SERVING HENDRICKS COUNTY SINCE 1847
Page A-6
MASTERING THE HOUSE Tim Paino
Owner/Inspector Heartland HouseMaster
useful tips for homeowners
The Republican
Voices
We offer Voices as a place to share a story, a memory, an idea, a comment, a criticism, or a solution. Contributors must include name, address & phone number.
The Garage Door
The garage door is typically the largest exterior feature of our homes after the shingles and siding. It is the largest moving element by far and can easily weigh 100 to 250 pounds or more. Most of us in today’s world have some sort of an opener attached to the door so we are not doing the heavy lifting. We push the button and up it goes, on a good day, but if it does not, it is an awfully bad day. Here are some maintenance tips for the garage door and opener: ) Watch and Listen: The door should open and close smoothly and evenly. No jerking, grinding or scaping. Listen and observe the garage door as it goes in both directions. Watch the rollers and confirm they function and stay in the tracks. 2) Tighten up the Hardware: The average garage door goes up and down over a thousand times a year, vibrating with each motion. Check the hinges and roller brackets to confirm they remain tight. 3) Test the Balance: If the garage door is not properly balanced, the opener will be overworked and not last as long. There should be a release cord (typically with a red handle) when pulled allows the door to be manually opened and closed. You should be able to open the door with ten to fifteen pounds of lift pressure. The door should remain in a position about halfway opened without falling back down. If it is hard to lift or does not stay opened, it is time to call the professional to adjust the springs. 4) Lubricate the Moving Parts: Any hardware store should have dedicated Garage Door Lubricant. Every moving part should be lubricated; hinges, rollers, bearing plates, springs, opener rail. If in doubt, I suggest watching a YouTube video that guides you through all these parts needing to be lubricated. 5) Clean the tracks: You do not want to lubricate the track the rollers move in causing the track to collect dirt. You do want to wipe it out. Dust and debris collect in the track and can hamper the roller action. 6) Test the Auto-Reverse Safety Features: If your opener was purchased in the past 25 years there should be two safety features; the photocell and the pressure reverse. If it is older, it is time to buy a new opener. The photocells are to be mounted around 6 inches above the surface on each side of the opening. When the beam between the two cells is broken, the door should reverse and go back up. To test the pressure reverse, place a 2x4 down on the ground below the photocells, and when the door comes down on the 2x4 it should reverse and go back up. WARNING: Before testing, confirm a metal garage door is equipped with a reinforcement strut across the top panel. This helps strengthen the door and prevent bending the door if it does not reverse easily. If the door does not reverse, be ready to pull the release lever to prevent damage to the door or opener. These safety features are designed to prevent injury to the living and damage to both the door and anything that may be in its path. Keep that door working properly and have a good day! ______________________________________________
Neither a borrower nor a lender be... William Shakespeare
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A Note From Bee
Thursday, May 6, 2021
ASK MR. TRAFFIC By Chet Skwarcan, PE, President/ Founder of Traffic Engineering, Inc. Chet@TrafficEngineering.com
Traffic Problems? Just “Flip the Switch!” Plus 4 Magical Traffic Tonics!
And 2 to implement to I had two blind dates before I got married. For those of day — ALSO 1 bonus tip you who are too young to know what a blind date is, I will if you read this before midexplain. A friend would tell you about someone that they night tonight! thought you might want to go out on a date with. In most You get the idea. Raninstances you didn’t know what they looked like and really dom headline generators didn’t know much about them. A woman I worked with usually include a number. I suggested I go out with her and her husband. My date, won’t stoop to that psychoBill, was someone her husband worked with. We started logical trick but simply say out going to a neighborhood tavern for a drink. Bill must there are several ways to have wanted to show how well he could hold his liquor. reduce traffic congestion. He didn’t do a very good job of it. We had to leave ear- And here are the top severly because he started getting sick at his stomach. Thank al… goodness my friend’s husband drove. We had to take Bill Traffic Signal Optimization — this is one of the most home first. It took us awhile because we had to keep stop- cost-effective solutions to reduce congestion. Current trafping so Bill could get out and vomit. Needless to say Bill fic volumes are collected and analyzed. The most efficient traffic signal timing is determined for each lane for each and I never had a second date. That experience convinced me that I would never ever minute of each day. Do you ever wait at a traffic signal and go out on another blind date. Fast forward a couple of wonder why no one is moving? Stop doing that — call our years. I was working at the telephone company as a ser- world headquarters and ask for “Mr. Green.” vice representative. I talked to Jess, a dispatcher, sever- Traffic Signal Coordination — ever encounter several al times a day. He started talking about an installer, Jim, red lights in a row? How about several green lights in a who he also talked to. He was just the nicest guy and row? Which do you like better? If the latter, then consider he thought we should go out on a blind date. No, Jess, I coordinating adjacent signals. Traffic signals can be syndon’t go out on blind dates especially with installers. Ser- chronized to keep traffic moving smoothly. vice reps