One of the issues with drill bits is that their diameter is usually much smaller than that of a driving bit (such as a Phillips driving bit). This results in having to make big adjustments to the power drill chuck when switching from drilling pilot holes to driving in screws, which ends up taking a lot of time and can get frustrating. It is good practice to drill pilot holes before drilling in screws, as it reduces the likelihood of the wood splitting and also makes it easier to drill in the screw.

The solution to this issue is to use hex shank drill bits. These drill bits have shanks the same size as the driving bit, making the switch between the two much quicker. You can see the difference between a standard drill bit and a hex shank drill bit in the picture below.

You can find a set of drill hex bits on amazon here:

COMOWARE Titanium Twist Drill Bit Set – 13 Pcs Hex Shank High Speed Steel for Wood Plastic Aluminum Alloy, Quick Change, 1/16″-1/4″

The following video compares standard drill bits to hex shank drill bits in more detail.

In your home you no doubt have various interior doors with locks (bathroom doors, bedroom doors and so on). Some of these locks may only lock on the inside, requiring a special tool or flathead screw driver to open them, where you instead the tool in the hole of the lock (these are normally bathroom doors). For other door locks, you may want to be able to lock the door from the outside. For example, locking a bedroom door from the outside so your kids can’t enter the bedroom and mess things up.

A few years ago I wanted to change all the locks in my house to key locks which used the same key as the front door (so I wouldn’t have to have a bunch of keys on my keychain). However, this process wasn’t very straightforward as I would have to buy the door lock from the hardware store and before I could install it I needed to take it to a locksmith to get re-keyed so it would match the key to the front door. The charge from the locksmith wasn’t much (about $10) but the time spent going to the locksmith, who often had limited hours, is what got annoying.

This led me to do some research on door locks and I found locks where you can re-key them yourself. The ones I found were by Kwikset and were labeled as having SmartKey technology. These keys let you re-key them to your selected key on your own without having to go to a locksmith. They were not much more expensive than the standard locks. Here is a lock with SmartKey technology on Amazon, it is only $21: Kwikset 94002-862 Cove Keyed Entry Knob Featuring Smartkey Security In Satin Nickel

The process for re-keying the lock is also very easy, see more details in the following video.

The official video from Kwikset on the re-keying process can be found here:

I would recommend these locks to anyone, they are very easy to use and save you the hassle of having to go to the locksmith.

Most of you are probably familiar with the typical door stopper which you will see in a house which is connected to the bottom of the door to prevent the door knob from hitting the wall. These doorstops typically look something like the following:

However, there is a better option out there, the hinge pin door stop. These door stops slide onto the cylinder of the door hinge to prevent the door from hitting the wall.

They are fairly inexpensive as you can get a five pack of hinge pin door stops on Amazon for only $8 as shown by the following link: 5 Pack Rok Hardware Heavy Duty Hinge Pin Door Stop, Brushed Nickel ROKDSP1BN

The hinge pin door stop has two advantages over the conventional door stop. One is that the hinge pin door stop is high above the ground and therefore less likely to be messed with by children or pets. My kids for instance for some reason like unscrewing the standard door stops from the door but can’t reach the hinge door stop. The other advantage is that the hinge pin door stop doesn’t require you to permanently damage the door or wall by screwing in the door stop, as it just slides on the existing hinge pin.

The following video shows you how to install a hinge pin door stop. As shown, it is very easy.

When I visited the tire store a few years ago, I had the tire salesman inspect my tires to see if they needed to be replaced. I saw him use a small tool to determine the remaining tread on the tire (in millimeters), and from there he determined if the tire needed to be replaced based on the remaining tread. The measuring tool is called a tire tread depth gauge. In general if your tire tread is 4 millimeters or less you should replace your tires.

After seeing the salesman use the tire tread depth gauge I wanted to purchase one myself. It turns out a tire tread depth gauge is pretty cheap, you can get one for as little as $6. Here is a link to a tire tread depth gauge which you can buy on Amazon: ITEQ Tire Tread Depth Gauge, Smart Color Coded Tire Gauge, Tire Tread Depth Accurate Measurement Tool

Now that I have my own tire tread depth gauge I can check my tires on my own to see if they need to be replaced and don’t need to take the salesman’s word for it. The video below shows how to use the tire tread depth gauge.

If you have ever had your tire pressure indicator light come on in your car, you know how annoying it can be to have to hunt for a gas station to inflate your tires, especially if it is late at night. One simple and inexpensive solution is to buy your own portable electric air pump.

