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Recently a reader sent me an e-mail regarding a fireplace heater that she had just purchased.  She went on to tell me that even though it was an older model it seemed to work fine except that after it had been on for about 10 minutes, it’s two pronged plug was becoming extremely hot - too hot to touch. 

She then went on to tell me that she did not have it plugged directly into the wall it was plugged into the wall via an extension cord.  Upon noticing that the plug and wire were becoming so hot she changed the extension cord to a very heavy-duty one.  To complicate matters she went on to tell me that it was actually a surge protector that also was connected to a TV, a cable box and stereo equipment. She also went on to tell me that she lived in an older home and was quite concerned about fire.

The first thing I made sure to do was let this reader know that she was dealing with electricity and exactly how dangerous electricity can be.  Although for this reader I was rather confident that she was aware of the danger, she would not have written to me if she didn’t realize that she was dealing with a dangerous situation. 

However, the point that I do want to stress here and the reason that you will not see very many posts dealing with electricity on this blog is because electricity is extremely dangerous.  Although any DIY job can be hazardous, none are as great as the risk of fire from electricity.

After making sure that she realized how careful she had to be with electricity I went on to explain that it did not matter how many devices she had plugged into the surge protector, what mattered was how much electricity each one of them drew.  While it would not have mattered had she had several small items plugged in, the large devices were overloading it.  They were probably overloading the old wiring in her home as well.

Although each electrical line within your home is connected to either a circuit breaker or a fuse as a safety precaution, you do not want to get the line so hot that you trip the circuit breaker or blow the fuse and shut the line.  So to determine how much electricity an item such as a surge protector can handle you need to check the label on each device to see the maximum amount of watts or amps that it draws.  You then need to add up the amount from all the devices on the same circuit to determine if you are putting too much of a load on that particular circuit.

Although the use of the surge protector would have allowed this reader to keep the fireplace heater where she really wanted it to be located in the room, once I explained this to her she moved it to another area and plugged it directly into the wall.  The reader has also informed me that there are no other high draw devices on the line.  Considering that the weather is getting colder in many areas, I’ll bet that fireplace heater is coming in really useful.

If you have a question such as the one that you just read, you can submit it to onlinehandyman@gmail.com.   If we decide to use it within a post on this blog, with your permission of course we will send you a $25 to Amazon.com 

We at youronlinehandyman.com just want to take a moment to wish all of our readers a “Happy and Safe Thanksgiving” 

Believe it or not, it’s that time of year when all the ghouls and goblins come out of the woodwork for just one night to try and scare us again.  Yes, tomorrow is Halloween.  I remember Halloween last year when along with my girlfriend Nancy we took her ten year also son up and down the block with a bunch of the other neighborhood kids and their parents.  It was fun, it was dark, the air had a chill in it and the neighborhood had that Halloween feel.  But, not only were the kids dressed up in every way possible, many of the houses on the block were dressed up in Halloween décor making them look really cool and spooky.

If you still have not gotten your Halloween decorations up, do not worry, there is still time.  Here are a couple of Halloween decoration ideas that will not cost very much and get you in the Halloween spirit. (more…)

As you know I’m Your Online Handyman, dedicated to education in the area of home improvement, however this post is going to be somewhat different.  A gentlemen whose work that I follow, sent an email out today asking to please forward this letter to everyone that I possibly can.  It’s a subject that is extremely important so please read it through and then click on the link at the end.  Thanks Scott

Hi,

My good friend, Ken McArthur is standing in a circus tent today
asking 2,000 people to spread a message of hope to teenagers who
don’t think that life is worth living.

I think it’s a great message of hope for anyone and would love to
see all of my readers think about spreading it today.

Here’s Ken’s simple message for for giving hope (and maybe saving
someone’s life!):

G - Greet and meet: talk to others, smile, say hello, ask
someone how they are doing

I - Involve yourself and others: find a cause you can support,
volunteer, pledge resources. Get the people around you
involved, especially if you see someone beginning to
withdraw. Invite them to participate in some activity, to
“get out” of their comfort zone

V - Validate others: tell others that they matter - especially
family members and friends that you tend to see daily but
may take for granted, give genuine complements

E - Empathize: be a listening ear, take time to be fully
present, don’t try to solve - just acknowledge someone’s
feeling/hurt

You can find out more about Ken’s wonderful project with his
Impact Action Team at:

http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=6CUk3&m=1cD3X5uEn.hr_r&b=RporB3_5ICVEsm.UKJDLmw

Spread this message today!

And if you send it on let me know how many you sent it to!

All the best,

Scott

In Gaston Indiana a handyman was arrested for offering to clean a senior citizens gutters and then asking for $200 to repair the nonexistent damage that he had found.  The handyman gave investigators a false name and a phony Social Security number.  He also had no type of license needed to do the work.

In Ohio a Grand jury just indicted a man on 9 counts of defrauding elderly and disabled victims.  He would go down the street ringing doorbells telling homeowners that there was something wrong with their homes.  Usually it was something like a bad roofing shingle or a nail in the roof.  He would then take their money and begin to do the work and then never finished it.

