GardenFork – Eclectic DIY

Tag: home repair

Rollerblade Office Chair Wheels To Fix Your Broken Desk Chair!

As soon as I saw the description “Rollerblade Office Chair Wheels” I knew this was the solution to the question: How to fix broken office chair wheels? I have an older Aeron chair, and I have never loved the plastic roller wheels it had. Kinda like those plastic wheels on cheap rollerboard luggage.

BTW, my rollerboard wheels died on the last trip I took.

BUT, there is light at the end of the tunnel! I ordered these replacement rollerblade office chair wheels (affiliate link) and they were easy to install. Lets walk through the process of how to fix a broken office chair.

First flip the chair over, and with a screwdriver and a pliers, lift the broken office chair wheels out of their mounts in the bottom of the chair. You will need to wiggle the screwdriver between the wheel and the mount, but they slide out pretty easily.

You don’t need to save the old wheel spindle, please put it in the metal recycle. The new rollerblade office chair wheels come with new ones attached.

The new wheels are easy to install. Just press the new spindle into the wheel mount. They should slide in easily.

Couple of things to keep in mind when repairing office chair wheels:

Make sure you order the correct replacement wheels, the spindle diameter is key.

Order by searching for the brand name of your office chair + roller blade wheels.

Check the reviews and comments for the wheels you are ordering, make sure they fit and work well.

My office is in a 120 yr old building. And the floors aren’t level, and my desk is on the part of the floor that is higher than the rest of the room. These replacement office chair wheels work so well I often slide away from my desk.

But this office chair repair is a great improvement in wheel performance. Plus they look pretty cool. Not sure why I didn’t upgrade to these wheels before, one of those light bulb moments. Gone are years of bad plastic wheels scratching up your floors, get these instead.

Skil Right Angle Grinder Repair

October 31, 2017
Fix Overheating Steam Radiators Yourself

Is your apartment too hot winter? Learn how to fix overheating steam radiators yourself below.

If your radiators are hissing or leaking, its time to replace the radiator vent, aka radiator valve, on your radiators. Radiator valves have a finite life, and its probably been too long since they have been replaced.

Replacing the radiator vent valve with an adjustable valve allows you to control – to a point – how much heat that radiator puts out. This is a great way to balance the radiators in your home, so the radiators heat the house evenly.

This is an easy DIY Home Improvement project for those of you with older homes.

In our current apartment, when the heating season started, we got loud hissing on 3 of the radiators, and this told me it was time to replace the radiator vents. Without going into a dissertation on how steam boiler heating systems work, the radiators have to be able to vent out the air that is in a steam system when the system is cold, to allow the steam coming up from the boiler to enter the radiators.

You may not realize this, but if you have what is generically called a one pipe steam system, you also have steam vents or valves at the end of the steam riser pipes. These valves may be above the ceiling, if the steam riser pipe juts into the ceiling.

drain tongue sticks out of old style radiator vent

My mode of operation is to replace all the steam valves at once, if possible. Steam vents are not cheap, but if you replace them all at once, you solve a lot of problems, i think. Another benefit of replacing all the valves at once is you can balance the vents at the same time. New vents either have specific vent ratings, or are adjustable – in other words, you can adjust how much venting each vent does.

I use the adjustable vents – link to buy them here – they are much better, I think than the pre-set valves.

This is important, as large radiators need to be able to vent more air than smaller radiators, and this helps you attain the goal of steam heat getting to all the radiators at one time. I use radiator vents that are adjustable, they have a small tang that juts out that you move to adjust. Other companies make a series of vents that have different vent ratings, each vent lets out a certain amount of steam.

Adjustable Steam Radiator Vent

Your local hardware store will sell radiator vents. I suggest the adjustable ones, and don’t cheap out when buying them, you get what you pay for.

Most of life is like that, good things cost money, and these radiator vents are worth it. Many times the steam radiators are wedged behind furniture or whatever, and just getting to the radiator is a pain, so do them all at once and get it done with.

So there you go, a DIY home improvement project that is do-able and will improve your heating system.
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January 17, 2013
Toilet Repair how to replace a broken toilet flange

Is your toilet wobbly? Learn here how to replace a broken toilet flange. If your toilet wobbles and is not solid on the ground, it could be that the toilet flange is rotted or broken. fun. Let’s see how to repair the toilet.

You can fix this. I did. And if you follow our how-to toilet repair photos here, you’ll be a DIY home repair expert, or at least you’ll be able to replace a broken toilet flange.

Rusted toilet flange, this one separated completely from the waste line.

First remove the toilet. Turn off the water line, flush the toilet, and remove the water line from the bottom of the toilet tank. Have bucket handy, as water will come out of the tank. Sponge out as much water from the tank and bowl as you can. A handyman trick is to use a wet dry shop vac to suck all the water out of the bowl and tank.

Remove the nuts on each side of the base of the toilet. These nuts-bolts attach the toilet to the flange. You may have to use a saw to cut the nuts off, which is ok, because you are going to put in new toilet bolts and nuts. The flange, when brand new, is attached to the waste pipe. Many times it rusts or snaps off. Tilt the toilet on its side and move out of the way. Have a helper assist you in moving the toilet, they are heavy and bulky.

Use a putty knife to remove the wax ring residue from the exposed flange and inspect the flange and surrounding area. What is key here is if the wood subfloor is rotted. If this is the case, you will have to cut out the surrounding subfloor and replace it with new plywood, then fix the flange.

Thankfully on this home improvement project, the subfloor was fine, just the flange fell apart. Go to your hardware store and buy a Super Ring Replacement Toilet Ring. There are several models by different suppliers, don’t buy the cheapest one, its your toilet, remember…
Also at the hardware store buy new toilet mounting bolts, they usually come in a package with the nuts and washers.

use wax from the wax ring to get them to stand up straight

Put the toilet mounting bolts in the flange pointing up, and use some wax from the old wax ring to hold them in place. Place the super ring replacement toilet ring over the waste line, making sure the mounting bolts are in the same place as the original bolts were, one bolt on each side of the flange.

Screw the new flange into the subfloor. You may have to use a hammer drill to drill through existing tile flooring or cement substrate. Set the new toilet wax ring onto the flange on the base of the toilet, and guide the toilet back onto the super ring, making sure the toilet mounting bolts are lined up with the mount holes in the toilet base. The super ring toilet ring allows for you to adjust the location of the bolts.

Press down on the toilet to seat the wax ring, wiggle the toilet back and forth to get it to set down and seal. Cut off the the bolts about 1/2″ above the toilet base. Spin on the mounting bolt nuts, and tighten them, but be careful not to over-tighten, as you will crack the porcelain toilet.

Re-attach the water supply line, turn on the water valve, flush the toilet and check for leaks.

Watch More DIY Videos Here.

So there you go, not as complicated as you thought. The biggest red flag is if the subfloor is rotted, because then your simple home improvement project has become a much bigger deal.

January 3, 2013
More on Fishing and the Great Outdoors GF Radio

Mike finishes up his how to fish for largemouth bass talk, ice fishing is just getting started, and there is still time to go out on a river and go fishing. Mike talks more about what kind of fishing lures for when, and why you shouldn’t put your tackle box in the back of your truck.

We tell you why you should wear blaze orange clothing when hiking in the woods in the fall. We then move on to viewer voicemail, and answer a question about why are there cracks in a listener’s new drywall taped corners.

photo by jeltovski

November 10, 2011