Personally, I’ve been on Twitter for over two years.  This blog, however, has been on Twitter for two days.

Twitter is an extraordinarily awesome communication tool that lets us connect on a more real-time level.  Right now, you come here via search, bookmark, RSS or habit to read posts.  On Twitter, we can take that dialog to a whole new level.  I’ll be posting photos of the projects I undertake, home improvement tips, and, of course, cool things I find while searching around on Pricegrabber.  Readers of this blog can ask me for product recommendations, advice, and resources to help finish projects.  I’ll be glad to help!

If you’re on Twitter, consider following @FixItUpDIY.  You’ll see a lot of stuff tweeted that’s not posted here.

If you’re not on Twitter and want to learn more about it, I’ve found some books for you to reference (don’t worry - it’s super easy!):

• Twitter Tips, Tricks, and Tweets
• Twitter for Dummies (not that you’re a dummy!)
• The Twitter Book

I look forward to following you back and helping you with your home improvement questions in as real-time as I can be!

Welcome to the 2009 father’s day gift giving guide!  We’ve assembled a list of great products to buy dad that he’ll actually use - unlike that tie you gave him two years ago (you know the one I’m talking about).

If you’re looking to be “the favorite” this Father’s Day, don’t mess around with sentimental greeting cards, making a nice, light lunch or even offering to do some chores around the house.  Rather, drop some coin on this Makita 18-Volt Compact Lithium-Ion Cordless 3-Piece Combo Kit, wrap it up and give it to dad.

Why?

Because your father deserves the best. And this Makita 3-piece kit is flat-out awesome.

The kit contains everything you need to assume favorite child status:

• 1/2-Inch Drill-Driver
• Impact Driver
• Flashlight
• 2 18v compact batteries
• Rapid charger
• Contractor bag

The Makita 18-Volt Compact Lithium-Ion Cordless 3-Piece Combo Kit is designed with power in mind.  Your father will blow through most home improvement projects with horsepower to spare.  There’s a ton of power in the little Impact Driver, and that alone is enough to warrant purchasing this kit.  Throw in Drill/Driver, Flashlight, 2 batteries, charger and contractor bag and you’ve got one great bargain that’s sure to make your ‘ol man happy.

What sets this Makita set apart from the other combo kits you’ll see at your local chain megahardwarestores is the best-in-class cordless solution: the battery just kicks all sorts of butt.  For starters, you can use the tools after as little as 15 minutes on the charger, the batteries have 2.5x more cycles than a Ni-Cad battery and they charge much faster than other sets.

So if you’re gunning to be the favorite child this father’s day, you can leapfrog your siblings by purchasing this kit!

Welcome to the 2009 father’s day gift giving guide!  We’ve assembled a list of great products to buy dad that he’ll actually use - unlike that tie you gave him two years ago (you know the one I’m talking about).

We start with the Porter-Cable 2 1/2″ by 14″ Compact Belt Sander kit.  You may be asking yourself why you’d need to get your husband/father/grandfather/babydaddy a compact belt sander. That’s understandable.

Sure, the Porter-Cable Compact Belt Sander kit has a lightweight frame, but don’t let that fool ya - this belt sander has a lot under the hood.  In fact, I’m confident enough to say that it has more power than you’ll actually need, but it’s awfully nice knowing it’s there - just in case.

If you’re concerned about ergonomics, it has a very easy to handle rubber grip on the surface, allowing for precise control.  Dad will appreciate the cushioned grip, as it cuts down on a lot of the vibration that is always present with sanders.

Let’s go over some quick points:

• The Porter-Cable name is trusted. They make some really high-quality tools.
• The Porter-Cable Compact Belt Sander kit won the Handy Magazine Innovation Award in 2006 for all of it’s awesome features.
• The 120-volt, 5 amp motor is crazy powerful for a compact belt sander.
• The flush side and compact belt size (2 1/2″ x 14″) makes 90 degree angles a piece of cake.

