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Does anyone else get paralyzed on fixing small things because they're terrified of it becoming a larger thing? And how do you overcome it? (startrek.website)
submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by to c/homeimprovement@lemmy.world
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I guess "hire someone" is always an option, but it's a difficult task sometimes, especially finding someone reliable. It's not even that the larger thing is outside my ability, it's just "ugh, I don't have time for this".

Curious if anyone has any tips and tricks to overcome this kind of paralysis.

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[–] 7 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Yes. Especially with an older house. Touch one thing, you find everything else attached to it is rotted or held together with caulk and a dream.

I really wish i had house skills instead of car and computer skills. Those are useless compared to how important housing/construction is.

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  • [–] [S] 6 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    Touch one thing, you find everything else attached to it is rotted or held together with caulk and a dream.

    Oh, god, literally that.

    I can do the repairs pretty confidently, but I suck at the planning and get completely overwhelmed going to Lowes/Home Depot and dread the multiple trips I always have to make because I forgot something, find something else that needs replaced, or bought the wrong size/style.

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  • [–] 3 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    I’ve watched the pros. The foreman’s job is basically running to the supply house before the team need the thing, so they can keep working. They try to show up with everything and to varying degrees they do but every job is slightly different.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 5 months ago (1 child)

    Well, I clearly need a foreman then lol. That's the part where my projects usually fall apart or struggle.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago

    A while back I needed to widen a doorway that had been built undersized and prevented moving our broken-at-the-time washing machine. It took months until a carpenter was on site and could do it as a side project, since I couldn't find the precise sizes of wood to match the remaining trim.

    Since then I purchased a table saw, and now being able to rip boards to arbitrary widths I look back on that project and see why the carpenter said it was easy.

    All to say, eventually there's a critical mass of tools/materials that begins to make jobs faster.

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