Here in Asheville, it's that time of year when ice starts building up on porch and deck stairs, and you start wishing you'd gotten that shaky stair railing repaired.

Or maybe it's in good shape, but it needs a coat of paint to tone down the splinters;

We can also install a brand new stair railing if you don't have one yet:

Or we can move your stairs to a more convenient spot:

Or we can just rip it all out and start over with something super strong:

A strong staircase with a good, sturdy handrail isn't a luxury; it's a safety necessity. If you need your stair railings repaired or just beefed up, give us a call, We love this stuff.

Fluorescent lights: They hum, They flicker. They take forever to warm up. But your light fixture was made for fluorescent bulbs, so you're stuck with them, right?

Not anymore!

Now with just a little help from a handyman, you can replace your fluorescent light bulbs with LED bulbs... even if you have the long, tube-shaped bulbs. Check it out:

One of my clients has a big skylight in their kitchen which is surrounded by fluorescent fixtures from the 1980s, with the old magnetic light ballasts. They liked the "light boxes," but the bulbs blinked and buzzed and wouldn't come on all the way. They asked me for a softer and more updated source of illumination.

Nowadays many people rewire the whole fixture with electronic ballasts that don't blink or buzz, but these days that's not even necessary. These LED light tubes were created to work in the fixture with minimal rewiring. Since I hadn't worked with them before, I called in my associate Glenn Keeney, who has more experience in this realm.

The new bulbs can't be used with the magnetic ballast, so Glenn bypassed it. On newer electronic fixtures, it's not even necessary to bypass the ballast... but we recommend doing it anyway because  even the new ballasts are prone to failure.

Fun fact from Glenn: If you ever smell a "burning tar" smell or see something dripping from your light fixture, that's a bad ballast! You'll notice it in department stores sometimes.

But these lights turned out well. At first glance, they're a lot like the original fluorescents, but the quality and color of the light is better.  And they work!

These are super bright! Now that they're LED bulbs, it's possible to put them on a dimmer switch if needed. However, this home already has lots of task lighting on dimmer switches, so we left this one as-is.

If you're ready to get rid of your flickery old fixtures, give us a call. We'll be glad to help.

So if you need a place to stash your stuff, give me a call. I also do shelving and built-in storage, so I'm sure we can find a solution that fits your needs.

Many people in the Asheville area have open-sided sheds, especially in the surrounding countryside. They're common because they're relatively cheap and quick to build, but the drawback is that they're not very secure.

You wouldn't want to leave a valuable lawn mower in this shed, would you? And everyone can see your stuff, which puts more pressure on you to keep it ultra tidy.

One of my clients had a simple solution: put gates on the front. I used the "Adjust-a-Gate" system which I used to build a driveway gate this summer.

The Adjust-a-Gate system uses a metal frame supported by a wire with a turnbuckle. It's very sturdy and can be customized to match the width of the opening. Here's what the frame looks like before the fencing is added. (This is a pic from the driveway gate installation from this summer.)

It worked just as well for a barn as it did in a driveway. I also added some simple handles and a pair of locking gate catches.

You might notice that the shed is still open on either side of the gated area. The real function of the gates is to keep someone from driving the mower out... you can still walk in there. If security becomes a big problem, we'll add fencing to either side, but for now the mower is reasonably secure and the "stuff" is hidden.

If you need a new gate or security door installed, we'll be glad to help. Just click this big orange button to get in touch with us:

I'm busier than ever, so I'm extremely excited to announce that I've cloned myself!

Just kidding.

But I've done the next best thing: I've expanded my network of craftsmen to include three more experienced Asheville handymen. Each of these gentlemen owns his own business and has a proven track record of reliable customer service and quality craftsmanship.

Now you have a whole team of home repair professionals ready to get your projects done: