Hot Home & Garden How-Tos « Home & Garden

How To: 10 Ways to Whiten Clothes Without Using Any Bleach

Whites are the hardest color to keep looking bright and new after just a few months' time. Your sweat and oils quickly become stains, and colors from other clothes will eventually bleed into the fabric, discoloring your bright whites into something merely whitish. But before you reach for the bleach, the ultimate chemical cleaner, try some a few of these safer, less-toxic DIY solutions out instead.

How To: Hang Curtains Without Making Holes in the Wall

For anyone who lives in a space that may frown upon making holes in the walls, or for anyone who may not want to take on such a task, there's a simple alternative to hanging curtains or drapes. And the answer is brilliantly simple.

How To: The Secret to Washing Your "Dry Clean" Clothes—Without Going to the Dry Cleaner

Unless your work clothes require dry cleaning, you probably only go to the cleaner a few times a year. And for those few items in your closet for which you do, you have to then find the time and extra budget to make a trip all the way to the cleaners and back again. In the end, it can be quite the hassle.

How To: Get Rid of Plant-Eating Pests Using 100% Natural Solutions from Your Home and Garden

Navigating through row after row of plants, my tiny fingers would reach into the leaves to pluck all the vile little creatures from their homes and deposit them into a can of gasoline. Potato bug duty, my least favorite gardening chore. Growing up, my family had a small garden every year. And every year, I was recruited to help plant, maintain, and eventually harvest the vegetables from it. There were some tasks I didn't mind, but the ones I hated most usually involved bugs (have you ever see...

How To: Avoid detergent residue on your high efficiency washer

If you are finding white or colored marks on your clothes, it's more than likely going to be detergent residue. These unsightly stains can ruin your clothes and be a sign that something is wrong with your washer or with what you are using.

How To: Refill a disposable Bic cigarette lighter

Everyone knows how to refill a Zippo or butane lighter, but what about the Bic disposable lighters? Believe it or not, you can actually refill those, too! All you need is some lighter fluid and patience. Make sure that you do not accidentally crack the lighter while you refill it - you can prevent cracking by letting the fluid enter in short bursts and then letting the gas out. This will normalize the pressure inside the lighter and help prevent cracking and breaking (because no one wants lig...

How To: 10 Reasons Why Your Freezer Is Perfect for Doing Laundry

Your freezer is no one-trick pony. While it does excel at keeping your food fresh for as long as possible, it has a few secret talents it doesn't want you to know about. Like making soda slushies and pyro-friendly smoke mix, as well as reviving dead hard drives. Even better—it can help you do laundry.

How To: Fix a faucet leaking from around the handle

This video is a do it yourself project which will show viewers how to fix a leaking kitchen faucet which is leaking water from around the base of the handle. This problem is most likely caused by a broken cartridge, a Moen 1225B cartridge is used to replaced it. The first step which should be taken is to shut off the flow of water from the sink using the shutoff valves under the sink. Then, remove the handle and its adapter depending on the style of the handle which is leaking and remove the ...

How To: Make a Homemade Cat Repellent - Home Remedies for Repelling Cats

Are you searching for a homemade cat repellent solution? This article will cover natural indoor and outdoor deterrents for every scenario where cats are causing trouble. The first part will cover home remedies for training cats to stay away from furniture and other restricted areas inside your house. The second part will cover outdoor repellents for keeping cats away from your garden, plants and yard. Step 1: Indoor Repellents for Training Cats

How To: Install Laminate Flooring on Stairs

Installing Laminate Flooring on Stairs Laminate flooring can be installed on a flight of stairs, and this process can also be used when installing laminate on a floor and having to drop down a step to a sunken room.

How To: Use a miter saw with Skil & Lowe's

This informational and instructional video is brought to us by Lowe's, a leader in the `do-it-yourself' retail business. In this video, Bill shows you how to properly set and use a Skill miter saw. There are four basic cuts you can do with a miter saw: the cross cut, miter cut, bevel cut, and the compound cut. Experienced and beginner home project do-it-yourself enthusiasts will appreciate the techniques and teachings that Bill provides you within this easy to understand and follow how-to video.

How To: Remove Almost Any Stain Using Alcohol

There are countless methods and cleaners aimed at eliminating stubborn stains from everything to clothing, carpet, and furniture. But completely removing every last trace of a stain doesn't require an arsenal of chemical cleaners and repeated cycles in the washing machine. Most stains can disappear in a matter of minutes with a dose of alcohol.

