Why Most Travel Tips Are NOT Cutting Edge: Thoughts on Travel’s Unchanging Nature

"You're not that cutting edge on your advice. It's pretty run of the mill. You also are very obviously biased toward thirtyish, white, upper-middle-class Americans who want to pretend to be bohemians."

This quote is from last month's reader survey. It cut deep. I stared at it for a while, pondering its implication. I looked for an email address to see if there was a way to follow up with the person who wrote it, but they opted to be anonymous.

Yet, after eight years of writing about travel, I have to say I agree with this critique (except the bohemian part — perish the thought!). My website probably isn't that cutting edge and revolutionary to you if, like me, you have to keep getting your passport stuffed with new pages every few months.

I've covered travel very in-depth over the last eight years. How many times can you write about packing light or stress the fundamentals of budgeting, eating local, and staying in hostels? Not many. After a while you just begin to rehash the same old stuff.

If you're a new traveler, you're going to read a TON of tips and advice that is going to blow your mind and change how you think about travel. It's going to open you up to a world you never thought possible and have you running out the door before you know it.

But, for old hats like me, while we may pick up a few new tips here and there, rarely is there anything that makes us go "HOLY F***! THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING!!"

Why cutting edge is an illusion
Unlike other industries, where giant shifts in technology or thinking fundamentally change the industry, travel is basically travel. There's no major discovery that makes us rethink life, the universe, or how nature behaves, like there are in medicine, history, technology, or science.

Travel simply has microshifts. For example, cruise ships may be bigger, have more features, better food, and recycle more, but cruising is still essentially the same as it was 100 years ago: for one all-inclusive price, you get on a boat, sail around, make a few stops, get back on the boat, and head home. The ships may have changed, but the general purpose hasn't.

The biggest shift in travel over the last few years has been the rise of the sharing economy, in which websites like Airbnb, Vayable, EatWith, and Couchsurfing break you out of mass, commercial travel by helping you connect with residents, save money, and tap into local insight.

But while a lot of local and obscure sharing economy websites make the "how" easier, they don't change the fundamentals of budget travel: pack light, stay off the tourist path, eat local, use local transportation, avoid bank and credit card fees, and be frugal. It's much the same today as it was when I first started traveling in 2006 — and when my father did so in the 1970s.

That is because the why of travel never changes.

If you read Walden, The Innocents Abroad, On the Road, Travels with Charley, or any of a dozen other travel books set decades or more ago, you'll see the same wanderlust and desire to connect and understand the world as we have now.

It's why we still read these books — their themes still resonate with us. These old stories express: humanity's innate desire to explore and search for deeper meaning. That desire to learn, explore, and see the world is timeless.

And improved tools to make that happen don't fundamentally change that meaning. Horses and caravans turn into trains, planes, and automobiles. Trains get more efficient, planes become safer, and cars can go further. Wooden ships that became giant steamers are now massive cruise ships and fiberglass yachts. Star charts became maps, which turn into GPS-based Google Maps. We don't need the Pony Express; we have instant messenger. We can book a room with an app on our phone! (Note: The argument about being too connected is one for another day.)

And, even with a new technology, the essential way we travel on budget is still the same.

Yes, travel has never been easier and technology forever changed how we plan and take trips, but we still go for the same reasons. Our why has not changed even if the how's have made it easier. We can see that whenever we pick up a historic book or talk to travelers of any age about their trips — what motivates us is primal and universal whether you're spending a year backpacking or a week at the spa!

Yet there's always something new to share
The information I (and that thousands of others) have shared about travel was always there but hidden away among travelers and locals, or buried in guidebooks and forums. It wasn't easily found, but it was there. When I started traveling in 2006, there wasn't that much information available on travel. I read countless guidebooks and spent hours looking at forums, searching for tips that I would only discover through experience.

But the Internet and growth of blogs made all that "hidden" information much more accessible. They pulled out of the shadows all the stuff most people (like myself) don't inherently know without traveling — the information not beforehand shared in mass media. So this information may have seemed "cutting edge" at first, but the knowledge and tips were always there.

