With kids, careers, and trying to live a healthy lifestyle it can be easy to let certain things slide: including home repairs. Your house might seem like it practically runs itself, but if you neglect small repairs and maintenance you could end up with surprising, and unpleasant, problems later.
Slow drains
As long as the water eventually goes down, it can be easy to write off that slow draining problem as something that can wait. Neglect it too long, though, and you could be facing costly plumbing repairs before you know it.
A drain could be moving slowly because of a small localized clog that should be easy to repair. But it’s also possible that you have a bigger issue. The sooner you find out, the cheaper and easier it will be to fix.
Poor cooling in the fridge
If the refrigerator seems to be struggling, the fix could be as simple as replacing a leaky seal around the door or cleaning off the coils under or behind the fridge. A seal that doesn’t close properly will keep your fridge working too hard and compromise its ability to cool.
The coils are there to release heat generated by the cooling process of the appliance. When these get dirty and dusty, heat doesn’t get released and the fridge stops cooling the way it should.
Hose bib repairs
When you turn your outdoor faucet on, does a channel of water spray out from around the seal instead of going down the hose like it should? If it does, you need hose bib repairs. In most cases, a winter freeze and thaw causes the metal to expand and contract, breaking the seal.
If you don’t deal with the situation, the constant water leakage around your house can go down around your home’s foundation, compromising its integrity.
Cabinet and closet door issues
If you start to notice that the doors on your kitchen cabinets or wardrobes aren’t closing easily or seem to be slightly off kilter, don’t ignore the issue. It might seem like nothing, but the longer you put off fixing it, the more you’ll have to do later.
Most doors start to come loose because one of the screws in a hinge starts to work itself out. In many cases, simply tightening the screws can fix the issue. Other times, though, you may have to replace a whole hinge. Take care of this issue quickly and you won’t have to replace a whole door later on.
Deal with paint chips on your car
Did the kids scrape the side of your vehicle with their bikes? It’s easy to be annoyed at the unsightly scratch when it happens, but then forget all about it. Scratches in your car’s paint job can have serious consequences down the line. Moisture gets through the clear coat and eats away at the paint and eventually the metal body.
It doesn’t take much expertise to get some touch-up paint and fix any smaller chips, dents, and scratches on your vehicle. If you take care of a scratch as soon as you notice it, you won’t have to deal with bad rust later on.
Don’t leave the leak
If your kitchen or bathroom faucet starts to leak, don’t ignore it just because it’s only a few drips. Those few drips can really add up over time and leave you with costly water bills and plumbing repairs.
In many cases, the fix could be as simple as just tightening a nut or applying a fresh bit of plumber’s tape to some threads. Even if the problem is more serious, you will save a lot of lost money by fixing it quickly.
With nearly any home issue, you’re better off dealing with the problem promptly than letting it go on. You can fix many of these issues yourself, but if you get in a bind don’t hesitate to get professional help.