Home Renovation Tips Made Simple
When renovating your home as an amateur you will undoubtedly experience some trials and tribulations. There is a learning process that comes with any new task and only experience and a great deal of reading will help you to achieve your home renovation goals.
Let’s start by looking at one area of repair that many old homes might need some help with: Plumbing. If you need to remove old, leaking pipes, you will hopefully find that the job is not as difficult as you think. The first thing to do is buy a pipe cutter at your local hardware store. A pipe cutter basically fits around a portion of the pipe while the blade is clamped down by hand. Once the blade has reached a point where it is penetrating the pipe, but not so much so that it cannot be moved, you can begin to twist the pipe cutter. As you make each pass you will increase the pressure of the blade until the pipe is cut.
Next you will apply new pipe and a joint. To get the new pipe to stay in place, and to remain leak free, you will need to solder the pipe into place. You will need to start by using plumbing stand paper to clean the ends of the new pipe as well as the fittings of the joint. Once these are clean you can apply flux to the pipe and to the joint. Fit the pipe into place and get out your solder. Once the pipe is put into place you will take your torch and heat the portion of the pipe that is to be soldered. Now you will simply touch the joint to be soldered with the solder while keeping the flame on the joint. Once the solder fills in all of the gaps you can remove the flame and the solder and throw a wet rag over the joint.
On the outside of your home you might need to repair old fencing. Wood fencing is prone to rot so the best way to fix the problem is likely to replace it with aluminum or vinyl fencing. These kinds of fencing are more durable and require much lower maintenance than traditional wood fencing. If you don’t have a fence and are looking to have one, I highly suggest going with vinyl and aluminum because this is one area where a little prevention can save you many headaches down the line.