Family Handyman March 2013

editors@thefamilyhandyman.com Featured Field Editor ANDREW DOUGLAS PITONYAK WORTHINGTON, OH Why are you a DIYer? I enjoy it, and doing it myself usually saves time and money. When I replaced the rotting wood trim around my garage door, it was cheaper to buy PVC molding and a Festool Kapex sliding compound miter saw than to pay someone to do the work with cheaper materials. When I was done, I had a very nice saw for my next project. What’s your current project? I’m building a Tansu (Japanese chest of drawers) for my wife. I hope to build a new computer desk from mahogany and hard maple after that. Best advice for fellow DIYers? Learn as much as you can before you begin, and expect things to go wrong. For example, don’t…

editors@thefamilyhandyman.com one of the greatest inventions of all time Last fall, my house and shop were invaded by mice—big-time. I got seriously obsessed with getting rid of them and tried a bunch of “better mousetraps.” Nothing worked as well as those old fashioned Victor wooden mousetraps. They have been largely unchanged since the original version was invented in 1897 by a guy called James Atkinson, and to date, more than a billion have been sold! I own about a dozen myself, and every night I run my “trap line.” Peanut butter is my bait, and I place the traps wherever I find mouse nuggets. One night I caught nine mice! You can buy Victor wooden mousetraps at any hardware store, supermarket or home center. Or you can go to victorpest.com…

“Just say no!” to mixing concrete by hand When it comes to concrete jobs, you have two options: Order a truckload or mix your own. But not every job is big enough to justify ordering a truck. I don’t know about you, but I hate mixing concrete, and as a remodeling contractor, I’ve done more than my share. Several years ago, I got smart and bought a light-duty mixer for about $150. I’ve used it for footings, fence posts, sidewalk repairs and basement floor patching. It’s light enough to load into my truck by myself, and it’s electric, so no worries about gas, oil and engine maintenance. My rule of thumb was that if I needed more than four bags to finish the job, I broke out the mixer. This…

THE TEN TIPS ISSUE 1 Kitchen window plant perch Do you like having fresh herbs at your fingertips? Keeping them on your counter takes up valuable space and doesn’t expose them to enough light. Instead, install a wire shelf between the upper cabinets flanking your kitchen window. You can set your plants where they’ll get plenty of light without blocking the view. This also makes watering easy and keeps them readily available for snipping. Make sure to install the shelf high enough so you don’t bump into it when you’re working at the sink. Elisa Bernick Associate Editor 2 Under-sink storage bins What’s hiding under your kitchen sink? If the space under your sink is anything like ours, it’s an overcrowded jumble of cleaning supplies, sponges and plastic bags. I…

Our appliance wizard, Costas Stavrou, spends most of his time solving problems that were avoidable in the first place. “If people would just read the instructions in their owner’s manual and then follow a few basic rules, I’d have to find a new line of work,” he told us. We’ll show you how to avoid these Top 10 repairs. And, we’ll go a few steps further and explain exactly what breaks and how much you’ll save by following our advice. If you don’t follow these rules, Costas wants to thank you for keeping his repair business humming. MEET THE EXPERT Costas has been fixing appliances for more than 30 years. He and his wife, Lorrie, run a classic family business. Lorrie handles the appointments, parts ordering and billing, and she…

editors@thefamilyhandyman.com 1 Turn your car into a generator A power inverter, which turns DC current from your car into AC current for electric gadgets, is the next best thing to a generator. An inverter to power a tablet or laptop will cost you about $25, but there are much bigger models ($100 and up) that can run power tools and appliances. (To learn more, search for “power inverter” at familyhandyman.com.) Field Editor Cameron LiDestri even used an inverter to get hot water during a recent weeklong outage. His on-demand water heater burns propane but also requires a 75-watt electrical supply. So Cameron plugged the heater into a long extension cord and ran it out to his car. “When anyone wanted a hot shower, I just started the car,” Cameron tells…