Do It Yourself: Balky shutoff valve can cause loud toilet

Q. When our toilet refills after a flush, it makes a screaming noise. We thought it was funny at first, but after several failed attempts to fix it, it’s not funny now. How do we repair it?

A. One possible cause is excessive pressure in your water supply. If water shoots out of your faucets, have the pressure checked and adjusted to about 50 pounds per square inch.

You should also make sure the shutoff valve in the supply line under the toilet tank is fully open; sometimes a partially closed valve can cause noise. If the valve is fully open, close it and remove the lid from the toilet tank. In many cases, strange noises are caused by a faulty refill valve. The noises can range from groaning and hissing to screeching and whistling. The refill valve is at the left of the tank. In many older toilets, it is a tubular device that has a rod and float-ball attached to the top. In newer toilets, the float often moves up and down the refill tube itself.

Flush the toilet, which will remove most of the water from the tank, and examine the valve to see if there is any debris that might be interfering with smooth operation. If the toilet has a ball-float at the end of a rod, unscrew it from the rod and make sure it is not waterlogged. If there are no obvious problems with the refill valve, open the shutoff valve and watch the tank refill while again checking for possible malfunction. If you can’t spot any problems, replacing the refill valve might stop the noise. Refill valves are not expensive (about $20) and come with instructions that can be followed by most do-it-yourselfers. Before buying a valve kit, see if you have any problem loosening the nut under the toilet tank that holds the old refill valve in place. Removing this nut is probably the most difficult part of replacing a refill valve, and if you can’t budge it the best bet is to call a plumber to handle the job (rough handling of the nut might crack the toilet tank).

Q. Squirrels are chewing pieces out of the boards of my deck. How can I stop this?

A. Squirrels seem to savor almost any kind of wood, including the pressure-treated wood often used for building decks. I have also known them to gnaw on plastic outdoor furniture and even aluminum rain gutters. My experience has been that they prefer unpainted wood, but I’ve been told that they will also gnaw painted wood.

The solution is to spray the wood or other surfaces with a foul-tasting but nonpoisonous concoction. A ready-made spray sold at some garden centers and on the Internet is called Ropel. A quart spray bottle sells for about $10.

There are also various homemade formulas for repellents. The simplest one to make uses a tablespoon of tabasco sauce in a quart of water. A more complicated homemade formula that calls for mixing cayenne pepper, onions and other ingredients can be found at www.urbanwildliferescue.org.