Innholdsfortegnelse for October/November 2021 i Family Handyman

Along with his daughters, a son and a son-in-law, George B. built a windmill, a real working one that pumps well water for his horses. It was a complete family project that stretched across long days. They seemed to smile through all the work, and George sent photos to prove it. In our July/August issue, we posed a simple question on a corner of p. 8: Did you start a new project because you have more time at home? George did; he started and finished his windmill in 2020. He wasn’t alone. Dozens of you started and completed DIY projects. Thanks for sharing your stories. Like George, these readers and so many more of you used their newfound time to improve their home and build projects together: LORI M. built…

Splitting firewood by hand is satisfying and fun. But if you’re heating your house or garage with wood (or stockpiling it for a fire pit), splitting by hand can become a part-time job. If you have access to cuttable trees on your lot, a gas-powered log splitter is the way to go. A smaller machine may suffice for splitting dry logs. But freshly cut hardwoods up to 16 in. in diameter, like the oaks we felled on our Getaway site, require a 16-ton machine or larger. The tonnage is the amount of force the wedge applies to the log. This 30-ton NorthStar splitter ($1,900) from Northern Tool made easy work of green red-oak logs up to about 18 in. in diameter. It has a smooth-running 200-cc Honda motor and a…

Ever come home from a fancy hotel stay and find yourself disappointed by your own shower? If your showerhead is weak, you may think it’s caused by low water pressure–and it could be–but it’s more likely that faulty plumbing or fixtures are reducing the flow or volume of water at your showerhead. I sat down with Master Plumber Suzanne Boyer to sleuth out this situation, discuss common causes and offer solutions. TYPICAL WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM COLD WATER HOT WATER INITIAL DIAGNOSIS MAIN WATER PRESSURE If your plumbing fixtures don’t provide an adequate stream of water, the water pressure entering your home could be low. However, Boyer says the water pressure from the street is usually too high instead of too low. Optimal pressure is about 40 to 60 pounds per…

EXPERT ADVICE FROM THE JOB SITE Trim carpentry can be intimidating—coping cuts, crown spring angles, scarf joints and more. You’ll need time, tips and practice to accomplish these cuts, but once you do, you’ll no longer fear trim carpentry. Here are some lessons I’ve learned over the years that will help you on your next project. COPE INSIDE CORNER JOINTS Coping creates better-looking inside corners than mitering; a coped joint is less likely to show a gap caused by seasonal expansion and contraction of the wood. Cut a 45-degree bevel on one end of the trim, and then cut along the revealed profile line with a coping saw, angling the blade back just a little. CUT OUTSIDE MITERS PERFECTLY It’s a rare house whose corners meet at a perfect 90…

facebook.com/thefamilyhandyman pinterest.com/family_handyman youtube.com/thefamilyhandyman instagram.com/familyhandyman tiktok.com/@familyhandyman “I think this is the most important work I’ve ever done,” said Sandy Thistle, a Wisconsin carpenter who is building a future of opportunities for young women. In 2019, Thistle and Eliza Zimmerman launched CampBUILD, a summer camp where girls ages 6 through 18 learn skills such as tool safety, carpentry, electrical and welding. In CampBUILD’s first year, 116 Girl Scouts attended and built 49 toolboxes, 30 birdhouses and a picnic table while gaining skills with hammers, drills, squares, sanders and circular saws. The camp, held at Madison Area Technical College in Madison, Wis., did not meet for in-person learning in 2020 but did conduct classes in July 2021. “The girls take their projects home,” said Zimmerman, “and their parents are amazed at the work…

Use a permanent marker to write the exact oil blend needed for your twocycle engine on any clean surface of the tool. It’ll save you from running to the file cabinet to find your manual or grabbing the wrong mix. MYRON PORTER QUICKER FIXTURE MOUNTING Surface-mounted fixtures come with a layer of foilfaced insulation, which can make it difficult to line up the mounting keyholes with the screws on the electrical box. But using a screwdriver as a guide saves a lot of time and frustration. Slip the screwdriver shaft through the keyhole and stick the tip in the screw head. Slide the fixture over the shaft, rotate the fixture until the second screw comes into view, and then twist the fixture on the screw heads and snug them up.…

To update our bathroom and give it the feel of a spa, we knew we wanted to install a modern freestanding tub. And setting it on a raised deck gave us the feel of stepping into a cozy new space. After removing our old tub, we considered tiling the walls. Instead we added marblelike wall panels; they gave us a luxury look in a fraction of the time it would have taken to tile and grout. WHAT’S ON THESE WALLS? We installed WetWall, a wood/plastic composite similar to composite decking, topped with a high-pressure laminate surface. About ½ in. thick, WetWall is waterproof and durable. It’s available in a wide array of panel sizes–including custom sizes–and patterns. It can be applied to many existing surfaces, including tile. It’s easy to…

