Smart Homeowner
100 Home Repairs You Don’t Need to Call a Pro For
You may think some home repairs are out of your league, but even beginner DIYers can handle many of these fixes—and save a lot of money in the process! Browse through the following 100 home repairs to find the step-by-step instructions and advice for doing all of them yourself.
Replace a Toilet
You Can Refinish Your Own Hardwood
Patchy Lawn
Garbage Disposal
Smelly Dishwasher
Stop bad dishwasher odors by cleaning food scraps from the tub and running a dishwasher cleaner through a cycle. It’s a fairly simple DIY home improvement. Learn how to fix a smelly dishwasher.
Loud Cabinet Doors
Replace Auto Lights
Foam a Loose Showerhead
Cover Up a Ceiling Stain
Fix Roof Vents
How to Get Dents Out of Wood
Here are more instant fixes for nagging problems around the house.
Circuit Breakers
It is not uncommon for power switches and breakers to be accidentally turned off when other appliances are being installed. Homeowners are encouraged to check their circuit breaker to make sure the issue isn’t as simple as needing to turn a switch back on. A circuit breaker is typically located in the garage, although in some homes, the circuit breaker can be found in the basement, hallway or storage room.
Weatherstripping is Easy
Clogged Drains
Sanding Stainless Steel Appliances
Buff out ugly scratches in your shiny stainless steel appliances, using fine sandpaper and rubbing compound. Learn how to sand stainless steel appliances.
Touch up Chipped Auto Paint
Gulf Wax for Sticky Drawers
Solution for a Small Leak
Some roof leaks are tough to locate. Sometimes the water shows up at a ceiling spot distant from the leak. If your ceiling has a plastic vapor barrier between the drywall and the attic insulation, push the insulation aside and look for flow stains on the plastic. Often water runs to openings in the vapor barrier, such as at ceiling light fixtures.
If you can’t see any telltale flow marks, and since the stain is fairly small, look at the underside of the roof for ‘shiners.’ A shiner is a nail that missed the framing member, in this case when the carpenter nailed the roof sheathing to the rafters. Moisture that escapes into the cold attic from the rooms below often condenses on cold nails. Sometimes you can spot this if you climb up into your attic on a cold night. The nails will look white because they’re frosted. When the attic heats up a bit during the day, the frost melts and drips, then the nails frost up at night again and so on. The solution is to simply clip the nail with a side-cutting pliers.
Loose Cabinet Knob
Fix a Wallpaper Seam
Straighten a Bent Blind
Scratched Cabinetry
Fix Wobbly Furniture with a Penny
Replace Engine Air Filter
Fix a Smelly Washing Machine
Stop bad odors in your clothes washer by running a cycle with a special mold-killing tablet and by leaving the door open to promote drying. Learn how to fix a smelly washing machine.
Decks
Walls
Fast-Setting Drywall Compound
Feed the Lawn
Check the Batteries
There are a number of contributing factors such as blocked vents that can constrict air flow or lead to irreversible damages. But the problem might be as simple as changing your batteries. If the thermostat is not lit, it is time to change the batteries!
Appliance Touch-Up Paint
Doors
Lubricate a Lock with a Pencil
Use Car Wax in Your Kitchen
Leaking Plumbing Pipes
Sticking Drawers
Broken Light Fixture
Cheater’s Chair Fix
Unclog a Toilet With Dish Soap
Stripped Screws? No Problem
Stain Markers
Spark Plugs
HVAC
If it’s your furnace that needs attention, you can perform routine maintenance, and handle simple repairs yourself. Plus: Learn how to choose furnace filters and how to replace furnace filters yourself.
A Quick Coat of Paint
Diagnosing Appliance Fault Codes
When the display panel on your appliance flashes strange numbers, grab your owner’s manual. It may be flashing a fault code that’ll help diagnose a problem. Learn how to diagnose appliance fault codes.
Repair and Reglaze
Self-Sticking Wall Patch
Faucets
Insulation is Key
How to Remove Sticker Residue
Dab any type of kitchen cooking oil (olive, canola or sunflower) onto a paper towel. Then lay the paper towel over the residue that refuses to budge. Wait a few minutes while the oil works to dissolve the stubborn glue. Finally, remove the towel and rub away the sticker residue with another clean paper towel. However, you need to be cautious with stains on more absorbent materials.
