Having trouble finding the right gift for a homeowner? Here are helpful hints.
• What better gift to get than home protection? I’m not talking about expensive cameras or alarms — I’m talking about simple, reasonably priced safety items such as a portable gas leak detector to use around the grill, gas pipes and gas appliances. The Safety+Plus Portable Gas Leak Detector by BrassCraft is a compact handheld device that detects natural gas, propane (LP), butane and methane gases. Lightweight and portable, the detector is great to have around the home, the barbecue grill and for camping equipment. The detector retails for under $25 and is available online and at major home stores.
• The Zika virus has been in the news and may or may not be in your area. In addition to removing standing water where mosquitoes breed, you can prevent future population expansion by spray treating foliage where adult mosquitoes gather. Terminix “Mosquito Bait” kills mosquitoes before they have a chance to breed. Use on foliage in your garden near ponds and shallow wet areas. A twin pack of Mosquito Bait retails for under $13. You can also protect outdoor activates using a “Thermacell” repellent lantern. The lantern retails for $1 to $54 and uses butane to both light the camping or outdoor activity area while the heat produced activates a repellent that keeps mosquitoes and other biting insects at bay.
• To make yard work a little easier, try one of the new 20-volt string trimmers. Black and Decker’s 20-volt MAX* EASYFEED trimmer or the new WORX 20V Max Lithium GT 2.0 Trimmer/Edger/Mini-mower are both powerful trimmers, edgers and even a mini-mower — all in one. Both trimmers are lightweight, maneuverable, cordless machines that feature adjustable telescoping shafts to match the user’s height. Both units retail for under $100.
• To make yard cleanup easier, I like to use a “Kangaroo” Garden and leaf container by Fiskars. The 10 and 30-gallon containers have a hard bottom to prevent damage from sharp objects, and they fold up for easy storage. The containers retail for $20 to $30 depending on the size needed.
• If dad likes to work around the house, there is one tool that every home fixer could use — an oscillating tool. According to an article in Popular Mechanics, it can be used for “sanding, cutting, scraping, grinding and polishing. Plus, it’ll slice through virtually any building material, including wood, metal, drywall, cement, mortar, plastic and fiberglass, to name a few.” I received a Rockwell, corded, 4.0-amp model F50 that is advertised to cut five times faster than similar models and has 35 pounds of cutting load. The Rockwell F50 retails for under $120.
———
C. Dwight Barnett is a certified master inspector with the American Society of Home Inspectors. Write to him with home improvement questions at C. Dwight Barnett, Evansville Courier & Press, P.O. Box 268, Evansville, Ind. 47702 or e-mail him at dbarnett4539@gmail.com.
About the Author
