Home Improvement & Appliances Articles

Article / Updated 10-16-2024

Floor squeaks happen, and when they do, most of us just tolerate them as a part of the “charm” of living in an older house! But as annoying as squeaking floors can be, they have a rather simple cause and solution – and squeaks rarely indicate a structural problem forming under foot. No matter what kind of finish flooring you may have — carpet, vinyl, tile, or hardwood — unless your home is built on a concrete slab, underneath it’s wood. And it’s that wood that causes the squeaks — well, sort of. Usually, the squeak is a loose nail rubbing inside the hole it was originally driven into. Lumber that’s used to build homes contains a certain degree of natural moisture, which makes the wood easy to cut and minimizes splitting when it’s being nailed together. Unfortunately, as the wood dries, it shrinks — a natural process that can take years. When the wood shrinks enough, once tightly seated nails can loosen and rub when the wood flexes below the pitter-patter of foot traffic, creating the familiar irritating sound: a floor squeak. The good news is that floor squeaks aren’t as tough to fix as they are to listen to! They’re not difficult or expensive to repair, and with a little guidance, you can avoid the frustrating part of the task: actually, finding the cause of the squeak. Finding the squeak The first step in repairing a floor squeak is to find the nail that’s rubbing up against the wood floor — a task akin to finding a needle in a haystack. Here’s a trick that I use to pinpoint a floor squeak so that I can make a repair: Use a short length of garden hose as a stethoscope. Hold one end of the hose to your ear and the other end on the floor while someone else walks across the floor to make it squeak. Fixing the squeak If the problem is a loose subfloor (the wood floor beneath the carpet, vinyl, hardwood, and so on), the repair can get sticky depending upon the type of finish flooring you have. However, if access below is available (that is, you can get to the subfloor through the basement or crawlspace), installing a wood shim shingle between the subfloor and the floor joist is a quick and easy means of preventing the subfloor from flexing, and it quiets the squeak. Just squirt some carpenter’s glue on the thin end of the shingle and tap it in with a hammer. Most squeaks can be solved by driving an extra screw through the subfloor to the floor joists directly underneath the squeak. But when the floor is covered with wall-to-wall carpet, that can require taking the carpet up. Here’s a shortcut: take a 12d finish nail (use a galvanized nail — it holds better) and drive it through the carpet into the subfloor and joist below. You’ll find this leaves a divot in the carpet, which will no doubt have you (or your spouse) thinking you’ve just ruined the rug! Ah, but not so fast! Just grab the nap of the carpet above the divot and pull it up until the nail pulls through the carpet backing. Voilà, the divot will have disappeared right along with the squeak! Another means of quieting a squeaking floor by preventing it from flexing is a nifty gadget called a Squeak-Ender. It consists of a metal plate and threaded-rod assembly that’s screwed to the underside of the subfloor and a steel bracket. You slip the bracket beneath the joist and over the threaded rod; then you tighten a nut onto the rod to pull down the floor and close the gap. For more information on the Squeak-Ender, go to www.squeakender.com or call 586-978-3377. If access below is not available, after you locate the culprit nail, the next step is to create a better connection. Don’t use nails to make the repair — use screws. Just follow these steps: Locate the squeak using the method discussed in the preceding section. Locate the nearest floor joist under the squeak. The floor joist is the horizontal floor framing member that the wood subfloor is attached to. If the subfloor is exposed, this is easy — just look at the nails, which will line up over the floor joists. If not, you can locate the joist using a stud finder, an electronic tool used to locate wood studs to joists below walls or floors. Near the existing squeaking nail, drill a small pilot hole through the wood subfloor and into the floor joist. Drilling a small pilot hole in the floor joist makes driving in the screw easier. You can leave the old nail in place, or, if it’s loose, remove it using a nail puller or pry bar. Drive a construction screw into the pilot hole, through the subfloor, and so on. When working on a hardwood floor, countersink (recess) the screw head so that it can be concealed with hardwood putty. Use a putty knife to install hardwood putty. Touch up the floor finish with 400- to 600-grit wet/dry sandpaper. I recommend construction screws because they’re easy to drive and they grip like crazy. You can purchase screws with a finish head (like a finish nail), which makes them a particularly good choice when working on a hardwood floor. You simply countersink them slightly and place putty over them. A construction screw’s coarse threads and really sharp tip make it the perfect fastener for old, dry wood. The sharp tip gets through harder lumber more easily, and the coarse screw threads go in faster and hold better.

