July 11, 2008 at 7:31 am
I used to be more DIY than I am now. I've built a bunch of electronic stuff. I wake up every morning still looking at my Heathkit GC-1005 digital clock (in 24 hour format of course). I've built other kits and repaired receivers, transmitters, etc.
I've done a whole bunch of wiring. Telephones, video, audio, satellite, CAT-5, AC power (mains). I'm no good at drywall but I could do framing. I was a two stroke nailer. One hit to start the nail and the next to drive it flush. Either hand. I can do that PVC drain plumbing.
I've built my own PCs (it's just another kit, no?) and done upgrades and mainteance on mainframes. I know how to DO all the stuff. My wife is so bored with me watching the DIY channel.
Had to give it all up. I can still do software. I can still design stuff.
ATBCharles Kincaid
July 11, 2008 at 7:35 am
True story -
When I was 5 my Dad gave his little girl (me) my own tool set. Not toy tools. Real tools. The next day he came home from work to discover me in the back yard with his lawn mower completely disassembled. 🙁 We spent a couple of hours putting it back together while he explained the parts and what they did. I have been a DIY ever since.
July 11, 2008 at 7:59 am
I'm afraid I fall squarely in the middle of the DIY/Pay Someone camps. I love woodworking, and the wife and I are excellent painters. But I won't do plumbing. I don't mind replacing electrical fixtures (lights, ceiling fans, etc.), but I won't touch the breaker box.
I remember catching fish on a fly I tied from a boat I built. That was a feeling of accomplishment. I make the occasional Adirondack chair (I get $150 for them) and turn pens, bowls, and wine-bottle stoppers on my lathe.
But, when I get home I seldom touch the PC. In fact the more I work with/on computers, the more I wish I could be a carpenter.
Lux
July 11, 2008 at 8:11 am
As a female, of course I'm a DIY'er!
Not only that, but whilst I'm building the fence I'll be ironing my hubby's shirts, washing up, making the tea and helping my Dad with his computer - over the phone.
If I had the money, somebody else would do all those jobs and leave me to chat to my Dad.....
If I had the time I'd get my Hubby to do it.....
Since I don't have either...
July 11, 2008 at 8:13 am
I don't consider myself a DIY'er but will fix things if it means saving money. I recently replaced the sump pump and painted the lower part of the house (exterior). I planned on painting the whole thing, but came to my senses and realized it's not worth the risk breaking my neck. Professionals (actually one person) came in and completed the job in two days, whereas I would have spent the entire summer painting. The next project is replacing the shower in master bath. I've put that off for about three years. Anyone know any good installers in the Chicago area??
July 11, 2008 at 8:16 am
I'm DIY in some areas, and leave others to the pros. I worked summers for a painting and papering contactor in high school, so I picked up a few things that have served me well in remodelling tasks. I also do leather working as a hobby, and back when I was in in the Society for Creative Anachronism, I made plate, leather, and mail armor.
Auto-wise, I can really only work on pre-1980 V-8s. My dad and I rebuilt a few engines in my various high school era junkers.
The gaming PC I bought in March is the first one I've had in 8 years that I didn't build from scratch. Ironically, I do most of the PC maintenance at my place, even though my roommate is an A+ certified former assembly-line QA tech for Foxcon. He hates working on PCs. For me it's fun.
July 11, 2008 at 8:25 am
In theory I would like to be a DIY'er but in practice I'm really not. I once decided to paint my house myself, and discovered that I really just don't have the steady hands or patience to do a good job. Edges were not my friend. I thought laying tile looked fun, but realistically my knees can't handle hard floors. I think I would enjoy something like carpentry, since I like making things and spend a lot of my free time doing one of the DIY crafts that I *am* very good at which is knitting. But, I don't have any tools and since my honey converted the garage to a game room we wouldn't have any place to put them even if I did.
