Thoramel Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 (edited) 2 hours ago, Glitterwolf said: Question July 28th. How handy are you in and around the house? I'd classify myself as medium-level handy around the house. I can do minor fixes like drywall repair, most plumbing stuff, simple electrical work, removing and replacing cabinetry and counters, etc... The longer I own an older house the more handy I find I have to become. Lucky for me I'm friends with a high school shop teacher who moonlights as a handy man on the side. He has two rates: him doing the work himself, and him showing you how to do it and then coming back out if you screw it up yourself and helping you get it right. Which has been a good way to learn more about home repair. I don't mess with the gas lines though. Editing this to add that if you ask my wife how handy I am around the house you'll get a completely different answer. Probably because the kitchen faucet may be on backwards. But hey, it works, the hot and cold are on the correct sides, and I didn't have to pay anyone to do it! Edited July 28, 2021 by Thoramel 3 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klarg1 Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 2 hours ago, Glitterwolf said: Question July 28th. How handy are you in and around the house? Not very. and the vast array of adhesives I have accumulated through hobbying has made me more dangerous, not more handy. 5 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VitM Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 3 hours ago, Glitterwolf said: Question July 28th. How handy are you in and around the house? My handiness capability often exceeds my desire or motivation to do so; especially if hiring someone else is faster and/or relatively inexpensive. 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ttuckerman Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 3 hours ago, Glitterwolf said: Question July 28th. How handy are you in and around the house? Fairly, but not all that neat. I do carpentry, plumbing, electrical and technical. Mt wife will not let me up on a ladder (I am 70). Last thing was replacing a soft close drawer slide. Harder than it sounds. had to notch out the drawer bottom and extend the drawer back to accommodate the new slide. If I run into problems I can go to my brother in law who is a PHD shop teacher. 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CashWiley Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 4 hours ago, Glitterwolf said: Question July 28th. How handy are you in and around the house? I have more knowledge and skill than I have motivation or interest. I'm old enough that as a kid I was the free labor, so I've done all kinds of handywork. Stepfather was an electrician, so I can handle most electric stuff, we had a wood shop so I can do basic carpentry, etc. Plumbing I'll do the basics but if I have to sweat pipe I'll call a pro. I also used to paint houses for a while (I was roped into painting our clapboard farmhouse a couple times, so I was pretty good), did a couple years of grounds maintenance, etc. I enjoy being a jack of all trades, honestly. Gives me a general feeling of competence, and I'll tackle a lot of stuff but also have enough experience to know when to call a pro...and not after I'm elbow deep into something! Also helps with my day job, where I never know what I'm going to have to deal with or fix any given day. 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aku-chan Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 5 hours ago, Glitterwolf said: Question July 28th. How handy are you in and around the house? Not really. I can do very minor stuff but I'm also rather clumsy, still haven't replaced the electric drill I broke a few years ago after getting my hair tangled in it. 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranky Dog Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 (edited) 5 hours ago, Glitterwolf said: Question July 28th. How handy are you in and around the house? I'm not bad come to think of it. I know how to keep a house clean, how to cook, do laundry, iron and fold clothes. That I choose not to do most of them is unrelated to my skill level. I own a decent set of tools, am well equipped, and I know my limits (well some of them). So I know what I can do, what I'm allowed to do, and when I should call the superintendent instead or another pro to do it. So I'll play with my sound system speaker wires, but I'll leave connecting wires to the fuse box to someone else. I just like knowing how to do little things properly. Edited July 28, 2021 by Cranky Dog 7 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristof65 Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 4 hours ago, Glitterwolf said: Question July 28th. How handy are you in and around the house? Pretty good, thanks to the places I've worked over the years. Navy taught me electricity and troubleshooting, the amusement park taught me basic painting and plumbing skills, and when they built their new expansion using in house labor, I got to learn the basics of wiring, framing, drywall, laying tile, trim work, installing countertops & laminate and concrete work. The first car wash manufacturer I worked for honed my plumbing & electrical skills. Then my parents and sister acted as general contractors for the new house they were building in the mountains, and I got to refine many of those skills by helping them. I got to apply almost all of that when we bought our first single family home,, which was 40 years old at the time and my wife and I tackled a ton of upgrade projects - replaced toilets, painted all our kitchen cabinetry, painted the entire house inside/out. laid tile, replaced sinks, replaced light fixtures, made built in shelving, hung wall paper and much more. On a scale of 1 - 10, I'm probably a 7-8, but like @VitM, even when I know I'm capable of doing the repair/upgrade, I will often call a professional. Especially for any plumbing more complex than swapping out a sink or toilet. My reasoning for that is water damage and liability - if a pro makes a mistake that leads to leaking and water damage, they have liability, whereas if I do it, it all comes out of pocket. 4 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glitterwolf Posted July 28, 2021 Author Share Posted July 28, 2021 3 hours ago, malefactus said: I am pretty good at arranging to have someone who knows what they are about to come in & fix the problem. Doing it myself is an invitation to disaster. I'm very much like this, I can handle a few minor things but as soon as it has anything to do with Gas/Electra or Water I'm out. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGP Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 5 hours ago, Glitterwolf said: Question July 28th. How handy are you in and around the house? “…..I ain’t as good as I once was….” (Yes, there is a country and western song in there somewhere; No, I’m not gonna give a link to it; I am not really a C&W fan.) 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Dean Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 5 hours ago, Glitterwolf said: Question July 28th. How handy are you in and around the house? Not very! My wife and I have a reversal of stereotypically conventional roles thing going; I bake and she fixes things. 7 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paintybeard Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 21 hours ago, WhiteWulfe said: Sure do! Bonus Sir Forscale included too! Reveal hidden contents They're from Ikea, never need to be watered or trimmed, a rather handy perk. As for the two blocked out cubes, it's stuff that's too hot for Twitch / not appropriate for Discord or forum posting I used to have others (in the living room, where we have actual light), but we had this weird white fuzzy stuff come through the entire area and it took a huge toll on indoor plants (as well as those outdoors). No, it wasn't snow, was a weird white fuzzy stuff that clung to everything. Used to have a planted fish tank. I've been tempted to get one going again, but there isn't exactly anywhere in our current setup I could put one... To hell with the plants. I'm dribbling over all those nice modern tank kits! 5 hours ago, Glitterwolf said: Question July 28th. How handy are you in and around the house? Extremely useful. To quote Jerome K. Jerome: "Work fascinates me. I could sit and look at it for hours..." 3 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 5 hours ago, Glitterwolf said: Question July 28th. How handy are you in and around the house? Actually pretty good. Although after breaking my back, larger jobs do get hired out. 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteWulfe Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 6 hours ago, Glitterwolf said: Question July 28th. How handy are you in and around the house? Since it's technically a rental (parents own the place, not me) and it's an apartment style condo (aka an apartment building turned into condos) a lot of things are forced into going through someone else... But ignoring that, I'm more a minor repairs kind of guy, and prefer to farm things out to those who generally know what they're doing. First and foremost, yes it's more expensive, but if they can get the job done a lot quicker (and safer) due to it being their day in day out job, it means it's finished in a fraction of the time it would take me. There's also the liability/insurance side of it others mentioned. But yeah, could I redo drywall myself? Probably, but paying for a crew to come in, hang it, tape it, and then prep for painting also means I don't have to deal with that massive annoyance... I don't mess with things like power, gas, or water though. First because one mistake you're dead, second because one mistake and things go boom (so you're probably dead, or at least deafened), and third because pressurized hoses in walls are something you really don't want springing a leak. 17 minutes ago, paintybeard said: To hell with the plants. I'm dribbling over all those nice modern tank kits! They'll see the desk over time. The T-80U will more than likely have a Minotaur Demon Lord riding it as his "mount" into combat. There's also an M1150 Assault Breacher Vehicle from Rye Field Models, but that's over by the workbench and will probably see more work once I get the Revell A-10 assembled. 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicalFeline Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 6 hours ago, Glitterwolf said: Question July 28th. How handy are you in and around the house? Decently. I have a bit of a knack for poking around at stuff and thinking "Oh, so that's how that works, so if I do this, then that should work". Or if intuition isn't enough to get it done, I make a quick trip to Youtube Academy. Those guys can teach you how to do anything. The exception is cars. I can't fix cars. 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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