Article / Updated 10-16-2024

When basements leak, people panic. The good news about these unplanned indoor pools is this. While wet basements are often thought of as one of life’s biggest home repair headaches, basement water problems are generally easy and inexpensive to fix. Yes, that’s right–easy and inexpensive! The basement is one of the greatest untapped spaces in any home. Think about it — if you have a basement, it’s like having an entire extra floor to do with what you wish. That is, however, unless it’s a swimming pool! Damp, leaking, or flooded basements (or crawlspaces) can severely diminish the value of a house. They can lead to a host of associated problems like mold, rotted floor structures, insect infestations, and more. Worse yet, the cost of fixing a wet basement will generally be in the tens of thousands! Well, let’s stop right there so I can let you in on a few facts about fixing floods: Most wet basements are blamed incorrectly on the home having a rising water table. This is usually not the case. The top cause of a wet basement or crawlspace is a lack of adequate roof and surface drainage. Clogged or misdirected gutters, along with grading that directs rainwater toward the house foundation, cause almost all below-grade water leakage. For years, so-called waterproofing companies have caused panic among homeowners by advising that a failure to install expensive sump pumps and drains will cause foundations to crack, and mold to take over. These high-pressure tactics could not be further from the truth and are simply an attempt to make a high-dollar sale on a system that’s rarely needed. And the best news? Most wet basements can be fixed in a weekend using a few hundred dollars’ worth of materials at most. I’ll show you how. Where basement leaks wait to happen: Start outside In the 20 years I spent as a professional home inspector, it wasn’t unusual for me to be asked to inspect a house that had a below-grade water problem. On one such occasion, a young couple had received five-figure estimates from multiple waterproofing companies along with a heaping helping of fear that the home would disintegrate if they didn’t hire them. They’d called me to help them decide which five-figure-estimating company to hire. With that in mind, I walked up to the house, glanced up, and immediately saw a series of 1- to 3-foot trees growing out of their insanely clogged gutters! Problem solved. Mike drop. Tom out! Designing and cleaning gutters to keep water away The primary reason that basements or crawlspaces leak, flood, or just get damp, is that the home does not have a properly functioning gutter system. There are several common gutter failures that I see. Clogged gutters: The season is called Fall for a reason! Leaves, pine needles, and other tree droppings, along with the occasional tennis ball, regularly clog gutters. When that happens, gutters overflow, dumping all the rain that Mother Nature has to offer right along your foundation wall, where it has nowhere else to go but down and into your basement or crawlspace. (See Figure 4-6.) Too few downspouts: For standard five-inch gutters, a home needs one downspout for every 600 to 800 square feet of roof surface. Stand back and stare up at your roof and try to estimate if your home has this. Be sure to include any gutters on second-floor roofs that drain to first-floor roofs on their way to the downspout. If you are moving more water than that, you’ll need bigger gutters and spouts, or just more spouts. Downspouts discharging too close to the house: Gutter installers have a really bad habit I’d like to break. They typically extend the downspout discharge about a foot, and then into a splash block, which runs it out another foot. If you have any indication that there’s a water problem in your house, these need to be run out more like four to six feet. Improving your gutters and site drainage are the two most effective ways to correct a leaking, damp, or musty basement. But of those two, gutter improvements are far and away much more important than grading improvements. In my 20 years as a professional home inspector diagnosing basement and crawlspace leaks, I’ve found that gutters cause 90 percent of the problem, with grading causing the rest. So, tackle your gutter fixes first. They are more likely to solve the problem (see Figure 4-7) and are actually a lot easier to do than hauling dirt to add around your foundation! Making the grade to keep water away After leaking gutters, the second reason basements flood is when the soil around the house settles and prevents water from draining away from the house. Here’s why that happens: When a home with a basement or crawlspace is built, excavators dig a deep hole to allow the masons to start building a foundation. This hole is wider than the house so that contractors can access all sides to build the foundation. As the home nears completion, the excavators return to backfill the soil around the house and — hopefully — grade it to slope away from the foundation walls. As time marches on, however, that soil starts to settle and compact. The grade that initially was pitched to run away from the house, goes to flat and ultimately reverses to run water toward the house. Once that happens, rainwater soaks into the soil around the foundation, and if it rains hard enough, it shows up in the basement as a leak or full-out flood. Restoring a positive grade is not all that difficult. You’ll need to add soil along the foundation perimeter and grade it to slope downward about 6 inches over the first 4 feet away from the foundation. For this project, you’ll want to use clean fill dirt — not topsoil or mulch, which is too organic and will hold water instead of letting it drain. Aside from maintaining a positive grade, be mindful of anything that traps water along the house, like brick, stone, or wood landscaping. If you are trying to fix a leak, you can’t afford to have anything holding water too close to your house. Paths and patios should slope away from the foundation, too. A path or patio that slopes toward the home discharges water into the basement or crawlspace.

