The past 100 or so years have seen unprecedented levels of innovation in construction and home maintenance, so much so that it’s hard to keep up. Partly because of this, and partly due to deeper scientific understanding, tips and tricks recommended by pros and seasoned DIYers over the years have become outdated, and some advice that was helpful in its day is not as helpful today.
Take the venerable advice of treating a drain clog with vinegar and baking soda. Either ingredient by itself might be effective (one’s a base and one’s an acid), but now we know that when combined, they just produce a foaming mass of carbon dioxide gas, and clogs just laugh. The internet has its share of offbeat and sometimes very helpful DIY hacks, but there are also plenty of outdated tips like this. They sound good — unless you work in the trades.
Here, with the help of professionals in the home construction and maintenance trades, we debunk eight tips and tricks that have aged out.
Using Bread While Soldering Water Pipes
When turning off the water and cutting into a copper water pipe to make a repair, you need to stop any water in the pipe from dripping, or the solder won’t work. An old-school trick is to push a piece of bread into the dripping pipe to soak up the water just long enough to complete the repair. The bread dissolves when you turn the water back on.
As DevilDog1966 said in a ten-year-old Reddit thread: “Over the years, I could have fed a lot of homeless folks with the bread I’ve used. No more, why bother? Buy a Sharkbite and be done with it.” In other words, he’s saying to do the repair with PEX, which doesn’t need to be soldered. That way, you avoid potentially using the wrong bread (which won’t dissolve) or having the bread ignite when you heat the joint.
Covering Over Old Roofing to Stop Leaks
Covering over roof leaks with roofing tar is a time-worn practice, but based on 100 roof inspections and repairs, roofer Daniel Cabrera says it’s a bad idea. It voids the warranty of the roof covering, traps moisture underneath the shingles and ultimately makes future repairs even harder. “The correct approach is to install a matched shingle replacement with an ice and water shield underneath.”
Similarly, he is critical of the common practice of covering old shingles with new ones. “Such practices hide the rotten deck, trap heat in the house, make it age faster, and void almost all the warranty on materials used. All you can do now is tear off those old shingles.”
Using “S” Traps
Like a P-trap, an S-trap is a curved drain pipe that collects water to prevent sewer gases from escaping. S-traps are now illegal for most applications, although you might still find one under the sink in an older home. The reason S-traps are bad is that they frequently empty because of suction in the pipes, exposing the home to foul-smelling and potentially hazardous sewer gases.
A DIY plumber may be tempted to use an S-trap in an older home on a fixture that isn’t vented. It seems like a quick, easy solution, but it’s a liability and will have to be replaced the next time an inspector shows up. If you don’t have the time and money to vent an unvented fixture, a solution that probably won’t get you red-tagged is to install a P-trap and an air admittance valve (AAV).
Taping Ductwork with Duct Tape
You’re probably thinking: “What’s wrong with taping ducts with duct tape? That’s what it’s for; it’s in the name.” Well, actually, the original name of this all-purpose repair tape was Duck Tape (look it up), and it only got the new name in the 50s and 60s when people began using it to repair ducts. It worked — more or less — but there’s a better product now: foil-backed tape.
The problem with duct tape is that it dries out and deteriorates over time. “You’d be amazed how quickly standard duct tape degrades on warm HVAC duct runs,” says contractor Danny Niemela. “Most standard cloth-backed duct tapes can degrade within a year or less because the adhesive loses moisture and breaks away from the cloth backing, and it does this even faster on warm ducts than on other surfaces.”
In short…use duct tape to patch a leak, and the leak will recur. That won’t happen with foil-backed tape.
Using Two-Pin to Three-Pin Plug Adapters
You’ve got an appliance cord with a grounding pin, but the receptacle has only two slots. The common fix is to use a two-pin to three-pin adapter, but this is safe only if the wiring is grounded. If it is, you still have to ground the adapter by unscrewing the cover plate, sticking the screw through the metal tab on the adapter, and reattaching the cover plate — a fun fact that you might not know. I, for one, never realized what that tab was for until now.
Using one of these adapters in an ungrounded receptacle is dangerous. A code-sanctioned alternative is to replace the receptacle with a GFCI receptacle. It trips whenever it detects the current surge that comes with a ground fault, stopping the flow of electricity and preventing fires and injury.
Jumping a Circuit Breaker
Back in the days when houses had fuse boxes, an old trick to restore power after a fuse blew was to replace it with a penny — presumably until you had a chance to buy a new fuse. The modern version of this trick is to replace a circuit breaker that keeps tripping with one that has a higher current rating. Bad idea, says Niemela.
“Best case scenario is that you overload an entire circuit and start melting your outlet covers. Worst case is you are starting a residential fire that spreads to clothes closets and wall voids undetected.” If a circuit breaker keeps tripping, you need to look for the reason, not try to restore power with a temporary fix that could burn down your house.
Closing Vents to Save Money
“You often still hear people say that in order to improve the efficiency of your home’s heating/cooling, you should close the vent covers or doors of the rooms you aren’t actively using in your home,” says HVAC pro Eli Zimmer. The idea is that, by heating only the rooms in which the vents are open, the furnace won’t have to work as hard and will burn less fuel.
“This just isn’t how it works. Unless you have a zoned HVAC system where you can control different parts of your home singularly, what ends up happening is that you simply cause more pressure at your vents and you decrease good airflow in your home,” says Zimmer. “Your bill can increase, and you can cause more damage to your system. In the long run, you definitely won’t save money.”
Pressure Washing the Roof
This isn’t an old practice; it’s only as old as pressure washers. They are so good at cleaning that people use them everywhere, even on the roof. “That’s a good way to make your roof damaged beyond repair,” says Cabrera. “Pressure washing removes ceramic granules from the surface, breaks down the bond between shingles, and pushes water sideways, causing leaks to appear.”
If your roof is full of moss, spray the moss with bleach to kill it and scrape it off when it turns brown. Otherwise, says Cabrera: “The correct way to clean the roof is a soft wash with zinc strips or a mild soap solution.”
About the Experts
- Daniel Cabrera is the owner Roof Direct San Antonio. He has over 16 years of experience providing roof replacement and construction services in the greater San Antonio area.
- Danny Niemela is a licensed contractor, professional remodeler and Vice President and CFO at ArDan Construction in Scottsdale, AZ.
- Eli Zimmer is the director of operations of Luxaire HVAC Services in Long Island, NY
Sources
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8 Old-School DIY Tips and Tricks That Didn’t Age Well
