ToolBeltTerri

I have this shower that I swear was designed for munchkins. Sorry, if I have offended short people, but I have a 6 ft son and the shower head hits him about the neck. It was fine while they were children, but it’s time for it to fit big people. So you guessed it, we are going to change it. It is a fairly simple procedure.

This is what we are replacing it with.


First thing you have to do is take a pipe wrench and remove the old shower head. As long as the shower is turned off, you don’t have to worry about water going everywhere. There is no need to turn the main water off for this. Now remember when you are taking the shower head off, “Rightsy - Tightsy” “Lefty - Loosey”. Just use the wrench enough so you can untwist it by hand.


Take a utility knife and remove the flange. (Yea, the silver ring thingy.) Using your utility knife, clean off the old caulk from the tile. If you have a fiberglass surround, be careful not to gouge it. Now take a rag and clean out the pipe where the threads are. If there is debris in there, it may not seal properly and you don’t want water running down the inside of your wall.


To put the shower head on the new neck, first, you have to put Teflon tape around the threaded end of your neck. This helps to seal it. Wrap the tape around 3 or 4 times and pull it tight so it forms to the threads. Now remember in which direction the head screws on to the neck because you want the tape winding in the same direction. If it is going in the wrong direction, you will unwind the tape when you screw the head on. Use a wrench to tighten the head. Don’t over tighten it. You can tighten it later if it is leaking.


Put Teflon tape on the other end of the neck. Put the flange on the neck also, and screw it back into the wall tightening it as much as you can by hand. Take the wrench and tighten it the rest of the way.



Use a dry cloth and push it into the hole and turn the water on. Let it run for a little bit, and turn it off. You will be able to see if the shower head is leaking. Pull the rag out and see if it is wet. Tighten and repeat until there are no more leaks.


Caulk the flange to the tile to seal it.


You are done! If you want to replace just the shower head, just unscrew the old one. Take off any old Teflon tape. Re-tape the neck, and screw the new one on. Yea, it’s just that easy!


Happy Fixing!

Now that December is done... We can return to life as normal or abnormal as it may be. I didn't get much accomplished during the last month, but I did have a good time. So I thought that it might be fun to share some of our activities this month, and then I have an announcement for future projects.

My children are to the age that buying Christmas presents has become extremely difficult. All an eighteen and nineteen year old wants is cash. Not a big fan (even though it’s easy). It just feels a little empty to me. I spent the summer thinking about how we could do something different, after all it won’t be long before they are moved out and on their own (at least we can only hope). So we decided on a trip. Our destination? Park City, UT.


SO HERE IS THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT…My sister and I put an offer in on a house to flip it! There will be so many projects and I will document it all! We hope to close by the end of March. I will keep you posted, but in the mean time, I have a few other things around here so show you.


Happy New Year and Happy Fixing!

In this time where money is tight, it doesn’t make any sense to throw away things just because they don’t look brand new. These chairs were made by my father-in-law. Since he is no longer with us, the thought of getting rid of them would break my heart. So I want to show you how to make them look as good as new.



The first thing you need to do is sand it. You have to remove the loose paint from the furniture. If you just painted over it, it would start chipping immediately because it has to bond to a solid clean surface. This project has a lot of individual pieces, so I removed the thinner pieces of wood.It will make it easier to sand. I also marked the pieces so that I can remember where they go when it is time to put it back together.  I used 100 grit sandpaper to start. Note: the higher number on the sandpaper, the finer the sand, and the smoother the finish. 100 grit is pretty rough, but it works pretty well on this type of outdoor furniture.



Once it is sanded, you need to clean the surface of dust. You can buy tack cloth, but for this project, I just used a damp cloth. (Just make sure the furniture is dry before you try to paint it.) And when I say “damp”, I don’t mean “wet”!



Now that it is sanded and clean, this is a good time to tighten and replace any screws that are loose. Take you screwdriver and check all the screws. If you try to tighten a screw and it just turns, remove the screw. Take a wood toothpick or a piece of a wood shim and tap in into the hole. Now you can either use the same screw or use a new screw and it will hold tight. This is one of my favorite tricks. (Taught to me by my father-in-law.)

The piece is now ready to paint. Be sure that you are using an exterior paint. Also if a piece has been painted with oil based paint, you MUST use oil based paint. If you use a latex paint over oil based paint, it will just peel off, and this is a rule that works both ways. You can’t use oil over latex. I used a paint brush instead of a roller. Rollers will really only work over the flat surfaces, so it is just easier to use a brush. Also, don’t use a brush that is too narrow. It will take you a long time to paint that way.



