c/Amarillo-home-repairs-and-diy

My garage floor drain backed up during the big rain two weeks ago and I learned a hard lesson

I was out in my shop on the east side of Amarillo when that big storm hit. Water started coming up through the floor drain, and I had about an inch of water everywhere before I could even react. I spent the next three hours with a wet vac and a push broom trying to save my tools and some lumber. The problem was, I never even thought to check if that drain had a backwater valve. A plumber friend came over the next day and showed me it was just a straight pipe to the city line, so when the system got overloaded, it all came right back to me. Now I'm looking at putting in a proper valve myself, but I'm not sure if I should cut into the concrete or try to work from the cleanout outside. Has anyone in town dealt with this and found a good way to add protection without a huge concrete job?

Overheard a neighbor in Canyon say his new insulation cut his AC bill by 40 bucks last month

He used that blown-in cellulose stuff in his attic, which got me thinking about my own drafty house. Anyone in Amarillo have a good local company for that kind of work?

My old water heater finally gave out after 22 years

I was sure it was maybe 15 years old, but I found the original install date on a tag in the closet. It was from 2002, which means it ran for 22 years here in Amarillo. That's way longer than the 10-12 years they usually say you'll get. Has anyone else had an appliance in their house last that much longer than expected?

Fixed my own leaky kitchen faucet after watching a video from the library

Last week, my kitchen faucet in my house near Wolflin started dripping non-stop. I found a free repair video on the Amarillo Public Library's website and followed it step by step. It took me about an hour and a new $15 cartridge from the local hardware store. Has anyone else tried a plumbing fix here in town that seemed harder than it was?

I just wasted a whole weekend trying to fix my own garage door spring

I watched a video online and thought I could save the $200 a local shop quoted me. I bought a kit for about $80 and spent all Saturday trying to wind the new spring. It slipped off the winding bars, flew across the garage, and put a huge dent in my truck's tailgate. The spring is still broken, my truck needs a repair, and I'm out over $300 now. I should have just called a pro from the start. Anyone in Amarillo have a good garage door person they trust for this kind of thing?

Spent $400 on a fancy gutter guard system that clogged in two months

I got the mesh kind installed on my house near Wolflin last fall, thinking it would save me from cleaning leaves. Ngl, the fine Texas dirt and those little seed pods just packed in there solid and caused an overflow that stained my siding. Anyone know a better fix for gutters around here that actually works with our specific junk?

My 2015 method for unclogging a sink involved a coat hanger and a lot of hope, but after a plumber in Canyon charged me $200, I now own a $40 drain snake.

Anyone else have a 'before and after' tool that saved your sanity and wallet?

Pro tip: My neighbor told me my deck stain job looked patchy because I didn't use a wood brightener first

I stained my back deck in the Wolflin area last month and thought it was fine until he pointed out the uneven color. I went back, cleaned it with a brightener, and the new coat looks way better. Has anyone else in Amarillo had this happen with pressure-treated pine?

Saw something at the Home Depot on Soncy that has me checking my own house

I was picking up some fence posts yesterday and walked through the lumber section. They had a whole pallet of pressure treated 2x4s that were already showing heavy mold spots, like big green and black patches. The tags said they were delivered just a week ago. It made me go home and check the wood I bought for my deck project last month, and sure enough, a couple boards in the pile are starting to get fuzzy. If you've bought any lumber recently, especially from that batch, give it a close look. Storing it wet against your house is asking for trouble. Has anyone else run into this with wood from that store?

Replacing a single window sash in my North Heights bungalow took me three entire weekends.

Every guide said it was a 4-hour job, but the old frame was totally rotted and nothing was square. Anyone else hit a simple repair that turned into a total project?

Overheard a guy at the hardware store talking about his old water heater

He was telling the clerk his unit was from 1998 and still running. The clerk just said, 'Buddy, that's not a feature, it's a warning.' It made me check the date on mine, which is from 2006. I guess I've been pushing my luck for a while now. Has anyone here in Amarillo had a water heater go that long without a problem, or am I just waiting for a flood in my garage?

My dad was talking about patching drywall with newspaper and flour paste back in the 70s

Just realized I've patched the same spot in my garage drywall three times

It's a corner by the water heater that keeps getting bumped, and after the third repair I measured the total area of all the patches. It came to exactly 2.5 square feet of mud and tape over the years. What's the actual fix here, just build a corner guard out of some scrap lumber?

