Why small fixes are worth learning

There is a particular kind of frustration that comes from paying someone £80 to tighten a screw. Call-out charges for plumbers and handymen typically start at £40 to £80 before any parts or labour, which means a job that takes ten minutes can cost more than a week's food shop. Learning a handful of safe, simple repairs is one of the most reliable ways to keep money in your pocket.

You do not need a workshop. A basic kit — adjustable spanner, a set of screwdrivers, pliers, a roll of PTFE tape, some filler, sandpaper, a radiator key and a decent torch — can be put together for well under £40 and will last for years. The other benefit is quieter and harder to measure: once you understand how the things in your home work, small problems stop feeling like emergencies.

Stop that dripping tap

A dripping tap is the classic example of a tiny fault with a surprisingly large cost. Thousands of litres of water a year can trickle away down the plughole, and if it is the hot tap, you are paying to heat that water twice over. The good news is that most drips come down to a worn washer or cartridge costing pennies to a few pounds.

Start by turning off the water. Look for the isolation valve on the pipe beneath the sink and turn it clockwise, or shut off at the internal stopcock — often under the kitchen sink or in a cupboard near the front door. Open the tap to let any remaining water drain away, and plug the waste so small parts cannot escape.

• Traditional taps: prise off the decorative cap on top of the head to reveal a screw, remove the head, then undo the large nut. Inside you will find a rubber washer. Take it to a hardware shop to match it, or buy a mixed selection pack for a couple of pounds and replace it.
• Quarter-turn lever taps: these use a ceramic cartridge rather than a washer. Replace the whole cartridge, usually £5 to £15, which simply unscrews and slots back in.
• Reassembly: wrap a little PTFE tape around the threads if the joint weeps, screw everything back together hand-tight, then turn the water on slowly and check for leaks.

Silence a squeaky door

Squeaky doors are almost never haunted — they are almost always a hinge that has worked slightly loose or lost its lubrication.

Before reaching for the oil, tighten every screw on the hinge plates. A surprising number of squeaks vanish at this point. If a screw spins uselessly in its hole, push a wooden cocktail stick or a snapped matchstick dipped in wood glue into the hole, break it off flush with the frame, and drive the screw back in. It will grip firmly again.

If the noise persists, lift out the hinge pin — tap it upwards with a screwdriver and a nail from below — wipe it clean, and apply a smear of petroleum jelly or a drop of light machine oil. Wipe away any excess so it does not stain the door frame. Should the squeak actually be a scrape, check the latch where it meets the metal strike plate, and rub the tip of a pencil along the plate. The graphite acts as a dry lubricant and will not attract dust.

Filling minor cracks and holes

Hairline cracks in plaster are usually cosmetic, caused by the building settling or by seasonal changes in humidity. They are quick to deal with and doing so stops them collecting dirt and looking worse than they are.

• Rake out any loose or crumbling material with a scraper, then dampen the area slightly so the filler bonds properly.
• Use a ready-mixed filler for small jobs and a powdered filler for anything deeper. Press it in firmly, overfilling very slightly, and leave it to dry.
• Sand flush once dry with fine paper — around 120 to 180 grit — then spot-prime and paint. Feathering the edges with a light sand blends the repair into the surrounding wall.
• For gaps around skirting boards and window frames, decorator's caulk is better than filler because it stays flexible as the materials move.

Do keep an eye on any crack that widens over weeks, runs diagonally from a corner, or reappears repeatedly. That is a job for someone who can look at the structure properly.

A few more quick wins

A running toilet can waste hundreds of litres a day and is usually down to a worn flush valve seal or fill valve. A replacement kit costs a few pounds. Turn off the isolation valve, flush to empty the cistern, sponge out the last of the water, and swap the washer or diaphragm.

Bleeding your radiators each autumn is another small task with a real payoff. A radiator key costs a couple of pounds. If the top of a radiator is cold while the bottom is warm, trapped air is stopping it working properly. Hold a cloth underneath, open the valve until water trickles out steadily, then close it. Your heating then runs more efficiently.

Finally, draught-proofing pays for itself quickly: brush strips along the bottom of draughty doors, and a little silicone sealant around window frames, can make a noticeable difference to both comfort and bills.

When to call in the professionals

Knowing your limits is part of doing this well, not a failure of nerve. Some jobs are genuinely not for amateurs.

• Anything involving gas. Boilers, gas hobs and gas fires must be worked on by a Gas Safe registered engineer. This is a legal requirement, and getting it wrong risks carbon monoxide poisoning.
• Electrics beyond the very basics. Swapping a fuse or a light bulb is fine. New circuits, sockets and anything inside the consumer unit are not. Rules in England and Wales require certain work to be certified, and poor work risks fire and can affect your insurance.
• Structural concerns. Cracks wider than a ten pence coin, bowing walls or sagging ceilings need a proper assessment.
• Water you cannot isolate or a leak you cannot trace. Do not start dismantling pipework if you cannot shut it off.

Start with the small jobs on this list. Each one you complete builds confidence, saves a call-out fee, and leaves you better equipped for the next thing that goes wrong.