Episode 38 - Fix It Yourself: Essential Home Repairs

Last week Jenny and Kate spoke about renovation snag lists - but what if your builder doesn't come back? Small issues like hairline cracks in paint or needing to re-seal a bathtub are normal and totally doable yourself. This episode is all about how to do just that so you can tackle basic home maintenance with confidence (and a can of WD40).

Watch this episode on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@Rip-It-Up

Courses Mentioned

• DIY evening courses: https://www.adulteducationireland.ie/diy/
• Furniture re-upholstering course: https://www.oldchairs.ie/weekend-courses/

Basic DIY Tool Kit Recommendations

• WD40
• Magic erasers
• Flexible sanding sponges
• Lightweight poly filler
• Two-part filler (with hardener)
• Good quality paintbrush
• Painter’s tool (multi-purpose scraper)
• Silicone gun
• Screwdrivers (manual preferred over electric for small jobs)
• Stud finder with live wire detection
• Caulk gun (good quality)
• Staple gun
• Spirit or laser level

Transcript

Episode 38 - Basic Home Repairs

 [00:00:00] 

Podcast Intro

Jen: Welcome to Rip It Up, the renovations podcast. I'm Jenny. I'm Kate. And between us, we've renovated a lot of houses and it hasn't scared us off. In fact, we loved it so much that we can't stop talking about it. So in this podcast, we will give you all the tools and info that you need to tackle your own renovation like a pro.

Welcome back to the podcast. Hi

Kate. 

Kate: Hi 

Jen. 

Jen: Very exciting news. We're on

YouTube now, so if you're listening to this on Go to Old Fashioned

Spotify or Apple Podcast, that's absolutely

fine.

You can keep doing that, but if you wanna check

us out.

we're

also on YouTube. Check out our YouTube

channel. 

Kate: lovely artwork behind you and My fancy behind me. I lovely. Artwork me. behind me. 

Jen: Your beautiful, fancy wallpaper is behind you. We should do like a video walk through 

of your house when it's done.

Done, and you're ready for

cameras. 

That could be like a 

YouTube. 

Kate: could be 

a bit off yet now.

Jen: Exactly. We don't get [00:01:00] people too excited. We're just gonna keep teasing that for a while. Um, anyway, welcome back to the podcast.

We are, last episode, we spoke about

your, your snag list and the last bits and

pieces to look out for when you're walking through your renovation and things that you can

keep money back for that your builder or your

contractor will come back and fix.

And today.

We're getting real and that it might not always be

possible to get your contractor back. It might not always be possible.

Um, or it might be a year or two down the line and there's just some small things that you can

just fix yourself. it might just be easier, or maybe your builder

has disappeared and you couldn't give a damn about your

attention. Um, but it's just totally normal. Like after innovation, totally

normal for, you know, small cracks to appear.

A few small, little

bits and pieces to go wrong, 

and we're just gonna take you through. How

to fix it. The bank holidays 

coming 

Kate: up. Yeah, 

Jen: You have loads of 

Kate: time in your hands. Loads free time

Yeah. Loads of free time.

Loads of free time

Jen: time. Who 

Kate: and like it. hard, like we talked about retention before, like it's not a massive amount of money for a lot [00:02:00] of builders. Like

so

sometimes it actually costs them money to come back and do all a lot of this stuff. So it's hard to get some builders to come back and do the snag list. And also could be Like

me and you could just be like

at the end of your tether and you want people out outta your fucking house.

Maybe you're like, I'll just finish

the snags myself. But there's some little ones that like you can probably

attempt

yourself and I find a lot of

the snags are where two trades or two service providers or something intersect.

And they're where the snags happen. You know, like holes where radiator pipes are coming up. Is it the flooring person? Is it the plumber? Is it, you know, like a socket moved? Is that the electrician now? Does the plaster have to come in? Like, so those little

bits are stuff that maybe some of it you can tackle yourself, but I would say caveat here,

here, don't go touch electrics or plumbing Don't ever look touch. No unless you know what you're doing.

you should touching like you can hand tighten a little p trap under a

sink or something like that, do you know? But like,

don't be getting tools out, touching plumbing or [00:03:00] electrics and come sueing us 'cause you've water damaging your 

in your house. 

Jen: Yeah, I also want to give a shout out. right, so there's some things here that are super easy and

if you feel in any way competent and you're, you know, you've some experience with DIY, you can go for it. Actually, I've come across I've

been I'm definitely doing one of

these myself 'cause I

am pretty handy, but you can always be better.

Um, There's a load of like really good DIY kind of evening courses or even day courses around the country.

Um, one of my friends did a brilliant one. She raves about it. Um, cabin tea.

Um, if you look on,

I think it's ca Tealy Higher education or ca tealy, even evening courses, something like that. Or even just Google.

There's like two websites. I'll put them in the show notes. One is like night courses study or something like that. And one

is, um, I can't remember. I'll put the two links to the show notes. Anyway, I came across

them today and just around the country there's loads of really good like DIY classes that you can do yourself.

They're like 120 quid

for like 10 weeks, you know, an hour or two a week.

and really hands on, you know, learn how to [00:04:00] fix the

basics.

I just kind of think if you're gonna be a homeowner and

like

keep your home in good shape, it's 

just a very empowering thing to learn how to do. 

Kate: I love little night courses, whatever I remember did one in Galway years ago. Not a DIY one, but I did a mechanics one. 

Jen: Oh. 

Kate: don't remember any of it to be honest, but like it was really good at the time. I remember it

at the time. Do you know you felt like a bit more confident going, getting your car service or there's something wrong, you knew roughly what was 

wrong? 

Jen: that's a really good thing to do. 

Yeah. 

Okay. So we definitely recommend

those.

Kate: I, 

Jen: Um, definitely those, I'll put the, the links in

the show notes, but for whatever reason, if you just don't wanna call

in somebody or you wanna tackle something yourself, here's, there's a few

things you can do. So, first of all, some things that are really common that, that crop up kind of post renovation, that are totally

normal.

And you might not get somebody back in for cracks.

Just cracks, little cracks, little hairline

cracks.

It could be like.

