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Fireplace Maintenance You Can Do Yourself

There is some very important fireplace maintenance you can do yourself. You don’t need to hire a specialist each year when he or she will be doing things that you can do instead. In fact you don’t need many specialty tools for this project. Keep reading to get a better understanding of what goes into fireplace maintenance that keeps it operating efficiently. Fireplace maintenance is one of the home maintenance tasks found on My FREE Home Maintenance Checklist. You can get your copy today to make sure you don’t leave out any important tasks that should be done on your home. The checklist is set up to help you keep up-to-date in your maintenance routines, so your house runs as efficiently as possible. Save money in the long run, and enjoy your home more with this FREE Home Maintenance Checklist. Fireplace Maintenance Cost The cost to maintain your fireplace can vary depending on a few factors. The first is the type of fireplace you own. The fireplace type with the highest level of maintenance is a wood fireplace. If you want to do the maintenance on it yourself, you will be spending money up front for a chimney sweep and some fireplace tools. The chimney sweep is around $60, and an ash bucket set is about $50. Total cost for you to do it yourself is a one time fee of a little over $100. If you have any other repairs to make on the fireplace you will need to purchase some fireplace mortar repair caulk. This is usually around $10 for a tube. If you are interested in hiring someone to do the work it can be anywhere between $150 and $1000. This cost will depend on the level of work needed to be done, and the rate the worker charges you. My Home Maintenance Checklist is a free resource to help you keep up to date on your home’s maintenance. It is designed to remind you of what needs to be done at a specific time. You will know what maintenance tasks need to be done: Monthly Annually Seasonally For your household appliances And More Get your free copy of My Home Maintenance Checklist today by clicking the link below! Get The Free Checklist! Wood Fireplace Maintenance You Can Do Yourself A wood fireplace is a beautiful addition to your home. As the warm smell of a crackling fire fills the room, you are taken to another place. But it’s important to maintain a wood fireplace, to keep it in the best condition for many years. The main goal for maintaining this type of fireplace is to prevent the buildup of high levels of “creosote.” This article will use the words creosote and soot interchangeably. When wood burns, there are particulates of un-burned wood that are emitted in the smoke. This builds up on the walls of the chimney, and should be kept to a minimum. There are some tools that are commonly used to perform wood burning fireplace maintenance. Some of these tools are common household tools, and others are specifide tools for fireplaces. Don’t let that scare you away from this project. They are not super expensive and they don’t take a lot of training to master. Lets take a look at the tools used in wood burning fireplace maintenance. Wood Fireplace Maintenance Tools Ash Bucket Kit Click here A good Ash Bucket Kit has a few important components. Ash buckets should be made of metal. This will allow it to hold hot embers without burning or melting the bucket. This kit includes a bucket with lid, shovel, broom/brush, and gloves. This kit will be used throughout the wood burning season. It is important to remove old ash from previous fires before it builds up too much. Chimney Sweep Kit Click here A good Chimney Sweep Kit is an important tool for anyone with a wood burning fireplace to have. This kit includes extensions for up to 30 feet, making it possible for you to clean the entire chimney. This kit is designed to use with a power drill like a Dewalt Cordless Drill that I recommend. It makes it easier to use, and does a thorough job of cleaning your chimney well. Wood Burning Fireplace Maintenance Process The steps that go into maintaining a wood burning fireplace are pretty straight forward. Part of this process will be repeated over the course of the fireplace season. The rest of it only needs to be done once a year, before you use the fireplace. That would most likely be in the fall season, to get it ready for the winter. Clean The Fire Box The fire box is the portion of a fireplace that the wood is burned in. It is where the ash accumulates after the wood has finished burning. This ash will need to be cleaned ideally after each use, but may be delayed two to three uses. Too much ash will be a hindrance to the magnitude of fires, and may pose a health risk with more ash in the air than ideal. It’s best to wait several hours after the fire has been extinguished. This will make the handling of the ash safer because it isn’t as hot anymore. Use your Ash Bucket Kit to sweep and scoop up the old ash. If you have a yard or a compost pile this is a good material to put in it. But if not this can be placed in a bag and thrown in the garbage can. Inspect The Fire Box The fire box will regularly see a fluctuation of very high temperatures, that eventually cool off to much lower temperatures. This can cause the mortar or bricks to crack. Any cracking can cause a space for creosote to accumulate. Over time this may combust and create a much larger problem. There is a simple repair that can be done when a crack is discovered. You only need a couple of tools and

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Free Home Maintenance Checklist For Every Homeowner

