25 Old-School Home Hacks That Still Work Wonders Today
July 17, 2019
source: The Family Handyman
Never underestimate the wisdom of your elders! My grandparents and parents taught me so many valuable things, and I try to pass them down to my own children as well. When it comes to home tips and tricks, previous generations certainly knew what they were doing. Here are 25 old-school home hacks courtesy of The Family Handyman that are still completely effective today!
1. Floor Ruler
No need to scramble for a ruler every time you have to measure something big. Draw a ruler on your shop floor with a permanent-ink, felt-tip marker. It won’t be accurate enough for precise measurements, but for rough cutting it will save you time and effort. When the markings start to wear off, just redo them. — Christine Smith
2. Trapeze Clothes Hanger
Here’s a quick way to add another clothes rod in a closet. It’s especially useful in a child’s closet, because you can easily adjust the height to accommodate a changing wardrobe and a growing child. Use lightweight chain, attached to both the upper and lower rods with screw hooks. Squeeze the screw hooks closed with a pliers. — Jim Shephard
3. Lawn Fertilizer Markers
So you fertilized your lawn last week, and now you’ve got some streaks of pale grass where you missed, and some really dark streaks where you hit twice. To prevent this, use two short lengths of wood as markers. Whenever you start a new row from either end of your run, drop a marker at the edge of the line of the fertilizer. Aim for the marker as you proceed, and move the marker at each end every time you make a turn. It works with a broadcast spreader as well. — Jim Carabetta
4. Eyesight Help
Doesn’t it drive you nuts when you drop a small part on the floor and you can’t find it? Here’s help. Lay a flashlight on the floor, and beam the light slowly in a circle so it just skims the floor surface. The shadow cast by the lost part will help you spot it. — Gary Stewart
5. Vacuum Accessory Keeper
Here’s my quick and simple method for keeping shop vacuum accessories handy: Use an ordinary wire clothes hanger for each accessory. Bend the horizontal bar into an inverted “V,” squeeze the arms together and insert them into the open end of the accessory. The tension will hold the accessory in place. Then mount a row of hooks or screw eyes on the wall and hang the accessories in place. — Richard Siegel
6. Hollow Door Fixer
If you have a sizable hole in a painted hollow-core door, here’s a quick way to fix it: Completely fill the hole with spray foam insulation (a can costs about $4 at home centers) so the foam is about level with the door surface. Allow it to dry overnight. The foam will expand slightly as it dries, forming a slight mound. Slice off the mound with a razor knife so the foam is slightly lower than the door surface. Apply one or two coats of drywall compound, sand it smooth when dry, and paint. — Richard Loeb Jr.
7. Roof Gutter Tool Trays
Here’s my solution to workbench clutter: I mounted vinyl gutters along both ends of my workbench to hold small tools and other items that usually end up buried on the work surface. The gutters are durable, inexpensive, and it’s easy to find things in them. An added benefit is that small items that get knocked off the workbench no longer fall on the floor. Use an end cap at each end. — Scott Wright
8. Splashblock Anchor
Do those plastic downspout splashblocks tend to wander away from the foundation of your house, allowing water to seep into the basement? To prevent this, drill two holes through the hefty corners of the plastic at the back end. To anchor it, drive two large spikes through the holes into the ground. — Joseph Perrone
9. Plastic Bag Storage
If those empty plastic grocery bags are threatening to take over your kitchen, here’s help: Stuff them into an empty paper towel tube. It’s quick and easy, and a dozen or so bags take up hardly any space. Keep the stuffed tube handy in a drawer. — Joan Hill
10. Blade Life Extender
When the blade in your utility knife gets dull, it’s usually only the point and the first 1/4 in. or so that’s bad. You can get additional life from your blade by snapping off the point with a pliers (wear safety glasses). It won’t cut quite as well as a fresh blade, but a lot better than the dull one. — Dennis Feldpausch
11. A Better Sawhorse
In “Handy Hints” (Oct. ’94)‚ you showed how to build hinged sawhorses. They were OK, but these are better. (We agree.) They can be cut from a sheet of 3/4-in. plywood 48 in. wide by 75 in. long, and when folded, each horse is only 2 in. thick. The drop-on top is optional. The bolts just slip into the space between the two legs alongside the hinges. — Pat Carnahan
12. Door Painter
I had a lot of doors to spray paint, and I needed a quick and easy stand to hold each one upright, so I could paint both sides without moving it. This stand, made from one 2×4 stud and a triangular base of 3/4-in. plywood, took about five minutes to build. Drive two nails up through the base to set the bottom edge of the door on. Drill a hole through the upper arm to allow an easily removable nail to be tapped into the top edge of the door. Paint the door bottom first if all the edges need to be sealed. — A. Westfall
