How to Fix Everything For Dummies
Overview
If I had a hammer: The fun and easy way for do-it-yourselfers to repair home appliances and furniture
For anyone who's ever been frustrated by a repair shop rip-off or just wanted to join thousands of others in the DIY craze, How to Fix Everything For Dummies is a no-nonsense guide showing you how to troubleshoot and fix a wide range of furniture (with wobbly legs, for example) and household appliances -- vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, washers, dryers, dishwashers, garbage disposals, toasters, blenders, radios, televisions, and even computers and printers.
Packed with step-by-step illustrations and easy-to-follow instructions, it's a must-have money-saver for the half of all homeowners who undertake Do-It-Yourself (DIY) home projects. This hands-on, DIY manual shows you not only how to fix faulty appliances but also tend to all those irritating repairs that cost more to have someone else fix than the item is worth. How to Fix Everything For Dummies is for you if you
- Are a homeowner or an apartment dweller
- Want to fix things around the house but aren't sure where to start
- Have some experience but need guidance on tackling more and larger repairs
- May be frustrated about throwing things away because you don’t know where to go to repair them
- Don't want to pay for service calls when the problem is minor
Featuring clear, concise directions, How to Fix Everything For Dummies also covers the proper tools and materials to get the job done correctly without breaking the bank and important safety measures to take so you don’t hurt yourself. You’ll learn how to
- Fix creaky stairs
- Patch basement floors
- Restore damaged carpets
- Correct drywall and repair plaster walls
- Fix door and cabinet hardware problems
- Rewire fixtures
- Get doorbells to work
- Fix garage door openers
- Unclog drains and fix leaky pipes
- Mend wooden fences and decks
- Repair minor cracks in the concrete driveway or pool
- And a whole lot more
Additionally, this friendly guide is written in plain English and includes a list of home repairs you should not take on yourself but should leave for the professionals and tips on how to hire one. Grab your copy of How to Fix Everything For Dummies, grab your screwdriver and wrench, and get to work!
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About The Author
Gary and Peg Hedstrom are self-taught repair masters with experience in carpentry, plumbing, appliance repair, and more. Judy Ondrla Tremore is a writer and editor for various newspapers and magazines.
Sample Chapters
how to fix everything for dummies
CHEAT SHEET
It's a good idea to be prepared for things going wrong in your home, whether it's something relatively simple that you can fix yourself, or a more complex problem requiring a qualified professional.Following is advice for both situations. First, we list some non-tool items you'll want to have around for DIY home repair.
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General Home Improvement & Appliances
CD, DVD, and VCR players let you know right away when they need attention. Although they're relatively trouble-free, when these electronic devices get dirty, they won’t play at all or the picture on the television screen looks fuzzy. On rare occasions, a power cord, belt, or tray must be replaced. Here are a few quick fixes:
If the device doesn’t work, make sure that the power cord is plugged in and that the fuse or circuit breaker hasn’t tripped.
Fixing wallpaper bubbles or bumps is a simple, five-minute process. Knowing how to fix wallpaper bubbles and bumps prevents further damage like tears or rips.Wallpaper bubbles occur when a glob of wallpaper paste wasn’t smoothed out when the paper was hung or when a weak bond between the wallpaper and wall causes the wallpaper to lift.
General Home Improvement & Appliances
If your old house has double-hung windows, you’ll need to know how to get to the sash cords for maintenance or repair. Window sash cords become frayed or broken or disconnected from the weights that give balance to the window. These mechanisms also need to be periodically lubricated and maintained to prevent problems.
General Home Improvement & Appliances
Adding a cutting board to a countertop is a good strategy when you have a damaged area. You don’t always need to replace a whole countertop when just one part of it looks awful. Odds are that the damage is adjacent to a sink or range — high-risk areas. So all you have to do is cut out the damaged section and, in its place, put in a cutting board, a sheet of glass, or some decorative tiles, and guests will think you got the idea from a magazine focusing on upscale homes.
General Home Improvement & Appliances
If you have a damaged area on your kitchen countertop, you can replace it with a tempered or heat-resistant glass inset. Then you can put a hot pan or baking dish directly onto it without worrying about breaks or cracks, as you would if you put cold glass that isn’t heat resistant into a hot oven. You need a square, a ruler, the glass, the frame, caulk, and a saber saw.
