A home is among the most expensive purchases that you will ever make, this is why it should be properly taken care of regardless of whether you are buying or renting.
Most times you are forced to call professionals when there is an issue that needs to be fixed but some of these problems can easily be handled and you can save a lot of money.
A majority of home improvements and repairs can be performed with little experience or none at all. However, it is important to do some research with some home repairs such as electricity that is known to be hazardous fix.
Easy Home Repairs That You Can Do Yourself to Save Money
The following are some easy home repairs that you can do by yourself:
Unclog toilet drain
A quick trip to the bathroom followed by a single flush and, boom, you’re dealing with a clogged drain or—much worse—a nearly overflowing toilet. To unclog a toilet drain, you will need a toilet plunger.
Go about it this way:
- Pour in an adequate quantity of water that can submerge the plunger head.
- Do 8-10 powerful downward thrusts to clear minor clogs.
- Use a toilet auger if the clog is still there.
- The end of the auger should be run inside the toilet to the point it gets to the clog and begins to turn the crank.
Get a good grip and pull out the clog.
Leaky bathroom/kitchen pipe
Find and fix minor drips before they cause major damage. These are common and normally involve a broken or loose compression nut or worn-out washer.
Go about it in the following way:
- Turn off the water to the sink.
- Put a bucket below the pipe.
- Twist off the pipe’s compression nuts.
- Rinse out the P-trap (curved pipe).
- Replace the washer and screw it back.
- Turn on the water.
Replace light switch
Most of the wall switches in your home are single-pole switches that control a light fixture or outlet from a single wall location. Dealing with light switches is quite easy.
Replace a broken light switch as follows:
- Turn off the circuit breaker before you start.
- Remove the faceplate with the help of a flathead screwdriver.
- Use the screwdriver to carefully remove the light switch from the wall.
- Test the wires that are connected to the screws of the light switch.
- Disconnect the wires before attaching them to a new switch.
- Screw back everything in place.
Loosen up stuck windows
You will need high-quality elbow grease to do this.
Go about in this way:
- Use a pizza cutter to pry your window sash from its frame. Alternatively, use something that is less sharp to open the edges so that you preserve paint.
- Clean the window thoroughly when you finally get it to move because dirt is what caused the problem to begin with.
Patching holes in dry walls
It is very unavoidable to get a hole in dry walls even for people who are merely renting. Fixing them is easy, particularly those that are as a result of nail holes or screw holes.
Perform the repairs in the following ways:
- Start by properly cleaning the damaged area of any debris and proceed to wipe down the wall.
- Use a good putty knife to press a small quantity of spackle in the wall and allow to dry.
- Sand it down to a flat and nice finish using sand paper with fine grains.
- You can add a fresh coat of paint if you wish to.
For holes of a large size, do it in the following way:
- Cut out a rectangular section of the wall that surrounds the hole.
- Cut a good piece of dry wall from pieces bough at the store or scraps.
- Use small timber pieces as bracing to the scrap drywall inside the hole. It should be placed in the wall and screws drilled into it, both above as well as below. A third screw should be added to the patch of drywall.
- Add drywall tape all-round the seams.
- Finish by slathering a joint compound and scrape it down with the help of a big putty knife.
- When the compound dries, sand it off.
- Paint if you wish to.
Floor repair
Sometimes your parquet flooring might get damaged by termites and require repair.
Parquet flooring repair is performed as follows:
- The area where the parquet is being affixed needs to be cleaned.
- Purchase an adhesive and parquet tiles.
- Glue the tiles each at a time using the thick adhesive that you bought.
- Get a soft parquet brush and paint to get the wood to its original dark color that you desire.
- Sand the parquet tiles using sandpaper to a smooth finish.
- Use wood paint of the desired color to coat the parquet tiles.
- Paint the parquet floor with a varnish.
The list of easy home repairs you can easily do yourself is not exhaustive as there are many more.
Home repairs do not have to be expensive anymore because you can do them on your own as outlined above. However, ensure that you use the right tools so that personal injuries are minimized and in the process, your house is not damaged further.
