I have a friend who can literally avoid every job around the house as he compares the hourly rate of getting a tradesman to his own pay. To be fair, he earns good money, but when he's at home he doesn't. I have some sympathy for his position though - if you've never serviced a lawnmower before it can feel quite daunting. You need to know what you're doing, have the right tools, know where to buy certain specialist parts etc. The times I have dismantled something, only to find I can't fix it to then spend the rest of the weekend reassembling a 'still broken' machine! When I started out, I used to apply the doctors hippocratic oath to any DIY task,.....'do no harm'. If I could, at the very least, put it back to its original broken state, then I could comfort myself with the knowledge that I hadn't made it any worse. Frankly, it's a lack of courage.
I used to envy those friends who would wake up on a weekend morning desparate to get their tool belts on to begin their campaign of home improvements. They would relish going beyond the point of no return, knocking down walls, digging up driveways to run new drains - ripping out old kitchens - fearless DIY warriors. They would never have to rely on anyone else to get their home functioning as it should. A few years back, when my wife and I became 'Empty-nesters' I decided I had the time to learn any home DIY task. We're not mastering heart surgery here, just a dripping tap or a faulty light socket.....how difficult could it be?
I'm going to come clean here....I've f*cked up a lot things; I've shouted, had tantrums, sank for hours into the deepest states of depression. I've endured the whirring of incredibly negative self-talk, the incessant messages in my head pointing out my inherent incompetences; I would've paid any price to any plumber to mend the tiniest of jobs in those moments. My long suffering wife has been a saint. She often reminds me that just because I won the woodwork prize at school, aged 9, doesn't make me a carpenter!
When I began on this new path, I had a wonderful vision of exercising my naturally inquisitive mind whilst simultaneously being absorbed by projects that would satisfy the soul. That lasted minutes. I had forgotten one of my own rules for life; always have low expectations. My temperament, coupled with my skillset exposed me for the complete chancer that I knew I was. The encouraging news though is, after a while, you realise that most 'mending type' tasks have a common theme. Kitchen hinges work like wardrobe hinges; you begin to overlay your experiences onto new problems. Each new project becomes just a little less daunting.
Had you asked me to do that 5 years ago I would've said you needed a specialist and simply walked away.
Things have changed over the last few years. It could be my age, my gender or both but deep down, I feel the need to be self-sufficient. In our eco-house, we own a boiler that, as luck would have it, no one else on the planet seems to own. There's no one to call to fix it! Well there is, but they appear to have a similar charging structure as the engineers at NASA. It gets worse, there's no Youtube clips where friendly faces uncover all the secrets of every gadget you happen to own.
So when our amazing Lohberger Dual Fuel Pellet Boiler didn't work one day I decided to tackle it head-on. I was faced with wires, wheels and chains...(see picture). After several hours I deduced it must be the ignitor, made a guess where I thought that might be and replaced it. It worked! Over the last 18 months, I have stripped it down, replaced worn parts and got it working as it should. Had you asked me to do that 5 years ago I would've said you needed a specialist and simply walked away.
In order to provide heat for our home I need to coppice a tree, cut to 5ft lengths, split it with an axe (norwegian style!) and then stack in the woods for 12 months to season; I then need to cut them into 8" lengths for the log burner, put them in the trailer, haul them to the wood shed to be finally stacked.
If I chose not to do this, then I would have to buy in my energy requirements - most likely a non-renewable form of energy, either gas or oil. We don't get gas where I live so it would have to be oil. Supplying our own fuel, in pure economic terms, saves between £1,500 - £2,000. But you have to pay tax and national insurance before you get to spend that money, so you need to earn between £200 - £250 per month in order to buy your energy. Thats for the rest of your life and it's subject to inflation and various market variables. Ultimately, I love the process o heating our house. I truly value everything that goes into providing warmth. It's understandable, but I had never appreciated the process of heating a house; it had always been a given comfort where you simply just pressed the 'ON' button.
I'm of the belief that less comfort = more happiness
There is another factor that needs to be considered too. Providing firewood for a season takes a lot of physical effort. It's a tough workout: swinging an axe, hauling logs , lifting logs, dragging branches to form a dead-hedge is physically demanding. My friend calls it 'the Green Gym' As a result, there's no gym membership requirement, so that's another £40 - £80 per month saved....for the rest of your life.
For me , the most important factor is the environmental factor. We grow our own heating! We increase the biodiversity of our woodland by coppicing which in turn provides fuel for our home.
Lastly, there's the question of time; to keep fit, I would rather split wood for the rest of my natural life than lift weights in a souless gym. I enjoy learning new skills; sure there's the element of teaching an old dog to bark a new tune, but I'm doing projects that I never imagined doing. Now, every day can be an adventure!