Home repairs are considered to be a necessary evil by most people. For the true DIY enthusiasts out there, they’re viewed as a platform for their creative expressions. Whichever category you belong to, repairs must be done and updates made, one way or the other. Here’s a handy list of some of the home repairs that you can truly DIY, whether you’re a novice or an expert. The projects below can be done by almost anyone as long as they have the right tools and are willing to do some research into the project.
1. Clean Your Carpets
This is arguably one of the easiest DIY home repairs that you could ever tackle. In fact, it’s so easy to do that few even categorize carpet cleaning as a DIY project, but view it as a household chore. Semantics aside, cleaning your carpet thoroughly need not bother you. That’s because all you might need to do to match the excellence of professional area rug cleaning services in your locality is a brittle brush, all-purpose liquid soap, and plenty of water.
A proper brush will scrub the dust and dirt away easily. In the event that your carpet flooring has accumulated not just dust but stubborn stains over time, you may need to get a pressure washer to effectively wash away all the dust and debris from your carpets. If the method above seems futile or you’ve actually tried it and it hasn’t worked for you, then you can look into another alternative, and that’s vacuum cleaning. The ease of use of traditional vacuum cleaners will make the carpet cleaning exercise a bit easier to boot. To get the best vacuuming experience, go for a wet and dry vacuum.
2. Fix Minor Plumbing Leaks
Not all plumbing repair jobs need to be diagnosed and repaired by a plumbing service or plumbing contractor. Most can be easily tackled as DIY home repairs, but this only applies to minor plumbing leaks. To get started on plumbing repairs, you’ll need to learn some simple basics of plumbing. For instance, you ought to be able to tell the different plumbing pipe sizes to know which ones are appropriate for a specific part of the plumbing. You should also familiarize yourself with the most common types of plumbing connectors and the specific glues used for the joinery.
These basics need not scare you. A quick online search will get you the required knowledge. You can add to this knowledge over time as you immerse yourself in more plumbing repairs. As with most DIY home repairs, the first few attempts might provide less-than-perfect results. This, however, shouldn’t scare you and make you throw in the towel. It should motivate you to get better and sharpen your skills to the extent that you can fix the towel rail, repair a small leak, and even change various fixtures and fittings.
3. Repair Drywall
A drywall repair job is one of those DIY home repairs that looks harder than it actually is. The job is not only very simple to do, but it also uses very little material, which can be easily found at the local hardware. To get the perfect wall with no visible repair marks, you need the right quality of drywall filler. To do a great drywall repair job, you’ll need three basic things. These are a piece of drywall, a drywall filler, a drywall trowel, and a drywall sander.
There are very many methods of fixing drywall. These range from very complicated methods that use tools that might be intimidating for beginners to ones that the average person can do. Either of these approaches uses a similar concept. It’s more or less like patching up a torn or worn-out garment for which you cut out the area that’s faulty and replace it with a new piece of fabric. In the same manner, drywall repair entails cutting out the compromised area and replacing it with a whole piece. To patch things up, apply a drywall filler and sand it so that it blends with the rest of the drywall.
4. Replace Flooring
Another home repair you can truly DIY is floor replacement. If you have grown bored with your existing floor, you shouldn’t shy away from tackling this project. To get started, you’ll need to remove your existing floor. If it was a tongue and groove joinery floor, you’d have an easy time taking the pieces out, one by one. If, however, the floor you intend to replace was fixed with tile adhesive, cement, or tiles grout, you’ll have a harder task ahead of you, but one that’s still doable with the right dedication.
Once the old floor is out of the way, pay your local flooring store a visit. There, you’ll come across the various flooring options available in the market, including some that you may not have known about. You could ask about the methods of application for each and pick the one that seems easiest for you to DIY. This is a step that most DIY home repairs enthusiasts often miss and pay dearly for. This means that there’s no point in buying very expensive hardwood floors and being unable to install it.
5. Update Doors and Windows
Doors and Windows are some elements that intimidate most novices on this list of home repairs you can DIY, but they need not. The secret is in knowing the tasks to delegate to respective windows and doors companies and those that can be tackled as DIYs. For instance, exterior doors are supposed to provide security as well as privacy for a home.In this case, security supersedes privacy so you can’t afford to gamble with your home’s security. That’s why you need to engage an exterior door company for a project like replacing exterior doors.
