While some homeowners are natural DIY practitioners, many without the parental reference points are perhaps less familiar with home maintenance. To say nothing of a decided lack of inclination to fix or mend anything around the house. However, the Covid Lockdown has doubtless made DIY enthusiasts of us all given that all bar key workers were holed up at home avoiding human contact. Well you need never struggle to find out how to fix or mend anything again. At last there is a practical online resource that shows you exactly how to for all domestic property issues. Check out the Home How website, for all your DIY references. Here are some excellent examples of their work.

Home maintenance – Lockdown challenge

If like me you found yourself rummaging in cupboards to find the didgeridoo that will fix the whatnot over the last three months, read on.  Upon finding said tool and the squirty thing needed to improve the tile presentation, layout, or fixture I would then scratch my head repeatedly while reading and rereading the instructions. No doubt the sage who wrote or translated the instructions was not a native speaker of Mandarin or Taiwanese the original script for this vital tool.

I probably spent more hours pouring over YouTube videos or random blogs offering personal advice from self proclaimed DIY gurus with whom I felt I had become very familiar. In fact I was definitely on first name terms via the comments section with Tom, Jack and Nancy.

The effort to scroll through countless websites, looking for advice and a method was usually more exhausting than standing on a step ladder for two hours fixing the thing. I had actually inherited a DIY manual from my father, lucky me. However, it was largely out of date in many respects and during the lockdown it remained as pristine as the day it landed on my bookshelves.

How Homehow helped

Then I tripped across Homehow.co.uk and what a revelation! All the things I wanted to research about how to fix, mend and install into my home on one website. And if they didn’t have the instructions they offered the going rate for a contractor who would do the work for you.

The beauty of this site is the simple instructions and diagrams presented without any pre-requisite commentary, side remarks or raised eyebrows when I didn’t understand the term or instruction. What’s more the ‘How to guides’, ‘Home ideas’ and ‘Cost guides’ are all written in simple English by native speakers. Hoorah!

Small home maintenance jobs saved money

So as soon as the weather improved I decided to jet clean and joint the patio to avoid the cost of a contractor. I managed to do the whole paved area around the house in about four days. That saved me hundreds of pounds and got me out into the fresh air actively working in the garden which is a good thing. On the Homehow site it is easy to check the average current fees of a contractor for all kinds of jobs.

Inspired by the exceptionally good weather in May I carried on working outdoors, with more home maintenance tasks. I was possessed by this urgent need to clean and fix everything we all touched. This extended to making the house safe and look as presentable as possible.  I attacked jobs that I had previously given to contractors or odd job help. Cleaning, sanding and staining the outside wooden window sills was one such job. Fortunately we found tins of the stain previously used in the back of the shed and we excavated several sheets of sandpaper.

Indoor and outdoor DIY jobs

While we did successfully manage to complete quite a few indoor DIY tasks the weather kept enticing us outside. We built a vegetable bed, and painted the wooden boards. We planted all manner of vegetable seedlings including courgettes, spinach, chard, fennel and beans.

We also decided to use every last paint pot that we could in painting all our outdoor furniture. Any object that stood still long enough was given a fresh colour and new lease of life. We even painted our shed. The paints available resulted in a rather fetching green stripe. It helped us finish off some paint pot odds and ends from the darkest recesses of a cupboard.

While the website is relatively new it certainly has some excellent tips and places to start. While we as homeowners desperate to spend our time productively, were completely immersed in our home maintenance projects we found this online resource most useful. We think you will too!

HANDY REFERENCES FOR HOME MAINTENANCE BLOGS

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Home maintenance – How to fix hidden problems

Common uses of household vinegar – The wonder potion

Roof maintenance – Essential for every homeowner’s peace of mind