Author Archives: TheDIYGirl

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My choice in houses

Posted on by September 10, 2013avatar

When I bought my house in Texas in 1995 I had friends stand at the back of the lot, look up at what appeared to be a crack house (peeling paint, decks rotting off the house, the only thing missing was boarded up windows) and ask me “What are you thinking?”  After living there 17 years, last month the buyer raved over the condition of the house and the high level of maintenance. It made me smile. Except for new siding, windows, and roof I had done all the other work myself. People said the three-story Victorian ended up looking … Read more…

Packing tips part 2 – All the things the movers won’t take

Posted on by September 10, 2013avatar
Packing tips for a long distance move - TheDIYGirl.com

I read all the advice online about long distance moves where they say throw out and give away all the stuff the movers won’t take. Forget that. I had no interest in starting out with a blank refrigerator, no cleaning supplies, no automobile fluids on arrival at my new home. Oh please, who wants to take all your partially used crap? I am totally against waste and throwing things in landfill, so I needed to figure out how to take the stuff with me. Packing the “not allowed items” I had a friend with a pickup truck and trailer who … Read more…

Packing tips for a long distance move

Posted on by September 10, 2013avatar
Packing tips for a long distance move - TheDIYGirl.com

The image to the left is what it feels like. Having recently completed an interstate move I have some thoughts on successfully packing. I need to mention that I tend to be anal retentive about organization and that I lucked out and had an absolutely awesome driver who knew how to pack a truck so everything arrived in good condition. I have felt a big move coming on for a couple of years so I spent considerable time going through the house I had resided in for 17 years and deciding what needed to go with me and what needed … Read more…

Replacing hatch struts on vehicle

Posted on by September 10, 2013avatar

Symptoms of the problem I drive a 2006 Xterra and noticed this past winter the struts that hold the rear hatch door up were wearing out after I whacked my head on it a few times. The weather warmed up and the struts started doing a better job of holding up the door, but on cooler mornings I was slamming my head again so it was time to figure out how to change them. Research I started looking on the internet for my specific vehicle model and year and found several forum posts on the subject. I was interested in … Read more…

Easy way to clean refrigerator coils

Posted on by September 10, 2013avatar
Easy way to clean refrigerator coils - TheDIYGirl.com

No how-to pictures for this suggestion. On my Whirlpool refrigerator the coils lay pretty much flat and close to the front grill of the refrigerator. They are not easy to get to. With two hyper-shedding dogs in the house, coil cleaning is something I need to do fairly regularly and about all I could reach with the crevasse tool on my vacuum was the very front edge of the coil. I could see all the crud that I couldn’t get to. I needed to figure out an easier and more effective way to clean them. Enter the can of condensed … Read more…

Replacing refrigerator condenser fan

Posted on by September 10, 2013avatar

This was mentioned in a previous post about my home warranty company failure. I ended up purchasing and installing the fan myself. What to do If you hear a loud whirring sound from your refrigerator, pull it out from the wall, remove the cover from the lower part of the refrigerator back and verify the noise coming from the fan. This is a part that commonly fails. When I got down there it was blaringly clear the sound was coming from. My guess was the bearing had gone bad in it. While I wanted to replace the fan ASAP to … Read more…

Great source for appliance parts

Posted on by September 10, 2013avatar

When the fan on my refrigerator started sounding like an airplane propeller and my home warranty company completely failed me I started looking for the part on my own and found a company that sells on both Amazon and Ebay. They are awesome. They suggest in their ad that you call and verify it’s the correct part before ordering. I emailed the model number of my refrigerator and they promptly responded that I had the right replacement fan. I asked for an ETA and after supplying my zip code they told me they had the part in a warehouse in … Read more…

Home warranties – cautionary tale

Posted on by September 10, 2013avatar

While I’m an avid do-it-yourselfer, I also live in a house that was built in 1984 and has some of the original equipment and I don’t do major HVAC and appliance repairs. So at this juncture I feel a home warranty is a good investment — well at least I did until this last experience. Past Experience I had my garbage disposal die, called at 7:00 AM and had a new installed disposal at 11:00 AM by a really nice young man who told me how to take care of it. My garage door opener stopped and after an early … Read more…

Insulated cover for whole house attic fan grate

Posted on by September 3, 2015avatar
Insulated cover for whole house attic fan grate - TheDIYGirl.com

The pull chain switch in my whole house attic fan broke and I ended up replacing it on a fairly hot day. While working on it I could not believe the heat coming down through the ceiling grate for the fan.  I got online to look for an economical and easy solution. What’s a whole house attic fan? In case you’re not familiar, this fan is mounted on the ceiling joists in the attic after a hole has been cut out of the ceiling drywall. An aluminum grate is then installed on the ceiling side. The grate has louvers that … Read more…

Replacing pull chain for whole house attic fan

Posted on by September 10, 2013avatar

One evening I pulled the chain on my whole house attic fan to turn it off and thought at the time it sounded a little funny. The next morning I went to turn the fan back on and found out why — the switch for the pull chain had broken. I am not a big fan of getting up in my attic since I live alone, so I got a ladder and checked to see if the switch was accessible from the house instead of the attic. It was. I had to reach through the grate and it required some … Read more…