The Brain Dump

When we were planning to build our new house, we were extra careful to pick a site where the sun rises in the breakfast area and sets in the dining area. Original covered porch We knew we wanted a covered porch to have a place to hang out on the pleasant breezy evenings that our area is known for. We didn't account for the huge population of flying bugs that would pester some of us within 10 minutes of sunset.  My wife would be totally unaffected by the winged pests but my daughter and I would be covered with insects feasting on our tasty blood. Our 2nd major project for the new house was to enclose the back porch with screen so that we could enjoy the evenings without suffering exsanguination. There are 3 approaches to screening a porch: -install rollup shades -staple screens and cover staples with trim -use a screen installation system (screen tight) I consider myself a talented DIYer with very little practical skills in woodworking due to spending t

There are several ways to connect multiple rain barrels to a downspout.  We acquired 2 blue & 1 white recycled soda barrels from our local water shed education program when they offered a course about rain barrels.  2 of the barrels were closed with 2 intact threaded plugs per barrel and 1 barrel had the lid cut off. Without any other openings or spigots, the barrels could not be used for worthwhile rain water collection because there was no way of getting water in or out easily. Using some cheap plastic rated spray paint we painted the barrels to better blend in to our unfenced yard. I found that each lid had 2 threaded plugs.  They screwed into the lid of the barrel (note that one is fine thread and the other is course thread).  I read on the Net that the plugs are threaded for a 3/4 inch connection so I drilled a hole (Someone on the Net stated that you could just screw a 3/4 inch metal pipe down until the end cap popped off) in the course threaded plug to accept a 3/4&

We recently purchased 3 rain barrels from a local warehouse club.  They were approximately $75 each for roughly 65 gallons of water capacity. Although they were not exactly impulse purchases, they are certainly not something you buy to save money.  In our area, water costs roughly 1 cent per gallon from the water company and if you add up the cost of the barrels, cement blocks for raising them off the ground, plumbing parts, hoses and downspout diverters the payback could literally be several years in the future (we will be saving about $3-6 per month in water with our water capacity).  We did acquire 3 additional 50 gallon barrels at $20 each from another source to increase our storage capacity because we discovered that each barrel is drained fairly quickly. 3 65 gallon barrels @ $75 = $225 3 50 gallon barrels @$20 = $60 4 downspout diverters @$11 = $44 Misc plumbing and downspout parts = $50 Total = $379 Approximate savings per month in water = ~$4.50 Payback = ~7 years