Just Curious: Do You Do Home Repairs?

I do some, spackling, painting, some tile work, i recently replaced baseboards. I always redo my gardens myself, and plant my own stuff. I try to hire friends to do the rest, or just ask them too for free, depending on what it is. I was thinking of taking a class on tiling because i would love to redo my floors and backsplash!

On some things my husband attempts to do them. Then realizes that he's in over his head. Then it sits there for a couple months until I call someone.

However, you've just given me the inspiration to put in a new faucet!! Rock on!

My husband does it all, he is a construction worker and knows how to repair vehicles, I guess I got lucky!!

I love home repairs (that go right :) ! I am sort of an appliance fixing savant--I swear it was my true calling. I've replaced the pump on my washing machine, the fuse on my dishwasher and lots of other things for people in my family--if you google your appliance and the problem you're having you can get SO much information and full diagrams of the appliance. It's so neat to take them apart and see what's inside. I think it's so fun! My husband can do most home type repairs and has taught me how do to a lot of them. We recently installed a fan and switch in our bathroom...it took all day and we had to cut about 10 holes in the drywall. I kind of wished we'd hired someone, but every time I turn on the fan in the bathroom I feel so much pride. I wish I knew ANYTHING about cars. I've done a couple simple repairs using the Internet, but I'm pretty hopeless with them and so is my husband. I find it really frustrating to have to hire someone for all our car stuff... even oil changes :(...

My husband and I do nearly everything ourselves too. I agree--why hire someone when I can change out the faucet or electrical outlets myself. We've had two fixer-upper houses now, and if there was something we didn't know how to do, we learned it. I even learned how to tile a floor. It turned out great. :)

I must admit though that my husband has stopped changing the oil in our cars. There's a place down the street now that does it so cheap it's not worth my husband's time and energy to do it himself.
There does come a point when you have to weigh the cost and type of project vs. the time and energy. Sometimes it is better to go ahead and hire someone.

You go girl!!! I love doing home repairs. It gives me a sense of accomplishment! Who says a woman can't do a man's job??? LOL! Plus it saves us money.

My husband is a big time handyman but I love helping out and getting my hands dirty too. We've had to hire profession help for a leak in our ceiling, flooring installed downstairs and our garage door malfunctioning.

Other than that we've done everything else. My husband put up all our ceiling fans (5 in total) and I've painted all the rooms including laundry room and bathrooms.

Yesterday my Mom's car stalled. I went over there and jump started her car with cables we keep in our car.

My husband was all impressed =-)

Oh and by the way, I live in a very affluent neighborhood in Southern California. Most women around here wouldn't dream of doing the things I do. They get all disgusted!!! LOL!

Wow, you're one well trained lady. I would thank your parents for being such great handy role models.

My dad was a super handyman and could fix anything. So naturally, I assumed my husband's would be the same and was I totally wrong. I tried to do some work in the beginning, got How To Fix Anything books at Home Depot, etc. It takes a certain amount of time and concentration to and natural inclination to work on those problems.

My husband works long hours and travels a lot and there was a time I would save up fix-it jobs for him but they never got done. To give him credit, he did install new ceiling fans throughout the entire house, b/c the guy wanted $450 per fan. And he did install bamboo flooring into our daughters room over a few weekends. But I was sort of mad b/c it meant he worked non-stop for over a month and we as a family got very little of him.

So I now hire out. Nothing better than a reliable, smart handyman and a couple of movers. It was a marriage saver for us.

In general, we do things ourselves. The hubs is a mechanical engineer, so he is a "nightmare" to work for... hovers over contractors!

The only things we have hired-out:
- Installing wood floors
- Installing carpet on the stairs
- Upgrading HVAC system (he could have done it, but it would have taken twice as long and that is usually the "deciding factor")
- Driveway blacktop sealant (too messy and time consuming)

Otherwise, we do it and I am usually the "assistant" or the one keeping his "little helper" at bay while he works!

We do what we can here by ourselves. My hubby gets frustrated with DIY projects around here, so mostly it's me who ends up doing the majority of them. I'm currently in the process of cutting, staining and hanging chair rail & baseboard to go in our dining room.

My dad used to do all the home repairs, but he was also a mechanical engineer and knew exactly what to do.

In our house, my husband will handle computer fixes since he's a computer consultant. Beyond that, it's me or we hire a handyman (have a super one). I handle basic things like spackling walls and repainting dings, fixing broken toilets (ours are jinxed and never work well for long), cleaning out gutters, etc.. My husband doesn't have a clue how to do home repairs or feigns lack-of-knowledge to get out of it.

