wikiHow wikiHow Staff: If you can just explain a little bit about your background and what in particular you have the most expertise in and this is just so in the future, we can get questions that are especially going to work for you. Jacob Pischer: As a handyman, I don't want to say I’m an expert in everything because I'm not but I know how to do a little bit of everything. It is the easiest way to really explain it, but I specialize more in outdoor projects, like fencing decks, powerwashing, even. Well rounded, I guess is the best way to put it. wikiHow Staff: Is a Dremil Tool something you've ever used? Jacob Pischer: I use it almost daily. wikiHow Staff: So can you just explain how you change a Dremil bit? Jacob Pischer: Well, there's usually a wrench that comes with it. Jacob Pischer: So you need to get that out. There's a little black bit holder on the top where you get to twist it in order to loosen it up, like a screw gun. However, the difference is that on a Dremel, there's also a button that you push in to stop the bit from just free flowing or free twisting, I guess is the way to put it. You have to make sure to put that in or push that in before you start using the wrench or it's just going to go around and around and around in circles. wikiHow Staff: It can be hard to explain these physical processes that you just do without thinking. Jacob Pischer: Yeah, those ones I actually think literally what do I do? wikiHow Staff: If you are going to be attaching gutters to a shed, how might you go about that? Jacob Pischer: So the first thing you need to make sure to do is take the measurement, the linear feet. Then once you get that, make sure that you have the right amount of gutters, there should be flashing or basically a one by two board, it is usually a one by four, that you attach the gutters to. So the easiest way to do that is to use a couple nails first just to get them in the right position and then you use the gutter screws to actually go through the whole thing depending on which kind of bracket you have. You want to make sure that it's an eighth of a degree slope from the end that doesn't have the downside to the side that does have the downfall. wikiHow Staff: Would you have any tips on how to repair vinyl siding? Jacob Pischer: There's no real easy way to repair vinyl siding. wikiHow Staff: Maybe the better question is replacing some vinyl siding. Jacob Pischer: Yeah, so replacing vinyl siding. Really the only way to do it appropriately, I guess is the way to put it would be to take the sections from the top down, off. That way you can expose the nails that are holding them in and on the bottom of the siding piece is like a tongue and groove type pipe seal. You need to put a little bit of pressure on the bottom of the top part. This is hard to describe, sorry. wikiHow Staff: No worries. Jacob Pischer: So vinyl siding, they come in little sections, like two sections, I guess is the best, best way to put it. So you push down on this on the bottom part in order to release it from the next section of siding. Once you get down to the point where you can remove the damaged part, that's when you take out the nails that are holding in that section, replace it with a new one, and then you have to put everything back in starting with the next one up, you make sure to get the bottom of the top one lined up with the groove of the lower one, it’s a lot easier to describe with pictures. wikiHow Staff: You can go over these again, when we send them to you and if we missed something, you can just let us know. When you're dewinterizing a house, what would be some of the most important things to remember? Jacob Pischer: Dewinterizing? Like in the spring? wikiHow Staff: Yeah, unfortunately I don't actually live in a part of the country where we'd ever have to do that. Jacob Pischer: Dewinterizing, so there's quite a few things that depending on the age of the host, of course, either take off the storm windows, or if you don't have those kinds of windows, you have the new vinyl or just newer age windows. You don't have to worry about that, but then the most important part would be just run water through all of your old sites to get all air pockets, get the faucet rolling again, I guess is the best way to really put it. Flush out all the sediment and whatnot that happens to be in there. That way it doesn't get into your hose and end up potentially damaging your hose nozzle. Otherwise, I actually don't do much as far as winterization goes. I used to live in Wisconsin, and that's a pretty big winter area. wikiHow Staff: Would you have any tips on quick or easy ways that you could level some uneven table legs? Like a table that's wobbling or something like that. Jacob Pischer: So it depends if they are wood legs, if they are then there is either a cloth pad that's usually underneath the legs in order to make sure that you're not scuffing up your floor. So usually one of those will come loose and end up not being on the leg anymore. So then you just replace that with really just a sticky pad. That goes on the leg. If it's a metal leg, that's usually because one of the legs is actually bent and that's a lot more tricky of a situation to deal with. wikiHow Staff: I guess you might have to try to bend the leg back or something like that could take a long time, I guess. Jacob Pischer: Yeah, I mean really the best case scenario on that one is to figure out which leg is actually bent and then you'd have to use a vise in order to bend it back and a couple pieces of wood to make sure that you don't scratch up your metal. If you use just a vise, then it's gonna scratch off the metal but even thin pieces of scrap wood in there just at the point where it's needing a bend, that's better than just using straight up metal against metal. wikiHow Staff: So if you had to cut some plastic lattice, what would you use and how can you do that correctly? Jacob Pischer: When you touch the lattice, you don't want to use anything with a high speed saw bit because it'll end up chipping every single time. So what I personally use, I call it a reciprocating saw but that's more of a sawzall, actually a sawzall would work fine as well, as long as you use a metal bit. So it just needs to have some sort of a really fine tooth, so even a handsaw with just really fine teeth. That'll work better than anything that's designed to cut wood. If it is designed to cut wood, it has way too big of teeth and too big of a grip and it's just gonna rip your plastic to shreds. wikiHow Staff: So could you walk me through how you would go about installing weather stripping on an exterior door. Jacob Pischer: Weather stripping is actually pretty easy. All you have to do is, I like to use a putty knife in order to take off the old weatherstripping and make sure that I get all of the tape and all