Basic home repairs are so much fun, arent they?

[Traab]

So my house had two issues, one, the front door lock was so old the keys didnt even work with it very well anymore, and two, one of the cheap venetian blinds was only staying up by a thread because the plastic bits that attach it to the wall were busted. Then that fell down today. So I went down to home depot, picked up a standard schlage front door handle/lock setup and a set of cheap blinds. Anyone every do this before? Its really simple. For the front door, two screws hold on the handle, two more hold in the latch part. Both sides of the door slot in together going through the bolt so the handle will turn it. Easy peasy, like 2 minutes of work.

Well first, because im stupid, I removed the handle before I opened the door. Said door is now shut with one half of the knob in my hand, the other on the ground outside. /face palm. I go around front and use that half of the doorknob to open the door. Then I remove the old latch, put in the new one nice and simple, old screw holes all line up perfectly. I put together the two halves and have some trouble, first I did the top screw which made it harder to line up the bottom screw, so I pulled that out and started again. Then for some mysterious reason the knob halves refused to link together. Took like 5 minutes of pull apart, line up, push together to make it work. So I got it together, this is 15 minutes into a 5 minute job. Only to discover I was born brain dead, the latch is on backwards so it jams on the latch plate when i try to close it and wont stay closed at all. /sigh I take it all apart again, flip the latch around, spend ANOTHER 5-10 minutes making the two halves link up. Done, the door closes smoothly. Oh wait, it wont actually LATCH. It just slides back open again! I figure maybe I needed to replace the plate so I switch it out, easy peasy, but no love, it still wont latch. I fiddle around a bit, trying to alter the position of the plate a bit so it will catch but it doesnt work. I go online to youtube, pull up a tutorial on how to fix this, turns out the best way is to take a flat head screwdriver, place it at the bottom of the plate, then whack it with a hammer to shift it down a little. That does it, the door now stays shut! Total time, 30-45 minutes for a 5 minute job.

ON TO THE WINDOW!!!!! Ok, another job that is stupid easy. Two screws to remove the remains of the old window shade holders. Thats simple enough, got my drill to yank em out. Turns out these blinds get attached slightly differently, basically, instead of along the right and left side of the window on the side, its mounted to the top a few inches in from each side for stability. No problem says I, I can do that fine. Hey, have you ever tried to shove a 5 pound drill over your head, leaning forward to go over a desk while trying to screw in a screw that has no guide hole for it straight up? Its.... its not easy. Isometrics are the devil's workout. I manage to drop the screws three times getting the first holder into place which means my 300 pound carcass has to climb up and down out of the chair im standing on over and over to go look for a screw that fell behind my computer desk. Thats also not easy fyi. About 15 minutes into putting in my 4th screw I have a minor breakdown and need to take a rest. Im ticked, exhausted, and this last screw refuses to not fall off of my drill every time I attempt to push upwards even slightly so this screw can, you know, get into the spot it needs to go. After a quick break, I climb back up there and finish the job, the shade clips in nice and easy, so does the rod that tilts the blinds open or closed, and im done. My second 5 minute job done in a half hour.

But at least now I can lock my door, and stop providing a free show to anyone who wants to look into my dining room window. And all it cost me was an hour, my sanity, oh, and I ripped my pants along the crotch on the last trip down the chair, because of course I did. Anyone want to buy a house? I swear that indian burial ground its apparently built on doesnt hold a grudge. Its just a coincidence that literally nothing can go smoothly here.

[snowblizz]

Make sure to check you put the screwheads on the *inside* of the house. I've played around with the doorhandle at my parent's and found it held the thing together much better that way. If you want any Tom, **** or Harry with a screwdriver to be able to take off the lock. So I had to put it all back and the damn handle is still wobbly. I hate those screws with a socket to hit on the other side with a passion. Never get the holes lined up.


And yes, it's always a good thing to watch the youtube vids first. That's how I turned a "omg how can this outdoor faucet be leaking" into a 5 minutes cleanout job.

[Traab]

Make sure to check you put the screwheads on the *inside* of the house. I've played around with the doorhandle at my parent's and found it held the thing together much better that way. If you want any Tom, **** or Harry with a screwdriver to be able to take off the lock. So I had to put it all back and the damn handle is still wobbly. I hate those screws with a socket to hit on the other side with a passion. Never get the holes lined up.


