Building & Remodeling

You need to use anchor bolts when you are securing items to concrete or cement blocks. There is a wide variety of anchor bolts and each has a distinct function. The same requirements for drilling...

A lag screw or lag bolt is used to provide a structural connection between two or more pieces of lumber. A lag screw has a ticker shaft than a normal screw or bolt and the threads around the shaft...

Attaching to a concrete wall can be a challenge, especially if that attachment requires the support of any weight at all. Fastener technology in recent years has simplified things, and with a...

Dressing up the exterior of a home can display your creativity as a homeowner. Installing surface mount shutters over the exterior of a house is one way to accomplish this goal. Do plenty of...

Whilst a drill/driver is perfect for screwing and drilling into wood and other soft materials, when it comes to drilling into walls, masonry, brick and cement, an impact drill is the right power...

Today’s power tools are designed to be lightweight and easy to use, but knowing which power tool is the right one for the job can be confusing. Many of us have a cordless screwdriver in our...

As trends and personal tastes change, many homeowners decide to update their showers systems. One affordable method of doing so is to install paneling over the existing wall material. Completing...

Hardie board is a cement-board siding made from combining sand, cement, water and cellulose wood fibers. It is produced by James Hardie and revered by builders and homeowners as a durable, rot...

Often times, the connections for a metal gate do not fit a wooden post. In order to attach the metal gate to the post, it is necessary to adjust the attachment fittings and drill through the post....

Putting screws into ceramic tile without breaking it may seem impossible at first, but if you have the right equipment and do things in the right order, you will find that it is actually a very...

When hanging a new shower rod in the bathroom or a shelf on a backsplash in the kitchen, you need to prepare to properly drill the tiles without causing them to crack. Each tile is slightly unique...

The most classic type of kitchen sink is the "self-rimming" sink that has a lip or flange that overhangs the countertop. These sinks also have clips that hook onto a lip on the underside of the...

Cutting a perfect hole in a ceramic tile requires a specialized hole saw---and even then is difficult to get right. Luckily, you seldom need to cut a perfect hole in the tile. Usually, a hole is...

Stone and concrete are two very hard materials. If not done properly you can hurt your self our ruin your tools.

Marking and cutting holes in tile is fundamental to complete many tiling projects, particularly in bathrooms where pipes and spouts must pass through tile walls. The ideal tool for cutting holes...

A drill pump is used to pump nonflammable fluids. The drill pump has no internal motor to drive the impeller; instead, you use a standard hand drill to move the fluids. The power from the drill...

Chemical set, or epoxy anchors, use a two-part epoxy adhesive to hold the anchor bolt in the concrete. To ensure that an epoxy set anchor bolt is structurally sound, you must properly drill and...

To secure an item to concrete with bolts, you need to make a secure mounting location for the bolt within the concrete. Concrete anchors create that secure mounting location for the bolt and...

A pop rivet is a fastener that consists of a pin-style shaft that is mushroomed on one end and a flared hollow rivet that as a smooth conical shaped head. Pop riveting guns pull the pin into the...

Installing metal trim can be a tricky endeavor. Self-tapping screws will walk along the surface of the metal trim and if your metal trim is pre-finished, this can scratch and mar the surface. The...

The most common use for duct piping in residential construction is to shorten the amount of flex duct required to connect the duct truck line to the register. Flex duct has a higher rate of...

Attaching a ceiling fan to a concrete ceiling will take slightly longer than installing the fan to standard framing, due to the special concrete fasteners needed to hang the fan. The concrete...

What if you have to a cut a hole in a tiled wall to install a plumbing fixture? The simplest way is to buy a masonry hole saw, which bores through the tile at any size you want and makes a perfect...

Often times, the connections for a metal gate do not fit a wooden post. In order to attach the metal gate to the post, it is necessary to adjust the attachment fittings and drill through the post....

The final item to add your kitchen remodel project is the kitchen sink. Don't let a solid countertop scare you. Once you know how to install a top mount kitchen sink, you'll have your project...

