Although creaking stairs add an air of fright and suspense to your favorite horror or mystery film, if you have them in your home they are more of an annoyance. Stairs are made up of three separate pieces of wood: the tread or flat part, the riser or vertical part and the support stringers underneat

Steam boilers work on several basic principles.boilers image by JCVStock from Fotolia.comIn the past, people used steam boilers to power locomotives, horseless carriages and steamboats. Today, although more-efficient combustion engines have replaced boiler-style engines, the steam boiler...

The living room is a primary area of the home that we spend a great deal of time. Whether you own your home or rent, you can make lighting in your living room without hiring an electrician or spending a fortune. Use accent lighting, natural lighting, spot lights, hanging lamps, rope lights and mirro

Sofa placement is one of the most important factors of room arrangement. Once you know where you're going to put the sofa, the location of all other pieces of furniture, such as chairs, coffee tables, end tables and bookshelves, falls into place. There are rules to sofa arrangement, however. Adhere

Indoor plants can improve air quality and add a soft natural look to your home. Some potted plants are large enough to rest on the floor, but smaller plants can benefit from being placed on a plant stand to give them better exposure to sunlight and simplify routine maintenance. You can build a wood

When installing a new shower, taking steps to make the area around the shower waterproof is extremely important. A leaky shower can cause serious water damage in your home, including damaging drywall, promoting the growth of mold and mildew, and possibly shorting out electrical circuits if the water

Your laminate flooring installation isn't over once the new flooring is in place. Laminate, like hardwood flooring, must have room to expand and contract. Because of this, professional flooring installers leave a slight gap between the edge of the flooring and the wall. This gap is necessary to prev

There are three ways you can grow vines on a concrete block wall: by providing something for the vine to twine around, by tying the vine to a support or by planting vines that cling on their own with adhesive rootlets. Concrete block walls can be unattractive and bleak, giving an institutional look

Hardwood floors can develop gaps and spaces between the boards over time, the result of the natural expansion and contraction of the wood with environmental changes. Of course, you can fill in the gaps with wood filler, and it will look fine, until the next time the floor moves, because the filler w

You're remodeling your bathroom and are finally ready to replace the old chipped vanity. Now you face the question of the hour: How do you remove that scary-looking stuff that's known as bathroom vanity plumbing? Less intimidating than it looks, the plumbing under the bathroom sink can be removed in

"Theme" rooms in the home, such as dens, "man caves" and basement recreation rooms can be made very special with the inclusion of faux stone columns. Stone columns can be constructed around real and unsightly support columns or can be fantasy elements in the room. Scale is important, however. The te

Underlayment is found on the floor underneath tile or vinyl flooring. It acts as a moisture barrier to help protect the subfloor from water damage. Underlayment is a very thin material that comes in 4-by-8 foot sections. This underlayment is smooth and is installed directly on top of the sheathing u

It's important to keep a greenhouse nice and warm for plants, and one way of doing that is adding heat through the natural process of composting. It's especially useful for the gardener to add wood chips to this compost mixture, as wood chips are known to deplete nitrogen from the soil unless they a

Skylights add natural sunlight to any home without windows. You should inspect your skylights at least annually to make sure the skylight is not failing, causing a water leak. When a skylight begins to fail water will leak into your roof, damaging the roof and the roof structure. Identifying a damag

Tile caulk is the flexible material that fills the gaps between 90-degree angles, such as the corners of showers or the join between a bathtub and the tile above. Caulk is used in these areas in place of grout, because it's more flexible and less likely to crack than cement-based grout. Caulk can cr

Applying caulk around a bathtub prevents moisture from seeping behind the walls and floors and also deters mildew buildup. Over time, bathtub caulking may become dirty and moldy and may peel beyond the point of simply cleaning or repairing it. If this is the case, then it may be necessary to remove

A homeowner who feels confident in proceeding with basic carpentry jobs may hesitate when confronted with building a wall that will have a door. Framing a door opening is not difficult, however, and anyone who can frame a basic wall can do it by following these steps.

Bamboo flooring is a popular and sustainable alternative to hardwood flooring and carpeting. Bamboo is easy to maintain and multiple styles and colors provide effects similar to hardwood at less cost. Bamboo has its drawbacks; it can be damaged by walking over accumulations of dirt and grime on your

Whether you live in a home with limited closet space or you have sliding closet doors that hamper your ability to view the inside of your closet, bifold doors are the answer. You can easily make plywood look like bifold doors. Because the thickest plywood is only 3/4-inch thick, you'll need to glue

Concrete is one of the most versatile sustainable building products found on the market today. With the wide variety of projects that can be undertaken with concrete, it can sometimes be confusing to determine how thick to make the concrete slabs for your particular project. While these guidelines p