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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?

​​text by Vicki     Sign up to get Mother Daughter Projects updates in your email!​

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.

text by Steph     Sign up to get Mother Daughter Projects updates in your email!​

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!

Seems like when you do one project, another needed project is revealed! That happened when Steph had the glass in her windows replaced recently. They are insulated glass that had become cloudy inside that no amount of cleaning would ever help. She bit the bullet and hired a local glass company to complete the project.

Replacing the windows necessitated removing the screens which turned out to be really, really dirty. Cleaning was in order, but some of them also had holes (squirrels like to hang on them), so repair was needed for those.

There's a lot of interest in garage floor coatings—the appeal of which is the ease of cleaning and the fresh look it gives to the floor. But what to choose?

In January 2016, we used Rust-Oleum’s RockSolid floor coating in silver bullet metallic on Steph’s garage floor. RockSolid is an epoxy like product advertised has having superior quality and durability as well as being DIY friendly. One year later—how’s it holding up?

​Watch the video above and read more below!

Have you ever looked up at your shower head and noticed a bunch of the nozzles aren't working? I (Steph) installed a new shower head in 2013 when I moved into my house, and haven't thought about it since. Over time I have noticed the water seemed to be coming out harder and was spraying in different directions. It also didn't have the 'rain' effect it once did. I decided it was time to try to clean it! Here's what I did.

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When I moved into my house, I had the good fortune of having a working, natural gas powered fireplace. It's pretty amazing to just flip a switch and have a fire! I love the look and turn it on often (it does offer some heat but not too much- which is ok since we're in FL).

Before using it, I had it inspected by a natural gas specialist. While in my home,  he lit the pilot light. He said all was good- I just have to use it to keep it in working order. One thing I started to notice was the bottom grate only lit up halfway and there was something that looked like dryer lint (or something you would find in a litter box) in the fire box area.