They are fairly cheap, this Black and Decker air pump which I use only costs $40 and can be found on Amazon here:

BLACK+DECKER BDINF12C 12V Multipurpose Portable Cordless Inflator

The air pump can be powered with a external outlet or the 12 volt outlet in your car. It isn’t as strong as the pump at the gas station (it takes about 1-2 minutes per tire) but it gets the job done. Also, it allows you to pump up your tires in the comfort of your own home (or anywhere if you keep it in your trunk). It also can inflate a bike tire or a basketball in only a few seconds.

I originally bought the air pump because my minivan had a small leak in one of the tires which required the tire to be pumped up once a week (and the tire store couldn’t locate the leak). However I used it several times since then and would highly recommend it to anyone.

One of the most useful things I have bought for my workshop area is my shop vac.  A shop vac is just a very strong vacuum.  It is a vacuum which is so strong that it can vacuum water, it is much stronger than your normal house vacuum.  I actually bought my shop vac to vacuum some water due to a leak in my clothes washer, but ended up using it many other places.  It is great for vacuuming saw dust, which you will create plenty of if you end up doing a decent amount of sanding or sawing due to you DIY activities.  Also, I use it a lot to clean up my cars, especially since my kids normally make a mess of the cars. The shop vac is so strong that it will vacuum up basically anything which can fit in the suction hose. A shop vac is pretty inexpensive, the one I bought was only about $100 and it has worked well for the past 3 years.  You can find the shop vacuum I purchased here on Amazon: CRAFTSMAN CMXEVBE17595 16 Gallon 6.5 Peak HP Wet/Dry Vac, Heavy-Duty Shop Vacuum with Attachments

The only real downside of the shop vac is that it takes up a lot of room so make sure you have sufficient storage space before you buy one. Either way I highly recommend you buy one if you don’t have one.

This video I make shows the power of a shop vac.

One of the issues I had with my old electric programmable sprinkler controller was that the sprinklers would run even when it was raining. This meant if it was raining I would end up over watering my plants unless I remembered to manually change the watering schedule. Another issue was that I couldn’t remotely change the watering schedule. Therefore, if I was on vacation and an unexpected heat wave was hitting the area where I lived I was out of luck and couldn’t increase the sprinkler watering schedule.

Both of these issues are solved with a Smart sprinkler controller. These types of sprinkler controller systems can connect to Wi-Fi. This allows you to change the watering schedule anytime you want with your phone. Also, the sprinkler controller is given weather data through Wi-Fi and will automatically turn the sprinklers off when it is scheduled to rain (this is where the Smart comes in). Many water utilities will even give you a rebate towards the cost of the Smart sprinkler controllers since they save water and are more environmentally friendly.

When I installed my Smart sprinkler controller it was very straight forward, as I simply unhooked the cable from the old sprinkler controller and attached them to the new one. However, if you do not have an existing sprinkler controller the process would be much more time intensive and you might want to hire a professional.

The system I bought is the Orbit 57950 B-hyve Smart Indoor/Outdoor 12-Station. A picture of it is below and you can find it on Amazon here: Orbit 57950 B-hyve Smart Indoor/Outdoor 12-Station WiFi Sprinkler System Controller, Compatible with Alexa

Now that the holidays are coming around, many of you will be putting up your Christmas lights in the near future. For myself, one of the frustrating things about my outdoor Christmas lights has having to turn them on and off everyday. My routine was to turn the lights on at 6 pm and turn the lights off at 9 pm everyday. However, I often forgot to turn the lights off, resulting in them running all night until I turned them off in the morning.

I thought there had to be a better way, and of course there was. I found outlet timers which would turn on and off whatever was plugged into them. The ones I used are the Woods outlet timers, which are very inexpensive ($8 for two).

Woods 50006WD Indoor 24-Hour Mechanical Outlet Timer, 30 Minute Intervals

Once I bought these timers I never had to think about turning my Christmas lights off again, as they turned on at 6 pm and turn off at 9 pm automatically, I just had to depress on the dial the times I wanted the outlet to be on. I also used these timers to turn lights on and off in the house when I am on vacation.

There are more expensive versions of outlet timers which have remotes and other advanced features, but the ones I currently have are all I have ever needed.

If you are not familiar with painters tape, it is tape created for the purpose of covering a surface next to the surface are you painting. Therefore any drippage or mis-strokes will paint the tape and not the surface you don’t want painted.

One of the good things about painters tape is that it only adheres lightly to the surface. This way you can remove it from the wall without causing any damage. In this sense it is similar to post it notes.

Due to its light adherence painters tape has a lot of other uses besides painting. You can use the tape for taping up pictures, kids artwork or other such items which would normally get destroyed if you used scotch tape. You can also use painters tape to create removable labels.

Note that if you are going to use painters tape for actual painting the best painting tape I have found is Frog Tape. You can find in on Amazon at the following link: Frog Tape 1396748 Multi-Surface Painting Tape.94 Inches Wide x 45 Yards Long, Green