Pro Handyman Blog

If you have brick on the exterior of your house, the chances are good that you will need a handyman to replace one that will break or crack. In many cases, the bricks are not full bricks…rather they are veneer make to look like regular bricks, although they are only about ½ inch thick and mortar onto the surface.

These look great as accent features on a house, pillar, column, or even outlining steps. Since they are thinner, they are more susceptible to an impact. Take my word for it, they just don’t stand up to a golf club.

When an object strikes them, they will crack and sometimes fall out. You won’t be able to just place another one in its place because of the dried mortar underneath it. Use a small grinder with a masonry wheel and grind out enough of the old mortar so that the replacement piece will have enough room to be mortared in and still be flush with the surrounding surface. Its better to grind out a little too much mortar than not enough. The last thing you want is for the replacement to stick out from the surrounding surface. Get the grout lines level with the existing ones and either use a striking tool to smooth them out, or let it dry a little and broom it, depending on the finish.

Yes, even a handyman has to get his gas barbeque ready for the summer season. Be forewarned though, this is a dirty, greasy job.

I usually remove the cooking grates first. These are usually cast iron and have plenty of baked on food on them. Use rubber gloves and place them into 2 heavy duty plastic lawn bags, one inside the other. I set the bags on the patio and place the grates side-by-side in the bags. Set them in the bags gently and don’t move them around once they are in, as you don’t want to tear the bags (that’s why you use 2 bags). Use heavy-duty oven cleaner and spray the surfaces of the grates and then seal the bags. Let them sit overnight.

The next morning you can remove the grates and take them to the sink for a good washing. They will look like new when you are done.

In the meantime, you can scrape the baked on food from the inside of the barbeque. Empty the drip tray at the bottom and clean out any blocked gas ports along the burners. Check to make sure that the igniter operates and if not, make sure there is no burned on food on the contacts.

If you want to dress up your barbeque, you can use barbeque paint in a spray can and give your barbeque a fresh new look.

As a handyman, I get customers that ask me to do all types of things. That includes removing smoke detectors. Now why would people want to remove their smoke detectors? Because they are too high up on the ceiling and the customers don’t want to climb up there to silence a chirping smoke detector. Folks, that is just crazy. Never remove a smoke detector because it is bothersome.

As homeowners sought out vaulted ceilings, precautions had to be made in case of fire. Smoke will rise in those vaulted ceilings and so smoke detectors are placed there. Replacing batteries in a smoke detector is not difficult. You will need a ladder to reach the smoke detector. You will need a 9-volt battery for each smoke detector you will be servicing.

To get access to the battery, you may have to rotate the smoke detector to disengage it from the ceiling. You can open a small door on the back and replace it. Some smoke detectors have a small door on the underside of the detector that slides back-and-forth. You can simply move the little door, replace the battery, and close the door all without removing the smoke detector from the ceiling.

By the way, it is recommended that you change the batteries twice per year. An easy way to remember is that each time you change your clocks for daylight savings time, change the batteries in your smoke detectors.

I am a handyman, and yes, I have broken light globes. I’m sure we have all broken light fixture globes before. By the way, the “globe” is the official name for the glass that covers light bulbs. You can also have these on ceiling fan light fixture kits. So if you break one, what are your options?

You can try to find a replacement, and you may get lucky and find one. Big box stores will have a small selection, specialty retailers will have a better selection, and the web will have more, but you take a risk with your measurements. The effort and time it wall take you will make you wish you would have just bought a new light fixture, and that may be the best option.

For ceiling fan globes, you will have either 3 or 4 light globes, so if you break one, you will have to get an exact replacement. That won’t be easy. What will be easy is buying four new globes, so that they all match. I know, it sounds counterproductive to buy four new globes to replace one broken one, but the globes are cheap and your time is not. The nice thing is that the new globe will install in a few seconds. There are usually three thumbscrews that hold the globe in place. Just loosen them, insert the globe, and tighten until snug.

