7 quick and easy home improvement tips

A great home improvement tip should quickly solve a common problem, while making use of everyday stuff. Discover seven handy tricks to simply your life around the house.

Hanging a tennis ball from the garage ceiling can help you mark exactly where to park, so you never hit the wall or your storage shelves coming in. There are high-tech electronic versions, but the low-budget setup of a tennis ball on a string is still much simpler.

Afraid of your dog's fur clogging the drain when you're giving them a wash?  Keep fur out of the drain with a  mesh-type scrubbing pad.

In a shower, clip the pad to the drain plate with a bobby pin. In a bathtub, wedge two pads under the stopper from two sides. The pads catch fur but let water flow through.

If you lose a small screw, or any small metal item, turn off the lights and shine a flashlight on the floor. The light will reflect off the screw, saving you endless time squinting.

That can you have that's filled with a mishmash of screws, nails, fasteners, wire connectors—all the stuff you need for around-the-house projects—can be replaced with a four-litre (one gallon) resealable bag. You'll easy be able to  see everything through the side of the bag, without the need to dump out the whole can on the countertop.

Heat from a hair dryer softens adhesive, making bumper stickers, price tags and other labels easy to pull off, without leaving a sticky residue behind. Start at one corner and pull slowly, allowing the heat to loosen the sticker.

Ninety-five per cent of the time, you can fit a caulk nozzle into hard-to-reach spots. For that other five per cent,  pull the wires out of a short piece of cable, then slip the plastic sheathing over the end of the caulk tube nozzle for a flexible extension.

Dealing with stripped-out latch and hinge holes on doors? Often the only problem with a sagging door or a door that won't latch is a loose hinge or strike plate. And that loose part is usually the result of a stripped screw hole.

The solution is to apply a dab of epoxy to a golf tee, then tap the tee into the screw hole. After an hour, chisel off the excess and you've got solid wood that will hold new screws. For tiny holes, use a few toothpicks instead of a tee.

Refer to these handy tips when you're working around the house.