VideoJug offers a huge selection of instructional videos to help you, as they put it, get good at life.  The YouTube channel features a selection of their videos covering topics like how to stop squeaky hinges and how to tile a wall.  For even more videos you can visit the main site.

Ron Hazelton is the host of ‘Ron Hazelton’s House Calls’ and specializes in basic home improvement projects.  He demonstrates things like how to remove wallpaper, how to remove and replace tile grout and how to replace damaged molding.

Tim Carter is the host of Ask the Builder, DIY video tutorials that focus on projects to help you save money and time.  Carter offers general overviews of products and processes like roof moss and stump removal.

HomeAdditionPlus offers helpful video tutorials on DIY, home improvement and home remodeling tips and information. Host Mark Donavan’s quick and concise approach may be best for those looking for a project overview as opposed to an in-depth step by step instructional.

eHow Home offers advice on decor, soft furnishings, troubleshooting problems around the home, and cleaning tips.

Here are some helpful tips from the Home Safety Council for moving toward a safer home:

Prevent Falls

1. Install grab bars in the tub and shower. Use non-slip mats.

2. Have bright lights over stairs and steps and on landings. Keep stairs clear of clutter.

Prevent Poisonings

3. Keep cleaners, medications and beauty products in a place where children can’t reach them. Use child safety locks.

4. For Poison Help call 1-800-222-1222. Call if you need help or want information about poisons. Call 9-1-1 if someone needs to go to the hospital right away.

Prevent Fires & Burns

5. Have working smoke alarms and hold fire drills. If you build a new home, install fire sprinklers.

6. Stay by the stove when cooking, especially when you are frying food.

7. Keep your hot water at 120˚F degrees to prevent burns. Use back burners and turn pot handles toward the back of your stove. Use a travel mug when you drink something hot.

Prevent Choking & Suffocation

8. Things that can fit through a toilet paper tube can cause a young child to choke. Keep coins, latex balloons and hard round foods, such as peanuts and hard candy where children cannot see or touch them.

9. Place babies to sleep on their backs, alone in their crib. Don’t put pillows, blankets, comforters or toys in cribs. These things can sometimes keep a baby from breathing.

10. When your children are in or near water, watch them very carefully. Stay close enough to reach out and touch them. This includes bathtubs, toilets, pools and spas – even buckets of water.

Home City Council also offers additional resources that will help you stay organized and create a home safety plan that is just for you! Check out the personalized checklist or the how safe if your home quiz.

We have a handful of products that can help keep your house in tip-top-safe shape. Adhesives like EcoGlue Extreme can help make minor repairs around the house and Amazing GOOP Anti-Skid helps prevents slips and falls.

Painting the exterior of a house can be a demanding job. But you can save yourself a lot of work by preparing properly for the project.  First, consider how much of the exterior will be painted.  Then, decide on what colors you will be using and where.  For information on how to choose an exterior paint color, check out these helpful tips from HGTV.

Once you have decided on color(s) it’s time to clean and prep the house. Wash off any chalk, dirt or mildew and scrape off any peeling or cracked paint and make any needed repairs.  To repair siding or window sills use EcoGlue Extreme as it will provide a long lasting weather tight seal.  Then, sand and prime the area.  When you’ve finished priming, begin painting the trim.  If there are shutters paint those next and finally, finish with the remaining exterior of the house.

Pay attention to the temperature. For best results, paint on days with low humidity, when the temperature is between 75 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Follow the shade so that your fresh paint isn’t exposed to direct sunlight; otherwise, heat blisters may develop.

The EPA suggests to keep your home leak-free by repairing dripping faucets, toilet valves, and showerheads.  For these repairs, try using Amazing GOOP Household, which is perfect for fixing loose seals and more.

Saving water doesn’t mean you have to spend big bucks.  Allen Lyle from DannyLipford.com offers some easy and cost effective water saving tips:

• Don’t prerinse dishes when filling the dishwasher
• Only wash full loads of clothes and use cold water
• Use a clothes line, rather than the dryer, to dry clothes

And,  for even more ways to save water check out conservation group, Water – Use It Wisely.

April:

Clean gutters and drainage spouts, removing any debris.  HGTV has some great tips on how to properly clean and repair gutters.

Repair fences and arbors so they’ll be ready for planting season. If you want to try a planter box for flowers, check out our step by step instructions, here.  If you need to repair holes or cracks and gouges, try Famowood Instant Wood Repair.

May:

Repair window screens and check screening on porches before bug season arrives. For tips and a video how-to from HGTV go here.

Repair deck board by removing protruding nails and replace with coated or galvanized screws. Be sure to check and tighten bolts in deck supports.  To avoid slippery surfaces use Anti-Skid Epoxy. It’s friendly on bare feet, lead free, and chemical, gas and oil resistant.

Touch up exterior paint, paying special attention to window sills, gable vents, garage doors.  Check out 10 Things You Must Know When Painting a House Exterior from the DIY Network for more info and tips!

June:

Clean gas grill and replace or repair any rusted or damaged parts. Try using Seal All to patch leaks or reattach loose parts.  It’s not affected by gasoline, oil, alcohol, water and most solvents, making it ideal for for these repairs.

