5 DIY Home Maintenance Tasks Everyone Should Know

{This is a guest post.}

When you buy a home, you’re signing up for a certain amount of maintenance and care. Little things are easy to fix, like loose trim or a squeaky hinge. For bigger or more complex tasks, like re-shingling and fixing the furnace, you should call a professional, specially if you need a new furnace installation.

Then there are some in-between tasks that you could hire out, but you could save money by doing it yourself. When you can do some maintenance task yourself, you can do them around your schedule, instead of having to deal with someone else’s priorities. Some knowledge could even be valuable to renters. For instance, if your toilet gets clogged at 2:15 AM, you can have it fixed by 2:20 AM, instead of having to wait for a plumber to come by – and if you’re a homeowner, you’d also be considering a plumber’s fee (this website will tell you more about it)

With that in mind, here are five DIY home maintenance tasks that everyone should know:

1. Painting. Painting is relatively easy, but professional painters can charge a hefty fee. If you learn how to paint, all it will cost you is the price of the paint, the tools, the tarps, and your time. That’s actually the real clincher, the amount of time it takes, especially if you have to apply multiple coats. But imagine the color possibilities for your walls if you could paint them whatever, whenever the mood strikes you? And imagine if you didn’t even have to move a single muscle to take up the task of painting if you were to hire professionals from ProPaintingContractors.net. If you’re renting, you may want to get the okay from your landlord before you do any painting. They may want you to paint it back before you move out.
2. Caulking. You might immediately just think of caulking around the bathtub or the toilet, but those aren’t the only important places where knowing how to use caulk would be beneficial. There is often caulking around windows and doors to keep out the wind. With a well sealed house, you can save on heating and cooling bills. Though caulk can be used for a variety of sealing purposes, it can also used for decoration to attach tiles, glass, mirrors and more. If you’ve ever worked in commercial glass services, you would know how much we use that stuff, caulking is really good at what it does.
3. Toilets. Knowing how a toilet works can save a lot of money on plumber bills. It’s actually pretty basic: There’s a tank, a flap, a balloon, a bowl and some pipes. They work using basic physics of gravity pulling water downwards. If you know how to fix issues in the tank, you can reduce your water bills from various types of leaks. If you also know how to use a plunger and a drain snake, you have most of your toilet issues covered. And if you know how to use drain cleaner, you have a good chunk of your sink issues covered, as well.
4. Faucets. Which brings me to faucets. Many leaks can be stopped with a few turns of a wrench or cutting the tube to making shorter with the new oscillating saw blades. Yes, there are handles on faucets that turn water off an on, but there’s also usually another set of handles under the cabinet below the sink where you can shut the water off to make repairs or even replace the faucet. With more knowledge on faucets, you can also easily install faucet-mounted water filters, aerators or even a fancy touch-activated faucet.
5. Air systems. We take our air filters, central air, air conditioners and furnaces for granted. They keep the air in our homes the temperature that we’d like them to be, but they’re more than that. Often they are a line of defense for air quality within the home. You know this is even more important if you have a sick or sensitive child at home. Some kids can’t handle pollutants as well as others and according to the review; Best Air Purifier For Baby Room | Moonriverchattel, you are putting such a child at major risk if you don’t have and maintain goo air quality at home and specifically where they sleep. If you know how to change out air filters, scrub grates and clean out air ducts, you can reduce breakdowns, increase efficiency, eliminate musty smells and extend the lives of your air and furnace units.

That’s it! It’s a pretty simple list, but knowing how to take care of the DIY maintenance tasks mentioned above could save a lot of time and money. You can use your time for more productive endeavors and with the money you save, you can be more prepared financially in case something more serious happens.

Kurt Jacobson is a surfing enthusiast with a background in real estate. Having moved 10 times in the past 7 years, he thrives on helping others learn from his experiences. When he’s not out shredding waves he writes about rental homes for RentFinder.