You know, between that's settling. It could be along your stairs [00:05:00] because the weight of somebody going up and down the stairs,

you

know, over time has just

caused It to settle. It could be like a little bit around the windows, little mini cracks, not structural,

Mm-hmm. just a little hairline cracks. Very normal

very easy to tackle. 

Um. you ever repaired

Hairline Crack as 

well? 

Kate: Yeah. And there's different types of filler here.

Like, like, I mean, you can use your standard kind tub of poly filler.

I actually love the lightweight one. Um,

there's a few

different brands. Something

devil, I had one, but there's a lightweight poly filler as well. there's also a Tech seven light one, and they're kind of multipurpose.

You can kind of do them on like

painted surfaces. You can do them at a. On wood that's been varnished or whatever,

like

it, will work in different kind of depending on the color and the finish you're

putting on

it. Um, but when you pick up the tub, you think the tub is empty. It's so light.

It's kind of more of a whipped texture. And the reason I think this one's really good is it sounds like

a dream. It doesn't have a sandy kind of.

Finish on it doesn't have a rough finish on it, so it sounds really smooth.

Um, it's really

lightweight, but a little bit more [00:06:00] flexible as well than

the standard kind of

poly filler.

So that lightweight stuff is is unbelievable for kind of smaller cracks. Do you know, stuff like that. Um, so if I ever had those, uh, I'd use

that kind of filler And then wood filler is another kind of important one.

'cause

sometimes that can happen if like.

I dunno, they've put in new hinges in your doors or new doorknobs and they left a big gaping hole where an old knob used to be, or you know, those kind of

things.

And I know in our last house we switched all the knobs and latches and

everything and they left big holes where the old ones were and

never filled them.

And thing I would say,

don't go

if you're, if you're filling doors. Or wood or things that are opening and closing or more likely to be under stress. So like steps on the stairs, you really want

like a really hard

filler.

And for those, I usually use a two part filler. I dunno if you've ever seen the metal tub. Inside that metal tub of filler, there comes a tiny little tube of kind hardener. So you put in like a little bit a little bit mix Kinda like what you get

Jen: an epoxy resin like that.

Correct? Exactly.

Kate: Yeah. [00:07:00] Yeah. But that stuff

will like, will set rock hard, but it's really hard to sand, So only put just as much as you need or skim over. Otherwise you'd be standing for days trying to get it off and it's like, it literally sets like a rock. So I would recommend that for kind of those more

what's dynamic kind of purposes 

I would say. 

Jen: A little bit of

of movement in it almost. 

Yeah. Yeah. 

Um, one thing I will say as well, before you do of that is if it's a really, really tiny

crack, like

literally just in the paint is try, you know, those,

I keep, I talked about these

about times. The magic erases are magic sponges. sponges They're just these cleaning sponges that are mild abrasive. And if you just lightly go over

the tiny little crack in your paint, it might be

enough to

just stand it back. And you, it might go invisible, um, or invisible enough for you. So that's like a good place to start, just to check if it's, if it's only a little

crack in the paint in the wall, um, that's a really, a [00:08:00] really good one.

The one thing to think about as well, if you're listening to this

and you're, you're not coming across your side as best. We mentioned this, the last

episode,

keep. Paint if you can, like, keep the pot of paint that you had on that wall. Mm-hmm. So if it's something that you're sanding back and

something that you're, you're painting over, um, it's quite hard to match it even if you get exact same tub of paint, you know, there's different batches and tiny, tiny variations.

Kate: Mm-hmm. 

Jen: So always just keep, you know, an extra put tub of

paint left over from, uh, from your own renovation of possible.

Um, and

then the repainting. You know, sometimes it'll look a little bit different because

you've got a bit of fresh coat of paint over it, and sometimes only need to just leave

that sit for a week or two and like, you know, wear it normal.

Wear and tear, it'll settle

in,

it look the same as

the rest your wall.

Um, what you want to avoid is having to 

repaint your whole entire wall. 

Absolutely. 

Kate: And this is something you probably take note of when they're painting, if they're, if you have painters in to paint your house or you're painting your

house the first time, are you, doing a roller finish? Are

they spraying the house?

'cause spray finish is really hard to, [00:09:00] um, copy. Like, so if you, if you're, if you're doing like. a, a touch up spot, then with a brush it's gonna look completely different. So like I find if they sprayed your whole house and you're coming, doing a repair, closest you're gonna get is one of

those kind of mini.

spongy foam rollers. Maybe

it's the closest kind of surface you'll get to a sprayed

surface 'cause you're not probably gonna spray the

place yourself. And if you have to use a brush, then you just need to kind of, you know, blend it in. Sames

you wood foundation. I actually think painting is something that women

are way better

at 

Jen: Definitely, 

we've been doing 

Kate: a few years, We have been painting ourself head to toe for years and blending and whatever. We're actually really good at it.

And I find when it comes to I'm way better at that in my house because it's like, uh, uh, it's like

doing nail

polish. You know, you're trying to get the kinda lines out of it

and

stuff,

so kind of employ the same 

techniques, I would say. 

Jen: Yeah.

I'm old enough how I know how cracks work. I know how to

fill them in. It's no problem. I've got this. Yeah. Um. Okay, so that's, that's really handy. That's for paint, that's for filling something in. Next thing then is like the cracks around the edges. I gotta [00:10:00] say this not the easiest job in the world, but

I find it unbelievably

satisfying.

And this is one, like if you're in a rental maybe, and you're just, your bathroom needs a refresh or your kitchen needs a

refresh,

removing. The

sealant around the edges. If you're seeing those little black spots or it's just cracked or whatever, the sealant around edges of your showers of maybe your kitchen backsplash,

your sink,

um, is a deeply, deeply satisfying job to do.

And not a hard one. I won't say. Like

it's simp, you know, it's, it's labor

intensive, But 

it's not

difficult. 

Kate: Yeah, and the removal thing actually can take a long time 'cause it's really stuck down. Right. But I bought a removal tool. It's kind of like a

little, uh, snowplow kind of plastic

edge, and it, it goes in under the line of silicone and gives you

this perfectly clean edge. it was it saved me so much time. Last time it was a couple of pounds on Amazon

or

something. And, uh. I thought that was amazing.

