Beginner's guide to simple DIY jobs at home: the ten tasks most people pay someone else for that are actually straightforward - real talk

[Luke_67]

Most small household jobs look more complicated than they are. The barrier is usually confidence rather than skill, and confidence comes from doing the task once and discovering it took twenty minutes and a ten pound tool rather than a tradesperson and three hundred pounds.

Filling and painting small holes and cracks. Polyfilla or equivalent, a filling knife, and sandpaper. Apply the filler slightly proud of the surface, let it dry, sand flush, paint. The result is invisible. Cost is about five pounds.

Replacing a tap washer to fix a dripping tap. Turn off the water at the isolation valve under the sink, unscrew the tap head, replace the washer or ceramic disc, reassemble. The part costs under two pounds and the job takes thirty minutes the first time.

Bleeding a radiator. If your radiator is cold at the top and warm at the bottom it has trapped air. Use a radiator key to open the bleed valve at the top corner until water appears instead of air, then close it. Five minutes, one pound for the key.

Hanging pictures and shelves correctly. Use a stud finder for shelves going on plasterboard walls, or hollow wall anchors if there is no stud in the right place. A spirit level is two pounds and makes the difference between crooked and straight.

Replacing a light switch or socket faceplate. The faceplate is the plastic plate on the wall. Unscrewing it and replacing it with a better quality or different colour version is cosmetic but transformative and involves no electrical work beyond the faceplate itself. Note: do not touch any wiring.

Silicone sealing around a bath or shower. Remove old silicone with a scraper, clean with isopropyl alcohol, apply new silicone with a gun, smooth with a wet finger or tool. Fresh silicone completely renews the look of a bathroom

[Hollow]

The bleeding radiator one is embarrassingly simple and I had been paying a plumber forty pounds a year to do it for three years before someone showed me

[RayOfLight]

The tap washer replacement is the gateway DIY job. Once you have done it the first time you realise plumbing is mostly just logic rather than mystery

[NightOwl]

What is the most common mistake people make with silicone sealing

[Faded Owen]

Not removing the old silicone thoroughly enough. Any old silicone under the new application will cause it to peel. The scraper and isopropyl alcohol step is not optional

[Sequence]

Changing a showerhead is another one worth adding. Unscrew the old one, wrap the thread with PTFE tape, screw on the new one. Twenty minutes and transforms a tired shower

[Ben]

Draught proofing is perhaps the highest ROI DIY job in terms of energy saving. Self-adhesive foam strips around doors and windows cost a few pounds and the heat saving is real

[Red Builder]

For hanging shelves the drill bit size needs to match the wall plug size which needs to match the screw size. This chain is where most beginners go wrong. The packaging usually tells you but worth double checking

[Coder22]

Clearing a blocked drain with a plunger before calling anyone is worth five minutes of effort. The success rate is higher than people expect

[Ridge]

Replacing a broken toilet seat is faster than people assume. Two bolts at the back, old seat off, new seat on. Done in ten minutes with no tools beyond fingers for most modern seats

[BlueFalcon]

The light switch faceplate replacement note about not touching wiring is important. Faceplate only is fine. Anything involving the wires themselves requires either competence or a professional

[Louise84]

Couldn't agree more. Every time without fail.

It is worth asking what someone would do differently rather than what they would recommend, that is usually more useful.

Good stuff.