Brick, mortar, concrete blocks, rock, and stucco are all masonry repairs we may have to make around our house sooner or later. Mailboxes, walls, landscaping, even patios or flower beds.  Most repairs are not difficult if you would like me to look at a masonry repair for you contact us.
 

 
 
Hello loyal readers.

Recently I received a call about a brick arch over a window that was falling. Brick arches can be very difficult to build, and even more difficult to repair.   Marcus and I went to take a look at the problem. I came to the conclusion that the house had settled a little here and there but nothing too unusual. After looking closely to the bricks that had and were falling I noticed a key component to any brick veneer wall was missing.

Brick Ties!!

Not too much detail but here’s the basics. When masons are installing the brick on a house they attach a brick tie to the wall of the house. The ties are incorporated in the gap between the bricks. The mortar sets up around the ties and bricks and the brick wall stays attached to the framing of your house and lasts forever.                 Marcus and I built a flexible and sturdy frame to support the bricks as I placed them back in the arch. A sturdy frame that is the right radius and width is very important to a good job.  

Then I installed about eight brick ties to secure the bricks. I understand why someone else might have overlooked the ties; it was very cramped and difficult to attach them. It was worth it to have the ties secured to the framing. We were be able to make a repair that will last forever.

If you have a masonry repairs at your home, contact us for a free estimate.

Thank you,   John

I did some minor repairs this past week to a house that is going on the market soon. Drywall or sheet rock can turn into a mess when it gets wet. A little drywall repair with taping skim coats of spackling and some sanding can go along way. Painting small rooms and small area painting is perfect for handyman services. Painting the inside, interior of your home can really increase the value of your home.

This spot on the ceiling was about 48 inches square. Some time ago the homeowner replaced the roof and while doing so the drywall sheet rock got wet.

There was quite a water mess in the closet also. We taped and mudded the crack. This closet had texture on the walls. After the repair was finished I applied texture to the entire wall. The sheet rock drywall texture repair looked great.

Timothy and I were working hard to complete this work. We were a little behind last week. That’s the reason I didn’t get very many pictures.

This storm door patio screen door was installed and no hardware was put on. Installing patio storm door hardware can be difficult. It involves drilling through the door in several spots. I drilled the door and installed the knob and latch.

 As usual the hydraulic door closer had been pulled loose from the wall. I used a couple 3 “ deck screws to reattach it. It will not be pulled out of the wall again.

This cedar French door received some damage from a dog that wanted to come in. Timothy and I were able to remove and replace several of the damaged boards. However the damage to the frame and door couldn’t be replaced.

We were able to use filler on the door; the owner was going to paint the doors. After several coats of filler with significant sanding in between no one will ever know there was any damage on the door.

If you need help with your painting drywall and home repairs in Edmond Oklahoma or Oklahoma City Call for a Free Estimate.

Privacy Fence Repairs Are Being Completed Almost Every Day By John Young Handyman Service at 405-249 1147 in Edmond Oklahoma.

I got a call from a homeowner that has a gate on the side of their house. This gate was a double gate that opened up about fourteen feet.

This is the gate before I started the repairs. Sagging and sitting on the ground

I felt kind of sorry for these folks, they had several guys out to work on this gate and they still were having problems.

I see it very often the gate sags and it drags the ground. In this case somebody installed a wheel so the gate had something to ride on instead of drag on the ground.

One guy was supposed to stain the gate, all he did was leave a sprayer full of stain by the gate and he was never seen again.

Some Guy installed a plastic wheel to stop the gate from dragging the ground

When it comes to privacy fence gates it seems to me that everybody sees this as a place in your home repair matters that you can cut corners and save a few bucks.

Most gate hinges are attached with shortlag bolts, I nearly always replace them with bolts that go all the way through, hold well and never come loose.

I don’t recommend you save a few bucks when it comes to your gates. You have to pass through them regularly and what a pain when they don’t work right. I always seem to have my hands full pf yard tools, tree branches or empty pizza boxes when my gate is acting up.

My customer was not ready to replace this set of gates with new, so we did the best repair we could with the budget we were given.