And then I kind of silicone, I used to actually silicone my old kitchen

sink a lot 'cause it was made [00:11:00] of porcelain. And I found the edges

got kind of grubby quite quickly in a kitchen sink.

Like I, I, probably wouldn't do one of those things again. But, um, so I used to remove a lot and re silicone it, but important for

bathrooms and stuff. get the good kind

of mold resistant. Silicon Likeone, like, so you're not

gonna get those black

spots in it really quick again, and I find the best of the best for sealing then is the likes of kind of tech seven or one of those ones Yeah. But they are really hard

to, um, some of those really good ones like Tech seven are really hard to, manipulate, like into the crack and smooth 

out. 

Jen: I find if you'd like, as you're putting it on, if you just follow right behind it with your, with your finger, and

I I know you can get tools everything for this, but I just

always use my finger.

I think it's really handy. Now, if you've long nails, that could be a difficult one. Or you could put on rubber gloves if you don't wanna get too

messy.

I think just going right in behind it and rubbing it in along.

Um,

or with the tool if you want. I'm just gonna go back to though that that

remover tool is a really important point because.

You have to it all. You can't leave bits of [00:12:00] it. And like, it is, that is probably hardest part of the whole thing,

is making

sure that that's all. removed and making sure that It's got a clean surface. But you do have to remove it all. 'cause otherwise it's

not gonna stick properly to the surface. And could, you know, don't

as this, like do the, like, it properly and then putting it back on. It's gonna

take so much, it'll be so much quicker and it'll last so 

much longer.

Um, that's the

hard part. 

Kate: Yeah, and some of those we were saying about following finger

behind the caulk line or the silicone line or whatever. It's all the same if you doing it. Some of them are really tacky, of them are a

bit smoother, and your finger won't stick to it too much if you find it's a really sticky one, it's just not like molding very well.

Puts like a, a pump or

two of just hand soap or dish soap

or

whatever in the palm of your other hand

and have your finger dipping in that as

you go, and it. literally glides over it. Then some people use baby wipes. I don't find them

as good. I just find dipping finger in

soap. It just like glides over. it makes the most

like silky smooth surface and bead the cook.

Then I [00:13:00] think that's a really good tip. If you are doing it, you can get a really clean line and you're cleaning as you

go. Yeah. and if you wanna, if you want a really clean

line as well. Mask the top and the bottom and then caulk between the two mask lines, and then you get a perfectly, then you get

a perfectly kind of straight line crisp line. 

line 

Jen: I did this, I did this four chair my, I made a mistake where I didn't take the tape off.

I'd had it dry first and then just turned into a bit of a nightmare. So away mask it. Absolutely. I think that's a

great tip.

Peel It away while it's still wet. That's the tip for everything. Even when you're painting, just do Peel it away

while it's

still 

wet. 

Kate: Yeah, 

yeah. 

Um, 

Jen: but you're right. It does give you perfect straight lines, kind of hard to get 

otherwise, you 

know, It 

Kate: is 

really hard and I just love, I think silicone and caulking is just so satisfying.

Jen: It's 

so satisfying. It's such 

an impact. 

You don't realize listener, like if you are looking at little,

tiny black spots in your bathroom, like you get rid of those.

It's almost like at a new bathroom, like it really makes such a huge, huge difference. And they're always, know, after a few years, they're always gonna be there like in the corner of your

shower or the corner of your bath whatever.

They'll just be a little bit black

and yeah, just

put a Saturday

aside just get it.

done. It's [00:14:00] very satisfying and very doable and it's not one you need a lot of tools for, you know, like you don't need sanding tools. You just like these. These are easy. You can get in

any local hardware, 

so, 

Kate: exactly.

Yeah. Love it.

Jen: Okay. Uh, I'm gonna go on to one thing. This happened

to me a couple times is doors.

Not

really, like, they don't close properly or they're creaking, or maybe just like, especially cabinet doors, kitchen cabinet doors. I have really

heavy pocket doors. And one of them just kept kind of tilting a little bit and

just, all it took with like tightening of the hinges to a certain point and making sure that they didn't open up again.

Um, but for this, I'll say if it's just

creakiness,

WD 40 is the best fucking

thing on the planet. I don't know how it gets

into every single look and cranny, but I use it on everything. It just makes life so much easier. It's my first stop if It's

just a bit of a creaky hinge or creaky door.

Kate: Yeah. 

Jen: WD 40. 

Kate: Yeah, and those kitchen, those kitchen hinges, like you said, that can kind of micro

adjust them front to back and [00:15:00] side to side.

So if you feel like you've, if

your cabinet doors are a little bit off

plum or

you know, catching on one side when you close 'em all the way and not closing on the other side, or whatever, those little screws on those plum or those kind of heavy kitchen hinges. they're just little micro adjustments.

all you need to is back out the a a little bit or tighten it in a little bit and we'll

tip one door in at the end or out at the end or as you need. Yeah, so that's a really easy adjustment as well, just to kind of. learn how those work. 

Jen: You don't need a new kitchen.

It's just a little, all you need is a screwdriver. Really.

Kate: Yeah, 

Jen: and make

sure you have the right head and don't, do not cheer at the top of that screw. Yeah. uh, Um, with a big heavy drill or something like that. Like, or electric screwdriver. Just go in nice and gentle, you know, figure out the right fitting for the screwdriver

and then just little tiny adjustments and it'll, off you go.

You'll be on your way. Yeah. Um. The other thing you can do if it's just because of an uneven floor

surface or something, if the bottom of a door is catching

is you can sand it just really lightly. Like if everything is

fine, it's in the right place,

[00:16:00] but you know, even uneven floor or it's just catching on something, you can go underneath the bottom of that door with sandpaper.

And one thing that's really handy is you can just 

almost like. Tape the sandpaper 

down. Yeah. To 

the 

floor. 

I

saw just leave there for a few days and it just sand itself every 

time somebody opens and closes the 

Kate: I saw this hack and

I was 

like, does that really work? And 

then 

Jen: It works. I did it on my 

bathroom 

Kate: door. 

