Inflation

[vnatale]

I've been doing my own plumbing in my house. So far I've replaced the handle/flapper assembly in my toilet (easy), and took apart, cleaned, and reassembled the piping under the sink (took several tries to put it back together without it leaking). I also fixed my brothers sink by cutting off the top of his metal pipe and attaching a pex to it with a sharkbite (easy) before doing either of my own stuff.

Back in the 80s or 90s I hired a friend (who was in the carpentry / home improvement business) to put in a new kitchen counter top and sink. He did the plumbing for the sinking, pointing out how much money he'd saved me by having him do it rather than hiring a plumber to do it.

It always leaked after that. Some time later (years?) I had a plumber in the house for a real plumbing job and I pointed out that leaking problem. The plumber informed me that my friend had installed the pipes backwards.

I do little skilled work at my house. I prefer to let the professional do it the right way.

[flyingpylon]

For me, one of the most important reasons to hire a “professional” is simply to transfer the liability of screwing up.

[jhogue]

The effect of the internet on home repairs is deflationary:

I am not very handy at all, but I have fixed the family washing machine twice by watching youtube videos. You can watch a repairman do the job over and over again until you can break down the repair to a series of steps. Each step requires a tool, and sometimes a replacement part, which you can also order on the internet. Plus, you can still call the repairman if your own work fails to correct the problem.

[vnatale]

The effect of the internet on home repairs is deflationary:

I am not very handy at all, but I have fixed the family washing machine twice by watching youtube videos. You can watch a repairman do the job over and over again until you can break down the repair to a series of steps. Each step requires a tool, and sometimes a replacement part, which you can also order on the internet. Plus, you can still call the repairman if your own work fails to correct the problem.

That all works only if you can first correctly diagnose the problem AND its solution.

[jhogue]

Vinny,
The youtube videos can help diagnose the problem too. To be clear, I did not say that I would never call the repairman; just that I now try to make the repair myself before calling in the costly repairman.

[pugchief]

For me, one of the most important reasons to hire a “professional” is simply to transfer the liability of screwing up.

I'm not married, so I don't have to listen to my wife tell me I should have listened to her and called a professional.

[jhogue]

Actually, my wife still believes it was her idea to check out the repair video on youtube before calling the professional.

[sophie]

Geez, $330 for just the service call??? Highway robbery, that is.

I used the youtube video method to figure out how to replace a broken kitchen faucet. My super bitched to me about how I shouldn't do it myself because I'd be liable etc. Well, I'd be liable if the plumber screwed up too. And after my kitchen remodel experience, I can tell you that I'm pretty sure that if I read up enough using the extensive facilities on the internet, I could run rings around most of the guys who would turn up if I "called a professional".

My faucet replacement went just fine. I just had a toilet filler valve replaced - I did call a handyman for that, but only because I didn't have the time to deal with it. I did however figure out the right part to order from Amazon and likely saved a bundle that way, compared to letting the handyman guy take care of it.

[vnatale]

Vinny,
The youtube videos can help diagnose the problem too. To be clear, I did not say that I would never call the repairman; just that I now try to make the repair myself before calling in the costly repairman.

I did fix my lawn mower for less than $1.00 in parts from Home Depot.

I was using it when all of a sudden a wheel fell off.

I could see a part had fallen off somewhere in the grass not to be found again.

Took off the corresponding part from the other wheel and brought it to Home Depot. Of course, they did not have that specific part but two other things put together (again costing less than $1.00, including taxes) has done the job for the last three or so years.

But when I last had to have my washing machine repaired I had no interest in doing any research for my probably over 40 year washing machine and just called again the same person who'd last time repaired it, which he again did. Seem to remember the total cost being less than $200.

[Xan]

My favorite home repair was not too long ago: the dishwasher quit making heat.

It turned out that the problem was the connection between the control board and the heater, and the "by the book" repair was an expensive new control board. The actual fix was to put $.00001 of solder to connect the wire from the heater to the control board.

[ppnewbie]

My favorite home repair was not too long ago: the dishwasher quit making heat.