This is the new cross brace. it is a full legnth board that runs from one corner to the other. This board will provide strong support for a long time. The board is secured with glue and screws.

Most fence gates are constructed with nails. Nails allow the gates and panels to sag and come apart. I placed screws in every other picket and the gate was very strong.

My customer was very very happy with this repair. I guarantee this gate will swing open and latch for along time to come

If you need help with fence gates, privacy fences, security fences, gate latches, fence hinges and other handyman services click to contact me!

John Young, Edmond Oklahoma City Area Handyman Service Offers Stucco and Other Mortar Repairs 405-249-1147.

Scaffolding is a great way to paint and seal stucco on second floor and higher walls. In the case if one of our recent projects, we had to scrape and grinding some old stucco that failed.

After removing the old top coat and base coats of the stucco we primed and prepared the walls for a new coat of stucco before priming the surfaces and painting.

The wall we were working on was on The North side of the house and water behind the wall has been an ongoing problem.

The area of this house we had to work on was the outside of the second floor. The attic space was particularly tall. This made for a very high gable end. I didn’t measure it, however Marshall and I tried not to make too many trips up and down each day.

Because the danger of water getting behind the surface and damaging the integrity of the finish coat, we worked very hard not to allow any breaks in the stucco. Originally a cable was attached to the side of the house with nails and staples.

At the top of the wall where the cable passed through the wall, a squirrel and a woodpecker both tried to dig into the house. In hopes of keeping all three pests (squirrels, woodpeckers and water) I tried a new approach to securing the cable to the wall.

I used a two part epoxy putty I first used while repairing an underwater leak in the light housing of an underground pool. This stuff sets up like cement, even under water.

Stucco repairs can be kind of tricky, so if your job is a little too much for you, contact us for an estimate and references.

John Young

 
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You Say you have a set of in swing french doors and you want them to swing out?

“Ok, I’m still here please continue I said”. I see, the doors were measured wrong and then installed incorrectly, so you decided to have someone reinstall them so they would swing out instead of swing in. And then you’d like the doors to open alllll the way back so they won’t simply stick out into the middle of the patio they lead out on to. That would be unusual to have all of your quests join you on that patio yet about half of them would still have to look at you through one of the french doors or another.

So how did I end up on the other end of this conversation?

A great guy called me the other day with this dilemma. It turns out that he measured the opening of his old patio door and ordered a new set of french doors to fit the opening he measured.

From this point several things got his project off track:

• the new door didn’t fit the old hole
• he ordered in swing doors and wanted them to swing out
• the first installation ended up with a cracked door frame. Did I mention the door didn’t fit the hole?
• the frame was incorrectly constructed in the factory
• there was nothing to shed rain water away from the top of the door
• the threshold sloped the wrong way away from the house and water would run under the door

Enough already. After I explained all the reasons you can’t and shouldn’t do this the customer begged and I agreed.

The first thing we had to do was to remove the door from the side of the house and begin to make the hole in the house fit the size of the door.

While we had the door out, we noticed the frame was put together incorrectly. Irvin mad e a few cuts and with some glue and screws the door was better than new.

The frame of the door was split from the top almost all the way down to the middle hinge. I placed a piece of angle iron and plate behind the door and bolted the frame to it. I drilled the top hinge screw holes all the way through and replaced the hinge screws with some brass bolts. I don’t think anyone will  be able to tell.

The doors need some protection from rain. The homeowner gave us an idea of what he liked for a small water she. Irvin and I put this up and finished the trim.

The homeowner wanted to contribute some sweat equity by doing some minor finish trim and painting.

Thank you for reading, call me if you need a qualified Professional Handyman

or click here to contact me

405- 249- 1147

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I received a call from a customer that needed two new exterior light fixtures installed and two matching doggy doors installed. I get calls in Edmond for these services regularly.

The light fixtures were a very typical ans simple repair. Time and the weather take their toll on all our outdoor accessories. In this case the fixtures had served their purpose. The homeowner found a couple light on sale and I put them up without any problems.