How To: Pick the lock on a garage door

In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to pick the lock of a garage door. It is not recommended for users to learn this technique to use to open other people's garage doors to break in someone's home or steal their possessions. The tools needed for this technique are a L-key and a diamond pick. Put the L-key at the bottom of the lock hold and fiddle around with the diamond pick on the top part of the hole. Do this until your able to rotate the lock. This video will benefit those viewers wh...

How To: Remove A Very Tight Lid

How to... Remove A Very Tight Lid? Use Items You Have Around The House! Step 1Want to remove a very tight lid? Do you have a weak grip or arthritic pain in your hands? Have you already tried tapping the lid with a spoon? Thumping the bottom of the jar with the palm of your hand, and it still won‘t come off? An easy, quick way to remove a very tight lid is to put on rubber gloves! Yes. Ordinary household rubber gloves. Hold the jar in one hand, then use the other hand to twist the lid off. Thi...

How To: Remove a Shark Bite Fitting Without a Special Tool - Adjustable Wrench Trick

Here's a fast easy way to remove and disconnect your Shark Bite quick connect fitting, without a special tool to do it. We'll show you a awesome little trick using an adjustable wrench. This will work an all different size Shark Bite fittings.

How To: Keep a portable generator quiet by building an enclosure

Having a portable gas-operated or diesel-operated generator available for your home can be very helpful, but can also be very noisy. If you want to quiet a loud electric generator, take a look at this video to soften that sound on a budget. With a little wood and a few other materials, you can build a fan-cooled 'doghouse' to keep a generator quiet.

How To: Use a rototiller to level a yard

Tim Carter of AsktheBuilder.com demonstrates easy ways to level a yard or dig a hole with a rototiller. Watch this video to learn how to do it too.

How To: Completely remove an interior door in your home

Have a new door that needs installed? Well, first thing you're going to have to do is remove the old one! Check out this home improvement video tutorial on how to completely remove an interior door in your home.

How To: Dial open a combination safe lock

In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to dial open a combination safe lock. Begin by turning the lock 4 times to the left. Then turn the lock 3 times to the right. Now turn the lock 2 times to the left and finish by turning it one more time to the right. Users should hear and feel a click when they finish turning the lock. When locking the safe, turn the lock 4 or more times to the left. to ensure security. This video will benefit those viewers who have a safe lock and would like to learn...

How To: Apply TEFLON TAPE. The EASY WAY!

How to use Teflon tape for plumbing applications. I know it sounds simple but there are a few tricks to applying the Teflon tape. Teflon tape is also known as PTFE Tape.

How To: Fix your front load washer if it stops mid-cycle

If you're washing clothes and your front load washer stops mid-cycle, you may have a problem. A washer that stop mid-cycle can be a sign that something has happened to the electricity or your machine.

How To: Refill an extended reach camping Bic lighter

This video shows you how to take an extended reach Bic lighter (the kind you would use to light a camping stove, charcoal or something similar) and add more lighter fluid to extend it's life. As long as the spark is still good, you can refill your lighter, and this tutorial shows you how to take apart your extended reach lighter and replace the drained lighter. You will need a flathead screwdriver, and maybe a bit of glue to seal everything back up.

How To: Install carpet transition trim between vinyl & carpet

Mark Donovan shows how to install carpet transition trim between vinyl and carpet flooring. A new transition strip can be placed over an existing strip to both dress up and freshen up the look of the doorway. Watch this video tutorial and learn how to install a carpet transition strip between vinyl and carpeted flooring.

How To: Swap an old ceiling rose with a modern light fixture

Modernize your home with a new ceiling light fixture. That old, traditional ceiling rose with the decorative chandelier or light fitting might just not look right anymore, with all of your modern furniture and appliances. The best thing… replace it.

How To: Adjust the miter and bevel angle on a miter saw

In this DIY guide from the folks at eReplacementParts, we learn how to adjust the miter and bevel angle on a miter saw using an adjustable square. For step-by-step instructions, and to learn how to adjust the miter angle and a bevel angle on a miter saw yourself, take a look.

How To: Clean a pair of white Nike Air Force Ones

Those genuine Nike Air Force Ones might look stylish in white, but once they get dirty, they start looking less than fresh. Fear not, there is a way to keep them looking brand new. You will need bottled water, a bleach pen, and a toothbrush. Watch this video housekeeping tutorial and learn how to clean a pair of white Nike Air Force Ones.

How To: Pick a lock easily with 2 paper clips

ZurplusFaction shows viewers how to pick a lock easily using 2 paper clips. First, you need to take your first paper clip and fold one end out. Fold it out again and straighten this out. Next, take the folded out in and fold in again so it forms boomerang shape with the paper clip. Now, take your pliers and squeeze this folded part together tightly. With a bigger paperclip, and use wire cutters to cut of a straight piece of the paper clip with a curve at the top. Now, you are ready to pick yo...

How To: Clean and Maintain Your Tape Measure

Recently I was working outside forming a driveway in the rain. Working in and around the wet sand was not friendly on my tools, especially my tape measure. About halfway through the day my tape measure would need "encouragement" in order to retract to the closed postion. Not too much later, with force applied, it would remain standing out at 1ft. and the problem progressively got worse.

How To: Treat your furniture for bed bugs

Nothing is worse than bed bugs, right? Those pesky little creatures can make you seriously uncomfortable and cost you tons of money replacing furniture. But you can treat your furniture without spending money or having to throw it out. You will need to inspect everything thoroughly and make sure to to follow every step properly. This video will show you how to treat furniture for bed bugs.

How To: Unclog a toilet in 11 seconds like a pro plumber

In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to unclog a toilet in 11 seconds. Users will need a plunger. It is recommended to use a pleaded plunger, instead of the regular plunger. When clogging a toilet, the rubber of the plunger is filled up with water, pushed down and squeezes out the pressurized water. The force from the pressured water will remove the clogging of the toilet. Slowly place the plunger into the water and let it be filled with water. Align it with the toilet hole and then push...

How To: Build a beautiful cedar log bench using a chainsaw

For the normal woodworker at home, the table saw, router and lathe are the prime tools used for making fine furniture, but when you hit the outdoors, the backwoodsman's tool of trade is the chainsaw. Mastering furniture-making with a chainsaw is the key to being a great woodworker, and in this three-part video, you'll learn the techniques to chainsawing your way to a beautiful log bench.

How To: Kill fire ant beds naturally

This method works to prevent ants from crawling off and starting new colonies. Works everytime and requires no chemicals or harmful store bought sprays. Kill fire ant beds naturally.

How To: Cut the perfect inside corner with a miter saw

This video, from Superior Building Supplies, demonstrates the proper technique for cutting the inside corners of crown molding. The presenter suggests downloading several diagrams from the Superior Building Supplies website. These diagrams show the correct position of the miter for several different cuts. When using a miter saw think of the fence as the ceiling and the table as the wall. Cuts for inside corners will always be made using 45 degree angles on your miter saw. Using these techniqu...

How To: Unlock a zip tie

While zip ties are great tool for taming unsightly tangled cables and wires, most would agree they're not very reusable. But were you aware it's possible unlock a zip tie in a matter of a few seconds using a needle? You can and this tutorial will show you how. For step-by-step instructions on undoing zip ties, take a look. Unlock a zip tie.

How To: Renew your deck with composite materials with Lowe's

As your home ages, so does your deck in the backyard, but there are ways to resolve this issue. If that wooden deck is looking weathered or worn, you can simply replace the components with composite materials without a complete rebuild. Composite doesn't splinter or have knots, and it's low maintenance. This two-part video, brought to you by Lowe's, will show you exactly how to renew your deck with composite decking.

How to Build a Shed, Part 7: Choosing the Right Skirting

Depending on where you live, the type of skirting option you choose is important (Skirting is the base trim around the shed). Henry shows you three different ways to do this including the Drip Cap options for wetter climates.

How To: Make wooden gears for complex woodworking projects

Most people think of gears as big pieces of metal, but for a long time gears were mostly wooden affairs. In this video you'll learn how to make small wooden gears that you can use in all sorts of complicated machinery oriented woodworking projects.

How To: Divide and re-pot onions and herbs

How to divide and re-pot onions and herbs

How To: Hang an interior door properly

In this home repair video, Bob Schmidt shows you how to install an interior door using a new product that simplifies the process for the homeowner and novice remodeler.

How To: Control Running Bamboo

Most bamboo in the United States is running bamboo, because nearly all cold hardy bamboo is the running or invasive type. The tropical bamboos are mostly "clumpers" and stay in a nice, tight clump. Running bamboos spread far and wide and can be very invasive. I grow many kinds of running bamboos and over the past 20 years I've had to learn how to control it's spread.