General Home Improvement & Appliances
If an appliance isn’t working, you can replace worn plugs and cords. When replacing the cord on an appliance, it must be as heavy a gauge as the one you’re taking out, especially when an appliance heats up. These appliances must have cords that can resist fire; they have an Underwriters Laboratory (UL) fire rating.
General Home Improvement & Appliances
When a blender, mixer, or food processor stops running completely, it usually means that the motor is bad. If you’ve tested the plug, cord, and switch and know the problem doesn’t originate there, the motor is bad. Replace the appliance.
You’re working with electricity, which can be very dangerous! Wires wrapped in black are always hot or power wires.
General Home Improvement & Appliances
Doorbell chimes come in many varieties. You aren’t stuck with the old standards any longer. Whether your old doorbell finally gave out, or you just want a new sound to alert you that company has arrived, changing the chime is easy.
Remote doorbells have a variety of sounds, and when they malfunction, all you have to do is get new batteries for the receiver.
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If your refrigerator food compartment is too warm, one easy solution might be to replace the rubber gasket that runs around the door. It may be so worn or stretched out that it doesn’t seal. Gaskets are fastened to the door with screws or metal or plastic retainers. You need a screwdriver and a replacement gasket from an appliance supply store.
Cleaning concrete is easy and inexpensive. If you know how to clean concrete, you can restore an unsightly driveway in no time. Cars don’t have to be very old before they start leaving oil and grease stains on the garage floor and driveway. This method will remove most stains.
You'll need a 5 percent solution of muriatic acid, which is available at hardware and home improvement stores.
General Home Improvement & Appliances
Just a splash of coffee or a dash of pizza sauce can cause the keys of your computer keyboard to stick. Keeping your computer keyboard in good running order isn’t that hard. You need screwdrivers; a blow dryer, vacuum cleaner with a brush attachment, or canned air (available at a hardware or home improvement stores); a soft brush; and electrical contact cleaner.
If you still have a trackball on your computer keyboard or a roller ball under the mouse, they may start performing erratically. That’s usually because they and the rollers beneath the balls need cleaning. You need a lint-free cloth, rubbing alcohol, a sponge swab, and compressed air or a hair dryer to blow dirt out of the housing.
Whether you have an inkjet or a laser printer, giving it a basic cleaning will keep it printing longer. You don’t have to wait until your printer starts spitting out distorted print or smeared pages to try cleaning it. Cleaning your printer should be part of your maintenance routine. To clean your printer, you need rubbing alcohol, a cotton swab, a vacuum cleaner or canned air, and a clean cloth.
General Home Improvement & Appliances
When your coffee maker stops making coffee, don’t throw it away until you check that the cord and plug are not bad. Then give it a good cleaning. Coffee makers get clogged with mineral deposits in water, just like steam irons. If anything else goes wrong, there’s little you can do. So inspect the plug and cord, and then follow the cleaning steps.
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Filling small cracks in concrete keeps them from turning into big holes. If you know how to fill small cracks in concrete, you’ll restore your concrete to a smooth finish. This technique will work for cracks smaller than 3/8 inch wide in the sidewalk, driveway, garage floor, basement, or steps.
For this project you'll need a 10-ounce tube of latex, epoxy, or vinyl concrete patch; a caulking gun; a wire brush; and a wet rag.
General Home Improvement & Appliances
Finding replacement ceramic and clay tiles can be time consuming and frustrating. At the very least, finding replacement tiles will require trips to your local tile contractors. But if your tile is older, you need to be prepared for the fact that an exact match might not be available.
Your best bet is to always save extra tiles and grout whenever you install tiles.
How to find a leak in a roof may be the hardest part of fixing a leaky roof. Finding the actual spot where the roof leaks is difficult because water can enter the roof in one place and run down to another before it starts soaking into the ceiling.
You know the roof is bad if shingles are missing or obviously damaged, or when water stains the ceiling or walls.
You know the roof is bad when water stains the ceiling or walls. But unless shingles are missing or obviously damaged, finding the leak may be difficult because water can enter the roof in one place and run down to another before it starts soaking in. You may be able to spot the leak if you have an attic and go up there on a rainy day.
