Posts

How to touchup and refresh wood stain

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If your  trim, moldings, cabinets, doors, furniture, hardwood floors, or other stained wood is showing signs of wear and scratches, it's easy to refresh the finish and get it looking like new. Stain and a rag is the best method to touch up wood stain. In fact, it works better than the stain markers, touchup pens, or filler crayons and pencils are sold for touch ups. Here's how you can do it: This method works with Varathane and Minwax stains. I am using Dark Walnut in this video, but it works with any color of stain. If the flaws you are covering are small, you don't even need to match the color perfectly, just get as close as you can with available stain choices. For larger areas, you will want to try for the perfect match. A little can of stain goes a long way, so a half pint of stain should be enough for most jobs. Here are the items you will want to have for this project: #touchup #touch-up #stain #DIY

How to clean your coffeemaker without harsh chemicals

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 There are three reasons why you should clean your coffeemaker regularly: Mold, bacteria, and yeast can grow inside (Yuck!) Mineral buildup makes it less efficient which means it takes longer to brew your coffee Coffee residue makes your coffee more bitter Luckily, its easy to clean your coffeemaker using distilled white vinegar.  While there are harsh chemical products that you can purchase to clean your coffeemaker, I recommend using vinegar instead.  Do you really want to put those cleaning products into your coffeemaker and then drink coffee out of it? Here is a short video that shows you how I clean our coffee maker: You should clean your coffeemaker every couple of months.  If you are curious, this is the Mr. Coffee coffeemaker we use.   It works great, we especially like the removable reservoir which makes adding water easier and the vacuum insulated carafe which won't break like glass and keeps the coffee hot for two hours without scorch...

Toilet Fill Valve Replacement

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Are you wondering: Why is my toilet making noise? Why does my toilet keep running? Why is my toilet whistling? It's probably a bad fill valve. In this video, I'll show you how to replace a toilet fill valve. This easy fix can be accomplished by a plumbing beginner without any tools.  The only thing you will need is a bucket to catch water out of the toilet tank (don't worry, this is clean water, not raw sewage).  Here is the video: This is a link to the exact Fluidmaster 400H fill valve that I use which will work on almost all brands of toilets: Thanks for checking out my video!

Snowblower Track Drive Sprocket Replacement

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The drive sprocket on my MTD 10/26 track-drive snowblower broke while I was using it.  Replacing the track drive sprocket is actually quite easy.  The trick is to also loosen the idler sprocket, install the track, and then slide both sprockets back on at the same time.  I’ll show you how to replace the drive sprocket in this video: Here is a link to the exact drive sprocket I used for this repair, available for purchase on Amazon: As MTD also makes MTD makes Craftsman, Cub Cadet, and Troy-Bilt snowblowers, the same  process will work for those snowblowers. It will likely even be the same part if your snow thrower is around the same age (built in the mid-1990s).  MTD 10-26 Snowblower model number 316E760F118. By the way, if you have a steep driveway, a tracked snowblower is a must.  I have tried both wheeled and tracked snowblowers on my steep driveway slope, and there is no comparison on the amount of traction from a set of crawlers.  Even with ...

Snowblower Shear Bolt Replacement (Bonus: A different kind of snowblower!)

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The auger on this snowblower stopped spinning.  While this problem could be due to a bad gear box, it's most likely just a broken shear bolt.  Believe it or not, a broken shear bolt on a snowblower auger is actually a good thing!  These bolts are designed to break when you hit something hard, that way you don't break something much more expensive and difficult to replace like the gear box.  They are intentionally designed to be the weakest point.  Here is a video showing you how to diagnose a broken shearbolt and then quickly replace them with a hammer, a punch (a screwdriver will do in a pinch), and the appropriate size of wrench. If you use a snowblower, eventually you will break an auger shear bolt (also called shear pins).  Its not a matter of if, but when.  Make sure you have spares on hand.  Don't be tempted to use a normal bolt, it is to strong and you may break something more expensive next time!  Here are the shearpins and the punch ...

Screw Shoes - Make your shoes grip in the ice and snow

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I prefer to run outside instead of a treadmill, regardless of the weather.  I live in Pennsylvania which means I deal with ice and packed snow during the winters.  When the roads and trails are icy or packed snow, I put on a pair of screw shoes.  They are great for both road running and trail running.  Sure, there are lots of expensive winter traction aids available for purchase, but you don't need to buy YakTrax, MicroSpikes, or other expensive options when you can buy enough screws to outfit a couple pairs of shoes for much less.  This trick also works for hiking boots, snow boots, or any other shoe that you want to grip better in the ice and snow.  Those boots you use for clearing the driveway? Yep, those too. If you are a runner, grab one of your old pairs of road shoes that you surely have sitting around, and try this hack for yourself.  You can turn a pair of smooth soled road shoes into trail beasts! Not a runner, grab the shoes or boots that yo...

Pure Enrichment Air Purifier Filter Replacement and Quieting a Noisy Fan

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We've owned a Pure Enrichment Air Filter for 4 years and it works great.  When we bought it, it was nearly silent, but lately the fan has gotten louder.  This noise was caused by fan motor bearings that needed to be lubricated.  In this video, I'll show you how to access and lubricate the fan motor bearings: I used this oil from 3-in-one to lubricate the bearings to make them quiet again:  You also need to change the filters from time to time.  There are actually both a pre-filter and a HEPA filter.  The prefilter should be changed monthly and the HEPA filter should be changed every three to six months.  The filter package I purchase comes with two HEPA filters and eight prefilters, enough to last nearly a year of continuous use. If you'ld like to know how to replace the air filter, check out this video: Here are the airfilters that I use in my air purifier:  If you'ld like to check out the Pure Enrichment Air Purifier itself, here's a...