If I was organized, I would be dangerous!
Organize and Plan Home Repair
To discuss how to organize and plan home repair, I would like to tell you a short story. A friend of mine (Mike, you know who you are!) told me recently that, “if I was organized, I would be dangerous.” We commented back and forth for a bit about some related character traits, but for some reason this familiar phrase stuck with me this time. How important is it to be organized, I thought. I can focus broadly on lots of things at once and still be effective, right?
Multi-task or not?
The truth is that I really can’t! Being organized and knowing what the tasks are and taking them one at a time in an intentional way is essential to being effective and victorious in any area of life. Getting organized and planned about your home repair is no exception.
With planning, what separates the leaders from the followers? It’s the ability to assess and plan for success and then work the plan to completion. I can hear you saying right now, “Yeah, I’ve heard this before. I plan everything.” My question to you is, do you?
Plan Everything!
How many of us have pulled the towel rack off its mount with the towel in the morning and said, “I’ve got fix that!”, only to be back in the same place the next morning. Or, if you’re a guy, have you ever found that your wife is discouraged by the failing appliance that has been broken for 6 months, but only seems like 6 days to you? Or if you’re a homemaker, has your family wanted to host a party or gathering for a while now, but just need to get the house in shape first?
To use my friend Mike’s term, I propose that “we would be Dangerous if we would just organize our home repair”!
How to Get Started
Why do we plan our child care, physical care, pet care, emotional care, and lawn care, but don’t plan our home care? I would like to change that. This year, I urge you to set aside planned time each month to evaluate and make repairs on your home. Some good questions to ask could be:
1. Do I know what to look for around my house to find problems that may exist?
2. Do I have a place to document the needed repairs that I find?
3. Do I have them prioritized in order of importance?
4. Do I have a plan to get them completed?
5. What would it take to work my home repair plan?
Could you spare one Saturday morning a month to get started? Identify all the items that you are aware of that need your home repair attention. Put them in one place and prioritize them. You might consider setting up a Trello account and making a board just for To Do items around the house. Make categories that make sense to you and prioritize within those categories. The account at Trello.com is free!
Unknown Repair Needs
Another point to consider is the repair needs that are not known. For example, another friend of mine, Ron, called me one early Sunday morning and said that he found 3″ of water in his entire basement and wondered if I had any advice on where to go next. I went over there to help him dry everything up and discovered that his sump pump was seized up and it was not running! The water problem was a result of one of the first heavy spring rains and frankly his entire lower level depended on that sump pump kicking on when it was needed, but it didn’t! This was an unknown repair that was needed. How do we plan to avoid these types of home repair disasters?
It is called monthly assessment.
Check out our blog post on testing your sump here.
A simple manual test of his sump pump at the right time of year would have revealed the ineffective culprit! Consider studying up on what components of your home need to be checked or assessed and when. By trial and error, you can come up with a pretty good list. Another option is to take advantage of subscription products that are available to you. By subscribing to our membership group on Facebook, you not only get the regular monthly assessment list of what to assess and when, but also tips and training from a pro! This is very inexpensive and, as my friend Ron will tell you, it will save you money in the long run!
Proactive Home Repair Community
Go to this link to learn more about our special group for those wanting to learn more in the year ahead about getting their home repair organized!
4 Easy Steps to Get Started in Home Repair
So as we all look to improve and grow in the new year ahead, I strongly recommend putting your home repair back on your radar. After all our houses aren’t just houses, they are what our family calls home. So commit this year to bringing your family home!
Take action:
1. Make a regular monthly appointment with yourself to dedicate to home repair
2. Set up a Trello account to list and prioritize your repair items
3. Subscribe to a very inexpensive monthly assessment program to make sure you know what to look for
4. Work the plan!
Get our free eBook that explains this in more detail!
My best to you all in the year ahead as you work to “Bring Your Family Home”!
