Small-Parts Packer
I think parachute bags work just fine —
but for those of you who arrange your work wear by color and
sort your scrap piles by size, Festool's Sortainers might be
worth investigating. These cleverly designed boxes keep
fasteners and small tools tidy and organized. Part of Festool's
Systainers system, Sortainers and other Systainer components
lock together for easy storage and transport. Models come with
four to 12 drawers and sell for $82 on the company's Web site.
Festool USA, 888/337-8600,
www.festool-usa.comPaint-Free Bulkhead
Manufactured bulkhead doors haven't changed much in the 75
years they've been around, but Bilco's recently introduced
Ultra Series Basement Door offers several improvements over
previous models. First, it does not require painting —
unlike steel doors — because it's made from high-density
polyethylene. Also, small ports on the side accommodate
optional windows or ventilation louvers, and gas struts,
similar to those found on hatchback automobiles, assist with
operation, making the doors easier for children and seniors to
use. The bulkhead is 55 inches wide and 72 inches long and
sells for $600. Bilco, 203/934-6363,
www.bilco.comCrud
Catcher
If you live in a wet or snowy climate, this could be the
feature that sells your spec house. Made from galvanized steel
or aluminum, the Drainmat is a permanently installed doormat
and catch basin that prevents tracked mud and snow from messing
up floor coverings. It's available in two approximate sizes, 24
by 16 inches and 40 by 30 inches, with several grille options.
The manufacturer suggests placing the mat about 1/8 inch lower
than the surrounding surfaces, to assist drainage. I have a
similar but improvised setup on my own house — it works
great. Prices start at about $95. Aco,
800/543-4764, www.acousa.com
VINYL
SIDING
Vinyl Frontier
Not all vertical vinyl siding looks like trailer skirting.
Maxim Board and Batten from LP is a good example of the
better-looking products available. Offered in 12 colors, the
deeply textured siding has 61/4-inch "boards" with 1 3/4-inch
"battens." Besides being thicker (.046 inch) than other
vertical siding, it sports a stronger nail hem for greater wind
resistance, says the manufacturer. The product sells for about
$85 to $100 per square. LP, 888/820-0325,
www.lpvinyl.lpcorp.com
Go Long!
From the street, you can't always tell if a house is sided in
vinyl — but when you get up close, regular seams on long
runs are often a dead giveaway. With Premium Pointe 360, you
can eliminate many of these seams, because the panels are 16
feet long. Available in 12 matte colors in double 4-inch and
41/2-inch Dutch lap, the siding has a 3/4-inch-thick profile
and a double-thickness nailing fin for greater wind resistance
and rigidity. The line also includes decorative window trim and
corner posts. Prices run about $80 to $100 per square.
Crane Performance Siding, 800/366-8472,
www.cranesiding.com
Top Notch
The conventional method for attaching the final course of vinyl
siding is to use a snap-lock punch, a specialty tool that makes
small flaps (snap locks) that prevent the last channel from
falling out of the finish trim. Unfortunately, snap locks don't
hold very well. Any contractor who's had to scour the nearby
woods or neighboring properties for a piece of missing siding
will appreciate SDI's PermaTab. This little piece of aluminum
slips over the siding's cut edge and is secured with a
conventional snap-lock punch. Once the siding is inserted into
the finish trim, the PermaTab holds much better than plastic
snap locks while allowing the siding to move. Check the
company's Web site for other solutions to common vinyl
installation problems. The PermaTab comes in a 100-count bag
that sells for about $20. SDI, 800/356-7113,
www.securingdevices.com
PATIO
DOORS
Super-Duty French Door
New building regulations meant to strengthen coastal homes have
made it tougher to spec suitable patio doors. The biggest
difficulty has been finding good-looking products that satisfy
the most stringent regulations in Impact Zones 3 and 4. Initial
offerings, I'm told, looked more appropriate for jails and
military installations. Luckily, new products are emerging.
Marvin now offers handsome wood and wood-clad patio doors that
meet today's tougher standards. Inswing and Outswing French
Doors are suitable for Impact Zone 3 and Outswing French Doors
suit Zone 4; both products are part of the company's StormPlus
line. I can only guess that these doors cost a bundle, because
Marvin wouldn't provide me with pricing.
