My Weirdness - Part 5 - DIY

This is the last of the posts on my weirdness and was kind of the one that prompted the series.  Here's the story.

I teach chemistry, and we were discussing why hydrogen sulfide smells like death.  I love teaching them about floor drains and how pouring water into the trap blocks the gases so that they won't smell that awful smell (talk about some real world science).  Then, I told them about the time I was replacing the toilet at my house and thought I was going to die before I got it bolted down and filled with water because my head was down there next to the open pipe.  Each of my classes responded with, "Wait, you were doing this yourself?"  "Yes," I responded, "replacing a toilet isn't hard, so why would I pay someone to do what I can do myself?"  I've had this conversation with a dozen classes, so their surprise isn't new to me.  I always follow up with, "I don't pay anyone to do something I can do myself."

What happened next, however, was new.  One of my students really thought I shouldn't have done that, so I explained that if there is something I cannot do (complicated electrical work, masonry) or is too dangerous for me to take on (gas delivery to the water heater), I will hire someone.  I simply won't hire someone to do something that I CAN do myself.  He said, "So, you don't have people clean?"  This is when I understood that this boy and I live on two different planets.  I said to him, "You know that's not normal, right?  Most people don't have that."  He got embarrassed and asked to use the restroom.  It wasn't my intent to embarrass him, but I have never had anyone assume that I should have cleaning people.

I grew up in a house where my dad could fix almost anything and believed in making us help.  I have watched him repair washing machines and dryers, furnaces and garbage disposals.  I was shoved into cabinets to pull wires from one end of the kitchen to another.  I was taught how to mud sheetrock properly and how to install a ceiling fan.  I carried landscaping timbers and 2x4's from the truck to the back of the house more times than I can count.  The few times we did hire professionals, it was for really obvious reasons.  We hired roofers because you don't just get hurt if you fall off the house and because doing it wrong results in very expensive repairs.  We hired people to put on siding because we weren't going to buy the equipment required for doing that right.

A few summers ago, I had a leaky bathtub faucet.  I called my dad, and he suggested a few things.  I went to youtube and found out that Home Depot has a channel there.  I was able to repair the leak and replace my fixtures for about twenty dollars.  If I had to bring in a professional for that small job, the price would have been four to five times that much.  The first time I needed to replace a water heater, my parents and I pulled out the old one, put in the new one and reconnected it.  I can't do everything, but I can use basic tools and learn from instructions.  I'm too scared to repair things on my car, but I'm not afraid of most things in my house.  I do have a healthy respect for electricity, so I would never tackle that alone.  When I had to replace the capacitor in my air conditioning, I called my mom over to stand near me.  She asked me what I thought she would be able to do, and I told her I would like 911 to be called as soon as possible if I did electrocute myself into unconsciousness.

You are more capable than you think, and instructions are now just a few clicks away.  Hire people when you actually need to, but you will be very happy with yourself and save a lot of money by learning to do some things yourself.