The kitchen and the bathroom are two of the most important rooms in the home to keep us clean, healthy and robust. It is therefore essential that all the devices and gears in them are in tip-top shape to keep the home inviting and comfortable.
However, a few things can go wrong in the kitchen or bathroom, from a clogged drain that could cause home flood, to a faulty kitchen cabinet. Fortunately, many of these common problems can be fixed in minutes or an hour or two with some simple DIY skills and research.
Below are some self-repair fixes you can do in and around your bathroom and kitchen to get them looking brand new again and save yourself some extra costs of hiring a professional.
Replacing worn-out kitchen drawer slides
It’s no use applying lubricants to hold the damaged drawer slide in place. You just have to replace it. Worn-out drawers are often caused by too much weight compared to its size or capacity.
Buy a new slide that is of the same dimension as the old one and just swap them by carefully fixing or hooking the new one in the original frame or hinges.
Adjusting cabinet door hinges
Sometimes, the kitchen drawer slide that no longer functions may be as a result of damaged hinges. Adjusting kitchen cabinet hinges require turning a few screws in the right direction only. If the cabinet door is crooked and not straight, begin by fixing that, then adjust it to the height of adjacent doors.
Next are the hinges. Adjust the hinges that move the door from side to side. You may have to make a couple trial and error attempts before you get the perfect fit and match the height with adjacent cabinet doors.
Adjusting kitchen cabinet doors with faulty or damaged hinges isn’t as easy if you have traditional hinges. If the doors are sagging, first try to tighten the screw for to hold more firmly in place and allow a smoother swivel. If the hinges are damaged, replace them with the right matches.
Constantly running toilet
This is one of the commonest problems in the bathroom or toilet. However, it’s a good thing that fixing a toilet that won’t stop running is an easy bathroom DIY repair. Most times, the problem is a result of a tangled chain in the tank and requires just a minor jingling.
Nonetheless, if that doesn’t stop the overflow of water, try replacing the flapper. The flapper is the small rubber piece at the base of the tank connected to the chain.
Often, the problem is that the rubber becomes lax and the seal is broken. Simply unhooking the old flapper from the chain and replacing it with a new one usually fixes the problem.
Installing a new sink tap
This is an easy bathroom DIY that requires little or no experience. The first thing is to turn off the main water supply to the sink- remember you’ll get soaked while you’re at it. Next, disconnect the water supply lines to the sink.
Then, unscrew the nuts underneath the sink that are holding the fixture in place. You’ll need a basin wrench that’s customized for the small work place. If that’s unavailable, you can use a regular wrench to unloose the nuts- only that the work will be less than smooth and leave the sink with a few cuts and scrapes.
Once the nuts come off, remove the old tap and replace it with the new one. Finish up by following the entire process in reverse.
