Basic home repairs are so much fun, arent they?

[RandomNPC]

Rebuilt all the pipes under my kitchen sink. Had to hire someone to come "hydro blast" the pipes out because the ball of grease and food bits was much farther down the line. Rebuilding the entire 2 sink drain, including the metal bit at the bottom of the sinks, all the way to the floor, took 1 picture and 1 trip to the store.

My neighbor tried to help me replace my hot water tank. With his help it took 6 trips to the store.

Redid my door lock trying to get a keypad lock. Turns out my deadbolt was cut in wherever the guy installing it wanted to put it and there's no keypad that would either leave the deadbolt or cover the hole from removing it.

Changed out an old light switch. I now know I can turn off the fuse box from the second bedroom and all it costs is mild chest pain.

Replaced the light by my front door, it looks cool now. We hit it with a mattress when we moved in.

Put up a ceiling fan because the old ones motor was making noise. The worst part was holding it up while I put screws in to keep it up there. Now the fan blades look like palm leaves and everyone comments on it.

Replaced all of the parts in my toilet at one time or another. I hope I move out before something else happens with it. The water intake line doesn't actually shut off all the way so I had to duct tape it in such a way that it just kept putting water into the bowl until I fixed the initial problem.

All in all, I'd fix more, but nothing else is broken that I'm aware of.

[Algeh]

I had my yard guy clean out my gutters, and two of my downspouts were clogged so he took those down to clean them out too. They were apparently held together by duct tape rather than by more traditional methods. Now that it's raining again, I'll soon know if that was because they leaked or because the previous owner lacked common sense and/or typical home maintenance tools ("both" is a reasonable answer based on other "repairs" I've found so far).

The gutters are also clearly sloped wrong near my front door. I've fixed some of the leaks, but that just causes water to pool until or unless it finds a new place to leak out of since clearly that corner is lower than the corners with downspouts so it's never going to drain to the downspouts properly. The previous owner tried to fix this with caulk and strategic locations for planters.

...I should probably just get new gutters. Or a condo.

[Spore]

To answer the title, it is not to me. But that is mainly because I react like Hal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbSehcT19u0

And I hatelove hardware stores. I never find the specific item I need on my own (mainly because German ones mix inches, centimetres and various size namings; I have went thrice so far to find a gasket for my shower), but all the new and shiny stuff they have on display, and would improve the home a lot. It's mainly electrics for me tho (new lamps) where I shy away because I'm pee-scared off electrocuting myself. But to be fair my place really REALLY needs a new floor, and since I plan on moving I won't pay for my land lady to have shiny new floor preinstalled.

[Tyndmyr]

These stories crack me up. Good stories, but you should feel a sense of accomplishment. And know that the more such 'home repairs' you do, they better you get at them. That is until you get to plumbing. Plumbing requires 4 trips to the store. Doesn't matter why, it just does, every time!

Yup. Most projects, two trips. Sometimes, when I am extraordinarily fortunate, a single trip. Those projects are rare. Plumbing? Ugggh.

Just found a leak. Can't trace where it's coming from. Like, drop of water at a time. Not the toilets, dyed water in them doesn't come through. Can't find any pipe leaking. Turns out it's somehow in the freaking air duct. Water dripping from...somewhere, and then traveling along the duct and dripping down. So, somewhere in the house, a pipe is leaking into an air duct. This is the point at which I called a plumber.

[snowblizz]

Yup. Most projects, two trips. Sometimes, when I am extraordinarily fortunate, a single trip. Those projects are rare. Plumbing? Ugggh.

Just found a leak. Can't trace where it's coming from. Like, drop of water at a time. Not the toilets, dyed water in them doesn't come through. Can't find any pipe leaking. Turns out it's somehow in the freaking air duct. Water dripping from...somewhere, and then traveling along the duct and dripping down. So, somewhere in the house, a pipe is leaking into an air duct. This is the point at which I called a plumber.

It can "just" be condensation. If the airduct isn't properly insulated, or is too insulated apparently, there will be a significan't difference in temperature of the air circulating which will cause condensation to form.

