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

[Ana1136]

I do small things like changing the lights, fixing simple apliances and the main thing guests get so confused about - cleanin the filter in the tub that colects the hair so that we don't have to unclog the drains, you just pick it up and clean it. Once a lady was sceamed so loudly and was so scared when she saw that I was going to change the lightbulb myself, she thought I would get electrocuted and wouldn't let me do it, she insisted I called an electrician. So, I called my father to come downstairs and told her he was one, because if I called a real electrician they would probably thing I am joking and wouldn't come. My father is in charge for the bigger things, he can fix anything arround the house. Most of the people here can fix things arround the house themselves or have a relative that can help, the only time a handyman gets called here is when something is under guarantee 🙂

[Betty124]

🙂

A light bulb!

[Rebecca160]

@Lizzie I do almost all of my home repairs myself: electrical, mechanical, carpentry, painting, etc. I am a mechanical engineer and have a lot of experience in the construction field. Some of my neighbors call me to fix broken things  or give advice on issues in their homes, too.  Of course, I fully admit when I am stumped or do not have the tools, training or experience to address an issue. 

[Lizzie]

Hey @Rebecca160, 

How are you? 

Wow, you have lots of very useful skills. What kind of things do you find you have to fix most often?

[Rebecca160]

Hi, @Lizzie !

Items most needing fixing around here are usually related to plumbing, such as leaking faucets, broken sprinklerlines (mostly from my active dog) & clogged pipes. I have a pretty good array of plumbing tools for plastic, steel and copper pipe.  

A bad hail storm damaged my roof, causing a lot of interior damage. When the roof eventually gets professionally replaced (I can and have done repairs, but the entire roof is trashed), I will do all of the interior repairs to ceiling, walls and floors and tile work. 

Recently, I repainted my Airbnb guest bedroom, my living room, hallways and kitchen in bright colors. Painting in general is not that difficult, but the prep work is tiring and when using the bold colors next to a different color, I had to be super careful.  It was fun to experiment in the Airbnb room with a darker green wash over a lighter green. Gives it an oceanic feel. Painting & tile work.Painting.

I am super impressed to see so many handy women on this thread!

[Cynthia406]

Its hard to find time to fix things not to mention the fact that i would probably make things worse. That would be a handy idea. No pun intended. lol I have a guy i found that is very reasonable and lives close by. Its a good idea to find someone you can trust and rely on. Will make your life lots easier. 

[Alon28]

I do a quick checkup before each guest, tighetning screws and applying small fixes when possible.

We assemble furniture and hang stuff on walls on our own, but for the "important stuff" - water-related, electricity, A/C, smoke detector - I'd rather have someone professional do the work. I admit it's sometimes a hassle to find and coordinate with the right person, but I'd rather know my guests are safe.

[Pat96]

I taught myself to do plumbing and electrical by buying those helpful DIY books at Home Depot. Before moving to Williamsburg, my husband died, and I painted, changed faucets and lighting my old home prior to sale. Now, I can change out faucets, fix the toilet and change electrical fixtures. Those books on how to are great. Now we have YouTube. I fixed my refrigerator and screened porch door myself. YouTUbe is amazing. Painting is a breeze. So are sewing and hanging curtains. I've put up useful shelves in the guest bedroom as well as the bathroom. I tried recently to hang a set of IKEA shelves in my sewing room. To my great consteration, the whole shelving unit had to be assembled first. There was no putting up the brackets and then hanging the shelf. I called a friend from church who was strong enough to hold up the shelves and drill the pilot holes. I am getting old. I live alone with my cat and have the guest room & bath in a private hallway which my guests seem to really like. I have part time help cleaning for the whole house and the off week I do it all myself. 

[Helen427]

@Pat96Good on you for doing all these tasks yourself.

It's great to see someone who still does there own sewing and crafts, it's a talent we need to see taught in schools again from a young age.

Do you pull apart and give your sewing machine a service as well?

I used to when I was doing my own sewing, clothes and a bit of millinery.

Keep up the great work, and your profile listing is fabulous, give your kitty a cuddle for me!