Unfortunately, we are beginning to hear this same story again and again.  We are hearing about how unsuspecting homeowners have gotten ripped off by unscrupulous contractors.  Yet, as much as we may want to do what needs to be done around our homes ourselves, assuming that we have the ability, sometimes we are just going to have to hire someone to do it for us.

So how do we know who to trust? (more…)

When it comes to home improvements there is a fine line between “do it yourself” and in “over your head.”  It seems more and more people every day are taking on jobs that they would have considered beyond their abilities not that long ago.
 
This can be attributed to a couple of things. First, with all of the do it yourself popularity on television nowadays people are seeing regular folks like themselves making big bucks remodeling their homes for big profit.  Second, with the home market being what it is, less people are moving and more are fixing up their homes, but with the economy being the way it is, holding back on hiring a contractor.
 
Blogs like this encourage this whole concept of do-it-yourself, but for different reasons.  We all know how difficult it is to hire service people.  Finding good service people is not an easy task.  And if you do find someone good there is often a long wait before they can get to your job.  This type of service person is also able to charge what they are worth and command high prices.  They know that they are good and that people are willing to pay for their service.
       
These are the reasons that I encourage people to move out of their comfort zone and try some things themselves.  There are many jobs around your home that you can get done yourself.  What I don’t encourage is taking on a job that is way over your head and will get you in trouble like you see on television.

Obviously if you have never done any kind of work around your home before I do not recommend that you replace your roofing shingles.  And replacing plumbing fixtures would even be kind of a stretch, at least for right now.  You may also want to leave your carpentry and sheet rocking for someone else with more experience.

However, if you have become tired of sloppy painters, landscapers that trample your flowers, cleaning people that don’t clean or anyone else that comes in your home to do a job that you can to yourself, I am all for you giving it your best shot.  That is what Your Online Handyman is about and why I began this blog.  To help you, the do-it-yourselfer get it done.

If you are interested in doing jobs around your home begin with things that are at your ability level.  For a beginner this may mean such things as caulking a shower, fixing a screen or painting.  For someone with a little more experience this could mean replacing broken sheet rock or tiles, replacing an interior door or installing an irrigation system.

TV personality Mike Holmes of Holmes on Homes said recently “we fix crap after crap because of house flippers that don’t know how to do it right.”  Holmes blames popular television house flipping shows for causing homeowners to think the work is easier than it really is.
 
I completely agree with Mike Holmes, someone who has never done home improvements before should not be completely restoring their house.  You need to learn basics and take one step at a time.

When it comes to home improvements you should not take on more than you are capable of doing.  Do not take on something that is advanced if it’s the first time that you are doing a project.  However, if you are interested in doing it yourself, don’t let your fears hold you back.  Move out of your comfort zone and begin with something simple.  Your Online Handyman is here to help.

If you have ever hired a handyman to work around your home you probably have learned how difficult as well as how expensive it can be.  Competent help at an affordable price is not easy to find.  In fact, a good handyman will run you anywhere from us $50 to $90 an hour.  And, don’t expect them to rush right over.  It’s not easy to get an appointment.  Any qualified handyman is usually in high demand.  If they are not in high demand, there is usually a reason.   It’s these two reasons why many homeowners put off getting work done around their home. 

But, there is a way around this problem.  More and more people are doing the work themselves. It’s amazing how many jobs in your home you can do yourself.  Too many people think that when it comes to home remodeling and repair they need to call a professional.  What they don’t realize is that with the right knowledge and the right attitude they can get the job done themselves.  The important thing is to have the confidence to try. 
 
Projects such as caulking a shower or tub, hanging a shelf or a curtain rod, minor tile and plumbing repairs and painting are examples of work that you can get done yourself.  Think about it, by doing the job yourself you no longer will have to plead to get an appointment or pay for the high cost of labor.  And along with the cost and convenience factor you’ll get the satisfaction of doing the job yourself. 

Few things can match the feel of being able to say “I did that”.  Your friends will look at the job in disbelief.

To get the job done you are going to need several things. 
1.  Knowledge - To get any job done you’re going to need the know-how.  Knowledge is not hard to find, it’s finding good information which is explained clearly that can be a challenge.  I would suggest that you first look online.  The Internet has enormous resources where you can learn about almost any topic.

Keep in mind that you can always turn to Your Online Handyman for help.  Be it a simple question or a detailed explanation, we have the answers that you need.  Or even if you don’t have a question and just want to share a story about a project that you did yourself we would love to hear that also!

2. Desire - To do anything you need to want to do it.  Being motivated to get the job done comes from different reasons for different people.  Some people become motivated to save money.  Others just don’t want to have to rely on somebody else.  And others simply want the satisfaction of getting it done themselves.

3. Attitude - Look at the job positively, even if you have never done anything like it before, think to yourself that you can do it.  Seeing yourself doing it will keep you upbeat even if you begin to have problems.  Sometimes by just having a desire to get something done you will get the necessary attitude, but not always.

4. The Right Tools - Usually this will consists of just some small hand tools.  Don’t worry about the cost, the tools will more than pay for themselves with the money you save especially if you plan on doing other jobs in the future.

In conclusion there is nothing like doing the work yourself especially when you consider the cost and convenience.  The problem is too many people think that doing home repairs is beyond their capabilities where in most instances it’s not.

So let’s get busy!