Ah, the joys of owning a home: wonky doors, stuck windows, and cracks in the drywall. These projects are annoying, but all too easy to ignore in favor of the big stuff—but you can probably handle them yourself in a single weekend. Here are nine common household repairs and how to fix them, no experience nece. We’ve talked before about home electrical projects, home plumbing projects, and outdoor home repairs you can handle on your own and now it’s time to tackle general household repairs. The projects we’re covering here deal with repairing things like scratched tables, misbehaving doors, and so on. These are mostly beginner-level projects that are fairly easy to do and can save you a lot of money if you tackle them yourself. We’ve all had a door at one point that you had to shove closed, or maybe lift a bit to get it to close properly. As shown in the video above from MonkeySee, a door that doesn’t close easily is usually the result of one of three problems: Chances are, you’ll be able to fix this quite quickly—provided you have the right tools for the right task.
The video above, also from MonkeySee, shows us how to fix the opposite problem: a sticky door. The most common reason a door sticks is that the hinge screws have come loose. If so, tighten them up first and see if the door behaves better. If you find a screw hole that’s been stripped (the screw just turns but never tightens), you can use a longer screw or you can solve the problem using toothpicks or a golf tee. If the hinge screws aren’t the problem, you’ll need to close the door and see where it is rubbing against the door jamb. You can solve this problem by trying to adjust how the door hinges fit or by sanding and refinishing the edge of the door where it rubs. If you have a sliding door that doesn’t slide well, the first thing to try is lubricating the track and rollers with a good silicone spray, which is great because it won’t collect dirt. That may be enough to get the door moving easily again. More likely, though, you’ll need to pop the door out, give the track and rollers a good cleaning, and then lubricate them well, which the video above from doublewide6 shows.
If you have a screen with a small rip or tear, it’s in your best interest to go ahead and repair it now because the problem can get worse quickly. Whether you need to do a quick repair or replace an entire screen, the video above from doitbest shows you how. Before you get to repairing your screen, first determine whether yours is made from fiberglass or metal. You can fix very small holes or tears in metal by applying a bit of household cement or in fiberglass by simply sewing it up. If you have a hole or tear up to about three inches in a metal screen, you can get good results by using a patching kit. You can find kits with precut shapes or a sheet of screening that you can cut yourself. Applying a patch to a metal screen is simply a matter of cutting it to a size a little bigger than the hole, bending the ends of the patch so that you can insert it into the screen, and then folding the tips into the existing screen so the patch stays put. If you have holes bigger than three inches in a metal screen or anything more than a tiny hole in a fiberglass screen, you’ll need to go ahead and replace the screen.
Buy a roll of screen that’s the same material as the screen you’re replacing. You’ll need spline (or screening line), which is a vinyl, foam, or rubber cording that fits into the channel around the screen and holds it in place. And don’t be afraid to take your old spline, screen, or even window down to the hardware store with you so you can get the right supplies. You’ll 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, pop out the existing screen, measure and cut the new screen, stretch it over the window, and use the spline tool to press the new spline into place. You can see details about how it’s done in the video. If you have a sliding window that’s stuck, it’s usually pretty easy to fix. The one thing you don’t want to do is try using excessive amounts of force because you risk damaging the window or breaking the glass. A stuck window is usually the result of paint that is sealing the window to the frame or swollen wood in the frame or window that’s rubbing too tight.
As shown in the video above from expertvillage, use a thin flat blade (a putty knife is ideal) to work your way around the frame. This will loosen any paint that may be holding the window shut and also help you find areas where the window and frame may be too tight. After you’ve gone all around the window, you should be able to get it open. It may take a couple of tries, but if you still can’t get the window open after this, you may want to call a pro.If you can get the window open, go around the frame with some sandpaper to remove whatever is catching and causing the window to stick. Lubricate the frame with some paraffin or candle wax when you’re done to help keep things sliding well. If you have casement windows, you’re probably already familiar with the most common problem they suffer: he window stops closing all the way with the crank, forcing you to push the window closed from the outside while someone locks it from the inside. It’s kind of a pain.This problem happens because something goes wrong with the casement window operator, the mechanism that close the window when you crank it.
Fortunately, it’s not as hard to fix or replace as it may seem. Start by opening the window to the point where you can remove the arm from the track on the window. You can see this well in the video above from swisco. Next, remove the handle (there is usually a small flathead screw underneath holding it in place) and then remove the crank cover, which should pop right off. Next you’ll need to pop off trim at the bottom of the window. It may seem scary, but it’s really not. Just go easy and use the pry bar to loosen and then remove the trim. When you’ve got things disassembled, it’s pretty easy to see how to replace the operator. Typically, you’ll just have to remove a few screws, pop off the old operator, and install the new one. As with doors and windows, wood drawers tend to stick because of wood or paint rubbing against wood. If you can get the drawer out, it’s usually not to hard to spot the problem, as the video above from Ron Hazelton shows: Small blemishes like holes, dents, and cracks in drywall are super easy to fix.
Typically all you’ll need is a putty knife, some spackling, maybe some drywall joint tape or patches, and some paint to touch things up when you’re finished, as shown in the video above from The Home Depot.For a tiny hole, like a nail hole, just apply some spackle, let it dry, and touch it up with paint. It really couldn’t be simpler. For slightly bigger holes (up to about 2 inches), you’ll need to fill the hole a bit more solidly with spackling and scrape what you can off with your putty knife so the surface is relatively smooth. After it dries, sand it smooth, brush it clean, and paint. You’ll handle scratches and small cracks the same way, though you may need to widen scratches just a tiny bit so the spackling can adhere better to the drywall. For bigger holes (up to about 3 inches) and cracks, you will need to take the extra step of using some drywall joint tape or patches, which are just a mesh that gives the spackling something to adhere to. And if you have bigger damage, you may actually need to cut away a section of the drywall and replace it with a new piece.