The Week-Before-Guests Repair List: 7 Things in a Pasadena House That Fail in Front of Company

Houses tend to fail on the day the company arrives. The toilet nobody has flushed three times in a row starts running, the guest room door that always stuck won’t latch, and the water heater that handles two people meets six. None of this is dramatic, but all of it is embarrassing, and nearly all of it is a short fix if you find it two or three weeks ahead instead of on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

This is the list we’d walk through in a Pasadena house before the holidays, in the order we’d do it, with the quick tests that tell you whether something is a five-minute fix or a call to a pro. The timeline below shows what to do when; if you only have a few days, skip to the last section.

1. The guest bathroom, because it gets the hardest use

Running toilet test. Put a few drops of food coloring in the tank and don’t flush for 10 to 15 minutes. If color shows up in the bowl, the flapper is leaking, and the fix is an inexpensive part you can usually swap in minutes. A toilet that hisses after flushing usually needs a new fill valve. A toilet that rocks needs its base bolts tightened or its wax ring replaced, and it’s worth doing before someone finds out mid-holiday, because a bad seal can leak into the floor.

Drain test. Run the sink and shower and watch how fast they clear. Slow drains before guests become standing water during them. Pull the stopper and clean out the hair, or clean the P-trap under the sink. Skip chemical drain cleaner: it’s hard on old pipes and makes the next person’s repair unpleasant. Anything past that is a job for our plumbing service. For a fuller plumbing walk-through, see our plumbing maintenance checklist. Also look at the supply lines and shutoff valves under the vanity for corrosion or drips, since a dry cabinet is the goal.

2. Kitchen drains and the disposal

Thanksgiving is the hardest day of the year on a kitchen sink. Before it, run the disposal with cold water, and check under the sink with a flashlight and a dry paper towel for drips. If it’s leaking from the bottom, don’t wait: a bottom leak means the unit is done. On the day itself, keep peels, bones, grease and fibrous vegetables like celery out of the disposal, and never pour cooking grease down any drain. It solidifies in the line, and grease clogs are what plumbers get called for the next morning.

3. Hot water for more people than usual

Extra showers plus a full dishwasher can empty a tank that has been fine for two people. Check the base of the water heater for rust or moisture, and find the manufacturer’s date code on the label. The serial number usually encodes the year, and each brand has its own format. Tanks commonly last around 8 to 12 years, so one in that range that is also weeping at the base is a bad gamble on the busiest weekend of the year. Our water heater replacement guide explains how to decide, and if you’re replacing, do it weeks ahead, not the week before.

4. Doors, latches and locks

Guests use the guest room and bathroom doors more than you do. Make sure each one latches and locks. If a door drags in the frame, resist the urge to plane it until you’ve read why that is often the wrong fix. Often the cause is a loose hinge screw, which takes one minute to tighten. Check the sliding patio door too, since it becomes the main entrance when the party moves outside: it should roll with one finger and lock fully. Our sliding glass door guide covers rollers and tracks, and if the gate or side fence latch is loose, see fence repair.

5. Stair rails, steps and walkways

A loose handrail is the one item here that is about safety more than looks. Grab every rail and give it a firm shove. If it moves, the anchors need fixing, and a rail should be screwed into framing rather than into drywall alone. Stair handrails are typically set 34 to 38 inches above the stair edge, so a wobbly rail that is also too low or high is worth a second look. Soft or spongy boards usually mean dry rot. Check front steps, porch boards and the path from the street for uneven or lifted sections, and make sure the porch light works (a dim entry is also a good reason to look at recessed lighting options), because it’s dark by 5 p.m. in late November. For wooden decks and porches, see deck repair.

6. Lights, outlets and switches

Replace dead bulbs, and treat a flickering fixture, a warm switch plate or an outlet that no longer holds a plug as an electrical problem, not a decoration problem. Press the test button on every GFCI outlet in the kitchen, bathrooms, garage and outdoors: it should trip, and the reset button should restore power. Holiday lights and extra appliances add load, and older Pasadena homes often have fewer outlets than a modern household expects, which is how extension cords end up daisy-chained across a room. Anything that buzzes, sparks or trips repeatedly belongs with a licensed electrician; see our electrical services.

7. Walls, ceilings and the paint touch-up

Patch nail holes and dings, and touch up scuffs in the entry, hallway and dining room, where guests actually look. Do this at least a week ahead so the paint smell and any sheen difference have time to settle. A stain on a ceiling is different: it means moisture, and it should be traced before it is painted over. If you find one, see drywall repair and our painting service.

If it is only days before guests arrive

Fix the safety items first, then the things that will be noticed:

• Handrails, trip hazards and outdoor lighting.
• Test smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and replace batteries. Replace any unit past the manufacturer’s stated life, commonly ten years.
• Anything electrical that is warm, buzzing or tripping.
• The running toilet, the slow drain and the door that won’t latch.

Leave everything else, including the exterior tasks that belong on our fall home maintenance checklist. Our advice is not to start a project you can’t finish in the time you have. A half-painted room or a half-demolished bathroom is far worse than a scuff on the wall.

Questions people ask before hosting

If you’d rather hand the list over, our home maintenance service can cover several of these in one visit. You can ask for a free estimate or call Handyman Connection of Pasadena at (626) 744-0402. We’re at 110 S Rosemead Blvd Suite G, Pasadena, CA 91107, CSLB License #992200.