Route · four manuals

Installing something new in the house

Everything you hang or mount meets a wall first, and the wall decides. What it is made of and what it will hold are worth knowing before the box is open.

Read the first three steps whatever you are putting up, then the ones that match it. Each step below names the one chapter to open first.

What this route leaves out

Electrical, plumbing and gas work. This route stops at knowing what a job involves and who is licensed to do it, and it does not teach you to do that work.

The route

Before you drill anything

Home Upkeep

What is behind the surface: framing, wiring, supply pipes and ducts. Knowing roughly where they run is what keeps a curtain rod from finding a water line.

Open atHow a House Works: Water, Air, Heat and Power
Deciding where it goes

Art Framing

Walls that will not hold, and places that damage what you put on them: direct sun, bathroom humidity, the wall above a heat source.

Open atWhere to Hang Art: Light, Humidity and Bad Walls
What the wall will hold

Art Framing

Weight against anchor rating, in drywall, plaster or a stud. The ratings are published by the makers, and the hook is rarely the weak part.

Open atHow to Hang a Picture: Weight, Anchors and Height
If it goes over a window

Window Treatments

Inside or outside mount, and the measurements each one needs. A blind ordered to the wrong width is usually not returnable.

Open atHow to Measure for Blinds and Shades, Inside or Outside
Mounting day

Window Treatments

Brackets, anchors and the order of operations for rods and blinds, including what to do when there is no stud where you need one.

Open atHanging Curtain Rods and Blinds: Walls and Anchors
If children sleep in that room

Window Treatments

Cord hazards near a bed or a crib, and what to do about the cords already hanging in the house.

Open atWindow Blind Cord Safety, Children and Fire Risks
If it needs power

Interior Lighting

Which lighting work is yours and which is an electrician's, and what to ask for so the quote covers the job you meant.

Open atWhen to Hire an Electrician for Lighting, and What to Ask
When it is not yours to do

Home Upkeep

The three tests for hiring instead: a failure that could hurt somebody, a certification a rule requires, and a place you cannot reach safely.

Open atHiring Home Repair Help: Licenses, Bids, Contracts

Everything here is free, needs no account, and can be opened at any chapter. The other routes · all the manuals.