Posts Tagged ‘Home Improvement Show’

Last week on the Home Improvement Show, Pat, Sandie and I did a segment on 10 Common Plumbing Tips and we rated them based on how practical, beneficial, and probable people are to actually benefit from these tips.  Here is my list of the 5 essential tips, nothing more:

1) Main Shut off Valve – everyone in the house needs to know where the main shut off valve is just in case something goes wrong.

2) If the toilet is overflowing, immediately remove the cover and push down on the “flapper” to stop the water from flowing into the bowl.

3) The type of plunger you need are the ones shaped like a trumpet mute (i.e. – bell shaped).

4) When you plunge a bathtub or sink, use a standard light duty plunger or a RowPump

5) Change the filters in your home’s various filtration systems (e.g. – refrigerator, drinking water, softener pre-filter, humidifier pads).

If you stick to these basics you’ll be just fine.

I am a man of many particularities.  I hate stinky towels!  If I were to finish my shower and grab a towel, I would immediately hold it up to my nose and give it a sniff.  If it does not smell fresh and wonderful my body reacts with an uncontrollable shudder and on my worst days a girlish scream.

Stinky towels are typically caused by two things: 1) Not fully drying, 2) Really old towels not really drying.  If you too notice stinky towels there is a solution beyond just buying new towels.

Cleaning your dryer vent is you number one defense against stinky, damp towels afronting your morning shower routine.

To clean your dryer vent:

1. Pull out the dryer. (Put down a sheet of masonite to protect the floor from scratching.)
2. Remove the dryer vent.  If it’s an accordian style flexible vent, consider throwing it out and replacing with solid (hard) pipe.
3. Take apart the pipe at appropriate intervals for the available cleaning tools or at 90 degree bends.
4. Put a tool through the vent.  (Typical options would be a broom handle and a rag.  A progressive option would be a Shower Loofa (a.k.a. – Shower Puff).  In August 2009 we had a caller to the Home Improvement Show share that he used a vacuum cleaner to blow a fishing line (with a mini parachute) through his 20+ dryer vent all the way to the outside.  Then he tied two lines to the shower loofa and pulled it back and forth through the vent pipe to clean it out.  When finished he unhooked the loofa and left it in the pipe for the next time he wanted to clean it.  Now that’s brilliant!)  You can use a shop vacuum suck out most of the junk you’ve loosened with the above manual methods.
5. Whatever cleaning method you use, make sure you take the cleaning all the way to the exterior of the house.

May you never experience a stinky towel again, My Friend.

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When your cupboards feel packed it’s time for a cardboard box and a marker.  What is this for?  It’s to put all the things you haven’t used in the last 3 months into said box.  Then write the contents on the box and DATE the box before putting it into storage in the basement.  Many benefits will come of this:

1) You’ll free up cabinet space – if you can see what’s in your cabinets you will use what’s in them.

2) The streamlining process reduces stress (it’s subtle, but when you experience it you’ll appreciate it.)

3) You don’t have to throw it away immediately.  Many of us have an emotional reaction to throwing something away.  “What if I’ll need this someday?”

4) Power comes from labeling the box with the date.  Let’s quantify “someday.”  The next time you get up the courage & energy to clean your basement you can approach the boxes in your basement with a plan.  You’ll go through the boxes that have been sitting on the shelf longer than 1 year.  It still has some value, but just no active value to you because you haven’t used it in a year.  So donate [or sell] the contents of the box so others in your community can pit it to use.

5) I love surprises – and when you go back through that box, you’ll find something you just cannot live without and you’ll take those few items out of the box and put it back in the kitchen.  An example could be the waffle maker you put in the box, and that rediscovered waffle maker will cause a new Saturday morning tradition.

I promise that clean and organized cupboards will help you love your existing kitchen.  Try it out.