I recently moved to a resale market home and we sold the house we were living in.  I don’t say we bought a new home because our purchase was of a house build in 2002 so 15 years old.

With this type of older home it is expected some handy-man work will be needed.  The magnitude of effort required will depend of course on  how well the home was maintained by the previous owners.

Easy Fixes

Over the years as a homeowner (this is our fifth home) I have always endeavored to fix the easy stuff myself, hiring skilled professionals for the most difficult items.

Our previous home was a new build and when we sold it, the home was only 10 years old so the need for me to exercise my handy-man skills was not large.  For this newly purchased home it was time for me to get back in the saddle.

In the first month and a half since we moved in I have re-discovered the pleasure of Murphy’s law as it relates to minor home repairs.  Having little experience with repairs during the last ten years I had forgotten, often the easy stuff, well in fact, often, “It ain’t easy”.

Things can and will go wrong

Simple things from changing a light bulb (it’s an odd bulb no longer manufactured) or the screw that won’t come out (because it is stripped) or the “snap it in” replacement smoke detector that doesn’t (the electrical connection has changed to frustrate us) or the plumbing fixture with the lost hex set screw  (now longer manufactured.)

How about the leaky faucet where the old valve is stuck (due to corrosion over time) or the natural gas barbecue fitting that was stolen (need to buy and install a new one).  And the list goes on. 

And the point, it is worthwhile and self fulfilling tackling these easy tasks, I do say leave the heavy lifting to the pro’s, but just remember often the easy stuff, just ain’t.