Two doggie doors, from the house to the garage and from the garage to the back yard.  The homeowner seemed glad to have a little better control of the dogs and the dogs seemed very excited about the new options in their world.

This was a typical dog door installation. Both doors were solid. I was able to remove the doors, mark the opening for the dog-door on the regular door and cut them out. One of the doors had a loose and worn handle, we were able to tighten it and it was much better. It looked as thought the dogs had been scratching for a little while. I guess they got their way. Now they have a new dog door. Hopefully the scratching will stop now.

Need help with your doors? People type or pet type, give me a call, I’ll be glad to help.

more soon,

John

WOW what a storm.

The snow was bad enough and then minus negative something temperatures. 301 6195

Many of my customers are having or going to have frozen water line leaks. I know my Edmond Handyman phone will be ringing many times and I’ll hear, “can you find where my pipes are broken and fix them”?

You better call early, I know Franklin and I are going to be overwhelmed with calls soon.

So who better to advise us on how to find a frozen pipe and then thaw on than the folks at the University of Michigan. So here is what our neighbors from the land of lakes say. And of course, thank you to them for sharing.

How do you know your pipe is frozen? After a bitterly cold night, you turn on your tap and instead of a steady gush of water you get a sickly trickle followed by…nothing. Since water expands when it freezes — and pipes don’t — a frozen pipe is in danger of bursting. It needs to be thawed.

First you need to find out where the pipe is frozen. Turn off the main water supply. This will prevent the water from gushing out once the pipe is thawed. Then open the taps in the house.

• If water isn’t running anywhere in the house, a pipe near the water meter may be frozen. Touch the meter and the adjacent exposed pipes. If they are very cold, they are probably frozen.
• If water runs in only one part of the house, a pipe in an outside wall or un-insulated crawl space is probably frozen. Open kitchen and bathroom sink cabinets to allow warm air from the house to warm the pipes.
• Once you’ve found the frozen pipe, open the affected faucet all the way, and open other hot water faucets in the house. When the water is flowing in the affected pipe, close all the faucets to a trickle. Do not close the affected faucet until the pipe is completely thawed and the water flowing freely.

The safest — and neatest — thawing methods involve a gentle heat source hair dryer, heat lamp, or household iron. A propane torch or other open flame will heat the pipe too quickly and may cause it to explode. Some people recommend pouring boiling water over rags wrapped around a frozen pipe. The obvious drawback is that this method is messy. Never pour boiling water directly onto a frozen pipe.

When thawing pipes with a heat lamp or hair dryer always work from an open faucet toward the frozen area. This will keep steam from being trapped by ice and bursting the pipe. With the faucet open, you can see when the ice has melted. Do not use un-grounded electrical appliances outdoors, or near grounded water pipes.

To prevent pipes from freezing in the first place, wrap electrical heating cable around it–one turn every two feet–then cover the pipe with insulation to conserve the heat. Follow all directions on the heating cable and take special care not to overlap the cable. Plug in the cable when the temperatures drops below freezing. The same cable device can be used to thaw a pipe. — Michigan State University Extension.

Thanx for reading and don’t drip your pipes if you don’t have to. Call your handyman, insulate your walls and save water!

John

I received a call from a gentleman who complained that his bedroom door hinges came loose from the wall.

This is a great example of the type calls I receive every day. Oklahoma City Handyman Services performs home repairs and especially door and window repairs.

In this case the door hinges were not installed properly. In most cases there are three hinges to a door and three screws per hinge. Normally one of the screws is a long one. The long screw gives the door hinges extra support. This door only had one long screw into the wood framing.

This door however was 40 inches wide and solid wood. This door must have weighed 300 pounds. And there it was barely hooked to the frame and sitting on the floor. This was a very beautiful home and the solid wood doors through out the house definitely made a statement.

In this case I repaired the door hinge holes by first tapping some wedge shaped pine into the stripped screw holes. I coated the wood “plugs” in fast setting glue. I gave the plugs about an hour to dry.

