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I have encountered a lot of little projects that are beyond my DIY abilities or otherwise impractical for me to do, however finding someone who can do the work, especially on a smaller scale, and/or finding the needed materials is nearly impossible. Mostly I guess I am just grousing, but I also wonder how many other people run into little things like this that take forever:
Rebuild the rotted out lower sash of a small double hung window that is 167 years old. I do not have the tools or knowledge to do mortise and tenon joints, nor to put the little bumpy molding thing at the top of the lower stile. I realize it will probably cost $150 just to do this one window but who is interested in a little job like this? I need to find a hobby woodworker looking to make a little side cash. People like that do not advertise. Meanwhile I have a piece of plywood at the highest and most central window in our house. How long will it be before code enforcement or the historical society gets on us?
Same problem with rebuilding a mission style oak door. I might be able to handle this one myself if I had the right kind of workbench and clamps and someone to lend an extra pair of hands at times. But buying all that just to fix one door makes little sense. I am not sure whether anything broke, or it just came apart. However like the window this may need mortise and tenon joints or some tongue and groove and other fancy woodworking that I do not have tools or skill to do. I cannot imagine is costs a lot to put a door back together, but this is the same issue with being a small job and difficult to find the right person. Also a hobby woodworker may not be able to handle this door as it weighs about 80 pounds. Meanwhile the pool equipment room in the carriage house has not door and is open to snow and animals. This has been pending for a few years since the door fell apart, in the winter, I just lean a sheet of plywood against the doorway since we do not need to get to the pool equipment in the winter.
Removing, rebuilding and rehanging the big doors to the side addition to the carriage house. These were built - stupidly - out of untreated pine and the hinges were just lagged into a modern pine 4x4 and lagged into the 2x4 of the door itself. The hinges have partially or completely torn out of the doors and/or the post in different locations. It needs to be drilled through and bolted with a metal plate, a piece of oak or huge washers on either side. However the doors are way too heavy for one or even two people to handle. If I could remove them with no deaths occurring, I might be able to rebuild the rotted bits, but re-hanging them- no chance. Then if I rebuild the rotted parts, I will have to treat the wood with something so it does not rot again in ten more years (copper napthanate maybe? Can you paint over it?). I really should just rebuild the doors out of better wood, but this it cost and time prohibitive.
Replace a pane of glass on a second floor window. I am fine standing on a well set solid ladder, but ask me to step off onto the roof, and I just cannot do it. Not sure why. I do not have a general fear of heights. I usually have no problems hiking on narrow mountain/cliff trails, but something about the roof - my legs just will not move. I am saving up to buy a 36' little giant ladder so maybe I will be able to get to this window without having to walk on the roof.
Rebuild the shower in our bathroom. Not even the contractor who did this ten years ago knew how to do it right. I certainly had no idea they were messing it up, but i am learning about how tile showers are supposed to be done. They put the tile right on the concrete and the concrete is sitting on a wood framed house. The concrete cracked and various parts of the grout or tile cracked. We did not realize it was leaking until the plaster fell off the ceiling below. Now we have to remove the tile, break out the concrete without damaging the framing it is sitting on, replace any rotted wood (hopefully none), find matching tile (hardest part), have someone rebuild the shower correctly and install the tile then patch the ceiling below and probably repaint the whole room. We also may have to re-point the fireplace as one wall of the shower is part of the chimney and water leaked in behind it and ran down the chimney/fireplace. I have done some tuck pointing with OK results, my plastering skills are terrible. I suppose I could lay the tile in when it comes to that, but I want to make sure the shower itself (concrete and pan or rubberized stuff) is done properly this time. I do not want to be doing this for the first time, make a stupid mistake, and then put tile over it only to have more leaks. Right now I am removing the tile and trying to figure out where I can buy matching tile (it is only 10 years old, but I have no idea where it came from). If I cannot match the tile, I may have to remove the entire bathroom floor as it is a continuous floor with just sort of a hump up and then down into the shower to keep water in. We made it that way so we do not have to step over a threshold to get into the shower when we are old.
Install a driveway light at the top of the carriage house. this is about 28 feet up. The wiring is already in, but I need that 36' little giant ladder to get up there. I have also been hunting for a powerful enough LED motion sensor light that will screw right in to the box that is already there, to no avail. Why do they think someone wants a security light LED that is only the equivalent of a 100 watt bulb? I am looking for something more akin to a mercury vapor light (only without the funky colors), or a 1500 watt set of incandescent or halogen. Apparently, they only make LEDs like that in a pole mount set up. If I could even find dual or triple l 500 or possibly 250 watt equivalent, it would probably be enough. It is surprising to me how low power the LED yard lights are unless you go to pole mount stadium or parking lot lights. Funny thing is it will take about 15 minutes to install once i find the right light fixture and get a ladder. Meanwhile we have had no driveway light for the last ten years because it just was not high enough ont he priority list.
On my list of 144 "small" jobs I need to get done on the house, these bug me the most because they are not controllable, and next to impossible to find someone to do them.
Wow, that's quite a list. I am currently in my first house after having been a long-time renter. I have a very limited set of tools, and no budget to speak of.
Currently on my Honey Can't Do list of frustrations:
1) Access door for both a knee wall and a ceiling.
a. Why it's frustrating: I have an idea of what I want, but the only things I've found ready to buy are expensive! I'd make my own, but I don't have a saw or table. Even if I got the ready to buy ones, I'd probably have to hire somebody to install them, so even more expensive.
2) Pet doors for the bedrooms.
a. Why it's frustrating: Again, no saw. Why a pet door for the bedrooms, you may wonder? I have a cat that shares the bedroom, and a mother-in-law that shares the house. I'd like to have the door shut for privacy, but the pet door to allow kitty to come and go as she pleases.
3) Outdoor light for the front yard pole.
a. Why it's frustrating: The existing light pole has no light. Or socket. Or power to it. It's just a decoration at this point that does not serve as a light pole. I want to put in a solar-powered LED light so that way we don't have to worry about an electrician running electricity to the outdoors and getting some kind of socket installed. I REALLY want to have a purple light, though. I can't find what I want for sale, and have been trying to figure out how to maybe make what I want instead, but can't even find what I think I need to make it! Oh well. I'll figure this one out eventually, or just cave and get a plain white solar-powered light to add to the pole.
4) Cleaning up the basement which still isn't dry.
a. Why it's frustrating: I should be able to handle this. It's...just mopping the concrete, right? And vacuuming cobwebs? Bits of debris? Maybe finally installing some insulation on that one half-wall that connects on the other side to the family room? Ugh. I do not look forward to handling fiberglass. I kind of wish I could just use something like foam board instead, but I think that might even be outside my comfort level.
5) Fixing the back porch light.
a. Why it's frustrating: I think the bulb broke off in the socket. I'm kinda scared I'll get cut. Or electrocuted. Or cut and electrocuted. >_< Well, let's just hope I can figure that one out eventually, or maybe I'll get that nice electrician to fix it when he comes back in to fix the outlet he installed in the bathroom that's still blinking red.
There are quite a few other projects around this house, but many are WELL beyond DIY level, so I am not even mentioning them.
I think I really need to start slowly buying tools, starting with a good rotary saw and table.
Also, I need to hurry up and start weatherstripping all the things before winter gets here.
Rebuild the rotted out lower sash of a small double hung window that is 167 years old.
rebuilding a mission style oak door.
Removing, rebuilding and rehanging the big doors to the side addition to the carriage house.
You need the millwork shop of a good old school lumberyard.
They DO still exist.
They'll have the contact info for a good installer guy to do that end
and the other tasks. No... it won't be cheap.
You need the millwork shop of a good old school lumberyard.
They DO still exist.
They'll have the contact info for a good installer guy to do that end
and the other tasks. No... it won't be cheap.
There is one in Northville, but it is 50 miles away.. I got a referral form a guy who fixes broken antique furniture for us . He happens to know a good woodworker. The woodworker guy happens to live about 300 yards away.
For the poster above, turn off the ower and use a potato to get the light bulb out of the socket without getting cut
Gutters need to be replaced - boring way to spend money any way you look at it, so we keep putting it off. And then it rains really hard, or it's time to clean them, and we start that refrain again, "Wow, we really need to get new gutters!" Ugh.
Cleaning out the attic after three of our four parents passed away and we liquidated both estates in a two year period. TOO MUCH CRAP. And it's all stuff that needs to be gone through...I guess. I mean, don't you go to hell if you throw out old family photos and old documents like your grandparents' marriage licenses?
Painting the dining room, foyer and office - the ceilings are super tall, and I don't feel like falling off scaffolding, which is what would happen. So we have to hire it done. And I dread the whole upheaval in my life so I keep putting it off.
Those are just a few things I can think of off the top of my head. Oh, here's another one - replacing the back door off the garage. It's rusted in some places and we prefer a door with a window in it anyway, but the door doesn't show from the front of the house and it's sort of tucked away and not even obvious from the back of the house, but we do use it a lot when we're working in the yard. So every time I go in or out of it, I think to myself, "We need to replace this door." Maybe that's easy and run of the mill for some people but every time we've ever done it ourselves, we realized what a pain in the arse it is to do.
"Pending projects" are not frustrating- think about it.
"Frustrating" projects are those that "snowball". "It was suppose to be a $100 repair; it turned out to be a $1300 replacement!"
This is most projects. House or cars. To me the frustrating ones are the ones I just do not want to do or do nto know how. Or the ones where I cannot seem to do anything right.
I don't want to pay a contractor $20K to do it for me, but at the same time I don't have the time to do it myself. I also want to do it permitted as well.
"Pending projects" are not frustrating- think about it.
"Frustrating" projects are those that "snowball". "It was suppose to be a $100 repair; it turned out to be a $1300 replacement!"
This is it in a nutshell.
Here's how our projects go. (All of these are going at the same time, btw)
Project #1:
Wife loved the house we bought, but didn't like the L shaped kitchen sink. At a glance it appeared that we could replace the countertops and sink.
But as I began to measure, the sink won't fit with the dishwasher in its current location. I can't move it to the other side of the sink because of a trash compactor and there isn't enough cabinet space. So to move the dishwasher I have to remove the cabinets from the cooktop over (to include the peninsula) and then replace them. To extend the cabinets to make room for the dishwasher I have to move a door. To do all of that I needed to convert my detached garage into a workshop. This meant running 100 amp service under the driveway from the house to the garage, completely re-wiring the garage, insulating and sheathing the walls, and adding HVAC.
So to replace a sink I have to: Create a workshop (finally done last weekend), Move a doorway down, replace a section of cabinets, replace the flooring, replace the countertops, repaint the cabinets (cannot match the color), and add a backsplash.
What could have been a $200 sink is now a $3,000 kitchen remodel (material only) on top of a $2,000 garage refurb.
Project #2:
We decided to get a 5th wheel camper. We found out that our driveway wasn't wide enough to get one in so we had the driveway widened ($3,200). Then we realized that the camper was long enough that it needed a parking pad next to the detached garage to get it out of the driveway and $800 of crusher run gravel as a parking pad. All of this needs to be framed in to contain the pad. Then the RV needs a dedicated 50 amp RV plug to maintain power so that appliances will run. I just cleared out the area last week and should get gravel in two weeks from now. Then I have to add an outdoor outlet to the garage wall for power. Since that area is under some trees, we also have to install an rv carport. The 5th wheel cost us an additional $6,500 to park it at our house.
Still on the list of to-do:
Remodel the 1/2 bath.
Remodel the master bath to remove a Jacuzzi tub and turn that area into a large walk- in shower.
Wall up part of the 2nd bedroom to convert it back to the office it once was.
Remodel the guest bath to replace an old tub.
Remodel the bonus room upstairs and fix an HVAC duct leak.
Scrape the popcorn off the last two bedrooms in the house and refinish the ceiling.
Replace the privacy fence.
Plumb in a saltwater system for the pool.
Add in a pool pump timer.
That's all I remember off the top. I have a notebook at home.
Here's how our projects go. (All of these are going at the same time, btw)
Project #1:
Wife loved the house we bought, but didn't like the L shaped kitchen sink. At a glance it appeared that we could replace the countertops and sink.
But as I began to measure, the sink won't fit with the dishwasher in its current location. I can't move it to the other side of the sink because of a trash compactor and there isn't enough cabinet space. So to move the dishwasher I have to remove the cabinets from the cooktop over (to include the peninsula) and then replace them. To extend the cabinets to make room for the dishwasher I have to move a door. To do all of that I needed to convert my detached garage into a workshop. This meant running 100 amp service under the driveway from the house to the garage, completely re-wiring the garage, insulating and sheathing the walls, and adding HVAC.
. . . . .
Have you seen the dish drawers? They are half size dishwashers basically in a drawer. You need two of them to equal a full sized dishwasher, but you can put each one anywhere, they do not have to be stacked. That can give you a little more flexibility.
Wen I looked into them they were expensive and not very well rated. However I have heard, they got better and a second company started making them so there is competition. Might be worth looking into if it makes tings more practical for you.
I made a to do list. I tried to keep it to only the small manageable items that I might be able to do without hiring someone. I stopped when I got to job 144, it was getting depressing. IN the past three weeks since making the list I knocked off 7 items and started on five more, but then I added four new items.
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