I hate not being able to do things myself, so I try and see if something I understand/physically able to do myself. If not I call my dad, but if he's to busy or just know he wont do it, I would call someone.

I see you have lots of responses but I did quite a few of my own home improvements when we remodeled the home we just sold. Installed hardwood floors with a power nailer, carpet in our upstairs with a power stapler, tile on the walls and floors in our bathroom and kitchen (I didn't do any cuts though, my husband does this)...light fixtures and outlets, we did tons of drywall and suck at that so we're going to see if we can avoid it ever again! We did our own shingles on the roof too but we had a professional contractor (brother in law) leading the way!!!

We do what we can and if we can't I call my father or father-in-law. I do however try to do most of them myself. Hubby isn't the best at fixing things, but he does try his best which is all I can ever ask for.

We don't really do "repairs", so much, as more maintenance type things. Mostly if I can't figure it out on my own and fix/maintenance it (I like to at least know the problem before I call someone) I call someone and pay to have it done. My brothers and dad are all very handy. My brother actually built his own home, and does remodels for a living. But my husband is talented in other areas, and home repair just isn't fun at all for him. There is always the concern that we will make a bigger problem and still end up having to pay anyway, PLUS whatever we messed up along the way, lol.
But we've taken off the front panel of a front load washer to clean out the filter so it would drain properly again (good grief at the amount of stuff that filter can contain!!!) I've bought unfinished furniture and stained it (bookshelves, dressers, desks). Last fall, I bought supplies and went to my dad's (5 hrs away) and let him use his router on some boards I had purchased to make vertical racks in my laundry room. I just sanded, painted and added hooks/drawer pulls, so my kids could hang up back packs and gym bags, the dog leash, lunch boxes, etc out of the way. I'll change out a door knob or something like that. Tweak toilets so they don't "run". Paint the walls... but anything that involves water fixtures (plumbing pipes stuff) or electricity... I figure it is worth it to call in a professional. I don't have the energy (and neither of us has the time for the stress) to deal with worry about something going badly wrong...

some things you really need to be careful with...like the garage door spring...we would NEVER mess with because our friend lost his eye doing that job.
We do our own things, minor car repairs like tune ups, oil, but nothing major. we do our own 'upgrades' to the house like painting and crown molding, carpet shampoo, we built our own shed, but repairs like A/C, Sump pump, Water heater, garage door we have Sears or someone else do it. We dont know how to fix those things so let the pro's do it. :)

I think it is great to fix you own stuff.We do everything...my husband built a huge deck last year, I painted it, worst job ever...but since we are on a budget, we have to....sometimes I wish we could just hire somebody.We are waiting for our sewer pipes to go one day, that can cost us up to 15 ooo Dollar, we are saving up for that.

No professional hires in my house my hubby does it all including roofing,car repairs,plumbing,complete remodels,you name it he has done it will do it or will learn how to do it.It would cost us three times as much if we did hire a professional to do our work.He knows how does a great job & gets asked many times for help with relatives work.He makes our own cabinents too,he is a great carpenter can't say enough of the great things he has done to our home his childrens rooms are completely redone walls & all.I however have my way to do things & he HATES the way I do things so I do them when he isn't home.I think we do get a feeling of great accomplishment when we are able to do things for ourselves,we take great pride in our home & keeping it up clean & tidy

My Dad did most of his own home improvement/repairs when I was growing up. I am the one who does most simple repairs/upgrades. We hire out remodel and major projects. I have replaced 2 bathroom faucets and our kitchen faucet, unclog dryer vent/washer water line screens, assembled furniture/treadmill, recauked tub... I love to do things like that!

I've done a ton of texturing and painting in our home. I also do simple stuff like change out doorknobs. Hubby grew up on a farm so knows a little bit about everything. He and his brother can do simple electrical stuff (including the wiring in a room they built) and simple plumbing (installing a toilet beginning to end, etc). He can frame out a building, do drywall, build a deck, lay small amounts of concrete etc. My biggest pet peeve with it is that it takes him FOREVER. For instance, we had a leak under the kitchen sink that ruined the flooring and flooring framework under the cabinetry. He pulled out all the ruined, nasty, rotten wood and frame last weekend, but all the cleaning supplies, etc that I store there are still sitting on my cabinets, the doors open and a mess all over. It will be a toss-up whether he finishes it this coming weekend. (He works very long hours, so I really don't expect him to work on it in the evenings)