The same logic applies when you need to have your windows installed, for which complete replacement is best done by a window company. In a nutshell, if you’re a novice, have your security windows and doors installed by professionals and channel your DIY energy toward projects that involve updating appearance. This is because cosmetic improvement projects are easy to maneuver and also more forgiving in terms of expertise and flexibility.
One of the privacy doors that come easy for most DIYers is a barn door. Not only is this easy to make, but it’s very versatile when it comes to installing it. For instance, it can be fixed with hinges or installed as a sliding door. To get an idea of the various ways you can tinker with a barn door, go through Pinterest, and you’ll find plenty of ideas to inspire you. If the necessary repairs are minor and don’t need major updates, consider replacing the faulty parts with ones made with long-lasting materials like brass.
6. Installing Custom Cabinets
Cabinets repairs and customizations are one of the DIY home repairs that come easily for most people. Cabinet repair jobs, like fixing cabinet doors and fitting knobs will, however, require some tools for ease of work. The most common tools for these types of repairs are a drill set and a circular saw. If you already have these, you can get started. You’ll also need a measuring tape to ensure you take accurate measurements.
For the cabinet repairs, you can opt to retain your existing cabinet formwork and just repair or replace the front-facing doors. This will give your old cabinets a fresh look without requiring you to break the bank. It’ll also make the DIY home repairs go a lot faster than if you’d started from scratch. Once you’ve replaced the cabinet doors with new doors made from materials of your choice, which include laminates and wood, you can give them a fresh coat of paint depending on your tastes and preferences.
After you’re satisfied with the overall appearance of your cabinets, the next step will be to dress the cabinets up with the appropriate accessories. For instance, if you’re going for a vintage look, shop around for old-fashioned door knobs and door handles online, which you can easily fix with a small drill. To improve your chances of getting a worthwhile find, you ought to set aside a day for thrift shopping for these specific items in your neighborhood. This way, you’ll find very unique fittings for your cabinets.
If, however, you’re one of those people who prefer not to go the whole way when tackling DIY home repairs but would still want to have some DIY experience, you can assemble some of the cabinet elements yourself. This can be made easier by the fact that some companies sell pre-cut cabinet doors that already have drill holes in place. All you would have to do upon purchase is to assemble the parts and then screw them in place as per the instructor’s guide that they’ll send to you. This is also a good approach for those without prior experience in cabinet making but who want well-finished cabinets.
7. Minor Roof Repairs
Another one of the DIY home repairs that most people can truly DIY is a leaking roof. A leaking roof will not only ruin your ceiling if it’s not waterproof, but the droplets will trickle down onto your items and damage them. To keep this in check, you can fix the leaks yourself. To do this, you can apply waterproof tar tape onto the compromised roofing sheets. This is a very simple process that’s similar to putting a band-aid on a bruise.
The repairs mentioned above only apply to low-lying roofs that can be accessed by the most basic ladder or scaffolding. This is because, for these, you’re not putting yourself at risk for falling from a height. If, however, your roof is steep and very hard to access, the roofing repairs should be delegated to experienced roofing contractors. Most of them have the right experience, regalia, and equipment such as scaffolding to navigate even the most complex of roofs. It’s clearly best to leave complex roofing projects to them.
8. Fixing Curtain Rods
If, for one reason or another, your curtain rods aren’t working as they ought to be and need repairs, refrain from calling curtain fixing experts to come and repair them for you. Curtain rod fixing repairs is one of the DIY home repairs that most people can or should be able to do with ease. All you’ll need in this case is a drill set and its respective screws, a spirit level, and the respective curtain rods set. Combine this with a will to learn, and you’ll soon be an expert curtain fixer yourself in little to no time.
To fix the curtain rods, you first need to identify the best place to have the holders placed. The ideal standard is to leave an allowance of at least 50mm from the end of your windows. You can place the curtain rods as high as you would like your curtains to be. Once you have them marked out, remember to use a spirit level to ensure that both ends of the curtain rod holders are in a straight line. After that, screw the curtain rod holders in place. In case cracks or other drywall damage occurs during this process, fix them using a drywall filler. After this, you can proceed to put your chosen curtain rods.
All the DIY home repairs projects listed above are easy to do even if you only have the most basic knowledge of using various tools. If, however, you find them challenging, you can take your time to research online on how best to use the tools the right way. In the event that you prefer a more hands-on learning approach, you can apprentice at companies that deal with the skills you intend to learn. For example, if you’d like to gather knowledge on cabinet making, consider working with carpentry and joinery contractors for a short while. After this, you can use the skills that you learn in future DIY home repairs that you do.