It worked a treat, so she just taped on the sandpaper exactly where it was catching and just opened and closed the door times or so, like in over a few

days. And

yeah, it's perfect. Sounded 

right. 

It's brilliant. 

Jen: Yeah, It's a really, really handy one. Um, anything else for, uh, oh, door handles. Sometimes kind of 

door handles. Get a little bit

loose. 

Kate: Yeah, you can kind of usually screw off a lot of the face plates and tighten them up. Sometimes when they're fitted, you know, the bar that goes kind of through your door and out the knobs or out to the levers on the other

ends. Sometimes when the people are fitting them, they leave those bars too long.

'cause usually they

to be cut to length depending

on the thickness of your doors. Um, so if you find your, your doorknobs are kind of jiggling inside, and outside of the [00:17:00] door, that's usually it. You might need to. Shave a little bit off that bar on

the

Mm-hmm. Take it off and get a little mini hackle or something if you wanted to tackle that. But generally door doors besides like creaky hinges

and you know,

sticking somewhere or something like that, they can be tricky to adjust. 'cause hinges are really, have to be

precisely fitted. So. I would would, I would kind of stay away from adjusting the hinges on doors and stuff, because it'll probably just fall on top of you and probably not work. 

Jen: Yeah,

that's a

fair

point. And then for those handles for what you're saying about taking 'em off, usually if you look underneath a door handle or somewhere like that, you'll either be able

to remove a plate or you'll be able to

see a tiny screw 

hidden, and if you remove that, then the plate will come off. 

Tiny little set screw 

or 

something. 

yeah, 

yeah, Maybe remember the 

order you took it off in or Take pictures, or some things. So you can 

put 

badge, picture pictures of your, of everything. 

Kate: and hopefully it's not one of those, uh, sprung doorknobs that as soon as you open it, it goes ping and the springs go everywhere, then 

you're goofed. 

Jen: Yeah.

Yeah. I think that's it for. And that [00:18:00] goes kind of kitchen handles and then the other

kind of handles as well. I would say again, your front door leave that alone, get a professional to deal with that because you don't wanna be messing with your front door handle. Um, but anything else?

A little bit of, a little bit of tension, a little bit

of tightening. You should probably fine. Um. 

Kate: Yeah. 

Jen: Okay. One that I had to deal with, um, was a little bit of mold or any kind of water stain if there was any

leaks, um, that didn't fully dry out. So I had an issue

with my bath. Uh, I think we talked about this before in that the overflow from

my bath was not properly collect,

connected into the, the drain.

And so if I filled my 

bathtub to the brim and sat into it Then the overflow drain 

just drained

to my ceiling. 

downstairs. So, it was a God, it was a bit of a disaster.

Luckily I did have a great builder

who did back and fix it straight away, and I haven't had a problem since in years.

But I did get a bit of a water

stain

on the corner of that ceiling.

Um,

and on my wallpaper, which

I was devastated about 'cause I'm not gonna repo

wallpaper in the thing. [00:19:00] So, um. A brilliant one for that is you use like a bit of diluted bleach or something like that in water. Mm-hmm. Um, just tap it on, leave it for a minute and then wipe it. Like, make sure you wipe it away.

Clean bleach is

obviously a

little bit risky. Um, you don't like if there, you know, if you've got a darker color on your wall or if you've got a fabric wallpaper or something like that, you definitely don't

wanna be using that. Mm-hmm. So you also can just use a mixture of. Um, you can try vinegar and water and spray that on and just leave it fit for a little while, um, and then wipe that away again and see if that works.

Or you can use,

um, like an oxy action cleaner, something like vanish. A nice diluted version that. That's what ended up working best for me. I just got vanish oxy action,

uh, made up a it solution of, it wiped it on the wallpaper and the ceiling, both of which were white. So 

I didn't have a huge staining issue and then wiped it off after, I think it was about five or 10 

minutes and it was fine. 

Kate: Yeah. 

Jen: Never came 

back. 

Never came back. No. Perfect. 

Kate: Perfect.

Jen: Yeah. 

Kate: Yeah. Damp ones are important to kind of.

get [00:20:00] dried out as well before you paint if you have to repaint. Yeah. Because otherwise paint will just peel again. So maybe,

you know, give it time. Put on the heating in the room. If you have a dehumidifier, throw in that corner. 

corner. 

Jen: Big shout out for dehumidifiers. We love

dehumidifiers on this podcast. They

are the future. Like they're aren't, they're 

the best thing 

ever. 

Kate: dry. 

Your clothes, fix 

your house. 

Jen: Dry. They're better than jumbo dryers. I'm gonna come out and say it like they're

unreal. 

Everyone should have one.

Um, 

Kate: Especially if you're an old 

house. 

Jen: Yeah. Especially if you have an old house and if you, if any bit of damp at all.

through This country,

like we say, blase, dry it out. Let it dry out. No bother whatsoever. No, it might not be possible at 

Kate: time that you're listening to I Literally mightn't dry out. Exactly. 

Humidifier. 

Jen: Yeah. 

Yeah. Um, anything else with a little bit of, did you have any water stains 

anywhere?

A little

bit of

Kate: mold 

that dry? yeah. like uh, I think I mentioned this before, like our last plumber drilled through the tanking when he fit a bathtub. 

so. I had a similar situation like where water was pouring outta my ceiling through the downlights in the kitchen.

[00:21:00] Um, but I don't think we had any staining. It was just kinda one time and it kind of drew, dried out all right.

Um, so I didn't have to treat it, but I have plenty of mold in

this house before it, was renovated, when it was old and like in rentals.

So

yeah, employ the same 

Jen: approach, I 

think. 

Yeah. Yeah. Good thing rid of. Um, okay. What else? Another easy, super simple one you do this end is skirting boards or

scs.

There's always gonna be scrapes I have a load of scrapes like in my hallway and kind of around my front door because my bike, I drag my bike in and outta there and I'm just not

that careful with it.

Um, and

you'll always like get a chunk taken outta the wall or get like, yeah, stains on the skirting

boards back. My first thing again with that is always the sponges.

they're unbelievable. 

