DIY Home Improvement Guide

At Ematerials.net our mission is to teach you the little things about DIY home improvement that you don't learn from watching TV.

Learn the nuts and bolts of fixing up your home so you can get the job done right, the first time.

The satisfaction of doing home improvements yourself will always trump the cash savings that you get from hiring someone else. When you're the one who gets the job done you have a much better understanding of your house and a closer relationship with its appearance and functionality.

Learning how to do all this isn't tough, but it's always a good idea to start with a small project and build your skills up from there. Think about replacing light switch covers before you tackle upgrading your roof ventilation!

Take a look around and come back often, Ematerials.net is updated every day (except Sundays in football season!).

Choose The Brass Door Knob That Fits Your Home

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There are thousands of different brass door knob choices on the market, so it can be hard to navigate through them all to get the one that is perfect for your door.  The shopping choices are different based on whether or not you’re looking for exterior or interior brass door knobs, but finding the right [...]

Antique Brass Door Knobs

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Antique brass door knobs are a class addition to any home, whether inside or out.  Most homes have some variation of the “generic door knob” that was installed when the house was built.  Any improvement on those will make a huge difference on the home’s style, but antique brass ones will also make a statement.  [...]

Cleaning Brass Door Knobs

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Cleaning brass door knobs is an easy and important project, especially when you have vintage door knobs.  Keeping vintage knobs looking somewhat new will help make sure that they stay in good condition and last another hundred years.
This project will be divided into two camps.  First, we’ll go through the steps of cleaning newer knobs [...]

Vintage Glass Door Knobs

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Vintage glass door knobs are the perfect addition to homes of any age.  Finding enough of them at affordable prices can be tough, but in this post I want to share some different ways to find vintage door knobs and crystal door knobs at decent prices.
The key to finding door knobs that fit your budget [...]

Personality and Your Window Curtains

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Window curtains are not just a way of covering windows, keeping in warmth in winter and providing a degree of privacy in the evening. They are also a means of expressing our personal taste and they allow us to stamp our personality on a room by choosing things we love (and which hopefully our fellow [...]

Ceramic Toilet Paper Holders – Versatile And Stylish

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Whether you are looking to completely upgrade your bathroom, just give it a quick face lift, or simply replace a worn out fixture, ceramic toilet paper holders are one option you don’t want to ignore.  It might be that final piece to the puzzle when you are looking to give your bathroom just the right [...]

Uses For Rattan

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The wonderful, light-weight wood known as rattan has been used for centuries for furniture, room dividers and as accents in interior design. A lanai just wouldn’t be complete without at least several rattan chairs and matching side and coffee tables. Rattan is a reminder of simplicity that, while understated, maintains a classic look in decor. [...]

Metal Sheds For Your Home

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Sheds can be constructed from a wide variety of materials, but one of the best materials to choose is metal.  Metal sheds are such a great choice because they are easy to build and also because metal is a material that is strong, durable and low maintenance, so you will be able to use your [...]

The Uses of Pop Up Gazebos

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Pop up gazebos are extremely versatile pieces of equipment that can be used effectively in many different situations. Weather you are planning to host a small garden party or a large wedding reception or corporate event, one of these temporary outdoor structures can add a spacious and easy to install, covered area. Most pop up [...]

Where To Find Vintage Door Knobs

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Vintage door knobs work perfectly in any home, but can be hard to find. This post is dedicated to showing you where to find them without having to spend a fortune.
It’s been said many times that the classics never go out of style, and that holds true for door knobs.  It’s these small details [...]

Why Are Pink Crystal Door Knobs So Hard To Find?

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If you’re having a hard time tracking down a pink crystal door knob for your home, you would think that it wouldn’t be that hard to find something so simple, but options are rare.  In this post I’ll show you how to increase your odds of finding them by searching in your town and online.  [...]

What Makes An Emtek Crystal Door Knob So Expensive?

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If you’re comparing prices between other brands and an Emtek crystal door knob you’re probably scratching your head trying to figure out why they cost so much more.  Don’t worry, you’re not alone which is why I’ve written this post.  To answer the question simply, Emtek crystal door knobs are the highest quality around (disclosure: [...]

Where To Find Antique Crystal Door Knobs

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There are other places to find antique crystal door knobs than just the antique store!  An antique store is great, and I’ll share some tips for that place, but there are some other options that you might not have thought of yet.  This post is dedicated to the classics that never go out of style, [...]

Save Money With A Crystal Door Knob Set

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Let’s face it, crystal door knobs are expensive!  Buying a crystal door knob set can help you save money though, rather than buying them individually.  There are a lot of doors in most houses, and when you consider the fact that these knobs usually cost $60 or $70 each, you need to do everything you [...]

Transform the Look of Your Futon with a Futon Cover

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Buying a futon is a great way to save space and money, though a standard futon cover isn’t necessarily the most interesting thing in the world. Fortunately, a new futon cover is an easy and affordable way to revise the look of your futon, which is a far better option than buying an entirely new [...]

Efficient Basement Waterproofing

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Installing efficient basement waterproofing is essential to keep your basement and the rest of your home dry and warm. Any below grade concrete floors and basement walls are going to be prone to damp. In fact the vast majority of homes with basements will have a moisture problem at some time. It is calculated that [...]

Avoid Too Much Foam When Cleaning Carpets

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One important thing to remember when you use a carpet shampoo machine to clean your carpet is that more carpet shampoo does not equal cleaner carpets. In fact, if you use too much shampoo you could end up with carpets that are dirtier than what you started with. Make sure that you read [...]

Table Lamp Shades : Your Problems Answered

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Table lamp shades are not problematic in themselves. There is plenty of choice and you should not have too much difficulty in finding what you need once you know what you are looking for. The real problem lies in pinning down the kind of lamp shade that will go with your base. A lot of [...]

Thing to Think About When It Comes Carpet For Stairs

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When it comes to carpet for stairs there are a few key issues that you should consider before you make your decision on what type of stair carpet treads you are going to purchase. Overall, carpeting for your home and stairs can be very expensive, so it’s important to make a good decision up [...]

How to Save Electricity at Home

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Home electricity saving tips are what we need in order to lower our utilities. If our income is not getting any higher then it would be best to lower our costs.
There are so many electricity saving tips and though they may seem common-knowledge, how many of them do you actually use?
1. List down your appliances [...]

About Cork Flooring

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It was a time when I considered cork the material that kept my wine safe in the bottle, but today I am looking at it in a new light.
Cork flooring is really the floor covering of the future. All I can find are qualities!
Cork is natural and ecological, good looking, warm, water resistant and easy [...]

How Big Should My Heater Be?

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If you are installing a new heater in a room and you are wondering about electric heater calculations, there is fortunately a simple formula you can use that should help you determine this.  The first thing to do is to  calculate the size of the room that you are hoping to heat.  This is usually [...]

Early Steps In Repairing Ceiling Water Damage

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The first sign that there might be a problem with a leak in the roof or from the floor above is with the appearance of a small brown stain on the ceiling. The fact that the stain is only small should not lead you to believe that the amount of water potentially sitting above you [...]

Finding Discount Carpet Remnants

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If you’re thinking about carpeting or re-carpeting you home or office, you should consider carpet remnants. Remnants are often thought of as “less then new” left over carpet pieces. In reality, most often they’re as good as new, just excess left over from installation. There are a few different ways to find cheap carpet remnants.
The [...]

Elegant and Expensive Closets

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Is it worth it to you to spend the extra money on the finer things in life? Does this translate not to just fine dining and clothes, but also to the furniture you adorn your home with?
If so, this article will look at one area of classy furniture that sometimes gets left behind: the closet. [...]

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