If you're at the point where you have to lift up your sliding tub doors to get into the shower, you need to do a little door repair. It is usually the case that the wheels at the top of the door need to be adjusted.
Sliding tub doors, or sliding shower doors, hang from a rail at the top of the opening. There are wheels at the top of these doors that ride in grooves on the rail. Over the course of time, gravity and water play a role in throwing these doors out of alignment. There are a set of wheels on each side of the door. In many cases, it is only one side or the other that needs to be adjusted, and you can do it with just a screwdriver.
Before you try adjusting the door rollers, make sure that the rollers are in the track. Many times, the rollers have come out of the track and the door gouges the bottom rail. If you see metal shavings and scratches, this is probably what has happened. Once the rollers are back into the track you can decide if they need adjusted.
A phillips head screwdriver is all that is needed to adjust the wheels. You typically have to remove the door out of the top track to gain access to the screw. Lift up the door and swing it out to remove it. If you loosen the screw and move the wheels downward, the door will ride higher, that is to say there will be a larger gap between the bottom rail and the bottom of the door. This is good if your door has been grinding the bottom of the rail. Adjust each wheel assembly until the door is level and can fully close to each side of the tub or shower. This will also help to prevent water from leaking out of the tub/shower enclosure.
If the wheels are damaged or broken, take them with you to get a replacement. When you get them back home, replace and adjust them.
Cabinet drawers seem to be made with cheaper and cheaper material. Have you noticed that if you set something moderately heavy in the drawer that the bottom will flex? It's almost like the drawer is ready to pop out of the groove that it sits in. Well, here is a handyman fix for the weak drawer bottom blues.
Builder grade cabinet drawer bottoms are made of a thin plywood or hardwood. It sits in a groove and moves freely in it. Larger cabinet drawers are more suseptible to the bottoms bowing out from the weight and consequently benefit the most from reinforcing it.
You can reinforce the drawer bottom by using a piece of plywood. Cut a 1/4" piece of plywood to fit under the drawer bottom but leave a 1/4" gap around the perimeter of the plywood. You will need to remove the drawer and turn it over. Once you have cut the plywood to fit, use yellow carpenter's glue and glue the plywood to the underside of the drawer, leaving a uniform gap around the perimeter. The gap will allow for seasonal movement yet make the drawer bottom rock solid. Place some weight on the mating pieces until the glue cures, approximately 24 hours.
A friend called with a door problem. His front door was sagging a little bit and he was tired of lifting it up to get it to close and latch. He is no dummy and can generally tinker with something and get it to behave.
He tried to tighten the hinges but the door was still dragging. Over time, this door had been opened and closed hundreds or thousands of times, and gravity had helped to bring the door to its knees. When a door is installed, the typical screws used are only ¾" long. This is fine for the door-to-hinge connection, but for the hinge-to-jamb connection, it is too short, particularly at the top hinge.
There are a thousand things that could go wrong with a door, and one long screw can fix many of them. After I removed one of the short screws, I used a 3-inch screw and screwed it into the top hinge of my friend's door jamb. The length of the screw is important. You want the screw to be long enough to drive through the door jamb and into the rough framing of the house. This will give plenty of force to pull the hinge, and consequently the door, snug against the jamb. Since the screw is sunk into the rough framing, there is little chance of it working its way out. This repair should last a long time.
I can't tell you how many times I go into a house and the toilet paper holder is about to come off of the wall. People lean on them, use them as a grab bar, set coffee on them...and this Las Vegas handyman gets to fix them. These are held in place by some pretty flimsy hardware.
It's usually the case that one or both of the arms get loose and the plastic spring-loaded tube falls out. Most people can fix these but it takes a very small standard screwdriver (think eyeglass repair). Underneath each arm is a small screw that tightens against a bracket screwed to the wall. In most cases, if you can't just tighten the small screw, the bracket at the wall has lost it's bite and is loose. So you have to unscrew the arm and remove it to get access to the wall bracket. This will likely be source of the problem.
Over time with people putting weight on these, the weak wall anchors will create an oblong hole caused by the movement. You have a couple of options here. You can use a larger wall anchor, a molly bolt (aka butterfly bolt), or an EZ anchor. You could also move the location of the toilet paper holder, but if the decorative arms don't cover the old holes, you will have some additional repairs.