Kate: Yeah.

Jen: And

then 

we're back to if you need to, um. Just repaint, Just 

re

Kate: Can I 

just say 

one step up from your 

magic sponge. I do love a magic razor. Um, 

is the flexible sanding sponges? Yeah. They're just like pin [00:22:00] pin, pretty flexible. They come in kind of a fine medium course.

I find it kind of medium best for most things, especially walls and stuff like that. But like I find After renovation, you'll find drips of paint or that kind of stuff.

Yeah,

or just like you said, like. things outta walls that you need to fill in sand again or whatever. Those flexible sanding

sponges

just Fix almost everything and kind of rough plaster. Or if you're reading the skirting, they're great to kind mold around mold the timber. Mm-hmm. You know, get a lovely, smooth surface if you wanna repaint any of

that. I, I just think it's worth, if you want to do a bit of this

property maintenance and

kind of snag stuff yourself, get a few kind of key tools like a good filling knife.

For, like, for, for a filler and putty and that kind of stuff.

Um, some of those sanding sponges, a good paint brush

that you're actually gonna

clean out, like, yeah, I, I think buying shit

paint brushes, you're just gonna get a shit finish. It's like buying

totally the really cheap makeup

brushes. Like it's, you're gonna get a shit finish.

in your paint. So, unless you're using some sort of [00:23:00] varnish stuff that you're never gonna be able to wash out,

don't use a

ship brush. Yeah, so buy buy a good paintbrush, you know, have a few kind of key tools.

I think a decorator

scrapers brace, like a Yeah. 

an all in one kind of

painter's tool. You can use it for cleaning brushes, you can use it for scraping things. You can use it to take off. Um. Take off old tacks and on walls, Yeah. like You can

use it for like, so much stuff like scraping whatever. scraping and filling. So painter steel is great, but um, I'm trying to think of what other kind of key Little tools do I have that I use all the time. I also think 

Jen: everything you've mentioned here, we're we're probably coming in at a grand

total of like 50 quid 

max. 

Kate: Yeah. 

Jen: Do you know, like these are not expensive things and they're not space.

Like for of you who listen because you love tiny homes

and storage, they're 

not things that take up space. like you just, you put these in little box somewhere,

a 

tub

somewhere. 

Somewhere. Exactly. 

They're, They nearly 

kind a little 

makeup 

Kate: bag, 

Like they're that

tiny. Yeah. Um, I, no, I

think

having a few key tools, you'll keep going back to the good ones over

and over again. Um, a painter's tool will cover a lot of stuff though. though. You're doing a lot of this work. [00:24:00] um, I kind of with you on the

whole silicone tool thing. I bought a few them before.

They give you a lovely, smooth edge, but only if your edges are perfect and square and perfect right angles.

If they're not, or you have a bit of a. You know, ban Jack old house, it's very hard to use any of those tools and I think your finger is the best caulk tool you'll use. 

use. 

Jen: There's something about the, even now it's easy for me to say I have short nails and I don't usually wear them long. So it's easier to

do it when you have that. But I just find the pressure 'cause do need a really even pressure

going along.

Like you don't wanna have little dips in it or whatever. And I find I, whenever you, whenever I use the 

tool. I

just find hard to control. It's so much easier to

feel

that consistent

pressure with your fingertip 

Kate: and talking about consistent pressure. it's important to have a decent tool as uh, gone as well. Yeah, totally. I think a really shit caulk guns. like you'll be pumping them and then loads come out and then nothing comes out and then

you know, it's hard

to and sometimes they block up and lock up or whatever. So I think a good one that you kind of have a

consistent, kind of easy feed of silicone or [00:25:00] caulk coming out.

Yeah. I think, um, are worth

it. 

Jen: you.

have

like, sometimes the handle on of it, it's really cheapy. The handle

doesn't quite dig into it properly

or it's just a bit

like awkward and then It that's what causes things to burnt out. So you can kind of like feel it if you're the shop.

It definitely talked. you're never go into a hardware shop.

I, they're only like, in my experience, I've literally never had a bad experience in a hardware shop. They're

only too happy to like, take you through, you know, what's good and what, what would suit you. But lift them up and feel to heft them and give things a little, you know.

know. Like handle things.

see Yeah, yeah, That feel 

good or not? I

think that's really, really good.

Um. 

Okay. Anything, oh, another one.

Little fabric

touchups. So sometimes you might have like

a tight, freeing edge, especially if you've pets or kids in the

house, like a little fraying edge of a cushion or a sofa or an old chair that you've, you know, maybe you got like a secondhand bargain or you brought something with you from your old house something and things just go a little bit, a little bit of upholstery and 

sewing.

DIY can be a 

really handy thing [00:26:00] to know 

how to do.

Um, I'd love to do an upholstery 

Kate: course. 

I've 

Jen: done that. There's a really good chair recovering course. Again,

another friend. No, same friend. Same friend who did that. DIY

course. Those courses. Did a chair recovering 

course. Uh, recently, I think, I

think can do one like Daniel scanner or something, as 

all that's supposed to be a brilliant one.

Do you like 

Kate: buy

your own chair and

bring it and then your project for the class or

something?

I

Jen: I think so. Yeah. I'll, if I, I'll find the link and put up in

the 

show notes, so, um, but yeah, let's do that holiday. 

Kate: Yeah. 

Jen: Um, there's a few things I love for this, Especially for chairs. and I It's blast this, is just for a quick fix. I'm not talking about like properly reupholstering,

like it's a great

detail here, but a staple gun.

So 

handy

for just recovering anything. I know you did a whole

ottoman, 

didn't you before?

I, did, yeah.

Kate: Um, I, I stripped back the ottoman again.

With the intention of recovering it with the new fabric, but I never to it since removed, So it's in storage, just naked with the feet taken off, like I, I spent ages stripping it all back, again 'cause [00:27:00] I properly stripped it back

barrier back to the foam.

So I, I'm gonna do it again soon. But yeah, a good staple going. It's worth

again getting a good one. Yeah. Moving a little good tack gun,

like they're very 

Jen: good as well. 