Kevin

A free home maintenance checklist will bring your home to its best condition possible. The work should be broken into groups, making it easy to know when specific tasks should be done. This article includes a checklist that will guide you through everything that needs to be done. Get your free home maintenance checklist below to bring your home to where it needs to be. What Is “Regular” Maintenance On A Home? Home maintenance is an important part of keeping your home in good condition. Anyone who lives in a house has regular maintenance tasks that need to be done throughout the year. Each house is different, and the routine can be altered accordingly. Regular home maintenance regards the tasks that need to be done on a regular basis. The most common category of this are things that should be done on a monthly basis. These can be items like checking for dead batteries, or replacing filters. Regular home maintenance is meant to keep certain aspects of your home operating in peak working condition. We are going to cover the complete list of maintenance activities in this article. If you are looking for a printable PDF version of this list, you can download My Home Maintenance Checklist by clicking the link below. My Free Home Maintenance Checklist My Home Maintenance Checklist is a free PDF I made to help you see when each maintenance task should be done. It includes all the main tasks that keep your home in ideal condition so there will be no guessing what needs to be done. This FREE Checklist Will… Save money with a more efficient home Keep your family safe with up-to-date features No more guessing what to do next Get The Free Checklist! When you download My FREE Home Maintenance Checklist you will have a clear understanding on what tasks need to be done, and at what time of year. It includes tasks that are for any season, as well as ones that should be done on a seasonal or monthly basis. This takes any guesswork out of what you need to do next, helping you stay up-to-date on things that need to be done. Keep your family safe, and save time in the long run by getting this list today. Seasonal Home Maintenance Checklist The seasons are a time of change. This includes changes your home goes through. Stay one step ahead by doing the things listed below. Spring Home Maintenance Spring is a time of change in the seasons that brings warmer and sunnier weather. The cold, dark winter can tend to cause some damage on the exterior of the house. Spring is a time we can take advantage of the nice weather as it becomes available. Yard Maintenance The yard is generally neglected throughout the winter. Spring is when we can make it tidy by cleaning any debris or leaves that may have blown in. You can also give the lawn its initial mow and edging to get it ready for the summer season. I recommend doing this by setting the lawn mower blades to the lowest setting you can. This will give you more time before the next mow as the grass begins to grow in the warmer weather. This is also a good time to fertilize your lawn. The lawn is going to begin growing at a faster pace, which means it will want to be fed to look its healthiest. Inspect Roof and Gutters Start your roof inspection in the attic (if applicable). Take a look at the underside of the roof for any water damage, or leaking. This should be noticeable by an off-colored water stain on the plywood. Any water damage you spot here can be linked to a problem with the shingles directly outside of this damage. Look for damaged shingles by walking around your house and looking at the shingles from below. You are looking for curling of the tips, or their sliding out of alignment. If you can’t see the shingles from the ground very well you may need to go on the roof to look closer. Some terms we should define are gutter and downspout. The gutter is a “U” shaped channel along the edge of the roof of your house that collects rainwater. It moves the water to a downspout which is a vertical pipe that is usually at one or both ends of the gutter. If you live in a wet location your gutters and downspouts will get plenty of use in the winter. Do a walk around your property and look for any damage to the gutter and downspouts from below. If you don’t see any, get on a ladder that lets you look in the gutters for excess debris that needs to be cleaned out. The gutter is an area that tends to get clogged by leaves and other debris that finds its way to your roof. It’s important to remove these leaves before they can get clogged in the downspout. This can cause damage to the gutter, which may require being replaced sooner than it should have been. Nowadays there are several options to keep the gutter clear of leaves. These options are best installed after the gutter has been cleaned. Below are a few of my top choices you can look at to keep your gutters clear of leaves and debris for years to come. Summer Home Maintenance The majority of the focus for summertime is going to be outside. The weather is nice, so let’s take advantage of this. It can include a combination of yard work and maintenance on the home’s exterior. Any damage to the siding and the trim of the house should be addressed. That is because this type of work will be finished with a fresh coat of paint. We need nice weather to make sure the paint dries well. This can also be the time to put a fresh coat of paint on the house if needed.

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How To Unclog A Bathroom Sink | 5 Best Ways To Unclog A Sink

