Repair — things break on a schedule. Fix them on yours.

A handpicked, carefully written library of repair guides — from the dripping faucet you've been ignoring since Tuesday, to the weekend-long drywall project that finally gets the wall back looking like a wall. Repair is one of seven task lanes on HowTo: Home Edition. It covers the projects where something that used to work has stopped working, and your job is to get it working again. If you're putting something new in, that's Install. If you're building something from raw materials, that's Build. Repair is the lane for the leak under the sink, the toilet that won't stop running, the drywall hole the door handle made, and the 308 other situations where your house needs attention and you're the one who can give it.

How to use this lane

The 312 repair guides on the site are organized two ways. By room — browse the ten hubs below — or via the search bar at the top of every page if you know exactly what you're fixing. Every guide is a leaf article that tells you the time estimate, the cost estimate, the tools you'll need, the difficulty level, and the steps written by someone who has actually done this repair. We never invent a step. We never call a two-hour repair a thirty-minute repair. We never tell you to skip the shutoff test. The point of this lane is to be the neighbor who has already fixed this exact thing and is walking you through it on the phone, not the chatbot that tells you good luck and hang up.

The repair lane is organized around ten rooms, but many repairs cross room lines. A running toilet is a bathroom repair, but the skills for it — replacing a flapper, adjusting a fill valve, replacing a flush valve — translate directly to diagnosing a slow-fill tank in a half bath or a basement laundry sink. A drywall patch is a drywall patch whether the hole is in the bedroom, the living room, or the hallway. Browse by room when you know the room. Browse by search when you know the project. Use the filters below when you know your time budget and skill level and just want to see what you can get done today.

Repair by room — the 10 hubs

Kitchen — 58 repair guides

The kitchen is the highest-failure-density room in the house. Garbage disposals get jammed by the things that were never supposed to go down them: artichoke leaves, grease, pasta. Faucets drip because their cartridges wear out after five to ten years of daily use — two turns on, two turns off, a thousand times a year. Under-sink drain connections loosen over time as the flex hose expands and contracts with hot and cold water. The most searched repair on this site, by a significant margin, is how to fix a leaky kitchen faucet — and for good reason. A cartridge replacement costs $8 to $25 depending on the manufacturer, takes thirty to ninety minutes including the shutoff and dry-test, and stops a drip that wastes 3,000 gallons of water per year. The second most searched kitchen repair is how to unclog a garbage disposal — a project that costs nothing and takes fifteen minutes once you understand how the reset button and the Allen wrench port at the bottom of the motor work. Browse all kitchen repairs →

Bathroom — 49 repair guides

Running toilets are the single most costly deferred repair in American homes. A flapper that doesn't seat fully can waste 200 gallons per day — that's $10 to $30 extra on a monthly water bill, indefinitely, for a $4 part and ten minutes of work. The bathroom is also where caulk failures happen first, because the tub-to-wall seam goes through the most thermal and humidity cycling of any joint in the house. Caulk that has separated from the substrate will not stop leaking when you paint over it — it needs to come out, the surface needs to dry for 24 hours, and new caulk needs to go in on a clean, dry, oil-free surface. Bathroom exhaust fans that have stopped moving air are another common repair: usually it's either a seized motor that needs replacement or a duct that has detached somewhere in the wall or ceiling cavity. Browse all bathroom repairs →

Bedroom — 22 repair guides

Bedroom repairs tend to be smaller in scope but higher in daily irritation — the kind of thing you notice every time you walk through the room but keep meaning to get to. Squeaky floors happen when subfloor screws have backed out or the floor joist has dried and pulled away from the subfloor; the fix is usually a ring-shank nail or a long screw driven at a 45-degree angle through the subfloor into the joist. Sticking doors happen when seasonal humidity swells the door in its frame — the fix is planing the high edge once you've identified it with a painted hinge-side pass, or repositioning a strike plate that has drifted. Broken closet hardware — rod brackets, shelf pins, drawer slides — is almost always a same-day fix with a trip to the hardware store. Browse all bedroom repairs →

Living Room — 28 repair guides

The living room's repair list is dominated by three things: hardwood floor scratches and gouges that accumulated over years of daily use, GFCI outlets that tripped and were never reset (a thirty-second fix that gets searched thousands of times a month), and ceiling fans that wobble because their blade brackets have loosened or their blades have warped from humidity. A wobbly ceiling fan is both an irritant and a legitimate safety issue — the balancing kit that comes in the fan box (or costs $6 at the hardware store) addresses blade-weight imbalance; loose screws at the mounting bracket address actual structural wobble. Cracked plaster walls in older homes are also a common living room repair, and while plaster work is more involved than drywall patching, the same joint compound skills apply. Browse all living room repairs →