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When cabinet doors won’t close, determine whether the door itself is getting stuck or the hinge is keeping it from moving freely. But the door itself may be at fault. Wooden doors can absorb moisture and warp in hot, humid weather. One way to find out if that is the cause is to wait for dry weather. The wooden door will shrink when the humidity drops.
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If you've got a smoker at home, it’s inevitable that some of your furnishings will be marred by an accidental burn. Getting rid of unsightly cigarette burns is a snap. All you need is nail polish remover, clear nail polish, a cotton swab, and a small knife. Here’s what to do:
Place a little nail polish remover on the swab and rub it into the burn mark until the discoloration disappears.
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Peeling paint at the base of a porch column or deck post often indicates that the base has been and still is wet. You can find out how bad the problem is by peeling back a little more of the paint — you have to repaint the column anyway. Now push a screwdriver into the wood. If it feels soft and spongy, it’s rotted.
Patching a pile carpet that’s damaged or stained can renew its look. Fixing damaged pile carpet with a patch is cheaper than replacing a whole carpet. Just cut out the damaged or stained spot and add a section of matching carpet. When patching a pile carpet, make sure that the nap in your patch runs in the same direction as the rest of the carpet or it’ll stick out like a sore thumb.
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Large hail driving at a slant into aluminum siding leaves its mark. So do people. When your siding looks as though it’s been knocked out, surprise, it can be fixed quite easily! You need a #6 self-tapping screw — it taps all by itself, no drilling hole first — 120-grit sandpaper, two-part auto body filler, pliers, a putty knife, and paint that matches the siding.
General Home Improvement & Appliances
It's a good idea to be prepared for things going wrong in your home, whether it's something relatively simple that you can fix yourself, or a more complex problem requiring a qualified professional.Following is advice for both situations. First, we list some non-tool items you'll want to have around for DIY home repair.
General Home Improvement & Appliances
Fix a loose ceramic floor tile before the tile breaks. Loose floor tiles occur if the original adhesive doesn't seal properly or if the grout is chipped or uneven, allowing moisture to get under the tile. Securing loose ceramic or clay tiles before they break will save time and money down the road.If a tile isn’t broken or cracked, you’re in good shape for fixing the floor.
General Home Improvement & Appliances
If the main compartment in your refrigerator is too warm or too cold and adjusting the temperature controls doesn’t seem to help, first vacuum the compressor and condenser coils. If they aren’t cleaned a couple times a year, the refrigerator won’t be efficient.
If dirty coils aren’t the problem, check and reset the temperature in the food compartment.
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Fixing a ripped or torn carpet is essential because loose carpet tears easily. Fixing a ripped carpet while the tear is small can prevent accidents and keep the damage from spreading. Sharp objects can fall, cutting carpets, but most often, tears and rips occur along the seamed edges or at the edges of badly worn carpeting.
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Cabinet doors sag when a screw or hinge comes loose, when the hardware is damaged, or when the wood underneath the hinge is stripped or gouged by a loose screw. You need a screwdriver. (A helper makes it easier to hold the door in position while you work.) Here’s what to do:
Open the door.
If the top hinge is loose, push the door up and back to straighten the door.
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Fixing scratched hardwood floors is essential for any homeowner lucky enough to have wood floors. Scratches on hardwood floors mar their beauty, but fixing scratches is easy. You can make your floor look as good as new.Assess the damage.Light scratches require a different repair approach from deep scratches.
For light scratches, lightly rub fine steel wool over the scratch.
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Repairing small cracks in plaster is easy compared to plastering a whole room. To repair small cracks in plaster, you’ll need patching compound, medium- and fine-grit sandpaper, a sanding block, a putty knife, a masonry chisel, a paintbrush, a rag, and a screwdriver. For finishing, you'll need primer and paint.
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Veneer is glued onto the surface of furniture after the framework and panels have been built. Sometimes, the glue comes loose and the veneer blisters or the edges loosen and lift up. It’s relatively easy to reattach the glued area, but you must work carefully so you don’t split or crack the veneer.
When an edge lifts, you can fix it by using a metal emery board and white glue that dries invisibly.