Kevin

Knowing how to unclog a bathroom sink is valuable information. The truth is there are countless methods out there. Some techniques are capable of destroying the building’s plumbing, creating a larger problem than what you began with. The good news is there are a few ways to unclog a sink that will not damage your home’s plumbing. Read further to get a complete list of 100% safe ways to unclog a bathroom sink. Why Sinks Get Clogged To solve the problem of a clogged sink, we must furst learn what casues the sink to be clogged in the first place. The bathroom is the most frequently used room in your home. And the sink is the most frequently used part of the bathroom. Everything from getting ready in the morning, to washing your hands before you leave are all done with the sink. That means a lot more than just water goes down that drain. It’s common for shaving cream, toothpaste, and a lot more to be rinsed down the bathroom sink. This stuff can build up in the drain over time, causing a bottleneck to take place. The solution for a clogged sink is to find a way to remove this bottleneck and get the water flowing again. How To Unclog A Bathroom Sink That Has Standing Water Standing water is a sure sign there is a problem. The first thing you can try is to use a plunger. This is the least invasive method because it only uses pressurized air and water to move the clog. It might seem a bit weird putting your toilet plunger in the sink. That’s why they make these sink plungers that are designed specifically for this job. The downside to using one of these plungers is if the clog is too far down, and you have an overflow hole in your sink, the plunger will just move the pressure out of this hole. These types of plungers work best if the clog is right at the drain in the sink. If the clog is lower than that try plugging up the overflow hole with a rag or something like that. Don’t use toilet paper because some of it may break off and make the problem worse. Your goal is to move enough of the clog so the water moves out of the basin. If you drain the sink you can move on to the next method. Clean Out The Sink’s P-Trap The p-trap is a curved section of pipe that is below the sink. It is what the water drains through on its way out of your home. The curve in this section of pipe tends to get clogged as the stuff in the water slows down and settles. Bear in mind it’s pretty gross in this pipe, so if you are squeamish you may want to skip this option of unclogging the sink. To remove the p-trap start off by clearing out enough of the items below the sink to be able to work under there. You will need to access the back wall where the pipe goes into the wall. Use a pair of adjustable pliers that the jaws open wider than 1-½ inches. Loosen the nuts at both ends of the p trap. Once they get started with the pliers you should be able to finish loosening them by hand. Pay attention to how these nuts came off because you will be putting them back the same way. When the nuts are completely loosened you will slide the pipe out of the back wall and take it out from under the sink completely. Inspect the inside of it to see if it’s clogged. You may want to take it outside and use the hose to clean it out if this is an option. If not, take it to the kitchen sink to try to unclog it with water. Use something like a bottle brush if you have one to try to remove the clog. Install it back under the bathroom sink when you are done with the p trap. If this wasn’t the problem, and the clog is further down we can try the next method. How To Unclog A Bathroom Sink Clogged With Hair This method requires you to have access to a garden hose nearby. You will start by removing the p trap like in the previous method. Attach a Drain King to the end of the garden hose. Place it into the pipe coming out of the wall. You want to get it in there far enough to where it’s completely in the pipe plus a few extra inches. Turn the hose on the full amount. This works best if you have someone else helping you so one of you can hold the end of the hose in place and the other can control the water. Let the water run for several minutes. The Drain King will expand with water and form a seal in the pipe. The pressure will force the hair clog to move through the pipe. You want to let the hose run long enough to where it frees up the clog and moves it all the way through the pipe. Otherwise it may just stop and form another clog further down. How To Unclog A Bathroom Sink With Vinegar And Baking Soda Vinegar and baking soda are ingredients many people have in their home. This is one method for unclogging a drain, but isn’t always the best. Let’s try it to see if it works. Start off by boiling a pot of water to use in a bit. You then want to mix one cup of baking soda with one cup of vinegar and one cup of water. Once the pot of water is boiling, carry it to the bathroom and pour it down the drain. Be careful not to spill it as you carry it from the kitchen to the bathroom. After you pour it down the drain start another

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10 Best Garden Hoses Buyer’s Guide

