Homeowners learning to tool around
Keen to apply do-it-yourself attitude to dwellings
Grania Litwin, CanWest News Service
Santina Tenerelli and Blair Spencer are excited about moving into their new home and can’t wait to start renovating, adding new siding, putting in more windows and repainting the exterior.
Both their fathers are plumbers, which doesn’t hurt, but these young people are keen to learn and apply their own skills, too.
“I’m not comfortable doing anything electrical,” said Spencer, 28, “so I will defer to the experts on that, but everything else we’re willing to learn. I enjoy carpentry and did shop all through junior high.”
Tenerelli, 25, notes her father also builds homes.
“I grew up with renovations and can’t wait to start doing some myself, putting our own personal touches on the house.
” I learned a a lot from my dad, helped him with framing and general maintenance, so I’m raring to go. I feel there’s nothing we can’t tackle.”
Both young people work in corrections, he in probation and she in finance, and they met at University College of the Fraser Valley, where they both studied criminology.
They don’t have a lot of tools, but they plan to buy as many as they can second hand and will be dropping some major hints for Christmas presents from Rona and Home Depot.
“I have a basic hammer and drill set,” Spencer joked, “but coming from a condo, where we were renting, you tend not to accumulate a lot of tools because you don’t have an opportunity to use them. You get a little rusty.
“That’s one of the negative side effects of renting. I’m looking forward to doing things myself and learning a lot.”
His one reservation?
“Where do you start? I mean, first we have to prepare a budget. We’ve never done anything like this before and want to make sure we’re not biting off more than we can chew.”
When Nancy Fowles moved into a seniors’ apartment recently, she couldn’t take all her tools.
“The first time I downsized, I took everything from my tool shed, but this time I moved into a really small place, and my son-in-law said I couldn’t take everything,” she says with a chuckle.
“I kept going through stuff saying, I need that, I need that and Lew would say, No, no, no.’
“He was right. He’s such a perfectionist. You name it, he does it, and he does it well.”
Her son-in-law Lew Lewis, who works at Home Depot, recently bought her a shiny new red tool box, filled with all the essentials she’ll need in her new home.
“It’s especially important for seniors to have a terrific toolbox,” says Fowles, 79, who hates paying for expensive repairs.
“I use everything in mine: screwdrivers, small level, wire cutters, small hammer. Lew took away my big hammer,” she says with mock offence. “He said: ‘You don’t have to go through walls and tear things apart anymore.’ ”
Having an independent nature, it was hard giving up her tools.
She and her husband and four children moved west from Toronto decades ago and made a new life for themselves in Whitehorse.
While up there, she took an automotive seminar, and many times she changed her own tires. Her daughter, who is just as handy, has occasionally stopped to change a tire for a helpless man.
“I think it’s important to know how to do things for yourself,” says the self-reliant grandmother, who came here in retirement. “I’ve always done my own painting and prep work. I used to fix toasters and iron cords, change sockets, replace lamp units. My son is very good with electrical things and drew me a picture once saying: ‘Mum, you can do this.’ ”
Her father could fix anything and taught her to be self-sufficient.
“I hope an article like this gives older and younger people some inspiration to do the same. I think it’s important for females not to be helpless.”
She raised her sons to fend for themselves, too, and they’re both excellent cooks, who can also clean, sew buttons, iron their own shirts and more. Besides the basic tools given to her recently by her son-in-law, the former practical nurse adds a few essential recommendations.
“Everyone needs a sturdy step ladder and a nice dolly. I store my dolly in a locker downstairs because I don’t have much room in my apartment. It’s very handy for moving things around and cleaning. I’ve given up trying to move big things like refrigerators, but still use it for bookcases or small cabinets.” She also recommends a set of pads to slide under furniture when moving it.
“I have two sizes, and they’re so handy” as well as a plunger, several different grits of sand paper, nail hole filler, duct tape, WD-40 and a full-size glue gun. “I’ve had mine for 30 years,” she says, opening a nearby cupboard and pulling out a heavy-duty black number. “It’s served me well.”
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