Women who want to tackle home repairs get help from hardware stores

DETROIT - Clueless about home repairs and can't afford a contractor?

Join the do-it-yourself nation, whose citizens are increasingly signing up for free home maintenance classes.

Weekends, weekdays, you'll find classes at large home improvement stores like Lowe's and Home Depot.

You may also find home improvement classes through county, university extension, community education and conservation groups.

"If I can do it, so can you," says Home Depot associate Amy Adair, who teaches classes at the chain's Harper Woods, Mich., store. She spoke at the store's Do It Herself workshop, held throughout the country Oct. 23.

Women are the main participants in home repairs classes - so much so that in May 2003, Home Depot started quarterly Do-It-Herself workshops. More than 325,000 women nationwide have attended them.

"I don't know much; that's why I keep coming," says Faye Jones of Detroit, who attended the Harper Woods workshop.

F or its Home Improvement Week, through Wednesday, Home Depot is hosting seven workshops in seven days, from instruction on painting to creating a home theater.

We checked out the home improvement landscape, attended a couple workshops and scoured the Web for advice.

Store clinics

Lowe's and Home Depot have made it very easy for customers to find out about home improvement classes. Just go to their Web sites, www.lowes.com and www.homedepot.com, and click on "projects" on the Lowe's site, or "service," on Home Depot's site. Or type in your zip code, find the store closest to you and scroll to the bottom of the page where it mentions classes.

Each store offers the same class at the same time.

It's important to register so the store knows how many people to expect and so you can get on the company's e-mail list to be alerted about classes.

One class on energy conservation at Lowe's Harper Woods, Mich., store drew only two participants, so the two women in attendance asked all the questions they wanted.

A Do It Herself workshop a week later at Home Depot's Harper Woods store drew 32 women out of 90 who had registered. Three store employees fielded questions from the eager crowd for 90 minutes.

"A lot of people come to each one," Adair says. "We try to get them to jump right in."

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GETTING STARTED

Pick a job you need done and ask the instructor to walk you through how to do it. If you find yourself confused when you get home, show up at the store - the earlier in the morning the better - and ask a salesperson for help, says Alicia Tatti, a sales associate at the Harper Woods Home Depot.

Adair suggests these projects are simple enough that most people can tackle them:

Repairing window screens.

Hanging shelving and pictures.

Repairing a leaky faucet.

Installing self-stick flooring.

You need a drill and drill bits - don't forget bits - a hammer and screwdrivers, for starters, Tatti says. She has a drill and a saw at the front of the class to show the kind of supplies the store carries.

Adair adds other helpful items homeowners want for a toolbox, including a staple gun or stapler, tape measure, level, several types of pliers, a wrench, duct tape, extension cord and work gloves. Still confused? Staffers will tell you what aisles have the products they mentioned.

My first project this weekend will be putting to work the energy tips I learned to seal up my drafty home. I have to fix a broken window, unjam a window where the storm window is half open, close the chimney and replace my conventional light bulbs with energy-efficient fluorescent ones.

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STUDY YOUR PROJECT

Pay attention to simple pointers, like "front," "back," and "this side up."

When making holes, err on the side of caution and make a small one, not one that might be too big.

Check books commonly sold at home improvement stores to walk you through projects. Both Home Depot and Lowe's have extensive lists on their Web sites that walk you through dozens of jobs.

Visitors to the Ace Hardware Web site, www.acehardware.com, have the chance to ask home repair questions of expert Lou Manfredini.

THE PAYOFF

Latisha Johnson credits the half-dozen classes she has attended with giving her the know-how and support to take on big projects in her 1938 Detroit home. She has installed two toilets, a kitchen sink and a new kitchen floor, besides finishing lots of stylized painting herself.

"I didn't grow up in a house that did these things," she says. "It was just a strong desire to save money that made me learn how to do things myself."

Her next project: installing a ceiling fan.

Patti Winter of Detroit took up home repair to get her home ready for sale. She's painted the walls - and hung pictures and blinds. "It really does feel good," she says with pride. She bought a drill and expects she'll buy a saw.

Joan Mannino of Harper Woods plans to repair broken concrete in her driveway. She was happy to hear of concrete sold in 1-galloon containers with spouts, to make small jobs easy. She analyzed her bills and says she's saved $50 by installing energy-efficient lighting in her home.

"I was widowed at age 40," she explains, "and at that point I already was doing a lot around the home because my husband, a judge, was seldom home." She is the mother of seven children. After her husband died, she learned home repair from friends by asking, "Can you teach me and my two oldest boys?" Put that way, few declined, she says.

"I am very proud of myself," she says. "I think I am a survivor. All my kids know how to do things about the house."

And now, for what she doesn't know, she turns to Home Depot. She encourages friends and family to attend the classes with her.

At a recent Herself workshop, she brought her sister Carol Roszka of Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich., and friend Edith Cook of Harper Woods.

She also tells friends she meets at Harper Woods Seniors; she is president of the group. "You don't have to be an expert to do some of these jobs," she says.

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(c) 2006, Detroit Free Press. Distributed by Mclatchy-Tribune News Service.