My introductory blog as the new Feature Writer. Some of my adventures with roof re-shingling, clothes dryer repair, renegade plumbing, and subsequent laminate flooring.
August 10, 2007 Are You a Do-It-Yourselfer?
Hi! This is my first blog on this site since I was just appointed Feature Writer here in the Home Reno and Repair section of Suite101. I'm happy to be here and hope this will be a useful area for all of you do-it-yourselfer's out there.
So what makes a DIY'er tick? I like to think it's not just the sense of adventure but maybe pride, as in, “I want to do it myself.” And well yes, I'll admit there is the element of saving a few bucks here and there. Not that I'm saying we're cheap!
For instance a couple of months ago I fixed our clothes dryer, even though I had never worked on one before. With the handy Internet it was a snap. I found the drawings, probable diagnosis, and bought a new heating element on-line. Heck, a repairman would have charged me $50 just to look at it and then marked the part up 30%. And I found out that a dryer is a remarkably simple appliance.
Having said that, there's one job I won't do: re-shingle a roof. I did one after a hurricane here in the midst of a Texas summer. Let me tell you, roofers don't make enough money.
My current project is replacing our home's floors with laminate. It was a remodel I had thought about for a long time but my hand was forced by fate. One afternoon as I pulled my pickup into the driveway I found myself wondering why water was gushing out from under the front door and garage doors. Uh, oh...
Well, it turned out that the hot water supply line on a pedestal sink in a bathroom had burst. I have no idea how long it had been running but you don't want to see the water bill from that month. Well, I didn't like the old carpet much anyway....
