6 DIY Home Mysteries Solved: Homeowner's Clinic
We answer readers questions about how to build closets, pick the best drill bits, store tools in a shed and fix a freeze-proof faucet and more.
Adding Space
Q: Like most 1950s houses, ours is short on storage space, so I want to build a couple of closets. Should be pretty simple—two walls and a door. Right?
A: Yes. Building closets is simple, and the project is pretty much as you describe it. Before you build closets, though, be sure that you've made maximum use of existing closet space. There are lots of ways to do this, from building efficient plywood shelving and dividers to installing factory-made storage hardware.
Assuming you go ahead with the project, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, if you'll be using factory-made closet hardware inside the closet, size the closet's length and width accordingly. Also, if you use a standard hinged door, you have to account for the door's sweep into the room. Your other alternatives are bifold doors or hanging closet doors, more practical alternatives for most rooms because they don't take up additional floor space for a swinging door.
A dark closet isn't particularly useful, so you'll have to think about lighting it. (See our article "Your 6-Step Action Plan to Brighter Closets."
Framing the closets will be straightforward carpentry. It's unnecessary to use 2 x 4 lumber for this job. This framing is wider and stronger than is needed for a closet, and you gain square inches of closet volume by using 2 x 3s.
First, carefully measure the floor-to-ceiling height in several places and make the wall studs 3¼ inches shorter than that dimension. This accounts for the thickness of two horizontal wall plates and 1/4 inch of air space to prevent the wall from getting stuck in place as you pivot it into position (which can lead to floor and ceiling damage). If the floors and ceiling look wavy, allow for more airspace than ¼ inch. Not to belabor the point, but it's not a bad idea to cut a test stick from a piece of 2 x 3 (to serve as a model of the wall being raised) and try pivoting it into place along several locations where the closet walls will be built. The lumber won't be wasted. Removing 31/4 inches from it turns it into a wall stud.
Shim the walls into place so that they are plumb and drive screws into the floor and ceiling to hold everything in position. If the wall plates at the ceiling don't fall where there's framing, use hollow wall fasteners to anchor them.
Cold Storage
Q: I'm in the process of building a 10 x 12 nonheated shed to store my lawn mower and yard tools, and I'm wondering whether I can store hand and power tools in there, too, especially cordless tools. It gets cold here in Minnesota, sometimes going down to minus 40 F.
A: A shed is good for storing a lot of things, but not hand and power tools. I've had cordless and corded tools survive nights in an ice-cold truck, job site or garage. But those tools also died an early death. Why subject expensive tools to the wide swings of heat, cold and humidity that a shed experiences? That amounts to an accelerated wear cycle, a bit like a torture test in a lab.
Another compelling reason not to store hand and power tools in a shed is that if you need them when it's really cold, you have to bring them inside and let them thaw out before using them.
Finally, most sheds are used to shelter lawn and pool chemicals—corrosive substances. I recently pulled out a garden trowel that was stored near some fertilizers and herbicides. The trowel's blade was severely rotted, and the tool was ruined. Lesson learned.
Drill Down
Q: I need to buy some drill bits, and I'm wondering what kind I should get, especially for drilling metal. Would you agree that cobalt bits are the best?
A: Your best bet is to get a set of general-purpose twist drills made from M2 high-speed steel (HSS). It contains a rich blend of steel-improving elements, such as carbon, tungsten, molybdenum, chromium and vanadium. Sounds exotic, but it's really pretty common stuff, widely used in cutting tools. It just so happens to be exceptionally tough and wear-resistant and ideal for drill bits. There are two other types of HSS steel used in drill bits: M7 and M42, both designed for industrial users, especially the M42 variety, which contains cobalt. Those bits are tough enough to drill quickly into tough materials like cast iron and stainless steel. While that sounds like a handy capability, it comes at a price. Cobalt bits cost five to six times what standard M2 bits cost.
For almost all homeowner purposes, the garden-variety M2 HSS type works just as well and doesn't cost a fortune. A set of 13 bits from 1/16 inch to ¼ inch (in 1/64 -inch increments) costs about $10. For your money, you also get a fold-down case, so the bits don't get lost and dulled rolling around in the bottom of your toolbox. These bits are typically sold with a cone-shaped tip that measures 118 degrees, a good general-purpose tip.
