The holiday table is about to get busier than it's been all year. Every chair in the house gets pulled into service, including the one that's been creaking since spring.
This weekend is the time to fix it, because the glue needs a full day before anyone sits down.
Below: the wobbly chair fix, the clamp we'd use, where leftover paint should spend the winter, how to shovel without hurting your back, a handrail check before older guests arrive, and the squeaky door.
Reply and tell us: how many chairs will be around your table this year? We read every one.
Fix the Wobbly Chair Before Thanksgiving
Image: The Home Wire
A wobbly wooden chair usually isn't broken. The glue in one of its joints has let go, and winter is when that tends to happen.
A chair parked near a heater all season dries out, the wood shrinks, and that breaks the glue bond, per a CBS News piece on chair repair.
So the fix is glue, not hardware. Popular Woodworking says glue is what holds chair joints tight, and both sources call drilling and driving screws into a loose joint the biggest mistake.
If the wobble is a loose bolt on a metal bracket, tightening it may be all you need. If a wooden joint moves, here's the fix:
Find the wobble. Rock the chair and watch which joint moves.
Ease it apart. Wood glue maker Titebond says heat from a hair dryer or heat gun weakens its dried glue, per its FAQ.
Clean off the old glue, from the dowel and from inside the hole. Popular Woodworking calls this the one step you can't compromise on.
Glue it and clamp it. Spread wood glue on the dowel and in the hole, push the joint together, and wrap a band clamp around the legs with all four legs on a flat floor. Leave it clamped at least an hour.
Wait a day. Titebond says not to put stress on a fresh joint for at least 24 hours, so nobody sits on it until then.
TLDR: a dowel is the round wooden peg that fits into a hole to join two pieces of a chair.
Titebond's clamp time for a joint under no stress is 30 minutes to an hour, and it says a joint under stress, like a chair's, needs longer. An hour is the floor.
Glue it this weekend and it's ready with days to spare before the 26th. Scroll down for the clamp that does step 4.
Renters, if the chairs came with the place, ask your landlord first.
Worth a Look
A Band Clamp That Hugs All Four Chair Legs
If you're regluing a chair, the Pony Jorgensen 1215 Adjustable Band Clamp is the one we'd point you to, at $24.79 at time of writing.
A band clamp wraps one strap around the whole chair and pulls it in evenly from every side, so the joints close without a rack of bar clamps. This one has a 15-foot nylon strap and a ratcheting handle that locks as you tighten.
Pony rates it at 1,000 pounds of clamping force, and four plastic corners keep it from marking the wood. Its listing even names regluing chairs as a job it's built for. Here's the clamp on Amazon.
We haven't glued up a chair with this one ourselves. The specs and price come from its Amazon listing.
That said, you have to feed the strap through the handle the first time you use it, so set it up before the glue comes out.
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Where Leftover Paint Should Spend the Winter
Image: The Home Wire
If the leftover paint lives in the garage, move it this weekend. Sherwin-Williams says paint stored in the garage tends to freeze when it gets too cold, and it recommends keeping paint between 60 F and 80 F.
Stored right, opened latex paint lasts about two years, per Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore. Oil-based paint lasts up to 15, per Sherwin-Williams.
Here's how to store it, from Benjamin Moore:
Wipe the rim clean so the lid can seal.
Lay plastic wrap over the opening.
Tap the lid down all the way around with a rubber mallet.
Label it with the brand, color, sheen and room. Sherwin-Williams adds the month and year you opened it.
Shelve it indoors, in a closet, utility room or basement.
One more from Benjamin Moore: note the color on the back of that room's light switch plate, so the match is right there next time.
Not sure an old can is still good? Sherwin-Williams says spoiled paint smells sour or like rotten eggs or mildew, or turns into jelly-like clumps.
Done with a can? Benjamin Moore says latex can go in the trash once it's dried out, using kitty litter or a paint hardener for bigger amounts. Oil paint can't go in the trash. PaintCare runs drop-off sites in 12 states and DC; elsewhere, check your county's household hazardous waste program.
Shovel Snow Without Wrecking Your Back
Image: The Home Wire
Push the snow instead of lifting it, and keep every scoop small. The first real snow catches everyone out of practice: more than 137,000 people were treated for shoveling and snowblowing injuries in 2018, per CPSC figures cited by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
It's hard on the heart, too. The American Heart Association says heavy shoveling can be as demanding as a treadmill stress test, with heart rates around 170 beats a minute, compared with about 120 behind a snow blower. The AHA adds that heart rates topped 85% of maximum within 2 minutes of shoveling.
Here's the technique the surgeons recommend:
Warm up for 10 minutes before you start.
Push the snow instead of lifting it whenever you can.
Squat with your knees bent and your back straight, then lift with your legs.
Keep each scoop small.
Never throw snow over your shoulder or to the side. The twist strains your back.
Take deep, wet snow off in layers, not all at once.
Renters, check your lease before the first storm. Snow removal is often the landlord's job.
Shake the Stair Handrail Before Guests Arrive
Image: The Home Wire
If older relatives are coming for the holiday, grab the stair handrail and give it a firm shake. More than 14 million older adults, about 1 in 4, report falling every year, per the CDC.
A rail that moves usually has a bracket that's worked loose. Family Handyman says handrail brackets belong on wall studs, not bare drywall.
Here's the check:
Shake the rail and find the bracket that moves.
Probe the wall beside it with a finish nail to feel for wood or hollow space behind the drywall.
Tighten the bracket screws if there's a stud behind them.
No stud? Switch to metal toggle anchors, which grip from behind the drywall, per Family Handyman.
Pre-drill 1/8-inch pilot holes for any new screws.
Renters, a loose handrail is a landlord repair. Report it in writing now, so there's time to fix it before the holiday.
Quiet a Squeaky Door Hinge for Good
A squeaky door is a small thing, until the baby's asleep and a guest needs the bathroom at 2 a.m.
Family Handyman fixes it with petroleum jelly, which it calls a traditional, non-staining lubricant that won't drip like oil. A quick spray doesn't last as long: Schlage calls WD-40 on a hinge a temporary fix that needs reapplying.
Here's the routine, one hinge at a time:
Close the door so it stays put while the pin is out.
Tap the hinge pin up and out from underneath with a nail and a hammer. Family Handyman uses an 8d nail.
Coat the pin lightly with petroleum jelly.
Dab a little into the top of the hinge.
Tap the pin back in and wipe off the extra.
Swing the door a few times to work it in.
TLDR: an 8d nail is a common 2 1/2-inch nail.
Renters, this one's all yours. Nothing comes off the wall.
One quick tap
Which should we cover next?
That's Friday: a wobbly chair, a band clamp, leftover paint, snow shoveling, the stair rail and a squeaky door.
If you only do one thing this weekend, glue the chair, so it gets its 24 hours.
Forward this to whoever in your house is setting the table.
See you Monday.
The Home Wire
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