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On
this page we'll post how-to and handy-man tips from members and
guests. If accepted, it will be published here in the order
received.
Click
here
to submit your tip. Unless you tell us otherwise, if you include
your name it will be published along with the tip.
Thanks
for your participation!
Tip of the Week 2005 |
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Week
of: |
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07/16/06 |
Unclog a grease-clogged
drain by pouring a cup of salt and a cup of baking soda into the drain.
Follow that with a kettle of boiling water. |
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07/09/06 |
If you just finished
your caulking job and there's caulk still left in the tube that you
want to save for later, cap off the cartridge using a long nail or
screw, inserting it into the open tip then wrapping duct tape around
it and the tip of the tube to make sure that air doesn't get in and
harden the caulk. You can also use a coarse-thread screw to re-open a
used tube of caulk; take the tube and cut off the nozzle end so that
the hole is a bit larger than the first cut. Then drive the screw into
the end of the hardened caulk and pull out the hardened material.
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07/02/06 |
To get a broken light
bulb out of the socket, turn the switch off, then stick a soft bar of
soap or half of a raw potato into the jagged edges of glass and use it
as a handle to turn out the broken glass easily and safely.
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06/25/06 |
To store a hand saw
safely, cover the teeth with a split length of old garden hose.
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06/18/06 |
Non-stick
vegetable spray works well in a pinch to lubricate squeaky hinges and
sticky locks. |
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06/11/06 |
Painting neatly is always
a challenge for an amateur, especially when painting items like glass
front cabinet doors or window panes. Here's one way to do it: Take
strips of plain white paper and cut them to size. Soak them in warm
water and place snugly around the edges of the glass. They will stay in
place long enough so that you can paint the cabinet, not the glass. You
may need to squeeze out excess water to get the strips even. Then use a
dry paint brush to smooth them out. |
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06/04/06 |
All refrigerator and freezer doors have a
seal, a rubber-like gasket attached to the door to keep cool air inside
the refrigerator and warm air out. Most have a magnet running through it
to help hold the door closed and create a tight seal. If you suspect
that the gasket is faulty, a quick way to check this is to close the
door on a dollar bill at various locations around the door; the closed
door should grip it fairly tightly. To ensure your door closes properly,
keep the gasket clean. A toothbrush and some soapy water are usually
enough to tackle this job. However, if the gasket is brittle and
cracked, you should replace it. |
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05/28/06 |
A piece of chalk or
charcoal in your toolbox will absorb moisture and keep your metal
tools from rusting.
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05/21/06 |
To find a wall stud in a
pinch if you don't have a "studfinder" but have access to a pocket
compass, hold the compass level with the floor and at a right angle to
the wall. Slowly move it along the surface of the wall. Movement of the
compass will indicate the presence of nails and reveal stud location. |
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05/14/06 |
It's a
challenge to apply paint without getting excessive drips while cutting
in around a ceiling. The paint tends to run down the handle of the brush
and onto your hand and arm. You can stop the flow by wrapping a soft
cotton cloth around the metal ferrule of the brush, securing it with a
rubber band. Be sure the cloth isn't touching the bristles or it will
absorb too much paint and become too quickly saturated. Remove and
discard the cloth when finished painting for the day and are ready to
wash your brush. If you don't, it will dry and stick to the ferrule.
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05/07/06 |
Like to reuse those small
polyethlene bags they use in supermarkets these days to wrap fresh
vegetables in them, but have trouble because the knots in the top are
hard to untie? Try this: twist the
polyethlene above the knot until it's rigid, hold the knot gently with the
other hand, and push the rigid bit through the knot.
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04/30/06 |
Doors and door
hinge tips: If a door is sticking
seasonally, (which usually means it's with the change in humidity), pull
the hinge pins and view all six sides of the door - including the top
and bottom. If all 6 surfaces of a door are not sealed properly they
will change more dramatically with the seasons. Seal the door with
stain, poly, or paint and re-hang.
Tighten door handle screws and hinge screws
periodically to keep a door swinging true.
Sometimes you can correct a door sticking
just a little bit by tightening the hinge screws. If a screw is found to
not be "biting in" to the wood and is spinning without securing, remove
and replace with a longer wood screw.
If your door is sticking year round and is
difficult to open, it may be time to remove some wood. A door can be
shaped or layers of paint can be removed from the sides with a hand
planer. Carefully remove shavings of wood or paint until the door
doesn't stick anymore.
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04/23/06 |
Two carpet vacuuming
tips: 1. Before you dust or vacuum, tape a small paper bag to
your apron or belt so you can drop in stray pins, crayons, etc. which
you find along the way.
