Quick Fixes

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If you can get under the floor (in a basement or crawl space), place wedges between the subfloor and the joists.

Tame a Floor

To tame a large piece of new flooring that refuses to uncurl, lay an electric blanket over the flooring and turn the blanket on to a low heat.

Hiding the Damage

For a gouge in vinyl flooring, you can make a matching patching compound. Shred a scrap of the vinyl with a food grater. Then mix the resulting chips with clear adhesive or shellac to form a paste, and work the mixture into the crack. Another option is to find a crayon that matches the color of the flooring and melt it over the hole.

Straighten Up

For a warped floorboard, strip the finish and place a damp cloth over it for 48 hours. Then screw in countersunk wood screws to secure the unwarped board.

In the Buff

If you hang your floor buffer, the brushes won't flatten out. (It may sound obvious, but few people do it.)

Ceilings

A Miniscaffold

For ceiling work, most of us need a little extra height. Make a dandy scaffold from a pair of inverted plastic milk cases with a 2 x 12 laying across them to form a walkway.

Here's Dust in Your Eye

When drilling into the ceiling, poke a hole through the center of a throwaway aluminum pie pan. Hold the pan over the area to be drilled, and poke the bit through. This way the pan will catch most of the dust. If you don't have a pie pan, use a plastic butter tub.

Cutting Into the Ceiling

If you have to cut into your ceiling, your best bet is obviously to do so from the attic, so that you're working with the ceiling below you. You won't catch dust in your face or accidentally cut hidden wires. If you must make the cut from below, insert a corkscrew into the center of the part you plan to remove. The corkscrew makes the perfect handle for the cutout.

— Reprinted from Best Home Hints from the Super Handyman Al Carrell , published by Taylor Publishing Company; 1990. Available postpaid for $14.95. To order, call 800/759-8120

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