Can you do home repairs yourself without a man's help? Sure
you can! All it takes for the majority of jobs around the
house is some simple tools and a little know-how. Imagine how
you will feel when you fix that squeaky door that your significant
other never got around to looking at.
Being able to handle basic home care and home maintenance
is an important part of living independently. Once you get the
basics down, you won't have to call a someone (your brother,
neighbor, repairman, or whoever) every time there's a
problem. While you may not be able to fix everything around
the house, you can tackle the majority of jobs.
Before you get started with those home improvement projects, it
helps to have some basic tools on hand. Here's a short list of
tools that you should have in your toolbox:
Hammer - A 16 oz claw hammer will take care of most of
your jobs, but you may be more comfortable with a lighter 8 oz
hammer. Just be sure that it has a claw end for pulling nails.
Screwdrivers - Get an assortment of phillips and
regular-head screwdrivers. There's a neat little 4-way
screw driver that you can find at most hardware stores that has
2 sizes of both phillips and regular heads in one
handle (I use my 4-way for most of my jobs).
Measuring Tape - I would suggest getting a 25 or 50
foot retractable metal measuring tape.
Saw - A handsaw is the cheapest to get, but you might consider
a circular saw if you will be doing bigger projects and are
comfortable using power tools.
Pliers - At the minimum, you want a standard pair of
slip-joint pliers. If you can afford it, consider getting a
pair of wire-pliers and some channel-lock pliers.
Crescent wrench - These come in handy when removing
nuts and bolts if you don't have a set of wrenches.
Utility knife - These are great for trimming
jobs. Be sure to get one with a retractable blade so that
it can be safely stored and used.
You may need to buy more tools as you tackle the various home repairs
yourself. Don't
worry about it though, because most of these tools can be used for
other jobs.
Since there is are so many different things that can go wrong in
a home, I am providing some good resources that offer
information on how to do home repairs yourself.
Dare to Repair:
A Do-it-Herself Guide to Fixing (Almost) Anything in the Home
barbara k
- A home improvement site just for women
Be Jane - This
site offers some great articles, repair tips, and even animated tutorials to
help you get started doing home repairs yourself.
eHow
- Here's an extensive list of home repair and maintenance tips.
HomeTips.com -
Offers everything from DIY to home problem solving.
DIYonline.com -
Has an extensive list of repair project with clear instructions
with pictures.
These resources offer lots of instruction and advice to help take out
the insecurity of starting household repair projects By
tackling little home repairs yourself, you'll not only save money
but build your confidence in the process. The following
articles offer more tips on saving money that you may find helpful:
