每日家庭整修技巧

Often in a major home renovation we focus on the big ticket items, those which require a lot of time and effort, or those which cost a lot of money, or those which are complex.

Sometimes its the small, simple things that get missed which when done make a huge difference.

We have an entrance from the laundry room to the garage. As one of our family members uses a wheel chair lift, we had build a 5 X 5 foot platform (particle board, 2 X 4’s and 4 X 6’s) in the garage between the lift and the door to the laundry room. That way both the family member could access the lift from the laundry room and the other family members could also access the garage from the laundry room by way of the stairs on one side of the platform.

On top of the platform we had a 3 foot high gate which would swing into the platform when someone wanted to use the stairs but would prevent the walker / wheelchair from inadvertently going onto the stairs when the gate was closed. I’ll post a picture of the platform during the holidays once we get the digital camera back from the other daughter.

Right from the time the gate was installed on its hinges, it would make a large ’squeaking’ noise when it swung open and closed. So, yesterday I thought why not use a little WD 40 on it. A mere 2 minutes later and the squeak was gone; it’s now a silent swinging gate.

As well, with the gate made our of 2 X 4’s and the post it closed onto was also made out of 2 X 4’s, when the gate closed it made a large banging sound. I asked as the local hardwood store if they had some sort of cushion for this. They suggested using simple felt protector pads, the same ones we used inside the house at the bottom of the furniture to prevent scratching on the hardwood floor.

What a great and simple idea. Now, no more annoying banging noise and no more irritating squeaking when the gate swung closed. And, with us going between the laundry room and garage at least a dozen times a day this has made a world of difference.