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A Reminder of Home When Sam Lucero and Jeffrey Reeder relocated to Austin, Texas, they wanted to bring the lush, tropical vegetation of their former home in New Orleans with them. Starting with a dry, dusty, rocky backyard, they hauled in truckloads of soil to create two 1,000-gallon backyard ponds on two levels. Taking advantage of their backyard’s natural slope, they built one pond at the top of a retaining wall and the second at the base of the wall, and connected them with a stair-step waterfall....

We asked pros from all over to break out their best material and try to get a chuckle out of us. Okay, so there are a few groaners, but we’re hoping you think they’re mostly funny. Got a good jobsite-related joke? Post it in the comments below. (But please, keep it relatively clean!)

Bargeboard A board attached to the edge of a gable roof. In house styles such as Gothic Revival and Tudor, bargeboards often bear intricate carvings or colorful painted details. Also called vergeboard or gableboard. Check Throat The groove cut into the underside of a windowsill that prevents rainwater from reaching the wall. Clerestory A series of windows placed high in a wall. Cricket A second, small, pointed roof that diverts rainwater around something, such as a chimney, that projects out of a primary roof....

Hollow out your pumpkin Use a knife to carve a large circular opening into the bottom of your pumpkin. Clean out the inside thoroughly, scooping away the pulp and seeds with a spoon. DON’T FORGET: Enter the TOH Pumpkin Carving Contest Transfer your pattern Rough out a design on paper first, then mark the dots on the pumpkin with a permanent marker. Try a swirling or geometric design, or randomly space dots on the pumpkin shell....

Aluminum gutter installation steps Tools

—Maria Costa, Holbrook, Mass. Kim Hren, Groundworks Landscaping Inc., replies: The hardest part about planting any tree is moving it. A 6- to 8-footer with its root ball could easily weigh 200 pounds or more. If you plan on planting it yourself, have the garden center either help you pick a size that’s easier to handle or deliver it to your house right where you want to plant it. Make sure the site you select is at least 15 feet from the house, power lines, and other trees....

To keep costs down on the surround, we hit the remnants section of our local stoneyard and had a slab cut into three ¾-inch-thick pieces for the top and two side legs. Prices start at $195 for the stone and fabrication. We paid $450 for our rare Portoro marble (Bridgewater Marble & Granite Works), bringing the total outlay to about $875, including about $425 for the Thermo-Rite doors. By leaving the wood mantel in place and removing only the trim that overlapped the surround, we minimized the work—and the mess....

Steps: Tools:

How Do You Repair a Hole in Lath and Plaster Walls? For lath and plaster repair, it’s important to use good techniques and the right materials. It’s better to use a softer, slower-setting lime-based plaster, like the one developed for Big Wally’s line of plaster-repair products, takes about an hour to set, isn’t prone to cracking or delaminating, and needs no sanding, which keeps dust to a minimum. Don’t use so-called patching plaster sold at home centers, it’s much harder than the wall’s original plaster, and it sets in the blink of an eye....

Steps: Start by turning off the power to the circuit you’ll be working on at the main electrical panel. Test the switches with a voltage tester to ensure the power is off. Remove the cover plate from the switch box with a slotted screwdriver. Unscrew the three-way switch you suspect isn’t operating properly from the box. Before disconnecting the switch wires, label each wire for easy reattachment later, and mark the “hot” white wire with a black marker....

Keep in mind that these powerful fans have their drawbacks. In houses with gas- or oil-fired combustion appliances, there is a danger that a fan will pull flue gases out of a chimney and back into the house. Problems like this can occur in houses that are relatively air-tight. Before you recommend installing one of these fans, talk to your HVAC contractor about the dangers of flue gases getting into the house....

She also converted an out-of-the-way broom closet into a message center that doubles as a storage-packed serving area. To make the room seem larger, she suggested glass subway tile and other light-reflecting finishes, like pale granite and red-oak flooring. The cabinets fit together precisely, with a pullout for spices and oils, squeezed in near the range, “in a frameless cabinet, which offers a bit more space inside than one with an inset door,” Piron notes....

Shown: New crown and panel molding added old-house charm to the existing stock trim. Before: Simple Features The room had a bland paint job and few architectural features. DIY Artwork Instead of buying pricey prints, the couple found images from an old botanical catalog on the New York Public Library’s website. They resized the artwork to fit in IKEA frames and hung a set of four over the sideboard....

Before the Renovation The vinyl floor and tub surround were worn, and the single sink meant long waits. Contemporary and Clean Mirrored sides help the wall-hung medicine chests almost disappear, putting the emphasis on the oversize oval mirror in front. Medicine cabinet: Zenith Sconce: Hampton Bay A Touch of Personality Smoke-colored grout, a row of subways turned on end and bordered with black trim, plus a recessed granite shelf add character and function to the tub alcove....

Alden Gibson Inspections by Gibson Breslau, Ontario All images courtesy of the ASHI Reporter Shower of Sparks Taking showers in front of an electrical panel box is not recommended. Thomas Sanson National Property Inspections Rochester, N.Y. All images courtesy of the ASHI Reporter Spouting Off What was the builder thinking ending the downspout right above the electrical panel? After 15 years, guess what the inside of this panel looked like....

Steps for Building a Trash Shed Flip-open lids give it easy access so that you can quickly toss something away in the right place. Bifold front doors make it easy to move heavy cans in and out. And handsome siding that matches the house camouflages the whole structure. That means you can put it right up against the house and the focus will still be on the beauty of your home instead of the trash around it....

Bronze Brush Use it to open the pores of bare wood. “Cheaper brass brushes do the job but may leave deeper cuts,” says Rosini. About $36; Kingdom Restorations Sandpaper Smooth brushed wood with 220-grit garnet sandpaper. About $9 for 25 sheets; at hardware stores Furniture Brush Clean wood dust from pores (and later work wax down into the grain) with this natural bristle brush. It’s an investment item, so “a beginner can use a vacuum brush attach-ment and a Scotch-Brite pad....

Steps: Use an infrared camera to detect hot and cold areas around all doors, windows and walls on the first floor. Go upstairs and use the camera to check along the corners between the walls and floors. Also audit un-insulated partitions (interior walls) looking for areas that reveal cold air between the wall studs. Put on a dust mask and work gloves, and climb into the attic to inspect the insulation....

Species Denotes the wood’s species or a group of species with similar strengths. While all species are graded at the same four levels of strength and appearance, they are not equally strong. A joist made of Douglas fir, for instance, will cover a greater span than a hemlock joist of the same size and grade. But using bigger joists of a cheaper species might save you money without loss of strength....

Steps: 1 Remove the drain plug from the bottom of the sink trap with pliers; use a foil baking pan to catch the water that drains out. 2 Use a reciprocating saw to cut out the existing PVC sink trap. 3 Loosen the compression fitting that connects the trap to the sink drain; remove the entire PVC assembly. 4 Use a special PVC cutterhead in a drill to remove the remaining piece of pipe from inside of the drainpipe in the wall....