OneMore Conveience for Doors

When I bought my home, I noticed that the front door had aspring hinge installed. I love it – it’s so convenient.What is a spring hinge?It’s a way to let a hinge do the work of closingthe doors.So, when I walk out the frontdoor walking Lil Max, I have my hands full.I have Max’s leash, my iPad to read while we walk and then poop bags becauseMax and I are good neighbors.And then Ihad a piece of furniture delivered and ...BAM ...they broke the hinge.At first, I thought I really did not have tohave a spring hinge, but by the 3^rd time I banged my door into thewall, I was looking down the National Hardware aisle in my store for a newhinge.

When you decide to replace the hinge, take a look at theexisting hinge. Is it a 3.5 or a 4-inch hinge? Does it have round edges, or square? And of course, the finish. That’s all the info you need to know. You want to look for a “spring hinge�. National makes several and the one I put onmy door was N184556. Retails for around$18, and it’s easy to install. I onlyused 1 hinge for my front door. My frontdoor is solid and so it’s real heavy. Iknew if I replaced any hinge but the center, I would have to have help. So, I took a chance and so far, I have beensatisfied. Prop your door open ...andthen start removing the screws to the hinge. I did the door side first. Afterremoving the screws, take a look at the hinge space. Did all the screws seem tight when you were removingthem? If not, go back and read last week’sarticle on securing screws. HA! Mine were all ok. I placed the new hinge in place making surethe adjustment part of the hinge was facing up. All the screws lined up and I didn’t have tore-drill anything.

Close the door. Andyou will be looking at the barrel part of the hinge. The top of it will have an opening that theincluded allen wrench will fit in. Nowthis is really important. This Nationalhinge I am telling you about doesn’t require “pins� placed in it to make itwork. I think those are a pain, and Iwould probably drop them a dozen times before I ever got them in place. So, this hinge will have some tension on itbefore you ever have to adjust it. Infact, I didn’t have to make any adjustment. The hinge closed this door just the way I wanted it too. And when someone comes in my front door, thedoor doesn’t swing too wide and cause damage on the wall.

This is an easy fix and it is such a convenience. I know you can do it. If you have any questions, well just give me acall and I can talk you through it. Alsocheck out our web site at happyhandyman.com.

TIP

Do you need a rubbermallet, but don’t want to invest in one? Take your regular hammer and put a cane rubber tip on the head of thehammer. Now you have a mini rubbermallet!

Now to the email….

Question: I have akitty that has pulled up some of the carpet fibers by the front door. How can I fix the carpet?

Answer: The best thingto do is to install a door threshold that can cover up the bare carpetarea. Good Luck!

Question: I want toclean off the hard water stain from my windows. What can I hook up to my hose that would clean and rinse at the sametime?

Answer: Hard waterstains don’t just rinse off. They haveto be scrubbed off. Use Delete Germ anda Scotchbrite scrubby sponge. Rememberto clean and rinse immediately. Thedirections are on our website ….www.happyhandyman.com. Or just call the store.

Question: There arestains around my toilet in the grout and regular cleaning does not remove them. Grandsons that have missed the mark! HA!

Answer: Zep GroutBrightener will take care of that. Ifyou have colored grout, it won’t discolor your grout.