable, wait for the eye of the storm to bring a brief lull, which might allow you to seek shelter with neighbors.

For more on hurricane preparedness, consider:

Waiting for Sandy
Be Prepared for Natural Disasters
Hurricane Sandy: Disaster Preparedness

Riding Out the Storm Home Improvement, Home Remodeling & Home Repair - BobVila.com

Efficient heating and cooling remains as important today as it was 100 years ago. Of course, new-construction homes benefit from the past century’s technical and technological advancements, but even if you own an old home, there are a plenty of new ways to make the place more eco-friendly.

Recently, a reader wrote in to ask, “What are some green updates I could make to my ’20s home that are easy to retrofit?” View my video response below:

 
Visit the Just Ask Bob section to submit a question of your own!

For more on saving energy, consider:

Cut the Costs of Home Heating
How To: Save Energy At Home
Quick Tip: Power Your Home with Solar Energy

Going Green in an Older Home Home Improvement, Home Remodeling & Home Repair - BobVila.com

Tina Fey and James Franco in "30 Rock"

I was amused to see James Marsden geared up in a tool belt on “30 Rock”, as his character set about fixing loose floor boards in the apartment he’s sharing with his girlfriend Liz Lemon (Tina Fey). I hope he completes his project successfully—I guess we’ll find out in future episodes.

It’s no mystery why home improvement turns up so often in entertainment. Fixing up our homes can involve drama, conflict, maybe a little comedy–all ingredients of good entertainment.

Here are five of my favorite TV shows and movies where homes and/or improvements figure prominently. When you need to take a break from your latest project, these options will provide a terrific respite:

Mad Men. What spot-on settings from the ’60s:  the furnishings, colors, and home décor styles present an expert riff on the look of that decade.

Gone With the Wind. Tara, the great manor house at the center of the story, provides an indelible setting for a classic drama.

Downton Abbey. With a gorgeous home and beautiful locations, it’s a treat to watch this series.

The Shining. The fictional Overlook Hotel is one the film’s stars—though I hope your home improvement projects are nowhere near as scary.

Home Improvement with Tim Allen. I had a lot of fun the three times I made guest appearances on this TV series. In particular, I remember what fun it was shooting the Great Lawn Mover Race sequence.

Related:
Visiting Tim Allen at Home
Video: Touring the Set of a TV Sitcom

Bob Vila’s Top 5 TV Shows & Movies Home Improvement, Home Remodeling & Home Repair - BobVila.com

Photo: World Monument Foundation

My February trip to Havana with the Finca Vigía technical team was a short, three-day visit focused on paper conservation and the planning of a new laboratory. Ernest Hemingway’s home outside Havana was where he kept his personal library of over 9,000 books, journals, manuscripts and so on. Papa was a pack-rat and held onto all sorts of souvenirs, from bullfighting posters to shopping lists for his fishing trips.

Photo: Flickr

People are always fascinated to learn this, since lots of folks think he lived in Key West. It was in 1939 that EH bought the Finca Vigía property (about 30 minutes south of Havana) and started sprucing it up. In his will he left the home and its contents to the Cuban people, and it has been run as a museum for almost 50 years. The work of restoring the house is complete, but the bulk of the paper conservation work is still to be done. A laboratory building is badly needed. The Cuban Culture Ministry is funding the construction of this facility, and we hope it can be fast-tracked.

Photo: Flickr

My latest trip to Havana gave me the chance to travel there with my wife and two daughters. The trip was organized by Caritas Cubana. Based in Cambridge, MA, this non-profit group provides funding for church-related projects benefiting children and the elderly. We visited a project in downtown Havana, which serves older residents who live alone; Caritas Cubana provides them breakfast and a chance to socialize.

Photo: Caritas

Another important project—this one focused in a part of town called La Vibora—provides support to the parents of autistic children. I admit it was a surprise to me to find this awful problem in Havana. The kids have play groups, where the supervision is almost one-on-one and to encourage their socialization, the kids interact with non-autistic children as well as each other. Parents get advice from a licensed psychologist, who helps them understand the kids’ behaviors.

