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Tips & Techniques

Tips & Techniques is a collection of methods, tools, and jigs that our readers have devised to get things done on their own construction projects.  Email photos and descriptions of your tips to us at [email protected]; post them with the #FineHomebuildingTips hashtag on Instagram; or upload them to FineHomebuilding.com/reader-tips for a chance to have them featured in an issue of Fine Homebuilding Magazine. Plus, we pay for any tips we publish.

Want to see a new Fine Homebuilding tip in your inbox every day? Then sign up for the Tip of the Day newsletter!

  • shingle holder

    Shingle Holder

    A ledger strip with a rabbet along one edge keeps sidewall shingles from falling before they're fastened.

  • old hand saw

    Deck-Board Cleaner and Scrapers

    A cheap, used handsaw is an inexpensive tool for preparing a deck for stain.

  • Shim Storage

    Shim Storage

    A finish screw keeps shims in an organized, easily separated stack.

  • scribing

    Scribing Made Simple

    Use a washer and a pencil to scribe moldings quickly and easily without marring a finished surface.

  • door control

    Temporary Door Control

    Use this simple trick to hold doors closed during construction before installing locksets.

  • tunneling under slab

    Timeless Tip: Tunneling Under Slabs

    Use standard plumbing parts to quickly dig a narrow hole under a slab.

  • FHB’s 40th Anniversary Tips Video Contest

    Record yourself demonstrating a favorite tip from the Fine Homebuilding archive to win a cordless compact router kit.

  • downspouts

    Downspouts With Class

    A copper plug and cap creates a minimalist standoff and avoids eyesore brackets.

  • five-gallon bucket handle

    Get a Handle on Your Buckets

    PVC pipe and a piece of duct tape makes a better hand-hold for 5-gal. buckets of sand or rocks.

  • Makeshift Hex-Head Driver

    A three-jaw chuck drives hex-head concrete screws in a pinch.

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