Popcorn can hide a multitude of sins. And, based on some of the less-than-high-quality craftsmenship I have found - I wouldn't scrape it off. It's messy!! I have tried rolling a ceiling or two - and it is always hit or miss. You can be doing everything perfectly - and all of a sudden a chunk of the ...

The proof for venting is an easy experiment. Fill a jar with about 1/8" of water. Screw on the top. Set it out in the sun. After a couple hours, un-screw the lid and look at the bottom side of the lid. Yep - water. Washers, dishwashers, showers, toilets - we have all kinds of 'water' devices in...

Got to agree that the clip-on, wing-on outlets and switches are beyond crappy and cheap. Add to it that usually the outlets and switches are stuck out in the middle of a 1/4" wall with nary a stud anywhere near. I've also used the 'paint-stick' reinforcement. Cut the stick in half, add a bit of...

A few years back, I replaced the flex duct under the belly - and all has been fine. The blower motor went out on the HVAC unit and the repairman told me it had failed - and will continue to fail - due to excessive static pressure. His bill is $300 - and the motor is under warranty. Diagnose and repl...

Primer is not always needed. If the existing paint is in good shape - no bubbles, cracks, blisters, flakes - there is no need for primer. If there are parts where the surface has been broken in any way...then spot prime and move on. Trouble areas need to be scraped or lightly sanded, and then fully ...

Of all the things that have happened out here in the sticks - MICE are definitely the most annoying and destructive. Squirrels rate #1 in destructive - but not as annoying. (If you need a good chuckle, check out the 'squirrel launch' vids on youtube!) Traps seem to be effective at eliminating them -...

Following the example from my double-wide - I am thinking about building a workshop (12 x 28) and using concrete pads and blocks rather than poured concrete piers. A slab is out of the question due to the slope of the land. Also, I have zero experience building or pouring piers - and contracting it ...

The smell has gone away - and i have absolutely no idea how or why or where.

I suppose it may be best just to leave this as one of those great unsolved mysteries.....

Of course I subscribe to the philosophy that if you wait long enough the source of any problem will make itself very known. Stepped out of the shower - and the floor was floating. Noticed the water squirting out of a small surface hole in the vinyl paneling on the backside of the shower. It ran for ...

Couldn't say with 100% accuracy....but the color of the spot is an exact match to 'cover ups' I have found all through my place. Most of it is on the paneling to cover nail holes - but in some places - it's like somebody was just getting it off their fingers and smeared it waaaaaaaaaaaay out. Ugly a...

I'll get a pic and try to capture the stepping. JD - you may well be right. There are two rows in the center...and then only one on the perimeter. I've had problems in this particular area with the piers leaning...so I am a bit surprised that this corner would go "up". In the grand scheme....

So far, it seems to be completely random....and never lasts long enough to get a bearing on where it may emanate. It's like you stepped in something out in the yard..but there's nothing on your shoe. I had the place re-roofed in the last month. Got up on the roof to make certain none of the vents we...

Not sure how to explain this but lately I keep getting a whiff of a "poopy" smell whether I am inside or outside. It is ever so slight...just a second or two...and then gone. I immediately suspected a broken or cracked sewage line...but I found no sign of any leakage under the house. If it...

Was outside working on a walkway project and just happened to notice a kind of weird 'movement' of the siding. Place is a double-wide, and the gabled end has the full sheet siding on the lower half, with the upper pieces to the soffits lapping over the lower siding. The right half of the house is fi...

I know i am preaching to the choir - BUT!..... The overall build quality aggravates me to no end. Folks rant about the sloths at the Post Office - well, look no further than the local mobile home factory! The closest many of the 'workers' ever got to a tape measure was the one on the door casing whe...