No matter how careful you are with furniture, fittings, and other equipment at home, they are bound to break or malfunction at one point or the other. In that case, it would save you a significant amount of time and money if you knew how to fix the malfunctions, considering most of them only need a few touch ups. Here are some useful 10-minute repair and maintenance tips you can start with.
Silencing squeaky floors
To stop the high-pitched noise coming from your floor, you need to find the floor joists. Use a stud finder for easy and precise location. Next would be to drive in a trim head screw past the carpet, pad, and subfloor up to the floor joist. The top inch of the screw should have no threads because they will prevent the subfloor from sucking down tight to the joists.
Keeping cabinet doors locked
If you have cabinet doors that won’t stay locked, the magnetic door catch should take care of that problem in less than 10 minutes. Installation is very simple, provided you can read and follow a manual.
Bleaching water stains
There is no need to stress yourself repainting a ceiling to get rid of a water stain. It is not only expensive, but also requires a lot of time. Get a bleaching agent, mix with water (10 percent bleach), spray the solution on the stained area and wait for 48 hours. For old stains use a mold and mildew remover.
Get your toilet to flush without hang-ups
To fix a running toilet caused by a kinked toilet chain, you only need a plastic straw. Once you’ve found one, remove the chain from the arm attachment and slide the plastic straw over the flapper chain. Make sure it covers close to two-thirds of the chain. Reattach it back to the arm and your flushing problem will be no more.
Restoring your faucet’s free flow
Every time your bathroom or kitchen faucet loses pressure or starts to spray water to the side, you need to clean the aerator screen. The problem is caused by dirt and other foreign objects clogging the aerator. Start by closing the drain plug so that no parts go down the drain. Unscrew the body, remove all internal components, clean, and assemble them.
Fixing a wallpaper seam
Dealing with a seam that is falling off is as simple as reactivating the paste around the gap with a rag soaked in warm water. Just hold the rag over the area for a few minutes, then open the gap a little wider to get more room for the sealer.
Unclogging the toilet using dish soap
The plunger does not always work when it comes to getting solid waste to move down the drain. Try pouring ½ cup of liquid soap, leave it for a while and watch it ease your unclogging efforts. It will reduce friction and allow the waste to slide through smoothly.
Using foam to fix a loose showerhead
Wobbly showerheads or pipes inside the bathroom just need a few squirts of expanding foam to lock them into place.
The cheater’s chair fix
Do you have any rickety old chairs inside your home? Don’t throw them away. Not when they can be fixed and become useful once more. How? Get a tool to drill pilot holes, then drive trim-head screws through the bottom of the rungs and into the legs.
If you need more of these 10-minute house maintenance tips, call our certified handymen on 087 551 0795. We offer quality home repair solutions to both residents and businesses in Johannesburg. It could be gardening, plumbing, waterproofing, carpentry, painting, flooring, or electrical issue. Our team of professional handymen will take care of all the odd for you. We charge very competitive rates that vary depending on your needs and budget. Request for your free quote today.