Home Repairs
Successfully completing this badge's requirements can lead to a
lifetime of personal and financial rewards: Doing basic home repairs
provides a sense of personal pride in one's achievements and increased
self-confidence. In addition, safe and successful do-it-yourselfers can
easily save a family thousands of dollars in repair bills over the
years.
Requirements
- Discuss general precautions related to home repairs. Name at least 10 safe practices that every home repairer should exercise.
- Under the supervision of your merit badge counselor, do FOUR of the following:
- Maintain or recondition a garden tool and show that you know how to clean up and properly store it and other tools.
- Install insulation in an attic, wall, or crawl space.
- Caulk cracks or joints open to the weather.
- Waterproof a basement.
- Repair a break in a concrete or asphalt surface.
- Repair the screen in a window or door.
- Replace a pane of glass.
- Solder a broken wire or metal object.
- Under the supervision of your merit badge counselor, do THREE of the following:
- Install or build equipment for storing tools.
- Build a workbench.
- Repair a piece of furniture.
- Paint or varnish a piece of furniture, a door, or trim on a house.
- Repair a sagging door or gate.
- Repair a loose step.
- Repair a fence.
- Under the supervision of your merit badge counselor, do TWO of the following:
- Locate a main electrical switch box and know how to replace a fuse or reset a circuit breaker.
- Replace an electrical cord or repair a plug or lamp socket.
- Install a single-pole light switch.
- Replace an electrical wall outlet.
- Under the supervision of your merit badge counselor, do TWO of the following:
- Clear a clogged drain or trap.
- Repair a leaky water faucet.
- Repair a flush toilet.
- Repair a leaky hose or connector.
- Clean or replace a sprinkler head.
- Under the supervision of your merit badge counselor, do THREE of the following:
- Paint a wall or ceiling.
- Repair or replace damaged tile or linoleum.
- Install drapery or curtain rods and then hang drapes or curtains.
- Replace window blind cords.
- Repair or replace a window sash cord.
- Reinforce a picture frame.
- Mend an object made of china, glass, or pottery.
Resources
Scouting Materials
Electricity, Electronics, Fire Safety, Painting, Plumbing, and Woodwork merit badge pamphlets.
Books
- Better Homes and Gardens editors. Better Homes and Gardens Do-It-Yourself Home Repairs. Better Homes and Gardens Books, 1992.
- Black and Decker Home Improvement Library. The Complete Guide to Home Masonry. Creative Publishing International, 2000.
- ------. Refinishing and Finishing Wood. Creative Publishing International, 1994.
- Erickson, Larry, editor. Ortho's Home Improvement Encyclopedia. Meredith Books, 2000.
- Frank Cawood & Associates, eds. Fix It, Clean It and Make It Last: The Ultimate Guide to Making Your Household Items Last Forever. Frank Cawood & Associates Publishing, 2000.
- Gladstone, Bernard. The Simon & Schuster Complete Guide to Home Repair and Maintenance. Simon & Schuster, 1991.
- Hamilton, Gene, and Katie Hamilton. Rodale's Fix It Fast, Fix It Right. Mjf Books, 1997.
- Manfredini, Lou, with Curtis Rist. Mr. Fix-It Introduces You to Your Home. Ballantine Books, 2002.
- McClintock, Mike. Home Book: The Ultimate Guide to Repairs and Improvements. Creative Homeowner Press, 2000.
- Popular Mechanics editors. Home How-To: Easy-to-Follow Step-by-Step Instructions With More Than 3,000 Color Illustrations and Photographs. William Morrow & Co., 2000.
- Reader's Digest editors. New Fix-It-Yourself Manual. Reader's Digest Association Inc., 1996.
- Sunset Home Repair Handbook. Sunset Publishing Co., 1999.
- Taunton Press editors. The Best of Fine Homebuilding Series includes books on doors, windows and skylights, builders' tools, and energy efficiency, to name a few.
- Time-Life Books. Time-Life Books Complete Fix-It-Yourself Manual. Prentice-Hall, 1989.
- ------. How Things Work in Your Home (and What to Do When They Don't). Henry Holt, 1987.
- Wing, Charles. The Book of Small Household Repairs. Reader's Digest, 1999.