Get a Personalized Quote Explore Plans in Your Area Get covered in 3 easy steps. Home Warranty Plans in Your Area Covers repair and replacement of most major home appliances including washers, dryers, ice makers, garage door openers, and more! Covers most major appliances and home systems including AC ductwork, electrical, plumbing, washers, dryers, and much more! Costs less than purchasing the appliance and systems plans seperately. Covers repair and replacement of most major home systems including AC with ductwork, water heaters, plumbing, doorbells, and more! How Does It Work? A home warranty plan from AHS takes the unexpected expense out of home repairs. When a covered item breaks, here's what you do: Call or request service online. We assign a local repair professional. For each visit, you pay a small, predetermined trade service call fee ($75 - $125). Your covered item is repaired or replaced – simple as that. Balance Your Busy Life with Home Matters Blog
Browse our blog for practical ways to fix some of your most common household glitches. Shopping for and selling a home can be stressful. To make your housing transition easier, check out tips that will have a positive impact in your life -- from maintaining your stress level to executing an open house. Saving money does not always require drastic and complex measures. Simple cost-cutting methods can make a big difference in the lives of you, your family, and home. Read Home Matters BlogWhether you're rewiring or adding more wiring to an older garage, or running wires in a new garage, you have a decision to make. Do you plan to leave the walls open or close them up with drywall? If you intend to leave the walls and ceiling open, you have to follow the special rules that we show here. The same goes for sheds, workshops or other structures with unfinished walls outside the living space of the house. In a house or a finished garage, electrical cable is protected from damage by permanent wallcoverings like drywall, plaster or even wood, but that’s not the case in an unfinished garage.
The key to safe, code-compliant exposed wiring is to use the framing members to protect and support the wires. That means not spanning stud or joist spaces with wires. Keep all the cables closely hugging the studs, plates and ceiling joists so they're not subject to abuse (see “Dangerous Wiring Mistakes” at the end of this article). In this story, we'll show you a common, cost effective and code approved way to run exposed electrical cable. But there's one downside to this method: If you ever do decide to finish the area, you'll have to completely rewire because the surface-mounted cables will make drywalling impossible. In an unfinished garage, the trick is to follow the framing. Instead of connecting switch, light and outlet boxes by spanning framing spaces, route cable along studs, top plates and ceiling joists (Photo 3), along whichever framing member leads to the next box (see lead photo). That means you'll use a lot more cable, because the paths are rarely direct. But cable's cheap and quick to run.
Keep all cables exposed and easy to see and never run cables on the tops of walls; keep them on vertical surfaces. That way the wires won't ever have anything resting on them like hooks or garden tools (Photo 6).Having indoor or outdoor wooden doors are beautiful additions to any home. Like most things, wooden doors can start to develop problems. Cracks, an improper seal or excessive heat and moisture can cause your wooden door to warp. A warped door allows air to escape or enter your home, as well as bugs and rodents! Fortunately, knowing how to fix a warped wooden door can save you time, money and the hassle of installing a new door. With a little bit of elbow grease and some patience, your beautiful wooden door can be fixed in no time. What You Need to Fix a Warped Wooden Door: Heavy towels or a large blanket 50-lb sandbag or something of equal weight Fixing a Warped Wooden Door After you’ve gathered the supplies you need, fixing a warped wooden door is simple!
Before you remove your wooden door from the hinges, place both of your sawhorses four to five feet apart in a covered area. Use your screwdriver and remove the door from the hinges and lay it across both of the sawhorses. Be sure to lay the door down with the bowed side facing up. After you’ve placed your door on the sawhorses, use your sandpaper and and the top and bottom of the door. How to Repair and Flatten a Warped Door After the door has been taken off the hinges and proper sanded on the top and bottom portion, check to see how badly your wooden door is warped. Once you’ve assessed the level of damage to the door, you will know what methods to use to flatten a warped door. If your door is only slightly bowed, take the sandbag or object of similar weight, and lay it across the area that is warped. Leave the sandbag on the door for 24 hours or until the warp is completely gone. If your door is badly warped, wet your heavy towels or large blankets and lay them across the warped area only.
