| Doing maintenance and repair for your home | | | | people want to attempt. An electrical contractor not |
| whenever possible is a good way to avoid paying the | | | | only has the experience, he has equipment that most |
| high cost of a home contractor. But there are certain | | | | of us don't want to buy for ourselves. |
| jobs that you should not tackle by yourself, unless you | | | | There are many kinds of home maintenance and |
| happen to be an expert. | | | | repair jobs that are easily doable by the average |
| In some cases your local building code may prohibit | | | | homeowner. Two examples will be enough to get you |
| anyone but a licensed contractor from doing the work. | | | | thinking about what you can do for your own home. |
| In other cases, even though it may be legal, it's not | | | | 1. Painting. I can't think of any adult who has not used a |
| worth taking a chance trying to fix something that may | | | | paint brush or roller at least once in their life. Although it |
| endanger your property, or even your life. | | | | may not be your favorite task, and in fact it is usually |
| A good example of this would be repairs on gas | | | | kind of a messy job, it's one area in which you can |
| appliances. How many people know that most gas | | | | easily save yourself the cost of a home contractor. |
| connections are threaded backwards to the usual | | | | 2. Cleaning. I'm not talking about dusting and mopping |
| direction? It's not "righty-tighty", its "righty-loosey"! Little | | | | here. What I mean is more like a thorough "spring |
| things like that make it advisable for you to bite the | | | | cleaning" of certain areas of your home that will |
| bullet and call an experienced and licensed gas | | | | deteriorate badly if left alone for too long. Your |
| repairman. | | | | cabinets and shelves, for example, could probably |
| Electrical repairs fall into two classes. Some are simple | | | | benefit. Don't just wipe them off - take them down, |
| enough that most of us have done them ourselves at | | | | and even take them apart, so the joints can have the |
| least once - like replacing a faulty plug in a lamp. There | | | | grime totally washed off. You'll be surprised at how |
| are electrical plugs that are made just for the amateur | | | | new they'll look when you're done! |
| repairman that don't even require a screwdriver to | | | | Keeping up with what you can do for your own home |
| connect. | | | | maintenance and repair will not only keep you |
| And then there are tasks like replacing the power | | | | occupied on the weekends, it will definitely be good for |
| supply on your television set that are best left to a TV | | | | both your home and for your pocketbook. See the |
| repairman, if you can find one nowadays. And | | | | box below for more interesting ideas on keeping your |
| replacing faulty wiring in your walls is not a job most | | | | home in good shape. |