Part of life is that things deteriorate and eventually break. This is true for just about anything (although my Toyotas sometime make me believe this may not be true).
Because most people’s homes have a large number of appliances and systems working together to make everything run smoothly, it may often feel like there is always something new breaking in your home. That is probably true. This can get incredibly expensive if a repairman or specialist is required every single time something goes wrong. You will have to pay for the time they drive to your house, parts, labor, and likely a few other expenses. It can be extremely frustrating when they fix the problem in ten seconds, yet leave you with a bill in the neighborhood of $100. Here are four things that, should they break in your home, you can probably handle yourself.
Toilet
Sure, a toilet might sound like the most complicated thing on planet Earth, but once you take off the top and see how it works you come to realize that toilets are a great, but simple invention. Most of the parts that keep a toilet operating are standardized and cost just a few bucks to replace. A common issue is leaking toilets, and they are one of the easiest to repair. There is something called a flapper which essentially stops water from going into the toilet after a certain point. If the flapper is old and deteriorated then it will have issues.
A flapper costs about $2 to purchase at Home Depot and takes about thirty seconds to install. A plumber may charge you upwards of $60 for that same repair. A flapper is just one example. There are a few things that can go wrong with a toilet, but most of them can be solved by watching a simple YouTube video.
Garbage disposal
Garbage disposals may sound big and scary, but they are frequently quite easy to repair. All they are is a motor that spins- fairly simple. There are a few issues that can arise with them, but oftentimes it is just a simple button that needs to be pushed, or some gunk that needs to be cleaned out by hand. You can watch a quick guide for garbage disposal repair here.
Hot water heater
Hot water heaters can be dangerous and should be treated as such. However, they also have a common issue that many people are unaware of. They have a pilot light that is a continual flame for the water heater to draw off of. If the pilot light goes out, the water heater will not work. Sure, you could call a specialist, but you could also light the pilot light yourself with a lighter. Some pilot lights today will even light with a simple turn of a knob. Here is a pretty good video of this.
Electricity out
Electricity can be extremely daunting to deal with. Fortunately there is a common issue that most houses go through at least a few times. Their breakers flip. If a breaker flips, it is usually due to a circuit (group of outlets) having too many items plugged in. The electricity will go out in part of your house leaving you thinking you may have to rewire your house. Oftentimes you can open a box in your house and simply flip the breaker back on. You will want to be careful to unplug a few things before doing so to make sure it doesn’t flip right back off, but it is often that easy. Don’t pay an electrician to come push one button in your home.