Yeah. Um, 

Small, and expensive. 

They fix lots things outdoor

projects can be fixed. The staple going right. They aren't really handy. 

Kate: Yeah. and then like out to a fabric outlet and get some amazing fabric for like a five hour meter. 

Jen: Yeah, when we're in, it. Um, those are things as well, like sometimes like the

back of your couch or it just starts, maybe fraying, especially if it's a bit

older.

It maybe starts fraying where the cover is on it, you know, and where the

edges meet. So a staple gun can buy a you a few extra 

years, if not more.

Um, 

Kate: can I talk so else as well? Can really help something else that comes loose, I find,

Is curtains. I'm looking at them here. They're not loose because I just put them up, but, um, curtains and just things that are hung on your walls and stuff in general because Yeah. You know, they, they can be.

Hung incorrectly in the first place. They didn't use a roll plug and there might have

been a screw through it, plasterboard or whatever.

Having a kind of [00:28:00] general idea how to hang stuff And how to rehang stuff. 

Yeah. 

And say you have a big heavy curtain rod and

that's pulling out the wall,

that's a tricky one to fix without taking out and drilling completely new holes. Yeah. Um, but that kind of like two part really hard filler could be an option for something like that, for packing out around the hole.

Yeah. Um, but knowing how to kind of

hang stuff in the

first instance. so like one tool that we have

that's kind of useful a beam finder or stud detector Mm-hmm. Um, so the stud detector will help

you find.

The stored Or the beam and the wall

that you can drill straight into with the screw. Yeah.

And if you can't or you're not sure what you're drilling into, you might need to use roll

plugs. If you have really old walls like, are old

brick walls, the big, long concrete screws are the best thing. Yeah. Because you're getting a nice bit of length in there. 'cause I find these old walls

kind tend to crumble otherwise. Yeah. Um, but just kind of knowing how to hang stuff and just watching kind of shelves, like if you're overloading shelves, they can start

to. 

Yeah, 

hit down and stuff over, over

some [00:29:00] time. Um, so that's another skill I would say. Definitely worth. 

There's

so many videos as well.

There's just so many videos about how to drill

and hang up shelves. Men love talking about it. Just look at them on YouTube. 

Jen: The video. So why are they so long? I dunno.

I don't dunno. I totally agree with you. If you're buying one of those tools, the one I have as well will also detect for

electricity. So I

think that's really useful too, just to, if you're not used to doing anything like this before,

um, it'll check where the stud is and the wall and where you should be drilling

into, but it'll 

also just, just

make sure you're not gonna 

into wire.

Yeah. 

Kate: Because 

Jen: don't 

Kate: wanna do 

Jen: that. 

Kate: And generally if you're doing anything around a switch around a socket or if you're touching any light fitting,

just. I in the side of

caution, switch it off the wall and switch it off The trip board as

well. Just be sure why not. Like yeah, I saw someone on Instagram before changing their face

plates of their switches out and she hadn't turned off power and she ended up in the emergency and was anxiety, and I'm

like,

just turn off the fucking power. Like you don't need to the power on, you're this. [00:30:00] Um, 

Jen: turn 

off the power. you 

know what's behind it. You never know what direction the wires are taken behind the wall or wire or something got

moved last minute or something,

Decided not to. You just know to check it 

and and Yeah, you're totally right. Um, you can buy

gloves, 

as well, electrical gloves for extra safety, just so that you are

putting your hands on where it's Yeah, But don't rely those to 

turn 

it off 

Kate: Yeah. Yeah. Um,

do You know something?

We were talking about, uh, silicon, but we didn't talk about

grouting.

Oh

yeah. 

Jen: Okay. Re

Kate: Grouting is something you can 

do. So I, I grouted

just, we, we

kind of tiled it some basic to subway

tiles.

'cause we moved to this house before we renovated, there was only a bath,

right? So we hung up an electric shower,

then it was just walls around you know, I had, hadn't been tiled or

anything.

so we just got some basic, like euro a meter, metro subway tiles, whatever, and just did

a corner.

Hmm. It's actually really straightforward. You can buy

premixed adhesive, You can buy premixed grout if you want, but the grout

is actually pretty straightforward as well. just need to

be [00:31:00] really accurate with the amount of water. and I'm talking to the grams

like, you know, don't be out. 'cause otherwise you'll get, the. get, You know, slop and it won't set properly or else it'll be too taking, did use the did weigh

skills. 

Jen: When you say 

grams 

Kate: Yeah, I 

used, 

Jen: to weigh I used the weight skills. 

Kate: Yeah, I weighed out the amount 'cause I wasn't using

that much. I was in doing a small area. So getting the consistency right and then you kind of need to move relatively fast 'cause it set pretty quick. And then, um.

Buffing it off before it's, it's really hard.

Yeah, No, I, I, start, I had a very easy tile 'cause it

was a glossy tile and whatever, and it was pretty smooth. Now it did have a beveled edge, made it a bit trickier, but it's not that difficult if the grout is really pissing you off and you hated it or you put in white grout and now it's yellow 'cause you like tan or whatever.

Like, there there are ways to fix it.

It's not the end of the world and it's actually

pretty straightforward if you don't wanna mix it by the pre-mixed stuff. But, um, yeah, I definitely give Reg regretting a go again. 

Jen: yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah. It's another, it's

another really [00:32:00] huge uplift, like the,

like

the ceiling, like you might think

it's only a small thing, but once you redo

it, like it's, it just makes a massive, massive,

difference.

It's, it's incredible. 

Yeah. I 

don't 

Kate: I don't, 

think I'd give

tiling a

go with real good tiles. Like these were cheap tiles. We knew it was a

temporary job. Tiling in itself is a bit of

skill. It's a bit of an 

art, like getting 

the, I think I didn't know. 

Jen: I wouldn't do it on, I wouldn't do it on

expensive tiles. I wouldn't trust myself because cutting it, cutting

it is

where you

run into issues. If you're just tying it totally flat surface and you don't have to cut anything in your exactly.

just square tiles or whatever, then I think it's much easier.

But if you have to cut them. them. That's where you're into trouble. they're cheap, grant, give it a go.