Kevin

Finding the best garden hose can seem like a difficult task. There are so many hoses on the market, and they all have a different variety of features. There is a perfect garden hose for your home or work. Lets take a look at the best garden hoses and find the right one for you. Contents Best Overall Garden Hose Best Garden Hose For Drinking Water Best Kink Free Garden Hose Best Expandable Garden Hose Best Heavy Duty Garden Hose Best Environmentally Friendly Garden Hose Best Garden Hose For Small Spaces Best Garden Hose For Camper Most Durable Garden Hose Longest Lasting Garden Hose Best Overall Garden Hose Flexzilla Heavy Duty Garden Hose Flexzilla Heavy Duty Garden Hose Color: Zilla Green Weight: 3.8 Pounds Diameter: 5/8 inch Pressure: 150 PSI Length: 50 feet (more options available) Price: $38 Buy Now! The Flexzilla Garden Hose is all around an excellent option for many situations. It is highly versatile, giving it plenty of features that benefit in many ways. It’s bright color gives it plenty of visibility when you are doing tasks like mowing the lawn. Read below for a list of some of the features this Flexzilla hose has. Key Features: Best Garden Hose Flexible: It doesn’t get stiff and difficult to handle no matter the weather conditions. Use this hose the same way in different environments and conditions. Durable: This hose doesn’t wear down over time. Don’t worry about its losing durability after years of dragging it on multiple surface types. It handles cement, pebbles, brick and more well. It has an abrasion resistant outer cover that handles these surfaces. And the connection fittings are manufactured with airplane grade metal for a higher level of strength. No Kinking: The materials it’s made of have been designed to greatly reduce the tendency of kinking. The materials also help you to coil it when putting it away. But the coils will unwind smoothly when in use, preventing it from kinking. Your sprinkler won’t easily turn when you turn on the hose. Lightweight: At 3.8 pounds this hose is light enough to make it easy to use. Carry it comfortably to the hose bib you want to use it at when needed. Drag it around the yard with ease to use it wherever you need it. Leak Free Connections: The connections don’t leak when in use. This hose won’t form a puddle on your patio because of a steady stream of drips at the bib. And you won’t get any unwanted dripping on yourself when you are using the hose. Drinking Water Safe: We all remember drinking from the hose when we were young. But now we are more aware of the effects of harmful chemicals when ingested. This hose is drinking water safe, helping you rest easy when your family gets thirsty when in the yard. The Flexzilla Garden Hose gives you all the features you can wish for. It is a perfect option for any home, giving you exactly what you are looking for. This all weather hose is lightweight, and leak free. Get your Flexzilla garden hose today. Best Garden Hose For Drinking Water Camco TastePURE Water Hose Camco TastePURE Water Hose Color: White Weight: 1 Pound Diameter: 5/8 Inch Inner Diameter Pressure: Length: 25 Feet (more options available) Price: $21.99 Buy Now! The Camco TastePURE 25 foot water hose is safe for drinking water. The materials it’s made of don’t have any harmful chemicals that you don’t want to ingest. This means you can use it for a wider range of activities than most other hoses. Key Features: Garden Hose For Drinking Drinking Water Grade Materials: This hose is made of drinking water grade materials. The materials used in this hose do not include lead, BPA, or phthalates, ensuring a healthy to drink stream of water. Give yourself a potable water level hose wherever you need it most. Lead Free: This certified lead free hose meets higher standards than other water hoses. You don’t need to worry about not knowing if you are ingesting harmful chemicals like lead, because there is none in this hose. Versatile Uses: It can be used in more circumstances due to the higher grade materials used. Use it for RVing, camping, dog washing, and yard care among other options. Reinforced Materials: The diamond hatched reinforced PVC construction improves it’s kink resistance. Use it where you need it without any of the fuss. Made in the USA: This is a proud product made in the USA. Support American businesses by purchasing this Camco TastePURE water hose. The Camco TastePURE garden hose is a great option for you. With the fact that it is safe to drink from you can use it in more applications. It’s great for an RV where you will want a potable water hose. Get your Camco TastePURE hose today. Best Kink Free Garden Hose Back to the Roots Kink Resistant Garden Hose Back to the Roots Kink Resistant Garden Hose Color: Blue Weight: 6.8 Pounds Diameter: Pressure: Length: 50 Feet Price: $42.99 Buy Now! The Back To The Roots Garden Hose is a great option if you are tired of fighting kinks. It’s lightweight making it easy to use where it’s needed. The connection is certified by the Arthritis Foundation because it is easy to connect. It has a guarantee making it a safe purchase with no risk on your end. Key Features No Harmful Chemicals: Don’t worry about introducing harmful chemicals like Phthalates, Lead, and BPA to your garden. This hose does not have any in the materials it is made of. Lightweight: You won’t have trouble carrying it around the yard while you use it. The light weight product will be easy for you to take it where you need it to go. Good for Arthritis: This hose is certified by the Arthritis Foundation for having a hose connection that is comfortable to grip. That means it’s easy for people who have trouble with arthritis to connect this

