Pro Handyman Blog

As a handyman, I’ve cut off many locks. In many cases, a new homeowner just moves into a house and wants an unknown lock removed. Maybe its on a gate or a shed. Whether a keyed padlock or a combination, you are going to have to cut through the shank.

Sure, you could use bolt cutters, but you may have to rent large ones and squeeze like there’s no tomorrow. I’ve also heard of people trying to cut off padlocks with a reciprocating saw. I’m sure that would work, but would take a considerable amount of time.

Smaller diameter lock shanks won’t be the problem. It’s the big fat lock shanks that will have the sweat beading off of your head. The smaller lock shanks can easily be cut with the bolt cutters, but the big ones are the concern.

I think the answer is a grinder. Use a hand grinder and a cutting wheel and start cutting a slot in the shank. You are going to throw some sparks, so just be aware and make sure the sparks go in a direction that won’t damage anything.

Once you cut through the shank, you will be able to twist the lock away from the severed shank to remove it. But be careful: it’s going to be hot.

If you have outdoor electrical outlets, they need to be in a weatherproof cover. This helps prevent the old snap, crackle, and pop. There are lots of covers and some are better than others. The older style has the two swinging doors that allow you to access the outlets. The problem here is that if the doors are open, then rain can also get access to the outlets. Not good. The newer style has a hood that lifts up from a hinge at the top of the cover. The nice thing about this is that you can use the outlets during a rain storm as the hood has holes that allow the cords to exit the cover. This is good for holiday lights.

Installing a cover is easy. Turn the power off to the outlet and, after testing to make sure the power is off, remove the cover. You will need to pull the outlet away from the box to slide the mating cover backing over and behind the outlet. When this is done you can screw everything back together and restore the power. Make sure you properly seat the foam gaskets around the pieces before you screw everything back to keep the weather out.

A sprinkler repair to a drip system is pretty easy. If you have a drip system that uses black poly tubing you won’t even need glue to make repairs. These systems run off a standard sprinkler valve, pressure reducer and filter…this delivers water to typically a ½ inch or ¾ inch black poly tube which further branches off to microtubes. These deliver water to the individual plants.

Yesterday, I was investigating a leak in the irrigation. I found a very common problem. When terminating a water line at the end of a run, instead of using a fitting and cap, a lot of landscapers will fold the black poly tube over to stop the water from leaking out of the end of the tube. The fastener I’m presuming is whatever is on hand. In this case it was a piece of wire. The wire corroded and broke which allowed the water pressure to open the tube and flow out of the end. This is also why the homeowner had a higher than normal water bill.

The correct fix for this was to buy a fitting and cap. The fitting has a barbed end and the black poly tubing pushes into this and is held by the barb. Then the cap is screwed onto the fitting to stop the flow of water. You can also remove this cap temporarily to purge the tubing of any debris that may have entered it.

Some people might consider this the cheapest shower remodel around. If you use a shower curtain and straight rod, you might consider installing a curved rod instead. It actually makes the seemingly cramped shower more roomy. It’s not more roomy, but it since you have more space up near your head and shoulders, it sure feels roomier.

Installing a curved shower rod is only slightly more difficult than a straight rod. With a straight rod, installation is as simple as twisting the rod until enough tension is placed on the rod to hold it up. With a curved rod, you will need to fasten it to the wall.

An important aspect of the installation is placement. Since the rod is curved, you want the curve centered at the curve of the tub/shower. The ends of the curved rod usually mount closer to shower hardware so that the arc of the rod aligns properly with the edge of the tub/shower.

Once you have the placement of the rod laid out and level secure the hardware to the wall. Installing into wall studs is best, but if you are going through ceramic tile, you will need to use a glass/tile bit and a hollow wall anchor, which is included in many of the kits. Then it’s a matter of threading the shower curtain on the rod and cleaning up.

A garbage disposal blockage is very common. When the kitchen sink backs up only on the side with the garbage disposal, you can investigate that side only. If it was a drain clog, both sides of the sink would be full of water, as both sinks tie into the same drain line. Since only one side is backed up, the problem is isolated to that side only.

The problem I see most often, is that someone threw something down the garbage disposal they shouldn’t have. Most recently it was potato peels. You would think people would use common sense and at least consider the possibility that these types of items can cause a backup.

Usually the disposal will grind up the pieces small enough to exit the disposal, but maybe not get past the restrictor pipe. Some, but not all garbage disposals have a pipe that reduces the inside diameter. This is by design and will cause a backup at the location of the pipe where it connects to the drain.

The fix here is to clear the pipe of the debris. Set a bucket below the area to catch the water as it runs out of the pipe and let the water drain out. After the water has drained, remove the section of pipe and dump out the debris. Reconnect the piping and run water to test for leaks.

When fitting plumbing, particularly copper piping, you invariably will need to cut the pipe. Cutting copper piping will leave burrs on the end where you have made the cut. It’s a good idea to get rid of the burrs so that they will not interfere with joining the pipe and fittings together.