Related:
Revitalizing the Hemingway Home in Cuba
Visiting Cuba with the San Francisco Art Institute
Remembering Vizcaya

Home from Havana: Finca Vigía & Caritas Home Improvement, Home Remodeling & Home Repair - BobVila.com

Bob Tedeschi, New York TImes "The Pragmatist" columnist

During a recent interview with The New York Times columnist Bob Tedeschi, a.k.a. “The Pragmatist,” I asked if he had any words of wisdom for the DIY beginners—individuals, like him, who are learning as they go. Not surprisingly, this chronicler of his own trial-by-fire do-it-yourself mishaps and successes served up some great advice.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. One of the great benefits of “The Pragmatist” column has been to encourage me to ask a lot of questions. People who know this stuff are often great about sharing their wisdom. I used to walk into hardware stores really worried about sounding stupid. And now I’m just, “Okay. Here we go. I am a rank novice. Tell me how to approach this job.” Even if I might know a little about a job, I think it’s much better that I go in assuming I know nothing.

Take pictures. I now use my cell phone to take pictures of everything that’s broken before I go to the hardware store (and sometimes I even bring the actual object with me). I’ve wasted many trips back and forth trying to describe a problem and getting the wrong tool or wrong screw. Pictures help a great deal.

Never start a  project late in the day. This is a piece of advice I learned from a plumber, because if something goes wrong and you’re in need of a hardware  store to help out—that’s not going to happen at 8:00 p.m. on a Friday night. So make sure you start projects, particularly plumbing, with time on your side.

Choose good starter projects. Choose small projects to learn a set of skills and then move up. This has been a valuable learning lesson for me in the column. Changing a shower head, for instance, opens you up to the basics of plumbing, but it’s really super easy to do. Or consider rewiring a lamp or painting a really small room, like a bathroom. Smaller accomplishments will give you the confidence to tackle more.

Invest in good tools. An investment in a good set of tools will make your job that much easier. And if you want them to be available during your next project, watch carefully when your kids use them.

Read my full interview with Bob Tedeschi, A Conversation with “The Pragmatist”

Bob Tedeschi’s 5 Tips for DIY Beginners Home Improvement, Home Remodeling & Home Repair - BobVila.com

That’s what I asked my Twitter followers a couple of weeks ago. It’s natural to expect that your renovation’s happiest surprise will arrive upon the project’s completion; at the moment when your lingering doubts disappear and your tired optimism suddenly transforms into a feeling of proud delight.  However, it’s during the process itself, not after it’s over, that many homeowners discover the biggest renovation surprises of all.

Upon floating my question, “What is the best or worst thing you have ever discovered while renovating?” to the Twitter universe, dozens of fantastic little mid-reno discovery tales came back to me, many with the polish of cocktail-party-perfected anecdotes. Amusing, amazing, or ‘Ack!’—these were some of my favorites:

- @RHJenkins: My aunt found live knob and tube wires and the dead squirrel that tried to chew on them.

- @PrairieRimBen: Best: oak floors, 1922 sports page detailing Babe Ruth’s performance last night. Worst: live wires exposed to outdoors.

- @BodiceGoddess: I discovered, when my housemates installed an egress window in my bedroom, that my entire living space is not insulated. #freeze

- @NiallFlanagan: Insulated Pipes. Not fun to have to halt everything and get an abatement crew in for clean up. Expensive, too.

- @philringsmuth: Worst: That all walls on main floor were made solely of drywall, no studs. “Studs” were drywall sandwiches, with more drywall.

- @DominicHouse: The best was red oak under red and orange 1960′s shag.

- @CaroleOldroyd: Yep! We found cedar underneath compressed fiberboard AND tar paper on our 121 y/o home. Who would do that?

- @JLo888: no money left!

- @PaisleyPosey: Um, my husband’s temper!

- @Casper_and_Co: I once found a 1/2 full bottle of whiskey in a ca.1850 home in Mass. We tried it. Awful.

Follow me on Twitter for the latest from BobVila.com, plus select links to the best home improvement stuff elsewhere on the net. Tweet me your own best/worst mid-reno discovery tale or leave it in the comment section below.

DIYers Best/Worst Remodeling Discoveries Home Improvement, Home Remodeling & Home Repair - BobVila.com

Throughout the years, I’ve been lucky enough to meet scores of talented, experienced contractors and craftsmen—proud workers committed to excellence. A couple stand out for me: Norm Abram from “This Old House” and Bob Ryley, the builder I worked with on “Home Again”. I think individuals who excel in their trade— plumbing, roofing, masonry, whatever—usually have a few traits in common. Why have I been thinking about this stuff? The following question reached me through Just Ask Bob: “You’ve worked with some great contractors. What qualities do excellent tradesmen share?” View my response below…

Of course, a lot of people have difficulty finding a great contractor. Want my advice? Consider the links below:

Quick Tip: Hiring a General Contractor
Questions to Ask a Contractor
What to Look for in a General Contractor

On Master Craftsmen Home Improvement, Home Remodeling & Home Repair - BobVila.com

The apartment’s interior features a beautiful Jacobean ceiling, parquet oak floors, and floor-to-ceiling paneling of quarter-sawn oak. The paneled walls had probably been painted and left that way, until someone realized there was beautiful wood under the paint and chose to use a sandblaster. Sadly, that someone didn’t realize how much damage would result from using such a drastic method of paint removal. All the wood paneling now has a severely distressed grain which, even when stained and varnished, resembles fir plywood.