the little pieces because sometimes they were glued in and obviously that makes it more difficult to take the whole thing off. You want to have a nice clean surface. So either use a putty knife and some glue on or most of the time, just a straight up nice metal putty knife is good enough to take off the old stuff and the new stuff is really super simple, it's just double sided sticky tape on one side and you just put it on the door jams. Now the trick is to make sure that you get the right thickness for your door so I usually recommend for people to buy a couple of different thicknesses and try it out to make sure that the door closes well because if you used too thick, then it won't let the door to close and it'll just bounce back. wikiHow Staff: What would you say are the most important steps to remember when you're replacing a doorbell? Jacob Pischer: So if you're replacing the actual wired in doorbell, the biggest thing is to make sure that the wires are intact. So you have to use either a battery tester or if someone has an old meter, that'll work, in order to make sure that everything is conductive all the way through, because if it's not, then there's a cut in the wire somewhere. Then you're just better off switching over to a wireless doorbell. Then obviously, wireless doorbells are pretty simple. Just make sure to put it within a certain amount of range. Then I always recommend the ones that actually plug in versus the ones that are battery operated. wikiHow Staff: Would you have any tips on how to sand hardwood floors? Jacob Pischer: That's not a really good experience of mine. wikiHow Staff: We can skip them. Jacob Pischer: Yeah, my basic rule of thumb with that one is really hire an actual company that does it. Don't do it yourself because it's never going to turn out right. wikiHow Staff: Is it just really easy to get it uneven or something? Jacob Pischer: Yeah, because if you go to a tool rental place, and you rent a sander and all that stuff, but you use too heavy of a grid, and or don't move the sander often, if you even stop for two seconds because your kid comes running by and you just keep the machine on, you're going to get a divot. The only way to fix that divot is to sand down again. Eventually you're going to run out of floor. wikiHow Staff: It's equally good to get the explanation of why you should maybe avoid doing a DIY on a particular thing. Jacob Pischer: Yeah, that's one of them that I definitely never suggest for someone to do themselves. Just because it's way too easy to screw up and once you screw it up, it's impossible to fix. wikiHow Staff: Would you know any common problems that might come up when you're installing laminate flooring? Jacob Pischer: Just remember that a room is never square, just because a wall looks like it's 45 degree angle and is nice and square or rectangle or nice straight lines, it's never that way because hoses settle, hoses move. So make sure that you are taking constant measurements all the way through the project in order to make sure that you're not cutting too much away when you're up against the wall because that's the hardest part of getting started, getting your floor to line up against cabinets and under your fridge and all that stuff. Jacob Pischer: So make sure to measure a lot. wikiHow Staff: Would you have any tips for someone who's trying to keep their garage cooler during the summer? Jacob Pischer: Insulation for sure. If it already is insulated and already finished, most likely what's going on is your roof doesn't have enough vents in it. So the hot air just can't escape. wikiHow Staff: So you just need some more ventilation. Jacob Pischer: Yeah, if it's a situation where you've already done the insulation on the walls and then the ceiling or the roof. If you've already done those two things, and it's still really warm, then there's probably not enough ventilation built into the roofline. wikiHow Staff: Would you know any common mistakes to avoid when you're adjusting garage door tracks? Jacob Pischer: That's one of those specialty areas. I tend to stay away from anything garage door related other than installing a door opener, and that’s because it has to do with the tension springs. If you mess with those, they're very, very wound, I guess is the best way to put it. If those things snap because you do something wrong, it can kill you, it can hit you in the face and break your skull, and if it doesn't kill you, you will definitely be deformed. So it's one of those things where again I refer people to a specific professional for that just because doing anything as far as those go, is super dangerous. wikiHow Staff: Good to get that advice too. How would you go about insulating a garage door? Is that something that people should be insulating? Jacob Pischer: The door itself? So they actually make these foam pads that you can buy for the door itself and they just simply slide them like tongue and groove style. Most garage doors themselves actually come insulated. wikiHow Staff: Do you have any mistakes people might make when they're running cables or wires underneath the carpet? Jacob Pischer: No, I wouldn't do it just because you're going to step on it, then it's going to hurt. My basic rule of thumb is if you're going to do something like that, put it, put it as close to the walls as possible so that it's not in a walk pass. Either that or simply run it underneath, if you have an exposed basement, or even a crawlspace, just run the wires underneath the house. It's way better than going under the carpet. You're not only going to save your carpet pad, you're also going to save the carpet itself. Like I said, walking on those cables and whatnot, is rather painful. wikiHow Staff: Do you have any common reasons that garbage disposals will jam up? Do you know of any easy fixes if someone's got a jammed garbage disposal? Jacob Pischer: Yeah, so garbage disposals usually end up getting jammed up because someone put orange peels, apple peels, sometimes chicken bones, something that basically gets between the teeth of the disposal and the sidewall. Then the motor just can't turn because it's like a screw gun, if it has too much torque, it won't actually do anything. So you have to break that loose. With every disposal, there's a wrench that comes with it. It's basically like a hexagon screw or hexagon wrench and you put that in the very bottom of the disposal, right in the center, and turn that both clockwise and counterclockwise to break up and loosen whatever happens to be in there and jamming it up and then make sure to push the little red button that's on the bottom of the unit and that's a reset button. Generally speaking, that's the best way to de-jam it. If it still doesn't work after that, then that's actually the motor has just gone bad and you need to replace it. Page