Forced to DIY


Sometimes we don't want to DIY things, but we are forced to.

After living in this house for 2 years I was finally ready to get a plumber to deal with the leaky kitchen faucet.  Turns out all the plumbers in the area are backed up from January's cold snap which broke many pipes and put them behind.  I literally can't get a plumber.

I may not be rich enough to buy D'Agostino or Boulder but I sure as hell can hire a plumber.  If I could find one.  So instead of hiring a plumber, and swiping my credit card I have to do it all myself.  New strap wrench, 2 valve kits from Moen even if the faucet literally says Kohler on it, and an hour later I have a faucet that doesn't leak.

Right now my integrated is causing me some issues.  I am honestly tired and I'd rather pay to fix it, but the effort to find a qualified tech and package and ship the amp is so much more work than I would need to fix it myself that yet again, I'm DIYing it.

Mind you in a lot of ways I like doing DIY projects, but the plumbing and this particulare issue are not really that. 

How about you?  Have you found yourself driven to DIY at home or in your stereo because the alternative was just not feasible?

erik_squires

Showing 1 response by skyscraper

DIY on things you don’t know anything about can wear you out in short order. Now I’m a DIY person to an extreme. I built our home including the carpentry, electric, plumbing and most of of the HVAC. I also do all my home maintenance work except I’ve learned the hard way I can’t fix appliances and try to avoid most auto repair.

The thing that wore me out the most though, was trying to keep my beloved old Bang and Olufsen Beogram 4002 linear tracking turntable running. Nobody locally could repair it properly, and I knew nothing about electronics or stereo equipment repair. I even went so far as purchasing a second Beogram 4002 for parts.

As the frequency of needing repairs increased with age, finally the last time it broke down no amount of research and DIY fixing could resuscitate the turntable, I was in despair. Each previous repair had been agonizing mostly due to trying to figure out what needed to be done each time. At last I finally gave up. I threw both the original and parts turntable in the garbage to make sure no one else would ever suffer the same travail trying to keep it running for another forty years. I loved that turntable, and may it RIP.