But that doesn't mean there's nothing new to learn. I read countless blogs to stay abreast of the latest industry trends, unearth some new tips, and discover interesting places I never would have known about.

Travel does change all the time: new attractions, hostels, and restaurants open; hip places become uncool; and new blogs, services, and companies are created to make our lives easier.

So there is always something new to learn about latest travel trends and tricks. Some new how to get you on the road better, cheaper, and longer.

But, most importantly, there are the stories about people, places, and hidden activities you might not have known other.

That's what keeps travel so interesting – not learning some revolutionary how but finding a story that reminds of us the why. A story takes us to a new place, teaches us something new, reminds us to dream big, and inspire us to finally take that trip we've always dreamed about.

And that's more powerful than any new cutting edge tip.

P.S. – Our next virtual book club meeting is November 22nd. Find out what our book of the month is and how to join our hang out!

P.P.S. – We're going to be doing more reader highlights over the next few months. If you're a family of 4 or more traveling the world, or from South America, Africa, or the Middle East and have done a 6 month or more trip in the last year, or have traveled Central Asia within the last year, e-mail me at matt@nomadicmatt.com as I would like to feature you!

The post Why Most Travel Tips Are NOT Cutting Edge: Thoughts on Travel's Unchanging Nature appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

from Nomadic Matt's Travel Site http://ift.tt/1XSidMO

Why Most Travel Tips Are NOT Cutting Edge: Thoughts on Travel’s Unchanging Nature

“You’re not that cutting edge on your advice. It’s pretty run of the mill. You also are very obviously biased toward thirtyish, white, upper-middle-class Americans who want to pretend to be bohemians.”

This quote is from last month’s reader survey. It cut deep. I stared at it for a while, pondering its implication. I looked for an email address to see if there was a way to follow up with the person who wrote it, but they opted to be anonymous.

Yet, after eight years of writing about travel, I have to say I agree with this critique (except the bohemian part — perish the thought!). My website probably isn’t that cutting edge and revolutionary to you if, like me, you have to keep getting your passport stuffed with new pages every few months.

I’ve covered travel very in-depth over the last eight years. How many times can you write about packing light or stress the fundamentals of budgeting, eating local, and staying in hostels? Not many. After a while you just begin to rehash the same old stuff.

If you’re a new traveler, you’re going to read a TON of tips and advice that is going to blow your mind and change how you think about travel. It’s going to open you up to a world you never thought possible and have you running out the door before you know it.

But, for old hats like me, while we may pick up a few new tips here and there, rarely is there anything that makes us go “HOLY F***! THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING!!”

Why cutting edge is an illusion
Unlike other industries, where giant shifts in technology or thinking fundamentally change the industry, travel is basically travel. There’s no major discovery that makes us rethink life, the universe, or how nature behaves, like there are in medicine, history, technology, or science.

Travel simply has microshifts. For example, cruise ships may be bigger, have more features, better food, and recycle more, but cruising is still essentially the same as it was 100 years ago: for one all-inclusive price, you get on a boat, sail around, make a few stops, get back on the boat, and head home. The ships may have changed, but the general purpose hasn’t.

The biggest shift in travel over the last few years has been the rise of the sharing economy, in which websites like Airbnb, Vayable, EatWith, and Couchsurfing break you out of mass, commercial travel by helping you connect with residents, save money, and tap into local insight.

But while a lot of local and obscure sharing economy websites make the “how” easier, they don’t change the fundamentals of budget travel: pack light, stay off the tourist path, eat local, use local transportation, avoid bank and credit card fees, and be frugal. It’s much the same today as it was when I first started traveling in 2006 — and when my father did so in the 1970s.

That is because the why of travel never changes.

If you read Walden, The Innocents Abroad, On the Road, Travels with Charley, or any of a dozen other travel books set decades or more ago, you’ll see the same wanderlust and desire to connect and understand the world as we have now.

It’s why we still read these books — their themes still resonate with us. These old stories express: humanity’s innate desire to explore and search for deeper meaning. That desire to learn, explore, and see the world is timeless.

