I spent Saturday painting the trim of the stairwell and then stopped before edging the gray because I realized there was a slight problem. The handrail. It's going to be pretty impossible to paint the wall without removing it but suddenly I was stumped as to the best way to do that.
Either way, we're going to have to take one set of hardware off. See the second one up from the bottom of the picture?
So the question for you, reader, is whether or not to remove the 2 screws on the handrail or the 3 screw on the wall, for those holders that are still functional. Leave your thoughts in the comments.
Another weird problem: now that we fixed all the hallway light bulbs, we discovered that the switch on the right (which we thought went to the light with the broken bulb) actually doesn't go to anything. We thought one went to each light, but the black switch on the left apparently goes to both, leaving us clueless as to what the one on the right goes to. At some point, we'll have to have an electrician come and sort that out.
And just because I can, here's a picture of the morning after a big snowstorm. The snow was so thick and wet that it was slipping down our roof in one giant mass. We had some pretty monstrous icicles too but D knocked them off so that we wouldn't be impaled. I especially enjoyed watching the "hat" on our lamppost slowly shrink throughout the day:
3 comments:
You can remove either of the holes.
To fix any screw hole that might be stripped a.k.a. too big for the screw to bit into anything. Take some steel wool, usually purchased from a Home Depot or Lowes. No not the one that you scrub pots with. These have soap on them. OO or OOO steel wool should be good. Pull some strands from the steel wool and stuff it into the hole with something pointed. Nail set tool, ball point pen, even a knitting needle. Once its in, drip some plain white glue into the hole with the steel wool. Then put in your screw. The steel wool and glue will hold it really well.
Or dip the steel wool into the glue before pushing it into the hole. This way is a little messy, but if you're in an angle that its impossible to drip the glue in, this works fine also.
Another alternative:
Buy Gorilla Glue (Not Gorilla Super Glue). This glue swells up as it hardens. Dip your screw into the glue then put it into the screw hole. Use gloves if you can, this is a messy job. The glue will swell up and lock the screw in. Only do this if you know you won't have to remove the screw anytime soon, because it will be difficult to remove. If any drips, you can wipe it with a cloth dipped into turpintine or mineral spirits or you can wait until it hardens then peel off.
Good luck with this. You can do it.
Signed,
Mom
R says remove the 3 wall screws. If they were only screwed into plaster and not into wood behind the plaster, you can buy something called a toggle bolt that slips into the hole and opens like wings to hold the screw in place.
Your mystery switch reminds me of the commercial where they keep flipping the switch and it's operating their neighbor's garage door. R says it may control an outlet nearby.
We were without power (or heat) for 56 hours.
Hilarious! D was so amused by the reference to the switch commercial that he found it on youtube. Here's the link for anyone who doesn't get the reference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV0GGspZAos
Also just to clarify for anyone who might use this as a reference--the steel wool filler would only work on the wood side, not the plaster side. We're tied 1 to 1 on which side to remove. Anyone else going to weigh in?
~J
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