Article / Updated 10-16-2024

When the mercury drops, your water pipes become increasingly vulnerable and may freeze and burst. When water freezes, it expands, and the force of that expansion can split a copper pipe wide open. A burst water line can cause tens of thousands of dollars in damage and forever destroy personal possessions in the path of the raging water. The good news is that you can take steps to help prevent a burst pipe and the chaos that it causes. When the mercury drops, your water pipes become increasingly vulnerable and may freeze and burst. When water freezes, it expands, and the force of that expansion can split a copper pipe wide open. A burst water line can cause tens of thousands of dollars in damage and forever destroy personal possessions in the path of the raging water. The good news is that you can take steps to help prevent a burst pipe and the chaos that it causes. An ounce of prevention If you’ve ever experienced a frozen water line that did not burst wide open, consider yourself lucky! Before that luck wears out, it’s smart to take a few steps to prevent your pipes from freezing and keep water running all winter long. Turn on your faucets just a little. A faucet left dripping at the fixture farthest from the main water inlet allows just enough warm water movement within the pipes to reduce the chance of a freeze. Insulate your above-ground pipes. Pipes in unfinished spaces are most susceptible to freezing. Insulating these pipes prevents them from freezing during most mild-to-medium chills — even when faucets are off. Be sure to focus on insulating pipes in the crawl space, basement, attic, and any pipes that are located along exterior walls, such as a main water line and shut-off valve. Open your cabinets. If the pipes that supply water to your kitchen or bathroom sink faucets are prone to freezing, leave the cabinet doors open at night. The open doors allow warm air to circulate in the cabinet and warm the cold pipes. Install electric pipe heating cable. If you’re in an area where temperatures frequently drop below freezing, think about purchasing pipe heating cable, commonly known as heat tape. Heat tape is an electric appliance that is attached to copper pipe. When temperatures drop, a thermostat activates the heat tape and keeps the pipe warm to prevent it from freezing. Heat tape is also useful for thawing out a pipe that’s frozen. Heat tape must be used cautiously, and strictly according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Throughout my 20 years as a professional home inspector, I frequently observed heat tape being misused more often than being used correctly. It wasn’t unusual for me to find heat tape that got so hot, it singed wood framing or insulation! To prevent a fire, never overlap one section of heat tape on top of another and never add insulation to a pipe where heat tape is being used. Doing so can cause the heat tape to overheat and lead to a fire. Lastly, heat tape is not designed to be plugged in all the time. Once the pipe thaws, unplug the heat tape. If the same pipes in your home freeze over and over again, you are better off replacing that section of copper pipe with PEX, which can be rerouted through warmer areas of the home instead. I did this exact project in my home some years back. The water supply for our kitchen sink ran through the exterior wall and frequently froze in cold weather. To fix the problem, I disconnected the copper pipe, inserted a section of PEX tubing, and ran it inside the kitchen cabinet, where it never froze again!