13. Paint Brush Keeper
An empty coffee can with a plastic lid makes a great container for soaking brushes. Just cut an “X” in the center of the lid, push the handle up through the “X” and place the lid on the can. The lid seals the can so the solvent or water won’t evaporate, and it holds the bristles of the brush suspended above the bottom of the can. — S.L. Wiener
14. Wire Stick-Up
No more hammered thumbs, dropped and lost staples or broken wires: Use hot-melt glue to fasten low-voltage wire in place. Use it on phone lines, bell wire, garage door safety sensor wiring, outdoor low-voltage lights, or thermostat wiring. It makes a neat job, and the glue dabs can be painted to match the wall if necessary. (Note: This is for low-voltage lines only.) — Lloyd Ziegler
15. Painter’s Box
When I paint, I always place the paint can and my painting paraphernalia in a cardboard box—one that fits snugly between the legs on the fold-down shelf of my stepladder. The box allows for safe and easy transporting, makes dumping the can less likely, and catches those inevitable spills or drips while you’re working. — Jim Carabetta
16. Quieter Doors
Noisy, banging doors always annoyed me, until I discovered this easy fix: I stick three or four small self-adhesive felt pads— the kind used on cabinet doors—onto the door jamb stop molding. Besides quieting things down, they make the doors fit better. I also lubricate the latch with a dab of petroleum jelly, because it makes them work easier, further encouraging gentle closings. — Steve Bogumil
17. No-Mess Drywall Sanding
Here’s a way to keep dust to a minimum when you have a lot of drywall joints and surfacing compound to sand. Using duct tape, attach a standard swivel-head drywall pole sander to the rigid extension tube of your wet/dry shop vacuum. Keep the vacuum nozzle close to the sandpaper, and just below it. You’ll also need an extra length of hose for your vacuum to reach the ceiling and into corners. — Bruce Wallick
18. Small Shop Space Saver
I have a small shop with a lot of bench-top power tools (table saw, router table, scroll saw, miter saw), and I use all of them often. To keep the shop uncluttered, yet everything close at hand, I mount all my bench-top tools on 1/2- in. thick plywood bases, and store them on hooks on the wall. When I need the tool, I just clamp the plywood base to my worktable with two large C-clamps. — Roger L. Favorite
19. Gutter Protector
Do you manage to cave in your gutters every time you lean a ladder against them? Try this: In the area or areas where you’ll place your ladder, drill two 3/16-in. holes, and drive two 7-in. galvanized spikes with 5-in. ferrules into the gutters behind where each leg will rest. The ferrules will support the ladder’s weight instead of the gutter. Most home centers sell standard gutter spikes and ferrules. — Randy Lucas
20. Fence Post Holder
As a novice sinker of fence posts, I was having a heck of a time keeping the post plumb while pouring concrete into the hole. My Workmate workbench saved the day. Here’s the system: Simply position the workbench over the hole, clamp the post in place in the workbench, plumb it, then pour the concrete. By the time you have the next hole dug, the concrete will be firm enough to gently lift the workbench off the post. — Peter Gallagher
21. Old Caulk Remover
Need to remove that old caulk from your siding or from around your windows and doors? Nothing works better in my book than a hole-punch can opener. For better leverage, make a handle by cutting a slot in a 1-in. dowel. Then flatten the handle end of the opener in a vise, and secure it in the slot with a bolt and nut. — Fred Horlander
22. Staple And Tack Puller Fulcrum
After removing carpeting and padding, I had a million tacks and staples to remove from my hardwood floors. To protect the floors, I tore strips of duct tape 3/4 in. wide and wrapped about 10 or 12 layers very tightly just above the base of the tack puller. This not only provided protection, but a bonus fulcrum that made pulling the tacks a breeze. I also filed a sharp edge on the tack puller to help get under tack heads and staples without damaging the floor. Be sure to wear safety glasses! — Vincet J. Santilli
23. Steady Miter Box
I always had a hard time manipulating my miter box, the miter saw and the piece I was cutting all at the same time. So I screwed a piece of 2×2 to the bottom of the miter box. Now I clamp the 2×2 in a vise and cut clean, accurate miters every time. — Robert Hartog
24. Entryway Caddy
Our back door entry was a minefield of shoes, hats, gloves and jackets. This easy-to-make egg crate-type shoe case solved our problem. The inner partitions are 1/4-in. plywood, double-notched to slip together. The sides are 3/4 in., and the top and bottom are 1/2-in. plywood. Coat hooks above complete the package. — Tyler Woods
25. Garden Hose Hanger
An easy way to make a sturdy garden hose hanger: Attach a large plastic pail to the wall with large flat washers and drywall screws at least 2 in. long. Store the hose accessories inside the pail and loop the hose over the outside.
Want to learn even more useful hacks? Click here for the full list of 100 from The Family Handyman!