Garage — 31 repair guides

Garage door opener issues are the most commonly searched garage repair — specifically, remotes that have lost pairing, sensors that are out of alignment, and openers that run but don't move the door. Sensor misalignment is almost always visible: the little LED on the sending unit blinks instead of glowing steady, and the fix is loosening the mounting wing nut and rotating the sensor head until both LEDs glow solid. Broken garage door springs are a different matter — torsion springs over the door are under significant tension and should only be replaced by a professional or by someone who has researched the specific hazards involved. The garage floor is also where concrete cracks are most likely to appear after freeze-thaw cycles, and hairline cracks are an appropriate DIY repair with hydraulic cement or epoxy injection. Browse all garage repairs →

Basement — 24 repair guides

Basement repairs are dominated by moisture, because the basement is where hydrostatic pressure, condensation, and groundwater all converge. A sump pump that runs more than once every few minutes during rain suggests either undersized capacity, a failed check valve that lets pumped water back in, or a crock that needs a larger-diameter outlet pipe. Efflorescence — the white mineral deposit on concrete block walls — is a cosmetic indicator of water migration through the wall. Paint-on waterproofing does not fix active water intrusion through the wall; it needs to be stopped at the source (grading, downspout extension, French drain) or addressed from the exterior. Dehumidifier coils that have iced over need to be defrosted and the unit checked for airflow restriction and refrigerant charge. Browse all basement repairs →

Attic — 11 repair guides

The attic loses more conditioned air than any other part of the house per square foot, because penetrations — light fixture boxes, plumbing stacks, HVAC boots — are rarely sealed when the house is built. An attic air sealing project — using canned spray foam or fire-rated intumescent caulk around every penetration before adding insulation — can reduce heating and cooling costs by 15 to 30 percent according to Energy Star data. Rodent entry points are the other dominant attic repair: mice and squirrels enter through gaps at the roofline, particularly where soffit meets fascia and where plumbing or utility lines enter. The fix is hardware cloth (not foam, which rodents chew through) stapled over every gap larger than a quarter-inch. Browse all attic repairs →

Exterior — 38 repair guides

Exterior caulk around windows and doors is the most maintenance-neglected part of most houses. When it separates from the substrate — which it will, on a 5-to-10-year cycle regardless of quality — it needs to come out and be replaced, not painted over. Painted-over failed caulk is visible to every home inspector and every buyer. Loose vinyl siding panels are almost always a nail-pop repair: a zip tool un-locks the panel, the popped nail gets driven flush or replaced with a longer one, and the panel re-locks. Gutters that have separated from the fascia need new gutter spikes or, better, gutter screws — the same hole, same position, but a 3.5-inch screw instead of a spike. Downspouts that drain within 6 feet of the foundation are one of the leading causes of basement water intrusion; a $15 downspout extension is one of the highest-ROI repairs on the site. Browse all exterior repairs →

Deck & Patio — 24 repair guides

Splintered deck boards and popped screws are the most common deck repairs, and both are beginner-level fixes if you address them before the board has fully rotted at the attachment point. A popped deck screw means the board has dried and shrunk since installation; drive a new screw 2 inches from the original hole, into the joist, and the board will pull back down flat. Loose deck railings are a code and safety issue — any railing that moves more than 1 inch at the top under a 200-pound lateral load does not meet code and should be refastened with structural screws into a proper post base. Concrete patio cracks that are hairline and stable get a polyurethane caulk fill; cracks that are growing or have vertical displacement (one side higher than the other) indicate a settling issue that needs a slab jack or professional evaluation before patching. Browse all deck & patio repairs →

Lawn & Garden — 27 repair guides

Irrigation system repairs are the most time-sensitive repairs on the lawn and garden list: a broken sprinkler head runs continuously until shut off, and even a single pop-up head flowing at 2 gallons per minute wastes 2,880 gallons per 24-hour cycle. Pop-up head replacement costs $3 to $8 per head and takes ten minutes with a zip-and-twist tool; the head unscrews, the new one screws in, and the system reseals on pressure. Fence rail repairs — split rails, rotted posts, rails that have pulled away from the post — are the second most common exterior repair in this section. A split rail can often be sistered with a new pressure-treated 2x4 lag-screwed alongside it; a rotted post needs to be pulled and replaced with a new one set in concrete or a post-base anchor. Gate hinges and latches that have shifted are almost always adjustable with a wrench and a set of shims. Browse all lawn & garden repairs →

The five most-searched repair guides on the site

If you're not sure where to start, these are the projects readers come here for most often. All five are beginner-to-intermediate level — well within reach of a first-timer with the right tools and a free afternoon.

