Mainly just cars.
Getting ready to try the homebrew thing with a few friends in a few weeks. The wife wants to start a garden once she's done transitioning her job to where we live and she won't be working 6 days a week and spending a ton of time in the car.
I'd really like to know how to do the around the house type stuff, but don't have the tools, know-how, or anyone I can really lean on for help. And I hate the thought of screwing it up, then having to pay a pro more to fix it.
I tackled my first plumbing job a couple weeks ago... Replaced the tank bolts and flapper valve on a leaky toilet. Now it doesn't refill itself every 10 minutes.
I can grassroots computers all day long. I successfully petitioned to build my own virtualmachininator rather than a prebuilt compy for 3 monitor madness and running at least 3 VMs at once.
I still feel awkward when it comes to actual carpentry. I can stain and paint just fine. Maybe it'd help if I had a saw that has a guide to cut in a straight line.
z31maniac wrote: Mainly just cars. Getting ready to try the homebrew thing with a few friends in a few weeks. The wife wants to start a garden once she's done transitioning her job to where we live and she won't be working 6 days a week and spending a ton of time in the car. I'd really like to know how to do the around the house type stuff, but don't have the tools, know-how, or anyone I can really lean on for help. And I hate the thought of screwing it up, then having to pay a pro more to fix it.
As far as home repair/reno stuff - I have had a lot of luck getting the how-to books at the local big box place. Also, teh yootubes are youre friend.
Look on the bright side - if SWMBO demands you correct/update/install insert random appliance/nicety here, and that project requires a new power tool, then you get to add to the collection. BONUS!
(coming from the guy who had 0 power tools before marriage, and now has a bench grinder, a miter saw, multiple cordless saws and drills, a drill press, an air compressor, an angle grinder, a power sander, a sawzall, and a pneumatic nailer)
octavious wrote: Since we're on the subject how do you go about doing a compost pile? I need compost for dummies...
We bought a compost bin (big black plastic thing with a lid and vents). Drop in food waste, stir, and layer with leaves or grass occasionally.
In reply to Javelin:
I build custom tilt-lens adapters from the Home Depot plumbing department for my Olympus E-M5... pretty grassroots I guess.
I'm even more grassroots with most other things than with the cars. Computers, home stuff, you name it.
I bought an used computer computer countertop at Habitat for Humanity's ReStore for $2.75 for a 6' section. Then some 2x4s at Menards for $8.xx. I'll be using some left over screws from an already completed project, so they are already paid for. That's right a new 6' work bench for less than $11.00.
Now I just have to assemble it.
Home Repair/Reno I know my limits but tend to not stick to them. In the 7 years I've owned homes I've only had a Water heater installed and that's because it was silly cheap (Like $50 install) and had Carpet done again becasue it was "$99 install". We've done some pretty heavy reno work in that time, installing Gas lines, electrical, finishing a basement, Gut to studs kitchen/bath. I'll basically try it all.
That may change soon though as I'm getting quotes from contractors to build my garage. I would LOVE to do it myself but with baby 2 on the way I simply don't have time and don't prioritize it high enough to devote all of my time for the next year or so to it. I can have a contractor build it in a month.
Other household stuff like Gardening, cooking, etc. I'd love to do more grassroots type things but again time is a hot commodity right now and I'll spend a few $$ to free up the time I do have to do the projects I want to do and not the ones I want to do to same $$.
I'd love to have stickers that says "Grassroots Motorsports, Grassroots Lifestyle"
My girlfriend thinks I'm addicted to the internet, and my friends says I'm addicted to "the advice of discussion forums". Seriously, I don't do anything without first seeing if I can do it myself cheaper and for less money.
In that regard I'd say that GRM has significantly affected my personality.
I'm pretty GRM in regular life as well. Our old house was remodeled with the help of my father-in-law. By the time we sold it, the only floor in the house that was there when we bought it was the upstairs bathroom. Every door was replaced, every room was painted, we laid ceramic tile in the entire lower floor, did plenty of sheetrocking/taping/compounding, etc. The yard is where I enjoy DIY'ing more than anywhere else pretty much any yard job I do myself, we cleared a lot of land and re-graded a good portion of our yard at the last place. The difference in the yard from when we moved in to when we left was pretty incredible...
I'm not an expert at everything, but like Pheller, I do a lot of research on the internet and learn from others when ever I can...
mad_machine wrote: does stripping my place to the studs and rebuilding, room by room, by myself.. count?
Hell yeah. I'm in that boat myself.
Tired of that boat, but totally there with you. 
I've been making my own beer for over 20 years now, and same goes for stereo equipment. I no longer build amps, but I'm stocked up for the next 4 speaker projects.
It's a philosophy with me. Why pay somebody to do something when you can do it yourself? Last year when my septic stopped working, I didn't even think of calling in the septic guys. I had it pumped, and went looking for trouble. Hanging upside down in the tank, I found the problem and fixed it. everybody thought I was nuts, but somebody had to do it, why not me?