2. We all know
how Christmas tree needles can clog up a vacuum cleaner. To prevent
that, put a pantyhose leg on the nozzle. The vacuum will draw up the
hose as well as the needles, so you will have to hold the pantyhose
tightly around the nozzle. When you are finished, just pull out the
piece of pantyhose and throw away - no need to worry about a plugged
up vacuum hose.
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04/16/06 |
Paint Roller
Basics: On large flat surfaces, of course rollers work best.
Rollers should be chosen based on the texture of the surface and the
type of paint you are applying.
- Eggshells
- 3/8" nap (longer)
- Alkyds
- 3/16" nap (shorter)
(higher glosses use a shorter
nap)
For surfaces:
- smooth
- 1/8 – 3/8
- semi-smooth
- 3/8 – ½
- semi- rough
- ½ - ¾
- rough
- ¾ - 1 ¼
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04/09/06 |
If ventilation doesn't
remove musty odors: mop concrete floor and walls with a bleach solution
(3/4 cup of household bleach per gallon of water). Rinse and dry after 5
minutes. Be sure to ventilate when applying the bleach solution. Place a
lump of dry charcoal in an open tin / metal container to absorb odors. |
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04/02/06 |
How to choose what grit of sandpaper to
start with when sanding wood: Many
people automatically start with 60 or 80 grit sandpaper for everything,
but often to do so will just make more work for yourself. When you use
60 or 80 grit sandpaper and your wood is not getting smoother than it
was, stop immediately and try a finer grit, like 100 or 120. This will
actually create less work. Remember it is also important to progress to
a finer and finer grit - this ensures that all grooves or scratches from
the previous grip are removed and that the end product is perfectly
smooth and ready for finishing.
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03/26/06 |
If a
door handle or something else heavy damages your drywall, there are a
couple of options for repair:
1. You can buy a drywall
patch that has adhesive backing. It sells for approximately $4-5. Put
the patch in place and finish the repair with drywall compound.
2. A more elegant way
to repair a hole in your drywall is to cut out the damaged area. Use a
utility knife to extract a perfect square around the hole, take a new
piece of drywall and cut it about an inch bigger than the damaged
piece.
Take the damaged piece of sheetrock, place it on the back of the new
piece of drywall and trace it. Score along the line and break away the
excess drywall. Remove one piece at a time, and be careful to leave
the paper intact.
Before you put the new piece in, take a bit of drywall compound and
apply around the edge. Put the drywall into place, drywall the outside
edge and let it dry. Sand it a bit, do another coat of compound, sand
it - and you have a wall that is as good as new.
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03/19/06 |
Bicycle Maintenance:
before you take your bike out of the
mothballs this spring, do a few simple things to make certain the
bike will run smoothly and safely. Remember TLC.
In the bike maintenance game, it stands for tightening,
lubrication, and cleaning.
- Tighten
everything on the bike, paying particular attention to the seat and
handlebars. Adjust the brakes and the gears to be sure they work
properly.
- Lubricate all
of the moving parts including the chain.
- Now clean
everything on the bike to be sure your hands or feet won't slip, and
so the bike will look it's best.
- Check the tire
pressure and have all the needed lights and reflectors if you'll be
out after dark.
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03/12/06 |
Buy, use and maintain
good quality hand tools. Well made, quality professional hand
tools, are really the only tools we as professionals should use. For instance, a poor condition or cheap quality Philips screw driver can
make the job you are attempting much more difficult. The cheap or poor
condition tool will destroy the screw, damage the work surface as it
careens across the surface, or even worse still, you will wind up
hurting yourself. A dull cutting pliers will not cleanly cut a wire. Also
undersized or oversized tools should not be used,
when the right size tool is available. Finally keep your tools in
a clean, serviceable condition, free of corrosion, gunk, and properly
sharpened or dressed. And when a tool is beyond it's service life,
do yourself and the tasks at hand a favor, retire that old tool! Contributed by Bill
Aristovulos
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03/05/06 |
Paint Brush Basics:
Quality brushes cost a bit more, but they're worth it in the long run.
Clean them after each use and they will last a long time. You will need
a 2 or 2 1/2 inch angular sash brush and the same size trim brush.
Choose one with long, dense flagged bristles (these are not square cut
but are split on the ends). These brushes will hold more paint and drip
less. Use a
synthetic brush when painting with latex paint. Although synthetic
brushes can be used with oil-based (alkyd) paints, natural bristle
brushes just work better in most applications. You will want brushes for
"cutting in" and painting in areas where your roller can't reach. |
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02/26/06 |
When you have to
fix a hole in the wall, (with plaster of Paris). You can mix the
plaster with milk instead of water, it will give a longer time to
work with. Or if the job needs to be finished quickly, use latex
primer to mix the plaster with. The finish coat of paint can be put
on in 10 min. Most of the time it works well. If you repairing a
water damaged area, use a stain killer primer on the area before the
plastering and after. The stain will permanently disappear.
