It’s a Good Time to Sugru Your Tiny Home Headaches

Note: We don’t carry Sugru these days, but this blog’s still filled with fix-it inspiration—so read on!

I love nearly everything about my 6-cup Chemex Coffeemaker, minus one inherent flaw.

I have two framed copies of the illustrations from Peter Schlumbohm’s original 1941 patent hanging in my kitchen. I probably made nearly 2,000 carafes of coffee when I helped run a coworking space, standing next to a poster that read, “There never was and never will be a shortage of Chemex filter paper.” I love its smooth taste, the ritual of swirling water into it, the decidedly Bauhaus style of it, and bonding with fellow fans of (let’s just admit it) fussy coffee.

What I don’t love, fortunately, I am able to fix, thanks to Sugru.

Like many modern kitchens, mine has sealed stone counters, and they are utterly unforgiving of glass objects set down upon them with just a smidge too much force. The kind of force you might use when it’s early, you’re tired, and you’ve just poured yourself a hot mug you’re eager to get to. Forgetting that stone is harder than glass, or simply forgetting the nature of gravity, has led to the premature end of a couple Chemex models, at home and in the office.

So I did something about it: I took some leftover Sugru from another project, rolled out four small but fat ovals of it, and pressed my Chemex down onto them, in rough compass-point alignment. This fix has lasted for nearly 10 years, and there have been no loud crashes or massive coffee spills in my kitchen ever since.

We sell Sugru in our store, and for good reason. It’s a handy option for fixes that don’t require any special material or tool, just something that keeps that one thing in place, keeps that thing from bending too much, waterproofs that hole or crack, holds that thing up, or, given the wide array of colors, distinguishes that thing from that thing. Sugru shows up as a simple solution quite often in our Answers forum. It’s like a more solid Play-Doh, with much better adhesive and shock-absorbing properties. It’s a decent add-on to an existing order, too, if you’re already paying shipping.

Sugru took part in the #FixAtHome challenge. Their staff and loyal customers have dreamed up quite a few novel ideas over the years, and more recently, as we’ve all had more time to contemplate our homes. Sugru’s featured home fixes reminded me that the word “fix” can intimidate people sometimes, conjuring up images of getting out the toolbox, reading a repair guide, and getting tired just thinking about it. But sometimes the fix can be as simple as “Stick some of this stuff on it and see what happens.”

A few Sugru home fixes I found particularly inspiring and timely:

• Seal up cracked or broken plastic fridge parts or a damaged dishwasher rack
• Hang things in your bathroom without drill holes, particularly for renters
• Patch an air mattress puncture (once you lose the sad little patches shipped with the mattress)
• Keep doors from banging when the wind blows
• Mend the broken plastic on children’s toys
• This list of furniture-adapting fixes, some of them particularly handy for setting up microphones, webcams, and other work-from-home essentials.

If you’ve found a great fix or use for Sugru around your home, you can post it to public social channels, mention @sugru and include a #mysugrufix hashtag. You might just win a year’s supply of the stuff—how much is a “year” of Sugru is up to you, really. Or you can keep #FixAtHome alive! As with Sugru, it’s up to you what you do with it.