So realistically, my idea of DIY is to look up the phone # of the vendor/handyman online and call them to make the appointment 🙂
--
Anye Mercy
"Service Unavailable is not an Error" -- John, ENOM support
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." -- Inigo Montoya in "Princess Bride"
"Civilization exists by geologic consent, subject to change without notice." -- Will Durant
July 11, 2008 at 8:30 am
Although I love to do things myself I forgot to add...
If I can work an hours overtime and get paid more than it costs to pay a professional I work the overtime.
July 11, 2008 at 8:31 am
Interesting timing since I'm taking next week off work to do some DIY in a bedroom.
Current task list:
Strip walls, fix plaster (skim), sand woodwork, paint woodwork, lay laminate floor (including edge), assemble bed frame.
Optional tasks:
Replace radiator, check/replace electrical outlets.
I'm a DIYer who will do anything I have (or can get) the tools for. I disagree with the comment that all DIYer do a poor job compared to professionals. The professionals may do a better job faster, but, in general, I can often manage to do things just as well. In addition, of course, I don't cut corners and, for example, will paint carefully in the awkward place where people can't really see, just because I *know* it's there and someone may look up and see it!
I also object to paying good money for someone to do something I enjoy doing. 🙂
Derek
July 11, 2008 at 8:48 am
DIY! Over the top!
If I don't know how then my wife does. In the last 5 years we've done electrical, plumbing, tile, wood flooring, roofing, dry wall, natural clay plastering, door and window replacements, landscaping, retaining walls, brick patios, decking. Advise - find a general contractor/ handyman that is willing to work with you and your obsession to do everything.
But it's worse than just construction and maintenance. We have to paint our own pictures or make our own art for wall hangings, clocks, blankets.
And I'll tear apart anything, the frig, the stove, the computer, the car. It amazes me that there are so many extra parts to things...:w00t:
July 11, 2008 at 9:14 am
I typically do it myself (historically of financial necessity and later because I like making/repairing certain things).
However, I'm not one of the "bodgers" someone else mentioned. I enclosed a carport to add a room to a previous house. The city allowed a homeowner to do all the work, including electrical, (yes, I got permits) and the city inspector only had one question about my work: "Are you an electrician?"
I don't do roofing.
I make printed circuit boards but don't do copper plumbing 😉
What have I worked on? Painting (interior and exterior), wallpapering, sheetrock (probably won't do another room), plumbing faucet/fixture replacement and plastic pipe installation, suspended ceiling, garage door opener, appliances (including the transmission on a clothes washer), lawn equipment (electric and gasoline powered), automobile repairs (including rebuilding engines - from a flat head V8 to an overhead cam 4), battery powered riding toys, an electric wheelchair. I've started doing some woodworking - current project is to add skirting to the removable leaves of the dining table (matching the design and finish of the table). The Atlanta area has been under severe outdoor water use restrictions for over a year, so I designed and installed a rainwater harvesting system (current capacity of 400 gallons, will upgrade it to 1000 gallons this year).
I've had a couple of articles on modifying commercial equipment published in amateur radio magazines ($$). The last two desktop computer upgrades were DIY - new parts in an old case.
Because my wife's laptop was painfully slow in finding the wireless network, I ran CAT5 to to it this week (using an eletrician's flexible shaft drill bit to get down through the wall and into the basement - and ran a second CAT5 line while I was there).
For the UK reader who didn't recognize "tie rod end" in the context of a lawn mower: riding mowers come in large sizes and the steering linkage is very similar to an automibile. Example:
http://www.usa.husqvarna.com/node3099.aspx?nid=45808&pid=73321#
"Bush Hog" is a brand of brush cutter; it's a farm tractor mounted and powered rotary mower (translation: lawn mower on massive amounts of steroids 😉 They have large, heavy blades and can cut down brush with trunks 3 inches in diameter. Example:
http://www.bushhog.com/ProductSeries.aspx?ID=47
John
July 11, 2008 at 9:19 am
Absolutley a DIYer. I built my own house also (under the expert guidance of my brother in law). I won't paint or do drywall though, I know I'm horrible at those tasks. I'm also a bit of a Luddite. I refuse to use a log splitter, I make my firewood with an ax, sledge & wedge, and a maul. I actually prefer physical labor to my DBA job, but alas it doesn't pay nearly as well.