Once the bracket is secured to the wall, tighten the small screw on the arm to complete the repair. Then you can load the roll of toilet paper and you're in business.
You get done showering and there is water on the floor outside of the shower. How does this happen? Well, if you are the owner of a tub/shower enclosure (aka tub doors), it may be the result of a poor installation and lack of caulking.
Many people get tired of a shower curtain. You have a tub/shower combo and finally decide to install some sliding doors on the top of the tub. If these aren't installed correctly, you can get a leak, particularly if they haven't correctly done shower caulking.
The tracks to these types of doors are secured to the top of the tub with a couple of thick beads of caulking, which will keep water from running underneath the track and over the top of the tub. This bottom track is held in place by the side rails which sit in the bottom track and keep it place. This connection must be caulked or when water gets into the track it will leak out and over the tub. These side tracks are then screwed into the walls of the surround.
Once the enclosure is in place, the inside perimeter of the tub enclosure is caulked to keep water from leaking. You should have caulking under the bottom track, where the side tracks meet the bottom track, and along the inside perimeter of the enclosure.
Additionally, the tub doors should be adjusted so that they completely close against the side rails.
The other day we were working in a 50 year old house whose bathroom faucet at the bathtub would not stop running. This is a case of replacing (or rebuilding) the stem and seat. The stem is attached to the handle and rises up and down. At the end of the stem is a washer that pushes against a seat to stop the flow of water. Over time, this washer will wear down, or the seat will develop pits that won't allow it to stop the flow of water anymore. These parts need to be repaired or replaced.
So after you turn the water off to the house, prepare for some fun.
1. Remove The Old Handle
This isn't as easy as it sounds. Usually a screw is removed and the handle pops right off. Well in older plumbing, the handle can seem like its welded to the stem. In this case a handle puller can help remove the handle...or break it trying.
2. Remove The Old Stem
Removing the old stem can be a leap of faith. A deep well socket and a breaker bar will usually extract it, but you just hope that nothing else breaks. Once we got the old one out, it was time to go hunting. This stem was nasty and difficult to identify. After searching, we were not able to find a replacement for it. Instead we bought new parts and rebuilt it. But that only solves half of the problem.
3. Replace Or Resurface The Seat
The faucet seat screws into the faucet body and has a hole in the center of it. In this hole you insert a seat wrench to remove the seat and replace it with a new one. If you can't remove the seat, you can use a seat resurfacing tool to smooth out the surface so that the stem washer can stop the water.
Once you reassemble the bathroom faucet, the it should operate as it did 50 years ago. Many modern showers use a single handle to control the hot and cold. Here is how to replace a shower cartridge.
You notice that there is water on the floor around your refrigerator and decide to pull the fridge out away from the wall to see. Sure enough, there is water behind the refrigerator and the puddle is growing at the icemaker line. First things first, you need to troubleshoot the problem to find out if it is within your ability, or whether you need to call a handyman to do it.
You will notice that behind the refrigerator is a small water line that goes to the wall. In modern houses, there is a small valve that controls the water flowing to the icemaker. Turn this valve off and start cleaning up the water. By the way, in some houses a water line is run from under the kitchen sink and hidden inside the base cabinets. If you don't see a valve right behind the fridge, it may be that it lies underneath the kitchen sink. You can turn off the water at the valve under the sink where this line is fed water.
After you have cleaned up the mess, it's time to turn the water back on and see where the leak develops. It will typically be at the valve behind the fridge, where the water line connects to the valve or icemaker, or that the line itself has a pinhole in it.
If the line is damaged, replace it with a steel-braided line. These are usually guaranteed against leaks for 10 years. If it is the valve, you might be able to tighten the cap nut or you may have to replace the valve. If the leak is coming from the icemaker, check the connection where the line meets the icemaker. You can disassemble it, clean it out and replace a washer, but if that doesn't fix it, you may be forced to call an appliance repair person.
A handyman is asked to do many things, and at some point he or she will be asked to replace a roof tile. Roof tiles sometimes crack when stepped on, or need to be replaced when an overgrown tree knocks one off the roof during a strong wind. Obviously, if you are working on a roof, you have to be careful. Ladder safety is vital.
