How I (Arlene) Conquered the fear of being a DIY’er

I had contractors in the bathroom cutting the floor wrong leaving a huge gap around the flange and when I requested it to be fixed correctly, he got angry at me!  “OH, I CAN THROW SOME BOARDS UP UNDER IT IN THE CLOSET !” instead of fixing it correctly.  I still look up in the closet through the access panel and can see the bolts to the toilet suspended in air. Only 2 of them bite into a piece of wood one of the support beams. The toilet still leaks around the base and it wobbles. I refuse to have it reset again, this would make way too many times.  Next time it gets pulled I will cut the floor right fitting it up to the flange and I will set the toilet down, probably doing a better job.

With the fear it is leaking sewage gasses I will probably fix it early this spring.

When I saw the contractor pulling the dry wall out of his truck and up to the door I stopped him asking him a simple question.  “When are you going to finish the floor?”  It was then, I lost my fear of being a DIY’er.  He said, ” do you want me to do the walls or not?”  I said, ” I want you to finish the floor.”  He demanded his money, which I gave him, he pulled his drywall which I paid for back into his truck, and he left.  I never heard from his again.  But, I learned that day, I needed to learn how to do somethings around the house because of the death of my husband.

I knew I had to be selective in what I could do.  I got out an old Readers Digest Handyman book and read through it thinking about what needed done and what I could do.

I learned to do, manly chores and I conquered my fear of being a DIY’er.