Complete larger exterior painting jobs. Follow the shade – don’t paint in direct sun – and quit before dusk so the paint can dry before dew forms. For most exterior jobs, look for 100 percent acrylic, and buy at least the “better” quality.

Stairways, slick surfaces and uneven footing can create unexpected, but easily prevented, danger zones. With some simple safety precautions, you can help avoid slips and falls and keep your family safe.

Clear the stairs

Whether your home has interior, exterior or basement stairs, it’s important to make them as safe as possible.  Here are some tips for stair safety from The Home Safety Council.

· Check to make sure railings and banisters are secure. Wood glue like EcoGlue Premium Wood can secure loose balusters or handrails.

· Add lighting at each end of the staircase.

· Keep clutter off the steps.

· Use safety gates at the top and bottom if there are small children in the house.

· Paint the bottom stair of basement steps white so it’s easier to see.

Create safe surfaces

Some surfaces are more prone to be slippery, especially when wet. Tile in the bathroom, wood on the deck and cement around a pool can be hazardous.

One of our new products, Amazing GOOP Anti-Skid Epoxy, sprays feet-friendly grit on potentially slippery surfaces to increase safety. It comes in an aerosol can, which is perfect for covering small areas around the home and covers up to 15 sq. ft.  Because it’s an epoxy, it is also extremely durable and chemical resistant.

Be tacky

Loose mats, small rugs and loose tiles or cement can all create unexpected perils.

In the bathroom, make sure all bath mats have nonskid backing. Coatings like Amazing GOOP Anti-Skid Bath, Tub & Tile creates a crystal clear finish with an acrylic coating and helps with firm footing on tiles and in the shower or bath. It’s a nice choice because it won’t detract from the look, but will add a peace of mind.

Small rugs around the house should also be tacked down with tape – or not used at all, especially around stairs.

Finally, don’t forget your home’s exterior. Walkways with loose or broken tiles, bricks or stones can create problems. Sometimes just pounding the loose stone back into place works great if the base is on dirt. You can use a level to ensure each piece is even. If the loose pieces aren’t on dirt, Amazing EcoGlue Extreme will tack them back in place with an instant and permanent hold on cement, concrete, metal or other surface.

It doesn’t take much time, effort or even money to make your home safe for your family. Common sense and simple precautions will keep you on your feet and free from slips, trips and tumbles.

We asked some experienced new homeowners and renters about what DIY and home maintenance tips they think are most important. What do new homeowners or young people living their first house need to know? We asked Twitter and got these responses:

• Basic plumbing: know how to unstop a toilet, unclog a drain, fix a basic leak.
• How to (and when to) change the air filter in a house with central air and heat.
• Hone your stud-finding abilities and be able to find a stud in the wall to hang hooks, pictures and shelves.
• A clean caulk can keep out significant water damage. Knowing how to seal joints in the kitchen and bath is a top skill.
• Grow some basic landscaping skills: know what the tools are for, figure out what plants to plant and gauge how much to water to use.
• Build your toolkit and put together a great go-to box of tools with all the basics. But what should go it?
• Know when to bring in a professional: some DIY is not amateur-friendly, know when to fold ‘em

Having some basic home maintenance and DIY skills can save you a lot of money. In fact, the most common statistic we found is that, for every $1 that is spent on maintenance, up to $100 of repairs are avoided.

We’ll cover some of these skills in more detail in the next few posts, but in the meantime, here are some terrific resources so you can get started building your DIY skills.

• John & Sherry Petersik of Young House Love have an extensive how-to list to get you started.
• eHow probably has a how-to on any subject you can think of, even how to learn basic DIY repair skills.
• This Old House has a list of top 10 home improvement skills with basic instructions for each.
• Popular Mechanics has a list of things every man (or… ahem, woman) should know how to do. Not much how to, but can let you know what you don’t know and where to build your skills.

If you have a skill that you’d add to the list, please feel free! We’ll see if we can address it in a future post.

Step one: Do your research!

Interior designers suggest searching the Internet for step-by-step videos for a particular project. A video will help you visualize the project and decide if the project is doable. Research also will give you a realistic idea of how long a project will take.

Research the necessary tools for the job. Many tools may only be needed once for a specific cost. Research tool rental costs to reduce DIY expenses.

Step two: Time to get started!

Outdoor projects

There are many doable outdoor DIY projects for the inexperienced. Staining a deck or laying a stone walkway are both simple outdoor projects that experts suggest for home-improvement novices. The DIY Network suggests building an outdoor patio as a simple addition to a yard.

Spruce up dreary gray concrete surfaces with acid stains, acrylic stains, epoxy paints, and scoring techniques. Water based concrete stains are a popular eco-friendly solution for coloring concrete surfaces. These stains act like a dye and come in a wide array of colors. For example, SoyCrete is green building compliant, non-hazardous, and acid free concrete stain.

Painting

Painting is a simple, affordable way to improve your home. To make a paint-job look professional and clean, sand surfaces before painting. This doable DIY task gets tricky when attempting to paint the ceiling. Some designers suggest a laminate plank system for ceilings. The laminate planks can be affixed to any ceiling with hooks and screws, which gives your home a sleek, professional look.

