Innholdsfortegnelse for October - November 2018 i Family Handyman

TRIED & TRUE Socks that work A friend recently told me that there are two signs you’re getting older. One, you start noticing bird behavior. Two, a good pair of socks becomes worth its weight in gold. I know he’s right about the second point because I had just bought a dozen different pairs of crew socks and tested which performed the best. For starters, I wore them all a couple times and eliminated the ones that were too hot, didn’t stay up, were hard to put on or just didn’t feel good. Next, I randomly wore the remaining six pairs to see which ones held up the best over several washings and wearings. I didn’t keep a record of how many times I wore each one; I just tried…

Water stains on the ceiling don’t always indicate a leak up on the roof. Many times the stains come from, or are caused by, problems up in the attic. Here are three of the main culprits: ATTIC-MOUNTED A/C COMPRESSORS. Clogged condensate tubes will cause collection trays to overflow. And improperly sealed or insulated ducts can cause condensation to form and drip into the house. A quick look around the attic will help you track down this problem. BATH AND KITCHEN VENTS. These vents are often vented directly into the attic (or become detached from roof vents). They can pour gallons of water vapor into the attic, where it’ll freeze or condense and drip back into the house. Again, a visit to the attic will locate it. Even an uninsulated exhaust…

Heating systems need power. Even natural gas, propane and oil furnaces often use electricity for ignition, power dampers, fans or pumps. A power outage is always inconvenient. But in low temperatures it can be catastrophic. Frozen pipes can burst, causing thousands of dollars of damage in just a few minutes, and within a few hours, the damage costs can easily reach six figures. But there are ways to keep your home habitable and above freezing without power, even in the coldest weather. CAUTION When using any fuel-powered heat source, it’s imperative to have operating battery-powered carbon monoxide and smoke detectors. OTHER OPTIONS TO KEEP YOUR HOUSE WARM If the generator methods aren’t an option for you, there are other, less costly measures you can take. Don’t panic If your home…

I’ve refinished a number of furniture pieces and wood trim when matching an existing stain was important. I’ve had far better luck getting stains matched by the staff at the paint store than I’ve had trying to mix colors off the shelf myself. Just bring in a sample piece to be matched. Keep in mind that stain can look different on different pieces of wood. So if you’re doing trim, for example, don’t just bring in the piece that’s easiest to remove; choose a sample piece that has the color and tone you want. You’ll also need to bring in an unfinished test board of the same species and with the same grain characteristics as those of the piece you’re trying to match. BRAD HOLDEN PROBLEM SOLVER Freezing pipes ……

Need moreFamily Handyman? Get our best tips and hints in your inbox. Sign up at tfhmag.com/diytips GOT A DIY QUESTION? Finding answers is easy at familyhandyman.com. Just use the search box at the top of the page to get expert step-by-step help with your projects. GOT A HANDY HINT OR TIP FOR US? To share your information with us, submit a copy of your original contribution, including photos and/or sketches, by email to: submissions@familyhandyman.com Or mail to: The Family Handyman, 2915 Commers Drive, Suite 700, Eagan, MN 55121 Please include your name, mailing address and email address if you have one, and indicate to which department you are submitting. We reserve the right to publish your submission in any appropriate department, or elsewhere. Contributions will not be acknowledged or returned.…

When my kids outgrew their LEGO bricks, I repurposed a few of them to make this handy key station. I predrilled holes in the small bricks to thread in eye screws, and then slipped the key rings onto the eye screws. Fasten the base to the wall with screws. JANET RODRIGUEZ NO-WAIT GLUE I don’t like waiting for the glue to reach the bottle’s tip when I’m in the middle of a big glue-up. To make sure the glue is ready to flow immediately when I pick up the bottle, I just turn the bottle upside down in a can that sits on my workbench. BRAD HOLDEN UNDER-THE-HOOD MAINTENANCE RECORD My truck’s air filter cover makes a perfect blackboard for my maintenance schedule. I use a chalk marker to write…

If you have water stains that extend across ceilings or run down walls, the cause is likely a roof leak. Tracking down the leak can be hard; the fixes are usually pretty easy. We’ll show you simple tricks for finding and repairing the most common types of roof leaks. Find the leaks When you’re trying to track down a leak, start by looking at the roof uphill from the stains. Roof penetrations are the first thing to look for. Items that penetrate the roof are by far the most common source of leaks. In fact, it’s rare for leaks to develop in open areas of uninterrupted shingles, even on older roofs. Penetrations can include plumbing and roof vents, chimneys, dormers or anything else that projects through the roof. They can be…

Common leak, easy fix Most plumbing valves—like the shutoffs under your sink or outdoor faucets—have a packing nut and a packing washer. And sooner or later, they’ll leak. In most cases, the fix is simple: Just tighten the packing nut. If that doesn’t work, remove the old washer and take it to a home center to find a match. “DIY is partly about know-how. But sometimes, being in the know is even more important. Knowing the right material to choose, remembering a clever trick or understanding the cause of a problem can make all the difference. Here are a few favorite tidbits of knowledge, picked up over 30 years of home ownership, maintenance and improvement.”GARY WENTZ, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF STAY SAFE ON THE ROOF Whether you’re reroofing or just cleaning gutters, a…

Our whole family—father Val, son Aaron and daughter Des—got involved in the building of these caddies. We used reclaimed lumber from a 100-year-old barn in Wisconsin. But you can select any type of wood available at your local home center. It took us three days in the shop to transform that gorgeous barn wood into 20 handsome caddies. Each one holds eight longneck bottles or six heritage bottles, which have fatter bottoms. Along with a plan for the caddy and a list of materials, we show a couple of jigs to help streamline the process so you can build a bunch of these at the same time. Figure A Bottle Caddy OVERALL DIMENSIONS: 7-1/2" wide x 11-1/4" long x 12-1/2" tall Mass production If you want to build a bunch,…

A few years ago, I promised to provide 20 jack-o’-lanterns for a Halloween party. I stared at my truckload of pumpkins, regretted my promise and wondered how to produce good-looking jack-o’-lanterns fast. The answer: hole saws! Here are the gory details: I used 1-1/4-in. and 2-1/4-in. hole saws, but it’s best to have several sizes to choose from. I removed the drill bits from my hole saws so there wouldn’t be holes in the center of the eyeballs. Instead of using a drill, I cut holes by hand. Here’s why: First, starting a hole without the center drill bit is more difficult with a drill. Second, I was able to feel when the hole saw was starting to break through to the inside of the pumpkin. At that point, I…

If you want to be a real car doctor, you’ve got to use the right tools. An automotive stethoscope (sold at any auto parts store) can be the most effective diagnostic tool in your toolbox. It works just like the ones doctors use, allowing you to “hear inside” a mechanical component. The stethoscope we chose comes with two attachments—a metal probe and a sound amplifier (shown at left). Connect the amplifier attachment to the hose and move it around the engine compartment. That will narrow your search to a smaller area. Then switch to the metal probe (right photo) to locate the exact source of the problem.…