Expert Advice on Home Improvement

The first day of winter arrived with a roar here in Connecticut, dumping 14 inches of snow over two days. I’m not complaining though, I love cold weather and there’s nothing more beautiful than a thick blanket of fresh white snow. I love the way it softens the landscape, and covers up the bare, brown ground.

During a slight lull in the snowstorm, my wife Marla and I went for a leisurely stroll around town. That’s Marla standing at the end of the driveway with our snow-covered street in the background. Our town is ordinarily a pretty quiet place (population: 2,200), but it’s especially peaceful during a snowstorm. The only sound is snow crunching underfoot. Stop walking, and the only sound is the wind whistling through the bare trees.

Later that day, our son Chris went outside to romp around in the snow. He loves building stuff and it didn’t take him long to create this masterpiece: a 9-foot-tall snowman.

I’m sure we’ll have many more snowstorms over the next few months, as it’s not unusual for us to have snow on the ground until April, but for now, we’re enjoying the fact that it’s going to be a very white Christmas.

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Like most families, we have many Christmas traditions that we enjoy each holiday season. Some were passed down from our parents or grandparents; others, my wife Marla and I established once our children were born. One of my favorite traditions is going to a local tree farm and cutting down our tree. For me, it signifies the official start of the Christmas season, and immediately puts me in the holiday spirit. (Plus, I get to saw down a tree! How great is that?)

For the past 14 years, we’ve been getting our Christmas tree at Clover Knoll, a 20-acre tree farm just a couple of miles from our home. My son Chris, who started high school this year, was just an infant when we first visited Clover Knoll. Back then the farm was run by Bob and Evelyn Williams. Both had retired years earlier and started the tree farm in 1983 as a way to stay busy, and boy did they ever stay busy.

Every December, Clover Knoll became a beehive of activity. They had four tractors, each towing a hay wagon, running people from the barn out to the fields. Bob piloted the largest tractor and handed out bow saws to the customers.

Evelyn was usually down by the barn, making wreathes, baling trees, and handing out homemade cookies and hot cider. We loved bringing the kids there, especially when they were young. We’d often find the perfect tree within the first few minutes, but still manage to spend an hour or so, walking amongst the fragrant trees or talking with neighbors we’d bump into.

Things at Clover Knoll started changing back in 2001. Bob took ill and died later that summer. Evelyn was heartbroken, but soldiered on, running the farm with help from her kids and grandkids, but it was never the same. Little by little, Evelyn scaled back the farm. Then a couple of years ago, she decided not to plant any new trees. And finally, this year, she shut down the farm. It was very sad, even though I know not all traditions last forever.

Then Evelyn called and invited us up to Clover Knoll this past weekend to harvest another tree. (That’s me in the photo with this year’s trophy balsam fir.) It felt strange being the only people there, and I know change is inevitable, but hopefully my children will hold dear to these memories even as they begin to build their own Christmas traditions.

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A few months ago I decided to install hardwood flooring throughout the entire upstairs of our home. We have traditional red oak strip flooring downstairs, but I didn’t want to go through the time and trouble of sanding and finishing the floor. So, I decided to install a prefinished floating hardwood floor.

After researching the dozens of engineered floors available, I chose a most intriguing product called Lyptus Flooring. It’s made from eucalyptus trees grown on sustainable, eco-friendly plantations in Brazil, of all places. The wide planks snap together and aren’t glued or nailed down at all. Instead they “float” over a foam-rubber underlayment. No fuss, no muss.

Of course, I had no idea what eucalyptus wood looked like, but as it turns out, it’s quite attractive. It has a reddish tone that’s similar to mahogany. It’s also very hard, denser, in fact, than oak or maple. However, what truly makes eucalyptus unique is that the trees are super-fast growing. In just 15 years, they can grow to an astonishing 30” in diameter and over 115’ tall. Most hardwood trees need more than 60 years to reach that stature.

The other interesting thing about Lyptus flooring is that the 9/16” thick planks come preglued along each tongue and groove. When you tap the planks together, the friction activates the adhesive and creates a fast bond. Pretty cool, huh?

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It’s hard to believe, but this is my eighth season hosting the Simple Solutions segments, and I’ve loved every minute of it. We’ve taped over 200 home-improvement hints, tips, and tricks of the trade—and we’re still going strong.