And improved tools to make that happen don’t fundamentally change that meaning. Horses and caravans turn into trains, planes, and automobiles. Trains get more efficient, planes become safer, and cars can go further. Wooden ships that became giant steamers are now massive cruise ships and fiberglass yachts. Star charts became maps, which turn into GPS-based Google Maps. We don’t need the Pony Express; we have instant messenger. We can book a room with an app on our phone! (Note: The argument about being too connected is one for another day.)

And, even with a new technology, the essential way we travel on budget is still the same.

Yes, travel has never been easier and technology forever changed how we plan and take trips, but we still go for the same reasons. Our why has not changed even if the how’s have made it easier. We can see that whenever we pick up a historic book or talk to travelers of any age about their trips — what motivates us is primal and universal whether you’re spending a year backpacking or a week at the spa!

Yet there’s always something new to share
The information I (and that thousands of others) have shared about travel was always there but hidden away among travelers and locals, or buried in guidebooks and forums. It wasn’t easily found, but it was there. When I started traveling in 2006, there wasn’t that much information available on travel. I read countless guidebooks and spent hours looking at forums, searching for tips that I would only discover through experience.

But the Internet and growth of blogs made all that “hidden” information much more accessible. They pulled out of the shadows all the stuff most people (like myself) don’t inherently know without traveling — the information not beforehand shared in mass media. So this information may have seemed “cutting edge” at first, but the knowledge and tips were always there.

But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing new to learn. I read countless blogs to stay abreast of the latest industry trends, unearth some new tips, and discover interesting places I never would have known about.

Travel does change all the time: new attractions, hostels, and restaurants open; hip places become uncool; and new blogs, services, and companies are created to make our lives easier.

So there is always something new to learn about latest travel trends and tricks. Some new how to get you on the road better, cheaper, and longer.

But, most importantly, there are the stories about people, places, and hidden activities you might not have known other.

That’s what keeps travel so interesting – not learning some revolutionary how but finding a story that reminds of us the why. A story takes us to a new place, teaches us something new, reminds us to dream big, and inspire us to finally take that trip we’ve always dreamed about.

And that’s more powerful than any new cutting edge tip.

P.S. – Our next virtual book club meeting is November 22nd. Find out what our book of the month is and how to join our hang out!

P.P.S. – We’re going to be doing more reader highlights over the next few months. If you’re a family of 4 or more traveling the world, or from South America, Africa, or the Middle East and have done a 6 month or more trip in the last year, or have traveled Central Asia within the last year, e-mail me at matt@nomadicmatt.com as I would like to feature you!

The post Why Most Travel Tips Are NOT Cutting Edge: Thoughts on Travel’s Unchanging Nature appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

from Nomadic Matt's Travel Site http://ift.tt/1XSidMO

The NM Case Study Project: Shifting Mindset and Creating Budgets

A few months ago, I announced a new case study program, in which I would work with a cross-section of readers and help them plan and execute their trips, walking them through all the stages of travel planning and creating a roadmap toward their dream. And I said that along the way, I’d share their stories as way to inspire and help you plan your own trip.

Four months ago, I introduced you to the case study participants, and now it’s time to update you on their progress! I’m excited to share their stories with you.

Jianne

Jianne is a 27-year-old office worker from Manila striving to take a two-week vacation next year. Living in the Philippines, she has no access to travel hacking but does have a plethora of visa restrictions and a weak currency. And since her family won’t let her list her apartment on Airbnb, we had to get creative.

But the first step was getting Jianne to change her mindset, since she’s a bit of a spender. She likes to shop! My first goal was to get her on a budget and change her spending behavior. We needed to get her to only spend on her needs and reinforce the idea that any extra spending delayed her trip.

You can’t know what to cut if you don’t know where the money is going, so I got Jianne to track all her expenses so we could see where the low-hanging fruit was. Immediately, we cut back on movies, eating out, taxi rides, and her shopping. Jianne had never tracked her expenses, so right away we saw there were also a lot of little things she could trim back without changing her lifestyle.

