| Quick Tips: Easy Repairs and Choosing Tools |
| Get advice from the pros about household repairs, and find out what tools every toolbox needs. |
From "Today Show Tips"
episode DTST-108 |
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Repairing Walls
A hole in the wall is a great thing — when it's a fabulous, undiscovered restaurant. It's not a great thing when it's in your living room. The good news is you don't need a pro to fix it. You just need a good attitude and some adult Play-Doh, otherwise known as spackle. You can save a lot of money by fixing holes in the walls yourself.
- For relatively small holes (nail holes, for example), use a putty knife to work spackle into the hole. You may need more than one coat, depending on the size of the hole.
- For larger holes, such as those made by a doorknob, use a self-stick patch. Remove the backing, center the patch over the hole, and press it against the wall.
- Put a thin coat of joint compound over the patch. You may have to apply several coats, each one spreading a little wider than the one before, but eventually the patch will disappear.
- For a crack in the wall, apply adhesive fiber-mesh tape over the crack. Then start applying coats of joint compound. Again, you'll need several coats, and each one should cover a little more of the wall than the last one.
- To smooth out the spackle and the edges of the joint compound after they're dry, use a wet sponge. Work the sponge in a circular motion. It will even out the spackle without creating any dust.
Now you're ready to prime and paint the wall. Fixing Wallpaper
Wallpaper can develop bubbles or separate at the seams, but it's easy to fix those problems. Seam-repair kits include a tube of adhesive and a small roller. Just squeeze a little adhesive on the wall behind the seam, and use the roller to smooth the wallpaper back into place. Essential Household Tools
Do you have all the tools you need to make minor repairs around your house? Well, we have the list drawn up by a master. This Old House master carpenter Norm Abram shares his tool picks:
- Tape measure
- A carpenter's hammer
- A mallet
- A 10-inch crescent wrench
- Three screwdrivers (two straight slots and a #2 Phillips)
- A utility knife
- Lineman's pliers
- A cordless drill with two batteries
- A jigsaw
- A circular saw
- A random orbit sander
- Safety glasses
- Ear protection
Plumbing Repairs
So let's say your pipes are acting up, and you're tempted to fix them yourself. It's a great idea, but before you turn your home into a water park, you'll want to follow some simple steps and have some basic tools:
- Self-adjusting pliers
- A basin wrench,
- A couple of screwdrivers
Low water pressure.When you have very little water pressure in your bathroom sink, remove the aerator and check the screen in. Sometimes water has a lot of minerals that can corrode it. A replacement screen is very inexpensive. Drippy faucet.
- First, turn off the water supply. Usually there are two shut-off valves right under the sink. If not, use the main shutoff.
- Close the drain to prevent losing any parts in it.
- Take the plastic cap off the top of the faucet. Use a Phillips head screwdriver to remove the screw at the top of the fitting.
- If the fitting is really tight, wrap a rag around it. Use pliers to loosen it.
- There's a washer on the bottom of the fitting, and that's what has to be replaced. You can buy a box of washers at the hardware store. Take off the screw, remove the old washer and put in the replacement.
Cleaning out the trap. The P-trap is a very important part of the plumbing system; it keeps sewer gasses from backing up into the house. If you've dropped something down the drain or the drain is clogged, it's easy to open up the trap with pliers or a wrench. First, be sure to put a bucket under the trap to catch any water. If the pipe and trap are chrome, there may be a clean-out plug at the bottom of it. Remove it, and the lost object will fall out. If you're dealing with a bad clog, though, loosen the slip connection (nut) at the top of the trap. The pipe just above the connection is threaded; unscrew it and slide it down into the trap. Now you can turn the trap upside down and pull out anything that's stuck in there. A PVC system probably won't have a clean-out plug, so you'll have to loosen the P-trap to get anything out of it. Preventing frozen pipes.Be sure to disconnect the garden hose before the weather gets cold. If you don't, water that stays in the pipe all winter long, and you end up with frozen pipe that bursts. Tip on replacement parts. Take the old parts, including the water-supply line, to the hardware store to make sure you get the right-sized replacements. Cool Tools
Check out the latest in handy tools that are easy — and comfortable — to use.
- One screwdriver can do the work of many with interchangeable bits.
- A small cordless power drill is easy to handle. You can adjust it so it locks in place for straight or angled drilling and driving.
- A little hand drill is very easy to use and ergonomically correct. The handle is shaped like a large egg. You can drill into wood very easily, so it's good for doing delicate work.
- A rechargeable cordless scrubber comes in handy on cleaning day. It comes with different brushes for various tasks.
- A PowerShot staple gun solves a problem that staple guns can present for women. With most staple guns, you need a lot of force to shoot the staple. With this one, though, you can push forward, using your body weight instead of your hand. And it's very stable.
- A utility knife with a shroud on the handle keeps your knuckles off the work surface if the knife slips.
- A stud finder is a great tool. The light turns red to indicate that it's found the stud in the wall.
- A small torpedo level is just as good as a big level for most household jobs.
- A mouse sander is very easy to grip. It's great for refinishing furniture.
- With a cordless broom, you don't need a dustpan. Just click it on, and you're done in one shot.
- And one last suggestion: No home workshop is complete without a fully stocked first-aid kit.
- ALSO IN THIS EPISODE:
| | Quick Tips: Easy Repairs and Choosing Tools |
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