Why I learned to do things for myself...

Bill Lantry

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Well, y'all know that I'd prefer to do things around the house for myself. Case in point: just after christmas, the water heater went south. Doorlink prevailed on me, against my better judgment, to let the house insurance company install it. "We'll save money, she said, and besides, you're working on that other project, and you'd lose a whole day" And against my better judgment, I acquiesced. And, about 8 weeks later, I happened to look hard at the work he'd done. Or rather, I tripped over it. He needed about an inch and a half on the bottom, so he found some 2x4 scraps I had lying around from the basement project. They were about 8 inches too long, but he didn't have a saw, so he jammed them in and left them sticking out. Now I've got a day of work in front of me to fix the mess.

I thought of that reading this article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/fashion/28love.html

We hear all the time about clients from hades, but the article's about contractors from hades. And the last thing I want is for Doorlink to find a contractor boyfriend, from hades or otherwise... ;)

Thanks,

Bill
 
sorry to hear that bill. hope it doesn't take long to fix it.

i too like doing things myself. i might not get it right the first time but it doesn't cost me anything to redo it

good luck
chris
 
I learned to fix things myself because we couldn't afford to hire people. With just a bit of help, maybe a book or the advice of someone who knows how to do the thing needed, I find that I can do pretty well myself. Some things, like sweating copper pipe together, are a manual skill that you get better at as you do more of it, so my work is not as pretty as a more experienced person - but it works.

And as someone said, if I mess up the first time, I can fix it the second time.

Now that I'm old, I've been through most of the house things so I feel fairly confident that I can do whatever needs to be done and I have most of the tools to do those things.

We did some major renovations to a house we were living in some years ago. Before the contractor started, I had a talk with him and told him that I would measure and check everything he did, and if it wasn't according to the specifications, I'd have him tear it out and re-do it. One case was a wall that they put in that was a couple of inches off, but I needed those inches for a hallway, and code requires the hallway to be a certain width. His mistake would push everything over. I insisted they move the wall to the proper place. After that, for future walls, they didn't drive the nails all the way in on the bottom of the wall 2x4's until after I had checked the location. I'm sure I was a PITA to the contractor but he and I got along well.

Mike
 
Sheeeesh... my favorite is the electrical junction box made out of a wooden/paper cigar box. KNOCK KNOCK!!!! anybody in there????????? So why didn't he just stick a few kerosene soaked rags in the cigar box to complete the installation?
 
Must sumpin in the Air

i had similar thing friday night, had my better halfs sisters over for the wknd:rolleyes: well if one ladies isnt enough to make you do honey do things try havin 3 of them.. any way to shorten this up sum i had a large limb from a boxelder break from the last snow and ice we got. it was resting on the roof and they thought i should get it off there.. so i went to the garge got a linemans tree trimer pole and cut it loose, well when it came down it got the deck railing and so now i get to fix that too along with gettin rid of the boxelder limb, which is trash wood!!! not even fit for burning... :(:doh:
 
And the last thing I want is for Doorlink to find a contractor boyfriend, from hades or otherwise...

So the real reason comes out, huh Bill? That's what happens when us older guys go and rob the cradle for a significant other. :D Of course some of us even worry about that after we've gone on and hooked up with someone closer to our own age, but who is significantly better looking and a much better person than us besides. :thumb:

I've got one of those "repair insurance" plans, but luckily have not had to collect on it. Guess it is one of those "you get what you pay for" deals and those folks retain based on low bids for the types of work they do. I've heard similar about the install folks that the big box stores contract with to do installations for them.
 
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