Had a stubborn flue blockage in a 1920s house in Akron. Tried a shop vac with a long hose and a wet rag trick. Actually worked.

3 comments

3 Comments

See this all the time. People overcomplicate simple problems because they assume old houses need special fixes. That wet rag trick is just making a better seal, basic physics. We get so used to buying a specific tool for every single job that we forget how stuff actually works. Your story proves the simplest solution is often right in front of you, using what you already have.

hunt.quinn1mo ago

Honestly @caleb_ross12, are we just paying for fancy packaging at this point? My dad fixed a wobbly table leg for years with a stack of old coasters, but I almost bought a "precision leveling kit" online. We're all out here buying a special plastic wedge to stop a door when a rolled-up towel does the exact same thing. It's like we need permission to just use the junk drawer.

miam7526d ago

Is it really just about not being able to fix things though, or is it more about not wanting to look stupid? Like you see a video of someone fixing their sink with a paperclip and a rubber band, and your first thought isn't "great idea," it's "that looks so hacky." We've been conditioned to think that a proper fix has to come in a box with an instruction manual. If you use a towel to stop a draft, you're just a person with a towel, but if you use a door draft stopper, you're a responsible homeowner. How do we get past that feeling that using what we have is somehow not good enough?