Or try small areas,

you get on, give it a go.

Um, one

thing that's really helpful there that we haven't mentioned yet in terms of tools, if you are tiling or hanging shells or anything, is

a level,

um, obviously can just 

use the spirit level, that's totally fine, but a laser level is a really, really, really 

handy thing to have.

Yes. 

And 

they're 

Kate: cheapest chips now. Like those kind 

of things used to be, used to be so [00:33:00] expensive. Like those tools, I remember we bought one a good few

years ago, like when we were doing our last tax, and I think.

I'm gonna say it was over a hundred

pounds or something on Amazon. It was expensive I remember maybe even 200, I can't remember, but now they're

like.

30, 40 pounds is like decent ones. Like really good ones. Like you know, so if you're into some of the things

when you get it, you're like, how did I not

use

Jen: before? 

Kate: But just hanging 

Jen: pictures. What did I to do before that? Was I just there with a ruler? Like,

there's 

so much, yeah, it's so much

easier. 

Kate: Yeah, there's so much you can use it for if you're doing a lot of DIY, so it's

definitely worth investing.

Something like that.

Yeah. Um, but tiling tools and stuff.

I dunno, I, I'd go with the basic kind

of grouting stuff fine, but all the cutting tools, all that we did all that messing. messing.

before and like we bought a tile cutter. like it was a cheap one again, like, but when you're cutting with cheap cutters, like you get a shit edge and like I wouldn't do it it was

my finish forever

bathroom. I just wouldn't trust myself and it's not worth

it for someone coming in tiling it. Like I'd spend my time better somewhere else [00:34:00] and get a better

bank of my book, I think.

Jen: Yeah. 

Kate: with

you there. 

Jen: One thing that I haven't done, have you ever

done this, is replace plank, like a floor plank or even a laminate plank or

anything like that?

Have you, have you ever done that? 

Kate: Uh, well we laid a laminate floor in this house

Before we renovated. Yeah, because it was like the most disgusting patterned old carpet in the, dining space, which gave me the, like, you hate smelly old carpet, but this was the smelliest of the

smelliest old carpet, so it had to come up and so it was just like a click laminate. Um, so we kind of, we did that in the cuts and

That's kind of, okay, that's like a decent one to tackle. Um, it just depends then if you have to replace a piece in the middle, is it a floating floor? Do you have to take out the other ones? If tongue and groove on the edges, becomes very tricky. Uh, I definitely tackle like you also, that especially what's happening around the

edges

typically, you know?

Exactly. Yeah. That could be really tricky. And how fit it back in and get a clean edge around it is tricky. But, um, I definitely [00:35:00] like a missing tile. 

Jen: Yeah. 

Kate: You know, just crack, crack it out and whatever, and chip off whatever, old adhesive is there stick to a new one. I would say that would be fairly straightforward. But, um, yeah, wood floors with the edges and tongue and groups and stuff like that. I dunno if that, yeah. 

it. 

Jen: If you're looking at a crack tile, and maybe this is not, this is definitely not forever fix, but if you're looking at like a tiny crack tile and you just can't replace it or you can't find a mat or whatever, you can, you know that kintsugi thing, I always like see pictures of people who do it really nicely 

and it looks so pretty.

That's the thing where like

keep the fix. Yeah. But you keep the crack, and you fill it in with goals. You

kind of highlight it and make a

feature out of it. Just something to about. It might

not always be possible to like Exactly. Replace whatever you have. So maybe if there we work around it that

like.

Okay. It's a forever fix. I

don't want like a gold crack in my hallway for the rest of life, but you know, for a little

while, that could be 

something of pretty or covered over with the plant. That's

fine too. No judgment over here. Do whatever you want. yeah. 

Kate: I haven't had to change floorboards, but creaky floorboards, we have fixed. fixed [00:36:00] and creaky

floorboards just drive me

insane.

I 

I just hate How to do.

so it depends on the type of floor, 

Jen: WT 

40, 

Kate: scr what, 

Jen: WT

40,

Kate: yeah, yeah, totally.

Sometimes it can actually be

like when you walk over the creaky

spot, if you, if

it's plank flooring, you, can kind of see.

Where it's creaking is where there's a cut in an old board and those two edges are rubbing. So sometimes, actually, believe it or not, powder, like a

talcum powder can stop

a squeak

like that 

Jen: no 

Kate: actually touching one.

But if it's just a split damaged board that's kind of sagging and like that, you can um,

you can kind of screw them down.

if they're old kind of boards,

you usually use what's called Brad nails, which are these kind of

flat sided nails.

For all plank flooring. If

doing, um, But if you're doing, um, if you're screwing in, I'd usually drill a kind

of a hole to counter sink

the screws so it's not part of the surface, then fill that hole with wood filler afterwards. 

Yeah. Um, just 'cause you're tidier kind of look and you don't have a. a. a.

a split board and the screw private the [00:37:00] surface. 

Jen: Yeah. Lovely. That can really, yeah, that 

squeaky floor

can just be, 

oh,

annoying. Hot. My nightmares. You're really annoying. 

Yeah.

Um, one thing we didn't talk about back to kind of kitchen

cabinets and stuff drawers.

Sometimes a drawer can just be a bit shaky or a bit loose, or

it's like you pull it out and it, it doesn't stop at the end or something like that.

So

One, it,

might just not be Fixed properly, or maybe it's not even, or maybe the isn't put in properly.

It's usually to out a jewelry

just like pull it all the way out and then you kind of 

lift it up towards the end and it's flop 

out. 

Kate: Some of them type, some of them have like little

plastic spring clips. Usually if you feel underneath, you'll feel two

plastic spring clips. You have to kind of press at the same time And then it comes out if there's a lock in them. 

Jen: Yeah, don't force it like it should just click out kind of easily. Yeah, and try.

Sometimes it can be a two person job, like one

person pulling it out and the second person just looking underneath to see what looks obvious, like is there a gap that comes out?

But that again, can be maybe something as simple

Just tightening something

up Or it's just not quite even.

