The Best of Ask This Old House: 44 Common Household Projects

Richard helps a homeowner with a wobbly toilet. With the toilet removed, he determines that it rocked back and forth because the cast-iron toilet fl nge sat up too high.

Richard helps a homeowner with a bathtub that wouldn’t hold water.

Richard helps a homeowner replace an existing three valve shower control with a single-handled mixing valve. In a three-valve control, one handle controls hot water, one handle controls cold, and the third handle diverts water from the spout up to the showerhead. The new single-handle valve prevents scalding, should there be a sudden drop in cold water pressure.

Richard replaces an old 3.5 gallons per flush (GPF) toilet with a new, state-of-the-art dual-flushing unit that uses 0.9 GPF for liquids and 1.6 GPF for solids.

Tom helps a homeowner re-grout a small tile floor in her master bathroom. The white-colored grout had become dirty and discolored and some of it had broken loose.

Kevin and electrician Brian Bergeron help a homeowner install a new fan in her bathroom. The fan exhausts the humid air created by the shower to the outside of the house.

Richard helps a homeowner replace an old, outdated looking vanity in her master bathroom.