Dislodging wood plugs from hole saw

All of us have cut a hole in a subfloor or through a wooden stud only to get the plug hopelessly stuck. Instead of spend-ing huge amounts of time trying to pry the wood out, try this instead. Take a long wood or sheet rock screw, about an inch longer than the depth of the hole saw. Screw it into the wood about halfway between the pilot bit and the outside edge. As you continue burying the screw, one of two things will happen. You find that either the plug will begin pushing out of the hole saw or the wood will crack. Either option will allow you to more easily extract the plug. Works like a charm!

Andy Banach

Banach’s Plumbing

Newnan, Georgia

Supporting a floor flange

hen I’m roughing in a house and I need to set a floor flange on a plywood floor, I cut pieces of ½” copper to fit under the flange at various hole locations in the flange. This will support the fitting during construction, depending on the amount of tile or mud the tile installer will be adding to the subfloor.

Michael DiMaggio

DiMaggio Plumbing

Manahawkin, New Jersey

Applying teflon tape in tight spaces

When installing Teflon tape on pipe threads in a tight area where there is no room to wrap the roll around the threads, I simply take a length of Teflon tape and wrap it counterclockwise around the eraser end of my pencil and apply the tape to the threads rolling the pencil around the threads.

Mike Rolitsky

G&S Plumbing

Fairview Park, Ohio