Buy Lowes and Home Depot Stock ping...........
I was born in early-1980, does that make me a Y'er? I'm not sure. Anyway, I was raised by a single mother who relied on me to do "man work" around the house. I was mowing lawns by 8, had a job and savings acct. at 13 and rebuilt a 429 cid. Ford motor at 17.
This article proves, to me anyway, that the American family is incapable of passing on crucial components to a common sense life. From basic lawncare and maintenance to replacing leaky faucets and hanging drywall, I learned it all on my own with a little help from DIY books and the internet. I honestly believe some people just don't want to get their hands dirty.
My cousin, for instance, absolutely refuses to change a tire. He got a flat on the NJ Parkway and called someone to pick him. It took longer for the person to come pick him up than it would've to pull off the flat and replace it with the spare. Inconceivable to me, really.
I've had to limp an old Chevy from northern NC to Maryland with a blown exhaust manifold gasket, and despite being tired and dirty, it worked. Without my family support and some common sense, I would've left that POS at the VA border and found another way to get where I was going. Here's to resilience!
This article seems like a lot of BS non-news. I don't think young homeowners today area any different than at any time in history. I came from the baby-boom generation and yes I took shop. I didn't learn a thing from shop about basic home maintenance tasks. Likewise I also worked with my father, a WWII vet who did teach me one of the most important home maintenance arts - how to swear like a sailor while you are banging your thumbs, strippping bolts and bending nails. The one advantage today's youth has is the internet. There is plenty of self-help information out there. If anything they have advantages previous generations didn't have and they'll do just fine.
I'm a late X-er, and even I have problems with a lot of DIY. And my dad is brilliant at the stuff. Hopefully, I will get better with practice.
Our first home was my training ground. I used it to learn. The first time I sweated copper pipe was about an hour before I tore out my plumbing system and replaced it. Gutting entire rooms down to studs is intimidating the first time. Kind of fun though.
Last week, I bought some Home Depot stuff for my cousin's wedding gift. One item was a Purdy paint brush for $15.00. It took me years to learn the value of a proper brush.
I have to commend these younger folks who are unafraid to try their own repairs.
That was me 5 years ago - but I decided to do something about it. After hiring someone to finish my basement, paying 20K and seeing a pretty poor job, I discovered that for the money you pay for work you can do it yourself twice or 3 times. And sometimes you DO - just because you don't know the right way the first time.
Still, it is fun to learn all this stuff.
I think there's an inverse relationship between the money you spend on coffee and your ability to do basic home repairs (or car maintenance, drive a stick-shift, handle firearms, take down trees, etc.).
I wonder why many high school graduates don't know how to do anything until they get out in the 'real world' for a few years?
If you don't try to fix something you'll never learn how to fix it.
A few year ago, when our son was about 16, his dad had him under the kitchen sink, instructing him on how to replace the pea trap. I walked upon the scene and laughed, joking with him that he was experiencing the American equivalent of a tribal "rite of passage."
My hubby is slowly, but surely, passing on "skills" (car repair, around the house construction repairs and fix-er-up knowledge, lawn and garden care, etc.)
Truth is, it will save him so much money when he's out on his own. He just doesn't realize it yet.
If it requires more than driving a nail, I call someone!
As a matter of fact, I just did that the other day. My fence needs mending. I'd rather call a handyman service than Kofi Annan for that job!
I admit that while I'm no Bob Vila, I certainly can do enough. I learned some from my dad and some from this novel thing called "reading."
I'm of two minds on this issue. Age 52, I was taught by my Dad to use tools, etc, in the wistful Dad-teaches-son fashion I guess we're supposed to pine for. He's still alive, thank God, and pretty chipper, but his knowledge of tool-use et al ceased expanding circa 1946. Tools today are really quite different than they were then. OK, sweating copper pipe and replacing a faucet aren't much different, but since he SUCKED at those, it's of little consequence. Anyway, watching him attempt to use tools today is just plain scary. I am sure it's that role-reversal-with age type of thing.
If the guy didn't know squat about carpentry, etc. why on earth is he rehabbing his own place?
While we're on the subject I want those two guys from Monster Garage beaten until they look like shrimp cocktail. Every stupid episode of their rotten show begins with: "And today we have a very simple bolt-on...." Meanwhile, their friggin' shop has 100k of equipment in it and is air-conditioned. They do the repairs wearing khakis and polos, it take less than 30 min. no matter what the repair is, and when they're done they are totally spotless, not so much as a drop of grease. Meanwhile, I change out the water pump on my Grand Marquis, I come out of there looking like Al Jolson four hours later.
Hey, you gotta know your limits!
My husband and I bought an older house back in '93. We stripped the wallpaper in the bathroom and hubby tried to re-plaster the walls. It cost an awful lot, when the plaster guy came, for him to take down hubby's stuff first.
However, when the hot water heater broke, hubby ran down to Home Depot and picked one up, and he and his brother installed the new one in a couple hours. That saved us plenty.
Follow your talents!
My 16 year old son can paint a house and lay concrete. At least his education is progressing:
http://www.fredoneverything.net/Rednecks.shtml
I don't generally enjoy working with these younger homeowners. They generally seem to have an over-inflated view of their own worth based on their careers as computer specialists, lawyers or whatever and an under-valued assessment of the tradesman. They seem to "shop price" above everything else and don't consider the overall "value" of a conscientious, skilled person. Then, when the job's half-done in a half-assed manner by some bubba who gave them the great price, they don't understand why it's going to cost even more to fix it.
Or, they tell you how this other guy said he could do it for less, but he's too busy. Well, hell, when I'm too busy, I'll tell you I can do it for even less than that!
My all-time favorite was, "Well, my Dad could do that" to which I replied, "Yes, I'm sure he could" and then they said, "Well, he's passed on". At which point, I think, but don't say, "Then I guess that will slow him down some."
Nah, I prefer to deal with more seasoned homeowners who know the real deal.
Experience is the best teacher. When I bought my current house, my first home purchase, it was a fixer upper. Did most of the work myself and I learned the hard way how to fix, repair and install lots of things. Sure, I had to run to the hardware store in the middle of the project just to get some stupid little thing, or a different tool, but I learned from it. I made lots of mistakes, too, but I didn't sweat it. Just made sure it was done right the second time around. And I never grew up in a handy-man type of family. But the internet sure helps with Q&A tips. And it saved me $$$. Only for some of the more complicated projects did I hire someone to do it - mainly for time saving and for complicating factors I didn't want to get into. Switched from well water to reclaim for irrigation and saved $800 by doing it myself. I can' believe sprinkler system companies wanted $500 just to run a PVC line under my driveway to get to the hookup. Did it myself for $10 in parts (inluding 2 sodas to help with the hot FL sun!). The Gen-Xers will do fine and most will welcome the challenge of learning new skills. And it saves money and you get it done the way you want it look, too.
And what's up with this? At least boomers know which end of the screwdriver to hold.