Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2014 i Family Handyman

editers@thefamilyhandyman.com GOT STUMPS? I had 20 of them to deal with after thinning out my woods. I’d ground down stumps before with those big yellow rental units and dreaded doing it again. That machine was difficult to maneuver and had more levers and switches than a locomotive. Then my son sent me a YouTube video on the Toro STX-26 Stump Grinder. It’s a relative of Toro’s Dingo, which is a tracked bulldozer-like machine that accepts various attachments on the front such as loaders and posthole augers. But the STX-26 (26 is the horsepower) is purely a stump grinder, and it’s brilliant. Like the Dingo, it moves forward and backward and turns with a simple joystick. It also has a joystick lever that controls the brutally effective 19-in. cutting blade with…

DIY isn’t just about building and fixing things. It’s also about inventory management: maintaining a supply of the stuff you need and knowing where to find it. This simple bin system is the perfect project to get you organized. It’s modeled on the systems used in cabinet shops, plumbers’ vans and mechanics’ garages. editors@thefamilyhandyman.com French cleats make it neat This simple hanging system—made from a 1x4 cut at a 45-degree bevel—lets you grab a bin and take it to the job, or rearrange bins instantly as your needs change. The materials cost for the bins shown here is $30 to $55, depending on the type of plywood you choose. A store-bought light-duty system would cost just a few bucks more, but these homemade bins offer two big advantages: They’re far…

editors@thefamilyhandyman.com Lots of things can go wrong with a garage door, and most are easy to fix. But problems involving the springs are more serious. The springs provide lifting force for the heavy door and are under tremendous tension—get careless, and they can hurt you. But if you use the correct tools and follow our instructions, you can rebuild the entire torsion spring system in just a few hours, without any side trips to the ER. We won’t cover extension spring systems in this story. But we’ll show you how to replace the more common torsion springs, the kind that mount on a bar above the garage door. Before you do this yourselfÉ Depending on where you live, doing this job yourself might save you $200 or more. Then again,…

editors@thefamilyhandyman.com Motor oil smarts Motor oil has gotten much better over the years. And, with oil-life indicators on newer cars, drivers don’t have to guess when to change their oil. Yet even with better oil and oil change reminder lights, repair shops are reporting a shocking increase in the number of engines damaged by wear and sludge buildup. It turns out that many DIYers and even some oil change shops are using the wrong oil, and drivers are simply going too long between oil changes. Just as troubling, many drivers have almost completely abandoned the job of checking their oil level when gassing up, and many more are causing engine damage by driving with low oil levels. Too many drivers seem to follow their own ideas about which oil they…

FROM OUR READERS handyhints@thefamilyhandyman.com BATTERY I.D. I got extra batteries for my cordless tools, but I could never remember which battery was newly charged and which was run down. Now I can easily tell them apart because I painted a number on each battery with my kid’s white nail polish. It dries fast and is—you got it—“tough as nails.” Tom Baker Gift wrap rack I wrap lots of gifts, but I don’t like the clutter of all those rolls of gift wrap in the closet. I decided to make a rack to organize them. I glued a bunch of 30-in.-long pieces of 3-in. PVC waste pipe with allpurpose PVC glue. The rack is perfect for storing all the rolls and ribbons. I leave it set up on a table in…

WHAT IT TAKES TIME: One day COST: $85 SKILL LEVEL: Beginner TOOLS: Circular saw, drill, No. 6 countersink bit editors@thefamilyhandyman.com If this workbench looks familiar, it’s probably because you’ve seen one a lot like it in your father’s or grandfather’s shop. Variations of this design have been around for decades, and for good reason: The bench is strong, practical and super easy to build. You can run to the lumberyard in the morning, grab a few boards, and by noon you’ll have a perfectly functional workbench. The workbench isn’t fancy—it’s built from standard construction lumber. But you can easily customize it with drawers or other features now or later. To see some of the improvements you can make, go to familyhandyman.com and search for “workbench upgrade.” If you can cut…

editors@thefamilyhandyman.com Put on your thinking cap and take this month’s quiz to see just how smart you are when it comes to DIY. Here’s how it works: ▪ There are easy, intermediate and really tough questions mixed together. ▪ There may be more than one correct answer! ▪ Find the answers and get your DIY rating on pp. 60 and 61. Good luck! 1. When you’re installing ceramic tile, what is the purpose of the layer of thin-set installed under cement board? A. It’s not really needed if the existing floor is flat. B. It fills in any dips in the floor to fully support the cement board. C. You only need it when you’re tiling over something other than bare wood, such as the old tile mastic shown. D.…

editors@thefamilyhandyman.com Cutting in like a pro Painters call it cutting-in or cutting, and it’s the process of painting the perimeter of walls or ceilings with a brush before rolling the walls. Cutting in corners where the two adjoining walls are the same color is straightforward. But where beginners run into trouble is along ceilings, moldings and other areas that require a perfectly straight line of paint. In this article we’ll give you some tips and pointers to help you increase the speed and improve the accuracy of your cutting-in technique. 1 Work from a paint pail Rather than dipping your brush into the gallon can the paint comes in, transfer a small amount to a paint pail. Pour only about an inch of paint into the pail. A small amount…

editors@thefamilyhandyman.com When I switched my business to an electronic filing system, I ended up with several empty file cabinets, which I lugged out to my garage. The old cabinets were a handy way to organize garage stuff, but the drawers were a little flimsy for heavy loads. So I built a heavy-duty storage system modeled after my old filing cabinets. One unit requires about $100 worth of wood. The fasteners, paint and poly will cost $60, but that $60 will also finish four to six more units. I decided to build a bunch of them and add shelves and a continuous top. The first one (my prototype) took me one full day to build and a couple hours to paint and finish, but I built the other five in just…

editors@thefamilyhandyman.com I’ve lived in my house for 33 years, 31 of those mostly mouse-free. But two years ago, I had a serious infestation. They were everywhere! I got busy doing a whole lot of research and then I got to work. I trapped 54 mice in one month, and I’ve seen very few since. I concluded early on that the good, old-fashioned spring trap was the best choice for me. However, my trapping method might not be everyone’s cup of tea. It can be downright grizzly and entails some dirty work from time to time. If trapping isn’t for you, learn about alternatives by searching online for “humane rodent control.” Buy and set lots of traps Anywhere you see mouse droppings is a primo place to set traps. And the…

editors@thefamilyhandyman.com Adding a receptacle Installing additional receptacles isn’t overly complicated, but there are facts you should know in order to stay safe and code compliant. Longtime electrician Rune Eriksen has shared his advice on which circuits to avoid, which “old work” boxes are the most durable and handy techniques to help you deal with different wall materials. We can’t show you every one of the hundred different wiring scenarios you may encounter, but you’ll learn useful information that will speed up installation and help you avoid costly mistakes. MEET THE PRO Rune Eriksen spent 31 years of his career as an electrician helping keep the lights on for our military vets at the V.A. hospital in Minneapolis, MN. Make a starter hole with a screwdriver Drywall keyhole saws are often…

greatgoofs@thefamilyhandyman.com TAKING THE HEAT Last winter, my very “handy” husband spent an entire day laying a wood floor in our attic and was very pleased with himself and the extra storage space he had created. That night the house got very cold. First thing in the morning, we placed an urgent call to our heating company to have a technician come out. It didn’t take long for the technician and my husband to discover the problem, and when they came downstairs, my husband’s face was quite red. It turns out that the previous day, he had “snipped” our thermostat wire in the attic, mistaking it for an old TV antenna wire. Needless to say, he took a lot of heat for that mistake. Our iPad edition has twice as many…