It turned out that the problem was the connection between the control board and the heater, and the "by the book" repair was an expensive new control board. The actual fix was to put $.00001 of solder to connect the wire from the heater to the control board.

Nice!

[vnatale]

My favorite home repair was not too long ago: the dishwasher quit making heat.

It turned out that the problem was the connection between the control board and the heater, and the "by the book" repair was an expensive new control board. The actual fix was to put $.00001 of solder to connect the wire from the heater to the control board.

Yes. The old "repair and replace".

My father had a secure job with the local utility company. But he was gifted at automotive repair. When he'd come home from his job there'd oftentimes be three cars be lined up in front of our house for him to work on. He was both much cheaper and much better than going to a repair place.

The one thing that he told that I always remembered was when he described to me how he fixed a car that would not start.

The typical mechanic would just automatically replace both the starter and the alternative, an expensive proposition. My father, possessing diagnostic skills, would check where voltage was and was not in the starting system. And, instead of doing the repair alternator / starter route....he'd diagnose that it was simply a dirty battery cable. He'd disconnect it, clean it, reconnect it and the car would start fine.

He could fix almost anything. As a result at a time when most families only had one TV we had six working ones in the house for four people. The neighbors would give him things that stopped working and, invariably, he'd fix them with the fixed item either going back to the neighbor or us keeping them.

[stuper1]

My favorite home repair was not too long ago: the dishwasher quit making heat.

It turned out that the problem was the connection between the control board and the heater, and the "by the book" repair was an expensive new control board. The actual fix was to put $.00001 of solder to connect the wire from the heater to the control board.

Xan, how did you determine that this was the problem? Was it something that was visually obvious?

[pp4me]

Since the thread has already been hijacked in favor of home repair I'll add my two cents worth.

Last time I called a professional was last summer when my A/C unit in the garage starting leaking water. I wasn't surprised at all when the repairman told me it was time to buy a new one because that's what they tell me every time I make the mistake of taking advantage of a free yearly tune-up offer.

As soon as the guy left I went to ACE and bought a shop VAC for $60 to suction out the drainage lines because I had seen another repairman do that before. Worked like a charm and the A/C has worked perfectly ever since.

I used to be pretty much up for anything even if I had no idea what the hell I was doing. And this was long before there was any such things as a Youtube DIY video. I've tiled my own bathroom, knocked out walls, and even ran my own 220V wiring when the estimates for doing it were ridiculous.

Probably wouldn't do any of that nowadays but it was fun when I was young and foolish enough to think I could do anything.

One thing I will definitely never try again is doing my own plumbing when copper pipe is involved. I'll do anything as long as it's PVC but if it's copper I've learned the hard way I will end up calling a plumber every time, probably after lots of money and aggravation.

[doodle]

Start yer own bob vila thread, guys and gals! Seriously!

[Xan]

My favorite home repair was not too long ago: the dishwasher quit making heat.

It turned out that the problem was the connection between the control board and the heater, and the "by the book" repair was an expensive new control board. The actual fix was to put $.00001 of solder to connect the wire from the heater to the control board.

Xan, how did you determine that this was the problem? Was it something that was visually obvious?

That part was also Googling/YouTube. With this dishwasher it was very likely to have been the problem. And sure enough, looking at the control board, the original solder had burned off.

[GT]

The effect of the internet on home repairs is deflationary:

I am not very handy at all, but I have fixed the family washing machine twice by watching youtube videos. You can watch a repairman do the job over and over again until you can break down the repair to a series of steps. Each step requires a tool, and sometimes a replacement part, which you can also order on the internet. Plus, you can still call the repairman if your own work fails to correct the problem.

The value of repair video's on YouTube is incredible. I have fixed a ton of stuff by watching YouTube video's

The last house repair was for a clogged AC condensation line
- AC repair company wanted $220 to unclog the line or $1,500 to run a new line.

