Unlike living in an apartment, you have to pay for and take care of all of your home repairs. Until you have to pay for them yourself, you might not realize how much it costs to have you bathroom sink unclogged or your living room fan repaired. It’s recommended that you have an idea of some of the more common household repairs and how much they’ll cost you so that you and your finances can be properly prepared for the inevitable.
Locks and Doorknobs
Since you use doorknobs and locks every day, they stand more of a chance of becoming damaged or malfunctioning. If a doorknob becomes loose enough, the handle can stop working and you’ll find yourself fighting like mad just to open the door. The reason the doorknob becomes loose in the first place is because the small screw that attaches the doorknob around the spindle gets loose. Over time locks can stop sliding the way they should and can become hard to move. It can cost you anywhere from $115 to $200 to have your door lock replaced.
Blocked Drains
Clogged drains are both common and frustrating. You can always try to unclog the drain yourself, but with some methods you can wind up doing more harm than good, which can cause you to have to spend more money when you finally call a professional to have the drain unclogged. In order to have your drain unclogged, you’ll be looking at a $200 to $220 bill, depending on the severity of the clog. Do everything you can to keep your drains from clogging by occasionally pouring chemical cleaning agents down the drain.
Leaks in your gutters are something else to watch out for. Such leaks can be caused by deposits of ice that either melt or crack in the seams of a downspout. Too keep this from happening, use gutter caulk.
Overflowing Toilet
You’re guaranteed to experience at least one or two overflowing toilets as a homeowner. What happens is that the toilet becomes blocked and the valve remains open instead of shutting like it normally would. One way you can try to keep this from happening is by taking the top off of the toilet tank and finding the tank ball right above the outlet valve and pushing into the valve in order to keep the water from flowing. If you have to call a plumber, you can expect to spend $125 to $185.
Educate yourself about some of the common household repairs and breakdowns that you’re likely to experience so that you know what to do and how much you’ll probably have to spend before the incident happens. If it’s at all possible, looking into getting a home warranty to make the costs cheaper and easier on you.