Foo - Are you the DIY king?

After about 10 years of home ownership, I have had a lot of do it yourself projects. I've learned to do a lot of my own repairs, but sometimes find myself running out of time for the learning curve on new projects. I believe that i can figure just about anything out if given the time, but I often don't have the time and/or patience to spend.

So sometimes i just call people and pay them. There are some times where it is a better deal to pay someone than to spend 6 hours doing it yourself. Plumbing is one of these areas. I have never sweated a pipe although i know i could.

There's also a natural aptitude thing as well. Some things I'm just not that good at, so I'd rather pay someone else. Plumbing being one. Called up one outfit to take care of a leaky handle in the shower. Some tall young kid in his 20's shows up... hmm... strange, must be an apprentice. Did the job in less than an hour and left, gave him a check for $49.95 or some such thing and that was it. Handle felt kinda tight, but no big deal, it wasn't leaking and I figured it's just new washers and they needed some time to break in.

About a week later, during a shower, I go to adjust the temperature as it was getting colder, must be running out of hot-water from the water-heater... >PFOOOSH< >BANG< !!! The entire handle and guts fly out of the wall and hits the back wall of the shower!!! ARRRRgghh!!! I run outside in a towel and shut off the water....

Call up the plumbing outfit and complain (nicely of course). They immediately send out a "proper" plumber. Short older balding fat guy with a huge ass-crack showing. Now THERE'S a plumber!! He was in & out in less than 30-minutes and I haven't had a leak since!

I've never paid someone else to work on my house. Then again, I've only racked up about 4 years of ownership. I have, indeed, done plumbing though - lots and lots of it. And painting, flooring, painting, demolition, drywall, painting, painting, some painting, new cabinets, a few new electric circuits, and some painting.

I try the DIY thing and my tools wind up stuck in the wall after I get ticked, blow up and throw them. I ain't mechanically inclined!

I've done a lot of work at my house. Tile, windows, electrical, cabinets, countertops, lighting, flooring, plumbing, painting, drywall, various carpentry tasks. I didn't realize I was so handy until I made a list! :o

The biggest thing i have to fight is the urge to call somebody when i know i can do it myself. It's a battle between being financially conservative and being lazy. It rages on with me all the time. :D

I even had my hubs packed on one of my mtb's last spring just because i didn't feel like doing it myself. It felt like money well spent, but it wasn't.

well, you know the first rule of DIY, right?

No DIY job can be completed without at least three trips to the hardware store.

I've practically done everything in my house myself except roofing. I desparately need new shingles.

I've practically done everything in my house myself except roofing. I desparately need new shingles.

I've had two roofs put on in 5 yrs, and i hired it done both times. :D

http://xs108.xs.to/xs108/06443/IMG_4949.JPG

sounds like you hired crappy roofers the first time :D

sounds like you hired crappy roofers the first time :D

See the hail stones above. Happens here fairly often. :D

We put in our own roof after getting baseball sized hail. That was a pretty awesome job.
I've done plumbing myself having fixed probabl 10-20 different pipe leaks. It's awesome having to go from one type of material that is one size to another type of amtieral that is a different size. Learned alot there - surprisingly i've had pretty decent luck with repair jobs -not had decent luck with the actual leaks however.

I've practically done everything in my house myself except roofing. I desparately need new shingles.

Thanks for reminding me. I do roofs too! :D

Thanks for reminding me. I do roofs too! :D

But since this is labor intense, I'll most likely pick up a couple of guys from my local Home Depot to help me tear out the old roofing....:D

But since this is labor intense, I'll most likely pick up a couple of guys from my local Home Depot to help me tear out the old roofing....:D

Aw, that's the fun part. No, wait, the nailguns are the fun part! :beer:

sounds like you hired crappy roofers the first time :D


i did the only reason i hired a roofer is because of the angle of my roof(barn shaped) steep
!/2 way through the job the roofer got lippy with us and told us he was having a bad day and could treat people like crap because he had lots of $$$$$$ that is all it took we fired him
and hired part of his crew to finish it worked out ok for us, not for him

most other things i diy i enjoy it and it always gives me an excuse to buy new tools
always good :) :)

always gives me an excuse to buy new tools

I always look forward to that...:)

Yes... except anything more than very basic electrical. That scares the bejeebers out of me.

I always look forward to that...:)
+500000000000

I remodeled my house. Roofing, electrical, plumbing, siding. I contracted out the sheet rock finishing, and the HVAC. I hate doing sheet rock, and belly crawling under the house is best left to others.

I've done a lot of work at my house. Tile, windows, electrical, cabinets, countertops, lighting, flooring, plumbing, painting, drywall, various carpentry tasks. I didn't realize I was so handy until I made a list! :o
does painting walls and murals counts? does making all the curtains counts? does refurnishing antiques counts?:o

does painting walls and murals counts? does making all the curtains counts? does refurnishing antiques counts?:o
God yeah. Making curtains? I'd be at a loss.

--A

I've done everything from laying water mains, running laterals, all phases of site work including septic fields, footers & foundation, framing, exterior trim & siding, roofing, wiring, plumbing, sheetrock, interior trim including kitchen cabinets, hardwood, tile and sheetgoods flooring, painting & decorating. Furniture refinishing and chair caning. Swilled beer and smoked cigars. At the end of the day I can whip up a wonderful dinner for my SO and howl like a banshee between the sheets. :)

I do it for a living, so the last thing I want to do when I get home is work on my own house.

Pretty much I am Mr. Fix-it incarnate. The problem is in getting me into the mood to fix it. I'm a horrible procrastinator. I'm pretty sure I'll get yelled at in the afterlife for not dying when I should have, since I didn't feel like it at the time.

I am the DIY king of our neighborhood. Last night at PM I was at a neighbors fixing a leaky bathtub faucet for him. He pays in beer and pizza!

I'm a DIY when it comes to cars.

There's nothing around the house that I can't do. A few things I probably WOULDN'T do, though. Like roof the house. I could, but I probably wouldn't. :p Not unless I was REALLY short on cash at the time.

I've done carpentry, plumbing, shingles, fences, painting, automotive work. I'm a trained electrician, as well. I also know how to work on a nuclear reactor. Now, if they ever come out with a consumer-sized nuclear reactor to power a home, I'd be set, huh? :p

B, you need to talk to these guys:

http://www.dictionary-of-matrix.com/images/f/f8/2agents-m12.jpg

They've worked out a way to get cold fission using only a human body and some weird flashy lights. I bet they could help you with your house-sized reactor.

Anyone else think that those guys look like Conan Obriens evil brothers? Esp. the one on the right?

Nope...not at all. My time is worth to much to me to be screwing around the house. I have full confidence I can do it (most things are damn near basic compared to some of the engineering I did as a die maker), but I don't like doing it, and really, its just another stress, I would rather pay someone to do it while I go hit a trail.

And yes, the dude on the right looks like Conan, I have thought that for years haha

I've added on to two houses and done everything from digging the footings to the top cap of the roof myself. That, however, was twenty years ago. I still do most things around the house but concrete, roofing, carpet, HVAC and major plumbing I would have done now.