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Young homeowners often repair-challenged (Gen Y can't DIY)
MSBNC.com ^ | 8-3-06

Posted on 08/07/2006 6:58:08 AM PDT by Hydroshock

CHICAGO - The staff at his neighborhood hardware store can spot John Carter from a distance.

He's the slightly befuddled guy who often comes in declaring, "I have no idea what I'm doing. Can you at least get me through tonight?"

The 26-year-old Chicagoan, who's been slowly rehabbing the condo he bought last year, is part of a generation of young homeowners who admit they often have no clue how to handle home projects.

Story continues below « -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- advertisement

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For them, shop class was optional. It also was more common for their parents to hire contractors, leaving fewer opportunities for them to learn basic repair skills.

With low interest rates allowing more young adults to buy property in recent years, many inexperienced homeowners are desperate for advice when the furnace goes out, the roof leaks or when a home project that seemed like a no-brainer goes terribly wrong.

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: generationy; genx; genxcantdiy; jobs; truegenx; zaq
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To: E.Allen
I heard it like this:

1. Hot on the left.

2. Cold on the right.

3. $#!+ flows downhill.

101 posted on 08/07/2006 9:57:25 AM PDT by AnAmericanMother ((Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment)))
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To: AD from SpringBay
Keep 'em away from electricity until they know how to run a Fluke tester.

That stuff can kill you.

I am the world's most careful electrician, I learned from my father and husband. My father and mother built their first house, all except pouring the slab and the roofing work. When we built our first house, the electrician took one look at my husband's work and told his helper he could go home! (Saved a buncha bucks. We did the wiring at night and the electrician tidied up during the day -- basically we paid him for his license.)

102 posted on 08/07/2006 10:01:55 AM PDT by AnAmericanMother ((Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment)))
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To: VoiceOfBruck

"Most of the newly-built houses/condos I've seen lately started out that way!"


I trace that to, not only the presence of illegal labor, but also their wider influence on the building trades in general.

The availability of an endless supply of unskilled but willing peasant villagers, meant the construction guys adapt or die. (I'm in repair work where I can compete with service and quality)


103 posted on 08/07/2006 10:02:44 AM PDT by ansel12 (Life is exquisite... of great beauty, keenly felt.)
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To: Hydroshock
I know this doesn't apply to our house. My husband is the handiest man I know! He's installed ceramic tile throughout our first floor, installed the R/O water system, painted the rooms, installed a sprinkler system in our backyard, put in all the ceiling fans, dimmer switches, installed laminate flooring upstairs...

There's way more. But he's super handy. We've never had to have someone come out to fix his work.

104 posted on 08/07/2006 10:07:34 AM PDT by arizonarachel (Praying for a May miracle!)
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To: ansel12

As a contractor and a hater of Home Depot you will probably enjoy this story. I hired a guy to build an enclosed porch for me. He wanted me to buy the windows from some place (prehaps a friend or relative) that would have cost me four times as much per window, and only came in double hung style. The rest of my house had the sliding type and I wanted the porch to match the rest of the house. Further, I knew the porch would get very very cold in the winter and very humid in the summer. I wanted the windows to hold up in all temperatures. I explained all this and the contractor just threw up his hands offering no alternatives. I insisted. I had to get the windows myself (yes from Home Depot) and they've worked great ever since. Further, they match the house. This didn't keep the contractor from whining about the windows the entire time he worked on the job. Poor baby. I don't know what his motive was but that guy hated Home Depot too which is fine but he offered me no alternatives to doing what he said "had to be done" at four times the cost which clearly didn't have to be done. A little less insistence that best is best for everyone and a little more customer service can go just as far if not farther than so-called "expert" contracting knowledge.


105 posted on 08/07/2006 10:13:07 AM PDT by rhombus
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To: MikefromOhio
I wasn't very good at repairing things before I bought a house, but that was because I'd never done it really.

Now I'm passable.

At least you've got that in your corner, Mike. Despite sharing the same name as my cousin, at least you try!

I absolutely hate how society has made failure unacceptable. Without failing, we'll never learn how to do things right, in my opinion.

106 posted on 08/07/2006 10:15:09 AM PDT by rarestia ("One man with a gun can control 100 without one." - Lenin / Molwn Labe!)
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To: rarestia

Well to me failure IS unacceptable.

As in, I won't accept it when I fail, so I keep trying until I get it right.


107 posted on 08/07/2006 10:16:50 AM PDT by MikefromOhio (aka MikeinIraq)
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To: Hydroshock

The only way to learn is by doing. In 10 years these kids will know how to DIY.


108 posted on 08/07/2006 10:18:02 AM PDT by Conservomax (There are no solutions, only trade-offs.)
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To: rintense
I learned how to do a ton of stuff by volunteering for Habitat for Humanity.

Me too, plus helping friends do projects on their places.

109 posted on 08/07/2006 10:20:40 AM PDT by VoiceOfBruck (AK-47 ... accept no substitutes!)
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To: rhombus

"A little less insistence that best is best for everyone and a little more customer service can go just as far if not farther than so-called "expert" contracting knowledge."


He doesn't sound like an expert, what is the name of the business and I'll see what his credentials are.


110 posted on 08/07/2006 10:25:05 AM PDT by ansel12 (Life is exquisite... of great beauty, keenly felt.)
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To: Hydroshock

Until you actually own a house and learn by making mistakes, no one truly knows DIY tasks all that well. I'm not too bad at most tasks, although anything above very basic electrical and plumbing repairs makes me nervous. If I screw up a brick patio, I can fix it. When I burn down the house because of faulty wiring, that's another story...


111 posted on 08/07/2006 10:26:17 AM PDT by NittanyLion
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To: ansel12

I'm not going to blow the guy in; the job is done. Why don't you tell me what credentials constitute an expert?


112 posted on 08/07/2006 10:30:03 AM PDT by rhombus
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To: Hydroshock

This is true of my son. He once told me he was taking his fuel-injected car into the shop to get his carburators adjusted.


113 posted on 08/07/2006 10:33:03 AM PDT by JoeGar
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To: Hazcat

Wasn't meant to disparage your son's ability in any way. There used to be a distintion between "carpenter" and "jointer" that seems to have been lost in modern lexicon.


114 posted on 08/07/2006 10:39:27 AM PDT by tacticalogic ("Oh bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: AnAmericanMother
I heard it like this:

1. Hot on the left.

2. Cold on the right.

3. $#!+ flows downhill.

4. Pack extra bread in your lunchbox. (anyone who's had to sweat copper with water in the line will know what it's for)

115 posted on 08/07/2006 10:44:59 AM PDT by tacticalogic ("Oh bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: MediaMole

What? You mean you don't have an oscillating belt sander in your garage?

Seriously, though, I think Norm could build that Victorian Highboy using a claw hammer and coping saw if he had to.


116 posted on 08/07/2006 10:58:40 AM PDT by T.Smith
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To: tacticalogic
Been there, done that. It works, and no evidence afterwards.

I ran the outside faucet on that line for a couple minutes, just to make sure. Think I saw it go by . . .

117 posted on 08/07/2006 11:08:38 AM PDT by AnAmericanMother ((Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment)))
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To: tacticalogic

Today it seems to be carpenter meaning framer or "rough" carpenter. Other than that it's "finish" carpenter or "cabinet maker".


118 posted on 08/07/2006 11:19:21 AM PDT by Hazcat
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To: Hazcat

Then I'll amend my observation to saying that, IMHO, framing carpentry isn't that hard, but finish carpentry is another matter. I think the term "jointer" may have gone by the wayside with timber frame construction, when there was a person of greater skill and experience than a "common carpenter", who was charged with the critical forming and fitting of the mating parts of the posts and beams.


119 posted on 08/07/2006 11:26:38 AM PDT by tacticalogic ("Oh bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: FreedomPoster
The problem there is that you really need a big box of different-thickness shims, to do it right, so that you can get the right timing.

On inch-pattern variants, yes, the shims are the ticket. All the ones I've fooled with are metric-pattern (Austrian) and shims are *possible* - if you have a good assortment of thin shim stock to cut from (paper thin stuff). Usually, max torque on the barrel brings it up short of the 12:00 mark, so the barrel shoulder's got to be evenly filed down.

I use a hunk of 2x4 with a hole bored nearly all the way through, with a piece of spent .308 brass secured in the center as a pilot. Two old-fashioned auto ignition files flank the hole. Just drop the breech end of the barrel down on the pilot, spin it between your palms for a minute or two, then remove and try the fit. Repeat as needed; only break out the shim stock if you over-cut the barrel shoulder.

Learned the above trick in the WECSOG (Wile E. Coyote School of Gunsmithing) ;-)

120 posted on 08/07/2006 11:27:19 AM PDT by Charles Martel
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