Let’s solve a couple more issues month, you know, the ones that REALLY bug you but not enough to make you actually DO anything about it…

INSUFFICIENT HOT WATER:
This can have several causes, all of them easy to fix. Often, the tank just isn’t turned up high enough. If it’s gas, just turn the control knob on front of the tank to “hot”. 120 degrees is usually hot enough but they WILL go a LOT higher. If you have small children in the home, be careful.

If you have an electric water heater, one of the elements (probably the lower one) is bad. This one does most of the work so is most prone to fail. The part is about $15 and very EZ to install but you need a special wrench to do it. If the existing one is badly rusted, it may not come out which means you need a new water heater.

In rare cases the water heater is hooked up backwards with the hot water coming OUT of the cold INLET pipe ! This turns a 40 gal. tank into a 10 gal. one ! Just switch the pipes on top of the tank, problem solved…

In case you’re wondering, your tank probably IS the correct size for the home however a normal size tank (40 gals.) will NOT fill a “garden” tub. In this case, just turn the temp. up 20mins. before you want to bathe and it should be ok.

Of course, if you live in an older home without lowflow shower heads, the hot water in the tank won’t last as long as in a newer home with these type heads.

FLOOR SQUEAKS

Usually this is caused by loose plywood. Just pull up the carpet and put some SCREWS into the plywood around the squeak. Have a professional restretch your carpet. In my home (built in 1994) I discovered the truss UNDER the plywood had a loose “gusset”. I had to pull up the plywood (which is VERY hard to do because it’s glued down with VERY strong glue), renail the gusset to the floor truss and then put the plywood and carpet back down.
If you have wood floors or tile upstairs, you may want to make your repair from the 1st floor by going thru the ceiling…