I'm not gonna claim expertise here, but I was on the attic with a friend and he sees one of the airduct pipes is only half-covered by the ceiling insulation and he pointed out that risks condensation either inside or outside the pipe depending on season.

But yeah, finding out wherer suspect water come from is important. One winter there was water running down the electrical piping in my parent's bedroom, I went up in the attic and found a bucket of snow up there slowly melting into the blown insulation. Saved us maybe half a bucket of water additionally melting into it.

Do you have a water measurer that actually reacts to leaks? Or is it just the actual dripping water you notice.

My view on plumbers is slightly dented by problems with said device which has been intermittedly warning of leaks and the plumber how came to test couldn't figure anything out. Only suggesting to check toilets. So I picked the one I thought most likely and dangit if it wasn't so, somewhere, somehow it slightly leaked internally as the meter stopped warning after I shut the intake valve on the toilet.

[Yora]

I want to replace a headlight in my car. The replacement should be easy, but even figuring out what replacement part to buy has been a huge pain in the ass. For some reason, that information is not listed in the manual. It tells you how to change the lights, but not what lights go into the various sockets.

[factotum]

I want to replace a headlight in my car. The replacement should be easy, but even figuring out what replacement part to buy has been a huge pain in the ass. For some reason, that information is not listed in the manual. It tells you how to change the lights, but not what lights go into the various sockets.

I don't know how it works in Germany, but in the UK you go to the car parts shop (e.g. Halfords) and they have a big book covering every model of car, saying what part numbers are used for the various light bulbs.

[Peelee]

I don't know how it works in Germany, but in the UK you go to the car parts shop (e.g. Halfords) and they have a big book covering every model of car, saying what part numbers are used for the various light bulbs.

I don't doubt that duck a book also exists in the US (and by "book," I mean "database, whether online or internal"), but I've never had anyone ever need to look it up for my needs; I tell 'em the make and model and they direct me to what fits.

Dont know if they're just that good or if my stuff is just that generic but I don't much care either way, it's damned handy.

[snowblizz]

I don't doubt that duck a book also exists in the US (and by "book," I mean "database, whether online or internal"), but I've never had anyone ever need to look it up for my needs; I tell 'em the make and model and they direct me to what fits.

Dont know if they're just that good or if my stuff is just that generic but I don't much care either way, it's damned handy.

My experience has been that they look it up and the damned part isn't correct anyway despite all the numbers checking out.

At this point I'm convinced no-one makes windscreen wipers that are actually compatible with dad's older 2003 Nissan Primera anymore. Including Nissan.

Many of the 3rd party retailers can look up your car on the basis of the registry plate too.

[darkrose50]

I got mice in the attic this winter. We heard them in the light fixtures. We heard them in the light fixtures. We trapped two of them. We no longer hear them. My father-in-law is going to check out the wiring.

One year we had mice in the basement.

One year I had a mouse in my car.

I guess it gets cold and they want to get inside where it is warm.

[Traab]

I got mice in the attic this winter. We heard them in the light fixtures. We heard them in the light fixtures. We trapped two of them. We no longer hear them. My father-in-law is going to check out the wiring.

One year we had mice in the basement.

One year I had a mouse in my car.

I guess it gets cold and they want to get inside where it is warm.

We get mice every year. Not this year, this year we had rats. Got the bigger traps, took out like 6-7 of them. That seems to have stopped them for the year.

[sktarq]

me: Sunday playing 2004 videogames-"la de da-oh phonecall? A call not text?"
friend: "Hey (sktarq) you're handy do you have a toolbox?"
me: "Yeah I do, what do ya need?"
Friend: "I'm not totally sure, but I need to fix where the hose out of the dryer where it goes through the wall...I'll bribe you with (local pizza joint)"
me: "Lol, fine"

Leads to 4+ hours of simple maintenence..tightening screws, re-hanging blinds, adjusting thermostat older than me that had lost normal adjustment knobs, etc etc....

Just another sunday...did get upgraded to steak though.