Feb 28
My Tub Drains Super Slow!
Posted by Jason in Fixtures & Appliances on February 28th, 2010 | No Comments »

Recently as we have been taking showers we have been standing in a few inches of water.  A few days ago the drain was nearly completely clogged.  The culprit?  Hair.  Long hair has a tendency to go down the drain and wrap around the plugs in the pipe.  While it is a great convenience to have a simple lever to plug the drain it can also be quite a nuisance.

After procrastinating the dirty chore I broke down and unclogged the drain using only items found around the house.  Generally with tubs installed in the last twenty years the drain in the tub goes down an inch and then turns sharply towards the wall where the faucet it.  Once at the wall it takes a sharp turn down.  It is at this second elbow where the plug drain and lever are attached, and also the likely hair ball which is clogging your drain.  To remove the ball of hair you need something flexible with barbs.

I had some extra weed whacker line and I cut off a couple feet.  Using a knife and started about an inch from the end I made cuts into the line about a third of the way through and towards to end, thus creating about a dozen or so barbs.  I then removed the drain cover from the tub, which is supposed to catch the hair, and pushed the line down the drain.  It was obvious when I had inserted the line far enough because the hair ball would not allow it to be inserted any further.  I then gave the line a few twists and gently pulled out.  The barbed line had hair all over it.  I removed the hair and repeated the process.  After about fifteen minutes or so I had removed a decent amount of hair from the drain.  I turned the water on and was delighted to see that the water was now draining at an acceptable rate.

While I am certain that there is still hair stuck in the drain the rest can wait for another day.

Apr 4
Building Bathroom Shelves
Posted by Jason in Furniture on April 4th, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Materials needed:

  • 1″ x 2″ for support.
  • 1″ x 10″ for the shelving.
  • Wood Glue
  • Small Nails
  • Stain

Tools Required:

  • Hammer
  • Saw
  • Measuring Tape

Our half bathroom is under the stairs and it has a random nook in it. The previous owners had placed simple wire shelves in there. While it was very functional it just didn’t look good.

We decided that we wanted to add in some wood shelves with a nice dark stain.

The first step was to rip out the old wire frame shelves and their wall anchors. This left holes in the wall which needed to be filled with spackle, sanded, and then painted.

We then pre-stained all of the wood used in the project. This allowed us to not worry about getting stain all over the walls.

We then installed the 1″ by 2″ wood on the walls in order to support the shelves. Be careful to make sure that it is level!

We also glued and tacked a 1″ by 2″ onto the front of our 1″ x 10″ shelf to give it a nice front edge and also hid the supports from view.

Lastly we simply placed the shelves on their supports and we were finished! We plan on gluing them down, but at this point it doesn’t seem like there is much of a point.

Dec 29
Installing a Garbage Disposer
Posted by Jeff in Fixtures & Appliances on December 29th, 2008 | No Comments »

Installing a Garbage Disposer

There are two reasons why someone would need to know how to install a garbage disposer. The first is that they currently don’t have one. The other reason is that the one they have needs to be replaced. Whichever one of these reasons you happen to be motivated by, I have a very good piece of advice for you. Now listen carefully because it will save you time and money. Ready? Here it is: Let go of the idea that you need a garbage disposer because you don’t need one. Try this instead: Use an actual garbage can to discard your solid pieces of food. It’s easy. Simply place a real garbage can near the sink and before you wash off your plate with water, scrape off the contents into the garbage. Now pause and ask yourself: How hard was that? How much time did it take to put a garbage can near the sink? How much money is a garbage can compared to a garbage disposer? See, I told you I could save you time and money. However, if you really have a burning desire to install a garbage disposer then I will tell you and hopefully by the end of this process you will have acquired the wisdom that a garbage can truly is the most cost effective method to dispose of wasted food and garbage.

Read the rest of this entry »

Nov 30
How do I clean my gutters
Posted by Jason in Uncategorized on November 30th, 2008 | No Comments »

« Previous Entries