Today is a guest post from Lydia Miller.

Recently we purchased a hundred year old farmhouse, complete with lead paint, shag green carpet from the seventies and new safety challenges. I regularly adhere to the common sense safety precautions: wear the Mr. Wizard glasses, use a respirator, and turn the right breaker off before replacing light fixtures. Fortunately, we were warned before we began any major renovations about possible asbestos exposure. I had heard of asbestos before and mesothelioma, the cancer it causes, but I thought of asbestos as a rare and industrial concern, certainly not something to be worried about in my house. Well, I have learned different! Asbestos exposure, and therefore mesothelioma, is a present and serious concern in millions of homes across the US.
Asbestos began making its way in American industry in the 1920s, being used in everything from insulation to paint stabilizer. Resistant to fire and extremely durable, asbestos became a staple building material in shipbuilding, refineries, munitions manufacturing, and of course commercial and residential construction. In fact, asbestos was so heavily used, it earned the nickname ‘backbone of American industry.’
Health risks associated with asbestos were considered soon after its American debut. However, malignant mesothelioma, the disease most commonly associated with toxic asbestos fibers, stays dormant for so many years after asbestos exposure it was nearly impossible to connect the two. Making it even more difficult, mesothelioma symptoms mimic those of bronchitis and pneumonia, inhibiting a mesothelioma diagnosis in the early 1900s and often postponing proper diagnosis today.
Once asbestos fibers are inhaled, they can begin a cancerous growth process that takes decades to develop. Pleural mesothelioma is the most common type of mesothelioma, specific to lung lining. After diagnosis, mesothelioma life expectancy ranges between six months and two years. Mesothelioma treatments include surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation therapies. Currently there is no known cure for mesothelioma.
So… how do we avoid asbestos exposure in our homes? Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) outlines responsibilities associated with asbestos in their Clean Air Act. Also, EPA has published a list of materials known to contain asbestos, which is helpful to review before beginning any project.
If your home was built before the 1980s, there’s a good chance at least some of the components used or added through the years contain asbestos. If you’re not sure about a material or project, contact a professional asbestos abatement specialist! No matter the financial or aesthetic value gained in a completed DIY project, it is not worth the cost of you health or the health of a loved one.

Oftentimes, we need to replace the internal components of our toilets.  The plastic and metal parts wear out and need to be replaced for the toilet to function properly.

Fortunately, this is an inexpensive and easy home improvement project.  Most hardware stores carry a “toilet repair kit” that costs around $18-20 that includes all the components you’ll need for this project.  In fact, you’ll have some parts leftover, because the kits come with lots of parts to cover various types of toilets you may be using with the kit.

As noted in the video, you need to start by tearing the old components out of the toilet.  Of course, you’ll do this after shutting off the water supply — typically a valve right next to the toilet, close to the floor.

Once the old parts have been removed, there will be some necessary clean-up, especially where the tank attaches to the toilet base.

Now, you just need to install the new parts from the toilet repair kit.

This is a fairly easy DIY project that may require a second person, just because the toilet tank can be somewhat awkward to move.

What challenges do you have with your toilet?  Leaking flapper valve, running fill valve, etc.?  Let us know your toilet issues in the comments section and we’ll do a new post!

Do you have a threshold in your laminate floor that just keeps popping up?  In this post, we’ll show you how to fix that, permanently.

Laminate thresholds normally fit into a channel that’s been screwed or nailed into the subfloor.  Sometimes, people just pop the threshold into that channel without any adhesive.  Sometimes, they just use the wrong adhesive.

With the example in this post, the installers used regular siliconized acrylic caulk.  While this is great for filling holes and gaps, it’s not the best adhesive.  To repair the threshold, you need to clean the old adhesive material off the channel and the threshold to assure a good adherence with the new adhesive.  Then, apply the new adhesive (use a construction adhesive like Liquid Nails) into the channel.  Do not apply it to the threshold, especially to the “flanges” of the threshold, as this will cause the adhesive to leak out onto your floor and make for a tough clean-up.  When you put the adhesive in the channel, it will ooze out into the flange area without leaking out onto the floor.

To re-install the threshold, you just carefully place it back in the channel.  This may require a little force and you might want to use a clean towel on top of the threshold to prevent marring the finish.  Once it’s back in the channel, be sure to place something heavy on top of the threshold to keep it in place while the adhesive sets (generally, about 12 hours).  Again, you will want to have some sort of protection between the threshold and the heavy object(s).