Home Repair Skills For New Homeowners

Home repair skills can save you money your first year of homeownership and every year after that. Most new homeowners are faced with having to do some repairs to their new home in the first year.

Learning to do these repairs yourself can save you thousands of dollars a year while maintaining the value of your home.

Know before You Buy

Having knowledge in basic home repairs before you start searching for a new home will help you weed out homes with serious problems that can cost you down the road. For example loose and damaged roofing shingles could be a minor fix or mean the home needs a $20,000 new roof.

If you don’t know what to look for you could miss this costly repair. We explain how you can gain knowledge in home repair and maintenance.

Things new homeowners should look for

Some of the things you should be looking for when you buy a house are rotted wood at the roofline which could mean new gutters are needed, signs of prior repairs like patched concrete or siding. Something as simple as puddling water at an exterior water spigot could mean leaking pipes.

While not a deal breaker you do need to expect that you or a contractor will have to do the repairs if needed.

Learning to do your own repairs can be as easy as visiting your local Lowes or Home Depot. These brands offer classes in things like tile repair and installation, fence building and how to install windows.

Home inspection and repairs

Having just some knowledge in basic home repairs will help you during the purchase of a home. A majority of homes for sale require a home inspection.

A home inspection is performed by a professional home inspector. They will inspect the condition of the entire house and provide a report. Knowing basic home repair will help you understand the report and give you better negotiating power with the seller.

For example the home inspector notes dry rot on the wooden facia behind the rain gutters in several areas you can then ask the seller to adjust the asking price to allow for the cost of repairs or ask the seller to repair these areas prior to closing.

Home repairs to focus on

Plumbing repairs should be a priority. A professional plumber charges upward of $50 an hour. Learning to install plumbing fixtures, cleaning out clogged drains and repairing your yard’s sprinkler system are just a couple of plumbing repairs you can do yourself.

Let us not forget about home maintenance. A yearly inspection of your property including sidewalks your driveway and outbuildings must be a priority. Catching problems early will save you money in the long run.

Keeping up with caulking windows painting weathered siding and filling cracks in your driveway don’t require a lot of skill and should be a regular part of your home maintenance routine.

Major repairs

Major repairs or home improvements like replacing countertops and pipe leaks can be learned quite easily by refering to sites like Homefixhandbook.com and viewing YouTube videos for instruction. You don’t always have to call a contractor.

If you find a job too complicated or it requires a licensed professional to perform the job safely then by all means give a contractor a call.

Some building codes require a licensed contractor. Before you start any project that involves changing the structure of your home or rerouting plumbing and electrical check with your local building department first.