Home Repairs Merit Badge
Requirement 1 is the only part everybody does. After that this badge is five menus and a fork: fourteen jobs chosen out of thirty-two, which is 4,704,000 different ways to earn it. About a dozen of the options need your home to supply the fault first, several pay for each other if picked together, three are closed in winter, and requirement 5 hides a compulsory task, shutting off the main water, in what looks like a menu heading.
The plan behind this
Walk the house before you choose anything
This is the whole method for this badge, and it takes about twenty minutes.
Thirty-two options are offered. Roughly a dozen of them need your home to supply something before you can do the work: a fault to fix, a fixture to fix it on, or a material the building is actually made of. The rest you can set up yourself whenever you like.
| needs your home to supply it | you can do it anywhere |
|---|---|
| 2(a) a yard tool worth reconditioning | 2(b) weatherstripping a window or door |
| 2(d) cracked concrete or asphalt | 2(c) caulking, outdoors or in |
| 2(e) a window or door screen | 3(a) building or fitting tool storage |
| 2(f) a broken pane of glass | 3(b) building a workbench |
| 3(e) a door or gate that sags | 3(c) repairing a piece of furniture |
| 3(f) a loose step or railing | 3(d) painting or varnishing |
| 3(g) a fence needing repair | 4(a) finding the main switch box |
| 5(d) a hose or connector | 4(b) a lamp cord, plug or socket |
| 5(e) a sprinkler head | 5(a) a clogged drain or trap |
| 6(b) damaged tile, linoleum or vinyl | 5(b) a dripping faucet |
| 6(d) a hole in drywall | 6(a) painting a wall or ceiling |
| 6(g) something broken made of china or glass | 6(c) curtain or drapery rods |
Two notes on the left-hand column. A house of plaster or masonry has no drywall, which closes 6(d) and makes 6(e) a different job. And a flat or an apartment may offer none of the outdoor options at all: no fence, no drive, no sprinklers, sometimes no screens.
Two notes on the right-hand column. Nothing here says to break something in order to repair it. Where an option needs a fault, the fault has to be one you found. And 5(c), repairing a flush toilet, sits between the columns: almost every home has one, but it has to be a toilet somebody is willing to have taken apart.
Options that pay for each other
Fourteen jobs sounds like fourteen shopping trips. It is not, if you choose in pairs.
| pick these together | and you share |
|---|---|
| 3(d) varnish a door or trim, 6(a) paint a wall or ceiling | one set of brushes, rollers, trays, masking tape and dust sheets, and one afternoon of learning to cut in |
| 6(d) patch a hole in drywall, 6(e) anchor something into drywall | one wall, one filling knife, and two of the three you need for requirement 6 |
| 5(a) clear a trap, 5(b) a dripping faucet, 5(c) a flush toilet | an adjustable wrench and a bag of washers. You need only two of these three |
| 3(c) repair furniture, 6(f) reinforce a picture frame | the same wood glue and the same clamps, in two different requirements |
| 2(b) weatherstrip, 2(c) caulk | one errand. Both are about stopping weather getting in, and both are cheap |
The strongest of these is the first. 3(d) and 6(a) are in different requirements, so they cannot be mistaken for double counting, and painting is one skill whether the surface is a door or a ceiling.
Requirement 5 opens with a job, not a heading
Read it slowly:
locate and know how to turn off the main water source, including well pumps, and then do TWO of the following
The two lettered jobs are the menu. The shut-off is not optional and it is not part of the menu. It is easy to miss because every other requirement from 2 to 6 opens with a supervision clause and goes straight into its list, so by requirement 5 the eye has learned to skip the first line.
It is also the most useful thing on the badge. A burst pipe or a failed washing machine hose is measured in minutes, and the person who knows where the stopcock is stops it. Find it, turn it, and check that it actually turns. A valve that has not moved in fifteen years often will not.
Including well pumps applies if your water comes from a well rather than a main. Then shutting off the water means the pump as well as the valve, which is an electrical switch somewhere else entirely.
Requirement 4: two of these need live house wiring, and two do not
| what it involves | |
|---|---|
| 4(a) find the main switch box, know how to reset a breaker or replace a fuse | No wiring work at all. You are locating something and knowing a procedure |
| 4(b) replace a cord, or repair a plug or lamp socket | An appliance, unplugged, on a table. Nothing in a wall |
| 4(c) install a single-pole light switch | House circuit, inside a wall box |
| 4(d) replace an electrical wall outlet | House circuit, inside a wall box |
Requirement 4 asks for two, and (a) and (b) are two. If you or the adult supervising you would rather not work on house wiring, that route is complete and needs no permission from anybody.
If you do choose 4(c) or 4(d), two things are worth knowing that the badge does not say. Switch off at the breaker and check the circuit is dead before touching it, because a switch being off is not the same as a circuit being off. And some places require a permit or a licensed electrician for work on fixed wiring, whoever is supervising. The badge allows a parent or guardian to supervise; local law decides separately what may be done, and the two are not the same question.
What the weather closes
| option | why it has a season |
|---|---|
| 2(c) caulk cracks or joints open to the weather | Exterior sealant needs the surface dry and above a minimum temperature, printed on the tube |
| 2(d) repair a break in concrete or asphalt | Crack filler and patch compound both have a temperature floor, and the crack must be dry |
| 3(d) paint or varnish, if you choose trim on the house | Outside paint has the same window. Choose a door or a piece of furniture instead and it does not |
| 2(b) weatherstrip a window or door | None. This one is best done in cold weather, when you can feel the draught you are stopping |
If you are starting this badge in autumn, do the outdoor sealing first and leave the indoor menus for winter. If you are starting in spring, the order does not matter.
The supervision note is a permission, not a restriction
The badge carries a standing note that a parent, guardian or the counselor may supervise your work on any Home Repairs requirement, and every menu from 2 to 6 repeats it.
That is unusually generous, and it changes how this badge is scheduled. Most of the work does not need the counselor present. You need your counselor for requirement 1, which is two discussions, and for requirement 7, and to show what you have done. The fourteen jobs themselves can be done on ordinary evenings with a parent or guardian, which is why this badge suits a long slow run rather than a merit badge day.
Requirement 1 is not a formality
Two discussions, and they come before the work for a reason. 1(a) wants four things and is usually answered with one: anticipate, mitigate and prevent, and respond to the hazards, then the gear and clothing that go with them. 1(b) wants at least ten safe practices, named. Ten is a specific number and a general answer about being careful does not reach it.
The Home Repairs merit badge, drawn so the choosing is visible. It is not a copy of the requirements: each step is a short label with a link to the official requirements, which are what actually governs and which change from year to year.
Sources for this page
- Home Repairs Merit Badge Requirements, Merit Badge Hub, last modified 2025-12-31 · The requirements themselves, and the free official pamphlet linked from them.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 7.0.0.3 · The process every merit badge is earned through, which this page does not repeat.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 7.0.4.3 · Which version of a changed requirement applies to a Scout who has already started.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 4.0.0.1 · Why the requirements are not in the Guide to Advancement and are expected to change annually.
Last checked against its sources on .