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How To Cut PVC Pipe

Kevin

Knowing how to cut PVC pipe the right way is a skill every homeowner should know. PVC has many uses around the house, other than the plumbing purposes it was designed for. Cutting PVC is much easier than you think. Read on to find out what the best way to cut PVC pipe is with the use you have in mind. PVC pipe is a plastic pipe that is available in various sizes. It’s possible to cut it with a large variety of tools, and we will be discussing several of them in this article. There are three tools that are the most commonly used to cut PVC pipe. The number one tool is a hacksaw. Next is a ratcheting PVC pipe cutting tool. And the third most used option is an oscillating cutting tool. There are benefits to each of these options that we will talk about in a bit. The most common use for PVC is low pressure water transportation. An example of this is using it in a sprinkler system like one used to water a lawn. But the versatility of PVC is endless, as it is also a commonly used material for many crafts and DIY projects. Protective Equipment Safety Glasses Gloves It’s important to make sure you use proper safety equipment when doing any type of physical work that has moving parts. Cutting PVC pipe is no different. There are a few places that you can get injured, so for that reason we use protective equipment to help limit any injuries. It’s the hands and eyes that are the main places that can take an injury from this project. That means the two pieces of protective equipment to use are safety goggles, and work gloves. The safety goggles are important because several of the methods for cutting PVC will create burrs. It’s possible for these burrs to get in your eyes, so that’s why we wear safety goggles. Gloves are helpful because any of the methods used to cut PVC use sharp objects. We don’t want to risk cutting ourselves, so we wear gloves. They are also helpful with gripping the pipe during the cut. Tape Measure Felt Tip Marker The first step for making a cut is to know where it’s going to be. You are going to do this on pvc by using a tape measure and a felt tip marker like a sharpie. Hold the tape measure to one side of the pipe, and pull it out past the length you want to make the piece. Make a small mark with the sharpie at the location it is supposed to be. When you are cutting the pipe you want it to be as close to this mark as possible. Don’t leave too much extra space because you will need to make another cut. An even worse problem than this is if you cut the piece too small and need to start over. Try to be as accurate as possible. Best Methods For Cutting PVC Pipe Using Hand Tools Now it’s time to talk about the method of cutting the pipe. There are two main camps we put the tools for cutting PVC pipe in. The first are hand tools, and the second are power tools. The main goal when cutting PVC is to make the cut straight. If you are cutting it to attach fittings on the end, you are allowed to be a few degrees off of 90, but not much. Let’s talk about some of the different hand tools we use to cut PVC pipe. Cutting PVC Pipe With Hand Tools There are various tools that are commonly used for cutting PVC pipe. The first grouping we will talk about are the different types of saws. After we go through the saws, we will take a look at one hand tool that specializes in cutting PVC pipe. The common feature for all of these saws here is they have small teeth. This is a feature that is used for a fine cut when working with wood, or is needed for cutting metal. A fine toothed blade is important for cutting PVC because if the teeth were larger like on a hand saw used for cutting wood it would catch on the pipe and possibly tear it rather than cut. The biggest downside for cutting with any of the saws listed below is you will need some space around the pipe to use the saw. Saws are used by pushing and pulling it back and forth. This means they require several inches to about a foot on either side of the pipe. This will not work very well if the pipe is in a tight spot like framed into a wall. Thankfully we have a solution for this predicament. Cutting PVC With A Hacksaw The hacksaw is a commonly used tool for homeowners to have in their tool box. Using it to cut PVC is one of the most popular uses. There are a few things to focus on when cutting a piece of PVC with a hacksaw. Hack Saw Hold The Pipe Steady Like cutting anything with a saw, PVC needs to be held stable in order to make the cut. The best way to do this is to lay it on a solid surface, and hold it with one hand. If you want to be sure the cut is going to be as accurate as possible another thing you can do is use clamps to hold it down. How To Cut PVC Pipe Straight With A Saw A miter box is an open top box with several tracks (or grooves) that a handsaw fits in. The tracks are positioned in several commonly used angles, but in this case we are going to use the straight 90 deg angle. Use one hand to hold the pipe inside the box, but located towards the front of it. The other hand will use the saw. Place the saw in the track

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How To Install A Toilet By Yourself

Kevin

Learning how to install a toilet is not difficult. You don’t need any special tools beyond what you probably already own. This is a single person job that takes under an hour to finish. Take a look below for a list of tools, and the complete steps to successfully install a new toilet. Some toilet installs do not require all the tools below. This is dependent on what toilet installation kit you are using. Some kits require a hacksaw to cut the bolts that secure the bowl to the flange. Jump to the Secure the Toilet section below to see if you need a hacksaw. You may also need to replace the supply line (the water line that connects the toilet to the water valve on the wall. If your supply line is deteriorating a great deal you may want to buy a new one for this installation. You want it to be the same length as the one you have now. Measure the size of the connection attached to the valve on the wall, and talk to the people at the hardware store for help finding the exact one. Most times the existing one is fine to use again. We both know the best accessory for a toilet is a bathroom exhaust fan. Those of us who want one, but don’t have one yet, the article on How to install a bathroom fan where one doesn’t exist will take care of that problem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbMmGao_0Ug How To Install A Toilet Step-By-Step The steps listed below will guide you through the process of removing the old toilet and installing the new one. I have a video for you to check out if that’s an easier way for you to learn how to do this type of project. The video has the same steps outlined in this article. Click on the video above for that tutorial. The most important thing to remember during this process is to not overtighten any of the bolts during this project. You will be working with porcelain which is susceptible to cracking if too much pressure is put on it. The amount of tightening should be up to where the bowl, tank, or seat does not wobble. Once you get to this point you can stop tightening. Shut Off The Water Supply To The Toilet I like to start this job by putting on rubber gloves. It makes me feel more comfortable when working with a used toilet to start by wearing gloves. Make sure you have extras handy and they are the right size because they may break during the process of this job. The water supply line is a water valve that sticks out of the wall near the ground. It’s usually somewhere behind the toilet to the left of it. Turn the valve to the right until you can’t turn it any more. You will need to get on your knees to find it. Remove Old Toilet Removal of the old toilet happens in a series of steps. With the water shut off you can flush the toilet to remove the water from the tank. There will still be some water in the bowl that can spill out when carrying it. This is why we use the garbage bag. Loosen the bolts at the base of the toilet. There is one bolt sticking up on either side of the bowl near the floor. Oftentimes there is a smooth cap covering the bolt. You can use the putty knife or the flat screwdriver to pry the caps off. Once the caps are off use the crescent wrench or the channellock pliers to loosen and remove the nuts. Take the nuts and washers off. Once the nuts are off, the toilet is free and loose from the floor. Open up the garbage bag and place it on the floor next to the toilet. When you lift the toilet straight up and off the bolts, place it on the garbage bag so any spills go in there and not all over the house. We use the contractor garbage bag for this because usually the kitchen garbage bags are too small to fit the toilet. If the toilet is too heavy to lift alone, you may want to get someone else to help you lift it. If you don’t have someone to help you, remove the tank from the bowl. This can only happen if you have a two piece toilet. You may need to lay on the floor to loosen the tank from the bowl. To remove the tank there are some plastic bolts that connect the tank to the bowl. Loosen the nuts with the channellock pliers. This can be brought directly outside when it is removed. Remove the Old Wax Ring The wax ring is used to prevent any sewer gasses from filling up the bathroom and causing a nasty smell in the house. It’s important to remove as much of the old wax ring before we can place the new one. Use the putty knife to scrape the wax off the flange. Any pieces of wax that are removed can be put in a disposable bag. A shopping bag is the perfect size for this stage of the job. Some wax rings have a funnel shaped gasket that faces downward into the toilet flange. This gasket needs to be removed from the flange along with the majority of old wax. Not all wax rings have this part. You won’t be able to get every last bit of wax off the flange, but do your best to scrape as much off the flange as possible. The toilet flange is the circular hole that is in the floor of the bathroom. It’s the hole that the water goes down when the toilet gets flushed. Disclaimer: Do your best to not drop anything down the flange hole, including chunks of wax. You may want to stuff a large rag in the opening of the flange while

