Owning a home is a dream come true for most people. You\u2019ve probably worked hard to get to this point in your life. However, you may soon come to realize that there\u2019s more to home owning than meets the eye. In order to live a happy life in your new home, you must commit to taking care of it. Whenever something goes wrong or breaks, it may seem easier to pick up the phone and call a specialist, but the truth is that the majority of house problems can be easily fixed. Don\u2019t be afraid to roll up your sleeves and dedicate a few hours of your time to fix a leaking faucet, the doors to the rooms or even the entire paint job. These are all DIY (do it yourself) home projects that you can take care of yourself without having to spend too much money on specialists. [no_toc]<\/p>\n
One of the first things that is noticed about a room is the paint job on the walls. Nothing says more about a home owner than a cracked paint job on the walls. Luckily, this is something that you can resolve by yourself. Not only will you be fixing the walls, you will also be adding a lot of market value to your home, should you ever decide to put it up for sale or rent.<\/p>\n
In order to ensure the best results, you should always be prepared for what you\u2019re about to do. A sloppy paint job, with visible roller marks and careless trims is easy to notice. The first thing that you need to consider is removing cabinets, fixtures, and anything else that would hinder your movement or occupy space on the walls that are to be painted. You can either remove door and window hinges or cover them up with tape.<\/p>\n
The next step is cleaning the surface of the walls with a dry cloth. As time goes by, grime and grease might have landed on your walls. A few spots of grime are enough to stop your paint from correctly sticking to the walls. This could result in various imperfections and will cause you to waste time by having to repeat the process from the start. Take your time to carefully cover the entire wall. Pay close attention to nail holes, corners, and other tricky surfaces.<\/p>\n
Unless you\u2019re living in some unnamed future home, you most certainly have doors between your rooms, bathrooms, and hallways. Regardless if they\u2019re made of wood or metal, your doors will require occasional fixing and mending. The majority of door issues are minor and are easily fixable if you have a few minutes to spare.<\/p>\n
Although your interior doors aren\u2019t directly exposed to the natural elements, they are still subject to climate change and other seasonal damage. Humid weather can cause wooden doors to swell, especially if there\u2019s not enough space between the door and its frame. Door swelling can stop it from closing correctly. Your first step should be to check if the swelling isn\u2019t caused by something else, such as a loose hinge. Carefully tighten the screws and check to see if the problem persists.<\/p>\n
Although there may still be swelling, before moving to the next step, keep in mind that this problem will go away by itself one the rainy months are over. However, if you\u2019re still interested in fixing it, you will need a carpenter\u2019s plane. Mark the area that needs to be planed and assess whether you need to remove the door off its hinges or not. Whichever the case, remember to always start by making an angled cut. This will help you avoid unnecessary splintering.<\/p>\n
Although faucets are designed and built to stand the test of time, they are not invincible. The biggest problem you\u2019ll be facing with faucets is uncontrolled leaking. According to EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), an average home wastes over 10,000 gallons of water per year through faucet leaks. That\u2019s almost enough to fill a 21ft round pool.<\/p>\n
Luckily, you can fix a leaking faucet without having to call an expert plumber. The process is quite easy to understand and execute. The first step is finding out the type of faucet that you have. The most common faucets are compression faucets, cartridge faucets, and ceramic disc faucets. There are a few differences between each faucet, but the process of fixing a leak is fairly similar for each one. Once you\u2019ve identified the type of faucet you\u2019ll be fixing, it\u2019s time to shut off the water. You can shut off the water locally or in the entire house, depending on the valves that the house has.<\/p>\n
Once the water is shut off it\u2019s time to start fixing the leak. You must first ensure that have the proper tools. Remove the faucet handle by unscrewing and lifting it. Don\u2019t worry if you can\u2019t see the screw at a first glance. It\u2019s probably concealed due to aesthetic reasons. Now remove the packing nut that\u2019s holding the valve stem in place. Once you\u2019ve removed the nut, proceed to unscrewing the valve stem and removing it from its housing.<\/p>\n
You should be able to see the washer now. Depending on the faucet, it may come in various shapes and colors. The vast majority of faucet leaks are caused by a deteriorated washer. Even if the damage isn\u2019t visible, it is recommended to change the washer on a regular basis. Your local plumbing supplier should have a wide variety of washers for sale. Buy a set of washers instead of just one. If you have one leaky faucet, chances are the other faucets may be leaking as well. Regardless, changing the washers in all your faucets shouldn\u2019t take very long.<\/p>\n
To finish the repairing process, simply add the new washer and follow the previous steps in reverse. The new washer should almost always fix the leak. In the odd case that it doesn\u2019t, the problem is most likely another damaged component. You may have to deconstruct the faucet and check for other issues.<\/p>\n
Owning a home is a dream come true for most people. You\u2019ve probably worked hard to get to this point in your life. However, you may soon come to realize<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/extensivelyreviewed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/extensivelyreviewed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/extensivelyreviewed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extensivelyreviewed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extensivelyreviewed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/extensivelyreviewed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":538,"href":"https:\/\/extensivelyreviewed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87\/revisions\/538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/extensivelyreviewed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extensivelyreviewed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extensivelyreviewed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}