Contributed by
Zoltan Papp
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02/12/06 |
While we are on the subject
of masonry drills and bits, lets talk about some very hard concrete
ceiling slabs. Once in a while, when I try to drill a hole in
concrete slab ceiling, I run into the concrete mix from Hell! It
is virtually impossible to get a hole drilled, even when using brand
new, quality bits and a decent impact or hammer drill. I have found that
you should invest in several good quality masonry bits, smaller in
diameter than the hole you have to drill. You then "step up" from a
smaller bit, to the next size. If you are drilling a particularly large
diameter hole, you might have to "step up" 3 or even 4 bit sizes.
One last tip, again
especially when drilling into a concrete ceiling overhead, do your lungs, and the resident's apartment A BIG FAVOR, and use a shop vac
to suction off the dust, AS you are drilling the hole. You can almost
work dust free, and besides, it saves lots of time in cleaning up later.
Contributed by Bill
Aristovulos |
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02/05/06 |
 Many
multi-dwelling buildings built in the late 50's and 60's, used a type of
non-load bearing wall construction, that consisted of steel channels
about an inch thick, steel lathe, a layer of mud coat (structolite) and a
plaster finish coat on each side. These walls were only about 2
inches thick in total. They were
used predominantly as party or partition walls, between apartments.
These thin walls have caused much grief to the unsuspecting
superintendent or maintenance worker attempting to mount pictures,
shelves, etc. and many have actually drilled through to the neighbors
apartment, not fun! To avoided this mishap from occurring to you, get
into the habit of putting a "depth gauge" around your drill bit with a
band of electrical tape. This way, you control the depth of the hole as
to allow for the depth of your anchor and no more. Hopefully, by using
this little tip, you can avoid the "unpleasant " pleasure of "seeing the
light" from the apartment next door. Contributed by Bill
Aristovulos
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01/29/06 |
We've all heard horror stories
about fraud committed using your name, address, SS#, credit cards,
etc. Here's one thing you can do to limit the damage in case this
happens to you.
Place the contents of your
wallet on a photocopy machine. Do both sides of each license, credit
card, etc., so you will know what you had in your wallet and all of
the account numbers and phone numbers to call to cancel. Keep the
photocopy in a safe place.
As everyone always
advises, cancel your credit cards immediately, but the key is having
the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom
to call. Keep those where you can find them easily. File a police
report immediately in the jurisdiction where it was stolen.
This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and is a
first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one).
But here's what is
perhaps most important: Call the three national
credit unions. The numbers are:
- Equifax: 800-525-6285
- Experian 888-397-3742
- Trans Union: 800-680-7289
and
the Social Security Administration
(fraud line): 1-800-269-0271.
Contributed by Glen Stoltz
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01/22/06 |
If you have dirty shoes
and need to cover them quickly but don't have the store-bought ones on
hand, keep two disposable shower caps to slip over your shoes when
you're running in and out of someone's apartment, to prevent tracking
dirt or mud onto the floor.
Contributed by Glen Stoltz |
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01/08/06 |
Recently we tried
this idea for killing roaches (the small ones). We mixed Oatmeal, household
flour and plaster together. (3 equal parts) and placed
it in small tiny piles around our apartment. The roaches go to eat
the oatmeal but the flour and plaster kills them almost instantly. We
actually found couple of dead ones near every pile. We think it's a
great idea.
Contributed by Peter Sammut and James Zammit |
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01/01/06 |
One of the most important
problem solving tool / material in a Superintendent's or Handyperson's
arsenal, is WD-40. According to the
WD-40 website: "What does WD-40
contain? While the ingredients in
WD-40 are secret, we can tell you what WD-40 does NOT contain. WD-40
does not contain silicone, kerosene, water, wax, graphite,
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), or any known cancer-causing agents".
Also, the answer to that age old question that has plagued me ALL my
life: "What does WD-40 stand
for? WD-40 literally stands for
Water Displacement, 40th attempt. That's the name straight out of the
lab book used by the chemist who developed WD-40 back in 1953. The
chemist, Norm Larsen, was attempting to concoct a formula to prevent
corrosion—a task which is done by displacing water. Norm's persistence
paid off when he perfected the formula on his 40th try.
Contributed by Bill
Aristovulos
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