Rusty old hardware? Try a bath of molasses

June 25, 2009

Maybe you've heard the rumors that molasses removes rust. We got some reliable proof it works. Dunking knobs and pulls in a special bath of the sticky stuff is exactly how one Texas homeowner we featured some time ago., saved her heirlooms and money on renovation materials. Consider the salvaged value of presumed-dead doorknobs that now sparkle—or at least gleam. Just beware of trying this on anything so old and delicate it's too eroded to function anyway. Check out the recipes at auto enthusiast and gear-head sites, including metalwebnews and at syrupmakers.com.

White House to use WindowAlert decals?

June 15, 2009

It seems the Obama family is considering putting up some of these hi-tech decals from WindowAlert  in order to stop their feathered friends from accidentally flying into the window panes, according to the company.

A truly multi screwdriver

June 4, 2009

A few weeks back, I was working at the annual charity function that we do with AmeriCares, fixing up a home for an elderly homeowner. I was hard at work on sprucing up the electric stove and I needed to take the back panel off to get to a timer that wouldn't stop buzzing.

That's when my colleague Mark Powers reminded me that the bright orange, handy-dandy multi screwdriver that I take with me everywhere has a super-secret extra function.

More Hope For a Leaky Faucet

June 1, 2009

  Is that old faucet you replaced the washer in leaking again? You were so happy to have finally dealt with that torturous dripping that had been going on for over a year, and now it's back to haunt you only after a month.

Not to worry. It's not the end for your fifty year old fixture. You don't have to tear out the shower tile and replace the entire system yet. There's another inexpensive part that can be replaced that will give you another fifty or so years of replacing just the neoprene washer next time the faucet leaks.

Dust catcher cuts clean up time

I love working on home-improvement projects, but I hate cleaning up afterward. I suppose there's nothing unusual about that, but I often spend more time sweeping and vacuuming than completing the project. That's why I'm always looking for ways to reduce clean-up time.

During a recent remodeling project, in which I was cutting holes in drywall, I discovered a very simple, yet effective dust-catching technique that virtually eliminated clean-up.

Lee Valley magnetic tool shelves

May 29, 2009

   
I'm on a big organization kick lately: clutter is literally driving me crazy. So my eye was primed to spot these cool magnetic tool bar shelves while thumbing through the latest Lee Valley & Veritas catalog. Able to support a handful of 3- to 5-pound tools (usually up to about 20 pounds in total), the shelves are made of ferrite magnets sandwiched in between 3/16-inch thick strips of steel. Great for keeping tools wrangled in your garage or shop. $12.90 for the 13-inch long bar; $19.50 for the 24-inch long bar.

Cutting cement backerboard: It's a snap!

May 21, 2009

Nearly every tiling job I've tackled over the past few years has included the installation of cement backerboard, which provides an ideal substrate for setting porcelain, glazed ceramic, glass or stone tile.

There are a few different brands of backerboard available, but my favorite by far is HardiBacker by James Hardie Building Products. I typically install 1/4-inch-thick backerboard over plywood subfloors, and 1/2-in.-thick backerboard to walls.

I've used a variety of tools to cut cement backerboard, including electric shears, a circular saw, even a jigsaw. But most of the time I reach for my trusty old scoring tool, which is little more than a flat piece of metal that has a plastic handle on one end, and two sharpened tungsten-carbide tips on the other.

To cut cement backerboard, simply draw the carbide tip of the tool along a straightedge to score the surface of the sheet. Press down firmly and make two or three passes.

Next, grab the sheet and bend it up and it'll snap cleanly along the scored line. That's right. Unlike drywall, you must bend backerboard toward the scored line--not away from it--to create the cleanest cut.

Do dryer sheets smell worse than men's cologne?

April 23, 2009

I've never been able to decide whether I hate the smell of men's cologne more than I hate the smell of dryer sheets, but I run from both as fast as I can. Who knows why cologne and dryer sheet companies think their products smell good. Maybe the idea is that they smell better than another smell they are covering up, as in, Gee, I just got off work at the sewage treatment plant, so maybe I'll splash on half a bottle of Eau de Annoying before I go out on my date. But I digress. Dryer sheets do more than make you clothes smell like someone's idea of "Spring-TIme Fresh" (yeah, maybe at the sewage treatment plant). They can also coat your dryer's filter with a waxy substance that will clog the filter's fine mesh. Removing the lint after each load isn't enough. Use an old toothbrush, warm water and detergent to gently scrub the filter twice each year. A clean filter will enable your clothes to dry faster and save you some bucks on your energy bill.

Doesn't everyone know this?

April 17, 2009

"What is that smell?" asked our friend Bob, as he sat at the kitchen island with his glass of red wine. I'd just spritzed the top of the stove with a 50/50 mixture of water and white vinegar.  "Vinegar?" he said when I told him what was in the spray bottle. "Why would you use vinegar for cleaning?" I thought everyone knew that white vinegar was an extremely cheap, amazingly effective, totally organic cleaner. We buy the stuff by the gallon. The smell is fleeting, and it's certainly less offensive that Formula 409 or any of the other toxic spray cleaners you'll find in the supermarket. I find that it is particularly effective at removing the scaly build up around the base of the faucets, caused by our hard water. VinegarTips is a cool website where you'll find tons of other uses for the stuff. Here's one I want to try: To remove paint from windows, try using undiluted, hot white distilled vinegar. Give the solution time to soften the paint before removing with a razor edge tool.

[Ed note: just don't use it on natural stone, like marble or granite, because it will etch it with white marks.]

Make you blue tarp last longer

April 7, 2009

I would say that the reason the blue tarp is still draped over my shed is because I'm too busy to finish the roofing job I started. Others might purport that I'm too lazy. I'll get around to it but probably not for another month or so. In the meantime, I've had to re-tie the tarp and repair a rip using two products available from BAC Industries, a Minnesota company with a whole section of its online catalog devoted to tarp accessories. (My kind of place.) Tarp Tape is just what it says it is, and it comes in different colors in case you have a blue tarp over the shed, a yellow one over the firewood and a green one over the tractor. Tarp Grabbers are two-piece plastic parts that click together and make a grommet in your tarp wherever you want, which is  handy when an old grommet tears loose in the leonine March winds.