Homeowner Forum / Repair / July 2008

Have five year old Mansfield toilet.  The trip level needed excessive force
to flush.  I traced it to a gummy, sticky flush valve seal.  Went to HD and
bought flush valve seal which fits the Mansfield 210 water saver mechanism.
Installed and the flush is good but have serious ...

I'm building a little pond [8x12 or so] & have been toying with the
idea of making a geyser adjacent to it.     It doesn't have to be huge
and dramatic- a 1 foot spurt/gurgle every minute or two would make me
happy.

Is there a rule about tank valves for gas (not gasoline) about which
way to turn to open and close?
The valve in question was a cheap valve for auto AC freon.  (Although
later I saw on tv a more expensive valve for a Hydrogen tank.)

Who makes a good exterior entry door?  Which are to be avoided?

One of my miscreant kids sprayed some green Silly String (plasticized
"string" that comes from an aerosal can and hardens - REALLY hardens -
if Dad is irresponsible and lets it just sit there for days or
months...) on our white vinyl siding and I'm finding it tough to

Gas lawn mowers cause mental illness.
Everytime I have to clean out something from under my mower deck, or
something gets stuck and I have to go near the blade, I know it's
important to remove the spark plug wire for safety.  

Should I mount the sprinkler pump relay in the basement near the fuse panel.
That also happens to be relatively close to the control unit.  Or should I
mount it outside near the pump itself.
Seems like having it inside is better since I have that option.  Just

We just finished up putting tongue & groove pine boards in the ceiling
of our porch.  The porch area is about 25-feet wide so we trimmed down
14-foot and 12-foot boards so there is a single alternating joint in
each row.  Looks good and we needed to stain it so we sampled more

The drawer slides on an old dresser are wood, somewhat like tongue and
groove except on a much larger scale. A couple of the drawers started
getting hard to slide open, so I applied some Dial bath soap to the
grooves.  That helped a little, but still not as free as I would like.

I have a Delta 1400 Series shower that has progressed from a
minor leak to a steady flow of water last night.
Unfortunately for me, I was not present when it was installed
during my remodel (I was pleasantly distracted installing bats

Okay, I want more water pressure.  I bought two separate under-the-
sink water filters.  Not a dual unit, but two self contained water
filter units.  Now I want to hook them up so that water flows
separately through each, then joins back together again before exiting

I got a Coastal Farm Supply coupon book this weekend.  They are running
an August only special on wood pellets, $214.50 a ton for Bear Mountain
or $219.50 a ton for Golden Fire.  Wow.  Just a year ago, pellets were
$149 a ton.  Then a shortage developed last winter.  The price ...

I have a Craftsman convertible weed eater, 25cc (I think) and when I pull
the trigger to get a fast speed it just dies out. Sounds like it's out of
gas. If I "pump" the trigger sometimes it will run fast. Do these things
have a governor on them? It's a two cycle engine. Any ...

I've been able to fix three lawn mowers so far this summer, but I
really don't know anything about them. All the fixes I did were obvious
and easy. I didn't have to know what the parts that needed to be
replaced were called.

I just bought a new hollow core door and it is slightly too wide and
too tall for the opening (an eighth inch or less).  What is the best
way for me to trim it enough so that it will fit plus enough for a
coat of primer and paint?  Thank you in advance for all replies.