Home Repairs Can Be Done by Yourself

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Ah, the joys of owning a home: rickety doors, jammed windows and cracks in drywall. These projects are annoying but too easy to ignore in favor of big things – but you can probably handle them on your own in one weekend. Here are nine common home repairs and how to fix them with no work experience.

We used to talk about home electricity , home plumbing, and outdoor home renovation projects that you can tackle on your own, but now it’s time to tackle general home renovations. The projects we’re looking at here involve refurbishing things like scratched tables, naughty doors, and so on. These are mostly beginner projects that are fairly easy to complete and can save you a lot of money if you take on them yourself.

Fix a door that won’t close easily

We all once had a door that needed to be shoved in, or maybe raised a little in order for it to close properly. As shown in thevideo above from MonkeySee , a door that doesn’t close easily is usually the result of one of three problems:

  • The striker may need adjustment . The latch may rest against the striker plate instead of engaging, or may not engage properly with the latch plate. First check to see if the latch plate is loose and if tightening the screws solves your problem. Otherwise, you may need to replace the striker with a more suitable one, or sand the existing plate slightly with a metal file or a rotating tool.
  • The stop is out of shape or aligned . The thrust molding is the part of the upholstery that the door rests against when closed. If it is deformed or misaligned, the door may not close completely. You can try to force the molding into a more comfortable position by hitting it with a hammer. If that doesn’t work, you may need to sand and polish the molding where the door rests against it.
  • The jamb is too tight to the door . If the door does not have enough clearance between the jamb and the inner edge of the door (near the hinges), the door will not close properly. This can often be corrected by placing a small spacer under the hinges to reposition the door.

You can most likely be able to fix this pretty quickly if you have the right tools for the right task.

Tools / Materials You Will Need:

  • Screwdriver (Phillips)
  • Metal file or rotating tool such as Dremel (if striker plate needs adjustment)
  • Hammer and block (if you need to adjust the stop)

Fix the door that wedges

The video above , also from MonkeySee, shows us how to solve the opposite problem: door sticking. The most common cause for a door to jam is a loose hinge screw. If so, tighten them first and see if the door gets better. If you find a screw hole that has been stripped (the screw just rotates but never tightens), you can use a longer screw or fix the problem with toothpicks or a golf shirt .

If hinge screws aren’t a problem, you’ll need to close the door and see where it rubs against the doorframe. You can work around this problem by trying to adjust the door hinges or sanding and buffing the edge of the door where it rubs.

Tools / Materials You Will Need:

  • Screwdriver (Phillips)
  • Electric drill (optional)
  • Sandpaper and repair materials (if needed)

Fix a sticky sliding door

If you have a sliding door that doesn’t slide well, the first thing to try is to lubricate the track and rollers with a good silicone spray , which is good because it won’t pick up dirt. This may be enough for the door to open easily again. However, it is more likely that you will need to pull out the door, clean thetrack and rollers well, and then lubricate them well, as shown in thevideo above from doublewide6 .

Tools / Materials You Will Need:

Repair or replace a screen on a window or door

If you have a screen with a small tear or tear, it is in your best interest to get it repaired now, as the problem can get worse quickly. If you need to quickly repair or replace your entire screen, thedoitbest video above will show you how.

Before proceeding with your screen repair, first determine if your screen is made of fiberglass or metal. You can fix very small holes or gaps in the metal with a little household cement, or in the fiberglass by simply stitching it up.

If there is a hole or crack in the metal shield up to three inches high, you can get good results using a patch kit . You can find kits with pre-cut shapes or a shielding sheet that you can cut yourself. Applying a patch to a metal shield is simply a matter of trimming it to a size slightly larger than the hole, bending the ends of the patch so you can insert it into the shield, and then folding the tips into the existing shield to keep the patch in place.

If you have holes larger than three inches in your metal screen, or anything larger than a tiny hole in your fiberglass screen, you need to go further and replace the screen. Buy a roll of screen from the same material as the screen you are replacing. You will need a slot (or shielding line), which is a vinyl, foam, or rubber cord that goes into the channel around the screen and holds it in place. And don’t be afraid to take your old splined bus, screen, or even a window to the hardware store with you to get the supplies you need. You will also need a spline tool (or screen rolling tool) to press the spline into the channel.

Remove the spline from the old window or door, pull out the existing screen, measure and cut out the new screen, stretch it over the window, and use the spline tool to insert the new spline into place. You can see the details of how this is done in the video.