And yes, it's always a good thing to watch the youtube vids first. That's how I turned a "omg how can this outdoor faucet be leaking" into a 5 minutes cleanout job.

Well in this case its easy because an outdoor handle has the key slot while the indoor part with the button lock has the screwholes so its at least a little harder to mess that part up without noticing pretty dang quick. The thing is, neither time was it the first, or even the second time ive done this. Ive put up numerous blinds, and changed multiple doorknobs inside and out, so its not like it held any real surprises, its just nothing was willing to go SMOOTHLY.

[razorback]

One thing you might want to do while it's fresh is to replace the screws with long, grade 1 screws. 3" if you can manage it in the frame. While it might seem minor it actually does a lot to reinforce the frame and lock.

[Sermil]

And then you get those people who can just fix something that should take 10 minutes in like 5 seconds....

Our front door expanded a bit and wouldn't close properly. You had to really shove it to get the latch to stay, and finally it was to the point that we always had to lock the deadbolt to keep it shut. Been like that, super annoying, for at least a year. I had no idea how to fix it.

One day, we called our contractor guy, Doug, to fix a broken kitchen cabinet. He walked in, shut the door, noticed it wasn't closed properly. Took out his tools; swear to God, 5 seconds later, door closed perfectly. Don't even know what he did, but it works perfectly now. Wasn't even what we called him for, and he didn't even bother billing us for it, it was just that trivial for him.

Some people just have the skill, and some people (me) don't.

[shawnhcorey]

Well first, because im stupid, I removed the handle before I opened the door.

You could open the door from the inside with a large screwdriver. Inside, the handle connected to the latch via a square shaft. With a screwdriver large enough, it would span the diagonal of the square and allow you to turn the latch.



One day, we called our contractor guy, Doug, to fix a broken kitchen cabinet. He walked in, shut the door, noticed it wasn't closed properly. Took out his tools; swear to God, 5 seconds later, door closed perfectly. Don't even know what he did, but it works perfectly now.

What he did was to shave the door where it was binding. You can always tell where a door is binding because of the scratch marks on the frame.

[DwarvenWarCorgi]

One thing you might want to do while it's fresh is to replace the screws with long, grade 1 screws. 3" if you can manage it in the frame. While it might seem minor it actually does a lot to reinforce the frame and lock.

Talking about the screws in the latch plate. Agreed, makes it much harder to kick a door in if the plate is anchored to the framing of the wall instead of just the doorframe.

[halfeye]

Talking about the screws in the latch plate. Agreed, makes it much harder to kick a door in if the plate is anchored to the framing of the wall instead of just the doorframe.

With the downside that if they succeed, you need to repair your wall as well as your doorframe.

[Algeh]

Arrrgh home ownership. I went through and changed all the locks on my house myself shortly after I bought it. I'd helped a buddy do the same thing after his divorce, so I "knew" that I knew how to do it and that it really wasn't that hard. I went to the hardware store, picked up the new locks, got things re-keyed as needed so they'd all be a matched set, and headed home for a "small afternoon project".

I did not know that deadbolt holes came in sizes.

Of course, since I was home alone and had just removed all of the locking hardware from my front door, this was not a good time to go buy a hole saw. (That's still on my vague Homeowner To-Do List, actually.) The closest thing I could find in the limited pile of stuff I'd unpacked so far was my artistic woodcarving kit (for making block prints), so I ended up spending a surly hour or two with my largest gouge making a bigger but weirdly tapered artisanal hole in my front door. I am sure it will provide some future locksmith or homeowner with some extreme bafflement when they see the raggedly-carved mess under my deadbolt some day, since it's clear that a wildly incorrect tool was used there and it would have been so much less work to do it properly.

Also, I cannot get the doorknob off of one of my bathroom doors. I suspect it was somehow installed improperly by the previous owners. This is the same doorknob that also has a broken button such that you can't open the lock from the outside by putting in a pin as is usual with bathroom doors. (You can, however, force open the lock by applying enough torque to the doorknob with a wrench. This was not one of my first five guesses, but at some point you just try each tool in the toolbox in turn because you want your bathroom back.)

[darkrose50]

The hardest part of home repairs, and/or remodeling is getting the contractor to show up and/or finish on time. We have a cleaning lady that shows up about half the time, and when she shows up half the time she is hours late. When we remodeled the kitchen and the bath the contractors would come out in random intervals.

