Washing machine repair

A washing machine bellow (also known as washing machine boot) is the rubber part that connects a front load washer tub to the front of the washer to keep the water inside the tub. Mine was ripped and had started to leak. I decided to take a stab at replacing it, so I ordered a replacement part online. It came the very next day I recommend using this site if you need a good parts place. I ended up using a manual and a youtube video for instructions. However, I only have 2 hands and the retainer spring that keeps the bellow in place was a tight fit so the point of this blog is to show how I did it. A Binder Clip! See it at the top of the door opening? Worked like a charm.

New Railing

The first few steps of stairwell had been lacking a railing since the first week of owning the home. The original railing had a ton of coats of peeling paint and was very boring, so I removed it during floor refinishing (don't worry... the rest of the steps have been safer since Oct 2010). Although convenient not to have a railing for move-in and taking larger items upstairs for projects, I have friends with mobile kids, which makes having a railing more necessary. I took multiple trips to the hardware stores just to scope out the supplies. I quickly came to the determination that I did not like any of the newel posts available at the hardware stores, but I found one I really liked on ebay from a Canadian wood carver. After a couple of messages back and forth I determined what I wanted to get, which included a half newel post too and made the purchase. It was also cheaper than the ones in the hardware stores near me. It took a couple of weeks for the pieces to arrive, so in the meantime I bought the balusters and railing from the local hardware store. I found a really handy video describing how to install a railing. If you don't want to watch the whole video here is one tip I learned: you should count the number of steps that the railing will span and add 1 for the number of feet you need for your railing.

This project was one of the harder ones I've had to do b/c I had to notch the bottom post to fit the corner of the step. Also the pieces are pretty expensive, so it makes that "final cut" all the more stressful. But it turned out great! Kelli and Whitney were my extra hands for this project. They also listened to me "talk it out" when I was thinking about angles and cuts and helped me out with trips to the hardware store. I couldn't have done it without them... and my trusty mitre saw. Some other things to note. I wasn't too confident that the liquid nails was going to work on the balusters, but after 48 hours of curing, those things aren't going anywhere.

The railing has been usable since November, but I still have a couple of finishing touches (i.e. another coat of sealant on it because I missed some spots due to my dark basement not providing enough light). The holidays were approaching and I decided to give myself a break from house projects, but will probably get to it soon.

It's way better than the original AND the top of the newel post is similar to post caps on my deck. I figure if I'm redoing so much of the house, it should tie together.