Customer Reviews

Popular Mechanics When Duct Tape Just Isn't Enough: Quick Fixes for Everyday Disasters

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This little guide is practical, concise and even a little funny. It covers a wide range of topics from plumbing, to painting, to getting out red wine and pet stains. It really does have it all! A perfect litttle gift for all those men (or women) in your life who need a little help doing those things that handy people seem to "just know" how to do.

Nicely organized, succinctly written guide to home repairs aimed at the mechanically-UNinclined. I especially like the fact that each problem is broken down into three categories: repair yourself, repair with a professional, and throw out and buy a new one. And the spiral binding is excellent for having the book beside you when attempting one of the amateur-appropriate repairs.

This is a very good book, with lots of practical hints.

However, for more serious home improvement projects, I have purchased the following books and found them to be very helpful to me:

Do It Yourself Home Improvement: Step by Step Guide to Home Improvement;

Ultimate Guide to Home Repair & Improvement (Ultimate Guide);

New Complete Guide to Home Repair & Improvement (Better Homes & Gardens);

Encyclopedia of Home Maintenance & Repair - This is a black & white book, but has very good explanations, especially of electrical.

This book was not what I expected. I had bought it as a Christmas present for my father. My father is a man who loves his tools and such, but isn't the best about fixing things around the house, so I thought this would be a good book for him. It really wasn't. Although it says for things that happen everyday, most of the things don't. Most of the contents of the book are ways to fix things that a mechanic or electrician should really fix, like refrigerator and clothes dryer. This was not what I expected of the book, so I don't think it is that good at all.

I thought it would be an often referred to reference book, but I have not even needed it yet.

This is a masterpiece full of hints, ideas and fixes for those everyday occurrences we encounter in the home or apartment. My sister says, "This is 'Coffee Table' book in my house."

A nice collection of 200+ pages of quick fix in the house. It is not about duct tape, but it is repairs that similar to practicality of using one. The topics are more to the inexperienced homeowners. Anything beyond you will need to call an expert.

Pretty useful as a quick reference. It covers - tool tips, maintenance, electrical, plumbing, appliances, furniture, yard & garden and stain removal.

Book is spring hardbound with thick sturdy pages. Nice to have one around.

Lists the problems by category and quick good fixes. I would definitely recommend this book!

"When Duct Tape Just Isn't Enough" is a handy survival manual designed to get you through an emergency disaster repair or a simple way to handle a common problem. Each stop-gap measure is fairly simple: The editors ingeniously explain what is handy to address repairs before you have time to call a pro.

Even though most of the reviewers on this page have quoted this, it bears repeating: "There are two types of people in the world: those who know what to do when something gets busted and those who are always asking the first group for help." My brother belongs to the first group. I once asked him what private school boys attend to learn these guy things about repairs. They even speak tools. It has always fascinated me what men know about stuff. But now I may have him calling me for help. Just kidding.

There is a one-page disclaimer which sings the praises of duct tape: its history and uses. Did you know that Johnson & Johnson developed duct tape during World War II to wrap ammo boxes to keep water out? For obvious reasons, it was initially called duck tape. Solders began using it to wrap their boots. After the war, servicemen carried this tape home where it thrived in household uses.

Another handy idea is to put together a tool kit available for use immediately in case of emergency. On page 12 there is a list of items to include.

The book itself is really a binder with a spiral to hold the pages. They flip open and closed very smartly. Each chapter is marked by the appropriate tool and a unique colored tab. The binder is 6 x 7 1/2, making a very convenient size and style.

Here are the chapter titles (to provide an idea of what to expect):

Tool Tips

Maintenance and Cleaning Clues

Structural Quandaries

Electrical Snafus

Perplexing Plumbing

Appliance Failures

Refurbishing Furniture

Yard and Garden Dilemmas

Do you know that there are six major adhesives? Knowing how to use these will make your life so much easier. Epoxy is good for filling in holes and cracks. Polyurethane glue is good for almost all building materials. White glue is used in bonding wood, paper, and fabric, but especially wood to wood. Yellow glue is good for general household adhesions.

What do you do when screws no longer tighten? Use toothpicks in the holes!

How do I remove cat hair from my sofa? Wipe the sofa with dryer sheets.

Your comforter has gone flat and no longer provides heat. What do you do? Toss it into the dryer, add three tennis balls, and run the unit on air-only to re-fluff that cover!

Your dishwasher doesn't clean as well. Remove the bottom rack and use a metal skewer to clean out the arm holes. Debris sometimes collects there.

The book does not include every problem in the world, but it is certainly worth the money, especially when it can help save you money in the long run!

There are two kinds of people in this world. Those who build, maintain and repair the physical infrastructure around us, and those who bug those who do to solve their problems for them. If you want some inspiration to move from the second category to the first, this is a fun place to start.

Duct Tape, as this book informs us, was originally called Duck tape. It was issued to troops to keep their ammunition boxes dry. But they found a thousand and one uses for it. And people have been continuing to find more uses.

However duct tape is not what this book is about. It's about applying the kind of imaginative and experimental 'duck tape' kind of "lateral thinking" to a thousand and one household maintenance problems.

I think the idea is to use it for inspiration rather than reference. The ideas presented are well thought out and well presented. And fun.