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How To Reset A Circuit Breaker

Kevin

Knowing how to reset a circuit breaker is a valuable skill to have. It is not difficult, and can be done quickly. It can be dangerous if not done correctly. Follow the steps below to reset your circuit breaker the right way. Causes Of A Tripped Breaker Before dealing with the breaker box, it is important to understand what caused the problem in the first place. The breaker box is the location that the main electricity supply has come into the house. This supply is then divided up to various circuits around the house. This is to reduce the total electric flow going through the outlets and light fixtures, making it safer for us when using them. We say a circuit is “tripped” when it has been overloaded and no longer has power going to it. The breaker is designed to switch off, or “trip” before the electricity in the wires gets to a dangerous level. One way a circuit trips is when a GFCI outlet overloads and switches to the off position. If this happens, every other light and outlet on the same circuit after the GFCI will be turned off as well. You want to switch the outlet back on to regain power to these locations. GFCI Outlet Ground fault circuit interrupter or GFCI outlets are electrical outlets that are designed to be placed in proximity to water. It is recommended to have one of these outlets within 18 inches of a water source like a sink faucet. These outlets will trip, or switch to the “off” position when they are shorted or overloaded. You can push the reset button on the outlet to switch it back to the “on position. If it is not turning back on you may need to switch the breaker back on at the breaker box. How To Reset A Tripped Circuit Breaker Resetting a tripped circuit breaker is a simple process. If it tripped after you turned on a light or appliance, you want to unplug it or turn it off before switching the breaker back on. This is because you may run into the same problem of the circuit being overloaded after you switch it on. Go to the circuit panel. This is usually in the garage, but may be in another location. It should be somewhere that is easily accessed. There is also a chance of there being a subpanel which is separate from the main circuit panel. The subpanel looks similar to the main circuit panel, but generally smaller. The circuits in this panel are the same type as the main, and are checked the same way. Open the circuit panel, and look for a circuit that is “tripped”. This is indicated by the switch on the circuit that is in a different position than the rest. When they are in the “on” position they are facing the center of the panel. When they are tripped they are facing straight out. The “off” position is facing to the side of the panel. If it’s hard to tell which breaker is tripped, it’s okay to lightly push on them in the “on” direction. The ones that are not tripped will not move. The one that has been tripped will have a bit of movement, but will spring back into the center. Once you find the one that is tripped you want to flip it to the off position (towards the side of the panel). This will reset it. Now flip it to the on position. Congratulations, you reset a circuit breaker. Tripped Circuit Breaker Won’t Reset There is a chance the tripped circuit breaker won’t reset. If after you switch it to the on position it trips again you have a bigger issue. This can be caused by one of several problems that is happening. If you are a novice when it comes to electrical work I recommend seeking professional help. Electrical is not something you want to mess around with if you don’t know what you are doing. I put together a guide that will help you find a reliable contractor. This guide tells you what interview questions to ask once you found a potential candidate. It lets you know what their answers mean, and who you should avoid. And once you find the person you want to use it helps you draft up a contract to help protect yourself. It’s called The Contractor Search Guide. Check it out by clicking the image. How To Reset A Breaker In An Apartment Resetting a circuit breaker in an apartment is similar to the steps listed above. Hopefully you know where the circuit breaker is. It may be in a closet, or somewhere else hidden. This is a good thing to know where it is once you find it. Frequently Asked Questions How do you know if a breaker needs to be reset? The first sign that you will need to reset a circuit breaker is there is no power going to something you have plugged in. This could be a light, your cellphone, or a major appliance. Once you get to the breaker box, the first way to tell which circuit breaker is tripped is when the switch on one of them is facing the center position, when the others are all aimed at either the left or right position. You can push on this one in the direction the others are facing, and you will feel a spring like resistance. This means it is time to go through the process described above to reset it. What happens if a circuit breaker won’t reset? There are several reasons why a circuit won’t reset. The first one you want to consider is if there are any GFCI outlets on the circuit. If so, this outlet may be the culprit for why the power is not turning back on after resetting the breaker. There also may be the situation that the breaker itself has gone bad. If this is the case

