Ask the Builder: Avoid Social Media Shortcuts

If you’re tempted to buy into some shortcut method you see online, go seek out places where the material has been in place for two or four years.

This is what a recycled asphalt driveway would look like, but just a little darker. Don't try pressure washing it! Tim Carter/Tribune Content Agency/TNS

I perform media scanning on a routine basis. I’m constantly on the lookout in publications and the Internet for new products, techniques, and hokum. I do this, in part, to keep my ear to the ground, but I also do it to help you save time and money.

I’ve been noticing a disturbing trend with some home improvement websites and social media. The websites appear to be hiring people with little, or no, hands-on experience in the topic they write about. Anyone who’s done the particular job can see right through the puff pieces these authors churn out. The articles have an over-arching unicorns-and-rainbows theme about how good and easy something is.