Hi everyone! Since becoming a true homeowner 5 years ago I have been building up my DIY skills. Much of my searching regarding DIY subjects had brought me to threads here, so I decided it would be good to become a member.
DIY has been quite a learning experience. My parents bless them have talants that do not fall within the mechanical realm, most of my family being in the health care profession. My grandfather was very talanted mechanically so genetics must have skipped a generation, but I never got to spend much time with him. I never got any "garage time" or "home repair time" with my dad either.
So the majority of what I know has been self researched and self taught. While living at home and going to school for my BSME, I did my best to help my mom with the house, and learned a lot about cars by wrenching on my VW beetle so I could get to school!
Now I have a family and small "starter" home that we paid way to much for in 2006, so we will be here a long time. At 1200ft, 3Br 2bath and 5 people it is a bit snug
. After a lot of reading I have successfully tackled several DIY projects. My stepdad (my mom remaried a few years ago) helped me remodel the kitchen. We replaced cabinets, countertops and floors. It turned out pretty good. If I had it to do over, I would change a few things, mainly using inexpensive travertine with no spacing between the tiles
It looks bad, the fill is comming out and they are not level. I didn't know at that time to get the nice butted flat polished hotel look you had to grind them! Oh well, that may get redone eventually.
I installed ceiling fans, and removed a non load bearing wall that divided the living room from the kitchen and dining area, in the 80's the fad was to have lots of little rooms. There are several projects on my list, a couple big ones like the 30 year old roof that is comming off. This summer I have got to replace it, haven't decided if this is DIY or not yet.
I don't get as much done as I used to, I have a 4 year old, 3 year old and 2 year old that can be very consuming. When doing something I have to keep the area free of dangerous tools and such even if I step away for a minute. It can make a job take several times as long because I have to pick everything up and put it someplace high just to go out to the garage, which I have to lock, so I can cut some boards.
The good thing is I live in sunny Southern California (see above about paying too much for a house
) so I can work on stuff most of the year.
Anyway, that is a bit about me! I look forward to being a productive member of this board, it is a nice addition to the other boards I am a member of for my other hobbies RVs and Audio.
Daniel
Linear Mode