A big challenge is finding a matching roof tile. This is not as difficult as you might think, and remember it doesn't have to be perfect as the tile will be up on the roof and not as conspicuous.
1. Remove A Roof Tile
If you don't have the damaged tile, get one from the roof and bring it will you as a sample.
2. Visit A Boneyard
Roofing supply companies have areas in their yards that they call the "boneyard". The boneyard is a collection of roof tiles that are leftover, or scrap. Basically, tiles that get picked over to solve a small job. Match up the size and basic color, and style and take it home. If you are just taking one or two tiles, they will probably just give them to you, if you need several, expect to pay a few dollars apiece.
3. Cut And Install The Tile
If you need to cut a roof tile use a grinder with a masonry blade. You must use eye, ear, and breathing protection. The tile will sit on a wood ledger and gas built-in lugs to accomodate it. It's probably a good idea to use some roofing mastic or adhesive to further secure the tile.
Some homeowners like the idea of using the attic for storage space, and some choose to install an attic ladder, but you can't just leave a big hole in your ceiling.
The hole in the garage ceiling breaches the fire rating, and restoring the rating will take measures that you may prefer not to do. Many homeowners enjoy the attic's storage capacity, but many are unaware of the increased fire risk. It's always safer to repair the fire rating of the ceiling rather than just cover the hole.
It is a code requirement to use fire-rated drywall in the ceiling of your garage. The drywall is five-eighths of an inch thick and has "type-x" stamped on it. It also has noncombustible fibers added to it to achieve fire-resistance ratings, and its thickness slows the transfer of heat during exposure to fire.
If you have a big hole in your ceiling and a fire starts in the garage, it can get into the attic. You can buy a fire-rated access door, but these are typically special-order items and cost several hundred dollars. They are fairly easy to install though.
The fact that you want to cover the hole for cosmetic purposes is personal preference, just be aware that the danger of an attic fire exists.
So, to make your ceiling hole semi-attractive again, you will need a piece of type-x drywall, as well as some molding to hold it in place. Realize that using the fire-resistant drywall panel alone isn't going to restore the fire rating. There will be a gap around the perimeter of the panel, and the panel will be held in place with wood molding.
You want the drywall panel to be slightly smaller than the actuall hole in your ceiling. You can make the panel one-half inch smaller in both length and width, so that when you do go into the attic, the panel will be easy to remove.
You can easily cut the drywall with a drywall saw, or you can use a utility knife and score the paper on one side, break the drywall along the score line, and then cut the paper on the back side.
To hold the panel in place, buy some molding and cut it to fit. You want the molding to have a one-half inch lip along the inside perimeter of the opening. That way, the drywall panel will rest on it as it sits inside the opening. Try using a miter saw and cut 45-degree angles at the ends for square corners and a clean appearance.
Nail the molding to the ceiling and into the ceiling joists so that the nail penetrates the joist by at least three-quarters of an inch. If you feel froggy, you can texture the drywall and paint it to match the surrounding ceiling.
A customer's father was coming home after a lengthy stay in the hospital and he needed some shower grab bars installed to help him maintain his footing as he showered. He wanted some advice on where to install them.
My brother is a licensed Physical Therapist and works exclusively with home bound patients. He runs into this all the time and so I questioned him on his opinions. He said that each situation should be individually evaluated. However, here are the main points:
1. Vertical Bar At Entrance To Shower Or Tub
A 12" bar seems to be a good length, and it is typically located near shoulder-height.
2. Diagonal Bar Along The Back Wall.
This would be a longer bar, typically 36-48 inches, and installed at around arm pit height at its highest point and sloping downward from there.
3. The Length Is Up To The Individual As Is The Finish Of The Bar And The Thickness.
These details would be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. For example, if the patient has smaller hands, then a smaller diameter grab bar would be in order.
4. Don't Forget The Toilet
A vertical bar at the toilet on the wall approx 6 inches in front of knee when sitting and located slightly above the shoulder when sitting, so the patient can pull upwards and go from a sitting to standing position.
If you would like information on how to install grab bars, read my article on Shower Grab Bar Installation.