I am pretty sure that the folks I hire take new jobs, juggle them, and that completing any of the jobs on time is not a top priority (getting new work, starting the new work, and doing enough to keep the customers from firing them seems to be the priority). My goal is to get it done, and there goal is to make sure they have a steady income. A large part of the job of a general contractor seems to be mainly getting people to show up and work. Not that I have hired anyone like that for a job (mine have all been small).

My cousin is a tattoo artist. Someone bought the tattoo shop, and tried to get the tattoo artists to show up on-time and on a regular schedule. Basically my cousin said that they are tattoo artists because they cannot show up on-time and on a regular schedule (in general, he shows up just fine). I think this is also, in part, why my cleaning lady cannot seem to show up on-time and regularly.

My employer was like that for a while. If you came in late, then you just worked extra hours. Some folks would just come in whenever, and then stay to make up the hours. Then they went the complete and opposite direction for a while (folks were supposed to get fired at 50-points and we had folks with 2-4 times that walking around). Now we have much more happy normal attendance policy. Basically they would hire gobs and gobs of people for the season (if you could pass the test, then you would get hired for the season), and keep the best agents based pretty-much on sales alone.

We are getting new doors put in, and I am taking wagers on how long it will take the contactor to show up and/or finish.

[Aliquid]

I spent four hours the other weekend trying to figure out why my toilet was leaking and dripping on the floor behind it (and doing water damage... took a while to notice it was happening). Well after four hours of swearing, I finally figured out that there was a hairline crack in a PVC pipe that shouldn't have had a crack in it... it was just fluke and desperation that I happened to look there.

The next day I added a ceiling fan in a room with a very old electrical box for the existing light... clearly not capable of holding up a ceiling fan. Another four hours of swearing to make that work.

Yeah, it would be faster to get a contractor to do these things, but I'm way too cheap, and they charge a lot for little jobs like that.

[Peelee]

I spent four hours the other weekend trying to figure out why my toilet was leaking and dripping on the floor behind it (and doing water damage... took a while to notice it was happening). Well after four hours of swearing, I finally figured out that there was a hairline crack in a PVC pipe that shouldn't have had a crack in it... it was just fluke and desperation that I happened to look there.

Having not too long ago uninstalled old toilets and installed new ones, what was a PVC pipe doing near your toilet that was making a leak behind it?

[tyckspoon]

.. weirdly tapered artisanal hole...


The next time I half-ass/mess up trying to set up some drywall anchors (there's places that have had waaayyy too many different sets of curtain rods put up so the drywall is more hole than drywall, I probably just need to rip it out and put in one of those metal-mesh supported patches at some point) I'm going to excuse is 'rustic artisanal crafts.'

[Aliquid]

Having not too long ago uninstalled old toilets and installed new ones, what was a PVC pipe doing near your toilet that was making a leak behind it?

It had a bit of an odd design... but basically there was a short PVC pipe that came out of the tank and then had a gasket wrapped around it where it met the bowl. This pipe had a hairline crack in it (above the gasket), so whenever the toilet flushed a small amount of the water that came out of the tank leaked into the space between the tank and bowl.

[Traab]

The hardest part of home repairs, and/or remodeling is getting the contractor to show up and/or finish on time. We have a cleaning lady that shows up about half the time, and when she shows up half the time she is hours late. When we remodeled the kitchen and the bath the contractors would come out in random intervals.

I am pretty sure that the folks I hire take new jobs, juggle them, and that completing any of the jobs on time is not a top priority (getting new work, starting the new work, and doing enough to keep the customers from firing them seems to be the priority). My goal is to get it done, and there goal is to make sure they have a steady income. A large part of the job of a general contractor seems to be mainly getting people to show up and work. Not that I have hired anyone like that for a job (mine have all been small).

.

Yes. I worked for a boss like this. I did low voltage work, fire and security systems mainly. Our day was so stupidly inefficient. Go to work site 1 for 2 hours, leave and go to work site 2 for a couple hours, and at any point if someone called screaming loud enough we dropped everything to go to work site 3 to do whatever job he took on then promptly ignored till now. It was awful. We could have done each job one per day most likely, its not THAT hard to drill holes in the frame of a new house and run wires through it all then come back when the sheet rock is up and install the devices, but no, we had to try to keep everyone at just above the "you're fired" point of rage at us by doing little bits of work every day or two and take forever to finish anything. I wasnt surprised when a couple years ago i tried to track his info down so I could update my resume he was out of business.

