Home Improvement Mavens: Where do you find the time?

In My Humble Opinion
1

All right, home improvement gurus. Where do you find the time and energy to work substantively around the house?

In my time reading on the boards, I’m blown away by the folks who rip out their kitchens, put in new cabinets, etc. etc. I get the impression that many / most of you who do this also work full-time. That furnishes, I’m guessing, quite a bit of the financial capital.

But how in the world do you find time to do what needs doing, especially the major remodels? I can barely manage to get the cooking and cleaning done, let alone the major stuff. And it seems that if I can pry an hour here or there, I’m exhausted by what I’ve already done.

Red Bull? Subcontractors? Magic? I understand many of you are savvy about how to do stuff, so it might take you less time total to do the smaller tasks, but putting down a new floor or refinishing cabinets or whatever has to take loads of time even for the experienced. What’s your secret?

2

I did my kitchen and my basement by myself. In both instances I took vacation time from work and dedicated it to the projects. Of course, the time off was not enough to finish the jobs so there was a good bit of weekend work afterwards.

This occurred when I was younger and poorer. I think I’m done with big projects at this point. :slight_smile:
mmm

3

Hardly a maven but I’ve done a few renovations (kitchen and bath) and countless small projects (just finished replacing the attic stairs and the over-the-stove microwave.)

It’s like a hobby - you make time for it. I think about it when I’m doing other things, work out what I need, make a plan for how long it will take. Then I set aside some weekend or a few nights in a week or I might even take off work to get the job done. Then I plan an extra day for all the stuff that goes wrong. I often have two or three projects in various stages of doneness. It took me like 4 months to build the patio in back, after I’d decided how I was going to do it. It’s not like anyone needed to use that area until the work was done though.

This makes my wife crazy sometimes. My tools are out in the livingroom and some part of the house is non-functioning for a day or a week, but that is a small price to pay for getting the job done for free IMO. She must agree because she always has more projects for me.

4

We probably aren’t as clean as many folks. And if a major remodel is going on you are going to have more dust. I don’t let it bother me other than to make sure tools are picked up every day (at least organized).

Now I did hire out the last big remodel, but the real big one, adding a two story addition I did a most of the work.

I think that when I’m working on something big, my Wife helps pick up some of the slack. Just like I do when she’s training for a race.

We don’t get any food delivery where we live. But we have no problem making a big soup or stew and eating it all week. In fact, we seem to prefer it.

Laundry isn’t much of a deal since we wear casual clothes to work. So no ironing or special care is needed. Jeans and tee shirts are just fine.

5

Nights and weekends, baby! Nights and weekends. And nights. And weekends.

6

(post shortened)

Power tools! :smiley:

I make the time because I like the work. And I have most of the tools. Fix a washing machine? Locate the drawings, study the problem, order the parts, fix it. Personal satisfaction. Building a 16’x30’ deck with an 8’x30’ overhead took two weeks. Draw up the plans, order wood, concrete, and screws, dig some holes, mix and pour concrete, cut the lumber, screw everything together, have a party.

It’s easier to start from scratch than it is to rehab something. The tearout usually takes two to three times longer than I planned. There’s always something hidden behind walls or underground.

I have the added benefit of knowing “how” by working with my Dad and I’ve always known people in the trades. Knowledge is king. A strong back and weak mind helps, too. :smiley:

If you like something, you’ll always find the time and energy to do it.

7

I haven’t done anything near major, but since I’m just one dopey person everything I do seems major to me. And yeah you literally get home from work and work on your thing until bedtime. Well you get home, set up, work, tear down, shower and then bed. Sometimes you can just squeeze an hour in there!

You plan around when your friends can help you and when you can get the rental machine(s). Do as much as you can, a little at a time, until the big push of help comes on the weekend. And pray it doesn’t rain!

8

There are 168 hours in a week. OP, you should keep track of what you do in this time–I think you will find a large number of hours are spent on low-priority stuff. So you shift part of this time to remodeling.

