[Raion]

For those of us who are handy, what kinds of home repairs have you undertaken? 

I'm currently in the midst of repairing a door jamb. Due to living in a shitty neighborhood in the Carolinan town I'm in, the door of the house I'm renting has been abused over the years with people kicking at the door, breaking the door jamb etc. I spoke with my landlord and got him to agree to three repairs I'm doing:

1. Replace the door jamb that carries the strike plate, deadbolt strike, and bears the burden of protecting the door. 
2. Repair the cracked entry door and weather stripping
3. Repaint the door and frame/trim. 

Today I cut out part of the door jamb. The reason for this is easy -- I would have to disassemble much of the frame and shim/fix the door frame if I replaced the entire piece and the stud next to it. Instead, I'm cutting out the broken/rotten parts, replacing with new lumber, using calk, screws, wood glue, and a new steel strike plate to provide protection. The screws now will reach into the stud and basically leave the actual solid wood door (an old 1950s door, so very strong and weathered) as the weakest point. 

Tomorrow morning, I will go to the Home Depot, get pine boards cut down to size, put them in, indent the strike, repair the trim and paint it. Then weatherstripping, and repairing the crack in the entry door, which is easy (drill, woodglue, metal dowels, clamps)

[jpstewart]

I'm currently waiting for parts to replace a faulty shower faucet handle.  The actual valve mechanism works fine, but the handle detached.  Of course it's a 20 year old valve mechanism that's been discontinued for years.  The replacement part I bought at the local hardware store doesn't fit -- it's for the newer valve style that replaced what's in my wall.  So I had to order the right part on-line and wait a week for delivery.  In the meantime, when I get out of the shower I need a screwdriver to turn off the water.  Turning it on and adjusting the temperature work fine.  But it only goes half off without a little extra persuasion.  Should have my part on Wednesday.  On the upside, I paid $15 for the wrong part (which I can probably still return for a refund) and $20 for the right one (delivered).  So worst case scenario is the repair cost $35.  I know that just getting a plumber in the door is $75, then add in the cost of the actual repair.  So I'm coming out ahead and trying to focus on that rather than the week long wait.

I've done other small plumbing projects like replacing a kitchen faucet, leaky drain pipes in the bathroom sink, and even replaced a toilet (gross but simple).  But that's about the extent of my plumbing adventures. 

I do even less woodwork, although next spring I'm going to have to replace a half dozen or so cedar deck boards and maybe the whole railing.  Probably not without some more experienced help, though!  The deck boards run on a 45 degree angle so there will be a lot of very precise mitre cuts involved.

I'm more comfortable with electrical stuff but, fortunately, rarely have needed to do any such repairs.  Two years ago I replaced a built-in dishwasher.  That involved both electrical and plumbing work.  Only took a couple of hours to do the job.  I could have added professional installation at purchase time but that was $150 and didn't include removal of the old one.  Very glad I did it myself.

I'm not really a handy guy, though.  I'm just a cheapskate.  I hate having to pay professionals but for a lot of projects I have no choice. And for the bigger jobs, they are worth it.

I hope your landlord is covering the cost of materials and maybe something for your time. (Like a discount on next month's rent!)

[Raion]

It's a bit of a different culture here in the US, but he's paying for 50% of the costs. I'm considering getting a keypad for the house, and he's not covering the costs of that, and I'm covering the cost of paint because he doesn't want to pay for the higher costs of paint or to replace broken weatherstripping, which is fair. neither of those are incentives to him. So yeah, he's paying for just the wood, screws, new doorknob etc. That's all pretty cheap shit.

[jan-jaap]

We own the house we live in so I'm motivated to keep everything in good condition. I do most of the upkeep, things like painting the woodwork, cleaning the gutters. During the holidays I scraped & oiled the hardwood floors, last Christmas I had to go under the house to re-attach a sewer pipe that had come undone.

I draw the line at actual construction (like when I had an annex constructed for my computers), replacing a kitchen or bathroom etc.

[vishnu]

I've done some pretty big projects that would have been completely impossible without a lot of help, I built a three-car garage. Gutted, rebuilt and winterized a two-story screen porch. Roofed new houses and re-roofed old ones, painted a bunch of houses including my mom and dad's 1860s era house on the Chippewa River in Eau Claire, WI (picture circa 1910).

[jpstewart]

It's a bit of a different culture here in the US, but he's paying for 50% of the costs.

I figured it would be different.  That's kind of why I mentioned it:  to find out how different while trying not to pry too much into your personal life.

Here (Ontario, Canada) if the landlord doesn't make "necessary repairs" the tenant is allowed to make the repairs and deduct the cost from the next rent payment.  It's an incentive to make sure landlords maintain the property.  Painting is different, though.  Cosmetic stuff like that done without prior permission could actually be considered damage to the property since it's left in a different state than you found it.  If a tenant did like you did and got prior permission, he'd still have to cover his own costs since it's not a necessary repair.

But I digress.  I just find it interesting to find out how things are done in different places.

[Raion]

The US market tends to basically be based in preexisting contract law, and laws designed to protect renters from illegal evictions. Other than that, it's a wild west.

This was just a specific agreement he and I came to.

I fixed the door today... somewhat. It needs adjustment for the jamb, partially caused because the piece I got was too narrow (it's hard to get specific lumber cut to what you need) and thus needed to be shimmed into place. The strike I installed ended up crooked and off center, so I will be chiseling that and then afterwards, I fill the gap with shim pieces, filler, then paint. After that, the bigger issue will be dealing with the portion of the jamb for the deadbolt. That will require me to get a proper piece of wood that's cut as precisely as possible because I need to ensure strength. I will also be added wraparounds to the door (Landlord is clearing it)

First attempt to clamp the crack in the door failed. It looks like it's gonna require more from me. Once I fix that, the wraparounds can probably be installed to both stabilize the area, and reinforce it against entry.

Ideally, I would just replace the entire door/jamb, but because it's an old house (1960s) the floor is slightly out of plumb due to minor settling (Not enough to damage shit, thus not my problem) so I'm just gonna leave the house in better condition than I found it. The house needs paint and major repairs in places, though I'll likely not be staying here that long. Whether I move back into my old property in VA (Unlikely at this stage) or elsewhere, it won't be long enough for my repairs to fail.