Then A Hero Comes Along
Posted by Arianne | Filed under Arianne
Ugh! It’s the one thing about home ownership I was not looking forward to: repairs! As a renter, I was spoiled by my landlords. I’ve heard horror stories of landlord’s who didn’t know what they were doing or took their sweet ol’ time getting to the problems at hand. Mine were always attentive and there in my time of need and I’ll be forever grateful. There are a few things I can do on my own but when it comes to electrical and plumbing, well…there’s no way I would know where to start.
The expense of a contractor, electrician or plumber never entered my mind in the past. I have been dreading the first big problem because a million things go through my mind: will I have to take time off work? Will I be able to? Can I trust the person I’m letting into my home? How much will it cost? Can I afford it? Can I live with a damaged floor/faucet/socket/ceiling/door/etc. for an extended amount of time if I can’t afford it? *breathing heavily* In all of my worry, something did happen!
The cold water tap in my shower has always been a little fussy since I moved in – takes Samson-esque strength to turn it on every time. One day a few weeks ago, I turned on the tap and it just kept turning and turning but zero water was coming out. I literally broke out in cold sweats and then realized I couldn’t bathe so started fanning myself profusely until I could think straight. DADDY TO THE RESCUE. I jumped on the phone and called my dad who walked me through some quick fixes but we both soon realized it was a bigger problem than anticipated. Several sink baths later (I feel we’re close enough for you to hear this about me), he was over on the weekend to see the problem. He was able to temporarily fix it but instructed me that the bathroom, which we were going to renovate anyway, should probably be bumped to the top of the list of summer projects. Everything was juuuuuuuust fine until last week when the same thing happened; the tap just turned and turned. Zero cold water. Got the dad on the phone again and he was over here to do some legit surgery on my shower taps. Unfortunately, to fix the problem completely we’d have to tear down walls and I can’t do that right now. Dad’s going to price out everything that needs to be done and then we’ll work out my budget – this way we can do the essential repairs and all the cosmetic stuff at the same time.
Basically, my dad’s my hero.
Renters/Owners: tell me some of your stories of apartment/house problems that popped up out of nowhere and how you dealt with it for the first time.
A single gal who just turned thirty and a first-time home buyer, Arianne is trying to defeat the monstrous debt she accumulated in her twenties. “That debt is the result of my biggest and most dangerous vice: Shopping” says Arianne.
June 7, 2012 at 7:03 am
Arianne,
I can relate- whenever something breaks I call my dad and he can either fix it completely or get me through until the repair can be made- I expect he has saved me thousands of $$!!
June 7, 2012 at 9:25 am
You’re so lucky you have a dad that’s handy. I bought a 40-year old condo last year. A lot of it looks original so I’m just waiting for stuff to fall apart. Hopefully not soon though because my emergency and home repair funds are dismally small at this point.
June 7, 2012 at 9:27 am
The first time I was on my own I was renting. But I had a relationship with my Landlords where I had to take care of items on my own because they were family members of a close friend who lived in a different province. So it was like I was an owner.
One day the soap tile popped off the wall in the shower, to reveal mould. I took pictures of it, sent it to my landlords, then promptly caulked the heck out of a larger tile and stuck it on in place over the hole since it would take a month for the tiling to be redone. My Landlords took care of the rest, but it was my tile work that patched the job. The contractor in the end said he didn’t know how bad it was until he took the tile off cause I sealed it so well.
And don’t get me even started on the time I had to deal with bed bugs…. But again, I had to deal with it on my own, though my funds were returned by the Landlord after.
June 7, 2012 at 11:27 am
This experience is DEAD ON one I had about a year ago. The hot water knob kept turning and turning but nothing came out. So I called my Dad and he told me he would fix it as per usual – he is so handy and has helped out so much with my condo townhouse it’s unreal! That being said he thought I would have to replace/rip through the wall to fix it and put a new faucet/tap which I wasn’t looking forward to.
It turns out the piece with the “teeth” in the back of the knob had worn out and was smooth so it couldn’t grip the “peg” that told the hot water to come out (like my technical terminology?
) I ended up fixing it myself for $5 at Canadian Tire – great feeling to do it myself.
June 7, 2012 at 11:36 am
Yes, that’s exactly the problem with mine. We first added that little plastic piece with the teeth because it was so old. When it happened the second time, my dad realized the “stem” was completely smooth so it didn’t matter how many new teeth were switched, it wouldn’t actually grip the stem to turn the water on. So he replaced the whole thing. When he took off the whole piece to replace it – we saw that there were more issues at hand, including the tiles recessing backward…ugh. So…. *sigh* it will be more than $5 and I’m jealous of you! Thank you for sharing your story!!!
June 7, 2012 at 7:29 pm
My husband is very handy and luckily we’ve never had to have contractors come in. But his little secret is that he teaches himself how to make repairs via YouTube – there are lots of tutorials.
June 8, 2012 at 8:03 am
JJ what a superb idea to use you tube for more than watching those funny dog videos. thanks for the tip. And Arianne if I tell you about the $450 bill i paid to repair the plumbing work done by the first plumbing guy will that make you feel better? a contractor once told me that if anything will bring down a house, it is water so make sure you get that part of your home right.
June 13, 2012 at 12:13 am
Love this post! As a new home owner of a new home (less than 1 year old), I am not looking forward to anything breaking, but know it iwll happen. I loved renting as when the fridge broke my landlords paid to have it fixed. Now if anything breaks…I have to pay for it…boo.