[LordEntrails]

These stories crack me up. Good stories, but you should feel a sense of accomplishment. And know that the more such 'home repairs' you do, they better you get at them. That is until you get to plumbing. Plumbing requires 4 trips to the store. Doesn't matter why, it just does, every time!

[DwarvenWarCorgi]

These stories crack me up. Good stories, but you should feel a sense of accomplishment. And know that the more such 'home repairs' you do, they better you get at them. That is until you get to plumbing. Plumbing requires 4 trips to the store. Doesn't matter why, it just does, every time!

Plan on plumbing taking 2 trips. 1 to buy waaaaaaaay more stuff than you possibly need, the second to return what you don't use; it's easier that way.

[Traab]

I still remember the day our toilet was in need of emergency care. Turns out that it was something stupidly cheap and simple to replace in 5 minutes. Like, a seal or something, remove the old one, stick the new one in place, and done, something along those lines. But because it was a holiday and a weekend emergency call, it cost so frigging much we could have literally gone to home depot and replaced the entire toilet for less money, and toilets are something I actually know how to switch out! Ask me to replace the entire unit, thats easy. Ask me to diagnose what the problem is and do an internal repair? Not so much. It sounds silly but think about it. We all know how to slap a new air conditioner into the window if the old one breaks, right? How many of you can casually diagnose whats wrong with it, know how to fix it, get the parts needed and the step by step instructions, yadda yadda? Yeah, its a lot less simple that way. And repair work can get really pricey as its rarely the part thats expensive, its the time and expertise you are paying for to get it done right. So even trying to be slick and providing the parts isnt all that helpful in saving money (though it does make a difference)

[snowblizz]

Speaking of toilets and PVC pipes. It's now sometime ago I called a friend of mine over to help me put back together the pipes for a toilet (I needed an extra wrench, a sealer and a stronger arm). The superbly challenging part was lining up the waterpipes (metal) from the the wall to hit the pvc pipe (yes! internals are all plastic) that went into the tank. All the original "outside" parts were metal, but the internals were swapped by a professional (well so-called IMO) who then failed to properly align the pvc to the metal. Since the metal connector was supposed to screw to the pvc pipe naturally if you didn't get it aligned spot on the metal chewed the plastic and there was an ever so slight leak anytime you flushed (when ever it drew more water in).

[darkrose50]

The cost of the doors not included, it will cost me $700 to put in two screen doors and a modern standard sized door in a 1950's sized door entry. We have had four estimates so far. I am a bit shocked at the cost.

The $700 guy was in the middle of the pack, but said that he will rebuild the 1950's sized door-way door jamb for the modern non-screen-door from scratch (I did not know there was a b at the end of door jamb). Bonus points for an Irish accent! Because different accents are fun! Also my kids names are Megan and Katelyn (*psst* . . . those are Irish names). I joked with my wife that we should ask for a discount.

[Traab]

Im including the newest update in home repairs, or as I call it, "proof I live on an indian burial ground" So my propane grill ran out of gas, no big deal, go to the same place I always do to switch em out, come back and hook it up. Oh shoot, im smelling propane. Its leaking out of the regulator hose. Like... alot. Ok, so I go to home depot, get myself a new one, and come back to fix it up. No big deal, its literally a single nut holding the hose on. Queue 20 minutes and needing help to get it off because apparently hercules attached the original part its cranked on so tight. /sigh. Ok, new hose is on, its all hooked up, turn on the valve. /hisssssss SONOFA!!!!! Turns out, it wasnt the regulator, the tank I got has an internal defect on the threads where the valve stabs into it, letting it leak propane that gets shoved out of the regulator valve, which is why I thought that was the problem. Went back to the location, told them the problem, swapped the tank for one that isnt busted, problem solved. Im out 20 bucks for the regulator valve I didnt actually need because there is no freaking way im taking it apart again but ah well, it was a few years old anyways so no huge deal.

[Corsair14]

Haha When I bought my house:
One of the 2 AC units was sabotaged after final inspection, someone pushed back the insulation on copper pipe and used a hacksaw to cut a tiny hole and covered it back. Smaller unit for the bedroom, it was only $5000 to replace.

Found out the ground was out on the house, when powered up it took out the microwave and fridge. Further the dishwasher was KIA as well. Utilities paid but took a while to get the money.

