6 Easy DIY Home Maintenance Hacks (Utah)
Between shuttling the kids, getting a few real meals on the table, and working 70-hour weeks, you’re wanting some downtime on the weekend, not a long list of home maintenance problems to fix. It can be hard to keep up with everything around the house. But luckily, there are some pretty nifty home maintenance hacks that will make your life much easier and your weekends more free for the things you really want to do—like boating on Utah Lake or ziplining in Provo Canyon.
Stop creaky floors with baby powder
Yes, you heard us right—baby powder has more uses than just powdering a baby after a diaper change. If you’ve got a real wood floor in your Utah home and it’s starting to let everyone in the house know when someone walks on it, baby powder is your new best friend. Just sweep a generous helping of this awesome white stuff into the cracks that are creaking. The powder will actually stop the boards from rubbing together and, voila, you can live in peace and quiet again. And you may even notice a subtle, and pleasing aroma that baby powder is known for.
2. Fill nail holes with crayons
Nail holes are unsightly, but the good news is, you can make them disappear. This does not involve waving a magic wand, but it does involve getting out a box of crayons. If your kids have one of those boxes with 120 different colors, you shouldn’t have a problem matching the color of your wall. For smaller holes, just color over the holes with firm pressure and wipe any excess crayon with a dry cloth. For larger holes, you may want to soften the crayon so it will conform to the hole and fill it. Just hold it to a lighter until it gets soft—don’t let it melt though. Once it’s been softened, you can press it into the hole. Let it dry and then wipe off the excess residue with a rag. If you didn’t satisfy the itch to color on the walls when you were a child, now’s your chance!
3. Caulk like a pro
After several years of use, the caulk in a shower or bathtub can start cracking, shredding, or turning black. Ugh! Re-caulking is a fairly simple task that you can do yourself in a few hours on a Saturday morning. Use a caulk softener to loosen up the old caulk. And then scrape it off with a putty knife or razor blade. But before you apply the new caulk, first put painter’s tape above and below the strip where you want the caulk to go. You can be as sloppy with the caulk as you want to be—as long as it doesn’t go beyond the painter’s tape. Once you’re done caulking, remove the tape while the caulk is still wet. You’ll end up with beautiful straight-edged lines of caulking, which should satisfy your inner perfectionist.
4. Maintain your garbage disposal with ice cubes
It’s great to know that you can mince up food scraps instead of having them end up in the trash can, but all that hard work can make your garbage disposal blades a little dull. To remedy this, just throw a few ice cubes in the disposal now and then and run the disposal (with running cold water, of course). The ice cubes will sharpen the blades!
Pro tip: If it gets clogged, reach for baking soda and vinegar instead of Drano.
5. Unclog drains with baking soda and vinegar
Clogged drains are no joke. And some drains seem to need attention every week. Before you drop several hundred dollars on a plumber, try this wonder-working home maintenance hack—baking soda and vinegar. Not only are they more eco-friendly than Drano, but they are also less likely to damage your pipes (the jury’s still out on this, but some plumbers say Drano erodes pipes). First, pour a pot of boiling water down the drain. And then follow it up with a half-cup to a cup of baking soda and an equal part of vinegar. Cover it up and let it foam and froth for up to 15 minutes and then follow up with another kettle of boiling water. This should work just as well as Drano!
6. Clean your floor vents and wall registers
Ever wonder why you seem to have allergies every morning when you wake up? There could be some nasty irritants in your duct system. There could also be some other crazy things hiding in in your air-ducts (check out a few things we’ve found). You can keep the Utah allergens at bay for a while if you regularly change your filters and clean your floor vents and wall registers with a regular household vacuum. Eventually, though, you’ll need to get your air ducts cleaned by professionals. We don’t advise doing that yourself.
Quick home maintenance hacks like these will help you keep more time for the things you love. We know you’d rather be out on the lake or at your kid’s basketball game instead of being stuck under a sink or in a basement trying to fix something that could’ve been prevented with an easy hack. Just call us if your allergies are out of control—we can help you clear the air in your home.