There are several methods of cutting the piping. You can use a hacksaw, although I don’t encourage this because not only will you get major burrs on the piping, but the cut won’t always be a nice square cut. As you move your hand back and forth, the blade will tend to wander off of the cut. I would use a pipe cutter. This is a tool that fits around the pipe and makes a nice square cut. It has guide rollers that keeps the cut square and as you roll the tool around the pipe, the cutting wheel gradually cuts into the piping. As you roll the tool around the pipe, you gradually tighten the cutting wheel and it cuts right through. The burr from this tool is around the inside perimeter of the cut, rather than at the exterior which is what you see when using a hacksaw.

To remove the inside burr, there is a reaming attachment on the tool that you simply insert into the pipe and rotate around. It quickly removes the burr. For the hacksaw burr, you can try emery cloth or even a metal file and sandpaper.

If you are replacing your drop-in kitchen sink, there are a couple of methods to secure them into the countertop. Lightweight sinks like stainless steel, pressed steel or porcelain typically have clips along the bottom of the sink. Heavy sinks like cast iron sometimes can use fasteners and adhesive. The trick with cast iron is to have enough manpower to lift these behemoths into place without damaging anything.

For lightweight sinks, there is a rail underneath the sink along the perimeter. Once the sink is placed into the hole there are clips that install into this rail that extend to the countertop base. Turning the screws in these clips increases the tension on the clips and they hold the sink in place. It’s probably a good idea to run a bead of caulking or silicone under the sink to keep water from entering the sink cabinet (check with your countertop manufacturer to see which material is suitable for your countertop).

If your countertop is ceramic tile or other thick material, the clips won’t be long enough to reach the deep countertop sub base as these are thick. You first have wood (usually ¾ inch), then backer board, then finally mortar and tile. You can buy extensions for the clips or you could chop out a little of the wood sub base where the clips will mount, or even use adhesive caulking.

Once the sink is firmly in place you can connect the drain piping and finish the installation.

Ceramic tile gives you a lot of choices: Size of tiles finishes, colors, and designs. The backsplash can complement or contrast the countertop. The choice is yours.

Installing a backsplash is very similar to installing the tiles on the countertop, except that they are vertical instead of laying down. Butter up the back of the tiles any lay them across the back of the wall. When you are installing tile on the wall, it’s a good idea to use painters tape to hold them in place until the mortar dries. If you are doing several courses of tile up the wall, for example from the countertop to the bottom of the wall cabinets, the tape and tile spacers help to hold everything in place as one unit.

If you are tiling the entire space between the countertop and the bottom of the wall cabinets, you can grout after the mortar dries. If you are only installing one row of tile as the backsplash, try to find round over tiles for this. This is a tile with one edge that is rounded over instead of cut square. The rounded edge gives a nice finished appearance. If you can’t find a round over tile, you can use a square cut tile and add grout at an angle for the finished look.

Once the row of tiles has dried and you are ready to grout, lay a line of painters tape about ¼ inch above the top of the entire row of tiles. Make sure the lower edge of the tape is perfectly level without any rips as this dictates the finished look. Once the tape is up you can grout. Push the grout along the top edge of the tile enough just to cover the bottom edge of the tape. Now the timing begins. You want to pull the tape off the wall once the grout has had time to set, but not so long that it gets too hard and rips the tape. After about 15 minutes, peel up a corner of the tape and gently pull. It should remove the very top of the grout causing it to crumble away leaving a perfect line.

A handyman has to be creative. We run into things that make us think on our toes. Case in point: attaching something to masonry block or concrete. Now, we all know that masonry is hard which is a detriment to making something stick to it, but a benefit that once it is in, it probably won’t be coming out. So how do you install a screw into masonry or concrete? Well, you use power tools of course.

You are going to need to drill a hole in the material first before you install a screw. Masonry screws are pretty beefy, and have good sheer strength as well. The point here is that you are going to have to work to get a hole drilled and then a screw installed, so make sure this is worth it. If there is not another place to mount or install the item, then grab your drill and a sharp masonry bit. You can buy masonry screws (like Tapcon) that are properly sized with a bit. These items go hand-in-hand. Drill the hole with the bit and then you can twist the screw into the material.

You do have a choice of screw heads: standard, Phillips, and hex. I would use the Phillips head or hex head as you will have more surface area to twist the screw into the material, and have less chance of chewing up the head.

A toilet wax ring stops waste from leaking out from between the base of the toilet and the flange (although you may notice it on the floor). If your toilet bolts corrode and break, the toilet base will move and can cause a gap that allows waste to leak out. The toilet horn may move enough that the wax ring doesn’t direct the waste into the drain and now you get to replace it.

You may also get a leak if you have changed the flooring in the bathroom. I see this a lot when people will install a ceramic tile floor or other thick flooring material. If you previously had vinyl, and now have added ceramic tile, slate, stone, etc., the toilet base has been effectively raised farther away from the flange that it mounts to. So just installing one wax ring may not be enough. I’ve been on lots of calls where the homeowners have installed a new floor and used just one wax ring to reset the toilet. The leak they have can be fixed by stacking 2 wax rings, one on top of the other. Use the wax rings with the rubber diverter built in. They tend to maintain their shape well and will help in directing the waste down the drain.