The difficult thing about having a lot of tools is keeping up with them. Some people have a great organization system for their garage or shop, but that goes out the window when they need their tools somewhere else. This is where a portable toolbox comes in handy.
Ridgid’s new and improved 2.0 Gear System keeps your gear organized wherever you go.
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The Ridgid 2.0 Pro Gear System 22-inch toolbox’s newly perfected 2.0 attach and detach design allows for effortless transport and storage. Its heavy-duty latches and handle allow for a firm grip when you’re on the go.
Integrated organizers inside the portable toolbox keep small parts at hand and a removable utility tray is a perfect solution for bringing only the tools you need to your job site.
A padlock eye keeps your tools safe, and a water and dust seal keeps them clean and dry when you’re out of the shop.
Wall hanger brackets are included to keep your Ridgid 2.0 Tool Box stored professionally. (The Home Depot)
Stationary Storage
In the shop, you can install the system’s wall hanging mounts on 16-inch centered studs and hang each box directly on the wall.
The included Pro Gear Mount gives you full access to the box, even when it’s hung.
Weatherstripping adds a barrier between outside air and indoor living space, helping to block drafts that lead to high heating costs. (Duck® Brand)
One of the quickest energy- and money-saving tasks you can do is weatherstrip your windows and doors.
Weatherstripping is a piece of rubber, foam, metal or other material used to seal the edges of a door or window to prevent outside air from entering.
Air leaks around window and door edges are a leading cause of high energy costs in your home. By sealing uncontrolled air leaks, you can save 10-20 percent on your heating and cooling bills, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Not sure if you need to weatherstrip? Try this test for air tightness: On a windy day, carefully hold a lit incense stick or a smoke pen next to your windows and doors. If the smoke stream travels horizontally, then you need to apply some weatherstripping.
Weatherizing your home is an easy and affordable DIY project. Here are three prime spots for air leaks and how to weatherstrip them.
Foam weatherstripping conforms to the cracks and gaps in a window frame. (Duck® Brand)
1. Windows
During cold winter months, windows become a prime spot for energy loss.
Gaps around wooden window frames are more noticeable in the winter because of thermal expansion. Basically, warmer temperatures make wood swell, and cooler temperatures cause wood to contract.
Fortunately, you don’t have to replace your windows to make them more energy-efficient in the winter.
Duck® Brand Weatherstrip Sealsaremade of self-adhesive foam for an easy install. Just remove dirt and dust from the project area, measure the space, cut the product to size, remove the protective backing and press the seal into place.
For added assurance, especially in colder climates, consider Duck® Brand Heavy-Duty Weatherstrip Seals. They’re guaranteed to not crack in temperatures as low as -40 degrees Fahrenheit.
Best of all, weatherstripping works year-round, not just to prevent drafts, but also to block dust, pollen and insects from invading your home.
Weatherstrip under doors to block out drafts, pests and outside noise. (Duck® Brand)
2. Doors
Doors are one of the most common sources of leaks and drafts, so it’s important to weatherstrip around their frames just like windows. However, a door’s bottom is a particularly vulnerable spot.
Gaps between a door and floor not only increase drafts but also create a perfect entrance for dirt and pests to penetrate your home.
While inside, look under your entry doors — if the sun shines through, they need bottom seals.
Duck® Brand’s Double Draft Seal is a foam insert you cut to size and secure in place with patented straps. It’s removable, renter-friendly, and works for interior and exterior doors.
The seal won’t slide off or stick to doors, and it won’t damage them. It works with most flooring types, and the fabric cover is machine washable — so you can block drafts in style.
The durable rubber material blocks out drafts, dirt and pests, plus helps reduce noise that enters your home. And because it’s peel-and-stick, it won’t damage your door.
A garage door seal blocks out pests and dirt, so your garage stays cleaner. (slobo, Getty Images Signature)
3. Garage Doors
Now that we’ve talked about applying weatherstipping to your windows and doors, let’s talk about a spot in your home that’s often overlooked when weatherizing — the garage door.
Although a garage isn’t technically a living space — unless it doubles as a man cave — it still needs to be sealed off to block out damaging pests and precipitation.
For example, if water enters your garage, it could damage the floor and possibly seep into the rest of your home.
Most garage doors already have a seal, but over time, wind, water, dirt and pests can deteriorate it. If your garage door is working well, then replacing the seal is an easy DIY job.
