Shoutout to the plumber's putty I found in my dad's old toolbox

Last Tuesday my kitchen sink started leaking bad, like a full drip every two seconds. I was about to call a pro but remembered this gray tub of stuff in the garage. Followed the old instructions on the lid, packed it around the drain, and the leak stopped cold. Has anyone else fixed something big with a random tool they forgot they had?

I was checking out the old courthouse renovation downtown and noticed they kept all the original steel beam details in the drawings.

Watching a hawk at the county fair made me rethink my coop's open run

I was at the Greene County Fair last fall, just looking at the prize birds, when I saw a red-tailed hawk land on a fence post near some pens. It didn't try anything, but it just sat there, staring. It hit me that my own run was just wire on top, and a hawk could easily sit and stress my girls all day. I went home and spent about $50 on plastic bird netting to drape over the whole thing. Has anyone else added a roof or cover to stop birds of prey from perching and watching?

My sister told me to put a whole head of cauliflower in the air fryer

We were on the phone last Tuesday and she just said, 'trust me, just oil it, season it, and put the whole thing in for 30 minutes'... I was sure it would be raw in the middle or burn the outside. But I tried it at 400 degrees, and it came out perfect, like a big roasted veggie steak. Totally changed how I see using the air fryer for big items. Anyone else try cooking a whole vegetable like that?

Had to choose between a full motor rebuild or a swap on a 1998 Otis Gen2 last month

The motor bearings were shot and making a real bad noise in a 12-story office building. I could rebuild it on-site for about $1,500 in parts and two days of my time, or swap in a whole new unit for double the cost but only one day of downtime. I went with the rebuild to save the client money. Big mistake. A seal I missed failed after three days, and we had to go back in. Lost a whole extra day and ate the cost of the second seal kit myself. Anyone else had a rebuild bite them and now just pushes for the swap on older units?

A job in a damp Seattle basement three years ago made me swear off shellac forever. A client's antique dresser last month proved me wrong.

My neighbor said he tapes his seams before the first coat of mud sets up, claims it's faster. I've always waited for it to dry.

He was fixing a patch in his garage yesterday and I watched him. He put on a thin coat of hot mud, then ran his tape right into it while it was still wet. Said he learned it from an old timer and it cuts a whole day off a big job. I've been doing this fifteen years and was taught to let the first coat dry completely, then tape, then second coat. It seems like it could cause bubbles or a bad bond. But he swears by it. Has anyone else tried this wet-taping method on a full room, not just a patch? What were the results?