Sometimes computers stop talking to printers or the printer “freezes.” It's very frustrating because, of course, the printer seizes up only when you're in a hurry. A printer has a lot of mechanical and electronic pieces that all have to work together, so isolating the problem could take some time.
Don’t use recycled paper in a printer because it sheds particles.
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In older homes, doorbells are hardwired into the door frame or very near it. They usually don’t present problems for years. But, inevitably, they no longer work and you have to take them apart to repair them.
Wired doorbells have a bell, a junction box with a transformer on it, and the button at the door. Ringing the bell connects the ground wire together, which activates the circuit.
Toasters are uncomplicated appliances with heating elements, a thermostat, switches, and plugs and cords. Most of the time when they malfunction, they just haven’t been cleaned thoroughly enough. Of course the heating elements can burn out after time, and plugs, cords, and switches get faulty, but if you maintain your toaster as suggested below, the toaster should give you years of service before the electrical parts wear out.
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Squeaky floors can be extremely irritating. Fixing a squeaky floor caused by gaps between the subfloor and the finished floor is easiest if you have a basement or an access space.
Floors get squeaky when wood dries out (either finished wood or a wooden subfloor), causing the subfloor nails to pop loose and the subfloor to separate from the finished floorboards.
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Squeaky floors can be extremely irritating. Fixing a squeaky floor caused by gaps between the subfloor and joist is easiest if you have a basement or an access space. Floors get squeaky when wood dries out (either finished wood or a wooden subfloor), causing the subfloor nails to pop loose and the subfloor to separate from the floor joist.
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Fixing a squeaky floor that’s carpeted can be challenging. To fix a squeaky carpeted floor, you might have to try a few times until you get the squeak to stop.Floors get squeaky when wood dries out (either finished wood or a wooden subfloor). This can cause subfloor nails to pop loose and the subfloor to separate from the floor joist.
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Squeaky floors can be extremely irritating. Fixing a squeaky floor with a metal cleat is an easy way to fix a number of problems. Floors get squeaky when wood dries out (either finished wood or a wooden subfloor). This can cause subfloor nails to pop loose and floor joists to become warped or twisted. The metal cleat will keep both the subfloor and joist in place.
Several things can cause drawers to get sticky so that they become difficult to open, but you can fix a drawer. Start by pulling the drawer all the way out of the cabinet or chest so you can determine why it isn’t working properly. Common problems and solutions are listed here:
Lubricate the rails: Undamaged rails and cleats slide better if you periodically lubricate them.
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If a portion of wall paneling has lifted or buckled, you can fix it. Hammer a few nails into the groove where it’s buckled. If the extra nails hold it flat, countersink them and fill the surface with a premixed wood putty.
If the panel still pulls up, take the panel off the wall and reglue it. You need a putty knife, pliers, wood adhesive, a hammer, paneling or finish nails, and a touch-up stick.
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Fax machines are usually trouble-free. The best way to keep your fax machine or scanner in top condition is to service it periodically, as recommended by the manufacturer. Use good paper that doesn’t leave a residue or film and use the appropriate ink cartridges.
A fax scans paper images and then transmits them to another machine via a modem linked to your telephone.
General Home Improvement & Appliances
Hot water heating systems need a little maintenance, like venting the radiators and draining the boiler, to keep things running efficiently. Gravity and hot water furnaces are not often installed in new homes today, but similar systems with the old cast-iron radiators throughout the house were fixtures in homes built around 1900, and some of them are still working.
CD and DVD players have a laser lens that needs to be cleaned periodically. To maintain your DVD player, occasionally unscrew the player’s case, so you can get at the lens to clean it. You need a screwdriver, canned air or a soft brush, a foam swab or camera-lens cleaner, and lens cleaning fluid from a camera store.
Dishwashers have hoses, and after time, if the connections get loose or become brittle or cracked, they can leak. The rubber gasket around the dishwasher door also may become worn out and loose, and then it has to be replaced. When there’s a leak, first look at the rubber gasket. It could simply be out of place.
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If an upright vacuum cleaner doesn’t work, turn it upside down and look at the base to begin your maintenance troubleshooting. Is there anything wrapped around the beater brushes? If so, just pull those items off. The roller will turn both ways, so unwinding extraneous garbage is simple.
Next, take off the base plate.
