Home Projects & Repair

If you have a mailbox that is mounted on a wood or metal post and it is leaning then you are in the right place. If you have a brick mailbox then the following won’t apply to you.

A mailbox is the first thing people see when looking for you house. If you are trying to sell your house then your mailbox may be the buyer’s first impression and if it is leaning it may speak poorly of the condition of your house as well.

Mailboxes end up leaning from a variety of causes, but are all due to poor or incorrect installation. If your mailbox is exposed to a lot of wind and other severe weather then it will need to be installed in a sturdier way than if it is installed in a mild climate with little wind.

The best way to fix your mailbox is to take it out of the ground and start over. There is no real trick to removing a mailbox other than taking to time to dig it out. Once removed you can see what type of installation was used. If the post was simply pushed into the ground then it is fairly easy to see why it ended up leaning. Even a small child could push over a mailbox without a foundation.

Once you have the mailbox and post removed then we will focus on prepping the hole. Your hole needs to be at least a foot and a half deep and up to a foot in diameter. Keep in mind that your mailbox needs to be the right height for the postman or else he/she can opt to not deliver your mail. Generally mailboxes need to be between 41-45″ from the ground. With your hole dug down to the appropriate height add a few inches of gravel to the hole. This will help improve drainage and will help to prevent rust or rot from occurring. Now place your post in the hole and add a few inches of dirt and a time making sure to level the post and stomp the dirt down in place after every few inches. Once the hole is filled back in you will have a vertical mailbox that should stand up to a decent amount of wind and weather.

If your mailbox is leaning and it already has a concrete base, this implies that the base was not large enough. In this case, or if you want to be absolutely sure that your mailbox will not lean in the future, you will still need to remove the mailbox, widen the hole place the mailbox post back in the hole and add concrete around the base of the post. You will want to double the size of the base in order to assure that it won’t lean any more. Even though it is hard work, it is better to do it right the first time than have to fix it later.

With your mailbox standing straight up it will no longer be an eyesoar.

Broken sprinkler lines, what a pain. Water gushing out everywhere….. Here are some ideas to get it fixed.

Tools:

• PVC Cutter
• PVC Glue
• PVC Pipe
• Shovel

Cost

• $5-$20 depending on what you already have.

Broken sprinkler lines occur for various reasons varying from lines that were not drained before winter, digging in the wrong place or various other reasons. Regardless of how the pipe broke, it still needs to be fixed. Some people will often resort to calling a landscaper to come in and repair the sprinkler pipe without even considering doing it themselves. However, depending on the severity of the break, it can often be repaired in less than a half hour and just a few dollars in parts.

You can tell if you have a broken pipe by looking for certain characteristics. First you will probably notice that there is little or no pressure getting to your sprinkley heads. If left like this you will have dead spots of lawn. Next, make sure that none of your heads are broken, broken heads are much easier to repair than a broken line. If you do have a broken sprinkler head check out our tutorial on repairing them. Once you know you have a broken pipe you then need to isolate where it is broken. Often times your lawn will bubble where the line is broken. These are the easiest breaks to locate. Other times you will have a mini marsh land in your yard, if this is the case and the break is thought to have been caused by frozen water you may have long breaks spanning several feet along the line, keep this in mind when you think you have found the break. These two can be easily isolated with a little work. Now simply follow these steps:

• After isolating the break you need to dig out the dirt from around the dirt to allow yourself enough room to work. Clear up to a foot on each side to the break to make sure that the break does not go any further up or down the sprinkler line.
• Using a PVC cutter cut out the broken part of the pipe. Make sure that you cut out at least 6-8 inches to make the repair work easier.
• Now that you have removed the broken part of the pipe you will now need to clean the ends of the line removing any dirt or mud. Once clean some people will apply a primer to the ends of the pipe and the inside of the PVC couplers, for most of my work I have not used a primer and have never had a problem.
• If you have PVC pipe laying around you have probably noticed that one end of the pipe usually flares out into a coupling connection. If you have a line like this, then you will only need one coupler, if not you will need two. First you will want to glue on the two couplers. This is done by simply applying the PVC glue to the inside of the coupler and the end of the pipe. This glue sets rather quickly so quickly push the coupler onto the end of the pipe in a turning motion until you have pushed it on and the inner stop in the middle is flush against the end of the pipe in the ground. Repeat for the other coupler. If you are using a pipe with a flared out end. Cut this put an inch or two longer than you will need to fill in where the pipe starts and the other coupler is. Remember that the pipe goes into the coupler at least a 1/2 inch, and the last thing you want is a section of pipe that is too short.
• Once you have glued on the PVC couplers you will then need to measure a length of pipe to fill in the gap. Using a measuring tape, measure from the middle of one coupler to the middle of the other coupler. Then using your PVC cutter cut a section of pipe this length. If you are using the pipe with a coupler on the end, then you can simply cut the pipe where it reaches the middle of the opposite coupler.
• Now you need to glue in the section of pipe on one side. Do not try to glue in both ends at the same time because you will not have enough time before the glue sets. Remember to push in hard using a twisting motion to make sure that the pipe has been inserted completely.
• Once one side has been glued in, you need to glue in the other side. If you have dug out the pipe on each side this is much easier because it will be necessary for you the pull the pipe up or to the side to get the end into the connector. PVC pipe is extremely strong and can be bent pretty far without breaking it.
• Now that the pipe has been repaired you will want to make sure there are no leaks before you cover the sprinkler line back up. Some people recommended waited up to 24 hours before putting a lot of water pressure into the lines. This allows the glue to set, and gives you a break. Since both sides of the pipe are buried in the ground you probably don’t need to worry about the pipe being pushed out so you can run a short test to make sure there are no leaks.
• Once repaired you can bury the line again, and replace the grass. If you are still having problems, you may have other breaks in the line. I have seen a sprinkler line that was broken along a twenty-five foot section because of water that froze during the winter.

Parts:

Total Cost:$5-15

A broken sprinkler head will cause you more grief than a huge water bill. It will cause your system to unevenly water your ward causing unsightly dead spots to appear. In addition, it may also cause errosion to appear

There are various causes for a broken sprinkler head. The most common causes are because of damage caused by yourself or a child. Either a lawn mower got to it, or even a shovel. The safest way to avoid this type of damage is to not run over your sprinkler heads with your lawn mower, or to place them level with the surface of the dirt, not protruding from the ground.

In order to repair the broken head, you first need to first dig out the broken head. Be careful when you dig it out, or else you might damage the piping supplying the head.

Once the head has been dug out, it usually suffices to unscrew the broken head from the piping. However, if the adapter on the piping itself is broken, you will have to replace the adapter. If your system is using ‘funny pipe’ don’t waste your time trying to remove the broken piece from the pipe, it is much easier to cut the pipe just below the adapter and insert a new one.

In order to insert a new adapter, simply push and turn the adapter into the funny pipe in a clockwise motion.

Once the adapter has been replaced the head can be simply screwed on, however before you do so, wrap some sealing tape around it so that water won’t leak.

Make sure you have the proper piece in the head. These pieces determine in which pattern the head sprays. The next best thing is to do is turn on your sprinkler system and verify that the head is spraying the right way, and that nothing else is damaged.

That is how you repair a broken sprinkler system.