I always used cheap painter's tape for trim until my neighbor gave me a roll of FrogTape

Did a whole room with the cheap stuff and had to spend an hour cleaning up bleed lines. The FrogTape had a better seal, especially on the textured walls in my house near Wolflin. Has anyone found a different brand that works just as well for less money?

My bathroom faucet handle snapped off in my hand this morning

I was trying to turn off the water in my house over by Wolflin and the whole plastic handle just crumbled, spraying water everywhere. I had to shut off the main valve under the sink and now I'm stuck with a bare stem sticking out. Is there a good local place to get a replacement handle that won't break again in six months?

Hit 100 trips to the hardware store this year and it made me think

I was cleaning out my truck yesterday and found a stack of receipts from Lowe's on Coulter. I counted them up and it came to exactly 100 since January. That's a trip every couple days, mostly for small stuff I forgot or the wrong part size. It hit me that I'm spending more time driving than fixing. Has anyone else tracked this and found a better system, like making a super detailed list before you go?

My whole week got wrecked by a busted sprinkler line

I was trying to fix a small drip in my backyard system over on Olsen, and I accidentally hit the main line with my shovel. Water shot up like a geyser for a good 20 minutes before I could find the shutoff. Had to dig a 4 foot trench by hand in the clay to find the break, and the parts alone cost me $85. It was just one of those jobs where everything that could go wrong did. Anyone know a good place in town to rent a trenching tool for next time?

I was painting my whole house wrong for years until my neighbor in Wolflin pointed it out

I was doing the trim in my living room last fall, cutting in with a brush like I always did. My neighbor, who used to paint houses, came over to borrow a ladder and just watched for a minute. He finally said, 'You know, you'd save half the time if you taped that and used a small roller.' I had always thought tape was for beginners and rollers were just for walls. I tried his way on the next room and it was so much faster and cleaner. Anyone else have a simple tip that changed how you do a basic job?

My neighbor swore by using a dishwasher tablet to clean his vinyl siding

I laughed and told him that was crazy, but after seeing his house on 34th street look brand new, I tried it on my own last month. It actually worked way better than the expensive cleaner I bought, no streaks at all. Has anyone else tried something that sounds nuts but really works for cleaning around here?

My bathroom floor turned into a water park because I didn't check the toilet seal

I was putting in a new toilet in my house near Wolflin last month and thought I could skip the wax ring check. Big mistake. I turned the water back on, flushed, and watched a steady stream pour onto the subfloor. I had to shut everything off, pull the toilet again, and found the old ring was totally smashed. After three tries with a new reinforced ring, it finally sealed. Anyone else in Amarillo have a plumbing fail that made a bigger mess than you started with?

Rant: My whole week got wrecked by a single plumbing job in the Wolflin area

I had a simple plan to replace a kitchen faucet for a client off 15th Street, but the old shutoff valves were totally frozen. I mean, they just crumbled when I tried to turn them. That meant I had to shut off the main water line to the whole house, which is always a gamble in these older Amarillo homes. The main valve itself was stiff and took me over an hour just to get it to budge without breaking it. By the time I got the new faucet in, tested for leaks, and turned everything back on, what should have been a 90 minute job ate my entire Tuesday. Has anyone else run into a ton of these bad shutoff valves lately, or did I just have a cursed week?

Vent: My neighbor and I both replaced our garage door springs last month.

He went with the cheapest kit from a big box store, I paid a bit more for a specific brand from a local supplier on Western. His snapped again after two weeks, mine is still fine. Anyone have a reliable local source for other parts like that?

Saw a clever fix for a sagging gate at the Amarillo Botanical Gardens

I was walking through the gardens yesterday and noticed they used a simple turnbuckle and cable to straighten a heavy wooden gate that was dragging. The groundskeeper said it took him about 30 minutes and cost under $25 for the hardware. Has anyone here tried something similar on a backyard fence?

Shoutout to the guys at the Amarillo Habitat for Humanity ReStore

I was picking up a used window there last month and saw a guy grab a pressure-treated 4x4 from a stack that looked fine. He loaded it and left. When I went to get mine, I flipped it over and the bottom was completely soft and rotten, like wet cardboard. I told the staff and they pulled the whole stack, maybe 20 boards total. Now I check every single piece of lumber from any reuse place, turning it over and poking it with my knife. Anyone else run into hidden rot like that around here?

Remember when everyone's garage door openers in Amarillo sounded like a jet engine starting up?

I mean, you could hear my old chain drive from two houses down, but the new belt drive I put in last year is basically silent. Anyone else notice how much quieter the whole neighborhood got once those old ones started getting swapped out?