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For the most part, dehumidifiers are trouble free, but they do require maintenance — emptying the tank, cleaning it periodically to keep bacteria and mildew in check, vacuuming the dirt from the coils, and replacing the power cord and plug if they get worn.
In the summer, excessive humidity saps our energy, robs us of sleep, causes health and safety problems — especially in the elderly — and makes basements smell damp and musty.
General Home Improvement & Appliances
Patching mortar on brick walls keeps moisture from getting behind the brick. Knowing how to patch mortar on brick walls can help you to repair the damage to your walls and prevent further structural damage.To replace the mortar, you'll need a chisel with a narrow blade, a stiff brush, mortar mix, a trowel or pointing tool, and a scrub brush for wiping off excess mortar.
Knowing how to patch wallpaper can save the trouble and expense of completely redoing your room. Patch wallpaper if it has tears, bubbles, or loose seams and edges. You'll need leftover wallpaper, scissors, a utility knife, a damp sponge, adhesive, and a wallpaper roller (or rolling pin).Select a piece of scrap wallpaper is exactly the same as the portion that you want to repair.
General Home Improvement & Appliances
Ice dams on a roof can cause a lot of damage. Knowing how to remove ice dams and how to prevent them is an important part of winter maintenance for your home. The first step is to understand what ice dams are and how they form.
If the winter is severe and your roof isn’t insulated enough to keep the snow from melting, ice dams can form: The snow on the roof melts, and the water runs down and freezes over the eaves to create the ice dam.
General Home Improvement & Appliances
Reattaching loose wallpaper seams and edges can prevent further damage: torn wallpaper. To fix loose seams or curling edges on wallpaper, you'll need a knife or craft stick, a damp sponge, a tube of seam adhesive with a pointed nozzle, and a wallpaper roller.
Loose seams and curled edges occur when too much adhesive seeps out when you roll wallpaper edges and seams.
Chairs with machine-woven cane are easy to repair. Look at the seat. Does a band of wood on all four sides frame the cane? And is there a “ribbon” between the cane and the wood? If so, you can fix the seat. That ribbon, called a spline, conceals the raw edges of cane.
Look in the Yellow Pages under “caning supplies” to find a fabric or do-it-yourself supply store selling what you need.
Some chairs and tables are fitted together with a piece of wood (dowel rod) that runs from one leg to another. The dowels are glued into holes cut into the legs. When a dowel rod becomes loose, you can’t simply take it out and reglue it. If you remove just one dowel, you risk splitting or cracking the others. It’s better to take all the joints apart and glue them at the same time.
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You may be able to squash a veneer blister simply by placing a damp cloth over it, and then holding a hot iron on the cloth for a minute or so until the cloth starts getting dry. The heat and moisture sometimes reactivate the glue. It may be necessary, however, to do this several times.
Unlike veneer that lifts at the edges, a blister can occur anywhere on the surface, maybe even in the center of a table or chest.
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Damaged posts eventually cause decks to sag and perhaps even collapse if the load on top of them is heavy. Fence posts lean and wobble, undermining the stability of the whole fence. You can replace them, but you begin by removing the old post
To reduce the risk of rotting posts, keep grass and weeds around them well trimmed.
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When liquid penetrates through wax and polish and gets into the finish (varnish, lacquer, or shellac) or even down to the wood itself, there may be tiny cracks in the wood. To reach them, you must strip the stained area of finish by using furniture stripper, oxalic acid crystals, or a two-step wood bleach or liquid laundry bleach.
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You don’t have to panic when a steaming cup of coffee, sloshed water, or some other liquid leaves a mark on your wood furniture. Most of the time, getting the piece back to its original condition is fairly easy. The first thing you have to do is determine how deep the damage is. You can tell that by the color of the stain or water mark.
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If a big chunk of concrete broke off a step, you can repair it without having to spend money on taking out the old concrete and rebuilding the entire steps. If, however, the steps are generally in pretty bad shape — with crumbling concrete on the surface and deep cracks in other parts — then the steps should be replaced.
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The edges of concrete steps sometimes break off or crumble. If the edge comes off in one piece and you still have it, you can refasten it with an epoxy cement. You need a wire brush, two-part epoxy adhesive, a board, and a concrete block or some other weight.