Article / Updated 09-11-2024

Pet lovers understand that there’s nothing like a furry friend to keep you company. But then shedding season arrives, and you’re wearing more of your pet’s hair than he is. You find it on your sofa. You find it in your coffee. You find it in little dust bunnies on the hardwood floors. Don’t let your cat’s or dog’s fur take over your home. We’ve compiled our best tips for how to choose the best vacuum cleaner for pet hair, including information on the best robot vacuum for those who want a little convenience. We also have some great tips on other ways to reduce the fur storm in your home so you can get back to enjoying your pet. Best vacuum for pet hair on carpet Most vacuum cleaners that are worth their salt are also good for pet hair. But some models stand out for features that are especially important in a home with a shedding cat or dog. We’ve compiled a list of the top vacuum cleaners for pet hair by budget. Best vacuum for pet hair under $150: The Eureka NEU180B is less than $100 and is surprisingly powerful for its small price tag. It’s an upright vacuum but is only 12 pounds, so it’s easy to use frequently (which you know will come in handy all through shedding season). It has an extra-large capacity dustbin to hold all of that fur. Best vacuum for pet hair under $300: The Shark Rotator Powered Lift-Away TruePet Upright Vacuum sits right at $300 and is also one of our top overall picks for vacuums. It comes with a mini brush attachment meant for pet fur and also has anti-allergen seal technology specially designed to reduce the dander in your home. Its LED lights make it easier to see the little hair dust bunnies under your furniture and in the corners of your home. Best vacuum for pet hair under $500: At $400-$500 depending on the model, the Dyson Animal 2 Upright Vacuum is the best on the market. It has an allergy filter, incredibly strong suction (Dyson says it’s the strongest on the market), and easy maneuverability to get under all the furniture where Fido likes to hide. You can also use this vacuum cleaner’s special attachments to remove fur from your furniture and even your clothes. Best robot vacuum for pet hair Truthfully, robot vacuum cleaners can’t compete with classic upright vacuums for removing pet hair from the carpet. But the right robot vacuum can handle some of the workload for you so you don’t have to vacuum every single day. We found two models that are ideal for pet owners. Best robot vacuum for pet hair under $300: The Proscience 790T comes in at $260 and has several features that make it ideal for a pet-friendly home. It has a built-in filter and a stronger motor than most robot vacuums at similar price points. It also has a mop feature that can help clean up pet accidents and stains on hard floors. Best robot vacuum for pet hair under $500: The iRobot Roomba 890 is a great option for pet owners. It’s about $400. It has a built-in filter to reduce allergens caused by pet dander. It also has an auto-adjust feature that senses the height of the carpet or floor and adjusts accordingly for a nice snug vacuum, ensuring even suction across surfaces. How to vacuum your dog This definitely doesn’t work for all dogs, so only try it if you have a laid-back pup that is obedient. You can vacuum your dog by using a hose on an upright or canister vacuum cleaner. Some companies sell a pet attachment to attach to the hose, or you can try the upholstery attachment that came with your machine. Get your dog used to the vacuum cleaner gradually by letting him sniff it when it’s turned off. Then turn it on and set it down near him, offering him treats for coming near it. Do this over several days if needed; the important thing is to get him accustomed to the vacuum without being afraid of the loud noise or mysterious suction. After he’s used to the vacuum’s sound, pet him while gently vacuuming across his back. You can use the hose with no attachment or use the upholstery attachment, whichever he prefers. Be careful to avoid his face, ears, tail, and underside (and his paws if he’s sensitive about them). Reward him generously with his favorite treat frequently as he sits still for you. Many dogs actually come to love being vacuumed and come running each time they hear the vacuum cleaner turn on. Others never learn to love it, and that’s okay, too! You can use other strategies if your dog won’t let you vacuum him. How to get dog hair out of a car We’ve all been there: Your dog rides in your car one time, and the car looks like a fur bomb went off in there. Or maybe you never let your pet in the car, but somehow his hair magically appears anyway. Once the hair is in your car, it’s difficult to remove. Something about the fabric in many vehicles makes it much harder to remove pet fur from it than from other fabrics; the fur just sticks to it and gets embedded like Velcro. Before you get too desperate, try using the upholstery attachment on your upright or canister vacuum cleaner. If you have a handheld vacuum, you can try that as well, though most of them don’t have enough suction power to remove pet fur. A few vacuum cleaner brands have a special attachment for pet hair, and that may work as well. You can even purchase a pet hair attachment from the pet store from brands like FURminator; just be sure it’s compatible with your model of vacuum cleaner. If the vacuum doesn’t cut it, you can purchase a specialty glove to remove fur from your car; this is what many auto-detailing professionals use. You simply put the glove on and rub it across the fabric, picking up the fur as you go. The gloves themselves can be hard to clean, but you’d probably rather have a furry glove than a furry car. Another option is to try using a boar hair brush to gently brush the fabric on the floorboards. It might scratch up leather seating, so be sure not to use it there. Some people swear by using Velcro-style hair curlers to remove the fur from floorboards. Other tips for shedding season Whether your pet is blowing his coat or sheds year-round, these tips can help keep the fur out of your carpet and minimize how often you have to vacuum in the first place. Wash your pet, especially if it’s a dog. Weekly baths help loosen the undercoat so that it comes off easier during brushing. Use a gentle pet shampoo, using your fingernails to massage it all the way through his coat. Use your hand or a special fur-removing glove to coax as much of his fur off of him as you can while he’s soaking wet. Then apply a gentle pet conditioner and rinse it off, again using your fingers to brush through his coat and remove as much loose fur as possible. Rub him down with a towel and then, if he allows it, blow dry his coat on a warm or cool setting while brushing. Have your pet professionally groomed. Long-haired pets especially benefit from a trim or even a shave in the warm months. This leaves less hair to adorn your carpets. Brush your cat or dog every day. Train your pet to sit still while you brush him with a curry brush, and reward him with treats and lots of love when he does well. Most pets learn to love this time with you, and it’s also great for their skin and circulatory system. Once a week to once a month, use a tool specially made for shedding, like the FURminator deShedding Tool for cats or dogs. These tools remove more loose hair with each swipe than a standard pet brush, so you can spend less time brushing and more time playing.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 08-26-2024

