Today’s tip is one that could save you tens of thousands of dollars, and many people are not aware of this potential hazard. It involves your washing machine. Many people have the washing machine hooked to the water line by rubber hoses. This puts full line pressure of about 75 psi on each of the hoses, both cold water and hot water. The hoses get brittle over time and have a life of about seven years. When they fail it is like turning on a garden hose full blast in your laundry room. For this reason, you should turn off the water to your washing machine after every use.
The cheapest insurance you will ever buy is to get rid of your rubber washing machine hoses and replace them with braided stainless steel hoses. These hoses are available at any hardware or home center and cost about $10 to $15 each. One end of the hose attaches to the back of the washing machine and the other end attaches to the spigot on the wall just like a garden hose.
Front door weather strip repair tips
Question: We have had several requests on how to fix torn weather stripping under the front door.
Answer: These are tough questions to answer because there were at least four different configurations of weather stripping used in Sun City, and we are never given sketches of which one the reader has. The earliest Del Webb houses have a weather strip consisting of four rubber sweeps equally spaced under the bottom edge of the door, and running the full width of the door. There is a fifth sweep that hangs down over the gap on the outside of the door. It is this fifth sweep that tears and hangs loose on the threshold under the door. When this occurs, it looks like time to replace the whole weather strip, but this may not be necessary. Open the door about six inches and look under the edge of the door. Observe that all four of the sweeps contact the aluminum threshold and form a good seal to keep cold outside air from entering the home. Note also that the outer sweep, the torn sweep, only keeps the outside air off the first of the four sweeps under the door, but these are backed up by three additional sweeps. It therefore will not affect the effectiveness of the weather strip if you trim the torn portion of this outer strip with a pair of scissors. Mine has been trimmed for three years now and I have checked in the winter when the wind was blowing hard and could not detect even the hint of a breeze coming under the door.
If you want to completely replace the weather stripping, you must remove the door. This is a two-person job as the door is very heavy. First, put the door on a pair of sawhorses so you can work on the bottom edge. Next, remove the screws holding the weather strip to the bottom of the door. Then, take the weather strip to a hardware or big box store and purchase a new piece. If the screws are rusty or bent buy new ones while you are getting the weather strip. Attach the weather strip to the door and with a helper set the door back on the hinges.
If you have suggestions for future tips or have questions about maintenance around your home submit them to ask.the.woodchucks@gmail.com.