In the beginning, Jianne started off strong, but in the last couple of months she stumbled. She stopped tracking her expenses, went out a bit more, and overall, fell off the wagon. But perfection is not the goal, and she realized her mistakes. Now, she’s recommitted and has since started working harder at tracking and cutting her expenses. To put it in her words:

For the past months, we’ve been tracking and trying to cut down my expenses. At first, it sounded easy but when I started doing it, it was harder than I imagined. It’s been helpful targeting my unnecessary expenses – not only for the trip but as a personal habit as well. I realized that you need determination and focus on what your priorities are when you’re trying to spend, even just for a snack.

Shifting how you view and spend money is a hard process. We’re undoing a lot of bad habits, and I expected some dips. But we’re back on the right track again. And that’s important to remember — it’s easy to create this new budget and think you’re going to change overnight — but you’re not. It takes time, and if you stumble, it’s better to step back, realize your mistake, and start fresh. Jianne may not be monetarily closer to her trip but she’s mentally a lot closer and I feel we’ve turned a corner.

Diane

Diane, a 59-year-old from Canada, is on a fixed income. She and her husband live in the countryside on their pension. There’s no way for her to increase her income or take lots of advantage of the sharing economy like Airbnb (and that’s not something they really want to do anyway).

Diane has dreamed of traveling for years but never really thought it was within her grasp. Like Jianne, Diane had to find a way to reduce expenses so she can save most of her limited income. She has a retirement savings account, but we want to avoid tapping into that as much as possible since that has to last many years to come!

Like with Jianne, we started tracking her expenses. She got a cheaper phone plan, stopped eating out, began planning her meals to avoid buying unneeded food, and stopped making unnecessary purchases from the dollar store. Moreover, since she is in Canada, we got her a TD Aeroplan card so she can start racking up miles toward a free flight to Australia next year. This is really important because, since she is on a fixed income, there’s only so much we can save but since we have a year until she goes away, that gives us plenty of time to get miles for free flights. Diane was leaving money on the table by paying for her expenses with a debit card.

Diane has been working really hard and has seen incredible results. She went from saving $20-50 CAD a month to saving over $500 CAD! She has learned to frame everything as “This takes away from my trip,” and her family has really been on board with her doing this.

Most importantly, she’s convinced her husband to cut back on his smoking. Not only is this phenomenal from a health point of view but financially it saves them a lot of money that can go toward her Australian dream trip. Once her husband realized how much he was spending on cigarettes and how much this meant to his wife, he cut back a lot.

Here are her own words on her progress:

For over 10 years, I’ve said that I want to go on a world trip, and thanks to Matt I can now say that it’s going to happen. He has helped guide me through the obstacles of thinking I don’t have enough time or money. He has shown me ways to cut unnecessary expenses that helped fund my trip and even live better when I return. My husband has cut down his smoking, I have my first rewards credit card, and finally feel I’m making progress towards my dream trip to Australia next year.

Given Diane’s fixed income, there’s not much we can do but cut expenses. We already saved $3,000 and, at the current rate, we’ll add another $5,000 to her bank account.

Jeremy
Jeremy has chosen to bow out of the case study program. I hope he gets to where he wants to go!

Sander and Jolien

This couple from Holland is in great shape. They are working until they go away, and they make more than enough money to afford their trip. They don’t really need my help on the financial side, though I’ve helped them get better at tracking their expenses (which they like doing), create a separate bank account for their savings, and work up an ideal budget for their trip. They are on track to leave in June with plenty of funds. Here’s them in their own words:

We have been working with Matt for over four months now. He helped us provide insights into our finances. This way we could decrease our expenses by cancelling unnecessary expenses like coffee to go at the train station or ice creams. Matt also gave us a great tip: grade all expenses you want to make. If you grade it a 7 or higher, you are allowed to buy it. Lower, you cannot. This is something we need to work on continually, because it is really easy to buy something on an impulse.

As I got them to shift into a more frugal mindset, we’ve reduced our calls to once-a-month check-ins, but starting in January, we’ll start looking into flights, gear, insurance, work visas, and everything else.

The Brandon family

Beside those updates above, today I’m introducing you to the Brandons, new members of the case study program. I wanted to enlist a family also to show that it’s not all about being young or traveling solo.

