There's nothing negative about going through rehab on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Now in its second season, which kicked off with nearly 16.4 million viewers, ABC's surprise hit has a simple premise: seven days, several designers, a deserving family and a dilapidated house. The catch: Most of the projects would normally take at least four months to complete, involving a small army of designers, contractors and several hundred workers.

Ty Pennington's handyman and carpentry skills have made him a celebrity and a home-redecorating guru to millions -- he's best known for his thrifty handiwork on The Learning Channel's Trading Spaces. That status only grew when his book of home-repair tips, Ty's Tricks (Hyperion), hit stores. Pennington's forte on the show as the team leader is getting tricky home-decor problems solved, fast, which requires uncanny inventiveness. He marshalled that trait in his book, which covers everything from how to make a toilet paper holder of out a piece of bamboo or a lamp out of a plunger. "I'm trying to turn myself into a cross between Martha Stewart and MacGuyver," Pennington says.

One place Pennington would love to redecorate belongs to Hugh Hefner: the Playboy Mansion. "I'd love to work on fixing the tiles at the Grotto," he says, adding with a laugh, "I would definitely deal with any plumbing needs they would need at the Mansion. You know, lay any pipe!"

We wanted to get Ty's tips on what every guy should know how to do around the house. A word of caution: "There's some things you want to call a professional for -- electricity, heating and air," he says. "And some plumbing. If it's the septic tank, and you want to get into that, be my guest."

PATCH A HOLE
Every guy needs to know how to patch sheet rock holes and cracks. "I'm thinking about college guys here," says Pennington. "You wanna get your deposit back. If it's just a small hole, use spackle. If it's larger, shove paper or cardboard into the hole and then apply joint compound, and then sponge it."

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