9

A good suggestion, PastTense. I’ll have to pick a couple of ‘typical’ weeks and keep a time diary to see how I’m spending my free hours - if work, chores, and kids really do take as much as I think.

10

The more comfortable you are with disorder, the easier it is to do your own home improvement.

A long project can be done on the weekends spread over several weeks or months. The place may look like a disaster in the meantime with tools and materials all over the place, but it will eventually get done.

11

This.

It took me from November to the following September to finish remodeling the guest bath. Weekends only with an occasional holiday like President’s Day. Those guys on TV that can remodel an entire kitchen in three days have many teams of sub-contractors to help out. So don’t get discouraged if it takes you longer and think of the thousands you are saving by doing it yourself.

A helpful tip is to make a list of what you need from the Depot for the entire project. So you can avoid many multiple trips.

12

You should also figure out whether this sort of home improvement is “relaxation/hobby” or “work” to you. For most of the people who make consistent progress on this sort of thing during the week (as opposed to weekends/holidays only), it’s something they really enjoy doing. It restores mental energy rather than draining it. I can do some stuff on week nights easily enough - mostly the building and creative stuff - but if I was coming home from work and spending my 1-2 free hours on re-flooring my kitchen every night, I’d go nutty pretty fast. It’s important to figure out what exhausts you and what’s kind of fun, and to work that into how you schedule projects rather than try to fight against it.

13

I recently spruced up our screened-in porch that hadn’t really been touched in years. The previous owners had had a hot tub in it, leading to a nasty mildew problem. The timeline went something like this, starting the first weekend in April and ending last week:

Weekend 1 (Three Day):
Day 1: Acquire mildew cleaning stuff, begin scrubbing.
Day 2: Realize how little I’ve accomplished, say “fuck it” and load up the pump sprayer with some bleach. Get bleach in eye, go out and buy safety goggles.
Day 3: Finish bleaching.

Weekend 2:
Day 1: Remove battens, screens, messed up quarter round, start pulling staples
Day 2: Staples. Staples. Staples. Staples. Jesus, didn’t anybody every bother to fix this the right way? Staples. Staples. Staples. Resign myself to having lobster claw hands for the rest of my life.

Weekend 3:
Day 1: Staples. Staples. Staples. Uh-oh… is this dry rot? I’m going to pretend I didn’t see it. Staples. Staples.
Day 2: Staples. Staples. That dry rot is really bothering me. Some of it is structural. Time to call a carpenter. Dammit.

Weeks 3-6:
Call a carpenter. He’s in jail for getting drunk, sticking his head through an ex-girlfriend’s doggie door, and barking like a dog. Screw that guy. Ask friends for referrals. Schedule estimate. Pick a winner. Wait for custom ripped framing. Hand out while the guy knocks out in three hours on a Friday night what would have taken me weeks.

Weekend 7:
Day 1: Scraping and sanding.
Day 2: More scraping and sanding.

Weekend 9:
Day 1: Buy primer, brushes, rollers, etc. Start priming.
Day 2: More priming.

Weekend 10:
Day 1: Finish priming.
Day 2: Screw this.

Week 11-12 (Vacation):
Day 1: Buy topcoat.
Day 2: Coat 1.
Day 3: Coat 1 cont’d / Coat 2.
Day 4: Finish Coat 2.
Day 5: Buy new screen, frames, caps, spline, etc. Experiment with screen stuff. It’s harder than it looks.
Day 6: Oh Jesus my cuts look like crap I only have one panel done and there are nine more to do I’m never going to get done and it looks like crap oh Jesus.
Day 7.0: Ditto.
Day 7.5: Hm. What if I tried it this way? That’s not too hard. And it looks pretty good!
Day 8: Truckin’ right along.
Day 9: Ladies and gentlemen, we have ourselves some screens! But no door. Shit.

Week 12:
One evening: Buy door; pick it up from the Depot, and hang it.

Weekend 13:
Day 1: Pull up nasty old carpet. Clean up bricks underneath.
Day 2: Shop around for a new rug and patio furniture with wife. Get it fight with wife because we’re both sick of shopping around for patio furniture. Buy a rug that she professes is “Fine I guess.” Lay down rug.

Weekend 14:
Day 1: Look for more furniture online. Argue some more.
Day 2: Let’s just take a break from this for a couple days, OK?

Weekend 15:
Day 1: Look at more furniture in stores. Hey! Another argument! Agree to order that one set we liked on Amazon that was a bit more than we wanted to pay.

Week 16:
Various evenings: Receive / assemble new furniture.

Week 17:
Pour bourbon. Read books.

Before.

After.

This is the first time I’ve undertaken a project of this size on my own. I could have probably knocked it out faster had I worked more evenings during the week, but I too work the kind of job where I’m lucky enough to have the mental energy to assemble dinner.

14

A ‘like’ for Black Rabbit’s summary - I just pulled up carpet and agree about the damn staples.

I too wonder how people find time to do other things, like golfing or fishing - I think I could find other things to do during the hours it takes to do those activities. But as mentioned, it’s partly about what’s enjoyable or worthwhile for you to do. Our remodeling jobs have been quick meals after work, then working until 11 PM, every night for a week. The weekend is also dedicated to the projects as much as possible. It’s easier if you don’t have to shuttle kids or have other commitments.

Sometimes that one thing forgotten at the Home Depot is a nice break away from the work…

15

Well, based on the one really major renovation I did, the time comes from weekends and holidays and the occasional weekday when you can get motivated. So:

a. For some period of time, you have to cut down on social life and actual vacations.

b. What would take a professional contractor a few days or weeks to accomplish might take you months or even years, depending on the scope of the project and your motivation and the amount of project creepage.

16

I put in slate tiles in our living room. With buying the pallets of slate, making three trips to get it all to my house, unloading it all by hand, moving all the furniture, ripping out the carpet, cutting and installing the slate, grouting it, sealing it and putting in new baseboards, it probably took 6 months. I could have done it in maybe two weeks of evenings, but my wife didn’t like me working when she was there (too noisy), so I had to wait for times when she was away.

This was one project that having a bunch of guys would really help - there was a lot of carrying heavy loads, and cutting that could be done in parallel with the laying.

17

Thanks, everybody. I too found black rabbit’s summary very useful. Lots of food for thought in the thread generally. I can’t say that I enjoy the home improvement work I’ve done, but it’s mostly been maintenance, not improvement, up to this point (trimming hedges, cleaning gutters, etc.). I’ve stripped some paint and wallpaper and painted a few walls, but nothing like re-doing a porch, laying slate, etc. I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to accomplish with a kid still at home, but at least now I’ve got a better idea of what it takes.

18

When Hallboy lived at home, I had lots of help. Often, especially during summers, I’d tell him what I wanted done, come home and poof, it’d be done. Boy do I miss him.

Now I’m on my own and home reno projects take twice as long and aren’t half a good in quality. (Seriously, he paid much greater attention to details than I do.) However, things I’ve found helpful are…

[ul]
[li]Kiss television goodbye. TV is distracting and a huge time suck. You’ll never get anything done if you watch Law and Order reruns all weekend. Speaking of weekends…[/li]
[li]Plan your time and be prepared. Know what you want to do, approximately how long it’ll take (then double that time), and get ready to go at it first thing Saturday morning. Buy all your supplies and be prepared before the weekend. Speaking of supplies…[/li]
[li]Make sure you have the right tool for the job. Not having the right tool means your home improvement job will take forever, or maybe won’t even get off the ground. Little things, like a good drill bit, a charged drill battery, the appropriate grade of sand paper, etc. will make or break a job. Trying to improvise only leads to frustration. Speaking of frustration…[/li]
[li]Take your time. You’re not going to get the entire kitchen remodeled in one weekend. Be prepared to space it out and use vacation and extended holiday weekends. Speaking of holidays…[/li][li]Grab a family member or friend or two. Or three. Doing something by yourself takes twenty-million times longer than having an extra set of hands. You’ll need someone there to say, “Um, wasn’t that 34 inches, not 43?” or to lift the other end of something you’re trying to hang.[/li][/ul]