The Brandons are a middle-American couple from Indiana with two young sons. The husband, Michael, is retired and wife, Jennifer, is a teacher taking a year off to explore the world with her sons before her oldest enters high school.

Jennifer is doing most of the planning, so I’ll be working with her on how to save for four, get into travel hacking to earn points and miles, and deal with the booking and practical aspects of travel. They don’t have any debt outside their mortgage and save roughly $2,000 USD per month while having $10,000 already saved for the trip. As they want to spend extended time in Europe, they have a long way to go before they leave in September 2016!

I think they’ll be a good example for other families who, while maybe not planning a year away, can see how to afford a trip for four, cut their expenses, and use travel hacking tips to lower flight and accommodation costs!

So that’s everyone’s progress. The first real step toward successful world travel is getting your finances in order. That’s been the challenge over the last 3-4 months. But now that everyone is on the right track and saving money, we can move to the next phase and start planning the actual trip. That’s where the real fun begins!

Until the next update!

– Matt

The post The NM Case Study Project: Shifting Mindset and Creating Budgets appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

from Nomadic Matt's Travel Site http://ift.tt/1SliyVp

The NM Case Study Project: Shifting Mindset and Creating Budgets

A few months ago, I announced a new case study program, in which I would work with a cross-section of readers and help them plan and execute their trips, walking them through all the stages of travel planning and creating a roadmap toward their dream. And I said that along the way, I'd share their stories as way to inspire and help you plan your own trip.

Four months ago, I introduced you to the case study participants, and now it's time to update you on their progress! I'm excited to share their stories with you.

Jianne

Jianne is a 27-year-old office worker from Manila striving to take a two-week vacation next year. Living in the Philippines, she has no access to travel hacking but does have a plethora of visa restrictions and a weak currency. And since her family won't let her list her apartment on Airbnb, we had to get creative.

But the first step was getting Jianne to change her mindset, since she's a bit of a spender. She likes to shop! My first goal was to get her on a budget and change her spending behavior. We needed to get her to only spend on her needs and reinforce the idea that any extra spending delayed her trip.

You can't know what to cut if you don't know where the money is going, so I got Jianne to track all her expenses so we could see where the low-hanging fruit was. Immediately, we cut back on movies, eating out, taxi rides, and her shopping. Jianne had never tracked her expenses, so right away we saw there were also a lot of little things she could trim back without changing her lifestyle.

In the beginning, Jianne started off strong, but in the last couple of months she stumbled. She stopped tracking her expenses, went out a bit more, and overall, fell off the wagon. But perfection is not the goal, and she realized her mistakes. Now, she's recommitted and has since started working harder at tracking and cutting her expenses. To put it in her words:

For the past months, we've been tracking and trying to cut down my expenses. At first, it sounded easy but when I started doing it, it was harder than I imagined. It's been helpful targeting my unnecessary expenses – not only for the trip but as a personal habit as well. I realized that you need determination and focus on what your priorities are when you're trying to spend, even just for a snack.

Shifting how you view and spend money is a hard process. We're undoing a lot of bad habits, and I expected some dips. But we're back on the right track again. And that's important to remember — it's easy to create this new budget and think you're going to change overnight — but you're not. It takes time, and if you stumble, it's better to step back, realize your mistake, and start fresh. Jianne may not be monetarily closer to her trip but she's mentally a lot closer and I feel we've turned a corner.

Diane

Diane, a 59-year-old from Canada, is on a fixed income. She and her husband live in the countryside on their pension. There's no way for her to increase her income or take lots of advantage of the sharing economy like Airbnb (and that's not something they really want to do anyway).

Diane has dreamed of traveling for years but never really thought it was within her grasp. Like Jianne, Diane had to find a way to reduce expenses so she can save most of her limited income. She has a retirement savings account, but we want to avoid tapping into that as much as possible since that has to last many years to come!