Lighting

Upgrade your lighting fixtures by adding decorative trim to lamp shades. Plain drum shades and pendant light kits are available at home good stores. Avoid a DIY disaster by leaving technical electricity work to the experts!

Wallpaper and Upholstery

Experts advise starting small when it comes to wall covering. If you’re nervous about applying wallpaper, save money and time by prepping the walls. To prep the walls, start by sanding, remove the dust with a damp cloth, and then prime with wallpaper primer. If you work up the courage to apply the wallpaper, start small and take your time.

To read more about doable DIY projects see the full article: Want to fix up the house? Pick doable DIY tasks.

Since we’ve been reading and sharing a variety of projects, innovative ideas and just cool stuff on Twitter, we thought compiling them for you here would be fun, too.  You can join us anytime on Twitter, by the way. @amazinggoop for DIY and craft tweets and @EPI_Industrial for builders and contractors.

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DIY Gardening: Build a Rain Barrel

It’s gardening season and your plants are thirsty. Make your own rain barrel with used plastic containers. Rain barrels are an efficient, cost effective way homeowners can collect and recycle a valuable resource.

33 Clever, Time-Saving, Money-Saving Reader Tips

Readers contributed bunches of tips that speed repairs and save money. You can find the best of the tips from This Old House. Our favorites were tip number 16, place a bag in a paint tray to decrease the mess, and number 30, unclog hairy drains with Nair hair remover. We’d also add #34: Use a good adhesive.

How to Build a Patio Planter

From our buddy, Danny Lipford, learn how to build a wood patio planter with simple instructions. Summer heat doesn’t mean boring entryways. Add simple late summer or fall plants for a lovely addition to your patio. You can make it even simpler, by using EcoGlue Green Solutions Premium Wood Adhesive.

50 Nifty Tricks for Big DIY Savings

Shrink household expenses with 50 simple ideas. Some of the tricks may help you save $500. Some of the tips include shortening your dryer-vent hose and making your own cleaning solutions. And… Of course, add a tube of GOOP to your toolbox for on-the-spot repairs to save some coin, too.

How to Make an Herb Garden from Recycled Plastic Bottles

Reuse plastic bottles and create a fresh herb garden. This clever project would be great to do with your kids and watch your garden grow. Of course, we recommend EcoGlue for the glue used in this project. The steps are easy and you can have fresh basil before you know it.

19 fresh ideas for outdoor rooms

It doesn’t take much to improve a porch, patio or garden. Here are some easy and inexpensive updates for outdoor spaces. One of our favorites is fresh idea number 8: Create a new outdoor room with a simple change in flooring.

How to Decorate a Table with Bamboo Veneer Flowers

Spruce up a coffee table with an organic, floral twist. This article will show you how to make your own pattern from photos of flowers and apply them with bamboo veneer.

Mosaic Birdhouses

Learn how to make stunning mosaic birdhouses that will brighten your yard and make a stylish home for the birds in your yard. This article provide seven easy construction steps and materials. We’ve provided several mosaic projects on An Eclectic Blog and know that EcoGlue or Amazing GOOP both work well.

Many areas of the country are still rebuilding and repairing damaged buildings and properties from the recent ruthless hurricane seasons. Preparation, however, can make a tremendous difference in protecting your home.

Rooftops

Prepare your roof for hurricane-force winds, which can tear away roofing materials. Well-installed roofs also will prevent the damage from changing pressures caused by hurricanes.

Ray Rosewell, CEO of DaVinci Roofscapes says pressure that escapes into the home through the roof can cause walls and windows of a home to actually blow out. Hurricane winds also cause damage by lifting shingles from the roof and hurling various debris onto the roof. Experts recommend high wind roofing materials for hurricane inflicted areas.

Windows and doors

Broken windows and doors can also allow hurricane winds to rip through your home. Similar to roof leaks, the high winds that come through doors and windows cause a build-up of pressure, which can blow out the roof and walls of a home.

Impact resistant windows will help prevent these blow-outs. Many impact resistant windows are built with reinforced glass and are designed to withstand flying debris. Storm shutters and shades also offer protection against hurricane winds.

Companies such as Wayne-Dalton introduced Fabric Shield storm panels. Hurricane fabrics are durable and can be used several times without replacement.

Protecting valuables

Protect valuable items in the home with watertight products. Products such as Pelican Cases are polycarbonate cases designed to resist weights up to 5,000 pounds. Protect electronic documents by backing them up on external hard drives and other data storage devices and storing them outside the home.

General Repairs

If you’re in hurricane-prone areas, arm yourself with a tube of EcoGlue Extreme, to make on-the-spot fixes of damaged or broken fixtures around the exterior or interior of your home. Check for loose siding, tiles, window or door jambs, for example, and glue them in place.

For more information about hurricane preparation, please visit:

• Danny Lipford: Preparing for the Worst
• Danny Lipford: Preparing for Hurricanes
• Danny Lipford: Preparing for Hurricane Season
• Remodeling Magazines: Bracing for the Storm: Tips and Products for Hurricane Season