Old concrete that has crumbled, making dust and small bits of concrete, cannot be repaired.
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You can remove a piece of aluminum siding and patch in a new one when it’s so badly damaged that it’s beyond repair. You need your utility knife, a piece of aluminum siding, a household cleaner, and a silicone sealant. Follow these steps:
Draw a square around the damaged siding.
Use caution when working on ladders.
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Some chairs and tables are fitted together with a dowel rod that runs from one leg to another. The dowels are glued into holes cut into the legs. Wood dries out and shrinks with age.
If your dowel is now too small for its hole, wind cotton or linen thread around the tip of the dowel to make it thicker. Then coat the wood and thread with glue, and reassemble.
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Laminate countertops are pretty durable, but they can get nicked and scratched. They can even bubble. But you can fix these minor imperfections and even remove stains. If you have a countertop with a lot of damage in one area, you can repair it by cutting out a bad section and replacing it with a cutting board or glass insert, glue down lifted edges and corners, and take care of small stains and scratches.
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Knowing how to repair vinyl sheet flooring is an inexpensive way to improve the look of your floor. Repair vinyl sheet flooring when it suffers damage in high-activity kitchens and baths, and other areas. You don't need to replace the whole floor — just patch the damaged section.Gather your tools: Patch cut from scrap of vinyl flooring, masking tape, utility knife, putty knife, pencil, floor adhesive, T-square, mineral spirits, rags, rolling pin.
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Replace window sash cords when the cords fray and break; or repair sash cords if they become disconnected from the weights that give balance to the window. Some windows have chains instead of ropes and they, too, can break. The process of fixing chains is the same as with ropes.
Sash cords help sashes stay open (without a stick to prop it up), move up and down easily, and close properly.
When asphalt shingles are loose or missing, you can easily replace and refasten them. And as long as you’re on the roof, inspect the others close up, as well as the flashing, to find out whether any shingles are damaged or likely to cause problems in the future.
How do you know a shingle is damaged? Telltale signs are when the grit on top of the shingle starts coming off (you find the sandy substance accumulated in the gutter), tabs are missing, or you’ve got twigs, leaves, or something else wedged under a shingle.
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Replace broken or missing ceramic tiles to prevent further damage. Damaged tiles allow moisture to get under the tile, so replace broken ceramic tiles right away. Ditto for clay tiles!
You can easily replace cracked and broken ceramic and clay tiles if you kept extra tiles and grout mix. If not, you'll need to either purchase matching tile or take a tile from some place it won’t be missed, like inside a closet.
Wood siding shrinks in cold weather and expands in the summer. This can cause it to crack and split. You can fix damaged boards or replace them. If you have to replace 3- or 12-inch-wide clapboard, you need a pry bar, a hammer, a small hacksaw, a keyhole saw, blunt-tipped thin-shank siding nails, and as many replacement boards as you need that are similar to what’s on the house.
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Corner edges of aluminum siding, the end caps, get banged into a lot. You cut a corner too sharply and knock into them with ladders, the lawn mower, garden hose, bikes, you name it. End caps are very easy to replace. All you need are replacements, aluminum nails, a pry bar, a utility knife, silicone glue — preferably clear — and paint to match the siding.
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Maintaining your own kitchen appliances to extend their lifespan is a good way to save money. Depending on what’s wrong without microwave oven, you may be able to fix it yourself. You can replace a burned out bulb or put in a new turntable adapter even if you aren’t exactly the DIY type
Before talking about what you can do with your microwave, it’s important to know that you should never take the cover off and try to work on the inside.
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Replacing vinyl floor tiles is pretty easy, especially if you saved extra tiles when the floor was installed. If not, scavenge a replacement vinyl tile from somewhere that won't be noticed, such as inside a closet.Gather your tools: Replacement vinyl tile, heat gun or iron, tile adhesive, putty knife, notched trowel, mineral spirits, rags, rolling pin.
If you have a rotten or damaged post supporting your porch or deck, it needs to be replaced. The first step is to remove the old post. Once that is done, you can set a new post in concrete to ensure that your porch or deck doesn’t sag.
Always use pressure-treated wood for replacement posts and set them in concrete poured over a gravel base, to keep water away from the bottom and sides of the post.
