Given that I have time rather than money at the moment, I am considering the jobs around the house and thinking about doing them myself. Either this will come to a messy end, or immense satisfaction at having achieved something practical will result.
Mr A has a large manual of all things DIY, which is very helpful. I know that my skill set includes whatever it takes to re-hang a door or replace a small carpet, and preparing and painting walls is not at all difficult. I don't know how to repair/replace a door frame, but how hard can it be? I also know that the results are likely to be better than when we Get A Man In. But I think that I will find it frustrating and annoying.
It started with the wall lights, which required drilling. I am not bad at drilling; I did quite a lot when I was living on my own in Manchester. I did quite a lot of DIY in that flat, including mending the pump on the basement toilet macerator unit, which I felt was quite an achievement. But Mr A has taken over my drill, and when I asked him for drill bits he brought two, one of which turned out to be bent and the other a bit rusty. If I take on this set of DIY projects, I will have to reclaim the drill and keep my own bits. Mr A did the drilling for the wall lights in the end, and I felt like a pathetic wifey, even though I asked him to do it.
So it isn't difficult, but when Mr A and I were both working it was much easier to get a man in. That tactic wasn't necessarily the right one in this old and temperamental house, and some of the results have been much less successful than if we had done the work ourselves - while our current choice of plumber is probably competent at installations, I'm not so sure about their troubleshooting and repair.
But before I start on any rash DIY projects here, I am off to assist at a loft insulation event at mum and dad's. This will include some possible ebay and Freegle activity, in order to avoid replacing the contents of the emptied loft. Wish me luck!
No comments:
Post a Comment