Save Thousands of Dollars with These Easy and Essential DIY Home Repairs!
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Learn the essential (and easy) DIY home repairs and maintenance skills you need to take care of your house and save a ton of money!
For better or worse, being homeowners means when things break down around the house it's on us to get it fixed.
If you're constantly calling a professional to fix everything in your place, your wallet will drain pretty fast.
One of the best ways you can save money as home owner is by learning how to repair and maintenance what you have.
Save Money, Gain Skills with DIY Home Repairs
Let me say up front – if you have a major problem, by all
It's not worth the pain and headache to have some one fix your mistakes.
That said, there are plenty of basic and necessary skills and jobs you can do yourself. A good plumber can be pricey, so don't waste your time calling them for small projects like unclogging your toilet.
While not experts, over the years we've picked up here and there what we needed to keep things running smoothly.
If it's something major or if we are completely in the dark on what to do, we have no problem calling a professional, but if it's basic (or something we can learn from YouTube!) we'll go ahead and try to do it ourselves.
Big List of DIY Home Repairs and Maintenance
I'm amazed at how much stuff is online. I think YouTube alone has all the videos you need to get started with your own basic home care and repairs.
To make it easier for you to find what you need, I prepared a list of some of the essential home skills and DIY home repairs.
Water and Plumbing
When we had the townhouse it was new construction so pretty much our water issues were due to a potty training toddler.
Now that we have an older home, we've discovered there's a few different piping systems in place.
We have a mix of PVC, a dash of copper, and polybutylene spread all through out the house.
Thankfully nothing major has gone wrong, but we've been upgrading and fixing things as they come up.
- Unclogging a Toilet
- Repairing a Running Toilet
- Repairing a Leaky Faucet
- Winterizing Your Plumbing
- Thawing a Frozen Water Pipe
Electrical
Neither one of us is an electrician, so if we need some serious work done, we will budget and hire a professional.
However, there are a few easy repairs and upgrades we can do around the house.
urb Appeal: Making Your Home's Exterior Shine
Easy Appliance Care and Maintencne
- Tips to Help Your Dishwasher Last Longer
- Cleaning a Stove's Grease Filter
- Cleaning Clothes Dryer Hose and Vents
- Refrigerator Maintenance
Keeping Your a House a Home
- How to Repair and Patch Holes in Walls
- How to Install a Smoke or Carbon Monoxide Detector
- Installing a Door Peephole
- Setting a Water Heater's Temperature
- How to Install Solid Hardwood Floors
For books, you should borrow or buy Dare to Repair and How to Repair, Clean, and Maintain Anything and Everything In and Around Your Home .
If you have any other suggestions for this list, please leave them below in the comments and I'll try to add them.
Update:
Joan from NYC has a tip to buy a canister auger ($20-$25) to clear out clogged tub/sink drains.
Thoughts on DIY Home Repairs
We're not against getting a skilled professional to help you fix a major problem. We believe that it serves you to try and take care of the basics to minimize expenses.
It also protects you, because fixing some things around the house gives you a knowledge base that you can use to better evaluate those who come into your home.
What home repairs and maintenance have you've done yourself? Where do you like to pick up tricks and tips for DIY home care?
This post was originally released in July 2015. It has been updated in March 2019.