Each day, rewet the towels and add five to 10 pounds of weight onto the door until is is completely straight again. After you’ve chosen your method to flatten your warped door, you will need to wait until the door dries and apply a coat or two of varnish onto the whole door to make sure the warp doesn’t happen again. Where Do We Find Warped Wooden Door Replacement Parts? If your wooden door is severely warped, there is no great solution for your problem other than buying a whole new door. With DIY Door Store, we can help you fix, repair or replace any door you have! Whatever problem you’re having with your door, we have exactly what you need! With door parts from Fox, Masonite, Trapp Doors and so much more, we know you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for and at a fraction of the price! If you want more information about how to fix your warped wooden door, or need a replacement part or door for any area in your home, call us today at (888) 998 - 3667!See More AboutGarage door repairsResidential garage doorsGarage door opener
Overhead garage doors are wonderfully convenient things. It's only when they break a spring or slip off the track that we realize how reallyn important they are. And, most of us can remember how often the family car lived in the driveway before self-storing, remote-control garage doors appeared on the scene. As far as lifestyle enhancements go, it's easy to rank your garage door near the top. But nice as they are, they don't last forever. Our old door, for example, had consumed three torsion-bar springs and suffered a broken roller over its seven-year life. Even when the door worked well, it rattled like an alarm clock and frosted over in winter. Garage doors have powerful springs that are tensioned to reduce the effort required for lifting. Be sure to read your door's installation instructions and follow all safety precautions to the letter. Our door is equipped with a torsion-bar assembly that's mounted above the door. All torsion-bar springs have enough tension in them to be lethal, so when winding and unwinding the springs, extreme caution and the proper tools are vital.
To remove the old springs and tension the new ones you'll need to buy two steel rods—check your installation instructions for the size you need. We used 1/2-inch diameter cold-rolled steel bars. Never use rebar or screwdrivers. Make the rods at least 18 inches long and always stand to one side when you work. Never work directly in front of them and keep all helpers out of the way. To relieve the tension on the springs, first disconnect the garage-door opener and lock one side of the door in its track. If your old door doesn't have a latch, clamp locking pliers on at least one track. Then, set up the ladder to one side of the spring fitting, insert a winding rod into the fitting and slowly apply pressure to the spring. With the winding rod taking the torsion load of the spring, loosen the set screw fasteners and allow the spring to slacken a quarter turn. Insert the second winding rod, take up the load with this rod, remove the first rod and back off another quarter turn. Repeat this procedure until the spring tension has been released.
Then, move to the second spring and loosen it in the same fashion. With the pressure off, it's time to disassemble the door and track. Start by removing the top roller bracket on one side. Free the top panel by disconnecting the top half of each of the top panel's hinges. With a helper, slide the top panel out and let the roller fall out on the opposite end. Then, remove the second panel's hinge and roller on one side, disconnect the hinges and slide the panel out. Repeat the process for the remaining panels. With the panels out of the way, remove the vertical and horizontal tracks and torsion bar. Finish by prying the old doorstop from the jamb. First scrape away any caulk left by the old doorstop molding and measure for the new stop. Most molding comes with a vinyl weatherstrip insert. Cut the new stop to length and lift it in place. Nail the new stop molding to the header. Install the two vertical tracks at the same height. Set one track, then measure its position to place the other.
Install the horizontal tracks above the vertical tracks. Lag screw each angle bracket to the jamb framing holding the edge of the molding back about 1/8 in. from the edge of the opening. This will allow the molding's weatherstrip to press firmly against the door. Finish by installing the vertical moldings, holding them about 1/4 in. off the ground. In order for the door to function properly, the panels must be installed level. Center the first panel in the opening and check it with a 4-ft. level. If it slopes, even a little, shim the low side until it's correct. Then, drive a nail into each side of the doorframe and bend the nails over the ends of the panel to hold it upright. Set the second panel on the first and secure it in a similar fashion. When you have the third panel set, recheck for level and adjust the shims if necessary. Finally, set and secure the top panel. Starting at the bottom, install the hinges and brackets to tie the panels together. The hinges and brackets at the edges of the door also hold the rollers.
After installing all brackets and hinges, bolt the strut across the top panel. This stiffener provides wind resistance. Before installing the vertical tracks, slide a roller into each edge hinge and bracket Then, bolt the track supports to the doorframe. Raise the track 1/2 in. by setting it on a shim and bolt the track in place. Measure from the top of the track to the center of the first roller. Install the vertical track on the opposite side of the door, making sure its top is the same distance from its first roller. The next step is to install the horizontal tracks. Each horizontal track has a 90-degree bend that joins the vertical track. The bend is supported by an angle bracket. Bolt this bracket to the doorjamb and move along the horizontal track to the hanger bracket. Our hanger brackets were already in place, but if you're starting from scratch, install the brackets so that the tracks will be level and parallel. With the hanger in place, bolt the track to it. Next, assemble the torsion-bar components.
Slide the springs onto the rod from each direction, followed by the cable drums. Look for a splash of paint on one of the springs to determine the correct orientation of both springs on the bar. Lift the bar onto the horizontal track brackets and install the end bearings. Each bearing bracket will bolt directly to the top of a horizontal track's angle bracket. Next, level the center of the bar and install the center bracket. In addition to supporting the rod, this bracket locks the stationary ends of the springs together. Finish by running the cables from the bottom panel brackets to the cable drums on the torsion bar. With the components assembled, it's time to wind the springs. This is a critical step, because only the right amount of tension will do. Miss the mark and your door will either not stay open or not stay shut. Start by clamping locking pliers on the track to keep the door from moving as you work. Then, paint a stripe across each spring, to let you know how many full turns you've made.