Tighten loose hardware before the first visit
Snug the hinges, handles, and cabinet pulls that rattle when someone opens a door.
Open every door and drawer once, including the garage, the hall closet, and the cabinet under the sink. A loose hinge or a wobbly pull shows up the moment someone tries the house. It is also one of the cheaper fixes on a prep list. A screwdriver you already own, plus a small bag of wood screws, is often the whole shopping trip. At a hardware store that bag is commonly a few dollars, and a mixed pack of hinge screws is often under $15.
Work one room at a time so you do not lose track. Open the door, lift the handle, and see if the screw turns. If it snugs up and the pull stops rattling, you are done with that piece. If the screw spins in the hole and never tightens, the hole is stripped. Move the screw a little, or use a slightly longer screw of the same thickness so the threads bite fresh wood. Do not keep cranking a spinning screw. It will not hold, and the hole gets worse.
A kitchen is a clear example. Cabinet doors next to the stove get opened all day, and the top hinge is often the loose one. Tighten that hinge, then the pull, then move to the next door. On a bedroom door, check the strike plate if the door does not latch. Two screws there, snug but not cranked until the wood splits, usually fix a door that bounces open. If the plate is bent, a replacement plate is a few dollars and the screws that come with it are the right length.
Skip a new set of pulls unless a piece is broken or missing. Matching hardware for a whole kitchen can run from about $40 for simple pulls to well over $100 if you replace every door and drawer. That money does not make a loose hinge latch. Function comes first. After you finish, walk the same path with the lights on and open each door once more. Anything that still moves goes back on the list.
What to do
- Open every door and drawer, including the garage.
- Tighten screws that move, and replace a spinning screw with a slightly longer one.
- Replace only pieces that are broken.
- Open each door once more before you call the job done.