If you want to see grassroots, try vintage motocross. It's like going to the $1500 challenge for motorcycles every week
PHeller wrote: My girlfriend thinks I'm addicted to the internet, and my friends says I'm addicted to "the advice of discussion forums". Seriously, I don't do anything without first seeing if I can do it myself cheaper and for less money.
That's me 100%
I filter all my pee back into usable drinking water.
I just drink my pee.
Everything.
From appliance repair, home remodeling, roofing, pouring a patio, brewing my own beer, building my own guitar amps from antique radios, building and repairing musical instruments, cutting and welding to modify bicycles. Hell I machined and welded up my own articulated wall mount for my television. upholstery.... The list goes on.
The only thing I have found that I can't do and have to pay someone to do for me is repair a sewing machine. For some reason those things baffle me. Never to be defeated I have a late 1800's singer to get up and running, might as well start with the basics, right?
I'm usually somewhat grassroots in my other hobbies. Most recently a friend of mine got me back into traditional archery, which, for me, pretty much means bow making (anyone interested in a build thread?).
With the right books and practice, you can make a bow for $5 that shoots as fast/accurate as a store bought laminated fiberglass one. we're still working on how to do good, consistant arrows for cheap. those are harder, a lot less room for error. I have worked out some of the more expensive arrow making tools with stuff I already own, so i'm partway there.
Rufledt wrote: I'm usually somewhat grassroots in my other hobbies. Most recently a friend of mine got me back into traditional archery, which, for me, pretty much means bow making (anyone interested in a build thread?). With the right books and practice, you can make a bow for $5 that shoots as fast/accurate as a store bought laminated fiberglass one. we're still working on how to do good, consistant arrows for cheap. those are harder, a lot less room for error. I have worked out some of the more expensive arrow making tools with stuff I already own, so i'm partway there.
I would! My son made a bow out of the top section of an old fishing pole and some fishing line.
I do all the computer work at the house as well as on the side, built a shelving unit for storage out of 2x4s, bought a dehydrator and have been dehydrating fruit lately, our hispanic grocery stores have cheap produce regularly so why not. I cook almost every night. Starting to fish again, never did learn how to do saltwater fishing correctly after moving here from the land of 10,000 lakes. Fix/maintain my family's cars and do all the mods on my car myself. Used to do most of the house stuff too but I rent at the moment so I'll let someone else deal with it. I have a motorcycle that I crashed a few years back that I want to get back on the road, need to figure out how to fix the bent subframe and give the carb a going through. Everything is preceeded by hours researching online.
omg92celicawins
All my house stuff is grassroots. You can learn a lot of stuff on youtube. The thing I hate the most is I'm more critical of my own work than someone else's. I've learned tile, plumbing, electrical, carpeting, framing, drywall. I've learned to dislike most of it, but there aren't many more rooms left in the house to do. One day I'm going to build a damn garage, so I don't have to lie in the dirt in the rain to fix a car.
It is extremely rare for me to pay anyone to do something I can do. Part of it is Curmudgeon cheap, part is Curmudgeon enjoys doing his own thing. But there are times.
I recently had one of my techs evac and recharge my Trooper's A/C to verify correct refrigerant charge; I had recharged it myself when I replaced the compressor 2 years ago (borrowed machine). I had a pro tint the windows because, well, Curmudgeon clumsy and makes bubbles in tint. Everything else I do; brakes, oil changes, timing belt, water pump, transmssion fluid, etc so forth ad nauseam.
I farmed out some of the work on my house not because I couldn't do it, but rather because when I go to mortgage out since it was a Fannie Mae foreclosure the bank will be easier to deal with if I have some pro receipts for the A/C install and the floor joist repair. Everything else I did myself. That includes masonry, paint, ceramic tile, hardwood flooring, plumbing, electrical, landscaping, concrete, etc etc etc. I built two shops myself, just had a pro pour the slab for the second one.
I have never had Geek Squad etc touch any of my computers. Thanks to my kid, I learned a LOT about fixing computer viruses. 
My bike came home in 4 cardboard boxes and a big plastic flower pot. I rebuilt, rewired and painted it myself.
My race car came home as a free roller with a destroyed floor pan and a busted rear axle. I swapped all Mazda running gear into it. I narrowed the rear axle housing myself.
But I refuse to drink my pee. I'll pop a beer instead, thankyaverramuch.
Finished our laundry room during the winter, which meant a new epoxy floor, waterproofed walls (it's in the basement) and an 8'x3'x12' Oak shelf system that could serve as bunk beds.
Recently I finished putting in an epoxy floor in my garage.
Outside, we cleared half an acre of trees and scrub, started a compost pile, built two raised gardens, which now feature 8' tomato plants, installed a 320 gallon rain tank for irrigation, and did enough landscaping to make my neighbors pay a bunch of money to keep up.
Nearly every time I'm in the yard I have people stop and compliment what we've done with the place in the 7 months we've lived there. Next up is a shed for outdoor equipment. Home entertainment center and wiring up the house for in-ceiling audio.
You'll need to log in to post.