We do most things ourselves. Some of our best memories have been made while working on projects together. :)

We're about 50/50. I am not mechanically inclined but I am industrious. DH is mechanically inclined (went to a technical HS, works with cars now and worked as a marine mechanic) but he's lazy. When something breaks, his first inclination isn't even to hire someone to fix it, it's to get a new one! I will call a repair person only as a last resort, or if something is dangerous or way too complicated (electrical, major plumbing) and then will replace only if desperately needed. He'll start searching craigslist for a replacement. The appliances in my house are all 20-30 years old and we have only had to replace the dishwasher. I repaired our dryer, our bathroom vent, regularly maintain our pool - including repairing the filter and pump, have repaired walls and ceilings, painted everything under the sun, removed and restored 100 year old windows and interior and exterior doors in our old house, and go up on the roof to hang and remove holiday lights and take care of gutters, ice dams etc. I have my own tools (including a multi-meter, which comes in handy a lot to test whether or not batteries are dead or just fell out of the Wii remotes lol) and love knowing that if something breaks, I can usually figure out how to fix it. My husband takes care of anything involving engines (lawn mower, snow blower, recreational vehicles, cars, watercraft) but unfortunately, that usually involves paying a guy $100 to do stupid things like change sparkplugs and oil that I wish he'd learn how to do himself. He also takes care of the heating system - I have started to keep a notebook of the things that he does (like re-starting the furnace if we run out of oil) so that I know how to do things if he's not around (or I end up single lol).

My husband has been in construction for 35 years before that he was a mechanic, so he can pretty much fix anything - sometimes weather it needs it or not. I do little stuff- door knobs, light fixtures, cabinets the only thing we have ever hired out for it plumbing and heavy electrical and even that I wouldn't say hired more like called a friend and bought them dinner and beer.

Wow, you go girl! I can't do any of those things. My DH does them though and I try to remember to tell him how much I appreciate that he can do household repairs and car repairs because I am CLUELESS. My husband was a maintenance supervisor for 5 years, so he knows how to fix almost anything that goes wrong in the house and his dad was a long-haul truck driver who taught him a lot about repairing cars and other heavy machinery. So we never hire out either. My parents never hired anyone out growing up either. I remember my Dad hiring an appliance repair man for the dryer in swearing frustration because he couldn't figure out the problem on his own. I think it's great, although I am sometimes very frustrated with my husband's idea of when to start and finish projects...

Good for you! If you can, more power to you!

I'm not sure why you're asking, sounds like someone is trying to guilt or shame you into being a handy-woman?? Or are you trying to guilt/shame your husband into being more of a handyman?

We do try to do what we can ourselves, it's just good home care/ownership, (and practical on the budget) but there are some things we can't (or don't want to as it's too big/messy/complicated/whatever a job that we have time or patience for) so we'd hire someone else.

That said, my husband has taken out the walls of our dinky little closet and expanded it with nice shelving and so on. He is handy with wood already, he has had to learn how to do the drywall and texturing and he did some basic electrical work as well. Next is tiling, which is not his expertise but he has tiled a fireplace hearth in our previous house and will read up on how to and do it for the closet in the expanded space. And I'll help him.

Bottom line, do what you can, and what you can't (or don't want to & find worth paying someone else to) you hire out. Don't do stuff you don't know how to when it could endanger the safety of your home and family (ie cars, walls, electrical, etc) but if you know how or can find & follow instructions, then more power to you!

Yeah, I'd go with a professional roof replacement too! ;-) And I'd not be interested in doing the car stuff either. To each their own!

We determined a few years ago what our work was worth to us, in terms of dollars per hour. That said, there are some things we definitely do--oil changes, and basic repair around the home. Putting on a deck. Things my husband feels competent in doing. He is an engineer, and grew up on a farm, so learned quite a bit. However, we figured out a few years ago that certain projects took so much more time for US to do than to hire out, that we wound up wasting money (and it took a toll on our marriage). Things like putting in a basement bathroom, which involved plumbing, electrical, and exhaust fans, is going to be hired out. All that said, now that I am a stay at home mom, I have found I do a LOT more home repairs than I did when I was working. Working, I came home and did more typically womanly tasks while my husband conquered the repairs; as an at-home mom, I try to get more done so that the time we have together on the weekends is fun and not work.

I do what I can, sometimes I call my friend's boyfriend or my Uncle if I can't do it myself...big things that can wait I save for when my dad visits :) The rest, I guess I would have to pay for, but nothing that big has occurred yet, thank goodness!