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Most of our projects are planned out, weeks or months in advance, and we complete them as scheduled. And then there are projects that we do right away because life happens! This is one of those projects!

A few weeks ago, the flushing handle on my toilet broke! As you may know, you can still flush the toilet by taking the lid off and physically pulling the lever up. Well, I did that a few times and then I realized I needed to take a trip to Home Depot to see if I could find a replacement. To my surprise, this is a fast and easy toilet repair, and under $6!

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This post is sponsored by The Home Depot. ​THD provided the Bosch bits used in this project.

If I asked you what home maintenance problem you have put off, I would venture a guess that probably 100% of you would immediately name one or more items! We all have them (those little pesky issues, we think that are going to be hard) that we need to get done so we can check them off the to-do list!

The replacement of the flag on Steph's mailbox was her small, but difficult seeming problem. You know, "how do you drill into brick?"

It was kind of embarrassing, her sad rusted and dull flag on the mailbox. Definitely a home maintenance issue that needed to be fixed.

When we got these Bosch drill bits, that can drill into all kind of material including brick, we knew we could finally take care of replacing that flag!

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This post is sponsored by The Home Depot. THD provided the end nippers used in this post. 

One of the most neglected, but one of the most important home maintenance tasks a homeowner can DIY, is caulking. The use of properly applied caulk keeps the outside elements out and the inside ones, like a/c, inside. Caulking is a very easy and inexpensive DIY that can prevent damage to your home.

A little bit of caulking can be the difference between a very inexpensive repair and a much more costly one. Without caulking, water, bugs, and weather can get into your home and cause damage, unwanted insects, and loss of heating or cooling. 

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Last summer we tried out Wet & Forget, an outdoor cleaner that works over time. We shared that experience in this post. In this follow-up post and video we are sharing the results of that initial use of Wet & Forget. In our first application we sprayed a patch of siding at Steph's house as well as some pavers and garden blocks. 

Take a look and see the results, six-months later! 

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This post is sponsored by The Home Depot as a part of The Home Depot’s ProSpective Campaign.

Have you ever...

• Had to vacuum cheerios out of the carpet in your car?
• Had to change a damaged tire because you accidentally hit the brick on either side of your driveway?
• Had to help someone jumpstart their car?

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We recently attended an outdoor tool event sponsored by The Home Depot. There were about 20 or so online content creators and media folks invited to the event. Although we didn't get a chance to really talk to the others attending, we did meet Leah from See Jane Drill and met a representative from This Old House. 

The event gave us a chance to see some new outdoor tool innovations, try them out and talk with brand experts. We took lots of video and notes so we could share all we learned with all of you. Here's a brief look what we experienced at the event (please watch the video above for more info).

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This post is sponsored by The Home Depot as a part of The Home Depot’s ProSpective Campaign.

As part of The Home Depot ProSpective campaign (May 2017- 2018) we have been receiving a variety of tools to use and review. A lot of the tools and their function are new to us. It’s been fun and educational to see the different tools available to pros and DIYers and how to use them. We were sent the Makita Brushless Cordless Angle Grinder to review and found that, although it is marketed as a pro tool, it does have value to the home DIYer.

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This post is sponsored by The Home Depot as a part of The Home Depot’s ProSpective Campaign. 

​As part of the Home Depot ProSpective campaign, we get sent some neat tools to try out. One of those tools this quarter is the Makita Brushless Cordless Blower kit. As soon as we opened the box, we wanted to see how this blower stacked up to our current 18v cordless blower. This fall was a perfect time to test it out, as I get a huge amount of pine straw in my front yard and normally have to use a rake to clean it up.

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Living in Florida, professional pest control service is a must. We have ALL the bugs and critters in Florida! My friend, Roger, of Rock Solid Termite and Pest Control has been my "bug man" for over 25 years. He comes once a year and takes care of all things creepy and crawly! 

When it was time for this year's annual service, we asked him if he would be willing to talk about pest control service for Mother Daughter Projects. He agreed and we asked him a whole bunch of questions resulting in three different videos!

This post is sponsored by The Home Depot as a part of The Home Depot’s ProSpective Campaign.

​We're closing in on our second quarter of tool reviews for The Home Depot ProSpective campaign. In both quarters we have received tools that had us scratching our heads trying to figure out how we were going to use or review certain tools. The Makita Diamond Cup Wheel and Diablo Diamond Wheel are two of those tools. 

After some research we discovered their use, but that still left us with “how to show them in action?” The answer was actually right under our noses or should I (Vicki) say, at my front door. I rarely use my front door so I was unaware that I had the perfect project in my front yard. Turns out, a section of my front sidewalk was uneven—with our new tools, we could take care of that tripping hazard ourselves!

We did a little internet research and learned that we could use the Diablo Diamond Wheel to help cut down the raised portion of the concrete and then use the Makita Diamond Cup Wheel to grind the rest away. Coupled with the Makita Xtreme Vac, we were able to safely grind away the concrete. 

This post is sponsored by The Home Depot as a part of The Home Depot’s ProSpective Campaign. THD provided the Ryobi Workshop Blower used in this post.

The very first battery powered tool we purchased was a leaf blower. I (Vicki) was very slow to jump on the current generation of battery powered tools due to poor experiences with the original (90's) ones. Steph finally convinced me we should try them and once I did, I was sold!

Since that first leaf blower, we have added many battery powered tools to our collection. One that we didn't know we needed was a workshop blower, the little brother of the left blower! Through The Home Depot ProSpective campaign we had a chance to try out this clever little handy tool. 

This post is sponsored by The Home Depot as a part of The Home Depot’s ProSpective Campaign. THD provided the Husky gloves used in this post.

As I (Vicki) write this, Tallahassee is about 30 minutes from our peak winds from Hurricane Irma. We have breathed a collective sigh of relief as this storm has downgraded bringing less wind and rain into our area. 

Even so, once things subside, there will be yard clean up pretty much everywhere due to all the trees in the area. I have already noticed one small branch in the front yard that will need to be cut up for pick-up. 

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This post is sponsored by The Home Depot as a part of The Home Depot’s ProSpective Campaign.

This post is about a product you have never given a second thought to. If you've ever caulked anything, you went to the store, bought the caulk and probably another gun since the once you had at home was a gunky mess and completed your project. You probably had a few choice words to say as you dealt with caulk that came out to fast or too slow, or that produced lines that were took thick or not thick enough, and continued to ooze once you took your hand off the trigger.

Ryobi has reinvented the caulk gun into a battery powered tool that takes the mess and frustration out of home caulking projects. This is a tool you never thought you needed, but once you see it, you know you must have it! (Well, maybe that's just us!)

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Last spring we FINALLY cleaned the siding at Steph's house. We used a pump-up sprayer for the cleaner we used. Part way through the cleaning, we discovered Ryobi had a battery powered chemical pump sprayer. We were very interested as the pump-up sprayer was proving to be a tedious, fatiguing option. The Ryobi sprayer comes with and without a battery, but the one without the battery could only be purchased online and we needed it NOW. We finished with the manual pump, but never forgetting about the cordless one!

Fast forward to our recent trip to the Haven conference where we learned more about the Ryobi sprayer and ended up getting to bring it home with us! We immediately put it to the test with the moss, mold, mildew, and algae stain remover, Wet & Forget. 

You know that one project that you just keep putting off for one reason or another? Well, that project for us was cleaning the vinyl siding at Steph's house. It's been so long since it had been cleaned that it was looking like some kind of science experiment! 

Two sides of her house stay fairly shaded creating (unfortunately) perfect conditions for the formation of algae, mold and mildew growth! Cleaning this green mess was going to take a little muscle!