I followed a YouTube video on how to unclog a line - in a nut shell - blow out the clog like a big spit ball using forced air - lung power works

Even if I do not DIY the repair - I like watching the video's so I have a concept of how the process worka and some common issues and fixes.

I never want to be burned with "your flux capacitor need to be replaced"

flux capacitor - A flux capacitor refers to a fictional piece of technology that allows time travel in the popular science-fiction film series Back to the Future.

[ppnewbie]

I recently had an error notification on my car - logged into a forum for my type of car. Had my local mechanic pull the code. Got all the repair notices for that code, reviewed YouTube videos on the problem and how to repair.

Took it into the dealer - they said it would be $185 to pull the code - to which I replied - it takes five minutes to pull the code and you pretty much know what the code is because this is a near recall issue.

The guy knew he could not BS his way out of it but made a half hearted attempt. Got the repair for free.

YouTube and forums (like this) are definitely a deflationary force.

[vnatale]

I recently had an error notification on my car - logged into a forum for my type of car. Had my local mechanic pull the code. Got all the repair notices for that code, reviewed YouTube videos on the problem and how to repair.

Took it into the dealer - they said it would be $185 to pull the code - to which I replied - it takes five minutes to pull the code and you pretty much know what the code is because this is a near recall issue.

The guy knew he could not BS his way out of it but made a half hearted attempt. Got the repair for free.

YouTube and forums (like this) are definitely a deflationary force.

The whole internet is a deflationary force.

Back in my baseball card "investing" days...all we had was the Beckett guide to use to decide how much to pay for a card from a dealer.

Once eBay came into existence and there were not real, documented sales of baseball cards we all saw what the real values of the cards were, which were much less than what was cited in the Beckett guide.

[pp4me]

I recently had an error notification on my car - logged into a forum for my type of car. Had my local mechanic pull the code. Got all the repair notices for that code, reviewed YouTube videos on the problem and how to repair.

Took it into the dealer - they said it would be $185 to pull the code - to which I replied - it takes five minutes to pull the code and you pretty much know what the code is because this is a near recall issue.

The guy knew he could not BS his way out of it but made a half hearted attempt. Got the repair for free.

YouTube and forums (like this) are definitely a deflationary force.

You can buy a device to read the codes yourself and also clear them for less than $20. I keep one in my 15 year old Dodge because it throws codes all the time. Usually it's something that can be safely ignored (I drove all the way to Alaska and back with the check engine light on). If the light is already on and it throws a new code you won't know about it however so that's why it's a good reason to have a device to reset it if you intend to ignore some of them.

[ppnewbie]

I recently had an error notification on my car - logged into a forum for my type of car. Had my local mechanic pull the code. Got all the repair notices for that code, reviewed YouTube videos on the problem and how to repair.

Took it into the dealer - they said it would be $185 to pull the code - to which I replied - it takes five minutes to pull the code and you pretty much know what the code is because this is a near recall issue.

The guy knew he could not BS his way out of it but made a half hearted attempt. Got the repair for free.

YouTube and forums (like this) are definitely a deflationary force.

You can buy a device to read the codes yourself and also clear them for less than $20. I keep one in my 15 year old Dodge because it throws codes all the time. Usually it's something that can be safely ignored (I drove all the way to Alaska and back with the check engine light on). If the light is already on and it throws a new code you won't know about it however so that's why it's a good reason to have a device to reset it if you intend to ignore some of them.

Thanks - I definitely need to buy one of those

[vnatale]

I recently had an error notification on my car - logged into a forum for my type of car. Had my local mechanic pull the code. Got all the repair notices for that code, reviewed YouTube videos on the problem and how to repair.

Took it into the dealer - they said it would be $185 to pull the code - to which I replied - it takes five minutes to pull the code and you pretty much know what the code is because this is a near recall issue.

The guy knew he could not BS his way out of it but made a half hearted attempt. Got the repair for free.

YouTube and forums (like this) are definitely a deflationary force.