Since it can’t be sanded back to smooth, the best solution is returning the wall to a painted finish. Wood filler will help the badly damaged areas, but a good primer and finish coat in “off-white” will best restore the room’s period details.

To learn more about wood paneling and stripping paint the right way, check out the following articles:

Quick Tip: Stripping Paint
Paint Stripping Tools
Custom Paneling Systems

Wood Paneling: Before and After Home Improvement, Home Remodeling & Home Repair - BobVila.com

There’s no reason why your woodworking shop can’t be easy on the eyes, outside and in. The one pictured above was created in order to write and research my book Bob Vila’s Workshop. We trimmed it out to reflect the Greek Revival homes and other structures common to the area it’s located in. (Adding to the old-timey feel of the place are the old doors and windows bought at salvage).

Flush columns, or pilasters, decorate the front and side elevations of the shop, rhythmically punctuating the horizontal spread of the clapboard siding. But, far from being expensive, made-to order decorations, these pilasters were made on site using standard one-by and five-quarter boards, a miter saw, and two bead planes.

A bead plane, together with the pilaster capital

In the image above, notice the half-inch bead at the base of the capital (of five-quarter stock) and the three-eighths-inch bead on the trim piece across the top. The shaft of the pilaster (made of one-by-eight boards) is trimmed with three-eighths-inch beads, too. And, as you can see, it all goes together easily.

The nailers beneath the capital (above, left) disappear as the capital is added (center). The last touch is a very simple curved decoration added in the broad valley between the pilaster pieces (right), giving the whole column the look of having a single exaggerated flute at its center.

Since the whole building was to be painted with oil paint, the wood is all common, full of knots to be sealed, in this case with a shellac-based sealer. (We used a pneumatic siding gun to fasten everything). When painted, the finished woodworking shop looks impressive, yet properly vernacular for its setting.

Related:
In Search of Antique Tools
Blog Stars: In the Workshop
The Basic Workbench

Add a Decorative Touch to Your Woodworking Shop Home Improvement, Home Remodeling & Home Repair - BobVila.com

Photo courtesy of Douglas Friedman

The week before the holidays, I had the chance to talk *color* with Celerie Kemble, the New York and Palm Beach interior designer whose most recent book, Black & White (and a bit in between), recently landed on shelves. Before long, however, Celerie and I found ourselves discussing, of all things, light bulbs.

With incandescent fixtures on the way out, designers—like the rest of us—are experimenting with compact fluorescents (CFLs), which are known for their sometimes harsh, cool, too-bright light. Not surprisingly, Ms. Kemble has found at least one way of modulating CFLs’ temperature…

Bob Vila: So many homeowners are going to be challenged when forced to use compact florescent bulbs in the coming years. Do you have any thoughts on how to deal with the sometimes unattractive light that they produce?

Celerie Kemble: Well, I am still operating on a faith-based hope they are going to figure out how to case [CFLs] in something that makes them prettier. But, in the meantime, I am very reliant on well-made lampshades that have a soft pink or warm yellow lining that diffuses that bright white light.

Bob Vila: I had a decorator friend, Robin Peterson, who would fill the bathtub with hot water, throw in a box of tea bags, and then dunk her lampshades. Is that still a good idea?

Celerie Kemble: Well, I’ve tried to get handy on some lampshades using Rit Dyes. I was worried the tea bag thing would make the lampshades look like they were stolen from the neighborhood funeral home, because aged, drab yellowing is one of the first signs that a room needs an update. I’ve done the Rit Dyes, though, and they work well with string shades. It’s hard if you can see inside the shade, because a lot of elastic sensor shades are lined with polyester.

Bob Vila: Oh!

Celerie Kemble: Different lamp shades will take the colors differently. So, you have to kind of ‘know your lampshade’ before you do anything.

Read the full interview: Talking with Celerie Kemble

Outtakes: My Interview with Celerie Kemble Home Improvement, Home Remodeling & Home Repair - BobVila.com