Do It Yourself repairs: you can do it!
We're a consumer nation. When something breaks, our first instinct is often to toss it in the trash. But sometimes it pays to stop and ask youself, "Can I fix this?"
Books and tutorials abound, but many fixes require little more than common sense.
- When I was young, my dad taught me to repair the junk lawnmowers we always seemed to own. It was frustrating, but somehow the grass always got cut.
- I learned to repair VCRs many years ago; many times it was simply a matter of popping the case open and cleaning out the dust bunnies and grime.
- When my cell phone charger went dead recently, I snapped the cover open and found a loose connection. A dot of solder with a $5 soldering iron fixed it. Since then, I have repaired the children's booklights with the same soldering iron.
- Replacing the heating element in your oven is a quick easy repair that anyone can do. Order the part online and make sure you turn off the power before you start.
- When our space heater went dead last winter, I opened it up and found that the low/med/hi switch was broken. After carefully studying it for a few moments I realized that without the switch, it would be locked into hi. I snipped out the switch and reconnected the wires, and it worked for the rest of the season.
- A friend of mine spilled a drink on her laptop and the keyboard went dead. Rather than replace it or pay for an expensive repair, she bought a new laptop keyboard on Ebay and replaced it herself. Actually, she bought 6 and resold the 5 extras for more than her cost. Smart girl.
My best tip: if a small electrical appliance goes mysteriously dead, open it up and look for a loose wire. If you can make a safe repair, you have a free fix. It goes without saying that your should be absolutely sure that the power is disconnected. If you're in doubt about the safety or advisability of a repair, solicit help or advice from a handy friend. Just think twice before you toss it.
What have you successfully repaired? What is your favorite Do-It-Yourself site?
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9 Responses to “Do It Yourself repairs: you can do it!”
September 2nd, 2009 at 7:08 pm
I once took apart my daughter’s fisher price crib aquarium when it started making a grinding noise, lubed it up, and reassembled it.
September 2nd, 2009 at 7:12 pm
I’m really into fixing things (sometimes things I shouldn’t try to fix) ;-/
Here’s a link to the blog of my favorite fix-it adventure:
http://thainamu.blogspot.com/2007/10/40-steps-to-remove-tube-of-hand-cream.html#comments
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:45 pm
We very recently refinished a piano ourselves. It took a lot of time, but we were really pleased!
http://www.manylittleblessings.net/2009/08/refinishing-our-free-piano.html
September 4th, 2009 at 12:03 am
It is good if we can fix our broken things by ourselves. We can have the skill as well as we can save our money. We also keep using our creativity by doing this.
September 4th, 2009 at 1:15 am
A 14 year old friend recently repaired a broken flashlight- the kind you wind up to generate the energy to keep it going, by opening it up and soldering a messed up wire. Very cool.
September 6th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
hi Kim,
I have found there is almost nothing that can’t be fixed with enough DUCT TAPE. Maybe that’s why friends call me DM (DuctTape MacGyver)…
September 9th, 2009 at 9:41 am
We just bought some new tennis shoes for my husband and 10 days later, the bungee loop for the lace broke off. No way! He took them back to Kohls, but they didn’t have more in size 13 at either store here.
He slipped the loop back in the slot and I stitched it down last night. I think they will work just fine this way and it looks no different than the other loops. I sew only a little, but I actually needed to use a thimble (which I never do) because the leather is much thicker than fabric. It makes me feel good to repair something like that! I’m still going to email Avia about it and see if they will do anything for us.
October 10th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Our DVD player would not open, so I took off the cover and discovered a broken “belt” which ran the tray. I replaced it with a heavy rubber band and it has worked great for quite some time now! I also did a similar fix to a cassette player.
January 5th, 2010 at 5:15 pm
I altered my 15 years old pants to fit my bigger size at the moment. made me think that if I can do it(never sewn when I was single), then I can do pretty much anything fixable.
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