Had the glass suddenly shatter on the liquor bar in living room. Literally no one was anywhere near it, but we were all in the room. Boom, shatters. It was in a stupid place anyway.

Three different leaks inside the first month.

Oven was a gas oven. Jury rigged gas line. Needed a new oven and had to pay extra to get a up to standard connection.

All inside the first month.

[Peelee]

Haha When I bought my house:
One of the 2 AC units was sabotaged after final inspection, someone pushed back the insulation on copper pipe and used a hacksaw to cut a tiny hole and covered it back. Smaller unit for the bedroom, it was only $5000 to replace.

That seems like it was screaming for a lawsuit. The rest sound like inspection should have uncovered them (assuming a good inspector).

[snowblizz]

Haha When I bought my house:
One of the 2 AC units was sabotaged after final inspection, someone pushed back the insulation on copper pipe and used a hacksaw to cut a tiny hole and covered it back. Smaller unit for the bedroom, it was only $5000 to replace.

Found out the ground was out on the house, when powered up it took out the microwave and fridge. Further the dishwasher was KIA as well. Utilities paid but took a while to get the money.

Had the glass suddenly shatter on the liquor bar in living room. Literally no one was anywhere near it, but we were all in the room. Boom, shatters. It was in a stupid place anyway.

Three different leaks inside the first month.

Oven was a gas oven. Jury rigged gas line. Needed a new oven and had to pay extra to get a up to standard connection.

All inside the first month.

Add a romantic sub-plot and you've got yourself a sub-par comedy movie.


Friend and colleague does the whole buy houses and rent/sell racket. He bought a very cheap old house in need of essentially total renovation, in fact previous owners had left it mid one. Another house, similar price range was advertised in the same neighbourhood so I jokinlgy told him he should get it on account of "economies of scale". The prospect pictures made it look nice if with a dated interior decoration. The list price sounded very low, despite the "need renovation". Then we stared reading the inspection report which was one long list of maladies, most related to water and other moisture damage.


Another house he bought had been owened by a smoker. I helped him carrying in a new waterheater. Walking around for 10 minutes had me in a coughing fit. He had been airing it out for weeks. In the bathroom I noted it had a similar peachy/beige tone as my parent's bathroom. He showed me under the mirror that the walls were actually originally light blue. The yellowbrick fireplace as you can imagine was originally white. I can't even fathom how he expects to sanitize that house at a reasonable cost. Can only imagine the realtor's spin on that because it had been much much worse when my friend was there at showing.

[darkrose50]

Yes. I worked for a boss like this. I did low voltage work, fire and security systems mainly. Our day was so stupidly inefficient. Go to work site 1 for 2 hours, leave and go to work site 2 for a couple hours, and at any point if someone called screaming loud enough we dropped everything to go to work site 3 to do whatever job he took on then promptly ignored till now. It was awful. We could have done each job one per day most likely, its not THAT hard to drill holes in the frame of a new house and run wires through it all then come back when the sheet rock is up and install the devices, but no, we had to try to keep everyone at just above the "you're fired" point of rage at us by doing little bits of work every day or two and take forever to finish anything. I wasnt surprised when a couple years ago i tried to track his info down so I could update my resume he was out of business.

Yes this is what I expected happened with most of the folks that I have hired to remodel something.

Even getting doors installed is turning out to be a lot of work to set up.


Add a romantic sub-plot and you've got yourself a sub-par comedy movie.

I LVOE IT!


Another house he bought had been owened by a smoker. I helped him carrying in a new waterheater. Walking around for 10 minutes had me in a coughing fit. He had been airing it out for weeks. In the bathroom I noted it had a similar peachy/beige tone as my parent's bathroom. He showed me under the mirror that the walls were actually originally light blue. The yellowbrick fireplace as you can imagine was originally white. I can't even fathom how he expects to sanitize that house at a reasonable cost. Can only imagine the realtor's spin on that because it had been much much worse when my friend was there at showing.

The entry to work is flanked by the elevated train stop and a smoking section on one side, and a smoking section on the other side. I have to hold my breath and try not to get the taste of smoke in my mouth every time in and out of the building. I once got into a very heated argument saying something along the lines of "I agree not to pee in your water, if you agree not to smoke in my air." I likely would have been a shut-in in the 20's to the 60's. heck as a kid in the 70's and 80's . . . not so much in the 90's . . . everyone was expected to have ashtrays and allow folks to smoke wherever they wanted.