Home maintenance is all about being prepared. If you spend a little time now buying ingredients for cleaners, putting together a toolkit, and staying on top of monthly maintenance tasks, you’ll not only prevent small problems from getting bigger, but you’ll also be ready to act quickly in the future if a big problem does crop up.

Article / Updated 12-11-2023

Updating kitchen cabinets make tired drab kitchens look fresh again. Knowing how to update kitchen cabinets, can save you the cost of completely replacing them. Most cabinets, no matter how unattractive or outdated, can be drastically improved by following the tips below. Clean your cabinets. A good cleaning may bring new luster to tired but handsome wood. Try TSP to remove grim and grease. Change the hardware. Try something zippy, like bent twig fork handles, hand-painted ceramic knobs, clear glass handles and knobs, or metal pharmacy pulls. For unity, match cabinet hardware and faucet finishes (all brass, copper, steel, iron, or so on). Paint them. A little paint goes a long way. Are you going Contemporary? Paint simple cabinets with a high gloss lacquer-look finish in a zingy new color or colors. For example, paint base cabinets one color and wall-hung cabinets another. Antiqued cabinets in off white, buttery yellow, mellow rose, watermelon red, and apple green add an Old World charm that’s especially comforting. Paint cabinets high-gloss white for an instant Country look. Or stain them a natural, wood color in the Victorian style. Add bead board as a backsplash and paint it a crisp white. Paint your cabinets’ outsides white and the insides a nautical blue for a seaside effect. Relaminate all cabinets in one solid color. Or, for a more Contemporary or Eclectic look, mix and match colors and interesting patterns. For example, keep the cabinet boxes plain and add different colored or patterned doors (or vice versa). Exchange old doors on plain cabinets. Try new fancy doors in the style of your choice. Add classic architectural trims to plain cases. You can include fluted pilasters at the corners, pediments, and crown moldings on top or deep base moldings at the bottom.

