5 Household Dilemmas You Can Solve on Your Own

Article Featured by
Rayea Pieschel
(912) 222-4402

ST SIMONS ISLAND, GA, Mar 20, 2014—While a house doesn't come with an owner's manual, there are several things you can do to stay on top of, and ahead of, your home. Knowing how to handle small maintenance fixes will save you stress and money,” says Connie Ray, President/Owner of Coldwell Banker Platinum Partners. Save your dollars for when it's really time to call in a professional. In order to feel confident handling simple maintenance tasks, read through the following tips and tricks.:
1. Open the garage door when the power is out. Need to leave the house in a power outage? Pull on that red cord dangling from the ceiling-mounted operator. “This disengages the chain drive, allowing you to manually slide the door up its track,” explains Ray.
2. Remove the base of a broken light bulb. Accidentally break a lightbulb while it's still screwed into your lamp? No need to panic, as long as you have a potato in the pantry. Take a raw potato, cut it in half, and press the sliced end onto the jagged glass. Then, simply unscrew. This is also a great party trick.
3. Learn how to locate a stud. Trying to hang a heavy mirror? Nothing is worse than ripping a hole in your drywall. Many people know how to rap on walls to locate a stud. But there is a systematical approach, as well. “The majority of studs are placed at 16-inch intervals, so once you knuckle one out, you can usually find the others,” explains Ray.
4. Remedy a seized lock. Can't jiggle your keys in the door any longer? Don't worry - your spouse didn't change the locks. Chances are, your lock is seized. Instead of calling a locksmith who will hand you a hefty bill, head to the drug store and arm yourself with WD-40. “Spray some into the lock to get the gears moving again,” suggests Ray.
5. Unclog a sink. No, not with a chemical pour, which really only burns a hole in the blockage. To really clear out a block, you need to clear out the mechanism. To do so, remove the stopper and block off overflow holes. Then, notes Ray, run water into the sink and as the water runs, plunge the hole with a plunger. Not enough? Get yourself a hand snake and push the coil down the drain to clear out the block.
Know when to hire a handyman. You can only DIY so often. “Know when it's time to bring in the professionals – anything involving electricity or wiring is usually a good time for the real deal,” says Ray.
For more real estate information, please contact Coldwell Banker Platinum Partners at Connie.F.Ray@mycbpp.com, 912-352-1222, or Coldwell Banker Platinum Partners.
Coldwell Banker Platinum Partners, established in 1995, is a full-service real estate firm with more than 100 sales agents strategically dispersed among its office locations spanning from Beaufort, South Carolina, through the greater Savannah area to St. Simons Island, Georgia. The company was founded by Connie Farmer Ray, president and CEO of Coldwell Banker Platinum Partners. In addition to listing and selling residential real estate, Coldwell Banker Platinum Partners other divisions include commercial real estate, property management, relocation services, a real estate school, mortgage lending, and a publishing/media division. The companys corporate offices are located at 6349 Abercorn St., Savannah, Georgia. For more information visit their Web site at www.MyCbpp.com or call 800.505.8111.