Create You Squidoo Lens On A Shak Subject And You Could Be Featured On Shakadoo! Once you have built your lens, submit it to the group HERE.

Hiring Contractors For Service Work by SemperFidelis

Hiring Contractors for Service Work

A lens devoted to hiring contractors to do work in your home or business.  Avoiding the pitfalls of hiring the wrong contractor.

Lies From Contractors

If you have dealt with contractors, you have probably heard the same lies I have. They erupt from their mouths as rationale for their questionable behavior and unreasonable demands. They are often accompanied by "righteous indignation" that anyone would question this contractor's forthrightness.

Here, in no particular order of deceitfulness, are four of them.

It's a standard agreement

Sure it is.  It's your standard agreement that requires the property owner to give away the store and that doesn't require the contractor to complete the job in a workmanlike manner or, for that matter, even complete it at all.  The "standard agreement" does require you to pay, though.

One electrician who did work on a property of a landlord I know had a "standard agreement" that didn't even require him to clean up his mess or repair the wall he put holes in for the wiring.

Everybody does it that way

I certainly hope they don't, because if everybody did it that way, buildings would be falling down all over the country.  Those are the words you hear when you ask about the corners the contractor cut to get the job done cheaper. Because contractors always "did it that way" we have building codes.  Those building codes were not instituted because every contractor was meticulous in his work.  They were instituted because of the work that goes along with "everybody does it that way."

I need the money up front

Then you don't need to work on my property.  You get paid when you are finished and the work is done properly.  Not getting paid should not be a problem for a contractor because of contractors' lien laws, which can result in a lien on the property they worked on if the owner doesn't pay.  If the contractor doesn't have the money or credit to buy the necessary equipment to do the job, that should raise a crimson flag.

To learn everything you ever wanted to know about hiring the right contractor, visit the entire lens by clicking: Hiring Contractors For Service Work

We've mentioned our 2 part list previously, divided into the ugly and non-functioning. Our first big home improvement project knocked items off of both columns.

The garbage disposal quit working exactly 5 minutes after we bought the house; it was almost entirely  clogged with a disgusting grease-like substance and the atrocious pink-with-gold-sparkles-and-aluminum-trim countertop that surrounded it is best left unmentioned. Forever. Our goal was to arrive at a relatively inexpensive, temporary solution until we could remodel the kitchen at a later date. Here's how it went:

We walked into Ye Olde Home Depot and promptly lost our minds to all the possibilities. Just kidding...in actuality, we lost all our green stuff, but it was for a worthy cause and if we'd gone elsewhere, we probably would have lost a heck of a lot more. At the end of several exhausting hours in the store, the tally stood like this:

• Garbage disposal: $60.00
• Sink to replace the broken pink one: $80.00
• Affordable faux-marble DIY countertop: $80.00
• Iron on end plates for the gloriously unpink countertop: $20.00
• Sink drain trap: $9.00
• Miscellaneous plastic drain pipes: $10.00
• Faucet, well...we started out at $80.00, but that figure somehow morphed into $225.00
• $300.00 housewarming Home Depot gift card from the in-laws: priceless

We got home in the late afternoon with our purchases and, in a fit of boundless enthusiasm, decided to start exorcizing the pink right away. After, disconnecting the plumbing, unplugging the disposal, and attempting to lift the countertop off, we discovered that this thing was seriously heavy.

Countertops, we learned, are barely attached to the cabinets. Whoever installed that monstrosity of a counter used about a dozen angle brackets with only 2 screws in each, mostly relying on the 300 pound cast iron sink to keep the whole, hideous mess from flying away. They should have let it's nauseating pinkness escaped the bonds of gravity. In the end, we had to get out the Sawzall and carefully cut the ends off the counter just to get the sink to move.

Of course, after that, the heady adrenaline rush of starting a project began to wear off and we promptly collapsed into that near-catatonic state known as Home Improvement Project Overload. Fortunately, we'd been throughly coached on what to do, should the dread event come to pass; we shelved it for the evening. Tune in tomorrow to find out how we survived...

Inevitably, as you take on home improvement projects, you'll be challenged with stuck, rusted fasteners. Luckily, there are ways to approach these problems with less frustration and a greater chance of success.

PB Blaster is your greatest friend and ally. It's available at most hardware or auto parts stores and leads the pack when compared to similar products. This stuff is for metal fasteners that are screwed into or onto metal. That's good, because that's where you'll have the worst problems.

First, be sure to clean up the portion of the bolt or screw that the tool will engage--you want to maximize your gripping surface any way you can. Take a wire brush to rusty nuts and scrape paint or dirt out of a screw head.

I have 3 simple rules when it comes to stuck fasteners--Juice, heat, and impact. That's my mantra. Know it. Use it. Live it.

You can't always use all three, for instance you can't crank up a propane torch and heat a gas fitting until it glows; you'll blow yourself up and your fitting will still be stuck. Also, I'd rather not see you spray PB Blaster all over your beautiful wood door, but sometimes you've gotta do what you've gotta do.

