As a homeowner, you have several responsibilities. The most common ones are paying your mortgage on time, paying utilities, and cleaning the home.
Another essential responsibility is regular home maintenance. Often, it’s as simple as replacing light bulbs and smoke detector batteries or caulking windows. But sometimes, it will involve heavy work such as repairs.
Benefits of Knowing Basic Repairs
For complex tasks such as remodeling and renovations, you will need to hire an expert who has completed a CSCS Green Card program. But as a homeowner, you also still need to know the most basic ones. This knowledge will help you save some money in the long run. It can also ensure that you address issues at home promptly and, therefore, prevent further damage.
Here’s a short list of home repairs every homeowner should know:
Anchoring Appliances
Some heavy furniture and appliances need to be anchored to the wall for safety purposes. This is even more important if you have children at home. Furniture tip-overs happen more often than you might think. And they can cause serious injuries or even death. Between 2000 and 2018, there were 556 deaths caused by furniture tip-overs, and 83% of these deaths were children aged 17 years old and below.
Thus, you must learn how to anchor appliances. You can use furniture restraints. They are brackets with one end screwed onto a piece of furniture and the other screwed onto a stud in your wall. You can also drill small holes on your wall and place hooks on them, to which you will fasten your furniture using a durable strap or cable.
Changing Door Knobs
Doorknobs usually last a long time. But that doesn’t mean they’re not prone to damage in time. As such, you need to learn how to change doorknobs. This skill will also come in handy when you or another family member loses their keys. Changing doorknobs will help you ensure the security of your home.
To change a doorknob, you first need to remove the current knob. You need a Phillips screwdriver to remove the screw on one side of the knob. Then you can pull apart both its sides and then remove the latch. The process is reversed when you install the new doorknob. You need to insert the latch first then place both sides of the knob. Finalize the process by securing the screw or screws outside the knob.
Fixing and Replacing Leaky Faucets
Faucets and pipes may leak due to age and wear and tear. Besides, a faucet is just one of the many fixtures you’ll always interact with at home. You use it when you wash your hands, food, and dishes. Thus, you need to know how to fix and/or replace a leaky faucet.
When you replace a faucet, you need to make sure that you turn off your water supply first. You start by disassembling the faucet using a screwdriver. After that, you can take apart the parts of the faucet, which include the faucet cap, rotary ball, and springs. Inspect each part to check which one is damaged. In some cases, you might only need to replace one or two parts instead of the entire faucet.
Once you’ve figured out which parts need to be changed, install the replacement parts. And make sure that everything is fitted properly: not too loose to avoid leaks but not too tight to avoid straining the parts.
Unclogging the Drain
A clogged drain is one of the most common kitchen problems. No matter how careful you are, it can still get clogged. You can call a plumber to solve this problem. But knowing how to do the “first aid” for your drains will be very helpful.
First, remove the standing water in your sink. Remove as much as you can. Then pour hot water onto your sink and let it sit. If the water doesn’t go down even after that, you’ll have to be more thorough with your cleaning. For example, you can use a combination of either baking soda and vinegar or baking soda and salt. Pour one ingredient at a time into the drain and then wash with hot water. If these strategies still don’t work, you may have to use a drain snake or a plunger to unclog your drain.
Car owners are expected to know how to maintain and do basic repairs on their cars. This expectation also applies to homeowners. Knowing simple maintenance tasks and repairs will help you keep your home in its best state for a long time.