• How to fix a leaky kitchen faucet. 30–60 minutes, $5–25 in parts, beginner. Most faucet leaks are a worn cartridge or O-ring. Shut the supply valve, pull the handle, swap the cartridge or O-ring, reassemble. The brand matters more than the repair — look up the model number before buying parts so you get the exact replacement cartridge.
• How to unclog a garbage disposal. 15 minutes, $0 (usually), beginner. Jammed disposals almost always respond to two things: the reset button on the bottom of the motor housing, and the Allen wrench port at the center of the bottom that lets you manually turn the grinding plate. Never reach into the disposal. Use the wrench port and the reset button before calling a plumber.
• How to patch a drywall hole. 90 minutes active, plus 24-hour cure between coats, $15 in materials, beginner. For holes up to 6 inches: California patch or mesh patch with joint compound. Three coats minimum, 24 hours dry time between each. Sand between coats with 120-grit. Prime before painting — unprimed joint compound will flash under paint and show through the finish.
• How to fix a running toilet. 30 minutes, $10–35 in parts, beginner. Listen to diagnose: water running into the bowl after the flush cycle is a flapper problem ($4 fix); water running into the overflow tube is a fill valve adjustment or replacement ($12 fix); water coming from the tank base is a wax ring issue and needs a closer look. Start with the flapper — it's the fix 70% of the time.
• How to balance a wobbly ceiling fan. 20 minutes, $5 or free if the balance kit came with the fan, beginner. Wobble usually means one blade is heavier or sits at a slightly different angle than the others. The balancing kit — a small clip and adhesive weight — clips to blade edges one at a time until the wobble disappears. If the wobble is in the canopy where it meets the ceiling box, check that all the mounting screws are fully tight.

What "repair" means here — and what it doesn't

Repair on HowTo: Home Edition specifically means: restoring a component of your home that has stopped functioning to a working state, using materials and techniques within reach of a homeowner with standard tools. That includes plumbing fixture repairs (faucets, toilets, drain connections, supply lines), drywall and plaster repairs, door and window adjustments, electrical fixture swaps and GFCI resets, floor repairs (squeaks, scratches, minor gaps), exterior caulking and weatherproofing, and deck and fence fixes at the board and hardware level.

It does NOT include: replacing the plumbing system, rewiring circuits or the electrical panel, foundation work, structural repairs involving load-bearing elements, roof repairs beyond emergency tarping, or HVAC work involving refrigerant. Those are Trades calls — they require licensed professionals, often permits, and tools and training that go well beyond the DIY range. When we say "repair," we mean the category of work where the expected outcome is a fixed thing, not a rebuilt system.

It also does not include cosmetic updates to a working system — that's Decorate. Swapping cabinet hardware is a decorate project. Fixing a cabinet door that has fallen off its hinge is a repair project. The line is function: if the thing still works but you want it to look different, decorate. If it doesn't work, repair.

When to call a pro instead

There is no shame in calling a licensed trade for a repair that is outside your skill level or tools. The shame is in either deferring it indefinitely or doing a repair that makes the underlying problem worse. Here's the short honest list of when to call:

• Gas smell of any kind. Leave the house, leave the door open, don't flip any switches, call your gas utility from outside. This is not a repair. This is an emergency call.
• A breaker that keeps tripping. A breaker that trips once, that you reset, and that holds — that's usually fine. A breaker that trips again under normal load is either overloaded (a wiring problem) or failing (an electrical panel problem). Both need a licensed electrician.
• Water in the foundation or at the base of concrete block walls. Active water intrusion from outside the foundation is a drainage and waterproofing problem, not a patching problem. Patching the interior face without stopping the source is temporary at best and damaging at worst.
• A crack that has gotten wider since you first noticed it. Static cracks in drywall and plaster are cosmetic. Cracks that grow mean movement is still happening. Find the source of the movement before you patch the symptom.
• Anything that requires a permit you haven't pulled. Most repairs don't need permits. Some do — adding a circuit, replacing a water heater in many jurisdictions, anything structural. Unpermitted work can fail inspection at resale, void your homeowner's insurance, and in some cases result in removal orders. Check before you start.
• Your gut says stop. Seriously. Trust the hesitation. Stop, take photos, and call. The repair will be cheaper fixed right the first time than fixed right the second time after you've made the first attempt.