[Traab]

I grew up with parents who smoked so until my late teens I never even noticed it. Thats when they stopped smoking. About a month later I realized I couldnt exist around smoking sections, anyone who smoked STANK so badly it was beyond belief. So even as people complain about having to be a block away from hospitals before lighting up I have no pity for them. They literally dont understand just how bad the stank is. They cant tell anymore.

[Algeh]

I have a bathroom with a very shallow grade on the sewer line after it (it also used to have a back-graded section - that I paid to have dug up and fixed). Thanks to the (not original to the home) low-flow toilet, there are two different kinds of possible toilet clogs in that bathroom: the "normal" kind (get out the plunger) and the "the problem is in the line" kind, where you instead run the bathtub for a bit and the toilet will then fix itself.

Everything is fine as long as I don't have non-showering company and shower regularly in that bathroom myself so the line gets enough water, but if I have company (or shower in the bathroom out by the pool rather than the bathroom near the bedrooms) I may need to run the tub a bit.

Perhaps I should just start inviting my friends to take showers as a form of greeting?

(Arrrgh houses.)

[Beleriphon]

You got nothing on basic repair leading to a major reno. I have to take a down a non-functional chimney in the middle of my house. Its one of those ones that was hooked up to a furnace, never had fire place. Runs from the basement through the roof in a non-load bearing wall in the kitchen and one of my bedrooms. Yep, removing it right now to so we can do the roof. I could pay somebody to do that, but no my dad thought "Hey, I can do it for less." He's got all the gear to do it safely, but what should have been maybe a two day job is now into week six.

I've also discovered that none of the electrical sockets on the second floor of my house are grounded after I had to replace all of them. That was easy, flip the breaker switch for the circuit, pull the old sockets out and install my nice new ones. Oh, what's that I? The sockets are the same ones that came with the house in 1948? Oh, nothing is grounded? Oh, its still fabric wrapped copper in my walls?

[2D8HP]

...I likely would have been a shut-in in the 20's to the 60's. heck as a kid in the 70's and 80's . . . not so much in the 90's . . . everyone was expected to have ashtrays and allow folks to smoke wherever they wanted.


When I was a kid in the '70's there were still coin operated cigarette vending machines in supermarkets, smoking in movie theatres, and on airplanes, non-smoking sections were first some airplane seats (and yes smoke would just re-circulate in the cabin), seatbelts weren't in all cars, and use was voluntary but
those were different times.
and the poets studied rows of verse,
and all the ladies rolled their eyes
some people like to go out dancing
and other people, (like us) they gotta work
and there's always some evil mothers
they'll tell you life is full of dirt.
and the women never really faint,
and the villans always blink their eyes.
and the children are the only ones who blush.
'cause life is just to die.
but, anyone who has a heart
wouldn't want to turn around and break it
and anyone who ever played the part
he wouldn't want to turn around and fake it


I have a bathroom with a very shallow grade on the sewer line after it (it also used to have a back-graded section - that I paid to have dug up and fixed). Thanks to the (not original to the home) low-flow toilet, there are two different kinds of possible toilet clogs in that bathroom: the "normal" kind (get out the plunger) and the "the problem is in the line" kind, where you instead run the bathtub for a bit and the toilet will then fix itself.

Everything is fine as long as I don't have non-showering company and shower regularly in that bathroom myself so the line gets enough water, but if I have company (or shower in the bathroom out by the pool rather than the bathroom near the bedrooms) I may need to run the tub a bit.

Perhaps I should just start inviting my friends to take showers as a form of greeting?

(Arrrgh houses.)


In my experience, when you go to the hardware store for a replacement toilet flapper it's difficult to find any that don't increase the flush volume from the low flow factory one (BUT THAT WOULD BE WRONG!).