During my most recent trip to Mobile to visit Danny and his crew, we shot 10 brand-new Simple Solutions, which will air later this season. The thing I love most about shooting these segments is spending time with the great crew from Today’s Homeowner: Director Scott Gardner, Producer and cameraman Allen Lyle, and cameraman Jasen Lingle.

We have a ball shooting Simple Solutions. We goof around and laugh a lot, but at the end of the day, we always get the job done. And the intrepid Today’s Homeowner crew is always willing to do whatever’s necessary to get the shot, including clambering up onto Scott’s roof.

That’s me on the far left and Jasen on the other ladder. Allen is bravely perched on the roof, while Scott (not shown) directs us from the safety of his backyard, wondering, no doubt, whether his homeowner’s insurance policy would cover the disastrous results of three guys all falling off the roof at the same time. (I’m guessing not.)

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Aesop, the ancient Greek orator famous for telling animal fables, coined the phrase, “Familiarity breeds contempt.” (Of course, he also said, “Slow and steady wins the race,” so what the heck does he know.) I respectfully disagree, at least in this regard: There’s nothing more familiar to me than the sky above or the view outside my window, and at this particular time of year, it breeds nothing but wonder and joy.

That’s because I happen to live in New England, and each and every autumn is a celebration. The weather is cooler and the leaves begin to turn brilliant shades of yellow, orange and red—often all at the same time on the same tree! And when you drive by expansive forests all ablaze in color, it’s quite awe-inspiring.

Now you might think that after many years one would eventually feel if not contempt, then at least disinterest in this annual spectacle. But I can honestly say that it just doesn’t happen. In fact, every weekend throughout October hoards of out-of-staters drive through New England just to see the trees; we refer to them as leaf peepers.

Perhaps our love affair for fall isn’t based solely on the brilliant colors. Maybe we’re drawn to the delicate brevity of the event itself. In just a couple of weeks, it’ll all be gone. The leaves will turn brown, break free and float to the ground, leaving behind bare branches backlit against a sky that’s grows increasingly colder and darker with each passing day. But hey, that’s ok, there will be another autumn next year, and with any luck, I’ll be right here bearing witness to its beauty.

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My wife, Marla, and I were glad—and very proud—to recently learn that our daughter, Kate, was the recipient of a Halo Award for her performance as the baker’s wife in a school production of Stephen Sondheim’s, “Into the Woods.” (Here, she’s shown on stage with Milky White, the cow, and with her Halo after the awards presentation.)

Kate, 16, is a senior at the Westover School, in Middlebury, Connecticut. Each year, Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury, Connecticut, presents Halo Awards to area high school drama students. This year, nearly 20 schools participated with more than 40 productions that included hundreds of students. Nominations were given in 26 categories just like Broadway’s Tony Awards.

We were thrilled for Kate and pleased that she was recognized for her talent and hard work. I’m equally proud of Marla, who’s the head of the Westover drama department and directed “Into the Woods.” At the Halo Award presentations, Westover received over 20 nominations for the three shows Marla staged last year. Congrats to all!

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There are very few home improvement projects that I don’t do myself; which is both a blessing and a curse, just ask my wife. Over the past few years I’ve built a bathroom, constructed a mahogany bookcase, hung drywall, laid an engineered-wood floor, and installed wainscoting. However, even I, a fearless (some say, foolish) DIY-er, know when it’s time to call in a pro.

The polyurethane finish on our oak floors was wearing thin, but I had no desire to wrestle with a drum sander the size of a Buick, or to clean up after creating sun-blocking clouds of dust. This was definitely a job for a pro, so last week I hired a flooring contractor to refinish the floors.

He started by using a drum sander to remove the old finish from a majority of the floor. Then he switched to an edge sander to sand around the room’s perimeter. To sand beneath the baseboard heaters and in other tight places, the contractor used a strange-looking tool called a radiator sander, which looks a bit like a clown’s shoe: It has a long, flat, rounded nose that easily slides into spaces too tight for any other sander.

However, the best part of hiring this particular contractor was that he employed a dustless sanding system. Each sander was connected to a giant dust collector, which was parked in the driveway, via a long vacuum hose.

The dust-collection system was so effective it wasn’t necessary to empty the cabinets or mask off any doorways. In fact, I didn’t even have to wipe down the countertops when he was done. Just one more reason I’m glad I didn’t attempt this job.

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