If you are considering installing a wood floor or a laminate floor, you will need at least one specialty handyman tool. You probably have most of what you need in your garage, but you will likely have to buy a pull bar.

A pull bar is a flat piece of steel with a lip on either end of it. One lip faces down and the other lip is larger and meatier, and it faces up. The reason this side is larger is because that is the side you will beat with a hammer.

The pull bar is great for closing the gap between 2 strips or planks of flooring. If you are using tongue-and-groove flooring, you usually tip the tongue side up at and angle, insert it into the groove of the neighboring plank, and push it down. There are times when the gap won’t be uniform along the length of the boards. This is where the pull bar comes into play.

You will want to cut a scrap of wood that mates with the piece you will be hammering against. For example, if the plank has a groove exposed, cut a scrap from a piece with a tongue and insert that piece where you see a gap between the two pieces. Then place the lip of the pull bar against the back of the scrap and give the bar a good smack with a hammer. This will quickly close the gap without damaging the edge you need for the next plank.

I had a customer ask their handyman how to hang a round object on the wall. In this case it was a mirror. It was simple to me, but not so simple for them. I guess since the object wasn’t square it was causing problems.

Hanging a round object is the same as hanging a square object except that you can’t set a level on top of it. Rather you take a measurement of distances from the side of the object to the edge of the wall. With a round object, it is more about it being centered than level.

You can install a hanger on the back of the round object so that it can sit on whatever you have installed into the wall…a nail, screw, or anchor of some type. Use a large compass (or a piece of string with a pencil tied on the end), and mark a light line from the same spot on either side of the round object. It will leave you with two arcs that intersect each other in two places. Draw a line where the two arcs intersect and this is the center of the object. Extend the line to the top of the object and install a hanger.

From there find the midpoint of the wall and the height that you want the object installed at and install your nail, screw, or anchor. Once you have the round mirror on the wall, measure from each side to the edge of the wall. The distances should be the same. If not, you can adjust the mirror until it is exactly centered on the wall.

If your water pressure is too high, you can use this handyman trick to reduce it. You can add a pressure regulator to the water supply, and then adjust it for your needs.

You can test your water pressure by using a water pressure gauge. You can buy these at any home center and attach it to a hose bib. Turn the water on and the gauge tells you the pressure. The water pressure should be between 40-80 psi. There is a device on top of the valve that allows you to increase or decrease the water pressure.

Some incoming water pressure is excessive, above 100 psi. You can intercept the incoming water line and add a pressure regulator. Most of these preset to 50 psi but are adjustable from 25-75psi.

You will need to install the valve on the incoming supply pipe. You can solder one on to the copper piping, or use a compression fitting. Just make sure the direction of flow is correct. There is an arrow stamped onto the valve’s housing that shows the direction of flow. Once you have the new valve installed, you can adjust the pressure to fit your needs.

If you have low water pressure, you might also check your neighborhood. It may be that the entire neighborhood has low water pressure. Ask a neighbor if you can compare the pressure to yours. If everyone has low pressure, you might consider calling the water company to see about your options.

A handyman runs into this all the time. If you are doing some light electrical work, you may find the need to properly strip the ends of the wires. Solid wire is used to connect light fixtures, ceiling fans, etc. and if you are connecting a fixture for the first time, you will find that the wires have all been cut to the same length, flush with the insulation.

After you check to make sure the power is off, separate the wires and get ready to strip them. You can buy a wire stripping tool with various holes in it for various gauges of wire. The most common for fixtures will be either 12 or 14 gauge. Place the wire in the tool and close the jaws of the tool around the wire. If you have selected to correct hole, the tool should cleanly cut through the insulation, but leave the copper wire. You can them pull the insulation off of the wire.

You can also use wire cutters (or lineman’s pliers). They usually have a notch near the base of the tool for stripping wire. You will have to guess though how far to squeeze the tool as the gauge of your wire may not match the notch in the tool, so you risk cutting into the copper if the gauge is larger than the notch. I generally strip away the minimum amount of insulation necessary for the job. Depending on the application you are working on, 3/8”-½” should be sufficient.