Article / Updated 09-18-2023

A food disposer takes the place of a sink basket and drain piece on one of the kitchen sink bowls. To install this appliance, consult the installation instructions that come with the unit, because the steps vary among brands. Here are the basic steps for installing any food disposer: Remove the sink basket (if one was installed). Send the sink sleeve (which replaces the sink basket and secures the disposer to the sink bowl) through the hole in the sink bottom and secure the sleeve to the bowl by using the gasket and mounting rings, following the unit’s installation instructions. The gaskets and mounting rings keep the sink sleeve from leaking when you run water. There are two mounting rings: the upper mounting ring and a backup mounting ring. There’s also a snap ring that goes into the groove on the backup mounting ring as extra security for keeping the unit in place. Lift the disposer and align the mounting lugs (small, rolled curls of metal attached to the mounting ring) and mounting ears (90-degree angled metal cliplike pieces also attached to the mounting ring near the lugs) with the mounting screws located between the upper and backup mounting rings. The mounting screws are threaded. The lugs and ears are located on the lower mounting ring, which is attached to the disposer housing (the main body of the unit). Turn the disposer clockwise until it’s supported on the mounting assembly (sleeve and mounting rings). Attach the discharge tube (a short, approximately 90-degree plastic elbow where the waste and water is discharged) to the discharge opening (the larger hole in the side of the housing). The tube uses a rubber gasket and metal flange to secure it and keep it from leaking. If you’re draining your dishwasher through the disposer, remove the plug in the smaller dishwasher nipple and attach the dishwasher drain hose to the nipple with a hose clamp. If you don’t have a dishwasher, do not remove the plug! If you remove the plug but don’t have a hose to connect to the nipple, the water will spew out the hole. Connect the drain line pipe from the sink drain setup to the disposer’s discharge tube with a slip nut and washer. You may need to cut either the discharge tube or the drain line pipe to fit. Lock the disposer in place by using the disposer wrench (included with the unit). Insert the wrench into one of the mounting lugs on the lower mounting ring and turn it clockwise until it locks. A standard plug-end cord is the electrical power connection for most disposers. But you do need to connect the cord to the motor wires. Here’s how: Remove the disposer’s bottom plate. Strip off about 1/2 inch of insulation from each wire of the power cord. Connect like-color wires by using wire connectors. To ground the unit, attach the green ground wire from the power supply to the green ground screw that will be on the disposer housing. The screw is easy to spot, because it’s actually painted green. Gently push all the wires in and reinstall the bottom plate. Plug in the cord and you’re good to go!

Article / Updated 09-18-2023

After you have attached your faucet and water supply and set your sink, it’s time to connect the sink drain. Drain kits come in different materials and configurations, but installing them is a snap. Choose the kit with the configuration for your sink type, and you’re halfway home! You have a couple of choices for drain kits: chromed metal kits and PVC drain kits. Both work well and are about equally easy to use. The main factor on deciding which one to use is cosmetic — will the drain line be visible? If it will be visible, you’ll want to use the chromed kit. If it’s out of sight in the sink base cabinet, which most kitchen drains are, then the good-old white plastic PVC kit is the way to go; PVC is cheaper. Kitchen sink drain kits, whether they’re chromed or PVC, use nut and washer screw-together connections. Besides being easy to install, they also let you easily disconnect the assembly when it’s time to unclog a drain or quickly rescue that wedding ring that fell down the drain. A basic, single-bowl kit includes: A tailpiece, which connects to the bottom of the sink strainer A trap bend (or P-trap), which forms a water-filled block to prevent sewer gas from coming up through the sink drain A trap arm, which is connected to the downstream end of the P-trap and then to the drain line that leads to the main drainage line A double-bowl drain kit will have everything the single-bowl kit has along with a waste-Tee connection and additional length of drain line to connect both bowls to a single P-trap. If your sink has a garbage disposer, you need an additional longer section of drainpipe to connect the disposer’s drain line to the bowl drain line. The crosspiece that comes in the kit may or may not be long enough to make the connection between the disposer and other sink bowl drain pieces. You have to check yours out to be sure. Follow your disposer’s installation instructions. Assembling and connecting the drain kit is fairly simple. The pieces are easy to maneuver, so you can adjust them to fit almost any setup. Don’t expect the horizontal pieces to be in super-straight alignment with the tailpieces or the drainpipe. The only thing that matters is that they all eventually get connected together. Start by attaching the tailpiece to the sink drain and tightening the slip nut and washer by hand. If you have a multiple bowl sink, all of the drain tailpieces should be the same length for an easier installation. Slip the trap onto the tailpiece and then position the trap’s horizontal piece next to the drain line coming out of the wall. The horizontal piece must fit inside the end of the drain line. Remove the trap and cut the horizontal section to fit. Reattach the trap to the tailpiece and into the drain line and tighten the slip nuts and washers. Before you do anything else, get the bucket and rags ready. Lay some rags directly below each connection so that, if there is a leak, the towels will immediately soak up the water. And leave the rags there for a couple of days, just in case a leak develops over time. Have your helper turn on the water while you begin inspecting for leaks. Don’t be alarmed (or upset) if you have a joint that leaks. Just shut off the water, take a deep breath, disassemble and reassemble the connection, and check again for leaks.