After the glue dried I replaced the screws in the middle hinge and the top hinge with 31/2″ deck screws. All the holes took a screw well. And the hinge was tight again. We decided to leave the door shimmed up on the bottom end for a few days to let the glue dry completely.

As usual with this type damage the door hinge mortise was damaged by the door being opened and closed when the hinge was loose. I was able to use some stainable wood filler to cover the damaged wood.

When I use deck screws I have to try to match the color of the original screw heads. In this case the hardware was a very pretty bronze.

I can’t give up my secret but as usual Fred and I came up with a pretty good color match. You’d have to look pretty close to notice the repair.

If you are having trouble with your doors or you simply want us to come and check them for you, contact me immediately.

For more Information About My HandyMan Service Go To My Edmond Oklahoma Handyman Blog

Thank you for stopping by, more soon.

John

Hi, Handyman Friends,

I received a call today from a homeowner with a common Edmond Oklahoma handyman repair need. Their ceiling fan was wobbling badly.

I also got a call that a toilet was leaking at the very bottom. And the toilet wasn’t flushing correctly and it took forever for the tank to fill up. They  really needed a good handyman service.

I received a call about a light switch that sparked, sizzled, poofed and then stopped working.

I also talked to a fellow with an attic ladder that was just about to fall apart. It was definitely not safe to climb up and down.

These are some of the most common repairs I make.

In this case one family had all the same problems at the same time.

Normally to reset a leaking toilet is a quick repair. This case wasn’t that much different. The house had a couple different flooring treatments over the years. That can cause some problems. In this case I’ve done several of this type resets and I know the right fix.

An extra thick or two regular wax rings and then a new set of extra long closet flange bolts will do the trick.

When I have to remove a toilet from the floor I have to drain al the water from the bowl and the tank.

This is an extra tall toilet wax ring and a set of extra long closet flange bolts.

Since I’ve already got the tank drained, I nearly always replace the components in the tank. The parts are cheap, “so why not”?

Herbert and I always cover the floor with thick protective tarps and drop cloths to protect you furniture and floors from dirt, dings and dust.

On to the ceiling fan repair. The fan-mounting bracket had come loose from the junction box in the ceiling. A fixture intended for a light only mounted the junction box. As usual we got up in the attic, framed in a heavy-duty steel junction box that will hold up a fan forever.

We had to shut off the breaker to the ceiling fan so we replaced the switch at the same time.

Oh yeah, the only way Herbert could get in he attic was if we fixed the attic steps first so we did that before we went into the attic.

I had the fan back up by the time Herbert found his way down from the attic. We checked the switch; the potty and the fan ran smooth as silk.

Contact me with any of your home maintenance or home repair needs.

John Young

I got a call from a home owner who was updating,remodeling,and “re-doing” her daughters bedroom. When I got there the hall was completely stacked full of the old bedroom decor and the highly anticipated “NEW” items.

No bed room make over would be complete with out a ceiling fan. I took down the light fixture and when I did I discovered the problem that is very common when installing new fans, for the first time.

The junction box that supported the light just fine, wiggled. The junction box was originally put in to hold a light fixture and not much more. Definitely not a brand new ceiling fan.

That’s not a big problem and there is only one way to fix this right.

In to the attic, add some framing to support the box and then the fan will never move.

With the additional supports installed Irving set up the ladders and went to work. Irving and I had the fan up in no time. It seems like we either install or repair a fan everyday. This fan looked really cool. (I couldn’t resist it). Seriously the fan was  brushed nickel and I got to see all the other new  accessories that matched it.

Irving was just about to put a fan blade on when I heard the comment “I sure wish we could have found a black fan”. I asked if they would consider painting the blades? The answer was an resounding, YES.

I accepted the assignment of painting the blades. I used a high gloss appliance epoxy. That stuff goes on like magic and is tough as nails. The design crew loved it.

I also removed the popcorn texture in this room, smoothed the ceiling, painted the woodwork and walls and we’ll install the cool closet doors when they get here. But more about those things later.
I have to say, the brushed nickel and high gloss black look great together.

Thank you for reading.

Contact me directly with your handyman neds,

405 301 6195

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