Back to the mantra. Juice means, to soak the junction with penetrant and let it soak in for a few minutes. Heat means, to get the problem area as warm as you can, without causing any fires, explosions, or critical damage to your flippers or other valuables. It's best to warm up the female side of the connection, so it expands away from the threads. Impact means, don't use a torquing motion (turning motion) to try to loosen a bolt, but rather hit your tool in the correct direction to unscrew it, either with your palm or a hammer. It also helps to tap a bolt head square on the top several times with a hammer or tap a screwdriver into the slot with the hammer.

All of these steps help break up corrosion on the threads, without twisting the head off of the screw; the juice gets in between the 2 parts, the heat causes expansion and contraction which also loosens the corrosion, and the impact physically breaks the corrosion apart.

It may take several tries, but with practice, you'll find that problem fasteners aren't such a problem anymore.

It's spring, and many of us haven't even seen the lawnmower since it was buried under the kids' yard toys last October. In most of the country, the grass is growing again and probably needs mowing. You can make this year's landscape maintenance safer, easier, and help your tools last longer with some simple preventative maintenance.

The lawnmower could definitely use an oil change; it's easy to do yourself. First, drain the gas and remove the spark plug wire to prevent accidental starts and/or loss of body parts. There's a bolt under the housing that faces up, if you remove it you'll find that oil comes out. Drain the oil into an appropriate container to be recycled. Clean the bolt and the area that it seats on and then re-install the bolt, tightening firmly.

Now, tip the mower back on its wheels and locate the oil fill. This is usually a plastic plug that unscrews. Fill to the proper level with the oil type and viscosity recommended by the manufacturer. Check in your owner's manual or go online to the manufacturer's website to determine the proper fill level for your model. While the mower's already being worked on, it may very well enjoy having its blade sharpened. You can do this yourself also, or take the blade to a lawnmower or small engine repair shop to have it professionally sharpened.

To remove the blade, turn your mower over after you've drained the gas and disconnected the spark plug wire. Once again, it's important to disconnect the spark plug or you're liable to wind up with missing parts you'd rather not be parted with. Take a block of wood and wedge the blade against the housing to prevent it from turning. Remove the bolt in the center of the blade to release the blade. Clamp it in a vise and file each cutting surface the same number of strokes. This helps keep your blade in balance. You can reinstall the blade now.

Your mower will love you; especially if you round up those yard toys before the first lawn mowing of the season. Maybe the toys could use a new shed-- yet another fun Home Improvement project to add to your list.

Often overlooked when home improvement season rolls around is the lowly mailbox, and ours is no exception. We put off doing anything about it for a long time and yes, we've had plenty of excuses, just like you, but those days are now officially over. As per the USPS.

The mail has begun to fall out of the rust hole in the bottom, the post is about as strong as a toothpick, the door seldom stays shut, and our Postlady has threatened us with grave bodily harm if we don't fix it soon--and I fear Postal Workers, as we all should.

Expense is no excuse, since the cheapest mailbox at my local hangout hardware store is $8.00. EIGHT DOLLARS! Browsing their selection, I see some really nice, rust proof plastic models with the stands built right in, for only $40.00-$60.00. Hey, you know, I can afford this! I'd wager you can, too. Especially if you're thinking of selling soon; it's yet another little thing you can do to help boost that  curb appeal, without having to shell out a boatload of money.

Continuing my search at home, I realize that this could be an opportunity for self expression. Online I find mailboxes that look like cows, airplanes, barns, doll houses, or even custom painted boxes with Van Gogh sunflowers. They've got boxes with hotrod flames, American flags, and of course, the ever popular pin-up girls. I even come across one that's a miniature horse trailer. It's amazing to me that anyone would want some of this stuff, but then, we all know weird people. In fact, some of us are weird people.

The time has come to put something better out there, in front of our Shak. Tomorrow, I'll go get a fairly normal, boring, rust resistant mailbox that we can pound into the ground so the Mail Lady doesn't have to break out her brass knuckles.

I think the reason I am compelled to hire someone to fix things around my house instead of doing it myself is the pure fact that I usually don't have the time to commit to the proper way of doing it. But, if you tell me that there is something that can be done in 15 minutes....well, consider it done by me. That's why I loved a recent post in The Consumerist that found, in a recent article written in Real Simple Magazine, some cheap and quick tricks for fixing stuff around the house.

Hard-to-remove decals
Spray the decals and the surrounding areas with WD-40, lifting the edges to get underneath, if possible. Let sit, then gently scrape away the decal with the edge of a credit card. Degrease the area with liquid dishwashing soap

Stuck sliding windows
Solution: A little silicone spray lubricant (sold at hardware stores) will grease the skids. Spray it onto a rag, then wipe along the tracks, whether they're metal, wood, or plastic.

Scuffed linoleum
Rub the spot with white toothpaste and a dry cloth or with an eraser. Or spray WD-40 on a towel and rub lightly, making sure to degrease the area afterward with liquid dishwashing soap and water.

Flattened down cushions Put them outside in the sun for a few hours, flipping them halfway through. (Be careful -- leaving them out too long may fade the fabric.) The sun will help evaporate the moisture that gets into the filling over time, and the cushions should plump up nicely.

Clear Nail Polish as Eyeglasses Fix
Keep a loose eyeglass screw in line. After tightening, dab polish across the top for a longer-lasting fix.