DIY vs LSE

One of the jokes around my house for years centers around me “being handy”.  I was raised around power tools, engines, projects and more.  The funny part was that my wife was talking to our neighbor saying her husband wasn’t handy at all.  HOWEVER, he was out playing golf as they were having that conversations while I was in the garage assembling cabinets.  Hmmm.  I think he got the better deal.  

But some people do DIY projects and instead of Doing It Yourself – they should have gone the LSE route to Let Somebody Else do it.  Here are a few examples from the house we moved into about a month ago.  Keep in mind, we LOVE the house but there are a few little puzzling things.  

Last night, I closed the door to the laundry room and it clunked instead of closing.  If you look at the picture, you’ll see the latch is installed upside down.  The curve should face the opposing curve of the piece on the door frame.

Another little oddity.  Have you ever heard the term “Measure twice.  Cut ONCE”?   Let’s look at these examples.  I think they did a DIY project installing this sliding barn door in the basement.  Perhaps BEFORE the carpet was in place.  The fix left for me seems to be to move the hardware, take up the carpet or cut off the bottom of the door.  As you can see, the door is dragging and resting on the floor.   

I love the fact that they put down new carpet everywhere that doesn’t have hardwood floors.  The carpet job was great.  However, they didn’t paint the wood part of the staircase BEFORE they put down the carpet.  Now, I have to find a way to paint that part of the staircase without painting the carpet.  

Another “measure twice” item came up on the landing at the top of the stairs.  I like hardwood floors a lot but only when they are done right.  I guess I’ll be adding a piece of molding to the piece of molding already in place to cover the irregular edges of the hardwood.  

Knowing someone has been doing one DIY project after another in this house – and some haven’t gone that well, I’m afraid to use the shower.  They finished the basement bathroom but having seen some of the other workmanship, I’m wondering if this shower will be watertight.  I’m about to put up shower doors where the curtain would be hanging but we’ll see if the utility room fills up with water when I take my first shower in this room.  

If you are a DIYer, hang in there.  If you make mistakes in your DIY projects, just know that all of us do.  I’ve made more mistakes than most people.  But if you truly don’t have the skills or tenacity to hang in there and finish the project correctly, switch from DIY to LSE and Let Somebody Else do it.