Marvin, 888/537-8266,
www.marvin.com
Wide Open Spaces
So your client is asking for something with a little more drama
than an ordinary 6-foot patio door? Suggest the new Multi-Panel
Telescoping Sliding Glass Door from Weather Shield. Available
in widths of up to 24 feet, in both 6'-10" and 8'-1" heights,
the stacking sliders ride 11/2-inch stainless-steel
ball-bearing rollers. Concealed coupling flanges connect the
sections edge to edge and bring along the secondary panels when
the center panels are pulled closed. Prices range from about
$14,000 to $35,000. Weather Shield,
800/477-6808, www.weathershield.com
Sweet Deal
A functional yet affordable patio door might sound like a tall
order, but I think the steel Prado from Peachtree is an
excellent low-cost option. What I like best about it is how the
glass is mounted in the door panel: Instead of surrounding the
glazing with chunky plastic trim, the Prado uses smooth
moldings mounted flush with the steel skin. Other features
include quality hardware; an adjustable, thermally broken sill;
a multipoint lock; and sturdy weatherstripping that removes
easily for painting the jambs. Low-E glass and air-space
grilles are options, as is a white, prefinished exterior. The
door comes in single-, two-, and three-panel designs in
center-hinge, French, and sliding versions. The 6'0" x 6'8"
French unit shown costs between $600 and $690, says the maker.
Peachtree, 800/732-2499,
www.peachtreedoor.com
OUTDOOR LIVING
Fido-Friendly Door
Humans aren't the only members of a household who enjoy
spending time outdoors. Pets need fresh air, too, and they like
to come and go on their own schedule. A pet door is the logical
solution, but most are cheaply made and do little to prevent
air leakage. The Weather Stopper Insulated Pet Door, however,
is an exception: It's made like a real entry door, with an
insulated panel, neoprene weatherstripping, and a rugged
aluminum frame. The standard model accommodates doors of up to
13/4 inches thick — but you can also get a wall-mount kit
($27) for walls of up to 11 inches thick. The model shown sells
for about $152 (Snickers the Wiener Dog not included).
TechTrol Inc., 918/762-1050,
www.techtrol-usa.com
Open-Air Great Room
Outdoor rooms and living areas generally need some kind of
visual cue to provide separation from the rest of the
landscape. If you're looking for a relatively simple way to
accomplish this, consider the Outdoor Great Room Tuscany
Pergola from Fire Stone. Made from fiberglass and reinforced
resin, the 14-foot-square trellis and columns define a living
space of roughly 8 by 8 feet. According to the maker, the
structure can be assembled with one tool (included with the
kit). It costs $5,000. Fire Stone,
866/303-4028, www.firestonehp.com
Screening Room
The most popular screened-porch systems use splined plastic
channels that mount on the framing. These setups work well
enough, but they don't allow for easy removal or tensioning of
the screen panels once they're installed. A better system, in
my opinion, comes from Screen Den. This company makes custom
Screen Panels with a Velcro perimeter that attaches to
corresponding Velcro on the porch framing or to a Screen
Den-supplied plastic stop — an approach that makes screen
removal and restretching practically effortless. The company
also makes nonyellowing 20-mil PVC Film Panels (not shown) that
instantly transform a screened porch into a three-season room.
Both types of panels use high-quality Velcro that can endure
5,000 on/off cycles before breakdown, says Screen Den. A
typical 5-foot-wide by 8-foot-tall screen panel starts at
around $90, compared with $155 for a PVC panel of the same
size. Screen Den, 888/992-0991,
www.screenden.com
Outdoor Dance Floor
If your customers hope to keep their outdoor parties going well
into the night, they'll need some good outdoor speakers to
energize the guests. AudioSource offers a line of reasonably
priced indoor/outdoor speakers with mounting brackets that can
handle up to 125 watts of input power. The company's speakers
— Model LS525 is shown above — boast
weather-resistant grilles and durable poly speaker cones, but
they should still be mounted under an overhang or some other
protected location, because they're not completely waterproof.
I found them on the Internet for about $60 per pair.
AudioSource, 800/950-1449,
www.audiosource.net