Hey everybody!
I'm Xand, and I'm just starting out in the home repair side of things. I've recently been gifted an old house in Portugal, and I've decided that it would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spend a few years in the Portuguese countryside rebuilding a home that's been in my family for who knows how long! To that end, I want to spend the next few months learning as much as I can about DIY home repair so I have to spend as little as possible on contractors. The building is ancient and hasn't been lived in for almost 40 years, and most likely it will have to be gutted and redone completely (I have only seen pictures, so this may not be the case- I don't really know if the structure is sound or not, but it doesn't look like it).
I guess my real questions are these:
1) What are the most feasible things for me to be able to do around the house? I'm an IT professional, so I'm very comfortable around electricity and electrical wiring. I'm a little handy, but I'm no architect or construction crew; the most work I've ever done on a house was wiring it for Ethernet. What are things I could learn myself in the next year to bring over, and what would be better for me to hire out for safety / complexity problems?
2) Where would the best resources be for DIY home repair / construction? I'd like to learn as much as I can, but I don't want to take a shotgun approach and learn nothing in the process. If there are a few things that people recommend I really learn, fantastic! I'm ready and willing.
Thanks again in advance, and if anyone has questions / comments I would be ready and willing to answer them!
-Xand
I'm Xand, and I'm just starting out in the home repair side of things. I've recently been gifted an old house in Portugal, and I've decided that it would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spend a few years in the Portuguese countryside rebuilding a home that's been in my family for who knows how long! To that end, I want to spend the next few months learning as much as I can about DIY home repair so I have to spend as little as possible on contractors. The building is ancient and hasn't been lived in for almost 40 years, and most likely it will have to be gutted and redone completely (I have only seen pictures, so this may not be the case- I don't really know if the structure is sound or not, but it doesn't look like it).
I guess my real questions are these:
1) What are the most feasible things for me to be able to do around the house? I'm an IT professional, so I'm very comfortable around electricity and electrical wiring. I'm a little handy, but I'm no architect or construction crew; the most work I've ever done on a house was wiring it for Ethernet. What are things I could learn myself in the next year to bring over, and what would be better for me to hire out for safety / complexity problems?
2) Where would the best resources be for DIY home repair / construction? I'd like to learn as much as I can, but I don't want to take a shotgun approach and learn nothing in the process. If there are a few things that people recommend I really learn, fantastic! I'm ready and willing.
Thanks again in advance, and if anyone has questions / comments I would be ready and willing to answer them!
-Xand