Do you fix things yourself?

[Lizzie]

Hello everyone,

I hope you are having a great week.

From time to time, in any normal accommodation, there are minor repairs or improvements. For these little things you do not necessarily have to be a trained craftsman, but a certain skill will certainly benefit. 🙂 For my part I like to take small repairs in my flat into my own hands and admittedly, there are times I have thought to myself this wasn't the best idea, but most of the time it works out well! 

Are you a person who fixes things yourself? A little craftsman/woman, so to speak (I have a sneaky feeling many of your are). It would be great to hear about your last project you worked on?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks so much,

Lizzie

[Lizzie]

Wow, @Calvin48, this sounds like a great project. What was the hardest part of renovating your garage? 

[Calvin48]

The un-level garage floors! I had to measure each stud (vertical 2x4s placed every 16”) to make sure the height was correct.

I thought insulation was going to be hard to install but it actually went up really easy. 

The trim work and hanging the doors was actually more didficult than I thought. I learned a lot in that regard. 

Its been great to show friends and guests what is possible with a 2 car garage. Light bulbs go on and they say “I could do something like this!”

[Daniel1992]

It really depends on what needs repaired.

If it's something with furniture, I'll handle it.  Scratches on the floor or wall, I'll handle it.  If a drain gets clogged, I'll call the plumber.  It helps having a home warranty!

[Kathie21]

I do painting - for everything else I keep a husband.

[Rachel0]

@Kathie21 I've got one of those.  He won't even change a light bulb without making it seem like I am asking him to rewire Piccadilly Circus.  

[Kathie21]

@Rachel0  Duff model ☹

[Sarah977]

@Rachel0   My daughter told me about a sign she saw posted in a hardware store-  "Ladies, please, cut your husband some slack. He'll get around to that project you need done when he has time. You don't have to keep nagging him about it every year."

[Betty124]

Ha! 

[Heather32]

Gosh, it depends first on if I feel confident with the fix. Then, do I have time?

The last few fixes involved creating a drainage system for window installed AC units. I added drip pans under the units with drains leading out to the garden on all the second floor lanais.

Before that, it was cleaning and restoring a wood floor (time consuming, but way cheaper to do myself!).

During our busy season it is way more cost effective for me to hire one of our fab local maint. people.

[Lizzie]

Oo @Heather32, you do sounds like your quite handy.

I love wooden floors and I think what is amazing about renovating them, is that you can turn something dark and dingy into something magnificent, which can make the whole room change dramatically. As you say though, very time consuming. Did you have to restore all the floors in your home? 

[Heather537]

These floors are actually fairly new, but about 20 year old cherry.  They need to be stripped and refinished. I'm avoiding sanding. 

It's a one bed condo,  about 50 yrs old, 500sf.

I just redid the living area and entry. 

[Emily352]

I’m not a craft lady. Do more harm than good. With me you have a certainty: everything I touch…turns to dust. If I have to knock a nail into a wall, I do not make a hole. No, I dig the Gran Sasso tunnel. And in much less time. I change the light bulb and I break the chandelier. One damage after another. As Mick Jagger screams “I can’t get no satisfaction”, I can’t get no satisfaction in one of these do-it-yourself works.

So, young hostesses, if you are like me, a huge klutz, a do-it-yourself indomitable inept, curvy like a piece of nougat, forget the handsome type, the intelligent or rich man, generally superlative idiots who if they dismantle the clock radio, they do not know how to reassemble it and when  they move a nightstand, they’ll get the hernia.

If you do not want hosting gives you shreds of hell, if you do not want to give a million bucks to a craftsman and in a month or two everything goes back to how it was before, grab a do-it-yourself kind of guy that knows how to use the drill. You misunderstood me! Not the metaphorical drill, merry wives of Windsor. Exactly the one with the bits. A primitive caveman who, with the club in his hand, puts up those shelves you wanted and fixes stuff around your house before the arrival of new guests. Mamma mia,  see that satisfaction.

[Susan17]

@Emily0 I'll take a primitive caveman, over fixing things myself, all day long!! Some things I'm good at - but DIY will *never* be one of them 🙂

[JB6]

Our general rule is that major plumbing and AC/Heat/HVAC issues get a repairman.  Otherwise, we do the work ourselves, from building out the interior of our cabins (electrical, tile, minor plumbing, floors, paint, etc).  We designed our two most recent cabins with simplicity in mind - we do all the cleaning, so we don't have a lot of knickknacks or other ornamentation that needs dusting.  The floors are waterproof and easily mopped, since our area goes from dust to mud and back.  We use composite decking front and back because it is easy to clean, doesn't splinter, and takes our heat really well.  All plumbing runs along one outside facing wall, so repairs and maintenance areas are limited.  We do throw a few nice features in, have a small kitchenette, and a tiled shower.   But the goal is keep it simple, because then most of your repairs are simple.

[Avery10]

Generally, yes, we repair things ourselves.  However, do to the location of our AirBnB rental being 4.5 hours from our home, sometimes this is not practical.

My husband has a bag of tools he throws in the back of the van whenever we head up for a weekend away with the family.  I think he just likes puttering around!

Every host is different, and everyone's economics are different.  To each, their own.

Avery