Trust me - this is one item that Dad would love to open on June 21!

“Honey, can you help me paint the <insert room here>” is quite possibly hardest question to answer. Sure, I want to say “uh, no!“, but know that if I do say that, I’ll be sleeping on the couch until I’m needed to paint something and answer correctly.

I can paint edges freehand pretty well, but to be honest, I’m more of a roller guy.  If I have an angled brush, damp rag, painter’s tape, and a drop cloth, I am very good.  But even when I have all those things, it is still a laborious process.  I have to be in a certain position to get the brush angle right.  Most of the time I’m either on a ladder with my nose at the ceiling or kneeling on the floor.

When we tackled our dining room I put aside my painterly pride and got the Shur-Line Edger.  There were just too many doors, windows, and well, edges to do on my own.  It takes a couple tries to get the hang of the edger, I recommend practicing on a piece of cardboard first.  Once you know how much paint you need on the pad, it is so easy to use the edger.  There are two rollers on one side that go up against the trim, ceiling, or floor.  These can get some paint on them if you oversaturate the pad, so you may want to use tape, but you don’t have to be precise with it.  The pads are washable and reusable, which makes clean up no different than using a brush.

The best part? It’s under $3.00.  Go on, try it.  You’ll be glad you did!

The big adventure in our basement bathroom remodel was installing a new faucet.  Everything else for the room was pretty self-explanatory.  We had installed a kitchen faucet before, but the pop up drain made the bathroom one much more daunting.  We decided to get the Peerless Bright Chrome Lever 4″ faucet because we liked the Peerless we had in the kitchen.  It is a little more than we had planned on spending for a basement, guest, extra bathroom, but I did not want clear plastic handles.

Pop up drain instructions are confusing by nature, I think.  I read through them a couple times and laid everything out before starting to assemble everything.  As long as you do not jump into installation without going through the how-to, even the pop up drain assembly will go quickly.  It may take more time, but do not be afraid to dry fit both the drain and the pop up to see if it opens enough for your water flow – we needed to adjust ours after installation.  And it is really just not that easy when everything is already in place.  But once past that, dropping the faucet in and hooking up the supply hoses only takes a few minutes.  The faucet works and looks great, which was important since it is the first thing you see in our new bathroom.

When we were converting our basement bathroom from dingy and unusable to pretty and functional we left the corner shower in place.  It just needed a good cleaning and a new showerhead and knobs.  We really like the rain showerhead we have in our bathroom and we wanted to find something similar.  The showerhead that was there previously actually put out too much water for the drain to handle, so we also needed something that would not overflow the shallow shower basin.  Aesthetically, we wanted something that hung out into the shower a bit to prevent the possibility of leakage through the shower doors.

We decided to go with the Mini Aquafall from WaterPik.  It is adjustable several different ways, which is handy since this is our “guest” bathroom and guests are always different heights. The showerhead meets all of our quirky needs.  It installed directly on the pipe coming out of the wall with just a bit of Teflon tape.  I would not recommend using any sort of wrench on the showerhead without a rag or even painting tape as a barrier.  The finish is chrome, but the showerhead and arm are made of plastic.  This may not work for a high-traffic shower, but for this application the combination of looks and other features outweighed the material.

We have a three-quarters bathroom in our basement that has never been functional.  The walls were a dingy white and there was a 1980’s fish border.  The floor was a green and white vinyl tile.  The shower was OK, the sink was fine (even though it was not pretty), but the toilet did not work – the water would drain out of the bowl allowing sewer gas into the room.  As the opening salvo in our Operation: Basement 2009 we took everything, except the shower, out.

