28 More Reader Tips That Save Time and Money
4
×
3. Push-Pin Pilot Holes
3. Push-Pin Pilot Holes
Those thin strips of fancy trim always seem to split when I nail them up. Now I use a push pin to make a small pilot hole for a nail, and it has saved me a lot of wood and frustration.
— Timothy Hays Sr., Marshfield, Mo.
5
×
4. Fabric-Store Tile Trimmer
4. Fabric-Store Tile Trimmer
While I was redoing our bathroom floor, I found it difficult to cut vinyl floor tiles with a utility knife. So I got out my rotary fabric cutter. It worked like a charm and was easy on my hands.
— E. Carole Cruse, Egg Harbor Township, N.J.
6
×
5. Ballpoint Nozzle Extender
5. Ballpoint Nozzle Extender
If the tip of a caulk-tube nozzle isn't long enough to reach into a corner, I take apart one of my old pens and attach the lower barrel to the tube's nozzle with electrical tape. The additional 2 to 3 inches of nozzle saves me from having to apply the caulk with my fingers.
— Gary Dickinson, North Haven, Colo.
7
×
6. Carpet-Scrap Knee Pads
6. Carpet-Scrap Knee Pads
To protect my bad knees while I refinished the floor, I cut 8-by-8-inch squares out of the carpeting I had removed and stacked two pieces together, plush side down, for each knee. They were soft, slid easily on the wood floor, and picked up extra dust as I scooted around.
— Sheila Kitzman, Mendota Heights, Minn.
8
×
7. Plastic-Pipe Profile Sander
7. Plastic-Pipe Profile Sander
To speed up sanding the inside curves of crown moldings, I made a profile sander out of a PVC tee fitting and foam pipe insulation. The foam, which is glued to the tee with spray adhesive, overhangs the ends of the fitting to stop gouging. Stick self-adhesive sandpaper to the foam and go to town. I mounted mine on an oscillating sander.
— Mark Collins, Centennial, Colo.
9
×
8. Back-Saving Technique
8. Back-Saving Technique
When I'm spreading grout on a floor, I use two floats—one in each hand—so that I'm always supported by one float held flat on the tile while the other hand works the grout. This allows me to work either left- or right-handed and reach farther with the float, and makes the job much easier on my back.
— Aaron McCoy, Beaverton, Oreg.
11
×
10. Tidy Patio Joint Filler
10. Tidy Patio Joint Filler
Here's an easy way to fill joints between pavers or patio flagstones: Simply take an empty screw-top wine bottle and punch a hole in the top of the cap near its edge. Fill the bottle with sand, mortar mix, or polymeric sand; screw on the cap; and pour the contents into the joints rather than on the pavers. There's no waste and no cleanup.
— Sid Galbaugh, Walton, Ky.
12
×
11. Photographic Memory Aid
11. Photographic Memory Aid
When I'm taking apart something that I need to put back together, I take pictures at each step of the disassembly. Then I arrange the photos in reverse order to see step-by-step how to reassemble it.
— Cristina Beck, Temperance, Mich.
14
×
13. Door Stack-Drying Trick
13. Door Stack-Drying Trick
We wanted to paint all 20 doors in the house, but where do you put them while they're wet? By screwing short 2x4 blocks to the ends, we were able to paint both sides of each door and then stack them neatly while they dried. Just make sure to keep the same spacing between every pair of blocks.
— Charles Sapp, St. Charles, Mo.
15
×
14. New Path From Old Stone
14. New Path From Old Stone
I made a brand-new-looking flagstone pathway to my gazebo just by flipping over the weathered stones that were there and washing them off. The tricky part was fitting the shapes back together, but with a little finessing I managed it.
— Larry Koch, Pomona, Calif.
16
×
15. Of Tee Bolts and Toilet Bowls
15. Of Tee Bolts and Toilet Bowls
When installing a toilet bowl, mark a line on the threaded ends of the tee bolts to show the orientation of the tees on the bolts' other end, which hold the bowl to the flange on the floor. Without that mark as a guide, you could turn the bolt 90 degrees as you tighten it and pull it out of the flange, making a mess of the wax ring. Trust me: I learned this one the hard way.
— Donald Alevas, Patchogue, N.Y.
20
×
19. Vacuum Out Clogs
19. Vacuum Out Clogs
The plumber couldn't budge the clog in our upstairs bathtub drain, so he said we'd have to tear out the ceiling below in order to get at the pipe. But a contractor we know had another idea that made a lot more sense. He stuck the nozzle of a wet-dry vac into a roll of electrical tape to get a tight seal against the tub's drain, and covered the tub's overflow hole with a flexible rubber pad. Then he turned on the vacuum and, voilà: the clog was sucked out of the pipe, saving our ceiling—and our bank account.
— Laura Mozier, Fairfield, Conn.
21
×
20. Preventing Stuck Bulbs
20. Preventing Stuck Bulbs
Screw-in bulbs in outdoor fixtures can corrode and become stuck
in their sockets, and will often break when you try to twist them out. That's why I rub Vaseline on the bulbs' threads before screwing them in. I never have a problem replacing the bulb when the time comes.
— Denis Liederbach, Guntersville, Ala.
23
×
22. Brush Conditioner
22. Brush Conditioner
To keep my synthetic-bristle brushes in good shape after cleaning, I rub them with hair conditioner stored in a handy hotel-size bottle. And I always rinse them out before using them again.
— Kyle Adams, Huntsville, Tex.
24
×
23. Pastry Bag for Epoxy
23. Pastry Bag for Epoxy
When I need to put two-part epoxy precisely in cracks or holes, I squirt both parts into the corner of a sandwich bag, twist it up like a cake-frosting bag, then roll it around between my fingers to mix it up. Once both parts are blended, I clip a tiny hole in the bag's corner and squeeze the epoxy out.
— Carl Anderson, Floresville, Tex.
25
×
24. Fillers for Stripped Holes
24. Fillers for Stripped Holes
I save the ends cut from nylon cable ties to fill stripped screw holes or to anchor screws when I hang things on a concrete, tile, or plaster wall. They hold better than matchsticks and don't splinter. For best results, place the ties' notched sides out, against the side of the hole.
— Jon Doucleff, Cincinnati
26
×
25. Foam Flood-Proofing
25. Foam Flood-Proofing
A local man who was trying to prevent a flood from filling his house sealed his door and basement windows with a can of spray-foam insulation. There will be some cleanup to unseal the door, but the foam did stop water that rose 40 inches high.
— John McMonagle, Broomall, Pa.
27
×
26. Paint-Can Scrapers
26. Paint-Can Scrapers
While stripping paint from an old crib, I found that my store-bought scraper couldn't get in some of the small profiles. So I cut up a flat-sided plastic paint can into custom scrapers that fit each problem profile, saving myself a few dollars and another trip to the store.
— Eric Haskins, Wahiawa, Hawaii
28
×
27. Handrail Supports
27. Handrail Supports
If the drywall has crumbled under stairway handrail brackets, take them off and cut out the damaged drywall using a hole saw slightly smaller than the brackets' bases. Use the same hole saw to cut plugs out of ½-inch plywood; put one plug in each hole. Reattach the brackets through the plugs into the studs. The plywood provides a much firmer foundation than drywall.
— Jiri Klinovsky, East Moriches, N.Y.