Thomas Martinez

The formula: Knowing this will help you estimate siding material well, it’s not quite as simple as “how much wall area do I have?” You … Read more

This is the driveway. Don’t order aggregate based off a rough guess at depth by multiplying that figure times the length and width of your … Read more

All home renovations come with this magical moment where the blueprints collide with reality, and you learn just how far wood can stretch over an … Read more

How many times are you frustrated on the jobsite, realizing that your block wall is three inches too short? Your string line’s out, mortar’s mixed, … Read more

At some point in all your masonry projects, the mental math falls apart. There’s an empty foundation, and you’re picturing how it will look with … Read more

Masonry walls consist of concrete masonry units (CMUs), which appear sturdy from the outside, but in fact aren’t until their hollow cores is filled with … Read more

Here’s the deal: You’re standing in an empty room, holding a pile of lumber in one hand and a tape measure in the other, wondering … Read more

When you enter the room, your footfalls are unsteady, almost as if something is wrong with ground beneath you. You notice the floor moving slightly … Read more

A brick column sounds like a pretty good idea…until you try to build it and find out that you need each corner cut just right … Read more

The problem is that rectangular bricks don’t match the shape of a perfect circle, in fact, there geometry fights you from the very first unit. … Read more

The empty space between those blocks is what you’re really measuring. That’s why there isn’t just one formula for the number: it depends on block … Read more

Filling a container to capacity gives you a rough idea of volume… except for a long, skinny object such as a drainage pipe. How much … Read more

Before you begin a retaining wall project, work on soil on the other side of it. Soil is heavy and doesn’t care about how you … Read more