Ceramic Tile Repair: Remove a Broken Tile Oddly enough, even a single ceramic tile on your kitchen
or bathroom wall breaks you’ll suddenly feel like you’re
living in a transient hotel. Luckily you can replace it
using a few simple steps:
Use a grout saw to remove the grout around it.
Score the tiile using a glasscutter to cut lines from
corner to corner in an X shape.
Wearing goggles, tap the center point with a
chisel and hammer. It should break neatly into four pieces
.
Clean the area of remnant grout and tiles, smear adhesive on the replacement tile, center it in the hole and it in place with masking tape.
Weatherproofing Windows If you live in a drafty house and want to reduce your
heating costs, consider insulating with clear plastic
window covers. They’re easy to install either outside or
inside the windows. For outside seals, you simply nail
the cover over the window to create dead air insulating
space. For indoor weatherproofing, just tape down the
edges and blow a hair dryer over the plastic to shrink
and seal it over the window.
One thing to keep in mind though, this is a one shot solution. If you loosen the tape, you will have to start
all over. So only do this on windows you’ll never want to open all winter long.
No Windows of Opportunity Don’t give burglars the chance to use the easiest of access point in your home-windows. Here are two quick
and inexpensive ways to secure your double-hung windows.
Use a lag-screw that includes a special key that
can sink or retrieve the screw. To install this
system, just drill a hole in the upper corner of the
lower window frame and align it with the holes in
the top sash. Drill holes for a closed position and
for a partially opened one. Then insert the screw in
the holes so the window can’t move.
Screw in a piece of wood vertically along the
upper sash of your window so that it blocks the
bottom window from being opened too much. And don’t
forget sliding glass doors. Simply place a long pole
or broom handle along the track so that it can’t
slide open.
Draft Dodging As you gear up for winter, don’t forget to check out the
air tightness of your windows and doors. A quick and easy
way is to hold a lighted match to their edges on a
blustery day. If it blows out and the smoke flutters,
it’s time to stock up on new weather stripping. And get
to it fast. Once it gets cold, the temperature makes the
weather stripping adhesive far less sticky.
