Common Home Repairs You Can Do Yourself

Owning a home is a wonderful experience for most people. But of all the difficult aspects of home ownership, the task of home repairs can be a concern. While newer homes are less likely to have as many home repair concerns as older homes, all homes need repairs from time to time.

The good news, is there are many home repairs that can be done at home easily without the help of a contractor. Do-It-Yourself home repairs can save homeowners thousands of dollars by contrast to hiring a professional contractor. But the obvious concern is finding the home repairs are easy enough for almost anyone to do.

Changing Faucet or Shower Heads

This is not something that a homeowner should hire a plumber to do. This project literally takes minutes and can save homeowners hundreds of dollars by not hiring a plumber to handle it. If a faucet head or shower head becomes cracked, broken or malfunctioning, going to a hardware store and picking up a replacement is quite easy. These faucet and shower heads simply unscrew and can be replaced with a new one in minutes.

Doorway Transition Strip Replacement

Another easy repair is replacing transition strips between rooms. Everyone knows that over time the wood strips at doorway entrances to bedrooms, bathrooms and other rooms can become damaged. Getting a new one to replace it is inexpensive and easy. First, get an exact measurement of the doorway for the room in need. Then go to a hardware store that cuts wood to order like Home Depot. Find a good piece of transition strip wood material that will meet doorway specifications and personal design desires. Then have the wood cut to match the existing piece.

The old transition strip can be pulled up using the claw of a hammer. The new piece of wood should be stained or painted before it is installed. Once that is done, it can then be put in place and secured using nails or wood glue. It should be noted if wood glue is used it can be more difficult to remove later and takes longer to set.

Replacing Wood Trim From Carpenter Ant Damage

Carpenter ants are known to cause damage in doorways, steps and other areas around where wood is stored. The first place ants try boring holes in is usually at some point of entry. For damaged wood replacement, the same procedure for transition strips applies for replacing wood trim placed around doorways and steps that can have damage from ant infestations. The wood can easily be replaced by purchasing wood trim or wooden steps that are equivalent to existing wood pieces. The trim or wood pieces can be cut to size and installed. For doorway replacement wood, homeowners should stain or paint them before installation.
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Drywall Repair

Fixing a hole in drywall is easy. Inevitably, over time drywall in a home can get damaged. Walls can get small puncture damage or sizable holes in them leading to an unsightly look. This can happen from moving furniture, door handle damage, picture frame damage or any number of other mishaps. If the damage to the drywall is small, drywall spackle can usually repair it quite readily.

Before the repair and patch is made, it’s important to wipe down the area wall and make sure the wall is free from pieces of broken drywall particles. Then the spackle should be prepared and placed on the damaged area using a spackle application tool. Once the spackle is placed on the wall and the patch is made, this area should be dried and sanded down with sandpaper making it flush with the wall. It will then be ready to be painted over.

Larger Drywall Damage

If the wall damage is larger, then using spare sheetrock or buying a piece of sheetrock to repair it will be necessary. The damaged area should be squared out so that the shape of the replacement piece can be uniform. A new piece should be measured to be about ¼ of an inch less than the actual hole size. A piece of wood may be hammered into place against the sub wall to hold the new piece in place. Instead wood can also be attached to the surrounding drywall with drywall screws. Once this is done, the new piece of drywall can be put in place and then the outer edges taped with drywall tape. Finally, the frame of the drywall piece is spackled, sanded down and painted over for a seamless look making the damage unnoticeable.

Adam Richards

About Adam Richards

Adam Richards is a semi-retired business professional originally from Bangor, Maine. He spent the majority of his career in sales and marketing where he rose to the marketing lead of a Fortune 1000 company. He then moved on to helping people as a career counselor that specifically helped bring families to self-sufficiency through finding them rewarding careers. He has now returned to Bangor for his retirement and spends his free time writing. This blog will be about everything he learned throughout his career. He'll write on career, workplace, education and technology issues as well as on trends, changes, and advice for the Maine job market and its employers.