Pro Handyman Blog

Cutting a circle in drywall is not difficult. With the right tools, you can have a circle cut in minutes.

Most circular cuts are for light fixtures (think recessed lighting), or electrical boxes. These holes are not large and can be cut with a drywall saw after you mark out the lines, or by using a circle cutter. For a small circle, like for a plumbing penetration, you can use a hole saw chucked into a drill.

If you are using a drywall saw, mark out your circle by tracing around the electrical box, or use a template from the light fixture. If you use the electrical box, just realize that you will have to make the cut inside of the line so that the remodeling box “ears” have something to hold onto.

For the circle cutter, you can use a two-handed or one-handled style tool. The tool has a sharp point that digs into the drywall and a sharp wheel that scores and cuts the circle. Once the wheel makes several passes, you can pop out the piece of drywall. The two-handed model requires you to hold the pointed end in the drywall with one hand, while the other hand rotates and pushes the cutting wheel (I wouldn’t try using only one hand on this). The single-hand style has a point in the middle and two cutting wheels, one on each end of the tool.

A common problem for a toilet is phantom filling…you know, all of a sudden the toilet water starts running. This can be from several causes, one of which is the flapper. One solution is to replace the flapper, but also check the seat that the flapper sits upon. If this seat is pitted or has buildup on it, even the new flapper won’t stop the water from draining out of the tank.

You can buy a flapper assembly called a “flush fixer” to remedy this problem. This product has a soft putty ring at the bottom that conforms to the pits and unevenness. It essentially creates a new seat and stops the water from draining out of the tank.

Dry the old seat and push the soft putty ring down upon it. The new flapper assembly simply pushes down onto the soft ring. You need to make sure that you orient the new flapper assembly in such a way that it doesn’t interfere with the other components of the toilet. The new assembly will have a cup that tips back and drains when then closes the flapper. You may have to play with the positioning of the flapper to make sure it operates smoothly and doesn’t hit any of the other parts.

This part will save you from taking the tank off of the bowl and replacing the flush valve assembly.

Window screens can be a nemesis for a handyman. If you don’t get the screening taut enough it will flap in the wind, and if you stretch it too tight it will cause the frame to warp. The window screen frame is somewhat flimsy and generally comes in two thicknesses.

The short answer to whether or not you can re-use a bent window screen frame is no. Whether the window screen frame is only slightly bent or has a full-on kink to it, it won’t hold up under the tension of stretching the screening material across it. If you were to loosely re-screen the frame, it might maintain its shape, but the screening material would look a little wavy.

It’s better to buy a new window screen frame kit. These are inexpensive and assemble in a matter of minutes. You don’t even need to cut the corners at 45-degrees. The kits come with corner pieces so that you only need to make a square cut on each piece of framing material and push in the corner pieces to assemble the frame. Just make sure you are buying the correct thickness. It’s probably a good idea to take a piece of the old frame with you to match up the thickness as well as the color.

If you’ve ever worked with wood, particularly hardwood, you know how easy it is to split a piece of wood when twisting a screw into it. Here are a few handyman tricks to avoid splitting that nice piece of hardwood.

Softwoods, like pine, will easily accept a screw into it without splitting. The wood fibers compress enough to allow the screw to penetrate the wood without damaging it. Hardwoods, like oak, will split if you don’t take a few steps first.

The easiest way to avoid splitting hardwood is to pre-drill the hole. The diameter of the hole should be about the same size as the shank of the screw or slightly smaller. You can hold up a drill bit next to the screw to determine the sizing.

Another trick is to lubricate the screw before you install it. Use a bar of soap and rub the screw threads on the bar of soap. The soap will flake off on the screw and as the screw passes into the wood, the soap will act as a lubricant. It really makes a huge difference. Just don’t use liquid soap! Bar soap will dramatically lessen the chances of snapping off a screw will trying to bulldoze it into the wood.

The time will come when you have to replace your washing machine hoses. A handyman can help or you can buy a few specialized tool and do it yourself. Whatever the reason you are removing the hoses, be it moving, replacing the appliances, or upgrading the hoses, I would certainly use the no-burst stainless steel braided hoses (these typically carry a 10 year warranty).

The challenge can be removing the old corroded hoses off of the hose bibs that they screw attach to. These hoses screw onto the threaded ends of the hose bib but can be a bear to get off once they become corroded. The ends of the hoses are metal and so you can get a little rough with them, but be careful not to damage the hose bib in the process or you may be replacing it as well.

You can use a couple of large wrenches and, while holding the hose bib so it won’t move, try to loosen the hose coupling off of it. If this doesn’t work, you can try to score the coupling and peel it off of the hose bib.