Duck® Brand’s Garage Door Bottom Seal is designed to create an airtight seal under garage doors that also keeps dirt and insects out during warmer months. Because it’s made with heavy-duty rubber, it won’t freeze or crack, no matter what the season brings.
Weatherstripping around windows and doors is just one of the many methods to make your home more energy-efficient.
Duck® Brand offers a variety of products to weatherstrip your home to help save energy and money.
Keep an eye on your home’s entrance with Chamberlain’s new garage door opener with integrated camera. (Image via The Home Depot)
In many homes, the garage door is the primary entrance, so keeping it secure is important. That’s why the new Chamberlain garage door opener comes with an integrated camera.
Here’s why this Best New Product is a must for your garage.
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The myQ app provides instant access to what’s going on in your garage. (Image via The Home Depot)
Remote Access
Chamberlain’s new garage door opener has a built-in camera that adds streaming video, recorded events, motion detection and two-way communication.
That means you can keep tabs on what’s happening in your garage with your smartphone. The system operates through the myQapp, so you can see what’s happening and ensure your family and home are safe and secure — anytime, from anywhere.
The system also works with Amazon Key In-Garage Delivery, so your packages and groceries stay safe inside your garage, and not on your doorstep. Simply link the garage door opener in the myQ app.
A motion-activated light adds an extra layer of security. (Image via The Home Depot)
Smart and Functional
In addition to smartphone monitoring and control, this unit boasts ultra-quiet operation thanks to its belt drive and a soft start/stop motor.
Plus the integrated, motion-activated LED brightens high-traffic areas of the garage with 1,000 lumens of light.
Interactive instructions from BILT make installation easy. (Screenshot of BILT instructional video)
Easy Setup
If you’ve never installed a garage door opener, relax. BILT intelligent instructions simplify installation. You can follow along with its audio, text and animated images, zoom and rotate 360 degrees and replay steps instantly.
The garage door opener has integrated Bluetooth technology, reducing setup time and making it even easier to connect to the myQ app, plus other myQ devices and smart home technology solutions.
If you’re still not sure about upgrading to a smart garage door, the Chamberlain Garage Door Opener with Integrated Camera comes with a lifetime motor and belt warranty, five-year parts warranty, and one-year accessories warranty.
Listen above to learn all about this Best New Product.
Snakes often turn to pool noodles for shelter from the heat. (Deposit Photos)
Pool noodles are popular foam flotation devices for swimmers of all ages, and they come in handy outside the water, too.
For instance, woodworkers can protect saw horses with one, families with small garages can make car door bumpers to prevent accidents, and you can even turn one into a kitchen faucet extension to fill buckets of water.
No matter how you use pool noodles, be careful because snakes sometimes find shelter from heat in their holes. The dark, cool environment inside these foam tubes is ideal for small reptiles and other creepy crawlies as temperatures rise.
A Salado, Texas, resident learned that after finding an adult rattlesnake and several baby snakes inside a pool noodle, according to USA Today.
Following that incident, the Salado Volunteer Fire Department immediately issued a statement to the public, advising people to store pool noodles in elevated, sealed locations to prevent rattlesnakes, water moccasins and other venomous snakes from using them as habitat.
However you use a pool noodle, here are some tips to keep you safe.
Snakes can find their way into pool noodles such as these.
Pool Noodle Sawhorse Protection
If you use pool noodles to protect sawhorses, make sure there is a firm seal between the foam and wood so snakes can’t slither in.
Inspect the noodles and confirm that nothing will crawl out while you’re working. If the noodle isn’t secure, tighten it down with electrical tape or duct tape, filling any gaps.
If possible, store your protected sawhorses in a garage, shed, or indoors to limit exposure to the elements and unwanted inhabitants.
After using a pool noodle as a hose extension, make sure it dries completely before being put into storage.
Pool Noodle Hose Extension
If you’ve used a pool noodle as a hose to fill buckets from your kitchen sink, be sure the inside of the noodle is dry before you store it. Moisture inside the noodle creates cooler temperatures, making it an ideal space for snakes.
Snakes seek shelter from the heat in cool garages.
Pool Noodle Car Door Bumper
Using pool noodles as car door bumpers in your garage can be an effective, inexpensive way to protect your car’s paint, but it could also provide a perfect home for snakes.
Close off the noodle’s ends so nothing can find its way inside, and avoid leaving your garage door open for long periods to limit access for snakes and other animals.
