[emeritus]

I have a Flanders & Swan LP that has warped. While one side plays OK, the stylus jumps on the first tracks of the other side. I tried a weight on the cartridge, but to no effect. Must try gentle heat followed by pressing.
When mum was a home help, I sometimes fixed the odd electrical faults for her old ladies, foc. One was a transistor radio whose volume control had got so noisy as to make the radio unusable. I tried the method used by my dad of squirting in some 3 in 1 oil. This provided a complete cure. When I gave it back, the old lady asked how much and I said nothing, it just needed oiling! She thought I was pulling her leg.
Re the washing machine, when we first got married we were using the circa 1953 upright washing machine (with mangle) left in the house by the previous owner. This had an aluminium alloy drum that had developed pitting corrosion around about 75% of the perimeter of the boss of the electric heater. I applied a good layer of Dow Corning Mil Spec silicone rubber sealant that I still had from my Plessey days. It withstood frequent boil washes and was still good when we were able to afford a new machine a couple of years later.