After removing the offending toilet the next order of business was getting rid of the old, worn glued-down tile.  We started by using a 5-in-1 tool and hammer, but it wasn’t very sturdy and didn’t get up very much tile.  We started using the Hard Cap Floor Chisel after just one frustrating evening.  The polymer cap reduced the vibrations we felt dramatically.  Since we were scraping the tile directly off concrete, there wasn’t any give and that cushioning was very important.  It was very easy to get under the tile with the chisel point.  The three-inch width got up much more tile in one go than we expected.  Of course, some times the glue prevented a larger path of destruction, but quite often we were able to get a good four to five inch wide and six inch long area up before the tile broke off.

This was quite possibly the hardest part of the entire process, but it was made so much easier by using the Hard Cap Floor Chisel.  You’ve got to work smarter, not harder!

Occasionally my wife enjoys to write reviews of products she uses - this is one of those posts. Enjoy!

I have never been a fan of the bulky leather gardening gloves that most home improvement stores sell.  They grip well, when you can find something big enough to grab.  But you can forget about pulling tiny weeds or planting delicate seeds and seedlings.

Since I tend to be somewhat unorganized when gardening – jumping from weeding to raking to pruning, etc. – I need gloves that can run the gamut.  I decided to try the Bionic X-Wear Gardening/Work Gloves.  I believe they were originally designed for gardeners with arthritis, so they have silicone padding in the fingers and thumbs.  Even with the padding, you do not lose any dexterity or “feel.” The wrists fasten securely to keep dirt out (a big problem with traditional garden gloves, I found).

Casual gardeners who do not want to wait for the leather to stretch should order a size larger than you normally would, as these gloves run small.  Even with the snug fit, or perhaps because of it, my hands do not tire out as easily as they did with other gloves.  And I had no problem using an old, wood handled de-thatching rake, something that would have given me terrible blisters in plain leather gloves.

Now that you’ve got the toilet base installed, you’re in the home stretch.  You’ll find this part to be a real breeze, even for the most novice handiperson.

Your base should look something like this:

You see those holes?  Well, now all you’ve got to do is lift the tank and fit it into the holes.  All toilets are different, so make sure to read your instructions on fitting any necessary padding (provided in your kit, of course), et cetera., before you start bolting things down.  Also, make sure you have a bubble level handy - it’s VERY important to keep your tank as close to level as possible!

With the toilet tank seated on top of the bowl, you can now attach the supply line and turn on the water:

Great Caesar’s ghost - you’re about 90% finished!

If you’re anything like me, you want to see your tank fill up - I even snapped a picture:

So obviously, you’ll need to put the tank cover on, but go ahead and give it a test flush — it’s always nice to see your hard work in action! With everything installed properly, it’s now time to bolt the seat to the tank.  Again, this is *very* straightforward, but reference your toilet seat instructions, just in case there are any pitfalls or odd directions.

Your mileage may vary, but the toilet will look a little something like this:

So now that you’ve removed the old toilet, you’re ready to prep the area for the new commode.  The biggest potential problem you’re faced with is the mess the old wax ring left behind when you lifted up the old toilet.  This isn’t a problem — just grab a putty knife or five-in-one tool and get to work!  Make sure to scrape the area clean so the new wax ring seats properly on the new toilet.

Yes, that’s our waste stack. And yes, it’s very old. And rusty. But it’s clean!

I know I’ve been saying this the whole time, but you’re really close to wrapping this procedure up - you’ll just have to trust me!

With your toilet’s waste stack clean as a whistle, it’s time to turn the new toilet bowl upside-down on a towel or bathmat (so you don’t scrape/scratch/ding the porcelain) and seat the new wax ring.  Push firmly - but not too firmly - and you’re set.  Now head back over to the waste stack and make sure your bolts are still standing tall.  If not, your toilet kit should have come with new bolts, so install ‘em.

Fitting the wax ring

You’re now ready to lift the bowl back to an upright position (but careful not to get the wax seal all over the floor!) and set it down gently over the bolts and waste stack.  Since you’re now positioned over the waste stack, you can start tightening the nuts and bolt the toilet to the floor.