Fixing ThingsHome & Garden

Looking for DIY repair instructions and helpful tips for fixing things yourself around the house? Homeowners share their personal experiences fixing things at home. You can learn from our mistakes! Our step-by-step home repair guides are for average people who want to try to do the repair themselves, before hiring a professional. See how to do outdoor repairs (like lawn, garden, plants, gutters & swimming pool issues) and indoor repairs (like appliances, dishwashers, water heaters, garage doors, tub & shower issues).

Most power strip surge protectors provide the minimum level of protection for everyday household items. But is that really enough protection for your home electronics and appliances? Are power strips the best way to protect your things from lightning strikes and sudden jolts of electricity? The fact is, you might want to consider a whole house surge protector. Here's why.

Odds are, you may keep one or two ladders around. But with so many different styles, what's the best ladder for your needs? How, exactly, do you go about choosing the RIGHT ladder anyway?

You should drain your water heater once or twice a year, otherwise sediment will collect in your water heater -- resulting in less hot water and a less efficient water heater. Here's how to drain and fill your water heater.

There is one very simple thing you can do to help save on your energy bills each month: insulate your water heater! Here's how to insulate your water heater, using step-by-step instructions.

If you are experiencing dry skin, cracked lips, itchy eyes, or you are getting shocked every time you walk across the carpet, then chances are you don't have enough moisture in the air and you might benefit from a humidifier. If rooms in your home feel stuffy, you have rotting wood, or wet stains on the walls or ceilings, then you might benefit from a dehumidifier.

In the end, doing everything yourself will usually cost more -- in terms of money, wasted time, and errors due to inexperience. Tackling too many DIY projects will also cost you in terms of the amount of time you could have spent with your family and the time you could have spent taking care of yourself.

Last year, we seeded some bare spots in our yard with Scott's PatchMaster Seed Mix. It worked so well that this year, we decided to use it to cover a much larger area. Here's why we chose Scott's Patch Master Grass Seed Mix instead of Patch Perfect.

Here's how we fixed our leaky toilets by replacing the toilet flappers. Replacement toilet flappers cost less than $5 apiece and no tools are required to do this job!

Do you hear the sound of dripping water coming from the toilet tank? If, like ours, your toilet is leaking, then you might be surprised by exactly how MUCH water you're wasting. We learned the hard way. We also learned that those toilet cleaning tabs might not be such a good idea after all.