Once you have painted all the pieces, and it is completely dry, it is time to put it back together again.



Now it is as good as new! I should get another 8 to 10 years out of this, and every time I look at it, it was
well worth the effort!





Happy Fixing!

If you live in an older house like I do, one of the biggest eye sores can be your electrical outlet and switches. These are not very hard to replace as long as you take a few simple safety precautions.


Today we will attack the outlet. I was moving some furniture around the other day and found one little lone plug that did not get replaced in the remodel. This is lucky for you because you can watch me replace it. This time we will only work with a correctly functioning outlet. We will cover a non-functioning outlet later because that is a whole different animal.

Before you start, READ EVERYTHING! Make sure that you are confident you understand the directions. I am NOT a licensed contractor. If that alone makes you uncomfortable, STOP, but I have easily replaced 100 of these. I think I can walk you through it. =)

What you will need:

1- 15 amp grounding receptacle (this is a standard plug)
2- A new cover plate for the outlet (optional)
3- Straight and Phillips head screwdriver
4- Needle nosed pliers
5- Electrical wire strippers (you may not need these, but you won’t know until you remove the old receptacle)

If your receptacle does NOT look like this, DO NOT proceed.

First, turn the power off to the outlet. Do this by plugging a light or a radio into the outlet and turn it on.

 The light that I have used, checks to see if everything is wired correctly. This is handy because before you start, you know that there are no problems with the wiring. You can buy one of these at any home improvement store for about $5 to $7.

Now, go to your breaker box and one by one turn off the circuit breakers until the radio or light has turned off. Once it is off, it is safe to handle the wires. I know it still makes you nervous to touch them. I still feel that sense of hesitation even though I know I won’t get shocked. It’s normal.

Take your straight screwdriver and remove the cover plate from the plug.



 You will see that the plug is held in by two more screws at the top and bottom of the plug. Remove these screws also. Pull the receptacle so that you can see the wires attached to it.






There should either be 1 black wire, 1 white wire and one green or copper wires attached, or there should be 2 black, 2 white and 1 green or copper wires attached. There might be more than one green or copper wire. (If there is, someone was just lazy, and it really doesn’t make a difference. IMPORTANT! IF NEITHER OF THESE TWO CONFIGURATIONS IS WHAT YOU SEE, SCREW THE PLUG BACK INTO THE WALL AND PUT THE COVER PLATE BACK ON. THESE INSTRUCTIONS WILL NOT WORK FOR YOU.

Time to remove the wires. Make sure that, when you pull out the receptacle, that there is enough wire to work with. If the wires are too short and barely come out of the receptacle box, you may want to choose not to replace it at this time because if you have to cut the wires, you may not have enough wire to attach it to the new receptacle. If everything looks good, the wires will come off one of two ways. If you have plenty of wire, just cut the wire right at the receptacle. (easy) If the wires are pushed into small holes in the back of the plug, it is easier to just cut them. They don’t pull out of those holes very easily, and you may damage the insulation around the wire trying to pull it out. If the wires are bent around the screws on the side of the plug, you may choose to loosen the screws and pull the wires off. My suggestion, just cut them =).

Separate your wires. Black on the right side, White on the left and Green or Copper at the bottom.

If you need to strip your wires, take your wire strippers and strip the insulation from the wire. ONLY A HALF OF AN INCH.

Look at the new receptacle. You need to identify certain parts. The Green screw is for attaching the ground wire. (The green or copper wire.) The side of the Brass or Gold color screws will be marked “HOT” wire. This side is for attaching the Black wire or wires. The side with the Silver screws may or may not be marked “WHITE”. This side is for the white wires. Make sure that you understand where all of these parts are before you begin.







Now attach the white wire or wires to the silver screws. This can be done one of two ways. You can attach it in the same manner as the green wire or if it is available on the receptacle that you purchased, you can simply push the wires in to the holes in the back of the receptacle. Whichever manner you choose be certain that you are attaching the white wires on the side with the SILVER screws!




Attach the Black wire or wires in the exact same manner as the white wires. Be certain that the Black wires are being attached on the side with the BRASS or GOLD colored screws.

You will notice that I chose to wrap my wires around the screws. I just prefer this method.

Next, make sure that no matter how you attached the wires, that you tighten ALL the screws on each side.


Here is the moment of truth! Plug a light or a radio in, and turn in on. Go to your breaker box and turn the circuit breaker back on. Check the light or radio and make sure it is working. If it is, you follow directions well.

 If it is not working, you did something wrong, and you need to go back to the top and start over!

Happy Fixing!