Today, I Became a Man
 

No...this is not some sexual coming-of-age post, this is about DIY at the home.

Today, I took an existing outlet and light switch in my son's room and did the following: cut a hole in the ceiling, added a braced ceiling fan rough-in, ran new wiring from the light switch through the walls into the attic, added a new switch to control the light in the fan (used the existing one to turn the fan off/on) and the thing actually works!

I've done the process with existing rough-ins but never had to do all the wiring/switches myself. Needless to say, I'm proud. :)

/incoming sarcastic comments....

I did that when I was 17 to all the lights in my parents house :) Well, maybe not the attic part.

I hope I didn't become a man then.

You had a son when you were 17?

Lurker, we need to talk.

About which part? The man part, the son part, or the being mean to Craig by belittling his accomplishment? I guess you're finding out about all my terrible secrets today.

I thought this was a thread about someone having a Bar Mitvah.

It's okay to belittle - I come from a "Call the Electrician Because the Lights Went Out" kind of family. I'm hoping to break that horrible trend with my son.

dola - the attic is half the fun - straddling two beams while drilling a hole and then eventually fish-taping the wire through (man, does that have sexual connotations or what?). Meanwhile...even though it's 55 degrees outside it's 90 in the attic - I think I lost 10lbs in water-weight.

If it had been attempting this DIY task, the thread title would have been 'Today, I became a Eunuch'! :redface:

Hats off to ya feller for not injuring yourself while doing home improvements - that's always a success in my book. The fact that it went as planned is one of those unexplained miracles that happen from time to time!

That does sound like fun. I miss living in a house and being able to tear it apart. Shelves in an apartment doesn't cut it.

Thanks :) When I thought I was complete not only did the fan/light combo not work, but we no longer had any power in the room (that's typical of my DIY jobs). Anyway...an hour of trouble-shooting and we were back in business. I'm popping open a brewski in my honor :)

I have been trying to become a man for the past 3 weeks. I am trying to change the water pump in my car, and I figure that is a 1 day, probably 2 hour job for a mechanic. In about 4 days work, and about 7 hours per day, I have the old one out, new one in. Only thing left is putting the serp. belt on and I have spent 5 hours on that and I can't get it on :( I will report back when I am a man... :(

Good luck, Scoobz! Isn't that the one where you have to remove the timing belt before even attempting (may be a Japanese car thing)?

scoobz0202: took me 2 hours to do the job on my fiance's car. Whats the problem?

make sure your fire insurance is paid up, man.

Supposedly one of the wheels is supposed to rotate too allow the belt to slide on easily, but I can't get the damn thing to budge.

Very good job with the wiring. My father is very handy,as is my father in law, so I rarely actually have to do anything around the house, except be their gopher and occasionally lift something or other. I am hopeless with a set of tools.

As for the water pump. That took me a full eight to ten hours the first and only time I have ever done anything like that. Now I go to the mechanic.

If I had to replace a water pump I'd first have to go buy a book on my vehicles to show me a diagram of where the water pump is located.

...cars have water pumps?

I built a basement room, but I didn't do any of the electrical work. Maybe I should have, because when the occupant plugged in a light in one outlet, the stereo exploded in another..

sure...in case they flood.