As someone who cherishes the importance of family and the warmth of a cosy home, I’ve discovered numerous ways to enhance our living space without straining the budget or causing too much disruption. Here, I’d like to share some of these small home improvement ideas that have brought joy to my family and me!
Bleed Your Radiators
First, one small but effective job you should consider doing at home is bleeding your radiators. It’s best to bleed your radiators once or twice a year or sooner if necessary.
Bleeding the radiators involves removing air pockets that, when present, can negatively impact the efficiency and effectiveness of your radiators and, in turn, your heating system.
While you can hire a heating engineer to bleed your radiators, it’s okay to undertake this work DIY once you follow the manufacturer’s instructions carefully, take all necessary steps and adhere to safety concerns. If in doubt, hire a professional instead.
Replace Grout in Your Bathroom
If you find the grout between bathroom tiles worn down (or kitchen tiles if you have a kitchen tiling installation), you may want to regrout these tiles.
Regrouting involves removing existing grout before placing fresh grout down in its place. Again, follow the manufacturer’s instructions carefully to ensure a safe and successful result.
Replace a Faulty Door
If your door is squeaky or the key lock is difficult, some simple repair work may be sufficient to revitalise a faulty door.
However, if your door is particularly worn down, you’re unsure of how effective repairing it might be, or/you’d like a new, alternative door, you should look at replacing it.
Along with following the manufacturer’s guidance, it’s key that you are extra careful when approaching this task, given that it involves handling a large, heavy door. You should have a second person to help replace the door to minimise the risk of injury.
Hanging a door is not the easiest DIY task, however, so it won’t always be suitable to undertake. You’ll also need to keep the cost of a new door in mind and ensure you opt for a suitable option (from an aesthetic and safety point of view) that works within your budget.
Fix A Squeaky/Unsecure Floorboard
If your floorboard is squeaky, you’ll be pleased to know there are DIY steps you can take to address this issue.
Depending on the type of flooring you have, the work needed to fix a floorboard that’s squeaky/unsecured can vary. For example, in some cases, you’ll need to remove nails before adding new ones that are more secure in place.
Once more, following the manufacturer’s instructions is key to a safe, effective end result. It’s worth noting, though, that in some cases, a floorboard that’s squeaky and unsecured will need to be replaced entirely, and generally, this will need the work of a professional.
DIY Draught Proofing
You’ll be pleased to know that while draught-proofing can involve costly, complex alterations to your home (e.g. installation of loft insulation or adding double-glazed windows), there are many low-cost and even free DIY draught-proofing measures.
Some of the best ways to draught-proof your home DIY includes:
- Fitting draught-proofing window strips
- Draught excluders/stoppers for doors
- Installing a suitable letterbox brush or flap *
*Assuming you don’t already have one fitted.
Clean Your Guttering
While not in your home, the importance of cleaning your guttering or hiring a professional is still worth mentioning.
More specifically, your guttering should be cleaned once a year but sooner if deemed necessary. Doing so can help ensure your gutters work properly and debris is not clogging them up such that water begins to overflow, leading to water damage to your property.
To remove debris from guttering, you must first set up a ladder in a suitable spot. You’ll also need a second person to hold the ladder from the bottom while working at a height. Wearing a safety harness can provide additional safety when cleaning your guttering.
To remove debris from your guttering, you’ll need to wear protective gloves and take a bucket with you. You can then remove debris by hand and place it in the bucket before carefully descending the ladder to empty it and go again until you’re satisfied with the results.
Small Paint Jobs
Lastly, touching up areas of your home where the paint has worn off is a handy way of maintaining your home on the go and with little work required.
Of course, while you may want to apply small touches of paint here and there, re-painting walls or floorboards with the right option can prove worthwhile without breaking the bank in the process.