If the amount of hot and cold are unbalanced, the first things to check, Boyer says, are any shutoff valves that are integral to the supply piping. They could be faulty or just not open completely. If it’s only hot that’s lacking, you could have a water heater issue, but more likely it’s calcium buildup in the fixture itself. Boyer says most municipal water has a disinfecting additive called chloramine that will cause calcification, especially in the hot side of a fixture. Chloramine is also known to break down rubber seals. A whole-house carbon filter can remove the chlorine and contaminants, including particulate matter, but it won’t remove any of the ammonia found in chloramine.…

HEALTH | MAINTENANCE & REPAIR | STORAGE & ORGANIZATION Your water softener is easily the most ignored appliance in your house. You don’t interact with your water softener as you do with your range, refrigerator, or washer and dryer. It might also be the most misunderstood. You put salt in (when you remember), but do you know how it works, what it’s doing and whether it’s performing the way it should? I consulted Mike Bruce from Rheem Manufacturing for a 101 course in water softeners. HOW DOES A WATER SOFTENER WORK? In the simplest terms, a water softener is a filtering device for your home’s water supply. It removes high concentrations of minerals, such as calcium and magnesium, which can cause buildup in your home's pipes, plumbing fixtures and water…

GOT A DIY QUESTION? Finding the 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 idea with us, submit a copy of your original contribution, including photos and/or sketches, by email to: submissions@familyhandyman.com Or mail to: 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. RIGHTS By submitting material to us, you grant Home Service Publications, Inc., its parent company subsidiaries,…

“I recently unpacked these; what are they?” asked Mark Braun of Norridge, Ill. “My grandfather came here at the turn of the 20th century as an ornamental ironworker. Could they be his? Anything you know could answer a lifetime of wondering. Thanks.” Associate editor Jay Cork says “These are drills for boring holes in rock or masonry. One man would hold the bit while another would strike it with a sledge. After every strike, the bit would turn slightly, giving the teeth (you see them on the leading edge) another bite into the stone. They were often used in quarries to bore holes for the dynamite. You have a little bit of history there, my friend.”…

Nothing beats a pressure washer for removing a weekend’s worth of dirt from your ATV, cleaning your deck or erasing years of moss from your patio pavers. I couldn’t get by without mine. But I don’t love the bulk: the power cables, the hoses and the weight. When I power washed my patio pavers this summer, I needed a machine strong enough to blast through the moss yet easy to maneuver. The hybrid-powered Greenworks Pro 1,800-psi pressure washer eliminates the need for a power cord–at least for a while. Powered by either an AC wall plug or a pair of 60V batteries, the hybrid tool is far easier to move around than a pressure washer that’s always tethered to a wall outlet or one with a heavy gas engine. Most…

Being surrounded by greenery relieves stress and brightens your mood. Set in this custom-size planter, foliage can brighten your decor too. Why not add one to your bathroom, bedroom or any living space? Fitted with pots, it lets you easily change out your plants whenever you’d like. 1 PREFINISH SHEET GOODS It’s faster to prefinish a 4 x 8-ft. sheet than to do several small parts, and the finish is more consistent. After whitewashing the Baltic birch with white gel stain, I topcoated with a water-based polyurethane. Unlike an oil-based finish, it won’t yellow over time. 2 PROFILE THE EDGES OF THE TRIM CAP Using a router, profile the nose of the cap. For this project I used a ⅜-in. round-over bit to create a simple, classic line. Sand all…

■ GREEN WOOD (FRESHLY CUT) Wood that has been recently cut and hasn’t had a chance to season or dry out will just create a lot of steam and smoke. ■ DRIFTWOOD If you find wood washed up on the shore, don’t put it in your fireplace. This wet wood, especially from the ocean, won’t burn well and can create potentially hazardous toxins according to the Environmental Protection Agency. ■ CONSTRUCTION WOOD Much of the wood used to build homes is treated with chemicals, making it unsuitable for burning in a fireplace. It can also contain screws, nails, glue and finishes that pose additional risks.…

DO AS I SAY… I’d been riding my kids about emptying their pockets before tossing their clothes into the laundry. So when the washer stopped working in the middle of a load of baseball gear, I was livid. I stared at the gallons of dirty, soapy water in the drum, then I stomped upstairs and read everybody the riot act before I got busy fixing the machine. After messing around with it for an hour, getting angrier and angrier at those kids and the junk they leave in their pockets, I finally found the problem. A drill bit I’d left in my pocket jammed in the mechanism and kept the pump impeller from rotating. I quietly removed the bit, put the machine back together and ate a large piece of…