To access the internal components of a Dewalt drill, you must first loosen and remove the chuck from the front of the drill motor. Before you loosen the chuck, you need to determine whether the...

Unlike in drilling other types of masonry, you cannot use a hammer drill for a hole in hard yet brittle porcelain. You need to have a masonry or diamond-tipped drill bit to cut through the tile;...

When you need a hole in drywall with a diameter of 4 inches or less, there is no easier way to create that hole then with a hole saw. A hole saw has an arbor that has an interior socket to hold a...

Concrete block walls are common components in most structures, and are typically built solid and strong. For a number of reasons, ranging from electrical to mechanical trafficking, holes may be...

The benefit of a flat-panel plasma television is that its slim design allows it to become a piece of art hanging on the wall. Many people design their homes around a fireplace. What better place...

Standard Makita variable speed reversible drills have three operating controls: the trigger, trigger lock, and a direction lever. The trigger controls the speed of the drill bit. When drilling...

Concrete is one of the most commonly used materials for floors in homes and apartments, and is often thought to be an impenetrable surface. Though it is true that concrete is a very strong and...

You can cut a hole into porcelain tile by using a diamond core drill bit. These bits come in sizes ranging from 6mm to 130mm, and allow you to make large circular holes in masonry materials, which...

Replacing a worn chuck or worn parts attached to the chuck requires that you remove the chuck from the body of the drill motor. The majority of Dewalt VSR drills have removable chucks. To...

A hole saw consists of an arbor, drill bit and a large tubular hole saw. The arbor secures the hole saw to the drill motor. Held within the arbor is the drill bit used to start a pilot hole to...

Wood floors, such as a deck or patio, can have wood posts that are used to secure a railing. One way to secure wood posts to a wood floor is to use a bracket. The bracket is either secured to the...

The composition of the tile creates a situation where the hardest material resides near the tile's outward facing surface. Once you pass through the hard external glaze, the softer inner material...

Behind aluminum siding are voids where the siding does not contact the house's sheathing. When drilling a hole in the siding, you must take care not to dent the siding in the area of the hole....

For sheer holding power and ease of installation, it's tough to beat lag bolts. Sometimes referred to as lag screws, these fasteners are used to join pieces of wood. They may be made of bright,...

Hitachi produces several models of cordless drill/drivers. One of the most popular ordinary-duty models is the 12-volt NiCad battery version available for around $90 at most home improvement...

Installing a cabinet on a concrete block wall can be a difficult process. Locating the proper spaces to drill into the wall as well as securing the cabinet in place can be challenging, and the...

A new mailbox is a great way to dress up the front of your house. Assuming this is a new installation over an existing brick wall, mounting it only takes a few simple steps and should only take...

Almost anyone who's tackled a home improvement project at some point has had to deal with having to drill into a wall. From hanging a picture to installing shelves or light fixtures, this needs to...

A core drill bores holes through concrete using a core drill bit. Core drill bits are a hollow cylinder with square teeth along the bottom edge and an enclosed top that attaches to a threaded stud...

Attaching a bottom plate to the concrete slab is the first step in building walls for new construction. The bottom plate must be securely anchored to the concrete to maintain the integrity of the...

To drill holes larger than one inch in diameter, use a core-drilling bit. A core-drilling bit has an open center or a center arbor that allows the concrete to enter inside the bit. There are...

Home Depot is the world's No. 1 home improvement retailer.

Oak is a very hard, dense and strong wood. For this reason it is quite popular for cabinets, furniture, flooring or in any situation where the wood will see heavy use. However, because oak is so...

Concrete block is among the most widely used construction materials because it is a strongly built rigid material. Concrete block may need to be cut for partial wall sections or openings or...

Cutting a hole in a metal faceplate is a fairly simple and straightforward operation; you just need the right tools and approach to complete the job properly and safely. Cutting into metal...