Holes in Siding
Broken Drawer
Fix a Shutoff Valve
Bleach Away a Water Stain
Wear safety goggles, and make sure you protect the walls and floors with plastic.
Clean Upholstery with Baking Soda
Use Coins for Toilet Shims
Air filter
It is instinctual for homeowners to contact an HVAC tech when they notice irregularities in their cooling or heating system. These irregularities could be a direct result of a dirty or clogged air filter. We encourage homeowners to check their filters and replace if necessary. It’s also beneficial for homeowners with pets, carpet, or for homes near fields or construction zones to have multiple filters for convenient replacement.
Pro Tip: Mark your calendars! 1-in. filters should be changed every month, 2-in. filters should be changed every 2 months and 4 to 5-in. filters should be changed every 6 to 12 months.
Caulk it!
Cleaning Solvents
Car Tires
Repair Any Holes
Broken Refrigerator
Simple fixes for the four most common refrigerator problems: an ice-maker breakdown, water leaking onto the floor, a cooling failure and too much noise. Chances are, you can solve the problem yourself, save some money and avoid the expense and inconvenience of a service appointment. The following article will walk you through the simplest solutions to the most common fridge malfunctions. Learn how to repair a refrigerator here.
Fix Tears in Leather and Vinyl
Remove Hard-Water Buildup with a Lemon
Fix Small Holes
Cracked Grout
Misaligned Cabinet Latches
Fluorescent Light Ballast
Texture Spray Cans
Gutters
Windows
If you want to take on a larger task, you can even replace your windows!
Stain-Blocking Primer
Restore Your Deck
Fix a Twisted Key
Replace Drawer Slides
Hide a Hole With a Smoke Detector
Silence a Squeaky Floor
Upholstery
Two Lubricants That You Need in Your House
Ditch the Wood Paneling
Clothes Dryer Repair Guide
Most dryer problems can be fixed in an hour with a few basic tools and a continuity tester or multimeter, and you can do the work yourself with these simple instructions. Get the clothes dryer repair guide.
Wine Cork Wobbly Table Fix
Fix Plumbing Vent Boots
Plumbing vent boots can be all plastic, plastic and metal, or even two-piece metal units. Check plastic bases for cracks and metal bases for broken seams. Then examine the rubber boot surrounding the pipe. That can be rotted away or torn, allowing water to work its way into the house along the pipe. With any of these problems, you should buy a new vent boot to replace the old one. But if the nails at the base are missing or pulled free and the boot is in good shape, replace them with the rubber-washered screws used for metal roofing systems. You’ll find them at any home center with the rest of the screws. You’ll have to work neighboring shingles free on both sides. If you don’t have extra shingles, be careful when you remove shingles so they can be reused. Use a flat bar to separate the sealant between the layers. Then you’ll be able to drive the flat bar under the nail heads to pop out the nails.
Stripped Screw Holes
Restore Free Flow to a Faucet
To remove the sand and other deposits, soak the aerator in vinegar, then scrub it with a toothbrush. This usually solves the problem. If you have to disassemble the aerator to clean it, lay out the parts in the order you removed them so you can reassemble them correctly. Still having issues? Do a showerhead deep clean.
Flush Without Hang-Ups
How to Adjust Oven Temperatures
If your oven cooking times are off, recalibrate your oven temperature to match an accurate oven thermometer. The procedure is in your oven’s instruction manual. Learn how to adjust oven temperatures.
Epoxy Glue
Light Switches
Vents
Vents are a sensitive component of any cooling and heating system. It is imperative to check vents, ducts, and grills for blockage as that can be the leading factor of irregular air flow.
Pro Tip: Furniture or plants should be at least two feet away from vents.
The Miracle of a Walnut
Keep Cabinet Doors Closed
Caulk and Grout
Two-Part Filler
Simple Fixes for Common Appliance Problems
At least a quarter of all appliance repair calls are resolved with no-brainer solutions like pushing a button or flipping a circuit breaker. Learn what to look for and how to avoid these expensive lessons. Learn all of the simple fixes for common appliance problems.
Reinforce a Drawer Front
Toilets
Electric Stove Repair Tips
You can solve most electric range burner problems yourself and avoid the expensive service call. It’s quick and easy to replace a burner or bad burner socket. Read the electric stove repair tips.