[sktarq]

a couple years back my GF at the time lived in a converted garage that a family was renting out...there was a bathroom that had a locked door that led to main house and the door to the rest of the "studio apartment" didn't match anything else....so I was always leery of doing much to the place. Obviously it had all been self built but had passed inspection before she moved in.
So when I found out she had bought one of those "add-on" bidets and "started" to install it. I was not happy...especially as she found it difficult and now wanted me to finish it. . .

this ended up flooding everything because apparently the bathroom was also a home done deal too...just got to finally meet her landlord who turned out to be a tile worker...thus I didn't twig to the whole bathroom was also jury rigged. The tile was good...the plumbing not so much. The value that shut off the inflow to the tank (name-not known by me) turned out to be...problematic and would open after I closed and disconnected it at least once being associated with people turning on water in the rest of the main house (but can not confirm causal relationship). Turned out just putting everything back the way it was before I got there took about 6 hours....and in the end superglue.

perhaps people with more experience can tell me how wrong this was....I figured it was a bad idea from working on aquariums but it was the landlord who came up with the bright idea...

I ended up hanging the bidet bits over the door as a warning to myself and her to never try such a thing ever again.

[RandomNPC]

Rebuilt all the pipes under my kitchen sink. Had to hire someone to come "hydro blast" the pipes out because the ball of grease and food bits was much farther down the line. Rebuilding the entire 2 sink drain, including the metal bit at the bottom of the sinks, all the way to the floor, took 1 picture and 1 trip to the store.

My neighbor tried to help me replace my hot water tank. With his help it took 6 trips to the store.

Redid my door lock trying to get a keypad lock. Turns out my deadbolt was cut in wherever the guy installing it wanted to put it and there's no keypad that would either leave the deadbolt or cover the hole from removing it.

Changed out an old light switch. I now know I can turn off the fuse box from the second bedroom and all it costs is mild chest pain.

Replaced the light by my front door, it looks cool now. We hit it with a mattress when we moved in.

Put up a ceiling fan because the old ones motor was making noise. The worst part was holding it up while I put screws in to keep it up there. Now the fan blades look like palm leaves and everyone comments on it.

Replaced all of the parts in my toilet at one time or another. I hope I move out before something else happens with it. The water intake line doesn't actually shut off all the way so I had to duct tape it in such a way that it just kept putting water into the bowl until I fixed the initial problem.

All in all, I'd fix more, but nothing else is broken that I'm aware of.

[Algeh]

I had my yard guy clean out my gutters, and two of my downspouts were clogged so he took those down to clean them out too. They were apparently held together by duct tape rather than by more traditional methods. Now that it's raining again, I'll soon know if that was because they leaked or because the previous owner lacked common sense and/or typical home maintenance tools ("both" is a reasonable answer based on other "repairs" I've found so far).

The gutters are also clearly sloped wrong near my front door. I've fixed some of the leaks, but that just causes water to pool until or unless it finds a new place to leak out of since clearly that corner is lower than the corners with downspouts so it's never going to drain to the downspouts properly. The previous owner tried to fix this with caulk and strategic locations for planters.

...I should probably just get new gutters. Or a condo.

[Spore]

To answer the title, it is not to me. But that is mainly because I react like Hal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbSehcT19u0

And I hatelove hardware stores. I never find the specific item I need on my own (mainly because German ones mix inches, centimetres and various size namings; I have went thrice so far to find a gasket for my shower), but all the new and shiny stuff they have on display, and would improve the home a lot. It's mainly electrics for me tho (new lamps) where I shy away because I'm pee-scared off electrocuting myself. But to be fair my place really REALLY needs a new floor, and since I plan on moving I won't pay for my land lady to have shiny new floor preinstalled.

[Tyndmyr]

These stories crack me up. Good stories, but you should feel a sense of accomplishment. And know that the more such 'home repairs' you do, they better you get at them. That is until you get to plumbing. Plumbing requires 4 trips to the store. Doesn't matter why, it just does, every time!

Yup. Most projects, two trips. Sometimes, when I am extraordinarily fortunate, a single trip. Those projects are rare. Plumbing? Ugggh.

Just found a leak. Can't trace where it's coming from. Like, drop of water at a time. Not the toilets, dyed water in them doesn't come through. Can't find any pipe leaking. Turns out it's somehow in the freaking air duct. Water dripping from...somewhere, and then traveling along the duct and dripping down. So, somewhere in the house, a pipe is leaking into an air duct. This is the point at which I called a plumber.

[snowblizz]

Yup. Most projects, two trips. Sometimes, when I am extraordinarily fortunate, a single trip. Those projects are rare. Plumbing? Ugggh.