You can buy a device to read the codes yourself and also clear them for less than $20. I keep one in my 15 year old Dodge because it throws codes all the time. Usually it's something that can be safely ignored (I drove all the way to Alaska and back with the check engine light on). If the light is already on and it throws a new code you won't know about it however so that's why it's a good reason to have a device to reset it if you intend to ignore some of them.

Are you able to direct us to which one we should buy at Amazon?

Thanks

[pp4me]

I recently had an error notification on my car - logged into a forum for my type of car. Had my local mechanic pull the code. Got all the repair notices for that code, reviewed YouTube videos on the problem and how to repair.

Took it into the dealer - they said it would be $185 to pull the code - to which I replied - it takes five minutes to pull the code and you pretty much know what the code is because this is a near recall issue.

The guy knew he could not BS his way out of it but made a half hearted attempt. Got the repair for free.

YouTube and forums (like this) are definitely a deflationary force.

You can buy a device to read the codes yourself and also clear them for less than $20. I keep one in my 15 year old Dodge because it throws codes all the time. Usually it's something that can be safely ignored (I drove all the way to Alaska and back with the check engine light on). If the light is already on and it throws a new code you won't know about it however so that's why it's a good reason to have a device to reset it if you intend to ignore some of them.

Are you able to direct us to which one we should buy at Amazon?

Thanks

Mine's a max-scan OBD2. Still only $19.99 on Amazon ....

https://www.amazon.com/Autel-MaxiScan-M ... 488&sr=8-5

You can pay a lot more if you want but I've had this one for about 10 years and it gets the job done.

I think they have something now that you can permanently plug into the OBD port and it sends signals to your cell phone if you want to get fancy.

[GT]

I recently had an error notification on my car - logged into a forum for my type of car. Had my local mechanic pull the code. Got all the repair notices for that code, reviewed YouTube videos on the problem and how to repair.

Took it into the dealer - they said it would be $185 to pull the code - to which I replied - it takes five minutes to pull the code and you pretty much know what the code is because this is a near recall issue.

The guy knew he could not BS his way out of it but made a half hearted attempt. Got the repair for free.

YouTube and forums (like this) are definitely a deflationary force.

You can buy a device to read the codes yourself and also clear them for less than $20. I keep one in my 15 year old Dodge because it throws codes all the time. Usually it's something that can be safely ignored (I drove all the way to Alaska and back with the check engine light on). If the light is already on and it throws a new code you won't know about it however so that's why it's a good reason to have a device to reset it if you intend to ignore some of them.

Are you able to direct us to which one we should buy at Amazon?

Thanks

I bought a more expensive model $100.00 I think - Blue Driver
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPI36bKVCjk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keFaPcp_E6o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPI36bKVCjk

[vnatale]

I recently had an error notification on my car - logged into a forum for my type of car. Had my local mechanic pull the code. Got all the repair notices for that code, reviewed YouTube videos on the problem and how to repair.

Took it into the dealer - they said it would be $185 to pull the code - to which I replied - it takes five minutes to pull the code and you pretty much know what the code is because this is a near recall issue.

The guy knew he could not BS his way out of it but made a half hearted attempt. Got the repair for free.

YouTube and forums (like this) are definitely a deflationary force.

You can buy a device to read the codes yourself and also clear them for less than $20. I keep one in my 15 year old Dodge because it throws codes all the time. Usually it's something that can be safely ignored (I drove all the way to Alaska and back with the check engine light on). If the light is already on and it throws a new code you won't know about it however so that's why it's a good reason to have a device to reset it if you intend to ignore some of them.

Are you able to direct us to which one we should buy at Amazon?

Thanks

Mine's a max-scan OBD2. Still only $19.99 on Amazon ....

https://www.amazon.com/Autel-MaxiScan-M ... 488&sr=8-5

You can pay a lot more if you want but I've had this one for about 10 years and it gets the job done.

I think they have something now that you can permanently plug into the OBD port and it sends signals to your cell phone if you want to get fancy.

Thanks.

Looks like an excellent buy as what catches my eye is an average 4+ star rating, 10,700 ratings, and over 1,000 questions asked.

I don't think a bad product gets that type of response.