Small Home Repairs You Can Do Yourself

Start With a Modest Toolkit

Most of the jobs in this article can be tackled with a small collection of tools that will last you decades if you look after them. You do not need a workshop or a van full of power tools, just a few dependable basics and a bit of patience. If your home is older, you will also want a torch, a dust sheet and a good vacuum to hand, because the tidying up always takes longer than the repair itself.

• A claw hammer and a small pry bar for lifting boards and trim
• A set of screwdrivers plus a cordless drill with a pilot bit and a countersink bit
• A filling knife, a tube of decorator's caulk, and a pack of fine and medium sandpaper
• Wood glue, a powdered or ready-mixed filler, and a roll of low-tack masking tape
• A smoke pencil or even a lit candle for tracking down draughts

Buy decent versions of the items you use most often. A cheap filling knife will flex when you press down, and a drill with a wobbly chuck will wander off the pilot hole you carefully marked. Spend once and these jobs become quick and tidy rather than a running battle.

Silencing Squeaky Floorboards

A squeak is almost always two surfaces moving against one another: a board rubbing on a joist, two boards rubbing together, or a nail that has worked loose and is sliding in and out of the timber. The cure depends on which one you have. Walk slowly across the room while someone listens below if you can, or mark the noisy spots with a small piece of tape so you do not lose them once you start moving things around.

If you can lift the floor covering, the fix is usually straightforward. Find the joist beneath the board by tapping along the floor until the sound turns solid and dull, or use a stud finder. Drill a pilot hole slightly narrower than your screw, then drive a 50mm wood screw down through the board and into the joist. Countersink the head so it sits just below the surface. Two screws per board, set at opposite ends, will usually quieten even a stubborn patch. Do not overtighten, or you will strip the hole and make the problem worse.

Where the boards are chipboard or the joists are simply out of reach, try working fine talcum powder or graphite into the gaps between boards. Sweep it in, walk on it, then sweep away the excess. It is not a permanent repair, but it buys you silence for a long time. If a floorboard has cupped or lifted, screwing it back down flat is kinder than sanding the top, which thin boards and modern flooring rarely thank you for.

Curing Draughts Around Doors

Draughts are the cheapest wins in the house. They make a room feel cold and can add real money to your heating bills, yet most of them can be fixed in an afternoon. Start by working out exactly where the cold air is coming in. On a windy day, run a damp hand around the frame or use a smoke pencil, and watch how the smoke behaves. You will often find the culprit is not the obvious gap under the door but the hinge side or the top edge of the frame.

For internal doors, self-adhesive brush or rubber seals fitted into the rebate of the frame do a lovely job. Clean the surface with a damp cloth first and let it dry, then press the strip firmly home and keep the door closed for the first hour or two. Fit it snugly but not so tightly that the door becomes difficult to latch. For the bottom of the door, a brush strip screwed to the door face is simple and effective, while a fabric draught excluder is fine for a room you only use occasionally.

• Seal the keyhole and letterbox with a cover plate to stop cold air pouring in
• Check external doors for a worn threshold or missing weather bar
• Adjust hinges or strike plates if the door is rubbing, rather than forcing a seal
• Remember timber swells in damp weather, so leave a little clearance

External doors need a little more care. A flexible blade seal along the bottom edge and a good quality rubber or foam seal around the frame will make a real difference, but the door must still close without resistance. If you have to push hard to shut it, the seal is too thick and will tear within a season.

Filling Minor Plaster Cracks

Hairline cracks are usually cosmetic, caused by seasonal movement or by the plaster drying out over years. Widen the crack slightly with a filling knife so the filler has something to grip, then dust it out thoroughly. For cracks at a junction, such as where a wall meets the ceiling or a skirting board, use a flexible decorator's caulk rather than a rigid filler, because the two surfaces will move at different rates and a hard filler will simply crack again.

For deeper cracks, rake the opening into a shallow V shape, dampen the inside of the crack with a mist of water, and press in your filler in thin layers rather than one thick dollop. Powdered filler shrinks as it dries, so two or three passes with a light sanding between them gives a far better result than trying to do it all at once. Feather the edges out beyond the crack so the repair blends in when painted. New filler drinks paint, so seal it with a diluted mist coat first or your topcoat will go patchy.

If a crack returns within weeks of being filled, treat it as information rather than failure. Cracks that reappear in the same place, particularly diagonal ones above door frames or at the corners of a room, can suggest movement worth investigating before you decorate over them again.

Knowing When to Call in Help

There is no shame in stopping. Anything involving the gas supply, the consumer unit, or a wall you are not certain is load-bearing should go to a qualified tradesperson. In older homes, textured coatings, old floor tiles and certain types of insulation can contain asbestos, so if you are unsure, leave them undisturbed and get advice before you start drilling or scraping. Wet rot, damp patches that grow after rain, and any crack wider than a pound coin are all signs to pause and ask someone with experience to take a look.

For everything else, the pleasure of small DIY is in the doing. A quiet floor, a door that no longer whistles, and a wall you can paint without wincing are modest victories, but they make a home feel cared for. Take your time, work in good light, and your tools will do the rest.