Just found a leak. Can't trace where it's coming from. Like, drop of water at a time. Not the toilets, dyed water in them doesn't come through. Can't find any pipe leaking. Turns out it's somehow in the freaking air duct. Water dripping from...somewhere, and then traveling along the duct and dripping down. So, somewhere in the house, a pipe is leaking into an air duct. This is the point at which I called a plumber.

It can "just" be condensation. If the airduct isn't properly insulated, or is too insulated apparently, there will be a significan't difference in temperature of the air circulating which will cause condensation to form.

I'm not gonna claim expertise here, but I was on the attic with a friend and he sees one of the airduct pipes is only half-covered by the ceiling insulation and he pointed out that risks condensation either inside or outside the pipe depending on season.

But yeah, finding out wherer suspect water come from is important. One winter there was water running down the electrical piping in my parent's bedroom, I went up in the attic and found a bucket of snow up there slowly melting into the blown insulation. Saved us maybe half a bucket of water additionally melting into it.

Do you have a water measurer that actually reacts to leaks? Or is it just the actual dripping water you notice.

My view on plumbers is slightly dented by problems with said device which has been intermittedly warning of leaks and the plumber how came to test couldn't figure anything out. Only suggesting to check toilets. So I picked the one I thought most likely and dangit if it wasn't so, somewhere, somehow it slightly leaked internally as the meter stopped warning after I shut the intake valve on the toilet.

[Yora]

I want to replace a headlight in my car. The replacement should be easy, but even figuring out what replacement part to buy has been a huge pain in the ass. For some reason, that information is not listed in the manual. It tells you how to change the lights, but not what lights go into the various sockets.

[factotum]

I want to replace a headlight in my car. The replacement should be easy, but even figuring out what replacement part to buy has been a huge pain in the ass. For some reason, that information is not listed in the manual. It tells you how to change the lights, but not what lights go into the various sockets.

I don't know how it works in Germany, but in the UK you go to the car parts shop (e.g. Halfords) and they have a big book covering every model of car, saying what part numbers are used for the various light bulbs.

[Peelee]

I don't know how it works in Germany, but in the UK you go to the car parts shop (e.g. Halfords) and they have a big book covering every model of car, saying what part numbers are used for the various light bulbs.

I don't doubt that duck a book also exists in the US (and by "book," I mean "database, whether online or internal"), but I've never had anyone ever need to look it up for my needs; I tell 'em the make and model and they direct me to what fits.

Dont know if they're just that good or if my stuff is just that generic but I don't much care either way, it's damned handy.

[snowblizz]

I don't doubt that duck a book also exists in the US (and by "book," I mean "database, whether online or internal"), but I've never had anyone ever need to look it up for my needs; I tell 'em the make and model and they direct me to what fits.

Dont know if they're just that good or if my stuff is just that generic but I don't much care either way, it's damned handy.

My experience has been that they look it up and the damned part isn't correct anyway despite all the numbers checking out.

At this point I'm convinced no-one makes windscreen wipers that are actually compatible with dad's older 2003 Nissan Primera anymore. Including Nissan.

Many of the 3rd party retailers can look up your car on the basis of the registry plate too.

[darkrose50]

I got mice in the attic this winter. We heard them in the light fixtures. We heard them in the light fixtures. We trapped two of them. We no longer hear them. My father-in-law is going to check out the wiring.

One year we had mice in the basement.

One year I had a mouse in my car.

I guess it gets cold and they want to get inside where it is warm.

[Traab]

I got mice in the attic this winter. We heard them in the light fixtures. We heard them in the light fixtures. We trapped two of them. We no longer hear them. My father-in-law is going to check out the wiring.

One year we had mice in the basement.

One year I had a mouse in my car.

I guess it gets cold and they want to get inside where it is warm.

We get mice every year. Not this year, this year we had rats. Got the bigger traps, took out like 6-7 of them. That seems to have stopped them for the year.

[sktarq]

me: Sunday playing 2004 videogames-"la de da-oh phonecall? A call not text?"
friend: "Hey (sktarq) you're handy do you have a toolbox?"
me: "Yeah I do, what do ya need?"
Friend: "I'm not totally sure, but I need to fix where the hose out of the dryer where it goes through the wall...I'll bribe you with (local pizza joint)"
me: "Lol, fine"

Leads to 4+ hours of simple maintenence..tightening screws, re-hanging blinds, adjusting thermostat older than me that had lost normal adjustment knobs, etc etc....

Just another sunday...did get upgraded to steak though.