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Skills & Techniques

Latest in Skills & Techniques

A home inspector writing a report on a deck.
Skills & Techniques

Why a Home Inspection Isn’t a Bad Idea—Even If You Aren’t Selling

By Timothy Dale

Person holding thermometer inside house to show heat during summer.
Skills & Techniques

5 Common Household Routines That Could Be Making Your Home Much Hotter—and How to Adjust Them for Summer

By Sandi Schwartz

Poison Ivy vine climbing trunk of tree.
Skills & Techniques

The 3 Best Ways to Get Rid of Poison Ivy

By BobVila.com Staff

Woman holding a glass container filled with flour in her pantry
Skills & Techniques

4 Genius Uses for Flour That Have Nothing to Do With Baking

By Sandi Schwartz

A stack of pennies on a kitchen counter with a jar of coins in the background.
Skills & Techniques

7 Weird (and Effective) Ways to Use a Penny Around the House 

By Sandi Schwartz

Writer Lauren Landers' backyard chickens inside her DIY coop.
Skills & Techniques

I Raised My Own Chickens for Eggs—Was It Worth It?

By Lauren Landers

A vegetable and herb garden in a raised bed with a DIY drip irrigation system installed for watering the plants efficiently.
Skills & Techniques

How I Installed My Own Drip Irrigation System (and Stopped Rodents From Chewing Though It)

By Lauren Landers

Fresh, white linens hanging from a line in a green yard.
Skills & Techniques

3 Great Reasons to Line-Dry Your Laundry

By Timothy Dale

A DIYer using a glue gun on a piece of plywood with a graphic overlay that says Tool Tutorial.
Skills & Techniques

How to Use a Glue Gun for Crafting and Home DIY

By Kristen Mosier

Carpenter using glue to connect parts of wooden timbers.
Skills & Techniques

4 Ways to Refresh Dried Glue in a Pinch

By Deirdre Mundorf, Updated by Paul Rankin

Couple shopping for vintage cabinet in furniture store
Skills & Techniques

4 Big Risks When Shopping Secondhand for the Home

By Sandi Schwartz

A container holds peanuts with silica gel packets on top.
Skills & Techniques

Don’t Toss Silica Packets—Use Them for These 12 Tasks Instead

By Timothy Dale

A young boy showing to his grandfather how to set up home air purifier, using smartphone.
Skills & Techniques

How to Test Air Quality in Your Home

By Stacey L. Nash

Closeup of a drill making a pilot hole into a piece of wood.
Skills & Techniques

How to Drill a Pilot Hole in Wood

By Michelle Ullman, Theresa Clement

Circular saw on a piece of plywood, surrounded by hex wrench, spare blades, tape, and other supplies.
Skills & Techniques

How to Cut Plywood Properly

By Chris Gardner, Tony Carrick

Woman wearing dust mask uses a sander to sand a wood drawer.
Skills & Techniques

How to Sand Wood

By Timothy Dale, Chris Gardner

A side by side image of two different men using a miter saw and table saw.
Skills & Techniques

Miter Saw vs. Table Saw: What’s the Difference? 

By Glenda Taylor, Bob Vila, Updated by Theresa Clement

A woman using a drill to drill a piece of wood into a brick wall.
Skills & Techniques

How to Drill Into Brick

By Rick Muscoplat, Bob Vila, Theresa Clement

A close up of a drill being used to drill into concrete.
Skills & Techniques

How to Drill Into Concrete

By Steffani Cameron, Bob Vila, Updated by Theresa Clement

Person wearing blue nitrile glove uses paint brush to cut in light green paint near a baseboard.
Skills & Techniques

How to Cut in Paint Like a Pro

By Theresa Clement, Jennifer Noonan, Bob Vila