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If you’ve worked on other appliances, you can replace a worn microwave touchpad. The all-digital LEDs on the microwave touch pad don’t last forever. One or two will go out and then, perhaps, a few more. But you don’t have to guess how many minutes or seconds are left when you’re using the appliance. Nor do you need to panic if the protective plastic covering over the numeric display gets punctured.
Repointing a brick walls keeps moisture from getting behind the brick. Knowing how to repoint brick walls can help you to repair the damage to your walls and prevent further structural damage.To repoint a brick wall, you'll need a chisel with a narrow blade, a stiff brush, mortar mix, a trowel or pointing tool, and a scrub brush for wiping off excess mortar.
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One way to save money is to keep an older washing machine running longer. Just about anyone can keep their washer in good running order by replacing belts; getting lost socks, buttons, and pins out of the pump; cleaning out under the agitator; and working on hoses.
Cleaning out agitators
Where can you find that long lost sock?
Sealing concrete will reduce the porosity so that it won’t absorb as much oil. If you know how to seal concrete, the oil will sit on type of your concrete, giving you time to apply a commercial product that will chew up surface oil and grease.
Each fall you should seal the surface, especially if you live in the Northern states.
A post doesn’t have to be damaged to wiggle from side-to-side or lean in one direction. If it’s not damaged by rot, the fence was improperly put in or the post worked its way loose during winter freezes and thaws. A concrete girdle can stabilize posts forever — if they don’t rot.
One way to stabilize a post is to put a splint on it.
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Damaged fence posts lean and wobble, undermining the stability of your entire fence. You may not have to replace a damaged post if you can stabilize it with a concrete girdle. You need a claw hammer, tapered surveyor stakes, premixed concrete, and water. Here’s what to do:
Take out adjacent fence construction.
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When a refrigerator is leaking water, it needs to be addressed immediately. But before you can fix it, you'll need to know why it's happening.There are many causes for a leaking refrigerator. One of the most common problems is that the water isn't able to reach the drain because the refrigerator hasn't been leveled correctly.
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Knowing how to test a circuit breaker can save on electricians’ fees. Test the circuit breaker with a voltage tester to see if it’s faulty. The voltage tester will indicate if the breaker is getting power. If the breaker is faulty, you'll need to replace it.
Safety first! You have to keep the electrical current on when you use the volt tester, so be cautious.
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Clogged drain? Grab a plunger — knowing how to unclog a drain with a plunger could preclude the use of a caustic chemical drain cleaner. Plunging causes suction to force air through the pipes to push out the clog. If plunging the clogged pipe doesn't work, your next option is to use a plumber's snake, also known as a closet auger, to free the clog.
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Unclogging a toilet with a plunger usually creates enough suction to free the clog. Knowing how to use a plunger to unclog a toilet can preclude the mess of using a plumber's snake or the expense of calling a plumber.Water that doesn’t swirl; a flush that only trickles into the drain; and water that backs up instead of flushing out are signs of clogged toilets.
General Home Improvement & Appliances
Unless your home has air purifiers, the dust raised by you and your children and pets gravitates to everything that’s plugged in. Look at the TV a few days after you dust it; it’s coated again. CD and DVD players attract just as much dust as televisions, which can affect the trays and rails that move discs back and forth.
Nothing is worse than a stuck window on a hot summer day. Unsticking a window requires just a little muscle and the right technique. Windows stick for a variety of reasons. It could be because paint got between the sash and the frame or the channels might just need to be cleaned and lubricated. Because there are more than one reason a window can get stuck, there is also more than one method to get the window moving again.
General Home Improvement & Appliances
If you don’t know how to work with electricity safely, you can injure or kill yourself. Following basic electrical safety tips is crucial — after all, you never know who worked on the wiring before you.
Electrical shocks can kill, so don’t do repairs when you’re tired, distracted, or rushed.
Follow a routine and double-check yourself each step of the way.
General Home Improvement & Appliances
Split-system central air conditioners, used with forced air furnaces, take hot air from the house and blow it through an evaporator coil located in the top of the furnace to cool the air. The cooled air circulates throughout the house via the heat ducts then returns to the furnace as warm air to be cooled again.
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