When you own personal possessions, you understand that time and decay will deteriorate things we own. It does not matter how hard you try to keep it unused and out of the way, it will eventually break. Your home and comforts are no exception, and sometimes getting a little dirty can save you some money and time if you are able to do a couple of things. When you get better at fixing those items, you will find a lot of personal value in doing it yourself.
Did I mention that updating your own home also reduces overall cost? Any willing couple putting in sweat equity into their home will reduce their home expenses up to 2/3rds of the value. The reason for this is because of the cost and taxes relative to hiring someone drive up the cost and relative value of the repair or update. Putting in your time to your home is actual healthy for your personal activity level (sweat equity?) and increasing the value of your home. The real cost comes down to your available time, skill, and willingness to rent or buy the appropriate tools and supply for the job. Pro-tip for any job you have, make sure you have all the tools for the job ready and quickly accessible, it will make the job go faster.
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Hanging items on the walls
To hang a picture, a positive, or a shadow box, anyone can put a nail in the wall and just hang it. However, if after two days that nice picture falls to the ground and you feel devastated. Some things to remember is that American house frames have a stud every 16 inches. Pull out your measuring tape, and you will likely find an extra identifying mark in that area for construction workers to build the wall. By having a tape measure, you can measure out the distance from a corner and get you the dimensions of the stud.
Spackling and covering old holes
A little bit of spackle is a clay like compound in most American homes. The mixture of plaster, glue, and water. When you first look at it, you can think of it like a white clay that will dry in a few hours. The reason you need to learn about this is in case your kids get a bit rambunctious and create holes in the wall, a thrown toy, or you bumped a table too hard against the wall. In minor repairs, you have smaller sized holes that can reseal the board together. Larger repairs will require a mesh or a wall-repair board so your wall goes back on. When you do this job, make sure you have a putty knife (as small as two inches, or five centimeters), grab a dab from your tub, and apply onto the hole or gap. You’ll create lines on the edges, and you’ll want to smooth those out giving a uniform appearance on the wall. Wait around two hours to dry, and either re-apply as needed or sand down for a smooth surface. When completed, repaint the area.
Fixing the leaky faucet
When I started living in my new house, I woke up in the middle of the night hearing the drip-drip from my kitchen faucet into a soaking pan. This is really annoying to hear, and you will feel the need to do something with it. Doing this work can take anything from 30 minutes to a couple of hours, all depending on your skill of repair and diagnosis. The leak itself can stem from a loose part within the mechanism on the inside of the faucet, a loose O-ring, or even improper adjustment from your hands.
Repair and replace lighting
Have you ever had a Christmas tree light set that was completely dead? The phrase, “when one light goes out, they all go out,” is frustrating because it is true. I’ve had a few moments in handling these strings that by replacing a couple bulbs from my extra set has let me save another $25 for the set and another year of use. The same goes for some of your own house. Most fixtures will require an Allen key or a small screwdriver to loosen, or open up the lights, get down to the bulb, inspect the bulb, and replace when needed. For a bonus, if your home still has the older lights, you might save some money on your electric bill by replacing all of them with Energy Saving light bulbs. One note on your lights, all of them put out a specific brightness called lumens. Normal rooms in your house will have a lumens rating. For the calculation, take the size of the room and multiple by the “Foot Candle” requirement of the room. For a 10x10x8 bedroom, 800 sqft, you’ll need between 1600-2000 Total Lumens. The rating goes a bit higher based on the time you spend in that room. Keep in mind that a single lightbulb will have specific lumen rating each, so you’ll need to add each bulb to reach the total lumen for the room.
Cleaning up your walls
You can’t always avoid it, your super white walls getting covered with dirty hands, marked with coloring, you name it. Recently, I had a child that was sick and we were cleaning up bile off the wall. This is really gross, but you do not have time to call the professional to get rid of that stink fast. When you have kids, they will get their hands all over the wall, crayon drawn family stills, and normal grime. Most of the time, having a wet napkin or cloth will do just nicely in cleaning up most dirty spots. For those tough spots, like markers or crayon, dish soap, vinegar, toothpaste, or baking soda are great ways to clean those tough areas. If you haven’t looked at it lately, baking soda works wonders at cleaning a lot of tough spots like coffee stains in a stainless steel thermos, carpet spots, and those tough odors from pets in your car.
Showerhead cleaning and replacement
Remember how vinegar can work for your walls? It can also work well for your showerhead that is full of calcium. From that tough buildup, you can take a bag and either tape or take a rubber band to the showerhead and let it soak. If you get to the point where your showerhead is no longer giving you the water pressure, you can always change out the showerhead. A couple things to review with this replacement is the GPM, or Gallons Per Minute. The higher it is, the most pressure you will receive from the showerhead. If you are more conservative with your water, a lower GPM model will not push out as much water. When you get a new showerhead, you can screw and unscrew the head just like any other threaded object (lefty-loosey, righty-tighty). As you place the new fixture on, do not forget to wrap the threads with some plumbers tape. The tape will keep the new showerhead nice and tight, and prevent water drip during your shower.
Replacing Doors
If you already have door that you want to replace, you will want to make length, width, and height measurements of your current door. Some retailers will have the new doors in stock, typically, 32- and 33-inch wide doors. If you have a hollow core door, make sure your measurements are more precise because you cannot remove too much material from the edges if you want a tighter fit. As you hang the door, keep in mind that it will have a gyroscope affect, and frames that are curved or not straight will affect the swing out. If it is square, it will make the rest easier. For your hinges, either use a router or chisel out the pattern to fit onto the frame. Your door knob hole will sometimes be pre-cut. If it is not, make sure you get yourself the kit and drill to finish the job. When I replaced my office door, I only screwed in the top and bottom hinges into the frame to ensure a close fit onto my frame. When your hardware is on, and it swings in and out, you’re good to go. This project can take you 2-4 hours if you’re an absolute beginner.
Changing Doorknobs and Locks
This one is a bit easier than the door. A Phillips head screwdriver is quite common for these sets, and usually all you need. When you remove the old set, insert your frame side mechanism, insert the knobs on both sides and screw in the bolts. When it is tight on the door and rotates properly, you are all set. Indoor set changes typically take about 10-15 minutes, outdoor ones can go longer depending on how their complexity. For what it is worth, when you first buy a home, make this security your number one priority. Spending around $100 on locks are more cost effective than filing an insurance claim for a loss.
When you do these different jobs, you will continue to get better at them. Do not expect to have results like that of a professional your first time out. They take years to develop these skills. However, if you have been working on these jobs since you were young, it is important to transfer these skills onto your own kids. They will become better at the jobs and will reap the benefits as you did. These different little jobs are not as difficult as you think, and you will likely do each of these things several times in your life.
We had gone over several different skills in the home, and I’ve performed most, if not all of these different jobs. About half of the jobs I had done as a kid or a teenager, mainly because I was personally responsible for damage to my parents house. Of all these different jobs, which ones have you not done and why? Please share and leave a comment on what you’ve done to date.
