The Cult of DIY

[Richter]

     Many of you may have seen these strange churches set up around your area in the past 10 years.  There are a few competing sects, but they are largely interchangeable, as their message is the same.  Their credo, mode and modus?  Do it yourself. 

     There are many job around the home, relating to plumbing, wiring, or roofing, that most people would summon professional aid at great expense to deal with.  These churches put forth a simple and attractive solution in doing such things by your own labor, even if expertise is lacking.  Go forth to one of their temples, confess your plight and project to one of the "Associates", (as their celebrant insist on being called), and they will aid.  Only in the most cursory way they will describe the process by which you can accomplish it, and will direct you to the needful tools and materials.  Then, simply make supplication before their exit altars by waving they card of money you have not yet made, and they will send you forth to attempt your deed.  Be wary!  The blessing of St. Villa do not fall easily to the foolhardy! 

     You may CERTAINLY feel empowered to complete your home repairs now, for these strange priests are expert at casting "Mordecai's minor false confidence".  Only by your own skill or ingenuity will these projects ACTUALLY be completed, for their aid after the initial advisory will be minimal and stunted.   

     Be wary of these places, for they will sell you a pallet full of shingles for your roof, but may fail to remind you to snap a line of chalk to ensure every row is true.  Or use them to get bits and pieces to use, abuse, or otherwise repurpose for projects you know you can pull off.  You can also watch them for the inevitable comedy.  ANY joint that will sell a cheap oxy – acetylene rig to all comers, without so much as RECOMENDING a welding mask, or asking if they know how NOT to blow themselves up, is BOUND to see some real good stuff.

[Prelate Diogenes Shandor]

I have noticed an odd correlation in that, not only are many of the household projects that people decide to do themselves actuaqlly things best left to the professionals, but also, there are many things which people NEVER do themselves which they could.

[Kai]

Like anything else that requires skill, DIY type home projects require a certain levels of experience in the basics to do more complex work. My family does all this stuff themselves unless its just a massive job they don't have time for, everything from plumbing to electrical to demolition to carpentry to finishing work and decorating, but my dad learned the basics from my mom's dad 25+ years ago, plenty of time to learn all the tricks.

Start simple. Empty the sink trap before you replumb a bathroom. Rewire a light switch before you rewire your attic. Learn the saftey precautions, read read read about the simple steps that make up the larger steps. I've taken part in the complete demolition and refurbishing of two bathrooms, the insulation and rewiring of an attic, house painting, special fabrication of everything from a minished to prevent ice from destroying an outdoor water meter, to drip lines, to baseboards and shims, and I don't feel the least bit qualified to do most of what these DIY places seem to think the beginner is capable of.

So, yeah, I agree with the OP.

[Requia ☣]

Everybody should do everything from scratch, start by making your own IC fab unit.

[Richter]

Thanks, I thought this one would die on the vine.

Shandor: Exactly: People should start their own stuff small if they're new to it.  Changing their car's oil, for example, not diving in to motor replacement.

Kai:  Sounds like we both have similarly skilled families.  I remember one fine weekend dad decided we were getting the old shitty linoleum out of the kitchen, and we ended up ripping the floor off.  Mom was really, really pissed. 
I constantly thank my him for showing me the many ways to troubleshoot the john, though.  (It's been a life skill.)

Requia:  Restart society from flint knives though smelting your own iron or GTFO 

[Kai]

Yeah, that sounds like my mom and dad would do. They'd get some idea for a project one day and one of them would just start on it suddenly, and they'd be working on it for the next several months but the results would be awesome. Refinishing the hardwood floors in the bedrooms, for example. He gets it from my grandfather (the nuclear physicist/inventor/engineer/carpenter/plumber/electrician) who is known for saying things like "its not a real project till you've gotten every tool in the house out and visited every hardware store in town, twice." I wish I had any of those skills; know how to use a circular saw and a measure and pencil to fabricate wood pieces (even ripping), know how to sand and refinish and paint, know some basic rules of safety on electrical and plumbing, that's about it, I didn't retain the rest.

Consequently, flint knapping requires a very skillful hand, at least to make a blade of any reasonable length.

