The Generation of Repair

This is the generation of repair. Somehow everyone I know have needed extensive repairs of one kind or another recently. Bathrooms, a/c units, heaters, cars, homes in general. Repair work has become so commonplace, everyone having to hire someone to get extensive work done. How did we all reach the point we have to make such extensive changes and fixes?

Is it because we don’t know how to do things like extensive carpentry or plumbing or repair work any more? I can’t even build a box out of wood. I’ve never really done any carpentry or plumbing. I’ve done small things like replace washers or snake out a drain but I seriously doubt I could replace the plumbing in my house and get it up to code. I don’t even know the specifics on how you’d go about finding out what the codes are.

Is it because we’re lazy? It’s easier to hire someone to do work than it is to find out what kind of parts we need, get all the equipment to get the work done, find the time to do it, find out how to do it, do it, figure out what we screwed up the first time because we’ve never done this before, do it again, and then hope it’s right and it doesn’t cause any more issues. We’re more interested in being comfortable and lazy than getting dirty and wrestling with pipes or plywood on our days off.

Is it because we’re perfectionists? Would we rather pay a lot to have it done and done right and not go the cheap route and hope it’s done sufficiently? Is it that it’s easier to pay more and blame someone else if it goes wrong than do it inexpensively ourselves and have no one else but ourselves to blame?

Is it because these things are in the realm of the professionals now? Is plumbing complex enough and the building codes strict enough that it really is something we need to hire an expert for? Or is that just what they want us to think so we keep paying them? Or are professionals only needed when massive, major repair work is at hand and we’re using them for things we could easily do ourselves?

I’d like to do something different. Maybe I’m just being affected by what’s going on with me, maybe I’m just odd and slightly obsessing over maintenance, but I want to learn how to fix my home. I want to learn how to build things out of wood, how to replace plumbing, how to fix floors, how to replace gutters, how to fix things others did cheaply and do it better, how to make my home more comfortable and right. I want to fix things that have plagued me, little things and big things and cheap things and things that I think are expensive but may not actually be expensive and things that really are expensive.

I think I’ll be checking out some books in the near future. I think I’ll be visiting lots of home improvement places around town soon. I think I’ll be doing something I’ve never done before very, very soon: I’m going to build a box. I don’t even know how to build a box out of wood. I never took wood shop in school. No, wait, I had a shop class when I was in junior high. I don’t remember what we were supposed to build in there. I don’t remember doing anything in there. I want to build something, want to fix everything, want to learn a new skill I can use to make my life easier. I can spend a little money trying to fix it myself and then hire the professionals if it turns out it is far more complex than I thought or more damaged. I want to learn to improve my world, to take a better place in the generation of repair.