Your garage’s cool pavement is also an ideal spot for snakes to cool off and hide from the sun.
If you see a snake, stay calm and call your local animal control office; some police or fire departments also respond to snake sightings. Don’t gesture toward the snake and, remember, the snake likely won’t bite you if you leave it alone.
What to Do If a Snake Bites You
If the snake does bite you, stay calm and call 9-1-1. Try to remember everything you can about the snake’s features such as color, patterns, head shape and size, and tell the operator.
If possible, have someone take a picture of the snake from a safe distance. This will help medical staff treat you when you arrive at the hospital.
Remember, you aren’t a cowboy, and this isn’t the Wild West. Never cut into a snake bite or suck out venom with your mouth, as infection and dental problems could worsen your condition.
Advances in modern medicine have improved treatment for snake venom, so bites increasingly are less deadly, but you should always see a doctor right away.
Garages make for great storage space, but they can quickly become cluttered.
Russ and Raelyn Watkins have a spacious two-car garage, but the space has filled up over time. Walking from their car to the door has become an obstacle.
The garage is the most-used entrance in their home, so making sure the pathway is clear for the family and visitors is a top priority.
The space between the two garage doors is perfect for stacking storage totes.
Build Storage Shelf for Plastic Totes
The space between the two garage doors is perfect for a shelf to hold some plastic storage totes.
We start designing the shelf to custom fit the space, which is about two feet wide between the doors. We measure out the shelves to fit the height of the storage totes. The shelf is long enough to fit five storage totes long and two stacks high. This two-tote height is perfect for adding a counter on top to provide a surface for extra workspace.
To build this storage shelf, it’s essentially just building a frame to fit the totes and then putting the plywood on top of it. We measure the legs to space it up properly, so the totes can easily be taken in and out.
After it’s assembled, we give it a nice coat of paint with a paint sprayer.
We place the wall shelf at just the right height to fit an extra tote on top of the fridge.
Build Shelf Above Fridge
Next, we add some storage space up high with a wall shelf. We mark on the wall how high we need our shelf to be so we can accommodate some storage space on top of the fridge.
Next, we mark our studs for attaching the shelf. Almost every wall on a home has 16-inch centers — so the 2-by-4 studs are spaced 16 inches apart.
We find the first stud and use this formula as a guide to mark the rest of the studs. This speeds up the process because we don’t have to use a stud finder to find each one.
These custom corbels are easy to make and look better than standard metal shelf brackets.
Instead of using metal shelf brackets to install our shelf, we take a 1×12 and cut it at a 45-degree where the grain is vertical to make a triangle corbel.
To give the shelf and corbels extra support, we add a 1×4 cleat. We leave some space at the top of the corbels so the cleat will slide under the trim beneath the shelf.
The corbels slide neatly into the trim underneath the shelf.
After the shelf is assembled, we paint it to match the plastic storage tote shelf.
Although these J-hooks are meant for plumbing, they’re a perfect fit for storing tailgating chairs and brooms!
Utilize Wall Space
The hooks on the walls came with the house when the Watkins family bought it. They don’t work with their family’s storage needs, so we create a new system that’s perfectly tailored for them.
Use a level to make sure the J-hooks are even.
Our solution for storing the Watkins’ tailgating chairs is hanging them on the wall with J-hooks. These hooks are actually meant for hanging pipes, and you can find them on the plumbing aisle.
To get more chairs on the wall and also add some visual variety, we staggered them on the wall.
We also:
Painted the walls
Changed the opening direction of the door
Moved the refrigerator
Restored garage floor
Removed blinds and installed window film
Post-Production Thoughts
Russ and Raelyn’s garage was like many people’s — a place where things got dropped when there was nowhere else for them. Without adequate shelving, the floor filled up fast, and walking through the garage was a little like an obstacle course. And, the dingy walls and cobweb-covered windows didn’t make the chore any easier.
Now, the garage is light and bright thanks to the great new color on the walls and the crisp, clean window film on the windows.
The freestanding shelf between the doors holds tons of smaller items, thanks to the transparent storage bins, while the long shelf on the wall is ready to handle lots of long-term storage.
The camping chairs now have their own designated spot, off the floor so there’s no more obstacle course.
In fact, the new arrangement freed up so much space that Raelyn can park closer to the door to the house and still leave room for the mower.
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