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The days are cool; falling leaves dance gently in the breeze. Surely autumn is the ideal season for puttering. In this special section, This Old House experts share a harvest of hints about getting a house ready for winter. Learn to stop roof leaks, prep paint, fortify your lawn and fix your furnace.
Join the crew of This Old House at the fall dream house project as they poke at beams, thump pipes and pry up floorboards, all in search of hidden horrors they intend to exorcise.
By Brad Lemley
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What 8,000 gardeners in 30 countries know about 12,000 rare fruits and vegetables that might grow really well in your garden.
By Jack McClintock
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When a Vermont barn has come to the end of its useful life, reincarnation as a fancy house on Long Island is not out of the question.
By Nancy Stedman
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Hefting granite boulders as heavy as Volkswagens, stonesmith Jeff Gammelin assembles monumental fireplaces in Maine that re-create the sense of sitting before a prehistoric cave.
By Walt Harrington
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There's a ghost in the garage. You can't see it or smell it or hear it, but you better watch out. Carbon monoxide, the nation's deadliest poison, goes a-creeping into houses all across America each and every day.
By Laurence Roy Stains
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The mansion author Jack London built in Napa was as rough-hewn and grandiose as its creator. London boasted it would last 1,000 years, but then he also thought he'd live to be 100.
By Stephen Harrigan
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The enchantment of an old house is in the details. Unfold for the names every builder once knew.
By Craig Kellogg
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Indulge your Cornelius Vanderbilt fantasies with a backyard railroad. Hey, it's cheaper than a swimming pool, it doesn't pollute, and your kids will stay home to run it.
By William G. Scheller
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Turning Heads
Screw heads come in all shapes and sizes.
Tackers
A staple gun for every job.
Wicket Good Fun
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Heavenly TV
When you grab for your Green Acres dream, complete with Amish barn and chestnut grove, just remember that Eva Gabor didn't have a satellite dish.
By Jeanne Marie Laskas
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How Do You Get That Gleam?
With the magician of the workshop, of course— the homely bench grinder.
By Mark Feirer
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It's a challenge to install, but a second-story bay window is a marvel of engineering and can do wonders for cramped dark spaces. It improves the view from outside too.
By Brad Lemley
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Hair on a Handle
The difference between an amateur painter and a professional is often the difference between their brushes.
By Peter Jensen
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In Case of Emergency, Pull Cord
The power is out, the pump is down and the water in the basement is rising. Who you gonna call? No one if you have a standby generator.
By Curtis Rist
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Splendid Spigots
Does the brave new world of bathroom faucets have something to do with a loss of innocence?
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Mortgage Prison
Which is better, a 30-year loan or a 15-year loan? The answer depends on how long the bull market lasts.
By Gary Belsky
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The Forgotten Staircase
Don't assume you can't do something about that unlikable narrow staircase that leads to a dark hallway.
By Dennis Wedlick
Scott Omelianuk, Editor of This Old House magazine, began his long relationship with home improvement at age 15, when he started working after school as a carpenter's gopher. After years of jobsite toil and practical jokes—including being s
