Simple kitchen and bathroom fixes anyone can do. No plumber needed.
Most renter repairs fall into 4 categories. Pick yours to see only what matters.
Most toilet caulk jobs fail within a year because renters do the 360-degree full bead. Here's the 270-degree pattern that lets you catch leaks before they destroy the subfloor.
Not every crack in the ceiling is an emergency. Here's how to tell cosmetic from serious, what to do in each case, and how to get the landlord to pay for the real ones.
A puddle under the water heater doesn't always mean the tank is dead. Here's how to tell what's leaking, what you can fix yourself, and what needs the landlord.
I bought a $5 bottle of wood glue and watched 4 repairs fail before figuring out the clamp trick. Here's the 24-hour method that actually holds — and the mistakes to skip.
I bought the wrong wood filler twice. The two-part AB putty fixed my lock housing, hinge screws, and door frame in under an hour. 4 mistakes I made first.
I let my toilet run for three months because I thought it was a fill valve issue. It was not. The fix was $6 and took five minutes. Here is the part most guides skip.
Six renter-safe fixes for cat-clawed door frames — tested 90 days with a real rescue cat. Covers color-matched wood filler, double-sided tape, and a vertical scratcher redirect.
Six renter-safe ant fixes tested over 30 days in an apartment kitchen and bathroom. Three stopped the trail within 48 hours. Two made it worse. One lasted.
I cleaned the fruit, wiped the counters, set out vinegar traps — and the fruit flies kept coming. The actual source was the kitchen sink drain. Here is what finally worked, in the order that matters.
I tightened everything, taped the threads, almost called a plumber. Turned out it was a $6 rubber ring I could have replaced in 20 minutes.
I was looking at new units online before I found a red button on the bottom. Three checks that take about 5 minutes total.
Featured
Most toilet caulk jobs fail within a year because renters do the 360-degree full bead. Here's the 270-degree pattern that lets you catch leaks before they destroy the subfloor.
Not every crack in the ceiling is an emergency. Here's how to tell cosmetic from serious, what to do in each case, and how to get the landlord to pay for the real ones.
Featured
A puddle under the water heater doesn't always mean the tank is dead. Here's how to tell what's leaking, what you can fix yourself, and what needs the landlord.
I bought a $5 bottle of wood glue and watched 4 repairs fail before figuring out the clamp trick. Here's the 24-hour method that actually holds — and the mistakes to skip.
Featured
I bought the wrong wood filler twice. The two-part AB putty fixed my lock housing, hinge screws, and door frame in under an hour. 4 mistakes I made first.
I let my toilet run for three months because I thought it was a fill valve issue. It was not. The fix was $6 and took five minutes. Here is the part most guides skip.
Featured
Six renter-safe fixes for cat-clawed door frames — tested 90 days with a real rescue cat. Covers color-matched wood filler, double-sided tape, and a vertical scratcher redirect.
Featured
Featured
Six renter-safe ant fixes tested over 30 days in an apartment kitchen and bathroom. Three stopped the trail within 48 hours. Two made it worse. One lasted.
I cleaned the fruit, wiped the counters, set out vinegar traps — and the fruit flies kept coming. The actual source was the kitchen sink drain. Here is what finally worked, in the order that matters.
I tightened everything, taped the threads, almost called a plumber. Turned out it was a $6 rubber ring I could have replaced in 20 minutes.
I was looking at new units online before I found a red button on the bottom. Three checks that take about 5 minutes total.