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Home Journal How-To Central
Home Journal
Workshop
Home Improvement
Gardening
Woodworking
How Your House Works
Home Journal How-To Central
Home Journal
Featured Story
5 Money-Saving Ways to Stay Cool This Summer
Summer has just begun and many parts of the country have already experienced record-high temperatures. As electricity rates continue their upward spiral, here are some steps you can take to lower the cost of running those air conditioners.
Previous Home Improvement Stories
| Install A Fireplace Mantel Install a new mantel to convert a plain-looking fireplace into the room's focal point.
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| 4 Expert Steps (and New Grills) to Your Best BBQ Cookout Ever Anybody can toss meat on a grill. But if you want to cook the perfect steak, chop or burger, it helps to have the right skills and the right equipment. Here's what you need, and what you need to know, to crown yourself king of the roast. (Published in the May 2008 issue)
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| 5 Appliances You Can Buy That Might Be Smarter Than You Are Before long, RFID tags in the kitchen will be reminding you when it's time to buy more milk and eggs. Hitting the market now, however, are home appliances that can perform next-gen tasks with everything from anti-snoring tech to remote-control flushing.
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| The Hurricane-Ready Home: PM's 2008 House of the Year Rising from a low-slung island in South Carolina, this sprawling cottage exudes coastal charm—but underneath those graceful lines lies clever engineering. Here's how it all goes together. (Published in the April 2008 issue)
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| 3 Quick, Cheap Upgrades for Your Brighter Bathroom: Action Plan Whiter sinks and caulk and shinier fixtures can make all the difference. All it takes is an afternoon, starting with a quick trip to the home center—and the grocery store. (Published in the March 2008 issue)
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| Low-Odor Indoor Paints That Stop Headaches: Abusive Lab Test We put three low-odor, low-VOC paints to the test, measuring their odor, how well they covered drywall and how many swipes of sandpaper it took to grind through a layer. In the end, a clear winner emerged—but only by a nose. (Published in the March 2008 issue)
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| 4 Tricks for Hanging Blinds: This Weekend Make sure that your blinds and curtains are in place. Unfortunately, window treatments are not always easy to hang—especially if you want to attach hardware to the wall rather than the window trim. Regardless of method, mount to a smooth, flat surface.
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| 7-Step Plan to a Warmer House (and a Lower Heating Bill) Winter’s coming. Here’s a coldproof program for improving comfort and cutting your heating bill. (Published in the November 2007 issue)
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| How to Turn a Wreck Into a Dream Home: Makeover Success 101 They thought their first home was an easy fixer-upper. Six years later, their showpiece is finally done. (Published in the October 2007 issue)
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| The Best Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs: PM Lab Test Can the new breed of energy-saving fluorescents hold their own against incandescents? We ran
seven bulbs through our optical course to find out. (Published in the May 2007 issue)
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| View Full Home Journal: Home Improvement Archive | ||
Drive Green
10 Quick MPG Tips
Our guest MPG geek breaks down the vehicle mods, driving habits and common-sense fixes you need to know to max out your tank.Digital Hollywood
Debunking Lost's Science
As the show returns, its creators reveal the making of high-tech mythology—and let slip a few secrets about the island’s future.
Health & Medicine
10 Med-Tech Breakthroughs
Nano implants, virus-busting lasers, precision cancer killers and more breakthroughs for your body of the future.Drive Green
Top 10 X Prize Cars
The most comprehensive, up-to-date scouting report on the field for the 100-mpg car of tomorrow.Special Report
Rebuilding America
PM's report on fixing U.S. infrastructure examines new plans for bridges and beyond.
Jumping out of an airplane is one thing; doing it with an unproven parachute is something else entirely.
Tool Spotlight
Porter Cable 4212 Dovetail Jig
• Watch How-To Videos
• More Jig Information
• More PORTER-CABLE products
Reader Projects Wanted
Extreme Mailbox Showcase
Whether you've reinforced that little red flagpole for drive-by bashers or just gone all Rube Goldberg on your lawn, show us!
Lawn Care
Natural Lawn Care
Natural lawn care used to be a novelty. Now it includes effective techniques for any gardener's arsenal of tricks.PM Ad Partner Links
Current Issue
Extreme Coast Guard Rescue & More
In an exclusive report, PM details a dramatic story of survival at sea—47 souls overboard, four big heroes, three planes, two rescue ships and one daring mission.Reviews
New PM Book: The Boy Mechanic Makes Toys
This project-stocked read takes play time—indoors and out, for young and old—from the hum-drum of store-bought amusements to the thrill of home-spun invention, all with the honest nostalgia of diagrams and explanations reproduced from original Popular Mechanics pages circa the early 1900s.