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How To Install A Bathroom Fan Where One Doesn’t Exist

Kevin

Installing a bathroom fan where one doesn’t exist can be a major improvement in a bathroom. This project can be completed in a short period of time. But major problems can happen if you cut corners. This article will show you exactly how to install a bathroom fan where one doesn’t exist. You can find at this article: The Best Bathroom Exhaust Fan. Here you will learn what features bathroom fans have, and pick the right one for your home. There are many options out there which can seem overwhelming to sift through. The above article will narrow down the choices to the best few bathroom fans based on their features. Disclaimer: This project involves working with electricity, which can be dangerous if not done correctly. If you are uncomfortable with this type of work I recommend seeking help from a professional. If you are handy with tools this project won’t be hard for you to complete. On average this job is around 1-2 hours. It’s best to do it all at once because the power will be turned off to your bathroom while you are working.Here is a list of the required equipment and tools for the job. Equipment Bathroom Fan Ducting Vent Cover Pipe Clamp Tools Electric Drill Drillbit Extension Drill Bits Multi Screwdriver Hole Saw Drywall Saw Drywall Saw Will Adding A Fan Overload The Electrical Circuit? There are ways to tell if the circuit is safe to add a bathroom fan. This is important to know because you don’t want the circuit to trip every time you turn the fan on. This article does not cover the process of checking the circuit’s load capacity. A certified electrician can help you with this if needed. Steps For Adding A Bathroom Exhaust Fan Below are the main steps to installing a bathroom fan. They don’t need to be done in this order, but all these steps need to be completed in order for it to be completed properly. And one of the steps cant be done without preceding another step. Choosing the placement Attaching the vent properly Installing the electrical Securing the fan in place How To Choose The Bathroom Fans Placement There are a few factors that go into choosing the fan’s placement. Below are some of the key factors that go into mounting and running the duct. The consideration of running the power to the fan will be covered in the “Installing The Electrical” section below. The fan needs to be secured to a joist in the ceiling. Joists are pieces of lumber that run parallel to each other, that the sheet rock on the ceiling is secured to. One of the edges of the fan box will be flush against the edge of a joist for securement. Use a stud finder to find a joist that is relatively close to where you want the fan to be. The joists should be running in the direction of an exterior wall to help with future steps. You will run the vent in that direction without drilling through the joists. You want the fan to be somewhat in the middle of the bathroom. This generally looks good because its more symmetrical. Placing it closer to the toilet or the shower will assist in moving unwanted air out of the bathroom quickly. Don’t place it tight against one of the walls because this will be worse for airflow. If your fan has a light, keep that in mind when deciding on a location. You may want to have it slightly closer to the sink to cast the extra light in that area. It helps with the installation process if you place it close to an arms length from the exterior wall. But this isn’t set in stone because there are drill extensions that can help with a future step if needed. Hold the vent box up to the ceiling where you want the fan to go. Make sure one edge of the box is touching a joist before you trace its border with a pencil. Use a drywall saw to cut the opening for the fan. You want to have your safety glasses on and a dust mask for this part. There will be quite a bit of drywall dust that will fall. Run The Vent Duct Once you have a hole cut in the ceiling, you now have access to work in the ceiling cavity. Find the location the duct will vent outside. Get on a ladder and peek inside the opening to see what you are working with. Find a spot that is roughly equal distance from the top and bottom on the exterior wall. Drill with a pilot hole in the exterior wall midway between the top and bottom of the cavity. You may need an extender on your drill, depending on how far your opening is from the wall. I am using a one foot drill extension for this part of the project. Once you have a pilot hole you can take the drill outside. Here you will use the four inch hole saw to make a larger opening. Use the pilot hole to guide your drill placement. Once this hole is completed you can move to the next step. Install The Electricity The fan will need its own designated switch to be hooked up to. Some fans have extra features that can be used by other switches. If your fan is one of these you may want to consider a switch that has multiple functions on it. We covered fan placement above. But there is one thing to consider on the fan’s placement when considering the electricity. The electrical wire will need to be run from the switch to the fan. It’s easiest if the fan is in direct alignment between the joists with the switch. But you still can mount the fan where you want it even if it’s not