Tools / Materials You Will Need:

  • Screwdriver (Phillips or flathead)
  • Household cement or superglue (for small metal screen mountings)
  • Sewing kit (for small fixes on fiberglass screens)
  • Utility knife
  • Roulette
  • Screen patches (for holes up to three inches in diameter)
  • Pointed pliers
  • Screen roll (when replacing the screen)
  • Spline (when changing screen)
  • Spline tool (when changing screen)

Fix stuck sliding window

If you have a sliding window stuck, it’s usually pretty easy to fix. The only thing you don’t want to do is try to use an excessive amount of force, because you risk damaging the window or breaking the glass. A stuck window is usually the result of paint adhering to the window frame, or swollen wood in the frame or window that chafes too much.

As shown in thevideo above from expertvillage , use a thin, flat blade (trowel is ideal) to go around the frame. This will loosen up any paint that might be holding the window closed and also help you find areas where the window and frame might be too tight. After you go around the window, you should be able to open it. It might take a couple of tries, but if you still can’t open the window after doing this, you can call a professional.

If you can open the window, sandpaper the frame around the frame to remove any clinging or sticking to the window. When you’re done, coat the frame with paraffin or candle wax to keep everything good.

Tools / Materials You Will Need:

  • Spatula or other thin, flat blade
  • Sandpaper
  • Paraffin or candle wax

Repair a casement (crank) window that does not close completely

If you have casement windows, you are probably already familiar with the most common problem they face: the window stops closing completely with the handle, forcing you to close the window from the outside while someone locks it from the inside. This is some kind of pain.

This problem occurs because there is something wrong with the casement operator, the mechanism that closes the window when you rotate it. Fortunately, this is not as difficult to fix or replace as it might seem. Start by opening the window to the point where you can take your hand off the path on the window. You can see this in thevideo above from swisco .

Next, remove the handle (there is usually a small flat head screw underneath it holding it in place) and then remove the crank cover, which should pop out immediately. Then you will need to remove the cropping at the bottom of the window. This may sound scary, but it really isn’t. Just relax and use a pry bar to loosen and then remove the trim.

Once things have been taken apart, it is fairly easy to see how to replace the drive. Typically, you just need to unscrew a few screws, pull out the old drive and install the new one.

Tools / Materials You Will Need:

  • Screwdriver (Phillips and flat)
  • Utility knife
  • Hammer
  • Pry bar
  • Replacing the window operator

Repair a sticky wooden crate

Like doors and windows, wood boxes tend to stick due to rubbing wood or paint against wood. If you can pull the drawer out, it’s usually not hard to spot the problem, as shown in thevideo above from Ron Hazelton :

  • If the paint around the edge of the box is interfering with the smooth slide, you will need to remove it. The easiest way to do this, especially if it is latex paint, is to use a hot air gun and a stripping tool such as a putty knife. If you don’t have a heat gun, you could make the job easier with a hair dryer, but you still have to work with a scraper and sandpaper.
  • If the sides of the box rub against the frame, you will need to sand them with sandpaper (about 60 grit) where rubbing occurs.
  • Most wooden boxes have a groove that runs along the wooden rail in the box frame. This source of friction can also cause the crates to jam. Check the groove and guide for damage and try sanding to a smooth finish. Then apply a lubricant such as paraffin wax, candle wax, or just a bar of soap.

Tools / Materials You Will Need:

Fix small holes, dents or cracks in drywall

Small defects such as holes, dents and cracks in drywall are very easy to fix. Usually all you need is a putty knife, some putty, maybe some seam tape or drywall patches, and some paint to touch up things when you’re done, as shown in thevideo above from The Home Depot .

For a tiny hole like a nail hole, just apply a little putty, let it dry and paint over. It really couldn’t be easier. For slightly larger holes (up to about 2 inches), you will need to fill them a little tighter with putty and scrape off what you can with a spatula to keep the surface relatively smooth. Once dry, sand to a smooth finish, brush and paint. You can deal with scratches and small cracks in the same way, although you may need to widen the scratches a little to get the filler to adhere better to the drywall.

For larger holes (up to about 3 inches) and cracks, you will need to take an extra step using tape or drywall seam patches, which are just a mesh that gives the putty something to stick to. And if you have extensive damage, you may need to cut a piece of drywall and replace it with a new one.

Tools / Materials You Will Need:

Removing minor scratches on wooden furniture

Removing minor scratches on wood furniture is a fairly simple solution, as shown in thevideo above from ehowathomechannel . All you have to do is apply a suitable stain to the scratch, towel dry, and apply a bit of a topcoat (such as polyurethane) that matches the one used on the furniture. The only real trick is to make sure you wipe off excess stains really well so they don’t damage the finish on the rest of the piece.

Also keep in mind that this is meant to fix minor scratches, and unless you find the perfect spot, you can still see the scratch if you look closely. If you have a piece of furniture that is particularly valuable or important to you, consider having it examined by a professional.

Tools / Materials You Will Need:

  • Spot close to wood
  • Finish matching what has already been used on the furniture
  • Small brush
  • Shop towel

Image courtesy of VoodooDot (Shutterstock) and David Sawyer .

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