Dripping Faucet
Q: I have a freeze-proof faucet on the side of my house that drips. How do I repair it?
A: Now that cold weather is settling in, this is one repair you better hop on, because if that dripping water freezes, it can damage the faucet and lead to a larger repair. A frost-proof faucet (it's not really freeze-proof; under truly deep-freeze conditions, even a well-protected faucet might freeze) is like a standard faucet, except that it's an exceptionally long-fitting one. When you turn the handle on the outside of the house, you're also turning a stem (a rod to which the handle is connected). The stem may be 6 to 30 inches; that's long enough to reach into the house to a point where water at the base of the stem will not freeze.
On the end of the stem is a washer, which bears against a faucet seat. If the washer is worn, water will leak past it even though the handle has been turned down tightly. The fix is to shut off water leading to the faucet, then remove the stem and replace either it or just the bib washer on its end.
Buzzing Dimmer
Q: I have a dimmer switch that makes a light in my kitchen give off an annoying buzz. What causes this? What can I do to stop the noise?
A: It's a common complaint, and it's easy to fix if you understand the phenomenon. "The magnetic field created by the current flowing through the bulb's filament can cause the filament's supports to move," according to Russell Weightman, principal engineer at Lutron, the company that invented the electronic dimmer switch. That movement causes the familiar and annoying buzz.
Some background is helpful. A dimmer is an electronic switch that cuts and restores current to the bulb 120 times a second, literally chopping the current's sine wave. "Think of the filament as a tuning fork," Weightman says. "The normal alternating current is like a soft pillow. Chopped up, the current is more like a hard table. Strike a tuning fork on a pillow and you won't produce much noise, but it will resonate if you strike it on a table." That resonance is greatest at the midlevel setting because the wave is chopped vertically in half and then goes instantly to its peak when the current is restored. Hence the jolt to the bulb's filament is most pronounced and the buzzing is loudest. Similarly, the buzzing will be more pronounced if you use a high-wattage bulb. Wattage is equal to the voltage multiplied by the current. Therefore, a bulb with a higher wattage draws more current and will produce a louder buzz. Probably the easiest solution is to switch to a lower wattage bulb.
If you need more light than a lower wattage bulb affords, you can also opt to install a rough-service/garage-door-opener bulb with a rugged filament that is less prone to vibration. Finally, if the buzzing persists, you can go so far as to install an electronic lamp debuzzing coil (LDC) in the circuit. Although it sounds fictitious, like a board stretcher, it's real. LDCs (which cost $100 to $130) are electronic filters that slow the inrush of current. Now the odd part. They hum softly, so the bulb doesn't. That means you have to wire the LDC in a junction box where the hum won't be noticeable, such as in a basement. It's extra expense, wiring and trouble, so it's usually reserved for troublesome, large-wattage dimming loads.
Smoky Fireplace
Q: Our house was built in 1982, and when we moved in a couple of years ago we noticed a strong smoky odor coming from the fireplace. We've done everything we can to eliminate it, including having the chimney cleaned (twice) and installing a new damper, a new fireplace insert and a new chimney cap. It can be particularly bad in the summer, when the a/c runs. We're reluctant to use the fireplace this winter for fear of making the problem worse.
A: The problem is probably not with the chimney, the insert or the new hardware—but you're also not the only one dealing with a fairly common issue. "Chimneys stink all the time," says Ashley Eldridge, director of education for the Chimney Safety Institute of America. "The only question is whether you smell them or not." The problem, he says, is that the air pressure in the house is less than the air pressure outside. That differential is causing air to flow down the chimney, past the comparatively loose-fitting doors on the insert and into the room.
People assume that houses are under negative pressure only in the winter, when the heating system causes more air to be expelled from the house (in exhaust from burned fuel) than enters through infiltration and open doors or windows. But the same thing can happen in the summer. Dryers, bath fans, a combustion-fired water heater, cooking fans and an imbalanced air-conditioning system can result in an outflow, or an imbalance of air pressure inside the house.
To check, you'll need a heating-cooling contractor to come in and take some readings using a digital manom-eter, Eldridge says. This device can measure very small differences in air pressure. Once any pressure imbalances are identified and corrected, the problem should go away.
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