On Aug 23, 10:23*pm, Metspitzer wrote:
On Sun, 23 Aug 2009 16:03:21 -0500, Red Green
wrote:
David Nebenzahl wrote in
rs.com:
Well, I don't personally hate him. Don't even know the guy.
But that's the title of the latest piece by one of my favorite
columnists in the /Berkeley Daily Planet/, Matt Cantor, local owner of
a home-inspection business who writes a weekly column on home repair
and maintenance.
Here's a sample:
* *I do genuinely hate these specific shows: "Hometime," "This Old
* *House" and "The New Yankee Workshop." I hate them for one simple
* *reason: they make most people feel like idiots. Even if a show only
* *demonstrates how to build a basic chest of drawers, it does a lousy
* *job of preparing the average Joe or Joan for the task. In the end,
* *the show provides nothing more than boutique shopping and showing
* *off. I suppose that would be a lot of fun if you only want to learn
* *that you—as a homeowner or stock broker or bank clerk—know nothing
* *about houses or furniture or nails and that you’ll never stand a
* *chance of doing more than hanging a picture on the wall.
* *On shows like these, the jobs are made to look so darned easy. All
* *the materials are waiting for assembly and nothing is spoiled, the
* *wrong type or missing. The air gun never misfires and the
* *compressor never needs to be drained (yes, you have to drain
* *compressors daily because they fill up with water and will rust out
* *if you don’t do so). That’s another thing I hate: in actuality,
* *there are many small details that fill a contractor’s day (or your
* *day when you play contractor) but they’re neatly edited out, just
* *as they are in a cooking show. Just pop the raw one in the oven and
* *Voila, the new freshly baked one comes right out of the other oven.
(See article at
http://berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue.../article/33531)
So many of my thought he printed.
They do need a reality show along those lines! The one where the victim,
aka DIY'r, turns the wrench to losen the whatever and every pipe
connected to it twists like a transmission tower that Godzilla blew his *
big bad Habanero breath on.
I hope the DIY's come out on the Internet. *I have already seen some
pretty useful ones.
What I really want to see is something you have to bring home and
assemble that comes with a link where you can watch the assembly of
the exact product on the Internet.- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
Yes and one that honestly says "If piece A does not fit easily into
the slot of bracket B, use a piece of sandpaper and/or a small rasp/
file and rub down the rough edges of A so it will fit.
DO NOT enlarge slot. I needing to tap A into place use something soft
before 'Gently' tapping A into place with hammer or similar tool. Use
enclosed Allen wrench to tighten patent fasteners nuts.
Definitions:
a) Sandpaper (Heavy paper coated with glued abrasive such as sand).
b) Hammer (Nailing tool with metal 'head' and wooden of fibreglass
handle).
c)Rasp/file. Household abrasive tool (See larger version of nail file
etc.).
d) Allen wrench (Hexagonal 'six sided' small tool to fit indentation
in head of patent fasteners).
But number of times have been asked to assist people assemble some
items, who don't even have a hammer or screwdriver in the house! So
one ends up using a dinner knife to take out a screw or going home to
get one's own tools!
One time, some 50+ years ago, though I was 'thrown for loop' when a
senior gentleman kept asking me for a 'Turn screw' (Old Irish I think,
i.e. Screwdriver.) Come to think of it that makes more sense than the
word 'screwdriver'. Cos you turn a screw whether you are putting it in
or taking it out!
Agree Norm Abrams time 30 minutes. Mine two weeks plus, plus, in
between fixing the house, doing chores, visiting family, servicing
motor vehicle etc. etc. Must go round and check trees for damage and
if any water came through basement windows during last night's storm
(Tropical storm/hurricane 'Bill') which quickly passed over here last
night. Power, TV and phone survived but only thing had to reset this
morning was the microwave!