House Renovation Tips

Spring or fall is the best time to set new container plants into the ground. Starting from a fence corner or other reference point, measure off the planting distances indicated in your plan. Set each container in position, then adjust placement if it looks ungainly. Use tall stakes to represent plants you’ll be adding later.
Your new plantings may look sparse, but you should resist the urge to move plants closer together. Have patience. They will eventually fill in.
Even drought-tolerant plants need water while they are becoming established and their roots are growing into the surrounding soil. Water them through the first season’s dry spell.

Step by Step: Planting Trees and Shrubs
1. Dig a hole for each plant. Make it twice as wide as the rootball. (If planting trees or shrubs, dig the hole extra wide to help the plant’s roots grow.) To prevent settling later, leave a platform in the middle of the hole that is only as deep as the rootball. Then dig 2 to 3 inches deeper all around the platform to make space for the roots.
2. Tap sharply on the sides and bottom of the container to loosen the rootball. Turn smaller containers upside down and slide the plant out, supporting the top of the rootball with your hand. For a larger container, lay it on its side and slide the plant out. You may need a helper.
3. Gently loosen the roots with your fingers. Cut off roots that are too tightly coiled.
4. Set the plant on the mound and spread out its roots. (For balled and burlapped plants, untie the burlap and spread it out in the hole to decompose. Also spread out the roots.)
5. Backfill the hole with soil, firming around the roots with your hands. Soil around the root crown should be 1 inch above surrounding soil.

Professional tip
For a natural-looking hedge, space shrubs so they will barely touch at maturity. For a hedge that will be clipped, plant them closer together.

If your hot water looks red-brown, rust and minerals are probably building up in the tank. It’s time to drain the water heater. Turn off the main gas burner or the electricity to the water heater. Close the inlet valve. Remove the aerator, if any, from the hot-water faucet closest to the heater and open that faucet. Turn on the inlet valve occasionally during the draining to help flush out sediment. Close the drain valve and open the inlet valve. Close the nearest faucet and open one farthest from the water heater. When water begins to flow from the far faucet, the water heater is full. Relight the pilot light or restore electricity. Clean out all faucet aerators.

If discoloration returns, occasionally flush out two or three gallons from the drain valve to keep the bottom of the water heater free of sediment. To do this, connect a hose to the heater’s drain valve and run the hose to a drain or outdoors. Open the valve as far as possible until the water from the hose starts to run clear.

If you are sure that the leak is coming from the tank and not from a pipe or fitting, the tank body has corroded with age and the whole heater has to be replaced. Often the trickiest part of the job is getting the old heater out of the basement and the new one in. You’re going to need a helper and probably a hand truck. Disposal can also be a nuisance. Call your city solid-waste disposal office and ask where you can recycle your old water heater.

In addition, you may need a permit to install a water heater. Ask your building department; they can issue a homeowner’s permit so you can do the work. For replacement instructions, see Step by Step.
Water heaters are not all alike. Water capacities range from 12 to 100 gallons. A family of four usually needs the 40- or 50-gallon size. Better heaters have glass-lined metal tanks covered by 5- to 10-year warranties. The construction is not different for a longer warranty, but you pay more for the extra five years of protection. The difference between a 5 and 10 year warranty may be a second anode installed in the tank or a replacement shipped with it.

Recovery rates (how fast the heater warms incoming cold water) are fairly consistent among energy-efficient models. Faster recovery rates come at a price—the heater uses more energy.

Step By Step: Water Heater Replacement

If your water heater died of old age, odds are that the building code has changed since the original installation. Consult your local building department about where you may locate the heater, any needed permits and, for gas heaters, how it may be vented.
A new water heater should come with complete installation instructions.

1. Turn off the water supply and electricity or gas to the water heater. Drain the heater. Disconnect the heater from pipes and electricity. For a gas heater, disconnect the draft hood that connects to the flue. If the water pipes do not have unions, saw through the pipes with a hacksaw. Save the old relief valve if it works well and you think it will fit the new heater.

2. Bring in the new water heater on a hand truck. Set it in the place of the old. If it is a gas heater, align it to connect with the flue and the gas supply. For an electric heater, position the heater for an easy connection to electrical power.

3. Reconnect the water supply and hot water outlet with flexible connectors.

4. For an electric heater, reconnect the supply cable. For a gas heater, reconnect the gas supply to the heater—again, you can use threaded flexible connectors made for gas supply. Brush soapy water onto any gas connection you have worked on; if gas is leaking through, you will see bubbles. Tighten the connection until no gas is leaking. If the new heater did not come with a relief valve, install a new one or the one you removed from the old heater.

5. Make sure that the drain valve on the heater is closed, and then open the valve on the hot-water outlet pipe and a hot-water tap at a sink. Open the cold-water inlet valve to fill the heater with water. After it is full, close the tap you opened and check for pipe leaks.

6. For a gas heater, relight the pilot light. For electric heaters, turn the electricity back on.

If the water heater leaks from the drain valve, try more muscle to turn it off. If that fails, you can buy a brass hose cap with a hose washer inside. If you tighten the hose cap with pliers, it will stand up to typical water pressure.

If the leak is from the T&P valve, check that the water company isn’t delivering water under abnormally high pressure. You can check the current pressure with a water pressure gauge. If the reading is between 45 and 60 psi, the problem is probably the relief valve. Turn off water supply and the electricity or gas to the water heater. Partially drain the tank. Remove the overflow pipe, if there is one, unscrew the relief valve, and screw in a new one.

