Privacy policy

Last updated November 5, 2026. This policy covers homecraftblog.com.

The short version

This is a static website. We do not ask you to create an account, and our own code sets no cookies. We count visits with Cloudflare Web Analytics and Umami, which set no cookies, and with Google Analytics, which sets two cookies where you allow them (see Analytics). The site shows ads from Google AdSense, and Google and its partners set or read advertising cookies as described under Advertising. The only personal data we receive directly is what you choose to type into the contact form or send us by email. We do not sell personal data for money.

Who is responsible

homecraftblog.com is run by an individual, independent publisher under the name Home Craft Blog, who decides how the data described here is handled. Our sister blog at blog.homecraftblog.com has its own privacy policy. For any privacy question or request, write to contact@homecraftblog.com or by post to:

Home Craft Blog145 Tyee Dr, PMB 59462Point Roberts, WA 98281USA

What we collect when you just read

Our own code collects nothing that identifies you when you read a guide and sets no cookies. Google Analytics and Google's advertising code set or read cookies as described under Analytics and Advertising.

To see which guides are read, every page loads Cloudflare Web Analytics, a small script from static.cloudflareinsights.com. It reports the page address, the referring page, the browser type, the country and page-load timings, and we only ever see those as totals. It sets no cookie, stores nothing in your browser and does not identify individual visitors. See Cloudflare Web Analytics.

We also count visits with Umami, open-source analytics software that we run on our own server, loaded from analytics.youness-ops.com. For each visit it records the page address, the referring page, your browser, operating system, device type, screen size and language, and your approximate location, worked out from your IP address. It sets no cookie, stores nothing in your browser and does not keep your IP address, and we read its reports as totals.

Our host, Cloudflare, processes technical request data in order to deliver the site and to protect it from abuse. That includes your IP address, the page requested, your browser user agent and a timestamp. This processing is necessary to serve the website and to keep it secure, and it is described in the Cloudflare privacy policy. Cloudflare may set a security cookie in some circumstances; see the cookie policy.

What we collect when you contact us

The contact form asks for your name, your email address and your message. Submitting the form sends those three fields to Web3Forms, a form-processing service that passes the message to our email inbox. Web3Forms acts as a processor for us; their handling of the submission is described in the Web3Forms privacy policy.

• Why we process it: to read and reply to your message. Our lawful basis under the UK and EU GDPR is legitimate interest in responding to correspondence you initiated.
• How long we keep it: correspondence is kept in our email inbox for up to 24 months, then deleted. Corrections that change a guide may result in a permanent change to that guide, but not to a record of who reported it.
• Who else sees it: nobody. We do not add contact-form addresses to a mailing list, and we do not share or sell them.

Analytics (Google Analytics)

We use Google Analytics 4, a measurement service from Google, on this site and on our sister blog at blog.homecraftblog.com. Both send data to the same Google Analytics property, so a visit that moves from one to the other counts as one visit. It shows us, in reports, how many people read the guides, which ones, how they found us, how long they stay and roughly where they are. When it runs, it collects:

• the pages you view, the page that sent you here, and the time of each visit;
• interactions the tag records on its own: scrolling to the end of a page, clicks on links to other websites, file downloads, video plays, and starting or submitting a form (not what you type into it);
• your browser, device type, operating system, screen size and language;
• your approximate location (city, region and country), which Google works out from your IP address. Google Analytics 4 does not log or store IP addresses;
• where cookies are allowed, a random identifier in its cookies that lets it recognize a returning browser.

We do not send Google your name, email address or anything else that identifies you directly, and the tag removes email addresses from page addresses before they are sent. Google signals and ads personalization are turned off for this data, so it is not used to build advertising profiles or to choose the ads you see, and we have turned off sharing it with Google to improve Google's own products. Google processes it for us under its data processing terms, and keeps visit-level data for 14 months. We look at reports, not at individual visitors, and we may show totals from them to advertising partners that ask about the size of our audience.

Cookies and your choice. Google Analytics stores two cookies on homecraftblog.com, _ga and _ga_4GLV5PMNQV, which last up to 2 years. Whether they are used depends on where you are:

• EEA, the UK and Switzerland: only after you consent in Google's consent message. Our lawful basis is your consent, which you can withdraw with the "Your privacy choices" link in our footer.
• Brazil and Quebec: this site does not use them.
• Everywhere else: on unless you turn them off with the button below or with the "No thanks" choice on our sister blog, which covers that site.

Without cookies, the tag still sends Google cookieless signals, such as that a page was viewed, with the time and your browser type, and Google uses them only for aggregated, modeled figures. In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland our lawful basis for those signals is our legitimate interest in measuring the site.

Turn off Google Analytics cookies

This button works in this browser and on this site. To stop Google Analytics on every website you visit, install the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on. Google explains its handling of this data in how Google uses information from sites that use its services.

Advertising

This site shows ads from Google AdSense on the home page, the guides and the tools. No ad code runs on the About, contact or policy pages.

• Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to this website or other websites.
• Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to users based on their visit to this site and/or other sites on the Internet.
• Google and other third-party vendors may place and read cookies on your browser, or use web beacons and IP addresses, to collect information as a result of ad serving on this site. They send these to your browser directly; we do not receive them or control them.
• Besides Google, other ad technology companies approved by Google may bid to show ads here. They are listed in Google's list of ad technology providers.
• The cookies Google uses for ads, such as __gads and __gpi on this site (13 months) and IDE on doubleclick.net, are listed with their lifetimes in our cookie policy and in how Google uses cookies in advertising. Google explains its use of the information in how Google uses information from sites that use its services.

Personalized and non-personalized ads. Personalized ads are chosen using what Google and its partners know about your browsing. Non-personalized ads are chosen from the page you are reading and your general location, but, as Google explains, they still use cookies or mobile ad identifiers for frequency capping and aggregated ad reporting.

• EEA, the UK and Switzerland: Google's certified consent message asks you first. Our lawful basis for advertising cookies and personalized ads is your consent, and the message lists every company involved. You can change or withdraw your consent at any time with the "Your privacy choices" link in our footer or the "Privacy and cookie settings" link Google's message places on the page.
• Everywhere else: ads may be personalized unless you opt out in one of the places below. In some United States states, such as Delaware and Oregon, Google also treats a Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal from your browser as an opt-out.

You can opt out of personalized advertising in any of these places:

• Google Ads Settings or My Ad Center, which control personalized ads from Google.
• aboutads.info/choices and the Network Advertising Initiative, which cover participating third-party vendors.
• youronlinechoices.eu, for visitors in Europe.

Google Analytics cookies are controlled separately, with the button under Analytics.

Who we share data with

Only the services that run the site, each for the purpose described above: Cloudflare (hosting, security and page-view counting), Google (Google Analytics), Google and the ad technology providers it works with (advertising), and Web3Forms (delivering contact-form messages). We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect the site and its readers from fraud or abuse.

How long data is kept

• Messages you send us: up to 24 months, then deleted.
• Advertising cookies: set and kept by Google for the periods in its cookie list, for example 13 months for __gads.
• Google Analytics: visit-level data is kept for 14 months and then deleted by Google; reports keep only totals. Its cookies last up to 2 years.
• Cloudflare Web Analytics page-view counts: kept only as totals, which contain no personal data.
• Umami visit records: kept on our own server until we delete them. They hold no names, email addresses or IP addresses.

Children

This site is written for adults and is not directed at children, and ads here are not targeted at children. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has sent us personal data, write to us and we will delete it.

International transfers

Our host, our form provider and Google operate globally, which means data described above may be processed outside your country, including in the United States. Where the law requires it, those providers rely on recognized safeguards such as the European Commission's standard contractual clauses, as set out in the privacy policies linked above.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete, port or restrict the processing of your personal data, to object to processing, to withdraw consent, and to complain to a data protection authority. Residents of California and other United States states with comprehensive privacy laws may have rights to know, access, delete and correct their data, and to opt out of its sale, sharing or use for targeted advertising.

We do not sell personal data for money. Advertising cookies set or read by Google and its partners on this site may count as "sharing" for cross-context behavioral advertising, or as "targeted advertising", under some United States state privacy laws. You can opt out of that use through the opt-out links in the Advertising section, a GPC signal in the states where Google applies it, or by emailing contact@homecraftblog.com. Google Analytics measures visits for us with Google signals and ads personalization turned off, so it is not used for targeted advertising. We will not treat you differently for using any of these rights.

To exercise any right, email contact@homecraftblog.com. Because the only personal data we hold directly is correspondence, the fastest way for us to find your record is for you to write from the address you originally used. We respond within 30 days. Data held by Google is managed through the Google settings linked above.

Security

The site is served over HTTPS only. The only visitor data we keep is the Umami visit records, which hold no names, email addresses or IP addresses. Correspondence lives in a password-protected email account.

Links to other websites

Guides link to manufacturers, standards bodies and other sources. Those sites have their own privacy policies, and we are not responsible for how they handle your data.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes materially, the date at the top changes and the substance of the change is described in this section. The update of November 5, 2026 adds Umami, a cookieless visit counter we run on our own server. The update of October 25, 2026 adds Google Analytics, which we use on this site and on our sister blog, its two cookies, and a button to turn them off. The update of October 23, 2026 adds our mailing address, how to withdraw consent, the lawful basis for advertising, the advertising cookies Google names, the services we share data with, and how long data is kept. The update of October 22, 2026 said that Google and its vendors may also use web beacons and IP addresses for ad serving, and that the AdSense code loads only on the home page, the guides and the tools. The update of October 5, 2026 added the Cloudflare Web Analytics script that counts page views. The update of October 3, 2026 described the Google AdSense advertising on this site.

Contact

Email contact@homecraftblog.com, use the contact form, or write to:

Home Craft Blog145 Tyee Dr, PMB 59462Point Roberts, WA 98281USA