Posts

Questions to Ask Before Buying Outdoor Wood Furniture: Where Will It Go? Consider where you will place your outdoor wood furniture. Is it going to be completely exposed to the elements? Will there be some kind of overhead protection such as inside a porch, for example? If your wood furniture is going to be placed in a considerably protected environment, you can get away with using a soft wood such as pine, but it might not work in an exposed location....

Substrate The substrate is the structure or material directly below the finish flooring. Certain adhesives will bond better to different types of subflooring. Damp below-grade concrete requires a different bonding material than flooring installed on dry at- or above-grade concrete. Some adhesives also can be used to install flooring over plywood subflooring, and there are specific hardwood bonding agents as well. You may also need a specialty adhesive if radiant heating is being installed....

Root maggots are the larvae of different species of flies. Although common species such as onion maggot and cabbage maggot are named after their main host plant, they also feed on numerous other vegetables. Infestations tend to occur more commonly when the springtime weather is cool and wet. What Do Root Maggots Look Like? While the damage is done by the root maggots, or larvae, and not the adult flies, for effective control....

Simulate the Look of a Window This easy trick can be accomplished in two ways. Hang an oversized mirror on a wall or hang floor to ceiling drapery on a rod. For extra depth on the wall that creates a window-like effect, hang drapery on a rod over a large mirror. Here are a few placement ideas that will give you the feeling that there’s a window in the room....

What You Need Moving dollyBungee cords or ropeDuct tapeRigid vent system Difficulty Easy Time Required 15 minutes How to Disconnect and Move a Clothes Dryer How to Install a Clothes Dryer

Ice dams are more than just an interesting phenomenon. Severe ice dams can weigh many hundreds of pounds, compromising the structure of the roof eaves. More critically, ice dams can cause meltwater to back up under the shingles, where it can flow down and ruin ceiling and wall surfaces. If ignored, ice dams can cause serious damage to your roof, gutters, paint, insulation and interior drywall, and other surfaces. To the uninitiated, ice dams can be somewhat mysterious, as one house may be burdened with huge blocks of ice thickly covering the roof eaves, while adjacent homes have only a bright cap of snow over the shingles with no signs of ice at all....

The larvae feed extensively on cruciferous vegetable crops such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, horseradish, kale, kohlrabi, mustard greens, radishes, rutabagas, turnips, and turnip greens. They can also attack flowers that contain mustard oil, such as nasturtiums, and other members of the Brassicaceae family, such as sweet alyssum. The adult moths or butterflies sip nectar from flowers and don’t cause damage as the larvae do. What Do Cabbage Worms Look Like?...

Identifying Fruit Flies Fruit flies are 1/10 inch to 1/5 inch long and typically have red eyes, yellow-brown bodies, and black rings around their abdomens. They belong to the Drosophila genus and also go by the common names of vinegar flies, pomace flies, and wine flies. The fruit fly is not capable of causing damage to a home. It is just a great nuisance, especially when there are a lot of them....

Before undertaking wholesale eradication, though, be aware that grasshoppers do offer some benefit to the environment. The grasshoppers themselves serve as food for birds, lizards, spiders, and other arthropods and insects, and their excrement provides nutrients to fertilize plants. A handful of grasshoppers in your garden is no cause for alarm and may actually be a sign of helpful diversity. It’s not until the plant damage becomes widespread that serious control efforts should be considered....

Cartoon character Pepe Le Pew aside, skunks are animals that should be viewed very cautiously, and one that shows up around your home demands that you make efforts to expel it. The Biology and Behavior of the Skunk Skunks are small warm-blooded mammals closely related to weasels. In North America, the most common species is the common striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis), which readily adapts to the presence of humans and is often found in suburban areas, or even in urban parklands....

Here’s how to grow mint in containers. Starting Your Mint Container Garden Mint Container Garden Care Light Place the pot where it will get around six hours of sunlight on most days. If you live in a hot climate, aim to give the container a little shade from the strong afternoon sun. Rotate the container as needed, so the plant grows evenly and does not stretch in one direction toward the sunlight....