[Triple Zero]

my previous place (that burnt out and it being rebuilt now) was DIYed by a DIY-klutz.

when my parents bought the appartment, at first we didnt notice how badly done some stuff actually was. but after a few years, things started showing. bad hinges, things that are just not aligned properly, some air vent installed the wrong way around (didnt give much trouble, but was yet another sign of incompetence), pipes that are the wrong diameter for what they're supposed to do, and all sorts of things that just required maintenance or turned out to be constructed in a sort of "temporary fix" type of way.

now this worked for the couple that lived there before me, because obviously the guy loved DIYing and in general, stuff worked and if it didnt, he'd fix it. so as long as this guy lived there and kept toying in his house, everything would be fine.

then came me and my old flatmate. we didnt do too much DIY. and because the status quo wasnt built to last, all sorts of flaws came showing through, and it took quite some work and money to have it done properly, for real to last, this time.

so there, it's not always a good thing. i can DIY some stuff myself pretty okay, but usually I just can't be arsed (it's not something I particularly enjoy), but what I do realize, is that for anything that's meant to last longer than a month or so, I want to be totally convinced I can do it myself properly, neatly and lastingly, or I'm going to have a professional do it for me.

I dont want to live in a half-assed ducttape house anymore, I lived there long enough and now I want my place to be solid, durable and polished. if that requires some talent or skill I don't have, I suppose I gotta pay for it. As long as it's worth it.

either way, thanks to the fire and insurance, my old place is now being rebuilt. by professionals. properly. or at least, I'm gonna keep a close eye at them and they better not leave any loose ends or accidentally splatter paint on my windows, or there's gonna be complaining to answer to (basically i'd ask them "if you'd paint your own place, would you have done it like this?"--I have some experience with these people, and they do cut corners from time to time. which I think is pretty shitty cause they get paid royally, and should deliver quality for that).

so um anyway, I'm not really sure where I was going with this. Except that I'm not much of a DIYer myself

[P3nT4gR4m]

I've worked in a couple of the housebuilding trades and the one thing I noticed is that, to begin with a job is iffy but, the more you do it, the more you get the hang of all the little nuances involved in even the simplest seeming tasks. With enough practice you get to the point where you can do it well.

DIY'ers have to do it in one take, first time.

Ask the experts what their first evar pipework job or plaster cornice or roofing repair looked like then decide if you want your finished job to look like that.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I like doing my own work if I can, but it is important to do it RIGHT. Some people have the "Well, just tear it out and re-do it later" mentality, but I think that in a building anything you do should be done to last.

[Richter]

I've worked in a couple of the housebuilding trades and the one thing I noticed is that, to begin with a job is iffy but, the more you do it, the more you get the hang of all the little nuances involved in even the simplest seeming tasks. With enough practice you get to the point where you can do it well.

DIY'ers have to do it in one take, first time.

Ask the experts what their first evar pipework job or plaster cornice or roofing repair looked like then decide if you want your finished job to look like that.

WELL spoken.  No one ever knows how materials, tools, or the project will flow the first time around.

[Jenne]

Tripzip, sometimes I forget you're ESL your words are so liquid.

Richter, I feel you at this time...the "weekend warriors" are the cult of a whole generation...and yet, and yet...it's the jack-of-all-trades thing, master-of-none, eh?  And the mastery is where the shit can fall through the cracks, from where I stand, anyway.

[Richter]

Jenne:  Weekend Warrior-ing reminds me a lot of looking at a project in tabletop RPG terms.  Without mastery of a given skill, you're pretty much rolling against you DEX and points in "Domestic Repair" to see what you get.  Catastrophic failure can be minor, like for a tile floor that cracks a bit, or major, when you forget the wax ring when you reinstall the toilet, and impregnate the floor with shit.

I always try to look at that critical failure possibility before I do something myself.  Contractors / mechaniccs are cheaper than insurance settlements or hospitals.  Then again, I was brought up to know how to handle tools, drive a nail straight, troubleshoot gas / diesel engines, and NOT fall off a roof (among other things).  Working in, or been raised with these things helps, like Kai and P3nt mentioned.  The true "Weekend Warriors", I get the sense don't have this, and are rediscovering our favorite physics applicators from the ground up.

[Jenne]

That's true.  There's the CULT of the WW, and there's the actual person who could really be a handman/woman with little provocation, they just don't try that out as a career.  My own father's like that. 

Also, that dumb show Tool Time sort of showed what happens when a Weekend Warrior cultist starts to DIY more or less seriously.

[Richter]

Another subset of this:  People who know what they're doing in some areas, it jsut doesn't apply to ALL of them.

My father with plumbing is a fine example of this.  My grandfather, being born and raised in an era where a high school degree meant you could understand 80% of the technology in existance (and Depression made it practical to do so to avoid paying a repairman), could fix anything WELL.  My father picked  up MOST of this by osmosis, and "eldest son" effect, and being a contractor himself, picks up on the rest when he can.  He misses some points though, as proven by the antics when we try to do a serious home project their neither of us entirely understand.  There are a few plumbing bits around which are only functional by technicality, ATM. 
What I mean to say; no one is safe from the Dumb. 

 

[Jenne]

Heh, my dad has the same so-called abilities.  And many a house he's "re-wired" has shown the uh aftereffects of such so-called expertise.