Like with Jianne, we started tracking her expenses. She got a cheaper phone plan, stopped eating out, began planning her meals to avoid buying unneeded food, and stopped making unnecessary purchases from the dollar store. Moreover, since she is in Canada, we got her a TD Aeroplan card so she can start racking up miles toward a free flight to Australia next year. This is really important because, since she is on a fixed income, there's only so much we can save but since we have a year until she goes away, that gives us plenty of time to get miles for free flights. Diane was leaving money on the table by paying for her expenses with a debit card.

Diane has been working really hard and has seen incredible results. She went from saving $20-50 CAD a month to saving over $500 CAD! She has learned to frame everything as "This takes away from my trip," and her family has really been on board with her doing this.

Most importantly, she's convinced her husband to cut back on his smoking. Not only is this phenomenal from a health point of view but financially it saves them a lot of money that can go toward her Australian dream trip. Once her husband realized how much he was spending on cigarettes and how much this meant to his wife, he cut back a lot.

Here are her own words on her progress:

For over 10 years, I've said that I want to go on a world trip, and thanks to Matt I can now say that it's going to happen. He has helped guide me through the obstacles of thinking I don't have enough time or money. He has shown me ways to cut unnecessary expenses that helped fund my trip and even live better when I return. My husband has cut down his smoking, I have my first rewards credit card, and finally feel I'm making progress towards my dream trip to Australia next year.

Given Diane's fixed income, there's not much we can do but cut expenses. We already saved $3,000 and, at the current rate, we'll add another $5,000 to her bank account.

Jeremy
Jeremy has chosen to bow out of the case study program. I hope he gets to where he wants to go!

Sander and Jolien

This couple from Holland is in great shape. They are working until they go away, and they make more than enough money to afford their trip. They don't really need my help on the financial side, though I've helped them get better at tracking their expenses (which they like doing), create a separate bank account for their savings, and work up an ideal budget for their trip. They are on track to leave in June with plenty of funds. Here's them in their own words:

We have been working with Matt for over four months now. He helped us provide insights into our finances. This way we could decrease our expenses by cancelling unnecessary expenses like coffee to go at the train station or ice creams. Matt also gave us a great tip: grade all expenses you want to make. If you grade it a 7 or higher, you are allowed to buy it. Lower, you cannot. This is something we need to work on continually, because it is really easy to buy something on an impulse.

As I got them to shift into a more frugal mindset, we've reduced our calls to once-a-month check-ins, but starting in January, we'll start looking into flights, gear, insurance, work visas, and everything else.

The Brandon family

Beside those updates above, today I'm introducing you to the Brandons, new members of the case study program. I wanted to enlist a family also to show that it's not all about being young or traveling solo.

The Brandons are a middle-American couple from Indiana with two young sons. The husband, Michael, is retired and wife, Jennifer, is a teacher taking a year off to explore the world with her sons before her oldest enters high school.

Jennifer is doing most of the planning, so I'll be working with her on how to save for four, get into travel hacking to earn points and miles, and deal with the booking and practical aspects of travel. They don't have any debt outside their mortgage and save roughly $2,000 USD per month while having $10,000 already saved for the trip. As they want to spend extended time in Europe, they have a long way to go before they leave in September 2016!

I think they'll be a good example for other families who, while maybe not planning a year away, can see how to afford a trip for four, cut their expenses, and use travel hacking tips to lower flight and accommodation costs!

So that's everyone's progress. The first real step toward successful world travel is getting your finances in order. That's been the challenge over the last 3-4 months. But now that everyone is on the right track and saving money, we can move to the next phase and start planning the actual trip. That's where the real fun begins!

Until the next update!

– Matt

The post The NM Case Study Project: Shifting Mindset and Creating Budgets appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

from Nomadic Matt's Travel Site http://ift.tt/1SliyVp

Door Repair: 3 Common Problems and How to Fix Them

Doors are essential part of any home which provides a much needed security. Keep reading to learn about some common door faults and how to fix them.  

Hardware Failure

Door locks can fail in a multitude of ways.  The key can snap in the lock, the lock itself can seize up, parts of the locking mechanism can break internally and over time the teeth on the key can also wear down no longer pushing the locking pins into the correct position (if you are interested in learning how tumbler locks work pin take a look here).  At this point the key will usually go into the lock but it won't turn.