[Pat96]

Hi Helen, I've read the sewing machine manuals and I can do a general cleaning with the little brush and those great cans of compressed air, then oil. I do the serger, a 1952 Singer and a newer Janome. Keeps them happy and purring along!  I used to live on acreage in the country, and we had a farm tractor with a loader, I moved in town when my husband died. He taught me how to change the oil filter, bleed the diesel fuel line, grease the zerks on the tractor and equipment and change over the mower to the snow blade. Whew. He was a retied Navy chief, and was good at training people, so I am grateful for his encouragement, and 'give it a try' type of confidence. 

I totally agree on the sewing and household skills. young people don't even know how to clean, and knowing how to cook, clean a kitchen and then sew at least pillows, throws and even a pair of pyjama pants is dead easy! I made martial arts pants for my instructors - just black cotton and used a pj pant pattern - look great and no one would suspect they were a pj pattern. 

thank you for your kind  complement! Cary Kitty loves visitors who have cats - she seems to know....

hugs

Pat

[Sarah977]

@Pat96   A friend of mine who also sews turned me onto a better alternative to sewing machine oil. Silicone spray works great, gets in all the little parts, and doesn't leave oil residue on the machine and hence possibly on the fabric in case you missed wiping the oil up well. Good for door hinges and such, as well. I have industrial machines- straight stitch and serger- they weigh a few hundred pounds each, so not something easily transportable to a repairman. I've had to learn to troubleshoot and repair them myself.  Serger is mega complicated, luckily nothing's gone majorly wrong with it. And what I never knew about industrial machines before I had them is that there is an oil reservoir under the machine, with an oil pump and wicks which automatically keep the machine oiled. I change out that oil once a year, as it starts to look dirty.

[Rebecca160]

I love to sew! And I have a sewing business, too for custom clothing and light up faux fur creations. 

Geez, I thought I was doing good with a couple of Sergers, a Brother, a Singer and a Janome Heavy duty machine, but I do not have any industiral machines like you do, Sarah! there is a Makerspace that has an industrial sewing machine with an oil pump that I have been wanting to try out for my think leather creations. It would be more fun to come visit you and try out your machines.  😉  

It is rather sad that many younger folks do not even know how to sew on a button or hem a pair of pants. The basic skills are easy. Not sure if it is a cultural thing or whether there is not quite that instantansous gratification such as that they get from being online all of the time. 

[Sarah977]

@Rebecca160   Well, I used to love to sew, but since doing it for a living for the past 17 years, the thrill is gone 🙂 I got by with an old clunky Brother, the kind that comes on a base, and a domestic serger for years. Then quite by luck, I was in a little furniture store in my area, and mentioned to the owner that if he ever wanted to have cushions made for any of the wooden chairs he sold, that was my business. He then told me he had 2 industrial machines for sale, that he used to be a tailor, but doesn't do that anymore. I said I really only needed the straight stitch machine, as I just use the serger to finish off the edges, and my domestic worked fine for that. He only wanted to sell both together and sold them BOTH to me for $200. They were in immaculate condition, with spare parts and all. Moving them was the hard part- even though you can detach the actual machine part from the base, it still took 3 guys to lift them in and out of the truck and move them into my shop, they're so heavy.

Now I don't know how I ever got along with those little domestic machines, the industrials go so much faster. I still use a simple little basic Singer for light weight stuff, but all the upholstery work gets done on the industrials. 

I'd LOVE it if you came down- I'd give you a crash course in using them and then I'd pay you to help me out, as I get swamped with work.

[Pat96]

YouTube even had a how to change the light switch inside the door of a refrigerator. I ordered the part - $3.98 - and after a long time of fussing with it, I got the old switch removed and in seconds had the new one installed.  Saved me $$$ to hire someone.

[Helen427]

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@Pat96 wrote:

YouTube even had a how to change the light switch inside the door of a refrigerator. I ordered the part - $3.98 - and after a long time of fussing with it, I got the old switch removed and in seconds had the new one installed.  Saved me $$$ to hire someone.

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@Pat0

Oh for the good old days when homes had a "safe" to store food items to keep them cool and stored.

My neighbours villa has one and the current occupants didn't know what it was originally for.

Maybe we need to start making them in homes again to help reduce all the "junk" in the environment.