The repair toolkit that pays back

You don't need a workshop to repair your home. You do need twelve tools that show up across nearly every repair guide on this site. Buy them once, maintain them, and they'll follow you through every house you'll ever own.

• Non-contact voltage tester ($15–$25). Before touching any wire, outlet, or fixture, you confirm power is off. This is non-negotiable on every electrical repair and many plumbing repairs near electrical components. A $15 tester has saved more DIYers from injury than any other tool on this list.
• Cordless drill with a driver bit set ($80–$150 for a kit). Screws drive faster, drywall screws need torque control, and you'll use this on every repair of consequence. Get a kit that includes both a drill bit and an impact driver if you can — impact driver for fasteners, drill for holes.
• Adjustable wrenches, two sizes ($18 and $12). The under-sink supply line nut, the toilet supply connection, the packing nut on a compression faucet — all of these need a wrench. Two sizes because you'll need to hold one fitting while tightening another.
• Needle-nose pliers ($14). Every plumbing repair involves a retaining clip, a cartridge clip, or a nut in a space too small for a wrench. Needle-nose pliers are the tool that gets into those spaces.
• Utility knife with spare blades ($12). Old caulk removal, scoring drywall, cutting mesh tape, trimming shims. The blade goes dull fast; keep three spare blades in the handle.
• Putty knife, flexible and stiff ($8 each). Flexible for applying joint compound, stiff for scraping old caulk and paint drips. Both are inexpensive and both are irreplaceable for their specific use.
• Plumber's snake / hand auger ($25–$45). For clogs that have defeated the plunger and the P-trap cleaning. A 25-foot hand auger handles almost every household drain clog except main-line blockages, which need a power snake and usually a plumber.
• 4-in-1 screwdriver ($10). Flat and Phillips in two sizes, in one handle. For the repair where you're on your back under a sink and need both types in sequence without getting up.
• Caulk gun plus a cartridge of silicone caulk ($8 plus $6). Siliconized latex for interior use around tubs and sinks; pure silicone for anything that stays wet constantly. The gun matters less than the technique: cut the tip at a 45-degree angle, keep the bead moving at a consistent speed, and smooth in one pass with a wet finger.
• Drywall repair kit ($15). Pre-mixed joint compound, mesh tape, and a 6-inch taping knife. The pre-mixed compound in the small tubs is fine for patches; you don't need a full 5-gallon bucket for a repair.
• Bucket and shop towels. Under-sink plumbing repairs require catching the water that comes out of the P-trap. A small bucket and a pile of old towels saves the cabinet floor every time.
• Headlamp ($20). Both hands free under a sink, in a crawl space, in an attic, or above a ceiling fan. A phone flashlight pointed at the wrong angle and held in your teeth is how repairs take twice as long.

Working safely on repairs

Three safety protocols that apply across almost every category of repair on this site:

• Power off, and confirmed off. If the repair is anywhere near electrical wiring or a fixture — even if it's "just" a ceiling fan replacement or an outlet that stopped working — turn the breaker off at the panel, then test with a non-contact voltage tester at the device itself. The breaker label in the panel box was written by whoever installed the panel, and breaker box labeling is famously inaccurate. Test at the fixture, not just at the panel.
• Water off, and confirmed off. Turn the shutoff valve, then open the faucet or flush the toilet to drain the remaining pressure. When you disconnect the supply line, have a small bucket ready for the residual water in the line — about a cup on a toilet supply, up to a quart on a sink supply with a hot-water tank above it that's still pressurized.
• Dust mask and eye protection on for drywall and grinding work. Drywall dust is a fine silica particulate that accumulates in the lungs over repeated exposure. An N95 mask costs $1 per mask in a box of 20. Eye protection keeps joint compound and plaster chips out of places where they cannot be rinsed out easily. Neither piece of PPE is optional on drywall patches, plaster repairs, or any grinding work on concrete or metal.

Common mistakes that kill repairs

We've watched these patterns repeat across every category of repair — plumbing, drywall, electrical, exterior. The five recurring failures:

• Fixing the symptom, not the source. The drip under the sink is the symptom. The failing O-ring on the supply line is the source. The crack in the drywall is the symptom. The settling or movement behind it is the source. Follow the problem upstream before applying the fix.
• Buying the wrong part because you matched by sight, not by model number. Faucet cartridges look interchangeable until they're not. Toilet flappers come in three standard sizes plus manufacturer-specific sizes. Bring the old part in a zip-loc bag, or photograph the model number plate on the fixture before leaving the house.
• Rushing the cure time on joint compound. Joint compound is dry when it is uniformly bright white with no dark wet spots anywhere in the patch. In a bathroom or basement that takes longer than the package says. Sand before it's dry and you'll tear the compound. Apply the next coat before it's dry and the whole thing shrinks unevenly.
• Over-tightening compression fittings. Plumbing connections — supply line nuts, drain slip joints, compression fittings on shut-off valves — tighten to hand-tight plus a quarter turn. Not hand-tight plus everything you have. Over-tightened compression fittings crack ferrules, split plastic threads, and create new leaks at the repair site.
• Calling the repair done without testing under load. Turn the water back on, fill the tank, flush twice, and stay on the floor with a dry paper towel underneath for five minutes. A drip that doesn't appear at zero-pressure can appear at 60 PSI. Test at working pressure, with the full system re-pressurized, before putting tools away.

Difficulty tiers — what each level really means in repair

Every repair guide on the site is rated Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced. The labels are calibrated against a homeowner with no professional trade background and a few hours to work.

Beginner — within reach on your first attempt

Examples: toilet flapper replacement, GFCI outlet reset, garbage disposal reset and unjam, re-caulking a tub, patching a small drywall hole, tightening loose door hinges, unclogging a P-trap, balancing a ceiling fan, replacing a door sweep. Risk of property damage is near-zero. Failure mode is usually "it still doesn't work" — recoverable with another attempt or a closer read of the guide. Total tool requirement is mostly hand tools. Most beginner repairs cost $0 to $30 in parts.

Intermediate — doable with a free Saturday and patience

Examples: faucet cartridge replacement, toilet fill valve replacement, patching drywall holes up to 12 inches, replacing a light fixture (wiring a like-for-like swap), reseating a toilet (wax ring replacement), re-hanging a door that has dropped on its hinges, repairing a section of deck boards, replacing a garbage disposal. Real failure modes — water connections that leak, wiring connections that arc, compound that needs a third coat. Cost of getting it wrong: a service call to fix what you broke. Tools include power drill, sometimes specialty tools like a socket wrench or a seat wrench.

Advanced — I've done something similar before

Examples: replacing a shower valve cartridge or mixing valve, repairing plaster walls (not drywall), tuckpointing brick mortar joints, replacing a section of vinyl or hardwood floor, repairing a garage door torsion spring (high hazard — read specifically about spring safety before attempting), exterior wood rot repair with epoxy consolidant and filler. Multiple skills compound. Often requires a permit. If you're genuinely asking whether you're in the Advanced tier for a repair, you may want to call a pro and watch before attempting it yourself.

Reading a repair guide on this site

Every repair guide on HowTo: Home Edition follows the same structure — a quick answer at the top that tells you exactly what's wrong and what you're about to do, then a spec strip showing the time estimate, cost estimate, tools required, and difficulty rating, then 6 to 12 numbered steps covering diagnosis, the repair itself, and the test. Below the steps you'll find a section on what to do if the repair doesn't work — the second-order failures, the "I did everything right and it's still dripping" situations. Skim everything once before you start. Pull the part number on any fixture you're repairing before you buy anything. Test under full pressure before calling it done.

The search bar at the top of every page accepts natural-language queries — type "how do I fix a running toilet" or just "running toilet" and the search routes you to the right guide. If a guide doesn't exist for what you're searching, our content engine Iris will write a fresh guide on the fly, in your language, in about 12 seconds. The first person to search an obscure repair topic gets the holding page that says Iris is writing it right now — that's the moment a new guide gets created on this site. It happens dozens of times a day across all seven of our languages.

Explore more repair guides across all rooms: Kitchen repairs, Bathroom repairs, Bedroom repairs, Living Room repairs, Garage repairs, Basement repairs, Attic repairs, Exterior repairs, Deck & Patio repairs, Lawn & Garden repairs.

One last thing — the repair that pays the most

If you do one repair this season, make it the one you've been putting off the longest. There's no magic to that recommendation — it's arithmetic. Deferred repairs compound. The drip under the sink that you've been ignoring for two months has already run its cabinet floor damp. The caulk failure around the tub surround that you've been meaning to address has probably been wicking moisture into the wall behind the backer board. Repairs get more expensive the longer you wait, almost without exception, because water and humidity do their work on a schedule that doesn't care about yours.

The honest truth about repairing your own home: it is almost always within reach, it almost always costs less than you think, and it almost always teaches you something about the next repair before it happens. Fix the faucet this weekend. Patch the wall next weekend. By the third project, you'll have developed the diagnosis instinct — the ability to look at a symptom and guess the cause before you've opened anything up. That instinct is the repair skill that lasts your whole life as a homeowner. Welcome to the lane.