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How To Stop A Toilet From Running

Kevin

Knowing how to stop a toilet from running is a quick and simple process. You don’t need any special tools, and replacement parts are inexpensive. If you are not a diy, hands on type you can still fix a running toilet yourself. Follow the process in this article instead of paying an expensive plumber. There is a chance that after you try all the options listed below, your toilet still won’t stop running. Sometimes they get so old that it’s not worth it to keep fixing. If that’s the case, you will want to consider whether you should replace it. The good news is this option is not difficult at all. In fact I am confident that with the right tools, and enough time, you can do it yourself. I have gone through all the steps in this article titled How To Install A Toilet By Yourself. It includes a video to make sure you are comfortable with what you are doing. A good bathroom fan is an important feature in any bathroom. You can find out how to do this by checking out the article How To Install A Bathroom Fan. Here you will get a full understanding on what is required to install a new bathroom fan, and how to complete the project efficiently. Contents Diagnosing The Problem Parts of a Toilet Toilet Keeps Running Randomly Toilet Runs Constantly Toilet Keeps Running After Flushing How To Stop a Running Toilet In Seconds How To Fix A Running Toilet How To Fix A Running Toilet With A Button Flush Frequently Asked Questions Diagnosing The Problem Toilet Runs After Flush Toilet Runs Constantly Toilet Runs Randomly The reason for a toilet to run after being flushed is the flush valve is not going back down after the flush. There can be more than one reason for this, but they are easy to find. A constantly running toilet happens when the float is sitting higher than the overflow pipe. If the float is unable to do its job properly, it will not turn the water supply off. Randomly running toilets happen because the flapper/flush valve gasket is faulty. There are more than one reason for this, and there are more than one solutions to this. Parts of a Toilet There are more than one type of toilet out there. They all have similar parts, and work basically the same way. Once you understand the components that make a toilet work, you will understand more about how they may fail and cause the toilet to run. Most of the parts below are in every toilet style. The flapper and fill valve gasket serve similar functions but are different parts. And the other parts can look different but have the same functions. Fill Valve The fill valve is a vertical pipe with a valve at the top. It regulates the water flowing into the tank. It is designed to shut the water off when the float gets to a certain height. Float The float is a piece that rises with the water level. As it reaches a certain height it shuts off the water flowing out of the fill valve. The height of the water level can be adjusted by raising or lowering the float. Float Adjustment All floats have a way to adjust them. The floats on a newer fill valve generally have an adjustment screw. If turned to one direction it raises the float height, and the other direction lowers it. If your float is the type that is connected to a metal rod you will grip the rod with both hands, and bend it in the direction you want it to go. Overflow Pipe The overflow pipe is a requirement for all toilets. In the event of the fill valve malfunctioning, the overflow pipe transfers water to the toilet bowl instead of overflowing the tank. The height of this pipe should be below the tank rim. The water level height should be between one quarter of an inch and one inch below the top of the overflow pipe. Flapper The flapper is a rubber piece that is connected at the base of the overflow pipe. It is used for some toilet designs to create a watertight seal in the opening of the bottom of the tank. It is connected with a chain to the handle, which raises the flapper whenever the toilet is flushed. Flush Valve Gasket The flush valve gasket is a piece that has a similar function to a flapper, but on a different toilet design. Flush valves are a more compact stack that the gasket goes around, unlike a flapper that is offset. Handle The handle is the portion of a toilet that we use to flush when necessary. Inside the tank the handle is connected to the flapper or flush valve with a chain. Toilet Keeps Running Randomly There are a handful of reasons why a toilet keeps running randomly. You can narrow the investigation to a few key parts. All of these parts will be located in the toilet tank. This is the rectangular portion that is closest to the wall and higher than the bowl. Begin by taking the lid off the tank. Inside the tank are several parts designed to work together. If one of these parts stop working right it may be the reason for the toilet running. Let’s take a look at the different parts of a toilet, and what their functions are. This can help you understand what you are looking for. Toilet Runs Constantly The number one reason why a toilet runs constantly is because the float is set at a higher level than the top of the overflow pipe. This causes the water to spill into the bowl, keeping the water flowing and not shutting off. The fix for this is simple and does not need replacement parts. The solution to this problem is to adjust the height of the float so that the water

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