Phyllis bought a 9'x8' pergula online for her patio. She hired me to build it and set it up. It was pretty straightforward until I had to anchor the post brackets in cement. I used a good ole tried and true trick: mason string. With Post Set Cement no pre-mixing is involved. Just add water to the hole, set post and fill with dry mix. It sets up in about 5min. I dampened it down with some gravel. This job took me 4hours and it was a two-person job. FYI: The pergula was made of

Cape Ann Handywoman is issuing a Public Service Announcement. Every fall around Daylight Savings Time (aka when we change our clocks) check your detectors and test them. If more than 10-years old, replace it. If you have a very old detector like this one, replace it IMMEDIATELY. Honestly it's one of the oldest I've ever seen.

Rob and Lydia had an issue under their shed...and unwanted guest - a skunk. YUCK! To help them I installed 1/4" hardware cloth (aka "rat wire") under their shed and bent it like flashing with some left over bricks. Everyone has their fears Here are some of mine: Critters? Fine Spiders? Fine Dead animals? Fine. Bees? Nope. Very allergic. Snakes? Nope. Not going near that Heights? I am good.

I am not a plumber. But I know when they want to access a ceiling leak. I cut this hole for the plumber of my client and then fixed new sheetrock, plastered and sanded like new. A job like this takes several visits: around 30min to cut out and re-block and then less than 15min after to plaster/skim/sand for a couple of days. Plumbers need to make holes in walls to find leaks but they hate fixing them . Good thing I like doing the reverse.