MS. HANDY LADY
By
Sandra Wolff
If your man is not handy and you don’t want to hire a handyman, then why not do it yourself? From the smallest of projects to the largest; women have proven they have capable hands. Explore your home with qualified eyes; repair your home with confidence. The pride you will feel will be well worth the effort.
Before you can create that feeling you must actually make a repair or put something together. There are many ways to find those how-to-manuals. You can Google them or visit your library. Then of course you can visit the local hardware store and purchase these handy books right off the shelf. Home improvement is in your future.
Here are few tools that every woman should own; wrench, hammer and two different types of screwdrivers, a Phillips and a flathead. Don’t forget the pliers, wood glue, as well as electrical and duct tape. An assortment of different size nails and tacks would also be handy. Why not throw in a good pair of scissors. Each individual project may call for different types of tools.
Let’s start with a fairly simple project, hanging shelves. Before you can hang the shelf you must first locate the stud in the wall. You can knock on the wall if you hear a solid sound you have located the stud. The rest of the wall will sound hollow. You could drill a small repairable hole to check. If you hit wood, then you found it, or you could purchase a stud finder found in home improvement stores.
Now it’s time to hang that shelf. The supplies you will need will entail a drill, level, tape measure and a ledger board, (also known as a shelf board) toggle bolts and trim screws. These too can be found in a home improvement store.
To begin, let’s say you are hanging this shelf under a window. Deciding where you want your shelf to be will be your first decision. After you make the decision draw a line on the wall. You will want to hang the shelf so that it lines up with the center of the window. So of course you will want to find the center of the window.
Now, you will need to use the center of the window and the center of your line. You will use a level. Then you will attach your ledger board to the center of your line. Drill a couple of holes into the board one on either side. Now that you drilled the holes see if you drilled into the stud. If you didn’t and I will assume you didn’t you will need toggle bolts. Insert the bolts into the ledger board and then screw the nuts on part way.
Next line the bolts up with the holes in the wall. Gently tap the nuts through the dry wall. Once you’re through, pull back on the ledger board putting pressure on the wall and tighten down with the drill. Now, you can line up the center of your shelf with the center of your ledger board. Drill a couple more holes and insert trim screws. Now put something beautiful on your new shelf. Wasn’t that interesting?
Congratulations you’ve proven to yourself that you are just as capable as a handyman. This is your first step to self-sufficiency. It’s time to chose your next do it yourself project and have fun with it.
