It’s A Home Run… Right Through Your Window!

Among the most common repair jobs to be done around the homestead will be replacing broken window panes. Broken windows can diminish both the looks and value of your home, so it’s best to repair these things as soon as possible after the damage has been done.

Cutting and Setting Glass
Eventually someone or something is going to send a rock or baseball or falling limb through your window. If you know a few tricks of reglazing you’ll be able to easily replace shattered panes. In fact, using these same basic techniques you might even decide to refit your old single-pane windows with insulted, double-paned or reflective glass to make your home more energy efficient.

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Basic Homestead Repair & Maintenance

Homestead upkeep and the ability to build-it-yourself for all sorts of projects; energy conservation and independence; food production, preservation and storage; wise husbandry for livestock; ways to turn your homesteading abilities into cash income for your family… There are so many subjects to cover for anyone who wants to connect more firmly with the earth, to spend their life in time more thoroughly engaged, and to take more responsibility for their own environment and sustenance.

But we must begin at the beginning so that all else will follow along its natural path. Now that we’ve got our Homestead Tool Kit [Part I and Part II] collected and put together, it’s time to start on some of the most common repair and maintenance jobs a homeowner will face. The more you can do for yourself, the less you’ll have to pay others to do it for you!

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The Homestead Tool Kit - Part II

25 necessary items for basic repair and maintenance - Part II

In the last post we established the wisdom of keeping a well-stocked general tool kit which is adequate for most any routine homestead repair and maintenance jobs, to be kept in a convenient location. I listed the hammers, screwdrivers, pliers, chisels and leveling square, about half of the necessary tools, numbered 1-12.

This post lists the rest of the tools that should be in your toolbox or bucket as well as those larger tools that will be kept in the shed or garage for bigger projects.

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The Homestead Tool Kit - Part I

25 necessary Items for basic repair and maintenance - Part I

Are you forever missing ‘The’ necessary tool for what should have been a simple repair job on the cabinet doors that won’t shut, or the screen door that won’t close properly, or the bathroom fixtures that leak? Or are your tools scattered in so many different places across the homestead that you just can’t find the right one when you need it?

We used to have both those problems on a constant basis around my place, until a thoughtful friend gifted us one Christmas with the most useful tool accessory I’d ever seen, which has since become so indispensable that I got another one just for the outdoor and gardening tasks. It’s your basic 5-gallon white plastic bucket such as for wallboard mud, roofing tar or paint, plus a leather “tool-belt” with pockets and loops that fits onto the bucket like a collar. Both of these items can be purchased at hardware and home supplies stores, or you could create your own from old, emptied buckets and well worn tool-belts.

We have all 25 of the items on the “must have” list, plus several others we’ve found ourselves often needing for various and sundry repair and maintenance tasks. Not all of them fit in or on the bucket, so we keep the rest hanging just inside the door of the shed. If you need to dig holes or split wood, you know to get the bigger tools before you start, just as you know to get the lawn mower when you’re planning to mow the lawn.

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