Use a small cutting wheel, like what you would find in a Dremel tool, and cut through the top of the coupling. Then score the outside of the coupling along the entire height of the coupling. The trick here is to cut deep enough to cut through the coupling without damaging the threads of the hose bib underneath the coupling. Use large channel locks or water pump pliers and pull the coupling apart at the score line. Once you have part of the coupling away from the hose bib threads, you can pull the other side of the coupling off and remove the hose.

Wooden gates are always in need of a handyman. The gate always seems to sag and drag on the ground. When you want to latch the gate, you have to lift up the gate and almost set it into the latch.

This is one of those jobs that can really grow. Before repairing the sagging gate, make sure that the post it is attached to is solid and plumb. If it is not, you need to make it so. This may involve removing the gate, digging out the post and adding concrete to support it, or even replacing the post if it has rotted. If the post is not solid and plumb, don’t expect the gate to operate properly for very long.

Once the post is correct, try adding a turnbuckle to square the gate and remove the sag. Attach the turnbuckle to the top of the gate’s frame at the hinge side, and the bottom of the gate on the latch side. This will be a diagonal threaded rod connected to the opposite corners. When you turn the mechanism in the middle, it will contract or relax the threaded rod. This will pull the corners together where the rod is connected. This will bring the gate back to square and should allow it to latch once again.

When installing a garbage disposal, you will have to make electrical connections underneath the unit. You certainly want to do this prior to installing the disposal after flipping it upside down. There is a small metal door that is held in place with one screw.

After removing the small door, you will thread the cord through the access hole and out the opening so that you can twist the connections together with wire nuts. Once the connections are made, the wire nuts get pushed back into the unit and the door gets replaced. However, the opening for the cord to exit the bottom of the unit has sharp edges and the concern is that these sharp edges over time may cut into the cord and cause a short or spark. This could be problematic. The fix is to add a grommet or cable clamp to protect the cord and prohibit any movement against the sharp edges.

A rubber grommet grips the perimeter of the opening, while a cable clamp is held on to the opening by screwing on a nut from behind it. It will need to be installed prior to installing the cord as the cord will be threaded through the clamp. After you make the wiring connections, tighten the clamp screws so that the cord is held in place firmly, but don’t over tighten.

When choosing a new bathroom faucet, you can choose the deck mounted faucet or the widespread faucet. The difference is on a widespread faucet you can see the countertop between each handle and the spout. On a deck mounted faucet, the handles and spout are all attached to the body of the faucet. Widespread faucets are cleaner looking, but also more expensive. They are also more challenging to install.

Each handle and spout will mount independently of each other. As you place each through the holes in the sink or countertop, use plumbers putty under each and secure each with a series of washers and nuts. There will be a handle specifically for the cold side and the hot side.

After securing the spout, you will install a tee fitting on it so that the holes in the fitting are oriented to the hot and cold handles. There will be a series of gaskets, o-rings and nuts that hold this fitting underneath the spout. You will connect each handle to the tee fitting under the spout with hoses. Tighten the hoses but don’t allow them to kink. You can loop them to avoid kinking them.

Finally connect the water supply that feeds each handle valve. You can use a standard water supply line for this from the angle stop to the handle valve. Connect the sink stopper to the faucet pull rod. Tighten all connections and turn the water back on to test for leaks.

Many times I get a call to re-connect a copper soft water plumbing loop. What happens is that the previous occupants of the house take the water conditioner with them when they move out (or are forced to move out) and don’t reconnect the piping. This leaves two pipe stubs sticking out of the wall. Before you turn the water on, you must connect these two pipes or you will have water rushing out of one of the pipes.

You can reconnect these pipes with either a long copper flex line or a length of copper pipe and some fittings. If you choose to use the pipe and fittings, you can solder these together. Here is an article on how to solder copper pipe.

If you choose the use the copper flex line, you can either buy a flex line that requires soldering, or one that has compression fittings at either end. The compression fittings will only need some wrenches to make the connections water tight.

After you have secured the loop back together, turn on the water to check for leaks. If you have a leak at a soldered fitting, you will have to re-solder the joint. If the leak is at a compression fitting, you can give the fittings a quarter-turn to see if the leak subsides.

I get a lot of calls to repair bathroom exhaust fans that do not work. Interestingly, many of these calls come from new homeowners. You are going to need a ladder to troubleshoot the fan, but many of these problems are fixed in under one minute.

Pull down the plastic cover on the exhaust fan. It will come down about 3 inches before you need to disconnect it from the housing. Follow the cord from the motor and make sure it is plugged in. This is the number one cause of the fans not working. I assume that the previous homeowner didn’t like the noise of the fans, and so they unplug them. Plug the fan back into the outlet in the ceiling box and if it runs, you’re done.

The other most common problem is that the fan and/or motor is so clogged up with gunk, it is unable to move. We’ve all seen it, look up and the plastic cover is full of dust bunnies. These can make their way to the blades and motor. You can clean this off using a rag and a compressed air canister. If none of this works, you may have to replace the exhaust fan.