Article / Updated 09-18-2023

Much of the work of sink installation takes place before you set the sink into the countertop. Taking your time with the preliminary work ensures a smooth installation. In most cases, the old plumbing configuration will work with your new sink. But if you’re making a major change in the design of the new sink, be sure that the old plumbing fits the new sink’s requirements. So, before you buy or order a sink, take a few measurements: If you don’t install your sink and faucet according to the instructions, you’ll have to foot the bill for the replacement even if the product is defective. If the manufacturer sees signs of abuse or misuse or an improper installation, they’re off the hook. Establishing the drain height: Make sure to measure the distance from the underside of the countertop to the center of the drain line that comes out of the wall. This distance is usually between 16 and 18 inches, which allows adequate space for the water to drop into the trap and still leaves enough space below the trap for storing items underneath the sink in the cabinet. The drain height is usually not an issue unless you’re going from a very shallow sink to one that has very deep bowls (9 to 12 inches deep). Even if you do switch to deeper bowls, it may only be a problem if your old setup had a shallow bowl coupled with a high drain exit position. This may sound like a less than likely setup but it does happen. If you do find that you only have a few inches of space between the bottom of the bowl and the center of the drainpipe, contact a licensed plumber to assess the situation and determine if the drainpipe needs to be lowered. Determine the shut-off valve heights: Measure from the floor of the sink base cabinet to the center of the valve. Houses built before roughly 1980 were not required to have shut-offs on every sink supply line, so you may not have any at all. If your sink doesn’t have shut-off valves, install them now while you’re working on the system. If your kitchen didn’t have shut-offs when you tore out the old sink and faucet and you’ve been working on the sink installation for a few days, you better have installed individual shut-off valves by now or your family won’t be speaking with you. Where there are no shut-off valves and there are open pipes or lines, the only way to keep the water from running out is to shut down the entire water supply. Not a good idea when your daughter is getting ready for a big date.

Article / Updated 09-05-2023

When you think of children’s bathrooms, primary colors, clown motifs, and other tried-and-true themes may come to mind. If that’s what your child likes, that’s fine, but ask before you decorate. In a child’s bathroom, safety takes center stage. Following are some suggestions that spring from real-life experiences: Avert scalding by installing hot stop valves that prevent a child from turning water on to the highest, hottest temperature. Avoid using slippery area rugs, make sure the tub and floors are skid-proofed, and consider adding child-height grab bars. Check that the glass for the shower or tub doors is tempered so that it doesn’t shatter. Make sure it’s properly installed. Include rocker-type light switches low enough for a child to reach. Install easy-to-maneuver lever faucet handles. Mount them on one side of the sink, near the front edge of the counter, so that a child can reach them without having to climb on top of the vanity. Keep a nightlight on at all times. Lock medicine and cleaning supply cabinet doors. Make sure the shower door opens out so that no child (or adult) can become wedged in. (Make sure doors can swing freely.) Place lever handles on all doors at a child’s height. Prevent a child from locking himself in the bathroom; make sure that you can unlock the exterior door from the outside. Provide a stool that doesn’t tip over for small children to use at the sink. Remove electrically powered radios, hairdryers, and any other small appliances that could be dropped into the tub or sink. Substitute batter-operated products if desired or necessary. Round corners on countertops to prevent injury to tots whose heads may be near the same height. Screw freestanding storage cabinets to the wall so that they don’t tip. Verify that your Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) works. It shuts off electrical current when an appliance comes in contact with water. When it comes to decorating, if you’re thinking of resale any time in the near future, take a moment before adding, applying, or installing anything that will cost time, effort, and dollars. Consider some temporary ways to bring special colors into your child’s bath with accessories. Colorful accents and fun motifs in towels, bath mats, framed art, soaps, the shower curtain, and so on add fun. Perhaps use some of the new peel-and-stick ceramic tiles to create a border on the sink wall or cabinets. Peel-and-stick wallcovering borders add interest, too, and they’re easy to remove when you’re ready to move.