How Impressive Are Your Handyman Skills?

The flapper is the little rubber thing that comes up when you push down on the flush handle, allowing water to rush into the bowl and make the toilet flush. When the tank empties, the flapper should fall back down and seal the tank, allowing it to fill until the next flush. If it doesn't seal all the way, water will seep around it and the tank will need to be refilled.

Sometimes, small bits of debris can get into the tank and get stuck either on the flapper or in the drain hole. Also, over time, the rubber of the flapper will show wear and tear and eventually begin to fall apart. Finally, the chain or rod between the flush handle and the flapper can become kinked or bent, keeping it from falling back down properly.

The studs are the "bones" of your house. There are very specific regulations on how close together they must be, since spacing them too far apart will weaken the overall structure.

A level is a must-have tool for any handyman's toolbox. The best are a couple of feet long and have bubbles in clear glass tubes that will show you how close you are to level. Often, they have marks on them that let them double as rulers.

For a small gouge or other marks, spackling paste and a putty knife is all you'll need to restore the wall to its unmarked state. Then paint the spackle with matching paint to hide all evidence of your furniture-moving mishap.

Did you know you can remove hinge pins very easily to take doors off for painting? Use a flathead screwdriver to pop them loose at the top and then pull them out by hand (or tap them gently with a rubber mallet if they're stuck). Be sure you have someone hold the door steady while you do this!

Believe it or not, WD-40 is NOT a lubricant, although we've all used it for that purpose now and again. It stops squeaks temporarily because it cleans the squeaky parts and lets them move more freely. Use it first, THEN use the lubricant. (Note; the oils CAN be used but shouldn't be.)

The claw end of the hammer can serve as a very short pry bar in a pinch, but it's primarily there to pull out mis-hit or improperly placed nails. It's sometimes called the "eraser," because it removes the evidence of nail-driving incompetence.

Think of a stud finder as a handheld radar that can see through the sheetrock in your walls and find out where the studs are. You'll still want to drill a test hole or drive a nail in the make absolutely sure, but the stud finder will give you a pretty accurate picture of where you need to be.

A drywall anchor is a plastic sheath that is driven through a pilot hole in the wall. Once through the hole, it mushrooms out and becomes a secure holder for a mounting screw. The idea is to distribute the weight of whatever's hung over a larger area inside the drywall.

Caulk is something of a magical substance, used to seal around a multitude of things to keep air out, water in or for any other sealing purpose. It comes in colors and in various compositions for different jobs such as very wet or very hot environments.

Teflon tape, also called thread seal tape, is a very thin tape that prevents water from penetrating into the threads of a plumbing fixture. It's the sort of thing you won't miss at first, but six months later when the threads are rusted and water sprays sideways from them, you'll wish you had used it.

There are actually six types of commonly used screwdrivers, but the most popular (and ones that should be in any toolbox) are the flathead (or slotted), Phillips and Torx. The Torx head is shaped something like a rounded-off asterisk.

Any wallpaper with a pattern, no matter how simple or how intricate, has a point at which the pattern starts and stops. That point is the pattern repeat, and keeping the width between them consistent as you go across the wall will leave you with a good-looking end product.

If you've ever watched an apartment complex being built or been around a big housing development in progress, you've likely seen flatbed trucks loaded down with pre-built roof rafters and walls. A stick-built house is one that was done board by board, the way structures were built for hundreds of years.

The rafters are just like studs, except they're supporting the roof of your house. For this reason, they also have very demanding specifications governing how close they have to be, how they are attached and various other factors.

PVC, or polyvinyl chloride, is the white plastic-like material that is used to make most of the plumbing pipes in your house. It's cheaper than copper and can be made in a tremendous number of diameters and shapes.

Cut the potato in half, clear any remaining broken glass out and press the cut side of the potato into the socket. Twist counter-clockwise and the potato should grab the remainder of the bulb and unscrew it from the socket. Warning: Do NOT eat the potato after doing this.