It’s usually easier and better to replace a few damaged shingles than to patch them. Each shingle is held by 2 sets of nails: one under the shingle above, the second 6 inches farther back.
Raise the shingle tabs that overlap the first set of nails and pull them with a flat pry bar. If you can’t pry out the second set of nails without harming the shingle above, just pull the damaged shingle out. Slide in the replacement. Avoid tearing the roofing felt. Nail the new shingle in place.

Professional tip
Cutting off the replacement shingle’s top corners helps to slide it in place. This job is best done on a warm day when the shingles are pliable.

Money-saving tip
Whenever you install a new roof, it’s a good idea to keep leftover shingles so that you have matching replacements for damaged areas.

If you have to replace a wood shingle please see the tips from How to replace a wood shingle.

Use a chisel to split the defective shingle, then pull out the sections. Slide a flat bar up and flatten the nails with a few hammer blows.
Trim a replacement shingle to fit by allowing a 1/4-inch space on each side. Tap it into place with a hammer. Stop when the butt is about 1/4 inch shy of being flush. Nail it just below the butt of the shingle above with two nails driven at a 45° angle. To hide the nail heads, put a wood block against the replacement’s butt, and tap it in place.
You can also use a hacksaw blade or a special tool called a shingle ripper to cut off the defective shingle’s nail heads. A shingle ripper is a flat bar with a hook-shaped blade designed to cut nails under shingles. Look for this tool at a wholesale roofing supply yard instead of your local hardware store. Slide the ripper under a shingle, and hook the blade around a nail. Then, with sharp, downward hammer blows against its handle, slice off the nail.

Tools and materials
- hammer
- flat Bar
- chisel
- pliers
- flush-cutting hacksaw
- utility knife (to trim shingles to fit)
- narrow gauge galvanized nails (4-6d)
- replacement shingles

If you have to replace an asphalt shingle please see the tips from How to replace an asphalt shingle.

It’s easy to patch a small hole in a flat roof that’s covered with built-up asphalt or roll roofing. Sweep aside all gravel and dirt. With a straight edge and a utility knife, cut out and remove a rectangular section around the damaged area.
Cut a matching patch of asphalt shingle. Spread plastic roofing cement inside the cutout area. Lap the cement up over the edges. Secure the patch with galvanized roofing nails spaced every two inches.
Cut a second patch that overlaps the first one by two inches. Spread roofing cement three inches beyond the first patch’s perimeter. Nail the second patch in place, and cover it with roofing cement. Spread more cement beyond the patch’s edge. Sweep gravel back in place.
To remove roofing cement from your tools, use a rag soaked with paint thinner or kerosene. To remove it from your hands, you can use salad oil, which works more slowly, but is gentler on your skin.

The sign of a good replacement job is a taut, wrinkle-free screen. Use C-clamps to hold the screen to the frame on one side while you stretch the screen across and attach it to the opposite side.
Install the screen by using a spline roller, which has two wheels: the convex wheel presses the new screen down into a channel in the frame; the concave wheel presses spline into the channel on top of the screen.
Screening comes in fiberglass or several colors of aluminum wire. Aluminum is significantly stronger and usually a more durable product. Fiberglass is much easier to work with, and it won’t corrode. So it may be a good choice in seacoast locations.

Step by step
First, you remove the old spline, which is what holds the screen in place. You might need to use a knife to pry up one end to get started. Take the old screen out and set the new screen over the frame.
Press one side of the new screen into the channel with the smooth wheel of the spline roller. Use short strokes.
Now lay the spline over the channel and press it into place with the tool’s grooved wheel. Use short strokes for this too. Keep the screen tight as you work one whole side, then the opposite side.
When the spline is all in, trim off the excess screen.

Professional tip
If the old spline is in good shape, you can just wash it in warm, soapy water and reuse it. If the old spline is worn out, take it with you to the hardware store so you can match its diameter.

If you have wood frame windows please use the tips from the article How to replace the screen on wood frame windows.

Here’s a trick to help you install screening flat and taut. Begin with a piece of screen that is a few inches longer than the frame. Staple it at one end. Take care to keep the weave even with the frame. Then staple the screen at the long end to a scrap of wood held tight to the frame. Stretch the screen by tilting the scrap against the frame. Staple the taut screen to the end of the frame. Now fasten the screen to the frame sides, and trim the screening to fit. Finally, replace any screen molding.Screening comes in fiberglass or several colors of aluminum wire. Aluminum is significantly stronger and usually a more durable product. Fiberglass is much easier to work with, especially when the screen is pressed into a channel and held in place with a vinyl spline strip (this is typical of metal frames). And fiberglass won’t corrode. So it may be a good choice in seacoast locations.

Tools and materials
- utility knife
- stapler
- screening
- replacement screen molding (as needed)
- scrap wood to stretch screening

If you have metal frame windows please use the tips from the article How to replace the screen on metal frame windows.

Though the parting strip probably wasn’t nailed in place, you may have to cut through numerous layers of paint to free it. Score the paint line with a utility knife or scraper. Now, with the upper sash raised, loosen the bottom of the parting strip. Grasp it with locking pliers and wiggle it back and forth while pulling. Lower the upper sash and repeat the process at the top.

Professional tip
Pad the jaws of the locking pliers with cardboard to protect the parting strip.

Without the old paint to hold it, you may have to nail the parting strip back into place. Use small (4d) galvanized finishing nails. Don’t be surprised if you break the strip despite your best efforts. You can get replacement stock at a good lumberyard.

Sometimes the upper sash has a small felt and metal weather-strip on the face of the top rail. This can make it hard to remove the parting strip. If your window has one of these weather-strips, remove it first or you’ll break the parting strip.