Jobs Around the House Best Left to the Professionals
Opinion Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the author/producer’s interpretation of facts and data.
By Bill Primavera
When I was a little boy, I was somewhat jealous of my older sister Marian who took tap dancing lessons, when I was not offered that opportunity by my sweet but tough father from South Philadelphia. To his mind, tap dancing lessons were for little girls, and boys should be playing baseball. I was not good at baseball, always failing somehow to have the bat make contact with the ball, but in high school I was good at soccer because I could kick my feet well in another way besides dancing.
Perhaps not attempting baseball left a lasting impression on me about what things I should do and what things I shouldn’t, because I always wanted to think that I could do it all – especially when it came to chores around the house when I became a homeowner. (One exception: I can’t cook anything except popcorn where you just pop a bag into the oven.)
When my wife Margaret and I bought our first home in the historic neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights, we were lucky in that it had just been renovated well and had no repair or maintenance issues whatsoever, even though it was built in 1826. That good experience spoiled us.
We were not so lucky when, some five years later, we bought our second home in “the country,” an even older home (we were into history and antiques to the point of obsession), built in the 1730s.
The very first night in our new, old home, the roof leaked and that proved to be just the tip of the iceberg in the continuing saga of problems we faced as owners of that old house. Within the first month, the basement sump pump failed, and our basement flooded with two feet of water.
If you can believe it, the self-proclaimed Home Guru of today didn’t bother to order an inspection of the house before we purchased it. We just fell in love with the look and the history of the house and jumped feet first into ownership without an inspection. Big mistake.
As a cautionary tale, I’ll share those chores, which shouldn’t be attempted by the amateur. Basically, it’s a simple guide. If it’s dangerous, don’t do it.
A hankering to clean the gutters on a two-story house, for instance, is asking for trouble. One of my neighbors in a former neighborhood fell from doing that chore and was affected physically by it for the rest of his life.
Anything to do with electricity should be avoided, unless you’re a licensed electrician.
Plumbing would be in the same category.
Power washing is another chore to leave to the professionals, as well as cleaning windows on the second floor of a house.
Of course, even with chores that are relatively safe, accidents can happen. My wife dropped a large pane of storm window glass and carries a scar on her arm from it to this day. Outside, I was clearing a path through a thicket of woods on our property when I tripped over an above-ground root and went down like the proverbial ton of bricks, causing me to sport a limp for some months afterwards.
But relying on professionals to do the jobs that we shouldn’t do – even though we all like to be the heroes of the land and do things ourselves – is a safer bet.
For many years I endured back problems, requiring regular visits to the chiropractor. I guess I never listened to my mother when I was young who encouraged me to bend from the knees. And mothers always know best.
Today, I leave it to the professionals to bend from the knees.
Bill Primavera is a realtor associated with William Raveis Real Estate and founder of Primavera Public Relations, Inc., the longest-running public relations agency in Westchester (www.PrimaveraPR.com). If you’d like him to represent you to sell or buy a house, he can be called directly at 914-522-2076.
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