Question: My husband and I are finally empty nesters, and we are converting one of our children’s old bedrooms into our new office.

We ordered two large executive-style desks with hutches, a credenza and two bookcases from an online home office furniture business.

The website said that assembly is required but we were shocked when we saw how many parts and pieces were packed in each box.

How much time will it take to put together our new office furniture?

Your Handyman: There can be quite a surprise in store for the typical homeowner when they open the skinny flat boxes that hold their new desk, bookcase or nightstand, and see all the parts and fasteners and an instruction manual with as many pages as a magazine.

It wasn’t too long ago that there was a thriving wood furniture industry in Southern California but in the 1980s most all the industry moved across the border into Mexico due to the expense of complying with air pollution laws affecting dust, staining and painting.

Then in the late ’90s, the high-tech low wage factories of China started to dominate world furniture production and freight costs were prohibitively high to allow for the shipment of furniture that wasn’t completely unassembled.

The good news is that the price of most furniture, especially office furniture, has really dropped over the past 20 years, but the bad news is: ASSEMBLY REQUIRED.

It is not uncommon for an experienced assembler using power tools to take 3-4 hours to put together a large executive desk with drawers on both sides and an additional 2-3 hours to assemble the hutch that sits on top of the desk.

This same desk and hutch may take a typical homeowner an entire weekend or more to assemble.

The furniture feature that requires the most assembly time is drawers, which require not only assembly of the drawer itself but also the cabinet and drawer suspension hardware that support it.

So, if you or your husband are not particularly mechanically inclined, you may want to hire a professional to assemble your new furniture.

If you do decide to take on this job, my suggestion is to first inventory all the parts to make sure you have everything prior to starting, separate out all the fasteners into individual piles, and have a large, carpeted area to work on.

The most important piece of advice is to read and follow the instructions carefully with patience.

Do not even consider shortcuts or taking off on your own without diligently following the instruction manual.

What you do not want to have happen is to find yourself having problems at step 58 only to then realize that you made a mistake at step 32.

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Question: I am concerned that we may have a leak in our bathtub. The drywall at the bottom corner of the tub is all flaky and the paint is bubbled.

Some of the grout in the tub enclosure is cracked and maybe this is where the water is leaking from?

Your Handyman: What you are describing is quite common and is usually caused by water either spraying out from the shower when the door is opened or from someone regularly stepping out of the tub while still soaking wet.

The first step in diagnosing the cause of your drywall damage is to turn on the shower, let it run for 20 minutes or so and see if there is any noticeable moisture at the damaged area of drywall.

My suspicion is that it will remain dry, but if it doesn’t, it may be time for a new shower door if the door unit shows signs of water damage, rust or build up of minerals and soap residue.

Flaking or cracked grout will not allow water to leak into the wall because, if the tile was installed correctly, there will be a moisture barrier behind the concrete backing surface.

The solution to your wall damage is to not have the shower door open while the water is running and to encourage your family members to towel off completely while still standing inside the shower.

Once the drywall is dried out completely, it can be repaired and painted and should no longer be a problem.

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Question: Our dishwasher has recently started to rock forward when we open and close the door, and it seems to be getting worse. Other than rocking, it is working fine.

Do we need a new dishwasher, or can this one be fixed?

Your Handyman: The front top of a dishwasher has two small metal tabs with holes that need to be screwed to the underside of the countertop to secure the unit from rocking when the door is opened and closed.

It sounds like your dishwasher has either come loose at these tabs or possibly was not installed correctly.

If the screws are loose, then they simply need to be tightened. If they are missing, you will need to find new screws that are of the proper length to complete the attachment. Screws that are too long may go all the way through the wood and possibly damage the countertop material.

If there is no wood to screw into on the bottom of your countertop, you will need to use a construction adhesive like Liquid Nails to fasten a small piece of wood in place in order to make the attachment.

As part of this job, you should also check to make sure that the dishwasher is level both from side to side and front to back using a carpenter’s level.

The front legs are usually adjustable in height by turning them with a wrench, and shims can be placed under the back corners if the back feet cannot be adjusted.

Once the unit is level and correctly fastened in place, your dishwasher will operate at its most efficient and quietest level.