thought installers were all stupid and installers Autonomous Vehicles — while the actual number of cars on the road may not diminish, smart cars practice efthought service reps were snobby. J ess kept talking up Jim. Finally I said have him call me. fective collision management (ECM), discover new roads After talking to him I could surely think of some excuse to reach a destination (DNRtRaD), and eventually, make not to go out with him if necessary. He called me at work traffic signals obsolete (MTSO). and I must admit he sounded nice. So he asked me if I ever Traffic Apps — One of my personal favorites, these went on Coke dates. That was a big thing in the 60’s. Yes, apps know what’s happening on the road ahead. Even if I did. So he said he would call me at home about 7:00. you think you know how to get someplace, these apps will He asked for my last name, which was Brezinski, and my tell you the best way based on real time traffic, construction, police, crashes, & more. If traffic is bad along your telephone number. What he didn’t tell me til later, was that he was on a pole route, you’ll get a suggested alternative to save you time. when he called me and dropped his pencil. He thought he Reversible Lanes — this is the bonus tip mentioned could remember my last name and get my telephone num- above. A reversible lane is a lane in which traffic may ber from directory assistance. He never called because travel in either direction, depending on time of day. It imhe thought my last name was Berzinski and of course he proves traffic flow during rush hour by having overhead couldn’t get my number. When he didn’t call I thought, traffic lights notifying drivers which lanes are open or “Why did I ever say I would go out with him. You cannot closed to driving or turning. The above techniques mitigate traffic congestion., And trust installers to keep their word.” The next morning my first call was Jim and he explained mitigating traffic congestion is different from solving trafwhat happened. We went out on our Coke date. This was fic congestion. Keep in mind, growth and economic vitalin August. We were engaged in October and married in ity bring congestion. Solving congestion requires redirectJune. I have never regretted going on that second blind ing economic growth to other communities — this may be unacceptable. In the meantime, traffic mitigation is the date. We will be married 60 years in June. ______________________________________________ best way to have our cake and eat it too. ______________________________________________
A Bark From the Past: Henry
[Editor’s Note: The Republican’s first four-footed correspondent was Henry. A mixed breed rescue dog, Henry would make observations about being a dog in a small town. The articles, which ran in 2006 - 2010, have been languishing in the computer’s memory and we thought a new audience might enjoy some canine commentary.] This column was first published in 2009. I don’t feel like writing much this week. I am still upset by the sudden loss of one of my best friends, Kirby the beagle. Kirby was one of the first friends I made when I came to Danville. My human was walking me around the square and we met this little energetic bundle of fun at the door of Courthouse Grounds. I found out later that Tracy was Kirby’s human. Just being at Courthouse Grounds once in a while gave Kirby quite an edge on most of us when it came to knowing about the latest goings-on in Danville. A lot of those goings-on were first planned around the tables at CG, and Kirby got to listen to those plans from the ground up! Of course, Kirby was one of the original members of the Animal Action Agenda Committee and had lots of input into our ideas for improving things for all us Danville pets. He was smart, he was friendly, and we will all miss him. Our most heartfelt sympathies go out to Tracy, who always said that Kirby was “the perfect dog.” Thought for the Day: The question is not, can they reason?, nor, can they talk?, but can they suffer?—Jeremy Bentham, British philosopher, on animal welfare. ______________________________________________
A Squirrel About Town By Archy I felt a disturbance in the squirrel world. Archy was waiting for me. “It’s true,” he said. “There’s a counter organization to the Squirrel Salon. They call themselves the Riled-Up Anti-Intellectual Alliance. They promote pessimism and revel in rumors.” “But how...,” I started to ask. “We think it was one of those rare cases of attitude transfer from humans to squirrels. Apparently, a couple of squirrels were over-exposed to Facebook and got their feathers ruffled, so to speak. They had their first indignation meeting last night.” I asked what an indigantion meeting was all about. “It’s like an echo chamber for aggravation, a gathering of umbrage takers, a round-up of disgruntlement. Basically, they take turns complaining.” “About what?” I wondered. “Anything,” Archy said. “Everything. From government to grocery stores. “And what does that do for them?” I wondered aloud. “It affirms the negative,” the squirrel explained. “It creates an energy force and a false feeling of self-importance. I’m sure you’re familiar with the human equivalent.” I sighed. “Some of our squirrel scientists are working on an indignation vaccination,” Archy offered. “But we don’t know how long it will take. In the meantime, the members of the Squirrel Salon are working on alternative solutions.” “Such as?” I asked. “Pointing out the positive,” he replied. “It’s not an immediate cure, but it can accumulate. Plant a seed of joy.” In my mind, I began to hear Johnny Mercer’s song from 1944: You’ve got to accentuate the positive Eliminate the negative Latch on to the affirmative Don’t mess with Mister In-Between You’ve got to spread joy up to the maximum Bring gloom down to the minimum Have faith or pandemonium Liable to walk upon the scene Archy was tapping his foot to the tune in my head. “They don’t write ‘em like that anymore,” he said with a smile.