Or the

stopper [00:38:00] isn't like put in, right, it's gotten a bit loose or something like that. Or if it's just not working out, you can buy

replacement drawer runners. They're not expensive, just pack them and they're typically pretty

standard and

just like remove the mechanism, put on anyone and 

enjoy your new 

life. Smooth. 

Smooth runners. 

Kate: Yeah. Smooth runners. Yeah.

What are the kind of snags, are you talking about last time that you tackle yourself?

Mm-hmm. Generally? yeah, generally I and avoid if there's leaks, I'd like at least

report them to plumbers and stuff like that. But um, 

yeah. What are electrics I stay away. If you have like a drippy pee

trap under your sink, under your kitchen sink, your bathroom sink. Usually though, if

they're plastic, they can kind of be hand tightened.

So those kind of ones okay. Um,

like sometimes the, the knot on the side of your

radiators might be drippy and you could Tighten those and sometimes after renovation's happening, me here.

Some of them weren't. Or maybe when they pressure

test them, they moved again or something moved because a few of them started dripping. So they just need

[00:39:00] to be kind of ret tightened and the system kind of re pressurized. But uh, that's something probably go at. if there's anything major, I'd definitely call in the experts. 'cause you could just be diverting a leak to somewhere

else. 

Jen: Yeah. Yeah. That's do you know as well, this isn't really a snag

list, but if you are, I did this recently in my kitchen My, I I just

have

too much

in pantry and I also have these bookshelves that all my, um, pitching books are on and quite long. So they were starting to sag just a tiny, tiny, bit in the middle, I noticed it and I was just like, oh, not a big deal. It doesn't need to replace or anything. It's not gonna

break.

But I just didn't love the look of it,

so I just it over. Now it's gone back again. And I'm sure it starts stacking a little bit together bit eventually, but

still

now. Might get another

five 

years outta it. yeah, yeah. yeah. Put a little, 

Kate: you 

could put a little L 

bracket in the middle

Jen: of 

the back. I could put bracket in in the middle

and I've done

that in my bookshelves and that's 

been, where and that's been worth it.

And it's not visible and

it's super easy. I haven't done my pantry because 

I've just lazy and I didn't get

married to it. But um, yeah,

that might fix it for

now. [00:40:00] 

Kate: Yeah, they're my kind of

snags that I'm looking at in my house at the moment anyway, that I'm thinking. And I just tackled them myself so people don't have to come to my house anymore. 

Jen: Yeah. I one big thing with all of this,

we're back to tools, and

we mentioned this before, but like at the end of every single

job,

clean

everything properly and put it away

properly because you're gonna need it again.

Or like

something's gonna set and like I know you're tired and you've got silicone all over your hands and maybe paint here and there and

whatever. But I think like prep is 80% of of these jobs.

So do prep and then.

that at the end as well. 

Just clean things properly

and put them away properly and you'll tank yourself and just label everything clean.

clean, your clean 

your paint brushes. 

Kate: It doesn't take

that long. roller. wrap them in CL film.

Jen: Don't, It's not worth it. not worth it. It's not worth it. 

Just 

Kate: get it done. Just 

dry. They'll just dry on one edge or something like that, and then they'd be ruined

anyway, so 

just wash them. Exactly. It's a pain in the ass,

but just what? 

Jen: Yeah. 

Oh, well, also, I'm peeling wallpaper as [00:41:00] I look at the beautiful

non

peeling wallpaper behind you. Sometimes I have wallpaper in my

upstairs bathroom, sometimes in a

bathroom or a wetter area, or like if you have it at corner or something, it might start peeling away a little bit. And if you buy the 

paste, the wall wallpaper

mix, um.

or wall paper glue, whatever, and just put it onto the wall, not

onto the wallpaper, and then put it back and hold it there for a while.

And there 

Kate: you go. Pat's your uncle. Bob's uncle Fannie's, your aunt. And you don't have to use whole bag

of the mix either. Again, like the

grout, Just measure it out with your weighing skills and use a teen a tiny bit, and then you have someone to press for later. 

Jen: Yeah, just use a bag clip to

see up the bag.

'cause if you just don't want the water from the

atmosphere getting into it and just keep it nice and tight after you go. 

Yeah, 

I think that's it. Okay. I'm gonna put bunch of stuff in the show notes y'all. So we mentioned a whole bunch of tools and he that I'll try to put as many as I can

of

them as I can in the show notes, I put links to courses that I found that are good. 

These are just like.

I'm

there's some really good private ones 

around the places. It's just ones that are happening like in public. No, we should do? [00:42:00] We should do like 

Kate: a, we should do an episode of like these practical

tools, us actually doing them live. 

Jen: Oh, donezo. 

Okay. 

Kate: you listened to that, 

let, let, listen, let's go.

Let's go like, hang a shelf.

Watch Jen and Kate hang a shelf.

Jen: Yeah, 

let's

Kate: And this shitty old wall the new wall and what do 

we see 

Jen: differently 

and what is unexpected and what's actually doable. 

Kate: Yeah. 

Exactly. 

Jen: Yeah. If you listener, if you would like that, If you 

listen to that Or if you 

you 

Kate: res silicone your bath. 

Oh yeah, 

I do need to do 

Jen: that. It's time. 

It's 

Kate: we're all gonna go to Jen's house and she's gonna resili in 

her bath.

Jen: Great. 

Perfect. 

Kate: through gr. Great. 

Jen: I sounded so easy when I talked about it on the

podcast.

Why I done

this? 

Kate: Now, put your money where your mouth is. You're gonna silicone 

your pet. 

Jen: Oh, yeah, just re res silicone. Is it Jen? Yeah. Perfect. Nice one. million. [00:43:00] What you 

Kate: doing? 

Jen: This 

Kate: be an extended episode.

Jen: Listeners. Let's 

see. 

Kate: absolutely. I'm, I'm coming over now.

I'll be there in five minutes 

Jen: Alright, 

Kate: you 

soon. 

Bye.

and everyone else, even in two weeks. 

I'm here in two weeks. Bye. 

Jen: Bye.

Outro

Kate: If you found that episode useful, please do us a huge favour by giving us a like and a few stars and especially click that subscribe button. Thank you!