Date Posted: 2012-06-21 09:35:23
Site Posted: Myproperty.ph
.jpg)
These days, the country is on a strict budget, as the cost of pretty much everything continues to rise. On a smaller scale, families are doing all they can to stay on top of their spending, including learning to do simple home repairs by themselves.
Even those who claim not to have been born DIYers will find that they don’t need to spend money hiring professionals to fix every tinker job they need done around the house. These are some of the simplest tasks that you can take care of on your own.
Broken light switch
Replacing light switches have a certain level of danger to them because of the power, so always, always turn off the breaker connected to the switch before unscrewing the cover. Once that’s done, loosen the two screws attached to the switch and unhook the wires under the screwhead. Check to see if the exposed wires are still in good shape; if not, cut off the damaged ends and strip around half an inch of the insulation to expose the unused wire. After bending the exposed wires to a hook, attach them under the screwheads of the new switch and tighten the screws. Make sure that the light switch has been completely assembled before turning the breaker back on.
Certain toilet problems
If you’ve never inspected your toilet inside and out, now would be the perfect time to do so. The key is to familiarize yourself with how the whole system works, which is pretty simple. For instance, if the toilet won’t flush right, use a mirror to look under the seat’s rim and check if the flush holes are clogged. If they are, scrape the dirt away with some pipe cleaners.
Sometimes you might hear the water running in the tank, but a look inside reveals the tank isn’t even filling up, wasting a lot of water. If the reason behind the leak is that the flapper valve (the cover at the bottom of the tank) is old and broken, you need to buy a new one to replace it with.
Cracked floor tiles
A couple of broken bathroom floor tiles are easy enough to replace, as long as you have the right tools and the time to do it. Before anything else, put on safety glasses; replacing tiles requires some scraping and breaking, and you don’t want any tile chips to end up in your eyes. Using a scoring tool, remove the grout surrounding the cracked tile, but be careful not to damage the tiles next to it. After putting tape on the tiles around the broken tile, use a chisel to take out the broken pieces and to remove the adhesive underneath. Apply some adhesive on the back of the new tile and the space where it’s supposed to go, and then set the tile in place, pressing down to keep it in. When the adhesive dries (after about 2 hours), apply grout into the gaps, wait for it to dry completely and clean of any excess.
DIY home repairs are an excellent way to save money as long as you know how to do them. On the other hand, if the home repair job is too dangerous, or is too complicated that you risk making it worse (and spending even more), it would be better to leave it to a professional.
Jillian Cariola, Writer
(cover image by Michael W)
Recently Posted Properties from Around the Web:
