The problem is, I have one. My dear spouse is an electrician. He works his day job, then labours between two older homes — ours and my mother-in-law’s. He’s ripping out bathrooms, re-building fences, tiling, painting and attending to a countless list of problems in both homes.
My handyman comes by his handiness naturally — from his late father who was a carpenter and bricklayer. That means, there’s nothing hubby hasn’t been exposed to, and apparently, nothing he can’t do. That’s why everybody wants him.
You might expect that our house is in great shape. Not so. For every step forward, there seems to be several back. We recently experienced a carpenter ant infestation in one of our bathrooms. We may have killed the bastards but it’s been a long process. We finally discovered the ant nest when we ripped out the bathroom to the bare walls. The nest was under the toilet. Gag! Add to that, my handyman mounted a fire extinguisher in the laundry room. Good idea. Except, he drilled through the wall and hit the sewage pipe leading from the toilet on the second level. He thought he had the stud, but got a poop pipe instead. Double gag!
When we renovated our main bathroom, a vapour barrier was installed in the attic over top of the bathroom. Somehow, this enhancement has added to our woes as the moisture between the insulation and the ceiling has become trapped. We’ve learned that there’s more to a moisture barrier than we originally thought. Now, we have to backtrack on work that was already done.
We need masonry work on our front steps; to replace the deck in the backyard; a new furnace and air conditioner; a new driveway; replace and update carpeting with hardwood; basement re-finished; painting is several rooms and patching of holes related to other renovations. There’s nothing in that list that my handyman hasn’t insisted he do himself. A driveway? Yes, that’s right. He says we can save a lot of money since he can do a patterned concrete driveway himself. Easy, just mix and pour the concrete and buy the rubber presses used to make the pattern. A furnance? Yep, just need to go to the wholesaler and purchase everything and install it yourself (he “knows a guy” who does gas. Handymen always know “a guy.”)
Someone, please come to my rescue!
When you hear people complain that they can’t find a handyman, my story may give you a clue of why they are so hard to come by.
Not coming to your rescue but my hubby also insists on doing it all himself (he is an Expeditor). We love them but hey, we (them) could all do with a little help from time to time.