The pine tree bordering our driveway has dripped a prolific amount of sap this year, maybe due to how hot the summer has been. The cars got sapped.
My car wash/detailer guy wanted $150 for sap removal and would include a wash, detail, wax, etc in the price. A hard nope from me! How hard could taking off 50+/-spots on each car be? Pshaw!
So I bought the $3.1 million dollar manufacturer-approved sap remover, soap, and rinser and set to work on the SUV. How hard could it be? This is how hard: Delicately apply the killer solvent to a spot, wash immediately, rinse, dry, repeat, repeat, repeat for each spot. I got all the sap off without damaging the clearcoat, but it took three+ hours and I took the car to get pro washed and dried cause I was paranoid I didn’t get all the chemicals off.
I think I copped a little solvent high, so there’s that
8 * )
Our other cars will be going to my guy for de–sapification. $150 is a freakin’ bargain.
So what have you DIY’d once that you now pay for? This and scraping off ancient wallpaper layers are at the top of my “Oh, Hell No!” list.
Have you considered not parking under the pine tree?
For me it’s cleaning gutters, even more so if they are not in good repair. 's a bloody all day job. And sometimes you find dead birds and whatnot, joy of joys.
Washing the exteriors of all the windows on our two-story house, plus screens, is a job I gladly pay $150 for. At some point, I might have them do the interiors, too. That job sucks.
Just keep in mind the possibility that the guy who’s getting paid $150 to clean the sap off of your car may not have the same exacting standards you have.
I can change a tire. I have been in the Army in a mech/maintenance unit, and I even worked in a garage once for a little while. I can change a tire in about 10 minutes.
Once, though, on a cold Fall day, I walked out onto my driveway, of a house without a garage, to a total flat, and it was raining-- coming down in sheets. The tire would need repair, or maybe even replaced once the spare was on, and I had to be at work.
I called a tow truck and a cab. I knew the tow guys, and told them there was no hurry. Had it towed to the place where I used to work, and where I bought the tire, with a road hazard warranty.
Tow cost me $40*. Cab was $12-- $16 with tip*. It had stopped raining by the time I had finished work, and I walked about a 1/2 mile to the garage where the car was. Had a brand new tire, because the old one had a puncture too close to the sidewall. Tire and work was free. They nicely balanced and rotated the other three tires as well.
No regrets.
$56 not to change a tire and get soaked in 50’F October, and to get to work on time.
*1990s prices.
Retaining wall out of 100 8"x8"x8’ landscape timbers. All drilled and spiked together. Back filled with cobble stone. By myself. I ain’t 30yo any more.
RE: car maintenance. I can do it, I know how to do it, I just have no interest in climbing under a Honda at this point in my life, even on ramps, they’re just too low. I’ve been playing around with an older (98) pick up truck lately, trying to get it into good (better) working order. It needed a fuel pump…I cut a hole in bed. I was in and out in less time than it would have taken me to get the first bolt off to lift the bed or drop the tank. Then I blew a transmission line. I tried to fix it myself, but when I realized I just wasn’t interested in laying on my back while tranny fluid poured on me, I sent it in.
Cleaning the gutters on my one story house isn’t bad, I can get up on the roof and work my way around the edge, but I’m not going higher than that and between not liking ladders and my knees not liking me, anything higher than one is for someone else.
Having said that, and this goes for anyone that doesn’t like cleaning gutters, get some type of gutter guard. I have so many trees that I end up having to do mine 2-4 times per year. I picked some up at Home Depot, did the whole house for about a hundred dollars and haven’t had any issues since.
I mentioned it to someone and it turns out he installs them on the side. He told me what he charges and it works out to about 2 -3 times what you would pay to do it yourself, however, his are metal instead of plastic, they’re guaranteed for life AND he cleans the gutters first. For that price, it’s not a bad deal.
I haven’t cleaned my gutters in years.
Came here to say this, except I did it like 9 times. Back then it was fun to buy the bestest toppest things and feel very smart reading the manual to put them together, now there are tweens in China who do it way better than I ever will.
But I like installing Linux, somehow it never gets old.
I employ an outfit every 6 months to clean my gutters, wash my windows inside and out (including skylights) plus screens and treat my roof for moss. They charge me $250. I’ve done it all myself at one time or another… a deal at twice the price.
Also, drywall. I hate doing that. I’ll only ever hire someone else to do it from now on.
I’ve built a number of them over the years. It’s a good skill to have, if nothing else, it teaches you that you can open up the case, take the parts out and clean the dust out of it. It’s not nearly as intimidating as it looks.
But now, for what I use computers for, I can pick up a tower, ready to go, for a few hundred dollars and it works. No spending countless hours wondering if there’s a hardware issue or software issue every time something won’t work. In fact, for that reason, I’ve always refused to build computers for other people. I have exactly zero interest in being responsible for getting your computer working if it breaks down.
In one of my computers I cut a hole in the side and installed LED lights. I’d never seen that done before I did it, I was pretty proud of myself with that one.
Instead of taking the Tour Van, I rented a heavy duty 4 wheel drive truck and drove myself and family up to the observatories a top the Mauna Kea Volcano on the Big Island.
As you approach the top, there is no road to speak of and its very steep, but the fun begins on the way down, especially if you have waited at the top too long to start the descent and its getting dark. Its so steep that you have to “ride” the lowest gear knowing that if you even touch the brakes, they’ll burn up.
Pulling the engine from a '62 VW microbus under an overpass on the side of I-65 in Indianapolis back in August, 1969, to replace the clutch plate/pressure plate with my handy spares is not something I’d like to do again. It was about 3AM, and the thunderstorm was impressive.
I’m okay with that on the other cars (they’re a lot older). And, frankly, I can be a wee bit too exacting.
I forgot about the time I rented a big-ass rototiller to dig a garden out of a lawn patch. I was 44yo-ish and couldnt move the next day after humping that beast around all day. I also (accidentally) chopped up a pretty little snake in the tines, I felt really bad about that.
Gone are the days I can do hard labor, this would kill me now. We hired our young neighbor guy to do a similar project this summer. He’s also an arborist and did some major thinning out and topping – I love having strong, handy neighbors!
