Not every project goes as well as planned. We would be happy to spend a few minutes answering your questions.
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Window screens can be a nemesis for a handyman. If you don’t get the screening taut enough it will flap in the wind, and if you stretch it too tight it will cause the frame to warp. The window screen frame is somewhat flimsy and generally comes in two thicknesses.
The short answer to whether or not you can re-use a bent window screen frame is no. Whether the window screen frame is only slightly bent or has a full-on kink to it, it won’t hold up under the tension of stretching the screening material across it. If you were to loosely re-screen the frame, it might maintain its shape, but the screening material would look a little wavy.
It’s better to buy a new window screen frame kit. These are inexpensive and assemble in a matter of minutes. You don’t even need to cut the corners at 45-degrees. The kits come with corner pieces so that you only need to make a square cut on each piece of framing material and push in the corner pieces to assemble the frame. Just make sure you are buying the correct thickness. It’s probably a good idea to take a piece of the old frame with you to match up the thickness as well as the color.
If you’ve ever worked with wood, particularly hardwood, you know how easy it is to split a piece of wood when twisting a screw into it. Here are a few handyman tricks to avoid splitting that nice piece of hardwood.
Softwoods, like pine, will easily accept a screw into it without splitting. The wood fibers compress enough to allow the screw to penetrate the wood without damaging it. Hardwoods, like oak, will split if you don’t take a few steps first.
The easiest way to avoid splitting hardwood is to pre-drill the hole. The diameter of the hole should be about the same size as the shank of the screw or slightly smaller. You can hold up a drill bit next to the screw to determine the sizing.
Another trick is to lubricate the screw before you install it. Use a bar of soap and rub the screw threads on the bar of soap. The soap will flake off on the screw and as the screw passes into the wood, the soap will act as a lubricant. It really makes a huge difference. Just don’t use liquid soap! Bar soap will dramatically lessen the chances of snapping off a screw will trying to bulldoze it into the wood.
The time will come when you have to replace your washing machine hoses. A handyman can help or you can buy a few specialized tool and do it yourself. Whatever the reason you are removing the hoses, be it moving, replacing the appliances, or upgrading the hoses, I would certainly use the no-burst stainless steel braided hoses (these typically carry a 10 year warranty).
The challenge can be removing the old corroded hoses off of the hose bibs that they screw attach to. These hoses screw onto the threaded ends of the hose bib but can be a bear to get off once they become corroded. The ends of the hoses are metal and so you can get a little rough with them, but be careful not to damage the hose bib in the process or you may be replacing it as well.
You can use a couple of large wrenches and, while holding the hose bib so it won’t move, try to loosen the hose coupling off of it. If this doesn’t work, you can try to score the coupling and peel it off of the hose bib.
Use a small cutting wheel, like what you would find in a Dremel tool, and cut through the top of the coupling. Then score the outside of the coupling along the entire height of the coupling. The trick here is to cut deep enough to cut through the coupling without damaging the threads of the hose bib underneath the coupling. Use large channel locks or water pump pliers and pull the coupling apart at the score line. Once you have part of the coupling away from the hose bib threads, you can pull the other side of the coupling off and remove the hose.
Wooden gates are always in need of a handyman. The gate always seems to sag and drag on the ground. When you want to latch the gate, you have to lift up the gate and almost set it into the latch.
This is one of those jobs that can really grow. Before repairing the sagging gate, make sure that the post it is attached to is solid and plumb. If it is not, you need to make it so. This may involve removing the gate, digging out the post and adding concrete to support it, or even replacing the post if it has rotted. If the post is not solid and plumb, don’t expect the gate to operate properly for very long.
Once the post is correct, try adding a turnbuckle to square the gate and remove the sag. Attach the turnbuckle to the top of the gate’s frame at the hinge side, and the bottom of the gate on the latch side. This will be a diagonal threaded rod connected to the opposite corners. When you turn the mechanism in the middle, it will contract or relax the threaded rod. This will pull the corners together where the rod is connected. This will bring the gate back to square and should allow it to latch once again.
If you have just moved into a new house and plan on installing light fixtures and ceiling fans, take it from a handyman, you will need to strip the wires to install them. If you are replacing existing fixtures, you likely will not, unless they are damaged.
On a pre-wired location the wires normally aren’t already stripped for installation. This is an easy part of installing a new fixture and is something you will likely do many times over the course of your life.
You can use a wire stripping tool or a combination tool for this. These tools have various sized holes that correspond to the size of wire you are stripping. If you open the tool the holes along each side of the tool split in half and you can insert the wire in the appropriate sized hole and squeeze. The tool will cut through the insulation but not the copper wire. Then move the tool towards the end of the wire and it will pull the insulation off.
Many people use lineman’s pliers or anything sharp, such as a knife or utility blade. These will certainly cut the insulation but you risk cutting or nicking the wire as well. This is risky as a nicked wire could lead to overheating of the wire.
You can ask a handyman to do just about anything. Yes that includes leveling the appliances. Sometimes when you wash a large load of heavy items, such a jeans, the washer and dryer tend to shake, rattle and roll. Particularly during the spin cycle, if the clothes end up on one side of the agitator, the appliance can just rock and roll. As a bonus, if the washer and dryer are touching each other, one will bang into the other. You would swear the appliances are walking across the room.
Most of these problems can be solved by simply leveling the machines. This is done by adjusting the feet on the bottom of the machines, and it's really easy.
You can probably hold the corner of the maching and gently push or pull and it will move. It is usually only one or two feet that are really out of line. Start by moving the machine so that the out-of-balbance foot is off the floor and move the foot downward. Turning the foot counter-clockwise will lower the foot and turning it clockwise will raise the foot. If you want to get fancy, you can use a level on the top of the machine, just place it both side-to-side and front-to back. Continue adjusting the feet until it is balanced and so it won't move when you try to push it.
As a handyman, I’ve cut off many locks. In many cases, a new homeowner just moves into a house and wants an unknown lock removed. Maybe its on a gate or a shed. Whether a keyed padlock or a combination, you are going to have to cut through the shank.
Sure, you could use bolt cutters, but you may have to rent large ones and squeeze like there’s no tomorrow. I’ve also heard of people trying to cut off padlocks with a reciprocating saw. I’m sure that would work, but would take a considerable amount of time.
Smaller diameter lock shanks won’t be the problem. It’s the big fat lock shanks that will have the sweat beading off of your head. The smaller lock shanks can easily be cut with the bolt cutters, but the big ones are the concern.
I think the answer is a grinder. Use a hand grinder and a cutting wheel and start cutting a slot in the shank. You are going to throw some sparks, so just be aware and make sure the sparks go in a direction that won’t damage anything.
Once you cut through the shank, you will be able to twist the lock away from the severed shank to remove it. But be careful: it’s going to be hot.
A handyman has to be creative. We run into things that make us think on our toes. Case in point: attaching something to masonry block or concrete. Now, we all know that masonry is hard which is a detriment to making something stick to it, but a benefit that once it is in, it probably won’t be coming out. So how do you install a screw into masonry or concrete? Well, you use power tools of course.
You are going to need to drill a hole in the material first before you install a screw. Masonry screws are pretty beefy, and have good sheer strength as well. The point here is that you are going to have to work to get a hole drilled and then a screw installed, so make sure this is worth it. If there is not another place to mount or install the item, then grab your drill and a sharp masonry bit. You can buy masonry screws (like Tapcon) that are properly sized with a bit. These items go hand-in-hand. Drill the hole with the bit and then you can twist the screw into the material.
You do have a choice of screw heads: standard, Phillips, and hex. I would use the Phillips head or hex head as you will have more surface area to twist the screw into the material, and have less chance of chewing up the head.
So your handyman tells you he can’t find a matching knob for you stove. You just want to make the house rentable to start offsetting your underwater mortgage payment. You are faced with several unappealing ideas. You look at the stove and see three matching handles and one ugly metal post that the missing handle should be sitting on. You toy with the idea of going to an appliance store to special order one and pay shipping and handling. Worse yet, maybe you thought about calling an appliance repairman to get one for you…all good ideas, but probably a little more costly than you want right now.
How about this: go to a home center and buy 4 new generic knobs. Yes, they won’t match the existing knobs but who cares? They are going to match each other and you won’t have to wait 10 days and pay shipping and handling. If you are not looking for top of the line knobs and are looking for “functional”, as most landlords are, generic knobs are the way to go.
They don’t work in every case, but a generic knob will solve most of the problems. They are easy to install too. Just stick the new knob on the post sticking up and push down to seat it. To remove existing knobs, you will need to lift them off of the post. You may need to pry them off using a screwdriver, but make sure you protect the stove’s finish with a cloth.
If you want to add a lock to a metal filing cabinet you have sitting around, you can do it yourself and don’t need a handyman to help you. In fact in 10 minutes you can have a locking filing cabinet complete with keys. Some filing cabinets come with a lock, and others don’t, but you can add one later if you want. Office supply stores sell the kits and they are easy to install.
About the hardest part of the job is removing the knock-out in the cabinet. This is usually located in the upper right corner. Use a screwdriver and tap it out with a hammer. The lock mechanism fits in it’s place. Insert the lock through the front at an angle. Push it into position and secure it with the included tension clip. The lock mechanism usually connects to a rail on the right side of the cabinet. This rail runs the entire length of the cabinet and will engage or disengage all of the cabinet drawers simultaneously. So when the key is turned to lock the cabinet, the rail lifts and locks all drawers. When the key is turned to open the drawers, the rail drops.
You need to bend the lock mechanism’s arm around a small wrung in the rail to move it. Once this is done you can lock and unlock to your heart’s content.