Lock failures usually require repairing by a professional as the old lock needs to be removed and the new one installed.  Depending on the type and size of lock this may require additional work to the door to install fixings for the new lock. Source: http://ift.tt/1MNDi6N

Squeaky Hinges

A squeaky hinge will generally not require more than a spray on lubricant. If your door is very heavy the hinge may just be stressed, some lubricant will help to make things move more smoothly and reduce or eliminate the squeak. You can find this at your local hardware store.

If you are in need of new hinges it's best to remove the door and take the old hinges with you to the hardware store. You'll put the new hinges on just as you removed the old ones. Check to see which side should be on the door and which will be on the wall. Make sure you have the placement perfect before you screw the mounting screw in place. Source: http://ift.tt/1OkiA0Z

Repairing Dents

Dents in entry doors can be repaired. If you have a steel door, you may be able to repair it using an auto filler. You will need to sand down the damaged area until you see the metal. The auto filler is then applied in layers until the door is smooth. This requires some sanding. When you have achieved a smooth surface, you can prime the area and paint it. Source: http://ift.tt/1koeyrw

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please give us a call or contact us here.

Contact:

Mr. Locksmith Calgary
555 Maidstone Drive NE
Calgary, Alberta T2A 4B6
Canada
Phone: (403) 800-9185

The post Door Repair: 3 Common Problems and How to Fix Them appeared first on Mr Locksmith Calgary.

from Mr Locksmith Calgary http://ift.tt/1koeBn0

Door Repair: 3 Common Problems and How to Fix Them

Doors are essential part of any home which provides a much needed security. Keep reading to learn about some common door faults and how to fix them.  

Hardware Failure

Door locks can fail in a multitude of ways.  The key can snap in the lock, the lock itself can seize up, parts of the locking mechanism can break internally and over time the teeth on the key can also wear down no longer pushing the locking pins into the correct position (if you are interested in learning how tumbler locks work pin take a look here).  At this point the key will usually go into the lock but it won’t turn.

Lock failures usually require repairing by a professional as the old lock needs to be removed and the new one installed.  Depending on the type and size of lock this may require additional work to the door to install fixings for the new lock. Source: http://ift.tt/1MNDi6N

Squeaky Hinges

A squeaky hinge will generally not require more than a spray on lubricant. If your door is very heavy the hinge may just be stressed, some lubricant will help to make things move more smoothly and reduce or eliminate the squeak. You can find this at your local hardware store.

If you are in need of new hinges it’s best to remove the door and take the old hinges with you to the hardware store. You’ll put the new hinges on just as you removed the old ones. Check to see which side should be on the door and which will be on the wall. Make sure you have the placement perfect before you screw the mounting screw in place. Source: http://ift.tt/1OkiA0Z

Repairing Dents

Dents in entry doors can be repaired. If you have a steel door, you may be able to repair it using an auto filler. You will need to sand down the damaged area until you see the metal. The auto filler is then applied in layers until the door is smooth. This requires some sanding. When you have achieved a smooth surface, you can prime the area and paint it. Source: http://ift.tt/1koeyrw

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please give us a call or contact us here.

Contact:

Mr. Locksmith Calgary
555 Maidstone Drive NE
Calgary, Alberta T2A 4B6
Canada
Phone: (403) 800-9185

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Epic at West – The Newest Condo Development to Hit Olympic Village

Southeast False Creek, or Olympic Village, is one of the hottest places to live in all of Vancouver for a number of reasons. It is true that part of the attraction lies in its proximity to the Seawall and the Canada Skytrain Line. It is also true, however, that residents rarely have to — or want to — leave the neighborhood, as it has a hip restaurants, popular pubs, an Urban Fair, a liquor store, a community centre, and more right there.

Epic at West is the final installment of Executive Group's very successful 3-phase West collection in Southeast False Creek. And if the history of this project tells us anything, it is that these units will not last long!

The post Epic at West – The Newest Condo Development to Hit Olympic Village appeared first on Vancouver New Condos.

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