New to it all.

[gan_nair]

I havent posted here in a while, the times that I did I recieved excellent answers that helped me out greatly. Other times I have learned a little from just searching and reading here and there. But the thing is I have been wondering what a good way is to go about becoming like a professional at home repair and remodeling? I mean I want to have the knowledge and abilities of a professional, but I wouldnt be interested in doing it full time, I take joy out of just helping out friends and family, and I love the feeling of fixing things and taking something that was one was or wasnt there at all and making it into something else completly.

I have to be honest though, I am completly new to any kind of home repair except for the little bit here and there that was as simple as reading the directions on the product I was told to get. Im more of a car and bike guy, but I would love to learn about homes too. Any help with books and DVDs, especially DVDs, for some reason I learn very well when I see the process as opposed to reading with pictures. By the way I would go to school for it, but school is too expensive to be going to just to help out and not get money for it, you know what I mean. Anyhow, any help with this would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

[glennjanie]

Hello Gan Nair:
There are several TV shows that have some really good content; This Old House, New Yankee Work Shop, Holmes on Homes, Tool Belt Diva, and several others. You can learn something from each one of them. Also watch your local Educational Channel and Discovery Chanel. Home shows pop up everywhere.
Glenn

 

[inspectorD]

Glenn has some good pointers, I like Holmes on Holmes...reminds me of me.

Also do some looking around my favorite site. www.jlconline.com and subscribe to their magazine. These guy's are all professionals, in the trades and with lots of new stuff combined with lots of experience.
There are also new videos of how to.

Good luck learnin.

 

[gan_nair]

Thanks for the replies, just last night I went through all the channels I have and found one called DIY channel, which ofcourse deals with basically nothing but homes, alot of the shows though seem to only talk about what and why they want to remodel. But still there are alot that seem to tackle common issues, and the ones that just talk gave me alot of really good ideas on what kind of materials to use. Im not an environmentalist, youd be able to tell that from the vehicles I drive, but I would like to do what I can to help out when I can. One show was on nothing but recycled and "green" products. Learned alot from that show on just materials, by the way whats the average cost difference when trying to use recycled materials, more or less? The way things seem it seems like to be better towards earth, its gotta cost you alot, same with trying to be healthy now a days. Its cheaper to be fatter, still cant figure that out.

Also I was looking up DVDs on Amazon, and saw the Holmes on Homes sets, think there was 2 of them, is that show really good? Like does he cover alot of things in his show and go into detail? Thanks again for the advice I really appreciate it.

 

[handyguys]

Don't forget The Handyguys Podcast! The Handyguys are just a couple of average Joes who discuss home improvement topics online. You can download the shows to an iPod or listen online. See below for a link.

Oh, I too like JLConline.

 

[handyguys]

Oh, and one more suggestion - When you use an online forum and ask for advice I would suggest you get involved in the discussion, answer questions posed, report back final outcomes, how you made out, how difficult things were, if the advice was good, etc. It helps other people down the road - Give and take. I'm not saying your don't - I'm just making a general statement.

 

[gan_nair]

Will do with the posting on updates and answering questions where I can. When I save up enough money to do cool stuff to the house and make major repairs, my plan was to take pics and some how post the befores and afters. With all the small repairs like hole in the walls and what not, Im sure everyones seen those before. Thanks again for all the posts, I really appreciate it.

 

[gan_nair]

I didnt want to create another thread and I figured this would be the one to ask a different question in since its in the general discussion part.

Ive always been very good at design work, I dont like using an auto CAD though, plus I dont know how to use one anyways. I just always liked designing with my hands and pencil and paper. I taught myself how to design everything I know how to, such as motorcycles, trucks, exhaust designs, fender designs, seat designs and tattoos. The things I seem to never be able to do even when I measure is anything to do with houses, except for small things such as entertainment centers, desks, dressers, etc. But when it comes to a layout of a room, the actual house (like if I want to take original measurments, draw it out and then modify it correctly), the front yard and back yard, etc., I just cant seem to do them.

I hope this makes some sense, like I said earlier, Im pretty bad with houses, guess thats why Im so interested in them. I can imagine what I would love to do, but I cant actually draw it down to specs. Someone at work told me to study blueprinting or architecture, would those help me out?