2026, home, Uncategorized, work

Handyman

30 Comments

I am pretty good at fixing things around the house. Husband isn’t very handy, and repairs have usually been left to me. In the last few years, however, I have discovered that any repair involving a ladder is too much for me, as I have become increasingly scared of heights.

Yesterday we had a handyman service come to replace batteries in the garage door opener motor, program some new garage door opener remotes, and replace the closure in the garage ceiling that leads up to the attic. The old closure had fallen out and cracked. We also had them hang a large mirror in the livingroom. That involved heavier work than I was prepared for.

Everything went quickly and smoothly. Now that the mirror is up I think I can finally hang the pictures that have been stacked in the basement. I plan to have an electrician come to replace all the fairly aged wired-in smoke detectors in the bedrooms. I am thankful for all our helpers.

What repairs around the house do you leave for the experts? Post some working songs.

30 thoughts on “Handyman”

  2. I would no longer paint a bedroom without help. I did a couple as recently as 2019, but no more.
    Anything that has to do with the wires in the walls, I will no longer touch. (I’ll switch out an outlet or rewire a switch, but I won’t mess with wires.)
    I’m grateful that the former owner of this 100-year-old house had all the plumbing and drains replaced with plastic before we bought it, so I don’t even have to bother with pipes.

    Here’s a Karaoke sing-along work song.

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  4. Public Service Announcement. Since this is a song day and posting songs sometimes sends things to spam, if you post something and it doesn’t show up right away, can you just text me or email me? We currently have a spambot and I’ve been deleting the spams wholesale. But I don’t want to accidentally delete anything of ours.

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  5. I used to be much more willing to be handy than I currently am. I’m not any more afraid of heights than usual, but I do worry about getting up on a ladder without someone else around. I’m amazed to look back on some of the things that I have managed. I have removed sash weights from various windows, had the windows replaced and then re-hung the sash weights. How did I know how to do that? And I’m still amazed that I replaced all of the glass panes on the front porch (after tim and I sandblasted it).

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  6. There isn’t much I haven’t done at one time or another. I completely gutted and rebuilt a kitchen, I’ve added bathrooms, remodeled the attic into a studio, built decks and once upon a time did basic car repairs. As recently as last week I helped my son-in-law remove, replace and replumb their laundry tub.
    But I find I’m not as bold as I once was in undertaking projects that could have complicating consequences. There is a half-finished shower in the bathroom I added upstairs in the studio and I am uncomfortable about attempting the shower floor because the ramifications of a leak would be major. It’s something I will hire out to someone with experience and more confidence than I.

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  7. I can do minor things, I’ll try to remember some, but it’s Husband who has usually done the home improvements – he replaced all our windows in Robbinsdale, a few at a time. He built a cedar sauna there… He reroofed our garage a few summers back. Even last summer he repaired the garage walls here.

    I’ve helped paint, wallpaper, and strip woodwork over the decades we’ve been homeowners, but any big jobs that come along at this point will have to be hired out.

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  8. To sell this house, it may need some major improvements, like a completely re-done bathroom. The kitchen has no dishwasher. Basement walls are sandstone that is shedding… tho’ that can probably covered up with paint short-term, as was done when we were looking at it. : |

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  10. I’m not handy at all. I’m a homeowner though, so I have to fix minor things once in a while. I won’t touch any kind of electrical repair. I have done some very minor plumbing repairs, but I usually don’t attempt it. I don’t want flooding in my home. I don’t get up on ladders very often, but I do use my 3-step Costco step stool with a handle on it.

    When I moved into this new home, I found a handyman. He is very quiet and diligent, and has done a great job for me. It’s more expensive, but peace of mind that things have been done properly is nice.

    I have a list of things that need to be done here: I need a new kitchen sink and faucet, removing the garbage disposal and installing a slightly deeper sink. The patio door visibly leaks. I’ve watched snow blow in on the track around the door. I can’t figure out how this happens, but I’ve seen it with my own eyes. That’s a priority. Last fall when a company came and pressure washed the exterior, the carpet in front of that door was soaked. I will need hard-wired smoke and carbon monoxide detectors installed. Eventually the bathroom needs a complete remodel and I’ll need new flooring.

    I’ll have to think about a song since someone above took the one I was thinking of.

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  15. I cannot remember the exact name of that song from TLGMS about home ownership. I can hear it in my head, but not enough lyrics to come up with it. And I think we’ve talked about before and couldn’t find a recording anyway.

    I did find an old cell phone video:

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  16. Plumbing; I leave that for the experts. Part of that is the uncomfortable positions required for most plumbing, and part of it is the risk of spraying water all over.

    You know, my time is valuable. It’s how I justify hiring someone else to do something I don’t want to do. And it’s a sign we’ve “made it” when we can afford to hire someone.
    Oh, I could do it. It would just take me 3 years, and they will do it in 3 days.

    There’s a meme I can’t find about ‘how come you know how to do everything? Because I’m poor!’

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