Are you handy around the house?

In My Humble Opinion
41

Female here.

I’m fairly handy, but not too much patience, which tends to skew some of the things I do. I can paint, wallpaper, lay vinyl floor tiles, etc., as well as change out electrical plugs, hang a ceiling fan, run the line for an icemaker, grout a tub, ran a water line for the shower, change a pane of glass, rewire a lamp, etc. I helped my dad build a wall, replace car brakes, and pour concrete. Although I can do the basics, electricity scares me (even though I know the breaker is off!) and I hate, hate, hate any plumbing. (Regardless of how hard I try not to, water always gets everywhere.)

I’ve always attempted to fix things–some successfully and some not. I know my way around power tools (one of the best Christmas presents I ever got was a very nice cordless drill from my mom!) and know how to use them. Just about anything around the house, I will attempt to try, but know when to call in the big guns.

Over the years, I’ve recruited the Hallkids in helping, and now Hallboy (who thinks nothing of going down in the basement to use a jigsaw) wants to sign up for VoTech school just for the carpentry program. I’m supporting this for him.

42

Well, I built, wired, and plumbed the house myself, so I’d say I’m handy. The only things I didn’t do myself was excavation and drilling the well. I would have done those myself too, but since a used excavator cost the same as having someone else do it I would have been screwed if anything broke, and a well drilling rig costs way more than the $10k I paid to have someone else do it.

I do all of the odd jobs - I’m too cheap to pay someone to do something I can do myself unless the tools are prohibitably expensive. Most recently, I replaced the fuel lines, filter, and battery cable ends in my wood truck and rebuilt the distributor in my tractor. I can do damn near anything, but it probably won’t look like it did in the picture book.

Male. Prefessional lab rat.

43

I’m not happy with my cordless drill. The recharging function is irritating (the batteries have to be on the unit to recharge them) and they don’t last as long as I’d like. Our corded drill has too much torque and no setting for lower torque. I would be thrilled to get a better rechargeable drill!

Knowing how to do carpentry will never be a bad idea, I don’t think. That’s a pretty solid career path.

44

You should be able to get a charger for the batteries. It will of course take a little research to get the right one for your battery type. Here’s one example:

45

God, that sounds fun. I’m going to get a book and start reading! I wish I knew someone who did work on cars, but the only one I know who does that lives in India. Perhaps I should just befriend my husband’s mechanic. Though I don’t think my husband would appreciate that and it might be kind of weird.

Anyway, another thing I’ve always wanted to do was woodworking. That would be so cool to make furniture.

I’m a sick, sad woman, but I can’t think of a whole lot of things (besides the obvious) that are as exciting as getting dirty, covered in grease or using power tools or some sort of combination.

Sigh I can’t wait to get covered in paint tonight.

46

I’ve rewired a house, torn a bathroom down to the studs and remodeled from the walls out. I can do basic plumbing, including soldering in new brass valves.

I’ve replace a total of 11 interior doors now with modern six-panel doors and I’m currently finishing building a closet in my daughter’s bedroom (where there was none before). One coat of mud down, two to go.

Yeah, I’d call myself handy. The only thing I can think of that I hired out was getting a new torch-down roof on my flat garage and having my toilet line snaked (the clog was about 60-feet out).

It’s funny - my wife’s late husband left a bunch of tools behind - I came in with a bunch of tools. There’s about a 10% overlap. All his were auto-mechanic related, all mine are house related.

47

So…you’d like to get painted? Wrong thread I think. :smiley:

48

Ooh - I didn’t even know these existed! Must research. :slight_smile:

49

Male here. I think I’m pretty good with a lot of things. I know basic electrical and when I was younger and finished running cables and wiring the outbuildings on a property with my Dad, used that knowledge to wire my treehouse for power. Basic plumbing isn’t too difficult and I’ve fixed a couple of toilets in my day, and cleared drains, etc. Painting is something I should be good at; I’ve done so much of it recently. “Rough” carpentry is no problem (by “rough,” I mean anything that isn’t a finely-jointed-and-finished piece of furniture). For example, I’ve built a deck at least once, rebuilt a deck a few times, and built a few sets of stairs. I’ve often helped a farmer friend with his barn: replacing studs, siding, roof (both tin and asphalt shingle), and so on. Hanging doors, replacing doorknobs, installing locks, putting up bracket shelves–all no problem.

I still remember my shop class lessons years ago and prefer to use hand tools for woodworking when I can: planes, back saws and miter boxes, and suchlike. Still, I can appreciate the ease power tools bring. But I learned both manual and power tools, and I like to think I know what to use and when. I also learned oxy-acetylene welding and basic blacksmithery, but sadly, I never get to use those skills. Probably a good thing; it’s been so long.

For a while, I wrote a DIY column in a monthly magazine and all my experiences and skills above (except welding and blacksmithery) somehow found a place in my column.

I can manage basic car maintenance like oil changes and flat tires also, and with a good manual and the right tools, can attempt even more complex repairs and adjustments–I rebuilt my alternator once, replaced a tricky thermostat, and even fixed the driver’s door lock (sort of–the door lock repair lasted only a few months before I had to do it again).

And I don’t know if it’s germane to this discussion, but I occasionally tinker with old EM pinball games. I’ve managed to repair/replace bumper coils, flipper coils, drop targets, and so on. I’ve currently got a machine that is having problems with its advance bonus step-up unit and with the score reels finding zero, so if anybody has any tips, I’d appreciate knowing them. Thanks!