Get your oven in tiptop shape for the holidays

The countdown to Thanksgiving and other family get-togethers has begun, and if your oven isn't clean or working properly, you'd better get moving on repairs soon. Here are some common problems and how to resolve them.

If you've noticed that your oven temperatures seem to be off a little bit, you can check them with an oven thermometer. Just place it inside the oven and turn the oven to bake at 300 degrees. After the oven and thermometer have had a chance to level out, see if they are the same.

Look through your owner's manual or online to recalibrate the oven's thermostat. If you can't adjust it, try to compensate for the difference when you are cooking. If it's way off, replace the thermostat with a new one. Just cut the power and unscrew the leads holding it in place. The new one should be easy to install by just working backward.

If your oven is gas, oftentimes you can clean the port holes where the flames come through. Wear gloves and use a piece of wire or a sewing needle to clean grease and carbon away. This works on both oven jets and stovetop burners.

If a gas oven or range doesn't have a steady, blue flame, then it might need a minor adjustment. There should be a control valve behind the control knobs on a range and near the pilot in your stove.

If your gas oven or range has a gas igniter and it won't light, you easily can replace the igniter module.

If your oven is electric and won't heat, the element in the burner or the oven's heating element might have gone out. You can replace it by simply cutting the power, removing the screws holding it in place and installing a new element.

Keeping the oven and burners clean can prevent a lot of these problems. Make sure you take precautions and cut the power to an appliance before working on it. Never use combustible materials when working on gas appliances. If you don't feel completely confident in your abilities to work on your appliance, please don't hesitate to call a pro.

Drawer dusting

Cleaning, whether it's inside the house or outside, is not something any of us enjoys doing. But it is important to do and, if there's a shortcut, we will find it! A superfast way to clean dust from a drawer is to use your vacuum cleaner. To avoid sucking up the other things in the drawer besides the dust, place a piece of wire mesh with small openings in it over the end of the vacuum hose. Now you can clean the dust and debris from the drawer without all of the other items getting sucked up, too. It works great in boxes, hardware bins and even toolboxes.

Recycled window shade

An old roller window shade can help keep your workbench clean and looking good. If you attach the shade to one end of the workbench, you will be able to stretch it over the top of the workbench and work on top of it rather than the wooden surface. These vinyl shades are really inexpensive and easy to clean off when you are finished making a mess. After cleaning it, you can just roll it back over to the side where it will be out of the way and ready to catch your next mess. This also is a great way to protect other work tables from getting messy, too, like in a kid's playroom or a potting shed.

Super hints

• Baking soda makes a super cleaner. It is abrasive enough to clean a lot of surfaces, but doesn't scratch them. Combined with water and some elbow grease, it can tackle even tough messes.

• SOS pads go to waste on small jobs, so cut them in half and save the part you are not using for the next big, greasy mess you have to clean up.

• I keep an empty tissue box on my workbench to store plastic grocery bags in. I stuff them in as soon as I get them emptied from the store. When I need one, I can just reach in and pull one out. They are great for putting over your hands when you need to pick up something greasy or dirty.

Reader tips

• I never dreamed our dining-room table would have been such a tough project to restore. But it took me weeks to strip it down to the wood so I could restain it. I used a chemical stripper but then had to sand the carved areas by hand to get the old paint off the surface. I tried folding the sandpaper into a square to get into the crevices, but that didn't give me enough of a stiff backing to get the job done. I ended up pulling it over the end of my putty knife and using that for more stability in sanding. It worked really well. I just thought I would pass this info on to others. Next time I'll try a power sander or just a new table!

• I wanted to try to create a wood grain on my bathroom walls but had to try several times to get it to look right. The best tool I found was a hair comb. I used a large-toothed, flat comb and, after dipping it in the paint, moved it down the wall, dragging the paint as I did so. I moved the comb up on the left side or the right occasionally to get more variation in the wood grain. It looks OK to me. Of course, I found out afterward that there is an actual "graining tool" you can buy, but my way worked just fine. I like the way it looks, and may even try it again.

• We have wall-to-wall carpet in our game room, and there is a seam that has come apart near the pool table. I didn't want to have a carpet-repair company come in just yet, so I tried to fix it myself. I found a special tape at the home center that is heat activated for sealing carpet seams. I put it on the floor under the carpet and then used my steam iron, over aluminum foil, to heat up the adhesive. It worked! You can't see the seam at all anymore.

• I had several nail aprons that I have collected over the years. I decided to start using one in my vegetable garden, so my wife sprayed it with water repellent. It's great. I never get wet when I'm working outside or watering the garden. Even when I put damp things in the pockets, the apron stays dry. It even seems to repel some dirt.

• We have four screen doors at our lake cabin. I have tried several different types of door closers, but the regular old screen-door springs are still the best. To help prevent kids' pinched fingers, I have covered each small spring with a clear, plastic piece of aquarium tubing. The tubing just slips over the spring and is a little shorter than it is, so it fits in place. It does seem to work, and the kids like to see the spring stretched out through the clear tubing. So far, so good.

Q. We are going to have to replace our roof because of a recent storm. I wanted to know your opinion on getting a light or dark roof to prevent heat buildup in the summer. Is there any real benefit to having a lighter-colored roof in the summertime?

A. A lighter roofing color can reflect some heat, but it may not make much of a difference. The shingles themselves also can make a difference, depending on how they are made. Proper insulation in the attic, ventilation and radiant barriers can make more of a difference, so consider all of this when making your choice.

Q. We have a decorative brick wall in front of our home that we would like to paint. What kind of paint do we need to use, and what other information do we need to know to get the paint to stay looking good for many years?

A. Clean the entire surface thoroughly with trisodium phosphate first. Allow it plenty of time to dry out afterward. Then apply a primer made for masonry surfaces, followed by a high-quality exterior paint, again, made for masonry surfaces.

Q. We need to take our old, wooden shutters down off the house to paint them. It occurred to me that they are so old that they may be painted with a lead-based paint. What do I need to do about that?

A. It is a very smart thought. Your paint store will sell test kits for testing painted surfaces. Most experts will tell you to seal off lead paint by painting right over it; you don't want to sand or chip off the old paint. You might even consider replacement shutters. The new ones are much longer-lasting, and are easy to maintain.

Shoptalk

• Kilz Primer, a super product, is going green. Kilz Clean Start is a zero-VOC (toxic compounds), water-based primer that is the best way to seal surfaces and block stains before you paint. Use it on wood, drywall, plaster, paneling, brick and painted metal surfaces. It even works outdoors. To find out more about Kilz Clean Start, visit your paint dealer or kilz.com.

• If you are looking for a lubricant for your squeaky doors, hard-to-turn handles and slow-moving parts, check out Royal Purple's Maxfilm. It's a synthetic, multipurpose lubricant that every homeowner should have around. It creates a lubricating film that loosens and protects metal parts. Use it on your power tools, hinges, chains, rollers, gears, fishing tackle, lawn equipment and lots more. The solvent is even biodegradable. To find out more about this product, including where you can find it, visit royalpurple.com.

• Write to Al and Kelly Carrell in care of the Daily Herald, P.O. Box 280, Arlington Heights, IL 60006, or visit the Carrells' Web site at thesuperhandyman.com.

© 2009, Cowles Syndicate Inc.