Handyman Bruce
Water running from tub spout Run lots of water out of the tub spout and monitor the wet area. You may have to let it dry up before you can really see if new water is appearing. If the leak is on a drywall ceiling below, then consider cutting a small inspection hole to help evaluate your test results. If you still find water below, then proceed to step #2. If you see no water from this test, then that means that the leak is either in the riser pipe that runs from the valve to the shower head inside the wall OR from water that is splashing inside the shower and finding a way through the surfaces in the shower. The Bucket Test To further narrow down these two options to one, examine the water flow carefully while the shower is running. Does it clearly spray out of the shower head or is there water streaming back to the wall? If water is running against one of the walls, then correct the problem. If you don’t think this is the case then have a helper hold a large bucket under the shower-head while testing again. 
View inside wall Run the shower this way for 2 or 3 minutes (or for longer if it normally takes longer for the leak to show up) dumping the bucket in the toilet or sink, as needed. Most likely this will prove to keep the leak from showing up because leaks in the pipe behind the wall are very uncommon. If your leak has been kept away by this, then the problem is not inside the wall. You most likely have a problem with a seal in the surfaces of your shower. Caulking and sealing are in order. If, after the bucket test, you’re still getting leaking water below, then you most likely have a problem with the plumbing inside the wall. Find a place to get access and cut a work hole to make the repair. If either of these two results has revealed the problem. No need to go to step two. Just get to work! Step #2 Next let’s do another test. Stop the drain and fill your bathtub with water. Make sure that the drain is holding water and not seeping through. 
Fill tub with water You can usually hear the water seeping if you turn off the water and listen carefully. Let the water stand in the tub for several hours and see if the leak is present. If so, then the problem is on the top side of the tub where the drain assembly is supposed to seal to the tub. The solution is to unscrew the drain assembly and reseal it with plumbers putty (or clear silicone if you have a cultured marble tub). You have found your problem! If your test results in no water, until you un-stop the drain that is, then you can proceed to step #3! Step #3 Now let’s look further down. We have isolated the problem to below the tub surface. 
Cross section of tub drain In the image above you will see the bath drain shoe. On the bottom of the tub is a thick rubber seal that is pulled tightly up against the bottom of the tub by the drain shoe to keep water that goes down the drain from leaving the constraints of the pipe. This is your next most likely spot to have a problem. This seal can dry up and crack over time and lose its ability to seal. This can be replaced from the top by removing the drain assembly and slipping a new one through the drain hole and resting it under the tub. Reinstall the drain assembly with plumber’s putty or clear silicone. In cases where the bottom of the tub is visible, simply look at the connections on all the pipes while water is running through them and determine where the leak is. It’s not so easy when the ceiling below hides all this from your view. In many cases the best way to diagnose and repair it at this point is to cut out a work hole below and patch it after the repair is complete. Step #4 If you pass all these tests and still have a leak when the water is running, then you probably have a damaged place in a pipe. 
Carefully cut into the ceiling or wall to expose the problem area At this point you can start cutting into the ceiling or walls to find the leak knowing that you did everything you could to eliminate the simpler solutions. Always be careful when cutting into a wall. Proceed slowly with a hand saw to avoid damaging a pipe or wire. It can cause serious injury, if proper care is not taken. So let’s review: Step #1 Test to see if the problem occurs when just the shower runs. Step #2 Next let’s do another test. Stop the drain and fill your bathtub with water. Step #3 Now let’s look further down. The bottom seal can dry up and crack over time and lose its ability to seal under the tub. Step #4 If you pass all these tests and still have a leak when the water is running, then you probably have a damaged place in a pipe. I hope that this helps you when diagnosing a drain leak in your tub or shower. For more learning, our monthly checklists and our free eBook on being a more productive DIYer, visit 
This type is most commonly used over a PVC plumbing vent. This type is made to snugly slide over the PVC pipe and create a seal near the roof line. The rain water, in this case, can run on the inside of the pipe or on the outside, but when it hits the neoprene seal, it runs over the flashing and down the roof.
