tips Archives - WNY Handyman

Improvement Tips Prior to Renting

The following article seems like such common sense, but I see situations that don’t even come close to any of the suggestions below. Enjoy the article and, if you are renting, please at least clean up before you show the place!

Are you thinking about renting your house and you are disappointed in its appearance? Do you think that you cannot spare the money and time that will be needed to fix things up? Well, regardless of the budget or schedule that you are on, whether you are a landlord or a tenant, you can now improve your rental property with the following tips.

Painting! – Retouching your house

For any property, wonders can be done with a fresh coat of paint and you won’t have to spend much. You will find a decent choice of basic paint colors for the inside and outside of your house in close-out stores at drastically reasonable prices. A simple single coat of paint will ensure that your budget won’t go overboard and you will get the job done. You can also use cheap products such as special rollers to create custom textured finishes to improve the visual appeal of your house.

Kitchen and Bath – A little upgrading

In any house, the kitchen and the bathroom are two of the most important rooms. In terms of improving a house for renting, these two rooms can either make it or break it. You should start by looking for affordably priced self-adhesive flooring options such as plank vinyl flooring or linoleum squares. You should give all the appliances in your kitchen and bathroom a good hard scrub. You can also save money by replacing the hardware on the drawers and doors of the cabinets. You will be amazed at the impact a new drawer or door pull will have expecially if you are placing a piece of hardware that is 20-40 years old.

Landscaping – Planting some new plants

You will have to improve the exterior of your house just like the interior. If your house is really bare on the outside, you can beautify it rather quickly by planting mums if it is early fall or impatiens if it is late spring. If it is winter, lamb’s ear, pansies and stonecrop will all survive the frosty weather, while if its summer, then tall tropical cannas will grow to incredible heights quite quickly. You can also plant day lilies, hostas and tulips if you plan to rent your house after some time. Even consider potted plants to make an instant improvement.

Cleaning! – Keeping your house clean

This one cannot be stressed enough. Clean, people, clean! I can’t tell you how many places I have gone in where there was so much dirt on the ceiling fan blades that it looked like it was covered in felt.

It might not be necessary to paint your house or replace the appliances after all. Maybe all your needs is a good cleaning and this could result in the most cost-effective yet dramatic improvement you could imagine. If you are willing to clean your house from the inside out on your own, then all you will need is a quality cleaning product. If you want to spend some money to improve the rental value of your house, then you can hire a professional house cleaning service too.

Landlords and tenants often overlook the importance of making basic improvements to their house. Then they are surprised when real estate agents are not able to come up with many interested buyers. So don’t make the same mistake, your house could end up getting rented at much higher price than you realize if you make these simple improvements.

Fixing a Stripped Wood Screw

Anyone who has turned a screwdriver has probably experienced a stripped wood screw. There isn’t much to it. In fact, if you are hanging a door, you will marvel at how easy it is to strip the hole. Fiixing that hole is not as difficult as you might think. I have a few quick solutions for you to try.

The most common case of the stripped wood screw comes in the form of door hinges. A door is heavy, is often abused, and the factory screw might only be 5/8″ – 3/4″ long. There isn’t much for the screw to bite into, and in many cases it will be a material such as MDF. It essentially turns to dust once crushed. If you remove the screw and send it back in on a different thread line, you will destroy what little holding power was left.

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Here are the three methods that I use. The method that I use can depend on the material and supplies that I have present. It can also depend on how much time between returning the screw to the stripped hole.

Toothpicks and glue.
This is a method that my father showed me some 30 years ago. Don’t over-think this one. Slip a toothpick or two into the hole and snap them off where they exit the hole. If the hole is all the way through the material, you may want to wedge a couple in there. Adding some wood glue to the hole isn’t necessary, but I know that if I need to pull the screw from that hold in the future, it will hold my repair in place. (Again, don’t over-think it, it could be Elmer’s white glue, construction adhesive, etc). If you don’t have any toothpicks on the job site (who does) simply shave some material from a shim, or any other wood that you have nearby. If you are a golfer, and the hole is large enough, grab a golf tee. It might just be the perfect size to fill. If you do use a tee, you might want to drill a pilot hole so you don’t crack your material.
Sawdust and glue.
This method is more for filling a hold that you wont be using any more. Mix up some glue and sawdust (more saw dust than glue) and pack it in the hole. If you have the same saw dust as the material, you will end up with a close color match. Once packed, dust the surface with a bit more of the sawdust to get the color a bit closer.
Sandpaper.
This is a method that I realized was very effective. During the finishing stages of a recent project I had 3 stripped screws on a door hinge. I didn’t have any wood handy and happened to have a bit of sandpaper. I simply tore the sandpaper and rolled it up so that I could slip it into the hold. It worked perfectly. The grit on the paper was facing out and did a terrific job in biting the wood. The paper on the back worked great to allow the screw to turn in and seat.

There you have it… 3 simple solutions for securing a wood screw in a stripped hole. Seems like such common sense to most of us who do this type of work. It wasn’t until I helped a neighbor with a project that I realized many people have no idea how to correct these issues. In fact, he asked if he needed to replace the door!

Good luck and thanks for reading WNY Handyman.

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