12 Simple Hacks For Home Repairs

Sometimes bits and pieces around the house need a little bit of TLC; hinges get squeaky and dents appear all over the floors. But tackling home repairs can feel like a bit of a challenge if you don’t know where to start. Never fear, with these 12 handy tricks you’ll be smoothing out floors and stopping squeaks in no time.

1. Ice Out Carpet Dents

Re-fluff your carpets with the help of ice cubes. Simply place your ice cubes onto any dents and leave them there to melt. The carpet should refluff itself as the ice melt, but it if hasn’t, just dry everything off with a sponge and give the fibres a fluff with a fork. Just like that your carpet will be back to it’s previous fluffy glory.

2. Repressurise Your Shower Head

Shower heads can lose pressure due to gradually build up clogging up everything. To remove this build up place a bag containing a white vinegar over your shower head and leave it for overnight. In the morning, take off the bag, flush the shower head and enjoy your repressurised shower!

3. Iron Peeling Floors

Peeling laminate floors are truly a sad sight to behold, but fear not because there is an easy fix. Place a piece of aluminium foil on your peeling floor and heat it carefully using an iron. Increase the temperature gradually to avoid melting or scorching your floor. Once the adhesive below has softened up enough, you can pull up your flooring slightly and remove the dried adhesive. Next add new glue, press your flooring back down and place some heavy objects on top. Leave it to dry and voila! Don’t forget to press out and clean off any excess glue before you leave it.

4. Soap Up Stuck Draws

Stop sticky draws being a drag with a bar of soap. Remove the draw and apply soap, either a bar or dish soap, along the draw glides. The soap will act as a lubricant so you be sliding your draws open with ease in no time.

5. Unstick Stuck Locks

If you don’t want to shell out lots of money for a locksmith to fix a stuck lock, just grab a pencil. Rub the pencil around the inside of the keyway to fill it with graphite. The graphite will act as a lubricant and you should have your door unlocked in no time.

6. Toothpaste Wall Holes

At some points in your life it becomes impossible to hide holes in your wall with posters or art. To solve this, rub some white, non-gel toothpaste into the holes in your wall. Scrape off any excess and dab it with a damp cloth for a perfectly smooth finish.

7. Unscrew Stripped Screws

Stripped screws can transform a simple 10-minute fix into a nightmare DIY afternoon. Next time you’re faced with a stripped screw, just grab a rubber band and place it over the screw. The rubber band will give the screwdriver enough grip to easily remove your screw.

8. Stop Squeaky Hinges

Sometimes the magic DIY ingredient is hiding in plain sight. In this case, it’s hiding in the fridge. If your door has squeaky hinges simply remove the hinge pin and apply a thin layer of full-fat mayonnaise. Pop the pin back into the hinge and open and close the door a few times to work the mayonnaise around the hinge. Finally, wipe off any excess mayonnaise and enjoy your squeak-free door.

9. Powder Squeaky Wooden Floors

From squeaky doors to squeaky floors, this time the solution is hiding in your medicine cabinet. Liberally sprinkling talcum powder onto hardwood floors and rubbing it into joints with a brush will help to silence any musical floors. Once you’ve rubbed it into all the cracks, just sweep away any excess and enjoy your newly-peaceful life.

10. Remove Ceiling Water Stains

Ceiling water stains are an unsightly addition to any ceiling. Many people think that the only solution is to repaint the whole ceiling, but that shouldn’t be plan A. Instead spray the mark with a mixture of bleach and water, using a ratio of 1:10. After a couple of days the stain should disappear. If it doesn’t not, try a mold and mildew remover instead. Before you start spraying make sure the walls and floors and protected, as well as your eyes and mouth!

11. Unclog A Toilet With Dish Soap

Sometimes a clogged toilet happens before you’ve managed to invest in a plunger. If that is the case, try pouring a generous amount of dish soap into the bowl and allowing is to sit for 20-30 minutes. Follow this up with some hot water and then leave it to sit again. The lubricating dish soap combined with the hot water should help the clog itself free. If not, make sure to try the process over again before you go plunger shopping.

12. Iron Out Floor Dents

Finally, bring back the smooth finish on your wooden floors with an iron and a damp cloth. Place the damp cloth onto your dent, and iron it with a hot iron. Make sure to keep the iron moving in small circles, to avoid burning the wood, and keep things nice and steamy. This trick for home repairs works best on unfinished wood, but can work on finished wood too. If the wood is finished, remember to test a small area first to ensure that the finish does not react to the steam.