July 11, 2008 at 9:32 am
In this darn age, I think most people are DIY. "We" (my husband and I) do a lot of stuff ourself. Projects includes Generaling my own house when we build our home. We probably saved 60k-100K by beying our own general contractor (it is legal to general your own home without a general contractor license at my city) the work ourself.
We pull my own permit, and work with the architech to design just the way I like it. I worked with the framers, plumber and the rest of the crews on everything that is needed. We don't always give my bid to the lowest or highest bidder.
On a smaller scale, we do cement work, cement retaining wall, springler system with 12 zone, landscaping such as laying sod and planting trees, built a nice shed, play ground for the kids, and crown molding and everything else that we need inside the house that we want to add on after the house is finish.
By the way, when I said I or We, I actually mean my husband 🙂 I just come up with the projects, and my husband works on them while I take care of our children. We are both in IT not in construction 🙂
Sopheap
July 11, 2008 at 9:35 am
thelabwiz (7/11/2008)
http://www.usa.husqvarna.com/node3099.aspx?nid=45808&pid=73321#%5B/quote%5D
I'm not the poster in question, but I can understand the lapse in understanding. Most of us in the UK don't have gardens big enough to really warrant ride-on mowers, whilst I suspect in the US the assumption is that a mower will have a seat and wheels. Different perspective.
Semper in excretia, sumus solum profundum variat
July 11, 2008 at 9:42 am
I knew you were a bunch of tinkerers and it's interesting to see how many people enjoy working with wood.
For a few items:
A bush hog is a brand of rotary mower, actually it's a company and they make other things, but generically, it's a mower. It connects to the tractor and has large metal blades, each about 24-30" long, about 6-8 lbs of iron. Here's an image: http://www.fleming-agri.co.uk/Images/Products/finsh%20mow%20x3bldes.JPG
Mine is smaller, one tire, one rotating item with 2 blades.
A loafing shed is kind of like a lean-to, 2 or 3 sided shed for the horses. I've seen them built in various ways, commercial ones are metal framed, relatively easily moved, and have to be chained down. We had a good spot in a set pasture, so I built one out of wood and metal, set into the ground. Actually starting work on a second this weekend.
http://alamobuildings.com/images/loafingsheds/lg10X30LSKICKGUARD.jpg
Tie Rods, you have htem in most vehicles, including your cars. They connect the wheel to the steering and turn the wheel. So the axle is usually fixed, but the wheel can turn on it. The tie rod roughly parallels the axle, and then connect to the side of the metal rim and pulls the wheel to turn in the other direction. Right tie rod pulls the wheel to face left.
Mine got bent with an over-aggresive 15year old cutting pasture last year, and rather than pack up the little tractor and drive it somewhere, a chore in itself, I got an exploded diagram and figured out how to replace it. Cost my about $20 + a trip to the store, would have been $100 easy taking it in, plus two trips.
I do agree a professional often does a much better job at things. A friend owns a drywall business and I've watched him fix holes for me that I couldn't figure out where it was patched after an hour. Can't say the same thing for me, but I also can't say the same thing for many "professionals" Professionals are across all levels of quality and not necessarily better than the DIYer.
If there's something I have to have fixed properly or I'm being paid for, then I should be professional. If I'm hacking around on my system, I'm professional enough. And by the way, I've found that as far as electricians go, I'm about middle of the pack. I've had my work inspected by the city a few times, they think I do a good job, better than average, though sometimes lacking the professional look that the better people do. However it's not slapped together like some of the journeymen people and I tend to slightly exceed code in securing wire.
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