Tips for cutting down on yardwork time
Most of us are spending more and more time outdoors - usually mowing, weed-eating and blowing. But if you plan ahead, you can get those chores finished a little faster and spend some of that outdoor time doing fun things like golfing, hiking or just sipping a cool drink on your patio.
Here are some tips that might help.
I'm all for getting an early start, but many yards have dew and other moisture issues first thing in the morning. This can slow your mower down and clog the blade and bag, so give your grass time to dry out a little before cutting it. It's healthier for the grass, too.
Make sure your mower is in good shape. Replace the oil, gas, sparkplug and blade every year, and it will work more efficiently for you.
Keep all of your tools in one area where they are easy to get to without moving cars, bikes or other stuff. It's OK to store them during the winter months, but you want them front and center during spring and summer.
If you use rechargeable tools, make sure you have your batteries charged and ready to go. Buy extra batteries if you need more than one to do the job.
If you use extension cords, make sure you have them ready to go. Better yet, buy one or two just for your yard tools and make sure they are the proper length to do the job.
If you use gas, make sure you have enough and that it has been treated with a fuel stabilizer, if you need it.
Dress for success - it's for yard work, too! Wear the proper gear for a safe job, which includes good shoes, gloves, safety glasses (by all means!) and a hat and long sleeves to prevent sunburn.
Finish off with a quick walk-around. The hard work always looks a lot better when you are finished. Look at it with a cold drink in one hand, while patting yourself on the back with the other!
Stripping paint
Sometimes you have to use chemical paint strippers, especially when removing several layers of old paint. Always wear gloves and safety glasses to protect yourself from harm. When stripping paint from hardware, which can be tricky because of the grooved and intricate surfaces, tie the hardware to a string and dip it into the paint stripper. If you are doing a bunch of hardware at a time, you can tie them all together on one string. You can allow the hardware to sit for the required time, and then grab the string to pull it back out. You even can allow it to drain over the container, if you set it up right. You'll still have to use a brush to remove the remains of the old paint from the surface, but you won't have to handle the stuff nearly as much because of the string.
Super hints
• Even the best painters' tape really needs to be pressed down on the edges to make sure the paint doesn't bleed through it. This simple step can make a huge difference in your repainting project, so do it even though it's an extra step.
• My favorite screen door was on my old house. It was a plain wooden screen door (because it was cheap), and I added carved wooden corner brackets and painted it in several contrasting colors. It was the perfect accent for my front entry and looked so quaint on our country home.
• If you have old antennas, dishes and other TV equipment up on your roof that you no longer use, remove it when you get a chance. This stuff can cause roof damage or other property damage if it gets blown off the roof.
Q. I have an older home that still has the standard tile countertops. I would like to know how to refresh the grout, which is stained. How can I get the grout white again, and is there a good way to protect it?
A. There is a grout cleaner that is "painted" on, and it works pretty well. Check your hardware store. A mixture of bleach and water also works pretty well. Use a grout saw to remove any stained grout that still remains and replace it with new. Use a grout sealer, also available at your hardware store.
Q. I'm sure it has something to do with the humidity, but I am trying to find a resolution. The paint on my bathroom walls peels. I've repainted it and even replaced some of the wallboard with water-resistant drywall. What else can I try in order to deal with the ongoing problem?
A. It sounds like you already know that the humidity is the problem. If you have vent fans, use them more often. If they are insufficient, replace them with fans that have a higher CFM, to move more humidity out after showering.
Q. I need to stain the fence pickets that I just installed when repairing my fence to match the rest of the existing fence. How can I match it?
A. If you have some of the original stain, you can use it. It probably won't look exactly the same, but, if you apply it very lightly, it might look OK. One way to avoid this problem is to remove pickets from an out-of-the-way-spot and use them to make repairs to more visible areas. Then you can put the "new" wood back into those hidden areas, where it won't be as noticeable.
Reader tips
• This spring has been pretty warm already, and I started smelling a funky odor in my kitchen. I cleaned and still was smelling it. I finally figured out it was the food disposal in the sink. I threw some lemon scraps, baking soda and some crushed ice into it and let it run. This really did a great job of cleaning out whatever mystery gunk was smelling up the place. I need to do this more often.
• I have to store my ladder outside now. (I need to have a garage sale, too!) I installed a couple of heavy-duty hooks on the fence and store it there, out of sight. I also use a locking cable to keep it secure. My neighbor suggested it after seeing my ladder there. He said it might be easy to steal or used to gain access to our home! Needless to say, the cable was on there the next day.
• For the second year in a row we are on tight water restrictions in our city. We are allowed to water our lawns only once a week, so I have found some good ways to collect water to use on the patio plants. I have two 5-gallon buckets that I got at my hardware store. I keep one in each bathroom. We fill these up with the water that comes out of the shower before it gets hot. It runs for several minutes before it gets hot, and can almost fill up a bucket. Then we can take this water to the plants and water them when they need it. I don't think I'll ever run out of this supply!
• My car key has a "panic" alarm on it. I've never used it, on purpose anyway, but I was almost mugged while putting groceries in my car a week ago. I had the keys in my hand and was putting bags into my trunk when a stranger approached. I immediately pressed the panic button on my key and the horn honked and the lights flashed and the guy ran away. When I told my friends about it, nobody had thought about using this alarm. We don't think about using it when we might need to. That's what it was designed for!
• We have a huge mirror in our bathroom. It's plain but I wanted to spruce it up. I found some inexpensive wooden picture frame molding and cut it to fit around the edges to make it look framed. It looks really nice now and added a lot to the look of the room.
Shoptalk
• Roof leaks are pretty common, and they can cause tons of damage to your home's interior if not sealed as soon as you spot them. Through the Roof! is a clear roofing caulk that is made for the DIY'er. It's easy to apply under shingles, around flashing and in lots of other leaky spots. It even can be applied in the rain, if you are in a real hurry, or to wet surfaces to make those repairs. It seals well to metal, plastic, asphalt, wood, concrete and tile, and it won't freeze. To find out where to buy it or more product details, just go to www.sashco.com.
• Taping off textured surfaces for painting can be especially challenging. FrogTape has a two-part tape system made just for these surfaces and it works great. It uses their patented PaintBlock Technology, which contains a special polymer that reacts with the water in latex paint to instantly set and form a micro-barrier to seal the edges against paint penetration. It works great and saves time, even on highly textured wall surfaces. Check it out at www.frogtape.com. It's available at hardware and paint stores, as well as most home centers.
• Write to Kelly Carrell in care of the Daily Herald, P.O. Box 280, Arlington Heights, IL 60006 or visit online at thesuperhandyman.com.
© 2015, Cowles Syndicate Inc.