Quick home repairs you can do in 10 minutes – or less!

When a kitchen or bathroom tap loses pressure or starts spraying to the side, it’s usually due to a dirty aerator screen. Luckily, cleaning a screen is an easy home repair. Start this fix by closing the drain plug (so you don’t drop parts down the drain). Then remove the aerator using a rag or masking tape so you don’t mar the finish with your pliers.

To remove the sand and other deposits, soak the aerator in vinegar, then scrub it with a toothbrush. This usually solves the problem. If you have to disassemble the aerator to clean it, lay out the parts in the order you removed them so you can reassemble them correctly.

Find out how to use vinegar to clean the dishwasher.

If the toilet plunger doesn’t seem to be doing the trick, try this solution before you reach for the snake: Squirt about 1/2 cup of liquid soap in and let it sit for a while. The liquid soap reduces friction and will often allow the contents of the bowl to slide on through.

Here’s a quick home repair to avoid a running toilet caused by a kinked toilet chain. Remove the chain from the arm attachment, and slide a plastic straw over the flapper chain, covering about two-thirds of the chain. Then reattach the chain to the arm. It’s that simple, and you’ll never have a running toilet caused by a kinked chain again.

A stripped screw can turn a 10-minute fix into a two-hour nightmare. One of the best investments a DIYer can make is a screw extraction kit. It comes with three different size bits and costs about $20. One side of the extractor bit reams a hole into the screw, and the other side has reverse threads that dig into the screw as you turn it out.

Here’s a quick home repair for a drawer front that’s pulling off. Cut a couple of lengths of quarter-round the same height as the drawer sides. Hold them in place while you drill a couple of holes through the sides and front of the drawer box. Dab some polyurethane glue (wood glue doesn’t stick well to finished surfaces) on the pieces of quarter-round before screwing them into place. Ta-da!

Unmangle mangled mini-blinds with a mini-blind slat straightener. Just slide it over the damaged slat and squeeze. The product, called the MiniBlindRx, works on 2.5cm metal slats and is available for under $30. (That’s a significant savings over replacing the mini-blinds entirely!)

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Source: RD Canada