Particleboard, which you've seen most likely in cheap pieces of dorm furniture, is made of sawdust and a glue binder. MDF is a step up, using wood fibers instead of sawdust. It's still not as strong as real wood, but it's got a multitude of uses.

A GFCI is a ground fault circuit interrupter. If you've ever seen an electrical outlet with a reset button in the middle of it, that's a GFCI. Think of it as a circuit breaker in a socket, which is designed to cut power immediately if a short is detected.

Applying and sanding joint compound are two of the dirtiest but most common jobs in interior construction and remodeling. After the compound is applied and allowed to dry, it must be sanded to leave a smooth, finished surface. The sanding produces tremendous amounts of dust, so breathing protection is recommended.

The simple answer is that you change the filter when it's dirty, and that's also where the problem comes in. The amount of dust and debris that a filter collects varies depending on the season, how many people and pets are in the house, how often the doors to the outside are opened, etc. Some modern systems have a sensor that will tell you when the filter is dirty.

Sometimes, especially if a house has had rooms added or the interior layout changed by remodeling, the air conditioning system will need to be balanced. This involves redirecting ducts, using baffles and several other techniques to change where the air goes.

Over time, sediment and minerals will settle at the bottom of your water heater, clogging the main element and making it work less efficiently. There are very good online guides on how to do this. By the way: Don't refer to this appliance as a "hot water heater." Why would you need to heat water that's already hot?

While you might think "green" has something to do with being environmentally friendly, in this case, it refers to the color that appears in the wood when the copper in the preservative is exposed to sunlight. There are different grades of treatment depending on what the wood will be used for.

It might seem counter-intuitive to think that a lack of coolant could lead to something freezing up, but that's exactly what will happen with an air conditioner. This will also happen if the blower fan isn't working properly and moving air across the coils fast enough.

Your ceiling fan should spin clockwise in the winter and fall to draw the cold air up to the ceiling and force warm air down. It should spin counter-clockwise in the summer to keep a "pool" of warm air from forming near the ceiling and heating up the room.

The toilet snake is a hand-cranked or, in the cases of big jobs or professional plumbers, motorized tube with a rotating claw on the end that is threaded down into a toilet or clogged drain and spun to destroy or dislodge a clog. We're not sure what a toilet badger might be, but we don't want to meet one. Ever.

Underlayment provides a bit of insulation under the laminate, and it also cushions the flooring, which makes for more comfortable walking and also guards against flexing and cracking. It's a mandatory item under most building codes, so don't forget to budget for it!

Lipid is another word for fat, which while it insulates you and helps keep you warm, wouldn't do such a great job for a house. The pink rolls in your attic are fiberglass, blown-in insulation is usually cellulose and foam is usually used to seal potential air leak spots.

Low-e, or low-emissivity, refers to glass that's treated to reduce infrared and ultraviolet light coming into your home. It doesn't cut down on the amount of visible light, so you'll still need curtains, and its insulation properties are up for debate depending which window installer you're talking to.

You might be tempted to try to use the claw on the hammer to pull the screw out, but you might not get a grip on the small bit of remaining screw, and trying to pull the screw straight out instead of turning it could damage the wood ... or your face if it comes loose abruptly. Grab the nub of the screw with your needlenose pliers and twist it free ... then buy better-quality screws.

The aerator is that little screen that the water passes through on the way out of your faucet. While the dripping water is, indeed, coming through the aerator, that's not the cause of the problem. If you try to diagnose and repair this problem yourself, be sure to turn off the water to the sink first or you'll end up with a far more expensive repair than you'd planned.

It's a violent term for what's usually a fairly precise operation. If you've got a four-inch by one-inch board, and you need two boards that are two inches by one inch, you'll "rip" the existing board using, most likely, a table saw. You can do this with a circular saw if you are a real expert at making straight cuts.

The concept behind universal design is that rather than having specific rooms designed for those with physical challenges of various types, all places should be accessible to everyone. This covers everything from plumbing design to door widths and things like ramps to make doorways accessible.