A Few Home Repair Tips for First-Time Homeowners

Home repair and improvement comes naturally to some people. Those who are familiar and comfortable working with a myriad of textures and substances generally fare well when diving into a house project, but for others (like me,) the learning curve is steep, and the lessons are generally learned the hard way. I'm an experienced auto mechanic, but never had dealt with a house.  All I had was my trusty home improvement guidebook.  As a first-time homeowner, and having purchased a home built in 1940, I'd like to go over just a few of these lessons and offer some tips for those who might not be carpentry-, electrical-, or plumbing-inclined.

1. First the Good Stuff: Painting

First off, the one thing that just about anybody can do in their new house is put on a fresh coat of interior paint. At most home improvement warehouses, the employees in the paint section are knowledgeable and helpful. Masking and painting are fairly easy, albeit time-consuming, chores, and painting a room a fresh new color of your choosing delivers a great feeling of satisfaction for any new homeowner. It's good to hold onto that feeling of satisfaction for as long as possible, because once you get into other projects, you'll look back fondly on how simple and productive your painting job turned out.

2. Changing an Electrical Outlet and, By Extension, Repairing Wall Plaster: Be Careful, and Be Gentle.

Those first projects went this way: I'd see something that needed to be done. I'd head down to Home Depot and wander around begging employees for help, until finally someone in an orange apron would give me a snippet of advice that would set me on my way. I'd buy the necessary tools and supplies, then head home full of confidence. I'd begin a project, completely screw it up, then spend the rest of the day just trying to get things back to how they were before I started fiddling with it.