Whether you like it or you don’t, maybe once or twice repairs would have to be carried out in your home, but when something gets broken, the first thing that comes to your mind would always fall along something like “how much is this going to cost me now?”
Although some complicated repairs would require a professional to fix, there are also some repairs that do not necessarily need experience which you can quickly perform in your home that would save you from those costs you would have to invest in paying repairers for their services.
So when you have damages in your home, don’t get worried because we have thought of ten repairs you can carry out on yourself to keep your home as original as it was from the start.
1. Broken Toilet Lever: First on your repair list is one of the most common occurrences in bathrooms, a broken toilet lever. Most times after you try to push the toilet lever and it doesn’t work, it is a case of a detached chain in the tank. You can fix this by pop opening the tank and reattaching the chain.
In other cases, you might have the issue of a broken piece that connects to the handle like the nuts, the metal rod, the chain or the handle itself could be corroded. For situations like this, these parts could be replaced; all you need to do this is an adjustable wrench and the replacement toilet lever kit.
2. Leaky Bathroom or Kitchen Pipe: The most frequent type of pipe leaks that can occur in your home is in your kitchen or your bathroom sinks. Most times, it could be the situation of a worn out washer or a loose or broken compression nut that is sealing these pipes.
To get this fixed, you should first shut off the water to the sink and, then place a bucket underneath the pipe to save your ground from getting wet. After these, twist the compression nuts and rinse out the curved pipe. Now, screw it back and turn the water back on.
3. Jammed Garbage Disposal: First, you need to cut the power to the machine avoid accidents, and then you can inserting the Allen wrench into the hole in the center of the bottom, to adjust the flywheel. While you are doing this, you actually wouldn’t see the wheel, but rotating it would loosen the jammed-up food in the disposal.
You can use a wooden dowel to remove any obstruction that may be near the top of the disposal. When you have cleared all clogging things, then reconnect the power and run water to ensure the clog is gone.
4. Broken Switches: Amidst all electrical home repairs, light switches are the easiest to replace. Although, for safety reasons, you should first turn off the circuit breaker, then use a screwdriver to remove the faceplate covering the switch, still uses that screwdriver to remove all the switches from the wall.
When you see two wires connected to the switch, you should first test them with a multimeter to ensure that no electricity is running through them. Then disconnect the wires and attach them to the new switch and put everything back together.
5. Sticky windows: When you have abandoned a window for a long time, it could be mucked up with dirt and craps. If it happens, you should apply lubrication on the edges of the sticky windows.
If you don’t want to use the lubricating oil, you can use a sharp putty knife to wiggle the window open. Immediately you get it open, ensure you clean the edge properly.
6. Unclog Toilet: When you have an unclogged toilet, the first tool you need to get is the toilet plunger. You would need to pour some amount of soap water in the toilet; you should allow it to settle for about 10 minutes before about ten downward thrusts with the plunger and adding hot water and a few flushes, these could solve the problem.
When this method doesn’t work, you can try to get some baking powder and mix with vinegar in the toilet to trigger some chemical reaction that can unclog the toilet within a few minutes.
If this fails too, then get out a hanger, straighten it out and brush down the drain a few times till the water starts to drain, one of these would surely work.
7. Squeaky Door Hinge: No matter how pleasant your home is, having a squeaky door might cause you some embarrassment. If you want to avoid scenarios like this, you can use pliers to pull out the pin of your creaky doors and lubricate it with some petroleum jelly. Then close and open it a few times till the squeaking stops.
8. Scratched Glasses: To remove scratches from glasses in your home, put some cotton ball metal polish and buff in a circular motion around the scratched surface of the glass. If you don’t have access to the metal polish, you can get it easily from this online store. Try this and watch the scratches disappear.
9. Leaky Roofs: The best time to fix a leaky roof is when it rains. Take a walk into your attic and look for those spots that mark the wet places. Then when the skies are clear, head to the roof, get someone to help you detect these spots, then replace these shingles with new ones.
But you need to note that not all these shingles require replacement, some of them are just simply curled backward and they need some rearrangement.
10. Dead Doorbells : Instead of you missing that delivery due to a faulty doorbell, you fix your doorbell yourself. First check if the fault is from the accumulation of debris that is preventing the contacts if that is the problem, simple! Get some alcohol to wash it off.
If that is not it, remove the chime box from its bracket to examine it, use a multimeter to test it. If no signal is registered, it could have problems with broken or disconnected wire or even a damaged transformer which can easily be replaced or repaired. After diagnosing the problem, you can now get it fixed!
Conclusion: Although we agree that there is no shortage of things that could be damaged in your house, after reading these you would realize that all you can maintain an old house and not have to bother about its age. It would even help you know the required tools to keep in your home’s toolbox.
Developing yourself along all with skills would not only save your home expenses, but it could also add some value to you in your place of work or even towards your neighbors.
We have mentioned that there are not repairs are yours to fix, some of them require a professional to handle them. When it comes to those repairs that are risky to safety, then you should give them a call.