How handy around the house are you?
There is nothing I enjoy more than spending a weekend day puttering around the house working on "stuff". I'm 100% weekend warrior but I love to build shelves, hang new lights, fix gutter flashing and patch drywall. I'm certinally no expert but it's fun learning how to do something new.
This is a new found (within the past 5 years) enjoyment. I think it's because I place a strong emphasis on a safe/warm/comfortable home since I am usually in a hotel, car or customers office.
Anyway, where do you stand on the burning question that is deviding america?
Re: How handy around the house are you?
I fiddle around with computers, take em part, put em together, change stuff...etc. Even fixed my daughter's ipod (which supposedly couldn't be done)
I'm lost around a toilet, a cabinet, the yard and even the car. I have no idea how to use a power drill.
My wife is kind of handy...so that helps.
Homo Electronicus
Re: How handy around the house are you?
My house is over 100 years old, so I bought a 1951 version of the Home Repair book from Better Homes and Gardens, it's like having a blueprint to your home.
I've done alot of minor work, toilet replace etc... but I don't enjoy it... well more then paying out the nose for it.
Re: How handy around the house are you?
Option 2, Bob. I fiddle around quite a bit with all kinds of stuff but I typically have little idea what I'm doing. I can run some fence or make minor repairs but I'm not much on major projects. My dad helped me build a loafing shed last spring. All I did was swing a hammer and cut where he told me to cut. He's the guru, not me.
Re: How handy around the house are you?
Not a handy guy. I can turn a screwdriver, drill a pilot hole, hammer a nail, and that's about it.
Our house was built in the early 1940s. It had been through a decent renovation before we bought it 3 years ago. Plenty to do, though.
My wife has worked for both a home builder and an apartment construction / management companry, so it's usually pretty easy for her to get the name & number of a handyman to come over to take care of something for us. I work for a decent sized organization and I've gotten to know a couple of the maintenance guys. A couple times a year, they'll come over and take care of a list of a half-dozen things (replacing light fixtures/switches, minor carpentry & plumbing, installing a screen door, etc). My philosophy is that these folks (1) know what the heck they're doing, (2) have the tools, and (3) do great work for pretty reasonable money. I, on the other hand, don't have a clue what I'm doing, don't have anything beyond a basic tool set, and am pretty strapped for time. Therefore, we outsource.
Re: How handy around the house are you?
I worked my way through college doing a variety of jobs... But one of them was working with my uncle as a general contractor. I learned to do almost every part of home building, except Pluming and electrical... SO I choose option 1. :)
Re: How handy around the house are you?
I'm halfway between "putter on the weekends" and "pay someone else to do it". Most real repair jobs I leave to the professionals, but recently I've been doing some work on my unfinished basement, making it into a liveable space for less than $1000. I finished the stairwell, installed some outlets, hung a couple pieces of drywall, painted the concrete walls, and got some free carpet from a friend and carpeted the stairs and the "living room" section of the basement. I plan to finish installing the carpet this weekend.
BTW - since this is "my" space, my wife is letting me turn it into a Reds room. And I'm getting a hefty bonus from work this year, so I'm getting a HD home theatre projector, too. I'll post some photos once it's done.
Re: How handy around the house are you?
I do all right. Maybe not quite #1 but close to it. I won't build an addition onto the house but I can do most everything else. I do it myself mostly because I'm cheap.
I've done my share of ripping out old bathrooms and redoing them, laying ceramic floor tiles, new cabinets and counters, wiring rooms (I leave working at the breaker box to pros though), light fixtures/switches/outlets, basic plumbing (know the difference between copper and PVC), painting/wallpapering/"wall effects", hang drywall (have learned to hire out the finishing, I can do it but they are lot better at it), basic concrete (worked for a concrete company in college), wield my chainsaw with a flourish, new flowerbeds, put in a pond with a waterfall, etc etc.
Re: How handy around the house are you?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
oneupper
I fiddle around with computers, take em part, put em together, change stuff...etc. Even fixed my daughter's ipod (which supposedly couldn't be done)
I'm lost around a toilet, a cabinet, the yard and even the car. I have no idea how to use a power drill.
My wife is kind of handy...so that helps.
Homo Electronicus
My love is electronics--simple analog stuff. Not good with computers/chips. Can do most things around the house except for plumbing. Can't do anything there.
Re: How handy around the house are you?
I understand GAC's pretty good with lawn mowers. ;)
Re: How handy around the house are you?
Electronics, yes yes.
Something with pluming or nails, no no.
Re: How handy around the house are you?
Re: How handy around the house are you?
I'm good with electrics. I can wire a lamp, deal with wiring in walls and outlets, all kinds of electronics and that kind of stuff. It's really pretty simple. Funny though since I'm so petrified of fire and believe that anything like that can cause it. I spent a summer hanging lights in a theater and my ex-boyfriend is a musician and sound engineer/producer with his own studio, so that's no doubt where a lot of that comes from.
The rest of it I can do, but I prefer not to. The only thing I'm awful at is hanging pictures. I always seem to hit the part of the wall which causes plaster to cave in and the wall to buckle or something.
Re: How handy around the house are you?
Three kitchen remodels later, I realize the dumbest thing I ever did was to pick up a hammer in front of my wife and not crack myself in the skull with it.
I remember this like it was yesterday:
We had a shed in the back yard that was riddled with termites. The siding was corrugated steel, and other than being old it was in good shape. In fact, it was worth saving for its character. Also, the neighborhood was historic, and in order to tear it down and rebuild, I'd have to go through the peculiar and excrutiating hell known as an historic commission review.
So, I propped up the roof, tore out the walls and replaced them, put the siding back on and lowered the roof back onto the shed. It looked exactly like an old shed except now it had pressure treated wood sills and framing.
The wife came out when I had the job done, took one look at it and said,
"Oh man, have I got plans for you, carpenter boy."
Thirteen years later, I finally put my foot down and told her I'm done. If she wants something other than paint or landscaping done, she's gotta hire a contractor.
Re: How handy around the house are you?
I like to "putter"... so-so with building things, i.e. furniture, cabinets - but as long as you can give me directions I'm usually OK. Electrical stuff, i.e. wiring outlets, etc. about the same - fine as long as I have a manual or a book.
Much better with electronics, esp. computers - going back when you had to install all the software and format the hard drive. It's so much easier now... but once in a while I'll get out on the DOS prompt just to experience the "good" old days... :p:
Can hookup cable, VCRs, DVDs, receivers pretty much with one eye tied behind my back - also pretty handy at formatting/programming electronics as well. I used to be a real sucker for technology - unfortunately it's been going so fast I'm at least 5 years behind (still haven't gotten an ipod or player yet).
Plumbing tho' is a mystery... I usually yell for my Dad or hire someone else to do it. :eek: