…and you did it turn out for you?
Against the recommendations of the entire internet, I refinished my saltillo tile kitchen floor. The entire internet was right. It was a messy, gummy, nasty job and my learning curve is visible in the end result. I learned a lot about how to effectively strip and refinish clay tile, but that knowledge is pretty pointless now because I never intend to use it again.
You?
I invest in index funds. That is not the advice of typical money managers for obvious reasons, though it is the advice of many academics who study such things. Iit works out very well.
The torsion spring on my garage door. I’m a big DIY. Not afraid of much. I’d jump on a spaceship tommorrow if I had a chance. I’d be a serious rock or mountain climber if I didn’t live in the deep south.
I fucked with that spring once. Never again. Nothing bad happened but I quickly figured out things easily could. My SO bitches and moans that it still needs adjustment. I tell her to call a pro…I ain’t touching that thing again.
I think I heard someone say once those torsion springs were probably the most dangerous things in a house.
I think they may be right.
Why is that (not the advice of typical money managers)? All I know about them was that one Dilbert cartoon where Dogbert is delighted at Dilbert’s ignorance of what they are, implying that it was a very smart investment. (Of course, it could be that it’s only smart if you really know what you’re doing.)
Because then they can’t make much money off of you.
In my first (rented) house, I had a day off and decided to take on a drippy kitchen faucet. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, but I figured it’s just pipes, how hard could it be, what could possibly go wrong?
Let’s just say that while we all know the first step in any plumbing repair is to turn off the water first, 19-year-old me was probably aware of this but skipped it anyway. Whoops.
Good grief. I’d move before tackling those on my own.
I was told to let the doctor remove the stitches but, hey, fingernail clippers worked pretty well, at least for most of them.
Plastering the walls of my diningroom and kitchen after removing the wallpaper. It was a huge hassle and took a very long time. I’d bet a pro could do it 10x faster than I did. It wasn’t worth it for that single job, but now I’m much more confident to tackle other plastering jobs around the house.
Remove the woven grass wallpaper from the bedroom of the house I just bought.
The experts were right - it was hard to deal with. A very messy and difficult job. I wished I’d hired someone else to do it. [I wished even more that the previous owners hadn’t installed it]
Painting the trim in my apartment. A nervous epileptic with ALS could have painted straighter lines.
I was dissuaded just recently from attempting that job. I looked up DIY instructions and one website had this to say:
I thought “the hell with that”. 
I do my own electrical and plumbing work including major work. I’ve changed out gas water heaters and I once installed a 200 amp electrical service that passed inspection with no problem.
Today I looked up how to fix my no-longer-latching fuel door on the minivan. Went out there and fixed the little bastard in 30 seconds. It was great. What a sense of accomplishment!
(Just needed to bend the little metal latch a bit. I’m sure the mechanic would have charged me $25.)
“No user Serviceable Parts inside” just sounds like an invitation to me!
I’ve fixed TV’s (Both Cathode Ray and DLP), cars, computers, electronics, A Williams Defender Arcade cabinet, $800 worth of Van De Graff generator after buying it for $20 at Goodwill, Built a Jacobs Ladder from scratch.
Just yesterday, I had an AWFUL nasty noise coming from the hood of my car. 5 minutes with a stethescope (read: long screwdriver held to your ear), and $42 later, the car has a new belt tensioner and is running good as new.
I’ve had TREMENDOUS luck in bringing things back from the dead, and a developing love for the 1960’s. That was the era where things were sufficiently advanced, yet parts still available, that a motivated person (plus the internet), can pretty much fix it. I’ve restored a 66 Caddy, a 62 South Bend Lathe, and am in the middle of restoring a 62 150cc Honda.
It would be easier to list the failures I’ve had, rather than the successes. The Solid State Tesla coil evaded my electronics knowledge…and I got tired of throwing money at iRobot Roombas. Sure, all the parts are available, but they break often, and the parts are pricey.
Like koeeoaddi, I’ve tiled all the bathrooms in the house. Bought the tile cutter from Harbor Freight ($150 after discounts and coupons), bought $70 worth of tools, finished the job, then sold the Saw for what I paid for it. I did a good job, but never want to do it again. Not a fan.
Heavens! I didn’t lay the tile. I just stripped, cleaned off 27 years of crud and refinished it.
And you feel good about it every time you go in the kitchen…right?
I’m pretty sure I can trace my decline to the first Brake job I did on a car. Changing your oil and rotating your tires? Piece of cake. Disk Brakes are even easier, but have the reputation of being scary. That was 20 years ago and everything else has just been building on that.
I used to install those fucking things and even I HATE them. Every one I know hates them.
Don’t get me wrong, for the job they’re designed for they do it very well. Installation however sucks balls.
I didn’t ignore anyone’s advice, but I did attempt to replace suspension mounts on a car once, because “how difficult can it be?”
A 1987 Ford Taurus, and this story takes place in 1995.
Driving home one day, at the end of the street, something “clunked” in the front steering. I nursed it home with difficult steering. The next day I noticed a suspension mount had broken. This thing looked like a hockey puck sandwiched between two steel plates. Well, the steel plates had rusted to the point where the integrity of the mount just failed, and thankfully at a low speed turning into my neighbourhood and not on the highway!
Anyway, I went to the dealer and ordered two new mounts; may as well replace both sides at this point.
The mounting bolt, through the middle of the hockey puck, was stubborn. I sprayed it with WD40 or penetrating oil or something, and it wouldn’t budge. So I went and purchased a very long socket extension bar. It was so good, that I snapped the mounting bolt in two.
So, now I have to attempt to drill into the snapped-off bolt and attempt to extract it with a bolt extraction kit, which I didn’t own and had to go out and buy. I think I might have also purchased my propane torch kit at the same time.
I tried on and off for days to get this damned bolt out and couldn’t. Eventually I had the car towed from my garage to a shop and had them do all the work.
Months later I serendipitously came across a secret recall on this model for this reason. I bundled up my receipts, presented them to Ford and they reimbursed all my costs, AND installed new suspension mounts just in case.
Thanks Ford. An excellent good-will gesture.
A guy who came out to fix our garage door spring a few years back told me a story about a guy who tried to fix one himself. He was using a couple of screwdrivers in the sprocket at the end of the spring to try to tighten it, his grip slipped, and one of the screwdrivers flew backwards and embedded itself in the back wall of the garage. :eek:
Mine would be putting up wallpaper. Tried it once. Just about ended our marriage, that one did.
Bathroom tile is my should have lsitened story. I do the plumbing, electrical. garage door springs, room additions, repair all the appliances but no more wall or counter tile for me. I just was not happy with my work. Looked ok but everytime I went in the room I could see my own mistakes. The torsion springs are actually easy once you know how to do them. Roofing is another one, I am just too old for that non sense anymore.
