Home maintenance and Repairs

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Last Updated: Thursday, 09 April 2026 01:28
Published: Sunday, 30 July 2023 14:56
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Home maintenance and Repairs

As a homeowner, you will soon find that there are a lot of things that will breaking every year. If you go out to hire someone for each and every repair, it will easily cost you 1000's of $, as any service is very expensive in USA. You will probably give the same hourly rate as what you make in hiring someone,and that is if you lucky. So, we'll save that money and try to learn to do it ourselves. You can think of the money saved as extra non taxable pay. The learning that you gain as DIY is un measurable. The things you break are going to be your lovely memories for lifelong :)

 

 

Garage:

The one thing that goes bad in your garage is your garage door. Installing a garage door by yourself is NOT a DIY. I would be surprised if your house didn't come with a garage door already installed. Most of the times, there will be issues with the automatic garage door opener (Chamberlain Brand for ex). At that point, you might have to replace it or fix it, which is certainly a DIY. Or fix the sensors on the side, or issue with the wireless button on the side of the garage outside your house. These are all DIY, and don't cost much in parts.

 

 

Plumbing/Bathrooms:

Plumbing is the one of the highest cost repair after the AC. Plumbing and AC are 2 things, that you can't do much about. With an AC, may be you can live for a couple of days/weeks, while you shop around, but plumbing issues need to be taken care of immediately.

Cracked Pipes: There are both copper and PVC (plastic) pipes carrying water in and around the house. The drainage pipes taking waste water out of your house are all PVC pipes. Most of the pipes going under the ground are also PVC pipes. It's easy to get cracks in these PVC pipes (usually the ones in your yard). Number 1 reason is someone just hit the pipe while shovelling or digging. Calling a plumber isn't required, as this can be fixed for couple of dollars.

How to fix PVC pipes in your yard => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7NWmdlvVIQ

Clogged Sink: This is something that you'll encounter at least couple of times a year. Most of the time, you just buy and pour "Drano Max Gel" which is a gel that cleans up clog in your pipes. It costs money, and it's not effective long term, as clog will return back. Much easier solution is to just open and clean the pipes right where the sink is. It'll take 10 minutes, and it will remain clean for at least a year.

Link => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvJLLK8YQec

Few additional points:

  • Clean up your tube that right on top of the sink that goes up and down (to open or close the sink drain). This is where most of the hairs, etc clog, and it's not possible to see it or clean it w/o opening it. I cleaned all the pipes except this pipe, and the sink still was clogging though much better than before. Once I opened it, I saw a lot of hairs, and gunk (time @1:30 in video). Once cleaned, the water started flowing steadily.
  • The vid doesn't show the guy opening the last pipe attached to the wall. You should open that too, and just drain some water thru that pipe attached to he wall, to ensure there's nothing blocking in the pipe that's going thru you wall and underneath your home. It's rare, but sometimes things can get in there too. Unclogging that is difficult, and you might have to use some heavy gel, or some camera based equipment to find out what's clogging it.

Dirty Toilet Bowl/Basin Cleaning: This is something that you'll encounter when you use your toilet very infrequently (1-2 times a month) or when you don't clean your toilet bowl regularly. You'll see lines appear, which will look like poop, but it's actually clay. These won't go away by using "Lysol Toilet Bowl cleaner" and a brush. At this point, you'll need to use Vinegar or Baking soda to get these out. at least couple of times a year.You can use these to clean dirty sinks too.

Buy this 80% concentrated vinegar from Home Depot (it's lot cheaper than buying those 5%-10% vinegar soln. It's only 1 liter but will make upto 5 gallons with 5% conc) => https://www.homedepot.com/p/Calyptus-32-oz-80-Cleaning-Vinegar-All-Purpose-Cleaner-20X-Concentrate-2-Pack-CALYPTUS-VINEGAR-80-32-2X/335000783

Here's a video on cleaning it by using vinegar. I would suggest pouring quarter bottle of vinegar (since it's 80% conc) in toilet bowl with water in it, and leaving it overnight. Then use the toilet brush in the morning to scrub it. Link => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XPi4dUn3bQ
 
Recaulk/silicon Bathroom: At all corners of your home, you will see caulk/silicone being applied to fill in the gap where the vertical wall meets the horizontal floor. This is needed to fill in the gap and form a seal. In bathtuns, these caulk start going bad in a couple of years, due to frequent water cracking this caulk layer. In 5 years or so, depending on usage, you might see this caulk falling off. Once enough of it has fallen apart, it's time to replace the full caulk. You'll want to remove the old caulk, and then put a new layer.
 
Items needed: You will need a caulk gun, silicon, and other items listed in this vid.
 

Few additional points:

  • Caulk starts drying up within a few minutes. It's very rubbery and stick, so it will stick wherever it's put, especially on your hands, random places on bath tub, etc. So, you should move fast and finish one of the bathroom walls, before moving to the other wall, Else it will dry up, and by the time you want to smoothen it, it will refuse to cooperate.
  • Painter's tape is a must. If you don't use it, you will make the job look so bad, that you will want to take off everything. This is true for anyone doing it the first time. Put the tape on both horizontal and vertical sides, and then put the caulk. Don't place the tape too close to the corner, else tape will start peeling off the caulk in the corner too. Painter's tape are helpful, when you are making a thicker layer of silicon/caulk.
 
Mold/Mildew removal: In any bathroom, mold/mildew grow due to moisture, food source and dark conditions. Mildew is a type of mold on surface that is easier to remove. mold goes deeper and penetrates thru surfaces, and hence harder to remove. If you see dark spots in between tiles which don't go away even after scrubbing, they are most likely mildew. There are mold/mildew removers to remove these. Spray them and leave them overnight to see if these go away. One of the cheaper ones is "Clorox mold/mildew remover". 
 
 

 

 

Electric:

Installing lights/Fans:

Very easy to install a fan, if the box is already there in place. It will take good 2 hours to do it, but is well worth the effort. You can get a very good fan with lights for about $50-$100.They regularly go on clearance for 75% off at HomeDepot and Lowes, usually after summer. So, no reason to pay full price.